Electricityscape |-/ Tyler Joseph Fic

chapter nine

I went to my appointment on Monday with the intention to lie to Tyler and tell my doctor that I wasn't up for the operation. I had it all planned out and everything, but before I went in to the office, he sent me a snapchat of himself at school hiding in his hoodie with the caption 'remember that I love you,' then another one after it where his hand was in front of his face, but he was peeking out from a gap between his fingers. The caption on that one said 'and I want you to be healthy.'

And then my plan seemed to vanish from my mind completely. The nurse called my name and led me into the room, where she then took my vitals and everything. I was arguing with myself in my head the entire time, trying to convince myself that absolutely nothing good would come from lying to Tyler.

So when my doctor came into the room and sat down across from me, I looked her in the eye and told her that I agreed to go through with the operation.

"That's great news," she replied with a surprised smile. "Now, of course, we can't schedule it at the moment, because there needs to be plans arranged for getting the right supplies and surgeons. I'm going to send you home today with the instruction to keep taking the antibiotics I subscribed last week, but I'll call you in a week, we should have it all scheduled by then." She smiled at me again. "Until then, feel better, and keep up the good work."

--

I was silent the whole way home. I didn't feel good about anything anymore. I didn't want to have the operation, but I didn't want to lie to Tyler either. Whichever option I chose would have left me uneasy either way.

I went straight to my room after we pulled into the driveway, politely declining my mom's offer of a warm sandwich. I took out my phone and sent Tyler a text, inviting him to come over when he got home from school.

Sure enough, about an hour later I heard his voice from downstairs. Then he knocked on my door, so I said, "Come in."

He peeked in, then closed the door behind him as he came and sat down with me on the bed. "You okay?" he asked, then gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I nodded, shuffling Tyranny on my phone and putting it on my nightstand. "Can you just lay here with me?" I asked Tyler in a whisper.

"Yeah, of course." He laid down on my mattress and then brought me into his arms, where he cuddled with me and hummed along to the music. A bit later, he asked, "When's the operation going to be?"

I shrugged, then closed my eyes. "They said they'll call next week."

He nodded, then kissed my shoulder. "If it means anything, I'm really proud of you for going through with it."

I opened my eyes at this. "Yeah?" I replied.

He kissed my jaw right below my ear. "Yeah. I know you didn't want to do this, but I think you'll be glad you did."

I closed my eyes, and then we didn't say anything for the next few songs.

Only after the album ended Tyler asked, "Are you coming to school tomorrow?"

I shook my head as I grabbed my phone and shuffled Brick + Mortar. "No, I don't think I can finish out the year."

"You mean you're not graduating?" he asked incredulously.

"I dunno, Tyler." I set my phone down again. "I mean, we only have, what, a month and a half left? By the time these antibiotics have kicked in and I feel good enough to go back to school, it'll be time for my surgery, and god knows how long it'll take me to recover from that."

He just sighed, his breath warm against my neck. "That kind of sucks."

I laughed a bit, which made me cough. "Yeah, it does."