Perpetual Longing: A Troyler Fic.

Chapter Sixteen

The dinner had gone remarkably smoothly.

Alfie and Zoe left the restaurant hand-in-hand, leaning on one another and whispering softly. They were the quintessential couple, really; not too effusive about their relationship, but not wholly callous, either. They had built a playful yet kind bond, and it was one that was unlikely to break.

The dichotomy between their relationship and whatever it was that Tyler and Troye had was stark, no doubt, but the fundamental emotions harboured by them more or less emulated Zoe and Alfie’s. They cared for each other more than they were willing to admit.

Hence, the constant teasing.

Troye left the restaurant with his hand in Tyler’s back pocket, and Tyler, already slightly on edge, had become more and more fidgety the further and further away they stepped from the glass doors. Tyler’s own hands were shoved into his pockets, and his retorts had become less and less eloquent and more and more desperate as the night wore on.

This hadn’t passed Troye by; he had seized the opportunity as soon as it had presented itself, and he was prepared to take full--albiet consensual--advantage of Tyler’s state. But he’d decided to take his time. It was pretty rare for Tyler to stutter and trip over his own feet, and Troye found it more endearing than he’d care to admit. Ever.

“So, you’re driving yourself home?”

“I--what? Yes, I’m driving, obviously, unless you’d want--I mean, I--”

Troye smirked. “Unless I’d want to what, Tyler?”

Tyler inhaled deeply. “Unless you’d like to come over?”

“Oh, Tyler,” Troye said, pretending to swoon. “I’d love to! Shall we play board games and paint our nails and--”

“My mother is out of town.”

Troye’s eyes widened at the implications of that statement, but managed to collect himself in time to reply. “I hope she had a safe flight.”

Tyler pulled Troye’s hand out of his pocket and spun him around so they were both facing one another. Before Troye had the time to say anything, Tyler’s hand was on the back of his neck, pulling him down so Tyler’s mouth was level with his ear. “You’re coming over,” Tyler commanded, and Troye’s stomach flipped. “It wasn’t a question.”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure--”

“You have twenty minutes.” And with that, Tyler spun on his heel and left.

Troye was left with his head spinning, his stomach churning, and his emotions aflame.

-----

“You’re late,” Tyler said, opening the door before Troye had the opportunity to knock.

“It’s been 25 minutes, traffic was rough. Cut me some slack.”

“A minute without you is a minute wasted, dear Troye.”

“Damn straight,” Troye muttered, though his stomach flipped at Tyler’s words--joking or otherwise, Troye wasn’t quite used to Tyler being this forward.

“Who, you? Yeah, right.”

“I think a couple nights ago proved that very well, thanks, Tyler.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Troye rocked back and forth on his feet, looking down at the ground, waiting for Tyler to direct him somewhere; to do something besides make the atmosphere tenser than it already was. Not that he was averse to sexual tension, or anything. Obviously.

“Do you want to come upstairs?” Tyler asked, and Troye started in surprise; Tyler’s voice was far mellower than it had been just a few moments ago.

“Sure,” Troye said quickly, preventing himself from pondering too long on the subject. He kicked off his shoes, and padded his way over to the staircase, trailing behind a slightly-deflated looking Tyler Oakley.  

When they reached the top of the stairs, Tyler weaved his way through the narrow halls, and led Troye to a door which hid what he presumed was Tyler’s room. Before turning the handle, Tyler took a deep breath. “Don’t laugh, okay?”

“Why would I--holy fuck.”

Tyler’s room was plastered ceiling-to-floor with posters of every kind: every band he’d ever heard of and every actor he’d ever loved were up there. His ceiling had fairy lights draped across it and was littered with the stick-on glow-in-the-dark stars that were sold at grocery stores. A grand piano was pushed up against a wall, and sheaves of sheet music were pinned up conveniently above it.

Tyler stood with his toes pointed inward, looking expectantly at Troye. “Well?”

“It--It’s gorgeous,” Troye said. “How the hell did you get things on the ceiling?”

“I thought you’d laugh at me,” Tyler breathed, almost too quietly for Troye to hear. Troye looked back at him, and his eyes softened.

“Don’t be stupid, this is great.”

“Thanks,” Tyler smiled. “And, there’s this really cool contraption called a ladder which people generally use to reach things they can’t.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Tyler grinned. “Make me.”

Troye’s eyes flitted quickly over to Tyler then away again. “Later.” He wandered over to the piano, glancing over the music currently on the stand. “Lady Gaga? Seriously? Is her music even playable on the piano?”

Tyler reddened. “Better than Panic!, okay.”

“Nothing is better than Panic!. Take that back. At least they’ve got good acoustic tracks.”

“Lady Gaga is too wonderful to be stripped down to acoust--don’t touch my stuff, Troye!”

Troye withdrew his hands from the music above Tyler’s piano, shoved his hands in his pockets, and turned. “Don’t touch your stuff? That’s not what you said after the party that night.”

“This is different.”

“Is it, though?” Troye asked, stepping a bit closer, successfully making the atmosphere as palpably tense as it had been outside the restaurant just under an hour ago.

“Uh, yes, it is.”

“So if I asked,” Troye said, stepping even closer, “to touch some, say, other stuff, you’d object?”

“Well, I mean, you’d have to speci--Jesus, Troye,” Tyler gasped out as Troye closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Tyler’s neck. “You don’t have to be so straightforward, I--”

Without letting him reply, Troye tightened his hands around Tyler’s waist, spun him around, and backed him up to the bed squeezed against the wall. Troye pushed Tyler down on the bed, roughly, removing his lips from Tyler’s skin only to whisper a few words in his ear.

“You told me to make you shut up,” he breathed. “Here’s me doing just that.”

And before Tyler had time to react, Troye caught his lips in a searing kiss.

-----