more than friends//joshler

chapter 2

josh was waling on his drums like he did every single other afternoon when he heard the loud text tone he had set for tyler.

hey

josh stopped playing to check his phone. he furrowed his eyebrows as he read the seemingly pointless text.

should i come over?

he typed back.

ya. working on a new song.

josh left his basement, running up the stairs and out the front door to his car in the driveway. whatever tyler was writing, it always sounded good.

josh turned up the radio as he left the driveway, remembering that one time tyler's car radio was stolen while they were at a funeral and they had to sit in silence the rest of the drive. josh was forced to drive because it was too much for his friend. in the end josh had the brilliant idea to just turn his itunes library on shuffle and let tyler make fun of his oddly assorted music choices. josh smiled. any time he could spend with tyler was fun. he drove on to tyler's street and up to the curb in front of his house.

before josh could even knock tyler yanked the door open, beckoning him in.

"what's the rush?" josh asked as he threw his jacket on tyler's couch.

"it's a good one," tyler said, taking josh's hand and pulling him downstairs to the joseph's basement. tyler was 21, and all of his siblings had moved out besides him.

tyler took a seat at the piano bench, josh taking his customary spot on the coffee table in front of the downstairs couch. he pulled his feet up to be criss-cross, leaning forward on his knuckles and closing his eyes. tyler glided his hands over the keys, finding the right spots for all of them. he took a deep breath.

light notes filled the air, tyler's hands easily moving over the ivory keys.

open the slits in your face and start your day,

he started slowly.

you don't have time to make your slits look just right,

i'm in your mind,

i'm singing la da, la da, la da...

he continued singing, eventually playing the keys harder and singing louder. josh was amazed. this had to be the best one tyler had ever made.

and in your mind,

you're singing....

josh opened his eyes, watching as tyler played the last few notes. his eyes were closed as he sang the very last word, popping them open. he turned his head slowly to josh, eyes pleading for his opinion. josh's eyes welled up. he stood up, sitting next to tyler on the bench and hugging him close.

"that was so beautiful," he said, hearing the imprint of the song still in his mind.

"th-thanks josh," he stuttered as he hugged josh back.

"y'know, this one was actually for you," he said after a while, rubbing little circles into josh's back. josh just hugged him tighter, sobbing quietly.

"thanks," he said once the crying had stopped. they stayed in their hug for a long time, just enjoying each other's presence.