Trigger Warning

//

Drug and alcohol use; marijuana, cocaine.

Start the song. It's Falling by Chase Atlantic.

When Josh woke up, it was to sunlight pouring onto his face from the broken shades on the window and the smell of stale cigarette smoke hanging in the air around him. He rolled away from the sunlight to notice he was also waking up to an empty bed. He remembered falling asleep with Tyler next to him, as well as falling asleep with a shirt on. Why was his shirt off?

He groaned softly as he sat up in bed, noticing he was wearing the rest of his clothes - even his shoes. He ran his hands over his face and through his messy curls as he looked around the room. There was no one else there, but the other side of the bed definitely looked slept in. Just as he was about to get up, the door was opening and Tyler was creeping in slowly, trying to not wake Josh had he still been sleeping. He smiled upon noticing him sitting up in bed and walked over, climbing in his lap and straddling his hips. "Good morning, handsome," he said as he draped his arms over his shoulders.

Josh smiled softly, his arms wrapping loosely around Tyler's waist and pulling him slightly closer. "Good morning to you, too," he responded. "Where were you?"

"I was in the kitchen, putting on a pot of coffee," he answered softly. "I'm usually always up before everyone else, so I do the whole 'taking care of all the hungover kids,' thing."

Josh laughed gently before leaning forward and pecking Tyler's lips. "You'd be a great mom," he joked softly.

Tyler threw his head back as he laughed loudly. "I could not give birth," he said through laughs. "You see how narrow my hips are? That child would destroy me."

Josh squeezed his eyes shut as he laughed loudly, falling back onto his back, his hands still on Tyler's hips. "I have to agree with you, there."

Tyler leaned forward, laying his chest on Josh's with his knees still at his hips. He put both of his hands on the sides of Josh's neck before leaning down and pressing their lips together. The kiss deepened for a few seconds before Tyler pulled back gently and smiled down at him. "Did you have fun last night?"

Josh didn't hesitate before nodding. "I really did," he said sincerely. "I honestly never saw myself getting high, ever, but I'm glad it was with you. I feel like you helped me have control over myself."

Tyler smiled widely as he ran his hands over Josh's chest. "I'm glad you had a good time," he said softly. "I really am. But, just know, you don't ever have to get high again if you don't want to. Only ever do it if you want to, okay?"

Josh nodded. "I know," he responded. "If I do, it'll only ever be with you or Brendon. Probably you, mostly."

Tyler smiled, a shy look in his eyes. "You see the two of us spending more time together?"

Josh sat up again, making Tyler sit up with him as he tightened his arms around Tyler's waist and Tyler's arms wrapped around his neck. "I'll spend all the time in the world with you if you'll let me."

Tyler giggled - yes, giggled - as he tackled Josh back onto the bed in a tight hug just before the bedroom door opened and Brendon came prancing in with Ryan in tow. "Good morning, early birds!" He sounded just as chipper as ever and Josh looked over to him and waved. "Ooh, are we having an orgy? I want in!"

He then jumped onto the bed and onto the two boys as Ryan leaned against the wall, fondly shaking his head. "Brendon, get over here," he said with a soft laugh. "I'm sure neither Tyler nor Josh want you trying to fuck them this earlier in the morning. I promise you can come back this afternoon and try again."

Brendon looked slightly reluctant but climbed off of Tyler and Josh before walking back over to Ryan. "Fine, fine, fine," he said playfully. "We just came in here to tell you guys that the coffee is ready and Hayley is about to make breakfast. So come on, boys!"

Tyler and Josh laughed gently as Brendon and Ryan left the room, and then Josh looked at Tyler with a questioning glance. "Hey," he started, "where's my shirt?"

Tyler made a soft 'oh' sound, climbing off of Josh's lap and walking to the en suite bathroom. He came back in holding Josh's shirt and smiling softly. "You said you were really hot, so you took it off," he said. "You threw it in the floor and I didn't want it to get dirty, so I grabbed it and brought it in here. It also smelled like smoke really badly, so I hung it by the open window to air out overnight. It smells alright now."

Josh looked at Tyler like he had a halo circling his head. He climbed out of the bed and walked over to him, his hands immediately going back to his hips as he back him against the wall and pressed their mouths together. "Where did you come from?" His voice was coming out breathless as he kissed along Tyler's cheeks and down his neck. "I swear I'm never letting you go."

Tyler laughed breathlessly as he allowed Josh to kiss at his neck. "Good," he said softly. "Don't."

* * *

"Brendon," Josh said as he leaned against his register, "buy something or get out of my line."

"I am buying something," Brendon argued. "I'm buying you an alibi. Tyler is out in the car with Ryan and your mom is here in the store. I already passed by her and told her you were staying at my house tonight, but we're going to Hayley's. There's no party tonight, and it's just gonna be us, Hayley, Ashley and Dom. Just us all hanging out as friends, got it?"

Josh nodded, doing a small handshake with Brendon just as his mom was walking up to the register. "So," she said softly, "what are you boys going to be doing tonight? Playing video games, staying up all night, the usual teenage boy stuff?"

Brendon laughed softly. "Pretty much, Momma Dun," he said. "You know our routine never really changes."

Josh's mom laugh softly as she nodded and turned to Josh. "I'm going to be gone for the weekend, by the way," she said, causing Josh to look at her confusedly. She blushed before continuing, saying, "I have a date with that man I've been talking to you about. He wants to take me out to a resort for the weekend."

Josh smiled softly. "That's great, Momma," he said sincerely.

She nodded and pulled out her money as Josh rung up her total. "I'll probably be back late Sunday night, so you're responsible for getting yourself up and to work tomorrow and Saturday. If you want, you can stay at Brendon's all weekend. I'm sure his parents won't mind."

Josh looked over to Brendon, seeing him give him an excited and enthusiastic thumbs up as he exited the store and ran to his car. Josh turned to look at his mom just as she handed him the money. "Don't get in any trouble this weekend, okay?"

Josh nodded, cashing her out and smiling at her. "I won't," he said softly. "Have fun on your trip, okay? You have to tell me about it when you get back."

She nodded softly, leaning over and kissing Josh's head. "Have fun, Joshua."

Josh smiled at her as she left, and then smiled to himself once he was alone. He was pretty sure he was going to have fun this weekend.

* * *

"Okay, Josh," Brendon said as he passed him the joint from the couch, "you're gonna inhale just like you do when you shotgun with Tyler, okay? Just open your throat a bit more so you don't cough your lungs out. And you're gonna hold it for a few seconds, and then just let it out."

Everyone was watching in anticipation as Josh took the joint and put it to his lips. He took a small drag at first, doing what Brendon had said and opened his throat slightly as he felt it travel down to his lungs. He held it for about three seconds before pushing it out past his lips and coughing only three or four times before passing it to Tyler as everyone cheered.

"There ya go, Joshie!" Ashley reached over and patted Josh's knee gently. "Also, don't let Brendon fool you. He was so bad when he first started, so he's not perfect either."

"Hey!" Brendon looked offended as everyone chuckled around him. "At least I wasn't as bad ad Ryan!"

Ryan shot his head up like he hadn't actually been paying attention and looked at Brendon incredulously. "What did I do?"

"You got naked, first of all," Dominic chimed in, "and then tried to jump off of Ashley's roof into the pool."

Everyone laughed loudly together, and Josh felt extremely comfortable as Ashley took the spliff from Dom and took a drag. "Yeah, Ryan's first couple of highs were pretty wild."

"You're doing good though, Josh," Hayley added. "I think it was good that you had someone taking it easy with you to start off with. That definitely helped a lot."

"Speaking of," Brendon said happily, smiling widely as he leaned back against Ryan, "should we expect this-" he motioned to where Tyler was sitting in Josh's lap "-to be a normal thing now?"

Josh and Tyler exchanged a look and smiled as Josh wrapped his arms tightly around Tyler's waist. "Definitely," he said. "I'm never letting this one go."

The night progressed pretty slowly after that, all of them winding down as some cheesy horror movie played on the television. Tyler and Ryan had disappeared down the hallway about twenty or so minutes ago, and Josh was starting to wonder where they went. He leaned over to Brendon and tapped him on the shoulder. "Should we go check on Ryan and Tyler?"

Brendon shook his head slightly, never taking his eyes off the screen. "They're in mine and Ryan's room," he said softly, whispering as to not wake Ashley and Dom, who were asleep on the floor. "They'll be back in here soon, though."

Josh didn't seem convinced. He took a glance down the hallway and started to get up from the couch. "I'm gonna go check on them."

Brendon looked at him with soft eyes. "Just stay here, Josh," he said softly. "They'll be back in here in a few minutes, okay?"

Josh shook his head. "I'm just peeking my head through the door to make sure they're okay."

Brendon sighed softly and turned back to the television. "Okay," he said softly. "You're not gonna like what you see, though."

Josh wasn't really listening as he was already walking down to Brendon's room. He knocked softly a couple of times, hearing Ryan's faded laughter as he started pushing the door open. He looked around the room and then his eyes landed where Ryan and Tyler were sitting on Brendon's small couch, Tyler leaned over the glass table and snorting white powder off the tabletop.

Josh didn't really react, just backed out of the room slowly and closed the door before walking back to the living room and sitting next to Brendon on the couch. Brendon turned to look at him with apologetic eyes. "Really didn't want you to have to see that," he said softly.

Josh nodded gently, spacing out for a moment before turning to look at him. "How long has Ryan..?"

"About a year," Brendon said. "He doesn't do it in excess, maybe once or twice a month. I can't really say anything, though. It's not like I don't get high and drink pretty much every day."

Josh nodded again. "How often does Tyler?"

Brendon was quiet for a moment. Josh could feel his heart beating a bit faster as Brendon silently answered, "Often."

Josh nodded once more, leaning back into the couch and keeping his eyes on the screen. After a moment, he sighed out gently. "It's okay," he said finally, causing Brendon to turn and look at him. "I really like him," he continued. "I can either help him quit, or I can learn to live with it. Either way, it's okay."

Brendon didn't say anything, just leaned over and put an arm around Josh's shoulders and pulled him close, letting him rest against him as the movie faded into the credits.