Work Text:
When Josh hears “You’ve reached Tyler, leave a message if you gotta” for the fourth time, he knows it’s going to be one of those days. They have a rule at home: 4 unanswered phone calls and Josh comes over.
Sometimes he opens Tyler’s door and finds him engrossed in a book or rough-housing with his brother. Sometimes everything is absolutely fine and Josh stays over anyway and they watch a movie and sit in the backyard talking until the sun comes up.
More often, though, Josh walks in to a silent house and a silent Tyler. One who’s spent the last five hours staring up at the ceiling blankly. One who hasn’t eaten in a day and showered in at least two. It’s like a different person, this Tyler with no drive.
On those days, Josh has a routine. He’ll jump on Tyler’s bed, and if Tyler gives some weak approximation of a smile then he’ll settle down. They’ll lay there quietly, Tyler slowly maneuvering his way closer to Josh until they’re next to each other. Tyler will sigh into Josh’s shoulder, and after a while of that he’ll start to talk.
There’s a lot of the same stuff. Tyler doesn’t know who he is, or what he’s doing, or why he is the way he is. It helps him to tell Josh, slowly and monotonously at first, until he’s worked up enough by everything to sound more spirited. He needs someone to listen to him, and until they’re playing across the country - and they will, Josh is sure of it - Josh is the best audience for Tyler's thoughts and hopes and worries.
That’s subvariation A of their routine. Subvariation B happens when Tyler doesn’t react at all to Josh’s presence. On those days, there’s a regular pattern: Tyler goes into the shower while Josh finds clean clothes. After that, they eat pasta on the couch and Josh talks to Tyler. He talks about the cat he saw on the way over, and the newest Star Wars rumors, and anything else that comes to mind. It’s all nonsense to some extent - Tyler needs the noise, the not being alone.
Tyler gets mad at himself about all of this, quite frequently. But Josh doesn’t mind being a distraction from whatever words are in Tyler’s head. He doesn’t mind being needed.
Most of the time they wander down streets and throw grass at each other and sit in Tyler’s basement making music. But sometimes, Tyler’s phone just rings and rings. When that happens, Josh comes over.