Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Tyler? Why is there a crab in the bathroom?"

Tyler looked up from his phone, (which sadly didn't have service outside of the country) smiling a bit. 

"Remember that hermit crab you had that died a couple weeks back? I thought we could give that crab a proper funeral since we had to flush Ryan," Tyler explained, Josh frowning a bit at the mention of his recently passed pet. 

He twiddled his fingers, eyes set on the floor. "So that crab's dead?" 

"Sorry, Josh, but we can give both him and Ryan a proper goodbye this time. You want to?" Josh lifted his head in a nod. Tyler stood from his seat on the bed, taking Josh's hand in his. 

Josh stopped suddenly in front of the bathroom door. Tyler looked back and saw the red-haired boy biting his lip anxiously. "Can we wrap him up? I don't want to carry Ryan's cousin's corpse in my bare hands, that's disrespectful..." 

Tyler smiled fondly at how cute Josh was being. He nodded and grabbed some paper towels to wrap him up. They walked to the beach outside their hotel with the crab in Tyler's hands and a random book Tyler was reading in hand. 

They made it to the ocean, standing knee-deep in the water so he would float away peacefully. 

Though, it didn't really go as planned. 

The waves carried Ryan the Second back to the shore and in again, and Tyler got his shorts wet. Josh was getting teary eyed while reading a random poem from the first few pages of a book about war, and gave up before he could finish. Despite that, the crab funeral could be considered a success. 

~

Later on in the day, Tyler was staring into the bright blue Gulf-of-Mexico sky. He saw parachutes with Captain America's shield printed on it. He wouldn't stop jumping up and down until Josh finally agreed to be taken up into the sky. 

That didn't mean he wasn't terrified. 

While sitting on the boat about to be lifted into the air, Josh's body was trembling like he was in subzero temperatures. 

"It's gonna be okay, babe."

Josh turned to face his boyfriend, holding out his hand to hold as they went up, up, up into the air, the salt water vaguely splashing their legs. 

Tyler was laughing loudly as he cheered, letting go of the harness they wore. Josh smiled and held onto the dark haired boy's hand tightly, raising his arms as well. After a moment they went quiet, hands still together. 

"And at last I see the light, and it's like the fog has lifted-" Josh heard Tyler quietly sing, and he laughed. 

"Dude, are you singing that song from Tangled?"

"Why not? It's a nice song!" Tyler pouted and Josh just chuckled. 
 

"I love you." 

Tyler smiled softly and kissed Josh's now-still hand, whispering, "I love you too."

The parasailing came with an unexpected splashdown, and since they were already half-wet, they figured, why not just swim around in the water afterwards?

An innocent splash fight became a splash war. In which seaweed became a weapon. 

It was all fun and games until it landed on Tyler's head. 

"Oh, you're so on!" He shouted, launching himself onto his tattooed boyfriend and piling all the seaweed he could hold onto his curly red hair. Josh stopped struggling and just let Tyler, who's legs were around his waist and chest to his back, balance as much as he can onto his head and shoulders. 

"There. Now you look like a merman!" Tyler turned Josh around so they were chest to chest. They laughed and kissed, hands moving to set red hair free of scratchy seaweed. Josh pulled away, pouting. 

"You ruined my merman look, meanie."

"I don't care what's in your hair, I just wanna know what's on your mind..." Tyler hummed quietly, kissing Josh's nose. 

"Oh, you did not just quote your own song, that's some rom-com worthy stuff right there," Josh smiled. They kissed again, floating around and peaceful. 

~

The pair was sitting on their bed facing each other, arguing what they would have for dinner that night. 

"I think we should have tacos. We are in Mexico anyway!"

"Mexican tacos aren't the same as the ones back home, let's get something else nearby, maybe takeout?"

"Pizza. Definitely pizza."

After walking the half-mile to go pick it up, they settled on the bed and are slice after slice in silence. 

Tyler looked out the balcony window and smiled wide. Josh glanced over, seeing vague orange lights, almost like very small torches. 

"Joshie! They're having a candlelit dinner on the beach!" Tyler was bouncing around in his seat, smiling wide. 

"Aw, that's cute, wanna do that one day?"

Tyler blushed, looking at his feet. "Uh-um sure! Just like- we don't have to go all the way t-to Mexico for that..."

Josh laughed. "Of course not, we'll have a candlelit beach dinner in space."

Neither of them could hold back their grins, Tyler whispering, "yeah, in space is nice."