Always (Boyxboy)

Chapter Eleven - Tyler

Pierce still needed lightbulbs, so he drove Tyler back to the home improvement store, where his car had been parked for the night. His goodbye to the black haired boy had been a brief, "Thanks for the breakfast asshole," before he jogged across the parking lot towards his car, pulling the collar of the light coat he had borrowed from Pierce up to cover his neck, just in case he forgot to do it later.

He had to get home, and quickly.

Him and Pierce, after kissing in the older man's room until their lips were sore, had spent their afternoon watching a rather graphic zombie television show, which both of them had found extremely entertaining. It was halfway through the forth episode when Pierce's cell phone rang.

Strangely enough, it had been James calling, having gotten the number from Kalen, trying to get in contact with Tyler, whose phone had died without him realizing it. James had informed him that Tyler's mother was freaking out due to the absence of her son. Being a wonderful friend, James had lied and told Ty's mother that Tyler had been at his house the whole time working on a history project, and "no he can't talk to you right now Mrs. Amore, he fell asleep". It had bought Tyler some time, and he thankfully wouldn't be murder by his mother, but he still desperately needed to get home.

As he drove, he thought about how he should have called his mother when he had thought about it that morning, but then he considered his afternoon with Pierce, and how great of a time he had doing something other than fighting or having sex with the older man.

When they weren't trying to pick a fight with one another, they actually got along really well. Maybe they would actually be able to manage being friends. Being fuck buddies sounded a bit more appealing if they could actually accomplish the buddies part.

By the time he got home, which had not taken long due to the face that he didn't live far from the store and he had sped home, he was thinking about what Pierce would think if Tyler asked him to hang out some more. Just a day ago, Tyler had been terrified to reach out to Pierce to see if they could hook up sooner than they usually would, afraid that Pierce would get the wrong idea, but something about that afternoon told him he had nothing to worry about. Pierce wouldn't get the wrong idea.

He had been causal the entire afternoon, agreeing to do what Tyler wanted and at his pace. Never once had Pierce looked at him accusingly, or asked him why Tyler had wanted to say. He hadn't assumed anything about it. Casual.

They were totally causal.

He pulled into his driveway as he thought this, parking in the empty space behind his mother's car, where his father's vehicle would be on the rare case that he was actually home. Even on weekends he was gone more than he was actually there, since he picked up extra shifts at work whenever possible.

His father wasn't very good at staying home and relaxing.

Tyler turned off his car, and then check to make sure that the collar of Pierce's jacket was still covering the dark bite marks on his neck in the mirror. He could only imagine the look on his mother's face if he walked into the house with those visible and a lie about spending the night at James's on his tongue. She would maybe even kill him— and probably James, for that matter.

After assuring he was safe, he left his car, eyes immediately picking up on the movement of the curtains in the living room window at the sound of the car door. His mother's face peered out at him a moment later and he timidly raised a hand to wave at her, but before she could even see the gesture, the curtain was falling closed again.

The front door was pulled open by the time he finished walking up the front porch steps, and his mother launched herself at him, hugging him tightly. They didn't hug very often anymore— he couldn't even remember the last time they had— and Tyler was slightly shocked at the size difference between them. It felt like not that long ago that she had to look down at him to address him, but now she somehow only reached his collarbone. "Where have you been?" She demanded, hugging him for a second longer before pushing him back with her hands on his shoulders to look up at his face. He stumbled slightly at the action, and for a moment he feared he was going to fall backward off the porch, but her grip on his shoulders remained firm, keeping him from going anywhere.