It All Started At Midnight

//Five//

;exhausted;

The next day

Josh woke up to the sound of his alarm. He groaned looking over at his alarm, he didn't want to get up. He felt mentally and physically exhausted. He was too scared to go to school where his boyfriend would be be. Should he even consider staying with him? He was too tired to think, he wanted it all to be done. For the guilt, shame and regret to be over. So he figured to fake being sick, he hasn't missed school yet so he'd be fine.

"Mom!" He groaned loudly. Soon after, a small woman peaks her head in the doorway, a concerned look on her face. Friendly Mrs. Dun walks over to her son, sitting on the bed, next to where he laid.

"What's wrong sweetie?" She asked.

"I feel sick, like...really nauseous." He faked his best sickness. Luckily, it convinced the worried mom.
"Alright sweetie, you better stay in bed. Luckily it's Friday so you'll be better by Monday." She smiled and walked out, probably to make breakfast for his siblings who were going to school. He laid there, staring at the ceiling. He felt a heavy weight on his chest, he felt dirty, and so overwhelmed. He wanted to lay there forever, never wanting to see the light.

Though at the same time, he wanted someone to be there with him. Someone to tell him it was going to be alright, someone to hug him and hold him in comfortable silence. Josh could almost ghost a smile at the thought of his surprisingly sweet neighbor, who did comfort him. He could use that right now, but he didn't want to bug the boy. He was probably a handful already from last night, Josh doubted he'll talk or hang out with him anytime soon. After a moment of thinking, he heard his phone vibrate. He picked it up and saw that it was a text message.

Issa: Hey boo, where you at? You're not where you usually are in the morning.

Josh didn't want to talk but he should tell his friend that he was home.

Josh: I feel sick :'( I'm staying home for today.

He didn't want to lie but at his state of mind, he didn't care.

Issa: Aww, well don't die. I'll tell the others, feel better boo <3

Josh stopped answering after that, hoping Issa thought he fell asleep. He wanted to sleep, but he couldn't help wonder if Tyler would be wondering why wasn't at school. He probably didn't care, yesterday was probably a stunt to act like he felt sorry. He probably shouldn't think so poorly of the boy but in all honesty, another feeling the boy felt was fear. After yesterday, he doesn't want to show his face, he's scared it will happen again.

His eyes felt heavy after a while so he fell asleep once again, hoping to sleep forever.

-----------------

While Josh was sleeping, Tyler was in first block. He tapped his pencil against his desk mindlessly while blocking out the teacher. He felt really tired, not because of staying up past midnight, but it happened whenever he used even a bit of magic. He revived Josh's flowers and the next day, he felt the drain from it. He didn't know why it happened, he'll have to ask Kelly later. He didn't regret what he did however, he hopes flower boy will take notice to the extended life he gave his garden.

"Tyler." A voice calls out, the angel raises his head, snapped out of the trance of watching his pencil tap against the desk.

"Hm?" He replies to the teacher, looking at him tiredly.

"Answer the question I just asked." She asks, clearly annoyed at the boy's lack of attention.

"Repeat the question." He simply replies, she repeats the question sounding pretty pissed off.

"Hm, I don't know, ask someone else" He shrugs. He did know the answer, he just didn't want to think about it. The teacher huffs in defeat and asks another student dozing off. And to that, he couldn't help but smirk. The bell rings and Tyler makes his way to his next block, art. This class he could actually tolerate.

He sits down and gathers his supplies to work on his next project. So far, he had a black painted canvas. He had some ideas in mind with the same overall idea concept. What he was certain of, was that the painting was going to have a white outline of a boy, much like himself, with angel wings, falling. It seemed confusing, someone with wings should be able to make someone fly. But that wasn't the case for this boy, it was all metaphorical.

Despite wings making him able to fly, and feel free. To Tyler, it also felt like he had a weight or stress of expectations pulling him down, and losing his freedom. Where he was from, angels of higher power expected perfection, organization and neatness. The wings symbolized the pressure pulling him down from flying high.  Tyler starting on the outline, focusing on each detail of the boy. 

Someone then tapped his shoulder, startled, he made an unwanted line of white paint. He sighed annoyingly and turned to see who it was. Not recognizing who it was, he waited for the person to speak up.

"U-uh you're Josh's neighbor right?" The boy asked.

Tyler nodded.
"Well I was hoping you could give him the work he missed in a class he has with me."

"And you are?" Tyler asked.

"Issa. Im the one who threw those pebbles at your window when I was hanging out with Josh. I wanted to see if you as cute as he said you were." He replied bluntly then scanned his eyes up and down Tyler.

"I kinda get what he sees." He shrugged.

Tyler rolls his eyes and takes the folder of papers that belonged to Josh. Issa nodded and walked back to his sear at the other side of the room. He never recognized Issa and it turned out they had the same art class together.

------------------

Josh slept in 'till 2:50 in the afternoon. He usually wasn't that tired but his eyelids felt heavy.  But he couldn't ignore how dirty he felt, so he got up and walked to the bathroom. He still felt mentally tired, so he decided to take a bath in hopes to help. He opened the drawer by the sink and took out his favorite Intergalactic​ bathbomb from Lush. He dropped it in the warm bathwater and stripped himself. He got in and laid there, looking at the colors filling up his tub.

Usually, this soothed him from a stressful day, but it did nothing to him this day. He sank in the water, letting his hair soak and rose back up to the surface. He closed his eyes, and leaned his head back taking in the silence around him. A few moments later, in the quietness, he heard a chirpy voice.

"Joshie sweetie, I'm off to work! There's soup already made for you, just warm it up if you want hun. I'll be back tonight, take care!" He then heard his mom close the door. Josh felt bad for lying but in no way did he want to tell his mom what happened.
He felt ashamed, like people would laugh at him if he told what happened. So Josh decided to never speak a word.

He looked back at the open doorway to peak at the clock on his bedside table. It read 3:10, school was over. He heard his phone vibrate and assumed it was friends checking up on him. He'll answer later, he wanted to stay in the water a bit longer. He ignored the water cooling down, his skinned knee stinging and the vibrating of his phone. Physically, he had the energy to get up and take care of his problems.

But mentally, he has never felt this exhausted in his entire life. Life had a weight on him that could sink him. He laid in silence again, until he heard something.

He heard knocking on the door down stairs, and a small voice yelling at him to open the door.

"Flower boy! Open the damn door!"