Freak (Troyler AU)

Chapter Twenty-One

*Troye's POV*

I hadn't expected Tyler to follow me to my car, definitely not when I'd been such an asshole. I didn't mean to, it just sort of hurt when he'd been so sarcastic about my nickname suggestion. I mean, what had I really expected? We weren't five year olds, we were eighteen year olds and nicknames were hardly a necessary aspect of friendships anymore. It's just, I'd never really had the chance to experience that stage where nicknames were cool, you know? 

So you can probably imagine my surprise when he suddenly charged into my back, knocking the breath right out of me. I stumbled forward, grabbing onto the hood of my car for support subtly. I turned around to glare at him, swallowing hard when I came face to face with his usual happy grin. It's weird how much it meant to me knowing that I was the one to make him smile, especially when he was smiling ninety-percent of the time anyway, but that didn't change the bubbly feeling it gave me when I managed to make him grin even slightly. I came back to Earth slowly, feeling completely bashful that I'd managed to get lost in my head yet again. My embarrassment quickly faded though, noticing Tyler had been too lost in his own mind to notice my slip-up. He was still staring up at me and smiling, though his eyes had a faraway look in them. I decided to indulge myself for a second, staring back into his framed eyes. As overly cheesy as it was to admit, they really did seem to sparkle in the moonlight. He didn't look away though, and eventually I forced myself to put an end to the moment before it ended up awkward.

"Can I help you?" I asked, suddenly remembering that I was mad at him, even if his eyes were sparkly and easy to get lost in. These eyes immediately darted to the ground at my question, making it very hard to predict what he was about to say.

"I just didn't want to go to bed with you mad at me." He mumbled, sounding very childish as he pouted down at the ground. I felt my resolve slipping the longer I looked at his puppy dog face, eventually giving in and shoving my keys into my pocket. I closed the door then, taking a step closer to him and fighting the urge to hug him. Of course I wanted to, but I had to have my limits. Sooner or later he was really going to question how touchy-feely I was around him compared to everyone else in the world.

"I'm not mad." I said honestly, shoving my hands into my pockets. If I wanted to get specific I wasn't really sure what I was. I wasn't mad though, how could I be with him standing in front of me so intent on gaining my forgiveness?

"You're not happy either. I was being serious you know, I really do like the nickname." His serious tone caught me off guard. He was barely ever serious, making it all the more important to focus on when he actually was. I eyed him warily, not finding any hint of sarcasm on his face.

"You do?" I asked quietly, watching him bob his head eagerly and look up at me with those same sparkly eyes.

"Yeah, it's special, something only you can call me." He elaborated, his voice just short of a whisper. I felt my lips twitch up, threatening to break out into the huge smile I knew was coming with his sweet words. It definitely sounded a lot cooler when he explained it like that. It was almost like it was a privelage for me to be able to call him that, something that only I was allowed to do. I took a deep breath, reaching forward to squeeze his shoulder seeing as a hug was out of the question still. I was actually surprised when I felt the familiar buzz, mostly because the mind-reading had been really on the fritz the entire night. I'd barely heard anything he was thinking, much less important things.

I wonder where he got Tilly? It's so cute and innocent! It's also really close to Tallie, which only makes it even cuter. 

I blushed at how bubbly his thoughts were, wondering how he found ways to use the word 'cute' so often and still make it work. Didn't he have any other words in his mental vocabulary? As much as I could silently bash him for not having more creativity, there was no denying his thoughts had made me considerably more happy. If I hadn't been reassured earlier that he genuinely liked it, I was now.