SMITTEN🌹⌠J.T⌡

xii

i'm gonna try and shift this story back into high gear, let's see if it'll stick.

[[edit: i don't even remember when i typed that. looks like it didn't work lmao]]

⚜️🌹⚜️

A CLOUD OF exhaustion followed Tyler to school on Monday. It settled heavy on his shoulders and seeped deep into his bones. It trailed behind him like a cloud, suffocating him into submission.

His weekend with his parents hadn't gone well.

After being bullied by his mother's icy glare into spilling the details of his project with Joshua, she was, unsurprisingly, furious. A small cut decorated his cheek after he'd tried to explain himself, and she'd firmly backhanded him across the face, her wedding ring slicing his skin.

He'd been sent to his room without dinner, and he fought not to slam his bedroom door. He wasn't a child, yet he swallowed the painful lump in his throat and choked back his tears.

"Insolent boy," Tyler heard his mother hiss from downstairs, complaining to his father. Her venomous tone licked up the walls and sliced him in half. "He's never going to amount to anything with that attitude of his."

Tyler slid back into the comforting embrace of his hoodie and crawled under his covers, his body trembling with imprisoned tears. He wouldn't let them fall. He wouldn't. He curled his knees to his chest and willed himself to fall asleep in a bed too big for one boy.

The next morning, Tyler dragged his feet as he walked. He didn't feel like putting out some artificial confident aura; he didn't have the energy anyway. He could already feel a headache blossoming behind his eyelids and was dreading the inevitability of running into Joshua.

However, when their eyes met from separate sides of the hallway, Tyler saw that Joshua had his own rain cloud of fatigue following him.

His face was peppered with shades of purple and blue, like he'd had a carton of blackberries hurled at him. Only the undertones of ugly yellows and greens gave away the true source of his swollen features, and it had nothing to do with the bittersweet tang of blackberries.

Tyler nearly reached up and stroked his own sore cheek, but his arms stayed wrapped tight around his copy of The Giver, which he was clutching to his chest. He wondered how much it hurt, watching Joshua's fists clench after every step, his face contorting ever so slightly with hidden pain. Tyler swallowed, rubbing his thumb down the spine of his book. He was lucky, he told himself, so very lucky.

Joshua was hunched over, hiding his gaze and his fresh black eye until he suddenly lifted his head and flicked it toward Tyler's glance. Swollen eyes meant sunken cheeks, and Tyler risked a weak smile. He was too exhausted to be anything but quiet and compliant; his mother had stripped away the confidence he'd pretended to have the week before.

Joshua nearly stopped walking, his mouth parting slightly and his eyes flashing with confusion. Tyler suddenly remembered they weren't exactly on speaking terms, and could already feel the bubbling of heat behind his bruised cheek. He had the decency to look embarrassed, shrugging a little as an apology for forgetting they were nothing close to friends

But then something happened. Joshua quirked a lip and returned his smile with a softer one, rubbing his elbow sheepishly from across the hall as he walked.