Lovely | Joshler

Mustles and Galaxies

"Hey! Tyler!" I yelled from farther down the sidewalk. "Can we hang out today?"
"No." Tyler harshly said.
"Why not?" I wined.
"Just, no." Tyler repeated.
"You can't just say no with no reason! Tell me! Are you busy? Do you have tons of homework? Are you not going to be home? What is it?" I was getting annoyed.
"Well... I don't really have a reason." Tyler mumbled.
"Then you don't want to hang out with me?" I said, wide eyed, "fine then... I'll see you around then." I started to walk away.

A hand gripping my wrist stopped me from running. I turned around to see Tyler gripping my wrist with tears streaming down his face.
"T-Tyler?! Are you ok? What's wrong?" I yelled. I was very worried.
"I-I don't want to be alone. C-can we go to the p-park?" Tyler managed to squeak out of his closed teeth.

"Of course!" I said with a reassuring smile. It was a little foggy outside and our light jackets didn't really get the job done, warmth-wise. We both sat on the old, creaky swings. I was wondering what was wrong with Tyler, he looked as if he was in pain when he grabbed my wrist.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I said softly, looking at Tyler. He shook his head slowly and took a deep breath.
"I'm just having a very hard time right now at my house. I don't want to go home anymore." Tyler mumbled. My eyes were so wide, they almost fell out of my head.

"Is there a reason you don't want to go home?" I asked.
"My mom." Tyler responded.
What could his mother do to make him not want to go home again?! I gripped the chains tighter. They were very cold but I was heating them up. I was mad. How could his mother do that to such a thing to this tiny, innocent boy?

I got off the swing and started walking over to Tyler's swing. I hugged him. I didn't even care if he thought it was weird! I just hugged him. The embrace was filled with warmth against the harsh winter breeze. I could feel the presence of muscles through his thin shirt. It made me happy to know that Tyler got some sort of exercise. Tyler gripped me harder which suprized me a little, but I heard his little gasps for air. He was crying.

"Tyler, your so strong! I don't know what your mother has done. But she won't get away with it for long. I promise Tyler." I put my hand on his soft head of hair and ran my fingers through it. We were still hugging and it made me excited to know that Tyler didn't find it uncomfortable, or at all weird.

"Do you want to spend the night at my house?" I asked letting go of Tyler sadly.
"I-is that ok? I mean... I don't want to be a burden to you or your family." Tyler croaked.

"Of course not! It's just my mom and I so it's totally ok." I smiled at him. So we got up from the creaky swings and started walking home. Tyler had a hard time walking so I got to support him. He was so cold. Was he getting sick? Something was wrong with him and i needed to know. We got into the house and we headed straight upstairs to my bedroom.

Tyler plopped down straight into my bed, letting out a huge sigh.
"I can lend you some clothes if you don't have any." I stated looking through my dresser for a shirt and pajama pants.
"Thank you so much Josh..." Tyler mumbled.

"Stay as long as you feel nessisary, we don't mind." I said with a smile. I heard a slight creek from my bed but just figured Tyler was shuffling around.
"You hungry?" I asked but there was no answer. I turned around and saw that Tyler was asleep on the bed, laying in the fetal position.

"You're so cute." I whispered as I ran my fingers through his soft, slightly spiked hair. I took off his shirt so he could be more comfortable and noticed all the drawings on his chest and belly. I traced them with my index finger. There were rockets, music notes, planets, stars, the sun and the moon. It was amazing. There was a galaxy on his chest.

I smirked and put him under the covers. Changing into my pajamas, I slept in the chair in my room. It wasn't the most comfortable but all that mattered was that Tyler was safe and comfortable.