Warnings: Angst

Word Count: 1695

Author's Note: This is the third and final part of the series!

You grumbled and cleared the notification before throwing it back onto the night table. He had probably done something dumb and now his girlfriend was mad at him. It was a common occurrence, and you weren't about to sacrifice sleep over it. Tyler was an adult, so he could handle his issues like one.

Tyler had texted you three additional times by the time that you woke up the next morning. You were still half-asleep when you read them, their full meaning not quite sinking in yet.

I need to talk to you as soon as possible.

I know I've been a huge idiot but this is important.

Call me when you wake up. Please.

You sighed and tossed your phone down beside you. That would have to wait until later, first you were going to get ready for the day.

Your phone sat in front of you, taunting you as you ate your breakfast. You didn't want to bend to Tyler's will that easily, but you figured that it must be important if he was messaging you about it. He knew better than to pull a false alarm on you at this point.

You sighed and grabbed your phone with your free hand, not giving yourself a moment to second guess what you were doing. At the end of the day, Tyler was still your best friend and you weren't going to lose him entirely just because you were mad he was dating someone else instead of you.

He answered after only a couple rings.

"You called," he sounded relieved.

"You said it was important."

"It is. Are you free today? I want to talk about this in person."

"Rocket has an appointment at two, but the two of us can come over afterwards."

"That's perfect."

"Is everything ok?"

"It will be."

"Alright, I'll see you later then."

"Bye."

You hung up the call, curious as to what was so important that he needed to see you in person.

You opened the car door and Rocket happily jumped out, immediately making a beeline for Tyler's front door. The joke between the two of you was that Rocket was practically Tyler's son just as much as he was yours.

"Hey, come here," you called after him as he began to sniff at some flowers on the far side of Tyler's yard.

Rocket came up and ran circles around your feet, only adding to your already anxious demeanor. You rolled your shoulders a couple times and reached up to knock on Tyler's door, your heart already pounding a lot harder than you would like it to be.

You heard Tyler walking around inside and your heart skipped a beat. It had been a couple weeks since the last time you two saw one another. You had gone to lunch together and hardly talked. Neither of you had discussed how you blew up on him and he knew better than to talk about his new relationship. There really wasn't much else for you two to discuss at that point.

The door knob started to jiggle, causing Rocket to jump around happily. You brushed some hair back from your forehead and stuck your hands deep into your sweatshirt pockets.

"Hey," Tyler smiled, although it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Hi."

"Do you want to come inside?"

"Rocket definitely does," you said, looking down at the golden retriever running around your feet.

"Yeah, he does," Tyler smiled.

He opened the door wider and you followed Rocket inside. Tyler started to walk towards the kitchen so you fell into step with him. You stopped dead in your tracks as you rounded the corner, fear instantly turning into anger.

A vase full of red carnations, your favorite flower, was sitting on the edge of the counter next to two mugs of steaming hot chocolate. There were a couple bowls full of candy and snacks nearby, right next to a stack of movies.

"What is this?" you groaned. "Did you just need my help surprising your girlfriend?"

Tyler's eyebrows immediately furrowed, "What makes you think that?"

"You pissed her off, didn't you? That's the mistake you made and now you want my help in making her forgive you. I already told you, I'm not letting you pull me into this again. Deal with your own problems."

You turned and started to walk towards the door, but Tyler caught your arm and stopped you. He gently turned you back to face him.

"That's not what's going on at all, Y/N."

"Then tell me what it is," you said, already fighting tears. "Because I can't take this anymore. I tried to be happy for you, Ty, I really did. But I can't watch you be in love with someone else."

"This is for you, Y/N."

You felt your breath catch, "What do you mean?"

He led you back over to the kitchen. Upon closer inspection, you realized that all of it was your favorites: the flowers, the snacks, the movies. It was all the things that Tyler knew you loved.

"Getting back with my ex was a mistake," he explained. "It was you that I was in love with the whole time, but I was so afraid of ruining what we had that I let myself run back to what I was comfortable with. I thought that it was the right choice, but then I saw how much I hurt you in the process."

You wiped a fallen tear away, "For real? This isn't some joke to make me like you again?"

"Not a joke," he grinned.

"So what does this mean?"

"It means that I love you, Y/N. I don't want to lose you," he reached down and took hold of your hand. "And I knew that telling you alone wouldn't be enough, so I gathered up all of your favorite things to show you that I really care."

"I love you too, Tyler."

"You do?"

"Yeah," you smiled. "I thought it was obvious."

He shook his head, "I'm pretty oblivious when it comes to feelings."

You sniffled, "I noticed."

He reached forward and wiped another of your tears away with your thumb. You expected him to move his hand away, but instead he left it there. Slowly, he began to pull you towards him.

"Wait," you stopped him.

"What?" he whispered.

"You aren't still dating your ex, are you?"

"No. That's over."

"Ok, just making sure."

He smiled and continued to pull you towards him. Your lips met in the middle and you brought a hand to his chest, grabbing the fabric of his shirt and pulling him closer to you.

He finally pulled away and bit down on his bottom lip, "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that."

"You've been waiting a long time?" you laughed.

"Ok, maybe not as long as you."

"You should have kissed me when you held my hand," you smirked.

"You were awake for that?" he asked, cheeks immediately going bright red.

"The entire time."

He pulled his hands away from yours and buried his face into them. You grinned and pulled them away.

"It was cute," you smiled.

"It was dorky."

"Whatever," you rolled your eyes. "I appreciated it."

He smiled and cast his eyes down to his feet, but you tilted his head back up towards you so that you could give him another quick kiss.

"What do you say we watch a movie and eat all these snacks?" you asked.

"I think that sounds like a good plan."

"And you can hold my hand for real this time," you laughed.

"I'm never going to live that one down, am I?"

"Never."

He bent down and pressed a kiss to your cheek, causing you to giggle. The two of you gathered up all of the snacks and carried them into the living room, followed by a very happy looking dog. Rocket was quick to jump on the couch and join all the cuddling and snacking that was going on.

"Are you comfortable?" Tyler asked as he wrapped an arm around you.

You nodded and grabbed a handful of popcorn. He grabbed the remote and hit play on the first movie that the two of you had decided to watch together.

You stood up from the couch for a moment so that you could make yourself some more hot chocolate. To your surprise, Tyler got up and followed you, wrapping his arms around you from behind as you filled the mug with more milk and carried it over to the microwave.

"What are you doing?" you giggled as you started it.

"I just wanted to be near you," he answered, pressing a kiss to your cheek.

"We've been cuddled up on the couch together for almost two hours."

"I know, but I just feel like there's so much lost time to make up for," he said, resting his head on your shoulder. "I swear I'm not this cuddly all the time."

You reached up and scratched his head, "It's alright, love. I understand."

Tyler hummed in contentment, "I like when you call me love."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I can't believe the prettiest person in the world loves me."

You grabbed your milk from the microwave and walked back towards the counter, which was a bit awkward with Tyler wrapped around you. It was weird to finally see this side of him after being his friend for so long.

"You're going to have to let go of me eventually," you laughed as you stirred your hot chocolate.

"Never," he mumbled into your shoulder.

You eventually made him unwrap his arms as you walked back over to the couch, only to immediately snuggle up to him once you sat back down. He wrapped his arms around you, holding you close to him.

"Can you promise me something, Y/N?"

"Maybe."

"Never let me lose you, alright?"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that."

He smiled and pressed a quick kiss to your lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too," you said, running your fingers lightly along his arm. "And I'm always going to be there for you."