Blind side (Tronnor AU)

10. Different

One of Tyler's 'new' friends, Grace, interfered, "You know what you should do?" she looked at Connor, holding up her shot glass, "You should reply them with a picture of your own butt," she emptied the shot so proudly, as if she had just come up with the greatest idea in the world.

Connor's cheeks reddened, as he shook his head shyly.

Glancing at him, Grace frowned, jabbing lightly a girl named Hannah that was sitting next to her, "Does Tyler even befriend average-looking people? I feel like I'm the least attractive person at the table right now."

Hannah just nodded, raising her eyebrows slightly, her eyes still trained on Ben who was telling something animatedly.

"Or you know what you could do?!" Grace switched back eagerly, not even bothered in the slightest that both Troye and Connor heard her remark to Hannah, "You can take picture of your hand as if it was your butt, as kids do."

Connor seemed even more confused than before, "What?"

Troye perked up, "You never did that?" Not waiting for a response, he grabbed Connor's phone, and, raising up his two fingers, took an extremely closed-up picture, showing it proudly to Grace.

"We've got a professional here," she laughed, "That's what I'm talking about."

Connor buried his face in his hands, trying to control his giggles, "I swear you are, like, seven."

Still fumbling with Connor's phone, Troye typed in a passcode swiftly and opened the editing app, "I can't believe you never did that," he pointed to Connor, turning to Grace, "And he calls himself a photography major!" Finally giving up, he threw the phone back to Connor, "Add some of your hipstery filters, or they won't believe it's you."

Connor rolled his eyes, exiting the app and locking the screen again, flipping the phone so it faced downwards, but, Troye noticed, he didn't delete the picture altogether.

"Anyways," Grace started, "I need to pick up Goose from Chester, so I'd better call an uber."

Noticing Connor's and Troye's confusion, Hannah clarified, "It's her dog."

Troye continued to eye Grace incredulously, "You have a goose and a dog?"

Hannah and Grace were about to fall under the table from laughter, inevitably attracting attention of Tyler, Ben, Zoe, and Korey, who all turned to look at them with great curiosity. Grace, still out of breath and red in the face, tried to explain, "Troye thinks that Chester is my dog, and Goose is... Well, my goose." It didn't make much sense anyway, which caused another fit of laughter, with Tyler and Ben joining.

Finally regaining some semblance of normalcy, Grace gathered her wits together, and made it clear that Goose was a pet name for her dog, and Chester was an actual human name for her boyfriend, which resulted in some more giggles.

Since Grace was about to leave, Hannah decided to tag along and share a cab with her, ultimately taking Ben with them, so eventually, it being a workday, everyone decided to head home.

Back at Tyler's place, where everything was exactly as they left it a few hours ago, i.e. total and complete mess, they were in the process of distributing limited number of sleeping space between all of them.

Zoe, being the only girl, was given the privilege of the currently empty room of Tyler's brother and a separate bathroom, leaving Korey settled in Tyler's room and Connor with Troye in the parents' bedroom.

"No funny business, you two," Tyler jokingly warned them, before twinkle-toeing back into his room in not-so-straight line, causing Connor to look at him dubiously.

With a pleasant buzz from the alcohol he had consumed still present, Troye felt like he had basically no energy left, but he couldn't fall asleep just yet. So instead, while Connor diligently unpacked his bag, putting the clothes neatly in the wardrobe, he fell backwards on the bed, his limbs wiggling, making an angel shape on the sheets.

"Troye boy, get changed before bed, you've been in these clothes all day," Connor poked his shoulder.

Troye scrunched up his nose, refusing to open his eyes, "Too tired."

"At least, take off your jeans then, they are nasty," Connor giggled in response.

Troye opened one eye, peering at Connor curiously, the combination of beer and Tyler's company reverting him to his old self, "Well, someone's eager to get me out of my pants." Taking in Connor's long face, however, Troye sat up immediately.

So that's what was different about them.

Troye reached out to him, his hand encircling the other boy's wrist gently, only to have him flinch away, "Connor?"

"Just go to sleep, Troye," his voice wasn't cold, but it still differed a lot from his usual warm tone. Connor picked up his toothbrush and left the room without any words, leaving Troye sitting alone on the bed.

Taking off his pants and sweatshirt furiously, he crawled under the covers, after dimming the lights, so only nightlight was on, and turned his back to the door.

He was such a mess.

He would have liked to pretend that the time he spent with the goddamn checkout boy was unpleasant and forgettable, but in reality it was the opposite of that. The boy certainly knew what he was doing, and Troye's pent-up frustration made him desperate for the touch, even though it didn't come from the right person. They ended up fucking in the alley behind the shop and once more at Troye's place, after which the boy returned back to his job, completely unfazed by lack of Troye's reaction, when they were done.

That night Troye had his first nervous breakdown for a very long time, lying curled up in the cold sheets that reeked of unfamiliar scent. He knew that he didn't even have the right to call himself a cheater, but it still felt as if he betrayed someone's trust. He woke up the morning after, feeling completely numb, deciding to just pretend that last night didn't happen.

He couldn't pretend anymore.

Immersed into his thoughts, Troye didn't even notice that he was no more alone in his room. Only when he felt Connor's firm hand on his shoulder, did he realize that he was shaking.

"Troye, are you okay? What's wrong?" Connor whispered, as he climbed onto the bed beside him, cradling him delicately. Too overwhelmed to speak, Troye shook his head, shivering some more under Connor's comforting touch. He tried to dig his face into the pillow to muffle the dry sobs that prevented him from breathing normally.

Connor gently turned him over, casting him a worried look, before putting his arms around him so that Troye ended up lying on his chest. That's when the tears came.

"Come on, don't cry, baby, don't cry," Connor rubbed soothing circles into Troye's back, his voice quiet.

Troye shook his head, tears soaking the thin material of Connor's t-shirt, "I'm sorry." The sobbing fit intensified when he managed to grunt the first words, the string of apologies coming immediately after, "I'm sorry, Connor, I'm sorry, I fucked up so bad, I didn't want to, I swear, I didn't want any of this. And I know you don't need it from me, and I tried so hard, but I can't help it." More tears didn't allow him to continue.

Troye didn't say anything else, his sobs eventually dying out, as Connor peppered small kisses on his forehead, his hand going through Troye's hair.

"What am I going to do with you, Troye?" Connor's voice was sad and thoughtful, as he asked this question.

But Troye honestly did not know the answer.

A/n for some reason, I really like this chapter

Next - 'Coward'