When Skylar comes back to consciousness, someone is shaking him.

"Skylar? Skylar, what the fuck happened to you?"

"I think he's dead."

Skylar frowns, and he'd previously been laying face down. One of his legs is hanging off the bed, and half of his body is covered in a blanket. Still, he rolls over to better see the room and get a sense of what the hell is even going on right now.

He notices that his light is on, which is made obvious when he opens his eyes and can't see anything due to the brightness. He tries to move his arm into a better position for him to push up so he's sitting. However, he feels a lacerating pain shoot through almost his entire body at the effort, so he falls back to his previous position.

"Holy shit, what happened to your leg?!"

Skylar uses his other leg to assist in the task he'd previously attempted. This time it works, and he finds himself sitting up, leaning primarily on his right arm. He is unsurprised to find both Jessie and Ashton staring at him in alarm.

Oh, Skylar does not want to deal with this right now.

"Nothing." Skylar replies, even though he is covered in blood and also wearing shorts. Now that it isn't buried in a blanket, the condition of his leg is glaringly obvious.

Skylar isn't expecting the head rush that comes with sitting up, though, which is why he briefly loses his balance. He tries to catch himself with his arm, which results in even more pain. He must have a nasty bruise. He winces, clenching his jaw. Maybe he's in worse condition than he originally thought.

"How did you even drive home? Your car is parked in the middle of the lawn, by the way. Don't know if that was on purpose."

It wasn't.

"Also, Dad saw all the blood on the side of the house from you climbing last night. I think he was already pissed off at you, though."

He was.

Skylar wishes that he would've already gotten the school conversation with that man over with. Instead, he's been putting it off, and now it's going to be even worse with his newfound injuries.

It's fine, as long as Vince doesn't have to pay for Skylar's injuries, he's usually not too mad. Mostly just disappointed, and usually compares Skylar with Jessie. Sometimes Skylar gets grounded. Still, it's better than his father's anger.

"I'm gonna go get the first aid kit." Jessie says, and Skylar watches him walk out of the room.

Oh god, now he's alone with Ashton. This fucking sucks. Skylar really does not have the patience to be dealing with this guy, especially with all the stress he's feeling right now. Also, the mind numbing pain.

"You are so fucking stupid."

"Shut up!" Skylar snaps, turning his gaze over to the stupid fucking asshole. Ashton needs to just get the fuck away from him and stay the fuck away from him. Forever.

"Why do you put yourself in these situations?"

"You don't know shit about-"

"I saw the video." Ashton interrupts him, resulting in Skylar snapping his mouth closed. Shit, so it's already making it's way around.

"How about you mind your fucking business?" Skylar replies, disgruntled. He just wants to pass out, and he can't tell if that's because he's tired or he's lost so much blood. Probably both.

"No." Ashton replies, and he's walking towards Skylar now. "I will never mind my business with you."

Skylar just glares at him, unsure how to even take that. What, so he's just never going to leave Skylar alone? Never going to let him live his life? This is all fucking stupid.

"Why not?" Skylar asks, staring up at the man. Ashton stops a couple feet in front of him, crossing his arms. He doesn't even answer Skylar's question when he continues;

"I will intervene if you keep this up."

"Yeah? What the fuck are you gonna do?" Skylar questions, raising an eyebrow. This guy does not fucking intimidate him, he doesn't give a shit how he feels. Ashton has no control over his life, if Skylar wants to make every mistake there is, Ashton can't stop him.

Except, the way the man is looking at him right now is starting to make him question that.

Ashton is rarely ever all that serious, but he is right now, that's for sure. He's looking down at Skylar in a mixture of exasperation and concern, with some impatience thrown in there. His hair falls in his eyes, but it doesn't shield his brown-though they look black-eyes from drilling right into Skylar's own green. He feels slightly on edge, and not even from the fact that his arm is critically wounded and he's covered in dry blood. Not even the near death experience he was in last night, which was entirely his fault.

No, Skylar has never seen Ashton like this. So adamant. So fed up.

"Intervene."

Skylar has had enough, sick of being bossed around by this guy. He stands up, but the head rush he gets from it is even worse than the one he got earlier. He tilts a bit, blinking as he tries to adjust to no longer sitting. He sees Ashton move from the corner of his eye, possibly to help him, but the guy thinks better of it and stops himself.

"How?" Skylar asks, staring up at the man with a pissed off expression.

Skylar is going to be honest, Ashton has never looked at him like this. So... seriously. It hits Skylar, then, that he really doesn't know all that much about this guy. For all he knows, Ashton has the full capability to do exactly as he threatens.

Holy shit. How has Skylar never noticed that before?

Ashton knows virtually everything about their entire family, having been close with Jessie for so long. However, Skylar knows nothing about him. He doesn't know his interests, likes, anything about his private life. Skylar has never met any of his family, has never been to his house until a few months ago.

He knows the guy moved out when he was seventeen, that he goes to college online, and his basic personality traits. He knows very surface level information about Ashton, and it's only hitting him now how strange that is. He should know way more, he should at least have met a member of the guy's family!

Right?

Skylar's lack of knowledge about this guy, which is only hitting him now, makes Ashton' threats feel more real.

"Okay, I couldn't find any bandages, but the rest is in here." Jessie says, walking into the room. He pauses a few feet away from the doorway, glancing between the two. Yeah, Skylar and Ashton are a bit close right now. They'd previously been glaring at each other, but Jessie's entrance diverts their attention.

"I-I have... bandages." Skylar says, walking towards Jessie and grabbing the first aid kit. He's sick of moving around, so he just takes a seat in the middle of the floor.

Skylar takes his disgusting shirt off and begins cleaning the few cuts on his torso. After a minute, he looks up at the other two. "What do you still want?"

"Dad's at the office. You should go visit him." Jessie notifies him. He actually has a point there, because seeking his father out to talk about things instead of the other way around, especially when he's done something wrong, has always worked in his favor.

That's really not a bad idea. Skylar sighs, running a hand through his hair. God, he doesn't want to face his father, but it really is better to just get it over with.

Skylar begins to stand up, Jessie reaching down to help him. Skylar leans against him a bit, until he gets his balance back. He's making a point to not look at Ashton right now. He walks to his bathroom, and the blood loss has really made him feel drowsy. He enters his bathroom and starts rooting through his cabinet. He hears his door open and close, assuming one of them probably left.

When Skylar enters the room again, he finds Ashton gone. He refuses to acknowledge the disappointment he feels, chalking it up to being tired.

"Fine. He's probably busy, though."

"He told me he'd be doing paperwork all day."

Skylar sighs, nodding his head. Jessie is right, like usual, and he reluctantly pulls out his phone. He sends his father a text notifying him of his upcoming visit, not really expecting an answer, and takes a deep breath.

He's not looking forward to this.