God, It Could Power the Sun

Hide

"Tyler?" Josh called, voice echoing amongst the dense forehead he was stood in, despite the fact he was in the middle of a clearing. "Where are you?!"

"Here!" Tyler exclaimed back from where he stood behind a broad oak tree amongst many. His grin was contagious; Josh wasn't surprised when he felt the corners of his own lips turn up as he spun around to see his best friend.

Tyler giggled, deciding to take this opportunity to admire him. He examined the golden flecks in his dark eyes, and the bit of his tongue that poked through his teeth. Everything from his thulian lips to the mop of curls atop his head was silently praised by the one who'd had a vehement crush on Josh Dun since the sixth grade.

"Tyler?"

"Mhm?" Tyler, though in a less trance-like state, still ogled the god in front of him. That's what he seemed to be, anyway.

"I found you! Start counting already!" Josh laughed. Tyler, after covering his eyes with the soft skin of his palms, began to list numbers.

It was a warm Summer day. Creeping up on them was the end of yet another torturous school year. Around this time was usually when the flowers appeared their most adorning, and today, they achieved that goal.

Tyler and Josh had been playing hide and seek in the woods for years, and they never failed to enjoy it together. They didn't care if it was "childish."

"Twenty-one!"

Tyler always counted to an odd number, just to bug Josh. He stepped through and around the patches of yellow flowers, then commencing on his hunt.

Josh unceasingly had the best hiding spots. This never stopped Tyler from finding him, though.

Tyler escaladed the treehouse's ladder and shouted, "Found you!" as he saw Josh's faded blue hair poking out behind the teal bean bag sat in the corner.

The treehouse was special to them both, for admittedly many reasons. It was where nearly every one of their happiest memories lie.

Example: the time Josh convinced Tyler to get stoned with him at 4 AM that one cold night back in February.

Yeah, that had been fun.

Tyler pulled the bean bag chair out of its place and pushed it onto the fuzzy purple rug in the middle of the room. This fully revealed Josh, who said, "Aw, how'd ya find me that fast?"

Tyler shrugged and extended a sleeved arm, Josh taking the offer easily and hoisting himself up off the ground.

Josh stumbled over the bean bag chair and almost tripped, but Tyler caught him in time. Josh looked down at him and his white Nintendo hoodie matched with pale blue skinny jeans, chuckling when he saw Tyler's blush. (This was, of course, platonic, as far as he knew).

Tyler was about to tell Josh it was his own turn to hide, but noticed the sky fading darker. "It's getting late, Josh, I should get home..."

He tried his best to rid the worry that lingered in his voice, but failed. He hated when it got dark, because when it got dark, he had to go home, which meant he was away from Josh.

The taller frowned. He despised not being with Tyler. "Y'think we could go one more round?"

Tyler checked his watch, too lazy to pull out his phone, and looked back up at the bedimming firmament. Hesitantly, he nodded. "Yeah."

Josh clapped his hands together once and pointed at Tyler. "Hide," he ordered through a grin.

Tyler ran off to do so, and Josh tried to ignore the sounds of crunching grass as he looked down at himself while he counted.

When he had finished enumerating numbers up to 20, no more, no less, he lifted his head and strode to find Tyler.

But the problem was, he couldn't find Tyler.

It felt like he'd been looking forever.

"Ty! Tyler!" he called, receiving nothing but silence in exchange for a response. He began to worry. More-so, that is.

Josh ended up walking through the forest, searching around and behind practically each and every tree in the pitch black.

Eventually, he did find Tyler, though he was acting strange. Josh'd never seen him like this before.

He was pacing back and forth, mumbling things to himself that Josh couldn't make out. As well as the pacing and mumbling, Tyler scratched his arms through his hoodie, his body shaking and twitching.

He was so lost in his odd trance that he didn't even hear Josh when he asked, "Tyler, are you alright?" Of course, he received no reply.

"Tyler?" Josh yelled as his second attempt to snap him out of it. His friend still did not answer him.

Josh called his name 12 more times before giving in and slapping his cheek. It wasn't too rough, but it seemed to 'wake him up.'

He looked up at Josh, shocked, and still shaky. "What was that for?"

"Ty, you were acting strange," Josh said quietly, "I think we should get you home now."

"N–no, I wasn't, what d'you mean?"

Josh noticed his typically-kept hair was messy on his head. He had become tired at this point, and they were a long way from Tyler's home, as they were stood in what seemed to be the middle of the forest in the dark, and so he just sighed. "I'll explain it on our way back, okay?"

"Okay..." Tyler repeated, his glossy eyes dilated. Josh took his hand and led them out of the forest, not yet leaving the memory behind.