Twenty Øne Piløts Øneshots

Lovley-Joshler (Part 2)

Trigger Warning: Storms, panic attacks.

"Wake uuuuuuup," came a groan from somewhere to the side of Josh. Oh no, did I oversleep again? No, no, nonono, I can't handle that kind of thing again. With those thoughts, he sat bolt upright, breathing hard, instinctively lashing out in the general direction of the voice. Feeling his hand make contact, he slit open his eyes to gauge the situation, and realised he'd hit Tyler smack in the face.

"Ow," Tyler mumbled, cupping his hands around his nose. "Nice punch, Josh."

An embarrassed blush spread over the younger boy's face. "I'm so sorry, oh my God, please don't be mad at me."

"Don't worry, I'm not. I didn't want to wake you, actually, so I went to get breakfast while you were still asleep," Tyler said with a light laugh, seemingly in a good mood. "I left a note, in case you woke up, but it didn't seem like you needed it."

Josh gave an embarrassed smile, still a little shaken. "You said breakfast?"

"Yes, I did, I figured you needed some real food in your system, so I took the liberty of buying us some Taco Bell," Tyler responded with a grin, handing Josh a slightly greasy bag. Opening it, Josh was greeted with a heavenly, greasy smell, and the sight of four tacos and a chalupa.

"Is it bad that I've never had a chalupa before?" Josh questioned, after devouring a taco in three bites first(same).

"What?!" Tyler asked incredulously. "How is it even possible to go to Taco Bell and not order a chalupa?"

"I don't know, but I somehow managed to do it," Josh said with a laugh. Tyler noticed, offhandedly, that Josh's eyes crinkled up whenever he laughed.

Jesus, Tyler, crushing on someone you just met under twelve hours ago? Damn, you really are desperate. I mean come on, he's going to leave the moment he doesn't need you anymore. And for good cause, too, you're pathetic.

Tyler tensed up at the harsh voice cutting through his mind. Suddenly jumping to his feet, he ran a hand through his hair and began to pace the room.

This sudden change of mood was not lost on Josh, who noticed the darkness in Tyler's eyes instantly.

"Hey, Ty," he said, wanting to snap the taller boy out of the dark thoughts he was undoubtedly drowning in.

"Ty?" Tyler replied, a slight smile being tugged onto his lips at the nickname.

"Is it okay if I call you that?" he said, a little worried he'd overstepped his boundaries.

"Oh, yeah, definitely, I'm just used to people calling me other things. A few of my friends online call me Tyjo, since that's my screen name," came the reply.

"Tyjo? How'd you make that one up?" Josh said, running his hands through his hair and leaning back a bit. "It sounds kinda like a name you'd use for a small animal, like a turtle or a hamster." A/n: wink

"Well, you know where the 'Ty' part comes in, from Tyler," he said with a grin. "And the 'Jo' comes from my last name 'Joseph', and I probably shouldn't have told you my last name because now you can stalk me."

"Indeed I can. Salutations, Tyler, I'm Josh Dun," Josh replied with a grin. "A few people call me Jishwa."

"Salutations?" Tyler asked incredulously.

"It means hello!"

"Well then salutations, Jishwa!"

After a few hours of casually chatting, the boys began to learn a lot about each other. Like how both hate bananas with a burning passion, or how they both like to make music.

"So you're telling me you play the ukulele, the bass guitar, and the piano?" Josh exclaimed.

"You forgot the tambourine, the manliest of instruments," Tyler responded, causing Josh to snort with laughter.

"Plus, you sing and write songs, too!" The admiration in Josh's voice caused Tyler to get up from his spot on the couch.

Noticing the heaviness of the clouds, he walked over to the window and peered out into the sky. "It's probably going to rain soon. Damn Columbus weather," Tyler muttered under his breath. (Although we all know this smol bean wouldn't curse it's for emphasis okay)

Just as he finished the thought, the sky split open with a crash, and buckets of water poured down. Feeling immensely grateful for the roof over his head, Tyler turned around to continue his conversation with Josh...

...and found him sitting bolt upright, looking terrified (a/n: wonk)

"Josh? Are you alright?" Tyler asked softly, moving slowly towards the trembling boy. "What's wrong?"

Another clap of thunder shook the treehouse, causing Josh to flinch, and for tears to start rolling down his face. Tyler noticed this, and quickly took Josh's hands in his own.

"Josh, can you hear me? Just nod or something, okay?"

Josh gave a shaky nod.

"Okay, great, you're doing great. Now can you tell me, are you having a panic attack? Or something similar?"

Another nod, this one accompanied by a flinch and a crash of thunder.

"Okay, that's okay. Don't worry, I'm right here, okay?" Tyler murmured, running his thumbs over the backs of Josh's hands. Pulling the man into a tight embrace, he whispered, "I'm going to count to ten. When I'm counting up, you breathe in, and when I'm counting down you breathe out. Okay?"

Josh's arms snaked around Tyler's waist and he nodded into his chest.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, exhale. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, inhale. Two, three, four, five..."

And so the cycles continued, late into the night as the storm raged on. Tyler stayed vigilant, keeping count while Josh's tears morphed into sobs, and the sobs morphed into words of desperation: "please, no, stay, I'm sorry, gone, never coming back, all my fault, I'm sorry, it was all my fault"

Tyler kept his arms tight around Josh, counting his breaths and tracing firm circles into his back. "The storm's passing on, Josh. Do you think you can count with me now? Just quietly."

Pulling his head away from Tyler's chest, Josh said the words with him. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, inhale."

A few more cycles of this continued, with Josh's voice getting stronger and the thunder getting weaker.

Once everything had become quiet, Josh scooted away from Tyler, feeling immensely guilty for making him deal with his panic attack.

"I'm really, really sorry you had to deal with that, Ty," Josh said in a subdued whisper. "It usually isn't that bad."

"Josh, please don't feel bad. You shouldn't have to deal with that alone. Believe me, it's way worse alone," Tyler replied, wrapping his arm around Josh's waist and leaning his head against the other's shoulder. "Besides, I think you have some Taco Bell to finish."

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Heya! I really hate this chapter, since I couldn't fit everything I wanted

in the chapter without it being 65 million words long. I'll probably try to use those themes in a later chapter.

As always, leave suggestions and stay alive

|-/