3

Tw: sickness

Tyler and Josh had been going steady for a while. Hanging out at each other's houses, meeting in the treehouse like they normally do.

It was perfect, and they both were happy.

They both were sitting on Josh's bed, hand in hand.

"Do your parents suspect anything major?" Josh was staring at their hands.

"I think not. But I wonder if I tell them what we did last night, whether or not I got caught." Tyler looked into Josh's eyes.

"Don't. You can't... What would they say?" Josh gripped his hand tighter.

"I promise I won't, I do." He smiled a little, which seemed to relax Josh.

"I'm sure I have to go, they'll have some questions."

They both stood up and faced each other.

"Please... Just try and avoid answering if the question comes up. Just pretend you don't know what she's talking about."

Tyler hugged him. "I will, I really do promise."

"I would probably be hated for sure if they figured out what we did..."

"Josh, relax. They won't. I promise you." Tyler kisses him quickly. "I promise."

Josh nodded. "I'll talk to you later."

"Talk to you later."

Tyler made the short walk back to his house and opened the door.

Immediately his mom was there.

"Where were you!? Tyler, I was so worried!" She grabbed him into a hug.

"It's alright mom, I ended up falling asleep at Josh's."

"Don't ever do that again without telling me, I waited all night for you to come back and you weren't there."

"I promise."

So many promises.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, not much happening except walking around in the garden and Josh calling later that day. No questions either about what they had done either.

They talked for a while, not caring about how late it was getting. Eventually Josh got so tired he fell asleep while they were talking, which made Tyler hang up and fall asleep too.

The rest of the days passed like that. Playing basketball, going to the treehouse, seeing and talking to Josh.

Tyler also started getting sick.

It started as a small little thing, cold like symptoms. It stayed like that for a while, not really concerning anyone.

Josh eventually became used to the scratchy voice of Tyler, since that wasn't going to go away any time soon. He rather quite liked it, actually.

He also had slight voice loss, but that wasn't really a big deal either.

Tyler thought it would pass soon, considering they all thought it was just a cold that was too stubborn to leave.

They both were in the treehouse, sitting with their foreheads pressed together and their knees touching, their hands intertwined.

"How have you been feeling?"

"Fine," Tyler rasped and cleared his throat. "I've been alright."

Josh believed him, but there was still a slight doubt he had in the back of his mind. "Have you talked to the doctor?"

"Yeah, there's just not much we can do for it right now. Only to go back if it gets worse."

Josh nodded. "I guess not."

Tyler closed his eyes and let the wall go down. He wasn't alright. He wasn't feeling alright. "I feel like I'm just going to be getting worse, this hasn't gone away for a while like it's supposed to."

Josh squeezed his hands. "Don't say that. It will. You'll get over this and be better soon."

Tyler lightly shook his head and cleared his throat. "I really don't believe that."

"Well, I do. I do believe you will get better soon. It's just an annoying cold." But he was a little worried about Tyler saying that.

"I have to take my face off at the door, cuz I'm not sure who they will take me for. If I walk in acting like I'm not getting better, feeling better. I don't want them seeing me worse and hurt."

"Tyler, you have to get help if you're worse. The only way to get better is to ask."

"I know, but I just don't want them to see me sick and hurt." Tyler argued back.

"They won't. Just promise me you will ask when you start feeling worse." Josh was becoming concerned now. He had never seen Tyler this down about anything before.

"I will. I promise I will." Tyler opened his eyes.

"Good. But you will get past this. This cold and whatever you are feeling."

Oh, how wrong he was.