simply sincere • a tronnor au ✔️

chapter fifteen

Once Troye had parked in the driveway, he quickly got out of his car, ready to rant to Bethany about how wrong she was about Shane. Of course, Shane probably had no knowledge of Troyes friendship with Connor, but he still didn't have to be that harsh about it. 

With a firm knock on the front door, Troye waited there impatiently, surprised to see that Bethany was not the one to answer the door. 

"Troye? Aren't you supposed to be on a date?" Connor questioned, looking confused. "And are those my clothes?"  Troye didn't have time to explain to Connor everything, he needed to rant about Shane to Bethany. 

"Yes and yes," He replied, looking into the house for any sign of Bethany. "Is Bethany here? I need to talk to her," 

"No, she's out with friends, why?" Connor asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Troye contemplated on just leaving and waiting to talk to Bethany about this tomorrow, but then he remembered Connor's relationship with Shane. 

'listen, I just, God I just had the worse date of my life and I need to rant, may I?" Troye asked, gesturing to inside Connor's house. Connor seemed confused at first, but then understood what troye was implying. 

"What? Oh, uh yeah. We can just, uh, go in my room." Connor stuttered, moving out of the way for Troye to enter. Troye silently thanked him and made his way over to Connor's room, letting himself in. 

"So, " Connor laughed, taking a seat on his bed and closing his laptop. "What's the deal with the clothes?" 

Troye blushed, looking down at his clothing. "I dressed too fancy, so Bethany made me change."  To be completely honest, Connor didn't give a fuck if troye stole his clothes - he looked great in them. 

"How the hell did you dress too fancy? Did you wear a tie?" Connor joked, laughing at himself. Troye only looked to the ground, even more resembled than before. "You didn't..." Connor said, shocked.

"I didn't know, okay?" This just caused both boys to break down in laughter. Troye was thankful for this, he really needed to laugh after all the shit he's been through this past week.

"so anyways, your date?" Connor inquired, changing the topic. 

"God, Connor, it was so bad," Troye couldn't help but laugh at himself for being stupid enough to agree on going on this date. "All he did was talk, he never stopped! whenever I tried to engage in a conversation with him, he'd just interrupt me or disagree with me! It was horrible." 

"Tell me about it," Connor scoffed, thinking back to all the horrible dates he had encountered with Shane. 

"Oh, but that's not even the worst part," Troye warned, switching his position to he was facing Connor. "He was talking shit about you!" 

"About me?" Connor raised his eyebrow. He didn't know if he should laugh about it or cry, but all he did know was that he really did despise Shane. 

"Like, he brought up Bethany and how you two are step-siblings. Then he fucking called you a weenie for not wanting to come out when you two were dating." 

"what did you do?" Connor questioned, his voice cracking as he spoke quietly. 

"I got the check and left, I couldn't stand another minute with that asshole."

"did you really?" Connor's face brightened up a bit at Troye's words.

"Yeah, God, I can't believe I agreed to go on a date with him." 

Connor just chuckled in response, cause it really was ridiculous. Troye had just gotten out of a relationship, and now he was back in the dating scene? 

That's just plain absurd, in Connor's opinion. 

"Like, especially with him," Troye continued, catching Connor's attention. "I should've declined it as soon as Bethany told me about your guys' history. it's just cruel to go out with the ex of somebody you care about."

Connor felt weird after Troye had said that. He felt as if his stomach was twisted in a knot. The butterflies that inhabited his stomach, metaphorically of course, took flight. He decided he liked this feeling, especially since it was Troye causing him to make him feel this way. 

"That's like you going on a date with Joey," Troye started, only to be stopped by Connor. 

"God I could never do that to you," he stated. "even if it is kind of different."

"What do you mean different?"

"I mean, you were in love with Joey, I wasn't even close to being in love with Shane."

"am." Troye corrected.

"what?"

"I am in love with Joey, Connor. and I don't know how to stop." 

Now, it felt as if all those metaphorical butterflies were all shot and killed, just by Troye's words. 

"Troye," Connor started, preparing himself for what was about to come. "Troye, listen, I care about you a whole lot, but what you have with Joey, it isn't love."

"What are you saying, Connor?" 

"What I'm saying is, I don't believe in love anymore, Troye. To be, love is stupid and pointless if it isn't a guaranteed forever. However, if love is real, then I know that what you have with Joey isn't love."

"Just because you don't believe in love, doesn't mean I don't."

"I know, but ask yourself these questions, Troye. Is Joey someone you can see spending your future with? Someone who you can trust, no matter what? would you pick Joey over your friends?" 

"Well when you put it that way," Troye admitted, looking down at his hands. 

"God Troye, I care about you a lot, you need to understand that. I'm not trying to make you feel differently about Joey, I'm just trying to make sure you don't get hurt again." Connor admitted. 

"That day, at the mall, it was so painful to see you so hurt, Troye. You can't give up on a potential relationship because you're still hung up on Joey. You don't deserve him."

"Then what do I deserve, Connor?" Troye questioned, a bit of anger evident in his voice. "How do you know what i do and don't deserve?"

"Because everybody deserves a real relationship. Everybody deserves to have someone that makes them happy, someone who actually cares. Everybody deserves to have someone they can trust, that they can call when they're feeling down. everybody deserves that kind of relationship, both platonically and romantically." 

Troye's anger had died down, cause he knew Connor was right. the only problem was he didn't know how to find somebody like that. He didn't know if he ever would. 

"Then name one person who could give that to me." Troye demanded, but not harshly. 

"Romantically or platonically?"

"Both." 

"simple," Connor smiled, working up the courage to give Troye his answer. "Me, I could give both to you." 

The room fell silent as Troye just looked at Connor, trying to process what he had just said. 

"Connor..."

"No no, before you say anything, let me speak," Connor requested, holding his hands up. "I know you're not ready for a relationship and blah blah blah, and I also know you don't like me like that and blah blah blah, so it's okay, I understand." 

"Then would you be alright if you give me 'what I deserve' platonically for now?" Troye questioned, relieved that Connor understood what he was feeling. 

"I'd be more than happy to, Troye." And that was the truth. Sure, maybe Troye didn't like Connor in the way Connor liked Troye, but being Troye's friend was enough for him. 

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A/N 

lol who r we kidding this is a fanfic ofc troye is gonna end up having feelings for connor at some point in the story,,,, just not as soon as you'd hope