March 1st, 1945

Tyler was marked for death before the boat even landed on the beach.

He could feel his upcoming death inside of him, like a bird feels the changing wind before a deadly storm. It was a feeling of acceptance, a firm grip on the grim reality that once he stepped foot on that beach, he wouldn't be stepping off.

Fog clung heavy in the air, soaking into his face and damping his already damp skin break out into sweat. The sun had long disappeared under the dense clouds in the sky, blanketing the beach and all of their surroundings in a grayish hue. Tyler couldn't tell if it was raining or he was just cold.

He forced himself to train his eyes at the back of the curly haired head shivering in front of him. They'd promised each other they would make it alive so they could run away together. That wasn't an option anymore, not when they were moved to the forefront of the massacre the U.S. called a war.

Tyler reached a hand forward, squeezing Josh's forearm to tell him that he was there and he wasn't going to leave him any time soon. Not if he could help it. The only reason he would ever be this brave while in the face of danger was when someone he loved was in danger.

Case in point, First Sergeant Joshua Dun. A hurricane in a glass bottle. He was quiet and too soft for war, yet he could hold the attention of everyone when in a room with his passionate ferocity of caring for others.

They met in 1938 in his family's plantation that Tyler grew up on. Since the Depression destroyed most of jobs, Josh had lost his own as a teacher and moved south to work in the wheat field Tyler's family owned. They bonded over their mutual wish to do more than just grow crops, to move to a big city and make a change in the world. Tyler knew it was against God's will to be with Josh that way, but there was no way in hell that something that angelic could be a sin.

Since homosexual relations were forbidden, they ran away to New York, avoiding being drafted while scavenging for any jobs they could find for four years before they couldn't run anymore. There were rough times between them finding stable jobs and a shitty apartment, but those never outweighed the heavenly times.

Tyler admired Josh mostly for his kind nature and passivity, which balanced out his own aggressive and short temper. He didn't play with others, especially after joining the army. But with Josh around, he learned how to let go of his troubles and not project his anger out on others.

Somehow, the two secret lovers ended up in the same brigade. A God sent give.

The boat lurched to a rocket stop as the got stuck in the shallow sand, making the other soldiers jump and nearly slide out of their seats. Bodies littered the beach, blood mixing in with the salty water splashing against the tall sand dunes. One of their tanks were overturned, and the sharp sounds of bullets pierced the tense air.

Everyone knew they weren't going to make it out of that beach in one piece.

As the other soldiers began to stand, Tyler let go of Josh's arm and let his mind go blank, let every drop of fear of dying drain away. He couldn't think about Joshua, the love of his life dying in a hellhole like that. It was his new mission to keep him safe. If one of them was going to live, it had to be Josh.

Tyler's feet sunk into the muddy sand, the ice cold water reaching just below his armpits. The strong smell of blood and salt filled his lungs.

"Oh, God," Josh gasped, his head slipping under the short waves.

"Josh? Josh!"

Fear struck in his heart. Tyler scrambled to find his lover and managed to grab the strap of his gun, yanking upward. He sputtered as he resurfaced, dark curls of his hair sticking to his forehead.

"Joshua, stay with me," Tyler demanded, shaking his shoulders enough to rouse him. "Stay with me."

Slowly, he dragged his feet through the sand, pulling Josh along. The ocean had seeped through the layers of his uniform, turning his skin into ice and sending spikes of staticky pain through him as he moved.

By the time they made it to the beach, Tyler's body had gone completely numb. They collapsed, sinking into the grayish sand.

Immediately, their bodies moved in unison. Tyler made it to his feet and started trekking forward, hearing Josh and several other soldiers following closely behind. He aimed and fired at the cliffs of sand dunes, adrenaline heating up his frozen body.

The Czech Hedgehogs didn't provide enough cover for them. One by one, they fell victim to the Japs' fire, even with the waves of soldiers battling on the beach, they didn't get any farther than the sand dunes. Eventually, Tyler was struck down as well.

He felt the bullets pelt his chest first, ripping through his being and tearing out the backside of his uniform. Stunned, he dropped to his knees, the heat of blood running down his front. Blood rose from the back fo his throat, pouring from his lips. Tyler almost blacked out from the pain consuming him, but heard a voice shouting his name.

"Tyler! Oh my god, Tyler!"

Josh ran towards him, ignoring the gunfire and explosion, and reached Tyler before he fell on his back. He tried to speak, tried to tell him to take cover and not get himself killed. But Josh only hushed him in response, his arms wrapped around Tyler's front, Josh's chest against his back. They sat awkwardly on the muddy beach floor, Josh sitting with his back against one of the hedgehogs.

"Medic!" He shouted, looking around the emptying beach. "I need a fucking medic!"

"D- don't," Tyler gargled.

Tyler craned his head as far as he could, seeing tears leaving tracks on Josh's dirt caked face. Those were the lips he kissed when nobody would hear them from their tent, those were the eyes he stared into while they did unspeakable things in backrooms. He couldn't bear to see them in such pain.

"Hold me. Just- just hold-" the words caught in his throat as blood suffocated him, causing him to cough violently. Josh started to sob, burying his face in Tyler's neck.

"I love you, don't leave me," he cried out, clutching Tyler's dog tags. "Don't leave, not yet."

"I- I'll find you. I'll..."

Tyler's head dropped, and the last thing he heard was the whistle of a bomb and Josh screaming his name, before everything went dark.

December 6th, 1970

The Stonewall Riots were just the beginning of the gay revolution cascading through Greenwich Village. After the first brick was thrown, every police raid came with its healthy helping of revolution.

Tyler loved watching as the gay community- his community- gathered to fight for the rights that were denied of them. He attended as many of the "parades" that occurred after Stonewall as he could, finding and meeting people who he would never see again but always remember.

There was one boy. A short, stocky, curly haired boy who attended the parades alone and shows away from anyone who approached him. Tyler had seen him several times before at gay bars or the speakeasies that became hideouts for "queers," and he seemed almost ashamed of who he was. It wasn't new- hardly anyone was out, and if you were, you were the center of an abundance of hatred- but it hurt Tyler to watch people pretend to be who they weren't. In a perfect world, they wouldn't have to pretend. They could just be.

Something about this boy in particular gravitated him to Tyler. He was fairly cute, if not a bit too young for that kind of scene. That was okay, though, because Tyler was only nineteen. You were never too young to be gay.

But it wasn't just the fact that they looked the same age and he was cute. There was something familiar about him; Tyler couldn't help but feel like they knew each other already, even though they've never spoken a word to each other. He knew it, deep in his soul, that he had to get to know him.

One night at Fairly Local, a bar he frequented, Tyler approached the boy. He was sitting awkwardly on a stool pulled up to the bar, not ordering anything but rather reading a book.

"Nobody reads anymore," Tyler commented as he sat down beside him, holding his hand out for him to shake. "Tyler Joseph, sexual connesiour."

The boy stared at the extended hand, bug-eyed. His eyes trailed upward slowly, inspecting every inch of his arm and chest, until they met Tyler's. Tyler smiled, and surprisingly, he smiled back.

"J-Josh Dun," he stuttered, grabbing and shaking Tyler's hand quickly. "I'm not- I don't do the whole, uh, sex thing. I- I've seen you around here before, I think. F-Fairly Local is pretty popular for- uh-"

"Faggots?" The word made Josh flinch.

A deep red blush creeped up his neck, and he stared at his hands that lied flat again the surface of the bar. "Yeah. I- I'm sorry."

"For what?" Tyler asked.

"Assuming."

"Don't be. I'm as queer as they come. "Tyler got an idea and leaned into Josh's space, smiling as sweetly and nonthreatening as he could. A hot pink blush took over his ears. "Though, if you really want to make it up to me, you'll let me by you a drink."

"Oh. Oh. I'm not-" Josh laughed nervously but didn't move away. "I'm not old enough to drink."

"Neither am I. That's what's fun about it."

They ended up ordering two coke on the rocks and talking about their lives and how they ended up in Greenwich. Josh was studying just down the road at NYU on a full ride to be a college professor, while Tyler was slumming it in his college friend's new apartment, working at bars and fast food places just to pay for community college.

They learned quickly that they were opposites in every way possible; Josh was quiet and talked very little, but he always spoke with such sophistication that it made him seem older than he actually was. Tyler was impulsive and spoke with wild abandon, never caring who heard him or who hated him. He was so authentically himself, and no one could take that away from him.

Despite the polarity in personalities, Tyler felt at ease around Josh, like his presence had a sobering affect in his wild, reckless soul. And throughout their conversation that bounced from topic to topic, Josh became more outspoken. He laughed louder, blurted thoughts without thinking, and confessed he was bisexual as a second thought.

Fairly Local wasn't crowded on that particular night, though the bar portion had filled up quickly as the time crept closer to midnight.

"Want to go upstairs?" Tyler offered.

"Up-upstairs?" Josh squeaked, his face turning red again. "I- I'm not sure if I'm- if I'm comfortable with that, if that's o-okay."

"Don't worry, pal, I'm not going to rape ya. I'm too much of a gentleman to do that. Everything's consensual here, unlike with those Herero folks down the street. There's a restaurant on the second floor, if you want to grab a bite to eat."

"Oh, right. I- I'd like that."

Tyler gestured for Josh to follow him up the staircase hidden by a doorway, climbing the stairs to find a small diner with rows of small red and white patterned booths and a breakfast bar. Josh looked around in awe, making Tyler grin.

There was only a handful of people around. Most people who went to Fairly Local were either for someone to take home or looking for shelter from sleeping on the streets. Tyler wondered which category Josh fit into. He hoped it was neither.

Jenna, one of Tyler's hippy friends, sat across the stretch of the breakfast bar, wiping the insides of glasses with a rag. When she saw Tyler she nearly dropped the glass.

"Ty, honey. What're you doing here?" She gasped as he went over to give her a hug.

"Just grabbing some midnight breakfast with Joshua," Tyler motioned the shy boy over. "Can you hook us up with some waffles? I can pay."

She didn't respond, only waving her rag sternly in his face. "You do know that there's supposed to be a raid tonight, right?" She asked.

"Tell that to all of your loyal patrons downstairs."

"Ty, I'm being serious. This could get ugly."

"Fine. I tell ya what, doll." Tyler draped an arm over Josh's shoulders, making him squeak. "We'll take the food to go."

Jenna rolled her eyes and smiled, hopping onto the other side of the bar. "Alright. I concede. Two large waffles coming right up."

As she disappeared into the kitchen with their order, Tyler found a booth for them to wait in. Josh sat across from him, staring with a mix of awe and confusion.

"You're not worried about the raid?" He asked.

Tyler shrugged, kicking his feet up on the booth seat and leaning back. "I've learned that worrying will get you nowhere. Life leads you where you need to be, whether you like it or not. And life was leading me here, with you in this booth at some ungodly hour of the night in a New York bar."

"Like destiny," Josh grinned sheepishly as Tyler grabbed his hands, which were curled into nervous fists on the table. "I like that."

"I'm glad, because I adore you."

"W-why?" The stutter returned.

"Why not? You're hot, you're sweet, and you're smart enough to get into NYU on a full ride. You're the whole deal baby, the deluxe package."

"I-I'm nothing special." Josh started at their intertwined hands. "This is going to sound weird, but have we- have we met before?"

Tyler raised Josh's hand to his lips, kissing his knuckles with a smile. He didn't think it was humanly possible for him to blush even darker, but he did so somehow.

"In another life, perhaps. Maybe we're reincarnated lovers," he whispered, grinning. "But I think I would remember a face as beautiful as yours."

Suddenly, the building started to shake, making the two separate quickly, followed by screaming from below them. Tyler could see slivers of white smoke rising through the cracks of the wooden floor. Josh took his feet off the floor.

"What the heck is happening?" He cried out, standing on the seat.

Tyler did the same, yelling for the other people to get off the floor in case they got burned. "This isn't right. The raid wasn't due for another two hours."

"And why do you know what?"

"I've got connections."

Jenna ran out of the kitchen, the same shock Tyler was feeling written across her face. Her blonde ponytail whipped dangerously as she sprinted for the only entrance leading to the floor below. She barely grabbed the lock on the knob before the door busted off of its hinges, flinging her across the floor. Plumes of smoke poured into the room, disrupting Tyler's view of Jenna and Josh.

Tyler dropped to the floor as soon as the smoke rose to his level and put an arm over his mouth, the fumes already clogging up his lungs. He could hear someone coughing, he could only assume it was Josh, and crawled towards the sound.

"Josh?"

"Tyler?"

Something rubbed against his arm for a brief moment, and Tyler fumbled around until his hands brushed outstretched fingertips. He held onto whoever's hand that was and started making his way to where he thought the door was.

Through his watery eyes, he made out the silhouettes of several pairs of boots, and saw the flames licking the stairwell behind them. People were screaming, yet the boots marched through the smoke.

"What the hell- wait, stop!" Jenna shouted.

Tyler heard the safety of guns being clicked off, then they started firing. The gunshots exploding so close to him made him go into overdrive.

"This is a hate crime!" Her voice echoed through the room, sounding closer than she was. She was trying to direct the shooters away from the other people in the room, but it was too late. Tyler could smell blood and gunpowder.

He realized all too late that this was, in fact, the raid, but this particular homophobic ambush wasn't about arresting anyone for drugs or soliciting. This was meant to kill, not scare.

Josh screamed before Tyler slammed a hand over his ash covered mouth. He must've gotten hit. of the boots turning towards them. Now in a panic-filled frenzy, Tyler started to shove Josh to the windowsills, whisper-yelling for him to move.

"I- I don't want to die," the young boy whimpered.

"I'll get you out of here," Tyler said, directing him with pulls on his shirt. "I swear it."

The smoke inhalation was getting to him, his vision swimming as they made it to the window. Tyler could feel the heat of the flames now, making it harder to breathe than before and scorching the floor under his hands and knees.

Tyler stood up in his knees and felt around for the latch, popping the window open. The fresh winter breeze made him gasp and suck in as much cold air as he could, the stray snowflakes landing on his face a relief from the bone dry inside of the restaurant.

His eyes, which had closed in that moment of calm, shot open as he felt a stabbing pain tear from his back through his chest. He jerked forward and made a gargled sound, hearing the glass shatter.

There was no ambulance or fire truck in sigh. Help wasn't coming. They were on their own.

After a blind fumble, Josh made it to his feet and, with the help from Tyler, swung his whole body in one shot through the opening. As the smoke drove itself out of the room and into the night sky, Tyler could see now see in perfect clarity the blood soaking into the side of Josh's button down shirt, a hole ripped through the fabric and flesh.

Josh's eyes rolled into his skull, and he fell back, out the window and hitting the snowy ground without a sound. Tyler would've screamed, but he only coughed up blood in response.

His lungs felt like they were collapsing. He could breathe, his eyes kept crossing and his body was close to giving into the keen agonizing throb spreading from his back and chest outward.

Jenna screamed, "Don't you dare touch me!" Two more shots silenced her.

Tyler forced himself to stand on his weakening legs, gripping the frames of what remained of the window with all his might. Looking out the window, he could see the pool of blood surrounding the young boy below him. The fall was survivable, but he was barely clinging to life as it was.

After a moment of hyping himself up, Tyler braced his body weight on the windowsill, pushing himself out of the small space. His hand, which was slick with blood, slipped, and he found himself suspended in air.

Tyler blacked out before he hit the ground.

July 5th, 2018

"Do you believe in second chances?"

Tyler looked up from his textbook, seeing his boyfriend staring at him nervously from across the booth. They were both studying for separate exams- Tyler's was on anatomy, Josh's was on color theory- in a Starbucks just down the street of their university.

For a couple days now, Josh had been acting off, tip toeing around him like he was made of glass. He didn't know why, but he hated to see something bother him to the point of not being able to sleep at night in the dorm room they shared.

"Why do you ask?" Tyler inquired, propping his chin on his hand.

Josh shrugged, eyes focusing on his meticulously color coordinated notes. "I don't know. I just- I have a feeling that we've met before."

"Uh, yeah, we have. We met when you got locked out of your dorm room freshman year and you needed someone to break you in. Then, you were locked out every day after that for a week just so I could come out and break in for you."

"No, I mean- yeah that's how we met, but-" he sighed, scratching fervently at the nape of his neck, the way he did when he was scared. "I mean before that. I know it sounds crazy but, I feel like we've met before. You know, in a different life."

They stared at each other for a moment before Tyler finally snorted, breaking their staring contest. Josh turned bright red in frustration, flicking a marshmallow from his hot chocolate at him.

"I'm sorry, you just looked so serious," he laughed.

"Dope? What are you, a stoner?" Josh rolled his eyes. "Don't laugh, I'm being serious."

"Why? That shit isn't real."

"What, second chances?"

Tyler nodded, leaning back in his chair and taking a big swing of his latte. "Exactly. If they were, then what, were we past lovers in another life, forbidden by time to be together until the perfect meeting could take place? Two big gays who couldn't be gay in any other time except for good ol' 2018."

Josh deadpanned. "Exactly." He grabbed a Hershey Kiss off of Tyler's computer, unwrapping it mindlessly. "I just had a feeling, you know?"

"I get it Now, shut up. I need to make a cheat sheet for histology."

"Fuckin' nerd."

Josh didn't let the topic go, though.

"What about reincarnation?" He asked one night while in the shower.

Tyler was sitting on a swivel chair, carefully shaving his head. Josh had just finished dying his hair blue and was washing out the excess dye.

"Reincarnation isn't real, sweetheart," he scoffed.

"How do you know?"

"Because Jesus didn't burn at the stake for fuck ups to just come back again."

"First off, it's Buddhism, and Jesus died on the cross, preacher's son."

He said it teasingly but there was a hint of hurt in his voice. Tyler turned off the clippers just as Josh stepped out of the shower, his pale blue hair shiny and sticking to his forehead.

"C'mere," he said, holding his arms out like a kid wanting to be picked up.

Josh slumped onto his boyfriend, neither bothered but being naked in front of each other. Tyler cupped his chin, littering his face with kisses. He didn't stop until Josh was a giggling mess, trying and failing to push him away.

"Okay, okay, I give!" He squealed, falling onto the floor in a fit of laughter.

Tyler nearly went down with him, holding onto the counter before the chair could tilt. "I'm sorry if I offended you with the whole Jesus thing. If it makes you feel any better, I feel the same way."

The way his eyes lit up could've made Tyler burst into flames. "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah, I mean, it's been a year since we've met and it feels like I've known you for a lifetime. Hell, we know things about each other that we've never told anybody else. Like the fact that I'm scared of the beach and you're scared of fire."

"Yeah." Josh perked up. "Did you know that unexplainable primitive fears are theorized to be tied to the way you died in a past life?"

"You're a fucking nerd, and I love you for it," Tyler cooed playfully, helping Josh off the floor. "And I'm not saying this just to make you feel better. A second chance would be amazing, you know why?"

"Why?"

"I'd get to fall in love with you all over again."