Lockjaw (Joshler)

4. Fiancé

Start the song. It's Nice Boys by Temporex.

Tyler woke up feeling completely and utterly loved. Despite how stressed work made him and how little time he actually got to spend at home, last night had made everything feel better.

Jenna had practically beamed when she saw him come in the door early after spending nearly every single night in his office for months. She'd made dinner and taught him how to make old fashioned ice cream before they'd spent the rest of the night in their bed. They'd both fallen asleep before they'd really accomplished anything there, but being together in any sense was more than enough for Tyler. It had kind of been the perfect night.

Tyler sleepily rolled over to wrap his arm around Jenna, only to find that she wasn't in bed with him. His eyebrows drew together in sleepy confusion. Just as he was about to get out of bed to go find his fiancé, she came back into their bedroom holding two coffee cups and wearing his button up shirt from work the day before. He smiled sleepily at her. It looked much better on her than it did on him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," she said with her usual warm smile, letting him sit up before handing him the cup of coffee.

Tyler really wasn't much of a coffee person, but he'd suffer through it for Jenna. He laughed when he looked down at the mug.

"Did you pour Red Bull into a coffee cup?" He asked with a grin.

His fiancé smiled, climbing onto the bed beside him and kissing him lightly despite his morning breath before asking a sip of her coffee. "You don't like coffee, but I feel like everything tastes better when it's not in a can. Plus this feels more domestic. This is what it'll be like when we're married."

Tyler laughed before taking a sip of his domestic mug of energy drink. "I love you," he told her cheerfully.

She beamed, shifting to lay with her head on his shoulder so she was upright enough to drink her coffee while still snuggling up against him. "I love you too."

"What time is it?" Tyler asked her tiredly as he rested his head on top of hers.

"It's about seven, I think," Jenna replied, punctuating the words with a yawn that made it impossible for Tyler not to kiss her forehead. She giggled when he did so.

"I have to be back to the office by eight," Tyler said regretfully.

Jenna sat up, frowning at him. "You're supposed to have today off."

He sighed, taking a sip of his energy drink before speaking. "It's all of this overflow. They asked if I'd see a few clients on Saturdays until we can figure out how to shuffle them around so we can have time for them to come in on a weekday. Believe me. I don't want to go today anymore than you want me to."

"Did they tell you that you had to work today, or did you volunteer again?" Jenna asked, trying to keep her tone positive even though Tyler knew she hated this just as much as he did.

Tyler sighed, running his fingers through his sleep-mussed hair. "Jenna, no one else in that office is going to volunteer to come in on a weekend, but our clients need help. I know it sucks, but my clients shouldn't have to suffer just because we have budget cuts. Most of them already feel alone in their lives outside of my office. I don't want them to feel like I'm abandoning them."

"Ty, you're amazing at your job, and I love how much you care about other people, but you're running on empty. You rarely sleep or eat a proper meal. You don't spend time with your friends anymore. You don't take any time to do anything for yourself anymore. You don't even sing in the shower anymore, honey. I love that you want to help, but I need you to take care of yourself too," Jenna told him softly.