"Lukey, Babydoll, Love of my Life, I swear it'll be all right."

"Yeah, I know," Luke sighed.

It had been about 3 weeks since the break-in at Harry's apartment. Luke couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about it, specifically the cameras. Harry had never had cameras in his apartment building before, and Luke didn't want to think about it, but it was the same kind of camera Michael had put up when he was spying on Luke at their apartment. He knew it was, because he'd spent hours locked in his bedroom, too anxious to do anything other than stare at it. He knew exactly what it looked like; black with a blinking red dot in the front and the words "CCD camera" written in white on the side.

"Luke did something happen? You've not been yourself recently," Ashton had been making himself a sandwich for dinner, but when he saw how distressed Luke was, he crossed the room and held him in his arms. "I'm here if you need to talk, Sweetheart. But I promise, going out with your friends by yourself won't be bad. You'll have fun, I know you will."

Luke's therapist had told him he needed to spend time without Ashton on occasion. She'd said his relationship wasn't a bad thing, but it also couldn't be the only thing. He needed other people to help him, because Ashton couldn't always be there for him. He shouldn't have to be, it wasn't fair to Ashton, Caity told him. He knew she was right; a support system cannot be only one person for so long.

"No, nothings wrong. Just feel anxious."

"Any particular reason?" Ashton looked into his eyes.

He shrugged, unable to speak the words. He knew he was being crazy, there was no way that it was anything but a coincidence.

It made him so uncomfortable that it was the same camera and no one knew about it. Everyone just assumed someone else had installed the camera to deter people from breaking in, but no one knew who, and clearly that didn't work. The camera also wasn't connected to anything, it was just a decoy.

Luke couldn't accept that excuse, so he'd called the police to make sure Michael hadn't escaped. He hadn't, the police insisted he was there and legally they couldn't lie to him. That made him feel a bit better, so he tried to shake off his unease, but it was difficult as things still weren't adding up.

"Well, then maybe try and relax, take a few deep breaths, and then I'll help you pick out an outfit, yeah?" His boyfriend suggested.

"Yeah, yeah that would help." Luke closed his eyes and took some deep breaths, matching Ashton's steady chest rising and falling. "Okay. I'm good now." Luke cleared his thoughts, his paranoia disappearing for a few moments.

"Good. Come on Cupcake, let's go make you look handsome."

After Luke played dress up, he settled on black jeans with a black tank underneath a white and black striped jacket. For an added touch, he tied a white kerchief around his neck and wore a couple long necklaces.

"You look so hot, babe," Ashton stood in front of him, adjusting his outfit as his eyes flitted all over his boyfriend. "Seriously, you lookin' fine," he emphasized the word, making it sound more like "foine", drawing out the syllables.

"Thanks," Luke blushed, pushing his hands through his curls. He stepped away and looked in the full length mirror that stood in the corner of their bedroom. Even he couldn't find an unflattering angle to hate on. He had to admit, he looked good.

Even though they were only going to the diner, he wanted to look nice. If he dressed up, he'd feel good, and if he felt good, maybe he wouldn't be so anxious.

"Have fun tonight, okay? I know this is new, but Calum will be there and so will Harry. They know how to help you if anything goes wrong,"

"I know," Luke nodded. Calum had been a big help to him over the year, and Harry had been there right at his side. "Niall and Louis will be going too, so there's more than enough people around."

"Oh, that's great! See, all our friends will make sure you feel comfortable, okay, Sweetheart?" Ashton kissed his forehead, taking his hand and leading him out of their bedroom. They walked down the hall into the den when the doorbell rang.

"Thought I was meeting them at the diner?" Luke asked in confusion.

Ashton walked over to the door.

"I texted Cal and asked if he'd come here first and go with you. I thought it might make you feel better to be with someone."

Luke swallowed a lump in his throat.

He was just so thoughtful, what would he do without Ashton?

Luke crossed the room, crushing Ashton in a hug, which the taller man happily returned. Luke looked up into his eyes, he saw the look Ashton was giving him and bit his lip, standing on his toes so he could reach his boyfriends lips.

Time stopped as they kissed, slowly and tenderly exploring each others mouths. Luke almost forgot what was supposed to happen that night until the doorbell rang again.

"Put some clothes on and let me in!" Calum started pounding on the door, his shouts muffled by the door in his way.

Ashton chuckled, pulling away from Luke and unlocking and opening up the door.

"Oh, good, I thought I was interrupting something when no one came to the door," Calum walked in, looking between his two friends and smirking at Luke's swollen lips. "Oh, it appears I was. Don't worry, I can go wait in the cab for..." he looked at his watch, then back at his friend with a smirk, "Ten minutes if you want?"

Luke scoffed, shaking his head.

"Fine, overachiever much? You need more time? Okay, I can give you—"

"Shut up, Cal!" Luke whined, running his fingers through his hair in irritation. In order to regain normalcy in his life, he convinced his friends they didn't have to go easy on him. That meant any and all jokes were permitted, and Calum loved making these kind of jokes. It didn't upset Luke, but it was annoying sometimes. He supposed that was a good thing, because Calum was treating him how he would if nothing was wrong and they were just friends. When he thought about it that way, he couldn't be mad.

"Fine, whatever. Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Luke grabbed his phone and wallet and put them in his pocket.

"I'll see you later, okay, Angel?" Ashton hugged him.

"Yeah, sounds good. I love you,"

"And I love food. Let's go." As Calum grabbed Luke's arm and pulled him out the door, Luke looked back at his amused boyfriend who smiled and blew him a kiss.

Calum deposited Luke in front of the cab and opened the door.

"Your chariot awaits, my lovely friend,"

Luke rolled his eyes but got inside, the driver instantly pulling away once the door was shut with both men inside.

"But...the diner?" Luke frowned when he realized they were going uptown, and not in the direction of his favorite place in the world.

"The boys thought we'd shake it up a bit and try someplace new. Louis has been raving about this newer restaurant uptown."

Luke nodded slowly, looking out the window at all the unfamiliar buildings and people.

It was okay, he knew it was. He was with his friends, they wouldn't do anything to hurt him. It was just a simple change of plans. Nothing bad was going to happen. He took a deep breath.

"Hey, Lu Lu?" Calum tapped his arm. Luke looked over. "You all right? Should I have told you earlier we were going someplace else? Are you okay?"

Luke smiled at all of the concerned questions.

"No, it's okay. I worked through it, it's all good now."

Calum grinned, biting his lip and bringing clasped hands under his chin.

"I'm so proud of you Lucas! I swear, tonight is going to be awesome, you won't regret coming out with us."

"I'm sure I won't," It was just dinner with his friends on a Tuesday night. They weren't going to be wild or anything. Were they? "Uh, Cal, we're not like, partying or anything, right? This is still just dinner?"

"Of course, you clown. It's a weeknight, we're not clubbing."

"Good."

The cab pulled up in front of a stone building with a big, grey door. Luke felt a bit over dressed, but got out of the car anyway, following Cal as he stepped out of the cab and paid the driver.

Luke walked up and opened the door, letting Calum inside. They were greeted by the words "Ninja Dining" in red above the host stand. There was a small fountain to the left, filled with koi and water plants, and the desk had a pink and purple orchid sitting on the top.

The strangest thing about the place was the employees.

He couldn't see any.

"Hello?" Calum called, peering around the empty front of the restaurant. He turned to Luke. "Maybe they're on break?"

As he finished his sentence, someone appeared seemingly out of no where, standing in front of them.

"Good evening, gentlemen," the strange man said in a quiet tone. He was dressed, and they really should have figured this out before, like a ninja. He wore baggy black pants, a black wrap around shirt tied across his waist with a red belt. Most of his face was covered with a mask, and there was a plastic sword handle (no actual blade for safety reasons, probably) tucked into his belt loop. "How can I help you?"

"We have a reservation for Stylinson?" Calum said with a cheeky smile. Luke looked at his friend curiously while the man nodded rapidly, gesturing for them to follow him.

"Keep up," He said before disappearing around the corner. Calum grinned and started after him, Luke quickly following so he didn't get lost.

The man was standing at a table where one of their friends was sitting.

"Hey, Ni! How's it going?" Calum rushed over and gave his longtime friend a hug. Niall smiled happily, embracing the tall curly haired boy for a couple moments before looking over his shoulder and spotting Luke and waving at him.

"Oh, hey Luke!" He let go of Calum and sat down. "I didn't know you guys were coming together,"

Calum nodded, picking the menu up from his seat. Luke made sure to sit down in the seat closest to the wall, so he could look out at the place. He always felt more comfortable being in a place where he could see as much as possible, because then he wouldn't be surprised.

"Ash asked me to swing by and go with Lukey since he doesn't know this area well,"

"Cool," Niall nodded, rapping his knuckles on the table. It was silent for a moment before two more people showed up, faces red with anger and embarrassment.

"Calum, I fucking hate you," Harry seethed, plopping down in his seat so hard Luke thought it was going to break. Calum was failing to suppress a smirk.

"What did he do?" Luke gaped at the furious bartender, wondering what would cause such a rage.

"This fucking despicable asshole decided to completely embarrass us. He smushed our last names together to make everyone think we were together," he shook his head. "We tried both our names, and then the waiter giggled, actually fucking giggled and said 'Ah, now I see it, that's cute. Stylinson, your party is here',"

Louis' face heated up at Harry's words, he bit his lip, looking anywhere but at Harry. He sat down in between Luke and Harry in the only seat left, glancing at Luke with a small smile.

"I'm sorry," Luke whispered while Harry continued to go off on Calum who was claiming innocence, though not very well. Louis shrugged.

"It's fine. I guess you can't flirt with a friend without people getting suspicious," he smiled genuinely now, lopsided smirk plastered across his face. Luke giggled, glad he wasn't too upset. It would have sucked if Calum ruined the night right off the bat by setting that up.

"Seriously," Harry groaned. "When you texted saying it was "under our name" that's not what I expected,"

"Expect the unexpected," a new voice sounded from behind him.

Everyone jumped, looking over at the new arrival who stood behind Niall's chair. Their server must have come back but no one noticed through Harry's rage.

"Can I get your drink orders?" She asked. Luke thought it was a bit unfair that they wore all black and the restaurant was really dark. It made it hard to see them. Thankfully it didn't make him uncomfortable, but it did mean he had to pay attention unless he wanted jump-scares all night.

They ordered drinks and some food, the reservation incident thankfully forgotten as they moved on to other topics.

Unfortunately for Luke, other topics were details about him and Ashton.

"Yeah, they were totally about to do it before I showed up," everyone looked at Luke, whose face flushed scarlet. He really wished he could disappear like one of those ninjas. Harry was just glad to not be the one under scrutiny, so he decided to fire back and take the heat off of himself.

"Seriously, you should have seen it, back when the VIP bar opened, it was constant, he and—" Harry realized his mistake as soon as he opened his mouth. That wasn't Ashton he was with at the time. "Oh my god, Luke, I'm so sorry," Harry had tears in his eyes, he couldn't stop babbling. He really wished he could take the words back, crawl into a hole, and die. "I wasn't even thinking, it just came out, I'm s-so,"

"Hey, Harry, it's okay," Luke smiled, shifting his seat so he could reach over Louis and take Harry's hand. "I swear, I'm not mad. I can thinking about him now and not hyperventilate."

"I'm still so sorry,"

While obviously he would never forget about what happened to him, he really was okay for the most part thinking about Michael. When he thought about some of the things he did, sometimes he still got upset, but that would probably happen the rest of his life. It was like Caity said in one of their sessions, he was improving so much because of the things he was doing for himself. He was no longer the broken man who fell apart at his ex's name though, but sometimes his friends forgot that and felt horrible when he was brought up.

    Luke bit his lip, debating if he should share this piece of information or not. It might cheer the lad up, let him know it's okay to joke about now. He'd been trying to tell them that, so maybe the best way to get them to do it would be to make jokes himself. He took a deep breath, knowing he was going to embarrass himself.

"Haz, do you know how often me and Ash do it now?"

Harry's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he looked at Luke. Calum was grinning with his jaw wide. He wasn't expecting this bold side of Luke, but he was living for it.

"N-no..."

Luke smirked, nodding.

"Oh yeah. All the time. Mostly in my office, but sometimes elsewhere. What do you think happens when Ashy or I ask you to "go get napkins" or something last minute..." Okay, so maybe it wasn't every time they asked Harry to get something, but what could he say?

Calum burst into laughter at Harry's horrified look. "Fuck yeah, Luke. Get it!"

"I have to go out like every other day and get something," he whispered, looking helplessly to Louis who just patted his thigh.

Luke shrugged, smirk still plastered on his face.

"I don't see a problem here,"

"Oh my god, I'm never leaving you two alone again. I can't. You're the worst, Lucas."

The rest of the night, they continued to gang up on Harry. He was a good sport; he got upset, but his smile peeking through the harsh words indicated he wasn't truly bothered by it.

Luke was glad he decided to do this. Maybe he could have a normal life again. He could go out with his friends and not have to worry about something bad happening. Just because he wasn't with Ashton didn't mean it wouldn't be okay. It wasn't right of him to expect Ashton to be available for him 24/7. He had a life too, and he needed more than to just take care of Luke. They could still be a couple without constantly being around each other.

Luke was listening to Louis tell a story about his trip to the grocery store that included a clown, a wheelchair, a spoon, and a couple packages of ramen noodles when his phone vibrated. He wanted to ignore it and hear how the story end, but he needed to see who it was. It could be an emergency.

No, the odds of it being an emergency are slim, he told himself. You're just trying to ruin a good time with excuses.

He let it vibrate in his pocket, but it kept going off. Even after Louis had finished the story, it was still going.

"Excuse me," Luke pushed his chair back to see who was trying to get ahold of him. He got up and walked around the corner.

'6 missed calls from MUM' the display read. There were also a couple texts from Ashton, but he ignored those for a moment in favor of calling his mum back. She never called that many times unless something was wrong, she let him live his life and knew he'd ring back when he had the chance.

"Mum, what's wrong?"

He was met by a sob on the other end.

Calum's voice came up behind him. "Luke, hey Ashton just texted me, he said not to talk to your m—"

"It's your dad."

Then everything went black.

***

Whoaaaaa whaaaaat!? We get to find out about the parents?!?

Also, that ninja dining restaurant used to be a real thing in New York City, but it closed down. I'm so mad, that sounds like it would be super cool!

Anyway, hope you're doing well!! And I hope you're enjoying the book so far ☺️ I'm very excited about these next few chapters where we get to see Luke's family. It's gonna be gooooooood.

~ashtonfortherwin