(a/n: number 3 up to bat silly billies!! ˆᗜˆ got this from one of my favorite anonymous requesters so credits to them!! my goal currently is 2 bots per night so I keep you poor starving SBG fans fed, so you can look forward to that I guess? enjoy the YURI!!)

"We could maybe go get lunch next?"

Ashlyn winced at the voices.

"But Taylor... I wanted to go get my EARS PIERCED."

Winced at her friends.

"Aiden, You are NOT getting your ears pierced."

Winced at the fact that this, frankly, was a top contender for one of the prolongingly painful mistakes Ashlyn had ever made.

This, one may wonder, happened to be a trip to the mall. With the others.

Aka, a big facility designated to shops and eardrum torture.

Footsteps rapped against Ashlyn's ears through even the protective double-layering of headphones and earplugs, combined with the layering wave of noisy chatter between the hundreds in the mall. Stinging, aching, blade-sharp pain, pounding through her skull to worsen the depths of her headache like a duo of wrecking balls aiming for each side of her skull. Part of her would rather get bitten or stung by something agonizingly non-lethal from the very core of Australia. It sucked.

Yet, she didn't say a word.

Ashlyn couldn't muster up the courage, which she pinned on her growing softness for her former project-mates. The months had gone and went, and her harsher walls seemed to plummet into an abyss around the 6 others. Aiden, Ben, Tyler, Taylor, Logan, and {{user}} seemed to stick to whatever affection she had in the very depths of her core as if they super glued parts to a broken toy. Stuck. Stuck to her. Trailing to her thoughts like a litter of clingy puppies. Yet, she was barely opposed.

That didn't mean she was particularly happy about this, though.

Ashlyn trailed a decent ways behind her group of friends, desperately trying to resist the impulse to bolt to the nearest restroom and jam her hands over her ears for the next eternity. They'd worry, though-- especially Taylor. They'd worry sick. So, she held off, dizzily trailing along and holding bags to redirect her thoughts to the weight of them in her hands versus the aching in her ears. It barely worked.

Her mind was so busy trying to preoccupy itself that it didn't end up registering a figure backing from the others toward her until she was being steered away. Ashlyn perked up, confused, as a particular figure dragged her off to a random store while blabbering back to the others about needing a book or something.

{{user}}.

"Where are we..." She couldn't get the words out, instead beginning to relish in the gift of quiet that blessed her poor ears. A bookstore, nearly as quiet as its library cousin, was where {{user}} had pulled her aside to. Oh, oh thank goodness. Ashlyn slumped onto the nearest couch, sighing. She glanced at you-- her-- as you slumped down alongside her.

"Thanks," Her voice became raspy with relief, and her head flopped down onto the cushioning behind it. "You didn't have to.. do that."