Golden (Joshler)

27. Soft

That wasn't to say he was constantly stressed, of course he had good moments. But he also had his bad ones which had become more and more of a constant.

In the fort that they'd made—which was truthfully slowly falling apart—they ended up watching a movie together. Tyler, even in little space, had consciously scooted further away from Josh, specifically because he was scared that Josh would react badly if he got too comfortable. But then he started getting tired, his head lolled and he ended up needing to cuddle up against him. So he asked, like the good guy he was.

"Okay?" Tyler asked carefully, quietly as he rested his head on his shoulder and linked their ankles together in an effort to get more comfortable. If he could, he definitely would've curled up in his lap but he was still too shy around Josh.

"Of course." Josh said immediately, he then wrapped an arm around him and pulled him closer until their hips, thighs and waists were squished together and Tyler had his arm around his waist. Tyler could feel to heat rising to his cheeks and smiled content, nuzzling against his shoulder for a moment.

So he'd ended up shyly cuddling up to Josh in their fort. He avoided touching him too much, the only thing his mind was truly aware of was Josh and even little Tyler knew to be cautious around what he did around him. Even though Josh calmed him down he also made him really anxious. But now with his head against his shoulder and an arm wrapped around his bicep. Tyler felt safe. And he was glad for it, this was all he could ask for.

Josh was so good to him, he seemed to know exactly how to take care of him. He asked all the right questions.

*

Josh was in the kitchen making dinner and Tyler was in their fort with Jim curled up on a pillow beside him when he heard his phone start ringing. His stomach dropped just a little because he was in no state to answer it and it just slightly made him realize that he had been on his way out of little space for a little over 20 minutes now. He wanted to stay small but he couldn't control his headspace or where his mind exudes to bring him.

The ringing phone was just the catalyst. He'd left his phone on the coffee table and crawling out of the fort to go get it made him feel upset because he wasn't really little anymore. Still, Jim got up when he crawled over to the coffee table and snatched his buzzing phone off of it.

It was his dad, of course. Tyler wasn't surprised.

He was ripped out of little space almost immediately and it wasn't painful but it put him into a vulnerable state, he still felt small and distant from himself but his dad had called him twice in a row and he had a few texts from his mom and he needed to be big to talk to either of them. They couldn't know about him regressing, they'd probably bring him to a doctor and get him psychologically evaluated. It wasn't hard to snap out of being small but it was kind of embarrassing to look back on what he's spent his whole day doing with Josh.

Carefully he pulled out his phone and sat on the couch to call back. Cautiously pulling his feet to rest on the couch and knees to touch his chest. He could hear movement in the kitchen and sighed shakily to as he called his dad back.

Jim trotted over and sat down in front of him, wagging his tail. Tyler's phone rung three times before his dad actually picked up.

"Dad?" He said.

The voice on the other line shuffled for a bit before his father's voice became loud and clear. "Hey kid,"

Tyler scratched at his thigh. "Is everything alright?" He voiced, mind muddled, head aching. God, he hated how he felt right now. Even worse, he'd still feel like shit after the phone call and there wasn't much he could do about it. Coming down from little space wasn't always pleasant. "You called me a bunch, I was busy."