rsadelle | (Reply)

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Thirty-Six Hours (1/2)

Story on AO3

Tyler has more than learned his lesson about walking into bedrooms unannounced, so he knocks on Ty's door instead of opening it. "Dude, you've gotta get up if you want breakfast before we leave."

"I'm not going."

"What do you mean you're not going?" Tyler has the doorknob halfway turned when Ty yells at him again.

"Don't come in here!"

"Are you jerking it? It's not like I've never seen that." Tyler pauses anyway.

"I'm sick," Ty says. His voice drops so low Tyler can barely hear it through the door. "The Virus."

Tyler lets the doorknob go and leans his forehead on the door. "Are you sure? You could just have a cold."

"My fingernails are blue."

And, yeah, that's The Virus. The one that has a name that no one uses. The one that kills you or Changes you. The one that hasn't become a point of contention in the CBA negotiations only because no one's quite sure what to do about the Changed yet. The one that has a three-day incubation period, so you can pass it on without even knowing you're sick. Three-day incubation period.

Tyler opens the door.

"Dude!" Ty looks like shit, but he has it together enough to yell at Tyler. "Don't come in here. I don't want you getting sick too."

"Three days ago," Tyler says without coming all the way into the room. "The girl who blew us both on the couch."

Ty closes his eyes. "Fuck."

"Yeah." Tyler closes the door behind him and lies down on his back next to Ty. He's the one who found the girl; this is as much his fault as anyone else's.

Ty curls up against him, his face against Tyler's neck. "I don't want to die."

"You're not going to die."

"Thirty percent of people die."

Tyler grabs Ty's hand and holds on. "Seventy percent live." He looks down at their hands, and there's the blue tinge to his fingernails too, even though he thinks the sick feeling in his stomach is still just dread and not The Virus.

"I don't want to die," Ty says again. "I want to make the Flyers and win the Cup. I want to watch Marshall grow up and go to your sisters' weddings. I want to marry you for real."

Tyler sucks in a breath. "Ty-"

"I would. I want to."

Tyler turns on his side, so he's looking right at Ty. "We're not going to die," he says. "And I'll marry you for real."