tyler sat at his kitchen table, painting his nails a pretty mustard yellow color as his mother made him snickerdoodle cookies. the sweet scent of cinnamon and sugar filled the kitchen and his mouth nearly watered because it smelled so good. he was startled a bit when his doorbell rang and he told his mom he would go get it, carefully grasping the handle of his oxygen tank so he wouldn't smudge his nails.

he was met with his favorite sight in the world when he opened the door, brendon and josh standing there with their arms slung around each other and big smiles on their faces.

"hey, lovebug," josh greeted as he brought tyler into a group hug, the brunette squealing and wiggling himself out of it since his nails were wet. he pouted when he noticed that the three nails that were painted had been smudged in the process, sticking them in josh's face so he could see the damage he had caused.

"look what you did! you're repainting them and you don't have a choice," he huffed as he stomped back into the kitchen, seating himself at the table once again, brendon sitting next to him and josh sitting across so he could paint the younger boy's nails to make him happy.

"hello, mrs. joseph," brendon said, grinning as the older woman waved excitedly at him. "what are you cooking? it smells wonderful."

"i'm making some cookies, they should be done any minute," she responded, checking the timer with a nod to reassure herself of what she said.

josh had begun swiping the brush across tyler's nails, giving his full concentration to the task, not wanting to mess up. his tongue poked out from his teeth, something tyler had pinned as a sign of him concentrating, finding it extremely cute if he was to be honest. he brought the hand that had no nail polish on it yet and brought it to brendon's hair, raking his fingers through the raven waves in attempt to make it a bit neater.

"there, all good now," he mumbled as he leaned in and pecked brendon lightly on the lips, completely forgetting his mom's presence until he heard her clear her throat.

"is there something i should know?" she asks, voice soft and caring.

tyler mentally cursed himself for the subconscious action he had gotten so accustomed to, nervously trying to pick out his next words.

"well, um, this is really difficult to explain. just listen to what i have to say, okay? i'm dating brendon, but i'm also dating josh. and they're also dating each other, so it's not like cheating. does that make sense?"

kelly slowly nodded along, trying to process the words her son spoke. "it may take a bit getting used to, but as long as you're happy, i'm happy too." kelly turned back to the oven when the timer went off, taking the cookies out as tyler, brendon, and josh giddily exchanged big grins after being accepted by another important person in their lives. it was a big deal to them and encouraged them to be more open with everyone about their relationship.

after a while josh had finally finished painting tyler's nails, lettering them dry off as him and brendon hand fed tyler the snickerdoodles once they had cooled down. tyler brought the tray up to his room, josh carrying his tank for him since his hands were full. they all situated themselves on the floor of his bedroom, silently munching on the cookies.

"should we try telling some people at school this week?" brendon questioned, snuggling closer into tyler's back as they spooned, josh pressed behind brendon.

"i mean, it wouldn't hurt. we could just start with telling ashley and melanie and the rest of our lunch table," josh suggested, tyler agreeing as he grew nervous about telling people. he wanted to shout it to the whole world because he was so proud that he could call josh and brendon his, but he was terrified about what people would say about a homosexual polyamorous relationship. he shrugged the doubtful feelings off and trusted his boyfriends' reassuring words, wanting to hear them forever so he never had to worry about his own negative thoughts.

"can we take some polaroids together for my wall?" tyler timidly spoke, referring to the cork board on the wall that had polaroids scattered across it. there weren't many images on the board, mainly pictures of him and his mom or sunsets, but he wished to change that, hoping to fill the empty spaces with pictures of him and his boyfriends.

"of course, baby." josh soothed a hand up tyler's back before the brunette stood, grabbing his camera off of his desk and sitting on the floor once again. tyler instructed for josh and brendon to squeeze closely next to each other, sitting on both of their laps at once to make sure everyone would fit in the frame.

"okay, smile!" tyler chirped as he took the picture, the bright flash shining in their eyes as the camera printed the photo out. tyler set it on the ground to give it time to show up, taking more pictures in the meantime, wanting to get as many as possible.

as soon as the first one appeared the youngest of the three was excitedly showing it off, gushing about how cute they all looked, deciding he would put it in his wallet as a reminder.

he regretted that decision, though, when he unfolded his wallet and the condoms hayley had given him spilled out, landing on the ground in front of him. he scrambled to pick them up, but not quick enough as josh snatched one before he could get to it, inspecting the packet with a small chuckle.

"a few things. one, where did you get these? two, why do you have these? and three, why do you have so many?" he laughed, tossing it back to tyler who stuffed it back in his wallet in embarrassment.

"my doctor gave them to me," he told them truthfully, face heating up from the attention. his voice was barely inaudible as he spoke again, "she told me that i can have sex."

"that's great, love," brendon said. "don't feel pressured or anything, we'll wait as long as you need."

"thank you so much." tyler crawled into brendon's lap, burying his face in the raven haired boy's shoulder, his words muffling with his action. "it may be a while."

"and we're completely fine with that," josh agreed and pressed a kiss on the back of tyler's neck.

they stayed like that for the rest of the night, all cuddling together and sharing comforting kisses, a sense of ease flowing through their veins alongside their feelings of adoration for one another.

•••

this is kinda eh i apologize,,,,, just be proud of me for updating so often

also this chapter is for anonymousanxienty for being so incredibly strong and for inspiring me and giving me motivation to write this story :))

oh and @Joshdunstattoos made an amazing moodboard for this story!! it's so cute!!!!!!

-carina