aichnophobia; joshler

part 4; tyler.

2 years later

the roaring of the crowd was almost deafening, but even through the plethora of voices one sound stood out. a needle. tyler was knelt down on one leg, a needle in one hand and josh's leg cupped in the other.

"you ready?" tyler said, looking up at josh through his eyelashes.

"yeah, i think so. it's been a while, though." josh said, his voice trailing off at the end.

tyler gave josh's leg a reassuring squeeze and flashing him a closed mouth smile. josh nodded at tyler and mouthed the words 'go'.

as tyler pressed the needle into his skin, josh's eyes squeezed shut. he felt a whine almost slip out but he bit his lip as to not get tyler worried. the last thing he wanted was to get him concerned.

he looked down and tyler looked up at him with huge eyes. god, they made josh melt. he's woken up to them everyday-yet he'll never get used them.

he hesitantly switched his vision from tyler's eyes to his knee. instead of focusing on the needle, he focus's on tyler's movements. he watched as he delicately traced the remaining letters of his name on josh's skin.

"you doing good?" tyler asked kindly, keeping his eye contact on josh's knee as to not mess up.

"oh this? yeah, this is a p-piece of cake." josh said half sarcastically.

"alright then." tyler said, rolling his eyes in fake annoyance. "can you believe this? that we're here?"

"not at all. i would have never thought things would ever end up this good. i literally had no plan B..."

"but here you are. and here i am... in this together, right?" tyler said with a soft smile.

"right." josh said sweetly.

"well, mr. dun- looks like we're done here!" tyler said as he pulled off the rubber gloves he was wearing.

tyler stood up and held out his hand, which josh took immediately. he hauled him up and lead him over to the mic stand. as josh was walking, he felt the pain of the tattoo creasing under his skin with every movement. as tyler leaned towards the mic, he untangled his fingers from josh's.

"that was fun, wasn't it guys?" tyler called out.

thr only answer he received was cheers from the crowd and a kiss on the shoulder from josh. as he did so, the crowd cheered even louder. a blush spread across his face and tyler giggled at his reaction.

"alright guys, let's get started on the last song." tyler said, a wide smile spreading across.

as tyler slid over to his piano, josh walked over to his drumset and sat down. he looked up to the sky and stared at the constellations. honestly he could only identify the Big Dipper, but it doesn't mean the others weren't pretty to look at. sometimes the things that go unnoticed are the prettiest.

he heard the soft keys of the piano and his mind drifted off. the couple of minutes tyler provided with the piano kept him sane. it gave him a break and relieved him of the anxiety that was building up the whole day. it also gave him some much needed reflection time. 'how did i get so lucky?' was a common question he asked himself during this time. a grin spread across his face as he realized that tyler had started to sing. he looked over to tyler and laughed a little as he smiled, feeling tears starting to well up in his eyes. he made it. they made it. he closed his eyes and soaked up the soft voice that was radiating throughout the sky and forest.

"i know where you stand, silent in the trees...."

fin.

-

a/n: writers block was weighing down on me like a motherfucker but i'm done! final chapter to my first book... feels weird. anyways, thank you so so much to those who voted, commented, and read my story. you guys kept motivated. i almost didn't continue the book bcus i was so scared, but your words of encouragement kept me writing. again, thank you so much.
(btw this is republushed bcus i had to fix some things).