Tyed

chapter forty five

The silence drags on for only a moment too long before Colby breaks it. "It's nice to meet you, Trey. I've heard a lot about you. All good things."

Tyler wouldn't call that a complete lie so much as an exaggeration, but Colby deceives well enough that Trey doesn't pick up on this detail. Tyler only does because he feels like in the short time he's known Colby- and god, it really has been a short time, hasn't it?- he's picked up a lot, enough that he'd be able to tell it wasn't entirely true even if he didn't know he'd barely mentioned Trey to Colby and was scared to say too much.

Colby's smile is charismatic and unwavering, however, and the strong foundation allows Trey to feel comfortable and smile, too. "Hi," he says, his voice quiet but not quite shaking. His uncertainty is still clear, however. "It's nice to meet you, too."

Colby stands up and extends a hand to him. "I'm Tyler's new partner. We've only started dating recently. My name is Colby."

Something befalls Trey's face, and he says nothing as he slowly shakes Colby's hand. It's only then that he looks at Tyler. "I need you to t-tell me the truth, Tyler," he says, and Tyler's paying more attention to Colby's slight confusion than anything else, even though Trey is somewhat staring at him, his gaze continuously falling as he struggles to keep eye contact. Fair.

"Uh," Tyler mutters, worried, "...yes?"

"Mum said daddy wouldn't come back ever." Trey's voice is scarily even. "And he did. You said Kevin won't come back ever and now you're with someone else and not him even though he loves you more than anything and you said you loved him too. B-but daddy's not dead yet, but he's gonna die- you would've, you would've told me if Kevin w-was dead, right?"

"Trey-" their mum begins, as Colby steps back and looks, to his credit, only somewhat alarmed. Tyler has no words.

"You w-wouldn't l-lie, or h-h-hide it from m-me," there's the nervous stutter, "r-right? If Kevin w-was- was d-dead? You'd tell me, right? R-right?"

Tyler's mouth feels glued together, and their mum runs forward to grip Trey's shoulders. "Trey," she says, "don't worry about Kevin, okay? Don't-"

"No," Tyler tells Trey the truth, "I wouldn't. I didn't, Trey. I didn't tell you when he died, okay? Because it was awful and you didn't need that at that point of your life."

Trey's gaze completely falls, and his mother glares daggers at Tyler, hissing, "what the hell is wrong with you, Ty?"

"Is Kali dead too?" Trey whispers, barely loud enough for Tyler to hear. Colby steps back to make sure he's not in Tyler's mum's way as she hugs her eldest son, holding him close.

"I don't think so," Tyler admits. "When she and Kevin got taken away, Kevin found us, but she didn't, and I couldn't find her. The honest truth is that I don't know where she is and if she's alive any more than you do. But I can tell you she's probably much happier than she was, and she's probably alive."

That's only a little bit of a lie. The same demons that killed Kevin could very well have caught Kali, too.

"I'm sorry," Colby mutters, and Tyler stands to take his side. Colby puts a gentle hand on Tyler's back, rubbing small circles that Tyler closes his eyes and takes comfort in.

"You didn't do anything," Tyler responds, watching as Trey slowly hides his eyes from view, a single tear running underneath his hand, visible. He was barely friends with Kevin, didn't even like him, but Trey had so few people growing up that of course he felt some affection for Kevin.

"No, I mean... I'm sorry for your loss." Colby's voice is so soft. "Both of you."

Trey lets out a single sob, and says nothing. Tyler leans on Colby's shoulder. "I'll tell you his story later," Tyler promises. "It's complicated."