Sweet Little Birds (BxB Romance, Completed)

Chapter 20: Cookie-Dough Ice Cream

They had stayed up way too late the night before. In an eager mania to introduce the other one to their world, Robin had shown Tyler a whole Jeopardy college tournament and afterward, Tyler had found the highlights from Liverpool's latest Champions League campaign and did a live commentary of it.

Two tubs of cookie dough ice cream had been devoured during the quiz and soccer mania. And somehow the boys had also found time for a lot of kissing. And touching. And cuddling.

This late-night excursion was the reason Robin was less than pleased when his morning slumber was disturbed by knocks on the door. The knocks were insistent and only increased in frequency as he tried to ignore them.

"Robin!" Des' voice called out from the outside. "You have to let me in!"

The tone in her voice told him something was wrong. Very wrong.

Without even bothering to put on clothes--which meant he only wore a pair of gray boxer briefs--Robin leaped the few steps to the door, leaving the warm bed, and the even warmer body that rested there, behind.

The draft from the outside chilled his exposed skin when he pushed the door open. But it was the words that came out of Des' mouth that chilled him to the core. "Your mom is coming!" she warned him. "I saw Liza pull up on the parking lot while I was out walking Pax so I ran here!"

Her panting breath verified her claims of running, and the very annoyed harness-wearing bunny in her arms confirmed her reason for being outside at this early hour.

Without saying a word, Robin quickly signaled for Des--clad in yoga pants with stray strawberries scattered all over them and an oversized black hoodie--to come inside before the Wicked Witch of the West saw them in the hall. Upon entering, his friend put Pax down on the floor, where he immediately found Robin's cellphone charger and started to chew on the cord. Perhaps his lie about his charger being broken was about to come true.

"Is Tyler here?" Des asked in a concerned tone.

A muffled gurgle from under the covers confirmed that Tyler was indeed in the room. The sheets moved and blonde curls surfaced. "What's-what's happening?" Tyler enquired as his sleepy brain tried to adjust to a state of wakefulness. "Des? Why are you here?"

"My mom's here!" Robin somehow prevented his voice from going into falsetto from the panic. "I'll explain more later, but I haven't told her about you. And I don't want her to find out like this."

"You have to hide, Tyler," Des insisted. "Now! She'll be here any minute."

Ty glanced across the room for a hiding spot and his eyes fell on the window. "I can climb out!" he proclaimed confidently.

Robin and Des both shook their heads in unison. The room might be on the bottom floor but there was still a fair few feet to the ground, so that seemed like an extraordinarily bad idea. Especially for someone who was already using crutches. They couldn't risk Ty losing the use of any additional limbs.

While Robin remained stumped for ideas, Des took charge. "Under the bed!" she ordered Ty and lifted the covers to reveal a hiding spot just big enough to conceal a grown-ish man. She forced the still sleep-groggy Ty into action by pulling the cozy covers off him and poking his shoulder. "Now!"

That's when another cannonade of knocks assaulted the doors. Stern and demanding knocks were delivered in a cadence that made Robin's heart race. "Robin, are you there?" Liza Erie called out and his heart seemed to flatline into one uninterrupted beat.

Luckily, the knocks came just as Des draped the sheets across the side of the bed, hiding any proof of a blonde boy being present. Well, except for one thing.