pairing: climbing class
summary: It’s the second anniversary of the death of Josh’s sister and Chris is determined to be there for him.
warnings: death mention, graves & such
words: 1,502
a / n: prompt two from this
The first year of his sister’s disappearances, rather deaths as he knows know, had been the hardest for Josh. He honestly believed that the prank he pulled would help him cope, and he thought his friends would appreciate it; he thought he was helping.
Though, when they left the mountain, everyone was questioned, sent to the hospital, and Josh was put back on his medication. After that they didn’t really spend as much time with him as they used to together, everyone paired off. Matt and Emily resolved their issues, confessed to all they’d done wrong, and now they’re happy again, Mike and Jess are closer than ever after the whole thing, and Sam has been hanging out with Chris and Ashley, who to Josh’s dismay, don’t seem to be giving any romantic interest in each other at all anymore, let alone sexual.
With a sigh, Josh ran his fingers through his hair. Today was the second anniversary of his sister’s death, but this time he had no giant prank planned, just some moping around the house. He hoped maybe Chris or Sam would come over and visit, because even though they had been a bit jumpy around him –Chris especially considering a lot of his horror he went through was directly linked with him and not only the Psycho – they were still there for him and they seemed to warming up to him again.
Josh got no sleep that night, but pretended to be asleep when his mom came in to wake him up. Feigning waking up, he sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes with a yawn. “Is anyone coming over today?” he mom asked, hand resting on his shoulder. “One of your friends?”
“Uh..” Josh looked over at his phone and saw that there was already a text from Chris saying he’d be over in an hour about thirty minutes ago. “Yeah, Chris is coming over.” His mom nodded and smiled, kissing his forehead.
“Okay, I wanted to make sure, because I didn’t want to leave you here otherwise. Your dad and I will be out, if you need anything just call us.” Josh stayed in bed, waiting for Chris. He heard his mom shout bye from downstairs and shouted back. Next the he heard the door open tagged along with a quick, “Don’t forget your medication!” The boy hummed and grabbed his medicine from the surface beside him, taking it with the warm glass of water from the night before. After that he exhaled softly and hid his face back in his pillows. He wasn’t sure how long afterwards it was when he heard a knock at his window before he heard it opening. Slowly raising his head he saw Chris heavily panting with sweat beading down the side of his face as he literally fell into his room.
“Bro, what are you doing?” Josh lightly laughed. Even though he couldn’t deny the emptiness he was feeling, seeing Chris did raise his spirits a bit, especially seeing him in the manner he was in.
“Well, your..” Chris paused to catch his breath, holding his hand up as he leaned against the wall near the window, “your doorbell wasn’t working..” he finished.
“Again?” Josh commented, trying to hide his amused smirk.
“Yes, Josh, again. Do you think I climbed up to your second story window for nothing – do you have any idea how hard that is?”
Josh bit his lip, sitting up and swinging his legs off of the side of the bed. “Chris?”
“Yeah, bro?”
“Did you try knocking?” Chris looked up at Josh and opened his mouth before closing it again. “Chris, how could you ¬forget to try knocking?” Josh shook his head at his best friend before sitting down on the ground next to him. The room went quiet and the two scooted closer, Josh letting his head fall on Chris’ shoulder. “Cochise?”
“Yeah, Josh?”
“Can we go visit their graves?” Josh asked silently, and he knew that even though he didn’t say names or anything Chris knew who he meant.
“Yeah, yeah, we can.”
“And, if you don’t mind too much, maybe through the front door?” Josh said, lifting the mood of the atmosphere up. Chris gave a soft glare behind his glasses before huffing and standing up with Josh.
“Oh, did you take your medicine?” Chris asked and Josh waved him off with a yes.
Since Chris had already been outside and dressed in way too many layers he had to wait while he forced Josh to at least wear a jacket, even though the older boy whined about it how it wasn’t even that old out.
As soon as they stepped outside Chris watched Josh take his jacket off and tie it around his waist. The two shared eye contact and Chris knew not to say anything. The walk to the graveyard was pretty silent as for conversation, there would be small talk here or there, but for the most part they just walked.
“Sam couldn’t come, she apologized, but her family was having this big reunion and she wasn’t allowed to miss it. If you’re wondering why she’s not here, she told me to tell you in person.”
“Oh.. at least you’re here.”
It took them twenty minutes to get to their destination, and Chris was feeling pretty smug considering he saw Josh slip his jacket back on. Internally he counted that as a victory for himself.
“Chris, do you think it’s my fault?” Josh asked, looking over at his best friend as they neared the graves they came for, his voice coming out small and vulnerable.
“What? Your sisters? No, it could never be your fault, Josh.” Chris comforted, letting a hand rub soothingly on the small of Josh’s back.
“Do you think it’s your fault?”
Chris looked down and shrugged. “I don’t know.” he replied shortly, stopping Josh when his eyes laid on the tombstones for the Washingtons. It was pretty big and fancy compared to everyone else’s. It was easy to tell that these tombstones belonged to late members of a rich family.
The two sat down in front of the graves and Josh almost immediately started spilling tears. Chris started rubbing his back again, whispering what he hoped were calming words. He didn’t move when Josh buried his face in his chest, or when he noticed that tears and snot were on his jacket; he could clean it later. “Just let it out, bro.”
This went on for a while, and Chris’ leg started cramping but he still refused to move. What Josh was doing now was a healthy way to mourn his sister’s death. It was a whole lot better than what he tried to do last year. Even though it’s been a year Chris still has nightmares and every time he sees Josh he can’t help by remember the way he felt when he thought he was dead – when he thought he killed him.
Looking down at Josh he slowly leaned down and pressed a light kiss into his hair. At this Josh looked up at Chris and sniffed, rubbing the tears from his eyes and just hugging him. Chris was surprised by this at first but returned the hug nonetheless, letting a few tears fall himself. “It’s okay, everything’s okay, Josh. I’ll make sure.” he whispered.
“Thanks.. for.. for everything, really,” Josh said in between sniffles, moving into a more comfortable position. He ended pretty much sitting in Chris’ lap, head resting back on his shoulder, using the large cushion of his layers to his advantage. Letting his stinging eyes droop closed, he sniffled again before falling into unconsciousness.
When he woke up he first realized his sleep had been dreamless, but the next thing he noticed was how cozy and warm he was, the third thing was his friend’s face hovering over his. Blinking his eyes open in order to adjust them, he sat up with a yawn. “What happened?”
“You fell asleep so.. I let you sleep,” Chris said, lightly shoving Josh up and he complied, stretching a bit before standing up. All of what happened before he fell asleep came rushing back to him and he fondly smiled.
“Thanks, Cochise.”
“My pleasure.”
The two stood up and stretched and Chris complained about how his feet fell asleep and Josh replied with a sassy comment and there they fell right back into their usual, happy banter as if last year never happened.
Chris was playfully pushing Josh when he yelped and fell into an open grave and Josh fell to his knees and peered over the edge of the grave and started laughing at his friend. “If only you saw your face, bro!” he called to the other, ignoring his grumpy glare.
“Josh, there are bugs down here! Get me out!” Chris shrieked, jumping to his feet and brushing the dirt off from his clothes, arms reaching towards Josh helplessly with a pout. Josh almost fell in himself from laughing so hard.
k so after playing skinwalker and watching cry play until dawn my wendigo obsession is back so anyone who likes wendigos SPAM ME WITH THEM JUST SPAM ME MMMM JUST FUCK ME UP
