A/N I apologize for the long wait and what's about to happen.

"You okay Tyler? You don't look so great," Josh said as he walked up behind Tyler to join him on his way to his first class.

"I'm fine," Tyler assured his concerned friend, although to Josh it sounded more as though he was trying to convince himself he was fine.

"You sure? You look really tired and... I don't know. Depressed."

At that word, Tyler whipped his head around and snapped, "I told you, I'm fine. Come on, we have to get to math." With that, he marched off and into the classroom, leaving Josh to trail behind.

"Morning Tyler," their teacher said as he entered the room. He ignored her greeting and kept his head down until he made it to the back of the class, where he sat down and laid his head across his folded arms on the desk. Josh frowned at this. Tyler always made a huge effort to be friendly with the teachers, and he had never seen him ignore them like that before. He just shrugged and sat down two desks from the front; obviously Tyler wasn't in the mood for talking to people, and even though Josh wanted desperately to know what was up with him, he decided to respect the boy's desire to be alone.

The class soon started with the teacher explaining some confusing new geometry concept, and then she passed out a sheet to work on for the rest of class. Josh thanked her as he took his, then watched as she worked her way to the back, where Tyler was sitting, his head still resting on his arms.

"Tyler," she said, trying to pass him the paper. "Tyler!" she repeated a bit louder, causing him to stir. "Here's your math sheet."

He nodded and took it, but rather than picking up his pencil and starting it, Josh noticed him just lay it down beside him and put his head back down. This was very unlike Tyler. He always got his work done, and hated homework, and so made sure to finish everything in class.

Josh turned back to his own page and bit the end of his pencil. It all looked very confusing, but he needed to get it finished so Tyler could use his answers if he wanted. An hour later, the bell rang to dismiss class, and Josh packed up his stuff with only one incomplete question left. He stood up and put his bag on over his shoulders before turning to wait for Tyler. When he did, he noticed the boy still had his head down on the desk, and hadn't moved to get ready for the next class. When he approached him, Josh realized Tyler must have fallen asleep at some point during the class.

"Ty," he said, shaking him gently. "Come on, you have to wake up so we can get to class." Tyler groaned a bit before lazily throwing his bag over one shoulder and grabbing his binder, then followed Josh out to the hall.

"Come on," Josh said once they exited the room, grabbing the boy by the wrist and dragging him off towards the front door. Tyler winced a bit, but didn't say anything, except to ask where they were going.

"Out. I was thinking maybe a Starbucks or something," Josh told him, still pulling his friend behind him.

"But we'll miss class," Tyler said, although he made no effort to get away.

"Not like you were doing anything anyway. C'mon, one little skip won't hurt."

Tyler shrugged and they made their way out into the humid parking lot of the school. Thankfully there was no sun, as it was already incredibly warm, and that only would have made it worse.

"Can you, uh... can you let go of my arm now please?" Tyler asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Josh apologized, letting go and leading the way to the nearest Starbucks.

Once there, Josh opened the door to let Tyler in, then went in after him and closed it again.

"Pick a seat," he said. "I'll go grab us something to drink."

Tyler nodded and headed off to find a good seat. He ended up picking one in the corner, where a window was situated above one of the chairs but faced a wall, so light could come in but no one would be walking past and see them skipping. Tyler sat down and waited as Josh ordered some drinks for them then came back and sat across from him.

"Okay, seriously," Josh said once he was seated. "What's wrong? You're not acting like yourself today, and you don't look too great either."

"It doesn't matter," Tyler muttered, swirling the straw around in his drink.

"Yeah, it does. Come on, you can tell me anything."

Tyler just shook his head, still not looking at the boy across from him. Josh sighed and took a sip from his drink while he tried to think of something to change the topic.

"Do you find it warm in here?" he asked, realizing he was actually sweating due to the heat. Tyler just shrugged as Josh slid his hoodie off and put it on the back of the chair he was sitting on. "You going to take yours off? Josh asked, noticing Tyler also seemed to be affected by the heat in the restaurant.

"No," he said, still stirring his drink.

"You sure? You look pretty warm."

"I'm fine."

"Come on, at least roll up your sleeves or something. It's boiling in here," Josh said, reaching across the table to roll up his friends sleeves. Tyler jerked his arms back before Josh could reach them, and looked at him angrily for a second. As soon as his sleeves were out of reach, his gaze softened again and he continued playing with his drink.

"Why won't you take off your jacket, Ty?" Josh asked, confused.

"You'll get mad at me," he said quietly, still not looking up.

Josh looked at him for a moment, still not understanding, before realization dawned on him and he clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Ty... please tell me you didn't..." he didn't need to finish. Tyler knew exactly what he was asking, and was already nodding. Without him realizing it, a tear slid down his face and landed with a tiny splash on the table.

"Oh god... Tyler, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you come talk to me? You know I'll always be here for you, no matter what."

"I-I didn't want to annoy you, or be a burden. I suppose I already am anyway," Tyler said through heavy breaths, obviously struggling not to start crying.

"No Ty, of course you aren't," Josh assured him, getting up and going over to the other boy's chair so he could wrap him in a much needed hug. "Here, can I see?" he asked cautiously, gripping the light fabric of Tyler's hoodie between his fingers, but waiting for him to answer before he did anything beyond that. Tyler's teary eyes made contact with Josh's dark brown ones and he gave a single nod. Josh nodded back to him as a sort of reassurance that he wouldn't do anything to hurt him, physically or emotionally, and gently pulled the sleeve up.

Scattered across Tyler's lower arm and wrist were rows and rows of small cuts. None of them were too deep or long, but the quantity of them made up for it. Josh felt his eyes stinging with tears, but forced himself not to let them fall, knowing Tyler would blame himself and think he had done something drastically wrong. Which he had, but Josh wasn't going to show it, because he knew it would only make things worse.

With shaking hands, Josh raised the sliced skin to his face and planted tiny kisses on each and every scar, before pulling Tyler's sleeve back down and letting go of his arm.

"There," he said with a sad smile once he had finished. "Better?"

Tyler nodded and gave a small smile back, but it was clearly forced, and Josh saw right through it.

"Please promise me you won't do it again," Josh said to him. "If you need to talk to me, don't hesitate. You're my best friend, and I'll do anything to help you; asking for a bit of help doesn't in any way make you a burden or an annoyance. I just want to make sure you're happy."

Tyler smiled again, this time genuinely, and wrapped Josh's hand around his own. "Thank you," he whispered, looking down at his shoes. Josh just squeezed his friend's hand tighter, and they sat there together for the rest of the class.

A/N Well, that was a terrible ending to the chapter. Oh well. Also, just thought it was funny; you know how when you're typing on an iPhone or something it gives you recommendations for what word to put next, usually based on stuff you've said before? Yeah, well when I put "emotional", it said the next word should be "train wreck" (which is actually two words, but that's what it said). I don't know if it says that normally, or of it just thinks that phrase suits me. Guess that's all.