just here to say,,,
BLESS the people that read this book when I barely updated the first chapter, because of y'all this book has so many reads and I'm so happy people like this story!!!

Also tw: mention of war/death, mention of suicide, mention of child abuse

🧚🏻‍♀️

Its like the earth knew that putting two shitty things together would actually make something okay.

Just when Tylers life started balancing itself, the rhythm of his life was fading, and everything he knew was really just falling apart at this point. Moving and running and wishing and praying for things and just knowing people were after them, after Tyler and his heart and after Katy's youth and after Samantha because she was scheduled to be executed years ago.

Everything his life was, wasn't anymore, and it was bothering him a lot. He hadn't talked to Samantha in days, and that's never happened before, Tylers never snapped that way or done anything to hurt them, and now he doesn't see vulnerability in himself. Now that tyler knows he has these powers, these powers he thought were impossible, he doesn't want to run or wish or pray anymore. He knows now, that he doesn't have to do that.

He's powerful enough to be safe, he can fight off anything and he can definitely stay in this little stupid town with Josh's beautiful presence forever.

And just as Tyler feels giddy and joy and warmth mingle around in the middle of chest, he realizes he hasn't seen josh, in quite some time. And the thought of Josh being alone, in his clustered room wondering about the rain and wondering why Tyler couldn't answer his calls.

Tyler goes for the phone, he knows the consequences and the probability of him being caught on a line, but he's too confident in himself. He feels too powerful to get caught.

The phone dials itself, and Tyler giggles at how easy his magic started working now. Bringing the large pink microphone to his ear he gently whispers.

"Josh?"

-

It was eight in the morning when Josh got a call from his mother.

He had just got done showering when the downstairs phone began to ring, and since Eli's nor Mia we're home, he decided to answer once it rang for ten minutes.

"Hello?" He clears his throat. "Who's this?"

"Josh.. baby?" Sick, sweet voice. "Is that you, Hunny?"

Josh blinks a few time before scratching his head, he hadn't talked to her in a few weeks, they've been growing distant.

"Yeah, ma, is everything okay? Sorry I haven't called I've just been doing stuff and I met this boy-"

"Josh." His mother's voice sound weak. It cracks once and then, she's crying.

"Ma, whats wrong?" He leans against the wall and his foot anxiously scrapes against the kitchen tiles. "Ma come on, tell me."

"It's your father." She sounds like she's in pain. "They can't find him anywhere."

Josh feels both relief and grief flow into his chest. Josh feels elated and like he's about to puke everywhere, and josh thinks about the dream and his past and everything wrong with his life.

His fucking father. The man that made him feel less of a man, the man that made him scared and terrible at living. His father ruined his life, and that's why Josh had so much anxiety and fear and why nobody talked to him. His father was the reason his life went to shit, his father is the reason he moved into this home and he's the reason his mom is getting even worse because his father was never there.

Josh hangs the phone up, and instead of crying or punching the walls like he used to when he felt this way, he didn't feel like inflicting pain in himself anymore. Something told him that didn't have to happen anymore, and something deep and scary inside of him felt okay, like he didn't have to feel so horrible as his mother felt now.

It's not like he's gone, that wasn't determined, he doesn't know if his dad was tortured or if he's in war prison or if he's buried under bodies, but Josh felt like he didn't have to worry his father was going to knock at his door one day and beat the shit out of him like he used to.

Josh cries, but not in a super my dads probably dead way but in a I don't have to be scared shitless anymore way.

-

Josh baked a lot of pies in his life.

When he was a child and everything didn't go downhill, when his father was home and well, and his mother wasn't nearly dying of a rare disease and when the town was happy and everyone loved everything, Josh baked hundreds of pies.

It was something he did with his mom mostly, on the evenings of sundays after church they'd put five pieces of paper in a jar of different fruits and flavors and randomly pick one. His mother would get jumpy and giddy whenever they baked cherry pies, those were her favorite.

She would sing sweetly to him, while they baked, and they'd think together who this special pie was going to be for. Josh actually rarely had any pie, since they feel that pies bring happiness to others, they gave nearly all of them that they baked away.

"You know, hunny, my grandma owned a bakery and she said before you put the pie in the over you have to sing a line from a poem written a thousand years ago." She'd take josh's hand.

"I would do anything for you, Hunny! Would let my second heart die out for you, Hunny!"

Then josh's mother would spin Josh around and he'd giggle and laugh, and they'd hug so much, and josh's mom kissed him on the forehead when josh closed the oven.

Now he's in the kitchen. With Eli's and Marie out to speak with the mayor about god knows what type of discrimination they faced, which happens almost daily. And he's left all alone, while heavy rain pours down for what is now day three.

Josh just knew, he knew that it was Tyler. That the wind and rains melancholy came from tylers heart, that the rotting peaches in the market was tyler, that the big red oak fallen in the forest was tyler, that the little dead birds on the street were all tyler.

He knew something was wrong, he was too terrified to find out and too scared about his own feelings to go look at Tyler. He felt so infatuated yet scared of what he was even doing with Tyler, trying to be friends or trying to kiss the hell out of him, he didn't know at all. He didn't know his intentions or his limits or what he even was, or what tylers gender was or why tyler didn't give two shits about how people looked at him.

Josh stares out the window and thinks of his mother, and what she would do.

She'd bake a pie, so he did that, a big cherry pie with little heart as crust because tyler liked cute things. And before he put it in the oven, he sang the song and smiled.

Josh thinks of his mother, and Tyler and everybody he loved and cared about and he just began feeling more nervous to go over there in two hours and give tyler that pie. It was worse when Elis informed him that Samantha wasn't answering her home telephone and that when they went over there the day before, no one answered the door. The anxiety in josh's stomach was eating him, terrified the only friend he had was possibly gone, or worse.

The home phone rings again, and Josh thinks it's his mother about to tell him to come over to have some type of memorial, even thought his dad wasn't dead, but it's not her.

"Josh?"

It's Tyler, even better, Josh smiles so big it hurts.
"H-hey!.. why're you calling?"

"Will you come over, the rain stopped."

Josh laughs and is about to tell Tyler it's raining cats and dogs outside because he just saw it pouring two seconds ago from the kitchen window, but when he looks, all he sees is wet pavement and the suns warmth.

"Oh shit." He mutters, smiles. "Fuck yeah, I'll be there in an hour or two... Uh I have something for you."

"Don't want your pervy lingerie Josh." Tyler giggles.

"Will you stop with th-"

There's a long beep, Josh groans and leaves the phone hanging.

Josh grabbed his rain coat, and his cream colored beanie as well as his roller blades (since his bike is somewhere in a ditch) and decided to go into Maries room and steal one of the roses Elis got for her on her birthday last week, which were starting to slowly die.

About two hours go by of Josh pacing back and forth in his kitchen and hearing the rain and hail fall down outside before the oven dings and he's able to take it out, and put it in one of Maries wooden woven baskets before he's stealing two cans of Pepsi from the fridge, running out the door.

The wind blows strongly, and once josh steps foot on the wet pavement he nearly slips, laughing nervously to himself as he struggles a whole two blocks.

Within fifteen minutes of him nearly falling and eating shit, the puddles slowly dry up, there are small splotches of blue sky shen he looks up. Small rays of sun intrude the clouds and slowly, the clouds begin departing from each other.

Josh laughs and roller blades faster, all the way to the large pink house near the bridge, the smell of wet dirt and concrete makes him smile.

Turning the corner with a sharp move of his legs, he see the wet pink home, he sees tylers curtains drawn closed and he notices a golden chain that wasn't present before around the gates. Josh frowns, knowing he wouldn't be able to knock on their door now.

He rolls up to the gate and removed his roller blades.

"Fuck." He mutters as his socks get wet. He looks up at tylers window, then looks around and finds a decent sized rock, lightly throwing it and instead hitting the roof of the pink wet home. Josh does this for five minutes until he finally hits tylers window.

He waits a few seconds and grabs the basket at his feet, a hopeful look on his face as the curtains are drawn and there he is.

josh sees Tyler's face, it's sad and his brightness and usual joy isn't visible in his doe eyes, he looks too thin and weak, sick. Josh's immediate smile is erased once the blinds go shut again.

He looks around hoping no one is watching him before he throws his rollerblades over the fence and gently placed the basket atop the white pillar and quickly hops it, grabbing the white basket.

He's planning to use the large rooted vines on tylers little fairy-like home, but before he can come up with a thought on how the hell he was going to carry this heavy ass pie up there, the front door is opening slowly.

Tylers there, his little face poking out of the tiny crack of his chipped door and looking deeply sad, he's paler than even Josh is. He finds dark spots all over Tylers face, bruising like a fruit, and his hair looked dry and not like it's usual softness.

"You look like you died." Josh whispers. Then there's a rock thrown at his face.

"Asshole!" Tyler glares and leaves the door open for Josh to come in, who giggles at him.

Josh enters the empty home, things are a bit messy, but Josh has a feeling he shouldn't be asking questions right now. Tyler just looks like he doesn't want to talk about it, like the wrong thing said would result in Tyler sobbing.

They find themselves in Tylers room, it smells like a campfire inside but everything is pink and pretty. Tyler has the most beautiful view of the town and he's got the silkiest sheets and random things on the walls and so many clothes. Josh finds it amusing, all the clothing scattered around his room and in his closet.

"You have a pretty room, it suites you." Josh says and puts the basket down on Tylers white wooden desk. "Honestly I expected everything to be scary."

Tyler sits on the end of his bed and lays down. He sighs, deeply in thought, as he plays with his skinny pale fingers. "Not all witches are scary, Josh."

"I-I know I just didn't expect it."

Tyler simply looks at him and closes his eyes. Josh frowns, opening the basket and taking out the warm pie.

He walks over to Tyler and sits beside him, then lays down on the squishy soft bed, with the pie resting on his stomach.

Josh turns his head to look at Tyler and noticed how upset he looks, like he might start crying for real, his eyelashes are fluttering and his eyebrows aren't relaxed, he keeps gulping too.

"My mom made pies with me when I was little and we only did it for people we felt needed more happiness in their life. I usually just did it cuz it was fun watching the pie cook. But now I like doing it to make people happy. Um, it's super silly and I don't even fucking know if you like cherry pie but I took a guess." Josh sighs and sits up, scooting back so his thighs were next to tylers head. "I know something is  wrong, I mean, it was raining in the middle of a heat wave, and that's pretty abnormal. It has to do with you. You- you don't have to tell me what it is but I'm your friend, you can talk to me, okay?"

Tyler opens his eyes and they're more watery than before, he sits up as well and looks at the pie in josh's hands, he's blushing pink hues as gentle tears run down the corner of his eyes.

"Im severely allergic to cherries. I can actually die if I even smell them."

Josh just about has a heart attack and is about to take himself, and the now worthless pie in his hands, out the fucking window before Tyler starts laughing loudly.

"'M kiddin'!" He squeaks, and holds josh's arm as he giggles more. Moving to sit on his ankles. "God you're so gullible josh."

Josh glares and puts the pie down on the floor before he's grabbing Tyler by his wrists and poking him on the sides. Tyler laughs harder, scramming around the sheets in attempts to escape but instead tries to kick josh in the face.

"I'm tickling you! Why're you trying to murder me?!" Josh laughs when Tyler arches his back in laughter, trying to knee josh's chest, which he does too hard, on accident.

He gasps as josh groans and rolls off of him.

"Josh, m sorry." Tyler sits up and places his hand where Josh was hit.
Josh wasn't going to get mad, not when he saw Tylers usual softness brought back to his face, he wasn't pale anymore or sad. He's get knees in the chest again to make him smile.

"It's okay, I shouldn't have tickled you." He smiles. "Now seriously, do you want some pie or not because I think I broke the oven making it and I don't want to waste it."

Josh quickly adds. "I also forgot to bring forks."

"We aren't cavemen Josh!" Tyler said, and points at the door. Josh laughs and goes downstairs to get some proper utensils.

Once Tyler is alone, he looks around the room and decides to tidy up, and maybe he should get dressed because he liked looking nice, especially when josh was around.
So he removed his pajamas and puts on something decent, just a skirt and a long sleeve crop top, he didn't wanna be too fancy.

When josh does come back, he nearly drops his forks and napkins and the two glass plates in his arms. His mind goes panic and he's suddenly not looking tyler in the eyes because he knows he'll just make a fool of himself sputtering our words that didn't make sense.

They eat pie in silence, with Tyler laying on his belly and josh blushing madly and using everything he was taught in church to not look at tylers legs because he thinks if he even peeks at them he might drop dead.

"Josh." Tyler says. "Thank you for making me this."

Josh smiles and looks up, blushing even more, not trusting his words he just simply nods.

Tyler squints his eyes, noticing the red tint on josh's face and the light layered of sweat in his forehead, he can also noticing josh gulping too harshly when he bit into the pie. Tyler rolls his eyes and sits up, scooting himself so he was right beside josh's thighs, facing him boldly.

"Josh?" He giggles when josh chokes.
Tyler waits and waits for josh to finally stop choking and look into his eyes, and when he does, they're wide and brown. Tyler notices how squinty and cute they were when they were flustered. Tyler can't help himself, so he puts his little plate down and grabs josh's plate from his shaking hands and puts it next to his, bringing himself to sit atop josh's legs.

"Josh." Tyler whispers. "Do I make you nervous?"

Josh's whole face is flaming, and he's going to say something but nothing comes out of his mouth, instead she just stared and stutters over sentences he can't form.

Tyler first, reaches his hand up and removes josh's cream colored beanie very slowly, taking his time to enjoy the way his curls bounced on his forehead.

Tyler then brings his hand to josh's clammy one and holds it softly, closing his eyes he leans against josh's chest to hear his heartbeat. It's beating quickly against his chest, and it sounds like music, knowing josh was alive and with him.

Tyler brings josh's hand to his own chest, and josh can feel twice as many beats under the tips of his fingers.

"You make me twice as nervous."

-

They talk for hours.

First it's about shit that doesn't matter but Tyler finds josh's life so interesting that he asks him a million general questions. Such as his favorite number or color or song. Tyler asks josh about school and if josh wanted to punch nancy in the face as much as he did.

"She can be a bad person sometimes but she was there for me when my mom got sick so-"

"I hate her and I want to make her choke on spiders, I swear Josh I will-"

"Ty! No!"

Tyler whines, pouting his lips and sinks off josh's lap. "Why not?"

"You can't just do something bad to everyone you hate."

"Sure I can!" Tyler giggles and boops josh's nose. "Did ya know if I wanted to I could you pee on yourself?"

"Tyler." Josh looks pained.

"Hehe I won't." Tyler takes josh's hand again. "You know my mom called me fairy when I was little. Since I hated being called a witch n stuff."

"Fairy?" Josh laughs and rolls onto his back. "That's actually really adorable. I think I'll just have to call you that now."

Tyler giggles and moves so his head is on josh's chest. "You know Samantha isn't my real mom right?"

Josh looks at Tyler and nods. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah, well, she's not. She's just suppose to take care of me n stuff. But um.. my real mom n my dad are dead." Tyler stares at the ceiling, almost in a trance, as he speaks. His eyes quickly avery to Josh whos just admiring his vulnerability. "I know it's none of your business and I dunno if you even care or-"

"I care." Josh smiles. "You can tell me, if you want to, that is."

Tyler smiles softly, differently than his usual bright wide grins he always does, and he puts his hand on top of josh's arm to hold him.
"My mom was a very powerful witch,  so they tried to kill her, because she had two hearts, but she wouldn't let the coven take them. And... my dad wasn't a witch, he was just a regular guy she fell in love with, but he jumped in front of the magic that was meant to kill my mom."
Tyler takes a deep breath because he needs to tell someone, at least Josh, about this before it eats him up. He needs to talk about it, out loud, so it feels real.

"My dad was dying and, well, my mom was powerful enough to revive him. It's just, the only way to revive a person is to kill yourself."

Tyler feels angry again, like the anger he felt when Samantha told him he'd end up like his parents, he felt the same warmth shock in his arms ready to explode.
"So my mom tried and it ended up killing half of the coven and herself and my dad was alive. But, the other half of the coven caught him and they burned him." Tylers lips wobble. "I think the worst part is that i can feel their damage and their spirits with me all the time. There isn't a moment where I don't feel like they're here, with me, telling me to kill the coven before they kill me."

Josh listens closely, as confused and as many questions that he has he won't ask them until Tyler is done and calmer. He notices the change in his brightness, the dimness in his eyes and color, how this was something Tyler didn't like talking about. But he did anyway, because he wanted josh to know.

"I just want you to know since we're friends and because I know I can trust you. And because I'm mostly scared that my powers are getting stronger and it's harder for me to control them. I just know that they're going to come one day." Tyler scratches his arms. "But... but I understand if you want nothing to do with me anymore. It's not safe to be around me and-and I-"

"No!" Josh grabs tylers little wrists, clearing his throat in a hurry. "No, definitely not. You're probably the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Tyler blushes and sniffles, sitting up to hug Josh's upper arm. "Sh-shut up."

"You are!" Josh smiles down at him in awe. "I'm serious, I don't even know how to act when we're together."

"You're such a sap." Tyler giggles and bring Josh down with him to the soft silk pillows. He blinks sleepily.

"I'm going to take a nap but I don't want you to leave."

"I won't." Josh pets Tylers hair and watches the way his legs twist together for warmth. Josh reaches over to grab a warm woven blanket and pull it up to tylers waist.

"I'll be here when you wake up, fairy."

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Next chapter will be a continuation of this one!
also hope this chapter was okay ;-;
it's hard to write when life is being crap but also very easy at the same time? idk,, Ive been having trouble :P