Suspect

Tylers POV

"For coming out."

Deafening silence followed afterward, a shrill ringing resounding in my ears as the confession left his lips. I felt my jaw go slack, eyes widening in bewilderment as I pieced together all of Troyes pervious words.

Did Troye just come out?

An odd, obnoxiously heavy weight lifted from my shoulders, my next breath seemingly fresher and more natural as if I hadn't breathed in years. I felt a strange sense of reassurance, a confident aura swelling in my chest as I was overcome with excitement. I felt so at ease, like I had been tense for ages and those words were the missing key to the lock my muscles had been constricted by. Why though? Why did I feel as if I had just conquered the world and everything in it? Had Troyes coming out really made me that anxious? I hadn't even expected a coming out, hell I thought Troye was straight. That didn't stop the bubbly feeling in my chest though, my teeth catching my bottom lip in attempt to ward off my ecstatic smile. I could have a chance.

I let my lip ping back into place as my smile faltered, concern coursing through me as I observed Troyes current state. He had clamped his spindly fingers across his mouth, eyes squeezing shut while he shook his head vigorously.

"I didn't say that," Troye rasped into his palm. "Forget I said that, I didn't mean anything by it. It's nothing."

My heart clenched as his eyelids fluttered open, the blue orbs I had grown so accustomed to a total contrast to the unfamiliar panicked pupils darting around the room.

"Troye," I called out tentatively, not wanting to alarm him in his alcohol induced haze. His frantic eyes settled on mine then, his uneven pants transitioning into steady breaths the longer our eyes locked. Pools of tears formed at the brink of his eyelids, fear threatening to spill over his heated cheeks in a matter of seconds. I felt my body heat up at his intense gaze, my body over come with nerves as my brain screamed at me to say something, anything.

"Come here," I croaked, my unsteady voice hardly audible despite the silence encasing the room. Troye caught my words though, nodding warily in response as he shuffled in the sheets next to me. Repositioning ourselves to melt in with the plush pillows, my arm settled around Troye, fingers aimlessly running through his hair in an attempt to soothe him. I could feel his body trembling as he shook with silent sobs, hot tears cascading down my neck where his head was nestled. Abandoning his chocolate locks I let my hand drift down to cup his chin, lifting it slowly until his sullen eyes met my concerned ones. I took in the emotions trapped within the flecks of blue, his easy to read eyes alerting me just how vulnerable he currently was. I took the opportunity to let my fingers caress his cheek, circling slowly until the pad of my thumb caught the tears that had begun collecting in his long lashes.

"I'll be right back," Connor whispered, popping the sentimental bubble Troye and I had surrounded ourselves with. I wondered if Troye and I's intimacy had made Connor uncomfortable, but as I watched his figure disappear into the stark night I couldn't seem bothered to care.

Troye laced an arm around my waist, nudging his noise into my neck and humming intuitively until I complied and settled back into the cushions with him. He let out a long breath then, his chest expanding against my rib cage and settling back down to its former size when he lifted his head from my shoulder. I glanced up at him, furrowing my eyebrows questioningly when he simply shook his head and returned to nuzzling against my side.

I took to torturing myself with an ambush of questions regarding Troyes behavior until I came to the conclusion he was probably just too incoherent to discuss his feelings. I refused to believe he wasn't comfortable with me, or that he was just going to pretend what he had just confessed never happened.