Headspace // Joshler

ᴘᴀɪɴ ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ

Neither one says a word as Dallon's slender arm drapes over Joshua's shoulders, The taller boy leaning all his weight on him. Josh holds his arm around Dallon, ignoring the way his head falls forward. The boy helps him up the stairs, struggling as he's not strong enough to lift him. Dallon mumbles a few things, but Josh doesn't understand him considering how slurred his speech is. Both of them still have tears rolling down their faces, unable to dry them. Josh pushes the front door open with his back, kicking it shut and almost dropping Dallon from the weight being shifted.

The younger boy tosses the blanket he had carried outside on the couch as they stumble past it. He also shuts off the tv and anything else that could cause an unnecessary headache for his best friend. Josh's face drops when he realizes he has to get the tall, injured boy upstairs. Though, he had previously struggled to help him up the four porch stairs.

"I'm so sorry," Josh apologizes thousands of times as he drags the practically unconscious boy up the old wooden stairs, keeping Dallon's right arm tightly around his shoulders.

Josh slowly sets the boy on the edge of the bathtub, making sure he doesn't lean back and fall in. He turns around, aggressively tossing the box of extra doughnuts in the trash can. The boy spreads out anything he could find the help Dallon where the pastry box previously was, realizing he doesn't have much.

"Jesus Christ," Josh whispers to himself as he gently runs his finger along the light forming bruise on Dallon's neck, the shape of it being from Tyler's rough fingers. The boy brushes the grass and dirt of Dallon's shirt, ignoring the blood that had stained through it. Purple marks bloom beginning to make themselves visible in various spots on Dallon's slim, beaten face.

Josh gently wipes the blood from Dallon's lip, and anywhere else it had dripped. The raven-haired boy nearly falls backwards when a something is pressed against the split in his lip, a burning sensation forming.

"I'm sorry!" Josh quickly exclaims, putting a hand around Dallon's back to prevent him from falling. "I should've warned you,"

Josh softly warns before pressing the hydrogen peroxide soaked cotton to Dallon's cheekbone. Dallon winces, trying to pull away but Josh doesn't allow it. The dried blood fizzes and dissolves, melting away all the bacteria and scabs.

"My... My head hurts" Dallon slowly mumbles, squinting his eyes shut. Josh almost doesn't catch what the man says, dimming the lights in his bathroom promptly.

"Your head hit the fence really hard," Josh states as he shivers at the memory of Tyler shoving the taller boy against the fence, sending a powerful sound ripple across their whole street. The curly-haired boy is surprised the neighbours didn't call the police. Josh is relieved that no one did, though. That's a mess Josh doesn't want to get into, neither does Tyler, Josh assumes.

Dallon leans to the side as the boy reaches behind him, tugging the handle on the bath. Cold water rushes out, beginning to warm up rather quickly. Josh's slides the stopper in as he prepares the water for the injured boy.

Dallon peels his shirt off with a pained whine, nearly yelling at the pain in his stomach as he lifts his arms. His eyes trail down to a large bruise already formed around his ribs. Dallon chuckles bitterly, he looks up at Josh wanting to make a joke but soon his face twists in pain.  He holds his swollen, bruised wrist out as Josh turns around with some wrap in his hands. The boy tightly wraps it so Dallon can't bend it anymore.

"Don't let that go in the water." Josh reminds as he awkwardly stands by the door, not knowing if Dallon was okay enough to get into the bath without falling. They stare at each other for a few seconds before Dallon speaks up

"I can do it myself, you don't have to stay," He slowly stands up, ignoring the high amount of pain he was feeling.

"Are you sure?" Josh presses as he sees Dallon's slow movements. The boy quickly shoves everything on the counter backwards toward the mirror in case the taller one needs it to balance himself.