With a slight smile of his own, Ashton wraps his arms around Tobi in response. Her grip tightens slightly and he chuckles. When he does, she feels it reverberate through his entire body and shake her own. Once he's finished chuckling and still with his smile intact, he asks her, "So what did you run all the way here to tell me, anyway?"
Tobi's face flushes and she blinks rapidly, searching her mind for any kind of excuse. Quickly separating from him and turning away so he can't see her now red face, she waves him off by saying, "It's not important right now."
Ashton makes a face but doesn't say anything. Instead, he tilts his head and stares at her inquisitively, his eyes narrowed in concentration. Finally, he shrugs with a sigh and replies, "Alright, I guess." When she doesn't respond, he walks past her and bumps her shoulder as he passes. He turns to look at her, a teasing smile dancing on his lips only to see her deep in thought. "Hey, Tobi." She jumps and looks up at him, a smile broadening his face. "You hungry?"
When her face breaks into a smile, Ashton's eyes soften. "Sure am. How'd ya know?"
Giving another laugh, he starts towards the kitchen, saying, "Just my amazing intuition."
❀❀❀
"You know, I totally could've cooked this by myself," Ashton whines as he leans back in one of the dining room chairs.
Tobi laughs as she continues preparing the dinner. "Okay, well you had me a little worried when you were having trouble turning on the stove, so," She trails off and throws a teasing smile his way. "Forgive me for not believing in your amazing cooking skills."
Throwing his arms up in mock surrender, he pouts, "Hey, no need for sarcasm."
She chuckles as she strains the noodles in the sink. "Yeah, okay, Ashton."
Following her sarcastic statement is a long silence filled only by the sounds of Tobi preparing their dinner. Finally, out of nowhere, Ashton says with a shrug, "Y'know, I think I'm okay with you calling me Ash now."
Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, Tobi hums, "Oh yeah? What's with that all of a sudden?"
Ashton hums and puts the legs of the chair back on the floor, his leg bouncing. "I dunno why I don't like people calling me that anymore." He sighs and drags a hand through his unruly black curls. "I think it just... When Nira had just passed away, all it did was remind me of her. I dunno, it's kinda dumb, but I just couldn't handle it. It drove me crazy every time. My own name made me feel guilty, so I just told people to start calling me Ashton again."
Tobi pauses and turns her head to face him fully, a soft look to her eyes. He flushes and continues, "But after what you said earlier," After a short pause, he offers a slight smile to her. "I think it's okay."
Offering him a wide smile in return, she turns back to the stove and hums, "I'm glad. That I could help you, I mean." She gives an airy laugh and pours the steaming noodles into the pot on the counter followed by the sauce and meat. "You're always so helpful and considerate with all my Hanahaki business, so it makes me happy to know that I could do the same for you." As she stirs all of the contents together, she adds with a grin, "And I hope that I can continue to be there for you for a long time." Even as she said it though, she knew that she wouldn't be able to. Her disease was progressing too fast for her to continue to be there for him like this.
"Yeah," Ashton responds, a disappointed looking smile on his face. They know they're thinking of the same thing, but for once, neither of them can seem to bring themselves to mention it.
❀❀❀
"Wow," Tobi says excitedly as she trails her index finger over the spines of all the manga collected on the shelves in Ashton's room. "Man, you're even more of a nerd than I am." She laughs.
Ashton sighs and flops down on his bed. "Bro, don't make fun of my freaking amazing collection. That's good shit right there."
Tobi laughs at this and continues to read the spines, squatting lower as she reads more and more titles lower on the shelves. With a smile stretching her lips, Tobi states, "A lot of these are romance. I never really pegged you for the romantic type, though." She laughs again and tugs a title out from the mix. "The Girl Who Spits Flowers, huh?" Ashton looks down at her from his bed. She sighs and puts it back among the rest where she found it. Falling back onto the floor and crossing her legs, she says distractedly, "I guess a lot of people still think of this as a fictional disease, huh? I mean, it's not like it's all that common or anything, so I can understand." Giving a laugh, she adds, "And it's not very probable, either. I wouldn't have even believed in it if I didn't have it."
She gives another sigh and mumbles, "To most people, this disease is nothing but a fantasy." Spreading her whole body out on the floor, she mutters, "Dude, this sucks. I really don't like that I'm dying for some dude that didn't even love me back." As she continues, her voice gets continuously harsher, "And after all that shit, I don't even really feel that way about him anymore, but I still got this disease." She grows frustrated and scowls at the bookshelf. "How the fuck am I supposed to do to get rid of it, huh?"
Standing from the bed, Ashton runs a hand through his hair, a frantic look on his face. "Woah woah woah, you need to slow down. What did you just say? Did you just say that you aren't in love with the guy who you have the Hanahaki disease for?" Running a hand over his face, he inquires again, "And Tobi, how bad is your Hanahaki right now?"
She turns to look up at him, the anger and frustration leaving her expression. Giving a small sigh, she smiles and says in a forced lighthearted tone, "Well, I started coughing up some bloody flower petals, so that's really great." Still trying to maintain her lighthearted composure, "And yeah, I don't love him romantically anymore. After this whole Hanahaki thing it just strained our relationship too much." Pushing some of her curls out of her face, she adds, "It was too much too fast, and it just split us apart. I mean, we couldn't even stay friends, y'know?"
Ashton starts pacing in front of his bed, frazzled. Blinking rapidly, he starts rambling, "W-wait, you don't even love him anymore? So that means you're just stuck with the Hanahaki disease? Shit, does that mean that even if you find someone else to fall in love with that--" He stops himself, his hands tangled frustratedly in his hair. He drops to the floor facing away from Tobi.
She moves over to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind. "Ashton, it's oka--"
"No, it's not okay, Tobi." Ashton spits, his tone firm and angry, leaving no room for argument. Her grip tightens as his body shakes.
It takes her a second to process it. He's crying. He's crying... because of me?
"Tobi?" Ashton mumbles, his words barely audible.
"Hm?" She responds, her cheek nestled on his shoulder as she listens to him breathe. Unsteady and almost fearful, slowly calming down.
"Can I tell you something?"
"Yeah, of course." She whispers to him, her eyes closed.
"Are you sure? Because I don't wanna freak you out or scare you off or something." Ashton tells her, a slight smile to his voice.
She gives a small laugh, her heart rate picking up speed. "I might, but you should tell me anyway. I mean, you're probably not gonna have a lot of opportunities, considering the circumstances." Her grip on him tightens as she says this.
"Right..." He mumbles. As he turns around, Tobi scoots back to fully face him. Taking a deep breath, he says, "Tobi," When he doesn't continue, looking hesitant, she gives him a warm smile, her eyes expectant. "Right, right. I," He takes another breath and breathes a long sigh. "I'm..." Again he stops.
She laughs, bending forward. When she turns up to face him again, her eyes cool and determined, she asks, "Do you want me to say something first?" He takes a deep breath, looking like he wants to say something, but nods instead. "Great." With soft eyes and a warm smile, she murmurs, "Ashton, I'm in love with you."
For a moment, he only stares at her with wide eyes as he processes what she's said. Then, his eyes soften and a grin stretches his own mouth. "That's pretty great for me because I'm in love with you too."