Always (Boyxboy)

Chapter Thirteen- Tyler

It had been three weeks since Tyler had last seen Pierce, and he was starting to need to put effort into avoiding him. When he first decided to give himself some time away from the older man to figure everything out, he had thought it would be incredibly easy, especially since he could mostly push the man from his mind once they bite marks on his neck faded– and they had faded, leaving behind smooth unmarked skin and a disappointment Tyler didn't even try to put into words to avoid judgment.

It typically, avoiding Pierce would have been easy, since Pierce was rarely the one to reach out to him, and when he did he was never very persistent about it, but something had clearly changed after that afternoon they spent together, because this time, when Pierce texted him, he kept texting him.

After finally admitting his feelings for him, Tyler desperately wanted to respond. When he had gotten the first message, about a week and a half ago, he had stayed up the entire night and started at the screen with tired eyes, wondering what was going through the other man's head, and if he should abandon his whole avoiding Pierce thing and just talk to him. This was clearly the correct way to deal with things, but every time he considered it, Tyler thought about Ace, and something held him back.

Ever since that first text, Pierce had reached out to him at least once a day. He didn't even always ask Tyler about sex. Some of them were texts to check on him, simple are you okay? And have you been sleeping? Tyler never responded, and it was weird to him that Pierce kept trying, but he couldn't deny the warm feeling that settled in his chest every time a new message came in. He was always quick to read them, scrambling to check his phone even when he was in class, and slow to get over them.

Much of the time when he couldn't sleep was spent reading and rereading all of the messages.

"Hey," James's voice reached him, and a second later his friends hand was resting on the bend of his elbow. "You're zoning out again. Are you alright? Do you want to try to get some sleep?"

Even if he tried he wouldn't get any, but Tyler didn't want to worry James by saying this so he just said, "no I'm fine. Sorry," as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, clicking off his phone screen and tossing the device away from him. James followed the cell phone with his eyes before looking back at Tyler, eyebrows slightly raised.

James knew, but of course he did, since he seemed to know the things about Tyler even Tyler didn't know.

"Pierce reach out to you again?" James inquired and Tyler nodded. "What'd he say this time?"

"Just, let me know if you need something, you annoying fucking shit," Tyle recited, a smile pulling at his lips. "He really has a way with words, doesn't he?"

James seemed unsure of how to respond to this, but he eventually mumbled, "sure". It made Tyler chuckle, knowing how different it was from the sweet wat Kalen and James spoke to one another, but his smile quickly faded.

"I wonder if this will be his last message for a while... I mean he's kind of leaving it in my hands".

"Would that bother you?" James inquired, watching him closely. "If he stopped texting you?"

"I mean... if it were me, I would stop as well, since I never say anything back, but I like receiving them. It kind of shows me he cares, at least a little bit, you know? But it's completely unfair of me to expect him to continue without giving him anything in return. For all he knows I'm not even reading them," Tyler explained softly.

"Right, Yeah. Makes sense," James offered unhelpfully. "If it possible for you to just send him something small? Just to let him know you're acknowledging his existence?"