Chapter Text
Tyler’s mind was awake long before his eyes ever were.
He groaned slightly, rolling over towards his nightstand and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. He felt just as tired as when he had initially closed his eyes last night, and he had to stretch his body to try to get the deep ache in his bones to subside. His ears felt unusually droopy today, as if they needed a pick me up, but maybe it had something to do with the painful twinge that kept tapping behind his forehead.
He grabbed his phone and took a peek at the time.
“10:00 already?” Tyler whined
Normally he would be awake by now and sitting downstairs while Josh cooked breakfast, but today it seemed like he might already be halfway done with it.
Tyler slowly sat up. Maybe he slept wrong, or it was a full moon. There had to be some sort of explanation for the way he felt. And as much as his body didn’t want him to, he figured he should try to get something in his stomach, plus he’d see Josh. Which at this point might be the only positive to his morning.
His tail thumped lazily behind him as he thought about Josh and his morning hair, how warm he usually was, and his cozy ‘just woke up’ smell. It stopped moving as soon as he got up and his head pounded to the rhythm of his heartbeat. For a moment he closed his eyes and breathed through his nose, shaking his head slightly to try to get rid of the feeling.
Josh on the other hand had woken up bright and early like normal. He had a routine. He would head down to the kitchen, Tyler would come in shortly after, hug him from behind and bask in “how good he smelled and how warm he was” Josh smiled thinking about his words. Then he’d make coffee and breakfast and take off on his morning run. It was like clockwork.
So when Tyler didn’t come down right away, and still hadn’t come down when Josh had made their morning coffee. He started to suspect something was off.
Although, he tended to worry a lot over things then turned out to be nothing, so he gave Tyler the benefit of the doubt. They had stayed up a little later than usual last night watching spider man on the couch, after he had insisted they watch it.
Clearing his mind, Josh continued to cook their breakfast. Funnily enough he had decided to make Tyler’s favorite today. Waffles with plenty of butter and syrup, and he of course couldn’t forget the bacon. That was probably the best part if he had anything to say about it.
Tyler shuffled down the stairs, his ears floppier than usual and tail drooping behind him.
Breakfast didn’t smell as good as he thought it would, his nose scrunched up in distaste. Once he stepped into the kitchen he let out a yawn, announcing his presence.
“Morning Ty! You must've been tired today huh?” Josh took a quick look over his shoulder, glad that he had finally come down.
Tyler’s ears perked up a bit and his tail swished back and forth. He walked up to the stove taking his spot behind Josh and wrapped his arms around him, chin resting on his shoulder. He buried his face into the back of Josh's neck and took a deep breath. His body relaxed slightly and he already felt better just being around him.
“Morning..” He spoke softly, voice a little rough from sleep. “You always smell so good…”
Josh chuckled a little, flipping the last of the bacon over in the pan
“And you always say that.” He focused back in to the stove and spoke again “I cooked your favorite.. Waffles!"
“With butter and syrup?” Tyler asked, even though he knew Josh wouldn’t dare make it without.
“Yup! Why don’t you go sit down and I’ll plate it up”
Tyler mumbled in agreement and reluctantly let go of Josh. He went over to the table and plopped down into one of the chairs, feeling the fatigue and ache wash over him again already.
Maybe something was up with him.. Maybe he should say something now, so he and Josh could lay on the couch all day and he could snuggle up to him. His thoughts were interrupted when Josh slid his breakfast in front of him.
Usually he’d dig in right away, but something about the look.. The smell.. The painful twinge behind his eyes that kept getting more persistent. Just made him completely uninterested.
“-ler?”
Tyler snapped his head up, locking eyes with Josh for a moment. He hadn’t realized how intently he’d been staring at the table.
“What?”
“I was trying to ask you a question,-” Josh’s brow furrowed slightly. “-are you okay?”
“Oh..” Tyler blushed from embarrassment.
“I didn’t hear you, I think I'm still waking up..” He sheepishly brushed his hand against the back of his neck.
“That’s okay bud, I was trying to ask you if you’d want to come to the studio with me today? I know it was supposed to be our day together, but this deadline got pushed on me out of nowhere last night..” Josh looked a little guilty.
“So I figured I’d head to the studio and get some stuff cranked out early in the day and finish the rest tonight. I know you hate being home alone so I figured you could come with me if you wanted to.”
The previous thought of telling Josh how weird he felt became forbidden as soon as Tyler had heard the stress in Josh’s voice. Absolutely no way could he add anything onto Josh’s plate, plus a headache and some achy joints weren’t anything to have him worrying about.
As much as he wanted it to be a big deal, there was just no way he could keep Josh from working. That wouldn’t be very fair..
Tyler pushed the food around on his plate a bit and put on a smile so he seemed a little more normal than he felt. “It's Okay! I know your work is important.. And.. I don’t want to distract you or anything so I'm okay with staying home. We can always do something when you get back!”
Josh paused.
That was unusual..
Tyler NEVER declined the chance to be with Josh. He gave him a quick one over, his ears did seem a little less lively and his tail wasn’t wagging quite as much. But everything else seemed normal.. He was probably just extra tired, that pretty much explained everything that was going on.
And unfortunately he really did have to get his work done today, or they’d be on his ass by morning about the drum beats he needed to finish.
“Ok, Let me know if you change your mind, I know how much you love tagging along.” He responded, then finished the last bite of his breakfast.
“I’m gonna go for my run before I have to leave - “ As he stood up he noticed Tyler had barely touched his food “- and eat your breakfast! It's getting cold!”
Tyler leaned into Josh as he kissed the top of his head, and picked up his fork again. He was able to stomach a few more bites until his body started protesting, and he couldn’t eat any more. He ignored the feeling and looked up as Josh grabbed his water bottle from the kitchen counter.
If he acted fine, he was fine.
Right?
He put on a cheery facade, wagging his tail and perking his ears up slightly. “Have a good run, and let me know if you catch that squirrel!”
And with that Josh was out the door.