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While they were traveling, the Runaways, led by Roy Harper, had to always make stops at hotels, cafés, restaurants, take aways/take outs, and anywhere else they could sit for a breather. Everytime they made these stops, Tye had only one thing in mind:
"I wonder how Jaime's doing."
Virgil, Asami, Ed and Tye were all sitting on a picnic bench outside a café whilst Roy was ordering their food at the counter inside.
"Twenty-one... Twenty-two..." Asami counted in english, as Virgil taught her the pronunciation of each number. He had her counting from 10 to 20, 20 to 30, 30 to 40, and 40 to 50. It was what Asami wanted to learn next. At some point she would start to get bored, but then she'd hear her friends talking between eachother. Her reason for learning wasn't to understand, but to know how to speak a language she described as "pretty very much"
Ed chimed in here and there, correcting Virgil on some parts or just pranking them by confusing Asami with purposely over-explaining and exaggerating each small word and it's meaning.
The language learning book Roy bought them from an "unknown, totally not shady" source was really coming in handy, with Asami grabbing it and hitting Ed whenever his prank would annoy her or confuse her too much. While Virgil either recorded it with the phone Roy got him from an "unknown, totally not shady" source, or try to stop the fight by standing between them.
One of the many fights between Asami and Ed began while they were waiting. Virgil was recording, facing the camera back and forth between them before he faced his camera towards Tye, hoping he had a good reaction to record. He did not. He was looking away, with his elbow on the table and his cheek resting in his hand. This wasn't unusual since Tye was a bit of a daydreamer, but what really got to Virgil was the fact that this time, Tye was smiling.
Virgil shifted away from the fight and towards Tye, who he sat across. He tried calling his name, tapping him on the head, shoulder and arm, and pulling his arm only for Tye to still ignore him.
In Tye's mind he was fantasising about Jaime, being with him again, hugging, cuddling, kissing, and... More.
He imagined laying on the couch with him, holding him close, stroking his hair, caressing his face, chuckling at the small blush that was slowly growing. It reminded him of when Jaime was sick before they became official. The day Jaime was very clingy and flirty, looking at Tye with clouded eyes... Then the memory shifted, from the eyes being clouded, to then filling with lust. Just as it was about to get to the good part, Tye was snapped back to reality.
Virgil was snapping his fingers infront of Tye. When Tye finally left his interesting train of thought, Virgil stopped and asked him what was wrong.
"I just... I miss him. That's all." Is all Tye said. Virgil understood who exactly Tye was talking about.
"Forget about him." Roy said as he walked up the the table, food in his hands. "Food's here."
Asami and Virgil sent a glance of sympathy to Tye, knowing how Tye knew Jaime more than any one of them. Ed however, wasn't exactly happy with Jaime, his anger towards him was enough to keep him from realising how Tye felt. Which is understandable considering Jaime's first impression wasn't exactly the nicest, plus Ed was the youngest and couldn't really tell what someone was going through just by looking at them like the others could.
As everyone started eating, Tye pushed his food away, glaring at Roy.
"What. Is it." Roy spoke up, clearly annoyed. It wasn't a question.
"Nothing." Tye said, sitting up and walking off. "I'm going to the bathroom."
"Suit yourself. We're leaving soon, though. So be quick." Snapped Roy, and as soon as Roy finished the sentence, he noticed everyone else glaring at him. "What?"
"Dude, you gotta give him some time and space. He's been through a lot... We all have." Virgil spoke up first, with Asami nodding, not fully understanding, but knowing what Virgil was probably saying.
"Seriously. I'm still processing it myself, so Tye acting like this isn't very..." Ed paused, searching for the right word. "Surprising."
To Ed, it was his first time noticing how much the last few weeks affected Tye.
Roy just rolled his eyes, he hasn't been told by the group that they were victims of the Reach yet. He simply thought they were a bunch of kids who activated some powers and became star labs guinea pigs before running away. He wasn't exactly wrong, but still needed to relearn some sympathy.
Tye sped walked, almost stomping, into the café's bathrooms. After Tye closed the door behind him in the bathroom stall, he took his phone out, and put Jaime's number into his contacts list.
"I just need to talk to him again..."
Jaime's phone was laying in a pool of blood, as an unknown number lit up on the screen and started ringing. The sounds of crying was proof that someone was there, that someone could answer. But no-one did. As Jaime's parents and little sister's breathing came to a stop, the crying only grew louder.