Adore // Oneshots

Fake You Out (Joshler)

CATEGORY: Fluff, Joshler
FEATURING: bestfriends!Joshler
TRIGGER WARNINGS: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF BRUISES, CUTS, AND OTHER INJURIES! PLEASE READ SAFELY!
PROMPT: After getting in a fight at a bar, a worn and weary Josh is picked up by his best friend, Tyler, and taken back to his apartment.
WORD COUNT: About 850
This is a sequel to Run and Go so yeah

Soft music emanated from the radio, the only sound in the otherwise silent truck. Josh wasn't sure what song it was--something by The 1975, maybe. He was too worn out to think much about it.

Josh had gotten into a fight at Frank's, a nearby bar. A man had been strongly bothering a girl nearby, and Josh had made the man leave. Just as Josh was coming back from walking the girl out to her car, the man shoved him into an alleyway, and punched him several times. He had been clearly pissed that Josh had gotten in his way, and now Josh had the scrapes and bruises to show it.

Feeling dizzy, and unsure of whether or not he could walk home, Josh had called his best friend to pick him up. Tyler had helped him into his truck, and inspected Josh's face for any serious injuries.

They had also kissed, but Josh wasn't sure if that was real or just something his dizzy, possibly delirious head had fabricated.

If it wasn't real, Josh was going to be pretty disappointed. He was still exploring his feelings for Tyler, but he knew that he enjoyed that kiss. If it had been real.

Josh was afraid of bringing it up, in case it wasn't.

He couldn't help casting glances in Tyler's direction, though. The other man was driving, his eyes on the road. Tyler looked kind of beautiful in the dark; anytime they passed a streetlamp, his eyes glinted slightly, and his tan skin was briefly lit up before they drove onward into the dark again.

Questions about the kiss, about Tyler's intentions, seemed just on the edge of Josh's lips, but he kept them to himself.

They arrived soon at Tyler's apartment building. Josh didn't say a word as Tyler helped him limp out of the car and up the two flights of stairs to Tyler's place.

Flipping on the lights in the apartment, Tyler guided Josh into the kitchen. "C'mon, you sit on the counter and I'll get some stuff for your face."

Josh sat on the counter obediently, waiting as Tyler disappeared down the hallway. He was tired, physically and mentally, but at the same time he felt that if he tried he would've been unable to sleep. Perhaps it was just a feeling.

Tyler came back into the kitchen with a basket in his hands. He set the basket on the counter and started sifting through it, pulling out a cotton ball and some antiseptic. Squeezing a bit onto the cotton, he started to carefully clean the cut above Josh's eye.

The kiss earlier had left Josh's heart pounding, but afterwards, sitting in the car, he was able to slow it down again. When Tyler leaned close to clean the injury, however, Josh's heart beat roughly again, like an infant kicking in its mother's womb. The antiseptic stung, but Josh didn't flinch. Tyler was so close to him, their faces only a few inches apart; he could feel his best friend's soft breaths on his face. Josh could lean in and kiss him right now, if he wanted. He could do that.

"Why did you kiss me?" he blurted out instead, then clamped his mouth shut. Damn it.

Tyler paused with the antiseptic, eyes darting down to Josh's lips before quickly moving back up to the injury, and he began cleaning it again. "I don't know. There's something about your face, when it looks like this. It's kind of difficult to explain."

"Try me." The tired man blinked his brown eyes, serious.

Tyler didn't say anything at first, but when he eventually spoke, his tone was a bit more certain. "Your face just looks so raw like this, you know? You look so vulnerable." Josh's heart skipped a beat as Tyler went on. "You were beat up, and vulnerable, and you could have called anyone for help, but you called me."

This time, Josh was the one to lean in, and chapped lips met soft ones.

Just kissing Tyler was a gift in itself, but this time Tyler used his hands. He held Josh's face with them, brushed them over his shoulders, gently held his sides. Josh was in heaven.

He wanted to stay in that heaven forever, but Tyler broke the kiss after a few moments, because they both needed to breathe.

"You know I want to kiss you," Tyler mumbled, his lips almost against Josh's. "But we still need to fix you up."

And so, the two broke apart the rest of the way, and Josh sat, patient and still, as Tyler cleaned up and bandaged the cut above his eye. He wiped away the excess blood on Josh's face, and gave him a painkiller for his aches.

Josh didn't ask if he should go to his own apartment, and Tyler made no move to drive him there. They fell asleep in Tyler's bed, not cuddling, but holding hands, fingers carefully intertwined.

And when the morning came, and Josh woke up to see his best friend asleep beside him, he was very glad he wasn't hallucinating.