unbreakable heaven • awsten knight

1.15 sparks fly

houston tx
december 2008

"Hey, Awsten," Zakk greets, as he joins them at the table. "Where's Ellie?"

"Yeah, I haven't seen her all day," Dean chimes in.

"Is she okay? Is she sick?" Zakk questions.

"Are we still doing Secret Santa at her house tonight?" Dean presses.

"Can y'all give me like, two fucking seconds to sit down?" Awsten looks between the two of them, as he finally settles in his seat. "No, she is not sick. And as far as I know; yes, we are still doing Secret Santa at her house tonight," he answers, letting out a breath.

"Is she okay, though?" Jawn speaks up from beside him.

"Yeah, you didn't answer that," Dean narrows his eyes at Awsten.

"Is she okay?" Zakk's tone drops, sounding much more concerned, but also a little sad.

"She's, uh—" Awsten pauses, wording his sentence carefully. "She's just dealing with some things..." he explains, as vaguely, and as best, as he can.

"Are you sure she wants us all there if she's dealing with things?" Jawn queries, shooting Awsten a questioning look, earning a nod.

"We spoke about it, and I even offered to have it at my house instead," he replies, with a shrug. "But, she wants to see y'all and do everything like we planned. So, just, act like you normally would with her, and it'll be fine."

"Got it," Zakk responds, as the rest of them nod in agreement.

Later that day, shortly before the evening begins setting in, the group heads to Ellie's house.

Awsten arrives ahead of everyone else. He promised to help her set up— but, really, it's mostly so that he can spend more time with her alone.

"No one has any allergies I should know about, right?" Ellie asks, for the third time, as she and Awsten finish up pouring various treats into snack bowls.

"For the one hundredth time, no, Ellie," he turns to her, a subtle smile on his lips as she rolls her eyes at him.

"There's no need for that tone," she pouts, setting the bowl to the side. "I'm just making sure. Trying to be a good host, y'know?"

"You're a great host," Awsten assures, finding himself wrapping his arms around her from behind, without much thought to his actions at all— it's a natural gesture, that he only thinks twice about when she leans further into his hold, twisting around in his arms.

"You're sweet," she hugs him back, her arms now wrapped around his waist, and her head resting against his chest.

Awsten can't help the warm, fuzzy feeling that surges through his body, as he grins, planting a kiss on top of her head.

They stay there for longer than normal, their moment only being interrupted by a loud, boisterous knock at the door.

"I hope y'all aren't fuckin' in there!" Zakk calls, loudly, through the door.

Awsten cringes, as he lets out a sigh; he's glad that Ellie laughs, rather than feeling weird about it.

"Dude, shut the fuck up," Jawn hisses in return, as both Awsten and Ellie begin to walk down the hall.