Screen (Joshler)

Chapter 10

"Tyler, I'm back!" Josh called out as he walked in. He'd ended up going as one of the last people to hold his presentation and had been out for longer than he'd hoped. He took his coat off and looked around the room. Tyler wasn't in the living room or the kitchen. Maybe he was still asleep. Josh hoped so. He took his shoes off and walked upstairs, to his bedroom. He frowned as he saw his empty bed. Tyler wasn't there. Where else could he be.. Josh heard sounds coming from the bathroom, it sounded like sobbing. Josh's heart dropped as he rushed to the bathroom. He was expecting the worse. It wasn't like he didn't trust Tyler. He did trust Tyler. But he was scared Blurry had returned or that something else had happened. He knocked on the door. "Tyler?" He asked softly. There was no response. Josh tried to open the door, but it was locked. He stood on his tiptoes and got the spare key. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he opened the door. He looked around the bathroom. He noticed the sound before he saw Tyler. It was a buzzing, electric sound. It belonged to the electric shaver that Tyler was holding. Josh's eyes widened. Tyler was shaving off his hair. He was a mess. Tears were rolling down his face and he was whispering to himself. He didn't even acknowledge Josh's presence. Josh rushed towards him and took his hands. He put the shaver down and looked into his eyes. "Hey, Tyler.. It's okay.. Calm down.." Josh whispered. Tyler looked up and into Josh's eyes. His shoulders started shaking and he threw himself into Josh's arms. "H-He's back.." He whispered, sobbing. Josh teared up and held the small boy. "It's okay, Tyler.. I won't leave again.. I'll watch you and make sure he stays away." He said, rubbing his back. Tyler nodded softly. Josh felt awful. He felt like this was his fault, for leaving Tyler alone. He should've put Tyler before his grades. He held Tyler and whispered soothing words to calm him down. "It's okay.." He whispered, not only to Tyler, but also to himself. 

"Let's do something about your hair now." Josh had Tyler sit down on the edge of the bath and stood in between his legs. He took the electric shaver and started shaving Tyler's hair until he looked decent. His hair was really short now, he was nearly bold, but Josh liked it. "How do I look?" Tyler whispered, looking up at Josh. "You look perfect." Josh said sweetly, with a soft smile. He cleaned up the hair from Tyler's shirt and the floor. Tyler waited for him to be done and got up quietly when he was done. "Josh.." He whispered. "Yes, Tyler?" Josh threw all of the hair in the bin and turned to Tyler. "It's okay for you to stop now.. Stop trying to fix me and just send me away. I can live in the woods, I won't bother anyone." Josh's smile dropped and he shook his head. "Oh, Tyler.. I would never do that. I care about you too much. And seeing you smile yesterday, convinced me to try and make you smile today too." Tyler looked down. He felt really useless. Josh was trying to make him happy, but everything had only gotten worse. "It's okay." Josh said as if he'd read Tyler's mind. He took Tyler's hand and took him downstairs, into the living room. "Sit down." Tyler sat down on the couch and Josh got his laptop. He sat down next to Tyler and turned it on. "What do you like, Tyler?"  Tyler shrugged quietly. Josh sighed softly and took his hand. "Just think and work with me here.. What do you like?" Tyler sighed softly. He went to run a hand through his hair but it was too short to do so.  "I-I like music I guess.." He mumbled. Josh nodded and went to Google. "What music do you like?" He asked, his voice soft and gentle so Tyler would stay calm. "I-I really like Blink-182, Green day and My Chemical Romance.." He said softly. Josh nodded and searched Google. "What are you doing?" Tyler asked softly. "I'm just trying to make you happy. Look, there's a Green Day concert soon. We could order tickets and wait in line all day and we'll be up front and we'll be-" Tyler shook his head and interrupted him. "Josh No.. I don't want to go to a concert.. I hate concerts.. There are so many people and I-It's so crowded and I don't want you to waste your money on me.." Josh looked down and nodded, shutting his laptop off. "I um I'm sorry. I understand." Tyler sighed softly and looked at Josh. "If you want to help me get happy.. There is something I like to do.." 

"Wow.." Tyler whispered as he looked around the attic. It was a pretty big attic for the house he lived in. That wasn't what caught Tyler's eye though. In the middle of the attic was a black drumset. It seemed like just a plain one but on the middle of the big drum was a sign or logo like thing made with tape. |-/. Tyler looked at it and Josh smiled shyly. "I um.. I made that logo just in case I ever um wanted to start a band.." He said softly. "It looks pretty cool." Tyler grinned as Josh sat down behind it. "Can you play something for me?" Josh grinned and took his drum sticks. He started playing a tune Tyler didn't recognize, but he could tell Josh was good at it. "I wrote that, but I don't have a song with it yet.. I'm good at writing melodies, not lyrics." Tyler smiled shyly as he got an idea. "Maybe we could play something together.. You on the drums and me singing.." Josh nodded and smiled widely. "That'd be really cool." Tyler nodded and got his song book. They were supposed to finish the song for school too, but they didn't seem to remember that.

"This one's called Ode to sleep." Tyler said, showing Josh the lyrics. "It's a pretty fast song, so the drums should be pretty fast too.." Josh nodded and studied the lyrics. Tyler looked around the attic. There were lots of different boxes labeled with different names. The one labeled 'Halloween' caught his eye. He looked back at Josh, he was busy with his drums. Tyler decided to just take a quick look. He opened the box carefully and got some stuff out. There were decorations, mostly fake spiders and pumpkins. But there were also some costumes. Tyler got them out and grinned. He walked back to Josh. "Hey Josh.." He held a skeleton and a gorilla suit up. "Wouldn't it be sick if we wore these whilst playing?" Josh laughed and nodded. "That'd be really sick." Tyler smiled and Josh showed him what he had. His drumming lined up perfectly with the song. They decided to play it and record it for future use, or just for fun. Of course they wore the suits Tyler had found. And all the time they were playing, Tyler had a big smile on his face. He felt happy when they played a song together. He loved the feeling. It made him feel strong and like he had a mind of his own. This was Tyler who'd written the song and was singing it. Not Blurry. His screen made a static sound as he finished singing, out of breath, grinning at Josh. "This feeling is sick, man." Josh laughed and nodded. "So Sick."