more than friends//joshler

chapter 13

ok so there's actually a short maybe week long skip between this chapter and the last. i imagine chapter two starts the end of september and now it's the last week of november or whatever. something like that. jebby has been together for like six weeks. ok cool get on. 

-

it was midway through his workday when it hit tyler: his birthday was in a week. he stopped petting the cat, standing up to think. he wondered suddenly what josh would get him. it's not like anybody else would remember his  22nd birthday other than the one who lived with him. he shrugged, turning his attention back to the cat. 

-

his birthday had finally arrived. naturally, it was on a friday, a day he had work. he sighed as he drove to work like any other day. that morning josh was already out of the apartment by the time he woke up. probably with debby. they'd been spending a lot more time together, and it surely didn't make tyler feel good. 

ever since that one day when they had watched movies together, it seemed like josh had been distancing himself more and more. it could have something to do with the fact that tyler had been undressing him with his eyes for half the time, but that was beside the point. he sighed as he got back to work, pouring the last of the large bag of cat food into the bowls. 

"hey tyler!" patrick had come up behind him, surprising him as he stood up. 

"oh hey pat, what's up?" tyler asked casually. 

"uh, it's your birthday, right?" he seemed less sure of himself now, furrowing his eyebrows. 

"yeah, i guess," tyler shrugged. patrick was just more confused. 

"are you not excited?" he tilted his head like a puppy. 

"eh," tyler shrugged once more. patrick, still heavily concerned, passed tyler a box with bright blue wrapping paper and a large white bow on top. 

"here's your present, you can open it now or whenever, really," he smiled, starting towards the door. 

"happy twenty-second!" 

-

tyler slammed the door behind him, exasperatedly twisting his key in the lock and sliding the deadbolt, flipping around. josh was stood in front of the couch with his mouth open wide, arms outstretched. tyler's eyes widened as he noticed mark, brendon, patrick, and pete. all of their friends from high school (which, admittedly, was quite few) were standing around in the living room, happy as ever. frankly, tyler didn't want to have to deal with it. he just wanted to drink an entire bottle of whiskey and never speak to anybody ever again. not a bad idea. 

"happy birthday!" josh shouted after quite an uncomfortable amount of silence. 

tyler just rushed forward for a quick hug, wrapping his arms around josh and parting only seconds later. when he was back to standing normally, he noticed brendon doing jazz hands behind josh, breaking out into giggles. 

"the party has arrived!" a voice called loudly from behind tyler. he quickly turned around. wasn't the door locked? oh, it was. and jack barakat had his face crammed into the very small space between the doorframe and the door where the deadbolt was holding it in place. tyler muted his laughter as he walked over to jack, who was still shouting. 

"come and unlock the door i was expecting a lot smoother of an entrance," he said, and tyler could swear he heard more giggling from behind him. tyler pulled the deadbolt unlocked and jack closed the door, trying again. 

"the party has arrived!" he said once more, waltzing in grandly in traditional jack barakat style. trailing behind him was a slightly smaller boy with blue hair, holding two partially empty six packs of beer and a mostly full bottle of brandy. 

"woooo!" he cheered, continuing his giggling. tyler could easily deduce now that they were both drunk, as usual. 

jack turned on his heel quickly, bringing alex into a kiss and breaking away a few steamy seconds later. alex was bright red in the face, still laughing innocently. 

"cool," brendon said, taking both cardboard beer sleeves from him. 

"hey!" he yelled, suddenly back to reality. brendon snorted. 

"dude, you're not even twenty one yet," he rolled his eyes, grabbing one of the bottles and slamming the top against the counter quickly, popping the lid off. 

alex huffed quietly, crossing his arms indigently across his chest. jack swooped in, shoving him gently against the nearest wall and proceeding to kiss him. 

josh raised his eyebrows when tyler had turned his head to him, causing both of them to break out in to grins. deciding to join in on the fun, they both grabbed bottles of beer. 

-

"you know what?" alex hiccuped as the guests all escorted themselves out the front door. 

"what?" brendon mumbled almost incoherently.

"there's a good story at the bottom of this bottle," he said, gesturing to the bottle of brandy still on the counter that they'd finished off a while ago. brendon nodded. 

"yeah, yeah, but we really should have poured some champagne," brendon started, "you only turn twenty-two once, you know."

all of the people had shuffled out after a few minutes, patrick being the last, herding the boys like stray cats. 

"this was a fun party guys! stay safe, don't drive anywhere or accidentally drunk-dial people while i'm gone," he winked, ever-sober. he closed the door behind the small gathering of people, leaving tyler and josh alone once again.  

tyler turned to josh almost immediately after everybody had gone. seeing as he had a very low alcohol tolerance, he was regretfully drunk after only a few red cups of the brandy and one leftover beer. josh, however, drank a bit more, and after the same amount of alcohol was only slightly tipsy. 

man, tyler had just never noticed quite how beautiful josh looked in the slightly yellow-tinged light of their kitchen. both of the boys were zoned out thoughtfully, josh looking at the floor while tyler's attention was diverted towards him. 

suddenly, his entire body shook and convulsed. hiccup. josh burst out laughing even though it wasn't even that funny. tyler's delayed response occurred when he jumped up in the air after the other boy had scared him. he grabbed his chest, heavy breathing turning to loud laughter along with josh. 

"you know what josh?" he asked to himself more than to the boy across from him. 

"hm?" he hummed, taking a few gulps of his third glass bottle of beer. 

"i think i love you," he hiccuped as he walked down the hall and to the first door on the left, opening it up and landing on his bed. he nodded to himself as he pulled the covers over his drunken body. "yeah, i do."