more than friends//joshler

chapter 4

tyler hummed happily as he drove into the parking lot of an apartment complex to view an apartment with josh. they had been to a few other appointments so far, but no dice. tyler had a good feeling about this one.

"here we are," he chirped as he moved the stick shift to park. josh smiled, pushing open his car door and standing upright. he waited for tyler, who took a little bit longer to get out.

"c'mon slow poke," josh joked, walking a few steps away from the car.

"god, just hold on one second," tyler said, clicking his phone off and standing up. josh smiled as he walked around the car, throwing his arm around tyler, who blushed. they walked up the stairs and into the front door together, josh finally retracting his arm.

"hello!" their perky realtor said, hopping out of the chair he was sitting in previously. josh chuckled under his breath, following the brown-haired man up the stairs.

"ryan slow down," tyler heaved after running up three flights of stairs.

"weak," josh smiled and sprinted up the one remaining flight. tyler grumbled to himself as he finally made it up the last few stairs. josh was waiting for him, putting his arm around the heavily breathing boy once more. tyler hoped he couldn't notice how his heart beat just a little bit faster when he did.

ryan unlocked the door to the apartment, moving his arm out in a welcoming gesture. josh gently guided tyler by the shoulders into the house, stopping to close the door behind them. tyler gasped when he saw it, moving away from josh and breaking their contact. josh sprinted off to the kitchen, tyler opting to look at the three bedrooms. ryan smiled successfully as he watched them scamper around like children through the empty apartment.

josh and tyler both ended up in the master bathroom at the same time, josh thinking of a question suddenly. he grabbed tyler's wrist, dragging him out to the living room to see ryan.

"hi, question, can we play instruments in here?" he asked, tilting his head slightly. tyler mentally slapped himself for not remembering to ask about that.

"i believe so, just not past 10 p.m." ryan responded, shuffling through some papers on a clipboard and scratching his small amount of beard scruff in thought. josh turned his head to tyler, smiling.

"we could use the farthest room in the hall for instruments, the master bedroom, and then we could both take the other two rooms, and you can have the master bathroom, and then we can have a couch right here," josh started rattling things off and pointing while tyler giggled. he was still holding tyler's wrist, sliding his hand down ever so slightly to take his hand and squeeze it lightly.

"should we take it?" tyler whispered to him. josh nodded, grinning widely.

"one more question," josh said suddenly, turning away from tyler and back to ryan. he looked up, taken slightly off guard.

"mhm?" he mumbled.

"can we have a cat?" josh grinned once more, tyler rolling his eyes.

"i'm sure you can."

"we'll take it then."