AN: I wanted to put this really cute Lashton gif in the photos thing, but I have to show this awesome cover made by Ashton_Moans first >w<

You sack of potatoes better comment [jk you're not potatoes. You are all very lovely people. Please don't hate me ): You don't need to comment.]

Dedication: Harry_Tomlinson_OTP [I really loved your message, thank you (: x]

The entire ride to the radio station, Luke didn't talk to me once. He didn't even look at me. He was either on his phone, staring out the window, or discussing things with Michael. I, on the other hand, was going through a more difficult time trying to deal with all of this than he was.

A part of me wanted to talk to him, but I kept trying to convince myself that there was no point in even trying to start up a conversation with Luke. He's just going to either ignore me or glare at me to shut up.

I also noticed that Michael seemed to be upset with me. Is he still upset that I ran off earlier this morning and lost extra time for him to get breakfast? Well, I'm back now, aren't I? He needs to relax. We can get something to eat after the interview.

At the moment, I was currently sitting in this really comfortable swivel chair with a microphone in front of me and headphones placed on my head. On the opposite side of the table that I was sitting at were two radio hosts named Jay and Rod. Rod was a middle-aged man with curly brown hair and Jay was a blonde who didn't look older than twenty-five. There were camera men at each corner of the room, aimed at either me or the radio hosts.

My eyes wandered to the window that separated the room I was in from the control room where Michael and Luke stood along with some other people who worked at the radio station. My manager was chatting with one of the worker people and Luke was just looking back in between the two, his eyes never glancing up at me at all.

Then when the worker guy looked past the window and gave a thumbs up at the radio host, Michael's eyes were then on me and so were Luke's. Upon seeing my bodyguard's blue eyes, I quickly averted my gaze away from the window, staring at the microphone in front of me while my cheeks started to burn a bit.

"Hey, what up!" said Rod and I immediately put a smile on my face. "It is eleven minutes after ten. This is Jay and Rod on the radio and you're listening to KRAP."

I couldn't help but grin wider in amusement at the choice of radio station name. Who in the world came up with the name KRAP?

"Today with us is a special guest," Jay began, "and I'm sure you all know who he is. If you don't, you better go listen to his hit single! Here's everyone's favorite Australian singer, Ashton Irwin!"

"Hey, it's good to be here," I spoke in the microphone, but really I just wanted to be in the hotel under the blankets and asleep forever.

"He'll be joining us for an hour and if any of you Ashton fans want to talk to him or ask him questions, go ahead and call us up."

"So, Ashton," Rod said, "I heard your album is coming out soon, am I correct?"

"Yeah," I responded. "I'm pretty excited for its release date. I know my fans will love it."

"And you've been co-writing with Calum Hood, right?"

"I have."

"How is he doing? I heard he's in the hospital. Is he recovering well?"

"He's doing great." I briefly glanced over at Michael whose head was hanging low, his face completely blank. I haven't seen Calum since he was taken to the hospital. I don't think any of us have, and I'm sure my manager is worried about him.

"And you also seemed to have made a new friend during your time here in California," Jay said and I looked over at her, my smile still plastered on my lips. "He's become quite popular ever since he started hanging out with you. He's very easy on the eyes, isn't he?"

Hell yeah, he is.

"He's okay looking," I answered instead as I shrugged. "But I think I'm much hotter than he is."

"You two are both equally attractive," Rod said, "and this is coming from a straight guy."

The two hosts started laughing and I didn't find it funny at all, but I just laughed weakly anyway.

"You should have him join us for this interview!" Jay suggested, and it was very bad suggestion, too. "I'm sure your fans would love to get to know a little bit more about him."

"N-No, I don't think he'd like that," I responded, my smile faltering just the slightest bit. The blonde ignored me as she glanced over in the direction of the control room and asked if Luke wanted to join us.

My bodyguard leaned over a microphone and replied, "This interview is solely about Ashton Irwin. I wish to kindly decline your offer, thank you."

Even though I didn't like how he was addressing me formally, the way how he said my name in a professional way sent shivers up and down my spine. It was so smooth, and it sounded so soothing to hear.

"It won't even last too long," Rod insisted. "Come on, man. Do it for the fans listening to the radio!"

Luke thought for a moment before Michael looked up at him, telling him something. After their little chat, Luke left his spot and went through the door that connected the control room and the studio room. The two radio hosts were cheering as Luke casually took a seat beside me, picking up a pair of headphones in front of him and positioning them over his head.

"Thank you so much," Jay said with a large smile and Luke leaned slightly over the table as his arms crossed on top of it. "What's your name? Tell us."

"Apparently, it's Lucifer according to Ashton in his interview with Cara," he said, not turning his head to look at me. He kept his eyes fixed on Jay. "But I usually go by Luke, my given name."

Rod looked over at me. "So from what I remember, Luke saved you from kidnappers. And ever since then, you two have been inseparable ever since."

"You're saying that like Luke and I are friends," I said, raising an eyebrow.

He blinked at me. "Aren't you?"

"Not at all," Luke answered. "I'm only his bodyguard. Nothing more."

"Aw, what a shame," Jay said with a pout. "You two are so perfect together."

I stared down at my hands that had moved to my lap and I felt blush creep to my cheeks. My eyes glanced up at Luke, but his head was facing away from me so I couldn't see his expression.

"Look, you two are blushing," the brunet host cooed. "You guys must agree with us."

"N-No, we don't," I said as I looked at the two hosts who were smiling at us, my face now in full view of the cameras that were pointed at me. "It was just something unexpected of you to say, that's all."

"I don't feel comfortable with this topic," Luke commented. "May you go on to another thing to talk about?"

"Well, we are getting a caller," Jay said as she pressed a button. "Hi, you're talking with Jay, Rod, Ashton, and Luke on KRAP. Who's this?"

"Renee," said the girl on the other end of the phone.

"Hi, Renee. You got anything you want to say to Ashton or his bodyguard?"

"Ashton, hi! I'm, like, so in love with you and your work!"

"Aw, thank you," I replied, smiling.

"I also want to say that your bodyguard is hot and I'm speaking for everyone when I say this."

"Thanks, Renee," Luke said, "but if anyone's hot, it's Cameron Dallas."

That made me frown. Who the hell is this Cameron Dallas that he's talking about?

"Oh, my God! Yes!" Renee chirped. "He's hot, too!"

I rolled my eyes and Luke chuckled. Then I spoke up in the microphone, "Anything else you want to say to us?"

"Actually, I have just one more thing to say."

"Go ahead and say it."

"I want to say that no matter what happens, I will always support you, and so will a majority of your fans. We all love you and we will always be huge fans of you, Ashton."

I smiled, laughing a bit. "Thanks."

"So I hope you and Luke come out very soon. Bye!"

My smile fell and my face became red again. "Wait, what? W-We're not together!"

But the line had already been cut off before Renee could even hear my last words.

"Well, that certainly took an interesting turn of events," Jay commented and she and Rod started laughing. I glanced over at Luke and saw that he had an elbow against the table, his face in his hand as he shook his head. "Now we're going to take a brief commercial break and we'll be back."

Rod sent a signal to the man in the control room and the two hosts removed their headphones, probably meaning the station was on commercials now.

Michael looked as if he was laughing where he was and Luke abruptly stood up, practically throwing the headphones down against the table and storming out of the room.

I would've ran after him, but he was just going to snap at me again, so I remained in my spot as the two hosts started telling me it was nice to have me on the show, but it was anything but nice to me.

I just gave them a curt nod before leaving the studio room and going into the control room where Michael was. Even Luke wasn't in the room, but I knew that he wasn't dumb enough to get lost.

"Oh, that Renee girl thought you and Luke were together," Michael said as he continued laughing some more. "I'm crying from laughing."

"Y-Yeah. Funny," I mumbled weakly.

I wished we really were together.

------

After the radio interview, we had a couple of hours to spare before we had to go off to the Q&A session. So we decided to eat lunch, Michael eating a lot of food considering he was pretty upset about how we missed breakfast. Luke was seated beside Michael, eating moderately the same as he has always been and I barely touched my food.

"So what was so important about last night that made you skip the meeting?" Michael asked rather bitterly.

I glanced up at him, cocking an eyebrow. "What meeting?"

"The meeting about the tour you're going to start in July. Of course, you wouldn't know what meeting I was talking about. You never attended it."

"... Crap, that was last night?"

"Yeah. Was. I had to convince the people there to have it postponed. We all waited two hours for you, Ashton, and you never came by. What were you even doing that was more important than your career?"

Drinking until my mind couldn't function properly. But I couldn't just tell him that. He'd be even more upset with me.

"I-I can't remember," I mumbled.

"So what you're telling me is that you'd rather do nothing than go to an important meeting?" Michael snapped. "Do you not care about your career?"

"I do care about my career!" I abruptly stood up from my spot and slammed my hands down on the table. "I care about it a lot!"

"Then prove to me and everyone else that you care! Be more responsible! You don't need to be babied anymore! You're twenty, for God's sake!"

"Why are you so mad?! All you did was postpone the meeting, right?"

"You're missing the damn point, Irwin." Michael jumped onto his feet. We were no doubt causing a scene in the restaurant and we were bound to get kicked out, but Michael started it! It's on him if we're thrown out of here. "Why can't you learn to take care of what you need to do? You can't even take care of yourself!"

"Yes, I can!" I shouted and now Luke was standing.

"Yeah? Then why do you think I hired Luke, huh? You almost let yourself get kidnapped, that's why!"

"The first time was because I had to get my jacket from Chels and Frederick wouldn't answer my calls and I decided to walk to her place myself!"

"Why would you, one of the most famous celebrities in the world, walk around in the night of Hollywood just to get a freaking jacket?!"

"It was one time!"

"You almost got kidnapped twice!"

"Actually, about five times," Luke corrected, making my blood boil.

I glared at him before I snapped, "You're not helping at all, Hemmings!" Then my scowl was now directed to Michael. "I can be more responsible! I can take care of what needs to be done and I can certainly take care of myself! This argument is completely pointless and frankly it's pissing me off! Just get off my back already!"

Michael fumed at me before he sat down in his seat, grumbling, "If there's one thing you're responsible for, it's Calum getting shot."

That. Was. It.

I picked up my glass of water and threw the water at my manager, the entire restaurant gasping loudly.

However, the water didn't hit Michael, but Luke since he had jumped in front of Michael and shielded him.

My mouth fell open at how drenched the back of Luke's blazer became. He slowly moved away from Michael who didn't get hit by any of the water and glared at me. But since I had completely missed Michael, anger took over my shocked expression.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Luke yelled as he removed his jacket and plopped it down onto his seat. "This isn't a rational thing to do!"

"He's not being rational!" I shouted, pointing at Michael whose head was dipped down. "Calum getting shot and sent to the hospital was not my fault! Michael's just being a dolt!"

My bodyguard let out a sigh. "This is going to be all over the news, no doubt."

My manager started to chuckle weakly. "Ashton wouldn't care. He cares about nothing but himself. Besides, he loves the attention anyway."

This time I was about to try to dump my uneaten lunch all over Michael, but Luke's hands had gripped both of my wrists before I could even get a hold of the plate, restraining me from moving.

"Unhand me!" I shouted, and Luke pulled my hands together so that now he was only holding my wrists with one hand. "Damn it, Luke! Let go!"

"I'm not allowing you to act like a child any longer!" my bodyguard shouted. Then his eyes glared upwards at the people around. "What are you all staring at? Mind your own fucking business!" Once everyone had averted their gaze from us, he looked back at me with a scowl. "You can't just do something like that, Ashton."

"Why are you protecting him?!" I shouted. "You're my bodyguard! Not his! You're supposed to be protecting me!"

Michael snickered. "Obviously it's because he likes me way more than you."

Now that last bit made my heart hurt, but then that hurt was soon replaced with anger and I wanted to beat the absolute crap out of Michael now.

Who the hell did he think he was?! Why the hell was he acting like this?!

I managed to pull one hand out of Luke's grasp as I tried to claw at Michael, but Luke used his free hand to pull me back and away from the table. Then he forced me to face him, angering me even more that he wasn't letting me hit Michael.

I shouted, "Why'd you stop me?! Let me hi-"

My words got cut off when my head was snapped to the side, a stinging feeling on my face.

I stared up at him with shocked eyes, my mouth agape at what had just happened.

Luke just slapped me.

"Snap out of it!" Luke yelled. "This isn't right, Ashton! I don't like how either of you are behaving. For people who are in their twenties, you act like such little kids."

I was unable to come up with anything to say. It seemed like when Luke hit me, everything that I wanted to say had flown out of my head and were gone.

But how he was only scolding me about this hurt. My eyes glanced over at Michael who was staring blankly at the table top, all anger gone from his expression. I looked back at Luke, but my gaze fell to the ground when my vision became blurred from tears that I tried to will away.

Remembering what Michael had said not too long ago, about how Luke liked him more than me... Th-That wasn't true. He was just trying to make me mad (and it worked). But now that I thought about it...

Luke slapped me. He yelled at me. He kept me from attacking Michael. He jumped in between me and my manager before the drink could hit Michael.

"Do you like Michael more?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Luke raised an eyebrow. "This isn't a matter of whom I like more. You both are being immature and I will not tolerate it."

"Then why me?"

"What are you talking about now?"

I glared up at him. "Why are you scolding me?! He started it! He pushed my buttons, yet I'm the one that gets smacked!"

"I don't care who started it. I understand that some of the things that Michael said to you were not good, but your actions were no better." He slowly let go of me and I dropped my arms to my side. "I'm disappointed in both of you."

After that, Luke went back over to Michael, sitting beside him and asking if he was okay. My heart started to hurt and I stepped away from the table the two were sitting at before I ran off towards the restroom.

I pushed the bathroom door open, making it hit the tiled wall hard but I didn't care. I ran up to the sink and glared at my reflection, my hands gripping the edge of the counter tightly. My cheek had turned red from where Luke slapped me and my eyes were starting to become too filled with tears.

"Stupid Michael," I grumbled, turning the faucet on and cupping my hands under the running water. "What the hell happened to him today? He started it, blowing up at me first! I hate him." I splashed the water over my face, my eyes shut to prevent the water from getting into my red eyes.

"And that idiot, Luke," I continued. "He protected Michael and not me. He's my bodyguard, not Michael's. I hate Luke. I hate him so much."

But I don't. I did before, but I don't now and I don't think I can.

I leaned over the sink, the water still running and I let some of the tears fall, soft and quiet sobs leaving me. My heart hurt--it's been doing that a lot lately. I don't know how much more I could take of this emotional pain.

The restroom door opened and my head snapped up, my eyes looking through the mirror to see Luke walk in. I groaned and rolled my eyes before I wiped at them with the back of my arm.

"What, are you going to yell at me some more?" I growled, keeping my head low so he wouldn't see my face.

"Michael sent me," Luke explained. "He wanted me to check up on you."

"Yeah, right. He doesn't give a damn." I let my hands go underneath the water once again, splashing my face with the cold fluid.

"I'm serious. And I wanted to make sure you were okay, too."

That's rich, I thought. "I don't need to be checked on. Go away and go back to Michael since you clearly care more about him."

"No."

"I said, go away! That's an order!"

"I don't take orders from you. My job is to protect you."

I scoffed. "You did one hell of a job with that a few minutes ago."

Luke inhaled deeply before releasing a heavy sigh. "I'm trying my best to not get mad at you right now."

"Go ahead," I challenged, glaring at his reflection as his stared back at mine. "Get mad at me. I dare you, Hemmings! You already did it plenty of times before! I can deal with it again!"

No, I can't.

I continued, "Why do you even care about me? You're just my bodyguard, remember? You're nothing more than that and you'll never be..." I choked on my own words, looking down into the sink as the tears started to well up in my eyes again. The memory of our argument this morning filled my mind, how Luke had told me we were strictly bodyguard and some famous person. "... anything... more..."

Suddenly, I felt Luke's presence directly behind me as he placed his arms around my waist, his body leaning against mine as his chin hooked over my shoulder. I kept my eyes from shooting open, but my heart started to beat faster.

"About this morning," Luke spoke in a really calm voice, "I think we need to talk about it."

"G-Go away, Luke," I murmured, not wanting to hear anything from him.

"I owe you an explanation."

"I s-said go away."

"Listen to me--"

"Pl-Please, Luke..."

"-- princess."

That's when I widened my eyes, the tears that brimmed now cascading down my cheek. I immediately closed my mouth and let him continue.

"I truly care about you, princess," Luke said, gulping before he went on. "I... L-Last night, you told me you liked me and you wanted me to kiss you and you were just being really forward. You even tried having dry sex with me."

I felt my cheeks redden and he chuckled. "But you were drunk. I couldn't take advantage of you like that. I wanted our first kiss to be special, but that didn't happen, did it? I told you to remind me the next day about our conversation we had last night, but I knew you wouldn't remember considering you were drunk out of your mind.

"The reason why I'm not bringing this up until now is because... I didn't want to take the next step in what the hell our relationship is. I didn't kiss you, because I was scared to care about you more than I already do. I tried to push you away, but I ended up hurting you and just making everything worse."

His arms tightened around me. "You ran away, and I almost lost you again. I'm so glad that I saw you in time before that man took you away from me.

"I cannot change anything that happened, but I want to make it up to you." Luke brought his hand up to lift my chin and make me face him. "I never want to be the cause of your unhappy tears again."

He licked his lips and I unintentionally did the same. He started to lean in and I did as well, but instead he placed his forehead against mine.

"I want to kiss you, princess," Luke whispered, "and this time, we're doing it the right way."

"O-Okay," I whispered, turning myself around in his arms that were once again secure around my waist. I placed mine around his neck and pulled him down towards me, but he stopped by bringing one finger up to my lips.

"I forgot to mention," he said. "Whenever you take the initiative, it makes me nervous. So let me lead."

I simply laughed. "All right, then. Go ahead."

Luke brought his arm back on my waist and he leaned in as both of our eyes fluttered closed. It seemed almost like forever before I finally felt his lips press gently on top of mine.

He started to lean against me so my back was arched backwards and over the sink. Since the water was still running, Luke brought one hand towards the handle and shut the faucet off. His hand then when up to my hair, getting his fingers tangled in it.

He deepened the kiss by moving our lips together in sync, tilting his head to the side. I let my own fingers run through his blond hair that wasn't styled in its usual quiff. His lip ring was the only other thing I felt on my lips since it was cold, and that made the kiss all the better.

When he pulled away I slowly opened my eyes to see his blue ones and we both broke into these large smiles. He pressed another kiss to the tip of my nose and he pulled me into a hug, my arms around him growing tighter.

"To respond to your drunken confession last night," Luke said, "I like you, too."

After it felt like Luke was putting my heart that broke into a million pieces back together again.

"Lukey?" I spoke and he hummed, letting me know that he was listening. "A-About how I was acting back at the h-hotel, I... I'm s-sorr... so-sorr--"

"You've never apologized before, princess, have you?" he asked and I shook my head. His hold on me grew. "It's okay. It's not your fault. You don't need to apologize. It was all mine. I take full responsibility. I'm so--"

"No. I want to apologize."

Luke chuckled in amusement and I felt him nod his head. "Okay, princess. I know you can do it. I believe in you."

"I'm s... so... sor--" I took in a deep breath, pressing my face into his neck as I finally managed to say it. "I-I'm s-sorry, Lukey."

"It's okay, princess. Everything's okay." We drew away slightly until we were facing each other and he started to bring his face closer to mine. "You're okay, and I'm so proud of you."

The sound of the door opening again was heard and Luke immediately pressed my face into his shirt as he turned around slightly.

"Do you mind?" he snapped at whomever walked into the restroom. "We're having a moment here."

"Chill, man," the person said, "I really need to go."

"Go in a bush or something. We're busy."

"Whatever, weirdos." The guy left and I moved my face away from his dress shirt, looking up at him with large eyes.

Luke brought his hand up to my face, brushing his thumb against my cheek. "I'd apologize for slapping your cute face, but you needed to get your senses back."

I nodded, biting my bottom lip after saying, "Understandable."

We were back to hugging again and were silent for a moment. I was just glad that I was on good terms with Luke again--and even better, I found out that he likes me back.

"What are we now, Lukey?" I asked.

"It depends, princess," he answered. "What do you want us to be?"

"T-Together."

He made a quiet laugh. "Then together we shall be."

------

AN: The beginning was so boring, the Mashton fight was so random, and Lashton are together finally. Together in a short amount of time, too. Was that bad?

Michael is good, I swear. He's just cranky and on his man period, that's all.

Anyway, thoughts? Comments? Predictions?

I hope this chapter was worth your time c: Until next time! x