Out Of The Woods (mxm)

Chapter Sixteen.

TW: This chapter contains mentions and descriptions of self harm. Read at your own discretion.

Song: cardigan by Taylor Swift.

"you drew stars
around my scars
but now I'm bleeding"
___________________________

Tyler smiled down at his phone and looked up at Nico, who was sitting in front of him while they ate breakfast.

"Caleb doesn't seem like an angry Chihuahua." He said with a teasing smile.

Nico's skin flushed slightly.

"He is." He grumbled. Tyler smiled softly.

"Well, not to me."

Nico said nothing, but Tyler could see from the little frown in his lips that he was... flustered. It was cute. Yesterday had been great, for Tyler. Since he arrived home at night until the morning he and Caleb had been texting, and he was sure that he could say they were friends. And it didn't feel rushed, at all. It felt right. Maybe they were meant to meet each other, as soulmates were, but for friendship. He liked to believe that, for now. Because it seemed so easy and simple to talk to Caleb, it felt right.

"He's even shorter than me." He said with a playful smile.

Nico groaned. "He didn't smile at all when he met me. He was glaring all the time. He was glaring at Eddie all the time, for fuck's sake."

Tyler giggled.

"He has a soft spot for you." Nico said, and he didn't look angry about that. "Both of them. Eddie and Caleb. They have a soft spot for you."

He blushed and looked at Nico.

"You think so?"

Nico nodded.

"Do you..." He blushed even more. "Do you have a soft spot for me?"

Nico chuckled.

"Of course I do. You are the cutest person I've ever known."

"Me?" Tyler asked incredously. "I can't be the cutest person you've met."

"But you are." Nico said simply.

Tyler's face was red as a tomato, but he smiled slightly, his stomach doing a lot of weird flips and twists and basically going crazy. This was something he had always wanted. To feel... wanted, he thought carefully. To feel as if someone cared for him. Nico had given him that by himself, and Nico had also given him two new friends. He wanted to forget everything about Finn and just move on, because that was what he was supposed to do now and he was ready. Especially if it was with Nico besides him.

"Thank you," he said softly, "for this. For everything."

"You don't have to thank me for anything, sweetheart."

Tyler looked up at him.

"I do, Nico. Really, thank you. If it weren't for you, I... I have no idea where I would be right now. You gave me a roof, food, your kindness and your support and it truly means everything to me."

He didn't say, "Because you are everything I have right now," but Nico was everything he had now.

Nico stood up and kneeled in front of Tyler, cupping his face with his hands.

"And I'm glad that I gave you that, because life would be so boring without you here." He said and Tyler blushed. "And you deserve every single thing I gave you. You deserve everything, okay, sweetheart? You don't have to thank me for any of it."