Distant Shores; A Tyler Oakley & Connor Franta Fanfiction

Connor;

I realised one day that it had been a month since I came out. A whole month and I was stunned by how nothing in my life had really changed, all that was different was that everyone now knew the real me. The me that I'd been hiding from the rest of the world for so long for fear of ridicule. I was happy, honestly, truly Happy. And I suddenly realized that I had a certain person to thank for that. A good friend, probably my best friend, Tyler Oakley. Tyler had been a source of inspiration in my life since the day I met him. He was happy and comfortable just being him and he was completely unapologetic for that and I loved that about him. Seeing how Tyler was so happy being who he was, was what inspired me to start living my life the way I wanted to.

I don't know what came over me, but I picked up my phone and text "Thank you x" to Tyler. As soon as it sent I realized how weird it must look. How did he know what I was saying Thank you for? Was he going to reply? Would he think that I text the wrong person and just ignore it?

I put it to the back of my mind and went to take a shower. While the hot steaming water was crashing down onto me I heard my phone beep in the other room. My heart jumped into my throat. Which was weird, I didn't usually react to getting a text, but in the back of my mind all I could think was; It's Tyler. He's probably laughing at me, thinking that I'm drunk or something. I face-palmed myself. I turned off the water and wrapped a towel around my waist. I also grabbed another towel and started rubbing my hair dry as I walked to my room and picked up my phone. "1 New Message from Tyler" I scrunched my eyes up for a second and clicked to open the message and was a little relieved to see it say "What for ConCon? X" I hesitated for a moment before replying, "Being such a good friend. I'm really grateful to have you in my life Ty x" I waited hesitantly for his reply which was "Aw Connor, that's cuuuuute! Love you babe! X" I smiled, sighed and fell back into my couch cushions, daydreaming about video ideas for this week. A few hours later, after thinking up a few good ideas, Tyler text again. "Hey Loser. You coming over today? We can go get Starbucks! ;) x"

"Sure, I'll be over in 20 minutes x"

I smiled, putting my phone into my pocket and grabbing my wallet, car keys and vlogging camera. I didn't realize, until I'd been driving for a few minutes, that I was still smiling. I'm not sure why, there was just something about hanging out with Tyler and being around him that made me happy.

When I got to Tyler's apartment, I saw him standing outside and before I could open my window to say 'Hey', he was in the passenger seat, saying "Let's go"

So I drove over to Starbucks and we went through the Drive-Thru and ordered a pumpkin spiced latte for myself and Chai latte for Tyler, and without thinking about it, paid for both.

"Awwh Connor, you're such a gentleman. I was gonna pay"

"It's cool Ty, I got this one"

"Okay, but I got the next one"
"Deal" I said and winked without looking at him, but I know he saw.

Back and Tyler's apartment we were sitting on the couch scrolling through Tumblr on Tyler's laptop, laughing at the hilarious posts on the 'Troyler' tag. I had a feeling sometimes that Tyler really did like Troye, but that he didn't want to ruin their friendship, so because of that, I never brought it up.

I lifted my hand to point at a gif that Tyler scrolled past which, at a glance, looked really dirty and kind of hilarious, when he grabbed my hand and said "Nooo... ewww!" and to my surprise, he didn't let go of my hand. Our fingers casually curled together and after a few minutes it occurred to me that it was weird that I didn't find it weird. My eyes wandered and I must have frowned or something because Tyler glanced and me and said "S'up babe?"
"Nothing" I said, a little distantly and carefully pulled my hand away. Tyler didn't seem to be offended, which was a relief, but in an odd way it sort of stung a little.

I tried not to let my thoughts get to me while we carried on scrolling and laughing at the posts and pictures on Tumblr. But all I could think was that I was enjoying having his hand in mine. I mean, I could admit, just as easily as the next person, that Tyler Oakley was indeed, very cute. But he was my best friend, I couldn't think of him that way... Could I?