Work Text:
When Tyler gets out of the shower his phone has three missed calls and one new message.
They were all from Josh.
Tyler frowns, hoping everything is okay and dials his voicemail.
Right away the connection is loud. There is some sort of noise that only translates into static over the phone.
Josh was raising his voice over the noise, but Tyler still has to strain to hear what he is saying.
"Tyler...
It's Josh.
You're not answering."
His voice hitches over the phone and Tyler's instantly worried.
"Um...
...my car...
I crashed it and went off a bridge.
I'm underwater and my leg is trapped."
Tyler doesn't understand what he's hearing, he doesn't understand what Josh is saying. Why he's saying these things.
Why he's calling Tyler when he should be safe at home.
"Water's coming in..."
His voice continues and Tyler suddenly understands the static noise over the phone. The noise of rushing water over a bad connection. And Tyler suddenly has to believe that what Josh is saying is true.
When his voice returns over the line it's tight with panic.
"Tyler?...
I love you.
And I'm sorry."
He chokes off and Tyler listens to the static over the phone, listens to the sound of water filling up Josh's car.
When he's back again, Josh's voice sounds calm.
"I'm not gonna make it out of this one.
...I'm cold. I can't-"
And Tyler can't make out the next few words. The water is too loud and Josh grows too quiet.
"...I love you, Tyler."
His voice comes back strong again,
"I wish I could have-"
And then his voice disappears beneath an odd warbling noise. Tyler listens for a few seconds until the message beeps.
As soon as it does he hits the call back button and listens to his ring, his heart in his throat.
"Please, please," he hears himself whispering, "c'mon, please."
Tyler gets the voicemail and hangs up before calling again.
He's crying and begging for the call to be picked up but no one answers.
"C'mon!" he hears himself screaming as he hits redial, "Answer!"
Tyler calls again and again, his anger eventually reducing to hysterical tears and clinging to the thought that if he'd made it out of the shower a couple minutes earlier, he might've gotten to say goodbye.