Devil in the Details

Night In

Ashley sighed as he laid back in his bunk, flipping his phone in his hand as he look over his sketchbook, his mind was churning with design ideas tonight. Maybe it was from his heightened emotions from blowing up at the guys tonight, but his creative juices were flowing tonight.

He felt his phone buzz in his hand, his attention immediately drawn to it he checked the notification and frowned when he saw it was the group chat he had with the guys, apparently he was so lost in thought he missed an entire chain of messages from them.

Andy: Out for dinner with some old friends, be back around 2 hours before bus call

CC: Out the Jake and Jinxx, dinner and club. Don't know when we'll be back but before bus call.

Ashley grinned, he couldn't help but feel elated that the guys were out for the night, they were 5 hours away from bus call so that gave him plenty of time. He put his sketchbook down and jumped down from his middle row bunk, walking up the alleyway of bunks to the main kitchen area of the bus, he and CC still have the far back of the bus to share so it was quite a distance to the front, took him even longer considering he was checking all the bunks, feeling more and more excited when he realized all the crew was out, that rarely happened but when it did it meant they'd be out for hours. He ran back to his bunk grabbing his phone and head phones quickly typing in the number he had memorized since it was easier that scrolling through his mess of contacts since he had so many.

He made his way back to the kitchen hoping they had enough for a small dinner so he wouldn't have to go out or order anything, waiting anxiously as the phone rang, hoping they'd pick up.

"Hello?" Ashley nearly doubled over as the tired sleep heavy voice came through as the other person picked up and he felt his heart swell.

"Hey" He smiled softly, keeping his voice low so he could give the person more time to wake up. "I didn't wake you did I?" He questioned.

"Yeah, but I don't mind. Ho-" They cut themselves off with a yawn and Ashley had to force himself not to 'aw' at it. "How was the show?" They finished their question.

"Amazing as always." Ashley smiled, looking through the fringe, grinning when he saw his half finished Subway sandwich untouched. The guys having finally learned to not touch his shit.

"Should've guess, you guys are always great." The person on the other side of the line laughed.

"So" Ashley started, grabbing his sandwich and a water bottle before heading back to his bunk, "How was your day?"

"It was great Ash! My new player's guide book came in and they added so much new shit in this edition I'm gonna have at least 12 new characters by the end of tomorrow, and I got new dice too and they've already turned lucky because I managed to roll a 15 for strength. 15 Ash! Plus my add ons for character I've easily reached 20+ in my stats." They perked up immediately at the mention of their new D&D book and characters that were in the middle of creation

"I have no idea what you're talking about but hearing you get this excited about it is fucking adorable babe." Ashley laughed and shook his head as he climbed back into his bunk and pulled the curtain close, slowly unwrapping his sandwich.

"So me when you talk about fashion?" The person prodded a smirk clear in their voice.

"Hey I'm not as bad as you." Ashley argued as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Oh really, I seem to recall you talking about fabric patterns and textures for 2 hours last week, 2 hours Ash!" The other person laughed, "But they were honestly the most adorable 2 hours in my life, next to you gushing about new ideas for Black Veil."

Ashley could feel his cheeks heating up at this revelation, never had anyone found his long winded fashion rants adorable or endearing, just like no one has even managed to make him blush like this before over such a little comment.

Ashley was drawn from his thoughts when the other person voiced concern over the phone line "You still there baby?"

"Yea- yeah I am." Ashley stuttered, still shocked by what he just heard.

"Why the hell are your stuttering, you only do that when you're upset or flustered, and you're on tour and not crying so, OH MY GOD ARE YOU BLUSHING?!"

Ashley groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Shut up." He mumbled knowing he wasn't going to hear the end of this.

"No, no fucking way am I letting this go, you almost never get flustered Ash and when you do it's the most adorable thing!" The other person giggled with delight and glee, those sounds coming down the phone line made warmth spread though Ashley's body, he fucking craved those sounds.

"Babe." Ashley whined, wishing they were face timing so he could use his puppy dog eyes to get them to stop but of course the bus wifi had to be really slow and shotty so that FaceTime and Skype would be glitchy and cut out or just end the call at random moments. He blamed Jake's mobile studio for that, it was constantly eating up the wifi making everyone else struggle to get just one bar.

"What is it Ash, too embarrassed to admit I make you blush?" The smirk was seeping through the phone line and Ashley was loving this and hating it at the same time.

"I hate you." He mumbled face still in his hands as he felt his cheeks getting hotter.

"I'm pretty sure you don't mean that cutie." The sing song voice flowed down the line.

"How can you be so annoyingly frustration and adorably cute at the same time?!" Ashley asked in frustration.

"You're dating me Ash, it's my job to be so annoying you get frustrated but you find me too cute to actually get mad at me." Laughter filled Ashley's ears and he couldn't help but smile.

"How can I stay mad at you when you're literally the cutest thing I've even seen?" He laughed.

"Now you're just boosting my ego Purdy."

"Can you take a compliment and not comment on it?" Ashley asked with another laugh.

"Okay, okay, whatever you say babe. Also, while I love talking to you, it's nearly 3AM and I'm exhausted so I'll text you in the morning okay baby?" A yawn came though Ashley's headphone and he awed lightly at it.

"Right, sorry babe, forgot about time differences."

"No problem love, you're on the road so I get you not remembering how many hours we're separated by, I'm gonna go. Night Ash."

"Night Alex." Ashley smiled, not liking that he didn't have to end the call but understood, he didn't want to ruin Alex's sleep schedule. He laid back and sighed, going back to playing with his phone in his hand, wondering how one person could capture his heart so quickly.