it was weird, for tyler to have josh’s hand in his, at an event his family was at. tyler was 19, so he thought he’d be alright with skipping out on this year’s reunion. he loved his direct family, he just couldn’t do all the others. his mother still expected him to show.
“can i bring josh mom?” tyler had asked over the phone, a few days before the gathering.
“sorry, sweetheart.” she started, and tyler was frowning. “you know, family and all, not friends.”
“but mom,” tyler paused, thinking for a quick second on what to say yet. “josh and i, we, you know, are kind of, a thing? like dating? boyfriends?” he mumbled, and he could hear his mother’s confused face.
“well, then, i guess he’s alright to come then. see you there, tyler.” she finially replied, and the panic started to set in tyler’s stomach.
“bye mom, love you.” he then hung up his phone his mother could say anything else, hands shaking, he called josh up.
“hey ty-guy. what’s up?” josh picked up on the first ring, and tyler let out a loud sigh.
“so you know how i was gonna ask my mom if you could come with?” tyler asked quickly, and josh hummed in response. “so i kind of told her we were, you know, boyfriends, so you could come.”
“i’m cool with that.” a pause, and tyler’s heart felt more sick than his stomach. “are you cool with that?”
tyler’s mouth was dry, as he nooded, then remebering josh couldn’t see him so he mumbled a soft yes.
that was why tyler found himself not greeting yet another aunt he couldn’t recall the name of, josh’s fingers lightly running up and down the small of his back. some uncle joined the convo, commenting about how red tyler’s face was.
everyone was fawning over josh. it was josh this, and josh that. things like, ‘my my isn’t that josh of tyler’s just wonderful?’ and distant cousins whispering about how hot he was. tyler felt very proud at this. josh was a fucking catch, and tyler caught him.
his face scrunched up as he replayed that thought in his head again, but the look went away quickly as josh pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“so, when did you know you were in love with our little tyler, joshua?” someone asked, and tyler held his breath. boyfriends didn’t mean they loved one another, oh god, josh was proabably not alright with this.
“well, you know, would say love at first sight, kind of was. but, i didn’t know. highshool was a weird time, two 15 year olds, nothing really made sense. i was just in the mind set that i really liked being tyler’s bro.” josh gave tyler a smile, and tyler dropped his face into the nook of his best friend’s neck. “and around senior yea, it just kind of hit me, like,i wanted to hold his hand, and kiss him and..stuff.” everyone around them let out a laugh, josh’s face went red.
“and one night, our thursday movie night of three weeks ago, tyler made a joke, and we both laughed, and i couldn’t turn back to the movie afterwards. he asked me what was wrong and i just, i took a chance.” josh pauses, letting out a shaky breath. tyler remebers this happening, it was only three weeks ago.
“i told him ‘you’re beautiful’ and he laughed, and said ‘thanks joshy. you too’.” thats what happened, they turned back started to watch the movie again. tyler moved to hold josh’s hand, and he could feel it shaking. “and then i said, ‘no, you are really beautiful.’ and tyler just looked at me, with his cute face and god, i just, i went for it. i kissed him and he, actually kissed back. and i was so fucking happy i couldn’t stop grinning. i don’t think i’ve ever been so happy in my life.”
tyler looked up and josh was grinning at him, and fuck, tyler togther, as he leaned foward, pressing their lips togther. everyone aw-ed, and josh’s hands were still shaking, kissing tyler back slowly. when they parted, josh had the same grin, but even bigger than it was before, somehow. and tyler was grinning too because his heart was doing flips and he didn’t feel sick anxiety bubbling up in his stomach. he was just happy and maybe a little bit in love.
tyler quickly excused himself and josh from the group, pulling him to the side of the tented area. josh looked a little more than confused.
“so uh like, josh.” tyler started, looking anywhere but the other.
“yeah, ty?” josh replied, trying to catch tyler’s gaze.
“sorry, just caught off gaurd how good and fast of a lie you just feed them. thought maybe we should work out some more details?” what tyler was really thinking was ‘hey, maybe we should kiss some more.’
josh looked sad, and tyler’s heart broke knwing that was his fault. “tyler. i really do love you.”
“in a hand holding, kissing, and…stuff way?” tyler questioned in a ton barely over a whisper, and josh nodded.
tyler took this as a clue that it was okay to kiss josh, because kssing josh had felt pretty good, and his body at the moment was not so much controlled by his brain but by his heart.
they were kissing again and josh had his arms around tyler’s waist, and tyler was gripping at josh’s hair, because tyler could already tell he was into that. they were pressed aganist one another as much as they could. tyler felt sick because he didn’t know if he was making josh happy, but the feeling went away when josh pulled away with that fucking grin on his flushed face.
tyler laughed after looking down towards josh’s legs. “do we need to do stuff when we get home?” and josh just kissed tyler again.
josh is really glad he took that chance. so is tyler.
