High Hopes || Mashton AU

Chapter 5

Bad days happened at times. It wasn't always necessarily a day on which everything went wrong, or having this sick feeling the whole day, or getting a bad grade or anything. Sometimes it was just the mental part that came up and made the day feel like a bad day in general. No matter what had happened.

Michael often had those days, where it just happened that he got a little down and ended up sad. He would overthink and end up in this circle of thoughts that were negative. They were annoying as well and he didn't want them, but for some reason he just couldn't escape them. They were stuck in his head and would only disappear if he distracted himself. But not forever, unfortunately.

Sometimes those thoughts were about nothing at all. Something as miniscule as someone scoffing and by coincidence, when you were passing by and they were turned your way slightly. It would feel as if the sound was directed your way and the whole day would revolve around thoughts of why. Why did they scoff? Was it the clothing choice of that day? The hair? The way of walking?

Annoying and unwished, yet unescapable at times.

That's the kind of day that always made Michael go to his tree house. He used the small place as an escape, pretending he was millions of miles away from his problems and would only need to focus on his drawings or writing, putting everything in that. His mind would clear up and become empty, solely focused on his drawing, or writing.

Today had been one of those days, that Michael just felt done with it all and he wanted that peace. He wanted his mind to be empty and for those nauseous thoughts to disappear for as long as possible. He wanted nothing but silence, calmness and that peace.

Ashton Irwin was anything but, obviously, and Michael almost groaned when he heard that familiar voice speak from beside him. "Hey. Where are you going?"

Michael looked to his right and up a little –since Ashton was a little taller- and scrunched up his nose at the sight of Ashton Irwin's face. It wasn't that Ashton was what had made this day bad, nor that he was the reason for those thoughts. But Ashton was basically the opposite of silence, calmness and peace.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm being a friend and asking you something out of genuine curiosity. Is that forbidden as a friend of yours?" Ashton questioned, surprisingly talking somewhat fast. But Michael still caught the word 'friend' and oh God, he still had to get used to that. Apparently Ashton Irwin saw Michael Clifford as his friend. Which had taken about two and a half weeks, but then again, Michael had to admit he wasn't the easiest person to befriend. People needed to push through and be the one to keep taking initiative. Because Michael didn't.

It wasn't that he didn't care for others, but he just... forgot. Which of course sounds stupid, but he was content being alone and doing something for himself. He didn't need someone else to keep him entertained, he could do that by himself. He did appreciate his friends (or friend) though and he did want to talk to them at times and hang out and such, but on his terms. That was just the way he was put together.

And as for the friend thing with Ashton, well, it had worked that Ashton had apologised after he almost caused that anxiety attack. Michael hadn't come to explaining what had happened exactly, but he didn't really want to either. He'd tell if needed or if he ever felt like it.

Things had become... well, not necessarily even better since they labelled themselves as friends (or as Ashton kind of had done, but oh well). They stayed the same, but with a new level of comfort. Which Michael was glad about, even if he was still slightly wary of Ashton. After all, they had been friends for a few days now and Ashton had almost given him an anxiety attack almost a week ago. Michael wasn't ready to go too fast on this.