Friends With Benefits: A Troyler Story

Chapter Thirteen: The Call

A/N: Hiiiiiiiii everyone, long time no see! So sorry for the wait but a) I was finishing up four final essays b) I then proceeded to sleep for like three days straight and c) this chapter was being a bit of a bitch. It took me so long to get it right or to get it at least to the point that I'm somewhat satisfied with it.

The point of this chapter is basically to give a bit of insight into why Troye isn't just falling into Tyler's arms right now and also to give you a little bit of introduction to Stephen outside of Tyler's  slightly biased brain. It's really important to me that people kind of get where Troye is coming from with this so I would especially love feedback on this chapter because I want to make sure it's getting across.

There is a wee bit of smut in this chapter, but it's not really the focus. Hope you enjoy! <3

- Troye’s POV -

Eventually, once I stopped thanking Tyler repeatedly for his surprise and he had caught his breath after having an adult man hurled into his ribs, he ordered me to help him make up the bed. It took multiple tries since we kept making each other laugh too hard to fit the sheets over the corners. Once we’d finally managed to finish the task, we both got dressed in jeans and t-shirts and stood in front of the mirror messing with our hair. Even though we didn’t know whether or not we’d be going out today, we both still wanted to tame our locks into something that didn’t resemble a cockatoo.

I glanced over at Tyler in the mirror and caught him skimming his thumb over the dark love bite that was standing out against the pale skin of his inner bicep, seemingly fascinated. I blushed, remembering how wanton I had been, all my restraint flying away once I had Tyler under me for the first time.

“Sorry about that,” I muttered, trying to look like I was keeping busy with my hands in my hair, my eyes overly focused on what I was doing as I watched Tyler’s reflection warily out of my peripheral vision.

Tyler’s eyes flicked up, grabbing mine in the mirror as he smirked at me.

“It was hot as fuck, actually,” he said casually, pressing his thumb into the bruise before proceeding to give his hair one last tweak before stepping back to survey himself with satisfaction. 

I felt a small thrill of pride at his words, which seemed genuine. There was a short pause as I fiddled with a wayward strand of hair that seemed to want to curl across my forehead.

“I’ve always liked your arms,” I mumbled, embarrassed, but it was worth it when I saw Tyler blush slightly, his face lighting up.

“Really?” he asked.

“Mmhmm,” I said quietly, trying not to make a big deal of it. 

I didn’t really like to dwell on the time that I’d had a crush on Tyler at the beginning of our friendship. He had been so unattainable that I had never even entertained the possibility of it actually going anywhere and it was embarrassing for me to remember how obvious I had been, how I must have looked so awe-struck to everyone, including Tyler. Even though my obsession with him before and a bit after we met in real life was a bit of a joke between us now, it was actually a bit of a sore spot for me. Getting over Tyler had taken a while but it was one of the healthiest things I’d ever done for myself once I’d realized that I would always be too young, too far away, and too much of a friend for Tyler to see me that way. And anyway, there were worse things to be than Tyler Oakley’s best friend. I loved how comfortable we were with each other now that neither of us had to worry that I would take anything that happened between us to mean more than it did.

Grasping around for a topic that would take the attention away from my embarrassing former crush, I blurted out, “So, it’s been a while huh?”