Aidlyn

SPOILER WARNING! this article may contain major plot or ending details

43

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Ashlyn…You did the best you could. Don’t beat yourself over it.

—Aiden comforting Ashlyn

Aidlyn is the het ship between Aiden Clark and Ashlyn Banner from the School Bus Graveyard fandom.

Canon

The two first meet on the bus to school. Ashlyn notices Aiden, and realizes her seat is right in front of him, and hopes that he doesn’t talk to her. Ashlyn sits down, and Aiden suddenly gets close to her face and says ‘Hi’ which makes Ashyln jump at how close Aiden is to her. Aiden looks out the window and asks what’s up with the “School Bus Graveyard thing” behind Ashlyn’s house. Ashlyn tells him it’s a junkyard with used buses, but is still slightly freaked out about Aiden, thinking about how he should really give her some personal space. Aiden is disappointed at the simple answer, saying he was hoping for some “lore or paranormal jazz”. The two stay silent for a moment and Ashlyn hopes that the conversation is over, but Aiden speaks up, introducing himself. He tells her that he just moved, and that their houses are close so they should hang out often. Ashlyn is not interested and tries to reject Aiden, but Aiden assumes she’s just shy, and says it’s okay because he’s good at talking.

The rest of the bus ride and walking in the school, Aiden follows Ashlyn and keeps talking, which greatly annoys her. Ashlyn is finally able to find an escape when Aiden has to go to the principal’s office to pick up his schedule.

In class, Ashlyn finds her seat and notices that the table next to her has the name “Aiden C.” on it. Ashlyn stiffens, but thinks that maybe there’s another person named Aiden. Ashlyn then notices that behind Aiden’s seat is the table for a person named “Ben C.”, which Aiden mentioned was his cousin. Ashyln pretends she didn’t just see that.

Once the teacher enters the classroom, Ashlyn sees two other guys follow after, Aiden and Ben. Aiden sees Ashyln and beams but Ashyln tries to hide herself. Aiden sits down and stares at Ashlyn, and Ashlyn wonders if it’s too late for a class change. The teacher then tells the class they’ll be having a history project that will last all semester, and Ashlyn ends up in a group with Aiden. Ashyln is not happy about it, especially since the group had made a group chat, which meant Aiden had her number now.

At the end of class, the teacher lets them all know that there’s going to be a field trip to Savannah. On the way out of class, Ashlyn doesn’t grab a permission slip, and Aiden asks if she isn’t going. Ashlyn says that she’d rather just stay home.

At home, someone knocks on the door, and Ashlyn suddenly gets a message from Aiden that says “Knock Knock”. Ashlyn tells her dad not to open the door, but it’s too late, and outside the door she sees Aiden standing outside along with his parents and Ben. Turns out, Aiden’s intention was to tell Ashlyn’s parents about the field trip so they could convince Ashlyn to go. Aiden says he thinks that it’d be fun for Ashlyn to come along, and smiles at her mischievously the whole time. Time passes, and Aiden and his family finally go, but on the way out, Aiden hands Ashlyn a permission slip in case she decides to go.

At first, Ashlyn is still not convinced to go even after talking with her father about it, but Aiden keeps annoying her about it until she finally decides to go on the field trip.

On the field trip bus, Aiden and Ashlyn sit next to each other. Ashlyn feels uncomfortable having to sit next to someone, and only lets Aiden sit next to her because of her dad telling her to try new things. Aiden is fidgeting with a rubix cube, and asks Ashlyn if she wants to try. She tells him she doesn’t really like puzzles, but Aiden says it’s a good way to pass time. Ashlyn ends up giving in.

During the field trip, the group end up in a house that is said to be haunted. They see a creepy creature behind Ashlyn, but it immediately disappears. The creature had grabbed Ashlyn’s arm, and she starts to feel her arm throb. Aiden crouches down to Ashlyn who is sitting on the floor, and asks if she’s alright while patting her head. Ashlyn gets startled and moves away from Aiden, telling him to stop getting in her face. Aiden tells her that he kept calling her name, but she wasn’t answering. Ashlyn tells Aiden she’s fine, just a bit spooked.

At the hotel, Ashlyn and Aiden, along with the rest of the group, wake up at midnight and find phantoms everywhere. The group is stuck on the balcony, with the door behind them having a phantom, and the boys’ room being 5 or 6 floors down, while a bunch of phantoms are everywhere. Ashlyn tries to think quickly, and tells Aiden to give her the strings on his shorts. He does so, and Ashlyn plans to tie it to the doorknob and a pole, which would give half of the group enough time to run away, while Ashlyn and Aiden, along with Ben, tie the rope. After the rope is tied, the three run, and a phantom is about to grab Ashlyn, but Aiden sprays it with a spray bottle he finds. Aiden thinks that they can keep fending off the phantoms, but Ashlyn grabs his arm and tells him to run.

They make it to the hotel room, and Aiden asks why Ashlyn’s arm is bleeding. She tells him it’s probably from the sorrel weed house. While Ben is patching up Ashlyn’s injury, Aiden comes over, saying that he didn’t expect her to be the leader type.

A few days later, Aiden decides to go to Ashlyn’s house and is in the car driving to Ashlyn’s ballet class. He asks if he can watch her, and Ashlyn gives him an immediate “no.”

The next day during lunch, Ashlyn asks Aiden what he thinks about Ashlyn asking her parents to teach the group self-defense. Aiden seems excited about the idea, but then grabs Ashlyn’s arm, suddenly realizing that they could use Ashlyn’s hair as proof of the phantom world and show it to her parents, since her hair’s shadow doesn’t match. Ashlyn tells Aiden to let go and pinches him.

In the phantom world, the group is executing their plan, and while running into the house, Aiden crouches down from the pain in his ankle. Ashlyn notices his ankle is swollen and asks why he ran all the way to the house with a swollen ankle. While Aiden looks away, Ashlyn starts hearing phantom noises. Ashlyn yells at Aiden to move, which catches him off guard. Aiden looks at Ashlyn’s direction and sees her being picked up by a phantom. He immediately reaches out to her and tries to stand up, but slips. Aiden yells out her name, and for once, he’s not smiling. Aiden attempts to climb up the roof, despite his swollen ankle, to get Ashlyn. Aiden finally gets on the roof with the help of Tyler, and is extremely relieved to see that Ashlyn is okay. Him and Ashlyn are trying to get down, but Ashlyn almost falls, fortunately, Aiden grabs Ashlyn’s hand in time.

The next day at school, Tyler and Taylor say that Aiden and Ashlyn seem to be a bit tense, and Taylor suggests the two should talk it out. The rest of the group goes to get snacks, while Aiden and Ashlyn are left alone together.

Aiden asks if Ashlyn’s sure she should’ve come to school with her head injured, but Ashlyn says that Aiden’s limping so he shouldn’t be talking. Ashlyn’s head starts throbbing, and she tells him that they should just talk later, but before Ashlyn walks away, Aiden puts his hand on the side of her head, and apologizes. He says that he didn’t think him getting hurt would end up with Ashlyn getting hurt also. Ashlyn then remembers last night, and how Aiden had already apologized while hugging her. Aiden then asks if he’s too close, and pulls his hand away from Ashlyn. He tells her he isn’t sure about “the boundary thing” as he’s never tried to get close to someone like Ashlyn before. Ashlyn is blunt, and calls Aiden “impulsive, rash, pushy, annoying” and says he has no concept of personal space. But she was wrong to blame him, and says they should both just try their best from now on.

At an arcade, Aiden sees Ashlyn looking at the DDR machines, and says that he bets he can beat her. Ashlyn smiles, and asks how much. Aiden stares at her, and blushes.

At the hospital, Ashlyn starts feeling guilty, but Aiden calls her name and places his hand on top of Ashlyn's. He tells her she did her best, and to not beat herself over it. Ashlyn cries, and tightens her grip on Aiden’s hand.

At Aiden’s house, Ashlyn notices a family picture where Aiden has black hair and isn’t smiling. Aiden sees her staring at it, and says he doesn’t like the picture, seeming to have a solemn expression, before switching back to his usual smile and says because it was before he realized how much fun it is to dye his hair.

In the phantom world, Aiden seems to be pretty protective of Ashlyn, trying to comfort her whenever she’s trembling and overwhelmed by loud noises. At the school, a large phantom gets on the roof and the ceiling starts crumbling. Aiden is not able to get down in time, and gets crushed. Ashlyn yells out his name. She’s able to get a hold of him, but when looking down at him, she sees that he looks unusually creepy.

When they wake up, Aiden seems to still be conscious, and Ashlyn looks at Aiden terrified of the realization that the group might be turning into phantoms. Ashlyn starts recalling all her memories with Aiden, and pulls him into a hug. Aiden smiles, tells her he’s okay, and thinks to himself that he doesn’t like how much Ashlyn is shaking.

in episode’s 73 - 74, after Ashlyn is put in an experiment with an infected, Aiden attacks Alex when he enters the room, and threatens him with a pen, and only gets off him when Alex tells him Ashlyn is okay. And then, in episode 74, Aiden is seen hugging Ashlyn from behind in the phantom dimension, and even though she shouts for her friends to help her up, she eventually just lets him hug her, not even getting mad when he places his head on her shoulder. The same episode shows a flashback to them all on the bus, watching a movie while Aiden plays with Ashlyns hair, then at the end of the episode, shows everyone in a cuddle-puddle, with Aiden and Ashlyn in the middle, legs intertwined.

For a short period in episode 77, we can see Aiden and Taylor playing with Ashlyns hair, then later, when Aiden says he can walk and dosent need a wheelchair, Ashlyn denies it, not taking any chances. Then in episode 78, Aiden, along with Taylor and ben get ready to save her, until they realise it’s just her dad, who dosent want to harm her.

in episode 79, Ashlyn reaches for Aidens phone, to check the maps, but he grabs her wrist, startling himself, then falls on top of Ashlyn when Tyler pushes him off the chair, and you can see she doesn’t try to immediately get him off, as she would of done at the beginning of the series, and he stays there until Taylor pulls him off, and then when Tyler calls ashlyn “Carrots For Brains” Aiden states that Ashlyn dosent even like carrots.

Fanon

Aidlyn is the most popular ship within the School Bus Graveyard fandom, without a doubt. This is due to the many moments and ship tease Aiden and Ashlyn have. Fans of the ship like to see the two start trusting each other and getting closer, especially since both of them have never have any close friends before. People also enjoy the introvert x extrovert and never smiles x always smiling trope the ship has. The ship is often paired with Benlor.

On AO3, they are the most written ship and have 478 works. The ship mostly rivals with Tyden and Taylyn.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Ashlyn Banner/Aiden Clark tag on AO3

Gallery

Main article: Aidlyn/Gallery