static [joshler]

present

The door was cracked open a little when Josh reached the top of the stairs. The hinges creaked when he pushed with his fingers. Once he peeked inside, he saw Tyler laying on the bed with his eyes closed, phone on his chest, and earbuds in his ears.

Josh crept up to him and tapped him on the arm. "Tyler." He didn't move. It took him a moment to hear a small snore come out of his nose. Josh sighed and flipped the phone that was on his chest over to see some documentary about an unsolved murder case. "Geez, that's gory..." He set his phone back down and decided to take one of the headphones out.

Tyler woke up from the movement and tried to catch the earbuds he thought were falling out of his ear before realizing Josh was holding onto it. "Oh- When did you get here?" He said, dazed from just waking up out of a dream.

"Just now." He threw the bud on the bed. "Did you really fall asleep watching a murder documentary?"

"Oh..." Tyler took out the other earbud and picked up his phone to see the half-watched documentary. He paused it. "Yeah, I guess."

"I don't understand how people can watch those."

"It just..." He ran a hand down his face. "It gets my mind off my own life."

Josh hummed. "So, you can get stressed about other people's lives instead?"

"Why not add some more trauma, ya know?" He mumbled.

"No, I don't think that's..." He whispered but stopped himself when he saw that Tyler wasn't expecting a response.

Tyler was letting out a big yawn and stretching his limbs out tiredly. When he was done, he let out a sigh, sat up, and pulled the blankets over himself to snuggle into. He patted the open bed space next to him through the blanket, signaling for Josh to join him.

Josh crawled into the bed. "Sorry for waking you up."

"It's fine. I needed to get up anyway." He rubbed at his eyes. "I should take a shower sometime." He continued to rub but he looked at Josh as he did so. "What?"

"What? What?"

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Sorry." Josh shifted, "Just- Do you want me to be here?"

"Why wouldn't I want you here?" He asked in all honesty.

A lipped smile formed on Josh's face. He realized, "Hey, where's your oxygen?"

"Mm," He dropped his hands and then leaned his head back on the wall, eyes closed. "My nose was bleeding earlier. Jenna was cleaning it. It's probably dry by now but it irritates me anyway, so I don't care."

"Your nose is bleeding again?"

"Yeah." His adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "I got lightheaded the other day when I stood up too. Granted, I slept literally the whole day and didn't eat or drink shit, so."

"Still."

"Yeah, I know," Tyler whispered. "I'm getting bad again."

"Guess the blood you got at the hospital is wearing off..."

"Yeah." He looked at Josh. "How was your, um..." He closed his eyes again as he recalled how many days it had been since he had last seen Josh, on his birthday. "How have your 3 days as an adult been?"

"Good." He crossed his arms. "Not much different, I guess. I haven't been sued or anything."

Tyler let out a breathy laugh. "That's good."

He nodded. "I really only have gone to work since then."

"I've been sleeping all day every day. I think walking that much got to me. Today's the first day I've done something. Which really is only watching movies."