Empathy [Josh Dun - Twenty One Pilots]

EIGHT

"What the f-" Josh exclaimed, stopping his tongue right at the curse word. A wave of anger crashed on him, making him lose balance for a second. He furrowed his brows as confusion settled in, the aftermath of a flood that seemed to have destroyed the trust he had in Tyler, his rather new but only friend. He blinked once, twice, to make sure the people in front of him were the ones he was seeing.

As if on cue, Debby got up from Tyler's bed, and so did the dark-haired boy, only fueling Josh's displeasure. The boy couldn't, not for a second, grasp any sense in this situation. Why would Tyler call him up only to let him see he was hanging out with Debby behind his back? Did he do that on purpose? And what was the point anyway, if it wasn't to hurt him?

"Josh, it's not what you think," Debby started like there weren't anything worse that she could have said. Josh snorted in response. He was used not to believe the words coming out of her perfectly shaped mouth. Yet he desperately wanted to. Unable to say anything, he shifted his gaze towards a smirking Tyler, and his fists clenched automatically at the sight of his amusement. What was so funny?

Tyler took a step forward, immediately reaching for Josh's shoulder, squeezing it in a friendly manner. "Dude, chill, okay?" he said, repeating the words he had told Josh when the boy had told him about his weird empathy problem. "Really, it's not what you think it is," he continued, his hand still on Josh, "I just thought, you know, that you two needed to talk things through for good."

Josh raised an eyebrow. So that was a scheme, devilishly planned by his friend, to fix things between him and Debby? But how could things be fixed when feelings just weren't reciprocated? Josh glanced at Debby, still standing by the bed, nervously fiddling with her fingers, then back at Tyler, bending over to whisper in his ear.

"Dude, what are you tr-"

"D'you trust me, Josh?" Tyler interrupted him, his hand brushing Josh's forearm, the warmth of his skin sending a stronger feeling in the boy's stomach. A nice feeling, for once. And by looking into his friend's dark eyes, Josh thought this might as well be trust. "All right, I'll leave you two for a while," Tyler started again, smiling confidently, "just let me know when you're done."

Turning towards Debby, he winked at her, and squeezed Josh's shoulder one last time before stepping out of his own room and closing the door behind him. Josh sighed, his eyes still on the doorframe, before slowly turning towards his ex-girlfriend. She seemed nervous, probably as nervous as he was, and that weirdly comforted him. Unlike the first time Josh had laid eyes on him, Tyler had this way of always sending him the most positive feels, and he now felt more confident than he had felt in a while. In a few steps, he reached the bed and sat down, patting the spot right beside him for Debby.

"So..." he started, unsure of where this discussion would be going. He trusted Tyler, he knew that now, and he knew why: Tyler was the only one who had trusted him when nothing seemed to point towards his mental sanity. But he still wasn't sure this could go anywhere between him and Debby. He was in love with her. She was not. And although he had tried to be his friend, he had never been able to. She broke her heart, and Josh couldn't get past that.

"I'm sorry," Debby interrupted his train of thought, and although Josh had heard that word quite a few time coming from her lips, this time felt more genuine. And when he looked into her eyes, he felt it. He felt the sincerity of the word, tickling every inch of his skin. "I know I said that already," the girl continued, her voice low and trembling, "but I really mean it. I'm sorry for how I acted towards you, how I ignored you when you obviously needed me and how I ended things between us..."

Slowly, Debby took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves down, unaware that her anxiety coping mechanism was helping Josh as well. The boy felt strangely calm, and he was hearing every word she said like they were her first. With a gentle look, he incited her to continue.