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Josh wakes to a loud bang, jolting upright in his bed.
His eyes find the alarm clock on his nightstand first, squinting in the light pouring into his room—eleven, fuck, he’d slept in. That still doesn’t explain the noise, given that he lives with no one except Jim, who has perked up from his spot sprawled out at the foot of Josh’s bed.
It happens again, this time louder and followed by several more. Josh winces, realizing it’s coming from his front door. He pulls himself out of bed, just barely remembering to grab his glasses before he goes.
Whoever it is isn’t patient, that’s for damn sure, since they’re already pounding on his door again when he reaches it. He yanks it open with a frustrated, “What?” and is met with a fist nearly knocking his glasses right back off.
“Oh, shit, sorry,” Mark says. “But hey, you’re up!”
“Sure am, yeah,” Josh sighs, rubbing his eyes before properly taking in the sight before him.
Mark stands in practically the center of his doorway, a huge grin taking up his face. Behind him, Tyler stands to the side, offering a softer smile.
“We did call first,” he says, his eyes finding Josh almost playfully, “but you didn’t answer.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Josh manages to choke out while his heart threatens a cardiac event. He steps back and gestures for them both to come inside, and as they do Tyler laughs quietly at his bedhead, not a hint of malice to be seen.
Josh closes the door and lingers for a moment before turning around. It’s too early in the morning for this.
“So,” he says, “what was so urgent you couldn’t wait for me to get up on my own?”
“Well, we’re supposed to chase today, if you remember,” Mark says, making himself at home on Josh’s couch. “But more than that, have you checked the date?”
“No?” Josh pinches the bridge of his nose. “Why would I have done that in the time it took me to answer the door?”
Tyler laughs again, now perched on one of his barstools. Jim’s found his way out to investigate the visitors, and is now nosing at Tyler’s legs. He scratches behind Jim’s ears and giggles softly before saying, “It’s your birthday, idiot.”
“Oh.” Josh looks at the calendar on his fridge for confirmation, and sure enough, each x leads up to the eighteenth. “I totally forgot, oh my god.”
“We know,” Mark says. “And since we know you didn’t plan anything, we did.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I didn’t plan anything for a reason?” Josh asks, poking around his small kitchen area until he finds a water bottle.
“Come on, Josh,” Tyler says, playing up a whiny tone and leaning over the counter towards him. “It’ll be fun.”
He’s really laying it on thick, pouting up at Josh with his dumb doe eyes. Josh has to stare at the ceiling while taking a drink to break the tension.
“Fine,” he relents. “Fine. Whatever.”
Tyler lights up like a Christmas tree, sitting back up with a grin. “I knew you’d come around.”
“Alright, alright,” Mark pipes up. “We really need to get out there.”
“Then let me get ready, Jesus,” Josh says, lifting the bottle to his lips again. “I’ll meet you guys out there as soon as I can.”
Mark drags himself up off the couch dramatically, pulling a still-smiling Tyler with him toward the door. “Fine, but if you’re not out there in thirty minutes we’re leaving without you.”
Tyler waves over his shoulder one last time before Mark pushes him through the door. Josh just sighs loudly, looking down at Jim, who’s already staring up at him with his head tilted.
“Yeah, buddy. I know.”
He downs the rest of his water before going about getting ready, all the while distinctly not thinking about Tyler’s little pouty face, or his laugh, or how sweet he is with Jim, or—
Okay. Maybe he is thinking about those things. Sue him.
He’s on the road within twenty minutes, opting to leave Jim home for the day. The drive to the barn isn’t long, and it slips by in no time, landscape blurring outside his windows into a stream of blue and green.
Mark and Tyler are holed up in the back of the van when he gets there, hunched over their respective laptops. He knocks on the swung open door, making them both look up and Tyler jump. His surprise softens into a smile when he sees him, and Josh feels a familiar itch under his collar.
“What’s on the docket for today?” he asks.
“Not much,” Mark answers, “Mostly just getting some routine measurements for the end of the season.”
“But,” Tyler pipes up, “we also want to get some footage to compare with the April and May storms.” He reaches behind himself as he talks, producing a camcorder and handing it to Josh. “So you’ll be in the truck with me.”
“Sounds good,” he says, accepting the camcorder. He and Mark are always the ones filming, and Tyler is always shoving the camera out of his face while he tries to drive them back home.
“Where are we going today?” Mark asks.
Tyler looks back at the screen in front of him. “East looks good. The updrafts, moisture—it’s gonna give us something, just,” he laughs under his breath, “maybe not a lot. But it’s the best we’re going to find.”
“Let’s head out, then,” Mark says, shutting his laptop and climbing out of the van so he can circle around to the driver’s seat.
Tyler is next, making his way to his truck across the driveway that only exists from being worn down over time. Josh follows after him, and they’re back on the road in just a few minutes. Josh messes with the camera as they drive, making sure it’s got enough battery to last the day and is ready for whenever Tyler tells him it’s time.
“You’re wearing your glasses today,” Tyler says, breaking the silence.
“Oh,” Josh says, reaching up instinctually to feel them, even though the frames are visible in his periphery. “I totally forgot to take them off before I left.”
Tyler laughs quietly. “I’m not making fun of you or anything, I just—you never wear them while we chase. Or like, ever, when we aren’t at your apartment or something.”
Josh laughs, too, sheepish, and looks out the window for a moment. “Guess I’m trying something new today.”
Tyler continues smiling at him as he adjusts the radio, then turns his eyes back to the road. Josh finds himself sneaking looks at him the entire time, chastising himself for it after every single one. Tyler’s his best friend. Josh should not be staring at him like this, especially with the frequency at which he does it.
But there’s something about him, especially like this, in his element, that draws Josh in like a moth to a porchlight. Right now his face is determined, gaze locked on the sky towards the brewing storm. His grip on the wheel is steady, but Josh knows there’s a fierceness behind it that he tries not to let slip. He has a drive to him, unlike any other Josh has seen. For all the time they’ve spent chasing storms, Tyler may be Josh’s favorite to try and figure out.
Tyler reaches over, knocking on the brim of Josh’s hat with one of his fingers and snapping him out of his head. “You ready?”
Josh looks out the windshield and sees the funnel beginning to dip over a field. “Yeah,” he says. “You?”
“I’m always ready,” Tyler says playfully, grabbing the handset from the dash. “Bear, you there?”
“10-4,” Mark says, “Satellite’s ready, don’t worry about us, you guys just get the footage.”
“10-10. We’ll radio back once everything clears,” Tyler says, then hangs the handset back in its place.
Josh opens the camcorder, turning it to film Tyler. “Want to describe what we’re chasing?”
Through the screen, Josh watches Tyler shake his head and grin at him, looking back and forth between the camera and the road. “Well, it’s currently the eighteenth of June, at about twelve thirty. We’re looking at a predicted F1, potentially one of the last of this season. It’s currently sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, and windspeeds are beginning to push just over eighty miles per hour.”
He tilts his head toward the windshield. “If my colleague,” he says, pointedly looking at Josh, “would actually film what he’s supposed to, you’d see that the funnel’s diameter is steadily growing.”
Josh takes the hint and swivels the camera to point outside as Tyler continues speaking. “Her path will likely reach about thirty yards wide and about two miles in length. We’re looking at minimal destruction, though—we’re outside of any civilian area, and she shouldn’t interfere with any power lines unless there’s a dramatic shift in her direction.” He gestures for Josh to move the camera back to him, which he does, and Tyler looks into it knowingly. “But that’s not gonna happen. Or so we hope.”
Josh can’t help it, he laughs, and Tyler does too. He flips the camera shut and pockets it, unbuckling his seatbelt. “Alright, I’m heading out. Don’t like, kill me or anything.”
“I’ll do my best,” Tyler says, returning his attention to the road as Josh climbs over the backseat until he’s hauling himself out of the back window.
He finds his footing easily, having done this countless times, and braces himself against the roof of the truck as the wind pierces through him. He opens the camcorder once more, and it struggles to focus for a minute before finally showing the tornado, now fully on the ground, in the crispest detail it can manage. He watches it get closer through the lens as Tyler brings them toward it, until he can finally make out each cloud that swirls together.
Josh looks up once they’ve reached a consistent speed, and he’s quickly reminded why he never wears his glasses out here. Flying dirt sprays into his vision, clouding the corners of it and leaving him one hell of a chore for later. He ignores it, though, since it’s not like he has anywhere to put them right now, and he can still see .
And see he does, watching the twister pull the gray sky after itself, making the clouds dip and warp to its will. There’s a haze of thinner clouds surrounding it, distorting the view just slightly but creating a beautiful effect, surrounded by the massive fog of dirt that’s kicked up where it dances along the ground.
Tyler reaches out his window to knock on the roof twice, their well-established signal to ask whoever’s out there if they’re alright. Josh knocks twice in response, and wishes he could pull Tyler out here with him, since he’d appreciate this sight more than anyone.
But someone has to drive, so he just keeps steady with the camera until the tornado unceremoniously fizzles out. Once the sky begins to clear, the blue returning slowly, Josh flips it shut again and climbs back inside.
He drops into his seat, out of breath. “How was it from here?”
“Are you kidding?” Tyler asks, laughing. “From here, that was nothing.”
Josh drops the camera into his lap and pulls his glasses off, seeing that they’re far worse off than he realized. “Yeah, well, that was the last time I wear these out there, let me tell you.”
Tyler looks at him skeptically, then grabs the frames from him to inspect them himself, at which point he bursts out laughing again. “Dude, oh my god, holy shit.”
Josh takes them back and simply slides them back over his nose. Trying to clean them on his equally dirty shirt will only make things smudged and smeared, so he just leaves it be for now. “Should we radio Mark?”
“He’s already headed back,” Tyler answers. “Radioed in right before you came back. We’re meeting him back at the barn.”
“Sounds good,” Josh says, finally having caught his breath.
Tyler flicks a switch on the dashboard and whatever country music the local station is playing comes screaming out of Tyler’s shitty speakers for a half second before it settles down to a low volume. Josh lets his arm hang out of the window as Tyler speeds down the old highways, hitting each dip in the road head on and jolting the entire truck.
When they reach the barn, Josh barely has one foot on the ground before he’s handing the camcorder to a waiting Mark, eager to get the footage uploaded. Tyler unhooks the tailgate on his truck and hoists himself up, laying back and stretching himself out like a cat.
Josh leans against the side, dragging his eyes away from where Tyler’s shirt rides up and exposes a strip of his stomach. “Did driving around tire you out that much?”
“Fuck off,” Tyler says, cracking his eyes open, but he’s failing to hide a smile at the same time.
“So do I get to know what we’re doing tonight?” Josh asks. “Since it’s my birthday and all that?”
“Nope,” Tyler says, closing his eyes again.
“Okay, then,” Josh says blankly. “What do I get to know?”
“All you need to worry about is being back here at eight thirty.” Tyler sits up, propping himself on his elbows and grinning. “We’ll take care of everything else.”
Josh sighs. “I suppose this is the most I’m getting out of you, huh?”
Tyler smiles wider. “Yup.”
Josh rolls his eyes. “I’m gonna go check on Mark.”
“He’s not telling you anything, either!” Tyler calls after him.
In truth, Josh knows that, but he needs to step away for a minute. Tyler’s…too much, sometimes, especially when he’s planning something like this. He’s easily excitable, always buzzing like keeping whatever it is in is taking every ounce of his energy.
It’s endearing, is what Josh would say if he had feelings for his best friend, which he absolutely, positively, one hundred percent does not. He’d say that as much as he hates surprises, especially ones he’s on the receiving end of, Tyler gets so fired up that he can’t help but give him a pass. He’d even go so far as to call it cute.
So it’s a good thing Josh won’t be saying any of that.
He finds Mark once again in the back of the van with one of the back doors open, precariously balancing a computer and the camcorder plugged into it on his lap. He knocks on the closed door to try to avoid startling him, but it doesn’t work, and Mark nearly drops both things.
“Jesus, man,” he says once he gets settled again. “Could you walk any quieter? I should’ve gotten you a collar with a bell for your birthday.”
Josh laughs quietly. “How’s the footage look?”
Mark briefly looks up from the screen to eye him. “Well, less goo goo eyes at the beginning would’ve been nice.”
“Whatever, man,” Josh says, shaking his head and looking away. “Is it usable, is what I meant.”
“Yes, it’s usable, you’re a real prodigy with a camera,” Mark deadpans. “What’s Tyler told you about tonight?”
Josh crosses his arms and leans his shoulder against the door. “Absolutely nothing, why?”
“Just making sure. He tell you what time to be here?”
“Well, yeah.” Josh shrugs as best he can from the position he’s in. “You’re not making me go out or anything, are you?”
“You’ll see,” Mark says, finally looking up properly. “I think we’re done for the day once I get this fully uploaded, but you should go check with Tyler to make sure.”
Josh gives him a two-fingered salute, laced with sarcasm, and heads back across the driveway. Tyler’s still sprawled out in his truck bed, now with one knee propped up, hands folded behind his head like he’s straight out of some dumb eighties movie. Josh reaches the truck and leans over the side of it, an unconscious smile tugging at his lips at Tyler’s focused expression, gaze trained on the sky.
“Got anything else for us today?” he asks.
Tyler jolts, even though there’s no way he hadn’t seen Josh walk up. His face splits into a smile immediately, though, and he pulls himself up into a sitting position. “Nope,” he says, looping his arms around his knee and leaning against it. “Jeez, man, your glasses are filthy.”
“Does it bug you that much?” Josh says, laughing.
“A little, yeah,” Tyler says. He goes quiet for a minute before looking back with a slight squint, and then in one quick movement he snatches Josh’s glasses right off his face.
“Hey!” Josh reaches out to grab them back, but Tyler’s already scrambled up the other wall of the truck bed, perching himself on it just out of Josh’s grasp. “Give those back, oh my god.”
“How do you even see out of these?” Tyler says, ignoring Josh’s groan. He sets to work cleaning them on his shirt, although Josh is doubtful of the good he can do.
He gives up on reaching Tyler, instead letting his arm fall back where it was. He shakes his head and sighs, making sure it’s dramatic, while Tyler continues ignoring him except to stick out his tongue briefly.
Once Tyler is properly satisfied, he holds them up to inspect them one last time before nodding to himself. “There. See, now was that so hard?”
“Fine, whatever, you’ve made your point,” Josh says. “Can I have them back now?”
Tyler pretends to consider it, then says a resounding, “No.”
He twists away when Josh tries to grab at him again, knocking himself off the truck in the process. He lands on his feet effortlessly, and his back is to Josh momentarily until he turns around, still laughing, with Josh’s glasses on his face and slipping down his nose.
“Come on, man,” Josh says, ignoring the flutter in his chest at the sight. “They don’t even fit you.”
“Yeah-huh,” Tyler says, pushing them up, but the second he removes his finger they slide right back down. “They fit just fine.”
“No, they don’t,” Josh sighs, finally walking around until he’s in front of Tyler again. “Give ‘em back.”
“No.” Tyler pouts, crossing his arms like he’s a child. “They look better on me, anyway.”
“You can’t even see yourself,” Josh says, before he can think better of what the response will be.
“Then you tell me,” Tyler says immediately. He looks down and bats his eyelashes up at Josh like a goddamn cartoon and asks, “How do I look?”
Josh, who hadn’t meant to open that particular can of worms, stalls. He’s pretty sure his pupils are currently displaying a reboot screen as he blindly fumbles for a response, eyes darting from Tyler’s, to the small amount of ground between them, to his lips, and back again.
“Um—you, uh—” he sputters, feeling his face heat up at an embarrassing speed. “You look like a dork, man.”
You look like a dork?
That’s what he landed on?
Tyler just laughs, apparently missing the mental agony Josh has found himself in. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” he says, pulling the frames off his face and handing them back. “Anyways, you should head back to your place, go change or something, and meet us back here later.”
Josh nods, sliding his glasses back into place wordlessly. Tyler starts to walk toward the barn, but just as Josh reaches his truck, he turns around. He looks like he’s going to say something, but instead he just grins and waves before disappearing into the barn.
When Josh gets back to his apartment, he leans back against the door with another loud sigh. Jim is there to greet him, nosing and pawing at his legs until Josh gives him attention.
He pulls his glasses off and sets them on his coffee table, then peels off his grimy clothes and climbs in the shower.
The warm water pouring over him should relax him, it should calm the electricity cracking through his chest and up his spine, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t do anything to distract him from the images of Tyler’s stupid laugh, with his stupid crooked teeth, and his stupid big, dumb brown eyes, currently dancing around his mind. Images that may as well be tattooed on his frontal lobe by this point.
Through futile attempts at thinking of anything else, he makes it out of the shower and winds up standing in the middle of his room in just his towel.
He shouldn’t be this worried about what to wear. It’s just Mark and Tyler, and even if they do make him go out, they won’t expect him to wear anything special.
That doesn’t stop him from tearing apart his closet, though, which he does for an obscene amount of time before settling for simple black shirt with brown pants. The results are not worth the effort he put in to get here, and he’s pretty sure he can feel Jim judging him from his spot curled up on Josh’s bed.
He stews over his outfit until he realizes it’s already eight fifteen, but at the last second he grabs a choker off his dresser—the one with pearls and a soft pink heart in the center. It adds something to the ensemble, at least.
With his hand on the doorknob, Josh does one last sweep of his apartment to make sure he hasn’t forgotten anything, and he spots his glasses still sitting on the coffee table.
He doesn’t need them, he didn’t even need them earlier today. If they actually go out he’ll have to keep up with them the entire night, which he really doesn’t want to do.
He grabs them anyway, closing the door behind himself before he can change his mind.
It’s not because of Tyler, he tells himself as he starts his truck again and heads out. It has nothing to do with him even slightly. He just wants to try wearing them out more, since most people outside of his family, Mark, and Tyler don’t even know he has them. It’s his birthday; new age, new him, right? Just because Tyler commented on them today doesn’t have to connect to Josh wearing them tonight. And it certainly has nothing to do with the image of his frames slipping down Tyler’s nose while he laughed currently replaying in Josh’s mind, either. That’s completely unrelated.
He’s just about convinced himself of it by the time he gets back to the barn, which is uncharacteristically dark when he arrives. The sun is barely out, its dwindling light still fighting over the horizon, and typically if Mark or Tyler are still here the place is lit up like it’s trying to replace said sun.
“Guys?” Josh calls once he steps out of his truck, noting that both Tyler’s and Mark’s car are still here. He spots a dim glow coming from the cracks in the walls, and he’s about to call out again when Tyler pops his head out.
“You’re late,” he says, smile reflecting the low sunlight.
“It’s only like, eight thirty-five, man,” Josh says, shaking his head.
“Which is later than eight thirty,” Tyler points out, then slides out from behind the door, making sure Josh can’t see what’s inside. He walks over to Josh, hands twitchy at his sides like he can’t keep in his excitement. “Okay, close your eyes.”
“Absolutely not,” Josh says. “I am not closing my fucking eyes.”
“Oh, come on, just do it,” Tyler whines.
“Well, now I’m convinced,” Josh deadpans.
Tyler rolls his eyes. “Don’t be a buzzkill, Josh, we’re not even going far.” He holds out his hand. “Just close your eyes and trust me.”
Josh sighs, feeling his resolve crumble within seconds. “Whatever,” he says, taking Tyler’s hand and squeezing his eyes shut.
Although he can’t see it, he can feel the excitement rolling off Tyler as he leads Josh forward. To Tyler’s credit, they actually don’t go very far, only walking a short distance before Josh hears the barn doors being opened and Tyler’s grabbing his hand again.
“Okay, open them,” he says, half giggling.
Josh cracks his eyes open and blinks a few time as he adjusts to the brighter lights. Once he does, though, he sees that they’ve got new, softer yellow lights strung up and dangling from the loft and the rafters. A shitty, dollar store “happy birthday” banner hangs among them, each individual letter swaying in place. One of the tables has been cleared of their notebooks and equipment, their place taken by a six pack of Coke and a store-bought cake with blue icing. Mark stands behind the table, grinning as he watches Josh take everything in.
“Jeez, guys,” Josh manages, sure that he’s probably blushing under the attention. “Thanks.”
“Don’t get sappy on us now, Dun,” Tyler says, clapping a hand on Josh’s shoulder. “We would’ve done more if you’d’ve let us.”
Tyler pushes him forward toward Mark and the three of them set to work cutting the cake. It proves to be more of a challenge than expected, since Tyler and Mark had barely remembered to buy plastic forks, much less knives. They refuse to let Josh help, insisting that he go sit down and rest as the “birthday boy,” but they cave when Josh instead busies himself with freeing a few bottles of Coke for each of them.
Even though Tyler says they would’ve done more, Josh is glad they didn’t, since sitting around in their shitty old lawn chairs eating cake that tastes like nothing is better than any present he could’ve asked for. He doubts Tyler was even serious, with how brightly he and Mark are laughing and smiling. The next few hours slip by without Josh even noticing.
Eventually, Tyler gets up for another slice of cake, and Mark hands Josh a small wrapped present. “Happy birthday, man.”
Josh looks at him quizzically, setting his soda down and slowly, carefully unwrapping it. Mark groans as he winces every time the tape rips the papers. “Come on, dude, we’re not saving that shit or anything. Just fuckin’ rip it.”
“Fuck off,” Josh says, refusing to do so. He finally gets the paper off to reveal the first Fast & Furious movie on dvd. He looks over the back like he isn’t all-too familiar with the synopsis, laughing and shaking his head. “Thanks, man.”
Mark shrugs. “That’s not an invitation to watch it every single time we have movie night, though.”
Josh snorts and glances over at Tyler trying to wrestle the last bottle out of the cardboard, his chest warming at the sight. “Seriously, though. Thanks for…” Josh gestures vaguely, “all this.”
Mark shrugs again, playing it off. “It was mostly his idea, honestly,” he says, jerking his thumb in Tyler’s direction. “I didn’t know what we were gonna do with you. But let it be known,” he adds, “I bought the cake and the banner.”
“Well, you’ve got exquisite taste in both,” Josh says, picking his bottle back up and lifting it to his lips.
“I try.” Mark laughs as soon as he gets the words out, his attempt at a straight face crumbling.
“Hey, Mark!” Tyler calls. “You want your second Coke?”
“Nah,” Mark calls back. “I’m probably gonna take off, actually.”
“What?” Tyler whines, shoulders drooping. “Already?”
“Yeah, I’ve kinda got a morning shift tomorrow.” Mark stands, heading over to the table to throw away his plate. “You know, at the real job I work?”
“Shut up,” Josh says, laughing into his bottle as he finishes it off.
“We literally all still have jobs,” Tyler says, indignant.
“Managing weather reports for the radio station doesn’t count, weather boy,” Mark says. “Josh gets a pass for still working a nine-to-five, even if it’s the fuckin’ music store and not Walmart.”
“Do not blame me for that,” Josh says, pointing at Mark to emphasize. “We applied to the same places, it is not my fault Walmart hired you on the spot.”
“Implying that I am Walmart’s ideal choice for a cashier might be the most insulting thing you’ve ever said to me.” Mark grabs his keys from one of the other tables, spinning the ring around his finger once. “Anyway, I’ll see you guys around. Don’t break our equipment while I’m gone.”
Josh and Tyler both throw their hands up in unison, as if to say when have we ever given you that concern, but Mark just gives them a warning look before he heads out the doors.
Tyler comes back, dropping into Mark’s former chair next to Josh instead of the one he had been using, Coke and plate in his hands. “Wanna split this?” he asks, offering the bottle to Josh.
Soundly ignoring the way his heart kicks, Josh just nods and takes it, digging his keys back out to pop the cap off. He catches Tyler watching him do it out of the corner of his eye, but he writes it off, since Tyler’s never opened a bottle with a key by himself successfully. He takes a small drink before handing it back to Tyler.
Tyler immediately lifts it to his lips, and Josh can’t pull his eyes away from the sight, a small voice now at the front of his mind screaming about how their lips just touched indirectly.
They pass it back and forth a few times in silence as Tyler finishes off his slice of cake, until he says, “Let’s go outside.”
It’s not really a suggestion so much as a statement, almost a command, so he and Josh fold up the chair no longer in use and drag the other two outside, behind the barn. It’s fully dark out now, but the moon is almost full and the lights from inside still cast just enough of a glow for them to see each other. They settle back into a rhythm of working on the last soda, listening to the crickets and the few cicadas still screaming in the distance.
“Oh, shit,” Tyler says, sitting up from where he’d been leaning on his chair arm toward Josh. “I almost forgot.” He digs around in his pocket until he pulls out something wrapped tightly in a plastic bag and hands it to Josh.
Josh raises an eyebrow at the packaging, and Tyler just laughs. “Don’t start, man, just open it.”
So Josh does as he says, and inside is a tiny figurine of a dog with a blue bandanna that looks strikingly like Jim.
Tyler points at the string attached to his back. “You know, so you can put him in your truck, since like, we don’t really take him chasing.”
It’s incredibly sweet, and Josh finds himself smiling, a feeling in his chest he can’t quite put a name to yet. “Thanks, dude.”
Tyler shrugs, folding himself into his chair and taking another drink. “Yeah, well,” he starts, looking away. “It’s—it’s not much, I just saw it a while ago, and—”
“Tyler,” Josh cuts in, almost laughing at how shy he seems now. “It’s great. I love it.”
Tyler smiles, really smiles, and looks away again. Josh takes the moment to really take him in tonight, even though he looks just the same as he did earlier, the only difference being a fresh white t-shirt over his black cargo pants instead of a gray one under his jacket.
He doesn’t look different, but he feels different, he always does at times like these. When it’s just the two of them, and the looks shared get longer and softer, like there could be meaning behind them if Josh let himself think too hard about it. And yet, Josh never finds himself overthinking until later, he just lets himself be present in whatever space they’re in. It’s the easiest thing in the world, he thinks, to just exist with Tyler.
It goes quiet for a bit while Josh pulls his gaze away and traces his finger over the small Jim in his hand, until Tyler knocks his arm with the bottle, leaving drops of condensation in its wake.
“You take the rest,” he says, and Josh does, even though there’s barely two drinks left in it. Tyler hums softly for a second, before saying, “I think we’ll be ready by next season.”
“Ready?” Josh asks.
“Yeah, I think—I think if we really crack down on it in the next few months, we could get Dorothy in the air by this time next year.”
Dorothy, of course, how could Josh forget? Tyler’s passion project, that he’s been trying to build with Mark and Josh for going on two years now. They’re finally getting a solid prototype design worked out, both for the canister and the sensors. They’ve been applying for funding from their old college for months, but Mark’s sure they have a good chance with this latest pitch. Of course, he’s said that just about every time, but confidence is key, Josh supposes.
“Yeah?” Josh says, half smile tugging at his mouth. “You really think so?”
“Of course I do,” Tyler says without missing a beat. He’s trying to keep up an unfazed demeanor, but Josh knows him well enough to see the fear lingering behind it. He wants everything to work out, and if it doesn’t, it’ll crush him—and that goes double for something as important to him as Dorothy.
“Don’t you?” Tyler asks, his voice is quieter, less sure.
Josh wonders if he should be the cold, hard realist—the university hasn’t given them any indication they’d even listen to another pitch, and even if they do, they’d probably only have one real shot to prove themselves. Statistically, the likelihood of that working out is smaller than getting funding at all.
But Tyler is looking at Josh like he holds the answer to every question in the world, and Josh would capture a tornado in a jar if Tyler said the word.
“Yeah,” he says. “I do.”
Tyler grins, soft at first, then wider, letting the moment hang in the air for a second. “So,” he says, tone shifting back to his normal, unable-to-be-serious one. “How would you rate this birthday out of ten?”
Josh laughs, loosely spinning the bottle in his hand by the neck. “You’re gonna make me fill out a survey?”
“Well, I have to know.” Tyler twists in his chair so one of his legs is draped over the arm closest to Josh. “I’ve gotta start preparing for next year.”
Josh shakes his head, still laughing. “I guess…I’d give this one a…”
His eyes land on Tyler, biting his lip slightly in anticipation, genuinely seeking Josh’s approval underneath his relaxed demeanor.
A ten. More than ten. I think it’s the best one I’ve ever had, because you being right beside me could make anything better.
“...an eight,” he finishes, finally finishing off the bottle.
“An eight?” Tyler practically shouts, quickly sitting up and almost sliding out of the chair in the process. “What docks points?”
Josh shrugs. “The cake could’ve been better.”
Tyler rolls his eyes and groans. “Oh my god, you’re docking two points because of the cake ? Are you serious?”
Josh gives him a fake sympathetic look. “You asked for my opinion.”
“And you’re being an asshole,” Tyler says, shaking his head. “Come on, let’s get these back inside, you big, stupid baby.”
“You’re the one name calling,” Josh points out as they each stand and start folding up their chairs. “And throwing a fit.”
“I am not throwing a fit,” Tyler says, turning around to walk backwards while they head inside.
“Sure you’re not,” Josh teases.
“Whatever,” Tyler says, grabbing Josh’s chair from him to put with Mark’s already stored one. “See if I even do anything for you next year.”
Josh laughs at him, and Tyler’s façade disappears as he does too, because they both know that if anything, this will just spur Tyler into something more elaborate out of spite.
Tyler walks Josh back to his truck once they have everything cleaned up and back in its usual place, both stopping beside the driver’s side door.
“Do you want me to—”
“I’ll get the lights and everything here,” Tyler says before Josh can fully get the question out. “Don’t worry.”
He huffs a small laugh at how well Tyler knows him, and lingers for another few seconds before reaching for the door handle.
“Josh?” Tyler says, and Josh immediately turns back to see him rocking back and forth on his feet, hands in his back pockets.
“Yeah?” he asks.
“I—” Tyler starts, but whatever he was going to say, he seems to decide against it. “Happy birthday, man.”
Josh smiles, closing in on himself. “Thanks, Tyler.”
There’s one more moment, heavy with something going unsaid, before Tyler’s waving goodbye and damn near sprinting back into the barn.
Josh stares after him until he disappears inside, plus an extra minute, before he finally climbs into his truck. He checks his mirrors as he pulls onto the road, and sees Tyler once again standing outside, watching him go.
It’s not the first time that time spent together has ended with one of them left behind, looking after the other, and Josh is sure it won’t be the last.