kill your mind: joshler

twenty-six : are not what's growing in my psyche, it's a different me

josh was learning how to skate.

even though the skate park was closed for the day so they had to be extra quiet, he was learning anyway with tyler and that was always fun.

tyler had borrowed max's skateboard, handing it to josh and using his to teach josh the basics, like for one, planting his feet firmly on the flat moving surface.

josh was unbalanced and so tyler had to steady him, holding his hand so they'd skate together. it was a beautiful windy night and tyler was back to his skateboard boarding routines, not realising that slowly he was dropping his toxic routines.

max and madison did though. they always noticed.

“one leg on the floor and, swipe!” tyler coached, swiping in time, along with josh.

“i did it! i'm doing it” josh laughed and his eyes were furrowed in such concentration that tyler couldn't help but chuckle.

this here was his josh.

“just keep going like that but put both legs on at intervals” tyler the coach yelled out after an excited joshua who kept squealing. a subtle smile graced tyler's face.

“you're doing amazing” tyler said, climbing atop his board and gliding over to josh.

as if on cue, josh fell on his butt but he was still laughing and his pearly whites were shining along with his honey eyes and those crinkles beside them.

“did you see tyler? i totally skated on my own for about five minutes” his adam apple bobbed as he swallowed. tyler held out a hand and raised him up.

“yeah, i did. you did so good” tyler praised, a blush coating his cheek as he realised how close they were.

“yeah...” josh trailed off, equally realising how close they were, “so home?”

“let's stay here for a while”

josh got home a few after four am, thankful his parents were asleep as he tiptoed with concentration over to his room in the basement.

his phone lit up with text as soon as he laid down, it was from tyler. he always used emoticons instead of emojis.

hey :)

hi, josh replies, chewing the inside of his cheek.

i can't sleep.

neither can i, josh replies, even when it was a huge lie. he felt sleepy but wouldn't miss an opportunity to text tyler.

about our treehouse...

what about it? josh types.

what colour do you want it in ?

i dunno. you?

maybe, red ? ◐.̃◐

aha, okay. sure. four weeks left 'til it's finished, josh reminds tyler.

maybe the insides can be white ?

or yellow, like withered trees, josh suggests.

yellow ?

yeah.

why?

because yellow means hope.

and so went their light hearted texting throughout the night. from tree houses to cliffs to libraries and schools to home abuse and skate parks and they both fell asleep in the early hours of the morning with smiles on their faces.