A/N: Well fuck, I was gonna wait until after my exams to update but I couldn't help myself. Nearly 4000 words for your viewing pleasure.

Also, someone nominated Let's Be Cliché for eight awards?? Eight?? Different?? Awards?

I don't know if I ever mentioned it in an author's note but we made it to the top 6 stories in four different awards and won first in the Humorous category during the summer Lashton awards, which is absolutely outrageous and I didn't think we would make it this far. And here we are again.

Sorry for being gone for such a long time.

"Lucas!" Ashton's mum greeted with a smile, coming down a row of chairs with her arms open. Luke stood up from his chair and engulfed the smaller lady in a hug.

"I haven't seen you in ages, Dear." She continued as she sat comfortably in the seat next to Luke, he noticed that neither Rory or Owen were tailing her so he could only assume that they'd split.

Luke gave her a weak smile, "Yeah, Ashton has been studying really hard for exams and I ended up on vacation for a while before I came back for the tests."

She gave him a sad smile in return. She looked like she wanted to tell him something, something she'd wanted to spit out for a while but the music began playing and a silence fell over the crowd.

"Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. Tonight we are honoured to present this year's Graduating Class." The principal paused, and the music rose up in the silence and was followed by the thumping of approaching footsteps. A group of teenagers spilled in through the main door to the auditorium, organized in deep green robes and caps but somehow still disorganized. They all sat down in a section and looked up to the stage as everyone else followed. A sea of graduation caps and nervous smiles.

"I know what you're thinking, I'm not going to bore you with a speech about your future or their education. That's the valedictorian's job. This year I'd like to present our valedictorian, Michael Clifford." The principal scurried away from the podium and Luke wondered how much he knew about the principal actually knew about this year's graduating class.

The parents of the graduates searched the sea of emerald clad students, waiting for someone to stand up. They were looking for a faceless Michael.

"Hey dudes, my name is Michael and I'm this year's val." Michael greeted, managing to make it on stage without gaining much attention. It wasn't very hard for him to get up there considering he wasn't even in the graduating class.

"You're all probably confused by now, expecting a Sophie or Tyler to start this ceremony with a heartfelt speech and then receive like eight awards for being perfect--I'm here, not because I got my friend to totally rig the votes for me." Michael paused, and Luke shot his fist up in the air and shouted an I love you! into the silence that brought on a bit of laughter.

"I'm here because one of my other very dear friends is graduating tonight and I don't want him to look back at this day and think about how long and boring Sophie's speech was. I wrote a speech for tonight, believe it or not, I know I don't look like the type. I actually dressed up for this occasion." Michael flattened his dark grey tie against his untucked white button down, the chains pierced into the tie clacked and the mic managed to pick up the noise and Michael smiled awkwardly at the crowd.

"I'm not a graduate in case you're a bit behind, I'm just a overbearing friend that wanted to make the night a little more special for him." He wet his lips before he continued.

"I actually think tonight is the most special night one can have at a school after being here for four years, you get to celebrate the fact that you survived four long years of stress and paperwork, and you've done it with adequate grades. Let's just applaud that small accomplishment."

The graduates clapped the loudest, assuming that parents didn't remember what high school was actually like anymore; the stress of barely scraping by with grades, time management between a social life and schoolwork, and on top of that some students had jobs and sports and clubs and relationships.

"I don't have any paper memories to share with you that will bring on a laugh right now but we'll all throw away afterwards. I can tell you that at one point this year, my friend called me telling me they were too scared to make out with a boy. Another point, I was covered in trash with the love of my life. There was another time when I just spent the entire day laying on the couch with a mate and watched Mama Mia on repeat. And a couple weeks back, all of my friends and I were floating around in the school's pool--I can't disclose if it was actually trespassing--and talking about our futures. I wish I had hired some nerd to follow us around with a camera so I could have each of those events documented so I won't forget those cheesy moments, but life is unfair. Some things, memories, places, people... are meant to be forgotten..." You could hear the pain in Michael's voice but he kept going.

"You'll probably forget a lot about the four years you spent here, you'll look back and have memories but you'll forget who they're with, which is a sad fact of life. You'll look back and tell stories like, 'One time I was dumping trash on this loser...' but was he really a loser? You don't remember. And I've just now realized how sad this speech has gotten." Luke spotted Calum sitting in the front row, right in front of Michael with a loving smile on his face. Luke couldn't help but try to capture that feeling into a quick photo even if the auditorium was far too dark to get a perfect image.

"We're not sure what our futures hold, whether we'll marry the person we hold hands with now or if we'll find someone that makes us warm inside all the time. Whether we'll have a bunch of dirt-eating, snot-nosed children or if we'll have one, or maybe we'll just settle for a dog, or cat, or fish. There's no telling what will happen, we could die next week, next month, year, decade, maybe this generation will find a way to live forever, or maybe some of us will die tomorrow. This is why we try to break the rules, and party, and argue with authority,  because we want to live, not barely function in a rut that our parents have already mapped out for us. Buy concert tickets, take a year off, write a book about your angst filled life, travel the world, buy that stupid thing you saw on the Internet that you love, live a little." Michael exclaimed, whipping his speech papers off the podium and letting them explode into the air. Luke stood up and let out a shout back at his friend, returning the enthusiasm that Michael displayed. Not everyone stood up to applaud the choppy speech, but that was okay because Luke felt the words still ringing in his mind and he knew it was the same for everyone.

"Uh, thank you Mr. Clifford for that speech. You're lucky I can't suspend you because it's the end of the year," He chuckled but no one else joined in. "Let's move on to actually handing out the diplomas."

It was a while until the I's came along so Luke had a while to actually think about Michael's speech. A lot of it just seemed like rambling but even if it was, it made sense. Luke could die at any moment, he could also end up at a minimum wage job with a crappy apartment and a roach problem, the possible outcomes were endless. He knew one thing that would make any scenario absolutely worth living, Ashton.

He wasn't sure if Ashton even wanted to put up with him past high school, but in this moment, he was sure he wanted to marry the boy without a doubt.

"Ashton Irwin." The principal called, reading what Ashton had to say. "Ashton would like to thank all of his friends for being there for him even if they are all crazy, his mother for loving him no matter the situation, and he would also like to thank Gray for deciding to show up a couple days before exams to turn his life around. Ashton is receiving hon..."

Who's Gray?

Why is Gray the only one mentioned by name?

Why not 'thanks Luke for being the closest thing to a relationship you can get without calling each other boyfriend'?

Why not 'thanks Luke, for wanting to marry me but being too late'?

Why not just thank every living person in the room except Luke? It would hurt a lot less.

Regardless of the pain, Luke stood up and clapped and screamed when Ashton shook hands with the principal and received his diploma. Ashton's mum took pictures as Ashton walked down the stairs and back to the group of graduates.

"Luke. You're crying, Dear." She whispered once he'd taken his seat again.

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and sniffled, "Yeah . . . I'm-I'm really proud of him."

×  ×  ×  ×

"Congrats man!" Michael greeted loudly, pulling Ashton into a suffocating hug as soon as he was within reach.

Calum joined the hug, crushing Ashton even further. Luke and Charlie hung back, although Charlie had a genuine smile while Luke's was more forced than anything. He wanted dearly to be happy because this night was all about Ashton, even if just looking at the boy made his stomach feel like it was dropping down an elevator shaft.

"Ashton!" Someone yelled, a girl in emerald robes that matched Ashton's ran forward and jumped into Ashton's arms as soon as Michael and Calum released him. Everyone seemed uncomfortable now, Luke definitely was.

"Let's go get some food, Mucus." Michael announced, pulling Luke away from the group. Luke scrunched his nose at the name, but had no problem being swept away by the older boy, anything to keep him away from the pair that looked like a couple on a vacation brochure.

Charlie and Calum were too uncomfortable to stay with Ashton, even though this night was supposed to be all about him because none of them were good enough friends with anyone else here.

The four boys hovered around the buffet table, trying not to be I'm the way of the grandmas prowling around the cheese and crackers but Michael still managed to get a whack in the hip from a wayward handbag.

"I hope she realizes that I already put my grubby fingers all over the veggie crackers, fuckin' swings like she's trying to knock some sense into me." Michael groaned as soon as she had waddled off, shoving some more of them into his mouth and lifting his shirt to see if she'd left a mark.

"You're such a wimp, babe." Calum chuckled, brushing a finger against the pink scrape materializing across Michael's pale skin.

"Oh c'mon, she's probably one of those psychos that carries a brick in there for 'protection.'" Michael whined, using air quotations on the last word while rolling his eyes.

Luke snorted, having a much better time now that he couldn't see Ashton anywhere. Michael noticed Luke's smile and immediately started complaining even louder to bring on more laughter from the blond, Calum was laughing too at this point but he still hit Michael for being such a diva about it.

After the laughter died down, Luke muttered a thanks to his friends because he was glad that they were there for him, even if all of them had snuck in to be here because Ashton neglected to give them invites--probably because he'd been so busy studying for the exams.

"Aw Sweet Baby Lucas just thanked us, his first words. How precious!" Michael cooed, grabbing the taller boy before Luke could slip away and avoid the hug. Charlie and Calum joined in, giving Luke no way to escape from the disgustingly warm embrace.

"What's going on here?" Ashton asked, coming through a part in the crowd with a confused smile, which only Luke could see considering the rest of the lads had their heads smushed somewhere into Luke's torso.

Michael eventually broke away from the huddle and glanced at Ashton. The pale boy sniffled and wiped a tear from his eye. "Our son is graduating."

Ashton raised his eyebrow at that, having never been regarded as Michael's son before.

"Come," Michael urged, gesturing for Ashton to come closer.

"Come." Michael repeated, grabbing Ashton's arm when he reluctantly stepped forward.

"Congratulate my baby boy on his achievement." Michael demanded, pushing Ashton in front of Luke who still had Charlie and Calum weighing him down.

"What achievement?" Ashton laughed, unable to see the seriousness of Michael's expression because he was faced towards Luke.

"He's a man now." Michael stated.

"Okay? Why has he just now become a man?"

"He's had his first real heartbreak."

"What?" Ashton said, turning to Michael in disbelief. He'd been so focused on school that he hadn't heard Luke found someone.

This gave Luke enough time to slip out of the hug and attempt an escape. He managed to dodge Ashton's mum on the way out, which had to be at least level seventy sneak considering how smoothly it went.

Luke was puffing into the cold night air now, unsure of where to go from here. How to even process what had happened was beyond him at this point. He just knew he needed to escape.

Naturally, all black clothes made it easier to disappear when things were already so dark. He took a route around to the back of the school just because he knew that his friends wouldn't think of that path.

× × × ×

"I didn't know Luke met a boy, who is he? Should I beat him up for hurting Luke?" Ashton asked, mind going a million miles a minute, trying to think of a face that he'd seen with or around Luke any time in the last week of school.

Michael gave the graduate a tight smile, "As funny as it would be to watch, I don't think you should beat yourself up. It won't solve anything."

Ashton's mouth opened slightly, having a hard time thinking of something to say. "Me?"

"Yeah, you. The idiot that trailed Luke along with these 'feelings' you had for him. The same idiot that started getting smitten with a girl right before he was ready to ask you out." Michael snapped, shaking his head.

"Here I was, at the start of the year thinking that Luke was just going to fuck with you when really I should have been looking out for the giraffe boy all along. Unbelievable." Michael muttered, stalking off just in time to see a peak of a silver blonde head disappear out of view and into the moonlit streets.

"Fuck."

× × × ×

"I'm only calling because I really need a smoke. I'm on the roof." Luke mumbled, hunched over with his phone pressed to his ear.

"Luke, I already know where you are. Honestly, where else would you be? But it's good to know you're calling to tell me you're okay and that I shouldn't worry."

Luke sniffed, "Now's not the time for jokes."

"Right, right. I'm sorry. I'll be up right after I drop Cal off at home. He's worried too, you know."

"Tell him I'll be alright." Luke whispered because it seemed right, a watery smile gracing him chapped lips.

"He says he'll be alright... yeah.... yeah, I know..... okay. Okay. I'll tell him... Calum says you're a dildo."

"Tell him I say I'd rather not be in a vagina at the moment but if I did it would be his sister's. KIDDING. Okay bye Michael, bye Calum!" Luke yelled frantically, hanging up the phone immediately because jokes like that were a death wish. As soon as his phone screen went dark again, he realized he was alone with his thoughts once more.

Sitting with his legs somewhat dangling off the ledge, he felt rather serene about the situation. Not that he would slide forward a foot or two and experience a short sky fall, just that one wrong move could make everything feel small and insignificant. He didn't want to go though, not over something like a broken heart. It would just break even more hearts.

The door to the roof opened with a rustic screech. Michael stepped onto the roof and spotted Luke, "You know in those chick flicks where they get cheated on or something so they crawl out onto the roof ledge outside their window and the mum or best friend comes out and sits with them. And they have a deep conversation and the strong female lead breaks down and cries and starts whining about how in love she is with the lead male character? That's you."

Luke scrunched his eyebrows at the comment but didn't say anything.

"What I mean to say is, don't be a bitch Luke." Michael reiterated, coming to sit down next to his blond friend. He crossed his legs and dug into his pants pocket, eventually pulling a slightly crushed pack of smokes and handing them to Luke.

Luke sighed, he'd gone cold turkey this entire time and felt like he couldn't breathe. It was probably just the sudden stress, but he was thankful that Michael didn't chide him about his bad habit.

He opened the small box to find only two cigarettes remaining and raised an eyebrow at Michael.

"Don't look at me like that, you left that pack out my house. My mum almost kicked my ass when she found it." Michael muttered, taking off his backpack.

Luke brought the first cigarette up to his lips and let it dangle there as he searched for his lighter, which he didn't have on him because it would make it easier for him to give in if the chance arose, like it had now.

He cursed naturally, although usually went his lighter went missing it wound up in Trick's pocket somehow. Today just wasn't his day.

Michael noticed Luke's struggle and told the boy he'd be right back. He returned about three minutes later with a hollowed out glass sphere with a lit candle in it.

"I snatched it off a restaurant's patio set." Michael stated, knowing that Luke would be curious about where he'd found it.

"Way to set the mood." Came Luke's muffled reply, cigarette still dangling from his lips. He chuckled though, bringing the candle up and lighting his cigarette on the tiny flame. The blond realized that it was a scented candle when the smell of apple cinnamon assaulted his nose as he took a breath.

He gave the candle back to Michael, unsure about whether or not he should set it down or just blow it out.

Michael returned to his spot sitting cross legged next to his best friend, he looked down at the candle and then over the edge while Luke took a long drag, familiar smoke filling his lungs.

"I kinda have the urge to drop it off the edge." Michael paused, looking down at the candle, the warm glow illuminating his pale skin and making heavy shadows swirl across the features on his face.

"Do it." Luke mumbled, feeling the same urge now.

Michael let go, glass sphere turning in the air and the flames diminished. Neither Luke nor Michael could see the glass orb descending, and they both waited calmly to hear the sound of it shattering against the pavement below. There was a soft pop noise, kind of like a light bulb going out. Luke imagined it was the kind of sound someone would make if their feelings were hurt. A soft sort of fizzle followed by a pop, unsure if it was purely a chemical reaction in the brain or if it was the wounded heart.

"Are you going to be okay, Luke?" Michael asked some time later, after the two of them had switched their gazes upwards to the dusty deep blue sky.

The stars looked less bright today, matching Luke's smile as him and Michael talked about nothing and everything like they always did when they sat up here in the middle of a sleeping city.

This time around, Luke felt dull, for obvious reasons. He didn't want to though, he didn't want to feel crushed about something like that. He wanted to be strong, emotionless, numb. But he knew that life wouldn't be as interesting if he didn't feel anything anymore. Luke wouldn't be able to enjoy the small things that daily routine brought him. He'd miss out on the warmth that came with making someone smile, and that truly was a special feeling. Especially with someone that had a smile as bright and heartwarming as Ashton's.

"I think so." Luke nodded, breathing out a sigh. He tossed the last unlit cigarette off the roof and stood. He helped Michael up and the pair descended back down to the cracked sidewalk outside of the building.

"Well, there's only one thing we can do at a time like this." Michael admitted, raising his arms up wide towards Luke.

"A hug?" Luke asked skeptically.

"No dimwit, get drunk." Michael stated, rolling his eyes at the blond.

The tall boy in front of him nodded in realization, deciding that getting drunk was a reasonable thing to do now.

When Luke started walking though, Michael knocked the blond into the unkempt grass. Giving Luke exactly what he needed right now even if he didn't know it at the time.

Michael continued to embrace Luke, their clothes soaked up the dew that had settled on the grass while they sat on the roof. When Luke tried to sit up, Michael tightened his grip on the boy and held him close for a long moment.

"Thanks. You're a really great friend, you know that right?" Luke whispered.

"I'd like to be more than a great friend." Michael whispered back, inches from Luke's face.

"What?" Luke replied, entirely dumbfounded by Michael's change in tone.

"I'm joking. God, you should have seen your face. Priceless." Michael snorted, unable to be serious when his best friend was so upset.

"Luke."

The blond raised his eyebrows at the considerably paler boy.

"I've got a boyfriend, stop trying to make a pass at me please." Michael said, he continued laugh at the expressions Luke was throwing his way as they clamored out of the damp grass.

"I'm sorry, but I'm looking for someone more lively. But you do remind me of someone..." Luke admitted, pretending to really look at Michael while he thought.

"Really, who?"

"Oh! I know!" Luke smiled excitedly, "If you shaved your head, you'd look exactly like Caspar the friendly ghost!"

Michael's excited look morphed into a furrowed eyebrows. "Wow. Thanks Luke, so glad I'm friends with you."

He flashed Luke an over the top smile in the dim lighting of the moon, "Go fuck yourself, Mucus."

A/N: I've missed you guys, with school and zero motivation for anything, I kinda wandered off. I hope you've all been well.

How's the new year treating you?