flower crowns and other neat stuff - joshler

part 5

starting the week was like crawling back into hell. tyler was about to die. not only had he slept through his alarm and nearly missed his bus, but he'd had no time to apply any makeup, which sucked.

it looked like pete and mikey had done the smart thing and stayed home, seeing as they weren't at mikey's locker (pete tended to spend more time there between classes than anywhere else).

tyler figured if he ever did anything like that party with his friends again, he'd have to either plan on doing some makeup work or not go if it was on a sunday night.

he'd ended up staying at pete's until well after four in the morning, which his mother was definitely not happy about. the only reason he wasn't grounded was most likely out of pity.

brendon was leaning against his locker looking like death. "tyler. when i die, give dallon my dildo. i want him to have a piece of me."

tyler wrinkled his nose at him and opened his own locker. "ew."

"i'm serious. mondays are a circle of hell that i don't deserve, man," brendon groaned.

tyler shrugged. "mondays aren't that bad. there are worst days. sunday, for example. sunday isn't a good day."

brendon looked at him funny. "dude, mondays are the shittiest day ever. what's so bad about sunday?"

tyler shrugged again. "i don't know. stuff just seems so much worse on sundays." brendon banged his head against the lockers. "i don't even want to be alive right now, t-man."

"don't call me that."

"like, seriously, i tried to get my parents to let me stay home, but they said it was my fault for staying out late. school is so shit."

tyler was about to agree with him, but just then the bell rung. "shit!" tyler exclaimed, slamming his locker shut. "see you at lunch, brendon!" he called out before running down the hallway that first period was. luckily, the teacher was pretty lax about students coming in a couple minutes after the bell.

the rest of the morning seemed to stay in the same circle of shitty. he spilled paint all over his pants in art, got yelled at in biology, and to top it all off, he realised he forget his lunch at home and had no money to buy something with.

his morning reached the peak of shitty, though, when he went back to his locker to see if he had at least a tiny bit of money to buy an apple or something. he'd admitted defeat and closed his locker when something made contact with the back of his head hard enough to make his face give the cold metal door a high five.

he stumbled to the side and spun around, gripping his nose. "what the fuck?" he shouted angrily. some jock tyler had seen maybe twice (it was a big school) stood in front of him.

ignoring his question, the asshole asked, "forgot your makeup, faggot?"

tyler rolled his eyes, lowering his hand from his face. he felt blood dripping from his nose. gross. "this about me wearing makeup? if you're going to slam my face into a locker, at least make it about something worthwhile, like me shaming your family or pissing in your football helmet."

the guy growled at him. literally growled. tyler wouldn't be shocked if he turned out the be part bear. or inbred.

"this is about the makeup bullshit you have going on. just because you're gay doesn't mean you have to go rubbing it in everyone's face," the guy said, edging closer.

tyler raised an eyebrow. for a person about to get his ass kicked, he felt strangely confident. "i've been doing it for a week now and it's been going great. it looks like you've been dropping the ball on the makeup policing thing, my man."

the guy smiled at him unkindly. tyler wondered what kind of terrible genetics he must have gotten to make him that ugly. "i bet you think you're real funny. i'll show you what happens to fags who try to get smart with me."

before tyler could react, he felt the impact of the guys fist in his gut, knocking the air out of him. he doubled over, coughing. "jesus christ, man," he wheezed. "a little warning next time."

before he knew it, he had been shoved onto the ground, and asshole mchomophobe was kicking him right in the ribs. tyler tried to hit the guy in the leg, if not to get him to stop, then to make him hesitate enough for tyler to make a run for it, but he had no such luck.

he cried out in pain, squeezing his eyes shut, waiting for it to be over. each kick, coming in quick jabs, every time in a different place, was a fresh stab of pain. he tried crawling away, only to be dragged back. he awaited the next hit when somebody shouted, "cut it out, fuckface!"

"oh shit," the guy exclaimed, turning and running down the hallway in the opposite direction of where the voice came from. there was the sound of footsteps coming in tyler's direction, and he reluctantly opened his eyes.

the one and only josh dun knelt in front of him, all red hair and dark clothing. he looked at tyler in concern. "fuck," he whispered, lightly touching his hand to the blood.

tyler pushed himself up so the he was sitting, hissing in pain. "thanks, man. i appreciate you helping me out," he said quietly, wincing when he breathed to deep. josh blinked at him. "uh, yeah, don't mention it. are you alright?"

"i just got the shit beaten out of me. other than that, though, i'm doing pretty great," tyler said flatly. josh grimaced sympathetically. "do you want me to take you to the nurses?" he asked.

tyler hesitated. he hated anything to do with doctors. there was just something about them, the sterile room and chemicals combined to make an all around uncomfortable experience. in his moment of hesitation, josh continued speaking again.

"i wouldn't recommend it, though. they'd make you say who did it, and that could get you in more trouble with the assholes. trust me, i know from experience," he said.

tyler nodded slowly, not wanting to move too fast. "i get you. how come the guy ran from you, though? if you're getting the shit beaten out of you too..." tyler trailed off. josh began to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"even though all my friends left me, there's an upside to everyone trying to avoid me. the dicks are scared of

me, too," he said bitterly. tyler reached out and touched his arm in sympathy. "that sucks, man. not the not being bullied part. the active friend avoiding part," he said.

josh's smile reached his eyes a little more after tyler had spoken. a bit more cheerfully, he asked, "if you don't want to go to the nurse's, why don't we get out of here?"

tyler grinned at him. "sure, man, although i'm not going anywhere very fast with my ribs feeling the way they do."

josh helped him up. "don't worry about it, i have a car. i'm taking you to my house, my mom should be there. she works the night shift at the hospital, so she'd know what to do about your ribs."

tyler's eyes widened and he stopped walking. okay, cute boy bringing him back to his house. this was completely platonic. for god's sake, his ribs were probably broken, of course josh wasn't going to make a move.

while he was having his internal freak out, josh seemed to get about ten times sadder, taking his hesitation as him not wanting to come. "it's fine if you don't want to, i'd understand. i mean, we don't know each other very well, and with all the rumours about me-"

"no, i want to come. like i really want to come. i'm just weird. lead the way," tyler interrupted him. josh smiled brightly at him. "sweet!" he exclaimed, and continued to walk tyler out to his car.

cute boy's house awaits, tyler thought to himself. at least he'd be missing math.