absolutely wonderful [joshler]

treize

"okay, ty, close your eyes," josh says, taking my hands and covering my face.

"you're not going to do that trust fall thing, right?"

josh laughs. "i'd never do that. besides, you're sitting on your bed. it's kind of hard to fall once you're already sitting."

right.

i hear him walk away and a few moments later, he comes back with something in his hands.

"open up," he says. i pry my hands away from my eyes and see that josh is holding a largish sized box covered in red wrapping paper.

"what's this?" i ask, making grabby hands towards the box.

"you'll have to find out," josh smiles, sitting down next to me on my bed.

my fingers fumble a bit as i struggle to undo the wrappings, but soon enough, i've got the box open.

"joshy!" i exclaim, pulling out a blue faded polaroid camera. "this is amazing!"

"there's more."

i look again into the box, and see that he's right. i take out another gift, this time two concert tickets.

"you got me troye tickets? oh my god, and they're meet and greets!" i wrap my arms around josh and squeeze him to death. "how'd you ever pay for this? i don't deser-"

"tyler, you deserve everything in the entire world, baby," he says, kissing my forehead. "this is one of the ways i can show you that."

"but it still must have been expensive."

"stop worrying about that. come on, the concert's in a few days, enjoy it. i'm gonna take pictures of you and we're going to have fun."

i sigh. josh went all-out with this one. "you didn't have to," i mutter against his shoulder.

"it's your birthday," josh says. "it's not everyday you turn seventeen." he's right. a year ago, i didn't even think i would turn seventeen. i was certain that my cancer would have killed me by then. it's honestly a miracle that i'm here today.

"well, expect something from me on your birthday. your niceness won't go unnoticed."

he smiles. "you being here is all i could ever ask for, ty." he lifts my chin up and connects our lips.

"god, you're so cheesy," i murmur.

"you love it," he winks. "come on." he jumps off the bed, disrupting my position.

"what?"

josh pulls on my hand, yanking me up off the bed and out the door, grabbing the camera in one hand.

"where are we going?" i ask as we leave the house.

"to take pictures," he says, holding up the polaroid camera. "there are literally no pictures of you."

"that's because i don't want a reminder of how i look," i mumble.

josh stops at the edge of the tree line. "tyler, i swear, if i hear another ounce of that crap, i'll murder you in these woods."

"you wouldn't."

"try me, tyler. i'm not going to let you say that about yourself."

i stifle a laugh. "and killing me is the only way to do that?"

"yes." josh starts walking again, pulling back tree branches. "as much as it would pain me, you're too beautiful to say those things. besides, it's your birthday. you're supposed to celebrate and have fun."

"and by fun, you mean taking pictures of me in a forest with a camera made thirty years ago."

"exactly," he says, kissing my cheek. "i wouldn't have it any other way."