{ Oh my darlinnnn... oh my darlinnn, Clementine!~

I can't get Max's voice out of my head for that scene...}

Ash's real dad lived on a farm far outside of New York with rolling countryside and fields. The farmland wasn't used, only owned so that he would eventually sell it off. Instead, there was a bar on the property which turned up just enough profit for them to get by.

The blonde male couldn't help but resent going home to his father. After the whole situation with the sex ring, he regarded him as a whore. It didn't matter that he'd been a kid when he'd been forced into it. His father couldn't understand it.

By then, everyone besides Ash and Max was in the back. Max was humming this god awful tune and Ash was tired of it, so he decided to say something he'd been meaning to for nearly the entire drive there.

" Thank you for understanding all of this... I didn't want to have to run away." He said, looking out the window as they drove on the dirt road which would eventually lead to the bar.

" Ash, I get it, okay? You got the education already, so this stuff takes priority for you. Just... once we get all this Dino stuff taken care of, I hope you reconsider and go back to school." Max sighed, keeping his eyes on the road. He'd learned that no matter how much he wanted Ash to do something, he couldn't control him. No one could ever tame such a teen as him in a million years.

" It isn't just about taking out Dino..." Ash replied. " Griff... Griff is dead. What kind of brother would I be if I didn't get justice on those who killed him?"

Max felt his heart aching for Ash in that moment. He didn't want to even think about how awful the other felt, how much everything weighed him down.

" I know, Ash. We'll get this taken care of. I'm here to help you through it." Max told him, and there was just something in his tone that told Ash he was telling the absolute truth, and that he would be there for him.

They pulled up at the house and bar, and Ash sighed to himself deeply. He pulled the lever and opened the door, waltzing behind the truck and opening the back as well.

" Get your lazy asses up." Ash told them all, and Shorter yawned heavily. He sat up and put on his black sunglasses, and Skip and Eiji were still curled up and sleeping despite the sunlight pouring in on them.

Ibe was awake, rubbing his eyes. He had taken time off of work so he could watch over Eiji. Plus, it wasn't safe for him to be alone.

" Skip!" Ash exclaimed, making the freshmen shoot awake. His chestnut colored skin was sweaty from how hot it had been in there, but that was the least of his worries. Ash's temper was something that scared him the most.

" I'm up! I'm up!" He whined.

Eiji awoke slowly, sitting up and looking dazed before he realized where he was. His eyes fell upon Ash, who was looking at him as well, but then pointed his gaze the other way.

They all began to get out of the back, and as Ash stood there and waited, Eiji noticed something about him. It was... an attitude. What with his hands shoved in his pockets and a tiny scowl, he seemed vulnerable and in a bad mood. Something told Eiji that he shouldn't ask him if he was okay, though. Why would he be? He was a young gang leader whose brother had died recently, and they'd just fled home after he'd been shot while duking it out with a mafia don. No part of that was okay.

Instead, Eiji stayed quiet as they all walked toward the house/bar.

" Hey, Jennifer." Ash waved on the way in. There was a woman with curly brunette hair behind the bar. She was the one employee who worked there, also a family friend. Meanwhile, Ash saw his father emerging from the back. " Hey, Dad..."

" You... what makes you think you can come back here, whore?"

" Hey!" Max yelled. " Who do you think you are speaking to him that way?!"

Ash waved him off.

" We needed a place to crash while we gather some things. Like Griff's stuff." Ash said, seemingly unbothered by the way his father was speaking to him. It was like he was used to it, but such a thing would be so sad to think about. " Not that you give a shit or anything, but he's dead."

Ash's father just stood there, not moving and not talking. His beer belly and beard made him look nothing like Ash, but his nose and eye shape were the same. Eiji looked him over, thinking about who Ash's mother would've been for Ash to get the blonde hair and eye color, as well as the height and slender figure. Was it weird for him to be thinking that way? He figured everyone who followed Ash must've wondered, too, right?

Ash only scoffed, taking the keys to the guest house from Jennifer and making his leave. Max only dirty looked Ash's real dad and felt sick to his stomach. Even after all the trouble Ash had caused him over the years, he was grateful to have adopted him and gotten him away from that mess, not making him return to someone who only thought of him as a dirty whore.

" Problem?" Ash's father asked.

Max only clicked his tongue and followed after Ash, telling himself that it wasn't worth it.

The guest house only had a couple rooms in it. There was one bedroom with two beds and a futon, as well as a small bathroom. And up above it, there was a loft space which was used as storage for he and Griff's old childhood belongings.

Ash walked in and looked around, thinking of all the nostalgia. He knew, though, that this wasn't their permanent getaway. That man... the banana fish, the address in Los Angeles. If they were going to be gone, that was where they were going.

" Why does your dad treat you like that?" Shorter asked, blowing a bubble with the gum he'd begun to chew by then.

" Yeah, he's such an asshole." Skip folded his arms.

" Guys, don't worry about it. We'll only be here for a couple days. The old man just has some issues..." Ash tried to say.

" It's bullshit, though! That whole thing wasn't your fault!" Max seethed. " That guy needs a beat down."

Ash shook his head.

" If I let people like him get to me I'd never be able to think about anything." He told them all. " Now, you guys get comfortable. Do whatever you want in here. I'm going for a walk."

Eiji watched Ash leave out the door and he could feel the emotions he was hiding. It was supposed to be a secret and he could tell, but Eiji knew that Ash was really hurting. He wondered how someone who was always so focused on protecting everyone else was so vulnerable that way. He knew in the future, he would have to try and protect Ash in the same way.

" So... did I miss something?" Ibe asked. " Why would he call him that?"

Shorter flopped over on the bed.

" It's a long story. Let's just say that Ash's childhood was... not pleasant." He replied, and Ibe was smart enough not to pry for more information after that.

Eiji got sick of sitting in there and decided to leave after some time had elapsed. Shorter and Skip had left a while before, and Max and Ibe had gone upstairs to look around in the loft. That meant Ash was alone out there still, and Eiji couldn't take it. A good friend wouldn't let that happen.

Eiji followed the sound of banging in the distance, remembering it as the same sound as when Ash shot Dino. He knew that it was his gun, as weird as that may have seemed. He was walking for a while before the noise seemed way closer than before, and that's when he found Ash at the top of a hill, shooting what looked to be whiskey bottles off of wooden crates.

As soon as he was within ten feet of him, Ash turned around to find Eiji standing there.

" Hey..." The blonde greeted, and Eiji approached so he was standing by him. He knew asking if Ash was alright would've been the dumbest question ever, so he figured maybe he shouldn't. Maybe what Ash needed wasn't sympathy, but something to counteract it. Just some fun and companionship.

" Hey. Those bottles look cool when they explode like that." Eiji said, smiling.

" Yeah?" Ash asked, raising a brow. For whatever reason, whenever Eiji came around, he felt better. He felt like his muscles were less tense and his temper eased, and he wasn't scared at all. It was almost like his normal self faded away into someone he was only just coming to know. " Wanna try?"

Eiji looked surprised, gesturing to the gun.

" Like... shooting?" He asked.

Ash nodded, handing it over.

" I guess." Eiji chuckled, feeling the weight of the revolver in his palm.

Ash went on explaining how to do things, like where the safety was and how to turn it on and off, how to aim.

Eiji was shaking as he tried to aim, but ultimately missed the bottle, and Ash found himself laughing at it. It was so funny to see Eiji so serious about it, but still miss no matter how hard he tried.

" I'm sorry!" Ash apologized, covering his mouth and laughing into his palm. " You really don't have guns in Japan, do you?"

Eiji pursed his lips.

" Oh, I'm sorry, would the elite American like to do better?" He asked with a tone.

Ash thought the whole thing was... okay- he didn't want to use that word. He didn't call things cute. He only took the gun back and shot the last bottle of whiskey on the crate, making the liquid burst and go everywhere.

Eiji watched and he felt like he was really simple for finding entertainment in it, but at the same time, it seemed to make Ash happy. He wanted to do anything he could to help him feel happiness.

...

Once they returned to the house, it was getting dark. It became clear, then, that the sleeping arrangement would be complicated. Shorter was in the bed to the left and Skip decided he didn't mind sharing a bed with him. And Max had taken the futon.

" I made myself an area upstairs, Eiji." Ibe explained. " I want you to take the other bed."

Eiji shook his head.

" No... I couldn't do that. You're older than me. You should sleep there..." The Japanese male tried to object. He didn't feel right about kicking out an older adult so he could have the bed to himself.

Ibe was about to argue, but Ash stepped in.

" Just take the bed. I'll sleep up in the loft." Ash said. " And Eiji, you can take the area Ibe made. I'm pretty sure that there is an air mattress up there."

" Why don't Ibe and Eiji just share a bed?" Skip asked, and Shorter rose a brow.

" Do you see how tiny these beds are? The only reason we can share is because you're tiny."

" Hey!"

" Shorter's right." Max groaned from the futon. " Ibe, take the bed. Ash and Eiji will figure it out."

With that, Eiji told everyone goodnight and headed upstairs. The air mattress Ibe had found was slightly larger than the beds downstairs and was already made up with blankets and pillows. Ash pillaged around in the cabinets downstairs before finding a pillow and a heavy blanket, then heading up there as well.

" Ash, don't you want the bed?" Eiji asked. He was offering to be nice, but also because he couldn't help but think back to Ash's shoulder during the fight with Dino. Maybe a comfy place to sleep would help with its soreness. Though Ash wouldn't outright say that it was hurting, Eiji wasn't dumb enough to forget it was there and wouldn't go away overnight.

Ash shook his head.

" It's not a big deal. I've slept way worse places than the loft floor." He tossed the pillow and blanket down, then curled up on the floorboards. Behind him, there were cluttered old picture frames and bicycles and a window which moonlight was pouring through.

Eiji deadpanned. Ash was so stubborn and hardly ever accepted hospitality and he wondered if it was the so called fucked up upbringing that had caused him to be like that, but he wanted to change that.

" This is your house, though..." Eiji murmured. " I'd feel bad. Plus, your shoulder-"

" Don't mind my shoulder. And exactly. You're the guest. AKA, you get the bed." Ash grumbled, rolling over with the blanket over himself. He hadn't even changed into different clothes or taken off his shoes; the bright red Converse he always wore were still on his feet.

Eiji huffed and sat on the air mattress. Fine then.

It was a while later, probably a few hours judging by the darkness outside when Eiji's eyes popped open. He was drowsy, figuring that it was only the wee hours of the morning. He was about to roll over with the blanket, but then he heard some rustling from the floorboards. There, he saw quivering underneath the blanket and Ash's blonde head of hair resting on the pillow. He was tucked into himself, curled in a way which signified he was trying to keep in his body heat.

Eiji sat up, rubbing his eyes.

" Ash... come on... I'll switch with you." He whispered, voice husky. Watching the other suffer like that was making Eiji's heart ache. No one should've ever been cold and alone like that.

Ash pulled the blanket closer to himself. He had forgotten how nippy New York Fall could be at night. It was probably just under forty degrees in there, maybe less, and there he was with a lone blanket and a flimsy pillow, laying atop wood which had about zero insulation. It was hard and chilly, and he had to admit... his shoulder was beginning to throb from him laying on the flat surface for so long.

" Shut up... I'm fine..." He tried to tell Eiji, who wasn't taking no for an answer.

" Ash." He got up, leaving the blankets on the bed. " Take the bed. Please."

Ash rolled over with narrowed eyes. He really didn't want to be selfish, not one bit. There was just something about Eiji that made him reject any unkind gestures he may have made toward anyone else. Someone so nice and innocent deserved the world, someone who made him feel so good.

Eiji crouched down.

" Please." He begged.

Ash ran a hand through his hair and sat up.

" I'm not making you sleep on the floor." The blonde argued. He thought about other options, surveying the size of the air mattress as well Eiji's slender figure. There was no reason they couldn't have both fit- wait?! Uh- hello?! Yes there was! Ash didn't share beds with people, or at least, he never really had before!

A tint of red overcame Ash's cheeks as he sighed to himself.

" You're not making me do anything. I insist-"

" Fine. We can both sleep in the bed..." Ash said, looking to the side.

Eiji sat there with wide eyes for a second, not really believing he'd heard him correctly. That was not an Ash thing to say at all, but it still made him smile.

" What's that look for?" Ash asked. " Why are you smiling?"

" No reason." Eiji stood, chuckling tiredly. He trudged back to the bed and crawled back on it, and Ash stood awkwardly with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He tried to think of it as normal, just two friends sharing a bed, but for him, never having done it before, it was a little weird.

However, Ash conquered his fear as he crawled on top of the air mattress and laid his head down. He kept his back to Eiji, blushing to himself and just trying to sleep. That was all he had to do. Right.

Eiji rolled so his back was to Ash, content.

" Goodnight, Ash..." He murmured.

Ash was still flustered from the whole thing, curling up toward himself.

" Night." He murmured back.

{ WHY ARE THEY SO PRECIOUS?! I love them sm ;-; <3 }