josh paced around his gross motel room, planning his break in. he usually didn't plan anything and just would enter a house, take something, and go. but people usually didn't catch him so this situation was different. he knew he probably should've let it go, but there's no fun in that. josh's life was boring and this was new and exciting, so of course he was going back.
he glanced out the window, noticing the sun was still up. he couldn't leave until well after it had set and that didn't seem to be any time soon. josh stopped his pacing and sat down on the stiff bed. he grabbed the remote from the nightstand and switched the tv on, absentmindedly flipping through the channels until stopping on disney channel. he didn't want to watch disney, he just stopped because he was so confused at why there was a show about a dog that had a blog.
to him, the whole concept made no sense. sure dogs doing things is cute but not when they narrate the whole show. after about three episodes of nonsense, he realized it was dark out and felt guilty he had wasted so much time watching something he didn't even like. but time lost is time he'll never find again and he couldn't change that so he decided not to dwell on it too much.
josh shut off the room's boxy tv before standing up and grabbing his ski mask. it may not have been a late enough time to break into the house but it was a great time to start the walk there. he decided he was going to watch the house and wait until he couldn't see any lights on before going in and stealing the tv. that way, he'd avoid running into somebody again.
of course when the family realized the tv was gone, tyler would know who had done it and tell police. but by then, josh would've been out of the area and far away from the house.
josh approached the house and crept around to the side, examining each window carefully to make sure all the lights were off. he circled around the home, making it back to the side with the garage doors. josh gripped the bottom of one of the doors and pulled it up, his body freezing as he heard clumsy footsteps on the street. he lifted the heavy door up further and swiftly slid under it. the loud noise of the door dropping to the ground making josh stiffen before he stood up and peeked through the garage window.
on the street, he saw two boys with bottles in their hands stumbling towards the house.
"tyler," one of them whisper yelled before taking a drink. "heard you got suspended, you fucking idiot," the boy laughed.
"we'll miss you at school, it's hard to find someone as queer as you," the other one added loudly.
"it'll be hard without you, ty guy. i can't imagine kicking anyone else in the gut," one of them slurred. josh bit his lip in confusion. he had no idea what was going on and he really should be going for that tv but the situation at hand seemed way more interesting. maybe it was because he was a gemini. maybe it was because he lived for drama. it was probably both.
suddenly, tyler walked outside, his arms crossed closely up against his chest. the drunken boys approached him and tyler stepped back immediately.
"what do you guys want, it's the middle of the night," tyler asked shakily.
"we just wanted to see how you were doing," one stated, finishing his beer and throwing the empty bottle at tyler. tyler dodged the bottle with a shriek, the glass shattering behind him loudly.
"brendon, stop," tyler yelped as the same boy who threw the bottle lunged at him, pinning him to the ground. tyler's head slammed against the driveway and he cried out in pain.
"but me and pete just want to make up for all the time we'll miss with you," brendon laughed, landing a punch right in the center of tyler's face. tyler groaned at the feeling before coughing, spraying blood across the ground as pete pushed brendon to the side.
"fucking homo," pete spat, kicking tyler's side repeatedly. tyler cried out in pain as blood continued pouring out of his nose. josh couldn't stand watching the abuse any longer so he grabbed a shovel from the wall in the garage and slid under the door.
"oh shit," brendon whispered, his smile dropping at the sight of a random guy with a shovel approaching them. pete looked up at josh and his face paled. before josh could even say anything, the two boys ran off, leaving tyler on his driveway, passed out.
josh dropped the shovel and picked tyler up, the boy's limp body heavy in the older man's arms. not knowing what to do, josh began walking back to his motel, still holding tyler. it was a surprisingly quick walk, his body being fueled by the adrenaline caused by the strange situation.
once in his room, josh set tyler down on his bed and ran his fingers through his hair restlessly. he should've just left him there and taken the tv. or if he wanted to be a hero and all that, he could've left him in the living room or at his doorstep. just anywhere but his motel. but of course josh wasn't thinking about that at the time and now there was a bloody brunette sprawled out on his bed.
josh looked at the boy's body in fear. what if he was dead? josh began to panic at the thought and felt all around tyler's neck for a pulse, the boy's head rolling to the side lazily in the process. once josh finally felt something, he let out a sigh of relief and sat down next to the boy.
after a moment of catching his breath, josh realized he had just kidnapped tyler. he panicked once more before developing a plan to clean the boy up, leave him on his doorstep, and then leave the state to avoid getting sent to jail. josh rushed to the bathroom and wet a rag, returning to the boy and gently wiping the dried blood from his nose and lips.
josh wrung the rag out in the cracked sink, watching the rusty looking water swirl down the drain as he thought about what to do with tyler's bloody clothes. josh didn't have any spare clothes and he couldn't just send tyler back home with blood stains on his shirt. he could give him the clothes he was wearing now but he didn't really want to so it looked like tyler would have to deal with the blood stains.
josh walked out of the bathroom and approached the bed, looking at the boy nervously. tyler's eyes blinked open and he groaned in pain. josh froze as tyler realized he wasn't home. the brunette turned his head, his eyes locking on josh's in fear.
"hi," josh spoke quietly.
