You make me ache

Ch21: Viewers and Pebbles.

Tyler's POV.

As I walk out of the toilets, I see Troye sat at our table on the other side of the restaurant but he is no longer alone like when I left him five minutes ago. Stood by my seat is a small gaggle of three teenage girls. I smile as I take in his animated face- we both enjoy getting to meet our viewers. It is incredible that by doing something as simple as saying hi and taking a photo with someone can give them such excitement and happiness. I also enjoy the fact that it gives me a chance to personally thank them for the opportunities their support gives me; I cannot begin to fathom where I would be if You Tube had never taken off for me. I do know that without You Tube, I would never have met Troye and even if just for that one truth, I am eternally grateful that my people have enabled my You Tube success. As I approach the table, I wonder if he has told them that I too am here, or if my presence will be a surprise but my questioning is soon irrelevant as Troye's eyes flit to mine and the girls quickly follow his stare. I laugh as they begin to squeal and I hurriedly make my way to say hello and deliver hugs.

After the girls leave, I grin and sit down opposite Troye.

"That was cute" he says happily.

"Yeah, it was" I agree, "I'll still never get used to it though".

"No, I don't we ever will. Even after being approached several times around the shops this morning, I was still a little surprised when they came over just now" he replies, shaking his head slightly but clearly still buzzing with gratitude. I let out a pleased hum as I reflect on the ease of having a boyfriend with the same job- in the past dating had been difficult for a variety of reasons but one of them included guys not understanding the attention that I sometimes received. Troye's continuous comfortable response to viewers is something that I admire; even when it occasionally becomes too much for me, Troye can usually handle it. I give him a smile and watch as he takes a sip of his drink, my eyes automatically drawn to his full, pink lips.

"What?" he questions after releasing his straw, his eyes narrowing with curiosity.

"You're just pretty that's all" I reply, causing a slight blush to creep along his cheeks. My heart flutters at the sight, happy in the knowledge that after all this time I can still make him bashful. As he returns my smile, a young waitress appears and places our lunch before us. After we thank her, she begins to walk away but suddenly stops and spins back around.

"Err, sorry to interrupt again but..." she begins, but then pauses and awkwardly shifts from one foot to another.

"No it's fine. Is everything okay?" Troye asks her, us both slightly perplexed at her behaviour.

"Well, I couldn't help but notice those girls that were here a minute ago. They wanted photos with you both? Are you famous? Because if you are that's pretty cool, I've never met a famous person before" she answers, her speech quickening with what I presume is nerves and then perhaps excitement. We both let out a little breath- both amused and refreshed by her question.

"I wouldn't say we're famous but we are fairly well known in the internet world" I tell her before telling her to check out our You Tube channels. Troye gives a little laugh, rolling his eyes at my endless self-promotion. Our waitress seems a little disappointed with the discovery that we are not the huge celebrities that she had hoped for and she politely leaves us to begin our meal.

"You are hopeless" Troye teases, in reference to my self-promotion.  I shrug my shoulders and flash him a wide grin as I remind him that I also promoted his channel. He gives me a laugh and I can't help but notice that he is once again rolling his eyes- a trait that he claims he never used to do before me. He likes to pretend he only does it now because my sassy behaviour gives him reason to but I know that really it's due to that fact that so many of our individual quirks and characteristics have become shared ones; just another thing that links us together.