more than friends//joshler

chapter 8

this pic is their house floor plan so u can see lmao 

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josh woke up to the quiet noise of a bubbling coffee pot. yawning and rolling over, he sat up onto his elbows.

"morning princess," tyler's gravelly voice came from the kitchen. josh smiled, keeping his eyes closed.

"morning to you too, my handsome prince," he joked, sitting up fully and stretching. what he hadn't noticed in his sleepy stupor to the kitchen was tyler's light blush. suddenly uncomfortable in the hot room, josh pulled his shirt off up over his head and threw it on the island. tyler watched with the eyes of a hawk as he reached down into a box, grabbing them two coffee mugs. he hummed along to some popular song at the moment as he walked slowly back. the coffee pot beeped loudly, taking tyler out of his trance.

he grabbed the mugs from josh, tipping the pot to them both. josh frowned at the strong black coffee for a moment before reaching into a bag and grabbing some sugar. he examined some of the other contents, noticing that they only had ranch dressing, a frozen pizza, and two boxes of mac and cheese.

"we need to go shopping," he accidentally said out loud. tyler nodded, making eye contact through the steam of his drink. the cup was at eye level on him, making the small cat mouth on the cup appear to be part of his face. josh noticed this and burst out laughing. without even knowing what it was about, tyler joined in.

"what?" he asked breathily through short giggles.

"the face on the cup looked like yours!" josh said after he calmed down a bit. tyler rolled his eyes and strode out of the kitchen.

"whatever, i'm gonna get dressed," he said, still laughing under his breath. josh came to a full stop after a short while, following tyler down the hall and to his room.

they both got dressed, tyler finishing a few minutes before josh.

"hurry up i'm leaving you," tyler said as he stood at the door.

"i'm fixing my hair, calm down!" josh yelled back.

"what hair?" tyler snorted, watching josh's face as he turned the bend to the front door. after what tyler had said set in, his jaw dropped, eyebrows furrowing.

"i hate you," he muttered as he breezed into the hall past tyler, gently punching him in the chest. tyler chuckled to himself at the joke, watching his feet move rhythmically against the flat carpet. when he looked up he noticed josh had turned around, holding up his right hand in an-oh. tyler rushed forward giggling, grabbing josh's hand and pulling it down.

"we live next to old ladies!" tyler whisper-shouted, struggling to keep josh's hand lowered.

"make me," josh growled quietly. in the two seconds between their responses, the tension had risen to the point of no return. tyler wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"take that you monster," tyler said as he held josh's hand, swinging it gently as they finally reached the elevators. whatever had come over them only seconds before was gone now.

josh hummed along to the song that was stuck in his head earlier, watching tyler press the button for the lobby.

"for all the times that you've made me feel small," tyler quietly sang along to the song as he stepped in the elevator, dragging josh with him.

"i fell in love, now i feel nothin' at all," he continued slightly louder in the isolation of the small room.

"had never felt so low when i was vulnerable," he whispered. he glanced over to josh.

"was i a fool to let you break down my walls?" he was hardly breathing the song now, startled when there was a sudden ding and the doors in front of them opened. josh took a small step forward, pulling tyler gently along behind him.

"cuz if you like the way you look that much, you should go and love yourself," ghosted across josh's lips as he slid into the driver's seat, pulling out of the parking lot and into the open street.