Free & Flightless (Trench)

Epilogue

"We're surrounded and we're hounded. There's no above or under or around it. For above is blind belief. And under is sword to sleeve. And around is scientific miracle let's pick above and see. for if and when we go above the question still remains. Are we still in love and is it possible we feel the same? And that's when going under starts to take my wonder but until that time I'll try to sing this."
Josh stared at Tyler through the studio mirror. Pinked scars still dotted his face and were seen peeking from the collar of his shirt, but Tyler had survived. He had a hobble and PTSD and anxiety and asthma they found out, but he survived. Josh survived too. He had a ESA named Jim. Alongside tons of triggers, PTSD, and anxiety, he was a mess. But Tyler and Josh had each other.
Tyler whipped Josh out of his thoughts as he unsteadily sat beside him on the stool.
"It's not complete shit, is it?" Tyler asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he stifled a yawn. Josh quickly shook his head.
"I-it's amazing, Ty." Josh whispered. Tyler smiled tiredly. His eyes glimmered thoughtfully, and Josh eyed the lion marks down Tyler's arm as he watched his best friend rest his head on Josh's shoulder. Josh smiled softly. This was all he ever needed. Tyler hummed softly, the warmest b Josh has ever heard come out of somebody's mouth. Josh sighed shakily, closing his eyes before quickly reopening them once again.
"We made it, Ty." Josh suddenly whispered. Tyler chuckled lightly. "You just now realizing it?" Tyler prompted. Josh shrugged, forgetting Tyler's head was on his shoulder. He heard Tyler snort, and Josh flushed red.
"It's just...we left the city." Josh said quietly. Tyler nodded, staying relatively quiet for..well, Tyler.
"That we did." Tyler murmured. Josh ran a hand through Tyler's hair, who let out a rather childish giggle at the motion. Josh laughed lightly at the small sound that came from
Tyler, who he watched flush a rather rebel red.
"Y'know what happened today Josh?" Tyler suddenly said. His voice was velvety and soft.
"What?" Josh murmured, stifling a yawn.
"I found my journal from Dema. Lyrics, doodles, rants, thoughts, it was all in there." Tyler whispered. Josh looked at his friend, overall intrigued. He had never seen it.
"I had it in my coat pocket," Tyler continued softly. Josh nodded absentmindedly.
"Where you kept your rebel red?" Josh teased. Tyler shoved his friend playfully.
"Don't mock me!" Tyler whined. Josh laughed wholeheartedly, shaking his head.
"No, but seriously Tyler. Can you believe this all worked out?" Josh asked. Tyler nodded, falling quiet. Josh sighed, knowing what he was thinking. But it didn't work out, Josh. Not really.
"No it did. You're fine." Josh insisted. He clenched his fists up, sighing shakily. No. No. No. Tyler chuckled sadly, echoing in his mind.
"It's not good to dream of somebody you haven't seen in three years, Josh. Move on." Tyler whispered.
—
Josh jolted awake, his eyes wide in horror. The bed made a horrific screech sound at Josh's bolt-y movement. Beside him, Tyler let out a yawn, squinting his eyes as he outstretched his arms as a cat would. Josh stared at his friend, sadness clouding his thoughts. Tyler slowly turned to look at Josh, and immediately pulled him into a hug.
"Bad dream again?" Tyler asked quietly. Josh nodded into the fabric of Tyler's fluffy sweatshirt he always wore to bed, sighing shakily. The two lived together, roommates and best friends, originally with separate rooms, but the both had such recurrent nightmares they decided it best to just share a bed. Neither were uncomfortable with one another, so they didn't see the harm in it.
"Was it a bad dream about me?" Tyler egged on quietly. Josh, again, nodded shyly.
"Again?" Tyler whispered, pulling away from the hug as his eyes scanned Josh's face for something, anything. Josh shrugged.
"Oh, Josh. Jim, come here you big fur ball!" Tyler called, his hand still firmly holding Josh's shaking one.
"It was such a real dream," Josh insisted softly. Jim came bounding in the room, his fluffy golden retriever hair visible in the morning light and reflected off in the air alongside the dust the room had collected. Jim jumped up into the bed without a second thought, laying down next to Josh immediately and resting his head on his lap. Josh used the hand that wasn't holding Tyler's to pet Jim's insanely fluffy head. It was so smooth...
"The lion thing wasn't your fault. I'm already getting good at walking again, and there's no harm in me on bed rest and you bringing me that amazing Taco Bell stuff." Tyler joked.
"But the fact that you can hardly walk and you've got all these scars—" Josh insisted. Tyler waved a hand and shook his head, dismissive.
"You have scars too, Josh. And you had to be on crutches for what felt like forever to you. I blame myself for that too. Besides, mine totally adds character to my persona." Tyler grinned. Josh stared at his best friend, baffled, before busting up laughing. It spooked Jim a bit, and his ears perked up before quickly relaxing.
"Adds character to your persona?" Josh repeated through laughter so wholehearted that it caused him to hiccup a few times. Tyler laughed too, shaking his head messily about.
"It's true! It's a Great War story or some weird shit like that!" Tyler insisted, his eyes wide. It only caused Josh to laugh a bit harder. So that's what the two did for quite a bit: they laughed, tears springing to their eyes. Tears of pure happiness that spoke 1000 words and no words all at once. In between the lines of the laughs it said I can't believe it. We made it.
Eventually there was a knock on the door. Neither wanted to go get the door, but Josh got up nonetheless, shuffling through the house with Jim loyally beside him. He opened the door to Jenna, beaming and holding a plate of what appeared to be cookies. Josh contently waved Jenna in. She was followed in with Debby, who Josh had grown to really appreciate. And he meant that: no sarcasm.
"Do you know what today is, Josh?" Jenna asked. She glanced around the room and quickly bust up laughing. Debby joined in.
"Okay, so you don't. I invited Jordan and Brendon over." Jenna was going on. Josh glanced back at the hallway where Tyler was at, and tears sprung to his eyes that he quickly wiped away. Tyler was actually making an attempt to walk—well, sure, he was failing catastrophically—but he was walking. Josh hurried over, hoisting Tyler up and easily but gingerly lifting Tyler over to Debby and Jenna, sitting him onto a stool. Tyler laughed lightly.
"So what's today?" Tyler asked excitedly. His eyes were lit up like they never were in Trench, and Josh smiled a bit just at the sight.
"You guys don't even know—we just wanted to hang out." Debby exclaimed. Tyler and Josh looked at each other in unison.
"Are you doing this because it's one year ago today we got out of Dema?" Tyler commented lightly, somehow miraculously sitting criss cross in the high up stool.
"Yeah, because that's a miracle." Jenna explained. The sound of a car pulling up on the driveway made Josh turn. He had recently made up with Brendon after a long, long talk. He'd even befriended Brendon's new friends, Ryan and Dallon. They were pretty nice guys.
Jenna immediately opened the door to reveal Jordan and Brendon walking up the driveway, looking quite smug. They were carrying some strange energy drinks that said Redbull.
"What, were Ty and i the only ones who spent basically our whole lives in Trench and Dema?" Josh presumed, a skeptical eyebrow raised.
Brendon and Jordan came in, closing the door behind them while laughing lightly.
"We just wanted us all to hang out. Saying hey, we made it." Brendon commented. Josh found Tyler's hand beside him and gave it a light squeeze. Tyler looked around at the group, grinning a smile like the one in the photograph not so long ago in the peach colored room.
"We made it." Tyler and Josh whispered.
And this time, they knew it was true.
—
During their time together, Tyler sat down at a piano. Jordan, Brendon, Debby, Jenna, and Josh all stared at him thoughtfully. And then he played a single chord. C major. E minor. F major. B minor. Tyler has whispered.
And then he sang.
"In time I will leave the city. For now, I will stay alive. They know that it's almost. They know that it's almost over. They know that it's almost. They know that it's almost over~ they know. They know~what I mean."
He hit the final chord, turning back to look at his friends. To Tyler's surprise, they all were crying. And then one by one, they all attempted to sit down on the bench, hugging each other awkwardly.
"Don't worry Ty," Josh murmured. "We know what you mean."

a/n: thank you for following me on this journey you guys ♥︎