Start song: old school by urban cone

I'll be editing this tomorrow because i'm expecting that I have a few too many typos hidden in this big mess.

Tyler stayed in Josh's office until school ended, curled up on the armchair. He had ended up watching cartoons just as Mr.Dun had probably expected him to do. He was predictable and he knew it. He liked cartoons though, kid ones especially. The conflicts were minor, and there was no anxiety or stress when he watched mickey mouse or paw patrol. That's probably why he liked them so much.

He especially liked watching looney tunes, they always managed to slip him into little space. They reminded him of his childhood when he'd sneak out of his bed once his parents were asleep to go watch them in the living room. Tv time had always been limited for him until he turned 13, his parents had become too stressed with work to monitor how much time he spent with his eyes glued to a screen at that point. When things calmed down again they had both forgotten about the rule but instead made sure he was always busy, wether it was basketball or school work.

Honestly, Tyler had expected to get bored spending 2 hours locked in an office but he never did, the cartoons had kept the boredom at bay. He had stayed on the verge of regressing the whole time and hadn't even thought about the basketball game. By the end of the 2 hours he wanted to be in little space but unfortunately, he couldn't let himself do that, he needed to be a big boy and get through the rest of the day.

Josh hadn't come back to class once, which was understandable because he was still a teacher here and he had classes to teach. Of course, he would be busy, Tyler couldn't be upset about him doing his job.

That didn't change the fact that he wanted him there with him.

Now that they'd talked and that things had become official, Tyler could finally let himself want Mr.Dun. He'd been ignoring his feelings for a few weeks and it was nice that he could actually think about holding his hand and actually be able to do it later. Unfortunately, this new territory brought in the factor that now that he was with him, he'd have to deal with not being able to have him whenever he wanted.

It was difficult to stop thinking about him now that they had some type of relationship. Josh would be taking care of him from now on, he wouldn't have to bother his friends with it anymore. Josh really wanted this, he'd asked him and spent close to an hour talking to him about it.

When the bell signaling the end of the school day wrung, Tyler sighed and closed Josh's laptop. He didn't have the privilege of going home, he had a basketball game to play. He put Josh's laptop on his desk and gathered all of his things as slowly as possible. The nerves were already hitting him.

Tonight's match started in thirty minutes, he tugged his sweater back on and headed towards the change rooms.

Hopefully, Josh would show up tonight.

*

Anxiety stilled in Tyler's chest as he slipped on his basketball uniform. He could hear the cheering from the bleachers inside of the change room and it did make him felt sick. He loved basketball but he always felt nauseous before a game, he always had. Ever since he'd joined the school team he'd felt nervous before getting on the court. It was inevitable.

Pete smiled at him, shaking his shoulder. "Cheer up man, we're going to fucking win."

"You say that like it'll be easy," Tyler replied, rolling on deodorant before shutting his locker.

Another one of his teammates, Jon Bellion, spoke up from beside him as he pulled up his basketball shorts. "Oh it will be, rumor has it, they suck."

Tyler groaned although he was amused. "Dude don't tell me that shit, I play better when I have no expectations."

Jon shrugged. "Well, expect them to suck."

"And expect us to win!" Pete yelled and the entire change-room whooped and cheered. All his teammates as enthusiastic as ever.

Tyler rolled his eyes but he was still smiling. The energy was good, he liked it, it would definitely help them win if they went into this game with a solid attitude. And even if they lost, which Tyler desperately hoped they wouldn't, at least they'd had put everything they had into this game. This had to go well.

"Alright, alright. We're definitely gonna kick some ass tonight." Tyler said, feeling slightly more confident than before.

"Hell yeah, we are boys." One of his other teammates yelled. The whole change-room burst into cheering again, Tyler couldn't remember why he used to find this annoying.

"Are the cheerleaders already out there?" He asked no one in particular. He liked knowing they were there, the cheerleaders were all super nice to him and among all the guys made him feel much safer when he was going into a big match.

Jon quirked a brow at him and slid beside him. "Do you mean Jenna?"

Tyler furrowed his eyebrows and leaned against his locker. "What?"

"Jenna Black, pretty, blond, aren't you hooking up with her?" Jon asked.

"Uh-No? I don't think so? I'd definitely remember that. we sit together in English." Tyler scratched his scalp. "What gave you the impression that we were together?" Internally Tyler was relieved that no one had figured out he was gay, he still hadn't come out, not that he was unwilling, if someone asked him if he was he'd answer honestly. But still, it was nice knowing that he wasn't being labeled as the gay jock yet.

"Wait she's single?" Jon's eyes widened. Tyler felt the urge to laugh. Instead, Tyler nodded, beyond confused. "I think so."

Jon smiled. "Sweet."

Tyler sighed as Jon walked away with a huge grin. He'd have to tell him that Jenna didn't particularly like jocks, especially asshole jocks like Jon.

The door flew open seconds later an Tyler could feel his anxiety swarm back."Alright, everybody out. We've got a game to win." That was coach. He didn't feel ready, not that he ever really did. Still, he felt less ready then usual and he hated it, he hated that he was nervous.

Tyler let the entire team run out, he watched them with soft eyes and an unsettled stomach. He could do this. They would win, so he took a deep breath and followed his team out into the gym.

*

The moment he ran out onto the court a little behind his team, the crowd cheered, louder then he'd ever heard them. Students and parents from his school and the team they were playing against filled the bleachers. The cheerleaders were lined up near the bleachers, he spotted Jenna, she was holding up one of the other cheerleaders up and over her head. He smiled.

Immediately after, he looked for his friends, having them there meant everything to him.

It didn't take long to find them, despite the small argument they'd had earlier, all three of them had shown up. Ashley was holding up a huge neon sign, that said Go Ty!! on it, she waved it at him with a huge smile and Tyler grinned. Brendon and Dallon cheered beside her, waving at him with enthusiasm and support.

Even with all the chaotic excitement he could here Brendon yell. "Are you okay?" Over all of the other voices.

Tyler nodded and waved back at them as he followed Pete to the benches so Coach could talk to them before they started.

He should've stopped looking after he'd found Ashley, Brendon, and Dallon but Tyler scanned the crowd for Josh too. He said he'd come. Tyler wanted him there, he wanted Josh to watch him play, he wanted to impress him and make him proud for some inexplicable reason. His stomach sunk when he spotted his parents first.

His mother smiled at him encouragingly and his dad just gave him a thumbs up. He looked away quickly.

They never missed a game, Tyler didn't even remember telling them about this one but of course they knew. They were both much too invested in the basketball team, they most likely had his whole schedule memorized. He felt anxious again, he felt like throwing up. Usually he's pretend like they weren't there.

Josh, he needed to find Josh. He wasn't sure when he'd stopped calling him Mr.Dun in his head but he had and he just needed to see him at least once. He'd said he'd be here.

"Joseph, get over here," Coach yelled. Tyler faltered, freezing in place, and looked back. His whole team was waiting for him a few feet away, he flushed in embarrassment and jogged over. He'd look for Josh later, he couldn't let him distract him.

"Sorry coach." He murmured.

Coach Remy shrugged. "Gather around boys."

Tyler leaned in, pressing against Pete as the rest of the team circled closer. Coach smiled and spent the next 5 minutes motivating them and reminding them of their strategy. Tyler didn't really listen, he already knew all of this by heart. It was basic stuff, all he needed to remember was that they could do this, they always won and today wouldn't be different. Tyler tried his best to believe it.

The pep talk ended and before he knew it he was being pushed towards the court. He really hoped they could pull this off, he'd be really embarrassed to lose this match, especially with his parents in the crowd. They'd definitely have something to say about them losing and they'd definitely blame it all on him even though basketball is in fact, a team game.

*

Naturally, Tyler was a great point guard. He blocked every single throw they made, every single pass. And It helped that the other team barely ever made it near their basket. They were winning, they were destroying the other team even though Tyler was just slightly distracted.

Tyler glanced over at the crowd when the game moved across the court, Pete going to shoot, he hadn't been paying attention to the audience because he was scared Josh wouldn't be there.

But, he was there. Tyler saw him immediately and he had to pause for a second just to make sure it was. His yellow hair stood out in the crowd even though it had become more of a pale yellow since the beginning of the school year. Tyler smiled in his direction and the relief that flushed through his body was ridiculous. He felt so lame but now he knew he'd be able to focus on this game now, he wouldn't be side tracked.

Josh winked at him from where he was sitting and Tyler flushed, looking away.

The rest of the game went just as good as the start, it went better even. Tyler had someone to impress now, so he did and he focused on the game entirely. He'd even forgotten that Josh was there at some point along the way.

A tall boy from the other team started blocking him from a pass but he was smarter, faster, he ducked out of his reach and passed the ball to Pete. Pete was really good and Tyler was glad that he was a solid teammate.

They won the game, 13- 62 and when they did the only noise in the gym was the clapping and yelling of the crowd. He stood there, wiping sweat off his forehead. It felt so good and his heart was still racing when his team and the other team all went around high fiving each other in congratulations of a good-game.

"Tyler," Brendon yelled from across the court, throwing his arms around him the moment he was close enough. Tyler smiled, stumbling slightly from the force of the hug and in surprise. He buried his face against Brendon's neck and smiled. The crowd was still cheering as friends and parents ran down to greet his teammates.

Suddenly he was pulled away and then Ashley was hugging him, tightly. "My baby did so fuckin' good today." She said before taking a deep breath and pulling away in disgust, leaving her hands on his shoulders. "And my baby is also really sweaty, gross." She wrinkled her nose.

Tyler winked. "Basket ball charm."

"I'm so proud of you, that was the best game i've ever seen you play." Dallon said, hugging him next. He pulled him in by his waist and Tyler giggled.

"You guys won by a landslide, they were absolute shit." Brendon said dramatically. The game had went well but the opposite team had managed to score a few points, mostly before Tyler had spotted Josh. He would never let himself admit that though.

Ashley rolled her eyes. "They probably still would've won even if the team they were against didn't suck."

"True." Tyler smiled confidently.

"I feel like we need to celebrate this victory." Brendon said.

"Get high? Get drunk? Get laid?" Ashley suggested, wiggling her eyebrows as she smiled.

"Three out of four of us are in relationships you big idiot." Brendon groaned, wrapping his arms around Dallon. Tyler wanted to correct them, four out of four of them were in relationships.

Tyler bit his lip, that didn't sound appealing at all, the drinking, the drugs, exposing his new relationship. He shook his head. "How about milkshakes?" They all looked at him, Tyler sighed quietly, feeling guilty. "I didn't actually want to smoke, the other day."

Dallon smiled and Tyler felt relieved. "Oh, we know." He hugged him again. "You've already had your teenage rebellion phase, freshman year, ill never forget."

Tyler flushed red, putting his hands up in surrender. "I wasn't that bad."

Brendon kissed his cheek, ignoring the jab at Tyler's terrifying emo phase in freshman year. "Honestly I was surprised when you brought it up, you'd always seemed disgusted by weed."

"I'm not disgusted by it, I just don't want to do drugs." Tyler said truthfully.

"Exactly and that's why we're not going to let you start. You could be kicked off the basketball team you know?" Brendon said and Tyler felt really guilty for even bringing up doing drugs. He didn't know what he had been thinking.

"Yeah." He said sadly.

"Try not to have any more mid-life crisis's until you're at-least 30." Ashley replied, amused.

Tyler laughed, running a hand through his sweaty hair. "I'll try my best."

"Your parents are coming over here." Ashley whispered. Tyler sighed, of course they were, he turned around to see his parents walking over. His mom was chatting adamantly with his dad, this couldn't be good. Hopefully they were happy with his performance.

Tyler shrugged as he faced his friends again. "It's fine, i'll meet up with you guys in 15? Front of the school."

"Yeah." Ashley said.

"You've got it Tiny." Brendon smiled and hugged him, whispering in his ear. "Ask to sleep over tonight."

"I will." Tyler said quietly.

They all walked away and Tyler pulled at his clothes. They were stuck to his skin and he was still covered in sweat, he could feel it dripping down his spine. He mentally prepared himself to face his parents. He met them halfway across the court.

"You did great sweetie." His mom said once he's closed the distance, bringing him in for a hug. She didn't seem bothered by how sweaty he was, she was used to it.

"Thank you." He smiled genuinely.

"That was a very good game." His father agreed. "But next time you need to pass less to Pete though, it was getting predictable."

Tyler sighed. "It's the strategy we agreed on." He wasn't going to admit that it had been his idea to have Pete constantly get the ball. The rest of the boys on the team had agreed, they all knew Pete would be able to shoot from many angle. Just as Tyler could.

His father scoffed. "Not a very good one."

"We won didn't we?" Tyler shot back, upset.

"You did very well sweetheart." His mother stepped in as always. He didn't miss having his dad around, he didn't miss putting his mother in the uncomfortable situations like this one. She smiled soothingly, smoothing out her hair. "We were thinking of bringing you out to dinner, all of us, as a family."

Tyler's eyes widened in surprised. "Oh." He frowned, coming up with a lie, he definitly wouldn't be able to make it through an entire meal with his dad present. "I'm sorry mama, I promised Dallon that i'd help him with our biology project tonight."

"How about we go out on Sunday instead?" His father asked, Tyler was surprised he was agreeing with this.

Tyler hesitated but then nodded. "Yeah." He smiled. "Okay."

"I'll see you Sunday morning."

His mom sighed, she wasn't an idiot. "Are you staying at Brendon's tonight then?" She was well aware that he spent most, if not all of his time anywhere but his own house.

Tyler nodded. "Yeah. That's okay right?"

"N-" His dad started.

"Of course, have fun sweetie. Love you." His mom said quickly.

"Love you more." He replied before running to the change-room. He just wanted to be with his friends.

*

The moment he got outside, Brendon, Ashley and Dallon bombarded him with questions. He said nothing and when they asked about milkshakes he just told them he was tired. He wasn't hungry anymore, he honestly just wanted to sleep it off and enjoy the weekend.

Tyler had his eyes closed in the backseat of Dallon's truck, his head leaning against Brendon's shoulder. He couldn't fall asleep in cars but he still felt rested with his eyes closed. It was promising to know the day was finally over and he'd get to pass out the moment he laid down on Brendon's couch.

Brendon was fast asleep against him too, while Ashley and Dallon were silent in the front seats. They were all exhausted and didn't feel the need to talk. They just wanted to sleep.

He hoped his parents weren't actually upset that he didn't want to go out to dinner with them, this had been the first time they'd shown any interest in just spending time with him as a family in what seemed like years. Maybe it had been cruel of him to decline in favour of his friends, he didn't really care though. If they'd wanted to treat him like an actual person and not a trophy, they'd had their chance for years. Tyler figured that once he moved out maybe they'd finally want him as their son. Because then, finally they'd realized that they'd missed out on most of his life.

"Do you want me to carry you inside?" Dallon whispered, already scooping Tyler up into his arms.

Tyler nodded with a yawn, letting his legs wrap around Dallon's waist and his arms around his neck. He knew he was heavier than he looked but Dallon didn't seem to mind, he had already made his way back into thinking like his caregiver and not his friend. Tyler faintly heard Ashley waking Brendon up but he was too tired to pay attention.

"Come on Ty, downstairs we go." Dallon said once they were inside. He set Tyler down and he instantly whined, nearly falling over from exhaustion. Still he went down the stairs, Ashley, Dallon and Brendon behind him. The stairs creaked and there was a cool breeze of air once they stepped into the room. At the sight of the small couch, Tyler smiled lazily and lied down.

Dallon and Brendon would go sleep upstairs most likely and Ashley would sleep on the other couch. That was their usual set up, he didn't keep his eyes open long enough to find out if Ashley was going to stay downstairs with him or invade the guest room.

On the couch, Brendon tucked him in with a big fluffy blanket. A stuffed lion was also pushed into his arms but Tyler barely paid attention to it, he just hugged it and smiled slightly when he felt Brendon kiss his forehead.

He was nearly asleep already, he always passed out right after games. Today had been especially stressful though, it had been such a long day, it had even been a long week. Everything had been leading up to this day and now it was finally over and he could relax, and he could sleep. Maybe he'd even skip school on Monday.

Inevitably, he started thinking about Josh. There was no way he couldn't think about him, it was impossible. He was going to be a part of his life now and even if everything went to shit, Tyler was glad he'd gotten to talk to someone else about his age regression. It had felt so good to get off his chest, not that he'd ever do it again.

It was different then telling Brendon about it, even though Brendon understood. There was just something relieving about talking to someone who'd been in relationships with others who regressed the way he did. It was even better that he was now in a relationship with him. Tyler's heart fluttered as he remembered that Josh had shown up to his basketball game.

He sighed happily. And within minutes he was pulling out his phone, already half asleep as he looked for Josh in his contacts. He didn't think twice before messaging him.

hi it's tyler >:)
sent 10:12 PM

Tyler Joseph
sent 10:13 Pm

He corrected himself, just incase Josh had forgotten about him. He realized it was stupid but it was already too late for him to cancel the message. Josh messaged back within a few seconds and Tyler closed his eyes at the ding.

I had a feeling, I don't know any other Tyler's.
sent 10:13 PM

u don't? so im special?
sent 10:14 PM

You know you are pumpkin.
sent 10:14

Anyways, you did so well tonight! I'm so proud, you kicked some serious butt out there.
sent 10:14 PM

thaaank u!! i was scared we were gonna lose
sent 10:14 PM

That's silly, of course you guys were gonna win. They've got you on the team.
sent 10:15 PM

Did you just get home?
sent 10:15 PM

yes, i'm at brendon's. i just got tucked in 10 minutes ago, im supposed to be sleeping
sent 10:16 PM

You should go to sleep, I bet you're super tired. You had a very long day sweetie.
sent 10:16 PM

:( but now i wanna talk to you
sent 10:16 PM

we can talk tomorrow (:
sent 10:17 PM

:(
sent 10:17 PM

(:
sent 10:17 PM

:((
sent 10:17 PM

(((:
sent 10:18

:( I'm not good at texting when i'm little
sent 10:18

not good at it?
sent 10:18

can we facetime instead?
sent 10:18 PM

Hmmm, we'll see. I think you should go to bed and we can figure this out in the morning.
sent 10:19 PM

the morning is far
sent 10:19

It won't be far if you close your eyes
sent 10:19 PM

Tyler did shut his eyes at that moment, he needed to take a deep breath. Anticipation was heavy in his chest, he'd never talked to anyone he'd had a crush on. Let alone an adult, he tightened his grip around his stuffed lion. Sleep was weighing down his eyelids and he knew if he didn't put an effort in to answer Josh, he'd fall asleep right then.

He groaned and checked his phone again. The screen was much too bright.

i think yourecritht, im falling sleep
sent 10:24 PM

Yeah, I think so too. Sweet dreams sleepyhead. I'll text you in the morning.
sent 10:24 PM

*

AUTHORS NOTE:

I NEED HELP, WHAT SHOULD JOSH BE CALLING tyler. what should be the main pet name he uses?

woah, is this another chapter?

i think yes

hopefully i can keep updating like this?