brown smudges of chocolate were smeared across those freckled cheeks, sticky fingers popped into his mouth as he sucked them clean from the melted candy. he was curled up in the back of his closet with his knees pulled against his chest, hiding from the monster that was trying to take his sweets away. he decided that he would eat it all so they wouldn't have anything to take away, but as he began to feel queasy he decided that it probably wasn't his brightest idea. he didn't care; he got to eat his candy and that was all that mattered.

"tyler, you can't hide from me forever," the big, scary monster called out in a sing-song tone. "i'll find you eventually."

tyler never lost a game of hide-and-seek, and although technically he wasn't playing it, he still wasn't going to give himself up. that was until his stomach began to churn and queasy became an understatement for how he felt.

"bren!" he screamed, not caring if it sounded like he was being murdered. he continued to scream, only stopping once his closet door opened and his best friend was staring down at him with disappointment written on his face.

"tyler, what did i say about eating candy?" brendon sighed, kneeling down and scooping tyler up from the floor, carrying him into the bathroom to place him on the counter.

"only one piece a day. two if 'm bein' extra good," tyler mumbled, eyes welling up with tears at the thought of brendon being upset at him.

"and how many pieces did you have?"

tears began to slip down tyler's cheeks, sliding over the chocolate smudges. he sniffled and brought a hand up to wipe his nose with, more chocolate transferring from his pudgy fingers onto the button of his nose. before he could bring his fists up to rub his eyes, brendon was washing tyler's chubby cheeks with a warm washcloth, careful as to not irritate the skin because he knew how much tyler hated that.

"m'sorry!" tyler hiccuped, falling forward and burying his head in his friend's neck, tiny fingers grabbing onto his shirt as he cried.

"ty, hey, i'm not mad at you. it's okay," brendon whispered, hand comfortably rubbing up and down the little's back. "it's just that you already had some cavities forming the last time you were at the dentist, and you promised them you would cut back on your sweets and that you wouldn't forget to brush your teeth twice a day. and did you stick to that promise?"

tyler shook his head in opposition, finally sitting up on his own with a grump frown forming on his pouty lips.

"i let you keep your candy with the agreement that you'd only have a piece when i said you could, but you weren't following that, were you?"

once again, the boy shook his head.

"so i went to go take your candy away because you weren't listening, but i couldn't find you or your candy! i got worried," brendon said, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible while still getting his point across.

"did you eat all of the candy?" the dark haired man asked in concern, to which tyler nodded, small hands rubbing over his aching belly.

eating all of the candy may not seem like much of a big deal, but considering how much candy tyler owned, it was a huge deal. brendon always joked about how tyler could start his own candy shop because he had so much. it was no wonder tyler was feeling so sick.

"oh, c'mere." brendon held his arms out and tyler happily wrapped himself around brendon, not unlike a koala bear, the two friends making their way into the living room. brendon gently laid tyler down on the couch, quickly getting tyler's favorite stuffed animal for him. it was a green bunny with a pretty flower necklace. it smelled like lavender, and you could microwave it to make it nice and warm. tyler often asked for it in times of distress, the lavender and warmth cuddled against himself enough to put him to sleep.

"tyler, i got bun-bun for you," brendon quietly spoke as he walked into the room. "it's warm and cozy and i think it's in need of some tyler cuddles."

tyler made grabby hands at the bunny, snatching it from brendon and pressing it against his tummy, the heat feeling nice against it. tyler smiled, mumbling incoherent nonsense to bun-bun as giggles passed by his strawberry lips.

it was only a matter of minutes before he began to drift off, the peaceful atmosphere aiding in lulling him into sleep. even through his rest the boy was still jabbering away to bun-bun, a perfect example of sleep-talking. none of it made sense to anyone but him, but that was okay because only bun-bun was supposed to hear.

he still had chocolate smeared across his face, but for the meantime he could ignore it, knowing that he couldn't take back the fact that he most definitely had cavities. he couldn't help that he had a sweet tooth.