Author's Note: A note on the setting of this fic: it takes place in a world that's during the S2 season, but Gina and EJ are dating. Confusing? Yes probably lol but it's a fanfiction and I wanna write established Portwell for once ok? XD

And yes, the title is from the song Crashing. I struggle with titles, and song lyrics are just chilling there, and… yeah.

Summary: EJ's dad tells him to get out of the house after he decides he's not going to Duke, and he goes to Ashlyn's house in hopes for a place to crash for the night.

Gina, Ashlyn, and Ashlyn's parents Pete and Olivia were just sitting down to a dinner of shrimp tacos when light sliced through the dining room windows and across the table.

Olivia frowned, setting down her knife. "Is that a car?"

Ashlyn hopped up, peeking out the window. "Oh hey, it's EJ!" she cried, surprised, then reached for her phone. "That's so weird; usually he texts to say he's coming over." She glanced at Gina. "Did he contact you?"

Gina stole a peek at her own phone, scrolling through the few instagram notifications she had to make sure none of them were from her boyfriend. "No."

The doorbell rang. Pete Caswell put down his silverware and stood up to go to the door, closely followed by his wife. Ashlyn and Gina exchanged shrugs and walked towards the front hall too, hanging back in the doorway to see what was going on.

Pete opened the door, revealing EJ standing there with his hands tucked deep in his pockets. "Uh, hey," he greeted awkwardly. "So, um… I'm sorry to just show up like this but… do you guys mind if I crash here for the night?"

Olivia looked surprised. "You know you're always welcome here, EJ, but… why? Are your parents going out of town?"

EJ looked away and caught sight of Ashlyn and Gina hovering in the background. Gina raised her hand in a tentative wave and EJ smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I… I told my dad I'm not going to Duke," he explained finally. "And he told me to, um, to get out of the house."

Gina's eyes went wide and Pete shook his head, looking exasperated. "My brother and his idiotic-"

"Why don't you come inside, EJ," Olivia interrupted, reaching forward to take the overnight bag that Gina only now realized was sitting at EJ's feet. "Are you hungry? We were just going to have some dinner."

"I'm really sorry to intrude like this," EJ murmured as he stepped through the doorway, toeing off his shoes and handing his jacket to Pete. "I'm hoping I can talk to them tomorrow and figure all of this out, but I just… need a place to sleep, I guess."

"Oh, honey," Olivia murmured, reaching out and pulling EJ into a hug. EJ pressed his face into his aunt's shoulder and Ashlyn and Gina awkwardly retreated into the dining room, giving him a little space. Pete, Olivia and EJ joined them soon after. EJ pulled up a chair next to Gina, and she reached out to put a hand on his knee. He grabbed her fingers a squeezed them, and if they both only used one hand to eat the entire meal, no one commented.

After dinner, EJ immediately offered to do the dishes, but Olivia waved him off. "You kids go have some fun," she said. "High school is a stressful time and Friday evenings shouldn't be spent doing the dishes."

"Can I get that in writing?" Ashlyn asked with a cheeky grin, laughing as her mom threw a dish towel at her. She grabbed EJ and Gina's arms and dragged them out of the kitchen. "Quick, before she changes her mind."

EJ took a seat on the couch, tugging Gina down to rest against his chest. She cuddled into him, wanting a second to talk to him about everything that was happening but also not wanting to push. Maybe they'd get a chance to be alone at some point tonight, and then she could really make sure he was all right.

"All right, what do you wanna watch?" Ashlyn asked, flopping down onto the opposite spot on the couch and reaching behind her for the remote. The three of them hadn't actually discussed watching television, but what else were they going to do on a lazy Friday night?

"You two decide," EJ said, wrapping his arm around the front of Gina's midriff and resting his cheek on the top of her head. "I'm already crashing your night."

"As if you've never hung out with us before," Ashlyn sighed, rolling her eyes. "But fine. How does Queer Eye sound?"

That worked fine for Gina and EJ, so Ashlyn cued up the next episode in the series line up. They made it about twenty minutes in before realizing that the main emotional conflict with that week's client was his broken relationship with his parents.

"We can… stop…" Ashlyn said awkwardly.

"It's fine," EJ groaned, his grip tightening around Gina. "My parents and I aren't estranged, we just had one fight. I'll talk to them tomorrow, and we'll get everything sorted out. I mean, it's not like my dad can kick me out just because I don't want to go to Duke." He paused, fingers fiddling in the sleeve of Gina's shirt. "…Right?"

"Yeah!" Ashlyn replied unconvincingly.

"Of course not," Gina agreed, much more firmly. "Right now your dad just needs a little space to cool off and then you two will be able to have a calm, rational discussion tomorrow. Communication fixes everything, no matter how bad it might seem. Trust me."

EJ nodded, turning his attention back to the show.

After another episode of Queer Eye and an unexpected yet entertaining round of Jeopardy, Olivia popped her head into the living room. "Hey kids, do we want to discuss the sleeping situation for tonight?"

"Gina could sleep with me and EJ could have her room," Ashlyn suggested, before considering. "Or… EJ could sleep with me and Gina could have her room."

"I can just sleep on the couch, really," EJ said quickly, straightening. Gina made some space between them on the cushions.

"We have air mattresses, EJ, we're not savages," Ashlyn groaned. "We'll just blow one up and stick in my room. If I scooch my desk a little there'll be plenty of space…"

She and Olivia walked off to go get set up for the evening and EJ and Gina turned to each other. "Can I talk to you?" EJ asked at the same moment Gina said, "do you want to talk about what happened?"

They stared at each other for a moment and Gina grinned a little. "Well… that answers that."

EJ smiled back, though it still looked so halfhearted, and glanced past her to the kitchen where Pete Caswell was still visible. Gina caught the look. "We can go in my room, if you want it to be a little more… private," she offered.

EJ nodded, and the two stood up. "Keep the door open!" Pete yelled from the kitchen, somehow knowing exactly where they were going.

"Yes, sir!" EJ replied immediately, wincing in Gina's direction. Gina just smiled. She actually liked it when Pete said things like that; it made her feel like she was one of his daughters instead of just a barnacle on the Caswell family rock.

Gina plopped down on her bed and patted the spot next to her, twisting to face EJ once he sat. "I don't want to push you," she began. "I'm not going to force you to talk about anything you don't want to, okay? But I'm an open ear; you know that."

EJ nodded, resting his elbows on his knees. "So, I- I finally got up the courage to tell my dad I'm not going to go to Duke," he reiterated. "I thought that he would be confused, maybe a little upset but… he blew up. He kept talking about family legacy and sacrifices and the amount of strings he'd pulled to get my sorry, useless self into Duke. I tried to explain to him that that was exactly why I didn't want to go, but he didn't want to talk about it."

"EJ, you are not sorry or useless," Gina told him, practically glaring with the vicarious offense she took to Mr. Caswell's words. She reached for his hands. "You're- you're smart, and funny, and charismatic, and talented."

"Thanks," EJ murmured, staring at their hands as he rubbed his thumbs absentmindedly over her skin.

Gina sighed, eyeing him sympathetically. She could say anything she wanted, but EJ already knew how she saw him. What he needed affirming in was how his dad saw him… and probably how he saw himself, too.

Gina leaned forward, pressing a kiss to EJ's forehead. He lifted his head. "Will you come with me tomorrow? When I go to talk to my dad?"

Gina bit her lip awkwardly. "I don't know if that's such a good idea…" she murmured. "Isn't that kind of something that should stay between you and him?"

"Yeah, but he likes you," EJ insisted, looking at her imploringly. "And you're so- you're so assertive. I bet he'd listen to you."

Gina let out a breath. "Eej, if you really need me to be there, I will be," she said finally. "But I'm not going to let you hide behind me. This is something that you need to confront, and I'm not saying you need to do it on your own, but you at least need to- to spearhead it or whatever. I'm not going to be there just to give you an easy out. Also, sorry if I sound like your mom right now."

EJ laughed, but his smile quickly faded. He let go of one of her hands, tugged his phone out of his back pocket, and stared at it for a moment. "Speaking of my mom… I should probably text her and let her know I'm spending the night here."

"Your parents don't know where you are?" Gina gaped. Even hundreds of miles away, her mom knew basically her entire schedule and had a habit of using her cell phone tracker to see where she was from time to time throughout the day, just to keep tabs.

"My mom wasn't even home when I told my dad the news about Duke," EJ said, still staring at his phone. "And I don't think my dad cared very much where I was, just as long as it wasn't in his house."

He slowly unlocked his phone and opened his messages, but just kept staring at the screen. Gina wormed next to him and put her head on his shoulder, trying to give him as much support as possible without actually offering to text his parents herself.

Finally, EJ clicked on a chat that had both of his parents' contacts in it, and shot them a quick text explaining he was at Ashlyn's. Then after another long hesitation, he added another message asking if they could meet somewhere to talk the next day.

"I think that's perfect," Gina told EJ bracingly as he turned his phone off and tossed it onto the bed. "See? Step one is already done. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

EJ shrugged noncommittally and leaned back against her pillows. "What do I do if he doesn't-" He cleared his throat, staring up at the ceiling. "What do I do if he doesn't take me back?"

Gina felt her heart ache. He sounded so young and vulnerable, not even close to the confident seventeen year old he usually was. Gina had always viewed high school Seniors as so old and independent, but EJ was proof that they were just barely starting the process of learning to become adults. EJ still had a long way to go before he'd be able to really be on his own, which reinforced yet again how awful his dad had been to him today.

"He will, Eej," she said, wrapping an arm around him.

"He might not."

"Well then, you pack your bags and you, me and Ashlyn can have sleepovers every night," Gina declared. She knew how complicated that arrangement would get in reality, and EJ likely did too, but he still nodded and looked a bit reassured.

"Gina, EJ?"

The two teenagers glanced up to find Olivia poking her head through the doorway. "Hi, sorry to interrupt," she said, "but we have to move Ashlyn's desk a bit to fit an air mattress and you know how heavy that thing is."

EJ stood up, shaking his head. "This is too much," he said, rubbing a hand through his hair. "I'm imposing on you guys way too much."

"EJ, you're family," Olivia said firmly. She glanced at Gina. "And boyfriend. You and Ashlyn used to have sleepovers once a week. Sure, this is shorter notice than those were, but it's not hard to set up on air mattress. We just need a little help moving the desk."

EJ relented hesitantly and he and Gina followed Olivia into Ashlyn's room. With EJ and Gina's help, the group was able to shift Ashlyn's ridiculously heavy, statement piece vintage desk to make room for the air mattress and set the room up.

It was starting to get late. Ashlyn was perfectly content to stay up until the wee hours of the morning on a Friday night but Gina required a cemented sleep schedule so she headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. EJ joined her after a few minutes, and they brushed their teeth in front of the mirror in a calm quiet.

"Hey, G?" EJ said as he was rinsing his toothbrush. "You don't have to come with me tomorrow. That wasn't fair of me to ask that of you and… you're right. I need to handle this myself."

Gina nodded, trying to hide her relief. "I'm here for you though, EJ, you know that, right?"

"I know," EJ confirmed fondly, and bent down to kiss her. Gina smiled slightly at the almost overwhelming taste of toothpaste.

"Are you guys really making out in the bathroom?" Ashlyn said from behind Gina, her tone incredulous. Gina broke off the kiss and spun, blushing, to find her roommate shaking her head bemusedly. "Ya weirdos."

"We weren't-" Gina cried, before breaking off and glaring halfheartedly at Ashlyn. "We weren't making out."

Ashlyn grinned cheekily at her and pushed her way between the couple to grab her own toothbrush.

"I'm going to bed," Gina said, giving Ashlyn a one-armed hug and exiting the bathroom. EJ followed her dutifully and she gave him a firm look. "Whatever happens tomorrow, Eej, it'll be okay."

He nodded, reaching out to give her a hug. Gina squeezed him tightly. She knew that fixing things with his parents was EJ's responsibility, and that he'd made the right decision about facing them himself.

Still, Gina couldn't help but wish that she could just take matters into her own hands and make everything better. But, she supposed, that came hand-in-hand with loving someone.

Author's Note: Oops, sorry for the weak ending- wasn't sure quite how to wrap that one up :P

You know, I'm actually really happy they went the route they did in the show. It would have been so easy for EJ's dad to fall into the cliché of being a reputation-obsessed slave driver, but he actually came to EJ's show and they seem to be doing okay. So I applaud you, HSMTMTS. Good work breaking the mold.