This new pretence bewildered Ashton. No matter how much he thought back on how Lance acted in the past, it didn't match the person in front of him. Confusion also spread among the others. He might have forgotten something when that incoming vehicle struck him. Lance was cold to everyone around him in the room, but he was never tentative with someone like he is now with Ashton.
Then a young man with angel features came in: blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin, feathers here and there on his person, and wings stepped into the room. Tyler, Ashton's actual boyfriend. Ashton wanted to clear up whatever was going on, but instead of giving up the prank, he asked out of a force of initial intent:
"Who are you?" He wanted to smack himself in the face a few times. Tyler looked shocked, then his expression looked pleased to hear this.
"No one, just an acquaintance here to check on you," Tyler said, almost forming a shit-eating grin on his face. Ashton felt a punch in the gut. Tyler, his boyfriend of three years, just threw away the relationship they had after thinking Ashton had amnesia. His friend group all looked at Tyler in shock and anger. Lance looked ready to bite off Tyler's head. Ashton was in too deep right now to say it was a prank at this point. He felt his expression show how hurt he was.
"... Why did it hurt to hear that?" His voice broke when he spoke, and he couldn't outright say that he had lied about losing his memory.
"Maybe because I don't know you," Tyler lied seamlessly. Ashton's hands balled into fists in the bedding. He felt a tear fall from his eye and trail down his cheek. Tyler barely acknowledged it and left with a wave of his hand. Ashton looked at his balled-up fists in the bedding of the hospital room. He felt hollow, broken, like he lived in a lie for those three years with Tyler. He expected reactions to what he said as a prank, but not to hear his boyfriend get up and say he didn't know him at all. Someone's hand covered his eyes, followed by a kiss on his temple. He turned his head and looked to his left, and Lance was holding Ashton's face, looking into his eyes in a way that Tyler never did. Lance gently wiped Ashton's cheek, treating him as if he were made of porcelain. Lane was kneeling by Ashton's bed, his large form offering reassurance. Gargoyles never kneel, not even the elders of their own tribes. The only instance of it would be to a potential mate for life in a gargoyle's stance.
"I'm here, you'll be okay," Lance's voice was gentle like velvet, not rough like gravel. When Ashton was comforted by Tyler, never once was he ever this gentle. It was only to get Ashton to stop crying or to get him quiet for a while. Ashton couldn't help but start crying. Lance moved to sit with Ashton and held him. Ashton only felt cared for by family members, not a romantic partner. Ashton pressed into Lance fully and just let himself cry on the guy who had always been cold to everyone until now. Once he had settled, his friends and Lance had gone to help him get discharged from the hospital and to his apartment. He was glad that he had held off on moving in with Tyler; this would be so much messier if they lived together and he pulled this prank. While walking with Lance, he saw how tentative in walking, and kept him inside while on the sidewalk, and held onto his arm when they walked across a sidewalk, looking every way for incoming dangers. Ashton couldn't help but wonder what life would have been like if he were with someone like Lance for those three years, instead of someone like Tyler, before going through with a prank like saying he couldn't remember anyone.
Even when Ashton glanced at a sweet shop, Lance took him in and bought old favourites of Ashton's and new ones he had wanted to try. He never told Lance about his favourites or what he wanted to try from that shop. Tyler was never like this, just dates here and there, but that was all. When Ashton got some cream and frosting on his cheek, Lance licked it off him. Ashton would go bright red over it, but Lance just gave a small smile and walked Ashton home. When someone eyed Ashton, Lance would growl and hide Ashton in his wings from view, and would be possessive over every single detail. Ashton felt butterflies in his belly. He had never experienced this, even when he was around Tyler. Maybe lying for a little while won't be so bad for now. On the walk, Ashton almost fully believed he had lost his memory. There was no way someone so cold would be so tentative as a partner. On the way home, Ashton saw Tyler kissing a succubus with dark skin, long black hair, red demon features, and dressed provocatively without showing too much skin, who was his best friend, Sophie.
It hurt him inside, but seeing this just proves Tyler was unfaithful and was never worth Ashton's time. Ashton held Lance's arm, surprising him. Ashton looked up at Lance's shocked face and smiled at him. Ashton was going to tell them the truth, all of them, and he would figure out how to make it up to them, especially Lance. But not today. For now, he was going to enjoy having Lance as a boyfriend. And after that, he will learn how to make the relationship a stable one, if Lance will even let that happen.