Fake You Out - Joshler

Chapter Four

Tyler is in bed for the night with a book in his lap as he tries to get some reading done before bed. The ceiling fan light is turned off but he kept the light on his bedside table on to create a soft yellow glow perfect for reading but also perfect to help him fall asleep so he won't toss and turn all night as the thoughts of what he saw in the hospital continue to flow through his mind. He can't stop thinking about what Josh looked like lying in that hospital bed with tubes coming out of nose, arms, mouth and throat. His eyes were closed, his head was turned upright, and his mouth was dropped slightly open. Tyler remembers him having a natural glow, but this Josh, comatose in a hospital, is pale and sickly looking and his skin has a green tinge to it. It's unnerving and hard for Tyler to witness.

It's not even that it's Josh lying in a bed but the simple fact that it's someone whose alone and could possibly die and no one knows...no one but Tyler. He's the only person in the entire world who knows that Josh is there and it's been eating away at him since he walked into Josh's room.

Tyler hears the sound of his bedroom door opening and looks up to see Gerard peeking through the crack in the door. He marks the page he's on, closes the book and sets it down on the bedside table. He scoots over and pats the bed to allow room for Gerard. Gerard shoves the door open before carefully walking towards Tyler's bed.

"What's going on, Gee?"

Gerard stops at the edge of the bed and looks up at Tyler with wide hazel eyes and stares at him for a moment, it's reminiscent of when Gerard was younger and he would sneak into Tyler and Jenna's room in the middle of the night and just stand at the edge of the bed until someone woke up and made room for him.

"Come on, bug," Tyler says as he throws back the blankets and pats the bed once again.

Gerard shakes his head and Tyler frowns. "Are you sick?" Gerard asks causing Tyler's frown to deepen.

"What do you mean?"

"Uncle Patrick said that the reason you weren't home when we got back from school was because you were at the hospital. He said you went to the hospital. Are you sick?"

"Oh bud, no I'm not sick."

"Did you get hurt at work?"

"I went there to take care of something. I have," Tyler pauses momentarily to try and pick the right words to tell his son, "a friend in the hospital right now and he doesn't have any family in town or any other friend's in town to go and talk to the doctor. So I had to go there and make sure that he was okay. I'm perfectly fine; you don't need to worry, okay? Now come and cuddle."

Gerard nods his head and crawls into bed, pulling the blankets up to his chin and throwing himself against Tyler's side. Tyler wiggles down until he's lying flat on his back and wraps an arm around Gerard's body so they're proper cuddling.

"I'm sorry you were scared. Uncle Patrick should have chosen his words more carefully, but you know how he can be."

"It's okay," Gerard says. "I'm glad you got to help your friend. He's lucky to have you, Dad." Gerard yawns and closes his eyes and Tyler is glad that someone is feeling good about what happened at the hospital.

~~~

Tyler wakes up in the morning to all three of his son's sleeping in his bed. It's not surprising Gerard is still curled up against his side. The only change is Michael and Brendon are now in the bed. Brendon is laid out with his head resting on Tyler's thighs while Michael is laid out behind Gerard's head on the pillow. If Tyler were going to guess he could probably bet that Brendon had woken up in the middle of the night and then proceeded to wake Michael up as well so they could both make the trek down the dark hallway towards their father's room.