Joshler Because I'm: Soft

Part 5

          "Or you'll what?" Lucas grinned at me, walking up to me.

          "I.... I'll...." I tried to think of a comeback, but my anxiety started getting the better of me. My heart rate quickened as my heart pounded against my chest. I started taking short and sharp breaths as he started walking closer, making me back into another set of lockers.

          "Give it up. You couldn't touch me, you useless-" Lucas talked in a dangerously low voice while poking me hard in the shoulder, making me hit my back on a locker. "Pathetic-" He poked me harder. "Anorexic-" And again. "Arm-cutting-" Again. "Suicidal-"

          "THAT'S  ENOUGH!" Josh shouted, storming towards Lucas and myself.

          He quickly took his place next to me and grabbed my hand, staring daggers at Lucas. It was only then that I saw a tear fall off my cheek, making me realize I had started crying.

          "You went too frickin' far this time-" Josh started, raising his voice more and more with each word until he was cut off.

          "Boys! What is going on!?" A teacher yelled at us. The kids forming a circle around us quickly ran off to their class since the bell had long-since rang.

          "This jerk was picking a fight with us." Josh glared at Lucas the whole time, but he kept holding my hand.

          "They were fucking asking for it." Lucas rolled his eyes at us and turned to the teacher, who was mad.

          The teacher quickly took us to the principal's office, where all three of us had to sit in front of him. To say that I was scared would be an understatement. I was terrified. I had never been to the principal's office before, and now I'm going because I was involved in a fight.

          "How about we just talk about what happened and how this started. Joshua, you can go first." He spoke calmly, which soothed my nerves a little, at least to the point where I knew I wouldn't puke everywhere. Despite this, I clung to Josh's hand, not caring if anyone saw. Josh's touch calmed me and it was probably the only thing keeping me from another panic attack.

          "Well, today right before second period, Lucas was bullying Tyler. So much to the point that he punched him in the cheek. I stood up for him once I saw what was happening, and helped Tyler up. During lunch, Lucas came up to us again and called us names, and eventually tried punching me with a ring on. Tyler jumped in front of me and took the punch, which is why he has a bandaid over his forehead, and had a panic attack. Just now, in the hallway, Lucas cornered me and started trash-talking me, and I was simply going to walk away, but one thing lead to another and soon he was about to punch me. It was then that Tyler spoke up, making Lucas stop. He ended up cornering Tyler and said horrible things to him until I started yelling at him, which is when a teacher saw us and broke up the fight." Josh finished, glancing worriedly at me throughout the story.

          "He was asking for it! He can't just never talk and only wear flowers and shit and be gay and not expect me to bully him." Lucas talked like it was obvious.

          Josh tightened his grip on my hand, growling under his breath as he stared at Lucas, looking like he was going to rip his head off.

"I mean look at him now. He's literally holding his boy-toy's hand!" Lucas gestured to our hands that were locked together and my face turned red. I wanted to let go to relieve some embarrassment, but thankfully, Josh only held my hand tighter. "How do you expect him not to get bul-" Lucas continued his rant, knowing that what he was saying was making Josh even angrier, but he was cut off.

          "Boys! I've heard enough. Tyler, is what Joshua said true?" The principal, Josh, and Lucas all turned to me.

          My breath hitched and I felt my anxiety coming back. I frantically looked around the room until I met Josh's eyes. His eyes held love, and had a great calmness to them. He used his thumb to caress my hand to calm me, which actually worked. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

          I desperately wanted to say yes, but then Lucas would never let me live it down after his suspension, most likely giving me the worst beatings of my life. On the other hand, if I say no, Josh would get in trouble and I'd always get bullied the same as I do now, no matter who stood up for me. I decided the latter was the worst option because Josh didn't deserve to get in trouble. I opened my eyes and looked at the principal.

          "Yes.... Josh is telling the truth." I said quietly, literally feeling Josh's smile beam into the tear in my heart. On the other hand, I felt Lucas' glare burning into my heavydirtysoul.

          "Alright, that was all I needed to hear. Joshua, Tyler, you're free to go to-" The principal was suddenly cut off.

          "That's absolute bullshit." Lucas muttered, making everyone turn their eyes to him. He looked at the principal. "You're seriously gonna listen to the fag and his boyfriend!? Of course flower boy is gonna say his boy-toy is telling the truth, he's too much of a kiss-ass to say anything else-!" Lucas started getting angry, stepping up to me again. My heart stopped for a solid 3 seconds as I sunk down into the chair until Josh stood up and blocked me from him. The principal also stood up and cut off Lucas.

          "Lucas!! Sit down!!" The principal boomed, the yelling starting to frighten me. Josh acknowledged my anxiousness and stroked my hand with his thumb. "I have had enough of this kind of talk! Joshua, Tyler, go to your 7th period classes. Lucas and I are going to have a little chat." The principal gestured to the door, but I was too terrified to move.

          Josh softly nudged my leg, getting it to move, walking us out the door. Lucas spat at us on our way outside as Josh closed the door. The second that door shut, my legs buckled and I practically fell to the floor. Josh caught me and held me up, looking into my eyes.

          "Are you okay, Tyler?" He asked in the most gentle voice I had ever heard. The mix of that voice, Josh's soft touch, and his gorgeous eyes was enough to calm anybody.

          "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." I smiled at Josh, who quickly hugged me.

          He soon started walking off to his last class. As soon as I was out of my surprised state from the sudden hug, I caught up to him.

          "Wait, what was that for?" I asked, slightly dazed from his warm hug. He turned to me and gave me a goofy smile. God, that smile....

          "Fun." He laughed.

          "I am by no means complaining, by the way. I definitely appreciated that hug, and every hug from you." I laughed a little bit, pointing finger guns at Josh.

"Hey! No guns at the school! Especially when you have guns for hands!" Josh quickly turned to me and took my hands, which were still in the shape of guns. "So you turn your guns into fists." Josh smiled while closing my hands into fists.

"What was that for?" I chuckled slightly, putting my hands down.

"I have no clue. Think I saw it somewhere? Or I might've just made that up right now, I don't know." Josh laughed as well, starting to walk to his class again.

Thankfully, the bell rang at that moment. We grinned at each other.

"Wanna come over to my house? Literally nobody is home so you don't have to get anxious about meeting people." Josh smirked, making me grin back.

"I'd love that." I smiled as we started heading outside for Josh's car.