GERMINATE

Ashton

Ashton had no idea what to do.

He sat curled up in the corner of his bad, staring at Niall with wide eyes. "Niall," he breathed.

Niall sat on the edge of the mattress, Ashton flinching when the bed shifted. "I missed you."

Ashton couldn't speak. He just stared at him with wide eyes.

"You missed me, too," Niall said, looking down and tracing the blanket with his finger for a moment before looking up at him. "You did miss me, right?"

Ashton looked around nervously and licked his lips. "I, uh-"

Niall's expression darkened. "Ashton?"

"I missed you," Ashton whispered, terrified. "So much."

Niall's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he let it slide. "Met Lou, then, did ya?"

Ashton had to remind himself that Niall only knew about Louis because Ashton himself did. "Yeah," he said, fighting to keep his voice steady. "Interesting character."

"Possessive," Niall commented.

"Yeah, that, I guess."

Niall sighed. "You don't want me here with you, do you?"

Ashton shook his head. "No, no, not really."

Niall's frown deepened. "This is why I never wanted to leave," he murmured. "If I left, you'd never want me back."

Ashton just wanted to know how he could get him the hell away.

The door suddenly opened, and Niall jumped off the bed and went to stand in the corner of the room opposite of Ashton.

A nice lady with bright red hair walked in. "Here's your medicine, Ashton," she said, bringing in a tray with a glass of water and the allotted number of pills.

"I dare you to take it," Niall growled from the corner.

Ashton's breath hitched in his throat and he stared at Niall with a horrified expression. "I-"

The lady followed his gaze. "Ashton? Is everything alright?"

Ashton couldn't read his eyes away from Niall's. "Fine," he choked.

"Take it. Get rid of me. Make me pissed off. I'll be killing you next time I come back," he threatened.

The lady started to leave, and Niall started to advance.

"Wait!" Ashton squeaked, and both Niall and the red-head stopped.

"Yes?"

"Can you, can you stay until the medicine works?" Ashton asked, swiping the pills and downing them with the water.

Confused, the lady nodded, standing near him.

He clutched the sides of the table tightly, panting and watching Niall in the corner.

"You'll regret this," he said, his voice deathly calm.

Ashton shook his head. "I don't think so," he whispered.

Niall glared at him, furious.

"Ashton?"

Ashton turned to look at the lady. "Yeah?" he asked.

She picked up the tray. "Is everything alright?"

Ashton glanced back at the corner. Niall was gone for now. "For now," he replied.

The lady looked concerned, but she nodded and walked out.

Ashton collapsed back onto his bed and rubbed his face, groaning into his hands.

"I hope Harry's okay," he whispered to himself.

-

"What's up with you and Luke?" Clover asked, sitting next to him on the couch.

Michael didn't even look away from the TV. "Go away."

"Nah, I'm comfortable," she said, poking Michael in the side, causing him to flinch and glare at her.

"I said go."

"And I said no. Hey, that rhymes!" she said, giggling.

Usually, he enjoyed bantering with Clover, but he really wasn't in the mood. "Find someone else to annoy," he growled, turning back to the TV.

"That's just it, there is nobody else. Hazelle is visiting Harry in the hospital, Calum is with Zayn, Ashton's off in a room somewhere, and Luke-"

"Go talk to Luke about this, not me."

"So there is something going on."

Michael got up. "I'm not talking about this with you," he said, starting to walk out.

Clover jumped up and followed him. "Why are you ignoring him?"

Michael froze. "I'm not ignoring him," he said uncertainly.

"That's not what Luke said."

He turned around. "What did Luke say?"

"I thought we weren't talking about this," she smirked.

"Damn it, Clover-"

"He said he doesn't understand why you're suddenly treating him like he has the plague, and he's too scared to talk to you about it. What the hell happened?" Clover demanded.

Michael was at loss. "I... I didn't... I'm not... The plague?"

Clover's voice was soft when she said, "Just talk to him. Please. He's dying. He can't stand the silence. Don't push him too far." Her eyes dropped to her own covered wrists. "Don't push him there."

Michael swallowed hard. "I'll... I'll go talk to him."

Clover just nodded, still looking down at her fingers.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, are you okay?"

Clover shrugged. "I don't know. I don't like to think about it."

"Have you..." he trailed off, unsure how to appropriately ask the question.

She shook her head. "No," she whispered, tugging her sleeves back enough to show him the scars. "Not since... not for a while." She looked up at him with wide eyes. "Don't push him," she pleaded.

Michael nodded. "I won't. I promise."

Clover nodded. "I promised Hazelle I'd join her visit to Harry," she said. "See you at dinner?"

"Yeah."

Clover hurried off, tugging her sleeves back down, and Michael watched her go for a moment before walking to back to his own room, his heart thumping.

Why was he nervous?

He cracked the door open and looked in. Luke was sitting in the corner, as usual, scribbling away at his notebook, his nose crinkled in concentration, his teeth pulling his bottom lip.

Michael opened the door, and Luke jumped, shoving his notebook under his pillow. "Michael."

Michael waved lamely. "Hi."

They stared at each other for a long moment before Michael blurted, "I'm sorry for treating you like you had the plague."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "The plague?"

"Never mind. I'm... I'm sorry for being a jerk. I'm sorry. I'm fucking sorry for ignoring you. I'm sorry for avoiding you. I-"

"It's okay."

Michael's eyebrows shot up. "Just like that?"

Luke nodded. "Just like that." He shrugged. "It was only for three days..."

Michael felt awful. "Luke..."

"It's not a big deal. I had Clover to talk to," he said, fiddling with the bracelets on his wrist.

Michael's eyes automatically went to his wrists, and he silently prayed that they were clear. "I'm a fucking idiot."

"Yeah, you are."

"Did you at least write a poem about how idiotic I am?" Michael asked before he could check himself.

Aw fuck, why did he have to be such an asshole?

Luke's expression closed off, and Michael's heart dropped.

"Sorry," he said.

Luke shrugged. "S'okay."

"No, it's not," Michael sighed. "Listen... I just... I default asshole. I just. It's me. Be a dick to others so they can't be a dick to you. I don't... I don't mean to be mean, I just kind of am. I don't want to be mean to you. I, I'm sorry, I'm a bad person... Don't just... I... You should ignore me, I suck, you should just punch me in the face... I-"

"I liked it better when you were ignoring me," Luke interrupted.

Michael's mouth almost dropped open. "What? Why?"

"At least you were being honest," he said, grabbing his notebook and walking past Michael, brushing past him on his way out.

Michael stood in the doorway, speechless, before he finally managed to fall onto his bed and groan into his pillow.

He hated himself for hurting Luke.

If Luke had gone that far, if Luke had hurt himself, Michael wouldn't have ever been able to forgive himself.

He sat up and looked at Luke's empty bed, spotting a scrap of paper sitting on the sheets.

He knew he shouldn't. He knew he'd already bothered Luke enough and he shouldn't look at the paper, but Michael had impulse issues.

He walked over and grabbed the paper, reading Luke's messy scrawl:

I pierced my lip
So he thinks I'm cool
I ripped my jeans
And dropped out of school

"Michael?"

He dropped the paper as though it were a thousand degrees and turned to see Clover standing in the doorway. "What did you say to Luke?" she demanded.

"I just tried to apologize!" he exclaimed desperately.

Clover studied his expression for a long minute before saying, "Well, you did a shit job of it."

"I'm bad at apologizing!"

"Then get better at it really quick. I can only talk him out of it for so long."

Michael was horrified. "He didn't-" he choked.

Clover pressed her lips into a tight line. "Not yet," she murmured. "But you're running out of time."

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck," Michael said.

Clover rolled her eyes. "Poetic. Real poetic. I can't visit Harry now cos I have to take care of Luke."

"I-"

"Just apologize! It's not that hard." She turned and left.

"It is," he whispered to himself, staring at the floor, tears starting to prick his eyes. "I'm trying... I swear..."

-

[A/N: Muke wasn't an original plan of mine, I was planning on having no romances, but... thoughts?]