Dinner was very uncomfortable later that evening for Tyler. His mother did her best to avoid looking in Tyler's direction—and his dad surprised him by actually trying to communicate peacefully with the younger boy, but he did look at him weird, and Tyler didn't like that at all.
Tyler hid away in his room as soon as he finished dinner, turning out the light and crawling into bed for the night (ayee that rhymed). He closes his eyes and tries to fall asleep.
Hours later, he's still lying awake in bed, and he takes this as a sign to just give up and stay up for the night. He sits up again and checks the time on his phone; it's almost three in the morning.
Tyler sighs, opening the top drawer of his nightstand and retrieves his laptop, setting it down on the bed in front of him. He finds an online version of Bookworm and plays that, stressing himself out every time a burning letter reaches the bottom of the board, threatening to end his game, the possibility of losing bothering him even more with every level up.
He almost cries out in frustration as a burning Qu burns its way through the bottom of the board, ending his game at level nine, again.
Why is it always level nine?
Tyler closes his tabs and puts his computer back in the nightstand drawer, grabbing his phone from the surface of it instead. It's past three thirty, but that doesn't stop him from pulling up Josh's contact in his messaging app.
tyler: are you up?
Tyler only has to wait a few minutes before the other replies.
josh: I am now. What's up?
tyler: you can go back to sleep if you want
josh: It's fine. What's up?
tyler: mad at bookworm. wbu?
josh: Nothing much, just woke up. And why are you playing Bookworm at almost four in the morning?
tyler: had nothing else to do
josh: You could sleep :p
josh: Actually, you should get some sleep now. You always look tired
tyler: nope
josh: Pleaseeee
tyler: :^(
josh: Why don't you wanna go to sleep?
tyler: i already tried and couldnt
josh: Try it again?
tyler: i dont know if ill be able to
josh: You know what? Wanna make a deal?
tyler: it depends. whats the deal?
josh: How about I tell you who I like if you promise to try to sleep again?
This. This really catches Tyler's attention, if you can imagine, because this could either leave Tyler overjoyed and on top of the world, or it could wreck him and leave him aching for an indefinite amount of time.
This makes him feel nervous, but he types out his response anyways.
tyler: alright
josh: Guess :^)
Jesus fucking Christ.
tyler: brendon?
josh: Fuck no lmao
tyler: my sister?
josh: Holy shit Tyler, isn't she twelve?
tyler: youre right that would be really weird
josh: Keep guessing. It's obvious Ty
Tyler hesitates a moment, feeling a light blush heat his cheeks as he types in his next reply
tyler: is it me?
josh: Smart boy. Good night Tyler, talk to you tomorrow morning :^)
vdsionvsdionvidsvhldsiuvhsdidfb is the way to describe how the young teen feels in this moment as he stares incredulously at his phone with the widest grin he's had in a long time, because holy fucking shit, it's just been confirmed that Josh likes Tyler—Josh confirmed that shit, dude—fuck, Tyler's so fucking happy to be alive and gay!
Tyler sits up in bed, overwhelmed by excited nerves, and he sways himself as he giggles madly, butterflies going crazy in his tummy.
Holy shit, Josh actually does like him. So what does this mean?
Holy shit, what if Josh asks him to be his boyfriend?
Tyler is fucking shook, boi. He's never ever been a boyfriend before—
Dude, he could become Josh's boyfriend soon—
He needs to share the news with someone before he explodes, right now.
He leaps off his bed, forgetting to text Josh back as he dashes off to his sister's room, even though she's most likely asleep.
<><><><><><>
finally!
thanks, guys! <3