Trigger Warnings

//

Alcohol use
Mentions of drug use; cocaine, marijuana
Implied Rape
Mentions of blood
PLEASE DISREGARD THIS CHAPTER IF YOU THINK YOU WILL BE TRIGGERED BY ANY OF THESE.

Wait to start the song.

The summer flew by in a drunken, drug induced haze. Josh kept up with work and made sure that he had everything ready for school, but it still felt to him like he wasn't ready; that he shouldn't be doing this. He felt like he was rushing into things too soon after so much trauma had happened to him over the last three months, and the only things that really kept him grounded were Tyler and his friends.

There had been some drunken, coke incited fights between him and Tyler, nights where they had almost put each other's heads through the walls, but they were always quick to dress each other's wounds and make love as an apology the next morning. No one said anything about how absolutely dangerous their relationship was for both of them, but they seemed happy. They didn't hate each other, never once would you hear Tyler tell Josh he hated him, or vice versa. That didn't mean the relationship was healthy, not by any means, but they loved it.

Within a couple weeks of classes, their fights started to lighten up and become less frequent. Brendon and Hayley decided that the time apart they spent while Josh was in classes helped them a lot because they weren't constantly around one another and they had time to breathe. When they were together again, it was nothing but love and whispered 'I missed yous' and 'I love yous.' They were happy, and everyone was happy for them.

After Josh's first full month was over, Brendon decided it would be a good idea to go clubbing in celebration of Josh making it this far. Everyone agreed, and they spent most of the entire day that Saturday getting ready; the girls changing their outfits multiple times so they could have 'photo shoots' and the boys passing a joint back and forth in the living room.

When it was good and dark outside, they all piled into Dom and Ryan's cars and headed toward the only club in town they knew they could get into. Mark was the bouncer, and Tyler and Hayley's best friend, so they were able to bypass getting IDs checked. The first thing they did upon entering was order a round of tequila shots for the six of them - excluding Ryan - knock them back, and proceed to the dance floor.

Josh and Tyler stayed pretty much pressed up against each other for the first 45 minutes they were there, dancing and grinding on each other like no one was watching. Which, to be fair, was pretty much true, considering there had to have been 200 people packed in this club, it was hard to focus your attention on any specific persons.

During one of the slower tempo songs, Josh shouted to Tyler that he was going to get them another shot, and waltzed to the bar to order the drinks. As he waited for the bartender, a hand on his shoulder caused him to turn around and be met with a face he didn't recognize. "Can I help you," he shouted over the music.

The stranger smiled at him and leant down to his ear level. "I've got a couple things you can help me with, pretty thing," he breathed out, his breathe smelling grotesquely of fermented alcohol and cigarette smoke.

Josh snatched his arm away with an uncomfortable laugh. "Sorry, friend," he said with a slight grimace, "my boyfriend is out on the floor."

The man made a slight tutting noise before grabbing his arm again, his time more harshly than last. "You just sayin' that to get rid of me?"

Josh went to pull his arm away again, but he could barely move it. "No, and let me go," he gritted out. "Dude, you're fucking hurting me, let go!"

Just then, another hand grabbed his other side and yanked him back while pushing the other man away. "Woah there, Heaton," Brendon's voice said with that amused malice he likes to use against assholes, "why don't you go put your hands on somebody who actually wants you to, or we'll make sure you never put your hands on anyone ever again."

"That a threat, Urie?" The man - Heaton - crosses his arms over his chest as he looked at Brendon challengingly.

"Yeah," Brendon answered without missing a beat, "it is."

Behind Brendon and Josh, Ryan and Dom walked up, followed by Mark as they all stared him down menacingly. Without another word but an abrupt shake of his head, Heaton stalked off in the opposite direction of them, allowing Josh to let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Bren," he said just loud enough to be heard over the music.

Brendon nodded curtly. "Where's Tyler?"

They headed back in the direction of where Josh had left him, only to find him sitting at a darkened table in the corner with Pete Wentz beside him, both of them laughing as they shared a couple of lines between them.

"Tyler!" Brendon's voice was raised as he ushered Josh forward.

Tyler looked up and smiled widely as his eyes landed on Josh. "Hey, baby," he said. "What took you so long? Pete showed up and offered me a couple lines—."

"Shut up," Brendon said as Josh sat down next to Tyler. "Your boy was over getting man handled at the bar by some prick."

"What?" Tyler's voice sounded shocked and scared as Brendon glared at him.

"Next time," he continued, "pay more attention to your boyfriend than your addiction."

Josh watched with a heavy sigh as Brendon marched back through the crowd, probably to find Ryan and get another drink as Tyler out a hand on his thigh. "Hey," he said softly, "are you okay? I'm so sorry I wasn't there, Josh, I—."

"No, no," he said quickly, turning a putting his hand on Tyler's. "I said I was going to get drinks, I didn't think I'd need an entire escort service to protect me from assholes at the bar. I'm fine. Really."

Tyler sighed, stroking a hand through Josh's hair. "If you say so," he said softly. He then motioned to the table. "You wanna do a line with us?"

Josh contemplated it, but shook his head. "I think I'm good this time around," he said with a smile. "I am gonna go to the bathroom, though. Can you point me to it?"

Tyler nodded softly and pointed him in the direction of the restrooms. "Do you want me to go with you?"

Josh shook his head. "Nah, I got it," he said with a smile as he leaned over and pecked Tyler's lips. "I'll be right back."

Josh stumbled through the crowd of people to get to the bathroom and almost sighed in relief when he reached it. As he reached the urinal and I did his jeans, he heard the door open and close behind him, along with the clicking of a lock.

!! Implied Rape Scene! Please Skip to Next A/N !!

Before Josh could realize what was going on, a hand was clasped around his mouth and a body was shoving his against the wall. "Where're your body guards now, sweet thing?"

After about 15 minutes, Tyler was starting to get worried. He left the table without saying anything to Pete and stumbled through the hoard of people to get to the bathroom. He reached the corridor and walked briskly to the men's room door, knocking on it tentatively. "Josh," he called through the door. "Josh, are you in there?"

When he pushed the door open, his eyes fell on his boyfriend, jeans pulled past his knees as he laid in the fetal position on the ground. Tyler swore violently as he fell to the ground next to him and tried to pry his hands from his face. "Josh," he spoke loudly, "Josh, baby, look at me!"

Josh couldn't do anything except cry as he scrambled to cling to Tyler's lap, his body feeling like it was on fire and in so much pain. Tyler reached down and gently tugged up Josh's underwear and jeans before taking his face in his hands. "Baby, who did this?" Tyler's eyes were filled with rage as he spoke to Josh calmly. "Who did this to you?"

!! Scene Over !!

Josh was almost hyperventilating as he dug his nails into the skin where he was holding Tyler's arms, his voice raw and rough. He couldn't speak, just held onto Tyler like he was his only form of life support. Tyler swore again as he helped Josh off of he floor and out of the bathroom. They stumbled almost blindly though the crowd until they found where Ryan was seated with Dom and Ashley and he sat Josh down gently beside him. "Where's Brendon?"

Ryan immediately sat up. "He went to the bar," he said with furrowed brows. "What's going on?"

Tyler just shook his head. "Get Josh home," he said sternly. "Get him in the bath and make him drink water or something. I'm going to find Brendon."

Before anyone could ask what was going on, Tyler was bounding away to find Brendon. When he reached him, he put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around. "Who's the prick that was hitting on Josh earlier?"

Brendon furrowed his brows. "Brad Heaton," he said. "He was almost all over him until we got there and put a stop to it."

"You didn't do a very good job," Tyler said through gritted teeth. "You're gonna help me find him, and I'm gonna fucking kill him."

"Wait, Ty," he said as he followed him out onto the floor, "what happened?"

"I think he just raped Josh," Tyler said with fire dancing behind his eyes.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Brendon was fuming and it was a manhunt to find Heaton. Within the next 10 minutes, Brendon spotted him sneaking out of the back exit and Tyler pulled a pocket knife out of his boot as they followed him outside.

——

Ashley rubbed Josh's shoulders gently as they lay in his bed. They had gotten him in the bath with no trouble, but it had taken a bit of convincing to get him to drink some water. He was traumatized, of course he was, and the blood that tinted the bath water a slight shade of pink didn't leave any of them to wonder what had happened.

"Josh, honey," she whispered softly, "is there anything I can get you? Anything I can do right about now?"

Josh just sniffed slightly, shaking his head. "Wh-Where's Tyler?"

Ashley sighed gently. "He and Brendon should be home soon," she whispered. "You should try and get some sleep. I'm not going anywhere until Tyler gets back, so I'll be right here if you have a nightmare or if you need absolutely anything at all. Okay?"

Josh didn't answer, just have a slight nod of his head. He was drifting back and forth between sleep when he heard his bedroom door open and felt Ashley slip from behind him. He was about to panic slightly before Tyler was coming to lay in front of him, immediately pulling him into his arms. "Hi, baby," he whispered softly.

Josh didn't say anything back, he just started crying again, burying his face in his boyfriend's chest as he cycle through all of the pain he couldn't get rid of. Tyler cried, too, because he knew his boy was in so much pain, both mentally and physically.

After about an hour, they had both stopped crying and Josh was toying with the end of Tyler's shirt. "Who's blood is this?"

Tyler looked down at the small splatters of blood on his shirt and shrugged lightly. "Not mine."

Josh nodded. He knew whose it was. "Did you kill him?"

Tyler shook his head. "Brendon stopped me," he said softly. "I would have, though. I really would have."

Josh nodded again. "I'm glad you didn't."

Tyler chuckled dryly. "Why's that?"

"I wouldn't want you going to jail," Josh answered, looking up at Tyler with soft eyes. "I like having you around too much."

Tyler smiled and stroked Josh's cheek with his thumb. "I'm not going anywhere, baby," he said softly. "You can count on that."