someone commented on this story recently and it inspired me to write! I honestly thought no one liked this book anymore oof !!

Also, tw// there is a physical fight in this and slurs/harmful language towards gay men. there is also mention of stabbing, blood and bruises and such. be safe !!

Boys in this town were terrible. Josh knew that, he knew how sexist and misogynistic and homophobic and racist and the literal scum of the earth they could all be. Josh grew up with these boys, Josh was bullied by these boys and in some cases, Josh was jumped and beat by these boys.

So he knows. He knows how to be safe, what areas to avoid and what not to wear because these boys were raised by even worse boys, and they would pick you apart. Even the smallest things angered these boys. It's not even their business, how someone dresses or what somebody is, but these boys made it their business and they didn't care who you were, as long as they got to humiliate and degrade and squish you down, tiny enough so they had power over you. That's all the boys cared about.

But Tyler doesn't know these boys. Not like Josh knows them. And it really sucks because Tyler sees the good in everybody before they get the chance to hurt him. So he won't take any of Joshs words to his heart.

Tyler dresses how he wants, in dresses and skirts and tiny tops and big shoes and puts little clips in his hair and wears so much makeup some days, where he does look like a girl. Even if he isn't, he's just being more feminine, but these boys don't like boys that look like girls. Because being a girl in this stupid town is degrading and insulting. Josh hates this world.

That's why he's sweating, and he's nervous and he keeps looking around the meadow of long green weeds and little yellow daisies Incase any boys on bikes find them. Josh can't let anybody find them, he can't let anybody find him with somebody like Tyler.

(btw this is what Tyler is wearing ^)

"Josh?" Tylers sweet voice silenced the bird chirps and the rustling of leaves. "Yknow what? Imma start callin you Hunny. How about that?"

"Hunny is perfect." Josh follows Tyler as he walks further into the meadow. "What should I call you?"

"Whatever you want to call me. But I do like when you called me fairy last week. But only call me fairy when I'm upset, it makes me happy." Tyler says and glides his fingers through dead grass, turning it green.

Some growing vines nearly wrap around Joshs ankles as they walk, they walk for about forty minutes until they reach a tree. A large tree, with large branches that make Tyler look up with excited eyes. Vines and moss grew on the tree, and the largest leaves Tyler has ever seen in his life.

"Can we climb the tree, Hunny?"

Josh laughs at the use of his new nickname and nods, grabbing onto the sturdy vines and climbing onto a large branch, swinging his legs over the edge.

He reaches down and helps bring Tyler up, finding it difficult not to get his long skirt stick in any sharp edges.
(What are the sharp thingies on plants? I literally forgot how to say it in english and I'm losing my mind)

"Now, Hunny, what exactly would you do if I pushed you off this tree?" Tyler says, looking at the floor beneath them.

"Well, first, I'd break my neck of course. Then I'd forgive you because you're my best friend, obviously. Don't ask me dumb questions." Josh smiles and decides to stand up and look at how far they've walked.

"If you broke your neck I would fix it, yknow. If Nancy broke her neck though, I'd leave her hanging."

"Ty." Josh laughs. "Are you still upset over that, fairy?"

"No. Not at all. But it makes me mad that she thinks she's better than me." Tyler huffs, then looks up at Josh who's got two of his hands on two separate branches, balancing himself. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah. Go ahead."

"Did you use to date her?" Tylers voice goes soft.

Josh looks down at Tyler and thinks, why does that even matter to you? But he gets why, and it would matter to Josh if the roles were reversed anyway. Deep down he knows that. "N-no."

"No?" Tyler tilts his head to the side. "No..."

"I said no." Josh sits back down, facing Tyler, and his eyes glancing at the inside of his shirt that began to fold outward.

"Okay." Tyler shrugs. "I've dated girls before. Girls are beautiful, and smart and kind and they express themselves so much more than guys do sometimes. Sometimes I express myself, but then people think I'm trying to be a girl but I'm really just trying to be myself."

Josh doesn't say anything. Tyler doesn't look upset, he just looks confused and in his head a little.

"If you're not a girl then you're not a girl, Ty. Are you a boy?"

"Yeah." Tyler sighs and lays down on the branch. "I'm a stupid lonely boy. Not a girl."

Josh laughs and grabs some flowers growing on the branch beside him and puts them in his pocket. He looks down at Tyler, and he wants to say Tyler, you're as beautiful as a girl. But that's not true, because Tyler isn't as beautiful as any girl he knows. Tyler isn't as beautiful as any guy he knows either. Tylers the most beautiful thing he's ever encountered.

But josh doesn't say anything, instead he shuffles over and, this isn't safe at all, puts his knees in between tylers legs and hovers over him. Tyler looks surprised, and a part of Tyler thinks Josh might kiss him. His little brain screams for it, kiss me, kiss me on the lips. But Josh doesn't do that, instead he places one of the flowers in Tylers hair and smiles.

"Eli's bought so many flowers last week, and she put them all over the house and everyday when I wake up and I look at them, I think about you."

Josh thinks he might, he might lean down and kiss Tyler because he doesn't know what his body is doing but his hand glides down Tylers neck and his fingers hug the strap of his top and he keeps looking at the brown, wide eyes staring up at him. He really thinks he's gonna do it, because he's leaning down and nothing is stopping him because they're alone and only the birds and bugs and flowers that breathe around them are there. He's going to kiss him, and he thinks about last week when he told Tyler to never kiss him and how stupid that was because now all he wants is to kiss him, forever and always. And he's going to, he's almost there and Tyler whines at how slow he is but then, it is ruined.

It's ruined because of boys.

First, he hears it. The ringing of bikes and the small collective gasp from a group of boys from josh's school.

Josh pulls away, too fast that he calls over and off the branch of the tree, it all happens so fast too.

"Fuck." He groans, looking up to see Tylers flushes face, quickly climbing down the tree.

"Sorry to give you blue balls, Josh." One of the boys , Terran, says as he walks closer to the two. The other two, Jack and Daniel stand a few feet behind.

When Terran reaches them, helping Josh from the ground, his eyes meet Tylers and his immediate mindset to help Josh suddenly vanished. He looks at Tyler, up and down and suddenly let's go of Joshs arm, stepping back and scowling.

"What the fuck?" He says out loud, pulling his arms away as if he touched a disease. "You're a boy?!"

"What the fuck is wrong with you two? I mean, I expected better from you Josh. Running around town with a dude that wants to be a girl?"

"I don't want to be a girl. I'm a guy." Tyler says and glares, trying to hold Joshs weak body up, who's still recovering from falling seven feet from the tree.

"You're dressed in girls clothes. You're a fucking queer. Both of you!" Daniel yells and clenches his hands.

"You're just an ignorant shit." Tyler says, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse me?" Daniel scoffs at the way Tyler spoke to him, even though he didn't know what ignorant meant he seemed offended. "Say something else and see what happens."

"I'm not scared of any of you." Tyler stands in front of Josh, who's almost cowering in shame, but tyler doesn't see that. "You think just because you call me out of my name and wear that stupid fucking haircut with pride and flaunt your sexism and ignorance will scare me? What are you gonna do if I say something else? Hit me? I dare you to hit me."

Daniel reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a switchblade and even though he points the knife straight at Tylers head, Tyler still isn't scared. He's not scared because he sees Daniel is too weak to actually stab Tyler or Josh. Daniel is so insecure, sad and pathetic and he's only trying to feel powerful.

"Tyler..." Josh whispers. "Tyler lets just leave okay?"

"No."

"Fairy." Josh says quieter. "Let's go, theyre not playing.."

"I'm not playing either, Josh."

"I'll stab the fucking queer." Daniels voice shakes. "You're not welcome here, for fucks sake, I'll kill you right now."

"I know you all jumped Josh before and I know that you think you can do that again, but you can't. You're all weak and sad and I seriously dare you to run at me with that knife because I'll haunt you forever if you fucking ruin my skin." Tyler is so angry, he doesn't even know why. He doesn't know if it's because they ruined their moment or if it's because these boys think they're the kings of the world because they carry knives and cause trouble, or if it's because they jumped josh and hurt him, they hurt josh and they thought they could do it over and over.

Daniel puts the knife down, gulps and the second things feel calm is the same second Terran lunges m at Tyler.

Tyler wishes josh understood because everything happened so fast. Tyler wishes josh knew he would snap their necks, literally, if they laid a finger on him. Tyler has it all under control, he really did and he was gonna protect them. But Josh cared too much, he couldn't see Tyler get hurt and the moment Josh lunges back at Terran, Jack is grabbing the switchblade from Daniels hand and brings it into Joshs stomach.

Tyler can't react, they all lunge at Josh and he can't even count the number of times they stab him before they realize what they've done.

It's all within a minute, the boys flea and Josh is laying there on the ground, groaning and crying and Tyler is right at his side, watching all the bruises and wounds and the blood pool underneath his body.

"Josh? Josh, Josh..." that's all he can say. He knows his powers are able to heal, but only one wound at a time, and it takes so much energy and he doesn't even know if it'll be enough time to save him but Tyler doesn't think twice.

Tyler uses everything inside him, everything behind his ribs and everything in his head and he uses the blue purple in his veins and he uses words he's not suppose to use for Josh. It hurts Tyler, it burns his throat and makes his bones ache.

But it isn't enough, he's only able to heal five of the stab wounds and there were two left. Luckily, they weren't as severe and quite small, but they were still bleeding.

"Josh, Josh." Tyler shakes and hugs him. "joshs in domum suam"

——————

The knock at the door is loud, urgent and aggressive and startled Mari. Eli's looks up from where she's cutting the watermelon and lifts a brow.

"Well, open it..." She whispers, and so she does.

When Mari opens the door she gasps and shouts, and in comes Joshs weak bleeding body, Tyler at his side, his skirt having the biggest blood stain.

"Josh?!" Elis yells, running to Josh while Mari nearly passes out, feeling nauseous and dizzy from the amount of blood Josh was covered in, his bruised face and his poor swollen eyes.

"Oh my god.." Mari cries, helping bring josh in, Eli's clears the table by throwing everything onto the floor and helps lay josh down.

"Mari, go get my suitcase, it's under the bed. Please hurry." Eli's voice shakes as she speaks, this isn't the first time but this looks bad. It looks worse than any other time and all hospitals are about an hour away and Josh didn't look so well.

Tyler starts to cry as he stands by josh's side. His guilt fills his throat and he sobs from it all. "I'm sorry, Elis, we were arguing with some boys and Josh was just trying to protect me. I should've listened to him and left them alone but I didn't and now he's so hurt and I'm so scared-"

"Baby this isn't your fault." Elis grabs scissors from a cabinet and cuts Joshs shirt open. "Now is not the time to blame yourself for anything. Go to the kitchen and get me a damp rag and a bowl of water okay?"

Mari enters the room with the suitcase just as Tyler leaves to get the supplies, he can't stop crying and shaking and he might pass out soon from using his powers to teleport them. He's so weak, but he manages to bring the supplies to the table josh was passed out on, moaning quietly and barely moving.

"He never listens to me, damnit." Mari cries and takes the bloody shirt from the table. "He's okay, he just lost a lot of blood."

Elis pours a clear liquid into the wounds and Tyler has to walk outside when Josh screams and wakes up. His screams sound terrible, he sounds like he was in the worst pain of his life, and when he passes out again from the stitches and a shot to help the pain, Tyler thinks he's gonna die from his bad he feels. Tyler feels terrible and selfish and he sobs on their front porch until he feels so sick that he throws up. He can't stop crying until Mari comes outside, just as shaken as he is, and hugs him gently, combing her hands through Tylers hair and letting him fall asleep on her shoulder.

—
hello!! sorry about the sadness in this !!! I'll be posting the next chapter in a few hours or when I wake up.

I just wanted to say I miss writing this story so I will try to do it more. I also can't decide if I want to drag this story out and make it a slowburn type of story or have ty and josh move fast and get all lovey dovey ;-; tell me what you think pls!!