*Tyler's POV*

I awoke to the unmistakable feeling of drool on my pillow, my nose twitching up in distaste. Gross. I hoisted myself up into a push-up position, wincing as I listened to my bones crack. I felt like a zombie, my eyes heavy as I tried to open them. I was slightly disoriented at first, staring down at the puddle of drool with a lost expression. Then, I noticed my phone wedged half under the pillow and my explanation came to me in the form of Troye's name, still lighting up the screen. Had we both fallen asleep on the phone? Thank God I have unlimited calling or my phone bill would be through the roof by now. I grabbed the cellphone and smirked, trying to remember when exactly I'd fallen asleep. I remembered seeing 4am at one point and whining to Troye about how late it was, but he simply continued our conversation like I hadn't spoken at all. I didn't mind though, talking to Troye was definitely more important than a reasonable amount of sleep. I wasn't sure if that was so true now though, considering how my entire body was aching and I had both school and football practice today. I held the phone to my ear, not surprised to hear silence on the other end. I smiled warmly, rolling my eyes to myself as I ended the call.

I spent the majority of the time in the shower thinking back over our conversation from last night. I actually found myself cringing at a few of the particularly flirty things I'd said, wondering how he'd really reacted. I'd been thirsty as hell last night, my mind too muddled with sleep to differ between what was appropriate to say and what wasn't. He was surprisingly good about it though, definitely a lot less weirded out than he should have been. I was once again left hopefully wondering if this had something to do with his sexuality or feelings toward me, though I decided I'd worry about that later. If I got caught up in it now I'd be in the shower until I was as wrinkly as a raisin. 

I stepped out of the water stream a moment later, only managing to slip twice in the process. I draped a towel loosely around my waist in a hurry, knowing Troye was picking me up soon. I wanted to be ready when he got here. The last thing I needed was having him interact with Queen Jackie any more than he had to. I got dressed way too quickly, not even taking time to really focus on what I was throwing on before grabbing my phone and heading down the hall. I jogged around the corner into the kitchen, staring at my screen and checking for texts as I called out to my mother.

"Are there any eggs left?" I yelled, walking toward the fridge without looking up. The uncanny silence in place of the usual pop music should have been my first clue something was out of place, but I still hadn't even looked up when a bubbly pair of giggles filled the room. My head immediately snapped up, surprised to see Troye seated at the table with my mother. They each had mugs in front of them, making it clear he'd been here for a while. "Trying to steal my friends again, Mom?"

"Yeah, she's doing a pretty good job too, between the hot chocolate and hilarious childhood stories about you." Troye chirped, beaming a smile up at me. He looked so at home sat down in the single spare chair that we never used, the exact same one he'd sat in yesterday. He was absentmindedly running his fingers along the cup of hot cocoa, turning back to my mother to spark up their conversation again. It was the happiest I ever remembered seeing him, making me silently wonder how anyone could enjoy being up this early. I wouldn't dare question it though, instead deciding to just bask in it while it lasted. Besides, it was a lot better than the awkwardness I'd expected to follow-up our sappy conversation last night. 

 "We should probably get going, Troye boy." I interrupted, watching my mother shoot me a glare, obviously not impressed with me for ruining their conversation. Troye didn't seem upset though, immediately jumping up next to me with a smile. 

"See ya, Jackie!" He said, following me out of the room. I grabbed my bag on the way out of the door, not bothering to look back at Troye until we'd made it outside. He sped up then, wanting to walk beside me.

"How long have you been here?" I asked, eyeing him out of the corner of my vision.

"Twenty minutes-ish." I groaned, shoving him in frustration. If anyone can ruin my chance with Troye, it's my mother. She knows everything about me, every embarrassing detail. Well, minus the whole at-school life thing, but Troye already knows about all that anyway. I was glad they were getting along, but I definitely didn't want them to become friends, not yet anyway. "Hey, is someone getting jealous? I promise I like you better than your mother, Ty."

I didn't reply to this comment, thankful we'd reached the car and I could use getting into it as an excuse. The real reason I hadn't replied had something to do with the teasing tone in his voice, something that could have been easily mistaken as flirty. Maybe he just had a naturally flirty personality and had been too shy to show it off before now, or maybe I'd just read more into it than necessary-

Or maybe he likes you.

I tried to shake that thought out of my head, though it seemed permanently engraved. I glanced over nervously and watched Troye slide into the driver's seat beside me, looking over to lock eyes with me. He gave a warm comforting smile, likely noticing how unnerved I was, and then turned to focus on starting the car. I quickly flitted my eyes toward the window, watching the familiar scenery start to roll by. I was doing a pretty good job distracting myself until I caught sight of Troye's reflection in the glass. He was smiling to himself as his eyes remained fixed on the road in front of us, his eyes sparkling with what looked to be excitement. I felt the corner of my own lips turn up and actually looked directly at him.

"Why are you so happy? Did you forget where we're going? School is hardly something to get excited over." I scoffed, watching him intently. He gave a thoughtful smile, eventually just shrugging his shoulders.

"Do I need to have a reason? I guess I just woke up on the right side of the bed today." He laughed, making the sharp right turn into the school parking lot. We were still early, only a few cars scattered across the parking lot, including my piece of junk. It'd probably work today, usually it did after a bit of a break. I blinked, realizing I'd forgotten to reply to his statement. A thought popped into my head and before I could help myself I was blurting it out loud.

"Or maybe it had something to do with falling asleep to the sound of my voice." My cheeks flamed upon realizing what I'd just said, my eyes darting back to the parking lot. It was one thing to flirt over the phone, it was a completely different level to do it in person. I could see his real reaction, and when the time came that he finally rejected my advances, it'd hurt much worse in person.

"Doubt it." He giggled, his voice thick with the same teasing tone from earlier. I just rolled my eyes at him, crossing my arms in a mock pout as I waited for him to park the car. I was the first one out of it when he did, hopping over to my own car to make sure no one had messed with it. I doubted anyone could screw it up worse than it was, but it was better safe than sorry. I was only half way through my inspection when I felt a hand wrap around my forearm, tugging me off toward the school.

"Hey! I wasn't done there!" I complained, glaring up at Troye through my eyelashes. He just stuck his tongue out at me, wagging it annoyingly.

"We have Math together first thing and I refuse to be the first one to class. Do you have any idea how awkward it'd be to sit alone with Mr. Graham?" I gave loud sigh of complaint, though I didn't find myself struggling against his embrace. In fact, I didn't even try to shrug it off when we walked into the school, ignoring all the questioning glances I got in response. Instead I picked up another conversation with Troye, teasing him about his math skills animatedly as we walked through the halls together, him still leading me by the grip on my arm. It wasn't like I had to worry about Caspar or anyone seeing us together, they were never this early to school. And even if they did it'd be easy to play Troye's grip off as a violent one and that we were 'fighting', so I wasn't going to dwell on it. 

We stumbled into the empty classroom together a moment later, casting nervous glances in the direction of the teacher at the front. He was sitting at his desk and eating what was likely his breakfast, though the fact it was meatballs made me seriously question his healthy food choices. Troye and I exchanged a look before both stifling giggles and walking over to our seats from yesterday. He got his book out immediately, seemingly reviewing as his eyes scanned over the work we'd done yesterday. He put way too much effort into this. 
I put up with another three minutes of this before deciding it was simply too boring. I reached over and plucked the pencil out of his hand, holding it as far away from him as I could manage.

"Tilly!" He hissed, his voice hushed as he obviously tried not to alert the teacher. I gave him a huge smile in response, trying to ward off the butterflies his adorable nickname caused. He pouted his lip out in an adorable puppy dog face, holding his hands out like he expected me to just give it back to him. That'd be way too easy. Instead I dropped some eraser shavings into his hand, earning a glare and a shove. He jolted forward suddenly, stretching over me in an attempt to grab it. His fingertips were just barely touching it when an ungodly screech filled the room. I knew immediately his chair had slipped out from underneath him considering all the weight he was putting to one side, watching helplessly as he collapsed draped across my legs. He scrambled up immediately, snatching his pencil from me easily considering how awestruck I still was over the situation. His cheeks were flushed and his eyebrows furrowed as he turned back to his work, looking genuinely unimpressed with the entire world. I felt a little bad knowing I'd managed to kill his good mood, but that didn't stop the giggles that wracked my body a moment later. This only made him blush even harder, watching as the teacher lifted his head for the first time and stared at us questioningly. I couldn't stop laughing even if I wanted to though, clutching my sides as they both continued to stare me down. Eventually Troye slapped my leg in an effort to quiet me down but it didn't help, only making me laugh harder at his exasperated expression. The teacher cleared his throat pointedly then and I tried to get myself under control, though I only stopped for a second before starting all over again. Troye groaned at this, leaning toward me and clapping a hand over my mouth.

"Shut-up, it wasn't even that funny." He growled, his voice laced with both embarrassment and annoyance. I stopped laughing though, so he'd accomplished his goal. But I'd be lying if I said it was because of the annoyance in his voice, it had a lot more to do with how sexy his voice sounded in that deep growl combined with his soft palm pressed up against my lips. I pulled his hand off my face not even a second later, shoving it away and turning to my work with a determined expression. I never did work I didn't have to in class, and I didn't actually intend to, but the excuse not to look at him was definitely necessary right now. I could feel his eyes on me as he wondered what had reversed my teasing mood so quickly, though I refused to look up and call him out on the staring. I skimmed through the pages of my math book quickly, only paying any attention to the tiny pictures throughout it. We didn't interact at all after that, an almost eery silence enveloping the room.

The bell rang about ten minutes later, alerting people it was time for normal people to go to class. I was still holding a slight grudge toward Troye for making me come to class so early, but I didn't really have reason considering I'd been the one to drag him out of the house. I was actually thankful when the other students filed in and the tense mood evaporated, finally sitting up in my chair. I hadn't been expecting Troye's eyes to still be on me though, suddenly nervous all over again under his curious gaze. I could feel him trying to figure out what was going on with me, and I didn't like it at all. I decided to cover up my nerves though, flashing a fake confident smile I'd perfected over years.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." I said smoothly, winking at him. Of course I found myself wondering why the hell I said something so flirty not even a second later, but it was too late to take it back. Besides, he was probably getting used to it by now. He definitely didn't seem too bothered by it, either brushing it off as normal Tyler Oakley behaviour or just completely indifferent to it either way. Looking back the words were completely laced with irony, considering I had taken a picture of him for the sole purpose of looking at how beautiful he was. Wow, this is really reaching obsession level.

"Nah, might break my camera." He replied, equally as smoothly. I gave him the stink-eye in response, though it didn't last long considering I couldn't fight off the smile when he started to giggle quietly. A couple of the students sitting nearby turned to look at us with curious eyes but they all turned back to the front when the teacher began listing off today's work load. I didn't turn to the front though, instead keeping my eyes fixed on Troye as he reacted to the teacher's words.

"-page twelve through to twenty. There's a lot of questions but what you don't finish in class can be done at home. Alright, you may begin." I bit my lip to fight off the grin as I watched Troye's face fall, looking utterly defeated with the amount of work he was going to have to do. He sighed quietly, his eyes flickering down to the book as he started the dreaded work. I watched him start the first question, surprised by how angelic he could look even when annoyed. It really made me wonder how he'd managed to go under the radar all these years. He mus thave had an invisibility cloak or something, because there is no other way that he wouldn't turn heads. He was hands down the most attractive thing in the school, out of both boys and girls. I was still lost staring at him when I felt someone kick my foot roughly. I furrowed my brow in anger for a second, before blinking and noticing the smirk on his face, making it clear he'd been the culprit. 

"Are you back to Earth yet? I've been asking you to help me with this question for three minutes now." I blushed, wondering if he'd noticed just what I'd zoned out staring at, but hurriedly shifted my chair closer to his to help him out. 

"What don't you get about it?" I asked calmly, noticing how frustrated his ragged breathing was.

"Everything." He replied, crossing his arms grumpily. I rolled my eyes, studying the question more intently. I checked to make sure the teacher wasn't looking before doing the question for him, making sure to move slowly so he caught the entire process. Once I'd finished he gave me an appreciative smile, going back to his work without another word. I reluctantly decided I'd better get at my own then, knowing I was going to have trouble in this class myself if I kept letting myself get distracted by him.

I let out a breathy sigh of relief when Troye finished his final question, with five minutes to spare. He seemed very proud of himself, despite the fact he would never have accomplished it without my help. He leaned back in his seat with a smug grin, before inspiration dawned on his face and he lurched back forward. I was confused for a second before he showed me the paper he'd been writing on, rolling my eyes at the childish note he'd written instead of just talking to me. Scrawled across the paper in his fancy signature were the words 'Look at the teacher'. I furrowed a brow before looking to the front, my eyes going wide when I seen him eating a slice of pizza. How much food did this guy keep in storage at his desk? I gave a bubbly smile before settling back in my seat like Troye had, both of us turning to look at each other. Thus started an ugly face war, which lasted us until the bell rang and we were dismissed. For once I wasn't the first out of the door, gathering up my stuff at a normal pace alongside Troye. Even after I'd collected it all in my arms I stayed standing there, wordlessly waiting for him to finish. He seemed a little surprised to see me still there when he straightened up, though his initial shock was immediately replaced with a smile as he led the way out of the classroom.

After we'd successfully made it out of the classroom is when awkwardness ensued. We both stood beside the door, looking at each other with weak smiles. At first I was confused why this moment was so awkward, before it set in that this was the last time I'd see him today. Sure, I might see him in the halls, but I wouldn't have a chance the rest of the day to talk to him without my 'friends' crowded around. Worse yet it wasn't like last night where our goodbye could be sappy, it had to be quick and rushed, making leaving him even less desirable. 

"I, uh, I should probably get to my next class." He said, breaking the silence. He looked tentative, like he wasn't sure what I was going to say. I gave a breathless laugh, despite the situation not even being remotely funny. I had a weird knot in the pit of my stomach, enforcing my belief that this was reaching obsession status. We'd see enough of each other to make up for it tomorrow, considering I was going to be at his house all day, but still my tongue felt heavy in my mouth as I drawled the next words.

"Yeah, definitely. I'll text you." I said in a rush, he nodded and turned to leave, but before he even got a full step I threw my arms around his back and nuzzled my face between his shoulders. It was about ten seconds later after the initial bubbly feeling wore off, that I realized what I'd just done. I took a step back quickly and looked around the hallway, relieved to see it was empty aside from three stray students that I didn't recognize. My eyes went back to Troye then, nervously waiting for him to turn around or to even say anything in reaction. He didn't though, instead just continuing on like he had been before and walking off down the hall. This worried me for multiple reasons, my mind instantly jumping to the conclusion that I'd done something wrong. Maybe it wasn't just me that was worried about being seen at school, maybe he didn't want people to know he hung-out with me either. I couldn't be sure, but there was definitely something off about how he'd hurried away so quickly.

My questions were all left unanswered and nagging in the back of my mind the entire day, constantly popping up at the wrong time and ruining my mood. I was terrified, what if he was mad at me? I couldn't handle that again, not after how close we'd gotten last night. That was exactly why I never ended up texting him, worried he wouldn't reply or even worse, he'd reply with something I didn't want to hear. I tried to avoid human interaction as much as I could throughout the rest of the day, outright ignoring Marcus when he tried to strike up a conversation at the lunch table. Maybe I should have talked to him though, maybe a distraction was just what I needed, especially when I'd caught sight of a familiar chocolate brown quiff floating above the heads of shorter students. I was forced to keep my cool though, considering Caspar had likely already picked up that something was off about me today. He wouldn't hesitate a second to use it to his advantage if he found out any new information.

Somehow I'd managed to get through the rest of lunch without being questioned though, even after my eyes spent a good thirty seconds lingering on Troye as he stood in line. The classes after that had been more hands-on thankfully, and I'd actually managed to push the thoughts of him to the back of my mind and concentrate on the tasks at hand. Between dodge-ball in P.E class and paper mache in art, they were both pretty attention-keeping. I actually got so caught up in my paper sculpture that I jumped when the bell went off, alerting as it was officially the end of the day. I would have been more relieved if it weren't for the fact I still had an hour long practice to attend, making me wish I'd never joined the team in the first place. I couldn't skip it though, our first game of the season was coming up very soon and being the quarterback, it was kind of important I knew what we were doing.

After the hour of streinous and boring activity, I was jogging toward the showers with the rest of the boys. They were all talking obnoxiously loud about things like sex and parties, and I was very grateful they took notice of my bad mood at lunch and didn't ask me for opinions on the topics now. I was the first into the shower, completely zoning out the rest of them after they started whooping the words 'Get some' repeatedly. I was nearly finished when a particularly loud shout brought me back down to Earth. I grimaced as I turned, watching Caspar smack some newbie's back with a wet towel, earning a loud squeal that echoed throughout the room.

"Why were you staring at me in the shower? You're not a fag, are ya?" He crooned, staring at the guy with a challenging grin. He shook his head immediately, holding his hands up in defense. 

"No, 'course not. And I wasn't staring, it was an accident." He said sternly, the disgust in his voice making it very clear our team had gained yet another homophobic douchebag. Yay! Congratulations! I decided to ignore any further conversations, heading toward the locker and slipping on my outfit. I really hoped my car started, because the last thing I wanted was to be stuck in a car with bigot and bigoter. I trotted out of the building before they had the chance to finish getting dressed and strike up a conversation with me, slowly wandering out into the parking lot. 

I thanked the gods of every single religion when my car purred to life, slamming my foot on the gas before it had the chance to stall again. The drive home didn't feel nearly as quick as usual, likely because my mind was anxiously worrying about Troye yet again. It was about half way home when a familiar ringtone filled the car, effectively making my heart stop. I quickly pulled the car over, despite knowing how much this increased the chances of it not starting next time, and launched myself into the backseat. I dug around in my duffel bag before retrieving the cellphone, clicking on the text eagerly.

"Try to be here for noon tomorrow, okay? My family is going to be going out for lunch so it's basically the only time we'll have to ourselves." I spluttered out a sigh of relief upon reading the text, all my worries vanishing from reading two carefully composed sentences. If he was mad he wouldn't be encouraging me about tomorrow, he'd be trying to avoid the topic. I didn't even think before clicking his name, listening to the phone ring a moment later.

"What's your excuse for calling me this time, Oakley?" I blushed under his obviously teasing tone, realizing I hadn't even thought of one. It was worth it though, considering I was now sure he wasn't mad at me.

"Hmm... I was calling to let you know I got your text?" It wasn't supposed to be a question, but my tentative tone definitely made it seem like one. Troye chuckled then, the sound immediately making my heartbeat speed up.

"Could you not have just replied to the text to inform me of that?" He asked, cockiness seeping into his voice at having caught my lie red handed. I bit my lip in thought for a moment, trying to come up with any kind of excuse that could get me out of this without looking like the obsessed weirdo I was. I didn't find any.

"Yeah, I guess." I mumbled, playing with the hem of my shirt nervously. He just giggled though, the sound banishing my anxiety once again.

"Look, can I call you back later? The only reason I didn't call you in the first place was because I'm literally just about to get into the shower." I blinked, suddenly noticing the water obviously running in the background. It was only a matter of seconds before the obvious thoughts came into my mind, realizing it was a very likely possibility that Troye was naked right now, while talking to me. I bit down hard on my lip for a few seconds, trying very hard to plan out exactly what I was going to say next. I knew if I didn't pre-plan my word choice I'd let some sexual one-liner slip that'd probably be taking it too far.

"Oh, uh, yeah, that's fine." I physically slapped a hand to my face at the stuttering mess I'd just made, the fact my voice cracked on the word 'fine' making it impossibly worse. So much for planning out my response, but at least it wasn't sexual. He snickered again, though I noticed how bashful this one was compared to the one's before it.

"I'll call you later, don't fall asleep on me." Oh, Troye, you have absolutely no idea how much I would love to fall asleep on you.

"Of course not, I'll be staring at the screen until your name lights it up again." I cooed, picturing exactly how he'd roll his eyes in response.

"Bye, Ty." He muttered quietly, ending the call before I got a chance to reply. I didn't mind though, still quite caught up with my thoughts of him in the shower. This whole moving slow with him thing had seemed easy enough at first, but it was getting increasingly more difficult the more I wanted to jump his bones.

 A/n: UJDKMGFCIOKF IDK ITS A BIG FILLER AND I'M SORRY BUT IF YOU LIKE IT YOU LIKE IT, AN UPDATE IS AN UPDATE YADDA YADDA. Also the Saturday you've all been waiting for is approaching v fast, likely next chapter unless I come up with some necessary thing that needs to happen between then and now. Okay, I'd also like to point out this story has officially passed my other story in votes and comments DESPITE HAVING A QUARTER OF THE READS IT DOES. THATS INSLAYNE, YOU GUYS ARE LOVING THIS. UGh, I am loving you all <3 
Okay, now I'd just like to use this little corner of the internet to give a shoutout to my wife, my lover, my best friend, my consultant, my other half; Chloe. (aka @GurlYouAFiiiineApple) She has started a new story and if you haven't read it OR her other teacherxstudent one, you're basically nothing to me. I'm kidding, but please go read them and spam her with comments so she'll UPDATE <3 Her new story is an AU where Tyler is best friends with Steele and him and Troye have a kind of running flirtationship and it's uh, basically the best thing ever. It's called Holidays and just ugh, go read it, her writing style is so unique and perfect and she uses big words and i love her to death.

Oh and finally I'd just like to mention that there has been a lot of drama going on in the Troyler wattpad community as of late and it's honestly the worst. I just want everyone to be happy so please don't take part in it if you can avoid it. I mean, we're all here to read fanfiction and ship gay men religiously, can we not come to a mutual agreement to do that as a big happy group? Alright, that's it for rambling with Kali today, tune in next update for more not-exciting-at-all ramblings. Love you all, stay gold ponyboys. Live long and prosper. Hakuna Matata. 
also also, it feels mandatory to make a reference to a popular pop song considering what chapter this is. I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I'M FEELING TWENTY-TWO