Fleurs Captives (Joshler)

39. Creeping Willow

Creeping Willow:
meaning- love forsaken

Wait to start the song.

At some point in the night, Josh had left his and Tyler's bed in favour of climbing underneath his dad's sheets. He couldn't remember the nightmare that had brought him to Papa, but he knew he needed his father to protect him from it. Tyler had continued snoring when Josh had left the bed, and Josh had waited until Papa was sleepily wrapping him up in his arms to cry. Papa rubbed his back and soothed him back to sleep, keeping the nightmares away.

---

Papa was still in bed with Josh when he woke up. The old man was sitting up in bed, flipping through some sort of scrapbook when Josh blinked himself awake slowly. His shaky fingers were soothing through Josh's messy curls gently as he looked at the pages.

"Papa?" Josh mumbled sleepily, scooting closer to his father without sitting up.

"Good morning, son," Papa replied comfortingly as he closed the book and set it on his nightstand. "Is everything okay?"

Josh nodded sleepily, letting out a deep breath before closing his eyes once again. There was something so odd about the way Josh was feeling, but it wasn't unfamiliar. He knew exactly what was happening inside of his skull. So much stress and anxiety had been overwhelming him that he'd finally reached this point, and he knew very few words that could describe how he was feeling now.

"I think I'm an acorn right now, Papa," he murmured sleepily.

If the old man was surprised by that, he hid it well. He just continued to play with Josh's hair as he lied down beside him. "That's okay, Josh. You can be an acorn if you need to be. We've all been asking a lot of you this week. You can take a break and be an acorn if you need to."

Josh nodded somewhat clumsily, tucking himself away against Papa's side. Some instinctual need for comfort brought his thumb to his mouth as he tried to coax himself back to sleep. He sucked at it sleepily as he began to drift off again. The feeling of his dad's fingers in his hair made him feel even smaller, making it easier for his limbs to become as heavy as his eyelids.

"Goodnight, little acorn," Papa whispered to him.

Josh smiled around his thumb before slipping into a dream about the old garden. He and his sisters were still royal members of the Garden Kingdom, sitting atop their willow thrones cheerfully. Everything was okay as he slept, safely tucked away beside his dad.

---

When Josh woke up, the thumb in his mouth was replaced by the rubber nipple of a baby bottle. He was too drowsy and too small to be embarrassed when Papa had Tyler climb into bed and hold Josh while he bottle fed him warm milk. Josh drank down all of the milk before falling asleep in Tyler's lap.

He didn't dream that time, waking up after several hours to find Tyler fast asleep beside him, still holding Josh's head against his unbound chest. He could feel Papa beside him as well, and his ailing breathing was hard to miss as he wheezed in his sleep. Josh had to go potty though, and the rule was that he had to ask someone to go with him. He nudged Tyler timidly. When the other boy didn't move, Josh poked his cheek a couple times.

"Stop," Tyler grumbled, still half asleep.

Josh whined quietly, nudging Tyler again. He really needed to go potty, but he couldn't go if Tyler wouldn't take him.

"Josh," Tyler mumbled, the word sounding like a warning.

Tears gathered in Josh's eyes. He had to go potty so badly. "Please, Ty," he whimpered out in a small voice.