Bitter Treats (BxB Romance, In Progress)

7: Sweet Blush

Feeling lighter after his spoken revelation about himself, Tyler entered the library, where he and Robin had agreed to meet. Surveying the spacious first floor of the building, he spotted Robin right away. Perhaps he'd developed a radar for locating cute boys in crowded spaces.

The library floor was constructed from hard tiles, causing every tap from his crutches to echo loudly against the bare walls, which made curious students turn his way as he made his way toward his tutor's table.

Tyler was starting to get used to the looks by now, but that didn't make them any easier to dodge. Unable to move through a space in what was considered to be a regular manner, he was also unable to hide, and while he may not ever have been a shy person, he could now appreciate his previous ability to blend into the background sometimes.

By now, he'd realized that the best way to deal with looks from strangers was to ignore them, so that's what he did. He pretended nothing was amiss in the world, and when Robin, who had been resting with his forehead against the table, turned his blue eyes toward Tyler, he even almost believed it.

"Are you asleep?" Tyler asked, skillfully navigating his tongue around the lollipop in his mouth to get the words out. It hit him that maybe the tongue flick could be interpreted as lewd, but since his hands were tied to the crutches, he couldn't hold onto the lollipop stick as he walked, so the candy, snatched from the bowl in Miss Horn's office as he was leaving, had to remain perched between his lips for the whole journey. Not that Tyler really minded such connotations in this handsome company. Perhaps they could work in his favor, in lieu of flirting skills.

Observing a slight tint of red on Robin's cheeks, Tyler suspected he'd made the same naughty interpretation. If only he'd been able to read minds, so he'd been able to know exactly what the other boy was thinking. Everything would have been so much easier then.

"I'm... awake," Robin mumbled in reply, shading his face with his hand as he whisked away his bangs. Or was he perhaps trying to hide his blushing cheeks?

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Tyler said, pretending not to notice whatever blushing may or may not be going on. "I might have fallen asleep myself in Miss Horn's office. She told me I could take a nap, so I did."

It had been very cozy to rest upon those floral pillows, and perhaps uttering a certain truth about himself had made him more relaxed. Because now, Tyler felt like he could conquer the world. And his first campaign was aimed at his tutor, attempting to disarm Robin of the shields of shyness and deflection.

While Tyler put his crutches against a chair and untangled himself from his backpack, Robin jumped up to pull out a chair. "Such a gentleman," Ty teased while sitting down. "I can sit down by myself. My arms work perfectly well." He lifted a hand and curled it to flex the muscles above, testing if he could cause a blush on those adorable cheeks once again.

Robin's gaze seemed transfixed on Tyler's tense arm."Sorry," he mumbled, his face blossoming scarlet red.

Tyler felt as if he'd scored a goal in soccer. If he could, and if it was socially acceptable, he would have rushed out on the library floor and pulled his shirt off in a victory celebration. "I don't mind some help," he assured his tutor, reaching into his jacket pocket. "Here's a lollipop for your trouble, Robby."

The cherry-flavored candy matched the persistent shade on Robin's face. "Thank you." He took the offering without protest and sat down in his chair again.

"I'm glad you found a table on the bottom floor," Ty continued, deciding to take pity on the other boy and stop amusing himself by making him blush, even if Robin was darn cute with those glowing cheeks. "I don't like those stairs." He nodded toward the many narrow staircases spiraling toward the upper balcony.

"I tried to make it easy for you," Robin replied, looking up with a tentative smile on his lips.

"That's nice of you, Robby." Tyler smiled back, popping the lollipop back into his mouth again. Once again realizing that the gesture could be read in a non-pure way, it was his turn to blush. Luckily, Robin had turned his eyes downward, looking at the textbook in front of him.

"You're... welcome." Robin looked up and their eyes met. Tyler shrugged in reply, out of words as he lost himself in deep blue waves.

Unsure of what to do next, because this was getting way past his skill level in boy-flirting real fast, Tyler flicked the stick of his lollipop toward a waste bin while making a swooshing sound. He couldn't prevent the noise from coming out of his lips. Perhaps he was a bit nervous as well and putting up shields just like Robin. The plastic stick bounced off the rim and landed on the floor.

"Dammit," Tyler groaned and dramatically flopped his head on the table. "Well, I'm disabled so hopefully the staff will forgive me for not picking that up."

"Should I get it?" Robin wondered, looking around to seemingly make sure no one had noticed them littering. He did seem like quite a rule-follower. Tyler immediately felt tempted to encourage him to break some rules. Just a little bit, to loosen him up.

Maybe there was a rule about not making out in the library...

Realizing he was getting ahead of himself--far far ahead of himself even--Tyler shook his head. "Just leave it," he nodded toward the stick on the floor. "I'll look really sad and pathetic if anyone comes by and asks." He demonstrated his sad look before breaking into a smile. "Losing a leg is a good way to make people let you get away with things. Although I don't recommend it..."

Robin nodded in reply, appearing a bit overwhelmed by the mixed signals Tyler was probably sending. He figured it was better to send all the signals than none of them though, hoping that at least one of them reached the desired destination. "Should we start studying?" Robin suggested.

"Bring it on," Ty replied, a bit too enthusiastically as he couldn't reign in his emotions, and flapped his hands over the textbooks on the table. "I'm ready!"

He was ready for so much but studying would have to do for now.

Author's Note: This chapter is a bit short as I was initially planning to also include them studying together in the same chapter, but having both those scenes together felt too long... (and I'm also not done writing that part) This may mean 3 chapters in present time back-to-back though, which I hope will work! I'm a bit worried about the pacing of this story, as it feels like it moves quite slowly, but that can be fixed later!

Keen SLB readers may have noticed that this scene quite perfectly mirrors the scene of Robin and Tyler studying together in that story (chapter 4: A Dozen Donuts). The next scene will actually be a scene we didn't see in SLB though: them studying together before getting donuts.