Saccharine //joshler [✔️]

thirty-four 🍼

josh wakes up extra early the next morning due to the whining puppy at the foot of his bed. sighing heavily, he carefully removes himself from beneath tyler's sleeping frame. he toes on his slippers, watching fearfully as tyler begins to stir.

the sun hasn't rose yet. if tyler wakes now, there's no telling whether he'll fall back asleep or not. if he doesn't, he's going to be grumpy all day. thankfully, jim's whimpers die down and tyler lays still, eyes still shut as he dreams about whatever it is little tylers dream of.

"if you wake tyler up, you're in big trouble," josh whispers to the golden retriever, watching him plop off the bed. he trots to the man, wagging his tail excitedly. "yeah, yeah, you gotta go potty."

jim follows josh downstairs, tail still wagging happily as his leash is attached. they head outside together, josh locking the door behind him. it makes him feel like tyler is safer that way.  the two boys head into the backyard. jim spends most of the time distracted by a leaf but eventually does go to the bathroom.

"good boy, jim!" josh encourages, patting the small dog's head. "looks like you get a treat when we go inside."

jim seems excited at the news, his whole body moving back and forth as his tail wags ferociously. he gets distracted by something in the grass, though, so josh decides to let him play around for a bit. hopefully he'll use up his energy and let josh fall back asleep.

only when jim starts to calm down do they go back inside. josh quietly unlocks the door and unleashes the dog, watching him immediately run back upstairs to tyler. it stings a bit to know he isn't the favorite, but he can't blame jim. tyler is his favorite person too, after all.

he grabs a dog treat before heading back upstairs, sighing as he finds tyler awake. well, more like jim is pouncing all over him while tyler whines and protects his face from being licked.

"jim, down!" josh orders. the puppy, of course, doesn't listen. he continues to attack tyler, who grows more frustrated by the second.

"stop itttt!" he whines, nudging jim away.

josh intervenes, picking the puppy up and placing him on the floor. he gives him a treat for going potty outside, which seems very counterintuitive considering he woke the poor brunette. jim takes the treat under the bed to nibble on.

"sorry, honey, please go back to sleep," josh sighs, kicking his slippers towards the bedroom door and joining tyler in bed.

"can't," tyler pouts. "jim's bad."

"hey, he just went potty outside. that's not bad," josh points out, pulling the younger into his chest to snuggle.

"woke me up," he huffs, hiding his face in the man's neck. "bad."

"well, the sun isn't awake yet so tyler shouldn't be either."

"uggghhh, can't sleep."

"you haven't had the time to try to fall back asleep, hon. i know you're still tired."

tyler yawns loudly, trying to cover it up by pulling the blanket over his face. "nuh-uh."

"oh yes-huh. you can't fool me, mister. let's just get a couple more hours of sleep so we're nice and rested to play with brendon and ryan."