Always (Boyxboy)

Chapter Seventeen- Pierce

Tyler was rambling on about nothing as he followed behind Pierce, stopping at the kitchen table and leaning back against it. Pierce tried to ignore him to the best of his ability, since he wasn't making any sense, but Tyler managed to grasp his attention when he said, "I hate myself, you know".

Pausing, hand halfway lifted to the cupboard that held all of their glasses, Pierce said, "I didn't know that". His hand landed on the handle of the door, but he didn't open it, instead turning to look over his shoulder at the green eyed boy. Tyler's head was tilted back again, and his eyes were open wide, staring at the ceiling.

"It's all my fault. I hate myself for what I did to him. I hate myself for falling out of love with him because he deserved to have someone who loved him. He'd probably hate me for it too, I think, now that I know how he felt. I think I would have broken his heart," Tyler said, sounding incredibly sad. Something in Pierce's chest squeezed, tightly, and he turned away quickly so whatever emotion he was feeling wouldn't be displayed to Tyler when he had decided to lower his chin.

For as long as they had been doing this, over three years now, Pierce had never considered the fact that Tyler could have possibly had someone else. Someone who he didn't love anymore, Pierce reminded himself, but it didn't make him feel much better. He wanted to know who, and was about to ask, but then Tyler began to talk about going to the pool the summer before eighth grade and sunglasses and Pierce just shook his head, finally grabbing a glass.

The tap water was warm, so he waited a minute for it to cool, raising his free hand to rub at his eyes in the process. He had only gotten about twenty minutes of sleep before Tyler had come pounding at his door, and he was tired, but the boy behind him was overtired to the point of being delusional, so he forced his eyes to stay open and pushed the glass under the faucet once the water was cold enough, filling it half way. It was when he was drying the glass with a hand towel– since Tyler didn't seem like he would be very good at holding things at the moment and he wanted to make it as non slippery as possible– when it occurred to him that Tyler's voice was no longer reaching his ears.

Before he could even consider what this meant there was a loud bang from behind him, the sound of rattling silverware on the table, and then a heavy thud as something hit the floor. It wasn't hard to guess what. "Ah, shit," he breathed, trying to place the glass of water on the counter while moving towards Tyler at the same time, his eyes forward. It didn't work, and there was the sound of glass breaking against the floor behind him, and water splashed at his bare feet, but he ignored it as he rushed over to the boy lying on the floor by the table, out cold. "Fuck fuck fuck".

He dropped to his hands and knees and pulled Tyler's head into his lap, his fingers searching through the boys thick brown hair at the back of his head, trying to feel for any wound caused by hitting his head so heavily on the table. When he found nothing, he sighed in relief.

Both bedroom doors were opening then and Garett emerged first. His eyes were looking forward, eyebrows knit together in confusion, but then his gaze dropped to their level and he swore under his breath, moving forward quickly. "What happened?" He crouched beside them and looked down at Tyler with wide eyes.

"He was overtired and passed out and hit his head on the table while going down," Pierce explained, looking down at the boy in his lap, hoping to see Tyler's eyes open. They weren't. "Shit, I don't know if he's unconscious because he's so tired or because he hit his head so hard. I think... I think he needs to go to the hospital".

Garett's mouth opened to respond, but the voice that reached his ears was far more feminie. "What's going on?" The woman from the bar, whose name he had already forgotten asked. Pierce felt incredibly wrong for having her in the same room as Tyler, and he made a noise in the back of his throat towards her, similar to a sound an angry dog would have made. Her eyes widened, and Garett reacted, placing a reassuring hand on Pierce's shoulder before straightening and stepping towards the woman.