Chapter Text
“I can’t stand him,” Multi groaned, side-eyeing Ashswag who was speaking to Haiper and Tubbo at the front of the class.
“C’mon, he’s literally not even that bad, I think you’re projecting,” Quackity replied, inured to Multi’s tirades about Ash’s narcissism. “I speak to him all the time and he’s just crazy nonchalant, not malicious.”
”Me? Projecting? Shut the fuck up,” Multi deadpanned, making Quackity chuckle before complying.
“No, I understand. I can’t stand him either!” Ewron nodded.
“It says gullible on the ceiling by the way,” Graf grinned, giving Ewron a small nudge, causing Ewron to roll his eyes.
“I’m not saying this because of Multi’s influence, I just seriously think that guy can lower his ego. Just ‘cuz he’s popular doesn’t mean he should act like that,” Ewron rebuked.
“Mmm,” Graf hummed, unconvinced, “Like what?”
”Well…you know, like he usually does…” Ewron mumbled, glancing at Multi to hopefully inspire some hateful propaganda towards Ash.
Seeing it as a chance to complain once more, Multi piped up, “Like he’s some sort of leader! He’s fucking insufferable. He loves himself so much it makes me sick, you guys are dim for not seeing it, I’m telling you! Look at the way he talks to his so-called ‘friends’! He couldn’t care less about them!” he exclaimed, earning tired glances from Graf and Quackity.
“Well according to Ash, they’re his ‘underlings’. So at least check your facts beforehand…” Quackity said in a small voice, not wanting to face Multi’s wrath again.
“Finals in 2 months by the way,” Graf added, eliciting several groans from his friends.
“Graf’s right guys! C’mon! I still don’t understand the first thing about chemistry, pleaseeee help me, Sir Multi!” Ewron exclaimed, leaning across his desk to hug Multi’s arm.
“Get the fuck off me, I don’t owe you shit,” he growled back in reply.
“What does Quackity have that I don’t?” Ewron scoffed, feigning hurt, earning him a hit around the head from Multi and chuckles from everyone else.
Ewron waved goodbye to his friends at the end of the school day—taking slightly longer than usual. Instead of heading home, he walked up to the roof, a habit he had developed since goodness knows when. He had a sort of bond with the scenery up there; he loved the way the wind whipped his face numb, it made him feel alive—made him feel something. He also found himself gazing downwards, losing hours just looking down at the barren landscape below. Ewron had long forgotten when he’d begun going.
Ewron traced his hands along the banisters, picking up dust with his fingertips along the way—the dust was a subtle reminder of how isolated he was as the only person who ever went up to the rooftop. It made him wonder if anyone else at school even knew they could go up. This time, Ewron savoured the dull staircase’s imperfections, the dust, the grime, before opening the door to the roof. He breathed in, preparing for the wind and cold relief that typically followed soon after.
It did, but with the smell of smoky nicotine. Ewron frowned, eyes darting around the (what he believed to be) empty rooftop. Ashswag.
The fuck? Why the fuck is this guy here? What’s he doing in my spot? Seriously?! Today of all days? I’ll report his ass to the homeroom teacher and then let’s see who’s the top student in the school—-
“Want a smoke?” Ash asked phlegmatically, not even bothering to glance Ewron’s way as he blew rings of smoke up into the air.
“…” Was Ewon’s incredibly well-though out response.
“Or are you going to report me?”
“…I won’t. Give me one,” Ewron blurted out, causing him to immediately regret it. Fuck it! I don’t have anything to lose, might as well smoke to not look like a loser!
Ash hummed in compliance. With practiced eased, he flicked the bottom of the cigarette carton with his hand, and offered Ewron the cigarette that had popped up as a result. “Oh, my lighter’s out of fuel,” he said flatly, watching Ewron place the cigarette between his lips, “Here.”
What happened as a result had Ewron freeze from head to toe: Ash leaned in, their faces just inches apart, and used his lit cigarette to light Ewron’s. It took Ewron everything to not burst out into a fit of coughs—partly from the distance between him and Ash just seconds ago and also because of the heavy smoke that rushed into his delicate lungs. But to not appear to be like a dainty lad in front of the most popular guy at school, Ewron had to pretend to be unaffected.
“You come up here often?” Ash asked, taking another drag from his cigarette, his eyes refocused on the horizon.
“Everyday, why’d you come up here today?” Ewron replied, removing the cigarette from his lips, silently hoping Ash wouldn’t realise.
“…Dunno,” he replied dryly.
There it is! That attitude! This is what I’m talking about, Graf! He thinks he’s so much better than everyone else!
”You gonna come here again?” Ewron asked, carrying the same detached voice that Ash had.
“Dunno.”
”Then don’t. I got stuff to do,” Ewron shot back.
“You annoyed I took your spot? Want me to draw a line to show you where my space is and where yours is?” Ash replied half-jokingly, his voice with an edge of laughter, “Didn’t know you were so territorial, Erron, go on and do what you wanted to do, I don’t care,” he shrugged.
“First of all, my name is Eh-Vuh-Ron. And it’s not like you’re lacking smoking spots, why steal mine?” Ewron frowned, annoyed that he knew how to pronounce Ash’s name to the T whilst Ash couldn’t reciprocate.
”And how’d you know that, Ewron?”
”Well unless you smoke at home, with how skilled you are at smoking, I’d expect you to have a variety of spots to go for a smoke to not get caught by people. Unlucky you were caught by me, Cockroach.” As soon as the latter part of the sentence came out his mouth, Ewron froze for a second. He accidentally referred to himself as ‘Cockroach’ which was an inside joke he had with his friends—due to the amount of ‘cock’ jokes he made and also how he could survive just about anything (it was an unfortunate talent of his).
”Right. Cockroach. Sure, man,” Ash said with a mixed expression, as if he found it both ridiculous, funny and pathetic all at once. He finally turned to look at Ewron, which made him realise how Ash’s eyes weren’t black, but really a dark shade of brown. “It’s getting cold, I’m leaving,” he deadpanned, turning to leave, “Oh, and, if you don’t smoke, just tell me next time so I don’t waste a cigarette on some loser trying to look cool. Bye.”
Fucking bastard.
“No, seriously, I hate that guy, like—-“
”Stop, stop, stop! Did Multi chip you or something? You two are starting to sound like broken records!” Quackity gaped, eyes darting between Ewron and Multi. “What could’ve possibly occurred from yesterday evening and now for you to reiterate your impassioned hate towards our good friend Ashswag?!” Ewron stayed silent.
“He’s enlightened, more like,” Multi scoffed.
“I think you guys need to get off the meat, hate is just as passionate as love, I’ll have you know,” Graf shrugged, earning mixed reviews from his friends. “And here comes the man of the hour,” he nodded towards the opening classroom door as Ash’s lean figure walked into the room. “Hey, Ash!” Graf called from his seat, followed by Quackity eagerly waving.
“Hey guys,” Ash nodded back without much emotion and Ewron swore they made eye contact for a split second.
“Seriously? You’re back?” Ewron groaned, watching Ash calmly blow smoke rings, casually leaned against the roof’s banister like he owned the place, “I hope that railing breaks and you fucking die.”
”Evening to you too, man,” Ash laughed. Ewron was almost certain that it was the first time he’d ever heard him laugh from the 2 years he’d known Ash in high school. Well, ‘known’ is a rather generous term, ‘was aware of his existence’ is more fitting. “You don’t mind the smoke, right?”
“Fucking hate it, what then? You gonna stop smoking for little old me?” Ewron beamed genially, deciding dignity was something he had long lost.
“Good point,” Ash nodded, turning to Ewron and blowing smoke directly into his face.
”Pff— What the fuck bro?!” Ewron gasped through a flurry of coughs, “What if I had asthma and fucking died, you prick?!”
“Yeah because a guy with asthma would accept a cigarette offer, remind me of your average grade?”
“Grades don’t mean shit okay? Just because I’m not aware how many electrons orbit a gallium nucleus at 7pm on Mondays or how they bond to yttrium doesn’t dictate my intelligence level in the slightest, okay?” Ewron fired back, his academic hatred also bleeding through along with his hatred for Ash.
“It’s 31 and they form intermolecular compounds with a mix of metallic, covalent and ionic bonding,” Ash recited as if it was the Our Father.
“Yeah, fuck you.”
”I hear a superiority complex coming on,” Ash grinned.
“And what if I cum on you, what then?” Ewron should learn to think before speaking.
”You’re fucking disgusting.”
”Yeah, I get that a lot.”
And gradually, the sun began to set; light fell below the horizon before either of them wanted to shut the fuck up, in their mutual bickering and their playful arguments.
“Fuck, my mum’s gonna be mad as shit,” Ewron mumbled, staring at the fading sun.
“Wanna come over to mine?” Ash asked, without much emotion in his voice, “If you want to avoid your mum that bad,” he added.
“…Yeah because if she gets mad at me for coming home late, she’ll find peace in me not coming home at all. What fucking logic is this?”
“Hey, man, I was just trying to help,” Ash sighed, resting his head on the railing.
Seeing how Ash looked genuine, Ewron paused for a moment before speaking again, “I can stay over, if you’d like.”
”So didn’t you just say—-“
”Shut up and just take me to your house.”
“Thank god,” Ewron exhaled in relief as he walked into Ash’s living room, causing Ash to raise an eyebrow in confusion, “Just glad you weren’t secretly rich,” he explained.
”You know, they say hate comes from the bottom. Really reflects you as a person,” Ash grinned playfully.
”Well, they call me Cockroach for a reason,” Ewron shrugged.
“You told me like an hour ago the reason you get called Cockroach is because you joke about cock too much,” Ash deadpanned.
“Two things can be true at once.”
“Yes, okay, let me get out the bedding—- oh. I forgot I don’t have any spare sheets…” Ash paused before turning to look at Ewron, “How do you feel about sharing a room with me? Sorry, I’ve only got one bed,” he smiled sheepishly.
Ewron just beamed, “Yeah, I’ve always longed to share a bed with you.”
”Stop being fucking weird, I meant you’d be sleeping on the floor in my room, dumbass.”
“I don’t even get the bed?” Ewron gasped in mock surprise.
“No, who do you think you are—-“ Suddenly, a WhatsApp whistle came from Ash’s phone, “Sorry, hold on,” he mumbled, fumbling for his pockets. “It’s just Tubbo asking what I had for dinner…whatever.”
”Wanna DoorDash? I’ll pay because I’m scared I’d eat you out of house and money if you paid.” Ewron asked.
”I seriously don’t understand this ‘fat’ bit you have with your friends,” Ash sighed, opening the DoorDash app on his phone, “What do you want to eat?”
“Hey, motherfucker, I’m serious when I say I will eat you out of house and family.”
Ash turned to face Ewron again, ”Just shut the fuck up and order, dumbass.”
And as they spoke, Ewron felt the weird bubbling of emotions brewing in his stomach. Granted, Ash was just as egotistical and prickly as he and Multi always believed, but the friendly banter they shared made Ewron believe Ash was more than the unflappable asshole at school—the one who pretended to be better than everyone. It felt weird for Ewron to be in Ash’s house, laughing with him, speaking with him. Because now Ewron knew Ash was so much more than the pretentious persona he put up at school. It was almost frightening how a singular day was capable of changing Ewron’s perspective of him.
And he liked it.