I Prefer The Drummer (Book 2 // Joshler)

Part Six

[trigger warning, read at your own risk]

Josh is frozen still, eyes staring at Tyler who's on the floor, blood dripping down his forehead and tears down his cheeks. He's crying and he's shaking and Josh can't breathe, he can't move.

"Tyler, I'm sorry, I-I don't know what's gotten into me..."

Josh approaches him but Tyler moves back, sobs choking him.

"Tyler, please..."

By now, there are tears streaking Josh's face yet he doesn't care. In fact, he deserves them. Tyler is still shaking when Splashy runs over to his feet, licking his ankle. Josh extends his hand to touch Tyler but Splashy turns around and growls at him. He instantly backs away, his heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

July 1997 (Tyler is 9 years old)

"Come on!" Derek is calling out for Tyler who's picking up his soccer ball and running inside after him. Both boys are sitting at the dining table eating spaghetti and meatballs while drinking orange juice, that's when Derek knocks his glass on the floor and it shatters.

It's loud, it's messy and he panics. Derek gets up and starts to pick at the glass, cutting his fingertips carelessly, blood mixing in with the orange juice; the acid is stinging and burning him but he couldn't care less, he just needs to clean this up before his father comes back downstairs.

"Derek!" The footsteps are echoing in the house as they shuffle across the second floor of the house. "What did you do!?"

The voice is angry, it's loud and it's sounding all throughout the house. Tyler gets down to the ground, and he starts to wipe up the juice as fast as he possibly can. As fast as any shaking nine years old boy could.

"Derek!!" He's there. He's hovering over both boys, his shadow like a thunderstorm of raging clouds.

"Father, I'm-I'm sorry." He's stuttering, Tyler can't move.

The father lifts up his hand and brings it back down with a great deal of force, knocking Derek over as he slaps his delicate face. Tyler is shaking, he's not breathing. Derek's father is staring at him with cold eyes before turning on his heels and heading back upstairs.

"Clean up the damn mess!" He screams back before he's gone, the floorboards creaking with each step he takes, luckily the sound is fading out.

Tyler turns his head and looks at Derek, the large bruise on his face now has a freshly open cut in it. Tyler leaps over to him and hugs his friend who's silently sobbing in his chest. That's what friends are for, right?

Present Day

Tyler is squirming and he's crying and he can't breathe but Josh is holding him tightly against his chest. His hand in Tyler's hair, his face hidden in the crease of his neck and Tyler can feel the salted tears against his skin.

"Tyler, I'm so sorry."

Josh pulls back and carries Tyler as he shakes, the look of awful sadness Derek had carried on his shoulder for days and weeks and months, is edged in his brain. Tyler had been thankful the day it ended, yet the ending was so tragic; it burned a permanent hole through his heart.

Josh sits Tyler on the floor of their bathroom and grabs a towel, wetting it before gently bending back down to dab Tyler's cut above his eyebrow. He hisses and Josh pulls back immediately.

"I'm so, so sorry..." It's barely a whisper and his voice is cracking but he manages to croak out another apology. "Tyler, please, say something..."