Luke had just finished up yet another crying session, alone in his bedroom.

Michael said he wasn't allowed to go back into public until all the bruises were gone, but he kept creating more. He figured that since Luke wasn't going to be changing in front of people for a while, that meant he could resume the kicking and punching he enjoyed so much.

Things had been...pretty bad. Michael installed locks on the outside of the bedroom and bathroom doors. He said Luke couldn't be trusted to stay inside when Michael was gone, so he needed that precaution to feel safe. The locks could only be opened with a key that Michael kept with him always. He also had set up more cameras throughout the entire house, which Luke did not feel right about.

There was no hope for him anymore. His friends had given up on him, Michael made him stop doing the show, which was one of the few things he actually enjoyed.

What made him the most depressed though was his friends. He really thought they'd try harder to get in contact with him. He'd asked Michael if any of his friends tried to check in on him, but Michael said they hadn't. He'd even shown him his phone which showed no texts from anyone.

He'd hoped someone would care, but they didn't, so Luke had to deal with it himself. He always did, before he met Michael. He used to be so strong and independent. Then, he'd met Michael and things changed. Michael just seemed so willing to help, he was always there whenever Luke needed him. He was able to do everything Luke could ever hope and more, like help out his parents and brothers.

Luke wondered if he ever did those things because he liked Luke or if it was just a 'long game' so he could have things to hold over him. With the way he was acting, Luke wasn't sure.

Luke reached down with shaky hands to grab the blanket and pillows Michael had thrown all over the floor earlier in a fit of rage. Once Luke was done crying, he'd been instructed to pick up the mess. With a pathetic, "Yes, Michael," Michael had exited the room and left Luke to clean the room, and himself, up.

The door burst open behind him and Luke jumped, the pillow flying from his hand and landing haphazardly on the bed. Luke whirled around as Michael charged into the room. He put his hands up, hoping Michael would be easy on him after the situation he'd just endured, but it was always something so he wasn't sure.

Thankfully, Michael didn't even pay attention to him, he just went directly to his dresser and pulled out a new shirt.

"Wh-wh-what's going on?" Luke finally forced out. He hadn't done anything other than cry in the last 24 hours, and using words was a bit difficult.

"Just got a call from Haz, there's an emergency at the bar. I'm needed immediately."

"Oh." Luke watched as Michael threw on a new set of nice clothes, not the gym shorts and tee-shirt he'd been wearing around the house.

Without a word, Michael left the room. He shut the door and Luke heard him walk away.

Luke knew he'd be gone handling the 'emergency' for a while, so he decided to get something to eat. Michael had at least let him eat something every day, but it wasn't always a lot.

Unfortunately, he didn't wait long enough, and Michael was still home, putting his shoes on in the hallway and saw Luke try to tiptoe into the kitchen.

"Nuh-uh," He rushed over. Luke backed away quickly. "You're to stay in our room, baby boy. No freedom for you,"

"Uhm, M-Michael, can I get something to eat p-please? I don't know how long you'll be gone," Luke cast his eyes to the floor, knowing that made Michael feel important. If he wanted something, he was going to pull out all the stops.

"I suppose. I might be gone a while." Michael went over to the pantry and pulled out a granola bar and a Gatorade and gestured for Luke to walk upstairs to their bedroom. Luke walked in front of him. Once inside, Michael set the stuff on the bedside table for Luke. "I want this room picked up, and I'll be locking the door, so clean the bathroom too if you have time."

"Yes, Michael."

Michael smirked.

"I'll never be tired of hearing that. Okay. Later," And then he left, the lock clicking definitively behind him.

Luke sighed.

Life was horrible.

***

At the bar, Ashton, Calum, and Harry planned out their rescue attempt.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Harry bit his lip as he looked at the phone.

"I'm sure, okay? Just call him and tell him there's an emergency up here and we need someone to take care of it. He loves feeling important," Ashton said. Harry did as he asked, making the call.

Once he hung up, he looked at Calum and Ashton.

"You'd be a decent actor, you sounded appropriately worried but not too over the top," Calum commented.

"Thanks, mate," Harry said, light blush coating his cheeks.

"Okay, so now we'll wait for him." Ashton turned to the girl sitting at one of the stools in front of him. "Lydia, are you ready?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm happy to help." She smiled. Lydia sort of looked a bit...emo. It was the only real way to describe her. She had black hair cut in a bob, bright green eyes, and always wore black. Today she had a black dress that looked like it was taken off of a child's doll from the 1800s that was in mourning. It was quite a look; frilly and lace that ended just at her knees with the puff sleeves. But she was willing to help out, so it didn't quite matter how she looked. They just needed her to fight with Michael when he showed up and distract him.

"Great, then I'm off." Ashton waved to his friends as he made his way to Luke's apartment.

With Michael gone, he was hoping to be able to get a chance to talk to Luke. The smaller boy still wasn't answering his phone, so Ashton was hoping he'd be at the apartment.

Once he got the text from Calum that Michael was actually there, Ashton walked up to the door and knocked.

There was no answer, so he tried again. When there was still no response, he tried the doorknob.

Surprisingly it opened up. Ashton hummed, wondering why Michael didn't lock it, but maybe if Luke was home he didn't feel the need to.

Ashton took a quick glance around to make sure none of the neighbors seemed suspicious of him, and after seeing no one, he entered.

Everything seemed normal when he looked around inside. It was just empty. Luke was nowhere to be found in the kitchen, living room, den, or Michael's home office.

Knowing their bedroom was upstairs, Ashton climbed the steps.

The bedroom door was closed, and when he tried to open it, he found it was locked.

That seemed strange. He knocked on the door, wondering if maybe Luke was in there changing. He heard a small yelp from the other side.

"M-Michael?" Luke's hesitant voice called.

"No, it's Ashton. Can you open the door?"

It was silent for a moment before he heard someone shuffling closer.

"Uhm, n-no, I accidentally locked myself in, I c-can't get out."

Ashton frowned.

"You've locked yourself in?"

"Y-yeah." Luke insisted.

"Okay, but can't you just...I don't know, unlock the door?"

Luke sighed.

How was he going to explain that it wasn't a normal door he could control?

"Uh, the l-lock is on the outside."

"Oh." Ashton looked at the door. "Luke, is everything okay? Why is there a lock outside the door?"

"That's how this place came. W-weird, right?"

Ashton hummed.

"You still didn't answer. Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, uhm f-fine." He squeaked. Ashton could not know about this. If he did, he'd be so upset. They had a complicated relationship, and Luke couldn't rely on anyone else anymore. He knew what that led to, and he wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"Aren't you really sick? Cal tells me you've been skipping rehearsal for like almost a week."

"Oh. Well, I w-was sick, but now I'm getting better. I'm okay now."

"Okay. Well has this happened before, with the lock?" Ashton knew he was lying, but there wasn't much he could do without seeing him. "Why don't you see if Michael has a key?"

"He does, but you see, he had this emergency to deal with at the bar, s-so don't want to bother him."

"Luke, you're trapped in a room. I don't think it would really be that much of a bother for him to come help you."

Luke chuckled humorlessly. Michael was the one who put him here, he doubted he'd come set him free.

"He said he'd be back soon," Luke told Ashton quietly.

"Are you serious?" Ashton seethed. He slid down the side of the wall so he could sit for a bit.

Luke didn't respond.

"Hey, if something is going on between you two, you can tell me," Ashton said, looking at the door, wishing he could see Luke's face. "You just got engaged, I'm sure that's brought something new to your relationship, and sometimes it gets to be a lot."

"No, we're good." Luke insisted.

"Right. But everyone's said you've been acting differently lately. Your friends are concerned about you. You haven't answered any of our texts."

"Never got any texts," Luke mumbled.

"What?" Ashton pushed his ear into the door. "I couldn't hear that, speak up."

"I was sick, I didn't use my phone. Headaches and bright light don't mix," Bad, bad Luke. You almost messed up Michael's cover story. No wonder he can't trust you,

"Hm."

Ashton stood up.

"Luke, where is your phone? Why don't you call Michael again and see if he'll come open the door? Otherwise, we'll have to try something else."

The only reason a door would have a lock on the outside would be to keep something or someone inside it. Ashton was sick at the thought that Michael was keeping precious Lukey trapped like a prisoner.

"Yeah, I mean, I could, but h-he's busy with the emergency, I can just w-wait,"

"Call him Luke."

"My phone is outside, probably in the kitchen." He admitted.

"If it was outside, how did you talk to him before?" He tried to keep the accusation out of his tone, but Luke wasn't helping him here. He sort of thought that he could just sweep into the apartment and take him away from all his troubles. He didn't think he'd need to convince Luke to go with him.

The silence was all he needed to know.

"Okay, Luke. Here's how we're going to do this. Are you close to the door?"

"Uhm, yeah." He was sitting on the other side of it.

"Back up."

"What?" Luke wasn't sure what was going on out there.

"Back up. Go crouch behind your bed." Luke did as requested, crawling because he couldn't stand. "Are you there?"

"Y-yeah," Luke shouted so he could be heard. His voice cracked, but he didn't have time to focus on it when there was a loud bang on the door. Luke yelped and ducked, hearing a couple more crashes before something snapped and the door burst apart.

Ashton crouched down so he could get through the hole he'd created by breaking the door down with his foot. It was a lot harder than it seemed in movies, but he was determined to get Luke out.

"Uhm, sorry about your door," Ashton said once he'd gotten into the room. He didn't see Luke, so he walked around the corner of the bed and saw the lad curled up in a ball.

He knelt down next to him.

"Luke, hey, it's okay now." He was hesitant to scare him, he figured that touching might do that, so he got as close as he could and spoke slowly and softly. "Luke, can you look up for me, buddy? It's Ashton, you're all right. I know that was loud and scary, but you're not stuck anymore, okay? I'm going to help get you out of here."

It took a couple more minutes of coaxing, but he finally sat up. He wouldn't look at Ashton though and kept his back turned away.

"Hey, Luke? Are you okay?"

He shrugged.

"Don't want you to get upset, it was my fault," he said, sniffling. "Didn't mean to, but it doesn't matter. Just don't be mad."

"Hey, I won't be mad, Lu, I'm confused though. What are you talking about?"

Luke took a deep breath and turned around, showing off his swollen black eye.

Ashton gasped and closed his eyes. He needed to breathe deeply so he didn't fly off the handle. He couldn't believe Michael would do something like this to a kind, cute, little guy like Luke. And he was certain Luke did nothing to deserve it. No one did anything to deserve that.

"I'm sorry," Luke bit his lip and cast his eyes down. He disappointed Ashton. He knew he would, that's why he didn't want anyone to know. It was all his fault.

"Why are you sorry?" Ashton's eyes snapped open and he focused on the trembling man in front of him.

"I made you upset. You looked at me and got mad, I-I promise I'll try better, can do better, I can, can be better," He whispered almost to himself, hugging his knees.

Ashton's heart broke in half watching what had become of his friend.

Michael was dead the next time he saw him. This was so not okay.

"Lukey, I don't have time to explain, but I'm not mad at you, sweetheart, okay? I promise you, you've not upset me. I'm just angry about what happened to you, okay?" Luke didn't respond, just kept his eyes on his knees. "Can I touch you, Luke? I want you to get up and walk to my car with me," He pulled his phone out and sent a quick text to his driver to get here ASAP.

Luke shrugged, looking anywhere but at Ashton.

"Okay, I'm going to take your hand, very gently, I promise. If anything hurts, I need you to tell me, yeah?"

Luke shrugged again. He deserved the pain, he was a mistake. Nothing he did was good enough, the pain was a reminder that he didn't deserve anything.

"Okay, I'm taking your hand," Ashton's soft hand slid on top of Luke's. Luke watched, tensing up and waiting for the moment Ashton would drop his caring act and try to hurt him. It was inevitable. Michael told him none of his friends cared about him, why would Ashton be any different? "Okay, now why don't we get up, yeah? My car is out front, can I help you get there?"

"Why?" Luke didn't want to leave. If he left, he'd probably just get in more trouble. And he hadn't cleaned up yet, he still had a couple of chores left to do.

"I'm going to take you back to my place, where you'll be safe."

Safe. That was a foreign word to Luke. He hadn't felt that way in a long while. Not since that guy in Ashton's bar tried to grab him and Ashton helped him in that secret room.

Ashton was safe. Ashton would help him.

"Okay," Luke nodded. He could go with Ashton. Maybe he'd be okay.

"Great job, Lu Lu. I'm proud of you,"

Ashton stood up, keeping his movements slow as he held his arms up so Luke could grab them and get up.

Luke tried his best, he didn't want to disappoint him though.

He stood up, holding onto Ashton, trying to hold in the cries as he walked out of the room.

They only made it a couple of steps before Luke crumpled to the ground, almost pulling Ashton with him. The taller man wasn't expecting it but somehow managed to maneuver them to the bed, Luke on top of his body.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed into Ashton's shirt, grabbing the front of his flannel and burying his face in it.

"Hey, it's okay, you don't need to be sorry for anything. What's wrong?"

Luke shook his head, preferring to hide in the comfort of Ashton's warm flannel.

"I'm going to touch your back, okay?" He nodded quickly. Ashton sat up a bit, gently running his hand up and down Luke's back to soothe him.

Luke's sniffling slowed down enough and he crawled off of Ashton, sitting next to him on the bed.

"I-I'm-"

"Don't apologize, it's all right. But what's wrong, why won't you walk?"

Luke looked down at his sock-covered feet. Ashton's gaze followed his, and he saw the bruising on his ankles.

"They're a bit unsteady." Spending a day or two handcuffed to the bedposts will do that. Michael said he didn't want him running away, so that was his solution before he got those locks installed.

"All right, I'll help you then." Ashton stood up and put Luke's arm over his shoulder so he bore the weight of most of Luke's body.

They made it outside slowly, and Ashton helped Luke into the car that was idling outside.

"Let's go back to the bar, Andre," Ashton said.

Luke wasn't sure why Ashton wanted to help him so much. Why was he still here after Luke had told him how worthless he was? What was the point?

Even though the drive wasn't very long, Luke felt himself getting sleepy.

"We're gonna get you help, Luke. I promise," Ashton whispered as Luke leaned his head against the window. "I promise."

***

Yay! Our Lukey's been rescued! 

Or has he.....? 

Any thoughts? 

~ashtonfortherwin