· A B U S E D· (Twenty One Pilots Fanfiction)

-15- Cotton Candy

Tyler's eyes were wide when Josh led him into a small store. It was called Curl Up and Dye, a local hair dye store.

The shelves were covered in a rainbow of different bright hair dyes, there were a few normal hair colors, but they were definitely dominated by the rainbow selection.

Josh led him to a section where it was mostly different brands of pink, all of the shades were different, one was purple-pink, another was hot pink, and then there was baby pink.

Tyler lifts his sunglasses to look at the colors clearly since the glasses had a blue tint. He only wore them to cover the black eye that he had, he didn't want to deal with the stares.

"So which shade Ty?" Josh asks this and Tyler purses his lips, a soft ache coming since his lip was still healing from being busted.

"I can't choose.. they're all so pretty.." Tyler says this in basic awe as he compares two shades of pink. His fingers were trembling as he gently touched the hair samples.

"Well, it's all up to you. Your choice Ty." Josh says this and suddenly the boys face falls, his trembling hands shaking more as he relives a memory of his boyfriend.

It was two months since Chris started hitting him, Tyler had become careful of what he did or said around his boyfriend. He didn't want to be struck, but it happened almost every night. Chris would lose his tempter and beat the boy, making sure the bruises were easy to hide.

"It's your choice Tyler." Chris said this in a harsh voice. He was pacing in front of the younger boy, in his hands was Tyler's cell phone.

Chris was giving him the 'choice' of cutting off Josh or being dumped. But Tyler knew what he would do if he chose Josh over his boyfriend.

But he didn't want Chris to block his number.

He didn't want to lose Josh.

"H-h-he's my b-best friend Chris.." Tyler says this softly, he was stuttering from how much anxiety he was dealing with at the moment, it was almost paralyzing.

"B-b-but, spit it out Tyler, stop fucking stuttering it makes you seem retarded." Chris spits this at him and gets close the the boy.

"Are you really going to choose Joshua over me?" Chris says this in a soft voice, pretending as though he was hurt by Tyler.

"N-n-n-" Tyler starts to speak but a slap to the face interrupts him, the young boy raises his hand to cup his now hot cheek.

"What did I just fucking say about the stuttering. It's fucking annoying." Chris says this angrily and Tyler just looks up at him, tears brimming his eyes.

"Sorry.. I was.. I was going to say.. no... I dont... choose josh.." Tyler says this sentence slowly so that he wouldn't stutter, he didn't want to be slapped again.

His boyfriend grins down at him.

"Good boy Tyler, I knew you would pick me. You're so smart. I love you." He ruffles Tyler's hair before pressing a gentle kiss onto Tyler's forehead.

"I-I love you too!"

Smack.

A hand waved in front of Tyler's face quickly.

The boy flinches and jumps backwards before looking up at who ever was trying to get his attention.

He couldn't see their face. His vision was blurry and when he moves his hands to rub at his eyes that's when he realizes he was crying.

It was just Josh. Worry was evident on his face.

"Ty.. what's wrong?" The older male asks this and Tyler just shakes his head.

"N-nothing, I-I-I'm okay." Tyler stutters heavily on the last sentence and a hand comes close to his face, he instantly jerks back as if he was about to be slapped but instead the hand cups his cheek and wipes a tear from his face.

"Are you sure?" Josh asks this worriedly and Tyler just nods.

"Yeah I'm s-sure." He nods slightly and josh nods with a soft sigh before dropping his hand.

"Alright, back to hair dye. Do you see one that you like?" Josh asks this and Tyler furrows his eyebrows, he couldn't decide between the hot pink and the baby pink.

"How about... w-we get the h-hot pink and the b-baby pink and mix them together, I think they would be p-pretty." Tyler smiles at his best friend and Josh looks back at the two colors, he squints his eyes as if he was calculating something and then he nods.

"Alright, let's do it."

$41.85 later and a quick trip to Taco Bell later. Tyler and josh had arrived at the brunettes house and they were in his bathroom.

Thankfully the boys towels were pink so they wouldn't get ruined by the dye when rinsing his hair.

Right now they were sitting criss crossed on the bathroom floor, Tyler had the two containers of Manic Panic on the floor in front of him, along with a bowl to mix them in.

Josh opens the containers and pops the protective seal off of them before sliding them back to the boy who picks up the first one.

"Mm cotton candy pink.." Tyler says this softly, just reading off the label. It was the pastel of the two colors.

He scoops out some before plopping it in the bowl and then grabbing the other one.

"Hot hot p-pink." He nods slightly and does the same thing.

Then he mixes them together, his eyes widening as it turns a pretty shade of pink, but he decides to do it lighter, so he adds some more cotton candy.

"I-it smells g-good." Tyler smiles as he held the bowl under his own nose to sniff the dye.

"You're not supposed to smell it Ty! Weirdo." Josh shakes his head and Tyler just giggles.

Tyler had forgotten how nice it was to truly laugh.