Twenty Øne Piløts Øneshots

Lovely~Joshler (Part 1)

Trigger Warning: Bullying, homophobic slurs.

"Hey, fag!" came the cry from down the hall. "You going home to your boyfriend? Oh wait, you don't have one. What with being such a slut, no one wants to get near you!"

Tyler hunched his shoulders slightly, tensing up under the puffy black jacket he always wore during the Columbus winters. He had been bullied pretty intensely for the past month or two, ever since he came out as bi. He had only told a few people, but word travelled fast around his school.

"Come on, too weak to even reply? Usually you aren't that pathetic!" his main tormenter, Charlie, piped up. "What, think if you ignore us we'll go away? This isn't some fairy tale, you know."

Tyler let out a quiet sigh and walked faster, wanting to just get out of the school and back to the safety of his treehouse in the woods. Wow. Charlie's right. You really are pathetic. I mean, really, these aren't even good insults and you're running away.

Ignoring both Charlie and his internal demon, Tyler was able to escape out of the hell-hole he called school and, well, just away. Away from everything that was plaguing his life and even though he couldn't get truly away from his demons, or the nagging, terrible voice in his head that voiced his insecurities, he was able to forget them for a little as he made the trek to his favorite place in the world.

In a cluster of weeping willows, which Tyler found oddly appropriate (since he often came here to pour his feelings out), a small house rested in a nook between two thick branches.

It was painted a shade of soft gray, with a slightly darker border around the circular windows and the door. A black ladder extended from the platform supporting the whole structure, and as always, Tyler took the time to appreciate the craftsmanship of the structure. It was obviously thought out, since the positioning of the ladder meant that if it ever rotted away, a few conveniently placed branches would provide a sturdy support for anyone who wished to climb. The house itself was in pretty good shape when Tyler found it, just needing a few coats of paint to make it look livable.

Putting his foot on the first rung of the rope ladder, he began to climb, noticing that the rope was a little damp, probably from the light drizzle that had been present throughout the day.

When he reached the top of the ladder, he took a moment to admire the view. The drizzle had given everything a slivery sheen, and a heavy fog had settled, giving the whole clearing an almost fairy-tale feeling.

With a content sigh, Tyler turned toward the door and pushed it open, prepared to be greeted with the usual sight of the wall to wall black bookshelves that contained all of the notebooks he scrawled lyrics into. Or the plush couch and oak desk that had already been up there when he found the place. But today, however, he was greeted with a completely different sight: a boy with faded pink hair curled up in the corner of the room, peering up at him with wide brown eyes.

"O-oh, I'm sorry, I d-didn't realise anyone came h-here. I'll leave now, s-sorry," the boy whispered shakily. Taking a closer look at his face, Tyler realised that he was crying, and had been for a while, judging by the puffy eyes and prominent tear tracks.

"N-no, you can stay if you'd like, I don't mind," Tyler replied quickly, not wanting this stranger to leave and have to face his emotions alone. "I'm Tyler."

"Josh," he replied hoarsely. "But I'm really sorry about crashing your place, just... a few bad things were happening where I was, and I saw this place a while back, and it was the only place I could think of to run to."

"No worries, Josh, you're welcome here anytime, as long as you don't burn the place down," he responded with a smile, so Josh would realise he was joking. Josh responded with a grin of his own, revealing bright teeth and a dimple.

Tyler pulled his homework out of his backpack and placed it on his desk along with a pen, before grabbing the blanket that hung off of the back of his chair (since he was always cold) and handed it to Josh. "Here, man, you look freezing."

"Thanks," Josh replied, wrapping it around his shoulders with a grateful smile.

After a few hours passed in peaceful silence, a deep rumble caught Tyler's attention. "Was that thunder?" he said to Josh, who was closer to the window.

"Um, no. That may or may not have been my stomach," Josh admitted, a deep red blush spreading over his cheeks. "I'm pretty hungry."

"Oh, jeez man, why didn't you tell me?" Tyler mumbled, grabbing his backpack off of the floor. "I have some snacks or something in here."

After a bit more rummaging, Tyler was able to find a decent sized apple and some crackers. "Sorry it isn't much, I wasn't expecting company and I usually eat very little," he said, handing the food to Josh.

"No, no this is more than enough. You didn't have to give me this, even," Josh replied through a mouthful of apple, since he had bitten into it like he hadn't seen food in days. Studying his form a bit more, Tyler realised that perhaps he hadn't, he was really skinny.

"When was the last time you ate? Like, proper food, not just an apple and crackers?" Tyler questioned gently, moving off of the chair to sit next to Josh on the couch.

"Um, like a week ago, I think. Why?" Josh replied, instantly on guard.

"No reason, really, you just looked really skinny."

"Oh," Josh replied, a bit uncomfortable. "It's getting pretty dark out, aren't your parents going to be worried?"

"Heh, as if," Tyler responded with a scoff. "Nah, I usually sleep here on the couch. Rather not get beat up for being who I am, thank you very much. If you want to sleep here too, I'm perfectly fine with that. I'll sleep on the floor."

"Okay, if it wouldn't be too much trouble," Josh murmured. "I really have no where else to go, but you should get the couch."

"Josh, I am not negotiating with you on this. Sleep on the couch." Tyler's voice was soft, but held a lot of force. Josh positioned himself on the couch, and Tyler curled up on the floor, both of them slightly satisfied with the other.

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Holy. Shit.

This chapter is 1100 words long, and I'm not even done yet muahhahahahaha >:)

The next part should be up later tonight or tomorrow, depending on if I'm reminded or inspired or something like that.

I feel like the ending was a bit rushed, and it went on quite the tangent from my original idea, but I still kinda like it, and I want to keep working on it.

As always, leave suggestions and stay alive.

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