Rose Tinted (boyxboy)

Chapter 5: Hide and seek

"You've slept with him haven't you."

☆

"So...how was it?" Max closes the door of his and Donny's apartment to see Donny sat in the dark on the couch, face aglow from the laptop resting on his legs.

"Ok I guess." Max sighs as he kicks his shoes off now making his way to sit alongside Donny.

"Just ok?" Donny questions, looking a little disheartened.

"Hey I really appreciate the help for work. It was good, I'll do well." Max says, trying to sound as enthusiastic as he can at 10:30 at night.

"Hey I'm just kidding!" Donny laughs. "You are allowed to hate it, I know it's not your dream to work in a fast food joint."

Max half chuckles. "It might not be my dream, but there's this guy..." he begins.

"Guy?" Donny now looks at Max with extra interest. "Don't tell me you're already on the prowl."

"Uh no." Max says furrowing his brow. "If you let me finish, I was gonna say there's this guy there who loves his job, like actually loves it."

"You sound like it's impossible." Donny comments. "Some people do love their jobs."

"Yeah, but seriously, I don't think he even gets sad. It's like he's on happy pills or something." Max shakes his head, still not getting over the anomaly which is Tayce.

"Hang on, is the guy called Tayce?" Donny looks at Max in question.

"Yeah that's him. Tayce...do you know him?"

"Jojo has mentioned him a few times. I think he winds him up." Donny says smiling.

"Yeah, I get that." Max nods, thinking about the pricing gun ninja and the urge Tayce had to tickle him. He then looks at Donny in wonder. "You've actually never told me how you know Jojo."

"Oh!" Donny starts to readjust himself on the couch, now focussing intently on the laptop screen. "He's just...just someone I know...that's all." He clears his throat, suddenly typing something on the keypad as a distraction.

Max creases his eyes into a frown, trying to scrutinise the vibe he was getting from Donny. "You've slept with him haven't you."

Donny slams the laptop closed, leaving the pair in darkness. He feels Max move by him from the couch and suddenly the light fills the room, with Max stood by the switch. He sees Donny's neck looking red and flush. The light making him squint his eyes closed. "Max, you gotta warn me before you do that!"

"Do what?" Max asks innocently. "Switch on the light, or ask if you did the deed with my new boss."

"Both." Donny now stands up, dropping the laptop on the couch. "If you really must know, we met earlier this year when I was on one of my nature walks and yes I do like him, but we haven't..." Donny now hurridly walks over to Max, grabbing the scruff of his shirt collar. "I can't tell him. I can't tell him I like him. He's too handsome!"

Max removes Donny's hands from his shirt and sighs. "Friday night."

"What? What about Friday night?" Donny asks in wonder.

"Just keep it free. I'll do the rest."

***

Tayce enters the locker room at work for his shift. Even before he entered the space he could hear the singing.

"When you close your eyes, tell me, what are you dreamin'
Everything, I wanna know it all..."

The melody suddenly stops when the door clicks open. "Hey Faith. Don't stop on my account." Tayce says, smiling at his colleague who has suddenly gone shy at being overheard.

"S...sorry, I thought no one was around yet." She mumbles.

"Wouldn't matter if there was Faith, you deserve to be heard." Tayce slaps Faith on the back.

"Thank you." She smiles, now humming the same tune quietly to herself.

Tayce opens his locker, then stops momentarily to look around. "Have you seen Max? He's supposed to be on the same shift as me?"

"Shit!" ...someone curses in the corridor

Both Tayce and Faith turn and head to the corridor to see Max sat on his backside, with an array of empty food boxes by his feet and his phone halfway across the floor. "What's going on?" Tayce asks, leaning forward to help Max to his feet.

He bats the hand away. "I can get up myself, I..." he looks at Tayce and Faith looking at him with concern. He sighs. "I went through the wrong door."

"What?" Faith asks, her face lighting up with slight amusement.

"The doors. All the doors are grey. Can't you colour code them or something?" Max points to the row of doors in front of him.

Tayce bursts into laughter. "That's hilarious!" He says, literally holding his stomach. "Here let me help you pick these boxes up." Tayce tries to compose himself as he squats down to gather up the small flat pack boxes, whilst Faith retrieves his phone.

Max doesn't know whether to give Tayce a mouthful for laughing at him or to just suck it up. If the tables were turned, he would have probably laughed and not even helped pick up the mess. He decides to let it slide on this occasion.

Max squats down alongside Tayce and begins to gather the boxes together. That's when he notices it. The reddish bruise on the side of Tayce's collar bone. "Your neck...you um... have a...mark. You might wanna cover that up." Max points to his own neck, mirroring where he could see the mark.

It's now Tayce's turn to get embarrassed. His eyes widen as he touches the area where Frank had attacked him with his lips last night, before going for his late meeting. Tayce couldn't get to sleep after that, just tossing and turning, waiting for his return.

Frank didn't come back until the early hours that morning, sliding into the sheets beside Tayce, smelling of unfamiliar cologne and stale alcohol. He must have thought Tayce was sleeping. That he didn't notice. But Tayce did and his mind didn't know what to think.

That morning when he got up for work Frank was still out for the count. Tayce stood by the bed, just watching as he rested. So peaceful, without a care in the world.

"Oh uh, yeah. My boyfriend." He says smiling. He suddenly gets up and heads back to the locker room, with Faith now helping Max with the remaining boxes.

Tayce looks at the mark in the reflection in the mirror. He didn't know how he felt about the red blemish. It was bittersweet. Surely it was a sign that Frank loves him. Why else would he do it?

What Tayce did know, was that Jojo was sure to kill him if he laid eyes on it. He hurridly gets changed and manages to adjust his collar of his work shirt just so. He should get away with it.