A/N: This is a bit of the story I left out for several reasons.

Because I wasn't sure if it would interrupt the flow of the story,

Because it involves a bit of music not written by me, so I wanted to double-check my source,

And because it would have left Josh pantsless for even longer, something that might have been uncomfortable to read.

In any case, this story takes place just after the little fiasco that resulted in Josh spilling vodka all over his pants, and Maddie's subsequent cleaning up of the mess.

The song featured is inspired by a song titled Love and Epilogues and all credit for the original piece goes to a lovely lady named Ezreniel. I got permission to include a shorter version of her song so long as I give her due credit (I'm doing that now) as my fanbase is slightly larger than hers.

We both hope you enjoy this chapter.

"Can I, can I show you something, Maddie?" Josh wondered, and he tilted his head towards me on the cushion.

"Anything." I nodded with certainty. All this sudden honesty was more than all right with me.

"Promise you won't laugh?" Joshua Berkeley raised an eyebrow but his expression seemed more nervous than usual, like this was something very dear to him.

"I would never laugh at you, Josh" I told him, finding it almost insulting that he thought I would, though I knew he was just not accustomed to feeling so vulnerable; if I were to laugh at him about it he would be crushed, and he had to protect himself from that.

Josh sat up and looked at me, scanning my eyes for any inconsistency or lies. Finally, he seemed comfortable enough, and he reached out and grabbed my hand, jumping up, "Okay, come with me."

He yanked me to my feet and dragged me after him towards the stairs once more. He didn't bother turning the television off, and to my surprise he didn't bother grabbing the barely-touched bottle of vodka he left on the coffee table. I smiled as I followed him, noticing that his steps for once were actually somewhat sober.

We rounded the corner at the top of the stairs still in a brisk jog, and he pulled me into his bedroom without hesitation. I noticed that it was actually a bit cleaner, like he had pushed the trash off the ground and moved some clothes around. To boot, his bed was actually somewhat made. He had this little yellow notepad sitting on the end of it, and he hurried over there to grab it before I could get a look. He went over to the far end of the bed and looked over at me, slapping the covers twice for me to hurry and sit down.

As I did what I was silently commanded, he pulled over a little wooden chair that had been shoved in the corner last I saw, which no longer held a mound of clothing or trash. He pulled it right up in front of me, so near our legs were almost touching. He squeezed his knees a bit and rubbed his legs a few times, which might have been because he was cold, leaving them bare like that, or because he was nervous. Before he said anything, he looked around on the ground for a replacement pair of pants, which he found by his closet in the form of a pair of blue sweats.

He sat back down in front of me as he finished pulling them on, and again, he just sort of bit his lips and fidgeted. I thought it was mighty cute of him to be all shy for once, but I didn't tell him that. Instead, I leaned forward to capture his eyes in my own, and gave him a supportive smile.

"Josh?" I said his name quietly and received his full attention, all of it forced out towards me in those bright gray eyes, "I'm not gonna force you to do anything, y'know."

"That's not it," he told me, and I noticed then that he was blushing a bit and holding back a larger grin than the smile he displayed, "I've just never really shown anyone this kind of thing, but I don't feel like I have to, it's like, I really, really want to. I want to show it, and I want to show it to you, only you."

"Well then what's stoppin' you?" I returned his smile as I sat back up, patiently waiting for whatever it was.

"Nothing, you're right," he resolved himself as he slapped his legs once lightly, turning around suddenly and pulling something out from behind the chair, which I hadn't really noticed leaning up against the dresser.

I blinked as I recognized the instrument, a familiar old thing in a big black case, which he readily popped open, "Your guitar? I thought you haven't even touched that thing in years."

"I haven't really, but once in a while, I get a thought about something, and so I jot it down," Josh said as he put the case down and let his fingers run over the nicely finished wood, "When I woke up today, I kinda felt, I don't know, motivated. I've been working on this, this song for a long time. And I finished it this morning. Just, just don't laugh, okay?"

"I won't," I swore as I put my hand over my heart.

"It's still pretty rough," he felt the need to defend himself or something, but the more he did the more my smile grew, "I'm not too good with rhymes and tunes and stuff, and it's not perfect or anything, but I just—"

"Josh," I reached over and put my hand on his leg, stopping him mid sentence and snatching his attention in one move, "Just play. I wanna hear it."

"Okay, okay. Um," he pursed his lips as he checked the tuning of the strings, and he worked up the courage to get going, "Here goes."

Josh cleared his throat two or three times as he settled down, his breath shaky and anxious. Finally, his right hand moved at once and fell into a rhythm, the strumming clear and charming in his fingers. As his confidence grew, the chords rang out louder. He took a slow and uneasy breath, starting the words out quietly before he got used to the sound of his voice.

""It was a day like any day

when you were on my lips, but never saw,

Neither of us, when strike it may,

Be it something such as love or epilogues.

I don't have much left any more,

And this big house seems so empty

but it's stuffed up to shingles with silence

and memories I should forget to get me by.

And now those people I called friends,

Who used to think that I was strong,

Seem to have found that there's an end

and all those premises were wrong.

I don't know how to make this seem profound,

So I'll buy another bottle, baby,

When they stop coming around.

Faces come and go,

And sight seems fickle to the eyes

because we change before we see it

and those pictures seem like lies.

I can try to make this sound profound,

But I'll buy another bottle, baby,

When they're no longer around.

I was the smartest kid in school,

I thought it mattered to be cool

I know that no one thinks of me

as someone who's got anything figured out

and surely there's some truth in that

'cause here I am just singing songs about the past.

But baby, someone's got their eyes on me,

Somebody's looking in,

And she is banging on my door

and taking the poison from my hands.

I'm hoping you might think that I'm profound,

Cause I can't buy another bottle, baby,

If you keep coming around.

No, I won't buy another bottle, baby,

If you keep coming around.""

I sat in silence for a moment, watching his head drop down bashfully. He ended the song abruptly, stopping the vibrating chords in his hand. He didn't look at me; he was too intent on looking at his bare toes digging into the rug at his feet. I could not stop smiling, my eyes and heart entirely drawn to him.

"I'm speechless," I said at last, shaking my head in reverence as he checked my expression, to figure it out, "Honey, that was incredible. I never knew you could write like that."

"You're just saying that," he murmured self-consciously, and I snapped back readily, determined to show him just how much I actually loved it.

"I'm not! Joshua, that was, that was," I searched for words but fell flat, staring into his brilliant eyes. I wished that I could show him more honestly and tellingly how he made me feel as he sang, but the only idea that came to my mind was to return that kiss he had lent me earlier. I couldn't explain why that sort of thing was on my mind, but I settled for borrowing a word from his vocabulary instead, "Awesome."

I moved forward and embraced him suddenly, holding him firmly against me as I pressed my face into the crook of his neck. At first, he didn't seem to know how to respond, but as I held on longer he returned the hug. The guitar shifted between us a bit, but I didn't mind. I felt him rub against me and I hummed lightly, enjoying the contact with my best friend. We pulled away simultaneously and our eyes met in the middle, crooked smiles mirroring each other just the same.

A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed this. It was really fun to write and made me keel over with d'awwss for days. Ezreniel hopes you enjoy her song, and I hope you did too. We collab'd a little on it; let us know what ya think?