It's true

You need a heart to move

And my heart, it belongs to you

-Painting Roses by Dresses

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Date #2

"Ashton! Come here!"

Ashton bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. He was still in his pajamas and Luke thought he looked so sweet with his curls all over place and his cheeks still pink. "What's up, Lukey?"

"It's your turn to pick," Luke replied and motioned to the list hanging on their fridge.

"Oh, yay!" Ashton took the list to their kitchen counter and read over his options. Luke figured it would take him a while to pick so he started to make himself coffee and waffles.

About two minutes later Ashton yelled, "I got it!" at the same time as the toaster popped up Luke's waffles, and the combination of the two noises startled Luke so much he almost spilled his coffee. Ashton blushed and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, Lukey."

Luke smiled and wrapped his arm around Ashton's shoulder, kissing the top of his head and said, "It's okay, sweet pea. What did you pick out?"

Ashton grinned, "Okay so I think that since it's such a beautiful day outside that we should go on a picnic date! We can go to that cute meadow by the golf course and make food and it'll be fun!"

Luke was overwhelmed by the fondness he felt towards his boy as he nodded and said, "Sounds amazing. When do you wanna go?"

"I think we should go at noon and spend an hour or two or three or four there," Ashton said, smiling sheepishly.

"Alright, who's making the food?"

"I think we should do it together, unless your lazy bum opts out," Ashton said and giggled when Luke pulled an appalled expression and lightly pushed Ashton in the shoulder.

"Don't be fucking rude!" he said, imitating Kim Kardashian and Ashton burst into a fit of laughter.

"Dork," he said and jumped off his seat to press a quick kiss to Luke's lips. Luke hummed and pulled Ashton back in for another, longer kiss.

"C'mon, let's make some sandwiches."

***

After the food was made and packed in a big lunch bag (they- sadly- did not have an actual picnic basket) and the couple was dressed and ready they left for the meadow.

Luke had also thrown his guitar in the backseat of the car in case they were feeling in the mood for a little music.

Luke couldn't help but admire how adorable his boyfriend is, he had laid the seat back a little and was enjoying the wind coming through the window and the music that was playing. He was wearing a pair of cute denim shorts and a pink shirt with Winnie the Pooh embroidered over the breast that he found at Good Will.

Luke couldn't tell if Ashton was watching him glance between him and the road because of the sunglasses he was wearing.

Luke pulled into the parking lot of the golf course and Ashton popped up and out of the car immediately. He opened the back door of the car and grabbed the lunch bag and the big blanket they brought. Luke grabbed his guitar and Ashton's hand as they started to walk towards the pretty meadow on the other side of the golf course.

Ashton was practically skipping- he loves things like this. He's always been hopelessly romantic and puts his whole heart into everything and everyone he meets and that is one of the many things Luke loves about Ashton.

"I'm so excited, Lukey!" he shouted and bounced on his toes.

Luke kissed the back of his hand, "Me too, lovebug."

Once they finally made it to the meadow and laid out their blanket Luke's stomach was growling. Ashton pulled out the cute little pb&j sandwiches the two had made and handed some to his boyfriend who ate one in about two bites.

"Someone's hungry," Ashton said and laughed when Luke grunted through a mouthful of his second sandwich.

The couple had packed a few particularly adorable foods: the tiny sandwiches, watermelon chunks they had used a cookie cutter to shape into hearts, cheese slices and crackers, fudge striped cookies (because Ashton absolutely adores them), and juice boxes.

After a while the couple ended up laying down next to each other, feeding the other watermelon pieces. Ashton had his head laid on Luke's shoulder, looking up and into his boyfriend's pretty blue eyes as he was being told a story about Luke's childhood vacations to a lakeside cabin. He was both listening and admiring the way the sun illuminated Luke's already bright eyes and softened the curve of his upper lip and the normally sharp cut of his jaw.

Ashton loves everything about Luke and hopes to be with him for forever, or as close to that as he can get.

Once there was a lull in Luke's storytelling and they were simply laying together, enjoying each other's presence and embrace, Ashton spoke up, "Will you play something for me, Lukey?"

"Of course, angel. What do you want to hear?" he replied, sitting up to grab his guitar.

"I don't know, just play something cute."

Luke nodded and then thought for a moment, before he started to strum a chord. Ashton listened intently, and watched Luke just as closely. (song in the media)

We were out painting roses red without accomplishment

When a thorn caught the thread of my skin

And it unravelled like binding from a bible

Only to discover my flesh failed at survival

Ashton's eyes and ears perked up as he recognized the song Luke was playing and he snapped a photo of Luke playing his guitar.

Well I don't know about you

But when I am alone my body feels dysfunctional

It's true
Do you,
Do you think I'm a fool?

I came home again to an empty bed

And all the sheets were thrown and on the floor

Like a crazy man had got 'em, took out all his problems

Only to discover he's right back where he started

Ashton began to sing the higher harmonies sung by the girl in the song and Luke looked up from his guitar and grinned at his lover.

I don't know about you

But when I am alone my body feels dysfunctional

It's true
Do you,
Do you think I'm a fool?

I tell myself I'm not one, I am only human

Right, then why don't I feel whole?

Cuz if home is where the heart is then I feel pretty stupid,

My heart lies in your bones

Do you think that I'm dumb?

Cuz I call it love, love
I call it love

Well I don't know about you

But when I am alone my body is dysfunctional

It's true

You need a heart to move

And my heart, it belongs to you

I tell myself I'm not a person who would need some one

Then why do I feel alone?

Cuz if home is where the heart is then I feel pretty stupid

You were meant for me all along

Do you think that I'm dumb?

Cuz I call it love, love
I call it love

Luke put his guitar to the side and reached forward to pull Ashton towards him by his waist. He brought their lips together and hummed in approval when Ashton climbed into his lap, straddling his hips.

In between kisses Luke said, "I love you."

After a few more breathless kisses Ashton replied, "I love you, too," and kissed Luke's forehead. Ashton grinned down at his boyfriend and Luke pressed a chaste kiss to Ashton's jaw.

"Wanna make flower crowns?" Ashton asked with a smirk and jumped off of Luke's lap, to which Luke whined. "C'mon, loser."

Luke scoffed but followed Ashton to a particularly large area of wild flowers surrounding the meadow.

"These flowers are perfect! So pretty," Ashton said in awe as he rubbed his thumb and index finger over the petals of a daisy. "Okay, Lukey. Pick a bunch of flowers and then I'll help you make the crown!" Luke was once again overwhelmed by fondness.

The two picked flowers for a few minutes until they both had sizable handfuls of flowers. They went back and sat on their blanket and dumped their flowers in front of them.

"Okay, so watch how I do this and then you try. It's rather simple, but you're pretty clumsy and you have shaky hands," Ashton said and giggled when Luke pouted.

"Do not!" he protested, but Ashton simply nodded and kissed Luke's hand, that was in fact shaking.

"Yes you do, love. But it's okay, I love you." Then he began on the crown. He showed Luke the process of weaving the flowers together, and it took Luke a while to get it right, but he finally got the hang of it. By the end the two had colorful flower crowns tangled in their hair.

"We look so cute!" Ashton exclaimed, and Luke smiled. "Picture time!" Ashton took out his phone and first took a picture of just Luke because he just couldn't get enough of him. Then the two took a couple selfies and Luke insisted that he got to take pictures of Ashton since he took ones of him.

Ashton blushed but agreed.

"Lay in the grass, baby," Luke instructed and Ashton obeyed. Luke took a few pictures of his boyfriend smiling at the camera and then hiding his eyes in embarrassment. Luke poked his sides to elicit a little laughter so he could capture a cute candid of the boy, and he did. He also immediately set it at his screen saver.

After the little photoshoot the two just laid together again and watched the clouds.

"I had a lot of fun today," Ashton said quietly over the breeze. Luke had his fingers tangled in the backside of Ashton's curly head and he gently pushed Ashton's head towards his lips to place a kiss there.

"Me too, angel. I love you."

"I love you, too, Lukey. Wanna go home and snuggle there?" Ashton asked, glancing up at his blonde lover.

"That actually sounds great, let's go."

***

After the two napped for a few hours at home they sat together on their living room floor with their new scrapbook.

"What colors should I use?" Ashton asked as he dug through their tub of markers.

"Light green and light blue," Luke replied and handed Ashton the light blue marker.

Ashton grinned at him and pushed his glasses up. He wrote out:

July 5, 2016
Picnic in the Meadow

They had picked out four pictures to put in their scrapbook. The first was a picture of all the foods they brought spread out over their blanket.

The picture they pasted next to it was the picture of Luke that Ashton took while he was playing his guitar.

The other two were one of the selfies they took in the flower crowns, their faces squished together and all big smiles, and one of the pictures of Ashton in the grass. The same one Luke set as his screensaver.

"It's perfect."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

fyi I have a huge plot twist planned for this >:)

xoxo, jos