The first morning waking up in Ashton's house, Skylar is quite disoriented. It takes a solid minute for everything to come back to him, but when it does, he really just wants to go back to sleep.

Yesterday has to have been one of the unluckiest days of Skylar's life, and that's saying something. How the hell did he not only lose his car, but also his house, in the span of a day? How on earth is he going to go anywhere? Is he going to have to quit his job? He might, because he refuses to rely on Ashton for anything more than he strictly has to.

He should probably just call his manager or something, right? Apologize for being so unreliable and ask for more hours? It's the only way he could possibly save money to get another car, but then there's the problem of getting to work. He has no idea how he would be able to deal with that. Maybe he could just take the bus, but that would get expensive after a while. At least, for a ride so far out of the city. He does not have that kind of money, and would rather not spend any unnecessary cash since he's saving.

Skylar sighs, pulling out his phone and deciding to just text his manager that he's able to be put back on the schedule. He also adds that he can work full time, despite school starting soon. It's not like he plans on actually showing up to school all that much, since he won't even have a car and the buses don't go out this far. Also, it's not like he has any reason to anymore. He doesn't have to deal with his father's wrath, and he never planned on going to college anyway. It's not like his dad would've paid for it, despite being fully capable. He sure paid for Jessie's, though.

Skylar was pretty bad about going to work there for a while, but now he has motivation, so hopefully his manager doesn't hold it against him. They've always gotten along really well, despite all Skylar's problems. The people who like him stand out, since most don't.

Skylar pockets his phone after that, stretching before swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He blinks a few times, trying to figure out what he's going to do today. Well, right now he's hungry, and Ashton did tell him yesterday that there's food in the fridge if he wants any, so... anything to save money.

Skylar exits the room in his pajamas, which basically consists of flannel pants and a t-shirt. He walks down the hallway and begins to make his way down the stairs, but then he hears voices. One is obviously Ashton, but the other is a female voice that Skylar has never heard in his life.

"I don't care, we're not doing it," Skylar hears the woman say, and she sounds irritated. Skylar takes a seat on the steps so he can eavesdrop, not minding his business because that would be stupid.

"I'm not disobeying direct orders."

"Who gives a shit about orders when there will be this kind of fallout?" The lady asks, and she sounds deeply frustrated and upset. "Do you have no moral compass? This just isn't ethical."

Ashton's voice sounds really strange when he talks. It sounds entirely devoid of emotion, the warmth that Skylar is used to hearing—that he didn't even realize was there—completely gone. He sounds kind of... scary. Intimidating. "There is no room for ethics in the work of an accorder."

"Oh, for the love of—" She sounds deeply frustrated, letting out an exasperated noise. Skylar hears footsteps, then, and they sound repetitive. They sound like someone pacing. "This is military-grade technology, Ash. And she's wanting to sell to..."

The lady trails off, and Skylar tries not to be mad. Sell to who?! When he first found out about Ashton's involvement with crime, he was curious, but not to the point where he would actually go out of his way to find anything out. However, after the phone call Ash took yesterday, and now listening to the conversation he's having with this woman... he's finding himself growing more and more interested.

Skylar wants to know more. He wants every bit of information he can get his hands on. The more bits and pieces of information that he hears out of context, the more confusing it all is. He wants answers. Skylar is so used to not caring about these sorts of things, but here he is. Why is Ashton always different, since when does Skylar care to know anyone's business that isn't his own?

"It's not up to us," Ashton says, snapping Skylar out of his thoughts. He goes back to paying attention, but it ends up being pointless, since the conversation doesn't last much longer after that. "Focus on the business, that's an order."

"One day," the lady says, and there is venom dripping into her voice. Ashton has maintained his aloof demeanor throughout the duration of the conversation. "Evangeline will fall. Then what are you gonna do?"

There's a silence, and Skylar hears the woman let out a shaky sigh. She is really worked up. Ashton has an underlying conviction in his tone when he replies.

"Whatever I want."

Skylar takes pause. He's never heard Ashton's voice like that. It seems as though any time Skylar gets a glimpse into his double life, he gets insight into this... completely other side of Ashton. It's beyond intriguing, and he blames that specifically for the rapidly growing interest he has in this.

"You are impossible," the woman hisses, before the loud sound of heels on hardwood echoes throughout the room. She stomps her way to the door and slams it behind her, and after she's gone, Skylar hears Ashton let out a long sigh. Skylar decides it's probably safe to enter the kitchen now that Ashton isn't getting a seemingly deserved berating.

So, he descends the staircase and enters the kitchen a moment later. He finds Ashton leaning against the counter, running a hand through his hair and doing something on his phone. He glances up at Skylar's entrance, but Skylar doesn't spare him a glance. He just walks to the fridge so he can find something to eat.

"Skylar?"

"Hm?" Skylar replies, doing his best to act completely normal. Perhaps he should've waited a little longer before making his presence known, so as to avoid suspicion, but whatever. He's hungry.

"How long have you been awake?"

Okay. How would Skylar react to that question if he wasn't eavesdropping on a private conversation for the last minute?

"I dunno. Why?" Skylar replies, continuing to search the fridge until eventually finding some jelly. Huh, toast and jelly actually sounds really good right now. Ashton better have bread somewhere.

Skylar grabs the grape jelly and a water bottle and closes the fridge, before scanning the kitchen for the pantry. He has yet to make eye contact with Ashton, and instead walks directly to said pantry to look for bread so he can make toast.

"I had a visitor. I thought you might've heard our conversation." Ashton says, and Skylar can tell through his tone of voice that he can see right through him. Skylar really did come in here way too fast after she left. Also, Ashton is just smart, generally. Again, sorry, Skylar is fucking hungry. He had like, nothing to eat yesterday. Well, except drugs.

Ooh, that's a good idea. Skylar is definitely stealing more drugs today, and Crimson can fucking deal with it. Deep down he knows that that was not a fair trade. At all. Then again... maybe Skylar should just be happy the guy didn't kill him. It's not like Skylar has been particularly in the right throughout their duration of knowing each other.

Skylar eventually finds some bread, and grabs four slices before walking over to the toaster. He puts them all in there, then sets the jelly down. He finds a roll of napkins attached to the side of the fridge, and he grabs several of those. He sets them out neatly as a placemats for him to apply the jelly once the toast is done toasting.

After all that is organized, Skylar begins to open random drawers as he looks for a butter knife. He actually completely forgets about the conversation, until he's opening the drawer right next to where Ashton is leaning.

Skylar jumps when Ashton grabs his wrist, and Skylar hadn't even realized he was basically standing right in front of the guy. He jumps at the contact, gaze shooting up to lock eyes with Ashton, who is still leaning against the counter. Except, now he has trapped one of Skylar's wrists. Due to the fact that he leaning back, their proximity is quite... inconvenient. At least there's about a foot between them, which means Skylar is still capable of logic.

"I didn't hear shit. Where do you keep your silverware?"

The way that Ashton is looking at Skylar is... unnerving. Oh, he definitely suspects something. Skylar is unsure how to handle it, because he doesn't want Ashton to know what he knows. He's not sure how it would affect their dynamic, but there must be a reason it's such a well kept secret.

If Skylar wasn't at the right place at the right time—debatably—then he'd have no clue what any of this was about. He'd have brushed it all off. He gets the sense that he needs to be smart about confronting Ashton about this, because he will eventually. He just wants to find out more information before he does so, because for all he knows, he's somehow misunderstood everything. Skylar isn't exactly known for being accurate or correct, generally, in any situation.

Skylar is actually getting nervous at the look on Ashton's face, because he's so obviously suspicious. He doesn't believe Skylar for a minute, and Skylar is unsure how to handle this.

Well... when in doubt, misdirection.

"Uh, I don't care if you have a girlfriend or something. I just wanted some toast." Skylar says some off the wall shit in an attempt to distract the guy. It works, his face scrunching up in confusion.

That girl and Ashton are very obviously not romantically involved in any way. Their conversation was all business, and they seemed to disagree on a fundamental level that no relationship therapist could ever fix. However, it's a great way to both distract Ashton and make him think Skylar misunderstood the situation entirely.

"What?" Ashton asks in pure confusion. His grip on Skylar's arm loosens, which leaves him free to open the drawer fully. He finds that this is in fact the silverware drawer, and grabs a butter knife before walking back over to his set up by the toaster. As if on queue, the toast pops out right when he reaches it.

"Yanno, it's your house or whatever. If you want to bring girls around—"

"Do you actually think I'm in a relationship?"

Skylar begins applying the jelly to his bread, wondering how exactly he's going to steal from Crimson today without a car. He'll probably just have to go to the guy's apartment, despite the risk of getting caught being higher. Not by Crimson, since the guy is never there. Mostly just bystanders and neighbors that could see him breaking in. Once he's inside he's pretty much good.

"For all I know you're fucking married, Ashton. I don't know shit about you."

Okay, oops, got a little real there for a second. Skylar does not need to vocalize how much his lack of information about Ashton bothers him. Well, not any more than he already has. It might come across the wrong way.

"What exactly do you want to know so bad?"