joshler oneshots

rotting leather (so are my bones)

summary:

josh isn't sure how he got here, the wood digging into his hipbones and tyler perched above him, their smoke swirling in the air like a van gogh painting.
his hair sticks to his neck, and the air smells like weed and chlorine.

or the one in which josh lives in an abandoned car, tyler works in a 24 hour convenience store, and things get better.
eventually.

words: 4,585

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josh pulls his frayed, dirty blanket closer around him, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

he lets out a long, shaky sigh, and it steams in the air like cheap cigarette smoke.

the torn leather is cold and he can feel the chill through his thin jeans.

the window fogs up, and josh wipes it away with the edge of his checkered blanket and stares boringly out at the empty parking lot; and beyond that, the glowing lights of the highway and the downtown bustle of los angeles.

the window fogs up again, and josh curls up tighter in his useless blanket and tries to sleep.

he awakens with a jolt, squinting his eyes as the sun shines unforgivingly through the dirty glass of the backseat window.

he groans and bangs his head against the car door.

he picks a tshirt from the many laying scattered on the floor and changes.

he closes his eyes and rests his head against the window.

there's a knock on the door, and josh opens his eyes slowly.

he rolls down the still foggy window, looking out with tired eyes.

there's a blond man outside, a fedora tilted at a nervous angle on his head. his fingers tangle and untangle together, and he looks half scared to death of josh.

his voice is soft and shaky.

"hi, i just see you around here a lot and i was wondering if you needed help?"

josh rubs his eyes and smiles reassuringly at the other boy, who relaxes visibly.

"yeah, thanks. just don't know where im gonna get my next meal from."

the other boy flushes and stutters, pulling a wad of crumpled one dollar bills out of his pocket.

"sorry, it's, it's not much but it'll probably last for a day or two-"

josh just laughs, and gently takes the money from his shaking hands.

"thank you so much, don't worry about it. what's your name?"

"im patrick."

patrick smiles, a tiny bit, then rushes away to disappear inside the factory building.

josh rolls up the window, and pulls on his only jacket.

out of the car he goes, through the parking lot, and into the early morning chaos.