Music To My Ears | 2gether Short Stories

Taking The Shot - Chapter 06

A/N : Trigger warning for mentions of mental health and self harm

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"You're really not going to ask me what that weep fest was about?" asked Wynter incredulously.

"Nope" replied Bryce, popping the "p" as he bit into the caramel and vanilla ice cream cone Wynter had bought for him.

Wynter gazed at the boy who sat beside him on a bare cement bench by the beach. The golden hues of the glorious sunset sky paled in comparison to the rosy softness of Bryce's mochi cheeks and the bow-like curve of his beautiful lips.

When Wynter had asked Bryce if he would like to go get ice cream, Wynter had not expected that Bryce's immediate, eager assent would be balm enough for his aching soul and Bryce had not expected that they would drive two hours outside the city to get his favourite caramel cone.

"Bry Bry, are you that uninterested in my life?" sighed Wynter dramatically.

He smirked as Bryce choked on his ice cream a little bit and mumbled "I never said that."

"Aha, so you are interested in me?"

Wynter decided he would never tire of how adorable Bryce looked when he blushed, the apples of his cheeks growing redder than the fruit itself.

"You trusted me enough to be vulnerable around me. It's a privilege I don't want to taint by asking you to explain your tears" replied Bryce sincerely.

"How do you always know the right things to say?" wondered Wynter in awe as he pushed Bryce's glasses up the bridge of his nose and wiped a smidgen of ice cream from the corner of his mouth.

Bryce shrugged nonchalantly, while hoping desperately that Wynter wouldn't notice how at his slightest touch Bryce's breath had stopped midway up his throat, his heart jackhammered against his ribs and butterflies flew in dizzying loops around his guts.

They sat in contemplative silence, each mired in his thoughts.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you. It's more that I don't know what to say. Can you give me some time, Bry?" said Wynter softly after a while.

"I'll be right next to you when you're ready."

*

"Wow! That's one tall building. I hope we don't have to take the stairs to the top" joked Wynter, squinting as he craned his neck to look up at the skyscraper before him.

"Your knees can make the climb, son, but we have a lift for oldies like me" chuckled the site manager Gam, a burly construction veteran of many decades.

He pointed to a cage which was suspended, in Bryce's opinion, by far too few cables. It made a grating, sighing sound of protest when Gam and the boys stepped into it.

"I'm changing my mind about the stairs now" whispered Wynter, making Bryce snort.

For all his smug quips, Wynter had a grim set to his mouth and he gripped Bryce's arm a little too tightly as they made their jolty, rickety way to a finished floor mid-way up the building that was already being hailed as the tallest in the country.

Bryce circled an arm protectively around Wynter's waist without touching him, as they watched the ground fall away from beneath their feet at an alarming rate.

Opas Heights rang true to its name. The city lay far, far below as they stepped gingerly out of the swaying lift. Cars looked like ants from where they stood.

The boys spent the next few hours doing the rounds of the fully constructed portions of the site with Gam, who knew the building like the back of his hand.