secret keepers | joshler.

quarante-quatre.

True to Tyler's suspicions, Josh had been livid that Ms. Jenkins had tried to get his daughter to leave with Sarah and had been ready to storm the school, but Olivia had refused to release him. The second they were through the door the toddler had taken off and screamed for him, probably taking a year off her father's life with her screams, but he could not be angry with her when he saw the tear tracks on her face.

Once he had gotten a teary story from Olivia and the actual story from Tyler, he had been ready to kill. His fingers shook and his grip on Olivia had tightened for a second before she cried out in pain and he quickly loosened his grip.

The two men did their best to make her comfortable that night, Disney movies and pizza had usually cheered her up, but it was obvious she was withdrawn. Her face was sunken like she had not eaten in years and her eyes were swollen and red. Josh felt like crying just from looking at her vacant expression as she stared at the movie on the television. It was Princess and the Frog, her favorite and yet she did not even lip sing the words like she usually did when she watched it. Tyler spent the rest of the night after putting her to bed, soothing his boyfriend.

Josh seemed to like the cold press of Tyler's ring (one that Josh argued with Tyler about until the other man accepted it) against his heated skin so Tyler held his boyfriend securely to his chest and pressed his promise ring against the back of his neck. They only slept in boxers now since Tyler was growing more confident with his body and was comfortable with Olivia seeing his scars. The toddler had grown used to them as well, only sometimes pausing to press kisses to them whenever she could sense he was having a bad day.

"I love you," Josh whispered against Tyler's chest, meaning everything and nothing all at once. Tyler pressed his lips to the faded curls and let his ring slid down the warm expanse of Josh's back.

"I love you too," he whispered back, his free hand coming up to hold Josh's hand against his heart where it laid. His ring was no longer cool as it had been tucked against Tyler's chest for the last twenty minutes while Tyler kept moving his around on Josh's skin. Josh drifted off to sleep and Tyler followed soon after, his hand resting on the curve of Josh's back.

"Daddy?" Tyler grunted when Josh shifted on top of him, laying directly over his chest and leaning towards the side. Despite his discomfort, he hooked his fingers in Josh's boxers to keep him from falling off the bed.

"Did you have an accident baby?" Josh's voice was soft, but the words had woken Tyler up faster than a bucket of ice water. His eyes opened and he looked over at the sniffling toddler at their bedside looking like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. Tyler unhooked his fingers so Josh could get up, sending a playful smack at his ass when the older patted his stomach. He had joked earlier about Tyler getting chubbier, but when Tyler almost broke down in tears, he was quick to take it back.

Whenever Tyler gained body weight it always took the form of the curves he had before he started T and he did not want to feel like that anymore. After a quick explanation to Josh, the blue haired man apologized profusely. Olivia had giggled once as his attempt of begging which only caused Josh to be more dramatic to get her to laugh more.

Tyler must have dozed off because next thing he knew he had a little head of wet hair cuddled into his chest and Josh's thumb was stroking his stomach.

"Better peach?" He mumbled tiredly, tucking his arm around her to hold her close to him. Josh pressed a quick kiss to his bicep, not at all put off that he lost his spot cuddling Tyler. He would rather his daughter be happy and safe then comfortable. Olivia nodded her head, quickly falling back to sleep despite her previous nightmares.

"Maybe we should get her that gift after all Ty?" Josh whispered over the toddler's head not wanting to wake her up, but not willing to forget either. Tyler bit his lip unsure. It was a big decision after all.

"Let's see how the rest of the month goes?" Tyler suggested, both men agreeing and fall back to sleep with their new addition to their bed.

Little did the three know that Olivia's nightmares would plague her every night and she would become very settled into the routine of waking them up, taking a bath, and cuddling between the two of them in the coming month.

824. six.