Uh, what? This old story again? WHY? Because it just keeps coming back to haunt me- my best story, and it was so godawful I can't even look at the old version without blushing in mortification. So, here I am again years later, doing a full rewrite instead of the partial I had promised forever ago. Its time I got over my fussiness over perfection and just started having fun with writing again.

That said, it will be different. Different style, different looks to a certain degree, different turn of events, and there will not be Mpreg. Might be children at some point, but not Mpreg I assure you. Just don't feel like going down that road this time. Oh, and no random drunk dude wandering down the street to conveniently attack the main character in the beginning- because I don't know what was wrong with my brain back then, I really don't. I don't. Tyler doesn't live in a ghetto. xP

Not really expecting any of the old readers to still exist, but if you do, I hope you enjoy. 3 Newcomers- Hey there! Have fun and do not under any circumstances go look at the old story. I'll chop off your ears. l:[ Your EARS, you hear me? Like your ears, don't you?

AYEW

(All You Ever Wanted)

Mornings were never kind. Not to the young, not to the old, not even to those in between. So what could the point possibly be of going to bed early, with only minimal negative points removed from your comfort for it, when it was so much more satisfying to stay up just a few more hours and meet the morning as it came; get in a few extra rounds of Halo Live and grab a few winks at the last moment knowing you had wasted as little precious time as possible? The argument was so easy, logical even.

Tyler mourned those hours he'd squandered on game playing when he could have been sleeping. He groaned, eyes and lips still gummed up with sleep gook and dried drool as he wormed an arm out from under the blessedly warm comforter and flopped it through the cool morning air to smack his alarm clock until it stopped beeping. One blue eye cracked open and closed again, shunning the sliver of sunlight sneaking through a crack in the window blinds. Ugh. So not worth it. Back to sleep he went.

“Tye!”

Just a few more minutes...

“Honey?”

Oh god, it was getting closer. Tyler pulled the blanket up over his face, brows scrunching in displeasure as he kept his eyes stubbornly shut. A small knock and he heard his bedroom door creak open.

“... TYLER! You're still in bed?”

The blanket was ripped off down to his sleep sweats, baring Tyler's shirtless chest to the cool air. Both eyes shot open this time and he half sat up in surprise, arms crossing over the goosing flesh as he attempted to glare through eyes that were still fogged from sleep. “Mom! Shit!”

“Watch you tongue.” Ms. Andrel was dressed sharp and made up, obviously set to start her day and non too pleased that her son wasn't. One corner of her mouth twisted down in a half frown, her hands on her hips. “Tyler. I was going to offer you a ride to work on the way to mine, seeing as you're running late, but-”

“Shit!” Tyler's ruffled head whipped around, barely glancing off his clock before he was lunging off the bed. He grabbed a used shirt off the back of his desk chair, disappearing into his bathroom and slamming the door shut behind.

“-you're in no hurry at all, maybe I'll just go on ahead.”

Tyler growled his frustration, turning on the sink and ducking his head under the short spray. Why hadn't he gotten his license yet? Why, why, why. “Just give me a minute! I'm coming!”

“One minute, Tyler. You have until I'm in the car, then I'm going.”

“Mom, come on!” It was settled- mothers only had hearts when it suited them. Tyler buried his face in a hand towel and shook his head before pulling on the wrinkled t-shirt, giving it a wet ring around the neck from his hair. No time for brushing, he took a swig of mouthwash and swished it around his tongue as he tried to sort his dual hair into some form of compliance without a comb. It looked stupid- he wished he hadn't bleached everything but his bangs last week, it hadn't at all turned out like he'd hoped. Plain brown hair sounded a lot more fetching now, didn't it? Twenty-twenty hindsight and all.

Spit in the sink and he was out the door, grabbing his backpack as he sprinted down the stairs and out onto the porch. “Wait!”

Oh. Ha. Mother Dearest kept driving another four feet before stopping to let Tyler in, the boy scowling darkly. “Not funny.”

“Makes me laugh every time though. So, when are you re-taking your test?”

----

“Go home.”

Tyler stared long and hard at his supervisor, long enough that the woman waiting behind him jostled his shoulder so she could put her pile of movies down on the counter. “Uh... What?”

“You're fired.” Beep, beep, beep, went the movies as their stickers were found and passed over. The man didn't even look up as he bagged the purchases and handed them off to the customer. Tyler was jostled again as she left, but he didn't seem to notice, mouth hanging open slightly.

“No way.” Tyler shook his head. No. Way. This couldn't be happening- his first job!

“Yes way. Your second week here and you've been late three times? And you're not dressed for the job.” The next person in line stepped around Tyler. “Just get outta here, Kid- and move, you're in the way.”

Tyler stepped to the side dumbly, horrified at this turn of events and mortified that it had happened in front of a full line of Best Buy customers. The shock kept his face pasty white until he managed to stumble out the double doors and onto the sidewalk. He slipped the red work uniform vest off and dropped it on the ground, just standing outside the store for a few minutes as he tried to think what to do now. A breeze ruffled his hair and made him shiver, wishing he'd grabbed a long sleeve shirt instead of the t-shirt that had air blowing right through one sleeve and out the other. It was Fall, damn it, what was he thinking?

And what was he going to tell Mom? Tyler started down the sidewalk, sneakers dragging and hands stuffed into his sweats pockets. She was going to kill him. He had the ten hours of her work day left to live. An ominous cloud of doom loomed overhead- and dropped a splot of rain on his arm.

“... Oh, come on! Really?” Tyler tilted his head back, a disbelieving scowl on his face as he took in the dark clouds. Perfect. Rain was juuust what he needed for the ten minute walk home from the shopping center to be complete. What the hell, call on the lightning too! That would spice things up a bit.

No lightning came, just a distant rumble of thunder. Tyler tsked, resuming his retreat at a powerwalk. “Suit yourself, God.”

The powerwalk upped itself to a jog, and then run, as the sprinkling overhead turning into a full downpour. Bedhair was at last subdued, flattened to Tyler's cheeks and the back of his neck as he squinted around, giving the road a check to make sure the fuzzy pinpricks of headlights were far off enough before sprinting across. Shit it was cold, the water was already in his shoes and doing its darnedest to chill the sockless feet it found there. Tyler's quick steps squelched.

“Thanks for mentioning the weather, Mom. No, no, I don't need an umbrella just in case, thanks.” Tyler muttered, slowing to look around. He needed to circle all the way around that line of condos and go down a long sidewalk, passing two streets, before he was home. The nice line of trees to his right that was the mandatory patch of wildlife in town was looking like a pretty good shortcut right about now considering he knew the other side stopped right behind his neighbor's house. He could just run straight through and the trees would probably even block out most of the rain. The argument of pros and cons was short and easy in his head, the logic of what Tyler wanted winning out as always did. Animals, pff. He wasn't scared of deer.

So it was decided. Tyler ducked under the low hanging branches, shoving aside a bush that thankfully didn't have anything prickly on it, and set off through the woods.

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