Ashton had nodded through everything Claude had said, albeit a little reluctantly. There were so many things he could say, about how he wanted to talk to Claude about things, it was just a little hard sometimes when other people were there, and there kept being people there. And now they'd finally gotten alone together, and it had been a bundle of mixed emotions.

Though, admittedly, what Claude said in reply didn't make a huge difference to Ashton. It wasn't going to change much in the grand scheme of things, though, whether or not Ashton clarified that he was 'here' in more than just the literal sense of the word.

But then Claude had to ask that final question, and Ashton froze. "S-something?" he repeated, off first instinct. The blush suddenly spread from his ears to the rest of his face, and Ashton kind of wanted to die a little.

There was no point in hiding it. What had Dias said? He'd said Ashton, you're a miserable liar. And, oh Tria, was it true.

"Well," Ashton started, looking off to the side as if pondering the question, but really trying wildly to phrase the words in his mind. "I mean." Claude had already figured it out, hadn't he? "Maybe. It's.. it's nothing serious or anything like that, but.."

Suddenly he looked back at Claude, wringing his napkin in front of him worriedly, his insecurities coming to a head. "I mean, if there was, you'd be okay with it, right? You wouldn't just stop being my friend just because of that, right?"