Sorry for the wait.

Chapter 3: Reuniting Isn't Such A Great Idea

Tyler couldn't understand why he was so nervous. Sure he was about to see his ex-boyfriend and the love of his life again after months of being apart, but it shouldn't be this big of a deal, right?

"Where are you going?" Jane demanded when Tyler came downstairs, dressed casually and pulling on his jacket.

"To Nicky's."

"Oh no you don't, I haven't seen you for months, and you're going to stay right here." She had her determined face on and Tyler wondered at the possibility of making her give in. He was guessing slim to none.

"But mum, I haven't seen Caleb, Pouge and the others for months either. I promise I'll hang out with you tomorrow." He glanced at the clock. He was already late as it was. He mentally crossed his fingers, hoping Jane would just agree and let him go. He felt like a teenager again, trying to get his mum to let him go to the beach rave.

Jane caved at the mention of Caleb and reluctantly let him go. Tyler grinned and kissed her cheek, thanking her as he rushed out the door.

After all this time he still knew the way to Nicky's by memory and pulling into the parking lot felt like his high school years. Tyler walked into the dimly lit and crowded bar, heading towards the usual tables Pouge and Caleb occupied. Caleb, Sarah and Kate were already there, eating and talking together.

"Tyler!" Sarah grinned, hugging him in greeting.

"Hey," Tyler said back, trying to act normal and not appear as the nervous wreck he was inside. Was Reid already here? Was he even coming?

He sat down with the others and soon Pouge joined them. They'd all hardly changed, Sarah had cut her hair and Kate had died her hair a lighter shade but they were still the same as he'd left them.

"Europe was amazing," Kate told him enthusiastically. "We went everywhere."

"What's been going on with you, anyway?" Pouge asked once Kate had finished her recount. "You leave us so quickly and don't keep in touch, what happened?"

Tyler shrugged dismissively. "I got busy with school and stuff."

Before he was forced to go into intimate detail of the whole affair, his worst fears walked through the door. Reid looked just like Tyler had left him, messy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, just taller then him and the same cocky look. Tyler tried to breathe as he squashed all the emotions, all the fear and bad memories that were trying to surface in his mind.

Reid walked over but slowed his pace when he caught sight of Tyler who was looking straight back at him. "Tyler? What are you doing back?"

Tyler swallowed hard, glad that the music and general noise of the occupants were loud enough to drown out the noise. "I'm here for Christmas break."

Reid nodded and casually took the empty seat across from Tyler. Tyler wasn't sure what was worse, his fear that Reid would act cold and ignore him or the reality of him pretending nothing had happened.

The others were giving inconspicuous glances between the two, probably expecting some big blow up. The truth was Tyler was expecting one too.


The first thing that Tyler realized was that his head was pounding! It felt like a continuous drum pattern. He groaned and rubbed his head feebly, trying to stop the pain. Of course it didn't work and he struggled into a sitting position. That's when he realized that he was naked from the waist up and in someone else's bed.

"Fuck, fuck," he muttered, scrambling out from under the covers. He moved too fast and got his foot caught on the sheets, causing him to land flat on his face and made his headache tenfold worse.

He groaned and struggled to his feet, kicking the sheets away and took a good look around. He was in a plain bedroom. The bed was made up o blue sheets and there wasn't anything to give away just who's room it was. Tyler went looking for the rest of his clothes and found them slung over a chair. His keys were in his pocket too and he headed to the door, praying he knew whoever it was out there and hadn't spent a night with a complete stranger.

As soon as he opened the door he realized he was in an open, short hallway. The door across from him was closed and there was door right at the end that was open. It was a bathroom and Tyler slipped in. When he came out he went looking for the occupant of the apartment (he figured it was an apartment by the size of it).

The very far end of the hallway opened up into a small sitting room. It was crowded with a TV with a PS3 set up on the floor and a white couch. He walked into the room, looking around. There was a crate that was closed and the place looked as though it had been recently cleaned. Actually the whole place looked like it had been cleaned.

"Finally awake, huh?"

Tyler spun, which was another very bad idea, and clutched his head, squinting to look at the speaker. Reid was leaning against the wall, just inside the small kitchen, smirking at Tyler in amusement. The latter tried to compose himself best he could while he was still very much in pain.

"What happened last night?" He asked, choosing a safer subject.

Reid gave him the 'oh, that topic' look and Tyler felt his stomach drop. "Well you got piss drunk and I had to haul your ass back here. You refused to go back home," he added, as an after thought explanation.

Tyler felt really sick. "And exactly what happened?"

Reid grinned, "We didn't do anything that should get you worried, Baby Boy."

Tyler only felt slightly relieved. "What happened exactly, Reid?"

The blonde was enjoying himself too much. "Oh nothing much." Tyler sighed in relief. "Oh, and you told me you're still in love with me."

Tyler's mouth hit the floor. "What!?"

"You should take some aspirin," Reid said in a conversational tone as though they'd moved on.

"What do you mean by I said I love you?" Tyler demanded, following Reid into the small kitchen. Reid handed him some aspirin and he took them gratefully.

"Well, you were really drunk, I swear you drunk Nicky's bar dry, but anyway, you were drunk and I suggested taking you home but you kept insisting otherwise so I finally just brought you here. When we got out of the car you sort of jumped hugged me and told me you were still in love with me, before babbling about rabid chipmunks and then passing out."

"So we didn't do anything…physical?"

Reid laughed outright and Tyler glared. He didn't think this was a laughing matter, it was actually very serious. "No, Tyler, you passed out before that could happen," he winked.

Tyler had a sudden urge to whack his head repeatedly against the wall.

"You can take a shower," Reid offered, "you still smell like beer."

Tyler took Reid's offer and felt better after he was clean. Reid lent him some clothes and Tyler was hesitant about putting them on. He used to wear Reid's clothes all the time, before and when they were together, it felt weird wearing them while they were apart.

When he walked into the sitting room Reid was setting up the PS3. He held up a controller. "You game?"

It felt oddly comfortable playing video games with Reid, cursing at the TV and eating leftover foods that Reid found in the fridge. Tyler was so amazed that he was able to fall back into a comfortable mood with Reid after everything that had passed between them. It still felt as though there was some barrier between them but for now they were able to overlook it.

Between the loading of the next level Tyler looked over at Reid who was eating half-defrosted pizza. "So what did you do once I left?"

Reid swallowed and wiped his hands on a napkin before shrugging. "Nothing much, really. I got work at Nicky's and some other places but nothing of much importance." Tyler could tell Reid was holding back on him but let it go, for now.

The game started again and they were back into, cursing the screen and each other as they battled to win. At one point Tyler was whooping Reid's ass so severally that the blonde decided to take matters into his own hands, so to speak.

"No you don't!" He reached over and covered Tyler's eyes in an attempt to slow him up.

"Hey! That's cheating." Tyler shook off his hand and won anyway. He jumped off the couch, grinning and throwing his arms into the air in victory. "Yes! I won! Ha!"

"You cheated!" Reid complained, yanking Tyler back down.

Tyler wasn't expecting to be pulled down and he overbalanced, colliding with Reid. He ended up partially sprawled across the other, their faces inches apart. Tyler wasn't sure what to do. He stayed frozen, staring into Reid's oh-so-blue eyes. Then the other reached over, pressing his lips against Tyler's, his hand going up to hold the back of his head.

Tyler responded enthusiastically. It was like old times when Reid would kiss him spontaneously. He was always surprisingly soft when he kissed Tyler and it felt so good and right. But then Tyler remembered they weren't together, that he was with Hunter. The thought was a slap of reality and Tyler pulled away, scrambling off of Reid.

"I've got a boyfriend," he blurted out, racing for the door.

He didn't look back as he climbed into his Hummer and pulled away from Reid's apartment. He was in the middle of town and it took him a long time to drive home, a long time to think about all that had happened. He'd kissed Reid, he'd given in when he'd sworn to himself he wouldn't.

When he pulled into the driveway Tyler let his head drop onto the wheel. He was such a weak, stupid, idiot! How could he? What about Hunter?

The knock on his window was startling and he almost jumped a mile, spinning to see who it was. He felt even worse when he realized just who was smiling back at him through the glass. Hunter. He'd come earlier.

Oh crap.

-TBC-

I am really, really sorry this is short. I finally got my inspiration back for this fic. Next chapter you'll realize just why Reid broke it off with Tyler and Reid and Hunter meet.

Thanks to: DramaQueen1193, stitchpotter626, DaRk-HoPeLsS-rOmAnTiC, evilangel3326, Soleil Mar, RaeTheGreat, monchy08, Marcus1233, blazingfire03, orene treke, Sakurabound, loves harry, cajun-beauty, Absolutly Redonculas & sparkley-tangerine

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