Saccharine //joshler [✔️]

thirty-five 🍯

josh whistles some song that was playing on the radio as he fumbles with his keys. after finding the correct one, he lets himself in through the front door. it was a long day of work and he wants nothing more than to hold his baby for a couple of hours.

"i'm home!" he announces, patting jim's head as the puppy sniffs his shoes. after waiting for a few seconds and still hearing no response from tyler, josh grows a bit concerned. the little one usually greets the man before he can even speak a sentence. well, maybe tyler is just asleep.

josh leaves his shoes behind for jim to check out, then goes to find tyler. after completely searching the entire downstairs, he concludes that tyler must be, in fact, asleep in their room. so he heads upstairs sneakily, a tiny little grin sat upon his face. he halts at the top step, his heart breaking into a million pieces as he hears crying echoing down the hall.

"tyler?" he calls out, frowning as the cries seem to stop. "where are you, baby?"

josh checks the bedroom first, only to find it empty. he hears sniffles coming from the bathroom, though, and approaches carefully. "ty? are you okay?"

"i-i don' k-know," the boy responds from the other side of the door, hiccuping through his words.

"is it okay for daddy to come in?"

"mhm..."

josh opens the door slowly. his jaw drops slightly but he quickly shuts it, eyeing all of the chunks of hair scattering the tile floor. tyler sits with a stuffy in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. his teary eyes meet josh's before he breaks out in another fit.

"i s-s-sorry!" he sobs, hugging his knees into his chest as he cowards against the bathtub.

"shhh, shhh, it's okay ty." josh drops to his knees immediately, taking the scissors from tyler and setting them aside. "are you hurt?"

the brunette shakes his head, crying so hard he needs to gasp for air.

"come here," josh says softly, wrapping the boy in a gentle hug. "it's okay, it's okay. you need to calm down, bub. daddy's not mad at you, it's okay."

he goes quiet for the next few minutes, letting tyler's cries run their course. josh's shirt is coated in tears and snot by the time tyler calms down, but that's the least of his concern. cupping the boy's face in both palms, josh kisses his forehead.

"hey sweetie, how you feeling?"

"sad," tyler whimpers, those puffy, puppy dog eyes making his daddy's heart ache.

"can you talk to daddy about it? did you cut your hair because you were sad, or are you sad because you cut it?"

"bof'," the boy sniffles.

josh tentatively runs his fingers through the brown locks, watching little strands fall to the floor. "okay... do you think you could explain?"

tyler shrugs, eyeing the tufts of hair littering the ground.

"how can daddy fix it, honey?" he tries again, wanting to make tyler feel better more than anything.

"luh' me..."

"i already do love you, silly." he kisses tyler's forehead again, then the tip of his nose. "i love you so, so much. i love you more than anything in this entire world. you're my little boy. i could never love anything more."