Josh finished his screaming and shouting on hurtful words to Tyler, the only sound the boys could hear being the car as Josh drove them back home.
"It was my birthday last week," Tyler said quietly.
"What?"
"Last Saturday. It was my birthday."
Josh was quiet. He wasn't sure of what to say.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He eventually asked softly.
Tyler shrugged. "You were stressed out over work. I didn't want to stress you out even more by making you think you needed to stop what you were doing and spend time with me."
"Tyler," Josh sighed.
"I just thought you should know that," Tyler said quietly. "That I just acted like my 25th birthday was no big deal, that it wasn't even happening so you could keep working because you were stressed. I went out and had dinner by myself for my birthday. All my friends texted me, but the only person I really care about didn't even do that. Let alone the person I'm engaged to. S-so no, Josh. I don't ask too much of you. I have never asked too much of you."
Josh had just been yelling at him about how he asks too much of him. All Tyler wanted was to go on a date once a week to just... keep the spark alive while they were engaged and in the waiting period before getting married.
He sighed, burying his face in his hands once he pulled into the garage.
Tyler sat there and looked at him, waiting for him to start yelling again.
"I'm sorry," he eventually spoke up. "I-I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean what I said."
"You did, though," Tyler replied. "You did mean what you said because you said it."
"I..." Josh started. "You don't ask too much of me, Tyler. You really, really don't. I've just been stressed with work and all, and I know it's a bad excuse but it's the truth, honey. I-I'm so sorry I forgot your birthday. You're not supposed to forget that kind of thing when you're engaged, and you're really really not supposed to yell at the other person when you're engaged. I just... I'm sorry, baby. I'm really really sorry."
Tyler nodded. "It's ok," he said quietly.
"Maybe I can give you a makeup birthday," Josh said. "We should act like tomorrow is your birthday and we can go do whatever you wanna do. Anything at all. How does that sound?"
"Ok," he said again.
Josh gently took Tyler's hand, intertwining their fingers. "Again, honey, I'm so, so sorry."
"It's ok," Tyler replied. "I promise."
They finally got out of the car and went inside, Tyler found straight to bed while Josh was in the kitchen.
He came in the room a few minutes later with a cup of Tyler's favorite tea, handing it to him.
Tyler thanked him, Josh crawling into bed beside him and snuggling with him.
"I love you," he said. "I know I haven't been saying it enough. But I promise you, I'm gonna give you the best makeup birthday ever. I'm sure of it."
