chuck e. cheese ; joshler [✔️]

oh no!

josh sat on a beanbag in tyler's playroom, watching the small boy sing along to the frozen soundtrack as he painted his toe nails baby blue. tyler had invited melanie, brendon, and josh over for a slumber party, not realizing the tension between his two newest friends.

josh excused himself so he could go to the bathroom, but as soon as he heard brendon do the same he became weary. he cautiously walked to his destination and he wasn't too surprised as he felt a pair of hands yank him back.

"you're making this a lot harder for me," brendon seethed as he backed josh against the wall. "do you know how difficult it is to get with tyler when he won't shut up about you and your little 'experiences'?"

"wow, your life is so complicated. i'm sorry that tyler can't get me out of his mind, he obviously enjoys spending time with me," josh teased and brendon brought his hand around josh's neck, applying slight pressure around the edges.

"if you don't shut the fuck up and stay away from tyler i will fucking report you to the cops and tell his parents what's going on between you two. i know exactly what you and him do together, he told me everything. understand?" brendon hissed, retracting his hand from its previous position as josh nodded. pleased with himself, brendon walked back to the playroom with a skip in his step and a huge grin on his face.

josh returned to his beanbag in the corner of the room, trying his best to seem calm as melanie mouthed 'you okay?' at him, in which he responded with a shrug. tyler and brendon seemed to be in their own world, oblivious of anything else, so she scooched over to josh and leaned in closely.

"so you know how i said that i didn't like you?" melanie whispered and josh nodded, a confused look gracing his face. "i take that back, compared to that fucking snake over there you're an angel."

"yeah, i agree," josh sighed and after a few moments of silence melanie lit up and she smiled brightly at josh.

"we need to get rid of him. we need to find something that will show tyler he's not who he seems to be."

"that shouldn't be too hard, i can tell that he has the IQ of a moth," josh chuckled, earning a loud giggle from melanie in return.

"what's so funny?" tyler chirped, turning his attention from brendon to his two other friends. brendon rolled his eyes as the small boy climbed off of his lap and settled into josh's instead.

"we were just talking about how cute you are," josh cooed as tyler buried his face in josh's neck to hide the blush that had appeared on his skin.

"i think you're cute too, joshy," tyler announced, unaware of how utterly pissed brendon was.

"hey ty, come back here so i can finish painting your nails," brendon called out, scoffing as tyler just shrugged and brought his hands up to the bright pink hair in front of him, running his fingers through the wild curls.

"i kinda just wanna sit with josh for now."

"but i didn't finish painting your nails."

"i can have josh help me with that later."

"why the fuck is he so much better than me!" brendon fumed, causing a shudder to run through tyler's body as he cuddled closer into josh with fear.

"if you really knew him you would've known he hates fighting, especially swearing," melanie spat back as she rushed to tyler's aid, soothing a hand down his back as josh cradled his small frame against his own.

brendon frantically searched for the right words, the last thing he wanted was for tyler to be upset at him. "hey, i'm really sorry, i didn't mean to scare you."

tyler didn't respond and only cowered closer into josh, making the older man sigh as he looked up to brendon with a disgusted look gracing his face. "i think it'd be best if you left."

brendon huffed, stomping out of the room without another word. the front door could be heard opening and closing, tyler immediately relaxing once brendon was gone.

"you're okay tyler, josh and i are here," melanie assured him, leaning up and kissing the top of his head.

"can we just watch some movies or something? i don't wanna think about him."

🍼🖍🍼

a few hours later melanie woke up from the small sleep her, tyler, and josh had fallen into during the movie, a loud yawn escaping her mouth. as she sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes she noticed something was missing.

"josh wake up," she panicked as she shook his body and he shot up in worry as he looked at her for explanation.

"what? what's wrong?"

"tyler- he's not here," she choked out, standing up and pacing around the room.

"he couldn't have gone far, let's just call him," josh reassured as he grinned at melanie and unlocked his phone to dial tyler's number.

it rang for a few seconds before tyler picked up, josh putting it on speaker for melanie to hear too before he spoke up.

"tyler, where are you? melanie and i are worried."

"don't worry, i'm just with brendon!"

•••
a/n

in honor of 1k reads here's another chapter!! thank you to everyone who reads this book i love you all so so much 💖

in other news winter break is starting in a week and i'm going to florida so i'm pumped for that (goodbye 4° weather) and hopefully i'll have more time to write and update :)))
-carina loves and cares for you all