Slowtown

.:21:. (Tyler)

Today was a special day, Josh’s birthday. He’s turning 16. I quickly finish wrapping the present I got for him and run to his house. After I knock, he quickly opens the door and engulfs me in a hug, burying his face into the crook of my neck.

“Happy birthday, JoJo.” I grin and he beams while I wave at Mama, who is standing in the living room, watching us closely. She smiles a bit and I let out a sigh of relief. Since she’s found out about Josh and I she’s accepted our relationship a lot more and has been kind and actually lets us hang out again.

“Bye, mama!” Josh calls while running out of the door, following me onto the sidewalk.

“Are you ready, baby?” I ask as I intertwine our fingers and we walk past the park. He simply smiles as I reply and we walk in silence the rest of the way to the store.

--

“Wow, there’s a lot of options.” Josh gawks as we crouch down to see all of the colored hair dyes adorning the drug store shelf.

“Which one are you going to pick?” I ask him as he runs a hand through his hair.

“I don’t know. Not anything flashy. Do they make light colored dye?” He turns to me and I nod a bit.

“Yeah, I think so. Aren’t those called like petal colors or something?” I say seriously and he laughs.

“You mean pastels.” He giggles and I feel my face heat up.

“Look they have a few pastel colors.” I point and his eyes light up.

“Oh, bear, can we do pastel blue!?” He excitedly grabs the box and examines it, smiling.

“Whatever you want, JoJo.” I smile and he stands, leading me to the front of the store.

“Your total will be 7.58.” The cashier smiles and I hand her eight dollars. She quickly hands back 42 cents and a receipt along with a small plastic bag and I thank her before walking back to Josh’s house with him.

--

“Are you ready, JoJo?” I smile as I finish mixing the bowl of dye that is sitting on the counter in front of me, Josh sitting beside me nervously shifting his body on the stool he is sitting on.

“Y-yeah.” He croaks out, but still seems excited. “I’m just scared it won’t look good on me.” He pouts and I pull his chin up with one of my gloved hands so that he is looking at me.

“You could pull off any color, JoJo. You’re going to look great, I promise.” I kiss the top of his head and he visibly relaxes.

I apply the first bit of dye to his head and my eyes go wide, the sudden burst of color surprising me.

Once I finish applying the light blue dye to all of his hair I let it sit for the time it tells me to on the box then I rinse it out, smiling the whole time. He stands and walks to the mirror, stopping in his tracks when he sees his hair, letting out a small gasp.

“I love it, bear! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He exclaims and showers me in kisses, quickly running out of the door to show mama before I can reply.

I hear a gasp from the living room and follow behind Josh to see mama with a smile painted on her features.

“It looks great, honey.” She coos and reaches a hand out to touch it.

“Thanks, mama.” Josh blushes and places his hands behind his back, gently rocking back and forth on the tips of his toes. “Wanna go to the park, bear?” He turns to me and I chuckle.

“Sure, let’s go.”

--

We sit on the swingset, just as we had on the night of our first kiss, and slowly swing back and forth, our hands interlocked and hanging down in between the two swings.

Josh slowly stops swinging and I turn to face him, frowning. “Why'd ya’ stop, JoJo?”

He snaps his head in my direction, obviously startled. “O-oh, sorry. I kind of got lost in thought.” His gaze travels to the ground and I give him a worried look.

“Hey, what’s on your mind?” At this point I’ve stopped swinging and I’ve focused all of my attention is on him.

“It-it’s just I think mama is getting sick. Not like a cold sick, but something else. She’s been sleeping a lot more and going to working longer and it’s worrying me.” His eyes get shiny and I stand from my swing before pulling him into a hug. “I-I’m scared, bear.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” I run a hand through his freshly dyed hair as I try to keep his mind off of mama. “She’ll be okay no matter what, got it?” I ask and he slowly nods, blinking away his tears. “Do you want your birthday present?” I smile at him and he smiles back, jumping up and down in excitement.

“Yes, please.” He giggles as I pull him underneath a nearby tree and onto the ground below.

I pull a small black box out of my sweatshirt pocket and his eyes widen a bit. I quickly flip it open and pull out the plain silver band from inside, taking his left hand and sliding it on his ring finger. “Since we’re too young to get married, I got you a promise ring.” I laugh and he beams.

“Bear. I love it, thank you.” He gives me a small peck on the nose and I pull him close to my side with one arm. “W-what’s the promise?” He timidly asks and I chuckle, pulling the matching ring out from my pocket and sliding it on my left ring finger.

“It’s my promise to you that I won’t ever leave, and that I’ll always be here for you, and once we’re old enough I am going to marry you.” I reply easily and he buries his face in the crook of my neck.

“What did I ever do to deserve you, Tyler Joseph?” He giggles again and I shrug.

“Remember you didn’t even like me that much at first?” I chuckle and he nods a bit, grinning.

“Yeah, I’m glad it’s not like that anymore.”

“I love you, Joshua William Dun, and happy birthday.” I pull him in for a kiss and he smiles against my lips before we break apart.

“I love you too.” He breathes out and kisses my cheek quickly.

“Shall we go back to your house?” I question in an accent, making him laugh, before he responds in the same accent.

“We shall.”

a/n spooky: well wow