CATEGORY: supernatural au, angst
FEATURING: human!Josh and angel!Tyler
TRIGGER WARNINGS: LANGUAGE AND MENTIONS OF SUICIDE, PLEASE READ SAFELY!!!
PROMPT: Josh never believed in angels, until he met one.
WORD COUNT: Approximately 2,250
Fun fact -- I was inspired to write this story after seeing a vulture sitting on top of a telephone pole with its wings outstretched, very cool.

Nothing about Josh's day was beautiful, except for the angel.

He'd been walking to get the mail, the morning that he saw the angel. The mailbox was at the end of the long, winding dirt road that Josh lived on. It was his job to walk there every morning to pick it up.

Josh lived with his mother in a small house in the country. The land itself had belonged to the Dun family for ages, and was passed down for years before eventually landing in the hands of Josh's father. Josh had lived in the country all his life, and he knew it well. The forest was tricky, and you could get lost easily if you didn't know it, but Josh did. His father had taken him there since he was a little kid, teaching him about nature and showing him how to navigate it.

The sun was shining through the gaps in the trees, dappling the ground with pieces of light. It was a little chilly, but Josh had brought his sweatshirt, so he wasn't too cold.

Before long, Josh had arrived at the end of the road. He unlocked the mailbox, but it was just junk mail. He took the mail out and closed the box again, about to turn back towards the house, but he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. Squinting slightly in the light, he looked up, and he saw it.

A sparse line of telephone poles lined the main road, and perched upon the nearest one was a beautiful creature.

The first thing Josh saw was wings. Two massive, gorgeous wings, each one easily the length and size of a small car. They were a soft, beautiful white, with pale gray wing tips and feathers on the bottom. The wings were outstretched from the creature's back, facing the sun, and Josh was reminded of the large birds of prey that sometimes sat on the telephone poles to warm their wings before flight.

The wings were attached to the back of a boy, about Josh's size. He had dark, fluffy-looking brown hair, with caramel skin and closed eyes. He wasn't thin, but narrow--sort of delicate. Something about the boy was so beautiful, so perfectly ethereal, that it made Josh feel drab in comparison.

Slowly, carefully, Josh approached the telephone pole. He tried to be absolutely silent, so as not to startle him, and he kept his eyes locked on the boy's delicate figure and broad wings.

"It's okay, I know you're there," the boy said, without opening his eyes. His voice was as soft as his appearance.

"Are you an angel?" Josh asked quietly, as if trying not to spook a wild animal.

"I am."

Josh swallowed. There were so many questions running through his head, but his mind somehow couldn't get past one phrase in particular. "You're beautiful."

A smile appeared on the angel's face, and he opened his eyes--they were brown. "Thank you." His wings stretched out wider, and then he began to flap them, the sound of heavy wingbeats filling the air. Josh could only watch in awe as the angel was slowly but surely lifted into the sky.

It was only until the angel was almost out of sight that Josh thought to say anything. By then, however, it was too late; the angel was only a speck in the sky, and then he was gone.

----  ----  ----  ----

Over the course of the next few days, Josh decided that the incident with the angel had been only a fantasy. A dream, or perhaps a hallucination--he wasn't sure. All he was sure of was that angels weren't real.

On Thursday, Josh was laying in bed, basking in the sunlight coming through the windows. It was summer, albeit towards the end of the season, and it was always a little cold in the forest. The sun, however, was always warm, and Josh liked to take advantage of the natural heat in the afternoons.

Josh was comfortable, lying there on his bed, and he was just about to fall asleep when a large shadow quickly passed over the window, and the sunlight briefly disappeared.

This would have been unimportant, but then there was a thump on the roof, and that made Josh sit up. It sounded almost as if something had landed there. He could hear his dog, Jim, barking outside.

Quickly, he grabbed his sweatshirt from where it hung on his bedpost, and he ran through the house to the back door. Flinging open the door, he rushed outside to see the angel once more.

He was lightly seated on the side of the roof, wings partly unfolded. His doe eyes were settled on Jim, the pit bull, who was barking right at him. Jim didn't seem to be hostile nor friendly, but rather confused.

"It's you," Josh said quietly. He was, as before, a bit overcome by the angel's beauty.

The angel smiled. "Yeah, it's me."

Jim barked at the angel again, who sighed slightly. He slipped down the side of the roof, using his wings to keep him from falling too roughly as he landed on the solid ground. Crouching, the angel held out his hand to Jim. The dog sniffed the angel's hand for a moment before starting to wag his tail, and his barking ceased.

"Who are you?" Josh finally asked. "What are you doing here?"

"My name is Tyler Robert Joseph," the angel said with a smile, scratching behind Jim's ears. "I'm your guardian angel."

The feeling of awe that Josh had been filled with just a moment ago disappeared, and he suddenly felt cold. Some part of him wanted to deny the angel's words, rebuke him.

"Do you know my name?" he asked, instead.

Tyler stopped petting Jim for a moment, glancing up at the mortal boy. "It's Joshua, correct?"

"Yeah." Josh couldn't meet the angel's eyes, and he looked at the ground instead. "Joshua William Dun."

"I get the feeling you prefer to go by Josh." Tyler petted Jim a final time, then stood up the rest of the way. Up close, he was just about Josh's height. The boy was having a bit of trouble with Tyler's wings; they were huge, and they were completely unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was difficult not to stare at them.

"I can help you, you know," Tyler said, quietly, and the softness Josh had been feeling vanished again.

He turned away. "I don't need help."

Josh expected the angel to argue, but he only nodded, just slightly. "It's okay. You're not ready."

Without another word, Tyler began to slowly, but steadily flap his wings. He took a few quick steps forward, then leapt up into the air, and soared away.

Josh didn't try to call him back this time, either.

----  ----  ----  ----

Over the next few days, Tyler appeared to Josh again and again. One day, he was roosting in a tree in his backyard. Another time, he landed just outside Josh's window. Always, he remained outside, and he never appeared when any other person was around.

Every time he came, Josh would go outside to see him, and every time, the angel would offer his help. Every time, Josh refused, and then Tyler would fly away.

Over time, he began to grow angry. He didn't want Tyler's help; couldn't the angel see that? As far as Josh was concerned, he was perfectly fine. There was nothing broken to fix.

A week had passed since Josh's first encounter with the angel. The mortal boy was in his room, trying to read, when he heard heavy wingbeats, and the soft thump of Tyler's landing. Right on time.

Josh put his book down, frustrated, and went outside. He found Tyler not perched on the roof of the house, as he'd expected, but on the roof of the small workshop next to the house. His father's workshop.

"Hey!" Josh shouted. Anger was boiling in his stomach. "You can't be up there!"

"I'm sorry." Tyler slid down the side of the roof with ease, landing delicately on the ground. "I needed to get your attention. You keep pushing me away." Was it Josh's imagination, or did the angel look hurt?

"Of course I've been fucking pushing you away. I don't need you."

"I understand." Even though the mortal boy had stormed up to the angel, fists clenched, Tyler kept his voice steady. "I know what you're feeling. I'm your guardian angel."

Josh turned away, knuckles white from clenching them so hard. "You're not my guardian angel. I didn't ask for this."

"You're hurting." Tyler's voice went soft. "I would be, too, if I was in your place. Anyone would. I just want to help."

Help. Something about that word made the blood burn in Josh's body. He turned back to Tyler. "I don't need help," he spat.

"It's okay." The more angry Josh seemed to grow, the softer Tyler's voice went. "It's going to get better." Slowly, Tyler put his hand on the doorknob of the workshop. "He didn't do it because he didn't care about you, Josh. You need--"

Rage ignited in Josh like a lit match in gasoline. He swung his fist hard, and Tyler went down, falling against the workshop door and scrambling against it.

"You don't know what I fucking need!" Josh screamed at him. "You don't know what it's like, no matter how much you think you do." He pointed with one rigid finger to the workshop. "He fucking killed himself in there! You think I want to remember that?"

Tyler was shaking, a bruise already starting to form under one eye, and across his cheek. He didn't say a word.

Josh took a step back. He'd just punched an angel, but the anger inside him refused to let him feel guilt. "Go," he growled at Tyler, "and don't ever come near me or this place again."

Then he turned away, and ran back into the house. He didn't look back.

----  ----  ----  ----

Thunder crashed in the sky above as lightning struck the ground below. The wind howled just beyond Josh's window, and rain pelted the windowpanes.

The power had gone out over an hour ago, but Josh didn't care. He was huddled in the very corner of his bed, against the wall. Inexplicable, blind pain was grasping at him, making him struggle for breath. All the events of the past month were crashing down around him, and he could not deny them any longer.

Josh's father was dead, and he had been the one to find him.

It had been over a month since it had happened, and Josh's mother hardly left her room, much less spoke. Josh was left in charge now, and he had to do all the things his parents had once done, with no support. He was coldly, bitterly alone.

Despite the pain in his chest, and the grief clouding him, Josh could not cry. He had rubbed his eyes again and again, but no matter how he struggled, he couldn't do it. It was the only thing that he hoped would release him from pain's grip, but it would not come.

He hadn't seen Tyler in two days. 

After punching him, Josh had ran back into the house and thrown himself on his bed, but he'd been unable to cry then, either. Tyler was so pure, so beautiful, and he'd only been trying to help him. Josh knew this now. Josh knew all of this. He'd had a chance to get help, without judgement, and he'd thrown it away.

"I'm sorry." Shaking, Josh put his head in his hands, trying to breathe. "Fuck. Fuck, I'm so sorry. I'm fucking sorry!" he screamed.

Lightning flashed outside. In the doorway to Josh's room, there was nothing. Then, there was something.

The figure was shrouded in shadow, but the shape of his wings was unmistakable.

Slowly, Josh pulled his hands away from his face, staring at the figure.

Tyler ran to him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him like there was no tomorrow.

The storm raged outside of the house, but Josh didn't care. The world could have ended, right then and there, and he wouldn't have cared, because for the first time in weeks, he felt something. Something that wasn't pain, or fear, or anger.

This feeling was nameless, but it was far better than anything Josh had felt in a long time.

When their lips finally broke apart, they were both breathing heavily. Tyler's eyes were wide, and in the brief flashes of lightning outside, Josh could see the big purple bruise on the side of his face.

Very carefully, Josh stroked Tyler's cheek. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"I know," Tyler said softly, and then Josh was finally able to cry.

The angel held him as he cried painful, wracked sobs. Josh cried for his father, and he cried for his mother, and he cried for himself, and he cried for what he'd done to Tyler's beautiful face. He never should have let his anger control him.

Tyler didn't leave. He stayed there, holding him tightly in the darkness, brushing away the tears on Josh's face as they fell, rubbing his back, keeping him close.

When the tears finally stopped, the worst of the storm had moved on, and only a gentle rain was falling on the house. Tyler was still holding him, their bodies tangled together. His beautiful wings, illuminated in the moonlight, were wrapped around them both like a canopy.

"I need help," Josh whispered, and he felt the last bit of bitter pain in his chest retreat.

"That's what I'm here for," Tyler whispered back, cradling Josh's head against his neck, and in that moment, Josh knew he was going to be okay.