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For a long time, Elliot hated life, school, and the world. He hadn't started like that, but he'd ended up liked that ever since his dad disconnected from him.
Angela helped that a little, at first. They ran away together and read and talked. But then Angela and he drifted a little, when she'd gotten Ollie, her boyfriend. Her cheating, idiot boyfriend.
Then Shayla helped that, but after Angela broke up with Ollie, Shayla and Angela got together. Which was good, really. It was great. But it left Elliot pretty alone.
There was someone else Elliot thought might want to help that, though. At least, he acted a bit like that. Elliot wasn't sure. He was intimidating and powerful and rich and terrifying and beautiful and it was all very crazy.
Tyrell Wellick.
He was probably crazy. Just like he was. Though he had a girlfriend of like...a lot of years. Joanna Olofsson.
She was actually probably more terrifying than Tyrell. Whatever. Tyrell didn't care about him, and he didn't care about Tyrell. So that was that.
Elliot went right on believing and retelling himself that. That is, until a while after the semester change.
Of course Tyrell managed to get into the same physical education class. Somehow that just made sense in this world that was always against him.
So that's how he ended up here, changing in a bathroom stall like some...really self conscious person. Which is kind of what he was, but it was different.
He was okay changing in front of people, and even being naked. But not in front of someone like Tyrell.
Elliot came out of the stall dressed in his sweatpants and t-shirt. He held his other clothes close, his head slightly down.
That's how he ended up running into a very close to naked Tyrell.
"S-sorry. Sorry." Elliot mumbled, eyes fixed on the ground. 'Don't look up. Just don't.'
"Everything alright, Elliot?" Tyrell asked, smiling down at him.
'Fuck you, blondie.' He thought."Y-yeah. Of course." Elliot said, giving a tiny, probably not very convincing smile.
Tyrell frowned a little. “Now come on, Elliot. What’s the matter?”
“You’re the matter. Now please leave me alone.” Elliot said, gently pushing past Tyrell. He went to his locker and shoved his clothes inside before heading into the gym.
Elliot leaned against the wall in the corner, waiting for roll to be taken so he could disappear and get away with not doing the stupid exercises. And what do you know, Tyrell sauntered up with his stupid tight pants and stupidly tight shirt with a dumb smile on his idiotic lips.
"What do you want?" Elliot asked quietly.
"I want to know what's going on with you." Tyrell said, leaning against the wall beside Elliot.
Elliot moved away slightly. "Leave me alone, please." He said softly.
"Why?" Tyrell asked.
"Because... I want to be alone." Elliot mumbled, looking up at Tyrell.
"No you don't." He said, putting his hands on both sides of Elliot, his palms against the wall behind the other as he looked down at him.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Elliot mumbled, swallowing.
"I want to show you exactly why you should want to have someone. And what it would be to have me." Tyrell purred out the words before leaning in to kiss Elliot's lips lightly.
Elliot froze, eyes wide as he was kissed. He finally pulled away, staring at Tyrell. "What the hell, man?"
Tyrell actually looked like a fucking kicked puppy. "I'm... sorry." He said softly. "I'm so sorry. I didn't..." He looked over Elliot's face before turning to walk away quickly.
"Wait." Elliot said, grabbing Tyrell's wrist. "I um...why did you do that?" He asked softly.
"I just wanted...someone." Tyrell mumbled.
"What? What about Joanna?" Elliot asked.
"She um...left me." Tyrell said, looking at the floor.
"Oh. I um... I'm sorry. Well, I'm sorry for her. She must be stupid." Elliot smiled a little, trying to cheer Tyrell up.
Tyrell shook his head a little and looked at Elliot. "I wouldn't have stayed either." He said with a sigh.
Elliot hesitated just a moment before putting his hand on Tyrell's cheek and kissing him softly.
Tyrell relaxed into the kiss, and soon kissed the other back a little deeper, letting his hands come to rest on Elliot's hips.
"Break it up you two. That is an excessive amount of PDA." Lloyd said, and Tyrell broke away from Elliot, blushing just a little.
Elliot rolled his eyes. "Come on, Lloyd. No one cares." He said with a soft smile.
"Oh god, you're in a good mood. I'm out of here." Lloyd hurried off, and Elliot chuckled softly.
Elliot looked back at Tyrell. "So. Um..." He scuffed his shoe against the floor.
"Do you want to have lunch with me?" Tyrell asked quietly. Elliot nodded quickly.
"Yes, please. You go out, right? I've got some money. If want to do that. We can do that..." Elliot said.
"Elliot, Elliot. Calm down. If you don't want to go, then that's alright. If you do, I'll pay for you, okay? No worries." Tyrell said gently.
Elliot didn't have the chance to reply, because they had to get in roll call. He thought about it the entire class period and he began to feel nervous.
But at the end of the period Tyrell took him by the hand and pulled him into the locker room.
Elliot switched his shirt quickly and hesitated only a moment before he changed into his jeans.
Tyrell made him so self conscious and it didn't even make sense. Tyrell, on the other hand, apparently had no shame, taking his time and watching Elliot.
Tyrell somehow managed to actually make it seem seductive to put on clothes, and Elliot decided he'd probably never understand Tyrell.
Once they were both dressed, Tyrell led Elliot out to his car. "Where do you want to go?" He asked the other, settling in to the driver's seat.
Elliot shrugged a little. "I don't care." He mumbled.
Tyrell shook his head. "Alright then. A pizza place it is."
So they went and had pizza together. It was actually pretty nice. They talked about the world. About how it was unfair and horrible and how they still bought things they didn't need or really want because that's just how it worked out.
Tyrell had asked for Elliot’s number, so he gave it to him. He was a little disappointed when Tyrell remained on his phone for a long while after that, but the blond still kept up good conversation most of the time, so he let it slide.
When his own phone buzzed, he decided he might as well check it, just in case it was important. He didn't expect it to be a text from Tyrell. An encrypted message.
"If this is a sext, I'm going to send malware to your phone to destroy it. Understand?" Elliot said, eyeing Tyrell.
"It's not, I promise." Tyrell said with an amused smile. "Just figure it out on the way back." He said, standing up and moving out to his car.
Elliot followed, trying to decrypt while walking. They both got in the car, and Tyrell was quiet while Elliot figured out the message.
"You want to go to the dance." Elliot said after a moment. "With me." He looked over at Tyrell. "Did you actually think that through?" He asked.
"Yes. I did. I want to get you to have fun." Tyrell said with a smile. Elliot looked out the window, unsure what to do. A dance. With Tyrell.
"What if we had a private dance? My place, just you and me. Dinner, dancing, maybe a movie if you get bored of me?" Tyrell suggested.
Elliot imagined it, and it actually sounded kind of nice. No people, no ridiculous dancing. Just Tyrell and him. "I um... I'd like that, I think." He smiled.
They got back to school and unfortunately had to spend the rest of the day apart.
~~~~~
When the day of the dance arrived, Tyrell picked up Elliot and brought him home.
"Your parents aren't home?" Elliot asked once inside.
"No, they took a holiday. It's just us. I um... I made dinner." Tyrell said, leading Elliot to the dining room.
"You didn't have to do that." Elliot mumbled. "I would've been happy with take out, or anything like that..." He paused when he saw the table, with candles and steaks.
Tyrell looked at Elliot, slightly worried. "Too romantic? Too much? You're vegan?" He asked, biting his bottom lip slightly.
"No, no." Elliot said quickly.
"It's good. It's ready good." Elliot looked up shyly at Tyrell. "I just...I've never had this kind of thing before." He admitted.
Tyrell smiled softly and caressed Elliot's cheek. "I want to do this for you. All the time." He said gently. "Now sit down, alright? We can eat, and then we can dance." He smiled before sitting down at the table.
Elliot sat down slowly and looked at Tyrell. "So..." He looked at his food.
Tyrell smiled gently. "You don't have to be shy." He soothed. "Tell me about something you love. Animals? The stars? The clouds? Snow? Rain?" He suggested.
Elliot shrugged. "I like the ocean. I like the animals that live in it. Plus, there's the really deep parts with things that no one knows about. Everything has its monsters. The earth has humans, the ocean has giant squid, and space has who knows what. Wait...sorry. That um, took a dark kind of turn. Sorry." He pushed his Alfredo noodles around his plate.
"Don't be ridiculous, Elliot. That's fine. More than fine. That's true and interesting and you shouldn't worry." Tyrell said gently.
They both ate at their own pace, making a more friendly conversation, but not a meaningless one.
Once they were finished, Tyrell cleared the dishes away and pushed the tables and chairs to one side of the room.
Elliot mostly just watched, unsure what to do. Eventually Tyrell approached Elliot, smiling softly before taking his hands. He pulled Elliot into the middle of the floor and wrapped his arms around his neck.
Elliot put his hands on Tyrell's waist and Tyrell began to lead them. They danced for a long time until they finally stopped and just looked into each other's eyes.
"Do you really like me?" Elliot asked softly, and Tyrell nodded.
"Yes, Elliot. Of course I do." He assured gently, caressing Elliot's cheek.
"I am going to show you what it's like to be loved." He smiled and kissed Elliot lovingly on the lips.
Elliot kissed Tyrell back as lovingly as he could manage, hugging him a little closer. When they broke away, Tyrell smiled.
"I'm here for you as long as you want, alright? And you're welcome here as long as you'd like. Whenever you'd like. Understand?" Tyrell said, and Elliot buried his face in Tyrell's chest.
"I might take you up on that offer more often than you're ready for." Elliot said softly.
"I'd be happy for you to be over all the time, Elliot. Okay? So I expect to see you much, much more now." Tyrell said.
"I'd like that." Elliot said with a smile and they kissed again.