Church Camp Talks (a Joshler fanfic)

.73.

Tyler took a sip of his drink first. "So... You asked me to come see you here to talk", he said. "Yes, that's right", she nodded. "You only asked for me, not Joshua..." He trailed. "Why?" He then asked. "I want to explain a lot to you first before I want to ask Joshua to let me explain to him", she said. "I know... I know Joshua is incredibly hurt and- and I feel like you might be able to try and understand me better than Joshua after we hurt our boy so badly", she told him.

"Yeah, I understand", Tyler nodded. "Joshua is overwhelmed with emotions. I'm not sure how he'd respond to whatever you want to explain to me", he said. "Right, and since you're my boy's protector, I thought it should go through you first", she said. Tyler smiled softly. "I appreciate you calling me that, and I appreciate you saying that too. Thank you", he said. She returned the smile softly. "It's true. You've been a better protector than we have been", she said and Tyler didn't want to be rude and agree, so he just softly shrugged. "I just know what my job as his boyfriend is and I want to do everything I can for my baby in the best way I can. I do not want to fail him. I already failed someone else who I loved dearly", he said.

"What do you mean?" She asked carefully, and Tyler knew they'd never told her about Mido 'cause they were trying to hide that Joshua was gay.

"Years before Joshua, I had another boyfriend, my first boyfriend and the only one before Joshua", Tyler said. "We fell in love and he got bullied severely for being in love with a boy. Not by his family, 'cause both of our families were very accepting regardless of our reputation or beliefs. But the people outside of our families were not as accepting. They were very homophobic", he said softly.

"He spiraled down, I was not able to save him and be there for him. I was not enough", he said as he looked down. "Then he took his own life and I had to attend my boyfriend's funeral", he said.

He looked up at Laura, who had teary eyes. "Oh honey, that is so devastating, I'm so sorry this happened to you sweetie. Oh this poor boy", she said softly.

"Mido and me, our story, just pushes me even more to protect my Joshua from anyone, anyone at all, that does not accept him. I can't ever lose my baby",  he said.

"Tyler, I need to explain this to you", she softly said and Tyler nodded. He took a sip from his iced tea. "Yeah, I'd really appreciate it if you could", he said. She nodded. "Uhm... Bill doesn't know I'm here", she said. Tyler quirked an eyebrow. "Really?" He asked. "Yeah..." she trailed. "I- I usually don't do things behind his back but... Ashley inspired me to do so", she said.

"Ashley? Really?" Tyler asked. She nodded. "See... Ashley didn't tell me that she went to your place to see Joshua", she started. "Until two days ago, when I heard her cry in her room at night. I woke up because of it, because I'm quite a light sleeper, so I went up to her to check in on her and at first she didn't want to tell me but then she told me... She told me she didn't want Joshua to get hurt", she said softly.

"I.. I didn't understand what she meant at first, until she mentioned the... the therapy", he said. "The conversion therapy?" Tyler asked. "Yeah, that one", she nodded softly. "She... She told me the things you told her about it and she said she didn't want me to send Joshua there if he'd ever come back to us, and that she didn't tell me 'cause she wanted to protect Joshua and you asked her not to tell us your address because you're scared we'll take Joshua away", she said.

"Yeah, that's right", Tyler said as he nodded. "I'm terrified that you'll take my Joshua away and send him to conversion therapy, so I've been doing anything I can to make sure you won't find out where I live", he said. "I'm not ever gonna allow you to send my baby there", he clarified.

"Tyler, I-" she started, looking down nervously. "I did not know", she softly said. "I did not know what the conversion therapy actually did. The... The abuse, both physically and sexually? The induced vomiting and manipulating of his mind and body? I had no idea", she said. "I always trusted my husband in making the right decisions and knowing what's best for our kids. He mentioned conversion therapy to me and I did not research it 'cause I did not know it was so different from a regular type of therapy until Ashley told me", she said softly.