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No, im not falling for you, so please have mercy on me
‘Cause its not romantic, I swear
I'm not gasping for air
I want you here, but please don't come near.
Tyler doesn't exactly hate Aiden, but he definitely doesn’t like him. At all. If you ask Tyler who’s the most annoying person in the world? Aiden. The loudest? Aiden. The stupidest? You guessed it, Aiden. Okay, Tyler will give it to him: he has nice eyes, when he's not wearing those stupid contacts. And when he smiles, properly smiles, not that fake bullshit he seems to fool everyone with, maybe, just maybe, Tyler's heart skips a beat as he forgets to breathe for a second.
But it doesn't change the fact that he hates dislikes the guy. Aiden is blonde, obnoxious, and completely oblivious to the concept of personal space. If it was up to Tyler, he would have dumped Aiden somewhere far away and run like the Phantoms were chasing him if it meant even just a second of peace… okay, maybe he wouldn't go that far, but he'd definitely like just one day without being called a halfwit every five seconds.
Unfortunately, the others don't exactly share his sentiment. Except for maybe Logan, who seems to be the only level headed one (except for the fact that they oddly share the same dark humor) Ash, despite her clear earlier resentment of the pest, somehow let him grow on her. And now they seem close, like close close. Whenever the group falls asleep, they're tangled together, or they're sitting near each other, or they-anyway, they're close. Ben seems to like Aiden, but Tyler guesses that he kind of has to since he lives with the guy and they're cousins, still, he seems constantly worried about his cousin's level of idiocy, and that amount of stress cannot be good for anyone, especially on top of the added stress of every night. And Tyler's sister? Well Taylor, for some dumb reason, adores Aiden.
She sat on the bottom bunk of their shared bed, propping up her hand on her bent knee as she carefully painted her nails. Tyler had been ranting again to Taylor, pacing around their room as he frustratedly told Taylor about every stupid thing that Aiden had said today. “-then said ‘why don't we just use cleaning products against them, we can find the stuff easier than guns’ like honestly, he's just so-” Tyler cut himself off with a frustrated sound, clenching his fists. “Honestly, why'd you even like him?”
“What can I say, he matches my energy,” Taylor shrugged, glancing up at her still pacing brother with a twinkle in her eyes. She wiggles her newly painted nails at her brother, sprinkling some magic Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder dust (her words, not Tylers), “ADHD magic,” she mused. before going back to her nails.
Tyler had rolled his eyes with a scoff at the time. But watching his sister carrying the idiot on her shoulders around the graveyard as he hollers, tipping dangerously to one side only to right himself at the last second, lurching the two in another direction, Tyler realizes in that exact second that all ADHD people are unhinged and clearly go from mildly crazy to absolutely, completely psychotic in a second if they even breath the same air as another lunatic ADHDer. Tyler pointedly decides to ignore the dropping feeling in his gut every time he sees Taylor tilt the dumbass too much, his throat going dry in worry when he sees the big fake falling gestures Aiden is making, dangerously close to falling.
Tyler forces himself to tear his eyes away and focus on what Ashlyn is saying, her thin, dark eyebrows knitted together in concentration as she visibly gets annoyed whenever Aiden and Taylor yell too loud. “-then we move behind the house an-” Tyler zones out, studying the map they've gone over a million times that's set in front of him when a sudden movement from the corner of his eye snaps his attention back to where his sister and her dumbass best friend are falling.
Shit.
Tyler doesn't think as he shoves himself up from the old, rusted pipe he was sitting on. The others look up in alarm, Ben goes to get up but even he knows he won't be able to help when he's that far from them (Logan for some reason lifts his camera.) He just manages to grab his sister's arm, he doesn't break her fall, he's too far from her for that, but he manages to make her land softer with a slight ‘oof’.
Tyler is suddenly slammed onto the ground, head snapping back against the pavement and he lets out a soft groan, scowling as he blinks the slight haziness from his eyes, wincing as he props himself up. Tyler looks up to the person who used him as a landing pad, a scowl etches deep into his face, Only to realize that Aiden is the one on top of him, rubbing his shoulder, wincing, before noticing who broke his fall. Tyler looks up at Aiden who's staring down at him with wide eyes (gorgeous dark coffee brown instead of the artificial red of his contacts.)
Tyler is propped up by his two elbows, one knee bent, ready to get up. Except Aiden's legs are on either side of his hips, chest almost pressing against Tyler's, his own hand keeping him from lying completely on top of Tyler, resting on the floor, boxing Tyler to the ground, his other hand still on his shoulder. Tyler feels his face heat, his heart fluttering wildly at the close proximity. Aiden's mouth hangs slightly open in surprise and Tyler finds himself glancing down at those full, pink lips before catching himself and dragging his eyes back up to Aiden's burning face. He feels like his whole world has narrowed down to this moment, this very second, every part of his body that's pressed against Aiden is on fire, and he can feel his heartbeat thundering out of his chest as he-
“Are you two done with you gay panic of the day?” Taylor laughs. Tyler and Aiden jolt away from each other, stammering and tripping over words that try to brush off what just happened, Aiden scrambles off Tyler as fast as he can, face red. Tyler does the same, scrambling back on all fours as he splutters in embarrassment, feeling the flush creeping up his face.
“Wha-no its not-we werent-”
“Calm down, Tyler, she was just joking,” Ashlyn cuts him off flatly, wearing the most deadpan, unimpressed ‘just kiss already’ expression he's ever seen as she looks between the two flustered teenagers, who both pointedly ignore the knowing look.
“R-right.” Tyler stammers before sitting back down on the rusted pipe, glaring at Logan and Taylor who are laughing over the pictures he had managed to take of the incident.
Guess the camera was good for something.
Ash and Ben keep going over the plan, Tyler pretending to listen, trying (and failing) to stop thinking about what happened, and how close Aiden was, and the warm buzz he felt at the closeness. His thoughts have his eyes wander back to Aiden, who is sitting beside Ashlyn (as always), he’s doing his weird staring thing, looking at Tyler with dark, intense eyes, blinking forgotten. They lock eyes, and for five stuttering heartbeats neither of them look away, till Aiden finally blinks and looks away with a slight blush, hand covering his mouth, the chilled breeze tousling his blonde hair, the dimming light catching the dancing strands, casting shadows that sharpened his features.
Tyler swallows, looking back to Ben, who's communicating through his phone, he notices Ash looking at him, she looks between him and Aiden, raising a brow. Tyler blinks, then shakes his head, slightly panicked. Hell no, this wasn't that… right? Ashlyn rolls her eyes then turns to Logan and Taylor, whispering something to the two of them, who both glances between the two flustered boys.
Tyler scowls at his hands. He hates Aiden (sorta... kinda), so why the fuck were the three of them looking at him like they understood something they didn't?
💚🤍💙
Tyler is going to murder someone, or himself. He hasn’t decided yet. Logan forgot his jumper at Aidens the night before and he’s busy doing something he promised his grandparents he’d do with them today so he rang up Tyler to ask him to pick it up. Usually Tyler would say no and dig up any excuse not to go to the annoyingly pretty blonde dude who made Tyler want to rip all his hair out, but Tyler still owed Logan from the time he had given him all the answers during a test, and Tyler couldn’t just say no to that. He had asked Taylor to come with him, but his sitter had just grinned.
“Nope,” she popped the P, bouncing on the balls of her feet, “I'm going to the movies with Ash.” Tyler rolled his eyes, ever since they had gotten into this weird relationship thing (Ashlyn had come out to them as Aroace) they had been spending a lot more time with each other.
Taylor had explained to him a few times that they were in a romantic relationship with each other but Ashlyn didn’t feel romantic about her. Tyler had asked how that worked and she threw her arm around him, leaning in close as if revealing a big secret. “Well, dear brother, it works because she does still love me, that love just isn’t romantic, but she feels a stronger connection with me and is happy to do romantic things and be referred to as my girlfriend.”
Tyler had admitted that, as confusing as it was (he only figured out he was Bi a few months before - and no, it wasn't because of a certain blonde haired, brown eyed boy - and he was still trying to learn everything) he thought they were cute together and fully supported their relationship. So Tyler had to watch with barely concealed despair as his twin opened the door, hugging the blank faced redhead who just reached for her hand and turned, walking back down the driveway, offering her cheek for a small kiss Taylor gladly provided.
So here he is, on his bike, seven hours before midnight, the sunlight already dimming, cycling to Aiden and Ben's home. He makes it to the ridiculously polished home and swings off his bike, walking up to the huge, fancy door. He knocks, waiting around, feeling oddly awkward as no one answers, so he knocks again, till he finally uses the doorbell, wincing as he hears the annoying shrill of the artificial bell echo around the house. Seconds before he gives in and calls it a day, already texting Logan an apology and promise to get it the next day, Danielle, Aiden's mother, finally opens the door, talking hurriedly on the phone, dressed professionally, clearly in the middle of an important work call. She covers the bottom of the phone with her hand, blocking the microphone and looks down at Tyler, who feels like a bit of an ass for knocking so much. “Aiden's in his room,” she half whispers to him, barely glancing down, already turning away, talking hurriedly into the phone, striding into one of the many rooms, which Tyler assumes is an office and closing the door with a soft click.
Tyler huffs, still at the door “....not what I was asking.” Tyler props his bike against the side of the house before closing the door behind himself, texting Logan to forget his last two texts. Tyler sighs, he was hoping he’d be able to skip an unnecessary round of butting heads with the blonde, but for some stupid (definitely stupid) reason, the thought of not seeing Aiden feels worse than the idea of arguing with him.
Tyler walks in, trying not to feel like he’s intruding, muffling his steps on the carpet so as to not disturb Danielle, wincing when the stairs creek loudly under his foot, so he pries his shoes off while awkwardly hopping up the stairs at the same time. He easily finds Aiden’s room, the door covered in random stickers, he recognises a few Arcane, Marvel and Dead Poets Society stickers, it's all so obvious which room is Aiden’s when there are the letters A.I.D.E.N drawn on in messy writing with colourful Sharpy.
Tyler can hear music leaking out from under the door, something loud and fast, smoothing you can easily dance to, the bass strong enough for Tyler to feel it through his socks. Tyler turns to the opposite door, with B.E.N written in black, neat writing, not too big, not too small on the plain door. He’s met with no answer when he knocks, and knowing Ben, even if he does have his headphones in, he’d have opened the door, so he was either not home or ignoring him. So he turns and knocks once. Twice. On Aiden's door, and sure enough, the idiot doesn't open so Tyler just pushes through the door with a roll for his eyes. He finds Aiden on the bed. He blinks, slowly. Processing what he’s seeing.
Aiden is lying on his stomach on his ridiculously big bed with Lightning McQueen bedding, legs kicking up high in the air, long socks that are usually crumpled at his ankles falling to mid-shin. He hums, singing softly under his breath along with the lively music, which Tyler realises is very dark after five seconds of lyrics, before Aiden sticks his tongue out, keeping it from moving, as the blonde leans closer to his flexed out hand, held up in the air, fingers spread as the other hand holds a small brush dipped in polish.
“...the fuck are you doing?” Tyler asks, a small frown of confusion tugging at his lips, he’s never seen Aiden with painted nails. Aiden drags his lidded eyes away from their focus to reluctantly look at Tyler, lighting up for a second before the glint is hidden away by a cool, lazy look.
“Painting my nails,”
“Well duh,” Tyler rolls his eyes, walking further into the messy room, clothes books, and god knows what else, strewn aross the place, “that much was obvious," his arms are crossed over his chest as he looks down at where Aiden is lying, hooking the door with his foot to push it closed, “but why?”
Aiden shrugs, going back to his task of putting clear polish over the first black coating. “Why not?” Aiden answers smoothly, he swings his feet over the side of the bed, pushing himself up to a seated position, half hurling himself from the bed, giving Tyler a mini heart attack, despite the bed (thankfully) not being a high bed. Aiden walks over to his messy desk and grabs his contact lens case, prying one eye open to indelicately shove the red plastic in his eyes, blinking rapidly to fix the small contraptions position and repeating the process on the second eye. A heavy question that always pops up in Tyler's mind whenever he sees Aiden covering the brown of his eyes, slips out from between his usually tight lips. “Why’d you wear red contacts?”
Aiden pauses, clearly not expecting the question, “Because it makes me look more badass.” Aiden turns to give a big grin to Tyler, whose stomach becomes best friends with electrified butterflies. Tyler forces a small mocking snort. “Huh, sure, then why paint your nails black?” he looks back pointedly at said painted nails (that were honestly kinda cool.)
Aiden wiggles his fingers in the air. The bright red light of his LED strips — haphazardly stuck against the rim of the ceiling and the edge of any furniture touching the walls — darkens the posters and photos that are wonkily displayed in a sloppy way only Aiden would think looks good. One of the photos is one Logan took of him and Aiden fighting hangs on the wall right by his bed, and Tyler feels something warm in his chest. He pulls his eyes away from the picture of Aiden smiling while half tackling Tyler, who is caught mid-yell, and back to Aiden's hands, the light reflecting in the clear finishing coat, making the black of his nails sparkle with a red sheen.
“Because it makes me look fabulous.” Aiden sings the last word with a wiggle of his fingers, the answer so unexpected that Tyler lets out a laugh he didn't realise he had let out until after the fact. His reaction seems to make Aiden smile bigger and Tyler decides that he much prefers that smile. The one with no teeth, but was pure, unfiltered happiness. Aiden stares for a few seconds before snapping out of it and flopping onto his bed. “Sooooo, why y’here?”
Oh shit, yeah, the jumper.
“Oh, Logan left his jumper here, and I owe him, so I came to pick it up.” Aiden's smile seemed to fade slightly from the answer, but covers it up with his fake, toothy smile Tyler hates.
“Not here for me then?” He asks, his voice is light, but there's a small edge of hurt in it. Tyler lets out a forced chuckle.
“Uhm, not really, no.” he stupidly answers the question that really didn’t need an answer.
“The TMA one?” Aiden asks, leaning over his bed to shuffle through a pile of clothes, on seeing Tyler's confused face he clarifies, "the jumper with all those creepy green eyes?”
Tyler nods, “Yup, that's the one.”
“Here,” Aiden holds out the jumper, Tyler reaches out for it and their fingers brush. Tyler feels his heart jump, skipping though five quick beats, but he quickly curls his hand away to keep the flush from creeping any higher up his neck. Aiden's hand hangs in the air for a second, as if still looking for the contact, still half reaching out for Tyler before lowering.
“C’mon,” the blonde mutters softly, slipping on his own jumper, his big grey one with the messily painted yellow smiley face on the front, before gently tugging Tyler towards the door, “I’ll walk you down.”
💚🤍💙
Aiden leans against the wall as Tyler crouches down to slip on his shoes, double tying the laces.
“Nike? Really?” Tyler looks up with a frown to where Aiden is staring at his shoes with mild disappointment, “thought you had taste.”
“Hey! These are nice shoes.” Tyler defends himself, scowling deep.
“No they’re not, they are so basic-”
“Well what do you wear, oh-so-esteemed shoe guru?”
“Converse, duh.,” Aiden rolls his red eyes, pointing his sock clad foot that has a hole in it, at a messy pile of battered, barely-holding-it-together shoes that were all proudly sporting the Converse logo.
Tyler stands up, rolling his eyes. “Not all of us are filthy rich. We can't all waste money on stupid shoes.”
Aiden gives him a smug smile. “Yeah well, guess some are born lucky.”
Tyler snorts. “You have no idea,” he mutters under his breath, giving Aiden one last tight smile, before turning to the door and opening it, he falters midstep. What does he say now? Usually he just lets Taylor do all the goodbyes, but even if she was here, what would he do or say? This has probably been the first time they’ve been in a room together and didn't fight. What's more, they actually laughed and joked. It feels like ever since that day at the graveyard, something shifted between the two of them. They've been talking more, sitting closer instead of opposite ends of the table, their arguments felt more light hearted, bordering on teasing. And it left Tyler feeling completely lost, so he said the first thing that came to head to escape this prolonged awkward moment.
“So, uh, bye, thanks for the jumper,” He’s about to rush out when a soft, warm hand wraps itself around his wrist., warm, thin fingers hold onto him, stopping him from moving, keeping him close. Tyler turns back to Aiden with a frown, question ready on his tongue, only for the shorter teenager to reach up on his toes and press his lips to Tyler's.
Tyler knows Aiden is reckless, and stupid, that he never thinks before acting, that he messes around and does things he doesn’t mean. and this? This was definitely one of those times. But Tyler revels in it. Aiden still has a hand wrapped around Tyler's wrist, as if holding him still, keeping him grounded to the moment. His other hand gripping the front of Tyler's half open zip-up hoodie for balance. And his lips, god, his lips were so soft against Tyler’s, pressing against his chapped ones in a way that makes Tyler want to explode in a wave of emotions and feelings that buzz frantically under his skin. The kiss resetting his heart for a second before it starts to beat wildly, pumping electrified blood through overheating veins which heats his skin. It takes Aiden pulling back slightly, eyes opening questioningly, for Tyler to realise he was so lost in the feeling of Aiden, that he wasn't kissing back. So he shifts their hands so Aiden's sits perfectly in his, and kisses back.
And oh, doesn’t that just feel perfect.
Kissing the other boy back should make him erupt, should make that buzzing, electrified feeling double, instead it grounds him to this moment, it holds him still in this warm, fluffy feeling of their hands slotting together perfectly, the slight lean against him that keeps Aiden upright. Kissing the other boy back keeps him breathing through the frantic tidal wave of feeling that almost overwhelms him in the best way possible. And when they break apart, cheeks flushing red, hearts beating loud, only then does Tyler realize he'd closed his eyes, and he slides them open to see Aiden's face, cheeks flushes a deep red, his pupils blown wide, hooded eyes darting away, mouth hiding behind the hand that was just tangled in his jumper.
Tyler lets out a soft, breathless laugh at the gesture and pulls the others hand away. “That,” he breathes, voice warm “was the most stupid thing you’ve ever done.” Aiden ducks his head, face flushing darker in embarrassment, his hand untangling from Tyler's. So Tyler kisses him again, melting into the feelings that flush over him again. Tyler wants to drown in the feeling. “-and i hope you keep doing it.”
Aiden looks up at Tyler, squeezing his hand with a disbelieving laugh, pressing his forehead against Tyler's collar, shaking his head slightly. “You’re so sappy, and we've only kissed twice.” Aiden teases, lacing both their hands together by their sides.
“Shut up,” Tyler laughs, “I hate you.” Aiden moves his eyes to look up at Tyler from his resting place, chin resting against Tyler.
“I hate you too,” the cute idiot smiles. A proper smile. The one that makes Tyler want to kiss him over and over again till he only smiles real, as real as the moon and the stars that wake every night. So he does, he peppers the other boy with kisses, wrapping his arms around Aiden's waist to hold him in place as he continues his assault of kisses. Aiden lets out a half shriek, half laugh as he playfully tries to push Tyler away.
“Get off, halfwit!” Aiden laughs, shoving Tyler out the door, “go home, or Taylor will ask so many dumb questions!”
Tyler reluctantly leaves, but not before kissing his (possibly) boyfriend one last time before cycling home. So what if he can’t help the smile on his face? Or that even after he got home he was still thinking about the dumbass? And maybe, that night, when the group finally has a second of peace from the Phantoms, and when no one is looking, they kiss one last time (for now.)
And when Ashlyn asks what's got him in such a good mood, he just shrugs with a small smile, because he has finally figured out how he feels about the stupidly gorgeous blonde haired dumbass who holds his hand when no one's looking.
And oh yeah, Tyler hates Aiden.