tyler's face paled as his eyes grew wide and he looked the blue haired boy up and down.
"wh," he muttered, backing away as cliché as possible.
"shit," josh breathed. "uh, go back to sleep tyrone."
"it's tyler, wait what why do you need me to go back to sleep, where am i," tyler questioned frantically.
"shh, terrance, just uh, fuck, um," josh responded, not sure what to do.
"it's tyler," the boy corrected again.
"shut up, taylor. give me a minute to sort this out," the blue haired boy bit his lip in thought. "so. if i fucked up this bad, then how hard is it gonna be to fix it," he thought out loud.
"tyler, my name is tyler," the boy repeated, his aggressive voice startling josh.
"okay okay fine whatever, tyler," josh responded, childishly exaggerating the other boy's name.
"now, can you please tell me what's happening," tyler asked shyly. josh sighed and sat down on the bed.
"so. i sorta kinda accidentally kidnapped you. it's totally not a big deal though," josh began, looking over to tyler.
"why would you fricking kidnap me," the brunette shrieked. "oh god, my parents, they're gonna think i ran away and they won't ever let me go back. this is bad, i gotta go home. i gotta go home oh god," tyler rambled, tears filling his eyes as he repeated the phrase.
"tyler, um, it's okay i'm going to take you home just please please please don't tell the police or your parents. let's just forget this all happened okay."
"it's too late now, i've really done it this time. leave it to me to get kidnapped," tyler wiped his eyes and stood up, wincing in pain. the boy looked down at his clothes and burst back into tears.
"tyler, it's okay, i'm gonna fix this," josh spoke in attempt to comfort the brunette.
"did you do this," tyler asked, his voice shaky and alarmed.
"do wha-, oh no, god no," josh realized as tyler pulled up his shirt, exposing mini cuts and fresh bruises. "you see, what had happened was i went to your house to steal something and i heard people so i went into the garage to hide. then these two drunk guys came up i think they're names were brandon and like pedro or something."
"brendon and pete," tyler asked in confusion.
"yeah, yeah, them. well they started yelling so you came down and then they uh beat you up," josh finished, nervously playing with his fingers.
"did they say why they beat me up," the brunette asked nervously.
"um i think they said something about a," josh thought back to the event, looking over at tyler as he remembered what it was about. "oh right, something about you being a homosexual," josh dragged on the last word awkwardly.
"oh," tyler muttered, sitting down on the opposite side of the bed.
"tyler, are you o-."
"i'm not gay," tyler cut josh off, grabbing a pillow and hugging it close to his chest.
"i was going to ask if you were okay, but um anyway," the boy turned to look out the window. "the sun is almost out, i gotta take you back."
"i don't wanna go back," tyler pouted.
"come on man, you just said you gotta go home so i'm gonna take you home and let you be with your family and not in a gross motel," josh stood up and walked over to tyler's side of the bed.
"no."
"but why."
"because."
"i could be a serial killer."
"i don't care."
"tyler," josh groaned, tired of the boy's childish game.
"josh," tyler groaned back.
"god dammit tyler, i'm taking you back home whether you like it or not," josh grabbed tyler and slung him over his shoulder.
"josh, stop," tyler shrieked. "seriously, stop."
"no, i'm taking you home because i'm not a kidnapper."
"josh, please stop, i can't go home, brendon and pete will just come back and keep hurting me and i can't do that and if my parents start to believe what brendon and pete are saying then they'll kick me out for good, josh, please," tyler cried, tears falling onto josh's shirt.
josh stopped right in front of the door and turned around. he carefully set tyler on the bed and sat at the desk by the window.
"so this isn't the first time they've done that," josh asked, handing tyler a tissue.
"no," tyler replied vaguely.
"do you wanna talk about it," josh asked, feeling bad for the boy.
"no," tyler laid down and faced the wall opposite of josh.
"maybe no will be our always," josh smirked as he heard a giggle followed by a sniffle come from the brunette. "how old are you?"
"16, i'll be 17 next month," he replied, his voice less shaky. "you?"
"20," josh responded.
"oh, i thought you were like 35," tyler remarked. josh rolled his eyes before looking out the window again.
"fuck off, i don't look that old," josh huffed.
"um sure," tyler giggled, josh looked over at tyler and let out a teasing scoff.
"at least i'm not that type of tumblr bitch to ask someone their pronouns," josh fired back. tyler rolled over, a faint smile on his tear streaked face.
"it's better than mis gendering someone, you dick," tyler spoke, holding the pillow tighter to his chest. josh rolled his eyes once more and looked over the boy's bloody body. a feeling of dread washing over him as he realized if he didn't convince tyler to go back home, he'd have to take care of him. josh couldn't just dump tyler on the street and let him live like that, but he couldn't really keep him here either.
the blue haired boy examined tyler's face guiltily. he shouldn't have taken tyler with him. he shouldn't have brought him into his messy life. but now he had and it was going to be difficult to get tyler back home and to keep tyler from telling the police. basically, josh was screwed.
