A Touch of Courage (Troyler AU)

Chapter 26: How it Ends

And in your soul, they poked a million holes. But you never let 'em show.
C'mon it's time to go. And you already know. Yeah, you already know how this will end.

                                             -Devotchka

Tyler's POV

Tyler jerked upright with a gasp, panting wildly as he stared into space for a long moment, his fingers digging into the rough fabric of the couch. For a moment, all he could see was Troye's pale face and his long hesitation before he'd agreed to try going back to sleep.

He jumped off the couch, disoriented and not entirely free of his uneasy dream yet as he crossed the hall and quietly opened the bedroom door.

There was no sign that Troye had been there.

A weird sensation twisted his stomach. No, that was dumb. There were a million reasons Troye could have decided to leave so early. He wanted to get ready at his place, or he needed to grab something before class. Uneasy feeling aside, Troye not being there didn't mean anything. He didn't exist just to be there for Tyler.

"Jesus, you're needy," he muttered, even as his eyes automatically scanned the empty room. The room felt so silent and still and Tyler frowned, rubbing his hand against his eyes and shuffling towards the shower.

By the time he was dressed, he found himself clutching his phone waiting for a text. He replayed their time together last night in an endless loop. The perfect moment driving with no planned destination and the late night talks huddled together. Then the unexpected visit in the middle of the night. Troye definitely should have texted him by now.

His fingers tightened around his phone as he glanced at the notifications. Nothing.

Trying to distract himself, he cleaned up and reorganized his Living Room, then dug out his backpack and completed the day's math homework. Finally, he put everything away and sat in his room, staring at his phone. He broke down ten minutes later and texted him.

Hey, Troye, you home?

Troye didn't answer.

Tyler frowned and jiggled his leg anxiously. Either Troye had fallen down the rabbit hole again or something had happened and he wasn't alright. Yeah, or maybe he was just still asleep.

Despite the attempt to reassure himself, he still found himself glancing at his phone repeatedly, trying to push aside lingering unease.

Tyler put together a quick breakfast and munched on it, gathering the rest of his things. His phone's notification jolted him and he hurried to open the message.

Yes

Tyler waited for another text, but that was it.

Troye's one-word text glared at him. He was morphing a single word into a million subtexts from Troye, all of which he knew were not true. He'd never met anyone like Troye before and there was huge learning curve to all of this. He had to stop overthinking everything.

Shaking his head, he typed back a response.

Cool. Are you coming over tonight?

There was no response. Tyler stared at his phone. His thumb hovered over the call button, but he didn't hit it. Way too needy. After the long day he'd had yesterday, Troye probably just needed a break from peopling. He was about to shove the phone into his jeans when it buzzed with a new text.