Yours Is The First Face That I Saw

VII

“Sebbyyy,” Tyler’s hand was reaching for him, grasping at air before finding his wrist and clamping tightly on it. He wondered if Tyler could feel his pulse quickening, because Sebastian could definitely feel the warmth of Tyler’s hand, could feel its warmth crawl up the length of his arm.

Sebastian looked to Tyler’s driver; the man just shrugged. “I’d rather sleep on a bed rather than on the sofa.”

“See?” Tyler was sitting on the bed now, thee blanket falling off his body and revealing that, yes, he was shirtless. “It’s better for everybody.”

Sebastian meant to plead his case, meant to ask the driver to reassure Tyler that he wasn’t going anywhere, but the man was already out of the room. The traitor.

“Fine,” he huffed. “Move over.”

“Aren’t you going to change into some dry clothes? You’ve been in those wet clothes since Bianca’s house.”

“You’re pretty observant for a drunk guy.”

Tyler laughed. “So are you going to change out of them or what?”

“I don’t have anything to change into. And I’m not sleeping nak—“

“You can wear my clothes.” Tyler had on the most shit-eating grin of all shit-eating grins. “Although you should really consider that sleeping nak— “

“Your clothes! Fine! I’m getting them!” Sebastian interrupted, more than a little hysterical. “Do I just pick them up off the floor or….”

“Clean clothes are in those closets.” Tyler was pointed at a corner of the room that Sebastian had overlooked. “That door over there’s a bathroom you can change in.”

Sebastian pulled out the first few items he could get his hands on, eager to get away from Tyler’s presence because he didn’t know how he’d react if Tyler insisted on talking to him the way he did. He was already in Tyler’s bathroom before he thought of checking what he had pulled out from Tyler’s wardrobe, and he felt his stomach plummet to his feet when he saw that he had an oversized singlet and two pairs of boxer briefs. He wondered briefly if he had done something terrible in a past life to deserve this.

“Why is this a bad thing anyway?” he asked himself as he stripped off his wet clothes. “You like him. You might even like him like him. It seems like he likes you. You couldn’t have planned this better yourself.”

After making sure that the oversized singlet extended far enough to cover his crotch — the boxer briefs were comfortable, but a lot tighter than the boxer shorts that he preferred — he took a deep breath and pushed the bathroom door open, fully expecting Tyler to greet him with whistles and catcalls. Which was why it was more than a little anti-climactic — and disappointing — to find Tyler asleep on the bed, his chest exposed and the blanket bunched around his waist.

“Oh thanks a lot,” Sebastian murmured under his breath. “I’m on the edge of a meltdown and you’re sleeping off a hangover. This is all going according to plan.”

He took a few moments standing beside the bed, trying to figure out the best way to sidle into it — he was definitely not ogling Tyler — before gingerly lifting the blanket and getting into the bed as quietly as he could. He pulled up the blanket over both of the before laying on his side, facing away from Tyler and making sure that their bodies didn’t touch. He didn’t want to wake up in the morning being accused of taking advantage of a drunk person.

But then Tyler’s side of the bed shifted, and Tyler put his arm around Sebastian. It was warm against his chest, and he let out a high-pitched meep when he felt Tyler pull him flush against his body. From the pit of his stomach he felt a small ebb of joy spread, and he didn’t know if it was still from his spiked drink or if it was a genuine emotion. 

—

He didn’t know when he fell asleep last night, but he could feel the sun on his face when he opened his eyes. He didn’t know what time it was, but he felt like he didn’t get enough sleep. The tiredness he felt seemed to reach all the way into his bones, and he had never been so grateful for a soft bed before.

“Hey.”

He sat up on the bed with a wince; it seemed to take so much effort to just get up today. What was in that drink?

Tyler was standing in front of the window, his back to Sebastian. He still wasn’t wearing a shirt, and the sight of him framed by the morning sunlight was so much more devastating than it was last night. The muscles of his lean body came together in a geometry that made Sebastian wish he had listened better in class. A lone bead of sweat was making its way down Tyler’s back, and not for the first time Sebastian felt like he was in some sort of contemporary romance novella.

His eyes quickly shot back up when Tyler turned around to face him. Tyler’s face was serious, and Sebastian tried not to grimace at Tyler’s next words.

“We need to talk about last night.”