Reid Garwin (literalworst) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-02-10 22:51:00 |
|
|||
It was literally no surprise to anyone that Reid Garwin had shitty communication skills. So shitty in fact that rather than do the adult thing and talk to Tyler about the kiss he had instead been doing everything in his power not to talk to Tyler. That included but was not limited to avoiding him or making up excuses to be out of the house.
Every night he went out looking incredible in the hopes that maybe just maybe he’d be able to find somebody that he could fuck to get the kiss out of his system but each time? He failed, miserably. Mostly due to the fact that when it got anywhere close to getting remotely hot and heavy he’d had to call time because he got a distinct unpleasant feeling of… well, disgust. Like he was doing something wrong by getting that close to somebody else and that was dumb. Really fucking dumb.
Not that he was the type to give up easily.
Nope, not him.
He’d showered, shaved, styled his hair and put on his best most flattering clothes that drew attention in all the right ways. Tonight would be the night, it had to be or he was going to go crazy, or die of blue balls. That was totally a thing, okay?
Reid took one final look at himself in the mirror before he snatched up his house keys and headed towards the front door.
Reid’s game of ‘avoid Tyler’ had been hurtful. Not because Tyler knew what to do about the kiss situation but because he didn’t. He felt like he’d been doing something wrong, and yeah he should have tried to pin Reid down earlier but they were both in this, and it was both of their responsibilities to do something about this and it upset him more than he wanted to admit that he knew Reid was going out to hook up every night or at least do whatever the fuck he could to be away from Tyler.
He pressed his lips together and used the Power to move himself a little faster, between Reid and the door, leaning against it.
“Is that how we’re gonna be?” He asked, forgetting completely that Caleb had told him act, don’t think.
Reid’s jaw ticked in annoyance when Tyler blocked his exit even going so far as to use his powers to achieve the result. “Pretty sure that you’re in my way,” he pointed out as he folded his arms across his chest and arched his eyebrows.
His gaze flicked briefly to Tyler’s mouth before it came back up sharply as he realised what he was doing.
“Pretty sure you’re avoiding me,” Tyler retorted, not moving. He folded his arms across his chest before catching himself and forcibly relaxing his body language. Getting prickly wouldn’t help the situation. “So. Yeah, I guess I am. But that’s not gonna change any time soon.”
“So, what?” Reid queried. “What do you want, Tyler?” Tyler was right by trying not to get prickly because if he did then Reid would go on the full defensive and that would just end in tears. Ugly tears at that.
It didn’t help that Reid was all kinds of frustrated.
“I want you to stop avoiding me,” Tyler said, calmly. “I want you to stop walking out of the room whenever I walk in and I want you to just- I- Look, I need us to be okay and I don’t know how to do that if you just keep avoiding me.”
He took a breath. “I- Look, you’re the one that-” He cut himself off, remembering that Caleb had specifically told him not to talk, but just to do. “If you were just gonna avoid me afterwards, why did you kiss me?”
Reid’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly as Tyler almost went along the route of putting the blame on him. Almost, but not quite. At least that’s where it sounded like he was going before he caught himself. “Fine,” he began instead. “I’ll stop avoiding you.”
Not actually answering the question.
“And we’re okay, alright?”
“No, Reid, we’re not okay. And you didn’t answer my question.” Tyler was hurting, and he was confused. He didn’t know how to approach this and he was freaking out that he and Reid weren’t going to be like Pogue and Caleb, that they’d just lost everything because- because what, Reid got jealous not of the guy or of Tyler but because of some other reason.
Reid’s jaw ticked again. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Tyler.” He shook his head and threw his arms open and to the side, clearly frustrated. “I don’t know why I did what I did. I just did it because-” He cut himself off and shook his head. “I don’t know, okay? I just- I saw the guy all over you and I just reacted.”
He’d been jealous, but he didn’t want to say that aloud.
“I’m sorry for fucking everything up, okay?”
“Because what?” Tyler pushed gently, lowering his voice the way he always did when Reid was getting worked up. His heart was in his throat, he felt a little nauseous and dizzy, like he was standing on the edge of a cliff and his adrenaline was roaring through him. “You haven’t fucked everything up I just- I-”
Act, don’t think.
Fuck it.
Tyler took a step closer, keeping his hands were Reid could see them right up until the point where they curled lightly in his jacket. He kept eye contact until he couldn’t anymore, pressing his lips lightly against Reid’s. Act, don’t think. If this went horribly wrong, Tyler was moving out.
Reid would have answered but then Tyler was suddenly up in his personal space with his hands curled in his jacket, tentatively, and was inching ever closer. It suddenly became very hard to breathe. And then there were lips, Tyler’s lips on his, and he’d be lucky to get anything out of Reid at that point. Short circuit came to mind.
It took a moment but Reid’s hands lifted from his sides to catch in the material of Tyler’s t-shirt before they strayed upwards to wrap around the back of the other man’s neck, mouth opening and kiss being returned a lot less lightly than it was being given.
Tyler wasn’t surprised that Reid kissed back but he was relieved. Very relieved. His own hands didn’t move, worried about breaking the moment or ruining it or something with an unexpected reaction. Aware that they were in the entrance hall, right in front of the door, Tyler - with great difficulty - broke the kiss and rested his forehead against Reid’s.
“I need you to not avoid me, Reid,” he said, softly, “I need you to stop going out and hooking up with every eligible batchelor or bachelorette in the OC. I just- I want us to be okay and I think that direction involves you and me, not you and someone else.”
Reid swallowed hard when Tyler broke the kiss but thankfully didn’t go very far because if he had then Reid would have walled right back up again and probably be looking for somewhere else to live.
“I haven’t-” He began before simply shaking his head. “I haven’t been able to hook up with anyone since that kiss.” Sad, but true. Jesus, what was wrong with him?
Tyler looked confused. “But you- you’ve been out all the time and-”
Reid pushed out a frustrated breath. “Soon as it got hot and heavy it felt… wrong, like I was doing something wrong. I dunno, it makes literally no fucking sense but there you have it.”
He pulled his lower lip into his mouth and worried it.
Tyler mimicked Reid up until the point he realised he was doing so and lifted a hand, brushing it along Reid’s lower lip and gently removing it from the grip of his teeth. He shook his head a little. “No- it- it makes no sense you’re right.” But he wasn’t smiling, so he wasn’t making fun of Reid.
He drew in a breath, let his hand drop from Reid’s face to the collar of his jacket again.
“I-” He’d said what he wanted, what he needed. “I ne- Reid, tell me what you want?”
Reid flexed his fingers around the material clasped between them and just fought against the overwhelming urge he had to run as fast in the opposite direction because this was Tyler and he was way too important for that.
“I know I don’t want anybody else being with you,” he finally said. “But I don’t know what means or how that changes things, but I know that the kiss definitely changed everything.”
“I’m not okay with the idea of you going out and hooking up - or trying to - with other people either,” Tyler said gently, softening the grip on Reid’s collar, leaning forward again until their foreheads were touching. “The change doesn’t haveta be bad, right? I mean- it could be good? Like- like Caleb and Pogue but better?”
Reid exhaled a breath as he leaned closer and lightly pressed his forehead against Tyler’s. “Without all the sappy crap,” he remarked quietly, teasingly, lips curled into a smirk. “So clearly better.”
This was a big step and it was terrifying.
“I’m gonna try really hard not to fuck this up.”
“You won’t fuck it up, Reid,” Tyler said softly, lifting both hands to gently curl against Reid’s shoulders. “We can just take it one day at a time, yeah?”
“Yeah, okay,” Reid agreed with a nod of his head. “That sounds good.” Sounded a lot less scary that way. “One day at a time.” He wet his lower lip and glanced up at Tyler with a small smile. “So, what do you want to do now?”
Tyler smiled right back and bumped his nose gently against Reid’s. “I dunno, uh- maybe we can go watch a movie? Since you’re not going out anymore?”
“Yeah, we can do that,” Reid said with a nod. “I just need to change ‘cause this shit isn’t comfortable to sit down in for too long.” It had an intended purpose and that purpose was not to watch movies. “C’mon,” he said with a jerk of his head as he latched his fingers around Tyler’s and tugged the other man back, deeper into their shared home.