#i just love these dorks man they take up sm space in my brain

[heyimash06]

The Pocky Game

Summary: Ashton asks his boyfriend to play a silly game, and they end up talking about their relationship.

Pairing: Ashton J. Skeis x Aspen Hart [OCs]

Word Count: 2,484 words

[small warning for vague mentions of self-harm]

A/N: a rewrite of an old fic from a good while back, before these two were properly developed & in their current states. this had me giggling and kicking my legs bc it was so damn cute and fun to write and i hope it evokes the same emotions in other people /hj

Unlocking and opening the door to his apartment, Ashton took a deep breath, as if he were preparing himself for something. He was, in a way. He was going to ask his… boyfriend if he’d like to play a game with them. Not necessarily a game they usually played like Wii Party or Snipperclips, but cie supposed that if cie panicked and couldn’t finish cies question, cie could always fall back and ask to play one of those or Wii Sports instead. No, the game ey really wanted to play was a stupid, silly little game they randomly remembered while out getting their comfort foods. The game in question was The Pocky Game, something Ashton had come across years ago while reading fanfics and apparently hitched a ride in the back of his mind for about 8 years, only to pop out at the most random and unexpected point possible. 

“Um- I- I’m home!” he called, closing the door again and looking into the open-ish area of their living room and kitchen. He stepped in further to find his boyfriend laying face-up on the carpet in front of their couch, allowing the kittens to lay on his chest, purring happily.

Aspen looked over at em, smiling once he saw em. “Hey, Pichu! I’m uh… I laid down for a second and then Mitzi kind of climbed on top of me, and I didn’t want to bother her, so uh…” He gestured to the small ragdoll-like cat and little tuxedo-looking cat curled up on top of him.

Laughing a little, Ashton moved into the living room and sat down next to Aspen, setting his bag on the floor next to him. “Fair enough.” He reached out to pet the small black-and-white cat, causing it to stir slightly and let out a sleepy little noise. “I- I was gonna ask you to play a game, but you’re very clearly occupied, so it can wait,” ey joked, continuing to pet the cat. 

Eir boyfriend pushed himself up slightly, disturbing the kittens a bit. “Nono, I- I can play a game, I don’t mind. I was only really staying here because, like, I had literally nothing else to do. But now you’re home, so I do!.. Not- not in that sense, just like, I- I have someone to talk to and do stuff with, yknow?” Aspen rambled, fully sitting up and causing Mitzi and Loki to wake up and scurry off of his chest before they fell. 

Ashton turned a little pink, both understanding and not understanding. “Aye, aye, still, you looked kinda comfy, and the kittens seemed to enjoy it, ehehe… a-anyways, I… had a stupid idea while I was out getting snacks,” cie explained, messing with cies finger joints as a way to fidget. 

“Ooh, I love stupid ideas,” he said, sitting criss cross applesauce right in front of min.

Nodding and feeling their face and hands heat up just a little bit more, Ashton stuttered, “I- I remembered… an old fanfic trope, I- I guess, and it sounded a little silly and fun to try, so I… reckoned we could… try it? Or something?”

Aspen tired his head, smiling at min. “Are we delving back into your Ao3 and Tumblr days-? Back to reading FNaF and Percy Jackson fanfiction?” he joked.

“Oh, god no,” ey reassured, shivering slightly. “I- I would rather never get back into that phase, though I guess I’m still in my Tumblr phase, but either way… I- I dunno, I just reckoned it could be a silly little thing to try…”

Resting his elbows on his knees, Asp bounced his legs up and down. “Well, what is it? You still haven’t told me the game.”

Feeling his face and hands heat up again, Ashton reached up to start pinching at his neck. “Uh- s-sorry, I forgot-“ They felt kind of embarrassed that they were rambling so much and still hadn’t said anything about what the game actually was. Maybe he was still trying to convince himself to back out or something…

“I-it’s uh… it’s the Pocky Game, I- I just thought it could be kind of silly and fun and stuff, but if you don’t want to that’s like completely fine, I just… yeah.” 

Aspen looked a little surprised for a second, his face and ears turning a little red. It was a bit of a bold proposition, seeing as they hadn’t kissed since becoming ‘official,’ and that was about a month and a half ago. “I- I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to playing,” he offered, starting to fidget with his fingers, popping all of the joints. 

“And you’re not just, like, saying that because you feel like you have to, right?“ Ashton asked. “Like, I- I don’t wanna force you to do anything you don’t want to, y-y’know?”

He sat up a little straighter and waved his hands around like he was trying to clear the air of the misunderstanding. “No, no of course not, I- I’d be happy to play, i-it's just a little surprising that you asked, is all,” Aspen reassured.

“Oh- O-okay, good… I- I may have forgotten your favorite flavor so… I bought a few just in case,” cie admitted, shrinking slightly. He felt a little stupid for forgetting such an important detail about his boyfriend when Aspen seemed to remember everything about him, but there wasn’t much he could do. 

As Ashton reached into the bag to show the different options, Aspen reached over and pushed a bit of hair out of eir face, causing their brain to short-circuit for a second. “We can use strawberry Pocky, I don’t really have a preference.” Oh. Ey felt a little silly for worrying about the small details so much, especially when Aspen was usually so easygoing with details and rules between the two of them. It was nice of him to suggest Ashton’s favorite flavor, but cie wasn’t sure if Aspen liked it as well, so they were a little unsure. 

Moving the bag closer to Aspen, ey said, “uh, a-alright then…” God, why had they decided this was a good idea? Why did they think asking their boyfriend to play a kissing game would be totally chill and something his brain would let him do?? Despite the anxiety bubbling about in eir head, Ashton dug through the shopping bag and pulled out the familiar pink box, ripping open the packaging. He always liked the sound the boxes made when you opened them, it just made his brain go brr. They struggled with the packaging for a moment before smiling apologetically and offering it to Aspen. 

He chuckled softly and took it, opening it with somewhat ease. Rather than hand the package back to Ashton, he pulled out one of the sticks and offered the good end to Ashton. It took a second for em to realize what he was doing. Ey laughed nervously and offered an apologetic smile before leaning forward to take the snack between eir teeth. He took the other end, and they both started taking small bites of the pocky, slowly getting closer. That lasted for a few seconds before the stick snapped, leaving Aspen with a majority of what was left. 

“Fuck,” Ashton mumbled, taking the small piece he had out of his mouth. “Sorry…”

Aspen finished off the pocky and shrugged. “You don’t have to apologize, Pichu, it’s not like the game is super easy.” He was right, but Ashton still felt bad. They tried again, getting a little closer than the first, but still snapping the pocky in half near the end. 

And so, the pair tried again, managing to break it for the third time. Both of them started laughing, finding the situation a little silly. “I- I guess I probably should’ve chosen an easier excuse to kiss, but a-at least this is fun?” Ashton joked, offering a nervous smile. 

“Oh, is that what this is? And I thought you just wanted to play a silly game,” Aspen responded sarcastically. They were both rather good at using and picking up on sarcasm despite their issues with tone, partially due to exposure to each other and partially because they spent the first 19 years of their lives living with sarcastic people. 

“I- I mean- maybe, but does it matter?” Ey felt eir hands heat up slightly, shrugging and giggling a little bit.

He shrugged back, pulling another stick out of the box. “I mean… no, not really, but still… another round or two?” Ashton had a feeling they were both internally yelling that they just wanted to kiss already, but neither of them were really going to say it. 

Ashton nodded, fidgeting with his fingers, messing with all of the little joints. The next couple attempts were still failures, but at least they were having fun, laughing too much to immediately pick back up after every time. Eventually, they managed to get very close before Ashton purposefully snapped the stick, turning his face away from Aspen for the moment.

A little confused, Aspen tilted his head and asked, “is something wrong?” in an amused sort of tone.

“S-sorry… I- I just realized it might be a little weird to like, kiss someone with food in your mouth or- or something…” They smiled apologetically, feeling a little guilty that they’d been the one to ask to play and were now backing out because of something so silly.

They sat there in silence for a minute, as if they were both thinking. Ashton was internally panicking that he’d fucked up somehow, but had no fucking clue what Asp could be doing. Then, Aspen set the box down on the rug and reached forward, tilting eir face back in his direction before smiling and leaning forward, closing the gap between them. 

They instinctively placed a hand on Aspen’s shoulder, leaning in slightly. His free hand found itself holding Aspen’s, a bit like a more romantic handshake. All of the worries that were swirling around in Ashton’s head not even a minute ago had disappeared, replaced by warm, fuzzy bursts of joy and happy memories. The soft feeling of their boyfriend’s lips and the feeling of him smiling into the kiss (maybe because of it) acted as nice reminders that Aspen was truly just as in love with them as they were with him. Giving his hand one last squeeze, Ashton broke the kiss, unable to stop himself from giggling a little bit like a teenage girl in your average slice-of-life anime. Moving their hand from his shoulder to their face for a moment, they mumbled, “thanks,” smiling and blushing like an idiot.

Aspen reached up again to push a little bit of hair off of their face. He seemed to buffer on what to say for a second before blurting out, “no- no problem… anytime… all you ever have to do is ask…” After a few beats, they both started laughing again, both at how silly it sounded to say that about a kiss and just at their general awkwardness.

“Good- good to know,” Ashton joked, lightly brushing his finger across Aspen’s wrist for lack of a better thing to do with his hands. “You… don’t ever have to ask, really… I- I just enjoy being around you, so uh… pretty much anything is cool with me… w-within reason, of course, but like… yeah,” he explained, starting to pinch at his neck.

Their boyfriend nodded, squeezing their hand lightly. “I’m okay with most stuff, I just prefer it isn’t, like, directly skin-to-skin, if that makes sense? Not- not in the, like, the NSFW way, just, like- uh-” Aspen struggled to find the right words for a second before saying, “I prefer layers. Not for like, holding hands, but for like hugs and stuff… throw blankets would be nice to have, in that case.”

Ashton nodded back enthusiastically. “Yeah, yeah that makes sense. We can definitely go looking for some next time we go out!” Ey smiled brightly at him, very happy to be having a nice conversation about their relationship. Like a real conversation. Back and forth, setting boundaries and explaining preferences rather than their usual ‘one of us sits and nods along while the other explains their special interest for the 4th time’ conversations. “I’m… very clingy, I guess, though you probably already realized that, so thank you for telling me! I’ll do my best to remember, and if I don’t you’re legally allowed to bop me on the head.”

Aspen laughed again. “Aye, I will, don’t worry. Do you have any, like, things like that?”

Min thought for a minute. “Umm… I don’t really know. I don’t think so, but I’m also really bad at remembering stuff, so- Uh- I- I guess this is more, like, emotional stuff, but I’d prefer if you didn’t like… Treat me like I’m dangerous? If that makes sense? I- I know I’ve done some stuff, but- but it doesn’t mean I’ll do them again, y’know? I- I don’t know, you- you know everything. You were there, and I’m really thankful, so… I- I’m just worried about… people holding that stuff against me, I guess…” Cie trailed off as cie spoke, looking down at their hands. The hand that was gently being held by Aspen’s had done terrible things, and ey’d be lying if ey said ey weren’t scared of it happening again.

Silence fell between them for a second before Aspen leaned his head forward, setting his forehead against Ashton’s. “You’re not dangerous, Honeypie,” he reassured, smiling softly at them. “You’re not damaged or broken, you’re just different. And I love that about you.” Another, very welcomed, reminder. 

Ashton nodded and let out a small, nervous laugh. “S-sorry, I- I didn’t mean to bring the mood down, eheh…” He felt a bit bad for going from such a lighthearted topic to one so serious. It’s not like Aspen needed any reminders of how scarred and scuffed Ashton was, though even he didn’t know the full extent of the scars. The only ones Ashton had really disclosed were the ones on his arms, with his legs staying a relative secret. They’d never liked shorts much anyways, so it wasn’t a loss to only wear pants.

Ruffling Ashton’s hair, Aspen said, “don’t apologize, Pichu, you’re fine. I promise. I’m glad you trust me with the topic. It… being your best friend for so many years has made me realize how special you are and how lucky I was to meet you.” He sounded so genuine, which made Ashton feel very special. Those weren’t words he would say to just anyone, with what they knew about him (which was a lot).

Leaning forward, Ashton rested his forehead on Aspen’s shoulder, setting their free hand on top of their linked ones. “Thank you,” they mumbled, closing their eyes.

“It’s no problem. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

#my writing #writing #oc x oc ship #ocs #mlm #fluff #gay #original characters #original character #Aspton #oc #fr though i loved the original fic and absolutely adore this one as well #i just love these dorks man they take up sm space in my brain