Tyed

chapter fifteen

Colby's already there when Tyler arrives. They're meeting at something of a neutral location, a sushi train in Melbourne Central, and it appears on purpose that Colby's chosen seats far away from everyone else. It being before lunch, the place isn't that busy, and it's easy to spot Colby in a back corner, sitting and waiting. Even though Tyler's five minutes early, he still feels sheepish being the second to get there.

Tyler approaches, sliding easily into the seat beside him. His heart is beating fast, but it's more nerves than anything. He looks at Colby out of the corner of his eye; he can focus easiest on his hand, taking in the veins running along the back of it, the sleeve of his shirt, the light hair on the back of his wrist. He wears his watch on his right hand, meaning he must be left-handed. Tyler swallows as he images that being the hand around his throat and tries not to close up in fear like a snail retreating into its shell. He's not afraid of Colby or of what he's thinking about; he's afraid of admitting it.

"Have you had a good few days?" Colby asks casually, and Tyler's afraid to answer because it means entering a conversation that's going to end in him admitting a bunch of stuff he doesn't want to.

But he does. "I guess so. School. I, uh, spoke to my brother. I'm going to see him on Saturday."

"Trey, right?" Colby asks, and at first Tyler doesn't remember how he knows until he remembers where they were on Sunday. He considers mentioning Ash's email, but doesn't; the email remains ignored in his inbox. "Is he okay?"

"For him, he's great," Tyler mutters, not really wanting to talk about Trey's problems right now. "I, uh- how's your few days been?"

"Dull." Colby flicks through the options on the little screen in front of them, eyes flicking between that and the sushi slowly moving past them. It doesn't seem like he's not looking at Tyler on purpose, but still Tyler wants his attention again. "I spent most of it waiting to see you again."

Just like that, Tyler's blushing and he hates it. He hates not having Colby's attention and then he hates having it, although he certainly prefers the second of the two things he hates. "Me too," he admits quietly.

Colby's smile is only halfway towards being a smirk. "Do you want anything?"

"I mean, yeah," Tyler answers, still kind of sheepish. He's not used to this yet, having people buy him things and money not being an issue. Sure, he steals Tee's chips and Nancy's fruit and Shouto's bread and all that, but they steal his juice and soft drink and it evens out in the end. This is uneven, and Tyler doesn't know how to treat it yet.

Tyler takes something off the train and slowly goes about taking the chopsticks. "So, uh..." he trails off, hoping every second that Colby will pick up the slack. He doesn't. "I don't know how to go about starting this conversation."

"Well, how about you start by telling me what you think you might want?" Colby says, finally choosing something from the menu.

"I, uh... I mean there's a few things that, I guess, appeal to me, uh, but-"

"Would you be more comfortable if we went somewhere else?" Colby interrupts him, and Tyler's almost more embarrassed that he was too embarrassed to just say something.

"No. I, uh, found this thing that's like, it lists a whole bunch of stuff and you can just put how you feel about it. I did that. I can show you, or I can go through it, or... I don't know. I just don't know where to start."

"I understand, Tyler, don't worry." Colby's still not looking at him. It might be to play off the seriousness of their conversation, or to keep the intensity out of it; Tyler has a feeling he wouldn't be fully comfortable no matter what. It's just the nature of this conversation. "Start anywhere."