Chapter Text
Tyler always gets the longest shifts at the grocery store. Shifts that leave him leaning on his register, yawning behind his hand and trying not to drool all over himself.
Which is a feat he personally thinks he should get a raise for because he had to get up early this morning to finish his English paper, get to class and turn it in, attend his two other classes, and then come here to stand behind the conveyor belt and make a valiant attempt not to collapse in exhaustion.
But he really needs the money.
“Tyler.”
He glances tiredly over to the customer service desk and his manager flashes five fingers at him.
Stifling another yawn, Tyler grabs his phone and hits the speaker button. His voice crackles over the intercom. “Attention shoppers, we will be closing in five minutes. Please bring any and all items to register 8 for checkout, please. Thank you.”
He all but slams the phone back down onto the receiver and hangs his head, eyes slipping shut.
“Boo!”
An eye cracks back open.
Tyler has to lean over the edge of the counter to see the girl standing there, she’s so short. Maybe 6 or 7, with long dark hair and chubby cheeks. She’s wearing a pink shirt with a silver studded crown on it, a fluffy pink tutu, and pink and purple striped tights. The getup is garish, but cute.
“Hi there, princess.” Tyler leans over the counter and smiles, his head thumping. “Who do you belong to?”
“I’m not a princess!” The girl spits. “I’m a pirate!”
Tyer hums. “Then why are you wearing a tutu?”
“Because daddy dressed me.” She rolls her eyes, long-suffering, and hooks a finger at Tyler. “Boo!”
“Don’t you know pirates say-“
“Riley!” This from a man who comes skidding into view between registers 8 and 9. “Jesus, kid, you can’t just run away from me like that. You scared the hell out of me.”
The man scoops her up and Riley scowls. “Mama says hell is a bad word.”
“Yeah, well, mama’s not here right now, right?”
The girl shrugs, as if to say I guess you’re right.
The man settles Riley on his hip and bounces her a bit, parts her hair away from her face and inspects her for nonexistent cuts and bruises. Then he turns dark eyes on Tyler. “Sorry about her. She can be slippery.”
The man is wearing a suit that doesn’t look cheap - though to Tyler anything that costs more than 20 dollars might as well be designer - and he has dark hair that meets on his chin to form a scruffy beard. Speaking of designer, the watch on his wrist looks like it costs more than Tyler’s entire wardrobe.
Tyler shakes his head. “I was just trying to explain to her that she’s a princess, not a pirate.”
“Come again?” The man looks confused and Tyler can’t believe he has to explain the difference between a princess and a pirate to a grown-ass man.
Instead of doing that, though, he just says, “Because of the tutu?”
“Oh,” the man laughs, “I just thought it’d be cute.”
“I’m a pirate!” Riley shrieks. “Boo!”
“Argh, actually,” Tyler corrects.
“Argh?”
“Argh, matey. It’s what pirates say.”
“Argh, matey!” She tries it out, puffing her cheeks. “I like boo better.”
“Whatever floats your boat.”
The man watches this interaction bemusedly and then glances at the clock. “Shit-“
“Another bad word!” Riley yells.
“-do you have like, 2 more minutes? I really have to grab something.”
It’s one minute past closing now, but Tyler shrugs. There are no other customers currently in the store and the guy seems pretty harried. Tyler’s manager is also nowhere in sight. “Sure.”
He really should be getting back to the dorms soon and catching up on the sleep he lost last night, but why would he pass up the chance to talk to the hottest guy he’s seen in a while? Especially when he’s already been so low on sleep the past few weeks that it hardly even affects him anymore.
Hardly, right.
That’s why he’s nodding off again when hot dad comes back with a sugar-free fruit punch powder, practically dragging Riley by the hand, who seems to want to knock everything off every shelf she sees.
Tyler can’t help but laugh, even though he’ll be the one cleaning it up.
Riley grins at him.
By way of conversation, Tyler, as he’s sliding the powder along the scanner and bagging it, says, “This stuff is really good,” even though he’s never had it.
“Oh, yeah?” The guy is riffling through his wallet and forking a 20 over. “She needs it because she loves juice, but she can’t have sugar.”
“Maltodextrin,” Riley corrects.
“Same thing, honey.”
Tyler doesn’t know if maltodextrin is the same thing as sugar - he’s not a Bio major. He hands hot dad his change and the bag with Riley’s sugar-free fruit juice powder.
Hot dad hefts the bag. “You sure this is gonna be good?”
“Cross my heart,” Tyler says, and does so.
“Thank you…” Hot dad squints at his name tag. “Tyler.”
“You’re welcome…” Tyler trails off, hoping for a name.
He doesn’t get one, just a small smile and a wave from Riley.
Although the guy does glance back once, at the exit door, and Tyler gives the flirtiest smile he can manage, knowing nothing will come of it anyway.
-
“He was probably the hottest guy I’ve ever seen,” Tyler elaborates.
“You said he had a daughter. How old was this guy?”
“About middle age-“ Mark pretends to be sick. “-but he was really hot, dude, I swear!”
“I’ll believe it when I see a picture of him.” Mark pops a Sour Skittle into his mouth and wipes the leftover sour dust onto the floor.
Tyler frowns. “Dude, c’mon. We’re in the library.”
“So? I don’t get paid to perform janitorial duties.”
“Whatever.” Tyler sighs and starts gathering his things. “That’s a no on the picture anyway - I don’t think Hot Dad’s gonna be coming in anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve worked there for months and I’ve never seen him before. He was probably just passing through.”
“Never know,” Mark says with a little wink. “Stranger things have happened.”
“Mhm.” Tyler gets his bag packed and starts for the exit.
“Hey, if you get that essay done before me can you send it over so I can copy off you?”
Tyler flips him the bird.
-
Stranger things have happened, as Tyler can attest to. Like the fact that he actually passed his Public Speaking final his Freshman year or that Jenna Black even wanted to talk to him in high school (even though they broke up when they graduated). Or the fact that two days later Hot Dad is wandering down Tyler’s lane with a basket full of food.
Tyler thinks of his phone, burning a hole in his pocket, and wishes his manager weren’t standing right over at customer service watching him otherwise he’d whip it out and take a creeper picture to show Mark later on. And rub it in his face that this is the hot middle-aged guy Tyler met at the organic supermarket so suck on that, Mark!
“You guys moved your sugar-free juice powder,” Hot Dad says, mock annoyed, as he starts piling his things on the conveyor belt.
“You should’ve come to me,” Tyler tells him, trying not to make the innuendo too obvious. “I could’ve pointed you in the right direction.”
Hot Dad shrugs and smiles. “It’s alright. A nice young man was able to help me after I looked around for about half an hour.”
Which young man? Tyler wants to ask. Was it Brian? I bet it was, that snake. There he is down aisle 10 now - grab him!
“You found everything else okay?” Hot Dad nods and Tyler glances at a spot of floor by his feet. “No Riley today?”
The other man gives a jerk of his head, which Tyler thinks is supposed to mean no. “She’s with her mom this weekend.”
Tyler’s kind of not glad he brought the daughter up and he scans and bags in silence for a while. Eventually everything is bagged and he clears his throat awkwardly. “Your total comes to-“
“How old are you, Tyler?”
His brain short circuits and he says “cash or credit” before wringing his hands together. “Me?” He asks, as though there’s anyone else around the man might be asking. “I’m, uh, 19.”
Hot Dad nods, swiping his card on the pin pad without bothering to look at the screen. No, instead he’s looking right at Tyler. He’s wearing a different suit today, but still a nice one. He doesn’t say anything.
So Tyler rocks back and forth a little, not wanting Hot Dad to go but also wanting him to leave actually right the fuck now so Tyler can piss his pants like he feels he’s about to. “How old are you?” He asks, because it’s only fair, right?
“I’m 34,” the man says and doesn’t give Tyler time to even digest that information before he’s grabbing his bags and saying, “listen, the reason I ask is because I was wondering if you’d like to go out sometime. I know it must be weird, getting hit on by a guy almost twice your age, but-“
“No!” Tyler shouts, and he’s shaking and didn’t mean to say it that loud. He composes. “No, it’s not weird. At all. I’ve been hit on by guys twice your age, trust me.”
“But it weirds you out that I have a kid?”
“Nope. Does weird me out that I don’t know your name, though. I just call you Hot Dad to all my friends.” Just the one, actually.
“Are you serious?” Hot Dad thinks that’s just the most hilarious thing he’s ever heard, doubling over with laughter in the middle of Tyler’s lane. Tyler’s just glad there’s no one behind him in line. He wipes a tear from his eye. “That’s amazing. I’m Josh.”
“Tyler.”
Josh grins. “This I know.”
Turning toward the receipt console, he rolls a piece out, grabs a pen from his apron, and scribbles his number down. When he turns back, Josh has a can of something held out to him. “My number,” Tyler says.
And Josh says, “For you” as they switch items. “Looked like you needed some serious caffeination help last time I saw you.”
Josh tosses the piece of receipt in one of his bags and gathers them. “I’ll call you.”
“Please do.”
Tyler clutches the can in his hand until Josh is all the way out the door, and then looks down. It’s a tall, ice cold can of Starbucks doubleshot.
He sets the can on the register and sort of clutches his chest. Did I just get a sugar daddy?
-
He didn’t, in fact, get a sugar daddy. At least not in the traditional sense of swapping money or material items for sex. Because Josh calls him late that night when he’s hanging out with Mark and keeps his promise to actually ask him on a real date.
“This is him!” Tyler shouts, shooting up and letting his Xbox controller fall to the floor. Of course, he doesn’t really know if it’s Josh, but it’s the only unknown number that’s called him in God knows how long.
“Let me listen!” Mark screams back, making grabby hands.
On the TV, both of their characters die.
“Gross, no, stop.” He’s about to answer when Mark stands and advances toward him.
“If you don’t put that shit on speaker phone right now I’m gonna scream ‘fuck me in the ass’ while you’re on the phone with him.”
Tyler has to lock himself in the bathroom before he answers, trying to sound casual and like he didn’t just have to run around the room dodging his best friend. “Hello?”
“Tyler, hi! It’s Josh. How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m really good, how are you?”
“Doing well. Where are you?” Josh asks, presumably because Tyler’s voice is echoing. Fucking Mark.
“I’m, uh…at the gym?” Tyler says, and then makes a face. Why the fuck did he say that?
Josh grunts. “Listen, are you still up for our date?”
“Of course!”
“Great. I was thinking tomorrow night? Around 8? You can pick the place if you want.”
“Sure, that sounds fun.” Tyler bites his lip, already running through a list of restaurants that aren’t too expensive, but are still classy enough that Josh won’t think he’s a total heathen.
“You can text me your address and I’ll pick you up then?”
Tyler nods, forgetting Josh can’t see him. “Okay. I’ll see you then.”
“Awesome. Goodbye, Tyler.”
“Bye, Josh.”
Tyler sits on the toilet for a moment and then hears Mark yell, “Fuck me in the ass! My man’s gonna get his dick wet!”
-
Though Tyler is glad Josh wanted an actual date and not just to hit it and quit it, he wouldn’t mind if the date turned into something more after the fact. Anyone who knew Tyler (so really only Mark) knew he had a type, and Josh ticked all his boxes. Older, handsome, and slightly mysterious.
But it’s not to be. Josh texts him the following night, after Tyler has gotten dressed in his nicest button-down and a tie, for Christ’s sake, and tells him he won’t be able to make it, that something came up.
Disappointed, but not one to be easily deterred, Tyler replies.
It’s all good. Reschedule?
Definitely.
How about next weekend?
Perfect.
So he won’t get a free meal tonight and he won’t get a dick up his ass and he won’t even get a goodnight kiss. But that’s okay. Because he’ll get all those things next weekend.
Tyler takes his nice clothes off and climbs in bed, masturbates furiously to the thought of Josh holding him down and fucking him within an inch of his life.
-
During his next shift at the grocery store he has to deal with some lady telling him he needs to learn how to bag correctly and/or do it faster and also stop scanning things twice (even though he didn’t scan anything twice) and no, I don’t need the receipt, you’ve wasted enough of my time.
So he’s already in a pretty shit mood when Josh makes an appearance.
“Hey, Tyler!” Josh starts piling things onto the belt with a smile, unabashed.
“Hi,” Tyler answers, scanning Josh’s items one by one. He’s not smiling.
Josh’s own grin falters only minimally. “How’ve you been?”
“Peachy. You?”
“I’ve been okay, thanks.” Josh’s smile disappears completely and Tyler doesn’t feel bad about the silence that follows, nor anxious. Not like the last time Josh was in his line and he felt like pissing himself out of excitement and nervousness.
“Your total comes to $45.63. Cash or credit?”
Josh is biting his lip, chewing on it really. “Credit.”
“Swipe.” Tyler leans back and crosses his arms.
“Are we, uh…are we still on for this weekend?” Josh questions.
“If you wanna be.” Tyler hands him his bags, a little rougher than necessary.
Josh rummages around in one and proffers another can of doubleshot. “For you.”
This time, Tyler just looks at Josh’s outstretched arm, covered once more by his nice - probably Armani - suit. “No, thanks.”
Tilting his head, Josh frowns. “You sure?”
“Positive.” You can’t buy my affection, douchebag.
Josh sucks on his lips in a way Tyler can’t help but find endearing. “Okay,” he says, and plops the can back into the bag. “Have a good rest of your day.”
“You, too.”
-
Tyler cools down from his encounter with the rudest lady ever a little too late.
Josh lets him know a little farther ahead of time that he’s not going to be able to make it. Something else came up.
Right. Tyler’s smartass attitude.
At least according to Mark.
“You shouldn’t have bitched him out that day, dude,” Mark says, trying to sound sympathetic, but instead coming off bossy. “I’m telling you that’s why he cancelled again.”
Tyler’s phone vibrates. “He wants to reschedule again, so…”
Mark sighs. “I mean, that’s up to you. But if you do, don’t be an asshat this time around. Because you know you’ll see him at work sometime between then and now.”
But the thing is, Tyler isn’t sure if he wants to go out with Josh anymore. It’s beginning to become too much of a hassle, there are too many rules. Do this if you want him and don’t do this if you really want him and jump three times on one foot and roll around on the floor like a dog.
Sorry, is Tyler’s reply, but I’m not really interested anymore.
What?
Why not?
He doesn’t answer, just turns his phone’s screen off and tosses it on his pillow.
Josh is, after all, just a guy. Tyler was looking forward to some really good sex and some really good food, but there will be other guys.
“So?” Mark asks, and Tyler can tell he’s genuinely interested even though his eyes won’t leave the game he’s playing, something Tyler’s never heard of before.
“Told him I didn’t really want to. Pretty sure he’s straight anyway.”
“What?” Mark snorts. “If he were straight, why would he ask you out?”
Tyler shrugs. “Any number of reasons.” Many of which he doesn’t feel like explaining to Mark, his super straight best friend. “Anyway he has a kid. Like, if that doesn’t scream straight I don’t know what does.”
“Having a kid doesn’t automatically make you straight, dude. He could be bi or pan or maybe he was figuring things out and still having sex with girls at the time, who the hell knows? I think it’s pretty admirable of him to keep in contact with the kid if it’s any of those things. Especially if he’s gay.” Mark pauses the game and looks seriously at Tyler. “Dude, he wasn’t wearing a ring, was he?”
“Nah. He’s definitely separated or divorced or something. I just…” Tyler inhales and then blows his breath out so that his lips flap together. “…I dunno, I’d like to see him of course. But if he’s not gonna make an effort, then what’s the point?”
“True that,” Mark sighs, and Tyler can tell the conversation’s over.
-
Tyler stands playing Mystic Messenger on his phone while his manager’s away inspecting the meat department and there are no customers in line.
He goes to scratch his nose and sees something out of the corner of his eye right before it swings down onto the conveyor. A hand, holding sugar-free juice packets.
Why does Josh always have to show up when the store’s way less than busy? Does he plan it this way? Knowing him - in his fancy, accountant-esque suits - he probably does.
“Hi,” Josh says, and Tyler shoves his phone in his pocket, goes to grab the container of packets and scan them, but Josh whips them out of his reach. “I’m really sorry if I did something to offend you.”
God, not this. Tyler would say there’s nothing worse than a desperate guy, but he can’t. He’s been in that same situation before.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Tyler lies, makes another swipe for the container.
But Josh steps back and cradles it to his chest, making it so that Tyler has no chance of grabbing it. And no choice but to stand here and talk to Josh, seeing as he can’t leave his post or Jerry will flip his shit when he comes back to customer service.
“Is there a reason you don’t want to go out with me anymore?”
Tyler crosses his arms and looks away. Why not tell him the truth? “You cancelled on me twice.” Josh makes to say something, but Tyler cuts him off. “Let me finish. You cancelled on me twice and I don’t believe you’re really gay. Or queer, or whatever.”
This seems to take Josh aback, confusion overtaking his features. “Why the hell would I ask you out if I wasn’t?”
Only a straight guy would have to ask that question. “Y’wanna know the truth, Josh? I think you’re just like every other middle-aged straight guy out there, looking to get his rocks off with young boys and then going home to their wives at night. Except you don’t have a wife. I see no ring. Hell, maybe that’s the reason you got a divorce in the first place. She catch you with one of your students in the bathroom of the school’s auditorium during the sports banquet?”
“That is most certainly not why we got divorced-“
“Irrelevant. And also, don’t care. I’m not gonna be some weird little twink you can take out to dinner and dote on and fuck a couple times and then go back to living your normal, straight life.” For some odd reason, he’s all fired up over nothing. If you consider being hit on by sleazy guys like Josh - some with blatant wedding rings on their fingers - twenty times a day nothing. Guys looking for some strange, a quick fuck to satisfy what their wives can’t. “Get out of my line.”
“Tyler, that’s not fair-“
“Life’s not fair,” Tyler says petulantly. He sees his manager coming back to the customer service desk which means he has to speed this up before he gets in trouble for being rude to a guest. “I don’t wanna go out with you and I don’t want to ring you up. So I’m asking you kindly to please leave. And find another grocery store to go to while you’re at it.”
Tyler knows for a fact that this is the only organic supermarket for a good fifteen miles. Good. Make him work for it.
Josh definitely wants to say something else, to dispute everything Tyler just said, or maybe curse him out. But he doesn’t. He puts his daughter’s sugar-free juice packets on the counter and he leaves.
-
Josh stops coming to the store and Tyler doesn’t hear from him for two weeks after that.
And even though he’s gotten other offers from guys wanting to take him out, he’s declined them all.
“Maybe I should like, buff up,” he says to Mark one day in the library. “Then I can grow a beard and be a bear and stop being this sick little twink fantasy for so many guys.”
“Only one problem with that,” Mark says over his homework, and then glances up, “you can’t put on weight to save your life.”
“You don’t think if someone put a gun to my head and asked me to gain ten pounds in a week that I could do it?”
Mark only frowns.
“Damn…you’re right, though.”
“Is this about Josh?” Mark asks hesitantly.
“No!” A pause. “I mean, maybe a little. Look, he was just the catalyst. I realize now the whole thing’s fucked. Being gay. It’s not fucking fun. Not in this world. Guys like Josh are why no one can take us seriously.”
“I think you’re being a little too hard on him.”
The truth is, Tyler thinks so too.
-
He waits for Josh to call, and realizes he’s not going to. Tyler ripped into him so bad that he’s most likely moved on by now, either to a girl if he’s straight or a guy if he just so happens to be gay. Tyler’s not holding his breath.
He’s also not calling Josh because he expects anything to come of it. He’s not calling because he wants to still go on a date, he’s not calling because he’s secretly in love with a guy he’s only met three times. He’s calling because he wants some answers.
Which, by the way, is a thing he’s doing. Calling Josh. From the bathroom again so Mark can’t eavesdrop. He’s pacing beside the toilet, kind of hoping Josh won’t pick up.
“Tyler?”
Damn.
Confounded, Tyler says, “Are you gay?”
There’s static on the other end. It lasts so long Tyler thinks Josh must have hung up. Then, finally, “Yes, I’m gay.”
“Not…not bisexual or pansexual or omni or anything like that?”
“No.”
“Then explain your daughter.” He grimaces, realizing how shitty that sounded. “I mean, you don’t have to explain why you had her, just how-“
“I didn’t know. Back then, I didn’t know. Or…I guess I did? But I didn’t want to face it. And when my wife and I had Riley she was the best thing that ever happened to me. You won’t understand until you have kids - if you have kids - but believe it or not she was what gave me the courage to stop lying to myself. And my wife.”
“And that’s why you divorced? Because she found out you were gay?”
“Because I told her.”
Tyler chews on a fingernail. “And, what, she hates you now?”
“I would prefer not to talk about her, Tyler.”
“Okay.”
There’s a silence that’s not exactly awkward and not exactly comfortable.
And then Josh says, “Can I explain why I cancelled on you?”
“Sure.” Even though this is kind of the part he’s dreading most.
“Riley’s mom…she wasn’t the most understanding about the whole me being gay thing. I told her not to tell anyone until I knew for sure what was going on, but she went ahead and told all of our mutual friends anyway and I lost a lot of people I was close with after that. Among other things.” A sigh. “Those two weekends I had told her that I had something to do and asked if she could please take Riley those days. She said yes, but when the time came for us to go out she sprung it on me that she couldn’t have Riley, that she had something very important to do, and I’d have to take her.”
Tyler scrubs a hand over his face. “Why not just hire a babysitter?”
A humorless laugh from Josh’s end. “You’re gonna think I’m crazy, but I don’t like leaving her with other people. I don’t trust anyone enough.”
Tyler feels like an asshole. “No, that’s…that’s not crazy. I understand. My mom was like that with my brother when he was born.”
“So, yeah. I am really sorry for flaking, but what was I supposed to do? Bring her to dinner with us?”
With dawning realization, Tyler grins, chin nestled in his palm. “Yeah, actually.” Josh doesn’t say anything - probably flabbergasted - so Tyler goes on. “Tell your ex that you need this weekend free. If she still makes you take Riley, bring her to dinner. I won’t mind.”
“…Tyler?”
“Oh.” Horror sets in, as he now realizes he may have gotten ahead of himself. “That is, if you still want to even go on a date with me. After how I acted.”
“I do,” Josh says, sounding very sure of himself, and Tyler is relieved. “I just…are you sure?”
“Positive. I’ll phone around and see if I can find any restaurants that serve kid stuff without…what was it, again?”
“Maltodextrin.”
“Right. Does that sound okay?”
“Jesus, Tyler, that sounds…that sounds perfect. Thank you.”
“Just don’t make me regret this. Please.”
“I won’t.”
-
That’s how Tyler Joseph finds himself out to dinner with Josh Dun. And Riley Dun in a booster chair beside them.
“Mama told me ‘argh, matey’ really is what pirates say so I’m gonna say that from now on. You’re welcome.” She pops a celery stick between her teeth.
“Thank you?” Tyler has an amused smile on his face and Josh looks absolutely petrified. “She’s precocious as hell…heck. Sorry.”
Josh doesn’t even correct him, just leans over and tells Riley to stop playing with her food. She has the remainder of her celery sticks propped up in a puddle of peanut butter, creating a fort, pretending her carrots are soldiers at the gate.
“Josh.” Tyler reaches across the table to put a hand on Josh’s arm. “She’s fine. This is fine, I promise. It’s not weird.”
“Why weird?” Riley chirps, but not like she expects an answer. She’s still playing with her celery.
Josh is so pale.
“What’s it gonna take for me to get you to loosen up, huh?”
The double entendre isn’t lost on Josh, who finally exhales and leans back in his seat. He scrubs a hand over his beard. “God, it’s been so long since I’ve been on a first date I don’t even know what to do on one.”
“Can’t say I blame you. This isn’t exactly a normal date, with ole’ ball and chain over here.” Tyler hikes a finger at Riley and Josh looks mortified once more. “Kidding! Totally kidding.”
Riley sticks a peanut butter-covered tongue out at Tyler and Tyler blows a raspberry back. She giggles.
“Tell you what.” Tyler turns his attention back to Josh. “I can ask you some questions and then you can ask me some. How’s that?”
Rigid, Josh nods.
Tyler starts with what he does for a living. Marketing. What his favorite food is. Tacos. His favorite movie. Fight Club.
“What’s that?” Riley asks with a mouthful of food.
“A movie you can’t see until you’re very old,” Josh tells her, and ruffles her hair.
Tyler smiles. “Have you always lived in Columbus?”
“I was born and raised in Cincinnati, actually. After the divorce was finalized I moved up here. The day we met you, actually, was the day I officially moved in.”
“And…Riley’s mom. She still lives in Cincinnati?”
“Yes.” Josh gives a curt little nod. Tyler won’t make him talk about her any more than he already has, since it seems to pain him so much.
He turns his attention to Riley. “And how about you? What’s your favorite movie?”
She hoists a celery stick like a sword. “Pirates of the Caribbean!”
-
Josh invites Tyler back to his house, which is in the county and bigger than any house Tyler has ever stepped in.
Riley is rubbing her eyes and yawning and Josh says he’s going to put her to bed, that Tyler can make himself comfortable in the living room, when his phone rings. “Shit, it’s work. Can you-“
Without thinking, Tyler scoops Riley up and settles her on his hip. “No problem.”
“…I was gonna say keep an eye on her, but-“ Josh cuts himself off, sees the way Riley’s winding her tiny arms around Tyler’s neck, too tired to even call her father out on using a curse word. “U-Uh…her bedroom’s on the second floor - last door on the right.”
Tyler nods and starts climbing the stairs as Josh answers his ringing cell phone, half watching Tyler with his daughter and half slinking into the kitchen. It’s a testament to how much money Josh really has that his house is more than two stories. He stops on the second floor, though curious as to what’s on the third.
Riley’s room is all shades of pink - Josh obviously put a lot of thought into the design, but not the kind Riley wanted apparently because she’s slapped pirate stickers all over the walls. And Josh evidently rethought his choice and had someone come in to put a giant skull and crossbones decal over her bed.
“You’re a lucky kid, you know that?” He whispers, and Riley stirs as he lays her down.
“Dad?”
Tyler’s pulling her shoes off when he says, “Nope. Just Tyler.”
“Oh.” She can barely keep her eyes open.
Tyler pulls the covers down under her and then back over, tucking her in like his mom used to do for him. “Goodnight,” he says quietly, rising to go, but she claps a chubby little hand over his.
“Were you and daddy on a date tonight?”
Glancing around the odd-looking room, Tyler doesn’t know how to answer that. Then he decides there’s no point in lying to the girl, right? “Yeah. We were.”
“Good. Daddy needs a boyfriend even though mommy calls him nasty names and says he’s bad. But daddy needs someone to take care of him, too.”
After that, she’s fading, eyes closed completely and her head tilting back. Tyler shakes her hand. “What kind of names does she call him? Riley?”
But it’s too late - she’s out like a light.
Tyler scrubs a hand through his hair and lets himself out quietly, closing the door with a quiet shuff of air.
“How is she?” Josh’s voice is loud in the hallway.
“Shhh!” Tyler shushes him and ushers him down the hall. “She’s fine. I put her to sleep in the clothes she was wearing. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course.” Instead of leading Tyler downstairs, Josh starts taking the steps upstairs. “I didn’t expect you to do that anyway.”
They emerge into a lounge, complete with minibar and everything.
Tyler’s eyes widen. “Jesus, dude. How much money do you have?”
“A bit.” Josh goes to sit on the couch, motioning for Tyler to follow.
“You’re not trying to get me drunk, are you?”
“That’s something I will not do, Mr. Not Yet 21.”
Tyler sits beside Josh, but a fair distance away. The couch is huge. “You’re not gonna drink, are you?”
“No.” Josh turns the TV on, but keeps the volume low. The news is on and he doesn’t bother to change it. Tyler gets the feeling they’re not going to be doing much TV-watching anyway.
He rubs his palms against his thighs. “How’s everything with work?”
“Ugh, tiring. Annoying. I told them not to call me this weekend, but you know how that goes.”
“I really don’t.” Tyler tilts his head and sticks his tongue out, going for cute. At the restaurant Josh asked what he did for a living, if he worked anywhere other than the grocery store, and Tyler told him he was a student.
Josh chuckles, low and dark. “Right. Well, you will. Soon enough.”
“I guess.” He stills, watching the rigid muscle of Josh’s jaw working and working. “So, I promise I’m not trying to stall or anything - I do wanna have sex with you. If that’s something you were into doing tonight. But I wanted to tell you something first. I don’t wanna wait until later, or make it seem like I was trying to hide it or something.”
“Hm?”
“Um…” Tyler scratches his head, his arm, his knee. He doesn’t even know if he should tell Josh, but he’s oddly compelled to. “…Riley told me something, when I was putting her to bed. She said…she said your ex says bad shit about you when you’re not around. Calls you names and stuff like that. It’s none of my business, I get that. But I really thought you should know. So you could…”
So he could what? Try to un-brainwash his daughter before it was too late?
Josh is very quiet, running a hand over his beard again and again.
“I’m sorry if I-“
“Thank you for telling me, Tyler. I had a feeling she was probably badmouthing me around her, but I had no idea she was such a bitch.”
They fall silent again and Tyler looks at the TV, at the news casters laughing about some funny joke one of them told. “Hey, I can go-“
“Don’t.” Josh slides forward and puts a hand on Tyler’s knee, runs it hesitantly up his thigh. “Thank you for telling me,” he says again, and kisses Tyler on the mouth.
Josh’s beard burns where it scrapes against the lower half of Tyler’s face and they’re both pulling at each others’ clothing. Tyler’s shirt comes off in a flurry, Josh’s nice dress pants go flying behind the bar, and then Josh’s shirt is gone and Tyler has to squeeze himself to keep from instantly orgasming.
“Jesus.” He’s looking at Josh’s arm, at the tattoos on it.
“What?” Josh is breathing hard. “Is something wrong?”
“I never took you for a tattoo guy is all.” Tyler leans forward and latches his mouth onto Josh’s arm, sliding his tongue all along the design there, biting and licking and sucking against the inside of his elbow.
Josh is eventually able to draw him away, coaxing them both out of the rest of their clothes. “Sorry we have to do this here, but downstairs-“
“Don’t apologize, dude. Like I said before, it’s not weird.” Tyler can’t stop touching Josh’s arm, the colors there are still such a shock.
Josh is prepared with a condom and as soon as he pushes in with a stuttering thrust, Tyler grips hard onto him and moans as loud as he dares. As Josh starts up a steady rhythm, Tyler growls desperately. “Hey, I kinda wanna…call you something. But I don’t want it to be weird. It’s just like, you’re older and it’s really hot and-“
“You can say it.”
Tyler rolls his hips and breathes, “Daddy.”
Josh grunts and Tyler feels him twitch inside. “Again.”
“Daddy, fuck. Harder. C’mon, please.” Tyler’s head tips forward and then back, and Josh’s beard burns his cheek. “Josh, seriously. You can fuck me as hard as you want - I’m not gonna break.”
Josh pushes his thighs back toward his chest and rolls his hips hard. He gathers Tyler against him and calls him baby boy and things slow as they get close, Josh just barely moving in him now. He takes Tyler’s hand and says thank you and they come together when Josh presses his forehead to Tyler’s.
With Josh collapsed on top of him, Tyler catches his breath and grasps onto the other man’s back with a sweaty hand. “I’m so fucking glad we went on that date.”
“We’re going on another one,” Josh tells him, no room for debate. “Next weekend. Already made the reservations.”
“Is that so? What about Riley?”
“I’m hoping one of my sisters can finally take her.” Josh sits up and runs a hand through Tyler’s hair, who preens against it.
“Or she can just come with again. I don’t mind.”
“It should just be us.”
Tyler likes the sound of that.
Josh invites him to stay the night and since he doesn’t have class tomorrow or work until late, he agrees and gets carried to Josh’s bedroom on the second floor, where they curl up together.
Tyler reaches out in the dark and finds Josh’s shoulder, pulls himself as close against Josh as is physically possible. “Hey, if this is gonna be a thing-“
“It is,” Josh yawns.
Tyler giggles, then goes quiet. “I just don’t want you to be upset that I can’t…do things for you the way you can for me. My family doesn’t have very much money, I’m working to put myself through school, and I can’t buy you things or pay for dinners or-“
“Shhh, Ty. It’s okay.” Josh has put his arms around Tyler, holding him close. “I have more than enough money for us.”
Yeah, Tyler thinks, settling his head against Josh’s chest to hear his heart beating. Definitely found myself a sugar daddy.