Warnings: Accusations of infidelity, manipulative behavior, profanity, angst

Word Count: 3055

Request: At the end to avoid spoilers!

Author's Note: Lots of angst, I know and I'm sorry! I'll try to write something nicer for next week :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one!

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Josh: Late night at the studio, will be home as soon as possible. Love you

Your heart sunk as soon as you read the message from Josh. Between recording sessions, design meetings, and late night calls with Tyler about tiny album details, Josh's schedule had left hardly any time for the two of you to be together lately. Most of your evenings were spent curled up on the couch with Jim and waiting for Josh to get home so you could have actually have dinner together.

Y/N: no worries, drum your little heart out, dun. i love you too :)

You closed your messages and switched over to Instagram to see what your friends back home were up to tonight. There wasn't anything super exciting - mostly due to the fact that it was Tuesday - but a couple of them had shared photos of their dogs. You decided to join in on the trend and post a cute picture of Jim for your friends to see, as well as the other thousands of followers you had amassed from being known as "Josh's partner".

By the time you finished posting the picture with a caption about spending the night in, minus the part about Josh not being there, Tyler had also taken the opportunity to post to his Instagram story. Eager to see what him and Josh were up to, you clicked on it. Your heart dropped as you realized it wasn't him and Josh at the studio, but a video of Mark standing in front of a mural with Tyler's voice clearly behind the camera. Josh was nowhere in sight.

That didn't bode well.

You didn't even take a moment to consider if you were acting irrationally before you dialed Tyler's number. Your feet tapped quickly against the edge of the coffee table as you waited for him to pick up. It only took a couple rings before Tyler's voice was carrying through the phone.

"Y/N?"

"Yeah, hi."

"Is everything ok?"

"I'm not sure," you said, chewing on the edge of your thumb. "Is Josh with you?"

"No, I haven't seen him since we left the studio."

"Did he say where he was going?"

"Is everything ok?"

"I don't know, Tyler," you huffed. "Can you please just answer the question?"

"He said he was heading home. Will you please tell me what's going on?" Tyler snapped.

"I just- Josh said that you guys were staying late at the studio, but that obviously wasn't the case because you and Mark are downtown."

"You think he's lying to you?" His tone had switched entirely. Sometimes it was easy to forget Tyler had been your friend long before you dated Josh.

"I don't know. Maybe. It's hard not to assume the worst."

"Do you need to talk about it?"

"No, I don't want to make a huge deal out of something that could just be a miscommunication. I'll talk to him when he gets home, whenever that is."

"Ok. I'm sorry, Y/N."

"This isn't your fault, Ty. Go enjoy your night."

"Will you keep me updated?"

You sighed. Although Tyler was your friend, you didn't really feel like you should drag him into the middle of your relationship drama.

"We'll see what happens. Like I said, I really don't want to make this a big deal if it's nothing."

"Ok, but you know I'm here for you, right?"

"Always," you smiled. "I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Don't forget about lunch on Wednesday!"

"I never could."

"Bye, Y/N."

"Bye."

You set your phone down on your lap and rubbed at your temples. Josh hadn't given you any sort of estimate about when he would be home and it was already nearing 9 p.m.

It seemed you would just have to play the waiting game.

*     *     *

You finally heard Josh pull into the driveway around 10:30. Jim's head perked up at first, but it wasn't until Josh's keys were in the door that he finally hopped down and ran to greet him. You took your time getting off the couch and wrapping a blanket around your shoulders for comfort, not to mention that the rest of the house felt cold after you had been nestled up on the couch with Jim for a couple of hours.

"Hi, love!" you called, feeling a bad taste enter your mouth as you said it.

"Y/N!" Josh said, appearing around the corner with a smile on his face. "I missed you."

You did a quick scan of Josh's appearance to see if it would give you any clues about where he might have been. His hair was a bit messy, but that was always the case, there weren't any hickeys on his neck or on the bit of collarbone peeking out from under his shirt, and he was wearing the same outfit as when he had left.

"How was the studio?" you asked as he gave you a quick kiss. One of his hands was hidden behind his back.

"It was good, we got a lot of work done."

So he was upholding the lie.

"You know, I was talking to Tyler on the phone not long after you texted me," you started. Hopefully Josh wouldn't be able to hear your voice shaking. "It didn't sound like he was at the studio."

After giving you a kiss, Josh had walked straight into the kitchen, meaning you couldn't see the current look on his face. You were almost glad to have a wall in between the two of you right now. It made the confrontation easier.

"You did?"

"Where were you, Josh?" you said, squeezing your eyes shut. You didn't want to feed into his games.

"Getting you these."

You opened your eyes and blinked, clearing the blur away. Josh was standing a few feet away from you, holding a vase full of red roses. There was a shy smile on his face as he held the vase towards you.

"For an hour?" you asked, taking it from him. It was a serious question posed as a joke.

"Well, my plan was to just pick up the flowers, but one of my friends called because his car broke down and needed a jump start and I just so happened to be in the neighborhood because I was leaving the studio. Then we ended up talking for half an hour before we actually got the car started, you know how we are."

"I appreciate the flowers, Josh. Thank you," you said, giving him another kiss. It seemed all of your concerns had been unnecessary.

"How were things here?" Josh asked, once again walking back into the kitchen. This time you had the confidence to follow him and take a seat at the counter while he made himself a drink. Jim curled up next to your chair.

"Same as always. Jim and I watched some TV together, talked to a few friends from back home, made a microwave pizza for dinner and slipped a couple pieces of ham to Jim."

"I'm sure he enjoyed that," Josh smiled.

"He did. Hey, do you want to go watch something in the living room?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice."

You shuffled back towards the living room while Josh finished putting his things away and taking off his shoes. While you waited for him, you sent Tyler a quick text.

Y/N: turns out there was nothing to worry about. it was a miscommunication like i thought

You and Jim had already made yourselves comfortable by the time Josh finally made his way into the living room. He had swapped out his jacket and jeans for a pair of sweats and a tight t-shirt. It was hard not to stare as he got closer and sat down on the couch.

"Enjoying the view?" he laughed as he sat down next to you.

"Just a little."

"Me too." He pressed a kiss to your cheek before wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you closer into his side. "What do you want to watch?"

"Whatever you want to is fine, I already caught up on everything I'm watching."

"Alright."

Josh leaned forward to grab the remote off the coffee table, which is when you noticed the tiny smudge of red just below his ear. Your heart sunk at the sight of it; you couldn't even remember the last time you had worn red lipstick.

"You have a little something," you said once he sunk back into the cushions. "Don't move."

"What is it?" he asked.

"Not sure, but... there, it's gone."

"Thank you." Josh smiled and puckered his lips, prompting you to give him another kiss.

Once Josh was busy looking for a show for the two of you to watch, you pulled your phone back out of your pocket and opened up your recent messages.

Y/N: just kidding

*     *     *

"I don't know what's going on, Tyler," you sighed, using the hand that wasn't clutching your phone to pinch the bridge of your nose. "I don't know why he keeps lying to me."

"I wish I had answers for you."

"It's ok. I never meant to drag you into this in the first place."

"I think we both knew from the start that I was going to get involved in this one way or another." Tyler tried to laugh, but it didn't come out quite right.

"I don't know what I'm going to do when you and Mark go back to Ohio tomorrow. I guess I'll just have to figure out his lies on my own."

"My offer is still open if you end up going through with it."

"We'll see," you said, wiping a tear off your cheek. "We'll see."

"Ok, Mark is waving at me which means I need to get back in there. I'll talk to you once we're done with this session, ok?"

"Ok. Good luck."

"Thanks. Bye, Y/N."

"Bye."

You closed your eyes and flopped back onto the bed. It had been a week since you first discovered Josh was lying to you and the evidence had only been growing since then. He was always on his phone when you were together, always texting someone and smiling but never telling you who it was. Then there was the fact that he always had his phone within a few inches of him and never face up. You had heard enough of your friends' stories to have an idea about what that meant.

On top of that, he had told you multiple times that he had to stay late again, only for you to confirm with Tyler that he had made some excuse about going across town before heading home. Even when Tyler pressed him for information, he wouldn't say anything other than he was seeing a friend. Still, without any solid evidence, you hesitated to confront him in case you were entirely misreading the situation, despite your instinct telling you that it was exactly what you thought it was.

*     *     *

Josh got home nearly two hours after you got a text from Tyler confirming that they were done at the studio. That was another piece of evidence that you had gathered: Josh was always gone for an extra hour or two after a text from Tyler. Never more. Never less. The mere thought of it made you uneasy.

"Hey," Josh said, stepping into the living room. His hair was messy again today and he had opted to wear a shirt with a higher neckline than he was usually partial to. "I didn't realize you were here, you were so quiet."

"Sorry, lost in thought."

Josh sat down in the chair across from you and started to untie his shoes. You quickly scanned his neck, looking for any leftover lipstick smears or hickeys that you were sure you hadn't left yourself. As far as you could tell, he was still doing a good job of hiding them.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not right now."

"Let me know if you change your mind," Josh said, looking up at you with a smile.

"I will."

"Alright, well I'm going to run upstairs and get changed before we start making dinner."

Perfect.

"Ok," you said, puckering your lips. Josh walked over and gave you a gentle kiss before heading upstairs.

You waited an acceptable amount of time before following Josh, already thinking up whatever excuse you would give him as to why you had come upstairs. If you timed things right, you would be able to walk in right as he was changing his shirt and get a good look at his chest. Josh usually took any opportunity he could get to walk around shirtless, but over the last week you hadn't seen him shirtless once. He had to be hiding something from you.

You peeked your head just inside the door before making your presence known. He was still wearing the shirt from earlier in the day, having only changed into sweatpants so far. Before changing his shirt, he grabbed his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text. Your heart started to pound in your chest as you realized what you were about to do. In all your investigation, you hadn't once stopped to think about what it meant for you and Josh.

If you were right, this was the end.

Before you had too much of a chance to get caught up in your thoughts, Josh started to pull off his shirt. You rolled your shoulders and then walked into the room, acting as if you had just come up the stairs.

"Hey, Josh?"

"Woah, hey, Y/N."

Josh turned to you, his eyebrows raised in surprise. He was still clutching the shirt he had been wearing earlier in the day to his chest, but it wasn't enough to cover the numerous hickeys across his chest and collarbones.

Hickeys that you knew for a fact hadn't come from you.

"What are those?" you asked, swallowing the lump in your throat.

"Nothing," he said, reaching into the closet to grab a clean shirt. He pulled it over his head without another word.

"Nothing? Are you fucking kidding me? Do you think I'm some sort of idiot, Josh?"

"I just got in an accident when I was skateboarding the other day. It's not a big deal."

"God, stop lying to me!" you said, pressing your fingers to your temples.

"How do you know I'm lying?"

"You've lied to me about staying late at the studio multiple times in the last week! And you've lied to me about who you're texting. And you're lying to me right now."

"How do you know?" Josh said, carefully enunciating each word.

You looked up towards the ceiling, shaking your head. You said you wouldn't drag him into this.

"Tell me, Y/N. You're just making yourself look like an idiot right now."

"I talked to Tyler, alright? And he confirmed what I already thought I knew."

Josh shook his head, "I can't believe you, going behind my back to get information from my best friend. You could have talked to me."

"You're mad I went behind your back because it means that your manipulation tactics don't work on me. And in case you forgot, he was my best friend before he even knew you existed."

Josh grabbed at his hair and turned away from you, walking the length of the room. You stood frozen just inside the doorway, your arms still crossed tightly in front of your chest.

"Just admit it, Josh," you said softly. "You're cheating on me."

"You're crazy, Y/N. I would never do that to you."

"Then tell me where you've been, Josh. Show me evidence that you were actually doing the things that you said you were."

"I don't have to prove anything to you!" he said, suddenly raising his voice. His anger was all the evidence you needed.

"I'm not asking for anything groundbreaking."

"You really think that I would do that to you?" he asked, pointing a finger in your direction. "That I would sleep with someone else when I could just come home to you every night? I didn't know what love was until I met you, Y/N, and you're accusing me of throwing that all away just so I could sleep with somebody else? Is that really what you think of me?"

"Just stop. I'm not going to fall for this again."

"There's nothing to fall for! I'm telling you how I feel!"

"I've only asked you for one thing, Josh. I just need proof that you're not cheating, but you can't even give me that."

"I'm not cheating on you!"

"Prove. It."

Josh was silent as he continued to pace the room. You waited for him to say something - anything - but he couldn't. It was the exact response that you had expected.

"It's settled then. Tyler got me a seat on their flight back to Ohio tomorrow. I'm going with them."

"So you're just going to give up on us like that? Three years of a relationship down the drain?"

You shook your head, "I'm not the one that gave up on us."

"Please, Y/N, we can make this work. I'm so sorry for what I did. I'll cut things off with her immediately. I love you. Please."

Josh started to reach for your arms, but you pushed him away.

"Don't you dare fucking touch me. What you did was unforgivable, Josh."

"She could never compare to you-"

"Stop. It's over, Josh. I'm packing my things and going to Tyler's tonight. By tomorrow, I'll be back in Ohio so you never have to think of me again."

"There won't be a day that goes by that I don't think of you."

"Good."

You turned and walked back downstairs before Josh had a chance to say another word to you. There was still the matter of avoiding him while you packed up all your belongings, but you would find ways to avoid talking to him. All of the things you needed to say had been said, now you just had to make peace with the situation. Being back in Ohio close to your friends and family would be a good way to start that journey.

You only wished that you could take Jim with you.

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Request: yay!! i've had this request in the back of my mind for a while...i was thinking of Josh x reader and they're dating but the reader finds out Josh is ALSO dating someone else 👀