Blind side (Tronnor AU)

10. Different

Everything was wrong for a couple of weeks after the 'skateboard incident', as Troye referred to it in his head.

It almost resembled the way things were the first months after he and Connor met - strained small talk, false smiles and concerned glances from their friends.

Except this time Tyler was not there to alleviate the pressure, so Caspar just sided naturally with Connor, and Troye attached himself to Zoe permanently, pretending that everything was alright.

It was painful and awkward, until one day Connor saw Troye struggle with his books, which were about to burst his backpack open in the middle of the library, and offered to help, and everything just snapped back in its place, and they remembered how it was supposed to be, them being best friends.

Something was still a bit off, but Troye couldn't quite pin it though, and he was silently grateful for the way things seemed to work fine at the moment.

So when Korey announced it was time to visit Tyler, the only emotion Troye experienced was excitement for the road trip and for meeting his friend again.

Cuddled up on the backseat with Connor, he traded him some of his chocolate snacks for an inflatable travel pillow, which they ended up sharing, much to Korey's and Zoe's amusement, while snorting at the Connor's group chat with his ex-teammates. The drive was pleasant and fun for everyone, except, probably, Korey, who was designated as a driver and couldn't afford a deep slumber in his seat, so complained loudly and made Connor promise to drive on their way back.

Tyler was greeting them on the front porch of his old family house, still clad in his pajamas, waving energetically, as all four of them rushed from the car to give him a tight hug.

They never stopped talking for a second, while Tyler showed them around the house, where he lived alone at the moment, his mom still in recovery in the hospital and his step-family at their own place.

Spending the afternoon sightseeing was simultaneously exhausting and stimulating, the amount of new things to explore weighing Troye down slightly and making him sleepy-eyed. Tyler, however, was having none of it, insisting that they go out because he wanted to brag to them about his new friends and show off his old friends to the new ones. They were so tired that it was simpler for them to go along with everything Tyler proposed rather than actually come up with some sensible reasons to refuse.

Tyler's 'San Francisco crew', as they labelled themselves, was different, but in a good way. The majority of them being older than Troye, they were graduates and had full-time jobs, however, none of them took themselves too seriously and that is why Tyler fit right in. Troye genuinely liked them, and judging by the looks Connor and Zoe gave them, he was clearly not alone.

"My precious little twink bottom number one, please meet my precious little twink bottom número dos," Tyler slurred, a little bit tipsy, grabbing Troye's attention and motioning to another friend of his.

As everyone at the table laughed at Troye's expression of repressed panic and mild hatred, the boy he was being introduced to just shrugged it off, shaking Troye's hand, "I'm Ben, by the way," before turning to mock-glare at Tyler, "Since when I'm your número dos?"

Troye, recovering, imitated Ben's posture, asking, "Since when I'm your bottom?"

Tyler's face was red and dewy from all the incessant laughing, as he hugged them both happily.

Troye returned to his seat, looking questioningly at Connor, who in his turn was glaring exasperatedly at his phone screen, "What's wrong, Connie?"

Connor shoved his phone into Troye's face, where on the screen there was a picture of someone's behind. Troye stifled a giggle, "What is this?"

The other boy rolled his eyes, "Kian's butt, apparently. I've seen JC's and Rebecca's already today. They are spamming me all day in the group chat with butt pics. I swear I'm gonna mute them," Connor complained, his eyes still mirthful though.