Keeper and Protector (Joshler) ✔️

4

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"And I promised I'd be there, but you don't make it easy, darling, please believe me."

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7:00AM and a hush resided over the Dun residence, the bright start of the morning making its way through the windows as an exhausted Tyler slept on in bed.

Caught up in the haze of a dreamer's sleep, he rolled over, but, unfortunately, a little too far as his head met the corner of the bedside table with a loud bang.

Yelping, Tyler clutched at his temples as pain hit him like lightning. Groaning, he turned back over onto his back and pulled the covers over his face for a minute.

Great job, Tyler, a concussion is exactly what you need right now, Tyler thought.

After the throbbing started to fade, he slid the covers back off, figuring there was no way he was going back to sleep after all of that. Turning over (more carefully this time), his eyes locked onto a note sitting on the table.

Reaching over, he picked it up and read the messy handwriting scrawled across the paper.

Tyler,

When I went to the store last night, I forgot that we have nothing here for breakfast haha. Plus we need some more coffee. :) So I'm going back to the store... didn't want to wake you because I know you need to get your rest.

But I'll be back as soon as I can, ok?

- Josh(ua)

Tyler's stomach tightened into a knot as he realized he had accidentally fallen asleep after his bath last night. The last thing he remembered was putting on the pajamas Josh laid out for him, crawling into bed to relax for a little while until he got back from the store...

And the next thing he knew, he was knocking himself awake.

Panic washed over him as his mind went straight to all the potential consequences he could face for his mistake.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Tyler chided himself. I'm always messing everything up. I'm such a screw-up.

If he had pulled this kind of crap with his ex-Protector, things wouldn't have ended well... at all.

Honestly, at this point, he'd be surprised if Josh would even let him stay another night.

Still... he had left a nice note and gone back to the store to get more food. So if he truly was mad at him for falling asleep, he wouldn't have done all that stuff...

Right?

Tyler carefully folded the note up before placing it back on the table. Slowly, but surely, he pulled himself to the edge of the bed, toes brushing against the soft carpet.

As he shuffled to the bathroom, his mind went back to the previous night and how lovely it had felt to hold Josh's hand. Even though it was completely innocent in context, having physical contact with someone was something foreign, yet absolutely needed.

Honestly... Tyler just wanted to feel whole again.

Keepers couldn't function with a broken heart hemorrhaging more and more love by the second. They needed a Protector to give love to, to trust to hold that love close.

But why him? Why had Josh chosen him, out of all people, when there were plenty of other suitable (and much more emotionally stable) Keepers out there?

He was just bruised, broken and lonely.

Who would want me?

By this time, Tyler had made his way downstairs, feet taking him from room to room as he poked around the house, trying to get a feel for the kind of life Josh lived.

Fingers brushing over one of the leather couches, he decided to sit down so Josh wouldn't come home to find him creeping around. Rubbing at the sore spot on his head, he hoped he hadn't hit it hard enough to cause any major damage.

Maybe your brain will swell up so much that you'll die. Then you'll finally be put out of your misery.

Shivering, Tyler wrapped his arms around himself, wishing to be underneath the covers again and safe in his dreams where none of the voices could grab ahold of him.

Just when he thought he was close to succumbing to his mind, the sound of a key scraping against the lock came into earshot.

He's back.

The front door opened and then shut, the sound of plastic bags filling the otherwise quiet. Feeling a bit awkward, Tyler wasn't sure whether to go and greet Josh or to run back upstairs to his room.

Go tell him good morning. It's the least you could do after falling asleep on him.

Tyler walked into the kitchen, hands twisted together so tightly he feared his fingers might break. He saw the back of Josh, said man busy taking the groceries out of the bags.

Tyler's voice caught in his throat as he spoke, coming out more like a squeak. "Morning."

Josh turned around and Tyler prepared for the worst, but to his surprise, he had nothing but a sweet smile on his face. "Good morning, sleepyhead. Did you have a nice rest?"

Tyler looked down, circling his big toe around on the wood floor. "Y-Yeah. M'sorry for falling asleep last night."

"Sorry?" When he glanced back up, Josh had a confused look on his face. "What are you sorry for?"

Tyler stumbled over his words. "B-Because I, um, fell asleep after you went out to the store. You were gonna make dinner and... well, t-that was really rude of me to do. I'm really sorry."

Josh started to laugh, and it was Tyler's turn to be confused. "Sweetheart, there's nothing to apologize for. You need your rest. And besides..." He grinned a little. "That's what refrigerators are for."

Tyler felt a bit dumbfounded. Josh wasn't mad at him and wasn't going to berate him?

Was he still dreaming? Had that table actually knocked him unconscious?

"I hope you like cereal. Because I bought a lot of it." Josh held up two boxes of cereal. "My life consists of stressing over everything and eating copious amounts of cereal."

The smile on Josh's face and his unapologetic honesty were too perfect, so much so that Tyler giggled a little, surprising the both of them.

"Sorry," he mumbled, feeling a bit embarrassed over making such a silly sound.

"No, don't be." Josh smiled. "That was cute. You're cute."

Tyler felt shy all of a sudden, his big toe curling against the floor as the tick, tick, tick in his arm grew a little stronger.

"You're cute too."

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Stick with me, frens, I appreciate you.

Do you like cereal? If so, what's your favorite one?

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