A/N: Sorry, sorry. I know this has taken a hella long time to put out, and it's not the best and yes, it is, unfortunately, another song-fic. My computer shit the bed. Again. As it stands, my brother is pitching a bitch fit because I'm using his. As soon as my computer gets back, I'll be updating again with a little more regularity. :D Love to my reviewers!!
StoicCrying: I'm really glad you liked the song. It's one of my favorites. As is this one. :D
raven2547: There doesn't need to be a reason for me to want to watch Dogma. Aside from Matt Damon. But we won't speak of that. XD
blo0d StaiNed Rose: Wow. I thought that one was one of my better ones, but I didn't think it was my best. Thanks so much for your positivity. I really needed it. :D
beginningxofxthexend: Don't be ashamed of reviewing so much. I rather enjoyed it. Your new point of view keeps me on my toes. And your curiosity towards Dogma will be well rewarded. :D
Dark Angel's Blue Fire: Glad you loved it. Here's another warm one for you. :)
Reid growled lowly in sheer frustration. There was another cryptic message left in his locker. Some secret admirer. He knew that it wasn't Kira looking for another good humping just to get back at Aaron for someting stupid. He knew that handwriting by this point in his life and she was never good at being cryptic. He wasn't sure who it was. It didn't look like the typical girly handwriting, where the letters all looked the same and ran together and a paragraph took up an entire page. So he was left to wonder who was leaving him those letters. Written on bone-colored stationary with what was either a very expensive fountain pen or an old-fashioned quill pen and the ink was a dark blue.
Reid carefully re-folded the note and tucked it into his back pocket before kicking the dorm room door open. Tyler was sitting at the desk, sketching something for his art class.
"Something the matter?" Tyler asked, the faintest hint of a smile touching his lips.
"Another damn letter." Reid sighed, throwing his bag onto the bed
"Does this whole mess bother you because you just wanna hurry up and get laid, or because you can't figure out who it is?" Tyler asked, putting down his charcoal pencil and turning the swively chair to face Reid.
"It bothers me because I don't know who it is. I want to know who they are and how they know so much about me."
"So it's curiosity that fuels you." Tyler smirked again.
"Curiosity, yeah." Reid nodded, laying back on his bed and staring at the ceiling.
The last thing I wanna do right now is read your stupid poetry.
Why can't you just tell me what you really wanna say?
You'd clear you conscience with words so weak and empty.
But something in your eyes gave you away.
"What if I told you I knew who the person was." Tyler said suddenly.
Reid sat up and looked at the brunette.
"You know who's leaving me these messages?" Reid asked.
"I might have an idea." Tyler shrugged.
"Tell me who it is!" Reid demanded.
"What's in it for me?" Tyler asked.
Reid wracked his brain for a moment.
"We'll go see that new movie." Reid said finally.
"Who's paying?" Tyler asked.
"I'll pay." Reid grumbld.
Tyler grinned. He loved horror movies. He kinda liked feeling afraid. It somehow made him feel alive. But the only way he'd watch them in a dark theater, or any dark room for that matter, was to watch it first with someone else. Tyler grabbed his jacket and pulled on a pair of shoes.
"Let's go." Tyler said happily.
"You want to go now?"
"Well, it'll be dark by the time we actually get there, and there's no better time to watch a spooky movie."
Reid sighed and smiled gently before agreeing.
"Why don't we take my car this time?" Reid suggested.
Tyler's grin grew slightly and he grabbed Reid's arm, pulling him from the dorm. There was something about a vintage Camero that sounded amazing to Tyler. Reid smiled to himself. There was something about Tyler's touch that made thought completely overrated.
And I've been lonely like a silhouette or a serenade,
A heart attack or a man betrayed.
The arms of love have been holding me like a silhouette or a serenade.
True to his word, Reid paid for the tickets and the sodas. Tyler grabbed Reid's hand and pulled him through the theater to the row all the way in the back, right in the center. Tyler, for a moment, forgot that he was holding onto Reid's hand. They sat down and Tyler realized he was still holding Reid's hand.
"Fuck. Sorry." Tyler muttered with a blush as he pulled his hand away. Reid noticed that there was a faint tingling sensation in his hand, like little sparks of electricity clinging to his skin long after Tyler's hand left his. He pushed the thought away and placed his hand in his lap.
Tyler gulped at his soda and mentally berrated himself for having let that contact run on for so long. It was too soon to tell Reid the truth. Especially the whole truth. He closed his eyes for a long second and waited for the movie to start. There was a warm hand on his shoulder and Tyler's eyes flew open.
"The movie's starting Baby Boy. Don't tell me you plan on sleeping thorugh it." Reid smirked.
"Nah. Just...Just thinking." Tyler's smile was forced and Reid knew it.
Reid's hand lingered on his friend's shoulder for a few moments longer than necessary before grudgingly taking his hand away. The movie was slow to start, but the moment the ghosts started making an appearance, Tyler was grabbing at Reid's hand. Reid was glad for the contact. For a little while, he wasn't thinking about the movie or the secret admirer that was leaving strange letters and prose in his locker. It was jsut him and Tyler in a dark room. He looked over at the brunette who was cowering in the seat and Reid smiled. He moved his soda to a different holder and lifted the armrest, allowing Tyler to move closer to him. He wrapped his arms around his friend, pulling the smaller teen closer. For a second, he didn't feel quite so alone.
You tell me that you need me, while I slowly fall apart.
You'd heal your heartache with words so cool and callous.
But the absence of your tears gave you away.
Reid and Tyler remained seated through the credits, waiting for the crowd to clear out of the theater. Reid knew that Tyler was prone to claustrophobia when he was in large crowds. So Reid held the brunette, even though it was no longer necessary for the contact.
"Thanks for watching the movie with me." Tyler smiled. Reid reluctantly released Tyler and the younger teen supressed a shudder at the sudden lack of warmth. He hadn't realized how cold the theater was while Reid was wrapped around him.
Reid gulped what was left of his drink and stood up, stretching as he did. He looked down at Tyler and a small part of him realized that he didn't really want to know who the person leaving him letters was. He wanted to forget about that person, unless it was who he wanted it to be. And that small part of himself that was thinking that was also thinking the person should have been Tyler. The rest of him accepted the fact that leaving it be would be completely out of character for him. And out of character was not something he could afford to be.
He walked out of the theater with Tyler and they said nothing as they passed through the parking lot and towards Reid's car.
"So, uh, who's been leaving me those letters?" Reid asked, hating himself as he did.
"Well, the person dropping them off has been Kate. But she hasn't been writing them." Tyler smiled a bit sadly.
"Who's been writing them?"
"I have a hard time thinking on an empty stomach. Maybe a little food would make it clearer..." Tyler smiled.
Reid chuckled and agreed. He drove them to a little diner and he watched Tyler look out the window. Tyler felt someone watching him and he glanced up, his eyes meeting Reid's.
"What?" Tyler asked with a nervous smile.
"Nothing. Just...thinking." Reid smiled gently.
Tyler gave him a strange look and returned to looking out the window. Reid clenched his jaw and forced his eyes away from Tyler. No matter what he was feeling at that moment, it wasn't right. There was no way Caleb and Pogue would approve of it. There was no way they would let their sweet, innocent Baby Boy be involved with him. Not when he'd worked so hard to be the odd man out. Not when he had worked so hard to give them someone to hate so they wouldn't have to worry about taking it out on eachother. So he had two choices. He could either let himself fall to shreds because he so badly wanted Tyler and had to hold out because of his image, or he could let the entire Covenant fall to shreds because he had to give in to what he wanted.
Reid didn't really taste his food. He was too busy tearing himself to shreds.
And I've been lonely like a silhouette or a serenade.
A heart attack, or a man betrayed.
The arms of love have been holding me like a silhouette or a serenade.
Reid watched Tyler eat, the brunette's eyes continually glued to the window. Reid was still stuck between what he needed to do and what he knew was the right thing to do. He turned his eyes away from Tyler and to his glass. He absently stirrred the ice in his drink and watched it dissolve ever so slowly into his soda.
"Reid?" Tyler asked, worry coloring his eyes.
"Yeah, kid?"
"Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"I'm fine, kid." Reid said softly, hating himself for trying to put so much distance between the boy he needed.
Tyler sighed to himself and went back to looking out the window. He couldn't face Reid. He wasn't sure just how he was going to survive telling Reid that he'd been the one writing the love letters Kate had been dropping off. He supposed he just had to say it and get it over with and learn to live with whatever happened.
Reid picked up the bill and they started walking to Reid's car.
"So you gonna tell me who's been writing those letters?" Reid asked as they stood by the hood of his Camero.
"You can't laugh or be a prick." Tyler said slowly.
"I won't."
"Promise?"
"Cross my heart and hope to die."
"It was me. The whole time it was me." Tyler said far too quickly. He waited for Reid to respond. When nothing was said and no move was made, Tyler looked away from the asphalt and up at the blond. Reid was smiling down at him.
"What?" Tyler demanded.
Reid reached out and took Tyler's hand, pulling the brunette closer to him. He brushed a kiss over Tyler's lips.
"I love you. So fucking much." Reid whispered with a ragged edge to his voice.
"So let's be together like I want. Like I've always wanted." Tyler pleaded.
"I can't. I became someone to hate because it's what you guys need. There's so much pressure and tension that comes with having this damnable Power. If you ddin't have someone to turn on, you'd turn on eachother. I don't want you exposed to all of that. I'm strong enough to take it. I don't want to tarnish you with all of this." Reid said brokenly.
"I'm stronger than you give me credit for." Tyler insisted.
"That's what your letters suggest." Reid laughed, a bittersweet laugh.
"So then trust me."
"You're the only person I've ever trusted. But you have to trust me when I say that if I think that this is going to damage you in any way, I will end it. End it to protect you. No matter what it does to me. I have to protect you." Reid's words were wavering.
"I know, I know. I love you." Tyler purred. He wrapped his arms around Reid's neck and kissed the blond's lips.
And all pretty poems have to end.
So I'll say this before I leave.
If words are your weapons my dear, I surrender, I surrender.
Reid wrapped his fingers around Tyler's dark hair, pulling him closer. Reid smiled to himself and gladly lost himself in the feeling, in the electricity that slithered across Tyler's lips, that worked its way through all of Tyler's soft skin. Reid's teeth closed around Tyler's lower lip and the smaller teen whimpered, grabbing handfuls of Reid's shirt and pulling them painfully closer together. Reid's crushing grasp was the most beautiful thing Tyler had ever felt.
When they finally made their way into Reid's car and finaly got back to the dorms, their lips were swollen and there was no doubt in Reid's mind that it had been Tyler writing all of those eletters, both hopelesly romantic and painfully passionate. And he was glad he'd chosen to give in to what he needed and not what he thought.
Silhouette or a serenade.
A heart attack or a man betrayed.
The arms of love have been holding me to you.