keep it up ↠ joshler ✔

19

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"so, ty, anything you want to do?" josh suggested, flopping down softly on the couch next to brendon.

tyler stayed quiet, still looking around the atmosphere where josh grew up.

suddenly, the front door was pushed open rather loudly, and in came barreling three teenagers. they all threw their bags down before carrying on with whatever they were previously arguing about.

"i thought we settled this yesterday, abby. the lyrics go, 'excuse me while i kiss the sky'!"

"jordan, you're insane. it goes, 'excuse me while i kiss this guy'!"

"i still can't believe you two are fighting over jimi hendrix lyrics."

"oh, shut up ashley." abby and jordan said in unison.

tyler smiled, the three obviously hadn't noticed him, josh, or brendon were in the room. tyler just found their bickering amusing.

"actually, jordan's right. sorry ab." brendon cut in, making the three finally look over.

"josh!" ashley was the first to react, running over quickly before slowing down and carefully pulling josh into a hug.

"you didn't tell us you would be, well, here." abigail smiled as well, hugging josh next.

josh simply shrugged, the smile on his face huge as he got to see his siblings again. abby, a freshman, jordan, a junior, and ashley, a senior. they were usually in school while josh was away or hanging out with tyler, so getting to see him was a surprise.

"hey bren," jordan greeted as well, looking at the other boy sitting on the couch. "it's cool to see you here, you never seem to leave the-"

"oh, guys," josh cut his brother off, "this is tyler by the way."

tyler, who had just been quietly watching the siblings, suddenly had all eyes focused on him. he smiled awkwardly, raising his hand to wave before realizing it was covered by the sleeve of his hoodie and lowering it.

"oh, oh, hi!" ashley was the first to speak again, smiling warmly so her cheeks glowed a soft pink, calming tyler's nerves.

"it's, um, nice t-to m-meet you..." he stuttered, trying his best to make a nice first impression. josh was finally showing him his home life, his own life, so tyler didn't want to do anything wrong.

"c'mon, ty," abby smiled, "josh talks about you, like, all the time. we'll like you no matter what. no worries here." she told him, as if she had known him for years.

this made him feel slightly better, as something loosened in his chest. his hands still shook, his eye twitched, and his heart was still beating rapidly, but he felt slightly accepted already.

he knew josh's family would be cool.

ashley and abby left the room shortly after some small talk, jordan staying to set up an x-box game.

"wanna play?" he offered tyler and josh, holding out two controllers.

they declined, but brendon took advantage and grabbed one, adjusting himself so he was in front of the tv.

just as the 'until dawn' flashed on, tyler looked back up at josh, who was still smiling for some reason. once josh noticed tyler, however, he didn't stop the smiling, just directed it towards the boy.

"i, um, haven't been here in awhile. nice to be here for a bit." he explained.

"you haven't been to your own house in a while?"