Together forever? (TANNER X PAUL)

Part 9

????'s POV

I pulled into the driveway of the house. It was dark. 'Good' I thought to myself. Nobody would see us carrying Paul into the house. I couldn't pull into the garage because it's a mess in there and the car wouldn't fit. I blame my partner for that. I told him that we were going to need to use the garage, but he's an idiot and didn't listen so now we have to carry him in carefully and quickly. We can't take our time. But it could be worse so thank god we've gotten this far. I turned behind me to my partner in the back seat. "Alright listen before we take him in I'm gonna clear a path for us through the house alright?" "Okay....and I'm gonna stay here with Paullll?" "Yes you're going to stay right there with Paul, but make sure you're getting everything ready to go so that its a one way trip for us. Like making sure you've got his phone and anything else that was in his pockets." "Okay I can do that" "Great, I'll be back in a jiffy" he nodded back to me as he began collecting Paul's belongings. I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat and opened the driver side door stepping out into the crisp night. I breathed in the air and exhaled smiling to myself. 'this day couldn't get any better' I closed the car door behind me and made my way up to the front door. I looked around at the neighboring houses checking to see if there were any lights on. There were a few scattered lit rooms but they didn't seem to pose a threat to our plan. Taking out my house keys from my pocket I unlocked the front door and turned on the light to the right of me walking in leaving the door open. I went ahead and threw my backpack into my office and made my way upstairs to the guest room. Turning on the hallway light as I got to the top of the stairs. I walked down to the end of the hall where the guest bedroom was and opened the door. Turning on that light I double checked that the room was set up perfectly and ready for our guest of honor. I looked around a bit checking for any imperfections and once I was satisfied with the room I made my way back down to the car, so I could "help" my idiot partner.

Tanner's POV

I stared down at my phone. Perplexed. I just had this really off feeling about everything. Paul would never just disappear like this. He would have let me know if something happened....I continued to stare. As if I was entranced by the whole thing. All I wanted were more answers but I knew that I shouldn't be trying so hard to figure it out. I'm not going to pry to much into it, because I don't know exactly what's happening. I'm just gonna wait it out for the night and see if he responds to my text tomorrow. I can't stress myself out to much over this. I'm sure there is a completely reasonable explanation for this. I put my phone down and picked up my keys. Starting the engine to my car I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. 'Gosh Tanner get yourself together man. You're over thinking this whole situation to yourself. You always do that dude. You've gotta relax. Also why are you referring to yourself in the third person again. You're such a loser' I pulled out of the plaza and made my way home. I didn't bother playing any music. Everything was silent. Even the L.A traffic was especially quiet today. I was catching every red light. But I wasn't fazed by it. I just wanted to get home and sleep.

????'s POV

I walked through the front door and to the back to the car. "Is everything okay in there?" I asked to my partner. "Yup I think I got everything packed up and ready to head inside" "Alright good" I walked to the side back door and looked in to see Paul unbuckled and sat up, and my partner with his backpack on. "Alright so I think the best way to go about this is to carry him out of the car the same way we got him into it" "Wait does that mean I have to carry him over my shoulder again?!" " Well since you offered" "Oh my goodness dude...How come you gotta make me do all the heavy lifting here?" "Cause I'm more superior than you. Now get out and give me your bag." "Ughhhhhhh fineee" He handed his backpack to me "Thank you" I said as he began making his wait out through the other passenger side door. He made his way around my side of the car. "Ugh you're lucky that I love Paul this much or I wouldn't be doing this" "whatever" I stated rolling my eyes at him. I stood back and watched as he grabbed Paul pulling him over his shoulder. He carried him past me walking towards the front door. I pushed the car door shut and locked it. I followed close behind my partner being cautious. Look out just in case anyone was out, or watching us. The last thing we need is getting caught, or the cops called on us. "Hurry up! You're waking to slow" I whispered. "I don't want to bump him into anything, and hurt him!" He aggressively whispered back. "Jesus". As he walked through the doorway I closed the door behind us. Locking it normally than at the top where we had a bolted lock installed. I turned back around seeing my partner looking back at me at the bottom of the stairs. "Can I take him up?" "Yes you can and don't be stupid about it" "I won't I won't" we made our way up and down the hall. The stairs were a bit scary but we managed. Once we entered the room we laid Paul very gently across the bed. "Should we put some pajamas on him?....so he's ya know not sleeping in jeans" I took a second before responding "....sure but do we have anything for him?" He smiled and walked over to the dresser. Opening a drawer he stated "I couldn't sleep last night so I went out and bought some stuff" the drawer revealed a small array of t-shirts and pants. "I've also got some underwear and socks in these smaller drawers" motioning to the drawers right above the ones he opened. "Dang. I didn't even think about clothes" I walked over poking around at what he'd bought. I settled on some black pj shorts and a red t-shirt that had a little pocket on the front. "Alright let's get him changed and tucked in for the night" I smiled and made my way over to his bed.

Tanner's POV
I lied. I can't sleep. I've been trying to for the past 45 mins, but there's just something in the back of my mind that's telling me there's something wrong. I sat up in my bed and just stared at the wall. 'Gosh Tanner why can't you just sleep! Nothing is wrong. Paul is okay. He's probably at home sleeping snuggled up in his bed. Which is exactly what you should be doing to.' I groaned and got up out of my bed. I shuffled to the door and walked into the hallway. It was really cold in my apartment I usually didn't mind all that much, but today it just made the ending to my night worse. I continued walking down the hallway making my way to the kitchen. 'Ya know I partially blame myself for being cold. I'm in a short sleeve shirt, and thin checkered pants. I did this to myself.' I flipped the kitchen light switch on and entered going straight for the fridge. Opening the freezer and peering in. 'Aaaaa my prized possession.....ice cream :)' ice cream made me happy, it would've made Paul happy. I even bought him a little tub to. 'Pffft look at me talking to myself as if Paul is dead! Gosh I'm in over my head here. Paul is fine. He's alive. He just had to go, and that is fine Tanner. You deserve this ice cream for getting this far, and now you deserve to go watch some tv!' Man I give myself the best advice. So in following that I made my way over to the living room with my ice cream. Grabbing a spoon on the way of course, as well as a blanket from the closet. I sat down and got all snug in my blanket. I then switched on the TV and sat through the night divulging in ice cream and laughing. The sadness almost completely melting away. 'What a night Tanner, and just think tomorrow when you wake up you'll probably have 10 texts from Paul explaining the whole thing' there's no need to worry. Everyone is safe and that's all that matters.