1 week until
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it's the middle of the night in the joseph-dun cell, and tyler is softly wilting on the top bunk while josh is in the shower.
he's never noticed just how much josh has helped him over his years at the mental hospital.
it wasn't his therapist, nor gaspipe, nor the stupid activities he had to do after therapy every day to stimulate his brain cells.
it was josh, it was all josh.
and now, in a week, his strongpoint would be gone.
no more josh. no more someone to play with his hair. no more boyfriend. no more lbtgq relationship. no more learning about the real world that he was held in the dark from.
he didn't know what to do. he didn't know who to talk to.
he just knew that he couldn't leave josh.
josh couldn't leave him.
there needed to be something he could do.
"ty? you alright?"
tyler's head snapped up, his eyes landing on the sight of a soaking wet josh; his clothes sticking to him and his hair dripping everywhere.
"did-did you even t-try to dry off?" tyler asks, almost laughing.
"nah," josh replies, "didn't feel like it."
"you look rid-d-diculous."
"thanks," josh says with a smile, before promptly pushing himself up onto the top bunk next to tyler.
"aa- you're g-gonna get the mattress all w-wet!" he exclaims, but josh shakes his head, only getting water everywhere.
"now," he says to tyler, "i need to know what you were looking so sad about, sadboy. i'm your boyf, i'm entitled to know."
"boyf?"
"yep. your boyf."
tyler smiles at the ground and hesitates to respond.
"it's okay," josh prompts, "you can tell me. actually, you have to tell me. boyf, remember?"
tyler laughs until his smile turns to a frown.
"i'm g-gonna miss you, is all. like, a l-lot. really. i can't t-take it."
josh wraps a (still soaking wet) arm around tyler's shoulder.
"i was having the same problem, thinking of leaving here and what i would do without you."
"were?"
"-then i asked a guard at lunch a few days ago. i was gonna surprise you, but i found a way we can leave on the same day."
"legally?"
"yeah, legally."
tyler smiled huge, and josh let him in on the plan.
see, if you are a voluntary patient, you have the right to request your release from the hospital by writing a "three-day letter."
the hospital must inform you of your right to ask to be released from the hospital. you write a three-day letter by asking asking, in writing, for your release from the hospital. staff, with approval from the county mental health board, will decide whether or not to release you or to ask the court for an order to keep you at the hospital.
after handing in the three-day letter, the hospital then has three days to tell you whether or not you should leave.
or, at lease that's what gaspipe told josh after the guard took him to his office.
"really?" tyler asked with wide eyes, "all i have to d-do is write a letter and i'm out of here with y-you?"
"that's it."
they shared a quick kiss, then tyler jumped off the bed towards the door.
"guard! i need paper, a p-pencil, and a shitload of towels!"
4 chapters left.
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band aids ↠ joshler ✔
Fanfiction"dude, i'm telling you, tyler can't know. please don't tell him." - josh has been confined ever since he was eighteen. first, a prison. now, a mental hospital. - josh bit his lip before hastily asking, "can i.. am i allowed to know his name?" gaspip...
