Troublemakers!Benchtrio AU

Chapter Thirteen

  Whelp, here goes nothing!

  I'm back, with pic of our Happy Duo, Skeppy and BadBoyHalo, still in their coffee AU arc while everyone else is wallowing through piles of angst and depression. XD. Song is Tongue Tied, by Grouplove. Here's a happy song for once. 

  Trigger Warning(s): swearing, alcohol (nothing major and no drinking), mentions of major arguing, smoking / mentions of smoking, thinking of vaping, mentions / thinking of Tommy's situation / parents, mentions of attempted kidnapping, crying.

  Man, for a chapter that doesn't end in angst and actually has some fluff, there sure are a lot of trigger warnings.

  Toby's POV: 

  I gingerly knocked on Rylan's door, not really expecting an answer. It had been nearly five days since our argument, making it the sixth of April. We'd said little to each other, and canceled any meetings with the SBI or friends under the pretenses of school to avoid suspicion. 

  I waited, awkwardly shifting foot to foot and rocking on my heels. G*d, this was going to be so d*mn uncomfortable.

  After a moment, Ry opened  the door, rubbing his eyes. It was ten in the morning, a reasonable time to be up, but I wondered if I'd woken him. (When I can--which is never--I sleep in this later. I love to sleep, yet I never get it). 

  I stared at him. He stared at me. There was an awkward silence. We continued to stare, and it just got more awkward. 

  "Hi," I said shortly, anxiously tangling my fingers together. 

  Ry cleared his throat. "Hey," he replied. His voice was hoarse, and I wondered why. I hoped it wasn't crying.

  "Um," I said, trailing off. We stood in more silence. "You know what, let's go to the kitchen and get a soda or something," I decided, trying to establish some connection.

  "Oh, um, ok." 

  He wasn't wearing his binder today, and had a baggy black and white hoodie on. He perched on the edge of his chair as I opened the fridge, frowning at the lack of food and drink.

  "Um, we have coke. And... nope, we just have coke. And some alcohol."

  "Coke, I guess," Ry said, staring at the counter like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. I grabbed two from the fridge, then shut it behind me. I handed his over to him without a word, and he took it. I opened mine over the sink, and he carefully popped open the can of soda at his seat.

  I sat down next to him and we both took some sips to try and fill the silence. 

  "So, anything in particular you wanted to talk about?" Rylan asked, albeit a little stiffly. 

  "Uh, yeah. I do, actually."

  "Yeah?"

  "Yeah."

  He stared at me, and I studiously avoided his gaze as I tried to think best how to phrase my request.

  "F*ck it. Okay, I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm not even asking you to accept. I just want you to hear me out. Got it?"

  Ry blinked, taken aback. "O-oh. Um. Yeah. Yeah."

  I looked away from him and out the window that was situated behind him. The streets were full, the sidewalk bustling with people. The sun was shining. 

  "It's Tom's birthday in three days," I said flatly. "We should do something." 

  Ry fidgeted with the pop-top of his soda (that's just the silver thingy on top. I had to look up a term for it because I had no clue what to call it). "Like, what?" he asked uncertainly.