A heavy form drops down onto the bed next to Tyler, startling him awake as the force of the drop launches him up from the mattress ever so slightly. Zack laughs at him as Tyler sits himself up, grabbing his phone from the nightstand to check the time.
It's a bit past six in the morning, and Tyler whines in protest.
"Come on, T-Bro, we've got food to cook!" Zack chirps, and it's too fucking early for this shit—like, he doesn't even get up this early for school—and the sun isn't even fucking up.
Zack gets up from the bed and brings Tyler up with him, tugging him into the kitchen with him.
"Z-bro, I wanna brush my teeth," Tyler speaks groggily, but his older brother doesn't release him until they get in the kitchen.
"Your boyfriend isn't gonna be here until, what, four?" Zack teases, and Tyler's face flushes at the man's brotherly teasing.
"He—he's not my boyfriend," Tyler defends himself, "And I brush my teeth because I like to have clean teeth, not for Josh."
Zack just laughs as he places some sweet potatoes and a potato peeler on the counter in front of Tyler. He wishes Zack would stop assigning him the task of peeling shit; he doesn't know how to do it right, and he almost always slips the blade a little too far. He grabs the first potato and the peeler anyways and gets to work, furrowing his brow in concentration.
"Woah, T-Bro," Zack stops him before he can do much, and Tyler looks to his older brother questioningly. "I don't think you've washed your hands."
"The germs would've cooked off and died anyways," Tyler jokes as he puts the things down, moving to the sink to wash his hands.
"Use soap too, you nasty bastard," Zack teases, moving next to Tyler to wash his hands as well.
"You're my brother so you're one, too," Tyler retorts, a playful smile tugging at his lips.
"I didn't mean it literally, you fuckmunch," Zack counters, flicking water at his younger brother's face as he finishes washing his hands.
Tyler gasps at the unexpected action before cupping his hands under the running faucet, gathering water in his palms before tossing it towards Zack, who jumps back as the water leaves a wet patch on his shirt.
Zack glares down at Tyler, and he starts to think that he fucked up, but he catches a mischievous glint in the older man's eyes.
Zack puts the water on full and pulls the spray head from the sink, spraying Tyler in the with the warm water, who squeals at the intrusion and holds his hands out in front of his face in a sad attempt to stop the water.
He stumbles back a little, but he slips backward on the water puddling the floor, and Zack quickly moves to catch him. Zack slips too, though, and ends up going down with his soaked brother, and they find themselves laughing gleefully as they lay in the puddle building up on the floor.
"We've barely started cooking and we've already made a huge, unnecessary mess," Zack laughs, pulling himself off the floor and onto his feet.
"You started it," Tyler giggles back, following suit as Zack finally shuts the faucet off.
"Sure, whatever you say. Put on something dry while I clean this mess up," Zack says, heading towards the hall to get a towel.
<><><>
They're finally finishing dinner hours later, and they've only had one more disaster; Tyler's clumsy self knocked a bowl of mashed potatoes onto the floor and Zack berated him for it, but it was just fucking mashed potatoes, which doesn't take long to prepare at all, so they just made a new bowl and acted as if it didn't happen (well, almost—Zack's words had still lingered in Tyler's mind, but he just did his best to ignore them).
Tyler quickly puts presentable clothes on and makes sure Zack is good to go as well before sending Josh a quick text, followed by his address.
tyler: come over whenever you're ready :^)
<><><>
Tyler jumps up from his seat on the couch when there's knocking on the door, waiting a brief moment before answering it, smiling as he comes face to face with Josh.
"Hey, Tyjo," Josh greets his friend with a smile, "I would've brought some food to show some respect, but I can't cook for shit."
Tyler smiles wide to the other boy, stepping aside and holding the door open for him, "That's alright. W-we have plenty of food, anyways."
Tyler leads Josh into the dining room where Zack is waiting, and the older boy gapes at the plethora of food strewn across the table.
"Holy shit, I didn't expect it to be this much food," Josh breathes before awkwardly turning to Zack, who looked to Josh blankly, "Sorry, that was inappropriate."
Zack merely laughs and shakes his head dismissively, "No, it's alright; make yourself at home."
"Thank you," Josh says politely, and the three sit at the table.
<><><>
"I'm never gonna be able to walk again," Josh groans from where he's laying face down on Tyler's bed, spread out like a starfish. Tyler's curled up next to him, back against Josh's side, clutching his pained stomach (Zack is having a similar crisis alone in his own room, in case anyone happens to be thinking about him). Tyler hums in agreement, and Josh just groans.
"Are you staying over?" Tyler strains.
"If that's okay with you guys," Josh answers. "I don't plan on moving for the rest of the night."
"I won't e-even be able to."
"No kidding; you ate more than me and your brother."
"Yeah... So your parents are okay with you staying?"
"They don't give a shit," and Josh turns over onto his back, so Tyler does his best to roll over onto his other side to face Josh. "They've stopped caring me years ago."
"Why do you say that?" Tyler whispers sadly as their eyes meet; their eye contact doesn't falter even a little this time.
"To put it simply, the drugs they're on are taking over their lives," Josh says, almost nonchalantly, but there's despondent undertones detectable when he speaks.
"I'm sorry," is all Tyler can think to say, but Josh shakes his head.
"Hey, don't worry your pretty little head about it," Josh smiles at the smaller boy, "I'm okay."
"Okay," Tyler responds, and a yawn starts to fight its way up, "I think I'm gonna fall asleep."
"Goodnight, Tyler."
"Night."
<><><><><><>
an: happy thanksgiving guys! :^)