"it's about time you came back," tyler spoke. he was standing in the kitchen, his back facing josh.

he turned around, a cup of coffee in his hand. his beard scruff wasn't shaved and his face showed no emotions. guilt instantly flooded over joshua and he looked down at his sneakers.

"im sorry," josh muttered through his tightening throat. he felt guilty for going to the party without advising tyler, but he didn't regret it in the slightest. his 'im sorry' were really just empty words.

tyler laughed a humorless laugh and set his cup down with enough force that it spilled some of the coffee onto the table. josh looked up and met tyler's cold eyes.

"do you actually expect me to believe that bullshit?"

josh furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak but tyler cut him off.

"what the hell is that?" he demanded, pointing at josh's collar.

"what are you talking about?" josh asked, genuinely confused.

tyler rapidly went over to josh, who backed away into the wall. tyler grabbed the collar of his shirt and moved it to see three hickeys lingering on his collarbone.

in that instant, anger overcame tyler. he wanted to slap josh. something that never occurred to him in their relationship. but the idea of josh being with someone else just fueled his anger. was he not good enough? was josh.. bored of him? tyler had never wanted anything more than to protect josh, and now here he is, wanting to slap him.

but he didn't.

instead, tyler backed away. his fingered tangled up in his hair, his mind racing and his throat tightening.

he didn't know what to do. was he supposed to just forgive him?

looking at the clock, tyler saw that he would be late to work if he didn't get going. so that's what he did. he abruptly walked out of the kitchen and upstairs, josh following behind him. he was calling out his name, but tyler didn't want to pay attention.

he grabbed his briefcase and slipped on his button up shirt before exiting the room and going back downstairs to grab his keys.

"tyler, please," josh pleaded, grabbing tyler's arm, trying to pull him close to him.

"i have to go to work, joshua." his words were cold and emotionless. josh let go of his arm and allowed tyler to grab his keys and start towards the front door.

"i love you," josh said, though his voice cracked on the word love.

he heard tyler shut the door and start his car, pulling out of the driveway and driving away.

tears started to form at josh's eyes as he thought of one thing and one thing only.

tyler didn't say "i love you" back.