truce // josh dun

2 - out of the blue

clover hated breakfast. and lunch. and dinner. when she first entered dublin springs a month and a half ago she freaked out. she knew she would be forced to eat but she did not know a nurse would sit right next to her and monitor her every bite. dealing with that was hard enough let alone conquering your fear in front of everyone else in the cafeteria. her nurse, megan, had reassured her that everyone else in the room were too focused on themselves to worry about her. clover didn't believe her though, she always believed that everyone thought she was fat. if she ate unhealthy food they would think 'wow, what a cow no wonder why she looks like that'. if she ate healthy food they thought 'you didn't get to that size by eating salads'. it was a never ending cycle.

fortunately about three weeks into her treatment she was allowed to eat alone but still had to be monitored two hours after finishing her food because they did not want to allow the chance for her to purge again. another privilege she had gained two weeks ago was the chance to listen to music. aside from writing, it was her sanctuary. she felt okay for the duration of whatever song she had been listening to which at that moment was 'out of the blue' by julian casablancas. in the past, listening to the first verse made her weep like a baby but the thought of how many times she has cried in the last 6 weeks made her exhausted.

the swirling her yogurt with her spoon stopped when a new patient sat down two tables away. outside these walls clover had always been shy and uncomfortable with socializing. but she knew everyone else here had been going through some type of problem and that was what made it convenient. no, she doesn't want people in pain but it was a nice way to start speaking to someone and make them feel comfortable in this purgatory.

the tan, slouched over man looked like he was dissociating, tinkering between his safe place and reality. she pushed her insecurities to the back of her head which would return right after the conversation ended, wondering what she done wrong this time.

when clover placed her tray on the boy's table he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"welcome to dublin springs, i'm clover" she gleamed. the sad boy flashed a fake smile quicker than than a bolt of lightning. he returned to looking at his eggs, not wanting to look anywhere else. one thing tyler was never good at was making friends. he was friendly, socialized when he wanted to knew. but he never knew at what point was someone his friend – and that scared him. so, he kept the ones he already had and called everyone else acquaintances. 

"you're not the talking type and that's okay" the emerald eyed girl said as she did a double take "wait i recognize you, d-do i know you?"

"hold up!" clover exclaimed "i know you, well not personally but you're in a band! twenty one pilots right? my best friend's boyfriend loves you guys"

that was the first time any real emotion was expressed on tyler's face in the last 17 hours that he had been there. for that split second, his grin radiated happiness. that quickly disappeared as he just nodded his head.

"listen, i know how much music means to me so i can only imagine how much it means to you. they have this rule here that you can only listen to music when you've "progressed to a certain point" which is bullshit if you ask me. but i have an ipod and some headphones. it'll help you, a lot. tell me an artist you like i might have them." clover said while reaching into her pocket.

tyler was surprised at this girl's openness and generosity. they haven't even been speaking for 60 seconds yet she has helped him in ways that she can't imagine.

"i like grimes" he mumbled

"really? i love her i have her entire discography, what song would you like?" clover smiled wide

"um, realiti?" tyler said as he sat up

"got it" while throwing a thumbs up "listen, someone is always watching us in here so we are going to pretend to switch muffins okay? the phone and earbuds will be on the bottom. mission impossible style."

tyler giggled and started their not so discrete ploy.

"they're gonna see the headphones so just keep one in and lean your head against your hand so it's lowkey."

and tyler did exactly that. as soon as that song began to play the feeling of relief washed over him. it was escape, his way of getting away from the world with the song ironically being called realiti.

by this time josh and jenna had accidentally arrived 15 minutes early for the morning visitations and were looking through the one way mirror into the cafeteria watching the scene unfold. unfortunately one of the nurses who told them where to wait was watching too and immediately became angry that clover, yet again, was going to regress in her treatment plan from helping the kid out.

both tyler's wife and best friend were ecstatic to see him comfortable. they both took interest of the girl – jenna made a mental note that if she ever saw the girl again she would thank her. but josh noticed the prominent scar on her the left side of her face and how it enhanced her beauty. he had wondered how she got it, it obviously wasn't an accident but his thought process was interrupted when he noticed that nurse that stood behind him just 20 seconds ago was now standing next to tyler and the pretty girl.

"clover, i hoped you realize you just lost your privlege of music" the fuming nurse said while ripping the ipod out of tyler's hands and calling a security guard over "i am going to need you to escort her to her room but wait in the hallway for me please rob."

"as for you," she turned to tyler "it's your first day and you don't know all the rules so i'll let you slide this one time. if you ever do anything of the sort again, there will be reprecussions" she coldly spat. tyler repeatedly nodded, trying not to cry in front of everyone. he got into trouble on his first day. he got clover into trouble when she was trying to help. whoever the nurse is already has a grudge against him. he just caused a scene in front of everyone. tyler was on the verge of a panic attack as he ran to the bathroom.

jenna and josh wanted to go console him but they knew they weren't allowed in yet, their attention turned to the girl when there was a voice begging "let me go you asshole, i haven't provoked anything. at least lighten your grip cause this shit hurts!"

"robert let her go." the nasty nurse jackie said while leisurely walking in and rolling her eyes. "clover, why are you like this?" josh took note of her name, it wasn't strange he had just never met or heard of someone being called clover. it intrigued him.

"because you guys" she pointed to everyone in scrubs "are not logical. forget about your college degree for one second and actually use your emotions. every single staff member never stops saying 'use your coping skills!' but you never allow anyone the chance to apply it. maybe if you had an actual conversation with that kid you would realize he likes music. so just fucking give him some music to make him
comfortable you dumbasses" clover said with a very high indoor voice.

"you do not have a medical degree do not tell me how to do my job, you're not in my position" jackie spat right back to clover.

jenna and josh were speechless, is this really how they treat their patients? is clover the only acting like this? should tyler stay here?

"and you're not in any of these patient's positions! step back for one minute and think how we just need someone to talk to and not be analyzed every second to see it there is another drug you can be prescribe. have some humanity for fucks sake!" clover screamed.

"take her back to her room rob and if she continues screaming, explain to her how horrible solitary is if she continues" jackie sternly said with a smirk.

she was furious. how could someone tell her how it feels to be her? does she need to be in a medical profession to be capable of processing her own emotion? she was exhausted of all the staff and doctors and their ignorance. she missed home. she missed her family. she missed being able to actually write.

she was stuck inbetween telling the truth about her thoughts & emotions to get better in a healthy way or lying about her progress to get out quicker and away from the actual craziness of these "professionals".

1528 words.

a/n: i hope this was okay and made sense oops. pls vote if you genuinely like it. :-)