a knock on his door wakes tyler. he sits up with a groan, checking the time on his phone. six in the morning? what the hell? he stands up slowly, trotting over to his bedroom door. he opens it without bothering to ask who it was. he's too tired to even open his mouth.

brendon towers over him, one arm above his head as he leans against the doorframe. his eyes trail over the brunette's body, and tyler suddenly realizes he's only wearing a pair of booty shorts. he pulls the bottoms down self-consciously, deciding to rest his eyes on brendon's chest rather than his face.

"good morning, sunshine. ready for work?" the older asks, lips curling into a sly grin.

"at six in the morning?" tyler yawns. "it's literally getting light out. why would i go out now?"

"oh, honey," brendon chuckles. "ryan didn't explain this to you? the buyers come to us, we don't go looking for them."

tyler's heart stops for a minute. shit... he does remember josh telling him that somewhere along the line. god, that's just great. "okay... so, what? they just come up here or i have to go get them or?"

"oh my god," brendon mutters, growing agitated. "ryan really didn't explain shit to you, huh? that little-" he cuts himself off, smiling forcefully. "it's fine, i can do it myself. no, you go down and meet them. i'm sure ryan didn't show you, because he's obviously good-for-nothing, but there's this big door downstairs. you enter and find six more doors, three to either side of you.

i believe we put you as sharing a room with debby, so your name is on the door under hers. all the rooms are set up the same: twin size bed, leather chair, a small table with some toys, and red lights. buyers can either make appointments with their chosen recruit, or they can walk-in and choose from what's available. lucky you, our buyers are dying to get their hands on you. so much so that your first one is waiting downstairs for you."

tyler finds himself wide-eyes. "i, uh... i literally just fucking woke up. i haven't even brushed my teeth or-"

"better hurry, then. i have a feeling you're going to be a bit busy for the next... oh, i don't know... five hours or so," brendon shrugs.

"oh... my god. five hours? when the hell am i going to eat? you're telling me that many people have already scheduled an appointment with me?" tyler shakes his head in disbelief.

"that's exactly what i'm telling you. i knew you'd be a big money-maker, you look delicious," brendon winks, causing a weird feeling in tyler's stomach.

disgust? approval? guilt? eh, who knows?

"now make yourself look pretty, gumdrop. don't keep the buyers waiting forever." brendon leaves with a lingering glance, shutting the door behind him.

"fuck!" tyler whisper-shouts, running to his bathroom. he quickly brushes his teeth and combs his hair with his fingers, splashing cold water on his face to wake himself up. deodorant is applied before tyler throws on a random pair of briefs, followed by cologne. he decides to just throw on a robe, since he's going to be spending the majority of the next five hours naked anyway.

god, this is going to suck....

and suck it did. it was a good distraction, at least, and he made hella money... but he was exhausted. he only had an hour break for lunch, then went back to "work" for another four hours. it was unbelievable the amount of buyers that wanted him. how did that many people even know about him? was he really that special?

at around four in the afternoon, tyler finally was able to make his way upstairs and collapse on his bed. he didn't even bother to change his clothes; he just threw his robe aside and ran his fingers over the hem of his briefs. a shower was desperately needed, but tyler felt too tired to even move.

now that he wasn't busy, his mind decided to focus on josh again. god, he missed that man so much. he missed living in their house-that-actually-felt-like-a-home and he missed waking up in josh's arms and he missed every single thing possible about the man.  he was still hurt that he had yet to hear from anybody, but he was starting to come to terms that it was probably best. that was probably just protocol—cut off all ties after someone leaves.

what's josh doing right now? is pete still at the house? what do the girls think of tyler? did josh tell them the truth about what was going on?

there's a brief knock before the door opens. dallon seems a bit surprised to find tyler nearly naked, looking like he got hit by a train. "o-oh, uh, um... shit, why did i come in here? oh! urie wants you in his office."

tyler sighs, sitting up slowly. "where's that, again?"

"just put some clothes on and i'll show you," he mutters, glancing back and forth between the ceiling and tyler.

"like you don't see chicks running around here butt-ass naked everyday?" tyler rolls his eyes, feeling a bit flattered at the fact that dallon can't seem to keep his eyes off of him.

"i do, but... just put some fucking clothes on."

"to be fair, i do have clothes on," the brunette argues, throwing on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"yeah, underwear," dallon shakes his head, watching the boy get dressed. "come on."

they walk downstairs, dallon leading tyler by placing his hand at the small of the younger's back. it's nice, all of the attention. josh never seemed to give tyler enough. besides, the brunette feels fucking touch starved despite having just had sex with his buyers for the past 10 hours. you know, after a while it was painful to cum? anyway... there's a big difference between sexual touching and intimate touching, and tyler desperately craves the latter.

dallon leads him to the room beside brendon's bedroom and knocks on the door. after being told to come in, the taller opens the door and motions for tyler to enter. the latter does such, flinching slightly as dallon shuts the door behind him. he turns around, finding himself alone with brendon.

"you did amazing today, tyler," he smiles. god, this man has shown more emotion in the first two days than josh did in the first two weeks.

"thanks, i guess. i'm really tired and need a shower so-"

"i understand," brendon says, nodding slightly. "it's routine that i help my recruits clean up after their first day of work."

tyler scrunches his eyebrows, the corner of his lips lifting in confusion. "huh? seriously? i don't... i'd rather just do it myself."

"would you like to keep any of the money you just made?" brendon asks, head tilting as he frowns. "because i could take it all from you, easy."

tyler chuckles in disbelief. "you're kidding me."

"do i look like i'm kidding?"

"fine," tyler just decides to agree without arguing. he doesn't want to know where that leads to.

"great," brendon grins. he takes the brunette's hand, leading him out of the office and into his bedroom. tyler allows himself to follow along reluctantly, taking in brendon's room as they walk through to enter his bathroom. "you just relax, gumdrop."

tyler hates the name, but probably would've liked to hear it come from josh. god, enough with josh. stop thinking about his sorry ass, tyler. he lifts his arms over his head as brendon helps take his shirt off. the man starts the shower, letting the water turn hot as they continue undressing. tyler isn't really self-conscious over his body... it's just his face, mainly. his body looks good, obviously, or he wouldn't be such a hot commodity.

so he's not surprised at brendon's reaction to seeing him fully nude, but he is surprised to see brendon fully nude. the man is way more fit than tyler originally thought, also covered in way more tattoos. he's not josh, but- damn, tyler. stop comparing everything and everyone to josh...

"you're stunning, honey. i'm so mad that josh got to you before i did. you poor baby... he hurt you so much, didn't he?" brendon coaxes, palms resting on either side of tyler's face. the brunette stares up at him doe-eyed, captivated by the intimate touch.

"mhm..." he hums, confused as to why he suddenly feels stuck. it's not like he feels anything for brendon, but... god, his hands are so big and warm and they feel so good on his face. his voice sounds so soothing and he looks so concerned...

brendon's lips twitch before he leans in and plants a kiss on the boy's forehead. "come on, let's get you cleaned up."

a stunned tyler follows along, stepping into the shower after brendon. he sorta just stands there as the man goes about washing tyler's hair and body as well as his own. maybe it's the exhaustion setting in, but tyler feels so comfortable in brendon's presence. it's weird, given how scared he was of the man before. maybe josh was the bad guy all along...?

no, tyler, don't think like that. josh isn't a bad guy, he just did a bad thing. brendon is the one who... well, he's the one who took tyler in when he desperately needed it. he's the one who hasn't snapped at tyler, the one who isn't afraid to show his emotions. tyler grows a bit guilty as brendon's fingertips brushing across his chest gives him butterflies. what's wrong with him?

he can't just expect brendon to give him what josh did. he is not josh, and never will be. maybe tyler is just a hopeless romantic, desperate for love, whose stuck being a fucking prostitute. yeah, that sounds about right. but listen, okay? it's not like brendon is ugly... and i mean, he is standing fully naked in front of tyler. it's hard not to feel some type of way, even if tyler more-or-less wishes he was with josh instead.

"how we feeling, huh?" brendon speaks softly, massaging his fingers against the boy's scalp to wash all the soap out. "feeling okay?"

"uh-huh," tyler voices, eyes nearly rolling into the back of his head. "that feels good."

"this?" brendon chuckles, circling his fingers through tyler's hair.

"mhm..."

"well, i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're all cleaned up. it's time to get out. you can head upstairs and get some rest, okay?"

tyler watches in a daze as brendon shuts the water off and gets out. a hand is extended to him, which the brunette takes as he steps out of the shower. he's so tired, he wants to sleep so bad... just wants to fall asleep in josh's arms... "can i sleep in your room?" he asks, without even intending for the words to come out. it was habitual—something he had always asked josh.

"sure, doll," brendon laughs softly, running a fluffy towel along tyler's smooth skin. he ruffles the brown locks in the towel in a poor attempt to dry tyler's hair. speaking of, the boy is half-awake. his eyes are hooded as brendon helps put his sweatpants and shirt on, leaving the briefs off because tyler asked him to.

the second brendon opens the bathroom door, tyler is stumbling towards the bed. he collapses on it with a soft grunt, going to tuck himself under the blankets. brendon stops him, however, with one strong hand locked around his wrist. tyler glances at him tiredly and in confusion. he half-expected to see josh standing over him, and was utterly disappointed to find someone else.

"here," the other man says, covering tyler up himself. "don't let ryan know you're in here. he'll have a fucking bitch-fit. okay?"

"okay," tyler giggles, liking the words 'bitch-fit'. he closes his eyes, humming as lips press against his forehead. shit, he could get used to this.

__a/n__

i really hope this was good!! i'm sorry i was away for like four months. i've been so busy with college and working two jobs and my boyfriend leaving for army basic training... yeah, life's been a bit rough. updates will probably be slow but i'll try not to disappear for a few months straight again. i love you all!