Aviary // Joshler

// CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"You're both going to catch cold, I'm sure." Miss Lindsey set the steaming mugs of tea at the kitchen table. Tyler and Josh, both still damp from their swim in the pond, were wrapped in towels.

"That's just a myth," Josh dismissed, sneaking a smile in Tyler's direction. After coming back inside the house, Miss Lindsey realized what they'd been up to. They weren't in trouble, really, so much as she was concerned for their health, considering it was still sweater weather outside.

Whenever she turned her back, Tyler and Josh would exchange grins. What they'd just done was fun, and a little bit crazy, and certainly special. Oh, it was special, alright; now Tyler's heart would skip a beat every time Josh looked at him.

Miss Lindsey waved her hand dismissively. She looked about to speak, but then the landline phone rang in the living room. "I'll be right back," she told the two boys, then left the room.

"That was something," Josh said after a moment, playful eyes flicking up from his tea to look at Tyler.

Tyler smiled down at the mug in his hands. "It was."

They sat mostly in quiet after that, just drinking their tea and warming up their chilled bodies. Tyler's body was mostly still, but his mind was racing.

He was already unsure if he liked girls, at least in that way.

Josh, though.

Tyler did know he liked him.

Even now, he snuck glances at the boy when he thought he wasn't looking. Now that Josh seemed to have warmed up to him a bit, he let himself admire Josh's features: those bright yellow curls, those pretty brown eyes, that shiny black lip ring.

Of course, Tyler thought Josh was lovely, but he was sure Josh would never like him back in that way. He was just going to have to get over it, was all.

As Tyler was thinking this, Josh drained the last bit of liquid from his cup and grinned at Tyler, a tea mustache just barely visible on his upper lip.

Ugh. Easier said than done.

A/N: Is it moving too fast? There's going to be some plot besides the Joshler so I didn't want to draw out Tyler's confusion about his feelings for TOO long