"Luke, it's a phone call," he muttered to himself, watching the screen light up with Ashton's name across it. "Pick up the fucking phone."

He took one last deep breath before picking up the phone in his shaky hands and swiping the answer button. "Hello?"

"Hi, Luke," Ashton's honey voice filtered through the speaker. "How are you today?"

Luke felt his knees go weak at just the sound of Ashton saying his name, but he shook the feeling away. "I'm doing well, Ashton," he said, a small smile on his lips. "How are you today? Bored enough to call me, I can see."

Ashton laughed gently over the receiver, and Luke could just picture him rolling his eyes. "My boredom has indeed reached its absolute peak," he said, voice full of sarcasm, "so I just had to call the most boring friend I have to make up for it."

Luke ignored the warmth spreading in his chest from Ashton calling them friends and scoffed, causing Ashton to laugh gently. "I am fully offended," he said in faux offense. "Did you only call me to insult me?"

"You insulted yourself first, Blondie," Ashton pointed out.

Luke let out a heavy sigh, rolling his eyes to himself. "How can I help you, Ashton?"

Ashton laughed once again before speaking. "I wanted to see what you were doing today," he said happily. "I was thinking of going and doing something spontaneous today."

Luke furrowed his brows. "So you called me?"

Ashton laughed again, making Luke's heart race. That damn laugh. "Well," Ashton resumed, "you said it yourself, that you agreed with your friends that you should be more spontaneous. I know what I have planned for today, but what you don't know is that I fully involved you before asking you, so you can't back out unless you want to make me go alone."

Luke felt his cheeks flush, running a hand through his hair. "And what is it that we're doing?"

"That is for me to know," Ashton said, the sound of gathering keys in the background, "and for you to join me for. So. What do you say, Luke?"

Luke hesitated. He knew he'd only known him for a couple of weeks at that point, but he was sure that Ashton wouldn't ask him to do something that could put him in any danger. Additionally, the fact that Ashton asked him to join rather than anyone else, might have also swayed Luke's decision. So he smiled.

"I'm in."

———

"Ashton," Luke said as he sat in the passenger seat of his car, watching the curly haired boy smile as they drove down the winding stretch of highway, "could you please tell me where we're going?"

Ashton just smiled wider, sparing a brief glance at Luke before looking back to the road. "I already told you where we're going."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Yeah," he said softly, "I know what town we're going to and I know that we're doing something spontaneous, but what is it?"

Ashton reached his right hand over and gently laid his palm flat on Luke's thigh, a gesture that was meant to calm Luke but instead made his cheeks flush and his heart beat faster. "You worry too much, Blondie," he said, eyes never leaving the road and hand never leaving Luke's thigh. "Have a little faith, yeah? I'm not going to get you killed or anything."

Luke gulped slightly, almost loud enough to be heard over the music flowing from Ashton's speakers. "Right," he said, his initial worries taken over by the roar of butterflies in his stomach from Ashton's touch.

Ashton gave his thigh one more gentle squeeze before putting his hands back on the wheel and smiling softly.

Luke didn't speak on the subject for the rest of the ride. He did trust Ashton to not put him in any danger, and he trusted him to take care of him. It didn't sway his curiosity, though.

He didn't have too much time to dwell on it, however, as not too much later, the two men were pulling the car to a dirt parking lot by a closed off stretch of highway and parking. Luke turned to look at Ashton who was busy taking off his jewelry and his sunglasses before he stopped to smile at Luke. "Are you ready, Blondie?"

Luke just stared. "Ashton," he said softly, "please don't tell me we're doing what I think we're doing."

Ashton just smiled wider. "Then I won't tell you." And then he was out of the car, waiting for Luke as the taller man scrambled from the car.

"Ashton, wait," he said, his voice coming out shaky as he grabbed onto Ashton's arms a little harsher than intended. "I don't know if I can do this."

Ashton winced slightly, but pushed it away as he looked into Luke's eyes for a moment, frowning as he saw the true panic in them. "Then you don't have to," he said softly. "Your name is on a paper up there, but your signature is not on it so you aren't obligated to do it. I am, however. You can just watch me, okay? I'm not going to force you to do this if it scares you that much."

Luke let out another shaky breath as he nodded and leaned his forehead on Ashton's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I know you set all of this up for me to do this with you, and I'm too scared to do it and —"

"Luke," Ashton sighed gently, moving back to look into Luke's eyes. "Don't ever apologize to me for being afraid. It is so human to be afraid, so are you apologizing for being human?"

Luke shook his head.

"Alright, then," Ashton continued, his hand coming up to settle against Luke's cheek. "Don't apologize to me for anything. You are never burdening me for telling me how you feel. I'd rather you tell me now, anyway, then you give yourself a panic attack over something I talked you into doing because I had no idea it would hurt you."

Luke felt his breath hitch as he looked at the sincerity painted across Ashton's face. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he nodded at the curly haired man, allowing himself to be pulled into a hug.

"Watch me do it, though," Ashton said softly. "It might help. And maybe next time you'll want to do it, too."

Luke chuckled softly but nodded as he let Ashton slot their fingers together, pulling the taller man along with him to the launch dock. The coordinator watched them walk up and smiled brightly, throwing his arms open. "Welcome," he called out. "Can I have your names, please?"

Ashton let go of Luke's hand and stepped forward. "You know me," he said, "and this is Luke Hemmings."

"You," the man said, pointing at Luke, "you still need to sign your consent form."

"He's not doing it today, Mitchy," Ashton said, smiling as he talked. "He's just observing today."

"Shame," the man - Mitchy - said but smiled anyway. "I'll keep your paper on file if you ever decide to come back."

Luke smiled gratefully, nodding as he watched him gather all of the gear for Ashton.

"Alright, kiddo," Mitchy said, causing Ashton to roll his eyes, "I know you've seen me do this a hundred times, but this is your first time so please pay attention. So, first, I have to weigh you to set you up with the right ropes. If you're not comfortable with your weight being said out loud, I'll just write it down and get your ropes myself. Then we'll attach your torso and thigh harnesses, unless you want the ankle harnesses—"

"Torso and thigh harnesses, please," Ashton said softly. "'Rather not risk breaking my ankles, thanks."

Mitchy nodded before continuing. "And then you'll sit back and watch the few people ahead of you jump so you can kind of see how it goes, okay?"

Ashton nodded and followed Mitchy to get weighed up, Luke taking a seat at the bench as others were preparing to take their jumps. The ones standing back on the dock that had already taken their jumps were almost literally glowing with energy, and Luke wouldn't even be surprised if they never stopped smiling. Luke couldn't help but smile back before Ashton came back with Mitchy, beaming as the man helped him put his harnesses on. Once they finished, Mitchy went off to get Ashton's ropes and the curly haired man sat next to Luke, bouncing with excitement.

"This is going to be so great," he said softly.

Luke couldn't help it. He reached over and took Ashton's hand in his, watching as the curly haired man smiled brighter and squeezed Luke's hand as they watched the jumpers in front of them for the next half hour before it was Ashton's turn.

Ashton let out a stream of air before turning to Luke, squeezing his hand again and standing up. "Wish me luck," he said softly before housing across the jumping dock to allow Mitchy to attach his ropes.

Luke watched Ashton with wary eyes, his nerves kicking in as Ashton moved to the jumping dock.

"Luke," Ashton called to him, motioning him over. "You can stand at the railing and watch me jump."

Luke wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans before standing up and allowing Mitchy to lead him over to the watch deck.

Ashton was bouncing on the balls of his feet, his smile never leaving his face as the gate to the jump deck swung open and Ashton walked over to the edge. When one of the other coordinators gave Ashton the signal that it was safe to jump, Ashton sent a nod to him and then looked at Luke with one more blinding smile. He then looked up at the sky and turned his back to the ravine, stretching his arms out wide and falling straight back off of the jumping dock.

Luke's heart plummeted into his stomach as he watched Ashton freefall, a loud cheer leaving the curly haired man's lips as he continued falling. Not too long after, his rope stretched to its full extension before recoiling over and over again until Ashton was doing nothing but swinging back and forth like a pendulum.

The crew then slowly raised Ashton by his rope back up to the watch dock, which, in Luke's opinion, took longer than his racing heart could handle. Once Ashton was safely placed back on the watch dock and his harnesses and ropes were removed he ran straight over to Luke and threw himself in his arms. "Luke," he breathed out in awe before pulling away, "that was the most amazing thing I've ever done."

Luke smiled back at the shorter man. "Was it?"

Ashton nodded, happy tears building up in his eyes. "I've never felt more alive."

And Luke had never seen anything more beautiful.