Waking up to see a body wrapped around him in the middle of the afternoon that didn't belong to Brendon was something Tyler was not used to. As his eyes opened slowly, his brows furrowed before he focused on the facial features of the man currently holding him in his arms, and he felt himself smile.

It should feel weird, cuddling against someone who you've only known for about a week, but Tyler couldn't seem to find a reason to be taken aback by their proximity. Josh's arms were almost all muscle, and they made the smaller brunette feel safer than he had in a long time.

Tyler took the opportunity to bury his nose against the other teen's chest, inhaling his scent. He currently smelled of a mix of weed and eucalyptus - a smell Tyler knows very well considering almost all of his shower products smell the same. He allowed himself to fist the back of Josh's shirt between his fingertips, letting his body conform to the other's peacefully, feeling sleep take over him once more.

~~~

The next time he awoke, Tyler was alone and he found his spirits sinking at the feeling. Of course he didn't expect Josh to stay wrapped up with him all day, but he really wanted to be able to tell him goodbye. He sighed gently to himself, rolling over and grabbing his phone off of his desk, wincing as he saw it read that it was past five in the evening. He quickly scrolled through his notifications, his eyes landing on a text from a certain curly haired boy he had just been thinking about.

josh dun👽: hey ty! my mom called me home, so i had to leave :/ sorry i didn't get to say goodbye, you're a heavy ass sleeper! text me later xx

Tyler felt a blush creep up the sides of his neck to his cheeks at the two little x's at the end of the text. He quickly went to the thread and typed out a reply.

no worries! sorry if i made you uncomfortable at all, i tend to latch on to people like a koala in my sleep. ask brendon, he knows ^

josh dun👽: no worries! you look cute when you sleep, anyway :)
josh dun👽: i'm about to shut my phone off for a bit, i have homework for Mr Phillips due in the morning that i haven't even started on, so if i don't talk to you later, i'll text you in the morning when i'm headed to your house

that's fine! i'll probably catch up on my work too and then go straight back to sleep lol
see you in the morning!

Tyler then laid his phone back down on his desk, pulling his pillow over his head and lightly squealing into the material. Josh called him cute. He pulled the pillow away from his face just as there was a knock to his door. He called a soft 'come in,' smiling at his mother as she pushed the door open.

"Hi, sweetie," she said softly. "Are you hungry?"

The teen nodded, sitting up in bed and slinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Do I need to go pick anything up?" he asked.

"No," his mom answered with a smile. "I already cooked, it's out on the table now."

Tyler furrowed his brows with a smile. "You cooked?"

She rolled her eyes gently as they walked out of the room. "Yes, smart ass. I got home a couple of hours ago, so figured it'd be nice for the four of us to have dinner together. We haven't in a while."

Tyler could hear the sadness in her voice as she spoke. She works so often, that either Tyler cooks dinner or they all wind up eating take out or eating at a friend's house. "Can't wait to have dinner with you, Momma."

She smiled sweetly as Tyler followed her into the kitchen, where he started to pull plates from the cabinets and began setting the table. "Your new friend is nice," his mom spoke. "Very polite. Josh, wasn't it?"

Tyler felt the back of his neck warm up at the mention of the boy's name, nodding with a smile toward his mom. "When'd you meet him?"

The woman smiled coyly at her son as she moved to place silverware next to the plates. "He was leaving your room when I got home this afternoon," she said, suggestiveness in her tone. "Super sweet! Called me Ms. Joseph and everything. He's cute, too."

Tyler groaned, feeling his face warm up even more. "God, Mom, it's not what you think," he said with a slight laugh. "We aren't sleeping together. We got high with Bren this afternoon and passed out."

Kelly laughed gently as she sat in a chair opposite her son and began putting food on her plate. "I'm just saying," she said, "I like him better than most of the others you bring by. You aren't subtle and I'm not deaf, Ty."

"Yeah, no one in this house is," a new voice jumped in, Tyler smacking the back of his brother's head and he took a seat at the table.

"Shut up, asshat," Tyler said, humor and a bite to his tone. "At least I'm getting laid."

"Who said I'm not?"

"Zachary!" Their mom interjected, face turning red slightly.

Zach seemed to remember in that moment that he was speaking in front of his mom, and his face burned bright red. "I-I'm just kidding, Momma," he stuttered with a nervous laugh. "I'm not! I promise!"

"Not what," the youngest Joseph, Maddy, asked as she plopped in the seat in between her mom and Tyler.

"We were discussing Zach's sex life," Tyler said as he passed his sister the bowl of mashed potatoes.

"Ha," Maddy laughed, scooping food into her plate, "don't you mean lack thereof?"

Everyone at the table laughed - minus Zach - Tyler full on snorting and almost falling face first into his plate while their mom had to stifle her laughter.

Zach just sighed, picking around his food before shoveling it into his mouth. "This is bullying."

Tyler missed this.

———

The next morning, Tyler was sitting on the edge of his small, concrete porch, cigarette in his mouth as he scrolled mindlessly through his social medias. He was patiently waiting on Josh to pick him up for school, after getting up and getting ready a full 30 minutes earlier than normal. As much as he wanted to ignore the feeling, he just wanted to spend more time with the curly haired teen.

Apparently, Josh shared the same feeling, as he pulled up in front of Tyler's house at 7:15, forty-five minutes before school even started. Tyler felt himself smile, taking his cigarette out of his mouth and stubbing it off in the ash bin and jogging to Josh's Jeep. Once in, he tosses his bag into the floorboard and smiles at his friend. "Morning, J."

Josh smiled back and put the car back into drive, pulling away from the house. "Mornin', Ty," he said as they made the block back to the highway. "How was your night?"

"It was good," the tan teen answered, a genuine smile on his face. "My mom got off shift early yesterday, so we all got to have dinner together. It was nice."

Josh smiled back, but raised an eyebrow. "Do you guys not have dinner together often?"

Tyler shook his head. "She works too much," he said softly. "And then sometimes I'm at work, so even if she is home to make dinner, I'm not there to eat it."

Josh nodded, making the turn onto the school road. "That makes sense," he said. "I'm glad you guys got to eat together, then. It sounds like you enjoyed it."

The older teen laughed as they pulled into the parking lot and Josh pulled into a space. "Something like that," he answered. "I got to pick on my brother, so that was a win."

The curly headed teen laughed as he took off his seatbelt and leaned back into his seat. "I love picking on my little brother," he said with a fondness to his voice. "He gets me back, so all's fair."

Tyler nodded as he laughed back at his friend. "Oh," he said with a slight blush to his cheeks, "my mom said she liked meeting you. Said you were polite."

Josh squinted suspiciously as he smiled at his friend. "What else did she say?"

Tyler shook his head as he laughed again, this time a bit more shy than before. "She said you were cute," he said as he rolled his eyes. "She also thought we were sleeping together."

That caused the younger teen to let out a loud laugh, his eyes squeezing shut as he leaned his head into his seat. "Seriously?"

"Can you blame her," Tyler asked, laughing along with Josh. "You were creeping out of my room when she saw you."

Josh's laughter began to die down slowly as he spoke softly. "That's fair, I suppose." He then turned to face Tyler, a soft smile on his face. "There are definitely worse things, anyway."

Tyler quipped an eyebrow at his response. "Worse than what?"

Josh shrugged gently, looking away from Tyler with a smile and closed eyes. "Than someone thinking I'm sleeping with you," he said nonchalantly. "Could be worse."

All Tyler could do was blush.