choke ↣ joshler ✓

13. Park

Tyler was exhausted.

He had stayed up until one in the morning working on homework he didn't do over the weekend. Since his dad was home Saturday they spent the day together and then went over and had dinner with Jenna's family after church on Sunday. It was the weekend that every single of his AP classes decided to assign him homework.

"Hey, Ty," Josh nodded as he, Brendon, and Ashley walked past. Tyler noticed they were making their way towards the front of the school.

"Are you skipping?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah," Brendon replied. "We were just goin' tell ya. We didn' figure ya wanted ta come with."

Tyler had to make a split decision. He could either suffer through all his classes for seven hours while he ran on five hours of sleep or he could skip class and start his attempt to impress his new found friends so he doesn't lose them from being a buzzkill.

The brunette shoved the rest of his books in his locker and slammed it shut, walking over to the group. They all stopped and looked at him, confused looks on their faces. "Well?" Tyler asked. "The bell's gonna ring in a few minutes."

The three stood there in shock for a moment before Ashley spoke. "Huh," she replied before she kept walking.

"What?" Tyler asked.

"Didn' think you'd want ta," she said simply, pushing open the door and holding it for her friends.

"Well I did. I'm exhausted and the idea of sitting in class for however long we'll be gone makes me want to cry," Tyler replied, hoping his lie was enough to cover his true reason.

"Amen," Josh breathed out into a laugh. Tyler looked over at him and laughed as well.

"You two just goin' keep actin gay or get in Josh's truck?" Brendon joked as he got in the passenger side.

Tyler blushed at the words and he crawled in the back behind Brendon and next to Ashley and Josh obviously went to the driver's seat. Hopefully this wasn't going to be a bad decision.

---

Josh pulled into the parking lot of an old park. Tyler could tell people didn't frequent the lot much or at least not to actually use it as a park. Trash was littered everywhere due to the fact that the two trash cans Tyler could see were filled to the brim as if they hadn't been emptied out in months.

They four got out and Josh lead them towards the playground. As they got closer, Tyler noticed how gross and rusty and cracked everything was. This place was definitely not used very often. The pink haired stopped once they reached the swings. There were technically four swings but one of them was unchained on one side so only three were useable. Ashley and Brendon each took one and Tyler watched as Josh took the last one.

"C'mere," Josh held his arm out to Tyler. Tyler hesitantly complied and let out a squeak when Josh pulled him down onto his lap.

"Josh—"

"Does this make ya uncomfortable?" Josh whispered in Tyler's ear, sincerity audible. His lips grazed Tyler's earlobe as he spoke and the brunette shuddered against it.

"No— yes— I don't—" Tyler began.

"Do ya like boys, Tyler?" Josh asked, turning Tyler's head so they were staring at each other. Tyler got off Josh's lap and stood there, feeling vulnerable. Despite this, Josh pulled him back down but this time so Tyler was sitting sideways, making it easier for the two to look at each other while they talked.

He looked down in shame as he answered. He knew they wouldn't judge him because Josh was gay and Brendon was bi but he still felt disgusted with himself. "Yeah," he whispered, the self-hatred seeping through.