Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/5168102. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage Category: M/M Fandom: Twenty_One_Pilots, Bandom Relationship: Josh_Dun/Tyler_Joseph, Josh_Dun/Original_Male_Character(s) Character: Tyler_Joseph, Josh_Dun Additional Tags: Blood, Gore, Cannibalism, Domestic_Murder_Buddies, Josh_has_a_weird_crush but_it's_not_important, Unrequited_Love Series: Part 1 of Hunger Stats: Published: 2015-11-08 Words: 2052 ****** Copper & Silver ****** by popgothika Summary Sometimes, just sometimes, Tyler gets hungry. Josh is a good friend and feeds him. Notes Hey there, drearies, I just want ya'll to know that if this clears 1000 then I'm posting the sequels. See the end of the work for more notes Sometimes Tyler gets hungry. Really hungry. And not in the way where he can just get up and get a snack from the kitchen or order a pizza. He gets hungry for copper-rich blood running down his chin and internal organs hot and meaty in his mouth. He yearns for little whimpering gasps and pleas as he draws the razor over skin, parting the flesh delicately, handling it as if it were a fragile rose. He gets ravenous for the delicious taste of tears salting the meat. This is one of those kinds of hunger. The pangs in his stomach have been getting worse for some time now. Josh doesn't understand. Josh's tastes are different than Tyler's. He likes his meat dead before he eats it. He likes the thighs and cheeks grilled and covered in barbeque sauce. Likes to pick the rib bones. Tyler thinks cooking ruins the meat. It doesn't matter right now though. Not with the way the hunger is gnawing at him. Tyler promised Josh that they'd lay low after the last time, though. They've already had to move twice because Tyler wasn't careful enough disposing of the bones. Josh was furious. He refused to bring Tyler a live meal for a month after the last time. But Tyler's been a good boy and Josh is a good friend. Not to mention he's getting hungry too. He doesn't need it like Tyler, but a nice rack of ribs is a nice rack of ribs. Cow just doesn't taste as good. Josh decides to go out that night to find them a snack after Tyler's stomach pains got so bad he couldn't move for over an hour. Tyler wants a blond, according to his text. A young blond with big eyes. A boy. The boy he finds at the bar couldn't have been a day over sixteen. He's short, maybe 5" 4' at the most, and he's got the biggest brown eyes Josh has ever seen. Huge dark pools of mischievous youthful innocence. His hair is just under cotton blonde, curling over his ears in unruly waves. He maybe weighs 110 pounds. He's perfect. Josh is nothing if not concise in his selections for dinner. "Bartender not serving you?" Josh asks, sliding into the barstool beside the boy with practiced grace. The boy blinks up at Josh owlishly, a blush on his freckled cheeks. Tyler loves freckles, says they're the chocolate chips of skin. Josh smiles, all teeth and no humour. If the boy is smart, he'll run now. He isn't smart. The boy smiles back and ducks his head to brush a lock of hair behind one ear shyly, looking up from under pale lashes. Oh, so he's that kind of boy. "Yeah, even with the ID I still look like I'm jailbait." He bites his lip. Josh smiles again, less predatory and more flirtatious. "How old are you then?" "Eighteen." He's lying. Josh can tell. It's not like it matters though. "How old are you?" "Twenty-two. I'm Josh, by the way." "Bird. It's a stupid name, I know. But it's still better than Birland. I don't know what my parents were thinking." Josh laughs, "I think it suits you. You're like a little bird, all delicate and sweet." The boy blushes again, and Josh took the opportunity to run his finger down his arm and over his wrist, the fluttery pulse stuttering at the touch. The boy shivered, eyes dilating in the poorly lit club. Good. He's hooked. Now to seal the deal. "Lemme buy you a drink. What do you want?" "Heineken." The boy grins, left eyetooth crooked inward slightly. "You got it, little bird. Why don't you find us a booth so we can have some privacy." Josh thumbs the boy's pulse again, lets his eyes slide down the boy's slight frame, licks his lips. The boy nods rapidly and practically runs in the direction of the booths towards the back of the club. Josh flags the bartender. "Two Heineken, please." ~~~ At home, Tyler is sharpening his knives, almost vibrating with excitement over the prospect of a proper meal, alive and squirming. His smile is so wide it shines in the reflection of his straight razor. ~~~ Josh finds Bird in a corner booth, flattening his curls with his fingers in the reflection of his cell phone. He's nervous, naïve thing. Josh sets the bottles down with a soft clink and slides in the booth. He makes sure that their thighs are just touching. "Heineken for the pretty bird, as requested." Josh slides the bottle into the boy's hands, letting their fingers brush longer than necessary. Bird blushes a deep crimson and takes a few large gulps of the beer. He only sputters slightly. Josh laughs at him and smooths his hand over Bird's back. He can feel each knob of his spine perfectly through the thin cotton of Bird's shirt. Three beers and a shot later, Bird is past playing coy. He's rubbing soft circles on Josh's thigh and leaning heavily against his side as he plants little kisses over Josh's jaw and throat. "Hey, hey Josh. I wan-" he hiccups, "wanna have you fuck me." He giggles. Josh grabs the hand drifting towards his crotch and pulls Bird up from the booth. He staggers slightly and giggles again, blinking those huge eyes, like he thinks he's seductive. He's so young. Josh would be sick to his stomach if he wasn't hungry. "Yeah, come on, pretty bird, let's go. I wanna see what's under those clothes." It's true. Maybe not for the reason Bird thinks, but it's still true. He wraps his fingers around the boys wrist, Josh's fingers overlap, he's so tiny, and leads him giggling and stumbling out of the dark club to the darker streets. He hails a cab and ten minutes later, they arrive at the front door of Josh and Tyler's house. Josh's key fumbles in the lock momentarily but after that the tumblers click over one by one. Each one signifying them as that much closer to dinner. Josh just hopes Tyler likes his choice. Tyler's waiting in the kitchen when Josh stumbles inside with dinner. He's perfect, just perfect. Blond and delicate. Josh always finds the best food. Tyler's going to have so much fun breaking him. "Jishwa, aren't you gonna introduce me to your friend?" Tyler asks, leaning against the counter to hide the array of blades from the inebriated boy's sight. Tyler doesn't want to scare him off before he's had his meal. The boy jerks away from where he's trying to undo Josh's belt and blinks at Tyler, huge doe eyes surprised even through the haze of whatever he's been drinking. "Tyler, this is Bird. Bird, this is Tyler." Bird says a quiet hello, giggles, and leans up to whisper in Josh's ear. "Where's your bedroom? Or do you wanna fuck me here where your friend can see? He can join if you want. I've always dreamed of a spit roast." He cups Josh's through his jeans roughly and nips at his earlobe. Josh struggles to keep the images of the boy, stuck through, turning on a spit over a low burning fire, skin crisping to perfection. That's not exactly the kind of spit roast Bird was referring to. Tyler smirks from the kitchen, the halogen bulbs making his eyes sparkle like he knows what Josh is thinking. Then Josh nods, almost imperceptible, and Tyler walks away. Josh flips Bird against the wall, latching on to his mouth like he's desperate, fingers running over ribs and hips and spine, anywhere he can reach. Bird is grinding against Josh's leg and making these high, sweet keens in the back of his throat. It nearly makes Josh sick to his stomach and he jerks back. "Basement. My room's in the basement. C'mon." Josh tugs the boy down the stairs and into the dark room. He doesn't bother to turn the light on, not yet. There's time for that later. The door clicks locked behind them. Bird doesn't notice. Josh leads the boy blindly towards the bed where he knows Tyler is waiting nearby for his signal. Bird strips off his shirt and flops down, pulling Josh on top of him, grinding his hips up gracelessly as he moans and bites sharp little marks into the skin of Josh's neck. "Wait, wait. Lemme get something real quick." Josh mumbles as he pulls away slightly. Bird whines in frustration but lays back against the sheets. He nods at Tyler, hidden in the shadow of the closet. Tyler swoops in, sliding the needle skillfully into the vein of the boy's thigh. The little bird never even saw it coming. He's out cold before he can scream. ~~~ When the boy comes to, he's strapped down to an oak table, spread eagle, and completely naked. "Oh good, you're up. That means we can start the fun now. Josh, bro, pass me that fillet knife." Tyler gestures to a tray with a wide array of sharp things that Bird can just barely see. He screams. Tyler laughs, "Oh, I love it when they scream. Do it louder, pretty bird. Makes me hungrier. And at this point, I'm completely starving. Josh hasn't let me eat in a month. A month! Can you believe that? But Josh knows best. He takes such good care of me." Josh smiles, he hates the way Tyler gets sometimes when he eats, all showy and extravagant like he's in a play or movie, but he's not that over the top tonight, just a little more talkative than normal. He's probably too hungry to draw it out. He passes Tyler the knife he wants and pulls up a chair next to Bird's head. He's finally stopped screaming, instead he's whimpering, tears streaming down his face and dampening the hair on his temples. Josh strokes his face gently, smooth skin blotchy and damp. The boy jerks his head away from the touch. "Why are you doing this to me?" Bird's voice is raspy and quiet, his eyes are pleading. "We're hungry. Tyler wanted a blond with big eyes. I get Tyler what he wants. You didn't have to come home with me. You could have said no when I offered to buy you drinks. You could have asked me to fuck in the bathrooms. I wouldn't have, mind you, because that's disgusting and you're way underage to boot, but you could have asked. You could have said no at any point and I would have taken you home and found someone else for Tyler, but you didn't. So here we are." Josh shrugs. Tyler giggles, "Cool story bro, I'ma make a snack now." At that statement, Tyler slices a strip of meat off of Bird's leg with the fillet knife and pops it in his mouth. "Damn that's good." Bird is thrashing and screaming again, high and terrified. It's music to Tyler's ears. Josh watches as Tyler continues to strip meat off of the boy, stopping every few minutes to lick his fingers clean of blood. He makes little happy sounds with every lick and bite. They make Josh's heart swell with pride at finding such a good meal. Bird stopped struggling ten minutes ago, too weak with blood loss to do much more than cry. Josh notices his eyes starting to droop soon after so he taps Tyler's shoulder, "Better hurry if you want the good stuff. We're about to lose him." Tyler smiles, there's blood on his teeth and if Josh were an artist then he'd say it was poetic, but he's not, so he just hands Tyler his favourite straight razor and watches as he cuts a straight line down Bird's stomach before pulling out the kidneys and livers gently. He leaves the heart for now. He's saving that for last. There's nothing gentle or caring about the way he tears into the organs with his teeth, ripping chunks of flesh greedily. Tyler always seems to go feral when it gets to this part of the meal. The difference between his perfect surgical incisions and this untamed bloodlust never fails to take Josh's breath away. Bird is dead by the time Tyler takes the first bite of his heart. Now it's Josh's turn. He's craving honey barbeque ribs. ~~~ End Notes I've been thinking of expanding this into a series if enough people express interest in it. So yeah, comments and feedback welcome. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!