#happy bday ud i continue to be...deeply deeply mentally ill about you

[queenofbaws]

i had SO hoped to be able to post a lil somethin for ud's bday but ALAS. i ended up getting a surprise migraine last night and things didn't go that way.

if anyone would like an(other) itty-bitty sneak peek of what i've been working on, feel free to glance down below that readmore. i decided this is going to be my "be the change you want to see in the world" project, and one of the many changes i want is moRE MATT AND ASHLEY BEING BESTIES* AHHHHHHHHHHH

*and maybe MORE? 👀

“I’m sorry,” Ashley said again, walking alongside him as the lodge came into view.

He took a deep breath, let it out, and did his best to push past it. For the moment, that was. Tonight was going to be hard enough on its own; he didn’t want to make things any worse than they needed to be.

Not for Ashley, anyway.

“I’m not,” he lied, flashing her a smile. “Guess I’m glad to know what I’m up against, if that makes sense. I’ll…I’ll figure it out. I mean, it’s better that I don’t get my hopes up, right? Keeps me from looking like some kind of oblivious idiot later.”

She sighed and crossed her arms, looking down at her boots as they crunched their way through the snow. “I’m still sorry,” she muttered, her voice small and sad, “I’ll totally get it if you hate me for showing you. Or for almost not showing you. Both were pretty crappy choices.”

“Hate you?” he snorted, surprised enough that he stumbled a step and had to catch himself from faceplanting. “For what? You didn’t do anything, Ash! Why would I hate you?” He regretted it as soon as he said it, his earlier thoughts about Josh and Hannah and the prank rising up to fill the silence between them. He stumbled again, scrambling to catch himself in a different sort of way. “Besides, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t forgotten about that pact we made in seventh grade.”

“Oh God!” She cupped her hands over her ears, blocking him out. “Shut up shut up shut uuup!”

“If I hated you, who would I marry if it turns out we’re both still single at thirty? I’d have no one! So I guess we have to be good forever. No hating allowed, all right?”

That got her. A surprised laugh fogged the air on her side of the path as they walked, her head dipping into her hands for, again, different reasons. “Of course you’d bring that up…of course you would! We were twelve!”

“I’m just saying,” he kept joking, relieved to see that lifting her spirit was buoying his own, “things are looking a little shaky for me right now! So unless Chris finally got the message and started making moves—” one glance told him Chris had not, in fact, done either of those things, “—I think we need to stay on friendly terms, you and me! I’ve heard thirty sneaks up on you, you know.”