Under The Covers {joshler}

junior year - part fourteen

Jenna fell backwards but Colin, who was stood behind her, caught her instantly. As both Josh and Tyler turned to look at her cupping her cheek, with tears in her eyes, they saw Zack Joseph storming over, Tyler fisted his hand in his brother's shirt before he could get too close to Debby.

"Stay out of it Zack." He said and his brother gave him a look before turning to see if Jenna was okay. Someone in the background shouted about getting her some ice while someone else threatened to call the cops.

Nick was quickly trying to diffuse the crowd but Josh remained rigid in his spot behind Tyler, staring wide eyed at the situation.

Debby scoffed and rolled her eyes at the way people were crowding Jenna with concern. Tyler had had enough, his hands curled into tight fists and his jaw tight he walked directly over to Debby, he got right up in her face as he stood over her and spoke angrily.

"If you lay a hand on Jenna ever again, no, scratch that, if you even look twice at someone I consider a friend I will not hesitate to rethink my stance on pacifism, do you understand me? You do not wanna know what I'll do to someone who hurts the people I care about and I've already given you too many chances because Josh told me to. Thank your lucky stars that he is the most compassionate, patient person in the universe because if he wasn't we wouldn't even be having a conversation right now, do you understand?"

Debby was shaking with fear as she nodded frantically, cowering below Tyler. As soon as Tyler stepped back she was legging it out of the room most likely to find Emma so she could leave.

Everyone stared at Tyler as he turned around.

"What?" Tyler asked.

"Dude that was..." Colin started one hand still on Jenna's elbow.

"Savage." Mark finished.

"Amazing." Nick added wistfully.

Tyler rolled his eyes but smiled anyway, before approaching Jenna. "Jenna, are you okay?" He asked softly.

She nodded, wincing as Hayley started cleaning up the wound on her cheek. One of Debby's rings cutting a little bit of skin open. Hayley apologised pressing a little more gently.

"I have a first aid kit in my car, I can fix you up there and then take you home?" Hayley offered and Jenna smiled gratefully.

"Josh?" Everyone turned around to see Josh's sister worriedly checking on her brother.

Josh just stared into space, still rooted to the spot. Tyler approached him slowly, putting a hand on his shoulder which caused Josh to finally look up at him.

"Come with me." Tyler said softly, taking Josh by the hand and leading him out of the house.

As soon as they were situated on Nick's front porch, Tyler pulled Josh into a hug.

"Did you mean it? What you said?" Josh mumbled into Tyler's shoulder.

"Mean what?" Tyler said, pulling away and caressing Josh's cheek.

"What you said to Debby and wh-when you said you only let me go because you thought I moved on?" Josh was shaking and Tyler wanted to make his anxiety go away, he was angry at Debby for causing it.

"Josh I won't lie, when I saw her kiss you it-it broke my heart." Tyler smiled sadly, brushing a stray curl off Josh's forehead. "I still love you Josh I never stopped."

"I wasted so much time." Josh sniffed, leaning into Tyler's hand that was back on his cheek.

Tyler shook his head. "Hard to waste much when we have all the time in the world." Tyler smiled and Josh's eyes lit up. He instantly pressed his lips to Tyler's desperate to get back that feeling of the ground sweeping from underneath his feet.

Tyler thread his fingers through Josh's hair and kissed back just as desperate to make up for lost time.

...

When Josh woke up the next morning he smiled as he found himself wrapped around Tyler's equally naked body. Their limbs tangled together as Tyler ran soft fingertips through Josh's hair.

The overwhelming happiness that Josh felt bubbled up his chest and into his nose until his eyes stung with tears and he buried his face into Tyler's shoulder.

Tyler hummed and smiled as he kissed Josh's forehead.

"You make me so happy." Josh whispered, like a secret to be treasured.

Tyler's heart skipped as he snuggled closer. "Same."

Both boys laughed softly, their shared love just bursting out of them. Their moment of bliss was interrupted by Josh's phone going off. With a sigh Josh placed a kiss to Tyler's shoulder before he sat up and grabbed his phone.

He answered the call as Tyler stared at Josh's back, smiling as he lifted a finger to trace patterns and shapes by connecting the dots. Josh shivered as he hung up.

"My mom wants me home she said it's important." Josh sighed as he turned around. He flopped face first into the pillow beside Tyler and Tyler laughed.

"Do you want me to drive you?" Tyler asked and Josh looked up with a goofy smile.

"What would I do without you?" Josh asked leaning over to connect their lips. They broke apart when they were smiling too much to kiss properly anymore.

Tyler stretched and stood up, smacking Josh's bare exposed bum as he got out of bed. "Come on cutie."

Josh grunted and buried his head into the pillow once again. He only got up when Tyler started tickling him until he could breathe he was laughing so hard. Happiness bursting out of both boys so much that they practically glowed.

...

"Hey Hayley have you seen Josh?" Tyler asked catching up the now blonde, the following Monday in a school hallway.

"His sister said that their dad's taking them out of school 'til Wednesday, didn't Josh tell you?" Hayley said fixing her backpack onto her shoulder.

"No, we've been texting but he didn't mention it." Tyler frowned as the two kept walking to their next classes.

"Are you two okay after Friday? Like I didn't see you after everything went down, Ashley was worried about him when I took her and Jenna home." Hayley continued.

Tyler smiled to himself as he remembered what the two had gotten up to when they'd stopped making out on the porch long enough to go back to Tyler's house. "Yeah we're more than okay, I hope."

Hayley raised an eyebrow, before gasping. She stopped walking to pat him on the back. "You got laid!"

Tyler's eyes went wide as he desperately checked around him to see if he was alone, just as he turned Ashley appeared behind them. She flung her arms around their shoulders, and Tyler jumped, still bright red with embarrassment.

"Are we talking about Ty and Joshie getting frisky in the sheets after he was a total badass?" She smiled and Tyler almost choked.

"No, we are not." Tyler scoffed as the trio kept walking. "Who even told you?"

Ashley seemed to mull over the question for a while. "You did, just now." She smirked knowingly and Tyler grumbled to himself. "But also Colin went to his house and his sister said he hadn't come home so we put two and two together." She laughed and Hayley giggled too.

"So are you two back together?" Hayley added and Ashley looked at him eagerly.

Tyler shrunk under their gaze. "Uh... we didn't talk about it? I don't wanna push it, I just got him back I don't wanna overwhelm him." He shrugged. The bell rang and the three stopped walking to go separate directions for class.

"We're happy for you both either way." Ashley said and Tyler smiled at her.

"And I'm sure he'll tell you why he's not here right now if it's important." Hayler added sympathetically. Tyler just hoped she was right. He thanked both girls before jogging off to the class he was already late for.