Intimidation ♡ joshler

thirty eight

an: first of all, we have 1k reads, guys!  this makes me so happy, thank you guys! i love y'all honestly <3

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There's a soft knock on the door just as Tyler puts the last of his stuff away and pushes his suitcase into his closet.

"It's open," Tyler calls out, moving to sit on his bed.  He watches as the door is pushed open, and in comes an eager Madison.

"Hey," she greets her brother as she moves to sit criss-cross in front of him on the bed, propping her elbows onto her knees and resting her chin on her palms, "We have some catching up to do, huh?"

Tyler smiles brightly and nods, "You wanna go first?"

The girl shrugs a bit, "Nothing much has happened here, just the same stuff, you know?"

"Nothing's happened in three years?" Tyler repeats dumbly, but his sister doesn't seem to mind at all as she just giggles.

"Nope—well, we don't go to church anymore."

This surprises Tyler, if you can imagine, "Wow, really? Why not?"

"Jay's been acting up during church lately; I think they're embarrassed or something," Madison rolls her eyes at the thought, and Tyler hums, because his parents must have it so hard.

"Poor Mom and Dad, seems they can't raise their kids right—one kid's gay and the other misbehaves in church," Tyler jokes quietly, just to be sure his parents don't hear.

"Yeah, must be difficult—I mean, what's next? Zack's the antichrist and I'm an STD donor? How abominable!" Madison jokes back before they both start bursting from laughter, and they just sit and laugh together for a moment, just like they used to growing up, and Tyler is so happy.

"Now, what's been going on for you lately?" Madison asks, still giggling a little.

"I've made a couple new friends, and uh," Tyler starts, blushing a little at what he's about to say next, "One of them, Josh... I really like him."

The younger girl muffles a squeal with the palms of her hands before leaning closer to the older boy, "Tyler, awe! Tell me about him!"

Tyler giggles again as he feels his face heat up more, swaying himself bashfully as he speaks, "O-okay, um... Where do I start?"

"How did you guys meet?"

"Yeah, so he was a new student, right? And he was actually really intimidating at first—like, there's this senior named Pete Wentz that failed a grade or something, and he's just, really freaking scary? I don't know—but Josh goes to my bus stop, and he was in an argument with him and just seemed unfazed, and he broke his nose, and—you get what I'm saying?"

Madison nods, watching him intently as she waits for him to continue, so he does.

"So yeah, he was also in my math class, and he asked to borrow my pencil.  He just spent a little bit stealing my pencils—but it's okay, because he bought me a whole new pack, and that was just super nice of him, you know? That's how we met!"

"That's oddly cute, actually," the younger girl giggles, "So, how exactly did you guys start talking?"

"I honestly don't know... Like he just started flirting with me out of nowhere—"

Madison muffles another squeal, bouncing on the bed excitedly, "Does he like you back?! Do you know?!"

"I-I honestly think he might," Tyler blushes again, biting his lip as he starts grinning, "It's kinda weird."

"What? How's it weird?"

"Oh—I mean, there's so many other people he could choose from, because he's really cute, Mads, there's gotta be boys that think he's cute—and girls as well, but I think he's gay, he pretty much implied it a long time ago—and just, why choose me? So I'm not too sure."

"But Tyler, you're so sweet and adorable! You shouldn't be surprised!" Madison beams up at him, and Tyler giggles a little and shrugs.

"You're sweet, Mads," Tyler says, picking at a string sticking out of the blanket on his bed.

"I'm serious! I bet'cha he likes you!" Madison places a hand on Tyler's knee, "I wanna meet him! Don't you have a phone? I wanna talk to him!"

"Yeah, we wanted me to FaceTime him, actually," Tyler says as he reaches for his phone on the night stand, dialing his friend's number on the FaceTime app after putting in the passcode.  The siblings both wait patiently for the call to pick up, the younger of the two leaning onto Tyler's shoulder to fit her face in the frame.

The call picks up, and Josh's smirking face appears on the small screen on his phone.

"Hey, Tyler and Madison," Josh greets the two, "This is Madison, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Madison," the girl confirms, smiling brightly at the oldest of the three, "It's great to meet you!"

Josh nods, smiling to the girl, "You too."

There's a brief silence before Josh breaks it again, addressing Tyler, "Everything going okay so far?"

Tyler shrugs a little, "Jay cried because he thought he'd never see me again, and my mom completely ignored me, haven't seen my dad yet, but me and Maddy have been catching up—she wanted to meet and talk to you."

"Yeah, we can talk," Josh smiles at her again, and Tyler hands her the phone before pushing himself off the bed, leaving his sister and friend alone to talk—he trusts that they won't talk shit about him while he looks to catch up with Jay.

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thanks again, guys! <3