Work Text:
My parents are gone for the weekend. Something about visiting friends in Tennessee. I wanted to go, but knew it would be better if I stayed.
So I wave to them as they leave and surround myself with the silence of the house.
It’s…peaceful.
And it immediately gets interrupted.
I grab my blaring phone and see 10 unread texts from Aiden. I scoff, but smile.
Aiden ♥️:
:Ashy
:Ashhhhh
:ashlyn
:Pookie
:ashyyyyyyy
:pls I’m bored
:helppppp
:aren’t ur parents Gon for the wekend?
:😭
:stop ignoring me plsssss
I roll my eyes at the messages.
Ashlyn:
: what
Aiden ♥️:
:I wanna see you.
:I miss you
:it’s been forever
Ashlyn:
: *three days
Aiden ♥️
:same thing
:plssssss?
:it can be a whole gang thing if u want
Ashlyn:
:no. Just you
Aiden ♥️
:YIPPIE!
:I’ll be over in ten
Ashlyn:
:don’t make me regret this
Aiden ♥️:
:never
I just go upstairs and tidy my room and bed. I know when Aiden comes over, we usually just sleep.
God, sleep.
It’s so hard to sleep.
I glance at the mirror in my room and frown.
I walk up to the mirror and inspect my eye bags. It’s like they sink into my skin. I glance at a small makeup bag I had on my desk. I only ever used it for ballet…but I know there’s some concealer in there…
I grab the bag and sit down in front of the mirror. I apply a small amount under my eyes.
I blend it out and a lot of purple disappears, but they’re definitely still there.
I apply a few more dots. I blend it out.
Great. Color gone.
But as I keep staring, I realize the intents from the eye bags are still heavy. I sigh and just cover my eyes.
Closing them stings, but having them open stings.
I stay like that for almost three minutes before I remember what I was doing. I stand back up and keep tidying my room.
…
A few minutes later, I hear a knock at the door. I go downstairs and open it to see an excited looking Aiden. He runs up to me and practically jumps on me. I catch myself before I tumble and groan.
“Aiden…get off.” I say.
“Aw man.” He says, detaching himself. I look into his eyes and tilt my head. I point to his eyes.
“Your eyes…they’re deeper red…” I say, observing his contacts? Aiden sighs.
“I ordered the wrong color and my regular color won’t come in until next week, so I’m stuck with these.” He says annoyed. I gently bring my hand to his cheek, near his eye and smile.
“I like the red.” I say, trying to be ‘out there’. I don’t know why. Aiden’s smile widens.
“You make me blush, Ashy.” I roll my eyes immediately with a groan and remove my hand.
“You ruined the moment,” I say, mocking anger. He laughs but apologizes anyways.
“Ashlyn Banner, I am deeply sorry for ruining the moment with my words of love. I never knew you hated my love so much.” He says in and old-timey English accent. I giggle and just flick his forehead.
“Alright, I’ll forgive you if you drop the accent.” Aiden smiles.
“Done. Don’t you worry about it.” He says.
He talks about his day as we go upstairs. He has a small bag, so he’s probably intending on staying the night. He sets his bag down and collapses into my bed.
“Ahh….much better…” He says, making himself comfortable. I smile and climb in next to him.
I hug him tightly, then get into our normal cuddling position. Me laying down with Aiden tucked into my chest as I play with his hair. We never agreed to get into this position, it just…always happens.
Me and Aiden have been dating for almost three months now. Our friends still haven’t noticed, mostly because our relationship and dynamic haven’t really…well…changed at all. Just we cuddle more, hug more, and sometimes kiss.
I close my eyes and pray for sleep. I start drifting off. Eventually slumber overtakes my body.
…
I wake up in the Phantom dimension. I notice Aiden across from me on the bus. He just woke up too. We share a knowing smile.
Taylor stretches and greets everyone.
Tyler groans and holds his head, obviously with headache.
Logan gives Tyler a water.
Ben looks at Aiden and me knowingly.
I blush slightly. I’m not uncomfortable with our friends knowing, and I’m definitely not ashamed of dating Aiden, i just like having our own time, with just us.
Suddenly, everything gets loud. I hold my ears and notice one of my earplugs fell out. I groan and grab my really heavy duty ones. I will find. The other earplug later, but right now, I need some quiet.
I leave the bus to get some air. I put on the heavy duty headphones and everything is silent. I can’t hear a thing.
It’s…peaceful.
And it immediately gets interrupted.
I feel the flesh of my back being ripped out.
I let out a guttural scream and spin around to see a phantom attacking me, and two more rapidly approaching.
The phantom tackles me to the ground and starts scraping my skin off.
“AGHHHH! AIDEN!” I scream. Tears stream down my face.
The phantom tore up my arms so bad I can barely move them.
I use my final strength to grab my knife from my shoe and kick the phantom.
It jumps back and cries enough for me to get some air. I see Aiden sprinting towards me in the distance. I smile as I see him but the phantom tears my back up again.
The other two phantoms finally arrive and help.
I feel like I’m being shredding by a cheese shredder.
I hear gunshots ring out and eventually, the cutting stops.
I feel like I’m staring down at my body from afar. I don’t feel Aiden grab me and hold me up. The call as the realization one of the lights went out was unheard by me. As Aiden picks me up, I barely feel a change in position.
Am I dead?
Why am I so out of it?
I get carried onto the bus with Aiden still holding me. He’s frantically grabbing medical supplies. He’s…he’s crying…no…he’s sobbing.
I furrow my brows. The view is getting blurry. I force myself back into my body. My brain practically turns back up. I look at the devastated Aiden and just smile.
My bloodied hand comes up to his cheek and he is frozen.
“I…I like the red of your contacts….” I say softly. He laughs gently and just cries more. I frown.
“Don’t cry. I’m right here. I’m fine..” Aiden wipes his tears, leaving streaks if my blood behind. He shakes his head as he cleans my face off.
“God, this is all my fault…” He says, looking down at the Med-Box. I furrow my brows farther. I lift my heavy arms and flick his forehead. He looks up at me shocked.
“No, it’s not your fault. It never was.” I say. He has a ghost of a smile on his mouth.
“No, it’s my fault. I was the one who bought the lights, I was the one who made you get hurt in the roof, Goddamn it, I was even the one who made you go on the ducking field trip! God! You should hate me!” He cries out.
I pause.
“But I don’t.”
Aiden stops and just looks at me.
“Aiden Clark, I love you so much. I used to think I would never even have friends, now I have five friends and one of them is my amazing boyfriend. And I know the situation is shit, but I’m so happy I met you.”
Aiden smiles and just stares into my eyes.
“God, I love you.” He says. I smile, my pain forgotten for now.
I wince slightly as I prop myself up. Aiden is about to lower me back down, but my lips meet his in a small kiss. He leans into it and I smile into it.
Once I pull back and the moments over, I am reminded if the shooting pain through my body.
“Oh god damn it.”
…
Once I was all bandaged up, which took a very very long time, we only had about five more minutes. I am cuddled into Aiden’s side and trying not to move my arms or torso at all. Everyone else is seemingly asleep.
Aiden gently strokes my hair. He kisses the crown of my head and whispers sweet nothings into my ear. Eventually he kisses my head again.
“I love you. I’m still sorry.” He says. I just bury myself farther into his shoulder. I am unearthed when I hear a loud gasp. It’s Taylor pointing at us.
“OH MY GOD! ARE YOU TWO DATING? HOLY SHI-“
Once we are shifted back, both our phones immediately start blowing up. I’m in extreme pain, so Aiden checks. It’s just Taylor pinging me and Aiden. He turns his phone off and looks up at me with a smile.
“She’s going to be up our asses tomorrow.” He says. I groan.
“I know.”
We laugh about it for the rest of the night, until we finally wind down enough to sleep.
We sleep through the rest of the night.
It’s…peaceful. And this time, uninterrupted.