“Wipe that smile off your face. You’re not fuckin’ funny.”
“It is a little funny that you always give me what I want,” Luke taunted him with a mean giggle.
Ashton could accept that he’d given in. He’d fought a hard battle over the course of this tour, but when it came down to it, he just couldn’t resist him. Blame it on Cancer season, the month-long dry spell, or even the dopamine rush of being wanted after feeling so ignored. Ashton could rationalize it all he liked, but the ultimate truth was that resisting Luke was a herculean task he always thought he was up for—just before his epic and fatal defeat.
And Luke could giggle that his mischievous plan worked, but he knew he’d end up with the last laugh.
Or;
Luke has been taunting Ashton by making himself so sweet that Ashton cant resist, and Ashton’s just touch-starved and fed up enough to get a massive sweet tooth.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Luke should have died a long time ago.
He’s had every chance to, and somehow he just keeps evading it. Being in the Hunger Games, though, seems like it should be the final nail in his excruciatingly, meticulously constructed coffin.
Or, the one where Luke is the District Four male tribute for the Hunger Games and he loses everything. Everything, that is, except for Ashton.
-
my 5sos hunger games au fic for the 2024 friends-to-lovers prompt @5sos-fic-fest! thanks so much to hazel for being an incredible organizer.
"in that cold instant, ashton put his hands back on the steering wheel. watching him back out of the parking space was torment. luke felt like there was a beast inside of him, clawing and desperate to be set free. aching to get ashton alone. to spend a second with him uninterrupted."
or ashton takes the 5sos boys on a snowy vacation, and luke is disappointed that it wasn't an opportunity to hook up.
rating: e
tw: smút, language, smoking (v briefly), & more specific tags on ao3
word count: 7.5k
realverse au • friends to lovers • lashton • complete • one-shot
i will write you kitchen songs (i'll give you all my love)
hi there. i’m going to attempt to be a fic writer again. pls be nice, i’ll cry otherwise <3
here this is on ao3
7.12am
Luke catches Ashton’s wrist right as he’s about to roll out of bed. Luke’s eyes are still closed, not yet ready to face the day (and without looking at a clock he’s knows it’s too early to be awake on a Sunday), but his lips form a small pout as his pinky presses against where he knows a red heart is permanently painted against Ashton’s skin.
“Leave the door open ‘til you’re back?” Luke asks as he feels weight lift from the mattress, his voice gravelly from sleep. Ashton likes his morning voice. Maybe that will add something to his suggestion of Ashton returning to bed after getting a glass of water or whatever instead of starting his day already.
“Wanted to let you sleep a bit longer,” Ashton explains. His hand lifts and Luke’s loose grip falls back to the sheets. Luke whines until Ashton uses the hand to run through his hair.
“Please?” Luke asks again, his tired eyes blinking open to look up at Ashton. Luke loves Ashton in the morning. He loves him all the time but there’s something about seeing the remnants of sleep still clinging to him that makes Luke want to love him up just a touch more than every other minute of the day. His laughter lines always seem more defined in the earlier hours and Ashton should win awards for how adorable his bedhead is. If he were any closer, Luke would lift a hand to run along the stubble on Ashton’s cheeks.
“Can you compromise for coffee in bed?”
“Babe, I get coffee and my boyfriend in bed past 7 AM on a Sunday. You’re giving me a win-win.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ashton says in a sarcastic tone before leaning down to press a kiss against Luke’s bleached curls. He pads away from the bed then and out the door toward the kitchen, the door left half open as promised.
Luke lets his eyes fall shut again and rolls to Ashton’s side of the bed. His pillow smells faintly of his woodsy cologne and the new coconut shampoo he started using that his sister recommended and it’s a mix that Luke wishes he could find in a candle. He’s making a mental note to ask Ashton of the possibility of this when he hears Ashton flip on the coffee bean grinder. Luke silently counts down until the machine turns itself off and then Ashton is filling the kettle at the sink. He hears the click of the stove top flicking on (Ashton’s a stovetop kettle kind of guy despite having a perfectly nice electric kettle sitting behind the stand mixer on the counter).
Sounds start mixing then; the opening and closing of the fridge, the whirring of the milk frother, Ashton whistling the melody of a song Calum had showed them when they were all hanging out at Michael’s the night before. Luke can’t see it but he figures Ashton is doing some kind of shuffling around the kitchen that is almost a dance but not really. The kettle just barely starts squealing but Ashton is quick to pick it up and then Luke distantly hears the sound of water splashing over the grounds, the freshly brewed coffee filling two mugs. Before long, Ashton’s whistling turns to humming and it’s accompanied by the almost rhythmic sound of a spoon hitting the sides of the mugs as Ashton stirs in Luke’s three scoops of sugar and his own one.
It’s a sweet, domestic little tune, Ashton making their morning coffee. Luke wants to play it on repeat.
For another moment, Luke hears the sink run (Ashton is a big believer in clean as you go). Luke rolls back over to his own side of the bed and reaches for his glasses on his own nightstand before pushing himself up to sit. By the time he’s leaning against the headboard, Ashton is carefully shuffling back into the room with two very full mugs of coffee.
“Lots of sugar for you, sugar,” Ashton says with a wink while carefully passing Luke the mug.
“You’re never gonna get tired of saying that are you?” Luke says. (He loves hearing Ashton say it. He loves that they have so many cute, cheesy things they say so regularly to each other. Great things for the grandkids to roll their eyes at one day, he thinks.)
Ashton smiles, his dimples really putting on a show before he leans over to press a kiss to the top of Luke’s cheek. “Nope.”
They sip their coffee and mumble back and forth about their plans for the day, the funny thing happening in Luke’s book of the week, the cute dog that Ashton saw on his jog a few days ago that he’d forgotten to tell Luke about.
The sun has risen high enough that streaks of light paint their way across the sheets and the navy blue quilt that rests fully on Luke’s side of the bed (Ashton’s a warm sleeper). Luke finishes his coffee first and after setting his mug on the nightstand, he cuddles into Ashton’s side. He lets his head rest mostly against Ashton’s shoulder, the smell from the pillow now amplified and mixing with Ashton’s coffee. In a way it’s another song that Luke wants to play on a loop.
Luke should be wired from the coffee now but as Ashton starts drawing patterns where his hand rests against Luke’s shoulder, he finds himself lulled back to sleep by the lullaby of a slow morning in love.
~
5.42pm
“Honey, I’m home,” Ashton sings and he kicks the backdoor shut behind him.
Luke peeks his head out from the kitchen to see Ashton juggling a few bags from Trader Joe’s. One appears to be completely filled with just flowers.
“Are we having hydrangeas for dinner then?” Luke teases as he extracts one of the bags more precariously held by Ashton. He’s thanked with a quick kiss that tastes like raspberries. The open box in the bag Luke has grabbed being the likely culprit. He reaches in and grabs a few berries for himself.
“No, I got sucked down this Youtube rabbit hole last night on flower arranging and I think I want to give it a shot,” Ashton says. “For dinner I was thinking pizza?”
Luke smiles at the new hobby idea (Ashton’s always had a great eye for color, he’ll be wonderful at this and then their home will smell and look like something out of Better Homes and Gardens). “Can you make something with those yellow roses for the kitchen table? Think the colors would look nice with the hand towels,” Luke starts while gesturing to the golden towels hanging above the sink. “Also where do you want to order from?”
“Oh!” Ashton punctuates his words with a clap. “Not that kinda pizza.”
And then he pulls pizza dough, sauce, pepperoni, and far too many types of cheeses for two people from the bag. Luke can’t help but laugh.
“Think we have enough cheese?” he says as he surveys the options.
“You should be thankful I’m indecisive, you can never have too much cheese.”
They set to work then on the pizzas. Luke swears he owns a rolling pin but when they can’t find it (lost in the move maybe?) Luke finds a bottle of red wine to use instead and they take turns stretching the dough into shapes that vaguely resemble circles. They make an effort to use every single kind of cheese. Ashton lets out a bright laugh at the small mountain of grated cheese on top of Luke’s pizza and even though Luke has spent the day looping through some of the new demos he’s been working on with Sammy, it’s the best sound he’s heard all day. Soon enough they’re sliding baking sheets into the oven and setting a timer.
They eat rather quickly, making judgments on the different cheeses as they go (Yeah, you can tell I went cheap on the gouda…Can I confess something? I think all of the different cheddar cheeses taste exactly the same. No, stop it. It’s time I live my truth, okay?). Luke cleans the dishes while Ashton starts sorting all of his flowers on the kitchen island, trying to decide where to start. Then Luke follows Petunia out to the backyard for a few minutes (and maybe he brings along a few pieces of pepperoni for her as a treat because Ashton thinks it’s too unhealthy for her but shhh).
When Luke returns inside, Ashton has set to work with tulips and sunflowers. Another vase has a few pieces of eucalyptus and bright white hydrangeas. As expected, he was right and Ashton really does have an eye for this.
There’s probably an hour to kill before getting ready for bed so Luke silently sets up the chess board on a free spot on the island. He makes the first move and then lets his blue eyes drift over to Ashton. A pair of hazel are already there to meet him.
“I can’t believe you’d think you even need to pout at me to play, come on now,” Ashton laughs. He studies the board for a quick moment and then makes his own move. Before returning to his flowers, he reaches for Luke’s hand closest to him, lifting it to press his lips against Luke’s knuckles. When Luke pulls the hand back to rest his blushing cheek against the palm of it, his fingers smell like rose petals.
He leaves his spot for a moment to grab a carton of ice cream from the freezer and returns to the island with two spoons, pushing one in Ashton’s direction. His gaze is pulled from the blooms at the sound of metal hitting the wood and smiles. “Love you, sugar,” he hums before digging his spoon into the carton.
Luke settles back onto his stool and smiles at the name. He lets the scene all around him soak in, from the rustling of the flowers to the sound of the chess pieces moving on the board to the dishwasher running behind him. He thinks back to the demos from earlier, how he kept feeling like there was something missing in the mix of all of them.
Ashton’s castle takes his pawn and Luke pulls out his phone. In the notes app, he types out kitchen song ????? kitchens = love ??? before locking the screen and shoving it back in his pocket.
Ashton wonders why Luke has never asked to do it before. Probably because he’s never shown any interest in wearing make-up for a show. He knows that, by the end of the set, he’s gonna have sweated it all off, and what little is left, he’s gonna have to wipe off after the show, on top of stretching and showering. And it’s not like people will actually be able to see it, with his drums being in the back. It’s just more trouble than it’s worth.
If Luke asked him though, Ashton wouldn’t say no. He rarely ever does.
a/n: I wrote this after a conversation I had with Amanda @lifewasradical after seeing Ash wearing eyeshadow (which, wow!) We both thought Luke might be a lil jealous that he didn’t get to put the make-up on Ashton himself and, thus, this happened! Writing lashton after a long time was fun, I hope everyone enjoys xx
Reaching up again, Luke takes one of Ashton’s hands in his. Ashton’s hands are rougher than his own, always have been. Luke remembers when Ashton used to be insecure about how big his hands were in comparison to everyone else’s. He moves Ashton’s fingers so they’re all spread out and holds his own hand level against it, comparing the sizes.
