Work Text:
“Leave your shoes by the door and make yourself comfortable once you’ve put the dvd in the dvd player, okay?” Squiddo says, thoughtlessly kicking her own shoes off as she entered her home with Ash in tow.
The two had been planning this movie night hangout for about a week, and Squiddo was especially excited for it. Today was the day she planned on confessing to Ash, and her friends had prepared her for it as well as they could.
And with the reassurance of a buzzfeed compatibility test in mind, she was ready for everything this night would throw at her. But she could already tell something was up from the way Ash made his way to the living room after doing as instructed. He was being oddly quiet with a near unreadable expression on his face.
So naturally, she spoke up. “Hey, you alright over there? Did ghost pirates kidnap your fish before you came here?” She jested a little at the end of her sentence to hopefully lighten his mood.
It works to an extent as she catches a glimpse of his lips curving slightly upwards into a smile briefly before he composes himself. “Ah. No, no. It’s nothing.”
Now she was really curious. “Me when my name is Ashswag and I’m spitting lies on a friday movie night afternoon..”
Ash rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. I’m just not used to hangouts like this. Usually we’re out at like.. The diner at the end of the block. Or Zam’s house with everyone else.” He explained, speaking softer than he would in a group with the rest of their friends.
Was.. he nervous of the fact they were alone together? That thought alone made Squiddo’s heart leap. But she tried not to get too ahead of herself. She would make the most of this. “I don’t bite y’know. Us being the only ones hanging out tonight won’t mean I’ll treat you any differently if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
Ash took out the dvd case, not making eye contact. “I just don’t want this hangout to be too.. forgettable, with me being the only one here I guess.”
“Are you calling yourself boring? You, Mr. I’m gonna put nair in Zam’s shampoo if he doesn’t stop fawning over that anime obsessed boy every conversation?’ Give yourself more credit.” Squiddo spoke earnestly. “I invited you over because I wanted to hang out with you and you alone tonight Ash, meaning that I want to spend time with you because I like to. If I was as worried as you about how fun this’ll be I wouldn’t have invited you, now have I?” Squiddo could feel a bit of warmth rising to her face as she shut Ash’s worries down as efficiently as possible, but the other probably wouldn’t notice since he was still all the way over in the living room.
She saw Ash’s movements halt briefly, the hand holding the dvd hovering over the tray for a few seconds after her proclamation before finally setting it down with a sigh.
“..I.. suppose you wouldn’t have.” His voice sounded lighter in a way she couldn’t put into words, but it was enough of a sign to tell her that her words had gotten through to him without much of a problem. Squiddo 1, Ash 0.
She grinned. “Exactly.” She put the bowl of popcorn in the microwave, setting it for three minutes. Ash made his way into the kitchen after the dvd was in the player and now playing through it’s ads, meaning that Squiddo would have to keep a handle on her emotions until they could go into the much darker living room, where her face could be as red as roses as much as it desired.
She took a subtle inhale and exhale before speaking up again.
“So, what movie did you pick from the rental box?” She asked cheerfully, half leaning on the counter.
“I just chose an Ice Age movie.” He shrugged. “I renember you mentioning you enjoyed them a while back and they’re pretty good in my opinion aswell, so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad of a choice.”
“Oh- sweet! Which one?” She asked, keeping her cool about the fact Ash had renembered something she’d mentioned so offhandedly to the best of her ability.
Ash had rented the one with the ‘pirate monkey’ as he called it, and despite the fact that both of them had seen it, they had a fruitful little chat about it as they waited for the popcorn to finish. Squiddo couldn’t help but adore the mannerisms of Ash when he talked, from the frequent gesturing of his hands to the way his eyes would semi-sheepishly avert whenever she met his with enthusiasm or focus, the corners of his lips twitching as if he was holding back the urge to grin at her.
He acted all tired and low energy, but Squiddo could tell that Ash was having a great time with her so far, and they hadn’t even gotten to watching the movie yet. Their eyes meet for what felt like the millionth time this coversation, however Ash doesn’t shy away from it this time, catching her attention. her own mind and heart seemed to be working against her as a quiet statement rolled off her tounge with little caution.
“You have really nice eyes.” It just slipped out. That was the only way of describing it. Immediately Ash shut up about Diego going through the same character arc every movie, eyes widening.
She too froze up as she felt as if she’d just winded herself, her face taking on a shade of red that would make a cherry blush as much as she was. “I don’t know where that came from- I’m just talking, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt you.. Aha.” Real smooth..
Ash managed to gather his bearings, and for a moment, Squiddo worried that she’d messed things up. That she’d ruined the mood and made things awkward.
“..No, it’s fine.” He let her off, and she let out an internal sigh of relief. That was a close one. “..You uh.. Smell good. Are you trying out a different shampoo?”
She’s immediately kicked in the neck again. Was this how Ash just felt? He wasn’t wrong, she did recently switch shampoos because she heard Reddoons mention something about Ash owning some apple cinnamon Scented candles that he had lit around his house around christmas time.
“Y-yeah. Apple Cinnamon.” She spoke, steadying her voice. Hopefully he wouldn’t catch onto the reason behind the change.
Ash’s expression seemed to relax. “Oh. I have a few candles with that scent if you like stuff like that. I wouldn’t mind sharing some if you’re interested.”
Squiddo smiled at him. “Sure, I’ll also drop the brand I use if you want.” The two transitioned back to a more relaxed atmosphere, and squiddo felt relief flood her veins at the sound of the popcorn popping slowing down. She carefully took the bowl out. “I’ll bring this to the living room- you can grab a drink from the cooler if you want.” She spoke.
“Okay, thanks.” He nods a bit. She entered the living room, setting the bowl on the table for now. The couch was covered in blankets and pillows, aswell as a pair of those reversable squid plushes. She intended to give the black and purple one to Ash for him to keep and bring home afterwards as a fun little reminder of their hangout. She settled on the couch, being startled as a cold can of fanta was lightly tapped onto her shoulder by a hand with a black ring.
“Here’s yours.” He spoke, letting her take it before making his way around the couch and sitting at her side, crossing his legs.
“You didn’t have to get me one, silly. I was fine.” She chuckled.
“Who eats popcorn without a drink?” He spoke, raising an eyebrow as he grabbed the remote, clicking play.
Squiddo nudged his shoulder playfully. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Ash wasted no time at all nudging her back, and as Squiddo responded with something akin to a light headbutt to the shoulder, the two were soon just playfully pushing eachother every 5 seconds, attention drifting away from the first few minutes of the movie.
“Come onn, You’re making it hard to focus on the plot.” Squiddo whined non-seriously as Ash delivered another shove, causing her to fall onto the pillows and blankets behind her with a soft ‘oof’.
“The plot doesn’t get that intresting until like.. the 5 minute mark. Focus on me.” Ash spoke defiantly, leaning over her as his hands came down to keep her pinned by the shoulders so she couldn’t shove him back. It.. was oddly intimate.
Ash was hovered above her, and although he remained at arms’ length she felt the air leave her lungs as he pressed a fraction of his weight onto her shoulders to keep her down.
“This has to be a foul move. How am I supposed to win like this?” Squiddo’s voice cracked somewhere in her second sentence, and she hoped and begged to whoever could hear her thoughts that it didn’t give away how flustered she was feeling right now being pinned under Ash like this in their little play fight.
“You don’t.” He spoke, as if it were as simple as that, and she frowned comically. Squiddo stared up into his much darker eyes, and as they stared back into hers, she figured that the best way to win this was to double down. Her face immediately flushed at the thought, and Ash definitely took notice, but before he could utter a word, a surge of boldness allowed her to reach her arms up to grab each of ash’s arms, forcing them outwards and ultimately causing him to lose his balance over her and to truly land on top of her.
She felt his breath hitch as their faces were brought impossibly close, and she was certain that they experienced a similar feeling. She could swear she could feel his heartbeat sending vibrations through his chest to mingle with her own racing heart, as Ash stared into her eyes with a look that made squiddo briefly consider closing the gap here and now. But as she heard his breath shake from their proximity, it took her out of it and she flusteredly used this time to reverse their positions, shoving him back as hard as possible before scrambling to hold hold him down by the shoulders.
“Hah, I win, how do you like me now Ash?” She said cockily, as if her hair wasn’t tousled and her face wasn’t red enough for her to be mistaken for a strawberry.
He stared up at her with light in his eyes from both the movie playing and something akin to adoration that Squiddo simply couldn’t place the direction of, and in a mumble..
“ ..a lot.”
Her eyes momentarily widen before ash suddenly uses her own trick against her, but with the exception of rolling her onto her side halfway through her fall, facing her towards the TV.
“W-what?” She stuttered, wondering if she’d heard that right. She couldn’t see Ash’s expression very well, but she could make out him looking down at her from where his head was positioned above hers, not quite resting on it, but close enough for Squiddo to subconsiously wish it was.
“Hm?” He hummed in response, as if he wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Had she really imagined that? She could’ve sworn his mouth moved. Either way, Ash was now laid on his side behind her with Squiddo a few inches away in a similar position. There was no way she was gonna let this oppertunity go to waste, so she put the thoughts of Ash’s soft admission to the side as she moved back enough for the two to be properly against eachother, with her back to his chest.
“Nevermind, I might be hearing things.” She decided to play along for now, but if Ash was gonna mess with her like that she would do the same, not adknowledging their proximity at the moment. She heard him hold back a gasp with the quick and sharp intake of breath that came from him moments after they came in contact with eachother, and she had to hold back the giggle that eagerly pushed at her throat to be let out.
For a majority of the movie they stayed like that, cuddled up against eachother, and eventually they managed to truly relax into it, forgetting their earlier conflict and evolving into occasional commentary on the movie. Squiddo wasn’t ashamed to admit to herself how elated she felt being so close to Ash, and she felt even better when they adjusted a little to be sat up, and Ash had taken the liberty of wrapping an arm around her, allowing her to lean on his chest as they watched the movie. At that point she was struggling big time to even pay attention when Ash was holding her like that, and every time she looked up at him questioningly, as if she were a bug staring up at an entomologist, his words varied between ‘are you comfortable?’ and ‘they should’ve killed Diego off like they’d originally planned to.’
And each time she would either pass it off as casually as possible as if her best friend wasn’t letting her cuddle with him, or lightly bicker with him over his opinions on the movie. Regardless of what either of them had to say to eachother, they really just enjoyed getting to engage in chatter every now and then.
But as things were getting comfortable and settling down, a thought suddenly entered Squiddo’s mind.
What if he was just doing this out of pity.
It was out of left field and she mentally ‘what the fucked’ her brain for deciding to propose that now of all times. But with the idea planted, her mind spiralled a bit. What if Ash was only acting affectionate now because he realized that she had a thing for him and felt bad so he decided to act super nice to make her happy when he really only saw her as a friend?
Shut up brain, that’s ridiculous. She told herself, trying not to let these sudden thoughts dampen her time with Ash, but one after the other, possibilities began to interrupt her train of thought. What if he was secretly really uncomfortable with everything they’d done and was only letting it slide because he didn’t want to ruin the mood or something? What if he actually hated this film and only watched it because he knew she liked it? What if he only agreed to this hangout to make her happy and he actually found her annoying or someth-
She seperated herself from Ash rather abruptly, startling the boy. “Squiddo-?”
“One moment.” She cut him off quickly, forcing herself to ignore how confused and startled he sounded as she made her way down the hall and into the bathroom, shutting the door. She looked at herself in the mirror, face flushed and eyes full of regret.
Everything was going so well, but her mind iust had to spoil everything, didn’t it? She felt irritated at herself for walking out like that, but at the same time she felt a wave of guilt wash over her. Was it selfish of her to be thinking that way? To have wished that her thoughts had stayed silent for a little longer? She sat on the toilet, hugging her knees.
She felt like a jerk, like she hadn’t considered her best friend’s feelings in the midst of her own, shirking away the possibility that she may have ruined this hangout for ash already by making it weird. She pulled out her phone to try and text her other best friend, Kaboodle. she was strangely good with this stuff so she trusted that she may know what to do.
Squiddo wondered if the safest option would be to send Ash home so the possibility of him pushing past his boundaries would be squashed like a bug under a shoe, but even if it was, a part of her really didn’t want to.
THE SILLIEST BNUNNY🐇
KAB HELPDHELJ
WHAT WHO DIED
My relationship with Ash
Huh? What happened?
I think I pushed his boundaries and I’m worried that he’s just been forcing himself to put up with me all night :(
After a moment or so without a response, Kab’s caller ID along with a photo of her attempting to strangle Mane, a guy in her class flashes on her phone screen. Squiddo answered near immediately. “Hello..?”
“Squiddo, you’re overthinking.” Kab says with no context whatsoever.
“Wha-“
“Hey- hey- I’m not done. You gotta stop psyching yourself out like this girl. You’ve done this like.. 5 times.” Ah. So that’s why her guess was so accurate. Even so that was still pretty scary that she understood the situation from just a few texts.
“I know, I know.” She sighed. “..I’m just scared I guess.
“Squiddoo..” Kab’s voice sounded comically exasperated, and she dragged out the O in a way that made Squiddo chuckle a bit. “Look, I understand that you really like Ash and that naturally you want him to like you too. But scaring yourself with the same ‘what if he actually hates me’ scenario is just gonna get you nowhere in terms of your relationship with him. In the same way that you won’t be able to connect with him if you run away the second you remind yourself of the possibility that he doesn’t feel the same, if he does feel the same, he’ll probably assume the same things about you you’re assuming about him right now.”
Squiddo felt her heart tighten at that. She’d never want Ash to go through what she was now. Kab’s words had struck her deep, and as hard as they were to hear, she probably had been needing to hear them for quite a while.
“Yeah.. you’re probably right.”
“I am right. Now get out of whatever hole or closet you’re hiding in and confess already, good night .”
“Hey- I never agreed to- and she hung up.” Squiddo sighed as she put her phone away into her pocket. She got up from the toilet, ignoring the prickly sensation of her legs having fallen partially asleep as she made her way to the door. But as she exited out, she was startled by Ash waiting for her outside. She really hoped he hadn’t heard her getting an earful from Kab.
“Ash-..” she trailed off. Ash had a look on his face, the same kind of look you’d make when remembering how you burned something in the oven hours prior, or how much you liked that cup you accidentally dropped and shattered on the ground that morning. Regardless of what you could compare it to, one thing was certain about it. It was genuine.
“..Are you okay?” He asked, eyebrows furrowed.
“..Nah.” Squiddo admits with a soft exhale, meeting his eyes. “And I want to talk about it if that’s okay with you.”
Squiddo caught a glimpse of worry in her eyes and it made her heart skip a beat as it was accompanied by a hushed “Of course it is..? Come on, we can talk in the living room.”
“In front of Sid?” Squiddo lightly jests as they walked back together.
An amused breath left him. “His face comforts me.” The two made their way to the couch, sitting beside eachother. Squiddo was admittedly very nervous to be talking to Ash about what just happened, already beginning to worry that she’d say something wrong that could result in a miscommunication.
“..I.” She started, eyes focused intensely on her lap, where her hands lay. But shortly after, the same hand that had handed her a fanta, that had pinned her down in a play fight and that had held her close rested on hers, drawn to her. Her head slowly lifted to meet his eyes.
“..take your time. I’ll be here all night.” That soft voice was reserved for Squiddo, and only Squiddo. She realized that now. She should’ve realized it a long time ago, but it was better late than never.
“I’ve been worried that I’ve-.. I’ve been crossing your boundaries. And pushing you to do things that you don’t want to.” She spoke, voice cracking halfway through. “I want this hangout to be fun for the both of us, but I don’t want you to have to force yourself to enjoy it if you’re not. And I feel like that’s been the case and I’m sorry.” She admits, eyes drifting away from his the farther she got into her confession, but by the time she was done, Ash was silent. But not long after, his hands came up to hold her shoulders, but he didn’t push her down like before.
“Squiddo-..” he sighed. “-You haven’t made me do anything . And while-.. yes, I techically have forced myself to do certain things, it’s not in the way you’re probably thinking right now, I assure you of that much.” He let go of her as he pulled his legs up on the couch, crossing his legs as he did before, looking away. “I’m not used to hanging out with people one on one. This whole hangout is a huge step out of my comfort zone, and I’ve naturally felt mildly uncomfortable but that’s.. not neccacarily a bad thing.”
He turned his head to her. “Squiddo, I love talking with you. I’ve enjoyed every second of our hangout so far, and I know I may have given off the impression that I wasn’t, but I promise you that was not, and will never be the case.” He spoke, taking notice of the slight wetness in her eyes and carefully moving her glasses up to wipe it away.
As he began pulling back, squiddo reached over to catch his hand with her own. “..You mean that?”
“Yeah. What, are you doubting me now?” He spoke, staring back at her with those dark eyes of his, something akin to questioning in his gaze. She didn’t want to let go. And judging by the way Ash’s hand tightened it’s grip on hers, neither did he.
“..Ash I.. have one more question. After that we can continue the movie.” She readied herself, gathering as much confidence as she could and making sure that she channeled as much of it as possible into her eyes as she stared Ash down. The taller seemed to falter a bit under it.
“..Why’d you say a lot ?”
“..Because.” He reasoned simply, and it frustrated her.
“Because what?” She urged a little.
“..Because I like you a lot, Squiddo.” He spoke, staring right into her eyes. That.. was. It was. It was!
Squiddo’s face flushed instinctively. But she felt obligated to mess with him for the stupidly smooth comment. “..Oh. Sweet! I like you too Ash. You’re my bestie.” She elbowed him with a cheerful smile, playing dumb as Ash sat there wide-eyed, looking impossibly embarassed.
“Y-yeah. mhm..” Ash’s voice trailed off as he dipped his head, as if he’d just been told that 2 + 2 was actually 5 and that he’d been confidently wrong his entire life.
Squiddo watched him for a little before she began to smile a little, nudging him. “..So gullible.” She teased, crying out in shock as she was suddenly shoved down in an all too familar fashion by Ash, who’d caught on immediately after she said that.
“I actually hate you and everything about you.” He spoke bitterly, only for Squiddo to this time, lean up against his grip, which wasn’t very strong this time. Ash stared at her, eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed, but the twitch in his face expression gave away very quickly how genuine his anger was at that moment.
Her hands thread into his hair, and his facial expression relaxes as she pulled his face closer to his. “..You don’t mean that.” She says as fact.
He stared at her silently, the ‘anger’ having faded. “..I don’t.” He responds hushedly. His hands relocate to her waist to pull their bodies together, and he returned his eyes to hers. Squiddo knew this a better time than any to say what she’d been wanting to all night. To finally get it off of her chest.
And maybe it was the way her face flushed, or the way her expression subtly changed,
“Ash, I-!”
But he managed to beat her to it.
Halfway through her confession, ash leaned in, pressing their lips together in a kiss that had been expected, yet still managed to come as a surprise to Squiddo. In that moment, it didn’t even matter to her that she didn’t get the chance to be the one to say it, as she tilted her head, letting her hands run through the curls of Ash’s hair.
Squiddo opened her eyes into slits briefly to catch a glimpse of the boy who she now had pinned below her. Neither wanted to let go of the other, and she felt Ash’s hand tremble on her back as her tounge curled around his. She could’ve seen things getting a lot more heated if not for the sound of Squiddo’s loud undertale notification startling the both of them away from eachother. They looked at eachother, eyes unblinking before Ash spoke up.
“..You should probably check that.” He sounded so out of breath Squiddo almost pushed him right back down, but she took her phone because that thought alone took her off guard. It was a text from Kab.
U ok?
After quickly asking for permission, Squiddo snapped a photo of Ash’s current state, attaching it to the message:
I am, I don’t know about him though :P
😨