Lockjaw (Joshler)

35. Bed

Start the song. It's Maple Hill by Rosie Diamond. This song does mention using heroin, so don't listen if you'll be triggered!

Tyler was relieved to see that Zack's car was still at his house when he got there. He'd had to drive around town a few times to get his head on straight after meeting Josh. Josh. No part of Josh seemed capable of hurting another person. He was sweet and shy and guarded and clearly so desperate for someone to just tell him he deserved to be happy and mean it. Tyler had meant it. He still meant it.

He hurried up the front steps to his house before disappearing inside, kicking his shoes off and hanging up his coat as he peeked into the living room. The couch Zack had been on was empty. Tyler frowned, walking through the living room and into the kitchen. He stopped in the doorway, his chest instantly feeling heavy for a multitude of reasons.

First, Zack, Tatum, P, Maddy, and Maddy's little daughter were all sitting on the floor in the kitchen. Tatum was entertaining P and Mia with toys, making the little girls giggle as she made a stuffed rhinoceros give them kisses on their chubby little cheeks. Zack and Maddy, however, were hard at work examining and discussing a pile of documents sitting between them beside a mostly empty pizza box.

Second, right beside Maddy's thigh was a stack of framed photos that had once hung on his living room wall and sat on the dresser in his bedroom. They'd gotten the photos back. He had them back.

Third, as soon as P noticed him in the doorway, she smiled widely at him with her tiny new teeth and reached her arms up for him to pick her up. No one noticed he was there until he complied, lifting his little niece up and kissing her chubby cheek as she babbled excitedly at him.

Mia reached for him too, smiling just as brightly with a few more teeth as she exclaimed, "Ty Ty!"

Tyler scooped her up too, making the babies giggle when he hugged them both tightly. His siblings looked relieved to see him, and Tatum smiled warmly at him.

"You got the pictures back," Tyler observed quietly.

"Maddy did," Zack corrected. "I called her and told her they'd been taken, so she drove to Jenna's mom's house and got them back."

"I brought Mia so I wouldn't be tempted to beat the shit out of her," Maddy added, reaching a hand out to Tyler. "Come sit. Let me hug you, and then you need to eat some pizza. You're too skinny."

"You sound like Mom," Tyler told her as he set the babies back down beside Tatum before sitting down beside his sister.

Since a lack of emotional awareness ran in the gene pool, Maddy's hug was an awkward one-armed squeeze that lasted for half a second and ended with an uncomfortable pat on the back. Then a piece of pizza was being shoved into his hand, and his sister was back to marking up a form with a yellow highlighter.

Zack offered Tyler a brief and somewhat uncertain smile before he was back to work too. It was more than he'd gotten from them in a while, but it still made his chest feel hollow. Tatum laughed.

"You're both robots," she told Zack and Maddy before reaching over to hug Tyler properly. He hugged her back tightly, relief washing over him instantly. "I'm glad you're home safe. Do you think you'll be able to handle staying here tonight? You always have a place to stay at our house if you need it."

"I think I'll be okay," Tyler told her, not quite sure how much he believed those words but saying them anyway. "How exactly did you convince her to give the pictures back?" Tyler asked his sister as he handed a pepperoni to Mia, who had opened her mouth expectantly as soon as she realized he was holding food.