The Tattoo // Joshler AU

Chapter One

Josh's POV

9/18/14

Ugh. It's 7am.

Totally not what I needed right now. I check the date, and in doing so, see something that has controlled me my entire life. The tattoo. It's not particularly visible, just 3 seemingly insignificant letters on the inside of my wrist. But those 3 letters are so much more important than what they seem. The bold letters draw in my gaze.

T.R.J. Who is he? I don't know.

Even though I've been searching my whole life up to this point, I still haven't found him. Those initials haunt my dreams and my nightmares. It hurts, the fact that maybe I'll never get to meet him.

That I may die.

That's the twisted part of the tattoo. Sure, if you find them in time, you live a perfect life together, in sync and always content. But for some warped reason, the tattoo comes with a condition.

You must find them before your 25th birthday, or the unthinkable happens. It's the worst fate you could imagine. First your heart breaks, a painfully slow and agonizing process. Then comes the sickness. Your body shuts down, you can't move, and all too soon, you're dying.

I have 176 days. Is that long enough? There's no way to know.

~~~~~

I got dressed, pushing myself away from the macabre thoughts. I didn't bother trying to perfect my recently dyed red mess of hair before heading out. Work is boring as anything, I mean, how exciting can being a social media consultant be?

Hint: the answer is not very.

As I walked down the hallway to the elevator, I deliberated on the pros and cons of stopping on my way to get a coffee. After deciding that I needed some sort of a fix to get me through the day, I got in the elevator, and pressed the button for floor one.

After bumping into about 5 random people, tripping over some woman's exceedingly irriating dog, and almost getting trampled over on 4 seperate occasions, I finally reached the small cafe.

Ugh, the amount of irritatingly stressed business people waiting in the line is so annoying. I think it was about that point that I realized the sad reality that is the life of Joshua William Dun. I am one of those irritatingly stressed business people.

I unintentionally listened in on conversations as I waited in line. Sigh. Why do people insist on being arrogant all the t-Oh. He's cute.

He's shorter than me, skinny in a cute way, with deep chocolatey eyes, and a gorgeous head of dark brown hair. His face game is strong, period.

I'm suddenly a lot more excited about coffee. And of course, as soon as I spot the handsome barista, the pace of the line slows to probably about 0.001 kph. Great. Bored as anything, I take out my phone, and automatically click on Tumblr. What can I say? One does not simply not go on Tumblr.

As I finally got around to ordering, I locked my phone, and instead locked eyes with the hella cute guy.

"One light mocha frappucino with one shot of hazelnut syrup please."

Oh lord, his eyes are even better up close. I know I've got those stupid initials on my wrist, but I'm not gonna find him anyways, so I might as well have myself some fun, right?

"Sure, coming right up."

Oh god, his voice is like an angel covered in milk chocolate. As he put my coffee down in front of me, I tried to sneak a glance at the initials on his wrist, before I realized initials are always on the left wrist, and he was showing his right. Damn it.

"That'll be $4.95 please."

That voice, oh my actual god, I could listen to it for days.

"Thanks cutie." I said with a wink, noticing the slight blush that appeared on his face. His cheeks just flared with crimson, and if I could've, I would've made the rest of him blush just as hard.

I was just about to ask for his number when-"Tyler Robert Joseph! I've missed you babe, why didn't you call me?" Some stupid chipper voice called from the crowd, and the guy -whom I presumed to be Tyler- took on a bright expression, his eyes lighting up, and his lips quirking into a smile.

I sighed. It was a shame he was taken and also, by the looks of the girl on his arm, very straight. I grabbed my coffee, flashed Tyler a quick smile, and left.

Halfway to my office, I stop. For some reason, that moment is playing in my brain. And then, like a piano falling on my head, I realized it. T.R.J. Tyler Robert Joseph. Could it be? No...