Warnings: None

Word Count: 1702

Author's Note: This is the first part of a three part miniseries!

Bzzt. Bzzt.

You rolled over and pulled the cover up further around your head, hoping to help drown out some of the noise.

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Really, who had the nerve to call you at two in the morning? Sure, you had the tendency to stay up late now and again, but that didn't give anyone the right to call you at any given hour.

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Wait.

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Your hand shot over to your night table so fast that you almost knocked over the bottle of water that you always kept there. You were answering the call before you even had a chance to double check who it was.

"Hello?"

"You're awake?"

"Of course I am." He didn't need to know the truth.

"Normally I would say you should be sleeping, but I can't tell you how happy I am that you aren't."

"What's going on?"

You heard Tyler clear his throat before speaking, "I was, um, looking at... stuff."

You already knew exactly where this was going.

"And I came across this interview that, uh, my ex did with a magazine a couple days ago."

You made a noise to show that you were still listening.

"She said that she doesn't want to get back with me and she's glad that things ended," he sniffled.

"Oh, Tyler. Do you need me to come over?"

"No, I'll be ok. Really. But I'd like to see you tomorrow."

"Ok, I don't have anything going on."

"Great. Just come over whenever you want."

"Will do. And call me if things get bad, ok? Even if I'm asleep."

"Ok."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Get some sleep, Ty."

"I'll try."

You hung up the call and set an alarm for early the next morning. There were a million ideas for cheering Tyler up that were already running through your head, and it was going to take time to do all of them.

You arrived at Tyler's house at eight the next morning, armed with pancake batter, coffee from his favorite café, and your dog. He looked like a bit of a mess with the bags under his eyes, messy hair, and dirty pajamas, but his face still lit up when he saw you.

"Look at all this," he smiled, bending down to pet Rocket. "You didn't have to do this."

"Anything for my best friend," you smiled.

He opened the door wider, inviting you inside. You let Rocket off of his leash and then made a beeline for the kitchen so that you could start making him breakfast. Tyler walked over and took a seat at the counter.

"You don't mind if I take over the kitchen, do you?" you asked.

"Not at all if it means you're making me breakfast," he smiled.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Nope. I woke up maybe ten minutes ago. I was about to make coffee, but you got that covered," he said, holding up the drink you had brought him.

You looked at Tyler sitting on the other side of the counter with his coffee and tired eyes. For a moment, you could almost pretend that you were making breakfast for your boyfriend on a Sunday morning, not your heartbroken best friend on a Wednesday. He must have caught you staring, because he raised an eyebrow at you with a little smirk.

You smiled and shook your head, redirecting your attention back to the pancakes. The feelings for him was nothing new, they had existed since way before his breakup with his ex. For so long you had pushed them aside, telling yourself that he was happy with her and you would find your own person someday. Now you realized that holding on might not have been such a bad idea, after all.

"What kind of pancakes are you making?" Tyler asked.

"Just plain. If you have anything you want to add to the mix, we can do that though."

"Plain is fine," he said. "I was just curious. Besides, you make the best pancakes."

"Thanks," you smiled.

Tyler fiddled with the edge of his cup, pushing lightly at the little plastic rim. You kept your focus on the pancakes, unwilling to be caught staring at him again.

"So, do you want to talk about last night?" you asked as you flipped a pancake.

"Oh, right," he sighed.

"We don't have to if you aren't comfortable."

"No, it's fine," he said, pushing his messy hair back from his forehead. "It just hurt to see. I thought I was doing better and getting over her, but that just reminded me how much I still miss her."

"You're going to move past this," you said, sliding him a pancake. "And I'm going to be here every step of the way."

"Thanks," he smiled. "I really appreciate that."

The day of the breakup was still so clear in your mind. Tyler had shown up to your house with puffy eyes and splotchy cheeks, saying that he couldn't be alone. You invited him inside and made cookies for the two of you to share while you binged all of your favorite TV shows. He had ended up falling asleep with his head in your lap as you played with his hair.

It had been like that for close to two months now. You and Tyler would spend most of your time together to keep his mind off of the breakup, making your friendship even closer in the process. He had finally started to seem like he was moving past it. Now this interview had brought you right back to square one again.

"Holy shit, this is fantastic," Tyler said around a mouthful of food.

"Yeah?" you smiled.

He nodded and stuck his fork into another large piece of pancake. It was nice to see him looking happy. You had spent most of the night alternating between sleeping and being awake, worried about how he was doing.

You watched as he grabbed a little piece of pancake and tossed it towards Rocket, who caught it in his mouth. This caused Tyler to laugh a little bit. He had been wanting to get a dog for as long as you could remember, but hadn't been able to yet because of touring. There had been countless times where he had asked you to bring Rocket with you when you visited. Of course, you never had an issue with it.

"What's the plan for the rest of the day?" you asked.

He shrugged, "I cleared all my plans so that I could be with you all day."

You tried to ignore the way your heart skipped a beat at that. You were friends. That was it.

"I'm sure we can find things to do."

"Even if we do nothing, it'll still be fun because I'm with you."

That familiar smirk made its way onto his face as he took another sip of coffee. This boy was going to be the death of you, you were sure of it.

You, Rocket, and Tyler were now all curled up on the couch together, barely able to keep your eyes open after watching so much TV. It had been an eventful day of card games, poking fun at past relationships, and making numerous runs to the mini mart down the street for snacks. Tyler had been pretty upbeat, and there had only been a couple times when you had to cheer him up.

Your head was leaned on Tyler's shoulder, just barely able to see the TV screen through your mostly closed eyes. You knew you should get home before you were too tired to drive, but you were hesitant to leave the position you were in. It wasn't every day that you got to snuggle up with the boy you were in love with and not feel weird about it.

Your hands were close together, so close that the tiniest movement of either of your pinkies and your hands would be touching. You weren't sure if Tyler was awake or not, so you had spent the last twenty minutes keeping your hand completely still for fear of accidentally touching his hand and blowing your cover.

You were debating announcing that you were going to leave when Tyler's hand moved slightly to touch yours. You brushed it off, assuming he had moved in his sleep, but then he slowly continued to slide his hand under yours. His fingers laced with yours and you desperately hoped that he didn't notice how clammy you were getting.

Tyler had started rubbing your thumb shortly after he grabbed your hand, and it had taken complete concentration to not start smiling like an idiot. The two of you stayed like that for the next hour until the movie ended. You pretended to be woken up by a loud sound during the credits, and as soon as Tyler realized you were "waking up", he pulled his hand away from yours.

"What did I miss?" you said, rubbing your eye for added effect.

"Not much," he said. You noticed that there was color in his cheeks that hadn't been there before. "They defeated the antagonist and lived happily ever after."

You nodded, "Sounds exciting."

"Yeah, it was."

"I should probably get going before I fall asleep on the way home," you said, standing up and letting the blanket fall from around your body.

"That's, uh, yeah. Good idea."

Tyler walked you over to the front door with Rocket following close behind. He held out his arms and you hugged him tightly.

"I just want to say thank you again for hanging out with me. It was a huge help."

"Of course. Anything for you, Ty. You're my best friend."

He smiled, "Still. You didn't have to."

"Whatever."

Tyler bent down and scratched Rocket's ears, "And thank you to you too."

"Alright, are we still on for lunch on Friday?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

"Call me if you need me, ok?"

"I always do."

"Later, Ty."

"Bye."

You waved at Tyler one final time as you walked down the pathway towards your car. Rocket followed closely behind you. Once you were in your car, you finally let out the little squeal that you were holding in. Things were really looking up.