Twenty Øne Piløts||Imagines

Two Kids and One Odd Roof//Tyler

Word Count: 1341

[!!Trigger warning!!] This imagine deals briefly with the concepts of depression and self-harm.

Stay Alive ||-//

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When the family first saw the house, they loved it. It was perfectly spacious and had all the things they were looking for. Albeit, the place where the roof met with the roof of the house next to it was quite strange, it was something they could deal with to enjoy the rest of the things they loved about the house.

The family's eldest daughter, a mere 7 years old, Y/N wound up in the room with the odd roof. Her window led right onto it, set directly across from the window on the other house, but for a few weeks, she never saw anything move inside the room.

One day, she caught a glimpse of a young boy, probably about her age, through the window. She was surprised, though she didn't know why. She had just assumed the room was empty or abandoned.

A few days later, she caught his eye as he walked in his room after school one day. His parents had told him that there was a kid about his age that had moved in next door just weeks before her family did.

They made eye contact and smiled at each other, waving politely before moving on with their days. After this happened several times, the boy made up his mind that he would talk to her. One evening, when she waved at him, he smiled back, walking confidently to his window, unlocking and lifting it open. She copied his actions after a moment.

"Hey," he said simply.

"Hi," she replied with a smile. "I'm Y/N."

"I'm Tyler."

They continued talking, telling each other all about their families and friends, their school and favorite hobbies as they leaned out of their windows. As the time passed by, they slowly migrated out of their windows, sitting across from each other on the roof.

The two became fast friends. They went to different schools, so the only time they saw each other was when they met on the roof each night after dark, but it gave them something to talk about each time they met.

For a couple years, Y/N's parents thought Tyler was an imaginary friend that their daughter was having trouble letting go of. They were considering sending her to therapy until they saw her talking to him on the sidewalk out front one day.

They stuck together through everything.

They gushed to each other over their first crushes.

They giddily told each other about their first boyfriend and girlfriend in sophomore year.

They comforted each other through their first heartbreaks.

During sophomore year, the day that Y/N had found out her boyfriend of almost a year had been cheating on her for nearly as long, she came home in tears. She barely ate anything for dinner before retreating to her room to bury herself under her covers.

When Tyler crawled out onto the roof and didn't see her, he felt the worry spike in his chest. He hadn't seen her come home, tears streaking her face, and he didn't know what had happened. After he waited for a few minutes, he made his way to her window, knocking softly. He saw the mass of blankets shifting before she emerged, walking slowly to the window opening it reluctantly.

He moved back so she had room as she slipped out onto the roof.

"Thank goodness," he smiled softly. "I was afraid you had forgotten." Though he knew there was no way she had forgotten—they had been doing this almost every day for years. There was something else going on, and that worried him.

She sniffled, and that's when his heart sank to his feet.

"Y-Y/N, are you okay? What's wrong?"

Then she broke down, clutching the thick fabric of his sweatshirt as she sobbed into his chest. Without question, he immediately wrapped his arms around her shaking shoulders, rubbing her back and whispering soothing words in her ear as she continued to cry.

They stayed outside a lot longer than usual that night.

Then there was the time that they were both 16 and he caught her dancing to music in her underwear. It took them a week for either one of them to look the other in the eye again.

When times got dark, they were there for each other.

She was there for him when depression and anxiety hit him hard; when his dark thoughts dragged him down. She was there when he turned to writing music to vent those feelings. She was his #1 fan when he produced his first album, No Phun Intended. She cried with him as he wrote songs. She cried with him when they listened to his music. She constantly reassured him that what he was creating was beautiful.

When her mom was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, the tables turned—he cried with her. When it took her life mere months later, he held her until she cried herself to sleep. He was by her side for the entire funeral, and when she finally got home, he was already waiting for her outside her window. When she was being bullied at school, he reassured her daily, even offering to transfer schools just to be with her—she refused his offer. She didn't want to be a burden to him.

When winter turned to spring and spring to summer, she didn't stop wearing sweatshirts, despite the warm weather. That's when he found the cut that littered her wrists.

That night they cried together.

When they both graduated, a dark gloom hung over them for most of the summer. Though they enjoyed their time together, they couldn't help but remember that this was the last summer they had together.

When fall rolled around, she left for college to pursue a degree in nursing, and he stayed behind to pursue his career in music. They texted almost constantly, and video chatted almost every day.

She watched as his eyes lit up when he talked about the drummer who had joined his band—Josh was his name. She watched as he gestured largely with his as he talked about his favorite tracks that he had written, and the new album they were getting ready to put out.

He watched as he tired eyes grew wearier week by week, still holding a smile. She told stories about things that would happen in class and detail the extensive amount of work she was doing, but he could tell that she enjoyed it all.

They both reminded each other often how much they missed each other.

When she visited for Christmas, he was waiting outside of his house for her, sitting on the steps in the brisk December air. He shivered slightly as he waited, but the moment her car pulled into the driveway, he forgot all about the cold. They ran into each other's arm, holding tightly as if the other might slip out of their grasp. They didn't let go until her family came out to see why she hadn't come inside yet.

She returned to school, but when she came home the next summer, he told her that that year she had been gone had proven to him that he couldn't make it if he didn't have her for the rest of his life. With relief, she told him she had been thinking the same thing. They officially began dating later that week.

Two years passed, and they barely made it without each other (only with her visits home for the holidays and a couple surprise visits from him). That summer, with the backdrop of a gorgeous sunset, he took her on a picnic and proposed to her. She was quick to accept.

A year later, she had graduated with her degree in nursing, and she walked through the double doors of the church on her father's arm, white dress flowing gracefully around her. Tyler swore he'd never seem a more beautiful human being in his life. In his eyes, she had to be an angel.

And it all started with an oddly constructed roof.