His Bright Eyes (Septiplier)

The Awkward Breakfast

-Mark's POV-

"Well, this is...awkward."

Jack nodded his head quickly, and then looked across the kitchen table at Tyler and Ethan. Between the two of them, Ethan looked better. He at least had tried to flatten down his hair, and his eyes didn't look nearly as bloodshot.

Tyler's usual easy going coolness was somewhat lost on his shirt being inside out and him barely being able to keep his eyes opened while we were talking to them.

Jack was cradling his large cup of black coffee as if it was his best friend in the world. Even with the bottles of water last night he woke up with a massive headache, though he still looked ten times less miserable than either of the two men sitting across from us.

I cleared my throat and looked at Ethan, who seemed to be looking most willing to explain what was going on between the two of them.

"It just sort of...happened," he said, almost apologetically. "One minute we were screaming at each other and the next minute we were...umm."

"Fucking," said Tyler gruffly. "Just call it what it was, Ethan, for God's sake."

Ethan's face went incredibly red, and he turned to look at me. "We're so sorry if we ruined your party. That's the first time it got to that level, honestly."

Jack looked quickly to Ethan, his eyes wide. "So, this isn't completely new?"

Tyler sighed and shook his head no, and then immediately regretted it, and groaned, placing his hungover head in his hands.

"We've kissed a few times," Ethan admitted quietly. "Nothing more than that, though. Well, until last night."

"So..." I asked, pointedly. "What are you both planning on doing?"

Ethan shrugged his shoulders sadly. "Just pretend that it didn't happen. Try to remain friendly, if not try to stay as friends."

Jack looked extremely confused at this answer. "But why are you going to do that? It's obvious that you both are interested in each other."

Tyler and Ethan exchanged a knowing look, and then went back to looking at Jack.

Jack narrowed his eyes at Tyler. "There is no reason why you can't take Ethan on at least a date or -"

"It's not me who doesn't want to date, Jack," Tyler loudly snapped. "I've asked him out plenty of times. Just as recently as last night. After we had sex, before we both passed out."

I looked at Ethan, his eyes downcast, and his face looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"It just wouldn't work," Ethan said simply. "We argue too much."

"You don't even want to try," Tyler mumbled angrily. He got up from the table. "Is it ok if I grab a shower before I head out?"

"Of course Ty," I said softly. "There's clean towels in the hall closet."

He walked out of the room without another word to anyone, and we heard his footsteps as he made his way up the stairs and down the hall.

Ethan looked down at the table, seeming to want to be anyplace but here.

"You want to talk about it at all?" I asked kindly after a while. "Jack and I are proof that you can go from friends to lovers. Maybe we can help."

"You and Jack are different, Mark." Ethan said, looking at us both with almost quiet admiration. "I don't think that I have ever seen you two even raise your voices at each other, let alone fight."

Neither of us knew how to respond to that. It wasn't true that we never argued, but I could only really count the really bad fights on one hand, and not even using all of my fingers. For the most part, Jack and I always got along.

Ethan sighed deeply, his soulful blue eyes slightly teary. "We are really sorry about last night."

"There's no need to apologize," I said, feeling so bad for Ethan and Tyler.

"Is it possible to get a ride home from you, Mark?" Ethan asked, turning red again. "Tyler drove us over and things are already so weird."

"Sure, buddy." I said, giving him a warm smile. I pushed a plate of food towards him. "You should really eat something. It will help with the hangover."

Ethan smiled back, brought the plate of food over to him and took a few bites.

I leaned over to Jack and kissed him on the cheek, feeling incredibly lucky that we were not in this same situation. To care about each other, but not be able to communicate without yelling is such a tough thing to deal with, especially in a brand new relationship. As sad as I was for both of them, I could absolutely understand Ethan's hesitation.

There was a large thump sound from above us, and then a loud curse. "I better see what that is," I said, moving past Jack and heading out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

As I reached the hallway area in the upstairs I saw Tyler, freshly showered and dressed properly, picking up broken pieces of a large picture frame.

"Sorry," he said quickly.

"No, it's cool man," I said, taking over the clean up.

He leaned against the wall and sighed deeply.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked, throwing everything but the picture from the broken frame into a small trash can.

"Yeah, I'm cool," he said quietly, looking away from me and down at the floor.

"Ok, then." I said, and for a moment there was nothing else said. This wasn't too unusual, since Tyler has never been the overly talkative type in any way, but now there seemed to be more urgency in his  movements.

"I want to just try it out," he said calmly.

"Try what out?" I ask quickly. "Dating?"

He nodded.

"Well, then you both need to try to get along better as friends first, and hopefully once the fighting so much stops, you can work on going on some dates."

Tyler nodded again and walked over and gave me a hug. Then he turned around and headed back downstairs.

I headed to the restroom, and then went back downstairs myself. In the kitchen I found only Jack cleaning dishes.

"Hey," I said to him, "where's Ethan? Didn't he need a ride back?"

"Tyler took him," Jack said with a small smile. "It was actually very sweet. Tyler came back in the kitchen and apologized for fighting with him last night, and asked if he could drive him back home."

"Maybe things will work out with them," I said, feeling hopeful.

"Only time will tell," Jack said. "In the meantime, my head is killing me. I'm going back to bed."