sugar babysitter ➟ muke

sixteen

-- time skip to tuesday -- ALSO MUKE IS STILL REAL

"Ash!" Michael called out as he stood on his tippy-toes to shuffle through his pantry, growing impatient as he was merely greeted with silence. The brunet took a deep breath to calm his growing nerves before yelling nearly at the top of his lungs, "Ashton Fletcher Irwin!"

"What?" Ashton screamed back from where he was trying to enjoy a lazy Tuesday in his bedroom. He was meant to study for his chemistry test, but he figured that he and Calum could FaceTime later and do their studying together.

Ever since Calum had given Ash a ride home from their study session over the weekend, they had grown considerably closer. Granted, they still only ever talked about class, but Ashton knew that once their stressful test was over, they would be able to talk about other things and get to know each other.

"Do we have any marshmallows?" Michael called back, taking a step away from the pantry and pouting his lips in frustration, "I can't find them and I know Luke's going to have those lame tiny marshmallows since he's a dad. I can't make s'mores with those! I need the campfire ones!"

"You're going to make me get up to find marshmallows in our pantry?" Ashton clarified with a groan, so Michael crossed his arms across his chest and waited impatiently for the wavy haired boy to emerge from his bedroom. A solid two minutes passed before Ashton trudged out from his bedroom, a pair of black joggers covering his legs and a white tee shirt to cover his torso. His hair was more unkempt than usual, so Michael made a mental note to buy Ashton some new hair products to tame it or something.

"I'm too short to check the top drawer in the pantry," Michael informed as Ashton shuffled closer, his mismatched socks noiseless against the glossy wooden floor. Ashton opened the pantry door more before going up on his tippy-toes, easily catching sight of the bag of marshmallows shoved towards the very back, behind all the other food that Ashton stashed on the top shelf so Michael couldn't reach them. It wasn't much, just some caffeine products and those chips that Ashton and Michael loved so much. If Ashton didn't hide them, then Michael would eat them all in two days, which was why Ashton began hiding his favourite foods from his best friend.

"Here," Ashton sighed, pushing the marshmallows into Michael's open arms and then shutting the pantry, "If you bring home some chocolate and graham crackers, we can have our own little bonfire when you get back."

Michael wrinkled his nose, "We don't have one of those fire pit thingys. How would we heat up the s'mores?"

"The oven," Ashton suggested, pointing with his pointer finger towards their small oven. Michael laughed and then shook his head, glancing down to read the label on the marshmallows.

"You can't make s'mores that way, and when you point to the oven like that, you look like that grandma from that movie who says, 'Could you get in the oven and clean it for me?'"

"Fuck's sake, Mike, that was creepy as hell," Ashton frowned before glancing to the miniature clock hung up on their beige kitchen wall, "Are you leaving now? What time are you supposed to be there?"

"Um, I think Luke said around seven is fine," Michael murmured as he took out a large marshmallow from the bag and proceeded to take a bite out of it, the gooeyness meeting his taste buds instantly. Ashton checked the time blinking next to the microwave and raised his eyebrows when he realised what time it was.

"It's seven-thirty."

"Fuck!" Michael exclaimed, eyes wide as he put down the marshmallows and began running towards his bedroom. His voice echoed down the hall as he called over his shoulder, "Sorry for my language!"

When Michael entered his bedroom, he frantically checked his phone and his heart deflated when he saw the messages Luke had been sending him the past hour.

Luke (6:47 pm): I'm excited to see you Mike :-)

Luke (6:52 pm): do you think we can still make s'mores with the lil tiny marshmallows? I think we can. if not, I can go by the store super fast and buy the bigger ones

Luke (6:55 pm): Mikeyyyyyy answer me

Luke (6:57 pm): Matt says the bigger marshmallows might work. but I think tiny ones will be okay.

Luke (6:59 pm): Mazie is fine with the tiny marshmallows

Luke (7:03 pm): are you on your way?

Luke (7:09 pm): maybe you're stuck in traffic and forgot your phone at home? I know you can be kind of forgetful.

Luke (7:14 pm): Michael??

Luke (7:20 pm): I guess you're not coming then

Luke (7:29 pm): if you didn't want to spend time with me and the kids, you could have just said so. you didn't have to stand me up.

Michael (7:32 pm): Luke!!! I'm so sorry for not replying :(( I lost track of time. I'm about to leave my place and I'm bringing campfire marshmallows with me. tiny ones will not work

Luke (7:32 pm): okay :-D

Luke (7:33 pm): see you in a little bit xx

Michael (7:33 pm): see you then x

"Ash, I'm leaving," Michael called out as he shoved his phone in the front pocket of his black skinny jeans. The jeans were paired with a dark grey hoodie that was nice and cozy, because Michael wanted to be comfortable. As Michael walked down the hallway back towards the kitchen, he messily pushed his feet into his black combat boots.

"Slow down there, bud," Ashton chuckled as he followed Michael towards the front door. The wavy haired boy opened the door for Michael as he leaned over to grab the marshmallows, then followed the rushing boy to where he was climbing into the driver's seat of his car.

"Thank you," Michael breathed out after sitting down in the front seat, having rolled down the window immediately to keep talking to Ashton. Ashton handed Michael the bag of marshmallows through the window and watched as Michael placed them down in the passenger's seat and pulled the seatbelt over it before pulling on his own seatbelt.

"Have fun and, um, if Luke tries anything, let me know and I'll kick his ass. He may be older, but I'm stronger," Ashton informed with a light smile before he reached out with one hand to cup one side of Michael's soft face. He leaned his head through the window slightly to press a caring kiss to Michael's forehead, his long fingers brushing through Michael's messy brown hair as he did so.

"Thanks," Michael repeated, smiling widely at Ashton as he pulled away, "but you have nothing to worry about, Ashy. Nothing like that is going to happen, and I'd stop it if it did."

"Good," Ashton grinned back before taking a couple of steps away from the car, giving Michael's car the space to drive away. The two best friends waved to each other as Michael put the car in drive, then he was driving down the road with a glance back in the rearview mirror.