Remember, I update Believe Me twice every week. Make sure to read Chapter Two before you read Chapter Three!

ALSO AYYYYY GO THANK  gilamonster18  FOR HELPING ME WRITE THE END BIT OF THIS CHAPTER. XD SHE READ THE WHOLE THING OUT LOUD AND I JUST CANT I UGH SHE DID ACCENTS AND VOICES AND TY'S WAS LIKE A MY LITTLE PONY VOICE AND I JUST CANT OKAY XD  

Believe Me

Ch 3: Hello, Tyler

Ty's POV

Apparently he wasn't kidding about having ten more people ready.

"How many people am I going to have to screen?" I ask, glancing around the Fazoli's we're in. Honestly, Sky, I don't wanna spend my whole life screening people. And... well...

"U-Uh, not many," Sky answers, and I frown. Stuttering? Is he okay? I now associate stuttering with the eternal pain, so, I mean... "I'll reevaluate the necessity of screening after these ten." Oh, heck, no.

"First of all: dang, Sky, big words. Why are you nervous? And, second: No, that is not at all what I meant. I'll keep screening everyone, certainly – no way am I letting you go through anything similar to what happened with Alesa again. Just-" I sigh. "How many people do you plan on bringing in this month?"

Forty people – forty! - have caught Sky's attention in less than a week. And I... I've been here for ages, and he never even considers- well. He's never dated a guy before or shown any interest in a guy, so I guess I can't blame him at all. Skylox just... isn't an option, that's all. And I can live with that.

But, oh, look at this, five of these people are boys, citizens of the male gender, and Notch dang it, Sky, why won't you notice me? You seem to have noticed everyone else!

Calm. I'm calm.

"Ah, no more, unless I meet someone really spectacular."

Oh, yes. I suppose I won't ever fit that adjective. I force a smile as he waves me toward the line of people.

"Number Tree-Fiddy!" he shouts even though we're all within five feet of him, but I have to laugh. "Have fun!" He giggles adorably/mischievously, and then he and the remaining people run out of the room.

I shake my head fondly as he goes. "So, uh..." Sighing, I turn to face "Number Tree-Fiddy" again. "What's your name? I'm Ty."

"And I am friggin' amazing, at your service," she says, keeping a serious expression as she salutes me. Then a smile twitches at her lips, and she shakes her head. "Sorry, I'm Phoebe."

"Ah, nice to meet you," I laugh. "Um... Augh, I haven't gotten any better at this."

"'S all right, we can just talk," she replies, shrugging and starting to walk around the room. Fidgety. Or ADHD. Or bored. Possibly all three. "Preferably about budder. You do like budder, right? Hmph, you'd better. Notch, but these squids, I swear! Call it budder just once in front of them, and suddenly they're trying to kill you. Rude. Of course, they're always trying to kill people anyways. They're probably gonna take over the world soon – ugh, honestly. Why does no one ever listen when I try to warn them? Squids are basically just water demons!"

I smile softly, and she huffs. "You remind me of Sky," I tell her as she walks back over to me.

"Oh, do I? How?" she asks, and I grin. Sky is just so fun to talk about.

"Well, not only interests – budder, a deep distrust of squid – but also your mannerisms and the way you talk. Like Sky. He can jump from topic to topic so easily, and, still, it almost always make sense. And he's so passionate about everything, too, and-" I pause, furrowing my eyebrows. "What are you doing?"

"Doors are, like, my security blanket. Since I'm placing them around you, it means I trust you."

I snort. "See? The randomness thing is really similar, too. I mean, hey, I'm not dissing you or your security blanket. But it's just so... random. Doors? Well, then."

She laughs. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's kinda weird."

"Not weird. Just... different."

"Mm. You love him, don't you?"

"He's my best friend."

"I didn't ask who he was, I asked if you loved him."

I flinch, looking at her face through the windows in the doors. "Maybe just a little. Why is everyone finally noticing?"

"'Cause everyone is finally looking. Anyways, don't worry, I won't take Sky from you." She places a block one space above my head, and I raise an eyebrow. "I will, however, take you from Sky. After all, the squids can't use you as leverage against the city if you're already dead."

My eyes widen when she places the block of water on the bottom of the block above me. Water flows down into my one-block room of doors, and I begin to panic at the water drenches my hair and keeps drenching it because this is how water works in Minecraft, and, oh, I wish it worked differently.

I reach out to shove open one of the doors, but they're iron, they're iron, so I can't open them on my own. "Sky!" I yell, but it comes out muffled and quiet, and all I've done is suck in some water. Louder, I have to be louder. "SKY!" I screech, pounding against one of the doors, and it's still unintelligible, but it's also pretty dang loud, which was the goal.

My chest burns and I'm lightheaded and my stupid reflexes are making me suck in more air, but it's not air, it's water, and I just need to calm down already, because I'm only making it harder on myself and if I can just die, I can respawn-

"Ty!" calls the frantic voice of my best friend, but I can't see him very well because now there are black spots dancing across my vision and why is dying so painful and-

Oh, Notch, now I'm coughing up water and yanking in air as Sky pulls me out of the water. "Sk-" I attempt, but, no, that isn't going to work. I breathe in another shuddering breath.

"Shh, you're all right. Just breathe for a moment," Sky orders in a soothing voice, and I lean into him, still shaking and relearning how to air. "It's all right, Ty, you're all right."

After a minute of me breathing and Sky just holding me, I manage to choke out, "I hate dying."

Sky bursts out laughing, and I smile a little. "Yeah," he mumbles between giggles, "yeah, I do, too. Luckily for you, that lady was lying when she said she had turned off the Respawn Machine."

I nearly choke on my spit. "She said what?"

"Shh, it's okay now. Like I said, she was lying."

"How do you know?"

"Her body when poof when I stabbed her," he replies bluntly.

"You stabbed her thinking the Respawn Machine was off!?"

He shrugs. "It was you or her. Clearly, I wasn't going to let you die."

"Hmph. Well... Thank you, Sky. Thank you so much."

He carefully stands up and then reaches down to pull me up as well, nodding as he does so. "No problem, Ty." He picks up his diamond pickaxe and puts it back in his backpack. Wait, diamond? I would think he'd use budder, as I know he always has a budder everything on him. But- well. I guess diamond is faster at digging through iron doors. "Wanna come over to mine for video games?" he asks.

"Sure-" I start automatically, but then I stop. "Hold on, what? We haven't gotten through all the people yet."

Sky snorts. "Like I would ask you to finish after what just happened. That was way too close, Ty. I almost lost you that time."

"I'll be more careful," I assure him. "Anyways, I can't let you date just anyone. You could end up with a complete psychopath."

"Hmph. Like that lady?"

I laugh, holding back my regret at comparing her to Sky. Sky would never try to kill me just to stay one step ahead of the squids. He has a heart. "Yes, like that lady."

"Well, Ty, I'm glad you care so much, but you really should rest."

"Mm, no. Who's the next person?"

"Ty, come on. We'll just send them home, and neither of us will have to see them ever again."

"I told you I'd screen those people, Sky. I'm not going back on that."

"Fine, uh- compromise? One more, and then the rest go home."

"Fair enough," I reply, because I actually don't want to screen anyone else, but I also don't want to let Sky down. "So, who am I screening?"

"Um..." He bites his lip. "Lemme think..."

Sky's POV

Lizzie is most likely an axe murderer, Felicity keeps trying to talk me into joining a Squid-Human Alliance Club. Jack is boring as all crap, Darren and Seth ship SkyMU, Alyssa is allergic to budder, and Kendall is horribly crude. Jessie is exactly Ty's type, so I certainly can't leave those two in a room together. That would be counter-productive.

Tyler, then?

Oh, Tyler. I like Tyler. First of all, his name is awesome. Aside from that, he's cute, he's a brunette, he can be really funny but also really serious, and-

Well. I guess he reminds me of Ty in some ways.

"Number C830!" I decide, looking over at Ty afterwards. "You sure?"

He smiles and nods. Notch, he's simply desperate to find me a partner, isn't he? Geez. Whatever.

"All right, cool. Let me take care of that water first... Okay. If you need me, I'm just outside the doors, Ty."

"Don't worry, Sky, it'll be fine," he assures me, and I frown. Yeah, really desperate. I haven't bugged him that much, have I?

"Right." I wave to him, walking by Tyler as I exit the room. He grins and gives me a thumbs up, and I force a smile in return.

The moment the door closes behind me, Lizzie attacks me with an axe, and I scream the words, "CALLED IT!" as I plunge my sword into her chest.

Poof!

Silly psychopaths.

Ty's POV

"Hello, I'm Ty," I introduce myself to C830, who pulls out my chair so we can actually sit down. Oh, okay, then.

"And I'm Tyler. How are you?" the brunette asks as he sits down on his own chair.

"Uh, okay, I guess. You?"

"Awesome. So, whaddaya wanna know, Ty?"

"Erm, tell me about yourself."

"Sure! Well, I like budder, and I hate squids, so Sky and I get along pretty well. I met him in the budder mines, actually. And, to be perfectly honest, I've had a crush on him from the start," he says, speaking softly, and I fight not to cringe.

"Uh, cool. So, um... Hobbies?"

"Parkour, Hunger Games, Cops and Robbers, and a bunch of other minigames. Also, I enjoy killing squids and mining for budder, obviously. And I've recently discovered the many joys of teasing Sky," he laughs, grinning mischievously.

"Yeah," I say dryly, unable to force a friendly tone. "You sound brilliant, but maybe-"

"What'll I have to do to make you accept me?" he frowns, leaning across the table, and my eyes widen. "Bribes? Blackmail?" Oh. Oh, my. His entire attitude has changed.

"Neither will work."

"Hmph. Well, you're sure about the bribes, fine, but you can't possibly predict your reaction to blackmail. You don't even know what I'm going to blackmail you with."

"So?"

"So I have a chance. What would really get at you? Your deepest, darkest secrets being released? Your Team in epic trouble? Or, oh, what if I told Sky?"

"Told him what?"

"Everything."

I swallow. "Everything?"

"And now we're getting somewhere. Yes, Ty, everything. How would Sky react to the knowledge that his best friend is in love with him?"

I squeeze my eyes shut and then open them again. "It doesn't matter. I could never tell Sky I approved of you. You're a psycho, he'd be in danger!"

"Hmm." He shakes his head. "It's a shame you couldn't just approve me and be done with it the moment I mentioned your secret. I can still convince you, of course – you've just given me everything I need. The stakes are higher, though."

I tilt my head in confusion.

"Approve me, or I'll hurt Sky."

☼☼☼

Tyler waves to Sky as he walks out of the Fazoli's, and he shoots me a nasty glare as soon as Sky stops looking his way. Augh – have I made the wrong decision?

"How'd it go?" Sky asks.

"Tyler is... interesting," I say carefully, and he raises an eyebrow.

"What kind of interesting?"

☼☼☼

HAHA LEL SUFFERAGEEE

What do you guys think he chose? :3