i honestly feel like this story is getting worse as it progresses ughkillmeplease. ps this is a filler chapter but also kinda dramatic bc c o n n o r m e e t s y o u k n o w w h o ;)
tae was curled up on the floor of phil's car, thin frame pressed up against my calves a bit too uncomfortably. i almost yelled at alfie and zoe for offering to drive and almost yelled at phil for saying they could, but no matter what, tae and i would most definitely still be in this awkward situation.
he winced when we hit a bump, my foot digging into his tailbone. i apologized, doing my best to pull my foot out from under his bony butt. he wiggled forward a bit, his back pushing against the door even more, a strained look crossing his face. phil's shoulder once again shoved into my own, knocking me gently against the door and reminding that phil's car wasn't meant to fit this many people–especially when phil and i were practically giants.
connor tried his best to break the awkward silence of the car. "that was quite the movie, huh? chris pratt is as hot as ever."
"stop fantasizing about someone who's way out of your league," i muttered, teeth clenched as i tried to avoid stabbing tae with my foot again. "phil, do you want to spend the night with me again? i'm sad because billie's gone and those guys made me mad."
phil nodded his head. "sure thing."
tae lifted his head. "can i come too? or can i at least spend the night with one of you guys? my parents aren't here and they won't be for a while." he looked down to his feet, his knees pulled against his chest, and picked at something invisible on his shoe laces. he shrugged. "i really don't want to be alone."
"of course, little guy." phil ruffled tae's hair, reaching across my lap just to do so. "dan won't mind. but if he does, connor could gladly take you. or alfie and zoe."
"your knuckles are really dry." i grabbed phil's hand from tae's head and started running my fingers over his knuckles. i shifted my gaze slowly to tae. "and you can stay with us. you can sleep on the beanbag like you always do, or on the couch, or even with us on the bed if you really want to."
tae smiled, his mouth forming a rectangular shape. "can i sleep on the beanbag?"
"of course," i responded. phil smiled at me and grabbed my other hand, starting a game of patty cake.
⌲
connor woke us up early the next morning by blasting 'born this way' as loud he could, holding his phone next to our ears in turn, screaming the lyrics along with lady gaga. i held my pillow over my ears, trying to block out the sound as best as i could.
phil, giggling, tugged on my arm. "come on, daniel! connor wants to take us to get coffee. and this time there hopefully won't be any cat fights―i mean that quite literally."
"no," i responded, shaking my head. i removed the pillow from my face just enough so that i could see phil's face. he was smiling widely with tae's arms draped loosely around his neck. the latter had his eyes closed and his mouth open as if he had fallen back to sleep while hugging onto phil. "get tae up and ready and take him with you instead."
"can't," connor mumbled, pulling tae off of phil. "he has school to get ready for. i brought some of my old clothes for him to borrow." as if on cue, a plastic bag full of clothes dropped out of connor's hands while tae turned to latch onto connor instead. "tae, i love you, but please don't fall asleep again. you have school and you're already running late. your parents will be even more mad if we don't hurry up."
the moment connor spoke about tae's parents, the boy's eyes were wide and he was sprinting from bathroom to bedroom and back to the bathroom, throwing on the clothes connor brought and brushing his teeth using an extra toothbrush that was in the plastic bag connor had as well. connor was rushing after him, attempting to help him out by using a small plastic comb to untangle the knots in tae's hair. the amusing sight allowed me to wake up just enough to sit up and smile at the two.
phil grabbed onto my hand gently and squeezed just a bit. "will you please come get coffee with us? i'll buy you more crunchy nut."
"or you could just stop eating my fucking crunchy nut, but i guess i'll go with you. you owe me crunchy nut and you owe a lot of it."
⌲
my fingers curled around the paper cup of coffee, steam swirling around warm air of the shop, a nice contrast to the freezing outside temperature. we had found our way to one of the new couches they had added for extra comfort. phil had decided to use my lap as a pillow. connor sighed, leaning against my side for extra warmth.
"isn't this nice?" connor asked, drowsily sipping on the hot liquid. 'it's quiet and warm and we don't have to worry about college courses until tomorrow."
phil stuck his tongue out at connor. "i don't have uni again until tuesday so jokes on you."
"don't brag," i mumbled, flicking his shoulder. i pressed my lips against cup to take another sip. phil frowned at me and was about to speak when, suddenly, two guys from across the shop had started yelling at each other. i rolled my eyes. "so much for no drama, huh?"
connor had perked up at the two yelling men, one with an american accent and one with an accent that dan was less used to hearing around here―australian. the boy with an american accent ran a hand through his light blue hair, exasperated sigh escaping his lips. "look, i'm sorry, okay? just come home, please. i-"
"i said no already. you can't keep saying sorry for kissing someone just because you 'thought they were me', tyler. and just so you know, my hair is blonde now, asshole," the boy with the australian accent retorted, gesturing to his platinum blonde hair that was covered by a black snapback.
tyler, in fit of rage, smacked the bill of the hat, causing it to fall off of the other's head. in most normal situations, i wouldn't have taken this as a big deal, but the guy had stitches on his forehead that i hadn't seen before due to his hat. i assumed he was mad because he using the hat to cover the stitches, but it took me a second to process that he was actually upset because the hat had somehow torn one of the stitches out. blood trickled down the side of his face and, being the mom that he was, connor sprung to his side with a bundle of napkins and his phone ready to dial emergency.
he pressed the napkins against the guy's head and handed his phone over to him so he could glare at tyler. tyler was holding his hands up in defense. "i'm sorry, i-i didn't know."
"you're his boyfriend. how the hell would you not know that he has stitches?" tyler hung his head. connor focused his attention on the bleeding boy, who had just hung up the phone and handed it back to connor. "what did they say? are you okay?"
"they said that if it isn't bleeding i can wait however long is necessary to go get it sealed up again, but since it is bleeding i should probably go get that fixed up before it gets infected or something like that, i don't remember."
tyler lifted his head again. "i'll take you!"
connor shook his head. "i'm sorry, but no. maybe you two should just have a little bit of distance for now and he'll call you when he's done. if he even wants to. i'll take him."
"thank you," the boy said, taking the napkins so that connor could take hold of his arm. "what's your name?"
connor smiled. "it's no problem. my name's connor."
the boy smiled back. "i'm troye."
⌲
author's note! i still can't get over the fact that troye's hair is a c t u a l l y blonde, like what even. ugh i feel like it's been so long since i've updated this, i'm so sorry if i made you wait too long or if it actually wasn't that long, i just....i wanted it to have a slow boil and it might still have a slow boil but it might go by faster than it should or maybe i won't even finish this i'm having so much regrets. i can't decide whether i hate this story or love it.
-di