cynosure ; until dawn

six•irl

(a/n: tw: mentions of past homophobia also fight me it's still not proofread i'll proofread all the chapters tomorrow don't attack me)

ashley sat on the bed, staring at the picture. memories of her once loving parents flooded back to her. their kindness had slipped away when she had told them she was bisexual and polyamorous. they said she was confused. they said she was disgusting. they had abandoned her, causing her to spend a month of her life on the streets. sam had found her there, and brought her to her apartment. she cared for ashley until she was in a better physical -and mental- state. sam even let ashley work at the coffee shop she owned so ashley could work up enough money for her own apartment.

the two became close and lived together for nearly a year. during that year, sam had introduced chris, josh, emily, mike, matt, hannah, beth, and jess to ashley. two years later, the group is still close.

ashley smiled faintly at the brighter side of the memory, but she still felt a pang of sadness from the darker side of it all. she tried not to think about her parents, if she could even consider them that anymore, and she could've sworn she'd thrown out any pictures of them; but when digging through the drawer to find her meds, she stumbled upon the photo.

ashley was pulled out of her thoughts at the sound of a few knocks at the door. she set the picture aside, hopped off the bed, and went to open the door. josh stood there, smiling sympathetically at her.

"hey..." josh mumbled, "do you wanna come downstairs and do something with sam, chris and i? if you're feeling up to it, i mean." ashley smiled faintly.

"i think i just need some time to think about some things," ashley replied quietly. josh nodded.

"do you want to talk about it?" josh dealt with several emotional issues, so he knew how these things felt. which meant he always knew exactly how to make ashley feel better. ashley smiled and wrapped josh in a tight hug.

"sure," ashley replied, sighing. josh grabbed her hand and the two sat on the bed.

"so what do you wanna talk about?" ashley shrugged.

"anything that'll get my mind off... that," ashley mumbled, gesturing towards the photo of her parents. josh flicked the photo off the nightstand, letting it flutter to the floor. he thought for a moment before pecking ashley's cheek.

"we could just fool around in here something," josh suggested. ashley giggled, pecking josh's lips. josh smiled brightly. ashley laid down, and almost was settled until josh tickled her sides, causing her to burst out into giggle fits.

"s-stop it!" ashley exclaimed between fits of laughter. josh made no effort to stop, and soon ashley was a giggling, shrieking mess.

it didn't help when chris walked in and decided to team up with josh, tickling around ashley's collarbone.

"i c-can't breathe!" ashley sputtered out in between giggles. josh finally stopped, with chris following a moment after. ashley punched josh's arm playfully. "i hate you." chris laughed.

"love you too," josh replied, smiling innocently. ashley glared at him teasingly. chris rolled his eyes.

"anyways, uh, ash, are you okay?" chris asked, getting a shrug in reply. "can you give me an actual answer?" another shrug. chris sighed.

"i think she just needs a little time to think," josh said quietly. ashley sighed.

"i don't know if thinking is a good idea at the moment," ashley mumbled. chris smiled sympathetically.

"i don't think there's much i can do," chris said apologetically, "i promised jess i'd help her with some studying." ashley planted a quick kiss on chris's cheek.

"alright. go help out jess," ashley replied, smiling. "i love you." chris smiled back and pecked ashley's cheek, then josh's.

-

josh and ashley spent the rest of their day with ashley venting a ton. josh didn't mind, though. he just held ashley close and kissed her ever so often.

at one point, ashely had fallen asleep against josh's chest. josh smiled down at her. he was feeling pretty tired himself, which was unusual for him. usually his insomnia kept him awake until early morning, but tonight seemed different as he drifted off to a peaceful sleep with ashley in his arms.

chris finally made it home from all his studying with jessica, which took longer than expected due to emily having a meltdown over something.

he walked upstairs and smiled when he saw josh and ashley snuggled up together.