our brains are sick but that's okay;

(2) staying in the same room I was born in

Tyler and Josh sat there quietly. As much as he wanted to comfort Josh, make him feel and realize that he isn't alone feeling this way, he couldn't. The words wouldn't come out. So, they sat there in silence until Josh decided to break the quiet. Anything is better than the quiet.

"So, um, how uh, how, how long have you been here?"

He stuttered through his phrase, tripping over his words. Tyler lifted his head and looked at him. That's the golden question isn't it? Other than "how'd you end up in here?" or "how you feeling?". That was Tyler's favorite, of course, he felt amazing and wonderful! That's why he'd been locked away in psych during his summer months. Make sense.

"Three weeks as of tomorrow."

Josh nodded. He wore a black beanie; tucking away a bit of his red hair, helping to keep it under control. He wasn't feeling too hopeful now, life didn't have a hopeful undertone. Three weeks was a hell of a long time to be locked away. Josh felt his anxiety eating at him, he was thinking too much.

He pulled out the quote he had received this morning, reading it over and over again as a smiled crept up on his face. He sighed, taking a deep breath and got up, leaving the quote on his bed. He walked over to the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Tyler waited until the door shut before rushing to his feet and shuffling across the room over to Josh's bed. He stood over it and read the words that had made Josh smile. To his grand surprise, he was reading his own. He jumped as Josh opened the door, catching Tyler standing over his bed.

"Oh, um, sorry. I was uh, just curious at what made you smile, haha."

Tyler was embarrassed, he scratched the back of his neck and tilted his head towards the ground. 

"It's okay. Um, it's only the quote from, the um, morning group thing. It's pretty amazing, isn't it?"

Tyler blushed, as he lifted his head to meet Josh's gaze. 

"Yeah, uh it's actually mine."

"Really?" Josh was surprised, yet interested. "Who's the author? I really gotta look them up." 

"Um..." Tyler looked back down at the floor as he gripped his upper left arm with his right hand. He dug his nails into his skin, trying not to panic. "It's uh, it's me."

Josh's eyes widened as he walked forward, resting his hand on Tyler's shoulder, making him jump. His big brown eyes staring directly at him, Tyler gulped down the lump in his throat.

"Don't be embarrassed, I'm really, really impressed, to be honest."

"Right..." Tyler backed away from Josh's grip and returned to his own bed, grabbing his notebook from his cabinet on his way. He laid back down and opened it up, forgetting about Josh altogether.

"Um, Tyler, right?"

"Yeah." Tyler didn't bother to lift up his eyes from his book, he simply wasn't in the mood to conversate. 

"Do you have, like, any more stuff?"

Tyler creased his eyebrows, confused, and he looked up. He looked at the nervous boy who stood at the end of his bed.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know, like, other stuff you've written? I really liked it, and it was super inspirational and kinda also really helped me, so yeah. Um, do you have any more stuff?"

Tyler was staring at Josh, thinking. He was always thinking too much, it's one of the many things that come with anxiety. but there he was, thinking. Josh was fidgeting with his own fingers, tapping them on his tights rhythmically. Tyler was interested, in the beat, he was creating.