That made Truman laugh harder. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s not funny. I just can’t stop laughing. Phew.” He breathed deeply through his nose in an attempt to get himself under control. There was something about Ash that made him feel like he was pulling an all-nighter with friends all the time. Something giddy and special and difficult, but you knew it was going to be so worth it. “Why do I have so much fun hanging out with you?” he burst out.

Ash’s eyes went wide. “I have no idea. People don’t think I’m fun.”

“What? Why?”

Ash shrugged.

“To be fair, I didn’t say you were fun. I said I have fun with you,” Truman clarified in the spirit of not subjugating his own needs, desires, or feelings.

“That’s very true,” Ash acknowledged with a small smile. He tucked his hair behind his ear. “I have a lot of fun with you too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yup.”

“Sleepover!” Truman crowed. It tracked in his head, because of thinking about an all-nighter, but Ash’s eyes got wide once more.

“Yeah?” he said.

There was something reluctantly hopeful about his expression, like he didn’t quite believe Truman meant it. All of which made Truman even more determined to show Ash that he loved spending time with him and did find it fun.

Truman nodded. “Movie?” he suggested. “What’s a good sleepover movie? My sisters used to have specific fun sleepover movies, but whenever I went to sleepovers, everyone wanted to watch horror movies.” Truman shuddered.

“I’m not a fan,” Ash said.

“No, me neither.”

They scrolled through their options, discussing things they’d seen and wanted to see and weren’t in the mood for, and eventually Ash tossed the remote between them and said, “I really don’t care what we watch.”

Truman picked it up. He’d wanted to find the perfect movie, but maybe there was no such thing. “Okay, let’s see what the universe wants us to watch,” he said, then closed his eyes and began to scroll up and down, back and forth. He counted to fifteen, then pressed Play.

He opened his eyes to see what they were watching.

“Oh my god, seriously?”

Ash snickered.

It was a documentary about metal refineries in Canada.

“Lemme try that again,” Truman offered.

This time, he landed on some animated children’s program featuring a magical bear and her friends.

“Er?”

“I really don’t care,” Ash said.

And Truman realized Ash meant it. He didn’t mean he didn’t mind which of five things he liked they watched—he honest to god did not care. Which either meant he was totally disengaged. Or…

Ash’s arm slid around Truman’s shoulders. “This okay?” he murmured.

“It’s perfect,” Truman responded truthfully.