Birthdaypresent(s) [Broshler]

The struggle

"Come here."

Tyler looked up from his coffee. He frowned when he saw Josh making some 'come here' gestures with his hand, all directed at Tyler's face. Instantly the brunettes cheeks started to slightly blush. What? Why?

Josh smiled his pretty, toothy smile, softly, once more gesturing for Tyler to come closer. "C'mon! I don't bite, y'know."

Tyler didnt know, Tyler didnt know anything at this moment, confused, for a second thinking that... No. Of course not. Josh wouldn't just kiss him...
Would he?

When Tyler still didn't move, he heard Josh laugh. Damn that sound. The pink haired leaned closer then, his fingers reaching to Tyler's cheek. The latter froze, he swallowed heavily, eyes shifting away from Josh for a second to see Brendon just focused on his phone. And then, as his eyes shot back to Josh, his fingers bumped into Tylers cheek.

"Eyelash", Josh stated shortly, as he carefully got the tiny little hair off of Tyler's cheek. He held it on top of his finger, just smiling softly as he kept it a couple of inches away from Tyler's lips. "You can make a wish now", he suggested, signature smirk still in place.

Tyler very fucking damn well knew what he wished for, only causing the blush on his cheeks to stay in place. He blew the eyelash off of the tip of Josh's finger, afterwards quickly sipping on his coffee. Within the next second he heard Brendon laugh. "Are you okay?"

Tyler cursed inwardly. Dammit. Why couldn't a single thing get unnoticed? Or unmentioned? "Sure. Why?" He tried to hold back the annoyed sigh he actually felt like letting go. "Because for a second there you looked like a rabbit staring in the headlights of a fucking monstertruck", Brendon chuckled. Tyler shrugged it off, relieved when a waitress came at their table with plates of food.

——

Tyler struggled a bit lately. In all honestly he already struggled with his own mind and feelings and emotions from the night he joined Josh and Brendon home, but it had only gotten worse. Especially since their dinner-movie date that wasn't a date, and the open-mic night after that.

Mostly Brendon had surprised him that night, for whatever reason. He couldn't deny that he liked Josh from the first second they met, but Brendon.. he was unsure at first. But somehow, and he hated admitting it, that tall, annoying, smug man had grown on him and somehow fascinated him now.

He was jealous, still jealous of what they had. But he tried to push the jealousy away, it never made anything better for anyone. One thing that surprised Tyler more, was that maybe their relationship had sparked Tylers believe in love a tiny little bit. It had never really grown, his parents were okay but cold and formal. When they died in a car crash, his whole life plunged down further, absolutely destroying any believe in love he ever tried to have. It wasn't a real thing, it didnt excist, people craved and needed something that wasn't real, only to let it destroy them completely.

But then, then he met Josh and Brendon. And he hated it, because he still didnt believe in it, but at the same time couldn't imagine Josh and/or Brendon faking it. They seemed so genuinly be loving each other, if either one of them was faking it they should get an Oscar for it. But if their love was real... that meant it actually existed. And Tyler wasn't sure how to feel about that, it would cause him to want it. Crave it. Need it. And so far life had shown him pretty clearly he wasn't worth of it, so that urge would destroy him. And it scared him more than any other thing ever had, and he had been in some shitty situations.

But he couldn't deny that everytime he hung out with them, and that was quite often by now, he got more confused. And he wasn't sure how this "just as a friend" thing worked, not after what happened before. They seemed so different from the guys he met that first night, but at the same time they had been 100% real. He just hadn't expected them to be so... Nice? Normal? Maybe even, domestic?

Yeah Tyler was struggling with the fact that he at some level liked them both and wasn't sure if this "just a friend" thing was what he wanted. Well, he was quite sure it wasn't. But the thing was, he didnt exactly know what he did want. Because, obviously it wasn't normal to maybe possibly like two guys at the same time right? Especially with them being in a relationship, right? Three is a crowd, right? There's no such thing as a well-functioning relationship with three people... right?

Not that it mattered that much anyway, because Josh and Brendon obviously were very content with their relationship and would never even consider someone else. And then not just in a cheating kind of way, no, but as an addition to their relationship? Nope. It wasn't like he had anything to add anyway. They were just fine without him. So. Just-a-friend was his place.

——

"Are you sure you're okay?" Brendon tried again once they were eating, his face had turned from joking to a serious concern. "You've been pretty quiet today?"

"I'm fine, really. Just tired." Tyler smiled softly, actually affected by his concern. "You still up for the movie, right?" Brendon asked as he sat back, his plate completely empty. Tyler nodded as he pushed a last bite into his mouth, noticing the small smiles on both of the others faces.

"What movie do you wanna see?" Josh asked as they walked back to Josh and Brendon's house from the cafetaria. Josh had his left hand linked with Brendon's, but his other arm gently fell around Tylers shoulder as he asked. It made Tyler blush, a weird warmth spreading throughout his body. "Harry Potter", both Tyler and Brendon answered in unison, making the two burst out into laughter as Josh groaned, dramatically tilting his head towards the sky. "I hate you two", he mumbled, but couldn't help but smile as both simultaneously hugged him, still laughing.

——

"I don't even understand any of this", Josh mumbled as the movie had been playing for about an hour. He hung back against Brendon's side, legs streched out and resting on Tylers lap. "Thats because you never paid attention when we watched the first four parts babe", Brendon chuckled. Josh rolled his eyes before kissing Brendon's cheek. "Just think about everything I do, just because I love you. Even watching all these movies I don't care about just because you like them."
Brendon chuckled. "You watched a Harry Potter with Tyler too, when I wasn't home?"

Josh closed his mouth that he had just openend to reply, but he actually couldn't come up with anything. Brendon just winked at him and pecked a quick kiss on his lips before turning his focus back on the tv screen. Tyler carefully watched the two, and noticed the confusion on Josh's face. He gently squeezed Josh's knee, a soft smile, quickly returned by the pink haired as their eyes met.

Josh ended up falling asleep, perfectly comfortable held by four warm arms. So Brendon and Tyler watched the rest of the movie together, and when it ended the room fell silent for a minute. It wasn't uncomfortable; it was... maybe a little uncomfortable.

"Y'know, Josh told me. About, well, you." Brendon spoke softly, his one hand still playing with one of Josh's curls. "Part of your story."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry about if, you know, what happened the first night, has made you feel bad. Or anything like that." He paused for a second, then spoke even softer. "Or the time after that."
"Okay..." Tyler swallowed nervously, he had really tried not to think of what happened in that gross bathroom for a long time. Did he regret it? Well, not them. But the situation itself, yeah maybe a little.
"It's okay. Really", Tyler added as Brendon kept watching him. "Don't worry about it, okay?" He gently slid away underneath Josh's legs, and stood up. At the other end Brendon did the same. "Dont worry. I like you guys." Tyler smiled softly as he walked towards the door. "But I have to go now"."

"Ok." Brendon nodded, as he seemed to be thinking about something. As soon as Tyler stepped outside, he turned towards Brendon for a last second, quickly being pulled into a hug. As Brendon had his arms wrapped around him for a second, he softly whispered against tyler's ear. "We like you too." And with that, they broke apart, Brendon stepping back inside and Tyler out onto the path.

Now what the hell was that?