The Good Life ~ Troyler AU

twenty - troye

Tyler was sleeping fretfully, his face screwed up in discomfort, his body glistening with sweat. He wouldn't wake up for more than a few minutes at a time to gulp down water, but whenever I tried to make him eat it came straight back up. His skin was burning hot. Something was obviously wrong, but nobody but Connor had come to see us in two days, and I got the feeling he wasn't really supposed to.

I closed my eyes briefly as I remembered our last conversation, the night where Tyler had come back from Carter's knife and fallen sick almost immediately. Better not to think about that, especially not now, with Tyler ill and the job looming.

The brief was simple enough - go to Sydney, get into the Midas base and raise hell until we found what we were looking for, what we always seemed to be looking for; drugs. They'd hijacked the biggest shipment we had ever sent, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ecstasy, and now the Family wanted it back. The truce had been uneasy for a long time. This was the last straw on a very uneasy haystack.

The brief was simple; putting it into action would not be. 

Tyler stirred suddenly, whimpering slightly, and I helped him sit up. "Feeling any better?" I asked steadily, and he shook his head.

"Uggh," he moaned, taking the water I offered him. "I don't feel well."

"I know, Ty. Do you -" Without another word he bolted into the bathroom and threw up. I sighed and followed him, rubbing his back as he retched. 

"It's okay. Don't w..." I trailed to a halt as I saw that his lips were stained dark red, his eyes wide and unfocused as he clutched at his stomach and slumped heavily against me. Worry gnawing at my mind, I pulled up his shirt slightly and saw the bruises on his stomach that I'd forgotten about, that I'd assumed must be healing on their own, had swirled outwards like dark tentacles. When I touched one tentatively Tyler growled, swatting my hand away.

"M'fine," he muttered. "Fine. I just need to rest."

"No, Tilly, I think you need a doctor." I was struggling to keep my voice calm. I didn't think he'd even noticed the blood in the toilet, and I didn't want to panic him any further, so I just helped him back into bed and surreptitiously wiped his mouth with the blanket. "Right back," I promised, and ran out the door, shutting it behind me. 

When I came back with the reluctant doctor in tow, it was open again.

I swore and burst in, my fists clenched at my sides but shaking with fear - I expected to see Logan with a gun to Tyler's head, or Carter cutting him to ribbons, or even the gang of people who'd attacked us last time surrounding his body. Instead I saw Phil standing by his bed and stopped short, letting the doctor push past me and kneel by the now sleeping again Tyler to inspect him.

I didn't know how to assess the situation. Phil threw me a bitter sort of smile, the only one he seemed capable of nowadays; it was so odd to see him without Dan that it unsettled me a little. "Troye. A word." he said in a way that wasn't really a question, so I followed him. I heard the doctor talking in a low voice, and then Phil's eclipsed his.

"You really want to know what happened to Dan?" he spat, and I was immediately wrongfooted. That was the last thing I'd expected him to say, and I just nodded wordlessly, feeling as if I was holding my breath. I didn't want to know what had happened. I wanted to believe one of my best friends was alive. 

Phil ran a hand through his hair, blowing out a fast, angry exhale. "We were on a job, right? A few months after you'd swanned off to God knows where. And..." His eyes were full of hopeless, helpless anger. "And I got separated and by the time I met up with the group of them again, Carter said he got shot in the chest, that they had to leave him there. I never saw his body." Phil's gaze dropped to the floor. "He was dead." 

My ribs were tight and painful. The worst part was that I could imagine it so perfectly that it sickened me. I opened my mouth to reply, but without warning Phil grabbed my collar and ducked his head to whisper in my ear, hissing and hasty.

"Learn from our mistake; don't be in love in this place." 

Then he was gone, storming back down the corridor, and I was left wondering if I'd imagined the entire encounter - or if it had been a not so friendly reminder, or if he knew about Connor and I's plan, and if it was a warning. 

I didn't know, at this point, which one I preferred.

Vote and comment please! Ty lovelies