STRANGERS » JOSHLER

t e n

tw ; a bit of homophobia and body shaming. skip if you're uncomfortable.

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Their laughs pause momentarily as they turn around to face the source of sound.

It is a man, probably in his mid-fifties. Since they are near a street-light, they can see that the man's hair is thin, and even then, most of them are white. He seems to be almost as tall as Tyler, his face a bit wrinkly.

What is more obvious is the frown etched on his face.

Josh feels his eyes look at Tyler's arm, which was initially wrapped around his shoulder, but now it has somehow managed to find itself a place at his hip, and his stomach drops when the man's features twist.

He's seen that look before.

It is the same look he got when he first came out. From his friends, and some family members.

A look of disgust. A look of disappointment.

Josh tries to wriggle his way out of Tyler's arms but the other maintains a first grip on him. He looks up at Tyler to see him look straight ahead at the man with a forced smile.

"How may we help you, sir?" His tone is polite and Josh gives up trying to free himself. His eyes are staring at the wall, anywhere but the man's face. It brought back memories, bad memories. The memories he'd buried in the farthest corner of his mind. The memories he did not want to relive ever again.

"Well, you can suck each other's face off at some other place." The man's tone is bitter and Josh almost winces. His words don't hurt that much, seeing that Josh is already used to it by now. 

"Ty, I think we should go." He tries to get Tyler's attention, but his narrowed eyes remain fixated on the man.

"Oh? And why would we do that?" He asks back, ignoring Josh's mumbled pleas. The man glares at him, and he glares back, twice as deadly. 

"Because you people are a disgrace to humanity. The world would be better without people like you. What you two are doing is utterly wrong and disgusting." The man's face scrunches up as if to prove his point.

"Tyler .. " Josh mumbles, feeling uneasiness make his stomach churn. He wants to leave, but then Tyler starts in a calm voice.

"What's wrong is your way of thinking. You don't choose who you fall in love with. It just happens, and it can be anyone. It can be with someone of your own gender, or not, it doesn't matter. What matters is that that particular person makes you happy." Josh notices Tyler glancing at him from the corner of his eye.

"And what are we again? A disgrace to humanity? We're all the same, just we happen to be attracted to the same gender, which is, by the way, not wrong or disgusting in any way.

And, actually, the world would be better without jerks like you. People who just love to butt in someone else's business. If it doesn't associate you, why even bother?"

By this time, both Josh and the man are staring at him with jaw's hanging open. While Josh is staring at him with admiration, the man's ears turn slightly red with anger and he presses his lips in a thin line.

"I was just stating the truth. I did not need a speech." The man barks, and Josh giggles. He's embarrassed. "Now get you and your fatass lover away from my house!"

His string of giggles stop abruptly and his eyes widen a fraction. He looks down at his body. Fat?

Tyler, however, doesn't notice, his eyes glaring at the man. They both have a stare down and the man mutters a few things under his breath, before walking to a house a few feet away.

"Fucking dickhead." Tyler mutters, before smiling at the boy in his arms. "Hey," he shakes the slightly dazed boy, making him snap out of it and blink. "Let's go home, yeah?"

"Yeah, sure." Josh says in a small voice and Tyler raises a brow.

"You okay?" He asks slowly.

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Absolutely." Josh gives a reassuring nod. Tyler looks at him for a second before considering it.

Silence envelops the air as they both start walking.

After a while, they stand in front of a pale blue door. As Tyler stands behind the red-head with hands stuffed in his pocket, Josh takes out the key and slips it in and opens the door.

He walks in, Tyler following suit and like he thought, Melanie isn't home. He switches on one of the lights and tells Tyler to make himself comfortable as he goes to take a shower.

Just as he's about to go, he feels a hand wrap around his wrist. He turns back to see a worried Tyler.

"You seem off. Is everything okay?" He asks and Josh nods.

"I told you I'm fine." He says and Tyler  pauses before slowly asking.

"Is it about what that man said .. about us?" Tyler's eyebrows are knit in worry, "You know it isn't wrong to like -"

"I know, Tyler, I know. It isn't about that." Josh says.

"What is it about then?" Tyler asks, his warm, and large hand enveloping Josh's slightly smaller ones.

"It's just .. " Josh looks away, thinking of something, "he wasted so much of our time. We could've had so much fun."

He would groan at the double meanings of his words if it were any other time, but as Tyler laughs, he almost sighs in relief.

Tyler didn't look through it, and Josh has mixed feelings about it. He doesn't know if he should feel happy that he isn't been pestered with questions, or sad because Tyler doesn't notice that he's lying.

I'm just overthinking, he thinks.

"You sure right, Josh?" Tyler asks one more time, "I can always go and beat that bastard up. I don't really care if it's a fifteen year old or a fifty year old, it's not wrong to  -"

"It's nothing, Ty." Josh forces a smile. "I promise."

He was talking about insulting the community, Josh thinks, did he even notice what he called me?

Josh strips off of his clothes as soon as he reaches his room. He hops into the shower and turns it up to the highest, hoping the pitter patter inside the shower will drown out the voice inside his head that is repeating the same word again and again.

Fatass.

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you all are perfect just the way you are. i love you ok <3

i apologize for the shitty chapter. a second update's coming out in about an hour, so keep an eye out for that ;)

- a