Tyler Simms (thelasttoascend) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-02-04 23:06:00 |
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Tyler had been sitting on the New Year's kiss. It had been driving him mad; he didn't know what it meant, if anything, if it had just been a 'Reid thing', if it had been because they'd been dancing together when the ball dropped, if it had been something else entirely? He just... he didn't know what to do and his friendship circle was really small, only really the three of them and Alex and he didn't know how comfortable he felt talking to anyone about it.
But he needed to talk to someone.
Caleb was the obvious choice; the eldest and the wisest, the most emotionally well balanced of the lot of them (except Tyler himself, of course), so he waited for an opportunity when Pogue was out with Alex and Reid had gone off to... well, do whatever it was that Reid did when he wasn't hanging out with them.
Thankfully, one appeared earlier than expected, so he tapped on Caleb's door, chewing on his lower lip and tugging the sleeves of his hoodie down over his hands.
"Caleb?" he called, "Can I come in?"
Caleb was currently sitting on his bed playing Breath of the Wild on his Switch while he tried not to think about Pogue running off with Alex to do whatever it was that those two did together. He wasn't overly jealous, just mildly annoyed for reasons that he wasn't even sure about. It was a little weird sometimes just having friends that weren't their little circle whisking one of them away. He also didn't feel like doing anything too strenuous to help all the bruises on his body heal. He might not bruise very easily in the dreams, but apparently that didn't extend to him in the waking world. Getting dragged across a floor, smashed into a ceiling, and pushed into a sink would definitely give anyone bruises.
He heard the tap on the door and turned his head, confused on who was still in the house, and then realized it was Tyler. "Yeah, of course," he called back out in a reassuring voice as he paused his game and moved slightly on the bed so that Tyler could sit on the end of it if he wanted.
Tyler smiled a little and walked in, sitting down as the offer was extended. He tucked one leg underneath himself and pulled a tube of arnica cream out of the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie and gently tossed it onto the bed. "Here, that's for you," he added. "Bruising and all. I don't think we should risk magically healing you up or anything."
He cleared his throat, glancing at the TV and then back at Caleb before he just flopped across the bottom of the bed. "Can I talk to you about something?" he asked, "Something serious? I think?"
Caleb leaned forward to grab the tube off the bed and studied it. Only Tyler would think to bring something like that because he was usually the more astute and empathetic of them all. He gave Tyler a smile, "Thanks, man. I don't even know if we can magically heal. If it was worse I'd probably ask Magnus to find someone in the Guild to help me out, but it's not that bad right now." Caleb knew how to endure pain so he wasn't about to speak up unless it was a lot worse.
The question made Caleb's brow furrow a little. Something serious, well he definitely caught Caleb's attention, and he settled back with a nod, "Yeah, of course you can. I'd be a shit friend if you weren't able to."
"I know, I just- I dunno, it feels like an awkward conversation and-" He wrung his fingers together and stretched his arms up, then rolled onto his side restlessly. "Something happened at New Year and I don't know what to do with it."
He frowned, chewing on the inside of his lower lip. "You can't talk to Pogue about this, okay?"
"Awkward conversations happen, you'd probably rather talk about it than just keep it inside," Caleb pointed out to Tyler with a small amused smile. This was definitely something interesting if Tyler was so cagey about it. He was definitely intrigued now and hoped he could help him out.
He leaned forward to playfully poke at Tyler's side, "I promise I won't tell Pogue about it. Now, out with it." Better out than in and Caleb did realize that Tyler hadn't mentioned Reid in whom he couldn't talk about, which was interesting.
"Reid kissed me at the party we were at when the ball dropped at midnight."
The words came out of him in a rush, like he was afraid if he didn't say them they'd disappear into his head and be swallowed forever.
"I didn't hate it, but then someone bumped into us and it broke the moment and we haven't- I mean, we haven't talked about it again."
Well. That was something. Caleb's eyes went wide and he had to tell himself not to start grinning because he and Pogue had discussed how something was probably going to happen between those two eventually. Apparently there had been an underlying sexual tension between those two and he wasn't surprised Reid had been the one to initiate the kiss.
"Well, that's good, right? If you didn't hate it and it didn't seem like he hated it then that's good. I think it be a little hard to wrangle Reid into a serious discussion about it, but you guys definitely need to talk about it."
Tyler groaned. "I- Yeah, I guess? I don't know if he- if he wanted to carry on or why he even did it? He'd been acting weird all evening."
He just didn't understand the reasons behind the kiss. He frowned. "I mean- you- what do I even say?"
"Acting weird, how?" Caleb definitely needed all the details of this so he could see if he was right in his thoughts about these two. He really wanted to start chuckling about the whole situation because it was so painfully obvious, but both of them had no idea.
"Well, you could say 'can we do that again?' if you want to do it again. Or explain to him that you liked the kiss and you want to know if he did too. I think you definitely shouldn't go up to him and say 'we need to talk' because that will make him run away so fast. You could just kiss him yourself and get that ball rolling," Caleb was marking the ideas off on his fingers because there were a few options, "Do you want to date him?"
"I don't know," Tyler answered, frustrated with himself. "I was dancing, and there was a guy on the dance floor that kept trying to dance with me but I wasn't interested. I thought he'd be happy 'cause I was finally dancing but he didn't join me, he just... I don't know, sulked? And scowled for most of the evening and then it was almost midnight and he- yeah."
His cheeks flushed a little. "And then he kissed me." He'd thought it might have been a jealousy thing, but then they hadn't kissed again and Reid had been the one to pull away.
He cracked the knuckles on his left hand. "I think I do? I mean, he's been- he's been out a lot dressed for hook ups so I just can't-"
Okay, Caleb couldn't contain it anymore and he let out a soft chuckle at the end of Tyler's story. "Oh Ty... He definitely has a thing for you and he was totally jealous. This sounds exactly like how Pogue and I finally got together. You were there - jealousy at the club over dancing and then a kiss and then some outside the club; except we didn't get interrupted."
"Are you sure he's even hooking up with anyone? He may just be doing it because he's afraid of his feelings for you. Reid tends to hide things behind a brick wall. Honestly, if I was you I would just corner him and kiss him again just to make things clear," Caleb pointed out with an amused smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Tyler spotted the slight smile that curled up at the edge of Caleb's lips and he sat up a little, scowling slightly at his friend. "Why are you smiling?" he asked, not offended, more curious. Considering what he'd just said, Tyler added, "Did you know? About Reid, I mean? Oh god, is it that obvious? Am I that obvious?"
He started worrying a little: did Reid know how he felt? Was he that transparent? Did Pogue know? How about other people, did Alex know?
"I- is that really such a good idea? I don't wanna make him uncomfortable. What if it was just a- What if it was just because he wasn't used to someone hitting on me?"
"I'm smiling because this is adorable," Caleb couldn't help that the smile spread across his face now and he let out a huff of laughter, "No, nothing like that. I've always had a thing for Pogue and I always had a suspicion that you and Reid may end up the same way. He's only truly comfortable around you, Tyler."
"I think you need to make him a little uncomfortable to push through his wall. I seriously do think he likes you, all the signs are there. You can either try to talk with words and he'll just avoid everything or you can use your lips to talk and I think he'd be receptive."
Tyler huffed out a little breath, brow furrowing the way it always did when he was called adorable, though it hadn't happened for a while. It used to happen a lot since he was the youngest and was often a couple of steps behind his friends.
"You- yeah, I- Maybe. What if it goes wrong?" He worried his lower lip again. "I mean, I don't think you are, I hope you aren't wrong." He'd always been an overthinker when he was left on his own. His friends - and Reid - gave him confidence and a lot of recklessness. "Shit, I'm overthinking aren't I."
Tyler was starting to spin out of control so Caleb moved down to where he was on the bed so he was sitting beside him. He reached a hand down to lightly ruffle Tyler's hair, "You are completely overthinking it. That's part of the problem. You just need to to act and not think."
"If it goes wrong then at least you tried and eventually you two will get back to being friends. Pogue and I won't let there be weirdness. I mean you two wouldn't have allowed that to happen if Pogue and I hadn't worked out," He pointed out to Tyler with a smile, "I've always got your back."
Tyler didn't complain the way he normally did when Caleb ruffled his hair. If anything, he just sort of leaned into it a little and felt his shoulders sagging.
"Think and not act," he repeated, "should be easy, right?" He glanced up at Caleb, worried crease still visible between his brows. "Y'know, when you and Pogue..." he waved his hand demonstratively, "were you worried? Before it happened?"
"Act and not think," Caleb corrected him with a laugh as he continued to ruffle Tyler's hair for him. Sometimes it was just soothing having someone's fingers in your hair. Definitely his favorite part of a haircut.
"Of course I was worried. There was a lot of sexual tension in my apartment and I was afraid that he might not like me like that or we would completely ruin our friendship. It took that night with some jealousy to really solidify that we needed to be together," He wasn't goign to admit that he still got a little worried that he was going to mess something up.
Tyler hummed a little and then laughed sheepishly at the correction. Fuck. "Fuck," he said aloud. "Act and not think. Jesus, I'm screwed."
He listened quietly, lacing his fingers together and picking at the edge of his thumbnail. "And it hasn't ruined your friendship, right? You guys seem as good as ever. Maybe better. But you've both done the relationship thing in the past. I haven't and I know Reid doesn't- I mean, they're not really his 'thing', as he keeps reminding us."
"You're not screwed, you'll be fine," Caleb spoke in a soft reassuring voice with a smile on his lips. It was kind of amusing try to help try to get his friends to start dating each other.
"No, we're great. I love him, but even that doesn't guarantee that everything will be perfect all the time. Relationships can be finicky and it may take a while to find the right person. It just helps that I've seen the good and the bad with Pogue, so we don't have any secrets in our past," Caleb explained, "Besides, I've been thinking that you and Reid would make a good couple for a while. You mellow him out and he makes you shine a little brighter. You can't be with someone who is exactly like you and sometimes you just need to jump into something new with both feet first."
Tyler grimaced. Jumping in with both feet first was really only something he did when he was around his friends; they made him brave (or stupid, depending on who you asked). Otherwise he worried a lot.
He drew in a breath and just nodded, "It- yeah, at least you guys'll still be there if it goes wrong, right? I mean, we'll be okay no matter what?" Just for that final reassurance.
Reid was out, though, God only knew where, so he would have to sit and stew on this for a while regardless.
Tyler needed to learn that he was brave on his own accord. They weren't always going to be around in every situation he was in, so he had to learn to do things on his own eventually. Caleb knew it was a hard lesson to figure out, but his life would be more enriched.
"Of course, we're not going anywhere. We're brothers; maybe not by blood but definitely by choice. We're here through thick and thin," Caleb reminded him with a smile as he reached down to squeeze Tyler's hand, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."
Tyler squeezed Caleb's hand back gently. "Thanks, man." He nodded, he'd have to time it right, catch Reid at a time that they could actually talk.
Or not talk.
He wet his lower lip and nodded again, trying to work through what would happen, trying not to let it go out of control.
"I should- uh- maybe leave you to it? You don't get a lot of free time."
"You can hang out with me if you want. Just playing on the Switch, you want a turn?" Caleb was more than happy to just let Tyler hang out with him in his room. He wasn't the type that needed to be alone all the time. It didn't seem like he should let Tyler run off and be alone either, "We don't get enough bro time just the two of us anyway. Grab some snacks and we'll just relax."
Caleb was a godsend, Tyler knew that already but this was just another reminder. He nodded, "Sure, I'll- um, I'll grab some snacks and be right back?"
Sometimes he did feel like the kid brother, delighted at the chance to spend some one on one time with his cooler older brother. Right now was one of those times. "You want anything in particular?" he asked, before waving a hand, "never mind, I'll just go raid the cupboard."
The indecision made him laugh when Tyler finally reached an idea, "Go for it." They basically bought snacks that all of them would enjoy. He watched as Tyler left the room and gave himself a small smile before starting the Switch back up. Hopefully he had given Tyler some good advice in regards to Reid and that he wasn't reading the situation completely wrong. He would be there for both of them if something went wrong, but he was going to have to wait and see how it went. For now though, he was just going to hang out with Tyler and pretend that their life was just a little bit crazy.