Purple Marks || Larrycroft x BigT

IX

Word count: 2327

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Tanner picked his head up to look at Larry who had been awkwardly standing at the doorframe.

"Hey." Larry whispered as he closed the door behind him gently.

Tanner stared at him for a moment, his eyes droopy and his hair messy.

"Why are you in my room?" Larry asked, moving closer to the bed and eventually sitting on it.

"Theres a scorpion in mine." Tanner replied, his eyes darting around the room in a nervous manner.

"And why didn't you just kill it like you always do?" Larry pressed Tanner. He knew he was lying and wanted to get the real answer.

Tanner had a habit of lying when he was nervous. Sometimes the lies were literally pointless and made no sense, but thats just how Tanners brain worked.

"I...uh." Tanner fumbled for a moment, before letting out a deep sigh.

"I was lyin'. I just wanted to sleep with you tonight." Tanner said, his eyes darted away from the younger, cheeks glowing a strawberry red.

"Could've just said so." Larry replied, planting a warm kiss onto Tanners porcelain skin. The room was quiet, the buzzing of the lights flying through the air as the couple sat in silence.

"Stop stalling. Just tell him." Larry thought, his smile dropping from his face as he reached for Tanners hand, grasping it lightly as he gently twisted Tanners fingers with his pointer and thumb.

"Theres actually something I had to talk to you about." Larry spoke up as he tried his best not to break down in tears right then and there.

"Whats wrong? Did I do somethin'?" Tanner asked, his eyebrows furrowed and his head tilted as his eyes wondered down to Larry's shakey hands, which were twisting at his pinkie.

"Well I- Uh." Larry's words felt like glue as they stuck to the tip of his tongue. He tried to force them out but it was hard. Really hard.

Tanner didn't say anything and instead cupped the smallers cheek, pushing away the small strands of hair that fell into Larry's face.

Larry took a deep breath in, and then quickly exhaled out, trying to ground himself as he gently pushed Tanners strong hands from his face.

"I wanted to talk about us."

Those words sent visual shivers down Tanners back, causing his eyes to go from their normal half lidded state to wide and scared. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"Did I do something wrong?" Tanner asked, his accent slightly poking through, which was something that always happened when he got a little scared.

Larry simply flashed a reassuring smile at Tanner, the sides of his mouth gently tugging up into the round smile that Tanner always complimented him on.

"What? No. You're okay." Larry replied, rubbing the back of Tanners hand, which was still interlocked with his.

"Its more about..our relationship towards the public and stuff." Larry replied, scooting closer to Tanner as he ran his free hand through his own black hair.

Tanner almost instantly knew what he meant, and sighed deeply, a melancholic look falling over him as he waited for Larry to carry on with his sentence.

"I know you said you didn't want to come out, and its fine if you-" Larry's carefully thought out sentence was cut off by Tanners.

"Ill do it." Tanner replied, his voice adamant.