JINRŌ | JOSHLER

03

It wasn't the poor, delicate amaranth's fault that Josh was a dejected teenager with a destructive streak.

The vibrant, yellow carnations along the fence stood out against the dark night and Josh couldn't control his urge not to tear them all from the earth as if he was feral.

The painfully beautiful sweet briar near the back door narrowly escaped the boy's wrath as he made it into the quiet house and placed a cap on his rage.

How dare those plants mock him? He was in love. He was wounded. He was the most rejected being on the planet. So, of course, the damn flowers had to remind him of his shortcomings.

Josh huffs as he looks out at the shredded amaranth across the yard. He refused to call them by their more common name, love-lies-bleeding, because just how pitiful could he get?

The secondary name also reminded him of an Elton John song and Tyler loves Elton John and Tyler is the last person Josh wants to think about right now.

Josh struggles with his key for awhile before stumbling through the backdoor, shoving the thought that he was being a bit melodramatic out of his head.

The boy's mother, bless her soul, was curled in a small, tight ball of dirty blonde fur right of the front door.

Josh refused to let himself feel guilty for worrying her as he placed a blanket over her and made his way to his room. He also refused to acknowledge the consistent, audible thump of her tail as he burrowed into his bed.

Josh's feelings of resentment slowly settling into self-loathing at the of his stomach as his body fought sleep.

Josh tried to think of better things such as what he'd eat for breakfast the next day or the ridiculous jokes his siblings would make at dinner or maybe even the way his niece would shriek gleefully when he read her a bedtime story with pop-ups.

Those gentle thoughts eventually allowed him to relax to the point where emotional exhaustion could drag him into a dreamless sleep.

Waking up early on a Monday morning after being emotionally torn apart the night before was surprisingly easy for Josh.

He just tumbled out of bed and into a freezing cold shower before shaving and throwing on whichever hoodie smelled the cleanest and whichever jeans were the darkest, not caring if his skin was still dripping.

As he makes his way downstairs, he greets a grandfather, a sister, two grandmothers, and an aunt before reaching the bottom.

The Dun house was always lively and very loud. With six bedrooms (not including the basement where a set of grandparents resided) and only two bathrooms, things were bound to get loud.

Josh was just happy that he didn't have to share a room with his brother anymore now that Abby finally agreed to move into a different room with Ashley and the baby so him and Jordan could have their own rooms.

Josh loved his baby brother, but the kid was in middle school and thought that wearing deodorant meant that he didn't have to shower so Josh refused to bunk with him.

Speak of the devil, Jordan was currently in the kitchen making what Josh could only assume was a pan of way too many scrambled eggs.

"Hey, Jo."

"Ani."

"What the hell are you cooking?"

"Cheese eggs."

"Why so many?"

"There's a shit ton of us. I'm being considerate."

"Nana Jen and Abby hate eggs, Dad can't eat cheese, Ashley's vegan, and the baby can't eat those.It's overkill."

"Stop picking apart everything I do!" Jordan groans. "I'm tryna be nice, for crying out loud!"

"If you were gonna be nice," Josh's mother grumbles as she walks into the kitchen. "you wouldn't be wasting the groceries I paid for."

Josh laughs as he grabs a box of Lucky Charms from the pantry.

"Mama, at least I'm trying!" Jordan glares at Josh. "When's the last time Joshua made you breakfast?"

"When's the last time you shut the fuck up?" Josh bites back.

Grandpa George could be heard cackling from his spot at the kitchen table across from Josh's more somber Ojiisan Rokuro.

"Language." Ojiisan Rokuro speaks up before he returns to his tea.

"Sorry, Jiji."

"Yeah, language, Josh." Josh's mother pinches Josh's arm teasingly. "Be a little nicer to your brother when he's trying to provide for us."

"I am so sorry, dear brother!" Josh hugs Jordan tightly. "I'd just love some of your high-cholesterol eggs!"

"That's more like it." The thirteen year old juts his chin out dramatically. "You're gonna eat my cookin' and you're gonna like it."

"Puppy, you're gonna burn the whole damn house down if you don't take those eggs off the burner." Grandma Liza ruffles Jordan's hair as she walks in with Aunt Christine trailing behind her.

Jordan groans in reply and Josh feels like this is going to be a pretty good day.