Trigger Warnings

//

Mentions of sexual assault
Mentions of suicidal thoughts
Drug use; marijuana

Start the song. It's Firefly by Grex.

It was a Tuesday when Brendon came into Josh's room with a hard look on his face and a determined skip in his step. Tyler was out on a deal, leaving Josh alone in their bed, curled against the wall with a pillow wrapped in his arms. He wasn't asleep, Brendon knew that. He had heard them arguing shortly before Tyler left, and he knows Josh can't go back to sleep after being woken up by anything. He closed the door behind him and stood next to the edge of the bed before speaking. "Josh," he said quietly, but sternly.

Josh hummed in response, his eyes opening to stare at the wall, but no attempt was made to look at Brendon.

Brendon sighed. "Josh, you haven't gone to school two weeks," he deadpanned, his arms folded across his chest. "You can't just miss days of school without any forward notice, they'll wind up dropping you from class and eventually they'll drop you from the university. You need to get up and go to class."

Josh stayed silent for a few moments before turning around and facing Brendon. "Why should I?"

Brendon huffed. "You should go because you have a thousand scholarships paying your way through school," he started. "Because your dad said if you don't continue going to school, he's going to find a way to move you to Reno. Because your mom wanted you to go to school, be a lawyer, and have a better life. Because your friends are fucking worried about you, thinking that you're going to hide away and rot inside this goddamn bedroom. Because you're not going to waste your life away in this fucking town, you're going to get out of here and you're going to be somebody. That's why you should go."

Josh thought it over for a second. "Those are all great reasons," he said softly as he rolled back to face the wall. "Too bad they aren't enough."

Brendon sighed in frustration. "Josh—"

"You know what I see every time I close my eyes, Bren?"

Brendon stayed silent as he watched and listened to Josh.

"Every time I close my eyes," he started, almost in a pained whisper, "I see his face. I see Brad Heaton's smug fucking face as he threw my body against the mirrors in that fucking bathroom and made me watch. Made me watch as he ripped my jeans down and took something from me that I can't get back. Some mornings, I don't want to get out of bed. Some mornings, I don't want to wake up at all. There have been nights where Tyler has had to drag my body out of the bathtub because I was trying to drown myself. I'm not asking you to understand what I went through that night, Brendon, God I would never ever wish that upon somebody. I'm just asking for some patience. Please."

Brendon had tears in his eyes as he shook his head and sat on the edge of Josh's bed. "Can you do me one favor, please?"

Josh hummed as he wiped his own tears away.

"Can you at least try to eat something?" Brendon's voice was pleading at this point as he reached over and barely put his hand where Josh's feet where under the covers. "You haven't eaten in days and I don't want you to get sick or hurt yourself any worse."

After a moment, Josh nodded and lightly threw the covers back before allowing Brendon to help him out of bed. Once they were both standing, they wrapped each other in a tight hug and softly cried against each other. "You're my brother, Josh," Brendon said softly. "I want you to be safe more than I want you to be smart, but I still want you to be smart. Promise me you'll try to go back to school? Maybe on Friday so you'll only have to worry about one day before the weekend?"

Josh nodded softly. "Friday," he agreed quietly. "I'll go Friday."

Brendon nodded, pulling away from Josh gently before leading them both in the kitchen where Hayley was finishing laying breakfast across the bar. Once she saw them, she smiled gently. "Hi, honey," she said to Josh gently. "How'd you sleep?"

Josh shrugged. "Not as well as I could have, honestly," he answered softly as he sat down at the bar. "You?"

Hayley smiled. "Better than I should have," she said with a soft nod.

Josh chuckled gently as he took a plate Brendon was holding out to him and started putting small amounts of food on it. The three of them ate with small bouts of chatter before Ashley and Dom came strolling in the front door and Ryan came stumbling sleepily out of his and Brendon's room.

Between the five friends, they all made Josh laugh at least twice each, watching as color visibly came back to his skin and the light come back into his eyes. He looked like a person again, and it almost made Brendon cry again just looking at him.

Everything shifted however, when Hayley's phone rang and she answered it softly. "Hello," she started, her smile falling from her face. "Yes, this is she? Um. Right. Okay. Is there a bail posted?"

At those words, Josh and Brendon were looking at each other nervously.

"Right. No, I'm going to pay it," she said with a sigh. "I'll be there in an hour. Thank you."

As she hung up the phone, questions started pouring from the other five, but she held up a hand to silence all of them as she put the phone back to her ear. After a few moments, she smiled to herself. "Daddy," she said into the receiver, "I need a favor. I need to bail someone out of jail. Yes, I'm serious." Another few moments later her eyes went wide. "That will work just fine, Daddy, thank you. I need to be up there in an hour, can you have it wired by then? Cool. Thank you, Daddy. Love you. Bye."

She hung up the phone and looked at everyone's wide eyed expressions. She cleared her throat. "That was Cook County Corrections. Tyler got arrested on his deal and they've set his bail at the minimum of $25,000." Everyone went dead silent as Hayley continued speaking. "Luckily, for me, Daddy's feeling a little more guilty because he actually knocked up his mistress, so he's wiring me about twice that much to get him out. Ryan, I want you to go with me."

Ryan nodded without question and kissed Brendon's cheek before heading to the bedroom to change his clothes. "Did Tyler ask you to bail him out," Brendon asked lowly.

Hayley shook her head. "No," she said as she walked over to the front door and slipped her shoes on. "I'm in his emergency contacts, and I guess no one answered other than me. The reason I offered to pay the bail is because it isn't my money I'm spending, it's my philandering father's, so I don't give a shit. Also," she continued, pointing at Josh, "I knew you'd offer to pay it with the money your mom left you, meaning you'd call the school and have them drop you so you'd get it all back just to get him out and I'm not letting you do that. So."

Josh sunk in his chair, slightly kicking his feet against the bar. Hayley was right. That's exactly what he would've done, and he hated that, but he knew that he'd do it and nothing would stop him if he had the opportunity. So he just sat and watched as Hayley and Ryan bid everyone goodbye before leaving the house to go bail his boyfriend out of jail.

*     *     *

It seemed like hours that Josh and Brendon sat in the living room, passing a joint back and forth, before the front door was opening and they were shooting off of the couch to greet Hayley, Ryan and Tyler. Upon sight, Josh nearly stumbled away from his boyfriend with tears in his eyes. Tyler looked like someone had used his face as a punching bag, the way his left eye was nearly swollen shut and bruised, his lip was split all the way down the middle and his nose was completely black and purple. "What happened to you," Josh said softly as he reached forward and left a featherlight touch on Tyler's cheek.

Tyler attempted to smile, taking Josh's hand in his. "You should see the other guys."

Josh shook his head. "Seriously, Ty, what happened?"

Tyler sighed as sat on the couch. "Let's just say some of the people in Cook County don't really appreciate my presence, and the uniforms don't really give a shit what goes on in the cells."

"Fuck," Josh said softly. "Are you okay?"

Tyler nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm alright baby," he said softly. "Luckily Hayley and Ryan showed up before it got the chance to get any worse." He leaned over and looked at Hayley who had her feet propped up on the coffee table from the chair. "Thank you again, Hayley, for bailing me out. I can't thank you enough."

"You literally already have," Hayley said jokingly. "If you thank me one more time, I'm going to give you another black eye to match that one."

The five friends in the living room laughed gently as Dom and Ashley came in from the back room. "Hey, guys," Dom said with a smile before looking at Tyler. "Fuck dude, what happened to you?"

The five in the living room looked at him and - in unison - said, "You should see the other guys."