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"Dude honestly, one of these days im just going to let the phantoms get me, that was way too much holy shit"
Tyler complained for only about the 80th time in 2 minutes
"You're the typa guy to trip while being chased and say 'go on without me' Tyler and id love to see it"
Aiden laughed as he slumped down on the squishy couch next to ben.
"Guys i almost just died for the 100th time this week could we please just like watch a movie, lowkey im ready to read romance and cry"
Taylor groaned,
"Yeah i'll run to the house and grab some blankets n stuff-"
"I'LL COME TOO"
Aiden shouted, cutting off Ashlyn
"Uhh.. no, you always get in there and take the cookie jar and eat half of every cookie so you get to have the rest"
"Oh pleaseeeee"
If Ashlyn was any less sleep deprived she would have agued more but the help sounded nice, even if it cost a jar of cookies.
Its was ok because it was Aiden.
They half jogged to the house and (tried to) quietly reach the kitchen and cupboards but Aiden is a stomper (canon) and there was no way he could traverse a hard wood floor quietly
"Aiden i swear if my parents wake up because of you I'll let the phantoms have you"
She hissed
"Sorryyy"
He whispered. He looked not at all sorry. He found it funny when Ashlyn would make threats and then text him immediately after each night to make sure he felt fine. ...cute
"Shove the snacks in your bag already and help with with these stupid blankets"
Aiden glanced over just to see the smallest bit of orange peeking over the blankets
"Okie dokie carrot top :D"
She huffed as he took the blankets
"Thanks"
She sighed and heaved another large stack into her own arms
"Ok that feels like enough, get outa my house"
"Yes ma'am"
He slowly toddled out the door, loud as ever, but it was ok. Because it was Aiden.
Ashlyn quietly creeped out the door and tried to quietly close it with her foot, sounded a little loud but that could have just been her.
"I still get the cookies to myself right tho??"
"Yes Aiden they are all yours"
"Ayyyy"
The finally made it back to the bus, and were greated by quick hands taking blankets
"I think that's enough"
Ashlyn announced
"Looks bout right"
Tyler agreed
They all sat down facing Taylors iPad, there was a small argument over what movie before Aiden whined about wanted to watch Trolls 3 for the 3rd time, and there was a collective agreement that he didn't get to pick anymore so they defaulted to princess and the frog
Ashlyn sat on the edge of the group, Aiden next to her and Taylor next to him, Tyler, then Logan and on the opposite side, Ben
They passed about 2 different bags of chips and smacked away Aiden's hand (Ashlyn would share her small handfuls with him)
After they finished Rapunzel, Ashlyn's eyelids felt heavy, she refused to go to sleep tho, she saw what they did to Tyler's face with those markers and she saw him with those drawings for the next three days, she wasn't dumb enough for that.
They were now all pretty much conjoined they were so close together, Ashlyn legs were tangled with Aiden's and she had her head resting on his shoulder so she could comfortably see the screen. The body warmth was calming and her eyes became increasingly harder to open, she nuzzled into him some more and slowly drifted off.
**
She opened her eyes to the bus, now empty. It wasn't day yet but the sky was lighter than night. Ashlyn wandered outside to still not find any of them.
She wandered out to the gate where blood lay, heavy pools of blood. 2 bodies sit slumped against a tree. Tyler and Logan.
Ashlyn flicked her head around furiously.
"TYLER!? LOGAN?!"
she sprinted over to them but they were definitely not breathing, more pools of blood.
She jumped up her gaze darting around finding the roof where Taylor, Ben and Aiden sat.
She yelled to them and began running over, a phantom reached up to Taylors ankle and yanked it, Ben couldn't grab her quickly enough, her head made solid contact with some hand-railing, even from here Ashlyn could see the blood. Ben jumped down and began fighting the phantom. He had a knife, it wasn't doing as much damage as it should have been but Ben wasn't getting hit as much as he could have been.
Ashlyn made it to where Taylor lay, she rolled her over.
"Shes bleeding alot but she's breathing pretty normal!"
She called to Aiden who swiftly climbed down. He helped Ben fight the phantom, until he was the only one fighting the Phantom
A sharp
"BEN!"
Shot from behind her she whipped around only to find a phantom lunging for her, she braced herself, her arms over Taylor, she sat there until another thud.
She jumped up, out sprung her shoe knife, she grabbed Bens knife from his hand, she landed a solid to kicks to the Phantoms head before knocking it to the ground and plunging the knife into its chest.
She fell to the ground, she checked Ben
"FUCK"
no breath
She crawled furiously over to Aiden who coughed up a little blood but held a smile at her
"Hey uhh *cough* Ashlyn.. could you do my a favour and live for longer than we did?"
The question sounded so innocent
"YOU DONT GET TO DIE, NO ONE IS DYING HEAR! YOU CANT LEAVE ME HEAR ALONE ASSHOLE!"
He grasped her hand
"You can do it carrot top"
**
Her eyes open faster than ever, next to her lay all 5 of them, no blood, all happily watching a movie.
She grabbed Aiden's arm
"Oh hey, i thought you were asleep carro- t top?"
He was staring at her like she had 3 eyes, he turned completely towards her,
"Why are we crying?"
"Crying?"
Her voice hitched and she hiccuped, she felt her cheeks and yeah, she was definitely crying.
"Oh."
The other four looked over after hearing 'crying'
"Uhh bad *hiccup* dream"
Aiden pulled her into a hug slowly, she rested her chin on his shoulder and melted into his embrace, she sobbed into his arms.
"You all died, i thought you'd died"
She mumbled
"Shhhh its ok, we never left you. Ok? You're safe right now, with us. We are all safe right now. Ok?"
Aiden was surprisingly good at reassuring her, she may have been sobbing to loud to retain half of that information, and she had a killer headache, but it helped.
Aiden slowly ran his fingers through her hair, she stopped crying but still clung to him. Eventually their eyes switched back to The Fantastic Mr Fox, Aiden though still sat there playing with her hair, he kept whispering to her they were alright and she was safe, his voice wasn't high pitched or loud like usual, it was low, and soft, i tickled her ears when he spoke
When she started to drift off again he slowly layed down so she was in a better position, a few times she stirred but she slept soundly in his arms.
He looked back over to the movie, to find the four of them wide eyed.
"Oh, heyyyyyy"
He was back to his normal self with them
"Dude... am i seein this right?"
Tyler gawked
"What are we lookin at -?"
"Ashlyn, Ashlyn Banner, had a nightmare and woke up to cuddle you.."
Taylor swiftly gave context for the already filled in crowed, cutting off Aiden.
She reached over and took a picture
"Im going to be in so much trouble if you send that to her"
Aiden whined
"Hell yeah, im totally sending that to her"
Taylor giggled
They collectively laughed, and then Taylor whispered her favourite question,
"So, uh Aiden.. Ahlyn huh?"
Not again, whenever she asked about Ashlyn he ended up admitting something he wouldn't normally
"Ashlyn?"
Play dumb, perfect.
"Oh please, we all know SOMETHING is going on, tell us and we wont have to tickle you for it?"
Fuck
"Theres nothing going on"
She rolled her eyes
"Worst lair ever"
Tyler chipped in
"Oh come on"
Aiden's annoyed voice slightly too loud pierced their quiet space even Ben nodded along with them all, Ben knew everything that was going on.
Ashlyn stirred, she gripped tighter the Aiden, he Pulled her (somehow) closer and made sure she was covered with a blanket, he looked back over to see Taylor taking more photos, dammit
"If i answer your stupid questions will you pretty please not send those photos??"
Aiden whined
"I'll think bout it"
She was 100% still going to send them
"Ok what the hell, what so you want to know?"
He rolled his eyes
"Uhhh ummm, you totally like Ashlyn rightt?"
"..."
Shit
"Uhh.."
He looked around sheepishly, avoiding all their eyes
"Uhhhhh... yeahh.."
Hiding his red face was impossible with both hands on Ashlyn so all he could do was groan
"I KNEW IT!"
Taylor shrieked
Ashlyn's eyes opened slowly, it took 0 time at all for her to realise she was being held by Aiden, blush crept up her face and she immediately hid it by burring herself in Aiden, it was like to cherries, *click* another photo.
"Aidennnnn"
Taylor whined
"What?"
"Lets go have a chat 😉 "
"What?"
Taylor jumped up and grabbed Aiden's hand yanking him up, he slipped away from Ashlyn and almost almost tripped out of the bus. Taylor dragged her further away from the bus, they could still see it but they couldn't hear them.
"Sooooo..."
Taylor started
"So?"
"Ashlyn huh?"
Aiden's face turned red again
"What about her"
A smile crept at his mouth
"Cuddling her? I think you like her"
She smirked
"Wha- no. I mean yeah shes alright but like ya know um, i uh"
"Mhmmmm, honestly not my first pick but if thats what you like-"
"taylor... what if, i do like her?"
Her jaw dropped, like hit the floor, her eyes pretty much popped out of their sockets
"OH MY GOSH! You ACTUALLY like Ashl-!"
"BE QUIET!.. jesus you are the loudest person ever!"
Aidens head dropped into his hands
"Even if i do like her not in a million years is anything ever going to happen"
He. said, though it was hard to make out because it was muffled by his hands
"What makes you think that?"
Taylor clapped her hand on Aiden's shoulder
"Ouch. I just don't think she's interested in me and i... im not the best at romance"
He winced, admitting that really wasn't his favourite thing
"Aiden. She woke up and cuddled with you. Ive seen her give 4 people a hug in total ever. Her parents, Logan, and you.
If you have no chance with her then she must hate us."
They stood in silence
"So you're saying... i have a chance with her?"
"...basically"
His face lit up so fast
"H-how would i even tell her? Should i tell her? What if she says no? I am not against standing outside her window with my guitar and singing to her, it would be so funny."
"Tell who what?"
Ashlyn stood leaned up against a bus with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders
"Nothingggg 😄"
Aiden answered way too quickly
"Its cold go back inside"
"Yeah im heading in now!"
Taylor chirped
"Okie dokie!"
Aiden said
They watched her jump into the bus, and then they stood in silence.
"Uh what were you guys talking about?"
"... taxes?"
"... you are the worst lair ever"
She laughed
"... what happened in your dream that made you cry?"
"Oh, just scared me thats all"
"Yeah my dreams have been pretty scary lately aswell, everyone always dies"
"Thanks"
Ashlyn's face had a slight red tinge creeping up her cheeks
"What for ??"
"For comforting me, you're really good at it"
"Oh sure no problem"
He waved his hands
"I used to have to help Ben calm down alot"
"Still, thanks. You really helped"
"Its all cool, it is pretty cold though, maybe we should head inside."
"Yeah"
Ashlyn fixed the blanket around her and climbed into the bus, she sighed at the sudden warmth of the bus and sat back in her spot taking the blanket and holding it, waiting for Aiden. He huffed a half laugh and sat next to her wrapping an arm behind her back and placing his hand on her waist, she shifted so she was leaning on his shoulder.
The movies where off now, Logan was teaching Taylor and Ben the constellations, Tyler was just laying there on his phone probably scrolling through instagram. A light chatter in the air and warmth surrounding them.
Aiden took Ashlyn's hand and traced patterns along her skin
"Sorry is this ok? I just need to do something with my hands"
He whispered
"Uhh yeah sure"
She hummed, her eyes fluttered shut and her body became heavy
"Goodnight Aiden"
She mumbled
"Goodnight carrot top"
Aiden kissed her head gently, it was ok because it was Aiden. She fell asleep soundly that night, not another nightmare.