Keeper and Protector (Joshler) ??

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"I'll drown when I see you again."

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(A/N: This chapter has NSFW content)

By the time Friday came around, Tyler felt a lot better. He still had a lingering cough, but all of his other symptoms were gone.

Josh was a little sniffly for a day or two, but much to Tyler's surprise, he didn't get sick. Fynn was glad he didn't have to take care of two sick boys, but Tyler was just glad Josh hadn't caught his cold right before the dinner with his parents.

Speaking of Josh... Tyler hadn't seen him since earlier that afternoon. Granted, he had been in his room for most of the day, but it was typical of Josh to visit him at least once every few hours.

Maybe he's busy, Tyler thought. After all, he has a life too. Not everything is about me.

He really hoped he wasn't being a pest. Josh had never given him a reason to think so, but that was his brain overthinking everything as usual.

Sighing, he kicked his legs over to the side of the bed. At this point, the only way he'd find out was to go see for himself, right?

When Tyler poked his head into the hallway, he saw that Josh's door was closed, which struck him as odd. Tip-toeing down to Josh's room, he listened for any sign of movement.

Just as he was about to knock on the door, he heard what sounded like...

A moan?

Tyler froze, not sure if his mind was playing tricks on him or not. He leaned in a bit closer to the door, and sure enough, he barely made out the sound of soft moaning.

Every single possibility ran through Tyler's head at once. Is Josh in there with someone? Is he cheating on me?

But there was no mistaking what he heard next.

"You're such a pretty baby, Ty..."

All of the blood in Tyler's body rushed to his face as his breath caught in his throat. Backing away from the door, he couldn't decide whether to run back to his room or curl up and die right there.

Somehow or another, Tyler's feet took him straight downstairs, desperate to find the one person he knew could try to make at least some sense out of this.

He found Fynnley in the laundry room. Said man looked up and frowned at the bewildered look on Tyler's face. "Are you okay, Tyler?"

Tyler went around in circles with his answer. "Yes. No. I don't know." He tried to hide his face inside his hands. "Oh, my gosh, I'm so embarrassed, Fynn."

Fynn set the laundry basket he was holding on top of the washing machine. "Why? What happened?"

"Well, I, um..." Hands dropping from his face, he looked away, not sure if he could actually say it out loud. "Josh, uh..."

"Yeah?"

"I heard, um... noises? Yeah, noises coming from his bedroom."

"Noises?"

Tyler huffed. "You're killing me, Fynn."

"What? As much as I'd like to be, I'm not a mind reader, Ty."

"They were..." Tyler paused as he searched for the right words to get his point across. "...interesting noises."

Raising an eyebrow, Fynnley crossed his arms. "Wait a second. Are you saying you were eavesdropping on Josh masturbating?"