Warnings: Profanity, angst, mentions of alcohol

Word Count: 2962

Author's Note: Yes, I'm aware that this is very similar to parts of the plot of The Kissing Booth. I was not aware of this when I was writing this fic and only realized after it was complete. I still haven't seen the movie. Anyway, I hope you guys like it!

"Yes!" you cheered as you crossed the finish line seconds before Tyler.

"That's bullshit!" Tyler said, gesturing his Wii remote wildly at the TV.

"It isn't bullshit, you're just mad that you lost." You crossed your arms and didn't even try to hide the smug look on your face.

"What's going on down here?" Josh asked, appearing at the bottom of the stairs.

You immediately sat back down on the couch and tried to hide the blush on your cheeks. Hopefully Josh hadn't heard you yelling just a few moments ago.

"Y/N beat me at Mario Kart because I got stuck on a corner," Tyler grumbled.

Usually you would argue and say that it was because you were just more skilled, but you held your tongue. Josh looked between the two of you.

"That sucks, little bro. You shouldn't worry about it though, it's just a game."

Just a game. You shouldn't have been so excited about winning in the first place. Josh walked off to the kitchen, leaving just you and Tyler.

"Congrats, I guess," he grumbled.

You shrugged, "Thanks."

"Want to go up to my room?"

"Yeah."

You followed Tyler up the stairs to his bedroom and took a seat on his bed. He sat down in his desk chair and began to spin around.

"You're not still pouting about Mario Kart, are you?" you asked.

"No," he lied.

"C'mon, Ty, it's just one game. Besides, it isn't the first time you've lost."

Mario Kart had been a big thing between you and Tyler for as long as you could remember. In elementary school, you would come over on weekends and the two of you would spend all day in front of the TV doing race after race and keeping score. Josh would join in every so often, but he had stopped once he entered middle school.

"I know. I guess what Josh said just rubbed me the wrong way. It is a game, but that doesn't mean I don't want to win."

"Well that's Josh. He's just your dumb brother."

"You don't think he's dumb," Tyler said, stopping his chair so that he could look at you.

"Shut up," you said, grabbing a nearby pillow and lobbing it at him.

You had liked Josh for close to a year now. Even though you had known him since you were in second grade, you had only recently started to actually take interest in him. Tyler rolled his eyes every time you brought him up, but that didn't stop you.

"Can we make a rule?" Tyler asked.

"Depends."

"You can't date Josh."

"That's not fair!" you said, your voice raising slightly.

"Hear me out. He's my brother. If you two start dating, every time you come over here you're going to want to hang out with him. All of a sudden I'm just going to be the dorky music kid again while you hang out with football players and cheerleaders."

"I wouldn't do that to you."

"Y/N, can we please just make that rule?"

"Fine," you sighed, sticking a hand out. "It's a rule."

Tyler wasn't paying enough attention to see your fingers crossed carefully behind your back. The only reason you agreed was because you thought Josh had no interest in you. If given the chance, you knew you would take it no matter what Tyler said.

"I'll see you after class, Tyler."

You smiled at him as he walked off down a different hallway. As you were walking towards your next class, you noticed one of the other girls from your grade leaned against her locker. Ever since you started high school, she had made it her mission to make you feel awful on a daily basis.

"Y/N!" she smiled at you as you grew closer. You suddenly wished you had put your headphones in after saying goodbye to Tyler. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend," you said, knowing immediately that she was referring to Tyler. People had been spreading the rumor that the two of you were dating since middle school.

"You're right, who would want to date someone with a face like that?"

A few of her friends sniggered. You were about to snap back at them when their attention directed to something behind you. One glance over your shoulder revealed that it was Josh, seemingly on the way to his own class.

"Hey, Y/N. You look beautiful today," he smiled, flashing a quick wink before continuing down the hallway. It was his subtle way of shutting the other girls down without completely stepping in.

You smiled and walked into your biology class, making sure to take out your headphones once you sat down.

Much to your surprise, Josh was waiting outside your class when the bell rang. It wasn't something he normally did, mostly he would just smile at you in the hall when the two of you passed each other.

"Hey," he smiled, falling into step with you.

"Hi," you said, a bit more nervously than you had intended for it to come across.

"Did those girls leave you alone after I left?"

"Yeah. You really didn't need to do that, Josh. I can stand up for myself."

"I know, but isn't it easier to have someone step in from time to time?"

"I guess." You spotted Tyler up ahead, leaned up against the wall and spacing off. "There's Tyler. I'll see you around."

"Later," Josh said, jogging to catch up with another football player.

"Were you walking with Josh?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, he stepped in when some girls were bothering me earlier."

"Really?"

"Is that weird?"

Tyler paused before shaking his head, "Let's go get lunch."

Josh had started to walk with you after classes more often. You were slowly getting more comfortable with him and opening up about things you usually only talked to Tyler about. The only downside to this was that Josh seemed to be more comfortable dictating what you could and couldn't do.

"You know, you shouldn't wear shirts like that," he casually mentioned one day.

You looked down at the shirt you were wearing. It was a plain V-neck that was well within the school's dress code. Your mom had even let you wear it out of the house, and she was usually a stickler about those types of things.

"What's wrong with it?" you asked, pulling it up a little higher.

"It could attract other guys' attention."

"Why does that matter?"

You tried your best to put on a defensive front, even though your heart started pounding at his comment. Maybe he didn't want anyone else to steal you away from him.

"Because I said it does."

"I can wear whatever I want," you said, spotting Tyler across the cafeteria. "Later, Josh."

"That's it," you sighed, kicking off your nice shoes and pulling on your beat up Vans. "I'm going to Tyler's!" you called to your mom.

"What happened to your date?"

"It's been an hour and a half and he hasn't showed up, so I don't think he's coming. I'm not about to let a Friday night go to waste either."

"Ok, be safe!"

You dialed Tyler as you walked down the sidewalk. It only took him a couple rings to pick up.

"What do you want?" he asked. You could tell by the sound of his voice that he was eating.

"Are you home?"

"Of course I'm home. I never leave."

"Ok, good. I'm coming over."

"Alright."

You ended the call without saying goodbye and wrestled your headphones out of your pocket.

Josh was the one to open the door when you knocked, looking a bit surprised to see you. Maybe he knew about the date that you were supposed to be on, they were both football players.

"Is Tyler in his room?" you asked.

"Yeah, he's been up there for most of the night."

"Ok, thank you," you said, all but pushing past Josh.

Sure enough, Tyler was on his bed when you burst into his room. He was bent over his laptop, watching something intently.

"I could have been changing," he said without looking up.

"You knew I was coming."

You walked over and plopped yourself down in his desk chair, kicking your shoes into the corner of the room.

"I thought you had plans tonight."

"Yeah, a date. I got stood up."

"What?" Tyler asked, shutting his laptop and turning to look at you. "You got asked on a date and didn't tell me?"

"I didn't want to tell anyone in case this happened," you said, gesturing to nothing in particular.

"I'm sorry, Y/N. Boys are jerks."

"It's fine, I'm not upset. Just mad that an hour and a half of my Friday night was wasted when I could have been hanging out with you."

Your phone began to buzz wildly in your pocket. Tyler raised his eyebrows as you fished it out and looked at who was calling you.

"It's him," you said, answering the call and bringing your phone to your ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, this is Y/N, right?"

"Yeah, the one you were going to take on a date tonight."

"I know, that's why I called. I'm really sorry about standing you up, it's just that Josh found out that I had asked you out and he made a rule that none of us were supposed to do that. I was going to call and cancel but it totally slipped my mind."

"No worries. Thanks for telling me."

"No problem."

"Bye."

"Bye."

You hung up the call and tossed your phone on Tyler's desk.

"What did he say?"

"Close the door."

Tyler reached across his bed and shut his door so that Josh wouldn't hear you if he walked by. You leaned closer to Tyler so that you could speak more quietly.

"He said that Josh made a rule against any of the football players asking me out. It's like he's trying to control my life, telling me what to wear, who to talk to, and now who to date."

"What are you going to do?"

"Get revenge."

You had spent the last week figuring out just how you were going to get your revenge on Josh when the opportunity fell right into your lap: a party. Tyler and Josh's parents were going out of town, meaning that Josh was taking the opportunity to invite everyone that he knew over while the house was empty. You and Tyler usually hung out at your house in the peace and quiet while this happened, but you knew that this was your chance.

"How does this look?" you asked Tyler, making sure that it was visible on camera.

"Just as good as the other thirty outfits you showed me," he answered, obviously growing bored.

"Tyler, please. I need to make Josh jealous."

"I don't want to think about you making my brother jealous," he winced.

"Does this actually look good? Just give me a straight answer."

"Yes, it looks good."

"Perfect. I'll be over in ten."

You shut off FaceTime and grabbed your shoes from beside your bed. Your mom was downstairs, reading a magazine in her favorite armchair.

"You look nice. Where are you off to?"

"Just going to Tyler's house," you smiled. It wasn't technically a lie.

"It's a shame that you and Tyler are so close. The two of you would make a cute couple."

You wrinkled your nose at the thought of dating Tyler. He was basically your brother at this point.

"Love you, Mom," you said, walking over to give her a quick hug.

"Have fun."

"I will," you smiled before disappearing out the door.

"Shocking that you didn't change your outfit again before coming over here," Tyler said as he opened the door.

"Shut up," you said, giving him a light shove.

Josh was walking around downstairs, picking up valuable items to be stowed away for the duration of the party. You ignored him and walked up to Tyler's bedroom.

"When is everyone showing up?" you asked.

"I don't know," Tyler shrugged. "Josh doesn't include me in the planning process. My plan is to just hide away up here while everyone causes destruction downstairs."

"You're not going to come downstairs?"

"And wade through a pool of drunk teenagers? No thanks."

"Suit yourself," you sighed, although you were relieved that you would have somewhere to escape to if things got out of hand.

You and Tyler sat in his room talking for a couple hours before you started to hear the party picking up downstairs.

"That's my cue," you said, standing up from Tyler's desk chair.

"Be safe, and I'll be up here if you need me."

"Thanks, Ty."

You looked over yourself one more time in the mirror before slipping out of Tyler's room. There was the telltale sound of it locking behind you, a smart decision on Tyler's part.

The downstairs of the house was filled with people from school. You recognized most of them, but you were pretty sure that none of them had even the slightest clue who you were. This was mostly due to the fact that Josh's friends were seniors, and you were only a junior.

You spotted Josh on the other side of the room. He waved at you, but you simply turned and walked off in another direction. You didn't chance looking back at him, but you were pretty sure that you ignoring him would rub him the wrong way. After all, he was one of the few people that he said you could talk to.

The boy that had stood you up was in the kitchen talking with another football player. A plan already formulating in your mind, you walked over and inserted yourself into their conversation. It was so unlike you, but you knew that it would get Josh worked up. The second football player walked off as he noticed you nearing them.

"Hey," you smiled.

"Hey, Y/N."

"How's it going?" you leaned casually against the counter.

"Pretty good. Listen, I'm really sorry about-"

You cut him off, "Like I said, no worries. It's in the past."

"Ok," he said, looking relieved.

"Hey, you want to go dance?"

You gestured over your shoulder to where a few people were bobbing to music in the living room.

"Yeah," he smiled.

You grabbed his hand and led him into the living room. Josh was still standing off to the side, leaned against the wall and watching the crowd of people. His eyes landed on you, specifically your hand that was currently holding someone else's as you made your way through the living room. That paired with the fact that you were wearing the shirt that he specifically told you not to was going to be more than enough to get him mad.

The two of you adjusted your hands and started to sway to the music. The look on Josh's face let you know that he could easily see the football player's hands on your hips. You wondered how long he would let this go on before he stepped in. Just to make sure it was working, you leaned forward and whispered something about a test you had next week into your dance partner's ear. Josh wouldn't be able to tell that from where he was standing, though.

Apparently this was all he could take. He was making his way through the crowd before you had even leaned back from whispering. His hands were balled into fists as he walked up to you.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure," you smiled sweetly, stepping away from the football player.

You followed Josh into the backyard. It was quieter out here, with only a few people sitting in the grass and enjoying their drinks.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"What was what about?"

"All that! With the guy I specifically told you not to go near."

"You don't control me, Josh. I can do whatever I want. Just because you're my best friend's older brother doesn't mean you get to push me around like I'm your younger sister too."

"You think this is because you're friends with Tyler?"

"Well you haven't really given me any alternate explanation," you huffed.

"I've been doing this because I like you. I was waiting for the right moment to tell you, but I was afraid someone else would get to you first if I didn't do something about it. It was already close enough when I had to tell that one guy to stand you up."

You barely even heard the rest of his explanation, your mind had gotten stuck after "because I like you."

"Wait, you like me?" you asked. "That's why you turned into an ass all of a sudden?"

"I would hardly call it being an ass," he mumbled.

"You were being an ass," you said. "But lucky for you I happen to like you too."

"Yeah, Tyler might have slipped up about that," he smirked.

"I'm going to kill him!" you grumbled.

"Don't worry about that right now. Why don't we go dance?"

"Wait, there's one more thing."

"What?"

In a brief moment of bravery, you grabbed Josh's shoulder and pulled him into a kiss. He grabbed your waist and pulled you closer, deepening the kiss. You eventually started to giggle, causing Josh to pull away.

"What are you giggling about?" he smiled, one arm still wrapped around your waist.

"I just can't believe this is happening."

"Believe it," Josh smiled, pulling you into another kiss.

Your rule with Tyler suddenly popped into your mind. You pushed it to the back of your mind, deciding that it could wait for another day. Right now, Josh was the only thing on your mind.

"So, dancing?" Josh smiled.