sugar babysitter ➟ muke

nineteen

Michael got bored fairly easily.

It turned out that there wasn't actually a Friends marathon, and it was in fact some show he'd never heard of before nor cared to know. Luke was spending a lot of time talking to Matthew, which was good, but Michael now had nothing to do, so he decided to FaceTime Ashton to see what he was up to.

After requesting to FaceTime, Michael held Amber up to his face with a grin on his lips. The dog began to lick his cheek as Ashton picked up the call and held his phone up close to his face, close enough for Michael to be able to see his pores.

"Back up, Ash," Michael laughed, glancing to himself in the top corner of his phone screen as he exclaimed, "Look at this dog."

"Very, very cute," Ashton commented, and from what Michael could see, Ashton was sitting up in his bed and he wasn't wearing a shirt. Though that didn't really matter, because the camera only showed his shoulders and up. "How's the bonfire thing going?"

"It's fine. Kind of uneventful; Luke's putting the kids to bed as our forgotten s'mores get cold." Michael put Amber down on the hardwood floor after she continued to wiggle around in his grip, and then he looked back at his phone's screen. "Do you want to go out for breakfast tomorrow? I love you, but I'm getting tired of your 'world famous' cereal every day."

"Hey, it may not be world famous, but I should at least get brownie points for creativity," Ashton chuckled, "What other legend do you know who combines three cereals at once to make an amazing cereal? It's called the Lucky Cheer-Puffs, and I know they'll catch on soon."

"Lucky Charms, Cheerios, and Reese's Puffs don't belong together! They're all enjoyable on their own; why do we have to mess with them?" Michael groaned, although deep down he was fighting back a grin because he adored his best friend, so much. "So was that a yes on going out for breakfast? I'll scrape together some money to pay for it."

"Only if you say how amazing Lucky Cheer-Puffs are."

"They're nasty!" Michael leaned back into the couch, a wide teasing smile on his lips.

"I'm gonna pretend like I didn't hear that, and give you one more chance," Ashton informed, and his dark pink lips were also spread out into a grin. Over the past years of their friendship, it quickly became a thing that, if one was smiling, then so was the other one. Occasionally it was the same way with sadness; they tended to always share their emotions as if it would be too overwhelming for only one of them.

"The most I'll say is that you're creative when it comes to your cereal skills." Michael continued not to give Ashton what he wanted, resulting in the wavy haired boy to groan dramatically.

"I guess I'll take it. But I choose the place we go to, and I pay."

"No, Ash, I want to pay. You pay for so much between the two of us, so I want to start repaying you. I think I owe you about a hundred meals and a good twenty months worth of rent."

"I don't pay for you because I expect you to pay me back, Michael, you know that." Ashton's face was blurry for a moment as he adjusted his grip on his phone, then he was as clear as a FaceTime call could be. "You never, ever have to pay me back. You already repay me just by being my best friend."

Michael's lips spread out into a smile that he just couldn't stop, and automatically Ashton smiled back. "I couldn't have asked for a better best friend, but you know me better than anyone. You know how guilty I'd feel if I never paid you back. I'm getting my life on track, Ash. I'll have enough money eventually so that I can start paying for stuff between us."

"I just want to make sure you don't think it's mandatory to pay me back."

"I know it's not. You know I want to."