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Nico’s presence is unmistakeable. Tyler barely has time to realise that something’s changed before he sees Nico’s image on the TV screen. Tyler swallows the bitter taste in his mouth. Josh is just in the next room, and thus he is now in danger if this goes bad. Sure, Tyler managed to convince the Downstairs that he is planning on tempting the angel, but he also knows that eventually they’d check on his progress. There’s only so many lies he can feed them before they’d do something.
Tyler sets his jaw and crosses his arms, tilting his head and looking at the screen lazily.
“Prince Nico,” says Tyler, his voice loud so Josh would hear him and stay away from the room. He can’t risk exposing them. “To what do I owe the unpleasure?”
“You got a mouth on you,” says Nico with a grumble, and Tyler raises his eyebrows as if surprised.
“I wasn’t aware that Hell cared for how I speak,” he says lazily, and he sees Nico’s empty eyes glint with anger. He walks a thin line here, provoking one of the Niners, Nico himself even, but he is relatively safe in the confines of his home. The pigs will fly before Nico decides to leave his throne to actually enact revenge on him for something this minor. “Is this a social call, Prince Nico? I’m actually in the middle of something here.”
Their first album is about to come out later this week, and they have been working almost non-stop for the last month to actually bring it to life. Tyler thinks that it is one of the greatest things they have ever made together. The fact that he managed to hint at his bosses in some of the songs is also a huge accomplishment for him. Demons are too stupid to decipher it, but he is still glad to have it in his music — it makes everything more meaningful and deep.
“That is just that, Tyler,” says Nico and smiles, and Tyler immediately feels uneasy. “You probably won’t have much time left for your little musical fantasy.”
“What does that mean?” Tyler tenses. He hated being left out. Realistically, he knows that there are many things that he cannot account for, but it still pains him every time to know just how much he could be missing.
“The Armageddon has been set in motion.”
Tyler blanches. He forces himself to appear calm but everything in his head crumbles. How is it happening so soon? Why? He doesn’t know. He only knows that he now has about eleven years before everything changes forever. This little life that he made for himself? It will be gone when the Antichrist reaches age. He will have nothing left. And he will lose Josh along with it, because they are on the opposite sides of this infinite warfare. It doesn’t matter who wins — they’d be separated forever.
Tyler doesn’t remember how the talk with Nico ended. He doesn’t remember sliding down the wall and hitting the floor. He remembers, though, looking at his singed hands and feeling hot tears run down his face. Demons aren’t supposed to cry. They aren’t even supposed to be able to, but it doesn’t stop him from breaking down on the floor of his own living room.
“…going on? Tyler?” Someone says, and it takes an agonising second for Tyler to remember that Josh is still in his apartment. And now Josh sees him like this, and Tyler wants to scream. He hates himself for breaking apart, he hates that Josh sees him like this, and he hates that he’d need to explain everything to him now.
But Tyler can’t quite talk yet, so Josh moves to sit on his knees and put his arms around Tyler’s shoulders.
“Whatever it is, we’ll go through it, together,” he whispers, and Tyler only sobs louder. Because they won’t, not really. The reality is that one of them will eventually be gone forever, because this time the war won’t end unless there’d be a clear victor afterwards. If Tyler’s lucky, he’d be erased from the existence before he’d have to face his only friend in a battle. But that’s all he can hope for.
“Please, tell me what’s wrong,” Josh pleads, and Tyler just can’t refuse him. He coughs, his voice is hoarse, he barely breathes, but he somehow manages to respond.
“The Armageddon is on,” he says, and he feels a void forming inside him.
Josh stills right next to him. “Heavens,” he whispers.
“Only about eleven years more,” Tyler goes on even if it hurts to speak. “Eleven years, and it’ll be over.” Tyler feels Josh’s arms tighten around him, and somehow it makes everything better even if for a smallest bit. Josh just can do this — because he’s an angel and because he is light personified, and Tyler selfishly steals this light for himself. It is the only thing in the universe that matters, and they are about to take it away from him forever. He mourns the loss before it comes, but he just knows that it will happen eventually.
“Do you know anything else?” Josh asks softly, and Tyler shakes his head. Josh sighs. “Really sucks, huh?”
Tyler lets out a laugh. They are on the brink of the universal war, their whole existence just got a timer, everything is about to change, and that’s how Josh summarises it? Tyler can’t help but laugh, and soon enough Josh joins him. They hold each other close, and they laugh. It genuine and bitter and so thoroughly them, Tyler just knows they are something special. There’s nothing quite like their bond, and Tyler knows that he will cherish and hold on to it until everything comes crumbling down. And even then, they’d have to force him away from Josh.
“We need to release the album,” he says with determination and looks up at Josh. “And then some more. I’m not going to let them take this away from me.” He won’t let them take his angel away so easily.
“Me neither,” Josh nods. “Eleven years, right? We’d better make it count.”
“They’re gonna be the best eleven years,” says Tyler, and he adores the spark in Josh’s eyes. It makes him glow, and Tyler loves his light.
It doesn’t miraculously fix anything for them. It just makes it a little easier to bear, and Tyler’s grateful for that. It makes his heart ache a little less, and he clings on to feeling Josh’s arms around him, and on to the way it just feels right to be together. It is almost enough.