Always (Boyxboy)

Chapter Fifteen- Pierce

A/N Heads up guys, this chapter is super short. Sorry (Things get more exciting soon, I promise)

Pierce was sitting at the table looking down at his cellphone when Garett came home. His brother had plans with Brad and their father earlier to discuss what aspects of the company would fall under Garett's care once he graduated, and the meeting had taken far longer than Pierce had expected it to, giving him all afternoon and night to stew over his feelings. He had settled on anger, which was something Garett had talked him down from many times in the last couple of weeks.

"Woah!" His brother exclaimed with a laugh as he toed his shoes off, slipping off the jacket of his suit at the same time and tossing it carelessly over the back of the couch. "Your face is all angry and stuff. Did he text you back something unsatisfactory, or is he still not responding?"

"What do you think?" Pierce growled, since at this point he would be happy to receive a picture of Tyler with some other man as long as it confirmed to him that the boy was okay. He was worried– no– terrified that something had happened, given the last time he had seen Tyler he looked like a ghost and fell into his arms unconscious. What if he had fallen when no one was around to catch him? What then?

"Come on man," Garett began, pulling out the chair across from Pierce and taking a seat. "Don't think things like that. They only upset you".

"Don't pretend like you know what I'm thinking," he snapped, reaching out to slap at his brothers hand when it came to grab his cellphone, probably to look at all the messages Pierce had sent Tyler, even though he had seen them already. Pierce didn't even like looking at them himself. They made him angry and made him feel pathetic, which only made him angrier.

"But I do," Garett claimed, drawing his hand back. "Your thinking, what if something horrible happened to him and I wasn't there to save him, or something like that".

"No," Pierce protested, glaring at his brother forcefully. "I'm not worried that I wasn't there to save him, I'm worried that no one was there to save him, and he died and that's why he isn't responding to my text messages".

"Pierce," Garett groaned, leaning back in the chair so it's front legs left the ground. "You're being ridiculous. You talked to Mike, who saw Tyler like two days ago and said he was fine".

"He said he looked tired," Pierce corrected, and Garett's blue eyes rolled. Pierce didn't get it. It didn't feel like he was being dramatic, but he was being treated that way.

"Okay, yeah, well, tired isn't a synonym for dying so I think you can calm down," Garett advised. His gaze softened when he realized how upsetting the situation was to his younger brother. "Look, man. He'll come around. He's probably trying to think about what that whole day you spent together means. I mean... you confessed to him–"

"I did not," Pierce interrupted.

"Okay, but you told him you didn't hate him, and you hate everybody, so he must realize that you are quite fond of him," Garett pointed out, and to his shame he felt his face get hot, because he hadn't thought he was being so obvious, but maybe he was and had scared Tyler away. "Then, you fed him your cooking, and then you watched television together and you kissed without having–"

"I was there you know," Pierce cut in. "You don't need to sum it up".

"Alright, fine. But you get my point, don't you? A lot of new things happened between you two, and he's probably just taking time to think about them. He'll come back to you, I'm sure of it".

"Stop saying things with unwarranted confidence," Pierce grumbled, now considering how bad he looked if Tyler had figured out Pierce loved him and was trying to take time to think while Pierce blew up his phone with message after message. It made him look desperate, and he hated it.