Connor
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I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring on the bedside table behind me. I'm acutely aware of the fact that Troye has somehow ended up curled into my chest with his arms around me. I look down at him and stroke his hair, he likes to have his hair played with. He looks so cute right now, so innocent, like he could have never done the things that he has done. I can't imagine him being able to do anything even remotely like that as I look down at him now. His features are so soft and the way his mouth is handing open just a little bit makes my heart flutter.
I reach one hand back to grab my phone so I can shut of the alarm then I take a deep breath before carefully getting out of bed. Troye shuffles around in the bed reaching out for me and just finding the bed sheets where I was lying just moments ago.
"Connor..." Troye whines in a voice that I can tell is still half asleep. Does he want me to come back to bed? I kind of wish I could right now, I don't really want to go to work right now. I sit on the bed beside him and he crawls over and sets his head in my lap. I reach down and play with his hair and he lets out a happy murmur.
"Good morning." I say a little bit surprised at how forward he is being but then again not so surprised. I mean he tried to kiss me last night, normally a kiss wouldn't be such a big deal to me but with Troye everything is different. He's my soul mate and I want to have an amazing first kiss during a really special moment not one in my bed when we obviously aren't a real thing yet.
Nothing about our relationship is normal and in some ways I guess I'm thankful for that but in other ways I just really want us to be normal. I don't really mind faking a relationship in front of our friends and cuddling him at night but eventually the lines are going to get blurry and I'm sure things are going to get confusing.
It's Troye's phone ringing that pulls us away from one another, I stand up after he slides away from me and I can feel a blush coating my cheeks as I realize what we were doing. He was sitting with his head in my lap and I was just playing with his hair. It's a really normal totally not platonic thing for couples to do but not two people who have no idea how they feel. At least I have no real clue, I obviously have some feelings but how deep they run I'm not to sure yet.
Troye looks down at the caller ID and walks out of my room into his. I wonder who is calling him at this time in the morning. I shake my head moving on from the thought as I pick out my outfit for today. Another day in the office editing I assume, once I'm presentable I walk into the kitchen to make my morning coffee and some breakfast. I find Troye sitting there with a piece of half eaten toast and his phone on the table in front of him. I notice that he is fully dressed and I wonder where he might be going.
"Can you give me a lift to work? I have to go talk to Dan and Phil." I start making my breakfast thinking about what he said before actually answering him. Why does he need to talk to Dan and Phil? Does he have another assignment, as he likes to call them? I don't know how I'm going to be able to handle him coming home when I know what he just did. I don't know how he acts after an assignment either. He, rightfully so, doesn't want to talk about it ever. He seems to try to keep the topic as far from his mind as he can. If I were him I would do the same thing. Honestly who wants to think about the terrible things that he has been forced to do or have happened to him.
"Yeah, no problem." I don't question him about anything deciding that if he wants to tell me he will or even if he doesn't I'm sure eventually he'll have to tell me what's going on. It's probably just another assignment but my mind is running wild with all the who's what's when's where's why's and how's. As I finish my coffee my brain finally stops with the crazy scenarios and I look over to Troye seeing that he looks like he's waiting for me. We didn't say a word to each other the entire time that we were eating but I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to think that it was awkward.
We walk down to the car together and he slides into the passenger side as I put my camera in the back seat of the car. I start the car, pulling out of the parking lot and Troye starts talking to me.
"I don't want to hide anything from you because I feel like that's pointless and you don't deserve to be lied to." He runs a hand through his darling curls then continues to talk to me while I look at the road ahead of me. "Dan just called me to tell me that I have an assignment. That's not all though. He said something about the person who wanted you dead." My heart starts beating incredibly fast in my chest as I side glance over at him. I honestly can't think of anyone that would want to kill me. I haven't done anything worth killing over, I have no idea why anyone would want to kill me.
"What did he say? Did he tell you the name of the person? Do you know why this person wants me dead? I have no idea why anyone would-" He puts a hand over my mouth cutting off my babbling as I pull into the parking lot of our work building. He takes his cold hand off of my mouth and we look into each others eyes for a moment before he looks out of the window and speaks.
"He said that whoever it is, is still looking for you and that that person won't stop until you are dead. I have no idea what the person's name is or their motives. They never tell me that and I never meet the clients, Dan and Phil deal with all of that." My chest feels like twenty elephants are sitting on it, I can't breath and I don't know what to do. I have never been this scared in my whole life. I have never wanted out of a situation more than I have wanted to get out of this one. Everything would be so nice if the whole murder aspect was gone. Troye is such a perfect guy and if he had the right job everything would be perfect for us. "Connor? Con, are you okay?" Troye unbuckles his seat belt and scoots over so that he can somewhat wrap his arms around me. I lean my head against his shoulder and I take deep breaths trying not to cry.
"I'm so scared." I whisper and he rubs his hand across my back in slow comforting strokes. He kisses the top of my head before he starts whispering in my ear some things that I need to hear.
"I will not let anyone hurt you, Connor Joel Franta. You keep the bad dreams away for me and I'll do everything to keep the bad things away from you. I know nothing about this is ideal but I do care about you a lot. I won't let anyone hurt you." My hands are curled in the front of his shirt and it's a few minutes before I've calmed down enough to let go of him. I'm kind of embarrassed when I finally let go and get out of the car.
"I'm sorry I'm a mess. You shouldn't have to deal with me." I say and Troye throws his arm over my shoulder with a shocked look on his face. He almost laughs but probably realizes that that is not appropriate.
"You're sorry? I should be the one apologizing. No person should ever have to go through what you are going through. This is terrible and a person like you doesn't deserve for this to happen to them. You are a good person, a nice one, you just don't deserve this." His arm slides down from my shoulder one we get inside and he puts a hand on the small of my back. We walk over to the receptionist desk and find Zoe sitting there looking cheery.
"Good morning, Tronnor." She says to us pushing back a piece of stray hair. We wish a good morning then look at her and wait until she tells me my schedule. She looks at her screen, types something into the computer then looks back up us.
"You are scheduled to finish editing then at three you have a photo shoot in room 34B. Anyways how are you two doing?" Zoe asks twisting her engagement ring on her finger, she's so proud of the ring and I'm so happy for her and Alfie. They are literal relationship goals and they are the cutest.
"We are doing lovely, thank you." Troye says with a smile that to me looks so forced but I really think that Zoe will fall for it and think that is genuine. She seems to think nothing of his smile and I smile at her too before trying to head off to my office. The key word there is try. Troye, wanting to put on a show for Zoe, pulls me back and kisses my cheek before he lets me leave. That was really fucking cute and I'm still smiling when I get to my shared office to find Marcus and Tyler already working.
"Good moring, Connor. What's the big smile for?" Marcus asks as I sit down on my computer and begin working. Its a few moments before I answer him and he seems all too invested in the answer to the question.
"Oh nothing. Troye's just cute is all." Marcus rolls his eyes and goes back to his work. Tyler has headphones on and is deeply immersed in whatever he happens to be doing. He's probably editing an interview or something. He didn't even look up at me when I walked in the room. I get right to work and by the time lunch rolls around I'm already done editing for the article. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I take it out to see a text from Troye:
Jaspar want to go out for lunch with us. Do you want to come? I'm in the lobby talking to Zoe right now.
I text him back saying that I want to go then I walk down to the lobby to meet him. He immediately smiles upon seeing me and takes my hand leaning in to press his soft lips to my cheek. Zoe giggles then Troye leads me out of the building and across the street to a small dinner.
"Did you finish editing?" Troye asks me keeping his warm hand wrapped around mine as we walk into the dinner and make our way to the table where Jaspar is already sitting.
"Yeah I just finished not to long ago." I say as we sit down across from Joe and Caspar. We have a nice lunch filled with random talk and pretty great food, I love going out to eat with friends. I find it so much more fun then sitting in my office by self or sitting at home by myself. It's around two when I finally make it back to the office. The rest of my work day, including the photo shoot is quite boring so I'm glad when I finally get to leave. I give a quick goodbye to Tyler who is still working then I walk out of my office and down to the lobby. Zoe hands me a box of chocolates and I give her a confused look.
"Troye left them and directions to get to somewhere." Zoe has a sweet smile on her face as she hands me the paper with the directions on it. I thank her before walking out of the building excited to see what he might have planned. If he's this kind of soul mate this makes everything twenty times better. I love going on scavenger hunts to find things or going on adventures.
I get in my car and see that he's left a note on my seat as well. I thought I locked up my car...whatever I wouldn't put it past him to know how to pick a lock or something else like that. I open the chocolates popping a piece in my mouth and looking at the note before looking at the directions. It's a handwritten note that says:
Con Da Bon,
It would be an honor if you would join me for an adventure. I hope you liked the chocolates.
Troye xx
I'm sure my face is plastered with a huge smile as I drive off after carefully looking at his directions. After twenty minutes of loud music with the windows rolled down I come to a stop at the end of a road. I park in a little sort of lot on the side of the road and get out of my car looking around for Troye. I'm about to text him when I see that I have no service out here.
"Con Da Bon." I turn around at the sound of the name Troye had written on the paper to see none other than Troye himself. He's wearing shorts, a tank top and a pair of sunglasses with some flip flops. He looks beach ready yet we are in the middle of no where. Or at least that's what I thought. I lock up my car after throwing my phone in the back seat and covering the chocolates so they don't melt in the hot sun. Troye weaves his arm through mine and tugs me along as we walk up a road.
"What did you do all day?" I ask him as we continue to walk up the dirt road. He takes his sunglasses off and hangs them from the collar of his tank top before answering me.
"After my meeting, which I'll tell you about later, I hung out around the office for a while then I got bored and went for a walk then I had lunch with you and Jaspar. Then I had an idea and that idea lead here, to treating my soul mate to a nice little adventure. So yeah it's been an okay day." The way he talks when he's around me is something sweet. He seems like there is nothing he'd rather do than talk to me. He has this sparkle in his eye and I don't know he just kind of makes me feel special. We take a sudden turn into a field and Troye grips my arm tight to make me turn with him.
"Where are we going?" I ask him holding onto his arm tightly as we walk through a field that as far as I can see ends in trees. He laughs when I ask him that looking over at me with a bright smile on his lips.
"Getting there is half the adventure, Con." He leads me through the trees then onto another trail. I really do love walking trails especially when someone has gone through some effort to get me to come out with them to walk a certain trail. I pull my arm away from Troye's and he looks somewhat disappointed, I have a feeling that he's just acting like he's not as hurt as he is. I think he mentioned once that he was an actor and I've already seen him do some stuff that I think was acting.
"I used to run trails with my family when I was little. I miss my family so much." I say telling him something that I don't usually tell people. I never admit that I miss my family but I do like crazy. I miss the petty fights my siblings and I got in and how mom was always there whenever I needed advice. It seems like everyone is just to busy for me now. They hardly talk to me at all, they call on holidays and my birthday and they always say they are going to try to make it out here but it never happens.
"I haven't talked to any of my family since I was seventeen and I turn nineteen next month." He says and honestly I'm shocked that he does because up until this point he hadn't shared anything that had to do with his past what so ever. I feel like this is a big step in our relationship. He's opening up to me even if it is just slightly. I don't know how to respond to what he's just told me so I weave our fingers together and take a step closer to him. We start going uphill and I groan, not liking the sudden incline. Troye squeezes my hand and we make it up the hill. About ten minutes later we reach the end of the trail and I see what he brought me here for. A clearing next to an absolutely stunning lake that has rocks to jump off of and a nice shore line and damn Troye really knows how to treat a man.
I let go of his hand and pull him into a bone crushing hug, I've always loved the water and this place is so beautiful. Troye hugs me back and when he pulls back I can see he has a huge smile on his face. He leads me down to the lake side and we sit down watching as the water moves ever so slightly. This honestly has to be one of the best places that anyone has ever taken me. Most people take me to terribly boring places that I don't really want to be but here, I think I could stay here forever.
"I thought you might like it here." Troye says pulling his tank top off and casting it aside before standing up to shimmy out of his shorts and kick off his flip flops. I make an honest effort not to stare at his butt as he runs into the water but I fail. He has such an appealing body, I truly find everything about him appealing. His voice, his words, his face, his hair, his body, his true personality all of it is so damn desirable. "Come on Con the water's warm."
Troye is glistening in lake water and I'm honestly in awe at how pretty he looks. I don't want to strip down to my boxers in front of him. He's already seen you like that though. It doesn't matter. I want to swim and I'm not going to let stupid insecurities get in my way. I pull off my shoes and socks thanking god that I chose cute underwear today instead of one of my ugly old ratty pairs. I pull my shirt off and Troye wolf whistles from the water. I take one of his flip flops and throw it at his head. It misses hitting him in the shoulder while I take off my pants then run to the water. I put one foot in the water to find that it is not all that warm at all. I cross my arms over my chest and give Troye a dirty look.
"This is not warm." Troye laughs at me then starts walking through the water towards me. He runs a hand through his hair then flicks his head to the side to get his hair out of his eyes. Damn.
"Don't be a baby, Connor." He says standing right in front of me mimicking my position. He grabs my arms and starts pulling me in the water. I struggle against his grip laughing and yelling no at him until we are both submerged under the luke warm water. We both come up spitting water and laughing, here's the thing though, Troye had decided to lift me up underneath the water so now I currently have my legs wrapped around his waist and his face a mere three inches from mine.
I can feel his hands, one on my butt and one on my back, and I unlatch my legs from around him and swim to the other side of the lake where there is a bank of rocks. It takes me about two minutes and I'm a fast swimmer so it should take him a bit longer to get over here. I decide that it doesn't matter and I should just let whatever happens happen. Maybe I kiss my soul mate tonight. Maybe I don't. I shouldn't think so much, I need to go with my gut feeling and my gut feeling two minutes ago was to kiss him.
Eventually Troye makes his way over to were I am perched half in the water on a rock with an apologetic look on his face. I don't even really want to hear an apology right now so I hold up my hand and he looks confused.
"Don't even say anything. Everything is fine." Troye gives me a cheesy smile then splashes my face with water. I splash him back and soon we are back to fighting in the water. It's playful and super nice and lighthearted. It's a great time and I don't want it to end. The sun is setting when Troye and I finally get out of the water. I feel 100% closer to him now than when we got in the water together. We talked and had fun, I feel a lot closer to him physically. I feel more comfortable letting him touch me and he's taking the opportunities that I'm giving him. Right now he has his hand on my bare back as we walk out of the water.
We head into separate bushes to take off our wet boxers and dry off with the towels that Troye had thought to bring. I dry off them put my shoes and pants back on only to realize that I don't have my shirt. That little shit head. I run out of my bush and see that Troye is fully dressed and looks much too innocent.
"Where's my shirt, Troye Sivan?" I ask trying to act mad at him and failing miserably. He looks out on the lake innocently and I can see my shirt floating in the middle of the lake. "I hate you."
"I didn't do it. It was the wind." He says trying to make up an excuse. What a fail. He can't even think of a decent excuse. You think someone who has to deal with things like he does would be able to come up with a better excuse on the spot.
"That's funny because it hasn't been windy all night." I say pointing to the trees around us that are dead still. "You're lucky I don't like that shirt or I would make you go get it. Now give me your shirt." He looks at me like I'm crazy then he must realize that its the right thing to do because he pulls his shirt off and hands it to me. Well it's not a shirt its a tank top but it's still better than no shirt at all. Troye and I sit in the grass next to the lake and after a few minutes of mindless chatter I lay my head on his lap. He reaches a hand down to play with my hair and I really wish I had my phone so I could take a picture of the sunset or Troye, both are pretty beautiful right now.
"You're so pretty." Troye says looking down at my face as he continues to play with my hair. I think I could just lay here forever. I kind of wish I could freeze this moment forever. You know in the Hunger Games when Katniss and Peeta are sitting on the roof top and Katniss wants to freeze the moment because for once everything feels perfect? Yeah that's how this feels right now, like nothing can go wrong. Like nothings ever broken.
"I think you are much prettier than I am." I say and his hand stops moving in my hair. I look up at him and he looks down at me with a serious face as he talks.
"You think that because you can't see you the way the rest of the world sees you. I don't think I have ever met someone who grabbed my attention so quick and had me wanting to know more even though I already knew so much about you. You are really something special and that fact that you are the most handsome man I've ever met is just a perk."
I pull my hands up to my face to cover it so that he won't see the incredible blush that is covering my face. He's such a sweet heart and I know that I shouldn't be throwing all caution to the wind like this but he just makes me feel amazing. I don't care about the reasons that any of my family members or friends would give me. He's my soul mate and I'm going to fall in love with him regardless of what he does for a living or what his past is. We stay there until its a few hours past dark then we walk back up the trail, Troye still shirtless and he walks in front of me while he holds my hand. How did we go from not to sure what we are doing to let's be as coupley and cute as possible?
As if this day couldn't get anymore strange, but in an amazingly good way, Troye starts singing a Sam Smith song and, like Troye told me that he wanted to sing or act or something like that when he didn't have to do what he does now, but he never really told me that he has golden vocal chords. I squeeze his hand encouraging him to keep singing as we make our way back to the car.
"You sound so incredible." I say as we get back to the car and he's on about his fourth Sam Smith song. He blushes despite having just sung to me for so long and we get in the car with huge smiles on our faces. He murmurs a thanks to me as I grab a sweater out of the back seat and hand it to him. As we take of driving it looks like Troye has something to say but he doesn't say anything for about ten minutes.
"I just want you to like know that this wasn't just some weird thing. I really like you and I really care about you. I don't want you to think I did this for no reason. I want to have a romantic relationship with you. This sounded so much better in my head." he starts tugging at his hair in frustration that he said something wrong but really I don't think he said anything wrong.
"Troye it's okay. I'm just glad you are making your intentions clear so that I don't have to guess and over think everything. I feel the same way about you but still we should take things slowly so we don't fuck anything up." He nods his head and I crank the music. We get past the awkward admitting our feelings for each other thing and in minutes we are singing at the top of our lungs. Our voices are almost horse by the time we finally get home around eleven. I grab my phone and the chocolates out of the back seat of the car then lock it up before following Troye up to our apartment. He heads to the kitchen to make us a late dinner while I take a shower.
It's a nice relaxing shower and when I get out I throw Troye's tank top in his room and head into my room to put some sweats on. I put on a pair of red boxer briefs and a pair of coca-cola sweat pants before heading to the kitchen to see that Troye has made Ramen Noodles. I sit down beside him once I've filled my bowl with the yummy noodles and we eat while having casual conversation. When we are finished we stand up at the same time and walk over to the sink to wash our bowls. When we are done with that we walk out of the kitchen together. Troye lets his fingers trail over the skin of my lower back feather light and I shiver.
"I'm going to take a shower." He says and leaves me in the living room. I pick up my phone and settle into the couch to see what I've missed while I was having one of the best nights of my life so far. Tyler has texted me a few times asking me where I am. That's about it. I call Tyler planning on telling him about the amazing date I just had. Can I call that a date? Because that was kind of my idea of a perfect date.
"Connor Franta. Where have you been?" Tyler asks me and I launch into this big speech about all the things Troye did for me. I hang up the phone when I hear the water stop because I don't want Troye to hear me gushing to Tyler about how wonderful everything was. I walk into my room and set my alarm so that I won't be late to work then put my phone on the charger. I turn off the light and a few minutes later Troye comes in smelling fresh and clean. He slides under the blanket with me and he rests his head on my chest. I lean down a plant a kiss in his hair before drifting off to sleep.
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A/N
Hey guys its Amanda and WHOA I know that this update is way way way longer than the ones I usually do but hey I had something going and I couldn't stop.Yeah a lot of things changed in this chapter and so much is going to be happening soon and I'm so so so so excited for it. Yeah anyways. If you liked any part of this chapter please:
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