Closet Thoughts (a short Joshler story) 🏳️‍🌈 ✔️

🌊4☀️🏖🌴

"You should take a bath", Josh said. Tyler frowned, looking at his best friend confusedly.

"Baths are relaxing!" Josh chuckled. "When was the last time you took a bath?"

"I don't know", Tyler replied. "I always take showers", he added. "See? That's a problem. You don't even know what I'm talking about. You gotta take a bath and just... forget about everything for a little while. I'm sure you'll appreciate it", Josh said.

"Alright, I'll take a bath soon", Tyler said. "Right now", Josh corrected him. "Right now?" Tyler asked. "Right now", Josh confirmed.

"But then you'll have to go home or sit alone in my room 'til I'm done and I don't want you to sit there by yourself the entire time, that doesn't feel right", Tyler softly said.

"Well, I'll sit outside the bathroom door then", Josh said. "Then we can still talk and you can enjoy your bath and not worry about me", He continued.

Tyler hesitated, but then he looked at Josh's face and he couldn't say no. "Alright", he sighed softly. "Yay!" Josh cheered as he sat up. "C'mon, buddy", he said, carefully pulling Tyler to his feet - he didn't want them to tumble off the platform obviously.

They climbed down the ladder and walked back to the house. Tyler told his mom about what they were gonna do and she had to laugh. "Have fun you two", she smiled, continuing the cleaning she was doing.

Tyler and Josh went upstairs and Josh was gonna prepare Tyler's bath.

"Josh, you know I can do this myself, right", Tyler said. "Nuh-uh, you don't know the bath experience 'cause you never take baths", he said, turning on the tap. He asked Tyler if he preferred warm baths or lukewarm ones, and Tyler told him he liked it warm the best. Josh chose some soap and squirted a generous amount right where the water came from the tap, so the bubbles already started to appear.

"Still have that water boiler for your tea obsession in your room?" Josh asked. "Of course", Tyler replied. Josh made his way to Tyler's bedroom and he followed. Tyler picked out some clothes to put on after his bath while Josh made him a cup of vanilla tea. When it was done, he brought it back to the bathroom and turned back to Tyler. "I'm gonna go leave the room now", he said and Tyler nodded. "You should get a pillow from my room", he said. Josh nodded. "I will", he smiled. He left the room and closed the door, but not fully. Just enough to be able to still talk and hear each other properly.

Tyler's heart was beating heavily, scared that Josh would, for some reason, barge in and see his scars. But when he heard Josh sit down, he stripped down from his clothes. He quickly got in the bathtub that was filled with foam and had the exact right temperature. He sat down, lay back, and closed his eyes.

Okay. Josh was right. This was great. Why didn't he take baths more often?

"This is actually pretty nice", Tyler said. Josh laughed softly. "See? Told you. I'm happy about that", Josh said. Tyler smiled softly. They made some small talk as Tyler had his eyes closed and enjoyed hearing Josh's voice while he was in the tub.

"Hey ty?" Josh then asked. Tyler hummed. "I know you broke up with your ex quite a while ago, but... well, you never really told me why, while we used to talk about stuff like this all the time", Josh softly said.

Tyler opened his eyes, biting his lip. "You didn't tell me why you guys broke up either", he replied.

"I know, you're right, sorry. Shouldn't've asked that", Josh said.

"No it's okay", Tyler told him. He knew it was his fault that they drifted apart a little. They were still best friends, still had each other's backs and spent time with each other at school every day, but because he had a crush on Josh, they talked less about personal stuff and saw each other less outside of school. That was on him. And he kinda wanted to go back to the way it used to be. He really, really wanted that, deep inside. He was just afraid they wouldn't be able to as long as Tyler liked Josh.