Intimidation ♡ joshler

twenty two

Josh lets out an annoyed huff as he swings the refrigerator shut, and Tyler flinches at the sudden intrusion to the previously calm room.  The smaller boy lifts his gaze from the surface of the table to see Josh holding up a nearly empty container of milk, exasperatedly motioning towards it with his free hand.

"I literally just fucking bought this shit!" Josh complains, slamming the container onto the table in front of Tyler, who only flinches again, but Josh continues, "I've only used it for one bowl of cereal! How the fuck did my parents use it all in less than twenty four fucking hours?!"

Tyler averts his eyes uncomfortably; Josh is honestly kinda reminding him of Zack right now.

No—Tyler shouldn't compare Josh to his older brother like this.  Josh wouldn't purposefully hurt Tyler.

He used to think the same about Zack—

No—Josh is different.  Josh is always nice to him.

And Josh must've noticed his discomfort, because he takes in a deep breath, holding it in for a moment before he lets it out, and his voice is significantly calmer than it was previously, "It's okay. But it looks like we don't have food here."

"It's alright, Josh," Tyler says, attempting a smile as he looks back to his friend, who returns it as their eyes meet.  Tyler drops his eyes to Josh's nose for a second, but hesitantly brings it back to look into Josh's eyes.

This is okay.

"Well, if you get too hungry," Josh starts, motioning towards the cabinets, "I should have some poptarts, unless my mom and dad got to those too."

Tyler nods in appreciation; he's probably just gonna wait until he goes home, honestly, because he's not really a big poptart fan.

Unless it's, like, those s'mores poptarts, or any of the ones like those, they're really good.

"What kind?" Tyler finds himself asking, tilting his head a little.

Josh smiles fondly at the smaller boy be walking over to one of the cabinets, dragging a chair with him.  Tyler can't help but be amused as Josh climbs up onto the chair and kneels on it, because it's unnecessary; Josh should've been tall enough to reach the cabinet without the chair.

Tyler's brows shoot up as Josh opens the cabinet, revealing a bunch of poptart boxes, all neatly lined up and stacked on top of each other.  Why the fuck does he have so many?

For some reason, this reminds him of the time Brendon pulled out that entire pack of oreos and a carton of milk during lunch, and he bites his lip as he breaks out in a wide grin.

"Okay, we have strawberry, blueberry, cherry," Josh lists in a mumble as he pulls said boxes out of the cabinet and sets them on the counter, "Let me know if something tickles your fancy."

And Tyler giggles; he's never heard anyone say that before, and it just sounds funny to him, okay?

"You're not gonna have another laugh attack, are you?" Josh asks, glancing over his shoulder at the giggly boy, who shakes his head as his giggles cease, but the wide grin stays.  Josh smiles as he turns back to the cabinet, naming flavors as they're retrieved.  

The older of the two eventually names s'mores, ironically, and Tyler lets his friend know that he wants that kind.

"You like these?" Josh asks, putting the box off to the side before piling the previously abandoned poptart boxes into the cabinet once again.  Tyler hums an affirmative sound, and Josh lowers himself to the floor, "I don't really care for these; I like the fruity ones better."

Josh sets the poptarts down in front of Tyler, who opens the sealed box, pulling a packet out.  He quickly glances around the kitchen in search for a toaster, spotting one at the other side of the kitchen.  Tyler figures that Josh wouldn't care if he put his poptarts in it, so he just gets up and helps himself to the toaster.

As soon as Tyler's poptarts pop up, he hears car doors slamming outside, followed by a deep, angry voice.

"Fuck," Josh curses under his breath, and he's right behind Tyler now, paper towel in hand as he grabs the poptarts out of the toaster, and hands them to Tyler.  Josh sets a gentle hand to the small of his back, guiding him to another door in the kitchen.  Josh pushes it open, revealing the outdoors, and Tyler feels awkward now, because he's pretty much being kicked out of the house.  

But he thinks he understands—Tyler figures there's something up with his parents, which you already know, and they're outside yelling, angry, and Josh is most likely trying to keep him out of harm's way.

Josh steps outside with Tyler for a moment, the two of them shivering from the cold, "I'm sorry, Tyler."

Tyler turns to offer his friend a smile, "It's alright. Thanks for having me over."

Josh smiles so fondly, "Thanks for sticking around, even though there wasn't shit to do or food to eat."

Tyler hears the front door open, so Tyler turns to leave, stepping down onto Josh's backyard, finally taking a bite out of his warm treat.

And it isn't until Tyler's halfway home that he remembers that his shit is still propped up against Josh's bed.

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an: i'm gonna try to get a couple more chapters in before i go to sleep bc i wanna try to get a thanksgiving chapter up on thanksgiving itself and it's already thanksgiving today but im only a little over an hour and a half into the day so i should still be able to make it!

thanks, guys! <3