Icy Inferno (Troyler AU)

⋙ Chapter Seventeen

When it ended, my heart felt incredible light in my chest. Somehow the lyrics meant more to me than they ever had prior to that moment.

Of course, every moment has to end. And ours was ended abruptly, when Boy is a Bottom started playing.

Troye hastily changed stations, but it was too late. The awkwardness settled upon us. It only got more awkward when Troye stuttered “Say Ty, do you think your a top or a-”

I cut him off by patting his leg and saying “We’re not having that conversation yet Troyeboy.”

He seemed slightly relieved by that response, settling back into the seat. The rest of the journey was spent with small conversations meaning nothing yet so much all at once. We were wary to not get to flirtatious, incase we ended up talking about things that we definitely didn’t need to talk about yet.

I pulled up, and promptly left the car. I opened his door and said “We’ve arrived, m’lady.”

Troye glanced up at me. “Oh, so I’m a lady now?”

“So it would seem,” I said, as he got out the car.

He took a look around, confusion clearly written on his face. “What is this place? Or can you still not tell me?”

“Well, I figured we’d hire a boat to go down the river. It’s the last time we can go on one before winter so...”

“Ooh. That sounds cute Ty,” he said with a genuine smile. He stepped out the car, and we walked towards the boat-hire shack. There weren’t many people about, seeing as the air was growing colder by the minute. When I asked to hire a boat, the workers gave me an incredulous look, noticed my blue hair, and got a boat ready. I paid before Troye could argue about it, even though he frowned at me for another minute as they got it ready.

Soon after we were out on a rowing boat. Troye had been rowing at first, but he’d grown too tired, so I took over. He sat back, facing me as we glided down the river. Rosy lines cut across the blue sky, his face appearing ethereal. Strung up lights along the riverbank guided us round the bends. Distorted images of the town reflected off the surface, submerging us in a surrealistic world. Troye moved his hand to the side of the boat, so it was hovering over the water. Ripples spread from the area he pointed at. As I wondered what he was doing, he smiled at me and said “look at the water.”

I slowed down, looking over the edge of the boat. Seconds later, an electric blue light shot through the water. Troye twirled his fingers, and a steam of fluorescent blue fish swam besides the boat. The water was illuminated in fifty shades of blue. When they got too far away from the boat, they faded away into the darkness. Some lept up, shining in fading light. When the oar passed through them, they reverted back into water droplets, and fell gracefully back into the river.

“This is amazing,” I breathed, laughing in amazement as more lept up.

On the riverbank, a young boy had stopped to look at the event. In a loud voice he asked, “Mummy, what’s that boy doing?”

The mother, who’d been unaware her son had fallen behind, glanced over at us. Her eyes grew wide, and her once smiling face became hard. She hastily pulled her child away from the riverbank. “Look away children, you might catching something.”

“But it looks cool,” another child from behind the mother said.

“It’s anything but cool. They're dangerous. Do you understand me? DAN-GER-OUS."

The figures retreated back into the shadows - where they belonged, if they were going to shout out such stupid things.

I shook my head, thinking how ridiculous the woman was being. When I looked back at Troye, he had folded his hands in his lap. “Why'd you stop?”