Chapter Text
Tyler hated life at the moment. His nose was stuffy and he felt worse than that one time he died.
Taylor had gotten out of bed a while ago. Tyler hadn’t noticed her being gone until he woke up and noticed she wasn’t there.
When he dragged himself out of bed he wandered to the kitchen. His mother was there baking some cookies. When she saw him she rushed over to him.
“Oh Mijo,” she said, wiping at his face. “You look half dead. Let me get you some soup. Sit, sit.”
Tyler was startled. His mom wasn’t usually that mother-hen like. She normally was in a daze, waiting at the door or getting things ready for her husband who would never return.
But then again after the The Tree Incident ™ (as Aiden had dubbed it), she had been more involved. From driving them to practice, or cooking a meal once or twice a week she was getting better.
That didn’t mean it wasn’t weird for Tyler. When he or Taylor got sick it was miserable. She would get flashbacks to when their dad was sick and lock herself up in her room.
When Taylor would get sick Tyler would work extra hard around the house to try and get her better. Normally making himself sick in the process. Taylor would have to hold him down and force him to get rest in order to make him stop stressing himself out.
“Thanks mom,” Tyler said, as she gave him a bowl of soup. “Where’s Taylor?”
“She went to your friend’s house. I don’t remember which one, all I know is she brought nail polish.”
Tyler narrows his eyes trying to think. Taylor liked to paint all their nails, but no one liked very much. Other than one.
“Dammit, she’s at Psycho’s house.”
“Who?” his mother asked, looking over at him, as she went back to her baking.
“Just our weird friend,” Tyler said, blushing.
Aiden bounced up and down. “Let’s work on these presents!” he said, reaching for the wrapping paper.
“Here’s what I got Ben,” Taylor said, reaching into her tote bag and pulling out a sketchbook, and some colored pencils. “Do you think he’ll like it?”
“Yep. I see him staring longingly at the amount of pages left in his sketchbook all the time.”
“Why do you watch him like that?” Taylor asked, laughing. “You act like you’re in love with him.”
“Aww, nahh, I just get bored, and Ben doesn't talk so I gotta make up shit about how he’s feeling all the time.”
“What if you were wrong?”
“Are you ever wrong about Tyler?”
“No, because we’re twins.”
“Well like I’ve lived with him long enough to know how he’s feeling. We’ve gone through some stuff together.” Aiden looked away. There were days when he would go into Ben’s room and Ben would throw things at him.
All Ben wanted to do was be alone but Aiden wouldn’t let him. He stayed until the mood went away. And Ben did the same for him. Whenever he went back into a depressive mood Ben would drag him out of the house.
Taylor went quiet. Had Aiden done something wrong?
“Well, wanna see what I got Tyler?” he asked, walking over to his closet where he had hidden it.
“Yes! Show me!”
Aiden grinned and pulled out some shopping bags.
“I made this shirt!” he said, brandishing a shirt that said I survived The Tree Incident ™ 2016.
The picture on the front had some kid in a striped blue and white shirt, hugging a tree.
Taylor burst out laughing. “Do you know where that’s from?”
“What? The art?” Aiden asked, blankly. “No, I just found it when I was looking for people hugging trees.”
“Well, I hope Tyler doesn’t know where it’s from either.”
“Should I replace it?” Aiden asked worriedly. “I got him other gifts too, I just thought he might want something big since the rest is little.”
Taylor paused. “No, cus I kinda love it. Can you make me a matching shirt that says ‘he survived the tree incident.’ And it points to the left.”
“Of course!” he pulled out his computer and started working on a design.
“Show me the others!” Taylor said, closing the computer gently on his hands.
“Oh yeah,” Aiden reached down and pulled out a small box. He opened it and it was two silver earrings. They were little skulls. “I got him these so it would fit his cool guy persona.”
“Aww, that’s so cute!” Taylor said, reaching out and touching them. “He’s really going to like them.”
“And then I have the secret that I’ll put at the bottom of the box,” Aiden said, pulling out a sticky note, and attaching it to the bottom.
“Can I see?”
“No.”
“Damn.”
Aiden smiled. If Taylor was this curious he felt sure Tyler would like it.
“Is he still sick?” Logan asked, the night of Christmas, they were in the bus, crowded around the presents they had all laid there when they found the freetime on Christmas.
“Yeah,” Taylor said, looking over at him. He was lying on the seat with his eyes closed. “He didn’t get the flu shot so he’s still not feeling well.”
“Should we wake him up for presents?” Ashlyn asked.
Aiden bit his lip. He wanted to be able to give his present to Tyler but he didn’t want to disturb him while he was sick. Since Aiden had been the reason he was sick.
“It’s fine,” Taylor said. “He’s been feeling better lately. He can stay awake for an hour while we do presents.”
She walked over to him and nudged his shoulder. He opened his eyes, and slid over to sit beside Aiden and Taylor.
“Okay, now let’s open presents!” Taylor said. “I got Ben so here you go.”
She passed her gift to Ben, who when he opened it his eyes went wide.
Thank you so much! He wrote on his paper. Taylor beamed.
Ben then passed his gift to Logan. It was some astronomy set. “Oh cool! I wanna look at some star charts later.”
“Logan, who did you get?” Ashlyn asked, as he was still gawking at the kit.
“Oh yeah I got Aiden.”
“Lemme seee!” Aiden said, practically ripping the package out of his hands.
“I didn’t know what you would like since you can basically buy anything so I designed it at the library.”
It was a fidget toy. Aiden’s hands ran around it. Finding new levers and buttons to press. “I love it! I always break these way too quickly.” At Ashlyn’s stern look, he put his hands in the air. “But I won’t break this one.”
“Who did you get?” Logan asked.
“Oh we all know,” Taylor said, grinning.
“Wait really?” Logan asked.
“Yeah, he told me like five hours after he got the slip.” Ashlyn said, rolling her eyes.
He was yelling about it to his parents at dinner with me there. Ben wrote on his paper.
“Well who is it?” Tyler asked, looking around.
“It’s you,” Aiden said, shoving the bag into his face.
Tyler opened the bag, and pulled out the t-shirt. “Oh.”
“Is that bad Dear Evan Hansen Fanart?” Ashlyn asked, when Tyler showed the rest of them the shirt.
“Thank god!” Taylor said, standing up. “I didn’t want to explain it to him. And I didn’t want to be the only one on the bus with that depression phase.”
“I had a phase of that too.”
I’ve listened to Waving through a window.
“What’s that?” Aiden asked.
“It’s a depressing musical.”
“Okay, do you like the shirt?” he asked, turning to look at Tyler.
“Why did you make a t-shirt about that one time I died?”
Aiden’s eyes widened. “Sorry, I was incentive. You don’t have to keep it.”
“Wai-wait,” Tyler said. “I like it, I just wish there was one for you. Or another one for Taylor, we always match afterall.”
Aiden’s grin came back. “Ohh, don’t worry, hers is coming in a week. But that’s smart. I should make one for myself. What should we call it? The roof incident?”
“How ‘bout we stop making fun of the times we died,” Ashlyn said. “Did you get anything else?”
“Wow,” Aiden said, making his voice comical. “You think that’s all I would get my good buddy Tyler. Of course there’s more. So little faith in me.”
Ashlyn rolled her eyes.
“There’s a little box in there,” Aiden said, reaching over for a little lump. “It’s right there.”
Tyler reached in, and pulled it out. He pulled it out with the sticky note on top. His eyes widened as he read it.
He shot Aiden a look, but kept his face calm. “We’re gonna have to talk later. But anyway I have your gift Ashlyn.”
Ashlyn took the bag. “Sorry I didn’t do any of it, I didn’t have the energy but Taylor seemed to like making it.”
Taylor blushed bright red. “You weren’t supposed to say that.” She slapped his arm.
“Ow,” Tyler said, rubbing his arm. “I don’t understand you.”
“No one understands you Tyler!”
Tyler looked like he was about to retort, but paused. “Actually that’s fair.”
“What did you get, Ash?” Aiden asked, trying to peek into the bag.
“It’s a sign,” Ashlyn said, pulling it out. It said “I have a hearing disability, please be quiet.”
“I wasn’t sure if you would like it,” Taylor said, rubbing the back of her head. “I know you remind us to be quiet all the time, so I thought it might be nice to have a sign.”
Ashlyn pulled her into a hug.
Aiden grinned, flashing the thumbs up to Taylor. She had a large grin on her face, one of his missions was complete.
“Anyway who did you get, Ash?” Aiden asked, when she pulled away from the hug.
She blushed. “I got Taylor. I hope this is good.”
Taylor ripped it open. It was a care bears eyeshadow palette.
“I know you don’t wear a ton of makeup but it was cute so I thought you would like it.”
“I love it,” Taylor said, ripping open the packaging and applying the bright purple on her eyes.
“Anyway I think that’s it.”
“Let’s talk,” Tyler said, pulling on Aiden’s arm.
“Byeeeeee,” Aiden said, not getting up, just letting Tyler drag him.
“What the fuck,” Tyler said, slamming his hand into the wall beside Aiden’s face. “Where did you get that info?”
“You told me?”
“Fuck, you were awake.”
“I was.”
Tyler turned his head away. “You didn’t say anything until now?”
Aiden shrugged. “We don’t really see each other alone often.”
“God this is so embarrassing.”
“Why?” Aiden asked, turning so Tyler had to look into his eyes. “I like you too.”
“I know it was on the sticky. Why did you have to do that in front of everyone else?”
“Was I supposed to do that differently?” Aiden asked.
“You’re such a fucking homeschooler.”
“Did I misjudge this?” Aiden said, backing away. “I’m not great at social cues. I’ll leave you alone.”
“Wait!” Tyler said, grabbing his wrist. “I didn’t mean it like that. It's just a lot to process right now. I mean when does your crush tell you they like you?”
“Now.”
“You’re such a dork,” Tyler said, edging closer to him. Their faces were inches apart.
Aiden closed the distance.