next door » joshler [book #1]

fifty six » nothing

his entire body goes cold. numb. hot. his heart pounds and his mouth goes dry. a dull headache settles behind his temples, drilling away. his phone slips from his hand, crashes against the ground. a word falls from his lips.

their eyes meet. and instantly tyler crumples to the ground. it's him. he's back.

"tyler?" josh rushes to him, touches him. the place where their skin connects bursts into flame and tyler recoils. "what's wrong? brendon, help, he looks like he's passed out."

tyler stares up at josh, terrified. "you're back," he whispers- it comes out a squeak. "no. you're not real."

"yeah i am," josh says, and it's his voice, his face, the one that's haunted tyler these last couple weeks. "are you alright?"

slowly, tyler sits up. he's shaking. "no," he whispers. "i'm not."

josh's arm is around his shoulders, setting his skin aflame. tyler notices a large, angry mark across the fair skin of josh's face and wonders its origin. he hopes josh is okay. "let's get you up," josh tells him, and he's being guided into his own apartment now, and oh, there's the boy from his bed. josh's is a dead weight, growing heavy and still as he notices the man.

"tyler?" asks the other man. his hair is still sweaty from before, long and tangled. "should i leave?"

"yeah," tyler mumbles, blushing. "sorry, william." he lets william kiss him before he leaves, and feels fury radiate from josh.

calm, collected, josh says, "i didn't realize he's a whore now." it's directed to brendon, but tyler is the one who reacts first. he slips away from josh and faces him, lower lip quivering.

"tell me why you're here," he says. josh avoids his eyes.

"first," the blue-haired boy mumbles, "who the fuck was that?"

as cool as josh was before, tyler says, "oh, that's william. just someone i've been seeing these past couple days."

brendon snorts out a laugh. "beckett? really? well, tyler, you always looked for the feminine ones."

josh is incredulous, watching their exchange, and tyler smiles. "anyway, josh, what brings you back? missed you, by the way."

"i realized i fucked up," josh mumbles. "i'm sorry." his eyes flick over tyler. "can i hug you?"

tyler hesitates, remembering the burn, but then nods, shutting his eyes to block out the pain as josh engulfs him, skin to skin, burning.

but eventually, it becomes the good kind of burn, and tyler hugs him back, feeling josh begin to sob.

"i missed you," he gasps into tyler's back. "oh, god, i missed you so goddamn much, tyler i'm so sorry i know i fucked this all up but i love you i l-love you-"

swallowing his stupid pride, tyler says, "i forgive you. i love you too."

and then he leads josh to the couch, hearing brendon sit down somewhere, and says:

"so. care to explain?"