Adore // Oneshots

Nine In The Afternoon (Joshler)

CATEGORY: Fluff
FEATURING: roommates!Joshler with side Brallon
TRIGGER WARNINGS: None
PROMPT: Josh wakes up in bed with his roommate, with no recollection of what happened.
WORD COUNT: 966

Sunlight breaks through the thin slit in the curtains, hurting Josh's eyes where it rests upon his face. A headache is pounding away in his head, the pain throbbing like an annoying neighbor endlessly knocking at the door.

Blearily, Josh rolls over in bed, wrapping an arm around the warm body curled against his. He closes his eyes again, and tries to sleep.

But then he opens his eyes again, because something feels just a little off. Now fully awake and aware of his surroundings, he knows two things.

One, this is not his bedroom.

And two, there is someone in bed with him.

Tyler, Josh's roommate, is curled up into Josh's chest, eyes closed peacefully. His chest rises and falls slowly as he sleeps, and though Josh doesn't know how he got here or why, he has to admit that it feels almost natural to be curled up here in this small, warm space with Tyler.

Josh could probably get up and go into his own room without Tyler noticing, but he doesn't. Instead, he lays back down and stares at the ceiling, trying to think. The last thing he can remember is going out for drinks last night...

Brendon, one of Josh's best friends at university, had coaxed him into going to a bar that night. Josh isn't normally a big drinker, but he had been too busy with exams to have any free time to hang out with friends, save for Tyler. So, Josh had agreed to go out last night.

Dallon, Brendon's boyfriend, was the designated driver, since he didn't drink. He'd driven Brendon and Josh to a bar down on Main Street. Josh remembers going into the bar, and drinking, but not what they drank, or how much. It must have been a lot, because no matter how much he tries, he can't seem to remember leaving the bar, or anything else after that up until now.

Tyler shifts in the bed next to Josh, startling the latter out of his thoughts. Sleepily, he blinks open his brown eyes and lifts them up to look at Josh. "'Morning."

He seems completely okay with this, which makes Josh feel even more nervous. 

"You don't remember much, do you?" Tyler says in a soft voice.

Anxiety must be written all over Josh's face. Guiltily, he shakes his head.

"Didn't think you would," Tyler comments, sitting up and stretching, although there is no bitterness or regret in his tone; just sleepiness. "You were pretty drunk when Dallon dropped you off last night."

"Yeah." Josh pauses. "Tyler, did we....I mean--"

"Did we have sex?" Tyler blinks. "No."

A feeling washes over Josh, but he can't tell if it's relief or regret. He sits up and runs his fingers through his dyed red curls. "I don't remember anything from when we got to the bar up until now."

"Hmm." Tyler slides out of bed and picks up a pair of skinny jeans sitting on top of his dresser, pulling them on. "Dallon dropped you off around midnight, and you were pretty wasted. Brendon was drunk too, but a different kind of drunk."

"How so?"

"When Brendon gets drunk, he gets louder and loses his filter. Alcohol makes him more intensely himself, you know?" Tyler pauses. "When you get drunk, you act kind of like a little kid. You can't do anything for yourself, and you do and say things that don't make sense."

As Tyler speaks, a few memories start to come back to Josh. He remembers struggling with his seat belt in the back of Dallon's car, and Brendon laughing at him before Dallon leaned in from the front to buckle him in. He remembers stumbling down the hallway, repeatedly reminding Dallon that he lives in apartment twenty-one--as if Dallon didn't already know from picking him up, or from the first thirty times he'd said it. Vageuly, he remembers Tyler opening the door when Dallon knocked, a few concerned words they'd exchanged before Brendon pulled Dallon back down the hall again.

"So, Dallon dropped me off. Then what happened?"

Tyler digs around in the top drawer of his dresser. "I could tell you were tired, but you were too drunk to get into bed by yourself, so I helped."

Rubbing his eyes, Josh remembers Tyler leading him into his bedroom and tucking him into bed. "Don't wanna sleep", he had said, but he'd yawned halfway through. Tyler had only smiled at him and told him he'd see him tomorrow.

Tyler picks a t-shirt out of his drawer and pulls it over his head. "I was tired, too, so I went to bed right after you did. About fifteen minutes later, you came stumbling into my room. You kind of fell on my bed, and you tried to crawl in with me." There is a soft, almost hurt tone to Tyler's voice as he speaks. "Do you remember now?"

And Josh does.

He remembers blearily pushing the door open to Tyler's room. He'd tried to walk over to his roommate, who was asleep, but he'd tripped over something--a shoe, a book, his own foot--and fallen halfway onto Tyler's bed, crawling up the rest of the way.

Tyler had been awake then, sitting up and looking tired. "You okay?"

Josh should have gone back to bed, but he hadn't. He had kissed Tyler instead, because he was drunk, and tired, and had had feelings for him longer than he'd care to admit.

Anybody else would have pushed Josh away, told him to go back to bed. But Tyler had kissed him back. Josh remembers this.

He could have spent hours kissing him, he thinks, if he hadn't been so tired. He thinks he remembers saying this aloud, and Tyler laughing a little. They'd ended up falling asleep together, bodies tangled together and Tyler's blue comforter shielding them from the rest of the world.

"We kissed," Josh says, quietly, as if afraid to speak at a normal volume. "Did you, um." He clears his throat. "Did you like it?"

Tyler smiles, and chuckles a little. "It wasn't half bad, considering you were wasted and half asleep. I'd like to try it sober," he admits in a softer, more serious tone.

And so, Josh goes to him, and kisses him, and it is even better than the last time.

A/N: I originally made Ryan be Beebo's boyfriend, but I decided to go with Brallon since I don't write enough of that