save [joshler]

tyler

Joshua's pov

"Debs, just go sit down, I'll be there in a second!" I sigh, filling up her cup.

"I know, but I'm bored and I wanna talk to you!" She whines.

I roll my eyes and smile a bit. "I'm just making you this coffee and then I'll be on my break, just go sit!"

She groans loudly and stomps off to the booth, making me laugh.

"Hey, is she your girlfriend?" Ethan, one of my co-workers, asked.

"Ew no, I'm gay." I said, adding the whipped cream to Debs' coffee.

"Oh sweet, is she single?"

I roll my eyes and push him away. "You're 17 dude. Worry about your math homework."

I walk off before he can say anything more and make my way to Debby.

"Thank y- whipped cream! You remembered!"

I laugh and take a sip from my coffee. "Of course I remembered. What other weirdo puts whipped cream on their iced coffee?"

She fake gasps and laughs. "Plenty of weirdos! It's a popular thing!"

"No it isn't, I've been working here three months and I've never had anyone ask for whipped cream on their coffee!"

She rolls her eyes and sips her drink. "Whatever. What time do you get out today?"

"Uh, four, in three hours. Why? What do you have planned?"

"Nothing, I have no plans today and wanted to hang out."

"Debs, we're hanging out right now."

"Yeah, but only for like fifteen minutes!"

I roll my eyes and chuckle. "Yeah, you're right. Then what do you wanna do today?"

"I dunno- oh my gosh!" She basically yelled.

"Dude, don't yell! My boss will fire me!"

"Sorry! I just remembered something!"

"What? What did you remember?"

"The other day, I think it was Tuesday, I went to the store and I ran into this guy, and he looked like shit!"

"What? What does that even mean Debby?"

"Like, it looked like he was just beat the fuck up!"

"Oh damn, what'd he look like?"

"I dunno, the typical Ohio man. Slightly curly hair, brown eyes-"

Fuck.

"Was his nose a little pointy? Like, almost perfectly pointed? Very pink and plump lips?

She gave me a concerned look before laughing. "I mean, I guess? I don't know- how'd you know?"

My heart dropped and my stomach did somersaults. I stood up and collected my things.

"Josh? How did you know all that?"

"Because that's Tyler." I say before running off, ignoring Debby's and co-workers yells.

//

"Joshua! What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to clean today?" Kelly says, opening the door.

"No, I'm not here to clean. I need Tyler's address. My friend ran into him the other day and she said he looked rough so I want to go check on him, make sure he's okay."

"That's very nice of you, but he has a boyfriend and I'm sure he's doing okay." She said sternly.

"Kelly, my friend said he looked like he was just in a fight. Black eyes, swollen lips, the whole ordeal. Please just give me his address." I begged.

She looked horrified but nodded. She turned around, I heard rummaging before she returned with a pen and paper. She scribbled what I can only assume is his address and handed it to me.

"Please report back to me if he's okay." She said.

"I will, thank you so much Kelly."

I ran off back to car and quickly drove away, almost speeding down the road on the way to Tyler's house.

Fuck, I hope he's okay. He has to be okay, he's Tyler! Oh my God, he has to be okay. How did he even get in a fight! He hates fights! He would never even lay a hand...on any...one. Oh my fuck.

It was fucking Brendon.

There's no other person who would've hit him! Tyler doesn't get in fights! If Brendon put his fucking hands on Tyler I'll fucking kill him.

//

I rushed up the driveway, noting there's no other car here. Fuck, he might not be home! God fucking damn it!

I knocked loudly on the door and shifted my weight around on my feet. I hope he's home, please let him be home. Please let him be home, please let him be-

"Joshua?" He said, opening the door. Oh thank fucking God. "What are you doing here? How'd you find my house?"

"Y-your mom gave me your address. My friend ran into you at the store the other day and told me you looked beaten up so I had to make sure you're okay."

A smile crept onto his face as he opened the door wider, motioning for me to come inside so I did. I stepped in and holy shit, this house is a mess. Not like, there's dishes or dirty clothes everywhere. The paint on the wall is patchy, there's bags of what I can assume trash by the door, the living room just has a musty smell. So not how I imagined his house to look like, compared to his moms.

"I'm sorry the house is a little messy right now, I haven't really had a chance to clean and the trash just keeps piling up." He nervously laughed, and started picking up around the living room.

"No it's okay. If you think this is a mess you should see my whole apartment." I said. He laughed and brought everything in his hands to the kitchen.

He walked back and we walked to the couch, sitting down on it I speak again. "So how'd you get that black eye? I thought you didn't like fights?" I joked.

He laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I don't. Me and Bren, we were putting up that painting," he paused to point at it. "And it just slipped out of my hands and my eye caught it." He laughed.

I smiled and nodded. "What about that swollen lip?"

"I um-" he was about to answer when the front door opened.

A man walked in, I've seen him before. Is that Brendon? Hm. I imagined him to be cuter. Oh fuck! That's the guy that made my head bleed! Man, I just wanted ice cream that day.

He looks at me then look at Tyler, he's about to say something but he shakes his head, turns around and leaves, slamming the door behind him.

I look at Tyler who's staring off where Brendon just was. His face is emotionless, but I can see tears swell up in his eyes.

"Are y-"

"I-I'm sorry about that." He interrupted. "He-he's been a little bitchy lately."

"No, it's okay, I get it. We all have bitchy days."

Tyler nods his head, still staring at the empty doorway. Uncomfortable silence is surrounding us, I don't know what to do now. Should I speak? What if he just wants to be alone? Yeah, I think it's time to go.

"Hey, I'm gonna head out now, I'll see you around, alright?" I say.

He doesn't respond, the tears escape his eyes and he blinks them away.

"Tyler?" I asked worried.

"Hm?" He broke his concentration and looked at me, quickly changing his expression. "Oh, sorry."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."