the run and go // joshler

Chapter 5

Tyler walked up to his front door. His mom would be furious; he was supposed to be home two hours ago, but him and Josh had spent a long time 'studying' in the library. He didn't care though. Spending time with Josh was better than sitting in this depressing hellhole, watching his mother get drunker by the minute. He turned the handle and walked in.

"Mom," he said. "I-I'm home." He looked into the living room and saw her passed out on the couch, an empty wine bottle on the floor next to her. Tyler hurried upstairs quickly and quietly, careful not to wake her up. At the library, him and Josh exchanged phone numbers, so he messaged him, eager to take his mind off of what would happen when his mom woke up.

Tyler: hi, jish :)

He stared at his phone, waiting for a response. Three minutes later his phone buzzed.

Josh: hey to

Josh: *ty

Josh: fucking tyjos

Josh: *typos

Tyler smiled down at his phone.

Tyler: lmao just realized tyjo is a mix of my first and last name

Josh: WAIT FUCKING TYJOS SOUNDS SO WRONG NOW IM SORRY

Tyler: u can still do it tho *insert lenny face*

Josh: tYJO

Tyler was about to reply, but suddenly noticed the drowsy figure that had stumbled into the room.

"Where the hell were you?" asked Tyler's mom, stumbling towards him. "What are you looking at?" Before Tyler could stop her, she yanked the phone out of his hands and read the conversation. "Oh, you're fucking kidding me! I told you what would happen if you talk to him again, you dumbass!" She chucked the phone at her sons head, and it barely missed Tyler.

"Mom, y-you don't underst-"

"Oh, I understand everything, Tyler. And I didn't raise any f*ggot, I know that for sure. You knew what would happen if you did this again, and now your gonna pay for it."

{~|-/~}     {~|-/~}     {~|-/~}

The next day Josh saw Tyler at his locker, collecting his books for his first class of the day. Tyler had his hood up, and his shoulders were hunched over.

"Ty, is everything okay? You stopped texting me back last night. Please don't tell me it was your mom." Josh saw the cut on Tyler's lip and gasped.

"Oh no she didn't! That bitch. Ty, I'm so so so sorry this happened. I wish I could've done something, anything to help. Why does she do this to you?" Josh was rambling while looking Tyler up and down, checking for more bruises and cuts.

"It's okay, Jish," whispered Tyler. "It's happened before, and there's nothing you could've done to stop it. I'll tell you more about it later, okay?" Tears were welling in the boy's eyes, but he still managed to smile.

Josh embraced him in a warm, loving hug. Why Tyler? Why not him? He'd take a beating for the sweet, fragile boy in the skeleton hoodie any day. He wanted Tyler out of that house, and away from that woman as soon as possible. Josh was brought back to reality when he noticed Tyler's shoulders shaking; he was crying.

"Ty, hush, c'mon. Everything will be alright. You're staying at my place tonight, my mom won't mind. I don't want you going back to your house." Tyler nodded, and dried his eyes with the sleeves of his hoodie.

"J-Josh?" said Tyler meekly.

"Yeah, Tyler?"

"Th-Thank you." He started crying again. Josh wrapped his arms around him for the second time, and whispered into his ear.