Tyed - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Tyler's laying in bed, flipping his phone over and over again, occasionally looking at it to see if there's any new notifications. New likes on Instagram, new uploads on YouTube, Nancy's tagged him in something on Facebook. No texts from Colby. For a while, Tyler's worried that Colby doesn't actually have his number, but even if he didn't get it from Tyler's phone- which Tyler assumes he must've- Tyler called him before, and it's not like any phones these days don't have call history.
Lachlen messages him, and Tyler takes time to respond and tell him about what happened. Lachlen seems happy for him, although he's one of those people that texts without much emotion behind his words, which makes it difficult to tell for sure. Tyler's more just happy to be talking to Lachlen again; he was a lovely person and a great friend, incredibly understanding and thoughtful. It's just that he's too good for Tyler, personality-wise. The gap was bridged by Tyler's attractiveness, because he became far less attractive when one learned everything about him.
That's the issue: how much does he tell Colby? He can get away with saying nothing for a while, assuming Colby never does a thorough search for his name and never meets his family. Or, at least, never meets his father. But these things come up sometimes, and Tyler may have to lie if he can't find a way to avoid the question. If lying is the right thing to do.
What if Colby finds out where he came from and decides he doesn't want someone so damaged? It sounds cruel, but it happens all the time. A lot of Tyler's partners left after the PTSD-induced nightmares, the minor things that could easily make Tyler lose it, or simply upon finding out about his past and being freaked out by it. He's got secrets that nobody yet knows, that would surely drive away any decent person. The circumstances of his birth and youth are horrifying, and he spends every day hating them. Anyone else would too.
He figures he won't be able to get away with any lies. There are things that can't be explained by anything but the truth, as much as it sucks.
He jumps as soon as he gets a text, and his heart leaps as soon as he realises it's from Colby. He scrambles to open it immediately.
Colby: How quickly can you put on a nice suit and meet me at Richmond station?
As Tyler's looking at it, another text dings through a moment later.
Colby: That's where my car is, I'm not sure I have time to go and get it to pick you up. Can you get there in half an hour?
Tyler takes a moment to head to his closet and shuffle through it, confused but too excited to ask questions. He has a suit that he wore to his oldest cousin's wedding, and a few nice collared shirts he could wear with it.
Tyler: I'll be there. I hope "nice" means nice for me, not for you, lmao
Colby answers back almost immediately.
Colby: Ideally I would get you something. Sorry for the short notice.
Tyler doesn't answer, because he's too busy hurrying to get changed. The shirt he chooses is a little creased around the arms, but when he throws the suit jacket on, it's unnoticeable. He only has two ties, one of which is black, and so he throws that one on to be safe. It's a miracle he remembers how to tie a tie, considering he hasn't done it since high school formal. He realises it might be a little bit strange, hopping on the train like he's going to a wedding, but it's not like nobody's done that before.
As soon as he's dressed, he texts Colby quickly:
Tyler: I'm on my way.
He quickly sprays himself with deodorant and checks his hair, although there's not much he can do about it. With long, curly hair, it's going to sit however it's going to sit.
"Where are you going?" Nancy asks as he passes her on the way downstairs.
The grin he gives her tells her all she needs to know. "I'm not sure," he says as he opens the front door. "I'll tell you when I find out."
With that, he leaves. He turns over in his mind the various possibilities for where he's going, and he can't come up with many concrete possibilities, although he has a picture in his mind. He's going to show up somewhere with Colby and be out of his depth. He's going to do his best to fit in among the modern-day nobility and it's probably not going to work; all he can hope is that Colby will forgive him for any mess he manages to make.
Despite his lack of knowledge, Tyler's more excited than he is nervous, although he's plenty of both. He finds a seat on the train and stares out of the window, mesmerised by the way the tunnel zooms past his face. He flips his phone over in his hands, wondering what exactly he's going to. What he's doing with his life, how this is going to go.
He gets off the train at the station he was told to. He doesn't know much about this part of the city, but from memory, it's a pretty expensive part of town, at least for Tyler's background. He shuffles off of the train, making his way with a somewhat unjustified, or at least uncertain, haste. He's still got no idea what he's hurrying towards.
He walks out onto one side of the station and looks around, thinking perhaps he'll just see Colby somewhere and it'll be as easy as that. He realises after a moment that he never agreed on where exactly to meet and he doesn't know what Colby's car looks like. He takes out his phone and goes to call him, but a hand touches his shoulder. Tyler spins, looking up to find Colby looking back with a flicker of amusement in his eyes. He takes in Tyler's appearance in one quick glance.
"You implied you wouldn't look that good," Colby says, and the compliment brings a flutter into Tyler's stomach. His voice is smooth and low and the words drip with honey. He takes a moment to appreciate that before he speaks.
"Well, I don't know where we're going, and I thought maybe people would notice that I got this from Target."
Colby shakes his head. "I guess I forgot to tell you where we were going. That was rude of me."
He begins to walk, inviting Tyler to walk alongside him. "There's an event," Colby says, "a fundraiser. Before I- well, before I met you, actually- I had organised to go with someone who's dropped out on me, last minute."
"Who's that?" Tyler asks as they approach a car that Tyler vaguely recognises. He's seen it once before and he was super drunk, but it feels familiar now that he sees it.
Colby shakes his head, frowning at something that's not Tyler. "Trust me, not anyone you need to worry about."
The dismissiveness isn't something Tyler's a fan of, but he figures it's a question that it's too early to answer. He's happy enough to hear that he could be worrying. That's exclusivity, or the promise of such very close by.
When Tyler gets into the car, memories of that night come into his mind; specifically, he lays eyes on the steering wheel and remembers Colby pushing him against it, growling at him not to tempt him. Tyler sits up a little straighter.
"So I'm your plus one?" Tyler asks, putting a cheerful tone and emphasis on the words. He gives Colby a smile, and Colby tries to hide it, but he gets a little smile of his own looking at him.
"Pretty much," Colby says. "You just have to stand there, make small talk, eat canapes and look pretty. Shouldn't be too difficult."
"I mean, small talk is hard, but I can manage," Tyler says, taking a risk as he adds, "for you."
Colby chuckles just enough for it to have been worth it. He's watching the road, not Tyler, and that gives Tyler a chance to admire him, his face outlined by the golden rays of early evening sunlight coming through the window. Tyler's excited by the rollercoaster he's just gotten onto, and looking at Colby, all he can think about is how this man has the power to completely change Tyler's life. And Tyler wants him to.
"I realise," Colby says after a moment of silence, "that it's probably strange, asking you to a thing like this after I've known you for about a day."
"Well, yeah it's strange, but I want to be here," Tyler says, and he watches as Colby's brow furrows in confusion for just a split second before his emotions are hidden again.
"That's good," Colby says. "Many would say it's too fast."
Tyler shrugs as he thinks it over. "I mean... I wouldn't want it to be any slower." He bites his tongue at the realisation of just how heavy those words are, and he throws in some nonsense to soften the effect. "Live fast die young, isn't that what they say?"
Colby looks at him and Tyler hates how awkward he just made it. He's not even sure if it's real awkwardness or fully imagined by Tyler, but it sucks. He slinks in on himself, angry for fucking it up so quickly.
He usually doesn't care this much about this sort of thing.
"I believe the full quote is, 'Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse'. Not all-around good advice, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't go fast when we want to."
Hearing the words "good-looking corpse" brings up a half-buried, horrifying memory that Tyler brushes the dirt off of, although he doesn't want to.
Tyler's aunt escaped Darkfilly Copse and moved to Solville several years before he was born, but she wasn't able to take her oldest child with her. Tyler's cousin lived with his family up until Tyler was maybe five, but her health was terrible; she had much the same problems as Trey did, plus more that Trey's never suffered, although Tyler didn't know what was wrong with her until he was much older. She died when Tyler was young, and that's one thing Tyler remembers his father saying about her after she died. "At least she left a good-looking corpse."
"Yeah," Tyler says, having forgotten the question. His mouth is all of a sudden very dry.
Colby looks at him for a moment, but doesn't say anything. Tyler's about to ask how far away the place they're heading is when Colby slows the car down and pulls into a parking space. In front of them lays a large glass building that Tyler's never been to before- predictably- and milling around the entrance are a few groups of people that Tyler would describe as a variety of things, some good, some bad: rich, stylish, elegant, snobby, gorgeous and terrifying. He immediately expects to be massively disliked by the parties he's about to be expected to mingle with, although he also expects their dislike to be well-hidden behind snarky glances, backhanded compliments and passive-aggressiveness.
"Are you alright?" Colby asks, and Tyler didn't even realise he was looking at him. "You look nervous."
"I'm not nervous." Tyler comes across snappier than intended. "I do well meeting new people."
"You say that, but you're not acting it," Colby says, coming around the other side of the car. There's a touch of annoyance that strikes Tyler at the simple fact that he can't seem to lie. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"I don't know," Tyler says, looking away. Not letting him pretend it's fine doesn't help, though. "Let's just go."
Something about Colby's demeanour hardens, and when he leads the way towards the building, there's a coldness about the way he walks alongside Tyler. He's exuding confidence again, settling back into a persona that Tyler saw earlier today, one that he enjoyed in some ways and hated in others. One of the things he hates is the disconnectedness.
Tyler looks around, observing all the other people approaching the door. Most are in pairs, some in fours or larger groups, but Tyler's eyes are drawn to the other sets of two. Most consist of a woman holding onto a man's arm, and for a moment, Tyler wonders if he should do the same. He reaches up and cautiously slots his arm through Colby's. Colby looks down at him with a furrowed brow, before smiling in a way that, while possibly not intentional, feels somewhat condescending.
"What?" Tyler says, frowning at him. "Am I not supposed to-"
"No, it's fine," Colby says. "You can do that."
Tyler finds himself more annoyed than he should be. "Well should I- look, you said you want to help, you can start by understanding that I'm really, really new at this."
He regrets it as soon as he remembers that this is the guy who just paid his rent for a year and upsetting him is the last thing he wants to do. He hasn't gotten a chance to thank Colby for that yet, now that he thinks about it. He hasn't even mentioned it. He can pretend to find out later, and thank him then. That's the plan he decides on in that moment.
Colby's reaction is less than Tyler believes he's entitled to. He almost wants Colby to be more mad at him. "You're right," Colby says. "It's... normal, although it definitely signifies you're my date as opposed to simply a plus one. If you're okay with that, then that's fine. Although, we may get some questions."
"Why's that?" Tyler asks as they stroll up to the door.
Colby tries to hold back a little smile. "I don't think I've told you," he mutters. "Have I told you?"
"Have you told me what?"  Tyler's voice is a little too loud, and he realises it when faces turn towards him, innocent curiosity feeling like judgement.
Colby gives him a look that Tyler understands as 'not now'. He doesn't doubt that he'll get the answer, but it's clearly something he doesn't want to talk about in front of people who are going to listen in. Tyler can respect that.
There's something of an entrance to go through, but the room they enter into after that is, Tyler has to say, huge. The sides of the room are filled with circular tables, and the true size of the room becomes evident when Tyler starts counting the number of tables, seeing how far away the furthest ones are, how small they look from here. It's not like events of this size are unimaginable to Tyler; it's just that he didn't realise this one was that big. Looking up, the roof is reflective, made of lines of mirrors. There's too many people and Tyler has no idea how to talk to them.
"So, uh," Tyler looks up to meet Colby's eyes. He feels vulnerable, but being able to hold onto Colby's arm and melt into his side really helps. "What exactly do we do?"
Colby doesn't look at Tyler, instead gazing around the room and taking it in. "You'll be fine," he says, and it's clear he wasn't exactly paying attention. When Tyler stares at him, he finally takes a moment to pause and think about what he said. "For now, we just have to make conversation. I promise you'll be fine."
A promise doesn't really assure Tyler too much. Colby's making confident strides towards some people halfway across the room, and Tyler has no choice but to trust him. He puts on the best smile he can, and steadies himself.
"Kuro!" Colby seems to recognise at least one person in the group, a man with glasses and longish black hair that turns and grins when he sees Colby. He offers him a hearty handshake, and then the man's attention turns towards Tyler. His eyes seem to bore into him, and Tyler's not sure if it's him or just the situation they're in. It might well be both.
"Kuro, this is Tyler. Tyler, Kuro Ito," Colby says, and Tyler offers his hand for a warm handshake. Kuro's smile feels like it's conveying either dislike or some kind of knowing of Tyler's secrets. Surely, there's no way he can know anything. He just has that kind of look in his eyes.
"Tyler...?" Kuro asks, and Tyler falters for a moment, almost unsure of what he's asking.
It clicks soon enough that it's not too awkward. "Kristenssen," Tyler answers, realising as he says it that Kuro's just checking to see if he should know who he is. He watches the gears turn in Kuro's head, and nothing comes up.
"Tyler Kristenssen?" Kuro isn't the only person standing in the circle, of course, and as soon as Tyler lays eyes on the person speaking, he freezes. He's seen him before, and although it doesn't click immediately, there's a subconscious terror that comes along with it. "I've heard that name before. Have we... met?"
He figures out who it is when another person enters the circle, and Tyler remembers his face much better. He saw him last night, and he kept getting eyes from him across the club. The man who spoke was the male of the three blondes, and the man who just arrived holding two glasses of wine was the guy collecting them.
"I don't believe we have," Tyler says, and it's true but it feels like a lie. "What's your name?"
"James Hoffman," the blonde introduces himself, giving Tyler a firm handshake like nothing is wrong or weird here.
The guy who was definitely after Tyler last night reaches out a hand as well. "Ashley Marshall. I think I've heard your name as well, although I can't remember where from."
"I think you might have me confused for someone else. I can't imagine where you'd have heard my name, either," Tyler says, as level as he can. Kuro's look of knowing might have been in Tyler's imagination, but there's something very panic-inducing about having his name be recognised out of nowhere. You'd probably have to go onto the third page of Google for Tyler's name to show up in relation to Darkfilly Copse- he's checked, and it turns up his social media, random LinkedIn profiles, a dentist, and some obscure actor with a similar name before Darkfilly Copse comes up- so he shouldn't, realistically, be worried that they know. But he's worried that they know. He hopes that by saying they recognise his name, they're really trying to say they recognise him from the club last night. Either way, his response is appropriate, and he keeps it to that.
"Well, it's great to meet you, Tyler," Kuro says. He turns to Colby. "Although I do have to ask, where's Scarlett?"
Tyler looks up at Colby, wondering if this is what he couldn't tell him about on the way in. Colby doesn't bat an eye. "It's been two years, Kuro. I moved on a long time ago."
Kuro raises his hands in a gesture of false surrender, smiling to keep the tone light. "Well, I'm glad." It definitely feels like there's more to be said- definitely more that Kuro wants to say- but, unluckily for Tyler, he doesn't feel it's appropriate to mention right now. Still, Tyler has a name to ask Colby about later, and he will.
"So," Tyler asks, directing his question to everyone in the circle, "what do you all do?"
He's insecure about his choice of words, but it appears nobody's particularly weirded out. Kuro describes a management job that Tyler couldn't know or care less about, although he pretends to be interested. Ash describes himself as "working on personal projects", and James says he works with the non-profit running this event. Tyler doesn't want to ask what exactly that is, unwilling to reveal that he has no idea; it feels like something he should know, after all. There wasn't a lot of chance he got to talk to Colby, but thinking about it, he probably should've used it for figuring that kind of important information out.
He's able to slink by without knowing too much about what the hell is going on, by deferring to Colby on most things and letting the others talk. The room fills up, and there's something of a presentation stage at the far end of the room that, when the lights around them dim, lights up with a presentation. Tyler's eyes fix on it and he reads it four times before processing it properly.
He remembers the name of this charity, because they were the ones who helped the kids from Darkfilly Copse get settled into their new lives. Therapy, and all the treatment his brother's getting now began with them.
He has a sinking feeling that James and Ash do, in fact, recognise his name. He looks up at Colby, and Colby meets his eyes, and there's a split second of confusion, because Colby's reading fear in Tyler's eyes and surely he must understand why, because this can't be a coincidence.
This can't be a coincidence.