Slowtown

.:7:. (Tyler)

I barely heard the noise of my phone vibrating on the kitchen counter over Chris and Nick in the living room yelling at each other about what kind of pizza is best. “Hello?” I answer as I pick up my phone, Josh’s voice coming through from the other end.

“Hey, wanna’ hang out?” Josh asks and I glance at the Chris and Nick.

“Uh, do you want to meet some of my friends? Because they’re here right now.” I ask, knowing he’s extremely shy and may not like them at first.

“Yeah, sure, I guess.” He replies, sounding uneasy.

“Okay, my address is 6328 W Ruby Street.” I tell him and he says a quick goodbye before his end of the line goes dead.

“Hey guys, my friend Josh is going to come over.” I say while walking into the living room and plopping down onto the couch, interrupting their pizza argument.

“Okay, whatever.” Chris shrugs and turns back to Nick, already ranting about how pepperoni pizza is the best.

After a few more minutes of their bickering I hear a knock at the door. I jog over and I open it to see Josh in a pair of black jeans and a crop top that is a light color, I wonder what color it is.

“Come in, JoJo.” I smile at him and his face lights up when he hears the nickname. “JoJo, this is Chris and this is Nick.” I introduce him to them and their conversation immediately halts when they see Josh.  

“Hi.” Nick smiles at him and he shys behind me a bit, blushing.

“You didn’t tell us he was a fucking fag, Ty.” Chris scoffs while getting up to walk towards Josh. Once he reaches him, before I can stop him, he lands a harsh slap across Josh’s left cheek. Josh whimpers in pain and I land a hard punch to Chris’s jaw.

“That was unnecessary, Chris.” I spit at him as he wipes a bit of blood that had dribbled down his chin off, Nick standing in the background astonished by what he had just watched happen.

“Okay, let’s go, Chris.” Nick says awkwardly, dragging out the o, before sending Josh an apologetic smile.

After Chris and Nick leave I turn the t.v. onto a random documentary and Josh focuses on watching it very contently. Why is he so adorable? A few minutes later he turns to me timidly. “Hey, Tyler?” He asks and I hum, acknowledging I heard him. “‘M cold.”

“Come here, JoJo.” I laugh while patting the spot in between my legs. He scoots over and lays his side against my chest, turning to watch the documentary again, while I pull a small blanket over us and wrap my arms around him. He dozes off about halfway through the movie and I smile to myself while gently shaking him awake. “Wake up, JoJo.”

“Hmm?” He groans and squints at the bright light of the t.v.

“Do you wanna’ go sleep in my bed?” I question when he sits up and rubs his eyes a bit.

“No, I’m okay. I came up with a nickname for you.” He replies with a small smile.

“Really?” I ask as I pick up a box of cigarettes from the coffee table and shake one of the sticks into my hand, Josh watching my every move. “You want one?” I raise my eyebrows at him as he watches me bring the cigarette up to my lips, lighting it.

“Uh, uhm.” He stutters, trying to decide what to do.

“Don’t feel pressured,” I say, genuine concern laced into my voice. I really only said it as a joke.

“Eh, why not.” He shrugs and I raise my eyebrows at him again.

“You sure? Mama will kill both of us if she finds out.” I ask and he grins from ear to ear, his eyes crinkling at the edges and his tongue sticking out between his teeth slightly.  

“That just adds to the excitement.” He answers while I hand him the small grey and white drug. I light it for him but before I can tell him the proper way to inhale the smoke he takes a gulp of it in, choking on it. (a/n *waits for the hds references*)

“Calm down a bit there, JoJo.” I manage to get out between laughs. He glares at me and rolls his eyes.

“Well, how was I supposed to know that would happen.” He glares at me again and I hold up my hands in defense.

“It’s okay, I did the exact same thing.” I laugh again and he smiles a bit.

We finish off our cigarettes without anymore problems and Josh realizes he needs to get home.

“Do you wanna’ borrow some of my clothes? You smell like smoke and there’s no way your mom won’t notice.” I worry and he shakes his head, slipping his shoes and coat on.

“I don’t have time to change. I’m already 30 minutes late.” He says while opening the front door. “Oh! I almost forgot, your nickname is bear.” He beams and sprints out the door before I can say anything else.

Bear? I like it. I smile to myself as I flip the t.v. off and walk to the kitchen to get a snack.

a/n spooky: welp, a lot happened in that chapter