Boy/Boy Problems

Running away and standing still

Finally, after weeks of looking over his shoulder, after a number of uncomfortably vague conversations with his mother, after way too many insinuations from his sister and innuendos from Alice, after one incredibly awkward dinner with his Luke Ryan's family. Finally, Teddy was free. Not completely free of course, he was still caught in the horrid position of pretending to not be in love with the boy he was pretending to be in love with. But for two whole days, Teddy was free from commitments, he was free from family, and most importantly he was free from Luke Ryan.

Luke had flown out of the country that morning. Lily had a paper due and his mother had stopped feigning interested weeks ago. Rah would call at some point but she was set to follow Luke to LA that afternoon to prepare for Teddy's arrival. That's what she said anyway, he knew he was well over due for an in person damage control meeting with the label and she was going early to bare the brunt of their anger. Teddy would have to deal with what was left in three days when he arrived in LA but until then he was all alone without risk interruption and he was going to make the most of it. He was determined to use his time well, he was going to work through all his feelings about Luke before he left so that by the time he reached LA he'd be cool, calm, collected and ready to take anything Luke threw at him. That was the plan anyway.

Teddy spent a leisurely morning in bed thinking about Luke Ryan... but that wasn't particularly helpful in his quest to sort through his feelings. Before 10 AM he'd dragged himself out of bed and down to the gym in his building in an attempt to run away from his feelings without actually going anywhere.

Teddy liked running, if he ran fast and hard enough he could make his mind shut up for a few minutes at a time and it was bliss. He hated working out generally, but he had to do it because his fans were rather attached to the way his arms looked when he wore tank tops. But running was something he did for himself. It didn't really help him work through his feelings, but at least it couldn't make it worse.

He was running when his phone rang and he answered it without checking who it was because he wasn't thinking. He was free from thought and he heard his phone so he answered it because that's what you do when your phone rings if you're a normal person who is not trying to avoid the world. Even if he had been thinking Teddy probably would have answered anyway, he was waiting on a call from Rah before she flew out and he thought everyone else was uncontactable.

"Where the fuck are you?" asked Luke without even saying hello first. He sounded strangely angry and Teddy was not in the mood.

"Luke?" questioned Teddy, his breath heavy and fast from running. He slowed the treadmill to a jog so he could think enough to work out why Luke was angry with him this time. He hadn't tweeted anything, or been seen anywhere he wasn't supposed to be.

Things had been going well. The fans, and the press had taken the bait of Teddy being at Luke's family lunch and they'd been following his every move for two weeks to see if they appeared in the same place again. They did. Twice. And everyone went nuts about it. Everything was going to plan and Teddy had done nothing since their last meeting so he couldn't think of a single reason Luke would be mad at him.

"Are you wanking?" laughed Luke cutting through Teddy's thoughts, anger gone as though it had never been there to begin with. Fucking actors and their wayward emotions, thought Teddy. Luke could go from one extreme to another with the click of a finger and it was exhausting. Teddy liked to hold onto this feelings, let them linger and fester until they no longer made sense. Those senseless dead emotions made the best songs.

"No fuck," said Teddy turning the treadmill down further and trying to slow his breath. "I'm in the gym."

"The one in your building?"