blossom ↣ joshler ✓

26. Troglodyte

Joshua pulled into the parking lot of a diner and Tyler looked out the window anxiously. What if they hated him? Scratch that, a lot of people hated him. What if they convinced Josh to hate him? What if—

"Are you okay?" Joshua asked softly.

Tyler looked over and saw Josh staring at him worriedly. "Yeah," he swallowed. "I feel like I'm suffocating."

"It's probably because you're wearing a collared shirt and a tie. Here," he took his seatbelt off and turned around, rummaging around in his backseat. He sat back a moment later, something in his hands. "You can put this on."

"What is it?" Tyler asked, taking undoing his tie.

"My baseball hoodie. Take your white shirt off though or else you'll get hot."

A light blush overcame Tyler's face. "Okay..." he mumbled, unbuttoning his shirt. He wasn't self conscious about his body or anything but the thought of his boyfriend seeing him in a more vulnerable state made him flustered.

Joshua seemed to realized Tyler's feelings so he not to subtly averted his eyes and looked out the window. Tyler tugged his shirt off and slipped the sweatshirt on, sighing slightly in satisfaction when he felt more comfortable.

"Better?" Joshua asked, looking back over.

"Much. Thank you," Tyler smiled. "It smells like mangos."

"Shit," he whispered. "Good or bad?" Joshua asked nervously.

"Good... I think?"

"Okay cool," Joshua retuned the smile from before. "Ready?"

"Uh..." Tyler looked back out at the diner. "Yeah. I'm ready."

The two got out and as soon as the doors were shut and they were making their way up toward the building Joshua grabbed Tyler's hand and squeezed it lightly. "It's okay. My friends and I come here all the time. No one's ever said anything. Dallon gets uncomfortable with PDA in strange places he's never been to before and he feels really safe here. I'm not saying you will but I wanted to tell you that no one here cares."

"Okay," Tyler said quietly, trusting his boyfriend. He felt so out of his element but having Joshua anchor him helped.

The walked in and as soon as they did Tyler wanted to walk right back out.

He saw three people sitting in a large corner booth, one of the boys resting their head on the other boy's shoulder and the girl was typing something on her phone. The scene was nothing weird but Tyler assumed they were Joshua's friends and got nervous.

Their hands still together, Joshua led him over to the group with a wide smile on his face. "Hey, guys!"

They looked up and saw Joshua before their eyes flickered to Tyler. "Hey," one of them smiled. "You must be Tyler."

"Hello," he greeted, his voice coming out bored. That happened he talked to people he didn't know.

"That's Brendon, Dallon, and Hayley," Joshua introduced, pointing to each person respectively.

"Hi!" Hayley greeted, sliding over. "Sit down!" She pat the spot next to her. Joshua slid in first before pulling Tyler in.

It was silent for a moment, not really knowing what to say.

"So, Ty—" Dallon began.

"Tyler," Joshua spoke before the younger could even get the chance, making him smile. 

Dallon gave him a weird look before turning back to Tyler. "Tell us about yourself."

"What would you like to know?"