Think before speaking (Brad)

[asher hayden ross]

Shaking his head and chuckling slightly Asher walked out of the Disney store after an ended shift, sure, he was tired as hell as always when he got off work, but today he was going to get to see Brad and that was really all he needed to keep the energy going. Looking around he laughed, shaking his head again as he headed for a coffee place near by, he'd need some caffeine to keep up with Brad all night. Aubrey was with a babysitter for the night and he was able to just get a break for once. Oh he adored Aubrey of course, but it was hard to be exhausted from work and then play with a kid all night until she fell asleep, it wasn't the easiest job in the world to be a single dad. Not that he'd ever trade it for the world. Glancing around he chuckled to himself at all the serious expressions around, after all, they all just seemed angry and pre-occupied.

Now, Asher being Asher, he bounced his way over to a few of them and gave them random hugs, they probably thought he was crazy, but who cared? No one should go without at least one hug each day. Getting his massive coffee, he took a sip from it and then let out a soft sigh, coffee, the lifesaver of anyone who's ever been a busy bee. Oh! They needed candy too! So he proceeded to the candy store and bought quite a large amount of the stuff. "There we go! All set for whatever Brad has in mind!" he said out loud, not to anyone in particular. Then proceeded to bounce his way towards their agreed meeting point. He'd been asked a few times how he always had so much energy but he had no real reply. Fact was he was exhausted more often than not, but he chose not to let it destroy the fact that life could be good.

Not that he didn't know what life could be absolutely shit by personal experience, but that gave him all the more reason to be happy when things were good. He'd agreed to meet Brad at the corner by the park so they could randomly figure out what to do from there, but some food wouldn't be a bad idea, he had been too busy at the store all day and he hadn't really had time for lunch. At the thought his stomach made a rather large rumbling noise and he scrunched his nose, poked at his stomach and laughed as it rumbled again. "Alright alright I'll get you some food in a bit!" he exclaimed as he made it to the point where they were supposed to meet. He wasn't the kind to be overly concerned about time unless it had to do with work and so he didn't really know if he was late or early, but since Brad wasn't there yet, he decided that this was the best moment ever to climb a tree.

The coffee and candy was placed on a pole that he could be reached from the lowest branch before he proceeded to hoist himself onto the branch and lean against the trunk, grabbing a hand of his coffee be closed his eyes and just sipped the coffee, eating a piece or two of the candy and allowing the sun to bathe his face in amazingly warm and comfortable rays. Oh how he loved the sun and the fact that it kept him all warm and toasty. Another happy laugh escaped him as he stopped to think about some of the customers today. They always got so surprised at the amount of random fact he knew about just about any disney movie ever made, well at least the cartoon ones, he wasn't as much of a fan of the other stuff they'd been making as of late, but he took pride in knowing something about those too and having watched every movie at least once. As he sat there waiting he idly took up trying to whistle a copy of the bird songs around him.

[bradley wyatt del rosa]

there were a lot of things in life that bradley del rosa loved. like...well, basically everything good and even a few things that were bad because really all they needed was to be looked at in a different light and then of course everyone alive, everyone dead, everyone who existed, who had yet to exist, and who had maybe even believed that they existed several times because hey, even buddhists need love. in fact if someone wanted to talk about the things that bradley enjoyed, it'd probably be easier just to explain what he didn't enjoy - and even then it'd be pretty damn hard because there was so much that he loved doing that thinking of what he didn't enjoy was very, very, very difficult feat. bradley was just a person that was full of love for everyone around him. there were some people who were higher up on that list than others, though. his sister, for one, and of course delilah and the wilsons. and then there was asher.

brad wasn't sure how to describe his friendship with asher. it was beautiful and it was close and it was intimate and if there was anyone in the world that brad could spend the rest of forever with playing video games and jumping around screaming and watching disney movies while cuddling, it would be asher hayden ross. they were beyond best friends because best friends was too tame for what asher was to him and they were more than super best friends because it wasn't gay enough. they weren't boyfriends - no, bradley had delilah and he loved her very much and asher just had so much other stuff in his life that brad was just something he didn't need in stronger doses. but they were the closest of friends and asher was probably the one person brad felt the most comfortable touching. and that was saying something considering how close he was to people.

so when he got the opportunity to make plans with the man, he took them. he usually always had time. his job could be delayed a few hours and he could stay up with coffee and some tuna and be content coding for hours and hours and hours long into the night to make up for it. asher's, though, could not as he worked store hours and so bradley always had to wait until they were both free at the same time because he'd been hanging out with other friends lately too and he couldn't very well leave them for asher without being rude and so he decided he just had to make plans with asher before anybody else so that they were guaranteed a time slot together. because he loved his boy and if he didn't have his weekly dose of asher ross, he very well might actually explode.

so when he knew asher's shift was done, he scurried off the park to go to where they agreed to meet, humming adele songs quietly under his breath as he walked happily and contently up to the spot. however, when he got there it was fairly empty and he stood with his eyebrows knit for a second. asher never stood him up and though tardiness was excusable, it just normally wasn't something that occurred with the pair of them. they usually arrived around the same time and brad didn't see asher anywhere around the park. that was when he heard an echoing whistle in the trees that was half natural and half human made and he looked up with a wide grin to see asher settled among the branches. he laughed quietly to himself and called out in a bad australian accent, "crikey, mate! an asher ross in its natural habit. we have to be very quiet if we want to get close." then he gave a cheesy wink and added, "what a beauty," before laughing and switching back to his normal tones to say, "get down here, man, so i can hug you like a proper homosexual."

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[asher hayden ross]

Asher realized he took great pleasure in trying to copy the bird whistles, especially since he was doing a decent version of the songs and he sometimes managed to get a reply from the birds. He was so wrapped up in his little game that he didn't see Brad as he appeared underneath him. In fact he was completely oblivious and just continued his whistle, with the coffee in one hand and the candy in the other. So when Brad spoke he was completely unprepared and therefore all the more amused by the guy's exclamation and impression, which meant he started laughing so hard he was having a hard time keeping balance on the branch he'd been sitting on. Before he knew it, his body tipped over the edge. It was almost as if it happened in slow motion, the candy flew out of his hand to one side as he attempted to get a hold of the branch with the arm, which only served to make him hit it against the branch.

The other stupid thing was that it made him turn in the air so he was falling back first towards the ground. In his attempt to turn over in the air he managed to pour the now, thankfully, cool coffee all over his shirt and then landed on his back non the less with a rather muffled noise. Somehow he had managed to keep his head from hitting the ground but his back took a bit of a beating, as did his right arm and he let out a small squeak before catching his breath. "OW! SHIT!" he yelled before he was back to laughing madly, sure it hurt like hell but at the same time it was all just too fucking comical for him not to be laughing. His shirt was soaked and the candy was all over the ground, but it didn't matter because honestly he just wasn't finished laughing at that silly impression. His mind was working hard to come up with some sort of witty remark back but it was all he could do to breathe because he was laughing too hard and anything he tried to say was impossible to make out.

Finally when he managed to catch a break he exclaimed in a laughing voice with a ridiculous british accent. "Ladies and gentlemen! ASHER HAYDEN ROSS!" he went to get up and take a bow but ended up just sitting up and rubbing his arm a little. Really he ached all over the place, it had been a pretty nasty fall but the grin on his face stayed put non the less, there was no way in hell he was going to let his own clumsiness ruin this for them. So, taking a quick breath he bounced to his feet. "Do I get that hug now?" he laughed, looking down at his wet shirt, knowing Brad would also get soaked in coffee if he hugged him, so he wasn't being too serious, just trying to take the focus away from the fact that he just fell out of a tree. "Then I think we need a candy buying quest because that stuff is in a puddle!" again he laughed.

[bradley wyatt del rosa]

the one thing bradley had always appreciated about hanging out with asher ross was that asher took brad for who he was. he didn't give him the raised eyebrows, the 'what the fuck are you talking about?' looks or any of the other things that were accompanied by befriending people who didn't quite know how to take him. asher always took his jokes wholeheartedly, laughing and smiling and making bradley feel for a moment like maybe he wasn't as weird as everyone always said he was with all his babbling and accents and jumping around like a crazed puppy on crack cocaine. asher made brad believe that he was just another person, that the world really was just his stage and he just had to take the moment to seize the day. and asher never failed to laugh when brad was attempting to be funny. such as when he broke out his best steve irwin impression which was actually pretty bad.

however he couldn't prepare himself for the downfall as he watched his friend fall down, down, down, spilling his coffee all over his shirt as he hit the ground. and before brad even had the time to laugh, he was rushing to asher's side, getting down on his knees beside him to make sure he wasn't seriously injured (or at least bleeding anywhere). however, his friend seemed to be fine, even still laughing hysterically for reasons brad couldn't put his fingers on and now fully taking in the hilarity of the situation (asher had just fallen out of a fucking tree) he found himself laughing, placing the palm of his hand on his forehead while his shoulders shook with the light chuckles that were escaping his lips. when the faux-british accent reached his ears, he found himself laughing harder, falling back to sit on his feet as he tried to calm himself down.

but it was just so hard. somehow with asher this always happened. they just started laughing and people would stare and fuck they did know how to bring attention to themselves but who the hell cared when he was with someone he loved as passionately and openly as he loved his best friend? honestly, bradley didn't know why he needed anyone else in the world when he had asher, except for the fact that sometimes asher needed to work and that meant that bradley had to find someone else to laugh like a moron with for about a seven hour shift every day. but he did love his friend, very, very, very much and it was going to take a lot more than just people staring at him to ever make him feel ashamed. in fact, he basked in the stares, proud to show people that this was his best friend. this was asher hayden ross.

when asher sat up and asked (probably teasing) if he was going to get that hug, brad found the perfect opportunity to do one better. "oh i'll give you better than a hug," he told him in suggestive tones, wiggling his eyebrows as he turned to straddle his friends hips, pulling the other man tight to him in a warm embrace. and yes, he could feel the coffee from asher's shirt transfer slightly to his to leave blotchy, small stains but fuck if he was going to let his friend walk around with a coffee stain and not take any away from him. when he pulled away from the hug, he pressed his forehead to asher's, grabbing his friend's cheeks to squish them in his hands like a toddler as he said, "i think i'm enough candy for you, big boy," and barely able to get the sentence out before he was laughing again. "but seriously, you soiled my mother fucking twix, we have GOT to get some more of the good stuff."

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[asher hayden ross]

His laughter kept filling the air as he watched Brad go from a light chuckle to down right laughter. It wasn't like he hadn't expected it, but the fact that Brad had joined him in the hilarity just made him laugh harder. The more he laughed though the more he realized he really had hurt himself quite a bit with that fall. His right elbow was aching and his right shoulder, his back wasn't really feeling that great either. At the time being it really didn't matter much though, all that mattered was that he was here, with the best friend that could possibly ever exist in this world. The laugh kept tearing through him as Brad moved to straddle his hips. This man never stopped amusing him, no matter how much time they spent together there was always some new way in which Brad amused him and made him laugh, and this was no exception from any other day.

It was a bit of a struggle not to let the laugh slip though as he was pulled into a hug, mostly because his back still hurt, but he wrapped his own arms around Brad and hugged him close. There was nothing a good hug couldn't cure, and this was definitely one of his favorite hugs, with the possible exception of Aubrey's hugs, but she was his daughter so that was to be expected. "You're getting your shirt all stained!" he laughed in protest, but he didn't stop hugging the guy non the less. Another fit of laughter caught him at the comment about Brad being enough candy for him. Of course the guy was enough candy, hell he was enough candy for anyone, but that didn't change the fact that they needed sweets and Asher was going to need a new cup of coffee, because despite the current laughing fit, he was still feeling a bit tired from being at work all day.

"Yeah, more twix, and more coffee for me!" he said with a grin and promptly untangled himself from his best friend getting to his feet all military like. "TO THE CANDY SHOP!" he announced in a loud yell, causing most of the people close enough to hear him to look in his direction. He just did a salute and started pretending to be marching towards the candy store. Again the movements hurt, but he ignored it for the sake of keeping up their regular Brad and Asher speed. Nothing could stop him from enjoying this rare time off with his friend. There wasn't nearly enough days like this one in his life anymore. Oh he loved Aubrey a lot, he'd give up his life for her, and in many ways he had. However that didn't stop him from wishing there could be more days like this, without having to worry about her, and being able to just hang out with Brad like they'd used to.

A group of pigeons were blocking his way and a mischievous look crossed his face. "Did you know that it's impossible to kick a pigeon? They'll get away every time! I think they said that on the animal planet at some point! Or at least I read it somewhere!" he said excitedly and marched, kicking his feet stiffly at every stride as he headed into the pack of pigeons. Unfortunately whatever place it was he'd heard that statement from had lied, because as he walked through the pack, his foot caught a pigeon and sent it flying into the air, feathers flying everywhere. A shocked gasp left his lip as he dropped the act and ran over to the pigeon. "OH NO!" he yelled as he keeled down next to the pigeon, frantically checking if it was alive and whether or not it was hurt. However aside from being a bit dazed it seemed to be perfectly fine and again he found himself laughing rather hysterically with relief.

[bradley wyatt del rosa]

the first thing brad noticed when asher pulled away from him was that his shirt was indeed, as both men had suspected, stained. he looked down at it with a tiny bit of a pout, thanking his lucky stars that at least ani's friend holly had turned up in the city so he had someone to take care of his laundry. then he said, "you SOILED me," before realizing how dirty it sounded and laughing, making his voice lower and more suggestive again as he added, "but you can soil me any time you want." which was how most of brad's conversations went. innocent to dirty, serious pouting to making dirty jokes with a certain mischievous look in his eyes. some people once told him that hanging out with him like being on drugs which was a pretty accurate description as far as he knew (honestly, he'd never been on drugs).

regardless, their conversation always went that and he watched for a moment as asher stood, smiling giddily up at him to see what antics he was up to next. only when asher started walking away did brad actually scramble to his feet and jog slightly after him because there was the promise of candy damn it and brad loved nothing more than candy except maybe his sister and his friends and asher and aubrey and coffee and cain's hips and lollipops but wait, weren't lollipops candy anyway? oh hell, like it mattered, the fact of the matter was that asher was leading him some place with lots of sweets but even if he wasn't, brad would have followed anyway. he'd follow asher to the ends of the earth and back simply because he was his best friend and there was no way he was living without him, thank you very much.

and he knew they attracted a lot of attention. hell, on their own brad and asher attracted enough attention that when you finally got them together it was like putting on a regular circus. a lot of people had gotten used to it, as the ross brothers had been in hartford all their lives and brad had made his presence more than known in the short time that he and annika had occupied an apartment there. but hartford was a big city and there were always those chosen few who hadn't heard of the magically homosexual pair that was bradley del rosa and asher ross who liked to stare after them and laugh and point until people around them explained that they were just always like that and yes, it was probably wise to keep your children far far away. but brad didn't care about any of that. he liked that. he liked that people knew he who he was and that he loved asher and that they were friends and their friendship was legen--wait for it--dary. it warmed the very cockles of his heart, so much that he didn't even pause to laugh at what a stupid word 'cockles' was.

however he did pause when asher did and stared after his friend as he started his story about the pigeons. he was just about to open his mouth to say that he didn't think that was true because in new york, there were pigeon people who let pigeons eat seeds and shit out of their hands and off their jackets and if you couldn't catch a pigeon, then what the fuck were pigeon people, voodoo bitches? but voodoo biches lived in new orleans so obviously that didn't make any sense. but then asher cut him off before he could start by going up and kicking one of the pigeons and concerned as bradley was for the poor bird as soon as asher made sure it was okay, he was back on the ground, clutching at his sides and laughing. "oh my GOD," he laughed, pointing at asher. "your face, oh my god the look on your face HELP, ASHER, HELP I CAN'T BREATHE." and he just continued laughing, rolling slightly onto his side to try and contain himself. but he couldn't help it - it was just so damn funny.

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