Ashton left the restaurant he'd eaten dinner at the night before with a frown. He thought he left his cellphone there, but when he asked the host, no one had found anything. He checked around the table they'd been at, but the servers had cleaned everything up from the table before seating new people and they hadn't seen anything. He'd also called the taxi service, but he knew he didn't have it at that point because it had already died.

    He made his way back to Luke's bar to see his boyfriend. It was so inconvenient not having his phone, because then he could have just called and told him he was running to another store. But Ashton had promised he wouldn't take too long, and he didn't want to worry him unnecessarily.

    On the way in, he passed by Saul and Martin, the guys he'd assigned to watch over Luke. Saul stayed outside the bar with the security Ashton had made him upgrade and Martin was pretending to be a customer. He just casually happened to be around whenever Luke was at the bar. Luke didn't know about the second guy. Martin was good at what he did. They nodded at each other before Ashton set about finding his blonde baby.

    "No, it was meant to arrive two days ago, sir," Ashton could hear a frustrated voice through the crack in the office door. He was about to enter when he heard Luke speaking to someone on the phone. It must have been on speaker because Ashton heard the mans reply.

    "I dunno, man, on mah sheet it says 3 crates a oranges and cherries tah be delivered on da 6th," Ashton couldn't place the man's accent, but it was interesting.

    "I don't know how that could have happened, we always get our shipment on the 2nd. And it's supposed to be 2 cherries and 3 oranges, as well as the lemons and limes," Even though he was frustrated, Ashton was impressed by how calm and kind Luke was being to the guy.

    He made his presence known, knocking lightly on the door frame and sticking his head inside.

    Luke looked up, waving quickly before picking the phone up and turning speaker off.

"Did you get it?" he whispered.

Ashton shook his head.

    "Didn't have it."

    Luke nodded, opening his mouth to say something, but the guy on the other end must have spoken because he held up one finger and turned away so he could keep talking to the shipper.

    Ashton left the office, leaving Luke to deal with that. He found Harry at the bar and sat down.

    "Want anything?" He asked, wiping the inside of some of the glasses he'd removed from the sanitizing washer.

    "Nah, it's a bit too early," Ashton chuckled, looking at his watch that read it was only 3 something.

    Harry shrugged.

    "Your call. So did you find your phone?"

    "Nope. Nothing. I think I'll just go get a new one," he sighed. It's not like he couldn't afford it, but it was just really annoying.

    "Did you have 'find my phone' off or something? Can't Luke track it?" Harry suggested.

    "It was dead. That doesn't work unless the phone is on. I thought it was charging before I went to dinner, but the switch that activates the outlet was off," he rolled his eyes. It was so annoying. Nothing was going right for him.

    "Hey, Ash!" he heard from across the room. Liam stood up from the table he was sitting at, grinning as he made his way over. "What's going on?"

    "Nothing, mate. Just dealing with my missing phone,"

    "Oh shit," Liam frowned. "That sucks," he shook his head. "What are you gonna do?"

    "Gotta get a new one."

    "What can I get ya," Harry came over and asked.

    "Just a coke,"

    "Are you going to upgrade or keep the same phone you had?" Liam asked.

    Ashton shrugged.

    "I'm not sure. I guess I could get a better one. I've had that one for a couple years,"

    "There ya go, that's a plus." Liam thanked Harry for his drink when he delivered it. "You have T-mobile or Verizon?"

    "Verizon," Ashton said, absently checking his pockets. He was bored and wanted his phone, and then realized he didn't have it. "Okay, Harry, I have to go get a new phone," he leaned over the counter. "I'm going to go talk to Luke and make sure he's fine."

    "You got it," Harry saluted him.

    "See ya, Liam."

    "Good luck, mate. I'm heading out too, I'll walk you down." He got up and followed Ashton. "Are you going to have the same number? It's a bitch to try to remember a new phone number. I had to get a new one three years ago when I switched carriers and I still give the old one sometimes."

    "Uh, I don't know," He looked over at Luke's office and saw him pacing around, still holding the phone to his ear. "I'll let you know though."

    "Cool, mate."

    Ashton made his way over to Luke.

    "I gotta go, Sweetheart. I'll text you when I get my new phone,"

    Luke gave him a thumbs up.

    "No, no, I can't wait until next week!" Luke cried, watching Ashton say goodbye to the rest of the people in the bar and walk out with Liam. "I'm running out of stuff, that's why I get this order every 2-3 weeks."

    "I'm very sorry, sir. I can't do anything. We're going to have a truck bring it to you as soon as possible,"

    Luke groaned. He'd spoken to 3 different people by now and no one could do anything for him.

    "All right, I suppose we'll just make do with what we have. When's the earliest we can get the delivery?"

    He set up a truck to come in 4 days and hung up. He ran his hands over his face. This was so stressful. They'd never had a problem with this company before, he had no idea why this was happening.

    "Haz?"

    "Sup, boss?" Harry made his way into the room.

    He slammed his head down onto his desk, causing Harry to yelp.

    "Hey! Be careful. If you get a bruise, Ash's gonna kill someone."

    Luke chuckled halfheartedly, head still on the counter.

    "So when are we getting the fruit shipment?" Harry sat down in the chair across from Luke's desk, bunching up his apron so it didn't get caught on the chair. He had to pick up some straws that fell out of the pocket.

    "Not till next week. They royally fucked it,"

    "Shit," Harry shook his head. "I'll be careful with the stock we've got and write a note to the other staff."

    "Thanks," Luke nodded. He picked his head up and rested his arms on the desk.

    "You okay, buddy?"

    He shrugged.

    "I just feel bad today."

    "Because of the shipment?"

    Luke thought about it. That frustrated him, but it didn't make him feel crappy.

    "No. I don't know what it is." He hesitated. "I want Ashton."

    Harry bit his lip. He didn't know what to do.

    "I--"

    "I know he's busy, and I know he can't always be here. But I..." Luke looked up at Harry, looking like a wounded puppy. "Can you give me a hug? I think that might help."

    "Of course, Lu Lu." Harry got up and made his way around the desk. "Better?"

    Luke smiled, his face smushed in the front of Harry's shirt, but yeah. It was better.

    "Thanks."

    Harry thought that meant he could let go, but when he tried, Luke tugged tighter. Harry chuckled, sitting down on the edge of the chair so they could reach each other better. "There we go, hug it out, bro."

    Luke smiled, letting go after a couple of moments.

    "I needed that."

    "Any time. Are you...feeling better?" He didn't think the hug would really do anything to drastically improve his mood, but if there was something else Harry could do, he'd do it. Even if that meant strapping Luke to his back and hugging him while he was working.

    "A little. I just wish he had his phone so I could make sure he's okay. I just worry..."   

    "Well, we've got all that extra security, so if there was ever a time to not worry about him, it would be now."

    Luke took a deep breath. That was a good point.

    ***

    Two hours later, Luke still hadn't heard anything.

    "Harreh!" he yelled.

    A couple of minutes later, Harry strolled in.

    "I haven't heard anything, Lu."

    That was certainly a problem. It doesn't take 2 hours to get a new phone.

    "I can't stop worrying,"

    "You never can," Harry chuckled fondly. "Look, if he doesn't call one of us in half an hour, we'll call up Verizon and see if he's there. Maybe they just had an issue because the phone was lost. You know phones are the worst to deal with, there's always a million problems."

    "Yeah, okay." That made sense.

    "I'll text Lou and see if he's heard or seen anything, yeah?"

    "Would you mind?" Luke asked sheepishly.

    "Of course not, bud. I'll see if he can come over here, he's not working right now,"   

    "That's not necessary, I can--"

    "Luke?" Harry raised his eyebrows, looking at him over the phone. "Shut up. You need people right now, and I'm working, so Louis is going to sit with you. Got it?"

    Luke nodded. He didn't want to be alone, but he felt bad making Louis come all the way over here just to babysit him.

    "He's on his way," Harry said, pocketing his phone. "Are you going to be okay to wait here by yourself?"

    Luke felt like a big baby right now. All he wanted to do was cry into Ashton's shoulder and have him wrap his arms around him. He nodded, not making eye contact with Harry.

    The curly-haired man sighed.

    "Naba?" He called from the doorway.

    "Yeah?" the girl responded from behind the bar counter. Harry felt bad doing this, but it wasn't overwhelmingly busy and his friend was more important to him. He walked over to her so he didn't have to yell across the room.

    "Luke's having a hard time, will you be able to handle things yourself? I'm so sorry, I--"

    "Of course, you idiot," she chastised, waving him away. "You go and help him with whatever he needs. I will be okay here,"

    "Thanks. If you need me, call me and I'll help."

    "Do not be silly, I will get Jason from downstairs if I need. Help Luke."

    He nodded, walking back to Luke's office.

    "Come sit with me, mate, and we can talk it out if you want."

    Harry sat down in the plush chair across from Luke's desk, opening his arms. He knew Luke often times preferred contact when he was spiraling, he'd seen Ashton hold him more times than he'd seen Luke standing by himself. He hoped it was contact in general and not just contact with Ashton that helped him, but when Luke nodded, he almost looked happy as he made his way over and Harry sighed in relief.

    "What's going on?" Luke settled beside Harry, resting his head on the man's shoulder while he wrapped one arm around him and set the other on his knee.

    "I don't like that I don't know what's going on. It makes me feel like something sketchy is going on, like when Michael locked me in the room and wouldn't tell me what was happening and I was stuck to just wonder. I feel powerless again. Ashton has always let me know I'm in control, it's up to me, and this is just...throwing me off."

    Harry nodded. He wasn't very good at advice like this but wanted to be there for his friend.

    "He didn't do it on purpose, I know that." Luke continued when Harry was silent. He didn't need Harry to say anything, it was just enough that he was here. "He always tries his best to do what's right, I'm not upset with him, I'm just upset in general."

    "Yeah, sometimes circumstances are just out of our control. Life, mate."

    Luke nodded.

    There was a light knock at the door and Louis popped his head in.

    "Hiya, Luke, Harry," Louis slipped inside, closing the door again. "Uhm," he looked at the two cuddled up on the chair, wondering where he should go.

    "C'mon, love, get over here." Harry scooched a bit closer to Luke so there was room on his other side for Louis. Hesitantly, the brunette who was sporting a bit of a five o'clock shadow shuffled over to sit with them. Harry wrapped his arm around the boy, Luke's arm had no choice but to lay over Harry's lap and touch Louis who was sitting sideways half in Harry's lap, but they made it work.

    "All right, Boo-bear?"

    He glared at Harry, raising his eyebrows accusingly at the bartender. Harry smiled innocently, ignoring the look from Luke.

    "So wh-what's going on, Lu? How ya doing?"

    "You know, just worrying," he smirked a bit. "Boo-bear,"

    Harry tsked.

    "You're not allowed to call him that," he moved so both his arms were around Louis, squeezing him tightly. "Only I am,"

    "Sorry, sorry," Luke chuckled at Harry's predatory glare and Louis's flushed face. They really were cute together, Luke couldn't think of a better suited couple than them. He made a note to ask Harry what was up with them later.

    "What are you worrying about?" Louis asked. He wanted to distract himself so he could stop thinking about Harry calling him that name and the fact that his hand was slowly making its way further down Louis's back.

    "Ashton. He went to get a phone hours ago and hasn't contacted anyone. I'm just worried something went wrong,"

    "Well, let's try and get your mind off of it, yeah? No sense sitting here worrying. Is there something around the bar we can do? Would you prefer productive or mindless?" Louis asked.

    He knew for him, the best thing to do when he was obsessing over out-of-control events was to get his mind off of it. From the looks of it, Luke had been obsessing over this for a while. He looked like he could use a break.

    "Can we go downstairs and play some games?"

    "That seems like a great idea!" Harry cheered. He tapped Louis's butt to get him off, which sent Louis flying up out of the chair like something bit him. Harry grinned cheekily when Louis turned around to glare at him. Luke was blissfully unaware of the lover's quarrel.

    They went downstairs to the bar that Luke had designed to be super casual. There was all sorts of random art that he'd purchased from flea markets and local vendors, dim mood lighting, and the best feature, all of the pub games at the tables. There were darts set up in one corner and a pool table as well.

    "What do you want to do?"

    "Pool?"    

    Harry set up the rack and Louis got everyone sticks.

    The distraction worked for a while, it took about forty-five minutes before Luke thought about how long Ashton had been gone. Harry noticed instantly when Luke started to get upset again.

    "Sit down, buddy, it'll be all right."

    Luke obeyed, stumbling over to one of the chairs lining the wall.

    "I need to call the store and see if he's there, Harry. I can't not know what's going on. Why hasn't he called me?"

    "All right, hon, we can call, okay? What carrier do you use?"

    "Verizon,"

    "Any specific one? There's eighteen in this borough alone," Louis' eyes widened as he pulled out his phone and searched in the map.

    "No," Luke couldn't think of there being a specific one Ashton preferred. He remembered something from this morning. "Wait! Ash called a place this morning to see if they had something in stock."

    "Good thinking, Lu Lu," Harry patted his back. "Where's your phone?" Luke grabbed it from his pocket with shaky hands and gave it to Harry who handed it off to Louis. "Can you call, Lou?" Harry asked, soothing Luke by running his hand over the blonde's back. He was breathing heavily, trying to calm himself.

    "I can c-call," Luke tried to insist.

    "Mate, I don't mean this to be rude, but you can barely breathe. You just relax and I'll take care of it, yeah?"

    Luke agreed. He knew that was probably better, he needed to work on gaining control over his mind.

    Louis walked away to make the call because he didn't want Luke to get discouraged if there was bad news.

    "Need to call Caity," he rasped out a couple of moments later. He knew his therapist would know how to help him since Ashton wasn't here to.

    "Sure, uh, Louis has your phone."

Luke gasped suddenly.

"What if Ashton tries to call when Louis is on the phone! What if he tries to contact us and, and—"

    "All right, Luke, I need you to calm down. I know you're upset, but you can't yell across the bar, okay?" He gave a worried Louis a thumbs up. Louis had looked over when he heard Luke's exclamation, but he had to focus on the call so he turned away. 

    "Y-y-yeah."

    "Okay, what's the therapists number? I'll call her on my phone. If Ashton calls your phone, Louis will hang up with Verizon and answer him, okay?" Luke modded.

    He recited the number he'd memorized just in case he ever needed it. Things happened, phones died or got misplaced. It was better to have a couple of numbers known off the top of his head. 

    The phone started ringing, and Harry handed it over.

    "Want me to stay here or do you want to be alone?"

    Luke grabbed Harry's hand.

    "I'll stay then."

    "Caity Carley speaking, how may I help you today?"

    "It's L-Luke," he stuttered out.

    "Oh, god, honey, you sound awful, what's up?" she immediately dropped her professional tone and grew concerned for her patient.

    "Ashton's missing. Haven't heard from him in hours."

    Caity shut her eyes, trying not to react in front of Luke. This was not good for his recovery.

    "Before we get into that, how are you feeling? You sound a bit unstable,"

    "N-not great. Worry, spiraling."

    When Luke started speaking one-word responses like that, she knew he was about to go into a panic attack.

    "Take a deep breath for me, okay?" She listened carefully as he shakily inhaled and exhaled. "Again." She had him repeat that until his breathing evened out a bit. "All right. Now tell me what's going on, are you with someone right now?"

    "Yeah,"

    "Someone you trust?"

    "Harry's here."

    "Good." Okay, so he wasn't in immediate danger. She didn't trust him to be alone right now and he needed someone to help him. "So where's Ashton?"

    He launched into an abridged version of the situation, and Caity was glad he was using almost full sentences.

    "Did your friend finish calling around?" she asked once he was done.

    Luke looked over at Louis who was walking back over, handing Luke's phone back.

    "Where is he?"

    "They said he was never there,"

***

Big oof. It's picking up noooowwww 👀 who's got predictions? Anything clicking yet? 😊

~ashtonfortherwin