Asher shrugged, like whatever made up scene they were talking about was ultimately no big deal. “That’s because I’m too smart to get tied up with vampires.” Except Matt was getting a little sentimental and… It was getting increasingly harder and harder not to read his mind. How long had he gone? Sure, sometimes it just happened (he blamed his 10th grade self for spending far too much time in that headspace), but he hadn’t intentionally read Matt’s mind since he came back. He was trying to be respectful. “I’ll try, just so you can avoid that paperwork.” It was a little coy shot at the other, but it was playful. It was weird (but kind of nice) being playful with Matt. “Getting soft on me already, huh?” He wasn’t going to push any of Matt’s buttons, he wasn’t going to push any of Matt’s buttons- he had already said he’d give Matt some time to think- He wasn’t going to push any of Matt’s buttons. “Maybe this crush thing has been the other way around this entire time.” Okay, maybe he was. “You’re definitely rebelling. Fortunately for you I just think it’s that awkward teenage rebelling that every kid goes through.” That was a lie, but it was times like this that Asher was grateful nobody else could read his mind. “You’d probably know better than I do. But going all out would probably be a mixture of a couple things. Stupid matching tuxedos, a limousine, dancing at least more than once– even if your dancing is sucky. And-” Ho, don’t do it. “It’ll end with us sneaking off to some one night motel where we’ll dot dot dot. Which is the only reason why I won’t ditch you halfway through, because I know you’ll eventually do the Running Man with Peter and ugh, no thank you.” There, that should cover that up pretty smoothly. “Then I’ll ask… The Winchester’s. I’m sure I could get an in with them, pretty easily. But since you’re insisting, maybe I’ll have to go this sexy cat route.” This was one of those times, when he didn’t even have to try to read Matt’s thoughts to catch little tidbits. He wasn’t planning on actually dressing up? “What, are you lame enough to do Spiderman? I bet you are, aren’t you.” Why didn’t Matt want to dress up?
Asher was a lot of things, but too smart to get tied up with vampires? Definitely not. Matt was honestly surprised the other boy hadn’t gotten involved with more shady stuff, knowing the way he ran his mouth. “Whatever you say.” They both knew he didn’t believe that one bit. “Good. That’s very selfless of you.” Part of him wanted to be uncomfortable about Asher’s clear push for more (contact, time spent together, banter, even), but another part of him warred back, almost enjoying the change. How strange. “I’m not going soft just because I don’t want to have a bad-boy stamp card, I--” He flushed, and willed himself not to start stammering again, ignoring Asher’s comment. “--Um, I-I’m okay not having street cred, or whatever it is you care so much about.” Asher knew what he was doing here--how could he not, after years of learning the ins and outs of making Matt uncomfortable?--and as much as Matt wanted to make some witty comment right back, he just kept getting caught off guard. He scoffed. “I’m not--No, I’m not rebelling. I’m just being normal.” Like he even remembered where normal began any more. “Matching tuxedos and limousines? I think you and I remember school dances very differently. It’s not usually that....glamorous. At least I don’t think the cha-cha slide is a fun way to start off the night.” If Matt had been drinking something, he would have spit it out in one of those cliche sitcom-y spit-takes. He gaped at Asher for a minute, grasping at whatever remained of his vocabulary for something--anything--to say here. “I--okay, um....You-you can’t say stuff like that.” He wheezed. “There are....” What, lines? Boundaries? They’d already proven pretty bad at establishing those, and Asher was just being himself...There wasn’t much Matt could argue. For the sake of his pride (and the airway he was positive he’d bruised sucking in air as fast as he did), he had to try. “You just can’t say that kind of stuff, okay? Yeah, um, sure. You do that.” He agreed, brain catching up to what Asher had said a moment later. “Wait, don’t bother them. They’re really busy, and important, and stuff, they don’t need people distracting them.” He sighed, glad all the indignation had already been startled out of him. “I’m not insisting, but...fine. Be a sexy cat if you want to be. Um, yeah. I’ve already got my costume and everything.” He lied, eager for Asher to let it go. There was just no point dressing up, not that he wanted to try explaining that to Asher.