Help Me

Worlds Colliding

Mikey

The second they arrived home Mikey and Rye headed straight up the stairs in silence, Rye following Mikey. He could hear the rattling breath from Rye, and he felt his heart beat faster then normal too, a sure sign that he was nervous... They both were.

Mikey knew that this, whatever this was between them, would be resolved. Either something was pursued, or something was ignored and repressed.

He couldn't decide which was more frightening, more relieving, more painless.

Because whatever happened, all of the above would be felt.

Mikey twisted his hands together as he sat down on his bed, hearing his door click shut. When he looked up, Rye hadn't moved from behind the door; instead placing his open palm on it, back to Mikey.

He swallowed, took a few seconds to calm himself down. But the longer he spent trying to calm himself, the more shaken up and frantic he felt.

Screw it...

"What happened earlier?" Mikey whispered.

Even though it was a whisper, he felt as if the words were shouted across an open ocean. And it was undeniable that Rye didn't hear them, seeing as he physically reacted. He watched as Rye sighed, his hand slipping from the door, shoulders tensing. Then he turned around, face oddly calm.

Mikey knew that face.

"I think we both know, but neither of us wants to say it."
His words were calm too... Far too calm. But there was a vulnerability to them that made Mikey shiver.

And all he did was nod.

"Be honest with me Rye... Please. Were you going to-" He cut himself off in a moment of sheer panic.

Were they really going to have this conversation?

"Was I going to what?" Mikey closed his eyes as Rye stepped closer.

"Were you going to... To... To kiss me?" His words were barely audible, but the sharp intake of breath from Rye told him that he had heard... And maybe that was because Rye was now sat beside him, a clear distance between the two of them.

Rye was being careful here. But then so was Mikey. Like they always had done, until they hadn't.

One wrong move, one wrong word... And it could destroy everything, everything they had built up between them ever since they'd met, and even everything they had built up over these last few weeks. It could all shatter, and Mikey didn't want to take that risk. And it seemed that neither did Rye.

But that question held weight, so much weight, that Mikey felt it begin to drag him down.

"What would you say if I said no?"

Rye only spoke after along silence, one that had Mikey falling further and further down the hole; especially after Ryes question. His heart sank immediately, and Mikey wanted to hide.
Perhaps he had been fooled by his heart this whole time, and was reading the signs wrong; something he did far too often. And something that he needed to grow past. If he did, it would prevent a lot of heartache in his future.

But the important thing was that he hadn't denied it yet. Rye hadn't denied his actions yet, and that filled his heart with hope.
It was just a question. Just a hypothetical question. And there was a fifty-fifty chance that it was the truth.

"Honestly?" His breath was shaky.

"Honestly." And so was Rye's.

"I wouldn't know what I'd say. But I'd probably run. I wouldn't be able to look you in the eye again... And I would've known that I was thinking wrong this whole time."