Tyler slowly drifted out of his sleep, not sure if he was still dreaming or not. The real world made its way into his mind, seeping in through his slightly opened mouth, through his eyelids, through his ears. And as he became aware of his surroundings, he also remembered last night. Eyes still closed, he felt around him to search for another body, but there was nobody next to him. He wondered if it had all been an awfully realistic dream. Of course he's had plenty of dreams about Josh before, but he rarely remembered them with this much detail. Exhaling, he opened his eyes a bit and reached out of the bunk with just his arm, trying to find his phone in the pile of clothes on the floor. After a couple seconds he got it and scrolling through social media woke him up some more, starting to feel the sore throat and headache kicking in. Right, the flu. Brilliant.
Apperantly Josh noticed some of this, because a moment later his head popped through the curtain.
"Ah, you're awake. I made you some tea for your throat." he said, shoving the fabric aside a bit more to reveal the mug he was holding, "And I told the guys to quiet down a bit 'cuz you were sick, but they decided to go into town without us so I can take care of you in peace."
Tyler smiled at Josh's caring nature and gratefully took the hot drink from him. He wanted to sit up and the second he lifted his back off the mattress, Josh leaned forward and rearranged the pillows so he could lean comfortably against the wall. Tyler relaxed and took a sip of his tea, saying a "Thanks, man" after. Josh just smiled like it was nothing, then stroked the hair out of Tyler's forehead.
"Dude, you're really warm." he noted, keeping his hand there for a little longer. "I'll go get you an aspirin. Be right back." His hand slid to the side of his face while he came closer and planted a soft kiss right under his hairline before disappearing. Tyler's eyes opened wide in shock. Did that just happen? Did Josh just kiss him? On his forehead? His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Was that a joke? It felt pretty serious. Not that Tyler didn't like it, oh, he wanted plenty. He could still feel the exact place Josh's lips had touched his skin. But, why? Sure, they joke around a lot doing coupley stuff for fun, but never actual kisses.
At that moment Josh returned with a glass of water and a pill he put in Tyler's hand. Tyler just looked at it, looking emotionless but all kinds of thoughts racing through his head.
"Josh," he said a bit hesitantly, "what was that?"
"What was what?"
"You-just now, you..."
"I kissed you?" Josh half-smiled. "Don't you remember yesterday?"
Then it dawned on Tyler, that dream may not have been a dream after all.
"But I thought we went to sleep together?" Tyler questioned, referring to Josh's absence when he woke up.
"Yeah, I slipped out to shush Mark and the others, and I guess that woke you up." Josh's little smirk now grew as he smiled at Tyler's cute confused face. He really wasn't very sharp in the morning.
"Oh." was all Tyler could manage as he thought about this. Then he reached beside Josh, set the things he was holding on the floor, and took Josh's face in his hands. Sitting up and shifting his weight, he leaned in and kissed him on the lips, quite hungrily even though he was trying to be subtle. They both knew this was probably not a good idea, but they just couldn't stop themselves. Josh's eyes closed as he told himself to pull away. His head tilted to the side as he told himself to cut it off. His hands held Tyler's knees as he told himself to stop, really now, this was enough.
Finally, Tyler's common sense kicked in and he pulled away slightly by leaning his forehead against Josh's. He did not want to break physical contact, didn't want Josh to leave, ever. He was going to stay here, with him. But Josh had different plans.
"You need your rest, Ty." he said carefully, leaning forward and grabbing him by the waist to rotate him back into his original position.
Tyler tried to protest, clinging both hands to one of Josh's wrists. "I can rest better when you're with me." But Josh used his other arm to pick the aspirin back up and hold it in front of Tyler's face with a not-so-apologetic look.
Tyler grabbed it with his lips, part because he wouldn't let Josh get away and part because Josh has great hands that he just wants to kiss all over. Josh bent his wrist to sort of help tilt it into his mouth, and leaned over to grab the glass of water from the floor. Grinning, he dared Tyler to do the same thing again by holding it in front of his mouth. Tyler looked up into Josh's squinty eyes, which were contagiously happy, and smiling, he put his lips against the edge of the glass. He opened his mouth and, slowly, Josh managed to pour a couple drops inside before Tyler chuckled and in no time he started laughing so hard that he just couldn't. He tilted his head backwards, accidentally swallowing the tablet, throwing him into a coughing fit causing Josh to laugh with, or rather at, him. Tyler couldn't stop laughing while trying to clear his throat, causing him to get the hiccups too, as if it couldn't get any worse. The sight of this was so incredibly hilarious that Josh couldn't control himself and he just flopped forward on the bed, breathing rapidly only to burst into another wave of laughter, and this was very funny to Tyler and on and on it went, continuously trying to calm down but one look at the other's face got more tears streaming out of their eyes.
"Make it stop!" Josh shouted, clutching his hurting stomach.
"E-everything hurts!" Tyler exclaimed in response, rocking back and forth, eyes squeezed shut.
After what seemed like forever, their heads cleared a bit and they calmed down (sort of). The tea had gone cold, but neither of them had noticed. Tyler shuffled over to the wall part on the bed and patted the space next to him, looking at Josh. He rolled onto the covers and ended up laying on his stomach, with one hand on Tyler's belly. He lifted his head, moved around a bit and rested it on Tyler's warm chest, eyes closed, where he could hear his heartbeat slowly returning back to normal. Josh's hand moved upwards to lightly stroke the soft hairs on the side of Tyler's head, whose hand followed Josh's and held it. His fingers closed around the palm, his head leaned in a bit to Josh's fingertips, and Josht felt his heartbeat speed up a tiny bit. Being so in love like this made a warmth spread through both of their bodies and at every place where their skin touched, a tingly feeling made its way into their brain, filling their thoughts, their whole consciousness, their whole existence, it was all about this very moment. Josh pushed his face up and up and leaned it against Tyler's jaw, breathing in his scent.
Tyler pressed his lips against Josh's forehead, letting out a sigh of happiness.
I am so going to be sick tomorrow, Josh thought.
