By Your Side (Twenty One Pilots)

Clever Chapter Titles Are For Chumps

The air inside of the apartment was cold. Josh sat with his arm slung across the back of the couch and Debby was curled up next to him. Exactly an inch separated the two of them.

It had been seven months since the two had moved in together. The first five had been great. They decorated everything the way they wanted to and stayed out as late as they wanted. They beat video games together and made memories watching the stars from their balcony at night. They had even adopted a cat, who they named Richard.

But these last two months had been, well, different. Something between the two had changed. They still went out on dates and they had their inside jokes, but the constant conversations had stopped flowing. The kisses became less often. Both were trying to find more reasons to leave the apartment. Neither quite knew what was going on.

"Tyler and I were gonna go get donuts soon," Josh spoke up over the commercial about dog food. He used to buy that brand. Tyler used to love it. Sometimes he would eat it too fast and end up making himself sick, then stand and look proud of himself while Josh had to clean it up. Josh missed the little guy. "Did you want to come?"

Debby shook her head. "No thanks."

"Okay."

They ceased talking and let the silence settle over them like snow. It wasn't uncomfortable per se, just different. Strange. Weird. They used to go on for days having a conversation on the same topic, but now they found themselves just sitting near each other, exchanging sighs every now and then, staring off into space. They were still happy, it just wasn't like it used to be.

A loud knock on their door jolted Debby and Josh out of their own thoughts.

"That must be Tyler," Josh said. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah," Debby smiled and waved as he walked towards the door.

"You sure you don't wanna come with us?"

"I'm sure. You go and have fun."

"Okay."

As soon as Josh was out of his apartment and the door was closed, he sighed. He wasn't really sure when their relationship had started to go south, and if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't sure that he wanted to. He was content with living in a fool's paradise just a bit longer.

"Alright, dude," Tyler said, "You've been moping around for the past few weeks and I don't like it."

"I know, I'm sorry," Josh sighed. He hadn't said anything about it to Tyler yet. He didn't want to throw all of his problems onto his friend, especially when he knew that Tyler was waging his own wars behind face.

"I just want to help, you know that, right?"

"I know. I just don't think you can," Josh explained. They had made it to the bottom floor of the apartment building. The brisk November air caused both of them to shudder despite the thick layers they had both worn that day.

"I can always try," Tyler reminded him. Tyler was the kind of person that always knew the right thing to say in any situation, and if he didn't, he would keep on talking until he made sense to at least one person. It was for that reason that Josh knew they were going to be best friends when they first met. Tyler could keep his mind off of the things that didn't matter and he could get him to think about the things that did.

"It's just, it's complicated?" Josh didn't really know how to explain it all. "But it's not. It's just different."

Tyler pushed open the door to the donut shop. "I get you. Well, not really, but I'm guessing you need someone to at least pretend to understand."

"Yeah," Josh laughed lightly. "I guess I do."

They two stood in the short line and ordered their donuts; Josh got two chocolate covered ones while Tyler ordered four of the ones that were coated in rainbow sprinkles. "Keeps me feeling young", he had said to Josh the first time he showed Josh the place.

"So, what's on your mind?" Tyler asked between bites of donut. The table was already littered with sprinkles. Tyler always blamed Josh for the mess.

"I don't even know," Josh admitted. He sighed and rested his head in his hands. "I love Debby to pieces, but things have felt so different lately. Like we'll still make jokes with each other and we'll cuddle like nothing's wrong, but we don't talk anymore. It feels like we've run out of things to say."

"And you still love her?"

"So much."

"Well, I don't really know what to tell you. You guys might have just changed t0o much."

Josh knitted his eyebrows together. "Yeah, maybe. I don't see how though."

"Sometimes you can't see how things change," Tyler said. "It's like those grow-able dinosaur egg things. They do nothing for days and then suddenly, bam! You got yourself a stupid foam dinosaur that doesn't do anything but stare back at you."

"That," Josh started, "that actually makes sense?"

Tyler smiled. "Glad I could be of assistance."

Tyler took another bite out of a donut and some of the frosting and sprinkles ended up on his nose. Tyler tried to get it off by licking his nose. His tongue couldn't reach.

"You're such a dork, why am I even friends with you?" Josh laughed.

Tyler laughed as well. "It's because I brought you tacos when I introduced myself."

"I do love tacos."

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Due to popular demand, I have decided to write a sequel for No Matter What. If you didn't read No Matter What, I would suggest doing so before continuing to read this as there might be some references you won't understand.

Thank you so much for reading everything and suppoting me! You guys are rad. As always, feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments or message me privately.