Winter draped Meadowbrook in a blanket of early evening darkness, its chill creeping in through the cracks of the old house. The sounds of laughter and button mashing resounded from the living room, with Hunter and his friends still deeply engrossed in the video game. Their brash commentary and occasional shouts of triumph broke the tranquility of the house, hell, maybe even the entire street itself.

This session with Micah and Cassie had stretched on way longer than anticipated. The adrenaline rush from their high-energy gameplay had Hunter reveling alongside the two, but also had him completely oblivious to the passing time. When he saw that the clock read “7:36 pm”, Hunter finally decided to peel himself away from the situation.  

It was weird. He actually felt kind of guilty.

Standing up, he put the abused controller aside.

“Alright, Micah, Cass.” He glanced over at his friends. “Sorry, but I gotta go. I’ve left him alone up there for too long.”

“Whoa, okay. Look at you, Hunter.” Micah replied with a sly grin. “You really are becoming a good student, huh?”

“Like hell.” Hunter said with an eye roll. “See you guys later, ‘k?”

Following some mild and playful protesting, Micah and Cassie left. After climbing the stairs, Hunter entered his room to find Ashley sitting at the desk again, a halo of lamplight outlining his figure. The tenseness of Ashley's shoulders as he typed away was unmistakable, an air of irritation clearly hovering around him. Hunter let out a carefree sigh.

“Hey, Ash, I’m back,” Hunter began, his words holding a hint of remorse as he took a seat across from the other.

With a voice filled with tangible frustration, Ashley began. “We have barely made progress on our project today, Hunter. It's due in a few days, and we still have a lot to complete.”

Hunter ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm the slight unease rising in his own body. “Come on, Ash, we'll get it done. We've got time.”

Ashley gave a short exhale through his nose and continued typing, without looking at Hunter.

“Phew, okay…” Hunter remarked, almost feeling each loud tap on the keys hit him like a hammer. If anyone asked, he would say that his relationship with Ashley was more a product of necessity now, but still not a friendship—since they were thrown together as project partners without much choice in the matter. But still, something felt off, and it went beyond Hunter’s lack of time management skills.

Damn, that feeling of “concern” was coming back.

Hunter hesitated, unsure how to breach the invisible wall that separated them.

“Hey,” Hunter began tentatively, and walked over to Ashley. “I know you never wanna tell me anything, but are you good?”

Ashley’s fingers paused momentarily before resuming their rapid dance across the keys. “I’m fine,” came the clipped reply.

Hunter chewed his lip a bit, uncertainty starting to gnaw at him. Seriously, what was the problem now? He really did suck at dealing with this kind of thing—emotions—and Ashley seemed to have a habit of bringing these situations about for him. Hunter took a breath. Here went nothing.

“Look, if something's up—" Hunter started, then stopped, the words hanging uncertainly between them. “I’ll finish what I missed tonight, okay? I’ll stay up if I have to.” 

“That’s not it,” Ashley muttered, his voice tight, and cold. “It’s nothing. Just…forget it.”

Hunter sighed, feeling increasingly frustrated at his inability to break through Ashley's defenses yet again.  “Okay, fine. Whatever.” He decided to just relent and retreated to his bed once more. There were better things to do than go on about this, anyway. He picked up his phone, scrolling through while listening to Ashley work the keyboard with clear agitation in the background.

Not even five minutes passed before Hunter sat up again, irritated.

“No but for real, why can’t you just tell me? I don’t wanna sit here all awkward and shit now.”

“I said forget it, Hunter.”

“But—”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Just keep working. You’ve wasted enough time.”

Hunter’s frustration grew into a knot in his chest, constricting more and more with each passing second. His fingers tapped impatiently against his thigh. This wasn’t just about him not understanding emotions anymore—it was about Ashley being stubborn as hell.

And to make it worse, he wouldn’t even look at Hunter, just like the first time they met.

What did he have to do to get Ashley to open up to him? He was showing concern for him, dammit. He didn’t do that for anyone.

“God, why are you like this?” Hunter blurted out, the words sounding more dramatic than he intended. “If you’re gonna be like that, just go home!”

Ashley’s head jerked up, his eyes ablaze with a sudden fury that caught Hunter off guard. “I’m this way because I’m a loser.” His voice sliced through the room, sharp and cutting. “Just a boring, robotic loser because I want to succeed in life! You agree, don’t you?”

Silence descended, heavy and suffocating. Hunter’s gaze lingered on Ashley’s figure, with a mix of frustration and concern in his expression. Ashley heard what Micah said about him, and how Hunter laughed along with it. Now it all made sense.

“…so that’s what it was.”

Ashley huffed, seemingly out of breath from his outburst. This was the second time Hunter had managed to get such a rise out of him. He rarely ever yelled like that. He was used to suppressing his emotions from everyone, including himself. How Hunter could pull them out of him, he didn’t know. After a moment, he caught his breath and replied.

“You say it. Your friend said it.” Ashley kept his eyes on the floor as he spoke. “None of you have to remind me. I know I’m not a ‘normal’ teenager. I know I’m boring.”

The tension in the room crackled, thick with the echo of cruel words. Hunter’s chest tightened, his pulse racing as trepidation mixed with increasing guilt. He wanted to reach out and try to bridge the gap between them, but didn’t know if he’d just make it worse. He figured he would try. Somewhere inside, he felt he couldn’t just leave Ashley like this.

“Ash, listen.”

Upon hearing the unusually relaxed tone in his voice, Ashley looked up at Hunter with a sullen gaze. The blond was looking at him as well, directly in the eyes.

“Don’t pay attention to anything Micah said. He’s a cool guy but he says a ton of stuff he doesn’t mean. So don’t worry about it, okay?” Hunter tried to reassure.

Ashley shook his head, eyes going back to the ground. “But you think I’m dull too, Hunter…”

At that, Hunter swallowed hard, recognizing the weight of his words and the impact they had on Ashley. He had no idea the boy even cared what he thought. Quick sound bites of the different things he’d said to him since they’d met rushed through Hunter’s mind, and he found himself unexpectedly wincing just a little. He needed to make this right, somehow.

"Look, Ash, I know I've been a total asshole to you. I'm sorry." Hunter admitted, sincerely. "Even before today that’s all I’ve been, and that's on me. You probably won’t trust what I say but…I mean it when I tell you, I'll do better with that. With everything."

Ashley remained silent, his gaze fixed on the carpet, his guard still up. Hunter took a deep breath, determined to break through that same invisible wall.

"You know," Hunter began, his voice softening, "none of what I or Micah said is true. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m full of crap, and so is he. You're not dull. Not even close."

Ashley's brows furrowed slightly, both surprise and skepticism evident on his face.

What did he just say?

“Yeah, I mean…” Hunter continued, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips, “you're the guy who can breeze through huge fucking textbooks in days, and you speak way smarter than most of the adults in this town. I seriously don’t know anyone else our age who can do that. Hell, we’re probably all gonna be working for you one day.”

Hunter's words conveyed a newfound honesty for him. His heart raced a bit, unsure of how Ashley would take the sudden shift in their conversation. It felt beyond weird, but for some reason, he didn’t want to stop just yet.

Ashley glanced up after what felt like the longest time, his expression holding something Hunter couldn't quite place.

“I...guess I never saw it that way,” Ashley admitted, a hint of vulnerability slipping through his usual reserve.

“You're not boring, Ash,” Hunter said, meeting the shorter boy’s gaze with a rare but genuine sincerity. “You're different, and that's alright. You really stand out a lot, y’know? Guess that’s why, even from the first time we met, I couldn’t stop looking at--”

His words, and heart, caught in his throat.