Free & Flightless (Trench)

Chapter 20- Tyler

Tyler woke up with his head on Josh's chest. How did I get here? Tyler wondered, thankful that a sleeping bag separated Tyler's head from Josh's bare chest. Underneath him, he felt Josh shift and move as Tyler sat up.
"Ty?" Josh mumbled, voice thick and groggy from sleep. Tyler's eyes widened a bit at his voice, racking a hand through his hair. Josh sat up beside him, blinking away sleep.
"Yeah. It's me." Tyler mumbled, shifting his white tank top as he buttoned up his Dema shirt. He could feel Josh's eyes boring into him. Tyler turned, confused, just as Josh tossed a pack of yellow tape at Josh.
"You're a Bandito now Tyler. At least wear some tape to show it," Josh muttered, cracking his neck as he unzipped his sleeping bag. He stood up and reached into a small crate full of miscellaneous things, and grabbed a black hoodie, throwing it on.
"Can you tape me?" Josh asked. Tyler looked at the tape in his hand before nodding, stepping over the sleeping bags to Josh.
"An X?" Tyler presumed. Josh nodded once, and Tyler did as he said, making a large X across his hoodie on his chest. Josh took the tape from Tyler and did two pieces of tape on his shoulders and two on his elbows. Tyler watched.
"What does the tape mean?" Tyler asked quietly as Josh tossed it into the crate.
"Bishops can't see yellow. It's like a quiet rebellion." Josh said quietly, rolling up his and Ty's sleeping bags.
"Oh..I never knew that." Tyler murmured. Josh nodded absentmindedly, treating the sleeping bags a lot ruder after Tyler said that.
"And it's important to highlight the important things. You can decide what's important to you in time, but I can tell you hold a weight on your shoulders. And that's important. So..yeah." Josh scratched the back of his head nervously, Tyler's eyes never leaving his. Josh glanced away to the floor anxiously, sitting on the edge of the crate and beginning to tie his combat boots.
"What's your X mean?" Tyler asked quietly. He watched Josh stiffen and pause from his shoe tying.
"I'll tell you..in time." Josh mumbled, dismissing it as he stood up, all ready to start the day. Tyler sat on the floor and slipped into his tennis shoes, the black fabric dirty and faded. Josh took one of the shoes and closely examined the tips of it. Josh squinted.
"There's chlorine on these," he muttered. Tyler looked up.
"Of course there's chlorine..the Bishops told me it'd cleanse me." Tyler tilted his head in confusion. Josh dropped the shoe in surprise, and Tyler scrambled to snatch it, tying it hurriedly.
"What?!" Josh yelped, looking like he had a need to throw something. Tyler stared at him, confused. Why was he always so confused, no matter what happened?
"What? I only had to do it a few times. It's all fine to me. I even wrote a song about it." Tyler mumbled. Josh seemed to relax a bit, but defeated. He plopped down onto the desert floor.
"You write songs?" Josh asked quietly. Tyler nodded.
"I used to think it was just words, mixed with sounds, but Clancy had told me the name of it. Music. Songs." Tyler whispered, smiling wistfully as he thought of Clancy saying the words.
"Yeah, Clancy explained it to me too, once upon a time." Josh said quietly. Tyler looked up, shocked. How did Josh know Clancy?
"Josh, y-you knew Clancy?" Tyler whispered. Josh nodded.
"When i was a little kid I was best friends with him. Up until the age of 12. Then he disappeared from Dema." Josh closed his eyes as he spoke.
"He didn't disappear. He arrived at Dema when I was twelve." Tyler muttered, racking a hand through his hair from confusion.
"That's not possible. I left when I was thirteen. Because I found his grave in the Necropolis." Josh insisted, eyes squeezing as shut as they could go.
"No, it isn't." Tyler whispered. "I'd know."
Josh shook his head, opening his eyes, and looking at Tyler. Anger fueled his clenched fists and mad mocha eyes.
"You don't know anything, Tyler. Clancy was everything to me. I screwed all the shit up. It eats away at me every day." Josh growled. Tyler shrank away.
"N-no, I-I screwed everything up for Clancy. H-he left because of me. When I was fifteen." Tyler muttered. Josh exploded.
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU, TYLER! MAYBE IT'S THE BISHOPS SCREWING WITH US! I. DON'T. KNOW! NOW GET THE HELL OUT!" Josh roared. Tyler shrank away, whimpering and breathing heavily.
"W-What-"
"GET OUT!" Josh screamed. He's snapped, Tyler thought to himself. Tyler didn't want to take any chances, so he scrambled out of the tent before anything bad could happen.
Slamming right into Jenna.
"Tyler, what's going on?" Jenna asked, blonde hair straightened and a bit frizzy from the compensation.
"I-I—made Josh mad-" Tyler stammered. He hadn't realized he was hyperventilating until that moment. Jenna put a hand out onto his trembling hand, but Tyler flinched away. Jenna withdrew her hand.
"Let me talk to him. He gets like this when he's anxious," Jenna said soothingly. But it didn't soothe Tyler, no not at all.
"I have to get out of here," Tyler gasped out, pulling at the roots of his hair with shaking fingers. He started heading off to the forest, Jenna tugging on his shirt.
"L-Let me go," Tyler meant to sound cold and merciless as Josh had moments earlier, but all he could do was sound pathetic.
"Tyler please wait here." Jenna whispered. Tyler stopped, looking into her eyes. She smiled reassuringly, going into Josh's tent. Tyler let in a shuddering breath, as he heard a mix of cries and shouts in the tent. Tyler had only ever ran from his problems. Because he needed people to stay but they never did.
He didn't want to have to add Josh to the list of people he trusted that broke his heart.
Tyler let out the shuddering breath he had been holding, and broke into a run into the forest.

A/n: Jenna Joseph is my queen 👑
would y'all actually want a Joshler fic?