DT Serum, Primary Testing In Progress

"Upstairs," True said simply, pointing upward.  "Better hurry."

Tramp had stripped off the clothes Ashton had given him and put on his old torn jeans and shirt, faint blood spatters and all.  He folded all of the given clothes and dropped them on the bed before kneeling to fish Bobo's toy and leash out from under the bed.

Ashton ran upstairs. He checked Lex's room and then his own. "Tramp?" He asked. His voice cracking a little. "Tramp, what's going on?"

Tramp stood with the items in hand.  "I figured it out," he said as he brushed passed Ashton and headed down the stairs.  "I understand what's going on, and you know what?  I was right!"

"Wait... what?" Ashton asked softly. He felt... pain. "Tramp, please, what is going on?! Where are you going?!" He asked, trying to follow Tramp.

"I'm going back where I belong.  The streets to be the w hore I am," Tramp snapped, going to put the leash on Bobo.  "I was so stupid," he laughed harshly.  "I thought you had some feeling for me, some inkling of an actual attachment or crush, but no.  I'm just your project.  You don't feel like you deserve this good life you've been lucky enough to have been handed, so you've decided to pick up a piece of trash and make him better.  Isn't that right?  Gaster told me as much.  You want to fix me.  Guess what?" Tramp whirled around and screamed, "I DON'T WANT TO BE FIXED!!  I am not some pet you can earn your way with by dressing up in nice clothes and teaching some tricks.  So why don't you stop being so emo about everything and enjoy this place and let me die on the streets like I'm supposed to?"  He stomped to the door and flung it open, leading Bobo out.  He paused on the stoop and glanced back.  Tears glittered in his eyes.  "I thought... maybe... just maybe... I'd found a friend, for once, but I was wrong.  You're just another user.  Like all the rest of them.  Leave me be."  He bolted, running with a confused Bobo following.

Ashton stood there, in shock. His eyes watered and by the end of Tramp's speech, everything was blurry. He took a few steps back after Tramp left and ran out the back, flinging the door open and not caring to close it. He ran, feeling more hurt then when Black Jack tortured him or even during Proditor's experiments. He hurt, and he knew that this wasn't a wound that could just be sewn up and heal over. He ran blindly, not bothering to stop, and not even knowing where he was running to. Ashton was heartbroken.

True stared after him then turned to Gaster.  "What in the hell did you say to Tramp to make him think that?" he asked, too shocked to process his words.

"I told him that such negativity and drug use would not be permitted around my family." Gaster said. "I told him once politely, and he discarded it, so I told him again to let him know I was serious."

"Well, he took something weird out of that," True said, shaking his head before he went to grab his coat.

Gaster sighed and rubbed his face. "Why can't this family have a quiet, normal week with nothing spectacular or heart stopping happening?" He asked rhetorically.

"Because you insist on having interesting children," True said, letting himself out.  "I'll be back... later.  Don't wait up."  He closed the door behind himself.

Shuni was in his room with the majority of his cats, sobbing in his little hideaway.

Gaster sighed. True was right. But still, it stressed him out to no end. The good doctor tried to take his mind off of things and start some dinner for everyone.

Ashton kept running blindly until he tripped and fell, scraping his hands and knees. He was right around the place lex first found him all those years ago, confused, starving, and thinking himself a freak of nature. Ashton stayed on the ground, gasping and sobbing. He should have known better. He knew he was playing with fire, and he got burned bad, and now couldn't stand the pain.

Footsteps crunched in the gravel.  Lex stopped a few feet from Ashton and stood, hands in his pockets.  "I remember this place," he said casually.  "I'd come here to get high a lot 'cause no one else would come near the place."

"Leave me alone." Ashton told Lex, but the fight had left him, making the words hollow. "Shouldn't you be getting back to Layla anyway?"

"Why?"  Lex moved to Ashton's other side and sat on an upturned pail.  He leaned back, his boots scraping on cement and gravel.  "I remember the day I found you here in this dump.  Beat up and scared as hell.  You were barely clinging to life, but you were bull-dog stubborn to keep your life."

Ashton painfully pushed himself to a sitting position. "That was then. You don't need me anymore. The only other person I wanted to be around... to open up to-" His voice cracked as he remembered Tramp yelling at him. "I can't stand this. Black Jack and Proditor torturing me hurt less than this."

"Bullshit," Lex said flatly.  "Ashton, help me out here.  I'm struggling.  Why the hell can't you understand I need you and always will?  Yeah, I love Layla.  I like having her around.  Layla is not you.  She kind of fills one part of my life, yeah, but that don't mean she replaces you.  You have a different role."

"Oh yeah? What can I do that Layla can't?" Ashton challenged.

"You can kick my ars and tell me when I'm wrong," Lex said flatly.  "You have always had my back.  Always.  You stick up for me, and you stand up to me.  I say something bad to Layla, she runs.  You look me in the eye and you tell me what you think, and even when I treat you like trash, you're still there.  I don't trust Layla like you.  I don't trust her to stay."

Ashton didn't say anything. The fight had left him now. He felt empty. he wanted to go home, but didn't know where home was. There was the pace he was staying, but it wasn't home. He didn't belong anywhere.

Lex reached down and pulled Ashton up to him, looking him in the eye.  "Ashton, where I've gone, you've always followed.  Now it's my turn.  If you even think about going back to the streets, I'm coming with you.  But please hear me out first.  You just got burned major big.  Come back to the house for a couple of days.  Three days.  If after three days you want out, okay.  I won't try to talk you out of it."

Ashton looked at Lex, eyes bleary and bloodshot, and just nodded defeatedly. He didn't want to do anything really. Just.... nothing.

"Alright," Lex nodded.  "Good."  He pulled up another bucket and guided Ashton to sit.  He said nothing more, just sat with Ashton in silence.

Ashton did as Lex instructed him to, verbally and nonverbally. He didn't say anything though. All Ashton felt was hurt and tired now.

Lex's head came up and he tensed, hearing gravel crunching.  His hand went to a knife hidden in his jacket.  Then he relaxed.  "Hey, True."
True rolled around the corner.  "How'd you know it was me?"
"Wheels, no footsteps.  What do you want?"
True nodded to Ashton.  "I'm here for him, not you, doofus."