sweet as a flower. (Joshler)

🌼 twenty three

A/n: pic to make up for the update slack. *Shrug*

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Coffee with his mother was rather.. enjoyable.

"So.. about Tyler," she began, but was cut off almost immediately.

"Momma, it's okay. You don't have to worry yourself about this, okay? I've seen all the stress you've been under lately-"

"Joshua." She retorted, "Please, I know this is a sensitive subject for you. And that's understandable. All I wanted to say is, if I had only one wish it would be for Tyler to wake up." She reached out and set her hand in Josh's; the one that wasn't currently clenching his coffee cup with white knuckles.

He gratefully accepted it and gave her hand a soft squeeze.

"I know, I know. Thank you, that-that really means a lot, I just.." he sighed quietly and paused, "What if your wish doesn't come true?"

"Trust me." She offered him a smile that was much warmer and welcoming than the bitter liquid that was slowly cooling in his cup, "God is on his side."

She really had a way around Josh's doubts, and she had ways to somehow disprove them without making promises she couldn't keep. She knew if she reminded Josh of his fading religious beliefs, it would give him at least a few minutes of peace in his mind.

And fortunately, it did.

~day forty two~

After a shower, a walk, a short nap, Josh laid almost contently in his freshly sheeted bed. It smelled of lavender, with maybe a hint of brown sugar, and it made his heart rate peacefully slower. He was comfortable; his hands weren't hurting anymore, his hair wasn't greasy, and he knew Tyler was slowly regaining consciousness.

He didn't think much of it when he heard his mom muttering on the phone, until she came quietly knocking on his door.

"Come in, momma."

"Josh? Sweety?" She still had their house phone held against her collarbone, a less than happy look on her face. Almost clueless in a way, like she knew something, but didn't know everything.

"Is something wrong? Who's on the phone?" He sat up with tightly knitted eyebrows, the feeling of bile rising in his stomach from worry was almost unbearable.

"It's the hospital. They need to speak to you because you're the name on his emergency contact list." She spoke softly and held the phone out for him.

"Emergency? What-"

"Please just take the phone."

He did as ordered of him, and hesitated before he held it to his ear. She left the room the second he took it, as if she didn't want to know what was happening on the other side of the line.

"Josh?" He heard the familiar doctors voice, and he almost felt relieved until he noticed that slight sympathetic hum.

"This-this is him." He choked out past the painful lump swelling in his throat, terrified of what was around the corner, on the other side of the call.

"Let me just be clear, Tyler is perfectly okay." He said sternly, Josh letting out the breath he didn't even know he was holding in at just those few comforting words.

"Thank God, you scared me!" He laughed softly, his heart thumping loud in his ears at both the anxiety and the relief.

"My apologies," he retorted with the same laugh Josh shared, but in more of a comforting than mocking way. "But you should come to the hospital, talk to him. Read a book, I don't know, sing to him?" He spoke suspiciously calmly, "We-we just feel that it's best if you come in regularly."

"You're stuttering." Josh would have crossed his arms if he wasn't holding the phone, not convinced at all that this is what it's really about. "You're trying to stay calm, I can tell there's something up."

"Josh-"

"Please, just tell me." He sighed shakily, preparing himself for the worst.

Which, he wasn't sure if it was or not.

The doctors took in a deep breath, "Okay, okay. So, you remember how I informed you of his maximum amount of ninety days here?"

Josh didn't have to reply.

"Well, according to the state, his um, his charts aren't showing enough progress fast enough. This is day what? He-"

"Forty two." He cut in with a raspy voice, then he cleared it. "This is only day forty two."

"Um, yeah. Forty two. Josh, I'm sorry, they've cut the time he has in the ICU down by a third. They're only giving him sixty days before they take him off life support."

The second the words came out of the doctor's mouth, Josh's was hung open in disbelief and anger. "What?! That's murder! He's still alive, that's manslaughter! They-they can't do that! Can they?.." Just as fast as the anger came, it went.

Tyler wouldn't want him to react this way.

Tyler hates violence.

"Josh, please just hear me out. Yes, they can, and they will. The state owns this hospital, what they say, goes. There's enough evidence that he can be considered brain dead and taken off life support with no consequences. Hell, they could purposefully-" He paused and lowered his voice a little, "They could purposefully give a patient the wrong medications and the government would cover up the murder. The world's a fucked up place, okay? This hospital is a source of way too much income for them to shut down. I've seen two people die under the hands of a surgeon because they fell asleep during the procedure, and one was a shoulder surgery and the other was in the ankle. But guess what? They covered it up with unspecified complications. So yes, Josh, I'm sorry but they will remove Tyler from the room to replace him with a patient who's stay will bring them more money. And they wouldn't feel bad about it, either."

Every word was like a low buzz in the back of Josh's head. He couldn't listen. He wouldn't. There was no way he was going to sit back and let them pull the plug on his flower.

So he decided he just needs to work harder and be there more for the sake of saving Tyler's life.

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A/n: holy hell guys, I am so sorry for my long absence.

I've been so busy, or whatever. My birthday passed *woo* and I worked on myself and other important things, so I've been distracted. Didn't want ya to think I abandoned you like my father abandoned me *HA* sorry that was dark

Anywho

Js I really hate all the arguments and whatnot I've been seeing in the comments. Like c'mon guys it's literally a story some random fan wrote and you're gonna let other readers of it piss you off? If you don't like a part of the story, simply ignore it, or stop reading. Simple. Idgaf who tops or if you don't condone a sentence. It's my fucking story and I'll do what I want, yeah? *Kissy kiss* bc really, it's almost as annoying and disappointing as the paparazzi that snuck pics of Josh and Debby last night. Like leave them the fuck alone if they're happy together and want to stay private. Fuck man.

As I'm sure you all know Chester passed a while ago. That's a thing. I had to tell my mom and she just kinda sat down and couldn't breathe. I cried for like days but no biggie. God he was such a good man but he cried out for help and no one listened- shush now let's not rant ugh

*Other political things I'm not gonna mention*

Edit: y'all I just finished The Dove Keeper and I'm hurting

I'm not crying I just got a little March 22nd in my eyes

I'm a mess

~Trash