1

It was the beginning of summer. It had been pretty uneventful, and Tyler hadn't done much except for extensive basketball practice and learning songs on his keyboard. He didn't really mind, staying home and hanging out with his family was really how he wanted to spend the summer anyway.

That was before Josh came around.

Earlier that year, Tyler had been wandering around the edge of the forest near his house. He had always enjoyed getting lost in the thick trees and making his way back later that day.

One time he got lost, he was walking through blind because nothing looked familiar at all.

That's when he stumbled across the tree house.

It was old, and slightly rotted, and he was definitely curious. He climbed up the old, rickety ladder and pulled himself up into the house.

It was empty except a small wooden table, and the windows looked out into the rest of the forest.

On his way home, Tyler tried as hard as he could to remember the path he took so he could find the tree house again.

It wasn't that hard after a while, to find his way there and back.

One day when he went back, he could hear the ladder creaking and turned around to see what was making it's way up.

A boy with bright red hair appeared at the top of the ladder, and after seeing Tyler standing there, became super surprised to see that another person was there.

Tyler immediately backed up against the wall, also surprised to see another person.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Asked the red-haired boy after he got over his shock. He climbed the rest of the way in and stood close to the hole where the ladder was.

Tyler straightened himself, the stranger obviously not wanting to attack. "That doesn't matter. What are you doing here?" he shot back.

The boy put his hands up in defense. "I found this place a while ago. I like to come here often to be alone and sort my thoughts. Now why are you here?"

The stranger told him why he was here, so Tyler decided he should do the same. "I like the quiet." He answered.

The boy nodded. "I can't argue with that."

"What is your name?" Tyler watched him carefully.

"I'm Josh. Yours?"

"Tyler." He answered.

Josh smiled. "I guess we will be seeing each other often?"

"I guess we will."

They didn't talk much after that, only sat and enjoyed the quiet. After a little while Tyler got up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Josh asked all the sudden.

"Home, I've been here a long time." Tyler stopped and looked at him.

"Will I see you again?"

Tyler nodded. "Same time."

They met everyday at the same time, telling more about themselves each time. Eventually Tyler would become excited to meet Josh and would go out early to walk around the woods and anticipate the time when he would see the bright-red hair, he became so familiar with, come up the ladder.

He would go home and talk to his family about Josh, not knowing what they all thought; that Tyler had a new friend and that he was gay.

Tyler was sitting in the backyard one afternoon after his meeting with Josh when his mom came out.

"Hey, Tyler," She said as she sat across from him on the other lawn chair. "I need to talk to you about something."

Tyler sat up and looked at his mom. "Yes?"

"Do... Do you like Josh?" She looked really serious.

"Well, yeah. Of course I do, he's my friend." Tyler was suddenly afraid. Had she suspected all this time that he really liked Josh, more than a friend?

"No, I mean, do you really like Josh?" She watched his facial expressions.

Tyler looked away. "I do, I do mom."

His mom smiled. "I've seen it in the way you talk about him. Is there anything going on between the two of you?"

"No, at least I don't think so." He was surprised by the reaction.

"Well, we all would like to meet this 'Josh' so when you see him next, can you talk to him? I want to meet tomorrow. The whole family does."

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

His mom smiled and stood up. She ruffled his hair as she walked past, leaving Tyler to collect his thoughts. Would it be possible that Josh was at the tree house?

Immediately he jumped out of the chair and ran straight towards the forest, tracing his path to the house. He climbed as fast as he could up the ladder and saw that Josh was leaning against one of the windowsills, looking out in the forest. When he heard Tyler come up he turned around.

"Hey, what's up?" Josh was a little surprised.

"My parents, meet. They want to meet, Josh. They want to meet you." Tyler was panting from the run and not thinking straight.

"Slow down, they want to meet me?!" Josh instantly became worried. What if they didn't accept him?

Tyler nods, bending down and resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "They. They're fine, I'm just... Just worried."

Suddenly there were hands gripping his shoulders and he's brought up to soft lips. Confused, he opened his eyes and suddenly realized he was kissing Joshua Dun.

He melted into the kiss and Josh pulled them apart. Tyler opened his eyes and looked into the tough face of Josh.

"Calm down. They just want to meet. It's not that hard."

Tyler nodded. He suddenly felt a lot better, and all he knew was that Josh was the only thing holding him up.

"When do they want to meet?" He asks, looking into Tyler's eyes.

"Tomorrow."