blossom ↣ joshler ✓

29. Tough

Josh looked over with a smile as Tyler got into the car. He hasn't been having the best day and was excited to have Tyler cheer him up with his cute snarky remarks and his pretty face. However, his smile fell when Tyler put his seatbelt on and looked out the window.

It been almost a week since Tyler met Josh's friends and it was Wednesday. He had been fine the two days before so surely he wasn't still upset about that. It was also Josh's last week of spending every day with him and he didn't want to spend it with his boyfriend all grumpy.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked cautiously once they were about halfway to Tyler's.

"Nothing," Tyler mumbled.

"Are you mad at me again?" Josh pressed, annoyed. What could he possibly have done now?

Tyler didn't reply.

"Jesus fuck, Tyler," Josh sighed. "I need you to communicate with me here."

Tyler still didn't reply. He didn't even correct Josh's language or use of Jesus.

"Fine," Josh grumbled. "I'm not in the mood to do this. I've had a shitty day."

The two remained quiet until they got to Tyler's. Josh parked the car and he expected Tyler to get out and storm inside but he didn't. He just sat there.

"Tyler," Josh spoke in a bored tone. When the mentioned didn't reply he sighed. "Ty?"

Finally, Tyler turned to him and Josh's heart clenched when he saw tears running down his face. He let out a sob and Josh carefully took his seatbelt off before undoing his own so he could hug Tyler from across the center console.

"Baby," he soothed, rubbing his back. "What's wrong?"

Tyler just kept crying into his shoulder. "I'm having a really tough day," he bawled.

"Let's get out of the car and inside and then we can talk about it, okay?" Josh spoke in a gentle voice. Tyler nodded and Josh hesitantly let go. "I'll bring our bags in later," he explained as he got out and walked around to Tyler's door to help him out.

Josh held Tyler's hand tightly as they walked in the house. As soon as Josh was sitting on the couch Tyler was crawling into his lap and wrapping his arms around Josh's neck, burying his head into his chest.

Josh was about to open his mouth to see what was wrong when Tyler started crying again. For someone who never cries and used to barely show emotion this was a lot for Tyler. Either that or it was just years of built up emotions that were all coming out freely now that Tyler was free.

Tyler's small body wracked with sobs and he held onto Josh tighter. Josh's heart clenched painfully and he felt like he was going to cry. He wanted to take away and all any pain his boyfriend was experiencing.

Instead of pressuring Tyler to talk, Josh sat there and rubbed his back once again while he calmed down. Josh knew better than anyone that sometimes you just had to get a good cry out.

Tyler eventually calmed down and spoke for the first time in ten minutes. "I supplied your shirt with mass amounts of snot. I apologize."

Josh let out a small chuckle. He pulled back causing Tyler to look at him with glossy eyes. The sight of him broke Josh's heart. He looked so sad. "What happened? Who do I have to beat up?"

Tyler sniffled and Josh was upset that that didn't make him smile a little bit. It usually would have. "No one... well, if you decide you have an issue with it then me but—"

"You? What could you have possibly done?"

Tyler sighed and took his glasses off before setting them on the coffee table. He gently rubbed his face before speaking. "Earlier during school I was thinking about how this is the last week I will see you on a frequent basis and I got stressed and overwhelmed. Since I was dealing with negative emotions during my history test I missed two questions and received a 96 and I am just so disappointed in myself," he explained, his eyes filling with tears.