behind his eyes // joshler

five

*saturday*

tyler

"luckily i can read your mind..."  i start to sing at my keyboard, playing a tune to go with the song i wrote for josh.

that he'll never here.

i hum the next few words, unsure of what to say.

"they will not take you down..." i sigh in frustration, "they will not cast you out..."

i play the chord wrong and make a strange sound. i sigh and abandon the keyboard, tucking my songbook under my arm and walking up the stairs out of the basement.

i walk up to my room to see I have a text.

(unknown): hey ty it's josh. you gave me your number yesterday remember? :)

i smile to myself and save his number as 'joshie'.

to joshie: of course I remember! :)

me and josh have grown close during the week and he told me he has anxiety because he got bullied where he used to live.

you're pathetic. josh hates you, he wants you to leave him alone.

leave me alone. i don't want to talk to you.

oh, joseph you really are pathetic.

the buzz of my phone brings me back to reality.

from joshie: what are you doing today?

to joshie: nothing, why?

from joshie: wanna come over? we could play mario kart :)

to joshie: frick yeah! i'll be right over!

i run downstairs and rush to the front door but my mom catches my arm.

"woah, woah, slow down," she laughs, "where are you rushing off to?"

"josh invited me over," i reply.

"ah, yes your new friend!"

"fren, mom," i correct her.

"right, of course. we'll have fun," she says, letting my arm go.

"thanks!" i shout as i run out the door and down the street.

josh

i put mario kart into the games console and wait for it to load.

i get a bag of chips from downstairs and some red bull for us to snack on.

i'm really happy tyler is coming over.

i hear a knock at the door and run downstairs to open it.

i open the door to see a very cute tyler nervously stood on the steps leading to the door.

"hey, ty," i smile, looking into his sunny yet sad eyes.

"hi," he smiles.

"come in," i say, moving out of the way.

he slips past me and i shut the door.

he says hi to my mom and dad as we walk upstairs to my room.

"i call yoshi!" he shouts, grabbing a remote and selecting him.

"hey! i wanted to be yoshi!" i whine like a kid.

"you snooze you loose!" he says, sticking his tongue out at me.

-

tyler

a few hours of mario kart later, we eventually get bored.

josh pulls out a big bag of chips and two cans of redbull.

we sit down on his bed and he opens up the chips.

"i'm glad we became friends," josh says, blushing.

"really?" i say, surprised.

"of course, you're a really cool person, ty," he says eyes fixed on the ground.

i reach out and tilt his head upwards with my fingers.

he's smiling, but i see something behind his beautiful mocha eyes.

i see worry and fear.

i see a broken boy.

josh

sparks fly through me as tyler touches my face.

he looks deeply into my eyes.

i look deeply into his.

he smiles at me so I smile back.

but i see something behind his sunny eyes.

i see a crippling sadness.

i see a broken boy.

a/n: yay the plot is starting to come together! thanks for reading 🖤