High school was hard.

That was expected. Tyler and Josh had to pretend to be cousins for the rest of their education, which was pretty awkward. They had to keep their relationship in the dark; a shared secret between them, Ashley, Brendon and Ryan.

Tyler's parents didn't support it all. They hated Josh, and they wanted Tyler to move back in with them. Obviously, Tyler had refused. He had had enough of their bullshit. He kept in touch with his siblings, of course, but he hadn't spoken a word to his parents for nearly three years.

Josh's family ended up moving to America. He hadn't realised how much he had missed his mother and younger siblings until they were tackling him in a hug, the whole group crying tears of joy as they reunited. His father was in an American jail, locked up for years with nearly hundreds of charges. Josh never wanted to visit him.

Tyler and Josh decided to move to L.A as soon as they graduated. They had both always wanted to live there, and it also diminished the risk of people seeing them on the street and thinking they were cousins on a date. They got a small apartment together and adopted a cat that they called Yubit. They both swore that they loved it more than each other. It wasn't true.

Tyler was sitting on their balcony, his Starbucks apron tied loosely around his waist. He was watching the streets below and humming to himself, a tune that he had just made up. He eyed the room behind him, looking at the closet that he knew held his keyboard.

He walked over to it and opened the closet doors, staring down at his keyboard with pained fascination. He hadn't used it in years -it reminded him of his parents too much-, but he had an odd urge to try it out. He picked it up, wrinkling his nose at the dust that clouded around him as he did so, and heaved it out onto the balcony, placing it on the floor.

He set it up, the memories of how to do so flooding back to him quickly. He sat down, criss cross, and placed it on his lap, letting his fingers hover over the keys. He hummed the tune to himself a couple of times, memorising it, but trying to copy it onto the keyboard. It took a couple of tries, but soon he was playing it out loud and humming along.

He didn't notice the balcony door slide open, or the content sigh that Josh let out as he saw Tyler. The older man sat down next to him, grinning sweetly at his boyfriend as he watched him play his song.

Tyler smiled sheepishly and brought his hands up, twisting them to his chest. He looked to Josh, his cheeks tinted pink.

Josh brought his hand up and brushed Tyler's blushing cheeks. "It sounds great, Ty," he hummed, his Russian accent sounding like music to Tyler's ears.

Josh has been considerate enough to hide his accent from Tyler for a while, knowing that it made him uncomfortable, but Tyler had grown to love it. It was unique and beautiful, and Tyler knew that it was the best thing he would ever have the pleasure of hearing. He hoped that Josh never hid it again.

"You don't have to stop playing," Josh chuckled, his eyes squinting under the command of his almost overwhelming smile. "I wanna hear it."

Tyler drew his lip between his teeth, nervous about his playing, but started anyway. "I haven't played in years," he warned. "I'm rusty, okay?"

Josh nodded and saluted dramatically, his face suddenly serious. Tyler giggled at the action and looked back to his keyboard, his anxiety nearly gone.

He began to play it, murmuring lyrics as he came up with them. He rocked to the beat, getting lost in the music. He had nearly forgotten about Josh's presence until the man started clapping.

"That was incredible," Josh beamed. "You could make a career out of that."

Tyler shrugged and leant forward, catching Josh's lips with his own. "Whatever. All I want right now is you."