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tyler is nervous. he is so nervous. he's sweating, his heart is racing out of his chest-- he is just so nervous.
it's not very difficult to think up a cliche, cheesy date. but it was quite difficult making said cliche date, particularly special for a certain yellow-haired man.
it took six days, four embarrassingly failed ideas, and lots of help from debby, but tyler finally has a date planned. he's rather proud of what's planned, too.
it's now three o' clock, and he just texted josh letting him know that he'll be at his door in about five minutes.
tyler adjusts his collar for the third time, "gah! i shouldn't even be wearing a collared shirt, we're going to a stupid animal shelter," he grumbles, glaring at debby's reflection in the mirror.
she scoffs from where she stands behind him, walking closer to slap his hands away. "it's not stupid, he'll love it. plus, it won't hurt to look nice for when you eat,"
tyler rolls his eyes, but accepts that she's probably right. "alright, alright. m'gonna-gonna go get him now," he nods to himself, smiling lightly at debby.
she smiles back, "it'll be fine, honey. go get 'im," she cheers.
tyler nods to himself once again, giving debby one last smile before taking a deep breath and going out into the hallway.
he quickly walks to josh's door and knocks firmly, not letting himself chicken out.
after hearing a few bumps and shouts, josh appears at the door, his hair tousled in just the right way, tight jeans fitting his body and a camo jacket over a nasa shirt.
"hey," josh says, almost breathlessly as he takes in tyler's appearance.
"h-hi," tyler laughs a little shyly at his stutter. "ready to go?" he gestures to the hallway.
josh pats his pockets, assuring himself he has his wallet and phone, before nodding, stepping into the hall with tyler and closing his apartment door behind him.
they share a small smile before heading down the stairs, tyler stopping right in front of the doors leading outside.
he looks out at the busy street and clenches his fist, taking deep breaths to calm himself.
he feels a hesitant hand pry his fist into an open palm, intertwining their fingers. he looks to josh who squeezes their hands lightly, giving him a small, reassuring smile.
tyler nods, he can do this. lifting a shaky hand, he opens the door, stepping outside with josh in tow.
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"c.h.a," josh smiles at the sight of the animal shelter in front of him.
tyler twiddles his thumbs, "i got us some, uh, intern work,"
josh gasps, "we get to play with animals?"
tyler nods, "yes, well, um.. no-- yes!" he decides.
josh giggles, getting excited, "can... can we go in, please?" he laughs in embarrassment.
tyler laughs, internally patting himself on the back as he nods, leading josh into the building.
josh gasps, the hand not holding tyler's flying to his mouth, as he looks at the animals lounging in the front.
tyler smiles at the man, before leading him to the front desk, laughing when he refuses to take his eyes off of a fat cat sleepily grooming itself.
"hey, ty!" the front desk woman greets.
"hi," he greets back with a small grin, "can you direct me to jenna, please?"
the woman nods, "for sure, hun, she's in brad's office, room three,"
tyler nods, thanking her and leading josh to the prior mentioned room.
when they enter, josh's hand lifts to clutch his chest,
"oh, god, my heart is melting," he cries, looking at the room with kittens running all over.
a blonde woman looks up from looking at a camera screen in a bearded man's hands,
"tyler!" she smiles, walking over to greet him with a smile, "and you must be josh," she directs at him.
josh nods, forcing his eyes way from the kittens, "uh-huh, yeah, hi, nice to meet you,"
jenna laughs, "you seem antsy to pet some kittens, so let's just get started,"
josh nods, following her to a little white setup, "okay, but what exactly are we doing?"
jenna smiles at tyler, gesturing with her head towards a box in the corner.
tyler nods, bringing josh over and gesturing for him to look inside.
he gasps, looking from the boxes content, to the man with a camera, to jenna and tyler's smiles,
"are we doing a little kitty halloween photo shoot?" he asks in a whisper.
tyler smiles whilst jenna giggles and nods.
josh looks to the ceiling, tearing up, "thank you, god,"
everyone laughs.
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after two hours of josh crying and dressing up kittens in halloween themed costumes, tyler is leading him to the eating portion of the date.
"and-and did you see the cat we dressed as a pumpkin? when he fell over? oh, god," josh wipes a few stray tears as he reminisces.
tyler laughs, "yes, josh, i was there,"
josh scoffs at tyler's teasing tone, "yeah, yeah. i expect you to ensure i will be getting seven copies of each of those pictures," he demands, to which tyler nods and laughs.
"why are we in the woods? are you planning on killing me?" he jokes.
tyler bites his lip, thinking. should he joke and say yes? should he say it in a teasing tone or very serious? what if he scares josh away? what-
"uh, no, we're here," he sighs in relief.
josh smiles softly, awing at the fairy-lit picnic set up on the side of the clearing.
tyler slowly leads josh to it, where they sit and josh questions, "where's, um, where's the food?" he gestures to the empty blanket.
as if on cue, a woman josh does not know the name of, gently drops a large pink box in between the two lovebirds.
she leaves immediately. josh laughs, "well, that answers that,"
tyler laughs, gingerly opening up the box and revealing the most beautiful cheesecake that josh has ever seen.
it's big, and the topping has intricate little swirls drawn into it, and it has a little centrepiece of bambi and flower, standing nose to nose.
"this is the most beautiful cheesecake that i've ever seen," he admits. "how did you know i loved cheesecake? and disney, and--" he sniffs, "i smell tea,"
tyler laughs quietly and looks down, "i tried to incorporate rolling skating, too, but i think this is enough,"
josh pauses, "you talked to trever," he states.
tyler blushes.
"that is fucking gutsy, and you did that for me," josh stares at the blushing boy in awe.
tyler forces himself to make eye contact with josh, who stares with nothing short of pure admiration.
"marry me," he demands, smiling as tyler laughs as well.
"that's a little big, how about we just eat this cheesecake instead?"
josh groans, "i thought you'd never ask,"
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what is that insensitive bit at the base of the penis called?
the man.
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