Downside Up

Chapter Seventeen (DKLA - Troye Sivan, Tkay Maidza)

There is good and bad in everything. Advantages and Disadvantages.

If you have a few siblings, you get to celebrate birthday parties not once but several times a year. Most of the time your grandparents will bring along small presents for you as well. You get to eat birthday cake and if you need someone to talk, there is always one person you can go to. But when they are like: "I want to have my friends over." and your parents agree, you have lost. You have to listen to endless jokes, only eight years olds would laugh about and if they are staying for the night you have to share your food with even more people and you won't be able to sleep for hours.

When Tyde's sixteenth's birthday came around I knew that it was going to be like that all over again. Of course, there would be enough food and Tyler and Connor were coming as well, so I wouldn't be left alone, but still they were going to talk the night away. I never mentioned it towards anyone, because no one would understand – my parents and friends would be laughing at me. Why you ask? I basically stay up late every night – but if I want to go to sleep, I want to go to sleep and my environment needs to be quiet and respectful. A bunch of drunk sixteen-year-olds is the whole opposite of that.

We were about to go home that night or I'd better say I was about to go home and the LA boys were about to go to their hotel when Tyler invited me to come along. We had talked all evening and I think we all wanted to continue our conversation. Of course, I agreed and soon we were walking down the streets. I was walking on Tyler's right side, Connor on his left and the world around us was as quiet as it almost never was. Everybody was asleep in their beds and we were the only fools left on the streets.

Tyler's and Connor's room was actually nice and we settled down on the beds, not willing to go to sleep yet.

"So", Tyler finally suggested, "what about we play a game?"

"What are you thinking of?", I asked him curiously.

"Well – truth or dare? It's always fun! Or twenty questions."

I shrugged and we both looked at Connor because now it was his decision.

"I don't know, man", he said, "but I'm way too lazy to get up and that's what dares require most of the time, so let's play twenty questions."

"Okay! So who starts?" Tyler looked at us, excited and satisfied at the same time and I really wanted to know what he was thinking in that moment.

"The one who asked", Connor mumbled and I smiled.

"I guess, you'll have to start then, Tyler."

He cackled and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, so – Troye: How excited are you to have us here?"

"There are no words to contain my excitement", I said with a quiet giggle. "Alright, so I'm next: Connor – what are you most looking forward to during your week in Australia?"

The American boy groaned. "How should I decide? I mean like: It's going to be super cool to spend all my time with you and Tyler, but also there are a lot of sights out there and people say that you have got some good coffee as well. I don't know which's best – I'm probably going to go for the first one."

"I'll join in", Tyler stated, "because we could be in a hole ten feet underneath the sea and still we would have a lot of fun."

I laughed out loud. "Just imagine that – you, Connor and I in a cave somewhere underneath the sea. If we could only bring along a camera!"

"Imagine all the photos I could take. I'm sure the light down there is magical – if you would ever need an album cover or a banner for your videos, that's where the pictures for it should be taken." We all started laughing and it felt good to laugh like this, with real people that were right next to me.