Skylar doesn't do so long before he begins to overthink, growing more and more bitter at his situation. Literally everyone has left him, and honestly, who's to say Ashton won't either? Should Skylar actually allow this to happen? Allow himself to rely on Ashton? Why would that even work out—he'll probably just screw that up too, like he did everything else.

Skylar is only able to last a couple minutes before he's deciding that, fuck it, he does not need Ashton to come help him. He doesn't need anyone's help, actually, he can just live in a dumpster or something. He'd prefer that to living with Ashton any day. Definitely.

Skylar throws his bag over his shoulder and stands up, walking away from the bus stop he said he'd be at and down the sidewalk. Jessie said Ash was on his way, and that was probably like five minutes ago. So, he's probably nowhere near this location. Skylar is unsure how far away the guy lives from here, but he's pretty sure he can't be that close. Bayton is a large city.

So, Skylar just walks down the road, sticking to the areas with street lights since he's not in the best part of town. Normally he'd be cutting through alleys to ensure Ashton won't find him, but he doesn't want to take the safety risk. Skylar probably only walks for about five more minutes, however, before he's running into trouble anyway.

"Drop the bag."

Skylar jumps, turning his head to find someone coming out of an alleyway. There are several people out, just not many cars. Most are going in and out of bars and clubs, and honestly, Bayton isn't really a city known for its upstanding citizens. The man who is now advancing on Skylar with a knife in his hand could probably get away with this in broad daylight if he wanted to.

Skylar is about to tell him he's wasting his time, that Skylar doesn't have any money either. However, then he realizes that he has something far more valuable than money to him. He has the rest of his cytozine, a drug that l is worth more than any amount of money to Skylar. He absolutely cannot lose that.

Pretty soon the guy, who is only slightly taller than Skylar, is standing directly in front of him. He has a knife held up somewhat close to Skylar's throat, and is glaring down at him. He's dressed in all black, and Skylar does not want to deal with this. Also, it's not like he has much of a will to live right now.

"No." Skylar says simply, and then the knife is actually being pressed against his neck. Pedestrians are beginning to avoid them, to keep their distance so as to not get involved. Skylar can't really blame them.

"You wanna die tonight?"

Skylar is kinda freaked out, even though death as of right now isn't exactly the worst thing he could think of to happen to him. He does a good job at hiding it, though. He just raises an eyebrow at the guy.

"No thanks," Skylar says, looking down at the knife currently beginning to cut into his throat. It's not super deep, but it hurts enough to have him wincing. Clearly this dude is not bluffing. "I promise you I'm broke."

Skylar can feel blood beginning to trickle out of the wound. Wow, that's going to be annoying to clean out of his shirt. "Yeah, never heard that one. Give me the fucking bag, or—"

"Or what?"

Skylar did not say that.

He feels a presence behind himself, and upon hearing the voice he actually jumps. Skylar can't actually look at who it is, though he can recognize the guy by his voice alone. That's definitely Ashton, but again, Skylar is being held at knifepoint. He's not particularly mobile.

Ashton had to have been close by, which lines up with the rest of Skylar's luck today. He probably should've known.

"Keep walking," the guy says, looking up over Skylar's shoulder. "This doesn't... c-concern..."

The guy trails off, and just like that, all the confidence and aggression in his demeanor drains out of his body. He just stares at Ashton, eyes widening as he drops the knife from Skylar's throat. Skylar is finally free to look around, so he turns to catch sight of whatever could have incited such a reaction from the criminal. He finds Ashton, in his typical clothing—a coat, jeans, and boots—looking quite normal. The expression on his face is devoid of emotion, and Skylar doesn't understand why the guy is so freaked out.

Ashton literally just looks like some guy, there is nothing intimidating about him. Well... he is a pretty big person, generally, but Skylar has never for a moment been intimidated by that.

The criminal takes a step back, looking from Ashton to Skylar and back. Skylar probably just looks confused, though. Either way, the guy doesn't say another word before turning and hurrying back into the alley he came from.

Skylar frowns, turning to look at Ashton, who no longer looks as cold. He's back to his normal demeanor, and turns to look at Skylar in expectation.

"Ready to go?" He asks, like nothing happened. Skylar has been completely thrown for a loop. He sees that Ashton's truck is parked on the side of the road, still running with the lights on and everything. Ashton doesn't wait for an answer, turning around and making his way back to his truck. Skylar doesn't really think about it, just simply follows him and gets in the passenger side without much question.

He doesn't even care that he's going against everything he'd planned on, that he's letting Ashton take him home when he fully intended on sleeping at a bus stop tonight. He's too busy trying to put together what just happened. If he wasn't positive that Ash was involved in crime before, he sure as hell is now. That criminal definitely knew him, and if he was so freaked out he was willing to give up and run away without a second thought, Ashton must have more power than Skylar initially thought.

That's it. Skylar needs some answers, he's so sick of wondering, and he'll take every excuse he can get.

"What the hell was that?"

Ash glances over at Skylar, before focusing back on the road. He puts the vehicle in drive, before answering.

"Hm?" He plays dumb. Does he think Skylar's stupid or something?

Skylar narrows his eyes. Is Ashton really going to make him spell this out?

"Why was that guy so scared of you?"

Skylar remembers what Crimson said. The accorders. He finds himself even more curious about what exactly that is. It has to be a group of some sort, and that name has to mean something, but he just can't figure it out. Clearly they are a well known organization, as well as widely feared, for Ash to get that sort of reaction. From both the street thug and Crimson.

Ashton shrugs, brushing the whole thing off, which Skylar tries not to find infuriating. He then turns the conversation on Skylar, which doesn't help anything. "Why weren't you at the bus stop, anyway? Do you just look for trouble?"

Yeah, Skylar's not answering shit if Ashton can't even give him a straight answer on why something that strange just happened. Of course, it's not like the guy knows that Skylar has far more knowledge than he lets on. Still, that's not saying much.

"I'm not going with you. Stop the car or I'm jumping out," Skylar tells him, and he sees Ashton roll his eyes. No way, does he actually think Skylar won't do it? He's done far crazier things with much less motivation.

"I told you, you'll never be homeless."

That's true, Ashton did say that. Skylar feels his face heating up at the memory of how the rest of that conversation went. Ugh, whatever. "I'd rather be homeless than live with you."

"You are free to leave," Ashton says, and Skylar frowns at him. He wonders if the guy actually means it. He's always so obsessed with making Jessie happy, at least when it comes to Skylar. There's no way he'd actually allow Skylar to just move out and go live on the streets.

"Bullshit. You're trapping me."

Ashton doesn't acknowledge that, and Skylar squints at him. He ultimately decides to move on, turning in his seat and facing forward. He leans back and crosses his arms over his chest, staying silent for basically the rest of the car ride. They pull into the parking lot of Hillside Suites about ten minutes later, and Skylar throws his bag over his shoulder and opens the door. The sooner he's inside, the sooner he can lock himself away from Ashton forever.

Skylar is dead silent the entire way there, and eventually they're ascending stairs to an elevator, then walking down a hallway, before arriving at Ashton's door. Skylar is scowling the entire time, genuinely so pissed off that he has to rely on this guy for anything.

"I figured you could just take the guest room." Ashton says, and Skylar shrugs. He walks directly there upon entrance to the penthouse, without saying anything to Ashton. He can feel the guy's eyes on him, but for once, it's not even personal. Skylar just wants to take a shower, but he doesn't realize that he has ran into the same problem he did months ago until he actually enters the guest bathroom.

There are no products in here. How the hell is Ashton going to pay for this super fancy penthouse but not supply basic necessities in his guest bathroom?

Skylar rolls his eyes, and he does not have the goddamn patience for this. He sighs, before turning around and walking to the only other full bathroom that he knows of. He finds that Ash's door is closed, and it definitely wasn't before. This processes in Skylar's mind, but it still doesn't occur to him that, hey, it's Ashton's bedroom. If the door is closed, maybe he should fucking knock.

Nope, he never thinks of that. Instead, he walks over to the door and opens it, then freezes when he finds Ashton. Shirtless. Well, at least he has pants on. Then again... it's not like Skylar hasn't quite literally seen everything.

Ash looks up at his entrance, not seeming to care that he's half clothed. Skylar does, though, and he's positive that he will end up staring if he doesn't do something about this. So, Skylar lifts his hand up to cover his eyes. He decides not to apologize for coming in here without knocking.

"I'm taking a shower, and I need soap."

There's a silence, and all the movement in the room stops. Skylar is pretty sure that Ashton had previously been in the process of undressing, but he has since paused.

"Well you'll have to wait." He says, and Skylar realizes what he means by that. It actually makes complete sense, since he probably wasn't undressing for fun. He had the same idea as Skylar.

No fucking way. He seriously doesn't have any spare products for the bathroom? What the hell kind of priorities?

Skylar doesn't even think about it, he drops his hand. He finds that actually, Ashton had not in fact ceased his undressing. He previously was still wearing his pants, but now he's just in boxers. He's also now advancing on Skylar, who can't even stop himself from staring directly at the guy's body.

His eyes widen fractionally, mostly because every other time he's seen this guy unclothed in any way has been in a darkened room. He hasn't had this kind of detail, and sure, Skylar knew that the guy was fit. He knew that. He has always been fully aware of how hot this guy is in every way, for much longer than he'd ever admit to. However, now that they're alone in the guy's bedroom, it feels all the more intimate. Also, as stated before, Skylar has never been able to see such detail.

"Y-" Jesus, what was Skylar going to say again? "You... you seriously don't have any extras?"

God, he even sounds breathless. He refuses to make eye contact, and his face feels warm. Skylar makes the executive decision to cover his eyes again.

Skylar can sense that Ashton is now directly in front of him, but at least leaves a comfortable amount of distance between them. It's a moment before Ash replies, and his voice sounds lower, because of course it fucking does. Skylar wants to leave.

"No," Ashton says simply, and Skylar sighs. Then, Ashton continues. "We can always conserve water."

Skylar drops his hand from his eyes—that didn't last long—looking at the guy with a mixture of shock and embarrassed anger. Ugh, this is the worst day ever. Skylar can feel how red his face is, and Ashton's standing closer than before.

Skylar is immediately grabbing the doorknob, and his eyes start to wander from Ash's eyes. Lower and lower, and wow. Leave already.

"I'll wait, thanks." He snaps, but there's no heat behind it. He's too busy staring at Ashton's chest. Ash hums in reply, and it's unintentionally hot, and it finally snaps Skylar out of whatever trance he was in. He immediately spins around and hurries out of the room, reaching his own in no time and shutting the door behind himself.

Skylar presses his hands against his face, taking a deep breath. The sight of Ashton is ingrained in his mind, not going anywhere, and he's so frustrated. The shit he would do to stop being attracted to that guy. Why does their relationship have to be so complicated? Why can't Skylar hate him?

Wait. Wait, no, that's false. Skylar definitely hates him, he has no idea where that came from.

Still, it feels like there's no escape. Any time he distances himself from the guy, it has the opposite effect. It's getting to the point where he plagues Skylar's mind no matter what, in fact. Ever since that stupid fucking night. Ever since The Event, and now Skyler is trapped with him for god knows how long.

It doesn't matter how he looks at it, he comes up empty every time. He's hardly been in the guy's house ten minutes and he's already having to deal with this kind of tension. He already has to exhibit this kind of restraint. At this rate, he might as well lose hope in moving on altogether. Then again... maybe he shouldn't be surprised.

Skylar has always had a problem with addiction.