Child • Jøshler

chapter førty

"Let me take a look" Josh said, putting his hand out. Tyler's face tightened in pain; he pulled his sleeve up and exposed his wrist, allowing Josh to grab his hand.

On the inside of Tyler's wrist were moving black lines, just twirling around themselves, playing on Tyler's pale skin. They made no shapes in particular, they just moved. And it scared Tyler.

"What is that?" Tyler asked, gulping when he realized he really sounded whiny "I've never had that before"

Josh ignored his words, looking up at him only for the time it took to ask a question "Does it hurt a lot?"

"Less"

Josh nodded, continuing to silently stare at the blackness. He had no ideas on what it could be, but the blackness was awfully familiar. It was different than other, ordinary blacks. This was the blackest black that ever blacked.

The movements of the black lines started to slow down and form shapes; letters.

"IM FINE. DONT LOOK FOR ME -A"

"It's Andy" Josh said, smiling at Tyler.

Tyler only started to panic more after hearing those words "Wait, he's inside me?!"

Josh laughed, unlocking his phone "No, actually I thi-"

He was cut off by the sounds of two new messages. One from Dallon and one from Pete.

"See?" Josh spoke, not showing anything to Tyler yet. He opened the messages and talked "Just as I though, Andy contacted all of us"

He turned the phone to Tyler who pulled his sleeve down, squinting his eyes at the letters on the screen.

"yo, andy sent us a message, he's fine, says we don't have to look for him. he did that wrist thing he talked about, it's rad. patty's wrist hurts a lil, but he's good"

"Andy sent us a message! It reads 'I'm fine. Don't look for me'. It appeared on Brendon's inner wrist. I can describe it in more detail if you want!"

Tyler nodded, smiling. That means they're all connected now. Three separate groups of people and Andy going solo, but they could all contact each other. Josh and Tyler had phones, same with Peterick and same with Dallon who was with Brendon so that was okay. Maybe the problem was how they'll contact Andy because so far only Andy could send them messages. But that was fine. It was quite obvious to both of them that Andy could only contact supernatural beings, they kept that in mind. It was also a good information because that meant Patrick didn't lose his powers forever.

"Let's go outside" Josh said, picking his backpack up. It was already filled with things thus Tyler concluded Josh was ready for an emergency.

But they were safe here. Nobody knows where they are. Tyler decided to ask in protest "But we're good here"

"If somebody founds us, we're cornered" Josh explained, checking his phone's battery before nodding over toward the door and thus telling Tyler to walk. Tyler obeyed, understanding now. They walked upstairs, not going to talk to Josh's foster parents at all. They'd probably only try to stop them from leaving.

"If somebody attacks us, just run" Josh gave last instructions "You can't fight on your own"

"Okay" Tyler said hesitantly.

They walked for quite a long time; Josh was always two feet in front of the vampire boy.

And throughout that, Tyler was constantly staring at the back of Josh's head, biting his lip. What if they die? What if they'll never see each other again? Josh doesn't know how much Tyler loves him. Tyler must say. He'll feel terrible if he says nothing. He was running multiple scenarios, ways that h could just tell him.

"J- Josh?"

"Yeah?" Josh turned around, stopping "Did you see something odd?"

"N- No, it's not that" Tyler gulped, looking down at his shoes, not daring to look into Josh's eyes. But he can't take their time. They don't have much; they don't even know how much they have. Josh lowered his head to show impatience. Tyler blinked, looking up and locking stares with the redhead. He couldn't look down now.

"It's okay, Tyler" Josh assured "You can tell me anything"

Tyler cleared his throat and straightened his pose. Licking his lips, he spoke quietly "I- I like you"

"What?" Josh didn't hear Tyler's whisper.

Dramatic as ever and with a sudden wave of courage, Tyler walked two steps closer to Josh and quickly placed one palm on the back of Josh's neck, pulling the older boy closer and into a kiss. Their lips stood locked for pretty little seven seconds; seven seconds of heaven. Their eyes were closed and their bodies calm.

Tyler moved slightly away, ending the kiss. That was the moment in which he realized that might have been an invasion of space. B- But Josh didn't complain, s-so that's good?

"Oh, Tyler" Josh pulled the younger boy into a hug, only to confuse him. They stood like that for a while, just hugging each other.

"I liked you from the moment I met you" Josh whispered into Tyler's shoulder.

Tyler separated the hug with the widest grin on his face. This was like a dream come true. His crush likes him too. He felt like the luckiest person in the universe.

"But I really didn't want you to tell me that right now" Josh proceeded. His words made Tyler's smile drop. Tyler didn't understand. Why?

Josh gulped, taking his backpack off and opening it. He picked through it for a short while until he found a small object. He revealed it as a mirror. He handed it to Tyler. Tyler took it into his hands, frowning in confusion. Josh nodded and Tyler slowly rose the mirror to look at himself.

That was the first time Tyler saw his brown eyes.