Kiss It Better? [Joshler]

Twelve Years

"What do you have now?" Josh asked, peeking over Tyler's shoulder to look at the crumpled piece of paper clutched in the boy's hand.

With shaking fingers, he unfolded a corner of the paper and read a class from the top of the page.

"Um... wrong one Ty," Josh laughed, pointing to the Tuesday column, where Tyler had read from, then moving his finger to point at the first Monday class.

"Oh," Tyler said simply.

"You'll figure it out, don't worry," Josh said, resting his arm around his friends shoulders rather than putting it back at his side. Together, they walked through the near empty halls, attempting to find their classes. Soon, they found themselves lost in the maze of corridors, with no idea where their rooms were.

"Uh... have we tried... that way?" Josh asked, pointing down a random hall.

"I have no idea," Tyler said, shrugging and leading the way down it anyway.

Once they got down it a little way, they realized there were another few kids near the end of the hall.

"You guys lost?" one of them called to the two.

"Yeah," Josh called back to them. They walked up to the group, who also appeared to be lost, and showed them their schedules.

"Oh, I saw your homeroom earlier," a blond girl said after seeing Tyler's classes. "Should be just down that hall and to the left. Down at the end there."

"Thanks. Do you know where Josh's is?" he asked them. They all looked at the paper and frowned.

"No," one said. "I'm afraid not. Maybe you could stick around and we'll help you find it?"

"Nah, it's alright. I've gotta take Tyler to his classroom. I'll see you around though," he replied, waving a bit and putting an arm behind Tyler to lead him away to his first class.

"Ew!" one of the kids behind them shouted as they walked away. "You guys are faggots! That's so gross!"

Josh turned around and glared at them while Tyler looked curiously between him and the group.

"Josh," he asked quietly once they were far enough away that the others couldn't hear them. "What's a faggot?"

"Nothing Ty, it doesn't matter. It's not a good word, alright?"

"Oh," he said, then looked at Josh again and said, "if it's not good, then why were they calling us it and laughing?" The already stressed boy's eyes were watering slightly, the combination of getting lost on the first day of school and being picked on nearly bringing him to tears.

"They're just being stupid. Don't worry about it, you're not what they're saying you are, just ignore them," he told Tyler, wrapping the boy in a hug.

"Thanks Joshie," Tyler whispered, walking to the door across from him and going in.

An agonizing two hours later, it was time for lunch. Josh entered the cafeteria and looked around, but didn't see anyone he knew, so went to get his lunch and wait outside the door for Tyler. After waiting for nearly ten minutes, Josh began to get a bit worried. Where was his friend? They had agreed to meet at the cafeteria earlier that day, he should have been there by now.

After another few minutes of waiting, a bruised and battered looking Tyler came limping around the corner. He had a black eye, and one of his arms had a long cut running down it. Before he had to walk any further, Josh ran over to his and bent down.

"Hop up," he said. "I'll piggy back you outside and we can eat there." Without saying anything, Tyler climbed up onto his friend's back and held onto his shoulders as they made their way outside. Josh set Tyler down under a tree and passed him half of his sandwich, since he hadn't had time to go get his own lunch, then sat beside him to finish his own half.

"So," Josh said after a few minutes of silence. "Care to tell me what happened?"

"It's nothing," Tyler muttered.

"Nothing?!" Josh shouted, making Tyler jump and drop his food. "Sorry," he apologized, giving Tyler the rest of his own half a sandwich before continuing. "But really, you expect me to believe you showing up twenty minutes late covered in cuts and bruises is "nothing"? Come on Ty, please tell me what happened."

"Faggot," was all Tyler said, his voice practically a whisper.

"Sorry, what?"

"They beat me up because I'm a faggot," Tyler said, looking at the half a sandwich in his hand and feeling as though the other half was about to end up back there with it.

"Where are they?" Josh asked, his voice terrifyingly calm.

"Why?" asked Tyler suspiciously.

"Where are they, Ty," he said again, starting to get up. Before he could take even one step in the direction of the school, he was pulled back down by Tyler.

"Please don't go after them," he pleaded.

"Why?" asked Josh, confused as to why his friend didn't want to get back at the bullies.

"It'll only make them mad. And we don't need to stoop to their level. It isn't even that bad anyway."

"But-" Josh started, but quickly realized there was no point in arguing. "Fine," he sighed, leaning back against the tree. "Do you want to borrow my hoodie so no one sees the cut on your arm?" Tyler nodded and the light jacket was passed to him. He whimpered a bit as he tried to pull the sleeve up over his hurt arm, so Josh leaned over and carefully tugged it off. Once the hoodie was sitting on the ground behind them, Josh took his friend's arm and placed a gentle kiss to the injury there. He then pulled the jacket back up Tyler's arm and smiled.

"There. All better, right?"

Tyler looked down at his arm, them back up at Josh and smiled, nodding his head a bit.

"Good. If those guys ever do anything to you again, tell me, alright? I'll make sure they stop."

"Thank you Josh," Tyler said, hugging the other boy.

"No problem Ty," Josh told him, hugging back.

A/N Why must I be so bad at ending chapters. In fact, this whole part is bad in my opinion, but I don't really know what to do, so oh well. Hope you guys liked it anyway.