Chapter Text
"yeah right, no way in hell i'm doing that." josh rolled his eyes, talking to his roommate ryan who was asking if josh would take his online bio exam for him.
"come on, pleaseeee please please please?" ryan asked, giving him a dramatic pouty face. "what happens if i fail college? then you won't have a roommate or a best friend anymore so technically it will affect you too if i don't do good on this exam."
"ugh fine, i hope you know you’re preying on my kindness." josh huffed, grabbing ryan's laptop with a laugh at his pathetic begging attempt. "you owe me mother fucker."
"i'll buy you dinner." ryan said.
"okay but i get to pick where." josh agreed, taking on the task of his exam.
“you’re gonna pick something gross thoughhh,” ryan whined.
“it’s not my fault you have the flavor palette of a toddler.” josh flipped him off.
“okay, it’s more like a middle schooler give me some leniency.” ryan held his hands up in a defensive position.
“your definition of a healthy meal is 50 pizza rolls, i don’t want to hear it.”
joshua was 20 years old, attending ohio state university. he was a junior, majoring in exercise and health sciences with an end goal of becoming a sports therapist.
he lived in an apartment with his bestfriend ryan. he met ryan their freshman year of college at his first party. the two quickly hit it off, becoming close friends. they decided to get an apartment together the start of their sophomore year.
joshua's parents live in ohio, but they live around 4 hours away. he always wanted to go to osu, and has dreamed of working there with the athletes for as long as he could remember. his parents have a picture on their fridge of him in the basketball locker room when he was just a little boy, smiling big with all the players.
he was content with his happy little life.
“is it hard?” ryan asked, peeking over josh’s shoulder at his smudged macbook screen.
“no. quit, you’re breathing on me.” josh waved him away, ryan groaning and plopping back down into the couch and focusing back on the tv.
"damn another one." ryan sighed, pointing to the news on the tv screen.
"and they still don't know who?" josh asked, looking up from ryan's laptop.
"nope. scary." ryan shook his head, tuning into the tv. josh swallowed hard as he heard the news reporter.
"i want to remind everyone to keep your doors and windows locked. try not to go out at night by yourself, and avoid meeting people online. nobody is safe. police still have no leads on the identity of who they are now calling, the phantom butcher."
"here is jane pillar at the scene of our last crime."
"hello everyone i am currently at the roundhouse, a local bar that was the last place 23 year old victim cecilia bates was seen......" the reporter went on, as josh and ryan looked back at each other.
"jesus ry." josh said. "the phantom butcher, that sounds like some shit out of a tv show."
"straight out of dexter for real. this is crazy bro. i wonder how many fuckin people have gone missing now?" ryan thought out loud. “i read somewhere that they’ve found like over 20 bodies over the years or something.”
“i don’t know man.” josh sighed, continuing to focus on ryan's test as he blocked out the news. “it freaks me out too much to think about it.”
“me too. i’ll change it.” ryan said. “it’s not happening if we don’t think about it.” he held up a finger matter-of-factly.
“you’re so right.” josh laughed. “this exam is so easy ryan it’s like highschool.”
“boy, in highschool i was smoking pot in the bathroom. i wasn’t worried about no goddamn biology.” ryan said.
“yeah that checks.”