Neighbourhood {troye sivan}

one

TROYE

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And the cracked photo frame may have just been representing my heart.

I stared at the picture in the photo frame I had just broke. Jayce and I were barely recognizable. The old picture was from when we were six, wrapped in our towels right after we had jumped off the jetty. My dad captured the picture at the most perfect moment. Jayce's blue eyes were immensely bright, and as I thought of that moment, I realized how the picture didn't bring them justice. He was staring at me in that picture and the longer I thought of it, I realized that I hadn't seen his eyes that bright for what felt like decades. His eyes that used to be filled with bright blue oceans now held faded stormy skies.

Calm down, Troye, I told myself, breaking out of my little moment of daze. It was just a fight. We always had fights. Fights were normal between best friends.

I closed my eyes, and tried to stop the tears from falling.

Stop being so sensitive, stop being so sensitive, stop being so sensitive, stop being so sensitive, stop being so sensitive, stop being so sensitive, stop being so sensitive, stop being so sensitive, stop being so sensitive. STOP.

I heard a knock on my door. I quickly wiped away the tears that managed to leak out. I took a look at myself in the mirror, and decided that I definitely wasn't in a presentable state.

"Troye?" I heard dad call.

"I'm changing" I lied.

There was a pause and a shuffle.

"Okay, please come out to the living room once you're done."

Once I heard his footsteps leave, I rushed into the bathroom and washed my face, trying to make the traces of my tears leave. I didn't want them to know about this.

Jayce's father, Mr. Landon, was a sharp man. An unstable alcoholic who couldn't keep his harsh opinions to himself. I shook my head as I thought of the stupid fight that happened a while ago. Mr. Landon had stumbled through the door, drunk, saw me, and merely rolled his eyes. After a small moment of silence, he asked Jayce, "Why'd you bring the gay home?"

Jayce stayed silent. He may have been one of the most blunt and brave people you could think of, but never, ever could he speak back to his father.

Mr. Landon let out a laugh that had no actual humor behind it. "That's what happens when you let two men raise a kid."

I remember my blood boiling. I remember my hands closing into a fist. I remember wanting to yell at Mr. Landon because why does he have to bring my parents into this? But I remember staying silent.

Mr. Landon had left into his room and Jayce and I stayed silent for a long time, until I interrupted it by asking, "Why don't you ever tell him to stop?" and then, we both exploded.

I took a deep breath as I exited the bathroom. I made my way towards the living room, and found my dads sat around the table together.

"Troye, just wanted to remind you that we're going to the beach with the Landons tomorrow" John said.

I nodded. My dads weren't aware of how homophobic or horrible Mr. Landon really was. He always acted respectfully in front of them, which I was thankful for because I wouldn't want my dads to learn his true opinions and be hurt by them. They were kind and caring men and didn't deserve to be shamed upon because of who they love.

"Okay" I said simply.

As I was about to go back to my room, Mike, my other dad, frowned at me, "Are you alright?" he asked.

I hesitated for a moment but nodded, "Yeah, just tired."

They didn't seem very convinced but let it go anyways.

"Okay. Go get some rest and we'll call you once dinner's ready" John said, giving me a reassuring smile.

I nodded and walked towards my room.

I closed the door and sat down on my bed. I took another look at the photo frame I had broken a while earlier.

I let out a sigh as I tried to clean up the mess I made.

The photo frame may have represented my heart but I had a feeling it also may have represented my friendship with Jayce at the moment. Broken.

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a/n: we will keep alternating writing the chapters. hope you're all having a great day and thank you for taking the time to read this!
j x