Keeper and Protector (Joshler) ✔️

10

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"I love you, I love you and all of your pieces."

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"You know, Josh, no one likes a cheater!"

"It's not my fault you can't drive straight!"

Tyler watched as the "battle to the death" unfolded between Fynnley and Josh as they played Mario Kart. Normally, he wouldn't mind joining in the fun, but alas...

He was sick.

It'd all started a day after their trip to the park (and he was still re-playing their first kiss over and over, mind you). He was totally fine that evening, but by morning, he had a fever, a sore throat and a runny nose.

From there... it was nothing but cold meds, blankets and snot.

But despite the fact he felt horrible, Tyler had to admit that the past three days of nothing but TV, movies and watching Fynn and Josh play games had been the most fun he'd had in a long time.

"What do you think, Tyler?"

The sound of his name brought him out of his thoughts. "Hm?"

"Is Josh a cheater? I swear to God he's rigged this game somehow."

Tyler shrugged a little and smiled. "I dunno, Fynn, I can't talk bad about my Protector."

"But he's a cheater!"

Josh rolled his eyes. "Fynn, you're such a sore loser. You should know by now not to play with the undefeated Mario Kart master."

Tyler pulled his blanket up to his chin as he listened to the two of them go back and forth about "rigged" controllers. His head was starting to hurt a little from all the chaos but...

He really wouldn't have it any other way. Right in the middle of all their corny jokes and sarcastic remarks, Tyler felt peace and joy with his two favorite people.

Closing his eyes, their conversation faded into the background as Tyler drifted off to sleep.

After what seemed like just a minute, he opened his eyes again to see that the TV was off, Fynn had disappeared and Josh was sitting over on the other couch, scrolling away on his phone.

Holding his head up, Tyler cleared his throat a little. "Joshua?"

Josh looked up and smiled. "Hey, sleepyhead. How are you feeling?"

"Eh. Throat's really dry." Tyler cleared his throat again. "Must have been sleeping with my mouth open."

"Yeah, you were catching some flies for a while there, sweetheart." Josh chuckled. "You looked totally adorable, though."

Tyler blushed. He knew Josh wasn't judging him but he still was embarrassed by the fact he probably had looked incredibly stupid.

Noticing Tyler's expression, Josh got up and came over to the couch before crouching down next to him and pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. "Would you like some more orange juice, hun?"

Tyler nodded. "Yes, please."

"You're so cute." Josh smiled and gave his forehead another quick kiss. "Be right back."

While Josh was in the kitchen, Tyler decided to sit up and reach for the box of tissues so he could blow his nose. By the time Josh came back with his juice, he could breathe a little better, at least for now.

"Where's Fynn at?" he asked as he accepted the glass into his hands. "Thank you."

"Of course." Josh took a seat next to Tyler. "He went to go pick up my dry cleaning. My parents are making me go out to dinner with them to some fancy restaurant on Friday, so I have to put on my Sunday best."