blossom ↣ joshler ✓

28. Defend

Hi my head is pounding and I'm really sad so here's this

Josh pulled into an empty parking spot at the indoor arena Jordan had his soccer game at. He wasn't lying when he told Kelly was going to try and make the game. Luckily, he was arriving just ten minutes before it was about to start.

He got out and started making his way towards the field his brother was on, knowing which one since his mom had written it on the calendar. He walked into the right one and spotted his family on the bleachers. They all tried to make it to every sports game but with every kid being so involved and their parents working full time it was hard. At least someone was there for another person though. No one ever went without support. This time though, they could all make it. Even Josh.

He saw his parents talking and Ashley French braiding Abbie's hair for her. Jordan was on the bench talking to a teammate.

Instead of calling to let them know of his arrival, he sat down next to his mom (who had her head turned to talk to his dad) and hummed. "I hope you guys haven't eaten dinner yet because I'm hungry and escaped a vegan nightmare."

His mom turned to him and smiled. "You scared me," she laughed out before pulling him in for a hug. "I didn't know you were coming, honey."

"I didn't either but Kelly got home from work early so I decided to come see Jordan," he shrugged.

"Glad you could come, bud," his dad nodded his way with a smile.

Josh glanced over at Jordan who was drumming his hands against his legs nervously. He looked around the room and his eyes landed on Josh. He smiled slightly and Josh gave him a little thumbs up. No matter how tough and cool Jordan tried to act, he would be lost without Josh. Josh would be lost without him too.

"How was work?" His mom asked him.

"Uh..." Josh trailed off, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He took his glasses off and began cleaning them on his shirt to avoid eye contact. "I uh lied to Kelly."

"What about this time?"

Josh's mom knew about everything. She knew about when Josh brought Tyler fast food and when they kissed and when they started dating. Laura was all for it; she was excited Tyler was getting more comfortable with himself even if she wasn't there to see it. She's expressed she's had a soft spot for the boy ever since she met him.

"So I asked if I could take him to the library," Josh began. "And then she hesitantly said yes and I was telling Tyler that it was a ploy for him to come meet my friends but he got excited so I took him to the library anyway. He looked so happy and adorable, Ma," he gushed. "But then we left and met up with Bren, Dal, and Hayley at the diner by Brendon's house and it... didn't go very good..."

"Brendon and Tyler didn't get along?" Laura guessed, watching Jordan begin to play as the game started.

"Not at all," Josh snorted, smiling when he remembered Tyler trying to explain things to him in a babyish voice.

"I didn't think it would. At least at first," his mom shrugged. "But they're both important people in your life and they need to learn to get along. I'm sure everything will work out though."

Josh nodded, sighing. "Yeah. I was kind of a dick to Brendon though. I'm gonna call him and talk to him when we get home. I feel bad."

Laura looked at him, patting his knee. "I'm proud of you," she turned to her husband. "Bill, honey, aren't we proud of Josh?"

His looked at Josh quickly before back at Jordan. "Always," he said, standing up and cheering when Jordan scored a goal.

Josh knew his father wasn't really paying attention but he knew he was proud of him regardless. That thought made Josh smile.

His smile quickly went away thought about what Kelly said to him. "Is something else bothering you?" Laura asked.

"When I went to leave Kelly thanked me for never giving her a reason not to trust me and for being so good with Tyler. Ma, I—"

"Don't feel bad. There's nothing to feel bad about. This is coming from a mother's perspective. Sure, she should know what's going on with her son but it's already gotten to the point where I think Tyler would collapse if she knew you two were dating. It wouldn't be good and I don't want to see either of you getting hurt. I'm telling you it's okay to lie about this. You're not hurting Tyler, are you?"

"Of course not."

"You don't make him do anything he doesn't want to do, do you?"

"Never."

"Then you are being good with Tyler. Just like she said."

Josh thought that over. "Yeah," he nodded. "Thanks, Ma."

"Of course, baby," she smiled at him before turning her attention back to the game.

"Josh?"

He looked over to see Abbie walking over towards him. "Yeah, Abs?"

"I'm tired," she yawned. Despite being eleven, she was still pretty small. She did end up as a flyer on her school's cheer team for next year after all.

Josh scooted her closer to him, gesturing for her to lay her head in his lap. "I love you, Abs."

"I love you too, bub."

---

Josh laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling as his phone rang.

The other person answered and let out a sigh. "Am I still being a fucking idiot?"

Guilt filled Josh. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Brendon didn't reply at first. "I'm sorry too," he said finally.

"I'm gonna give you the same talk I gave Tyler," Josh began. "You both are very important to me and I don't want you guys hating each other. I told Tyler that you didn't have any bad intentions but you really gotta chill the fuck out, dude. What even got into you?"

Brendon was silent for a moment once again. "Igotjealous," he mumbled.

"What?" Josh asked, not hearing what he said.

"I got jealous," he sighed.

Josh's eyes widened. "Jealous? Of what?"

"I don't even know. Maybe I feel like I'm being replaced? I see the way you look at him, J. You like him so much. And you spend so much time with him and I just don't want you to forget about us. I don't want it to get to the point where you have to defend him over us."

Josh let out a sad laugh. "Brendon, I could never forget you. You're hard to forget," he smiled when Brendon laughed. "I promise it won't ever get to the point where I would defend him over you. I'm not gonna defend you over him though either. I'll defend you both equally or not at all. I told him not to fire back right away but I need you to not make jokes about us being together, okay? Or at least not when he's around. He's very sensitive about that and he's not comfortable with being gay."

He could practically see Brendon nodding. "Okay. I won't. Don't let him call me stupid."

"I don't know about that one... he's got an IQ of 135 he calls me stupid too. But I'll tell him to lay off with the insults."

"Thank you. I love you, J."

"I love you too, Bren."