Everyone knew about Tyler's hard life; from having to grow up with his grandparents raising him because of his parents' tragic passing, to being ridiculed for being almost dirt poor during school. Because of the hurt, he really only allowed a few people in, and they usually all left him.
One person had stayed around until the end; an ending that had rushed in all too quickly. Tyler always imagined there wouldn't be an ending to their friendship, always hoping that everything could fall into place and have a happy home. Like everything else, that hadn't happened. The only difference between this circumstance and all of the others? Well, there wasn't anything Tyler could do about it.
He was a man that still didn't have a lot of money, who only a few years ago was sleeping on the floor of his almost empty room in his grandparents house because he had sold his bed to help out with buying his grandmother a small Christmas present. A simple locket that she still kept, wearing it everyday. She even had placed two photos of him inside, one when he was around seven years old, and one from his birthday earlier that year.
That was where Tyler sat, on the floor of his room, now having a bed to sleep in and a small table. He came back every so often from the run down and unsightly apartment to have a slice of home in his life. In Tyler's hand was a photograph, of him and a close friend; one that wasn't supposed to leave. Never ever! Often Tyler thought of the day the photo was taken; the pair looked so happy, both smiling backstage at a wrestling event they competed at that night. He didn't know that night would change both lives drastically.
The day was hot, unusually hot for a Summer day in Florida to boot. Tyler lay back on the beach towel underneath him back, being shaded by an umbrella at just the right angle where the sun wouldn't hit him, but he could still feel just the right amount of warmth in the shade. Not that it took much, everywhere did always get hot at anytime in Florida; probably to do with being so close to the equator or something like that.
With his eyes shut under his dark tinted sunglasses, the blonde haired man moved both hands to rest under his head, letting out a content sigh from his lips. The beach he was at did seem oddly quiet, usually on his days off or holidays there would be several dozen people in the water, teens walking with their partners or friends with smiles and laughs and children splashing in the water (with some parents panicking, of course) in the edge of the water. But on that day, there was only a handful of people, and that wasn't including however many lifeguards were on duty.
Tyler's peacefulness, no matter how much he admitted he pretty much loathed the almost silent world around him, was interrupted by his name being called out. His closest friend, Adrian Neville, had ended up sitting on his own towel beside Tyler; yelling the attention to the British man.
Tyler would be the first to admit he didn't think he would be friends with Neville, the two seemed like opposites. Tyler had been blessed with good looks, though the lack of money through his schooling days had not made them shine through due to money spent on schooling and helping his grandparents. Whereas Adrian, with what some people believed, had nothing on the blonde man. However, that was one thing Tyler hadn't noticed! The niceness of Neville had shown through instantly when Tyler had wandered across a wrestling event with a rare $20 note in his pocket, most being spent on a ticket to the show, and somehow landed himself a front row seat. Adrian had noticed Tyler looking out of place, and found him soon after the show, buying a hot meal for the pair at a McDonalds nearby.
Adrian listened intently when Tyler spoke about his situation, hearing every detail that was said; feeling almost pitiful. Adrian's parents had been well off financially, with his father taking over his father's successful chain of electronic stores and his mother opening up her own clothing line for men, women and children. It had seemed a small shock that Adrian's parents where supportive on wanting to wrestle as a career, but being as athletic and training hard during high school would have somewhat softened the blow about the career choice.
Adrian had been surprised to learn that although his family was Canadian, Tyler had been born and raised in Tampa, Florida. Not even stepping foot out of the state once in his life. The instantaneous friendship between the two men had made Adrian want to take his new friend somewhere new.
That was a night Tyler hadn't forgotten once in his life, making a new friend and adding some positivity was always something nice in a dull life. Adrian shook his friend's shoulder, removing Tyler from his thought filled trance. Tyler returned to the real world, suddenly feeling the warmth of the sun's rays on his skin again, and a smile crossed his face seeing Adrian beside him. The two grew close very quickly, but with that, something in Tyler grew a need to be close to Adrian. He hadn't felt too close to anyone but his family in his life, and his feelings to Neville scared the hell out of him.
"Doing alright?" Adrian questioned, lying back on the towel slowly. Tyler moved his body so he sat cross-legged on his towel, at an angle to Adrian. Breeze leaned his elbows on his knees, slightly forward toward Adrian as he replied.
"Yeah, fine. Stop worrying." Tyler complained, noticing that Adrian's eyes were closed. A tiny smile flickered on his lips. It was a smile that Tyler liked to see. It was sarcastic and sweet when Neville's lips thinned and the corners moved up. But no one else saw the smile, that was kept for a witty or occasional compliment from Tyler.
"Can't help it, been a while since I'd seen you face to face. You didn't seem alright on the phone last night, either."
"Yeah, grams isn't doing to well. But I'm just trying to focus for tonight." Adrian kept his eyes shut, listening to the waves and his friends' voice. Mostly Tyler's voice.
"Looking forward to our match tonight? Didn't think I'd ever be feeling sorry for an opponent of mine." Opening his eyes, Adrian saw Tyler's lips tighten into a straight line and his jaw tightened. The Englishman tried to not laugh at how funny his buddy looked. And how his platinum blonde hair looked in the sun made Adrian want to smile at Tyler and even do other things with him, or how the sun bounced off his tan skin, even the small amount muscle present on his arms (though Tyler was still fairly lean, especially in comparison to Neville).
"You feeling sorry for me? I'll make you regret even thinking that." Tyler almost sounded serious with his response; almost.
Neville sat up, resting a hand on his knee. Tyler didn't want to say anything else; there was a look in his friend's eyes that hadn't been seen before. They seemed to be just staring right at Breeze's face, which Tyler rubbed sections of his face with the heel of his hand hoping to get something he didn't notice or feel off.
"What are you doing, that makes you look stupid." It was then that Breeze realised there wasn't anything on his face, but why was Neville staring?
"Up for going out for a meal tonight? I doubt either one of us will feel like cooking getting to our homes." It wasn't an uncommon thing for the two men to get dinner, often at some takeaway chain, or with a few other wrestlers at a fancy place that Tyler felt like he should have forgotten all table manners but never did. And it wasn't like Adrian wasn't kidding about cooking, it was a Saturday and both men were exhausted from shows and other matters they had through the week.
"That Italian restaurant sounds good, granddad should be fine without me for a few extra hours." Of course that also meant Tyler would be spending more time worrying about his family members (something he did frequently when not at his home during the day), but he needed to make his money for food, bills and whatever else had to be paid since pensions didn't help too much. He would just let his grandfather know about what was happening and it would be fine. Tyler was in his early 20s, not a teenager anymore.
Neville didn't spend his time between the beach trip and his match counting down the seconds until he got some one on one time with his friend like Tyler did; it didn't mean he didn't pick out a nice change of clothes to wear after the show. But Tyler; his bedroom ended up a mess, with almost every shirt and pair of pants he had thrown on his floor and bed until finally he picked out a deep red button up shirt with his favourite dark blue jeans and red converse. He just hoped the wear and tear on the shoes didn't ruin his outfit too much.
Swinging his bag filled with every he needed, Tyler waved goodbye to his grandparents with his keys in hand walking out to his old and run down car. At least it still worked, well, for the most part it worked. The occasional break down, however, ended up costing Tyler more to fix than the car was even worth and he knew sooner rather than later he would have to start saving for a new car. It had been hard enough to scrounge up the money to but the one he had from a neighbour a few years prior.
The show was at a local high school, using the main assembly hall as the area for the ring set up. Thinking back to when he had first had a show with Neville, Tyler remembered when the pair walked into a public school grounds. Adrian said it looked different to the prestigious high school he had gone to in Newcastle.
Tyler just shuddered of thinking back to his miserable high school days. Everyone made fun of his dreams to want to be a wrestler, but he was. One time he saw one of the popular girls from his school one night, walking out of a strip club with some men. She was thinner than ever, caked in make-up and wore barely any clothes. It was obvious to Tyler that she had been working there that night; he guessed karma hadn't been too kind, since she had a well paying job during school, back when she humiliated him and other students.
"Alright, get it over with." Tyler mumbled to himself before stepping out in front of the crowd. Neither man cared who won or lost, putting on a good show mattered most. And ending up in a good company was always welcomed as a bonus to the line of work. Not that Tyler cared much for the money to be richer than anyone, he'd give portions to his grandparents and probably move them out of the shabby flat they lived in.
It had been Neville to win in a fairly even back and forth match, which went for a good 20 minutes. Tyler regained himself when Adrian exited the ring moving behind the curtain; one of Tyler's hands went to the back of his head feeling the hard fall that happened at one point and his other hand to his abdomen from Neville's corkscrew shooting star press. That move always hurt instananiously on impact to the opponent and wrestler using the move.
Going backstage just behind the curtain, Tyler noticed Adrian holding a camera in his hand, an expensive one. Adrain motioned Tyler to stand beside him, as both men stood close smiling as a guy from the set up team took the photo of the pair. The man handed the camera back to Adrian and silently walked off.
"That's a keeper!" Tyler's lips formed a tight smile, not wanting to break out into a full grin at his friend's sudden act of photograph taking (something which wasn't really Adrian's style).
"Send a copy to me later?" Adrian nodded in response. Neville silently went off to get ready, causing Tyler to remember he had to as well.
"Crap!" Searching through his bag, Tyler cussed at realising he had packed any deoderant or cologne at all for after the match. It was a strange habit he had to not smell like crappy shampoo and soap after a shower, mostly because they both smelled kind of bad and he wanted to mask the scent. "I might have to go back home quickly."
"What do you need, kiddo?" Almost jumping from his skin, the blonde man turned to see one of the senior trainers in the room nearby.
"I forgot to pack my deodorant, and I can't go out smelling like this." Tyler almost didn't catch the can being thrown at him. It was a can of Brute body spray, not a typical choice but better than the awful smell of his soap. The trainer caught the body spray can easily in his hands, then smiling at Tyler.
"You're all dressed up, what's the occasion?" Shrugging as if nothing was a big deal (although something inside was telling him something big was going to happen), Tyler picked up his bag with everything packed away and started for the door to exit the area underneath the stage in the hall that had been used for the show.
"Going out for a little bit, nothing wrong with that." He remarked, opening the door then closing it behind his body with no other words. Tyler had a couple of his friends drive his car home, not wanting to drive home if he decided to have a drink, or a few. Even one seemed to affect Tyler's head.
Neither man said a word as they placed their bags in the back to the car and slid into the front seats of the car. Neville drove a Jeep, of all the cars he could have had, an big, old and dirty Jeep at that had been his choice. Sometimes it was hard to believe the man had come from a wealthy family. But money didn't buy happiness, and Neville looked happiest around his work and friends. Corny, but truthful.
"Probably should fix ya shirt." Adrian mumbled loud enough for Tyler to hear as he started to walk without Tyler up to the entrance of the restaurant. Tyler looked down at his shirt, the bottom had moved up during the car ride with the majority of one corner on his hip exposing the skin. Lucky Neville had noticed before Tyler walked in. Breeze fixed the shirt, seeing that Adrain was still waiting for him at the entrance with a smile on his face.
"Thanks." Adrian moved his hand to hold Tyler's should for a few seconds before dropping it back to his side; a touch that felt strangely nice.
"No problem, Breezey." The nickname had ticked Tyler off a little bit, but it was coming from his closest friend so he endured it. Anyone else that tried to call him 'Breezey' didn't get far afterward. It had been a name that people called him in school when teasing. Not that Tyler had told Adrian that he had been teased horribly at school or that his nickname was used when doing so, it seemed like too much worry over a small fact.
However, the name struck him worse because that had been what his mother usually called him when he was a child. She said it hadn't just been because Breeze was his last name, it was because he commented on her hair looking lovely when wind had blown through her hair one day which she replied it looked better on his the short cut when the weather was breezey. Tyler had remembered that day, it was just before a big storm when his mum had rushed him inside from playing the backyard of their small rental house. His dad had shut off all of the power before the wind hit, it was good thinking too.
The storm didn't kill Tyler's parents, it was a truck colliding into the driver's side of the car the next day that did. The family were on their way to Tyler's grandparents' home the day after the storm to stay due to flood damage. According to the police investigation, the truck driver had not calculated his speed enough to slow down in time, Jack-knifed his back trailer when trying to swerve and hit the side of the car. Tyler clearly remembered being in hospital for two weeks after that, he had a broken leg and a major gash on his head. He had been around seven at the time, and understood what had happened. It had in some small way helped that the driver of the truck had visited him nearly every day, saying sorry over and over. For some reason, Tyler couldn't help but forgive the man for accidentally killing his parents. And that scared him as an adult.
That was almost slid under the rug as a child, but if anything happened to someone he loved again, they wouldn't be walking away or saying sorry.
"Hello?" Adrian snapped his fingers in front of Tyler's face. It had been almost two minutes since the blonde haired man had said anything, he just sat there with a dumb look on his face as he stared down at a glass of water. Needless to say, this had almost scared Adrian when realising his friend might not have been okay.
"Did you say something?" Tyler knew he should have thought about his parents too much, but there where times where he couldn't help it. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that it would he asked about by Adrian, but hope that it wasn't brought up again. No, Tyler was never lucky enough for that to happen.
"Yeah, about two minutes ago I asked you what you were ordering." Quickly scanning through the menu, Tyler picked out the ravioli, mainly because it was the only dish he knew aside from pizza and a few other pasta dishes. And he wanted to see if the restaurant cooked it better than his grandmother did.
"Okay." As if one some kind of cue, a waitress had come over to take their orders. She smiled at Tyler, and looked at him a little longer that she had with Adrian. Not that Tyler cared, he only mumbled a 'Thank you' as he handed his menu back to her. Adrian huffed, causing Tyler's attention to move up from his plate to his friend.
"What's wrong?" Tyler asked. Adrian's lips formed a tight line in annoyance.
"Nothing; I'm fine." Then, nothing. A heavy silence fell on the two men, neither saying anything expect for thanking the waitress for bringing their food. Tyler unfolded a small piece of appear that had been on the edge of his plate. It had the girl's name and number on it. It had ended up in the breast pocket on Tyler's shirt, forgotten about almost instantly.
Having a silent dinner was strange for Tyler and Adrian, usually they would both be talking and laughing (loudly if at one of their homes) but never quiet. Tyler didn't know why, he knew it had something to do with his absent mind earlier with his silence, but Adrian hadn't tried to make conversation once after the waitress left. No, it couldn't have had anything to do with the young woman neither man knew.
When finishing their meals, the very same waitress approached the table, and Tyler finally got a good look at the girl. Blonde hair (a similar shade to Tyler's but not as bright), dark green eyes, very pale skin and it looked like she had a lot of make up on. Yeah, the amount of make up had turned him off anything to do with the young girl that thought she had subtlety winked at Tyler.
"Did you see her flirting with you, Ty?" Adrian didn't often call Tyler by 'Ty' but it still sounded nice to his ears at the uncommon nickname. Sometimes Tyler wished his friend would always call him that.
"Anyone in space could see it, dude. She just didn't interest me." The two were outside, leaning on one side of the car that was in the car park. Tyler leaned on the passenger's front door with Adrian standing beside him, armed folded across his chest. Usually, Tyler would have loved any time where there was some semi quiet time for the two to be comfortable. But neither were comfortable with this silence, and both couldn't figure out how to end it without being awkward again.
"She was pretty enough, but definitely not my type. I do think you might have liked her if you gave her a chance." Tyler's head turned to his friend, shocked that he was pretty much pushing him to the girl because of her looks.
"And what if she was a total bitch! If a person even says one thing bad about people I care about and their gone from my life." Adrian moved his gaze to the other side of the car park, trying to choose his words carefully.
"Even if they hated me?" He didn't look at Tyler.
"Especially you. I can't have anyone I date be jealous of spending a lot of time with my friend." Tyler was just about to open the car door to climb in when his hand was grabbed as it touched the door handle to open the door.
"You mean that?" Tyler nodded in response, when not knowing what to say at his friend's actions. Adrian was still holding his hand, well, mostly his fingers. Slowly, Tyler turned his hand to the side and moved his fingers to be pressed against Adrian's then they fell between his friend's. Heat flushed to his face with Adrian held his fingers in the same way over Tyler's hand.
"Good, I would let anything get between us." Just as quickly as he had grabbed Tyler's hand, Adrian let go. Awkwardness took over again as both men slid I to their seats in the car.
"Your apartment, or your grandparents?"
"Grandparents." The car rolled on the ground slowly, picking up speed on the road.
Tyler went back to thinking about his hand being held by Neville, something that had never happened before. But just like he had thought, Adrian's hand was rough from weight lifting, something he couldn't feel in the ring due to Tyler wearing wrist tape in the ring. It didn't mean that Tyler didn't like how his friend's hand, on the contrary, he wished that it would have happened more than that one time.
One of Adrian's hands moved from the steering wheel to the radio in the car, turning up whatever music was on to break the silence. Tyler wanted to say something, but he felt like himself in high school again; unable to speak, going back to the person who thought it was always better to shut than to say something wrong.
"It'll be strange to not hang out with you almost every day, Tyler." They were about halfway to Tyler's grandparents house, halted by a red light on a busy cross section that was taking it's time with the lights changing. Now Tyler started to understand why Adrian had picked the other side of town to eat, he wanted to say something important that maybe couldn't be said in a public place.
"What do you mean?" The question almost didn't escape his lips, as Tyler felt like he was sinking back into his chair. He didn't want to hear any bad news after a great match and nice dinner (no matter how awkward they didn't speak and the unexpected hand hold in the car park afterwards).
"I-" Adrian paused for a moment, swallowing whatever threatened to come up in nervousness, then continued. "I am, um, leaving for England tomorrow morning."
Tyler's mouth fell open in shock. His closest friend was leaving him the next morning, and the dinner hadn't been a proper send off for the pair, but Tyler didn't want him to leave him.
"You're going, just like that? You're leaving me!" Adrian sighed, but nodded in confirmation. He didn't want to leave America at all, it wasn't even his idea. But his family had needed him for their business and Adrian had been offered to wrestle for a big company over there, anyway. He couldn't say no to the opportunity. But he also didn't have any choice with his parents decision.
The car began to roll off again. Not even he radio helped anymore, and both men reached to press the volume button to turn it off. Tyler retracted his fingers at the touch, suddenly feeling a cold shiver go up his spine.
"I don't want to leave, my parents need me there to help out, everything is getting busy with global expansion."
"All I'm hearing is a pathetic excuse to say 'I don't want to be your friend anymore'. Just say it to my face and I won't speak to you again!"
It was plain and clear that Tyler was letting his emotions get the better of him. But he had an idea in his head when he started to be close to Adrian that the other man would not be sticking around forever, one way or another. Being his fault or not. Tyler just didn't want to get overly attached to Neville, something that he had broken a long time before when the two became friends and Tyler felt something more than friendship. He liked his friend more than he should have, and making his mind up to not act on anything may have made things easier on him, or so much harder to let go. He could decipher the difference, both hurt!
"I don't want to leave!" Adrian repeated, trying to concentrate on the road in front of him. He had to be careful when driving.
"Then why didn't you just leave without a goodbye to save us both some trouble?" Tyler sniffled, wishing the car ride was over with. In a confined space with his best friend who was leaving was not a good spot for Tyler to be in.
"Because you're the best friend that I've ever had! And- and I really care about you and love you in more ways than I should." Tyler looked at his friend, who was now crying but keeping his eyes on the road. His friend loved him, and maybe not even as a friend.
"You- wh-!"
Tyler's head smacked hard against the car door window on his side as the car was flown in the air. He was knocked out cold from the impact.
"Ow!" Careful to not open his eyes to quickly, Tyler tried to move his hand to touch where his head was throbbing in pain. But his entire body felt too heavy, too sore to move anything. And the touch of something on the back to his hand hurt like hell. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open, seeing his grandmother sitting on a chair beside him, in a room he didn't recognise.
"Tyler, sweetie! Thank goodness you're awake!" The tone of her voice was relief, but the tears on his face told a different story entirely.
"What- what happened?" Tyler turned his hand over to hold his grandmother's hand in his own.
"You and Adrian were in a car crash, a truck slammed into the side of the car." Tyler's heart sunk, and his stomach rose. He felt extremely sick!
"He's okay, right?" The look his grandmother gave was confirmation for Tyler.
"No, no! You're lying, you're fucking lying!" Tyler didn't swear often, but the tears spilling out of his eyes and curses coming out of his mouth were contradicting the earlier thought.
It was true, just like so many years before, a similar to the accident that had taken his parents, had taken Tyler's best friend. Just after Adrian had admitted he felt something more.
"Why?" Tyler cried more, heavier as his grandmother climbed onto the bed beside him. She held him close, rocking Tyler back and forth as he cried.
A.N. I wanted to get this done before Takeover, and I did! This has taken me about a week to do, so I hope this reflects how long I took to write his one. I hope you guys enjoy (and I sort of hope I made people cry a little bit). This is longer than the last Adrian Neville/Tyler Breeze one shot I did last time. I told you guys I might do another one shot for the pairing, and I've noticed it's been picking up over the past few months. So, enjoy Takeover (did anyone else flip out over Zayn, Neville and Breeze debuting on Raw for one night only and The Ascension on Main Event?) as I will too. Love you all and I will happily write another one if I feel like I can.