"I really like your dad, Doll," Ashton told Luke as they were driving home.

    Liz had told them to sit in the back together when they looked reluctant to let go of each other upon reaching the car. She wasn't used to her son being so clingy and affectionate and knew it would take a bit of getting used to, but after all he'd done, he deserved to be happy. And it was very clear to her that Ashton was what made him happy.

    "I'm glad," he smiled, snuggling into Ashton's arm. Luke was in the middle seat, practically sitting on his boyfriend. This was normal for them. If they were together, they were hardly ever separate. Sometimes people didn't even notice they were more than one person because they were pressed so closely together it looked like just one human.

    "I can't wait to hear more stories from him,"

    Luke groaned, hiding his face in Ashton's arm while he and Liz shared a laugh.

    "I take it back. You're banned from seeing him again."

    The three of them chatted casually for the rest of the drive home from the hospital. It was easy conversation, Luke hadn't seen his mom in so many years, he had all sorts of things to tell her, and Liz was very happy to learn about who her son was dating.

    When they made it back to the house, Ashton pulled out their luggage and brought it up to the door.

    Liz welcomed them inside, and Luke took a moment to look around.    

    He'd never been here to visit, so he didn't know the layout. Photos were hung on the walls, and the same brown couch from his childhood home sat in the living room across from a new flatscreen TV Luke was sure his dad had begged months for until his mum caved. The hardwood floor was covered by a small floral area rug and round coffee table. Luke looked closer at the rug, certain it was the same one from his childhood. Luke had spilled nail polish on as a kid trying to surprise his mum by doing his nails. He walked over and saw the stain was there. Why had she kept that?

    "Wow, Lukey, you were such a cute baby," Ashton said. He'd set their bags down and was looking around too. Liz had an extensive collection of photos showcased when you first walked into the living room, and they all made Ashton smile. His family wasn't like this; it was sort of new for him.

    "He was, right? I have a couple photo albums I'll have to show you later," Liz whispered, but she knew Luke could hear her. He cringed at the words "tub pictures" but shook his head. He knew no matter how much he protested, Ashton would still see the photo albums.

    "Okay, boys, quick tour time. The kitchen is right over there to the left," She pointed through to the doorway that led out of the room. "Fridge and cabinets are fully stocked, feel free to make yourself at home. Eat whatever you can find, cups are next to the fridge on the right."

    "Thanks, Liz."

    She nodded.

"Are either of you hungry?"

Both boys nodded their heads emphatically. She chuckled.

"Why am I not surprised? I have some chicken, I've been meaning to try this new honey garlic chicken recipe, how does that sound?"

"Whatever you want mum, we'll eat anything. Thank you,"

Liz nodded.

"Would you like some help, Liz? Your son is still useless in the kitchen, but I know my way around,"

Liz's eyes sparkled as Luke glared at his boyfriend.

"No thank you, dear, you and Lukey go relax for a bit. It won't take too long, and you've been traveling all day. I'll call you when it's ready."

The boys went out in the living room and Luke flopped down onto the couch, making grabby hands at Ashton, wanting him next to him.

"You all right, Little Blue?"

He hummed, smiling at the new nickname and burying his face in Ashton's chest as they both laid across the couch, chest to chest.

"Yeah, just can't believe I'm actually here."

"How long has it been since you've seen your parents?"

Luke bit his lip, thinking about it.

"Uh, I'd been with Michael for 7 years? So maybe about 6 or so years, yeah. They moved here a little after we were together one year."

Ashton shook his head, the anger he always felt when Luke talked about the horrible things Michael did to him evident in his expression.

"Why wouldn't he let you see them?"

Luke sighed.

"I don't know why, there didn't seem to be any reason, but after they left for Florida, which he paid for—their travel, this house, my dad's medical bills, everything—he started to get a bit possessive of me and when I would mention them, he'd get weird. When I called them, he would refuse to be in the room. It wasn't something I noticed at the time, but looking back it's so obvious,"

"Hey, it's sometimes very difficult to see what's happening when you're in the situation. Hindsight's 2020."

"Hindsight's a bitch," he mumbled, coaxing a small laugh from Ashton, who rubbed his back. "After a while, I'd say maybe when it started getting bad about 2 years ago, he wouldn't let me talk to them. He got so upset when I mentioned them that I just dropped contact because I didn't want to deal with his poor attitude."

"I'm so sorry, Lukey, that must have been hard. I can see how much you care about your family,"

"Yeah," he grabbed Ashton's hand and twisted the rings around his fingers. "It was hard, but I had Michael, at least I thought. Until I didn't and I was truly alone for the first time," he shuddered. "It was terrible,"

Ashton cupped Luke's cheeks with his hands, looking into his eyes.

"You will never be alone again, Luke. You never have to be, because you have your family, you have your friends, and you have me. I will never take anyone you care about away from you,"

"Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, you're the only person I genuinely feel safe around." A memory made its way to the front of Luke's mind. He smiled as he shared it. "Back in play rehearsal, right around the start of all that, Jeremy made us think about the moment we felt safest. Remember when that man tried to kidnap me in your bar?"

Ashton's eyes darkened. He'd forgotten about that, it was such a terrible thing to happen in his bar, he hated to think about it.

"Yes, of course. I was furious with him. I beat the shit out of him, actually. He could barely walk when the police got there," he shook his head. "I almost got in trouble for it, but I told them it was self defense and they let it go."

Luke chuckled.

"Wow, my hero," he blinked up at Ashton who couldn't help but laugh, fury releasing itself from his body at how adorable his boyfriend was. He realized just how far they'd come from that moment. "Anyway, instead of thinking about my boyfriend at the time, or my family, or someone else...I thought about you."

Ashton hummed, a genuine smile lighting up his face.

"I'm so glad I was able to be there for you, Sweetheart, even when I didn't know who you were and how much you'd eventually mean to me."

"Me too. You really helped me through a lot. It's why it was so crushing when I thought that you and my friends abandoned me. Even though you were a bit standoffish when we first met, there was always something about you that urged me to trust you."

Ashton pressed a lingering kiss to his lips.

"I love you,"

"I love you, too. Forever and always,"

"Forever and always, Sweetheart,"

"Dinner's ready!" Liz called. They got up from the couch, walking inside the kitchen.

After a nice meal with Luke's mum, Ashton and Luke insisted on cleaning up for her, which she thought was just the sweetest thing. Her son was one of the good ones, and he had picked a great partner, and she was proud of them both.

Liz could see they were growing tired, so after they finished cleaning, she dismissed them for bed.

    "My bedroom is off the kitchen if you ever need anything, there's a bathroom down here that's also the laundry room, and there's a bathroom upstairs as well. There are two bedrooms upstairs, Luke you can have one and Ashton, the other is for you."

    Luke had walked into the living room to dig around in his bag for one of Ashton's sweatshirts because he was a bit cold, but when he heard that, he poked his head back in the kitchen.

    "Mum, I don't sleep alone, Ashton's going to be sharing my room. He doesn't need his own,"

    "You sure?"

    "Yes, mum. We're adults, not children, we sleep together. This isn't the 1800's,"

    He found the sweater he was looking for and pulled it on over his head, not realizing the reaction he'd just caused from his mother and partner.

    Both of them sort of stared for a moment, not sure what to do as Luke groaned, realizing he'd attempted to slide his head through an arm hole. He pulled it back to readjust it.

    Liz nodded slowly.

    "Okay, if that's what you want," It didn't make her uncomfortable, her son was an adult, almost 30, but she didn't think he'd feel comfortable saying something like that to her. She knew he was a bit awkward about things like that.

    "Yeah, we've always shared a bed, even back in New York, there's no need to mess up another one here. It's just easier to be together," finally he got the sweater on properly and ran his fingers through his hair, glancing at a mirror hanging on the wall next to him to get it in place. "We always sleep together, we always have,"

    Ashton couldn't hold back his laughter at Liz's face and Luke's nonchalant rambling. The blonde didn't even realize how awkward he'd just made things. Ashton didn't mind, he was glad Luke didn't feel weird around his family, and he'd just go along with what his Lukey wanted. Luke looked at him in confusion but shrugged and walked into the kitchen.

    Ashton sent Liz an apologetic smile, but she waved him off.

    "I guess I'm just going to go to bed. Good night you two," She patted Ashton's shoulder before walking over to Luke and kissing his cheek, and wrapping him in a hug. "Have fun," she couldn't resist throwing in, smiling when Ashton choked a bit.

    "Good night mum, we'll see you in the morning," A still oblivious Luke called.

    She nodded before going to her room.

    "We're going to need to work on your tact, Sweetheart," Ashton told him as he picked up their bags to bring them upstairs.

    Luke had gotten himself a glass of water before returning to Ashton in the living room.

    "Why?"

    Ashton snorted.

    "You just told your mom we sleep together,"

    "Well, yeah, we always share a bed at your place," he said with an innocent frown. Ashton helped him with his nightmares. He felt comfortable falling asleep next to him, knowing that if he woke up scared, he had someone's arms that would wrap around him.

    Ashton's face was blank for a moment while he tried to process the purity of this smol bean.

    "No, Noodle, you just told her we have sex."

    Luke's jaw dropped as he looked between Ashton and where his mum had made her awkward exit. It made sense now.

    "Mum!"

    "It's fine Lukey!" Liz called. She could hear them talking and could only guess how embarrassed her son was once he realized. Why not make it even worse? "You're an adult, I trust you. Just be safe, and there are extra sheets in the linen closet. The washer is downstairs in the bathroom,"

    "MUM!" she heard Luke exclaim and then Ashton's raucous laughter.

    "Just wash them quickly so nothing stains my sheets,"

    "GOD!"

    "And don't worry about noise, you're all the way upstairs, it won't—"

    "OKAY, GOOD NIGHT!"

    Luke stormed upstairs, Ashton following behind.

    "Hey, it's okay, Lukey. Now there are no secrets. Now your mom knows eeeeeeverything,"

    "Oh my god, I hope I just don't wake up in the morning. Or maybe wake up in another family. I don't think it was a good idea coming here," Luke whined, flopping face down on his bed.

    "Don't worry Sweetheart, your mum is so cool, I'm sure by tomorrow it'll be forgotten."

    "No, she's gonna tease me about this forever."

    Ashton shrugged.

    "Yeah, you're probably right."

    Luke shook his head, rolling over so he could see Ashton.

    "I love you, you know."

    The brunette smiled, making his way over to the bed and plopping down beside his boyfriend. He never got tired of hearing that.

    "I love you too."

    "Thanks for coming here with me," Luke took Ashton's hand and started playing with his fingers, one of the blonde's favorite things to do. "It means a lot that you're willing to stand with me even through my weird family's business."

    Ashton pressed a kiss to his lips.

    "I'd do anything for you, Angel. This isn't even bad, I love your family."

    "Will you tell me about yours?" Luke laid down, pulling Ashton with him so their heads were on the pillows.

    "My family?" Luke nodded, closing his eyes and pulling Ashton's arm around him. "Uh, there's really not much to tell."

    "How come you never talk about them?"

    "We're...not on the best terms right now."

    Luke sat up, opening his eyes to look at his boyfriend. Ashton had a blank look on his face, but Luke thought he seemed a bit upset.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Luke asked, putting his arms around the other man's chest and throwing his leg over Ashton's. "You don't have to, but I'm here if you need." Luke hoped he would talk, not because he wanted to know the drama, but because Ashton was always there for him, to help him feel okay. He would love the chance to be there for him.

"I mean there's nothing to say, really," Ashton shrugged. Luke stayed silent, running his hands over his boyfriend's stomach. He figured if he just sat there then Ashton would say whatever he felt like. "My parents split when I was a kid. My dad just left, haven't heard from him in years."

Luke hummed just to let him know he was listening.

"My mum remarried when I was 17. She'd dated some people here and there before that, but no one stuck around very long. They didn't like how protective I was about my siblings and my mum."

Ashton shifted so he was sitting up a bit better, dragging Luke over onto his stomach. Luke happily lay on top of him.

"My stepdad is the worst of them all. We were sorta happy, just me, my mum, sister, and brother. Well maybe mum wasn't, but she pretended to be for our sake. We made it work. I had hoped she'd find someone who would really make her happy."

"Did she?" Luke looked up. Ashton smiled sadly and shook his head.

"Nope. She married him when she thought he would, but he turned out to be the biggest asshole." Ashton laughed humorlessly. "He made things worse than they were before my father left. Those were...dark times. My friendship with Michael in college was the only thing that got me through those rough moments."

Luke wasn't sure how to feel about that, because Michael was the cause of his issues but saved Ashton. It was weird to think that the man Luke had fallen in love with, the man Ashton knew as a young adult was so different than the man Michael was now. It made him wonder what happened.

Ashton continued.

"So one day, I don't know what was happening. I honestly can't remember too many of the details," Ashton said, but his voice sounded hollow. He didn't seem like himself. "But we were having dinner together—under protest. Mum was tired of me avoiding Matt. So she made a nice dinner and had us all sit down and eat. I made a huge mistake that night..." he trailed off, tightening his arms around Luke a bit. "I decided to come out to my family."

Luke gasped.

"Coming out is never a mistake, Love. I'm proud of you for telling them. But I'm assuming they didn't take it well?"

Ashton shook his head.

"Matt is a huge homophobe apparently. He kicked me out right there and mum couldn't do anything about it. He threatened her, so I made the decision easier for her and just left. I made him promise that he was going to take care of her."

"Ashton, I'm so sorry,"

"It is what it is, Angel. But after that, I had nowhere to go. So I snuck back later that night and took Matt's drug money. I traveled all over the country, I'd stop and get a job at a gas station or serving at a bar when I needed cash."

"I'm sure that was an interesting time," Luke commented.

"Yeah. I met some cool people along the way—stories for another time. But then I got some news from my sister. She told me our grandpa had passed. Grandpa Arnold was always my favorite person. He was always nice to me no matter what, and he supported me when I came out to him a couple of weeks before my family. So when he died, he left me everything."

"No way,"

Ashton smiled for real for the first time since he'd started speaking.

"Yep. The rest of my family was pissed because Grandpa A had this huge family estate. He left me a couple hundred grand which was what I used as the startup for my bar."

"Wow." Like absorbed that for a while.

"And that's why I don't really talk to any of them. Matt still doesn't let my mum speak to me, and my sister tries to check in on me every couple of months but Matt still watches her so she can't. I do send her a bit of money every month because I know my parents aren't really going to give her anything for new clothes or whatever else teenage girls need."

"You really are the best mum ever, Ash,"

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes.

"No, I don't mean it to tease you," Luke sat up, still straddling Ashton, looking earnestly at his boyfriend. "I just mean, you've been caring so much for everyone your whole life. I'm sure your siblings appreciated you looking after them, and your mum too. And now you always look after me,"

    "It's what you do for the people you love," Ashton's voice broke at the end of his sentence.

    Luke smiled, fighting off the blush from his cheeks.

    "I love you too,"

***

ahahahahahaha Luuuuuuuuuuke 😂🥰

I just love this chapter because not a lot happens but it's very cute, awkward, and funny all wrapped up in one. I'm usually that oblivious one, saying innocent things that turn out aren't so innocent 😳

Anyway. I start my new job as a nursing assistant tomorrow! My first day of training was technically today but it was a 2 hour zoom meeting but tomorrow I go into the hospital and start The Real Stuff (like 8 hours of modules and talks from HR 😭 send me positive vibes ✨ I'll need them lol)

I hope you're doing well!! If you'd like, drop a comment about what you've done this summer. I'd love to hear more about the people who are reading my story 🥰🥰 thanks for the support friends.

~ashtonfortherwin