Tronnor - Change.

eight.

As Connor strolled home from Tyler's house, he felt unusually content and carefree. He was used to always having stress and troubles - usually about swimming, his dad, or the fact that he still hadn't found a girl he was attracted to - but this evening was different, and he wished it would always be that way.

Not even his Dad's religious rants at dinner could ruin his mood - and for Connor, that was saying something. He gulped his food down and barely spoke a word, rushing away from the table and back up to his room, to text on the newly-founded group chat between Zoe, Tyler, Troye and himself. Connor wasn't usually a group chat person either - normally, he found them beyond annoying - but the mess of a conversation was too funny to resist, and he found himself laughing out loud at some of the messages...particularly those from Troye.

It was funny, really, how close the four of them had become in the last few days. Sure, Connor and Tyler had always been close friends and Connor had always liked his classmate Zoe, but somehow the addition of a certain Australian to the group had brought them all a lot closer, and Connor was grateful for that. It wasn't that he didn't have good friends before - he actually had quite a few groups of friends, thanks to his extracurricular commitments - but for once he felt like he truly, truly belonged, and it was nice.

The four of them conversed all evening, until Zoe decided it was time for bed at 11:30, being the grandma that she was, and Tyler fell asleep shortly after, at 12.

'and then there were two...' Troye sent Connor, this time on their personal chat.

'what time do you normally go to sleep, troyeboy?' Connor replied.

'oh, you know what they say, con, sleep is for the weak...'

'what do you do all night then? this strange way of life fascinates me'

'just the usual, tumblr and looking at cute boys. what about you, con?'

'huh? what about me?'

'what time do you normally go to sleep, you fool ;)'

Connor didn't know what to reply to that. He didn't want to lie to Troye...but he couldn't exactly be honest either, since most nights he tossed and turned for hours, dreaming of the Aussie, and then trying to assure himself that he didn't like him, and that he wasn't gay...and Connor was pretty sure that wasn't the response Troye was expecting. As the American pondered over what to reply, for a while he didn't notice the swarm of texts the Australian was sending him.

'hello? Con?'

'don't you go to sleep on me as well :('

'i'll be lonely, con :('

'con? everything okay?'

'i'm guessing you've gone to sleep, so sweet dreams con'

When Connor finally managed to notice the stream of texts on his phone, he could've sworn his heart fluttered when he saw Troye's nickname for him typed out repeatedly. Troye wasn't the only person who called the American such a name, but he definitely was the only one who could give him butterflies from such a mere action.

'sorry troyeboy, got sidetracked...but i'm back, and i'm not going anywhere ;)'

And with that, they spoke the whole night through.

a/n 1.5k reads & over 100 votes??? wtf? thank you all so much, and enjoy this chapter :)