Chapter Text
Aiden following along with Ashlyn and her family to her dance studio wasn’t anything new. He had been constantly doing it since the week he met her. However, his reason for following her had changed overtime.
The first time he had come along he had done it solely out of his own crazy interest. He never had long to make friends so he would push himself into their lives as much as possible. And he had found Ashlyn Banner to be quite interesting. He had even gone as far as to attempt to follow her inside, even if she quickly shut him down. The next time he came along was 2 weeks later. Aiden had been ranting to Ashlyn about sudoku, the all new puzzle to distract his never resting brain. And had followed the red head off the bus. Ben obviously tagged along. And when it came time. Ashlyn’s parents had decided it would just be easier to drop the boys home themselves. The Clarks house wasn’t particularly far from the Banners. And Emma had insisted it would be no issue.
He doesn’t remember why he got off with Ashlyn again that next week. He just did. And the week after. And after. Eventually it became almost a little tradition. Every Tuesday and Friday Aiden Clark would follow Ashlyn Banner off the bus and spend an hour at her house before she would change. Have her mum or dad do her bun. Get in the car with her and her parents, drop her at dance and go home with his cousin. By the end of the day Ben was always tired. So Aiden would let him rest and talk to Ashlyn’s parents instead. He would talk about whatever was on his mind. And would listen to what Mike and Emma had to say. His favourite stories were always the ones about Ashlyn’s childhood. Along with stories from when they both served in the military.
Aiden couldn’t explain why. But he had slowly become more and more interested in Ashlyn‘s hair. maybe it was that he had never seen hair as long as hers. And in true Aiden fashion. He was a bit of a creep about it. He truely wondered what it felt like. Or what it would look like in different styles. Aiden was hopeless at hair. He had tangled Lily’s hair enough times to know it. He didn’t have the same skills as Ben or Tyler when it came to hair. So what could he do?
It was a Friday. Aiden's parents were out of town again for a book signing. And there was supposed to be a storm later that night. So the banners had kindly offered to let Aiden and Ben stay over for the night.
It was inching closer to 5 o’clock. Ashlyn had changed and came downstairs this time asking her dad to do her hair. She sat on the floor opposite Aiden and Ben with her dad sitting on the chair behind her. Ashlyn and Ben were having a conversation, but if Aiden was completely honest, he wasn’t paying attention. He was more focused on Mike's hands.
Mike used a small spray bottle to damp the ginger hair before using a comb to slick most of it back into a ponytail before twisting it and using pins to keep it in place. He warned Ashlyn to cover her ears before he used hairspray all over her head. Aiden had learned over the last few weeks that the sound of the hairspray bottle specifically was irritating to Ashlyn even with her earplugs in. So she often covered them with her hands for more protection from the whistling noise.
20 minutes later, the red head had been dropped off and her parents along with Aiden and then we’re on their way back to the Banner home. Aiden was having his usual conversations with Emma. Mike was more focused on the road. At some point during his ramblings Aiden had decided this would be the perfect time to ask whats been on his mind.
"ohalsoiwaswonderingifyouchouldteachmehowtodoashlynshair?"
Unfortunately, he had been so nervous that he rambled it out way too fast for Emma to understand. She turned her head around to meet Aiden.
“What was that?”
Aiden looked over at Emma before becoming red with embarrassment and averting his eyes.
“I was wondering if you could show me how to do Ash’s hair the way you do. I’m not very good at doing hair..” Aiden shared a knowing look with Ben "but I think it would be usfull to know"
Emma gave Aiden a knowing look, before turning back to face the road.
“Yeah sure. Me and Mike would be more than happy to show you. How about when we get home we make some of that calming tea you like and I’ll be your own personal guinea pig?”
“Thank you Emma. I think I would really like that”
…
“Alright kid, how much do you know already?”
Aiden was sitting on the couch with Mike on his right. Ben was laying on the loveseat to his left and Emma was sitting right in front of Aiden on the floor. The tv was playing “love is blind” quietly in the background. Apparently Emma thought it was quite funny. Aiden turned to face Mike before responding.
“Uh. There’s something called a fishtable braid?”
“He means fishtail” Ben's phone spoke for him. Aiden made sure to shoot Ben a stink eye. “How about you stay over there texting the gang” Ben had the idea to turn tonight into a group sleepover. With the storm they could stay in and watch movies all night.
Ben nodded and looked back at his phone. Mike gave Aiden a soft smile “okay. How about we start with normal 2 plaits? They're not hard at all. Then we can go from there”
Aiden let out a sigh as his smile grew wider
“Yeah, let’s do this”
The next 30 minutes was spent with Mike explaining braiding Aidenand telling his own stories of learning. Aiden was way more focused on not accidentally pulling on Emma‘s hair. There had been a couple times where he would accidentally tug too hard and profusely apologise to Emma. If Mike was being honest? Aiden's braids looked good. He had picked up on the moment fast. He looked relaxed. He had an expression that Mike had never seen on the blonde before.
Aiden was always smiling. Always. But there was something different about the smile he had at that moment. It was a softer smile. A more genuine smile than Mikes seen out of the boy in several months. Mike thought back, finding out about the phantom world. Looking around the hospital waiting room and being so confused that in a room full of people so distraught Aiden could be so upbeat about it. Aiden had been holding Ashlyn’s hand (yes, Mike saw. He’s not blind). His face was turned away from her with his hand covering his mouth. Mike could see the boy trying his best to keep his smile that he never went without. But right now? Aiden looked the most relaxed he had been since maybe ever.
After finishing the first side. He had Aiden do the other half of Emma’s hair. Mike looked at the first braid and pointed out the few mistakes Aiden had made. But for the most part, he let Aiden be and moved to the kitchen to start dinner.
Aiden was proud of his work when he was done. He did way better than he thought he would do. It wasn’t perfect but it was pretty good for a start. Aiden was clearly a quick learner even if he struggled.
“Hey Mike? Can I try the braids Ashlyn alway has?”
Mike thought about it. There was still time before Ashlyn had to be picked up. And Aiden was more than determined to try it. Mike asked Emma how she felt about it, to which she responded that she didn’t care as long as she was getting out of making dinner. Mike giggled at his wife before making sure nothing would burn and joined them at the couch.
The next 20 minutes were spent sharing jokes about how stupid the people on the show were with his wife. At some point the twins had shown up. Taylor was on the floor with Emma and Tyler was near ben wondering what the fuck Aiden was doing to Ashlyns mum. Aiden ended up doing 2 different sets of kinda half dutch braids by the time Emma had to leave for Ashlyn, along with Logan. Logan's grandparents didn't feel okay driving in the rain so Emma and Mike had offered to pick him up . He himself thought they were pretty crap. They were way harder than the plaits he had done before. But Mike had told him how much worse his own were when Ashlyn was younger.
Emma had gone to pick Ashlyn up while Aiden and Ben helped Mike set out dinner. Aiden heard the door open and swung his head around to meet Ashlyn‘s eyes. They must’ve worked her hard tonight because she looked just about ready to pass out and really sweaty, but honestly Aiden couldn’t tell if it was actually sweat or if it was rain from the storm outside, because when Emma walked inside she also looked damp.
“Hey Ash, Sup Logan”
Aiden walked to Ash and gave her a gentle hug. After the roof incident Ashlyn had found herself more willing to receive physical affection from people. Aiden would take advantage of it all the time while still making sure she was comfortable. The red head returned the hug for pulling back slowly.
“Hey Aiden” she looked over his shoulder towards the dining table “Hey guys”
Greetings were sent towards Ashlyn and Logan. Before sitting down at the table.
There was the usual chatter around the table. About school and work. The topic of the Phantom realm was specifically skipped. No one really felt like talking about it tonight. and Ashlyn was dreading the moment the clock hit midnight. her thoughts were interrupted by a stinging in her head. One of the bobby pins in her bun had shifted in the middle of rehearsal. So it had been at least an hour that it had been poking her.
After dinner, Ashlyn decided to go take a shower. The mix of sweat, hairspray and a stupid poking pin, she had complained to Aidan many times about how there was always one pin that would poke her in the head. All of that along with the knowledge that in a couple hours she would have to be fighting for her life was not helping how overwhelmed she felt. She didn’t express this very well. But everyone got the general idea.
Aiden and Ben had set up the air mattress while Logan and Taylor found a few blankets and pillows and put them on the floor of Ashlyn’s living room. Aiden had been around to Ashlyn‘s house enough times to know where everything was by heart. So that helped. Ashlyn came downstairs with spare clothes from her dad for Ben and her own baggy stuff for Aiden.. Ben went to the upstairs bathroom while Aiden went to Ash’s bedroom to change.
Aiden took his chance to look around Ashlyn‘s room. Even if he's been here many times he's usually more focused on Ashlyn and Ben then what her room looks like. She had several posters around her bedroom, a bookshelf. A small TV mounted on her wall opposite her bed. and a little shelf screwed into the wall above her bed with several dance themed awards and trophies on top. They clearly meant something to her. Aiden looked over at the desk. Spotting a basket with hair ties in it. He grabbed two hair ties and put them on his wrist under the sleeve of the pyjama shirt he had been given. He knew Ashlyn wouldn’t let him touch her hair that easily… but just in case…
By the time Aiden had returned downstairs, The group was picking out a movie. Ben was signing something. He couldn't quite make out what his cousin was saying because his back was to the stairs. Ashlyn turned to face Aiden, having heard him. Aiden gave her a soft smile before sitting next to Ben.
“Soooo. You guys know what we're watching?”
The group had been made to watch Aidens movie choses far too many times. And lets just say, only someone like Aiden could be almost 16 years old and be able to watch all the troll movies in one go… twice. So anytime they stayed at someone's house the others always picked the movie on movie nights. Aiden was never upset about it. He liked seeing what everyone else likes to watch in their time. Especially when Ashlyn picked out the movie.
“We were thinking of Studio Ghibli. Like spirited away? What do you think?”
Aiden knew that Ashlyn had a soft spot for anime. Even when she wouldn't say it. He just knew.
“Never seen it. sounds good. You'll be good with it?”
Everyone was happy with it. So they moved to be more comfortable. Tyler was pulling the movie up on Netflix when Aiden noted that Ashlyn was tripping over her hair pushing herself back. “Why is your hair out?” he asked before he could really think about it. Ash looked at him and thats when he knew he fucked up, “not that i dont like it just that you never have it out and its clearly bothering you and-” Ash punched him in the arm lightly to bring him back to this world. “Aiden It’s fine. My hair is out so it can dry. If I put it up now it will never dry. Never'' Aiden had a little giggle to himself at how serious she was. He thought about asking her. But something in him was telling him it was a crap idea. She wouldn't say yes. But hey. He's never filtered himself before. But later. When everyone was more invested in the movie.
…
They were now 2 movies in. But Aiden wasn't paying attention anymore. Ashlyn was laying on his left collarbone, he was lightly patting her head. They would often end up like this now. The first time she had cuddled up to him was right after the roof incident. That night she took out her ear plugs. laid on him, told him to shut up. And listened to his heart beat for the next 2 hours until she fell asleep. The next day she didn't talk about it. Aiden had notest how she would be closer to him than normal and any time they had a movie night she would find a way to listen to his heart. But those are stories for another time.
Right now Ashlyn Banner is laying on Aiden Clarks chest and his hand is on her hair. He looked around at everyone in the room. Logan and Taylor were quietly talking about the movie. Tyler was on his phone as usual and Ben was clearly holding Taylors hand. But Aiden wouldn't tease him over it. Aiden looked down. Ashlyn was still awake. Looking at her phone every now and then. Aiden knew she was waiting until midnight. Their plan tonight was big. They had gotten everything together to make it to savannah. They had planned everything. They had a map for Taylor to help out Ashlyn, who would be driving. and plenty of amo for Logan in the back of the truck. And 10 flashlights of varying sizes all fully charged and with backup batteries. Aiden was bridging many puzzles with him. He knew it was gonna be a long ride and he didn't want to slow them down by being overactive and not being able to sit still. If he was honest. He was nervous about it, but for right now in this moment. None of that mattered.
What did matter was finding a way to just ask her, it was 2 minintes till midnight. Now or never.
“Hey Ashie?”
Ashlyn made a small sound, so quiet that he barely even heard it. But Aiden knew it meant she was listening.
“When we come back tonight… Can I braid your hair?”
Ashlyns breath hitched in her throat. And Aidan really thought he fucked up. Until he felt her move closer to him, if that was even possible. She nodded her head against Aiden's chest. Aiden didn't feel it at first but understood after a moment.
“Wait... So that's a yes!?” He yelled it slightly louder than he was talking before.
“Yes, you dork, you can. But the first time you tangle or tug on it I'm throwing you to the phantoms. Deal?”
Aiden wrapped his arms around Ashlyns body and gave her a little squeeze.
“Deal”