Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tyler Joseph did not expect to be woken up on the last day of summer break by someone kissing delicately along his jaw. Yet, that's exactly what happened.

And he definitely wasn't going to complain about it.

He peeked one eye open and was met with his girlfriend hovering above him, the smile on her face held back as her glossy lower lip was held between her teeth. Despite that, a small giggle left her mouth and Tyler involuntarily smiled back in response.

She moved from her position with both knees on either side of his body to lean forward and place one more gentle kiss on his lips. "Good morning, Mr. President."

"Good morning, Madam Vice President," he hummed back in adoration.

She let out another giggle as she moved off of Tyler completely to instead lay next to him on his bed. Tyler turned on his side to face her as she spoke. "I'll take what I can get until that title changes to First Lady of the United States."

Tyler playfully rolled his eyes at that. "The original agenda had you only as Vice President, Miss Jenna Black. Girlfriend wasn't outlined anywhere in the five-year plan," he teased.

"Sometimes the universe has better things planned," Jenna replied simply with a shrug, sending a soft smile his way.

"Is that your way of saying "fuck your five-year plan?'" Tyler asked as he raised an eyebrow. The words themselves, however, held no genuine offense or betrayal.

Jenna registered that and laughed again, lightheartedly pushing his shoulder in response. "No! You know I have only the utmost respect for your five-year plan," she joked.

"Yeah, you better," he said, the teasing tone never leaving his voice. "How did you even get in my house, stalker?"

"One, we've been best friends for like six years I think I'm entitled to stalking you at this point," Jenna began. "Two... your housekeeper let me in."

"Ah, okay. So no breaking and entering involved. That's good to know."

"Well duh, you can't have a vice president with a rap sheet," she joked. "Why were you even still asleep this late in the day anyway? Are you trying to waste the last day of your final summer break before graduation?"

Tyler's eyes floated up to the alarm clock on his nightstand placed right behind Jenna. 12:48 it read.

He groaned dramatically and turned back so he was directly parallel to the ceiling, bringing his arms over his face as he did so. "I was up late preparing for the Welcome Back Assembly tomorrow morning," he mumbled into his elbow, just loud enough for Jenna to hear.

He felt his arms leave his face as Jenna took them and rested them on the bed with a slightly disappointed look. "Tyler," she deadpanned. "What's the point of having Sabrina and me around if you don't let us stop you from overworking yourself?"

The mentioned pretended to be in thought for a moment, before nodding his head decisively and looking Jenna directly in the eye. "Well it definitely doesn't hurt that you're nice to look at," she rolled her eyes at that. "You're right though," he continued seriously. "I'll try to keep that in mind, but you might have to remind me from time to time. I'd be lost without you guys."

Smile on her face, Jenna sent him a teasing look. "We know. Behind every great man was an even greater woman— or in this case, one or more greater women. Lewis and Clark? Their expedition would have completely failed without the guidance of Sacagawea. John Lennon? Some of his most honest and groundbreaking work only exists because Yoko Ono urged him to create it. Countless U.S. Presidents? I mean, c'mon, there was Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Martha Washington, Mary Todd Lincoln—"

Tyler cut her off with a laugh. "Okay, I get it. I would be a complete and utter failure without you guys."

"That's the spirit!" Jenna giggled, pressing one last kiss to his cheek. "Okay, I've filled my 'kissing my handsome boyfriend' quota for the hour. Get up and get dressed so Sabrina and I can look over your plan for the assembly tomorrow. We wouldn't want your high school presidential term to start off with a disaster," she added in a playful voice. Tyler, however, knew that it wasn't as much of a joke as her tone made it seem.

"Oh trust me," he gave her a much more serious look. "As long as everything goes according to my perfectly designed plan, the possibility of a disaster happening doesn't even exist. The same thing applies to the rest of this school year, too. And I'll be damned if I let anything get in the way of that."

"Buttoned?" Tyler voiced to himself quietly as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. "Or unbuttoned?" He continued, adjusting the top few buttons on his polo. "Unbuttoned," he finally decided. Buttoned made him look uptight. And although Tyler was many things— including uptight —that didn't mean he wanted to show it... even if the entire school (other than the incoming freshmen) already knew it.

Tyler glanced at his Apple Watch, his mouth forming into a straight line when he caught the time. He let out an agitated sigh as he grabbed his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and made his way down the grand staircase in his house.

Upon entering the kitchen, he saw his younger siblings eating together at the breakfast nook. The dining room (well, both dining rooms– the formal and informal) was saved for the times his entire family ate together. He noticed his mom was sitting on one of the stools at the island, a mug of coffee and her laptop in front of her as she typed. His dad must've already left for work.

Tyler watched his family's private chef pour more orange juice into his youngest brother's cup, receiving a small "thank you" from the 10-year-old in exchange. Once she was finished, she glanced up and smiled when she met Tyler's eyes. "Good morning!" She greeted warmly.

His mom only then noticed his presence, smiling at him as well. "Morning, honey. I was just about to send one of your siblings to make sure you got up in time for breakfast."

Tyler sent a half-hearted and slightly distracted smile to each woman in return, making his way over to their large pantry. "Morning, Colette. Morning, Mom. Morning, siblings," he spoke as he searched the shelves. Finally, he found what he was looking for, and grabbed a granola bar before making his way out and shutting the door behind him.

"You aren't eating breakfast?" His mom asked, adjusting her silk robe around herself more. "Colette specifically took the time to make you Eggs Benedict since it's your favorite," she added, disappointment laced in her voice.

"Sorry," Tyler responded, with no actual sincerity in his apology. He had more important things to tend to. "I don't really have time. I have to get to school early," he explained as he unzipped his backpack and tossed the granola bar in there, zipping it back up afterward. He opened the fridge, his eyes scanning the inside of the door before he grabbed a bottled Starbucks coffee to take with him.

"It's only 7:20," his mom pointed out. "You have over an hour before school starts."

"The Welcome Back Assembly is today," he reminded. "I need to get there early enough to help prepare and make sure everything's set up correctly."

"Mom, Tyler's a nerd, remember?" His brother Zack scoffed. "Becoming student body president of a school he doesn't even like is the most exciting thing to happen to him in like his entire 17 years of life," the 15-year-old continued smugly. "Other than finally getting Jenna to date his lame ass."

Tyler simply rolled his eyes, making sure to smack his brother in the head on his way to the foyer.

"Boys," their mom sighed. "Zack, be nice to Tyler. This is important to him. It's the start of his future," she paused, raising her voice slightly so Tyler could hear her from the other room. "Tyler, don't hit your brother."

"I'll see you guys after school," was the mentioned's only acknowledgment of what his mom said.

As he lifted his car keys off the hook on the wall by the front door, he heard Zack snort. "Fuckin' loser."

"Zack!" His mom scolding his younger brother was the last thing he caught before opening the door and leaving the house, making sure to shut the thick piece of wood behind him.

Tyler made his way towards his BMW, which was parked directly in front of the middle door of their three-door garage. He unlocked the car, tossed his backpack in the backseat on the driver's side, and got in to begin his drive to school— which, to Zack's benefit, he really couldn't stand. Yet, he'd force a smile on his face as he led the student body so long as it helped him secure his dream.

And he would probably never admit this aloud, but his goal of becoming President of the United States was undoubtedly the most important thing in his life; more important than his family, more important than his friends, more important than his girlfriend, and definitely more important than his shitty public high school.

Maybe that really did make him a "fuckin' loser."

But he'd take that any day over being a failure.

Chapter Text

"Okay... I have one matcha lavender oat milk latte and one iced caramel macchiato with extra caramel drizzle and cold foam, correct?"

Josh looked at the table in front of him, a drink in each hand as he waited for the two customers to verify that was what they had ordered. After receiving head nods from each, he set them down with a polite smile. "Awesome, well... if you guys need anything don't hesitate to ask."

He heard them each mumble a "thanks" and took that as his cue to leave, making his way back over to the front counter.

"Why can't anyone just order like... a black coffee?" Josh asked his (without a doubt favorite) coworker, shaking his head. "I don't even know what I just made in all honesty. I think I just blacked out."

She let out a laugh as she finished washing the mug in front of her before setting it on the drying rack to... well, dry. Dish duty was definitely one of Josh's least favorite job tasks, and he was appreciative that his coworker offered to take care of the current round of it. Josh knew he'd be responsible for the last load before close, however, and almost grimaced at the thought. He understood why his boss decided to only use disposable dishes for to-go orders, but it didn't mean he was any less annoyed by the consequences of that choice.

His coworker turned the sink off and dried her hands off as she spoke. "Now that would just be too easy, Josh. Plus, making drinks with names as long as their list of ingredients is literally the only life skill you'll ever need, duh."

Josh cracked a smile at that. "You've got me there, Bea."

The mentioned laughed once again as she moved to grab a bottle of cleaner, spraying the counter. "Hey, I have a proposition for you."

"Go on..."

"I'll do the closing set of dishes," she turned to him with an innocent smile on her face. "If..."

"If...?"

"You clean the bathrooms?" She finished, hope in her voice while she reached for a cleaning rag and avoided making eye contact with Josh.

"Fuck no, dude!" He laughed out. "I've cleaned them the last how many times we've closed together?"

Bea hesitated, visibly in thought. After thinking for what seemed like forever, she finally had her reply. "Hm, don't have a number for that because I'm not a weirdo who keeps track of the last time I cleaned my place of work's bathroom," she decided as she completely dodged Josh's question.

"Exactly," he hummed out cheekily.

"Ugh, c'mon Josh," she whined, pausing her counter wiping. "You know I hate cleaning the bathroom! And you hate doing dishes! Seems like a win-win situation to me," she continued. It was obvious she was trying to convince Josh that this was the deal of a lifetime.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. But if you consider cleaning bathrooms a win for me and doing dishes a win for you then you should probably get out more. Pick up a hobby or something."

It was Bea's turn to roll her eyes at that, but a smile made its way onto her face. She turned back to resume wiping the counter. "Thank you," she replied, dragging out the second word much longer than needed.

"Yeah yeah," Josh joked, smiling now as well. "Hey, I'm gonna go take a smoke break. Will you be okay if I'm gone for like 5-ish minutes?"

"Oh yeah, of course. Go ahead."

Josh watched her continue to wipe the counter for a second, the smile still on his face.

Bea seemed to realize this as she finished her task, giving him a look. "I don't think taking a smoke break includes staring at me like a creep, weirdo," she teased.

"Thank you," Josh simply said.

"For what?" Her eyebrow raised while she moved to the sink to wring out the excess cleaning solution from her towel over it. "Letting you take a smoke break? I'm not your mom, I'm not going to tell you no," she joked, chuckling a bit.

Despite those words hitting a little too close to home, Josh continued. It wasn't Bea's fault. She didn't know. "Thank you for not being a shitty coworker," he answered with sincerity in his voice. "If I'm gonna be stuck here all the time, I'm glad it's usually with you."

Her body visibly softened at that. She set the rag down on the edge of the sink before completely turning to look at Josh. "Of course," she responded gently. "Thank you for that too."

Not being fond of how vulnerable the space now felt, Josh began to walk towards the break room. "No problem. How else am I supposed to get out of the hell that is dish duty?" He joked.

Bea let out a playful scoff at that. "Go take your smoke break, loser."

"Yes ma'am," was his reply, even if Bea couldn't see the smirk on his face while he said it since he was already halfway to the break room by then. He heard her laugh in disbelief and that smirk turned itself into a genuine smile.

Entering the break room, Josh glanced at his skateboard that was leaning against the side of the row of employee lockers. He quickly twisted the lock on his to input the combination, swinging it open with a sigh.

He picked up the carton of cigarettes he had haphazardly tossed on the top shelf when he got there and pulled one out. He took mental note of how many he had left, reminding himself to get more before he ran out entirely. He knew the frequency of his habit would only increase in the coming weeks— just like it did around this time last year.

Feeling in his pocket to make sure his lighter was still in there, he nudged the door shut with his elbow before beginning to make his way out of the break room. He was stopped right in front of the doorway, however, when he realized that walking any further would've caused him to bump directly into his boss and owner of the business.

"Oh shit, sorry Josh," he apologized as he stopped in his tracks, registering the almost-collision at the same time.

"All good, Taylor," the mentioned assured.

"Hey, while I have you here," his boss began. "I wanted to double-check something you put on the availability form you gave me for the upcoming school year..."

"What?"

"You're really looking to work 30 hours a week?"

"Yeah," Josh sighed. "If possible. I know I'm not full time so if that's pushing it then I understand, but—"

"It's not that," Taylor interrupted, clarifying. "It's just... it's your senior year."

"Okay? And?" Josh followed up, annoyance clear in his voice. He didn't mean to sound so irritated, especially not when talking to the person who kept him employed, but the tone slipped out anyway.

Taylor didn't seem to take this personally, though. Josh's worked for him for over two years, and he could tell that Taylor knew he didn't mean to come off as disrespectful at all. His boss didn't press the matter any further. "I'll see what I can do, okay? I can guarantee you at least 25, but I can't promise you 30. Even if you are 18 now. Ignoring the fact that the other employees need hours too, I don't want you to overwhelm yourself. And like I said: it's your senior year. I'm sure you have upcoming activities that you don't want work getting in the way of."

Josh shrugged. "Not really."

Taylor looked at him, trying to hide the sadness in his eyes. Josh hated that. He hated the fact that he wasn't hiding it well enough and that Josh could see it. Josh didn't want to be pitied. "I'll try my best, alright?" He repeated gently.

"Okay," Josh responded awkwardly.

"Okay," Taylor copied with a nod. "Are you and Bea gonna be okay if I head out for the night?"

Josh offered him a half-hearted smile. "We always are."

"I know," his boss acknowledged with a more genuine one on his face as he continued down the hallway. Josh followed him out and watched him reach the counter before stopping and turning to look at him. "Hey, Josh?"

"Hmm?"

"Have a good first day of school tomorrow. You too, Bea," he added in the mentioned's direction.

"Thanks!" Bea replied perkily as the sound of the espresso machine was heard.

"Thanks," Josh echoed, not wanting to be rude. He was sure as hell going to try and have a good first day. Even if it meant he had to make it for himself.

Taylor offered his two employees one last kind smile and a wave before walking out the front door.

Josh let out a slightly agitated breath he didn't know he was holding. He really needed a cigarette now.

Bea didn't seem to hear the noise over the coffee machine, humming quietly to herself as it ran.

"Okay, the 5-ish minutes start now," Josh told her. She nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. He chuckled and turned to walk the opposite way down the hallway, pushing the door open to the back area by the trash.

He stood off to the side that the dumpster wasn't located on and pulled out his lighter. Igniting the loose cigarette he had kept in his hand, he instantly brought it to his mouth and inhaled.

It was when he was shakily exhaling that a thought crossed his mind. He reached into his other back pocket and grabbed his phone out. A few taps on the screen were all it took before he had it pressed to his ear.

He inhaled the nicotine again as he waited for the line to be picked up, basking in the momentary relaxation the toxin provided him.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Josh greeted through an exhale of smoke. "Everything going okay?"

"Uhh... yeah. For the most part."

"What do you mean by 'for the most part?'" Josh questioned, anxiety now replacing the relaxation that was in his body just seconds earlier.

"Abbie's backpack finally broke. The left strap's starting to rip off and the zipper to the main compartment split."

"Fuck..." Josh sighed, letting the cigarette dangle between his fingers for a moment. "I'll stop at Walmart on my way home from work."

"Already tried— they're literally out of everything except little kid backpacks."

"I am not walking around with a Bluey backpack in the 6th grade," a voice interjected in the background. "I would literally rather carry my stuff in plastic sacks."

"Abbie," the original voice sighed in frustration.

"Besides, they didn't even have any more Bluey ones," a second voice contributed.

Josh couldn't help but smile, even through the frown that was trying to make its way onto his face as a result of this situation. "Have you tried Target yet? Definitely more expensive, but we don't really have a choice at this point, do we?"

Josh flicked the cherry on the end of the cigarette while he waited for a response. "Already sitting in the parking lot. Just wanted to double-check with you and make sure it was okay."

The smile on his face grew as he brought the cigarette up to his mouth. "You're the best, Ashley. You know that, right?" He complimented as he inhaled yet again.

"Of course I do," the mentioned assured with a playful tone.

"Let me know if, for whatever reason, Target doesn't have anything, okay? Worst case scenario she borrows mine for a bit. It's not like I'm gonna use it," he joked. Well, half-joked.

Josh could almost see his 16-year-old sister rolling her eyes at that. "Uh-huh, whatever you say."

"Seriously though, keep me updated, okay? I might not be able to respond right away, but I always have my phone on me. Were you able to get everything else you guys need? I really fucking dropped the ball on this... getting school supplies the day before it starts is definitely... not ideal," he expressed guiltily before taking another drag of his cigarette. "And I'm not even the one taking care of it," he realized. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay, J," Ashley promised him in a gentle voice. "I got off of work early today, I don't mind. And yes, we got everything else squared away."

"We sure did!" Abbie yelled, probably trying to make sure Josh could hear her through his end of the call. "I got some glittery gel pens from the clearance section too!"

"Yeah! And I got some new earbuds," His 13-year-old brother Jordan added contently.

Josh's heart warmed at the confirmation that his siblings were all taken care of. "You too, Ashley?"

"All squared away," she repeated proudly.

"Good," Josh flicked the cherry of the cigarette again when he noticed it was getting too long, watching the ashes gracefully land on the concrete in front of him.

"Are you absolutely sure you don't need anything? Pens? Notebooks?" Ashley asked him worriedly.

Even if Josh did need any new school supplies, he would've had no idea. He hasn't even so much as glanced at his backpack since May, let alone gone through it to see what he had left. He hasn't had the time to in all honesty. Plus, he had no idea what he'd need for any upcoming classes; but if he did need anything for them, he'd take care of it himself. There was no need to stress his sister out about anything else— especially something so unnecessary. "All squared away," he copied in what he hoped was a convincing tone of voice.

It was apparently not convincing enough. "Okay..." his sister trailed off, audibly unsure of his answer. "We're gonna go inside now to check on backpacks so I have enough time to get home and get everything ready for tomorrow."

"I'll be home by like 10, okay?" Josh reminded as the call wrapped up, inhaling smoke one final time. He's definitely been outside longer than 5-ish minutes. "If you need any help."

"Okay."

"And keep me updated."

"I will."

"Okay..." Josh sighed. "I love you. Thanks for taking care of this."

"I love you too. I told you, I don't mind. You're the one working a 10-hour shift today."

"Yeah, well..." he trailed off with a humorless laugh. "Bye, Ashley. I'll see you when I get home."

"Bye, Josh."

He pulled his phone away from his ear and ended the call before slipping the item into his back pocket.

Josh took one last deep breath, stubbed his cigarette out on the side of the building, tossed it in the grass, and went back inside to finish his shift.

Chapter Text

Tyler pulled into his senior parking space (which his parents immediately purchased for him during class registration without any hesitation) with a small sigh. Spot number 92 wasn't too bad, but it was still a way down from both spots 18 and 26.

After turning his car off, he didn't make any move to get out of it just yet. He really hoped this school year went as planned— in every aspect. Tyler didn't like the unexpected; the unexpected came with the inability to be prepared. If Tyler was prepared, then he could navigate whatever was coming. That was unfortunately a lesson learned too well for him.

The more he thought about that, the more anxiety started to bubble up in his stomach, so he forced himself to push those thoughts aside. He had an assembly to lead— a student body to lead. Even if he didn't think very highly of his school, he was still tasked with a responsibility that didn't allow him to let anyone there down. If he couldn't even handle a leadership position at his shitty public high school, how the fuck was he supposed to run the entire country one day?

Rubbing his face in frustration due to his thoughts, Tyler turned around and was about to grab his backpack out of the backseat when he felt his Apple Watch buzz. He glanced down and involuntarily smiled at the notification he had received.

Jenna
Hey handsome <3 Sabrina and I got here a few minutes ago, just let us know when you get here and we'll meet you by your car

The fact that his girlfriend and best friend arrived at school before he even did meant the world to him. Not that they needed to, but if they were already there and ready by the time Tyler showed up, then there was no doubt anywhere in his mind that he had their wholehearted support in this. He was so, so incredibly grateful for them. Tyler wasn't kidding when he said he'd be lost without them, and he knew Jenna wasn't kidding when she said it either.

His thoughts were interrupted by the soft sound of light knocking on his driver's side window, causing him to jump. Once he looked over and realized who it was, he let out a breath. Finally grabbing his backpack, he got out of his car to greet them.

"You're really not doing a good job of convincing me that you aren't my stalker, Jen," he said playfully, shutting his door behind him. He pressed the lock button on his key fob while he continued talking. "I thought I was supposed to let you know when I got here," he added, giving Jenna a pointed look before leaning in to give her a gentle kiss.

Jenna met him halfway and smiled into the act before pulling away. "You won't believe me if I say we were already getting out of our cars by the time that text finally sent, will you?"

Tyler pretended to be in thought for a moment. "Hmm... I'll go ahead and make an exception just for you and your beautiful face," he teased.

Jenna giggled in response but was cut off from speaking any further. "Okay, you guys are cute or whatever... but please don't make me throw up on the first day of school. At least wait until tomorrow," Sabrina begged dramatically as she looked at them with pleading eyes.

Tyler couldn't help but laugh at that as the three began walking towards the front entrance of the building together. "Deal," he agreed.

"Aren't you so excited?" Jenna asked him enthusiastically while she laced their hands together. "For the Welcome Back Assembly to be your first official act as student body president?"

A genuine smile came over Tyler's face. "Yeah," he answered. "I am."

"Good," Sabrina nudged his shoulder with her own in a supportive manner, a soft smile on her face. "Because you're gonna do great."

They continued their conversation as they entered the school, immediately turning left to make their way toward the classroom of their student government advisor. The sound of Sabrina's heels hitting the freshly polished tile echoed down the vacant hallways, and for some strange reason, Tyler actually found the noise slightly comforting. Maybe it was because he was currently with two of the most important people in his life. Maybe it was because the momentarily near-empty school meant that he could ease himself into this whole thing more steadily, which provided him some reassurance that he would be able to navigate this upcoming year just fine— even if every aspect of it had been meticulously planned out. Maybe it was both.

It didn't take long before they reached the English hallway and spotted the fourth door to their left. As expected, it was propped open with a door stop, so Tyler took the liberty of leading the other two into the classroom.

Upon their arrival, they saw their advisor positioned at his desk, intensely typing away on his computer. He noticed the trio and paused his task, smiling widely as he greeted them. "Hey guys!"

"Hey, Mr. Way," Tyler grinned. Ever since joining student government his freshman year, Tyler's always had immense respect and admiration for his advisor. And now that he was finally a senior, he was looking forward to officially having Mr. Way as his AP Lit teacher too.

"Did you guys have a good summer?"

Tyler and Jenna couldn't stop themselves from glancing at one other, a light blush coating the latter's face as they did so. It seemed that Mr. Way hadn't noticed the two's hands intertwined until then, his eyes darting down at them for a brief second before swiftly flicking back up. "Uh, yeah. We did. Thanks," Tyler finally answered, hoping his words would help alleviate the suddenly awkward atmosphere.

"What about you, Mr. Way?" Sabrina offered quickly in return, letting Tyler know that he hadn't imagined the room's abrupt tone shift. There was almost an unspoken agreement between him and Jenna as they subtly let go of each other's hand.

However, if the couple's altered relationship status bothered or concerned Mr. Way at all, he didn't make it visibly evident. Instead, the welcoming smile remained on his face as he replied. "I had a pretty good summer myself," he spoke, his expression transforming into a soft, reminiscent one while he did so. "Moved into my new house. Went on a little vacation. Took a few pottery classes. Nothing crazy."

"Pottery classes?" Tyler followed up with his own knowing smile and a raised eyebrow. "Like ceramics?"

He could tell that both Jenna and Sabrina had caught that specific piece of information too. Their conjoined struggle to fight the delighted grins overtaking their faces made it comically obvious.

Mr. Way's warm smile turned into a slight smirk at that question. "Yeah. Pottery classes. Like ceramics," he confirmed. Switching subjects, he continued by lightly clearing his throat. "Are you guys all ready to start setting up and practicing for the assembly?"

"Readier than ever," Tyler assured with a slight head nod.

"Great! You guys can start heading toward the gym and I'll meet you down there in a few minutes; I have to finish writing up these notes for the sub covering my first period," Mr. Way told the group. "Miss Amstutz should already be in there setting up the sound system," he added, referring to their school's choir teacher.

"Will do," Tyler responded as he began leading the other two out the door, all three students exchanging temporary farewells with Mr. Way while he did so. Once they left the classroom and began walking to the other side of the school where the gym was located, Tyler reached over and reattached his hand to Jenna's.

Silence briefly filled the air around them— that is until Jenna piped up. "Do you think Mr. Way has a problem with us dating, Ty?"

"No," he replied with what he believed was honesty. "I don't think so, anyway."

"Sab?"

The mentioned shook her head faintly. "I don't think so either," she copied. "I mean, he was maybe a bit shocked, if anything."

"It just felt kinda awkward after he noticed us holding hands," Jenna confessed, confirming Tyler's earlier observation.

"Yeah..." Tyler agreed. Then, he realized what his girlfriend was actually asking. "Wait, why would he have any issue with us dating? We've been best friends for years— not much has changed."

"Yeah, because I make out with my best friends too," Sabrina mumbled jokingly, resulting in a laugh from Tyler and a half-hearted smile from Jenna.

"Because we're the president and vice president of the student body," Jenna answered.

"Yeah, we already knew that information, Jen," Tyler chuckled dryly, his hand now feeling uncomfortably damp as it held Jenna's.

"Conflict of interest," she clarified simply, her tone laced with disapproval.

Tyler almost stopped in his tracks at those words. He hadn't thought of that.

"Oh," was all he could say.

Before that silence could return, Sabrina took its place. "It really only just makes you more of a power couple, honestly," she quickly assured. It was almost too quick... adjacent to in an ass-kissing type of way.

With a sigh, Tyler gently pulled away from Jenna's grasp. He could see her visibly deflate out of the corner of his eye. This time, he did stop walking. Thankfully, the building was still more empty than full, so they weren't standing in the way of anyone.

"Hey," Tyler began delicately, moving to directly face her. However, Jenna wouldn't meet his eye. He tried to hide the irritation in his voice the best he could as he resumed speaking. "Look at me."

His girlfriend complied, Tyler's eyes meeting her sad ones. She didn't say anything, so Tyler took this as his cue to go on.

"Just... give me a chance to feel today out a bit more; see how the assembly goes. I don't think there will be a problem with us dating— I don't even really see how it can be a conflict of interest —but let me assess our situation first, okay?" When Jenna didn't verbally reply, he sighed again. "I love you, Jen. You know that. We just gotta slow down on the PDA until then."

Jenna matched his sigh, exhaling with slight annoyance. "Okay," she agreed. "I love you too."

Tyler offered her a strained smile. She responded with a weak one of her own. He rubbed her shoulder supportively before turning back to continue making his way toward the gym, relaxing a bit when both Sabrina and Jenna followed. He did see Jenna place herself on the other side of Sabrina so that the latter was situated between the two, which contrasted with Sabrina's usual position on Tyler's left side. Yet, he didn't say anything to her about it. He couldn't entertain that conversation anymore for the time being; it would have to wait until after the assembly.

"I rewrote all of your note cards last night, by the way," Sabrina suddenly spoke up, once again rejecting the silence's attempt to settle upon the group. "I know your handwriting's already pretty shit, but it was literally unreadable since you filled the cards out half-asleep."

Tyler sent an appreciative smile her way. "Thanks, S—"

He was immediately cut off, though, when something raced past him and nearly knocked him over. Luckily, both girls were there to catch him in time, resulting in just a bit of stumbling on his end.

"Sorry, Joseph!" A voice cackled insincerely. It was then that Tyler realized it was someone and not something that almost collided with him.

Clenching his fist to ground himself, he closed his eyes and took as deep of a breath as possible in an attempt to calm down.

"Hey, don't let him get to you today, Ty," he heard Jenna advise softly. He opened his eyes to see her smiling supportively at him. "He's an asshole. You're gonna do great today, remember? Focus on that."

Tyler nodded and let out that deep breath he was holding. "You're right," he paused. "Thanks," he added, speaking to both his girlfriend and his best friend this time.

"Of course," Jenna replied sincerely.

The trio started to resume walking. Tyler could feel that silence creeping up again, this time fully evolved into one of thick tension.

Unsurprisingly, Sabrina came to the rescue just as she did earlier, beating the silence to the punch. "I used different colored gel pens too," she informed, referring to the note cards she was talking about just moments ago. "Red for Ty, light blue for Jenna, and obviously pink for me."

Tyler let out a small laugh and let his mouth rest into an easy smile. Jenna was right— and, with the help of his friends —he was going to do great today.

He knew that he didn't have any other choice.

Chapter Text

"Good morning, whore!"

"Hey, slut."

"Hi, sweet baby Ashley."

The mentioned shook her head with a laugh as she slid into the backseat of the 2013 Honda Accord that belonged to the person speaking to her. "Hi, Hayley," she greeted softly.

Josh cracked a slight smile at his sister's reaction, handing her his skateboard so she could set it next to her on the floor of the vehicle. He didn't even wait to make sure she had done so before getting into his best friend's car himself— mostly because he didn't need to; this had been the two siblings' almost daily morning routine for the last year or so.

"Question," he began, shutting his door and putting his seatbelt on while Hayley backed out of his driveway.

She removed her sunglasses from where they had been resting on the top of her head to put them on properly before responding. "Answer."

"Why the fuck are we leaving for school so early?"

Although her eyes were now hidden, Josh knew she was rolling them at him. "Some of us aren't quite literally skating through high school and are actually involved in something."

"So... school newspaper stuff. Got it."

"Not just the school paper, Josh," Hayley clarified. "Editor-in-chief of the school paper."

It was Josh's turn to roll his eyes. "My bad. Editor-in-chief stuff," he corrected in a slightly mimicking voice.

Hayley smiled in satisfaction at the acknowledgment of her position, despite being mocked in the process. "Thank you," she replied cheekily.

"Still," Josh continued. "It's the first day of school, it's not like there's gonna be much to report on— especially not before the school day even starts."

"We have the Welcome Back Assembly after first period, remember? Gotta help the newbie photographers get usable pictures. Plus, I should probably get there early to make sure nothing bursts into flames in the meantime."

Throwing his head back against the headrest of his seat, Josh let out a loud and dramatic groan. "Why'd you have to remind me of that stupid assembly?"

"Hey, it's not that bad," Ashley piped up from the backseat.

"Oh yes it is," he argued. "So fucking boring and useless. Waste of my time," he mumbled.

"Waste of what time? What the hell else would you be doing other than sitting in class?" Hayley challenged, her tone almost accusatory. 

"Literally anything else. Smoking under the bleachers by tennis courts, drawing dicks all over the teacher bathroom, or— y'know, speaking of dicks —getting mine sucked in the ja—"

"Ew, Josh!" His sister interrupted, causing his best friend to laugh.

"See?" The mentioned smiled innocently in an attempt to offset his previous words. "Much better ways to spend my time."

Not even five minutes after that conversation, Hayley was pulling into a parking spot by the entrance to the school's art hallway. The trio got out of the car, with Ashley handing Josh his skateboard and Hayley locking the vehicle behind them with her key fob. It was when they started making their way towards the building that Josh realized something. "Hey, where's Thing 2? Is she here yet?"

Now that her sunglasses were off her face and back in their earlier spot on top of her head, Josh could actually see Hayley rolling her eyes this time. "Yeah, she should be," she nodded. "Had a question about an art project she's been working on, I think...? Kinda forgot what she was saying last night once we started making out though, so..."

"Huh..." Josh began, trailing off.

"What?"

"Just didn't realize you guys were detachable. I genuinely thought you and Ash were fused together like CatDog or something."

Hayley couldn't help but laugh loudly at his words, shoving him playfully before grabbing the door to the art hallway and holding it open for the Dun siblings.

"I still can't believe she managed to successfully talk you into taking ceramics with her," Ashley spoke to Josh in disbelief, the door swinging shut behind the group as they walked inside the school.

"Don't give her all the credit," Josh disagreed. "I needed one more class to fill my schedule and honestly didn't care enough to find out if any others seemed even somewhat enjoyable, so she lucked out on that. It also helps that Mr. Iero isn't, like... the absolute worst."

"Careful, J. Don't sound too psyched. Wouldn't wanna make the rest of us jealous," Hayley deadpanned.

"Ah, my bad. It's just so hard to contain my excitement," he quipped, sounding equally monotonous.

"Okay, I gotta get to the newspaper room. I'll see you at the assembly though... right?" The blonde questioned, looking specifically at Josh with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, ma'am," he sighed obnoxiously, smirking when Hayley rolled her eyes at him yet again.

"Bye, Hayley," Ashley spoke gently.

"Bye, sweetpea," Hayley replied to the redhead with a soft smile. She glanced at Josh before continuing. "Later, loser," she added, heading off towards her destination.

"I'm gonna go print out my AP Lang project before class starts," his sister informed. "Wanna come?"

"Hmm... as tempting as you make going to the library sound... hard pass."

"Okay, have fun by yourself then," Ashley laughed. "Bye, Josh."

"See ya."

Josh watched his little sister leave, the ghost of a subconscious smile on his face. He pulled out his phone to check the time and immediately frowned when he saw that he still had a little less than half an hour before school started.

Pausing, he thought about the best way to kill that time without having to suffer in agonizing boredom while doing so. He found himself running through the list he shared aloud just moments ago in the car, which helped him decide how to at least partially quicken his wait.

The unfortunate part of Josh's choice, however, was that the exit leading to the tennis courts was on the opposite end of the building by the gym. He then remembered he was holding a certain object in his hand and his mouth slowly turned into a mischievous grin.

Setting his skateboard down on the ground, he stepped on it and kicked off to begin his journey. It was early enough in the morning that if any teachers did see him skating through the hallways, they'd probably just scold him and go on with their day. Plus, it's not like enough people were there yet to cause any actual harm.

A couple of minutes later, he had just passed the cafeteria when he spotted a familiar gathering of students stopped in the corridor, two of the three talking with serious looks on their faces as the other stood there semi-awkwardly. One in particular caught Josh's attention and that grin from before returned, only now more devilish.

The group resumed walking, and as he neared them, Josh tilted his direction just slightly so that he would graze the person who had drawn his focus as he passed. Josh knew their reaction to this would be priceless.

They quickly reached one another, and when Josh flew past the trio, his shoulder brushed against the body of that specific person with enough speed and force to cause them to stumble.

Josh didn't have to turn around to see the bright red face, its eyes glaring so violently that he could feel lasers being burnt into the back of his head. He bit his lip harshly, trying his absolute hardest not to laugh, but a loud cackle left his mouth anyway despite his (honesty pretty low) efforts.

"Sorry, Joseph!" He called back insincerely, knowing it only got more of a rise out of the mentioned.

He didn't stick around to confirm his suspicions, instead continuing down the main hallway to complete his mission of reaching the other side of the school.

Maybe he would have a good first day of school after all.

Josh sat towards the back of his anatomy class, messing around on his phone as he waited painfully for what felt like forever for the clock to finally reach 8:30.

"Hey, is anyone sitting here?"

Glancing up, he was met with someone he was... friendly... with, and moved his backpack off of the stool next to him so they could sit. "Go ahead, Debs."

"Thanks," Debby breathed out, taking the seat gratefully. "This is the last fucking place I wanna be right now," she groaned.

"Same," Josh agreed simply with a small exhale of his own.

The two made light conversation for the next few minutes while time slowly crept along. Eventually, he saw his teacher walk through the door and the bell rang just as it was clicking shut behind her. Josh had never been more excited for class to start than he was in that instant; not because he liked anatomy— far from it, but because it, at the very least, gave him something to do.

"Good morning, everyone," his teacher Mrs. Paulson greeted kindly. He mumbled back a 'good morning' alongside the rest of the students out of politeness. "With the Welcome Back Assembly after this period and shortened class times to accommodate it, we'll just be doing introductions and going over the syllabus today."

It took all of the willpower in Josh's body for him to not groan dramatically at the mention of having to introduce himself. At least he got out of participating in a mind-numbing icebreaker this time.

In an attempt to entertain himself during the off time when he wasn't being forced to share his name, grade, and the most exciting thing he did over the summer, Josh looked around, hoping to find something interesting to distract himself with.

His eyes ended up landing on the glass terrarium sitting in the front left corner of the room. Well, it wasn't necessarily the enclosure itself that piqued his curiosity, but instead what was inside of it.

An orange corn snake.

He hadn't really processed the fact that his anatomy class took place in the zoology room until that moment.

A thought suddenly struck Josh, and he could practically see the lightbulb appear over his own head, juxtaposed with the heat lamp placed above the very snake that sparked his idea.

The rest of the period passed by much faster than the beginning of the day had, and Josh was growing more and more restless with every minute.

Almost as if she were putty in the hands of his scheme, Mrs. Paulson spoke up towards the end of class. "I'll have the classroom door locked during the assembly if any of you would rather keep your things in here than take them with you to the gym. You can swing back by and pick them up on your way to second period."

The bell rang not long after that vital piece of information was shared, and Josh swiftly slung his backpack over his shoulder, hoping it seemed like he just couldn't wait to get to that assembly (or out of class— either worked). He exited the room but hung back just outside of it until he saw the last person file out. It was when he saw Mrs. Paulson walk out and turn to lock the door behind herself that he put his plan into motion.

He hurried over to her, stopping her mid-act with her key in her hand. "Ugh, I think I accidentally left my phone at my lab table. Is it okay if I go in and look for it? Super sorry," he lied, hoping he sounded somewhat convincing.

Mrs. Paulson tried to hide her annoyance but failed when an agitated sigh left her mouth. She checked the watch on her wrist. "Yes, but be quick; I need to go ahead and get down to the gym before the assembly starts. Please make sure you push the button on the handle as you leave so that the door locks behind you, okay?"

Josh nodded appreciatively, thanking her as he darted back inside the classroom. He went over to his seat, pretending to search around for his phone while peeking out the small window by the door to see if his teacher had disappeared yet. As soon as she was no longer visible, he smiled to himself and approached the snake terrarium.

"Hey, buddy," he greeted, bending down to meet the reptile's height. He watched as it slithered over to the frontmost glass wall to get closer to Josh. He didn't know shit about snakes, but he had enough knowledge to know not to fuck with them if they didn't want to be fucked with. He really wanted this snake to be friendly so that everything could go according to his impromptu and improvised agenda, but he wasn't going to torture or abuse the thing in the process.

The snake moved its head up so that its eyes were more parallel to Josh's and its tongue flicked slightly. That didn't seem like a sign of aggression to Josh. Guess I'll find out, he decided.

It was when he went to lift the screen off the top of the container that he noticed a name plaque towards the top of the terrarium itself. Rusty, it read.

He angled the mesh cover back enough to gently stick his arm into the animal's home. Trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, he let his hand rest off to the side of Rusty so that the snake could make its own choice on whether or not he trusted Josh enough to wriggle onto it.

Immediately, it crawled towards him and made its way up Josh's arm. Very carefully, he removed his limb from the enclosure, deciding to leave the lid where it was so that it would maybe look like the snake had gotten out on its own... somehow.

After letting Rusty get comfortable, Josh transferred his arm into the front pocket of his hoodie. When he felt the snake contently remain there, he grinned in satisfaction.

He made sure to flick the overhead lights off for an added sense of responsibility before opening the door, clicking the lock on the handle as he left the classroom.

Josh began heading to the gym, identifying a recognizable head of cotton candy pink hair by the bathrooms that were located just outside of the science hallway. The owner of the pastel-colored hair saw Josh making his way towards them and their mouth twisted into a small scowl.

"What the hell took you so long?" They interrogated once Josh finally reached them.

"Sorry, Ash. Had something important come up," Josh explained loosely, falling into step beside her as they continued towards the gym.

"Like what...?" She asked hesitantly, suspicion audible in her voice.

"You'll see."

"Should I be scared?"

Josh pondered for a moment. "Nah," he decided.

"Because that sounded so convincing," she deadpanned.

"God, you and Hayley are like clones of one another," he groaned, making Ash laugh warmly at his theatrics.

The two finally arrived at their destination and entered, going over to the senior section. Just as Ash was about to climb the bleachers to the top row (the area where they usually sat when they couldn't successfully skip out on an assembly), Josh caught her wrist to stop her. She turned and looked at him, her face full of confusion. "What?"

"Let's sit in the front row this time," Josh suggested, sitting in an empty spot and pulling Ash down with him.

"Who the fuck are you and what have you done with my best friend?" Ash demanded, narrowing her eyes at Josh but staying in her seat anyway.

"You'll see," he repeated with a smirk, his arm (and Rusty) still resting inside of his hoodie pocket.

While they waited for the assembly to start, Ash began digging around in her backpack. Letting her be, Josh scanned his surroundings and eventually found Hayley. She was standing near the sophomore section, assisting someone Josh assumed was a freshman with the camera they were holding.

Hayley let out a soft huff, and Josh could tell she was trying her absolute best to remain patient with her new staff member. To her credit, she was staying much more composed than Josh would have been had he been in her position.

The blonde must've sensed someone staring at her because she looked up, meeting Josh's eyes and realizing it was just him. She smiled and waved slightly. Josh waved back and nudged Ash's side, causing her to finish her rummaging and sit up. She also saw Hayley and instantly perked up, excitement overtaking her features.

He witnessed Ash dramatically blow a kiss towards Hayley as the latter "caught" it and held it to her heart. Both girls giggled and Josh couldn't help but roll his eyes at them. "You guys are so corny."

"Yeah, but that's okay. I wouldn't wanna be corny with anyone else," Ash replied wistfully. It then seemed as though she suddenly remembered why she had been searching through her bag, because she bent back down to pull something out of it. "Here," she spoke, holding a stick of peppermint gum between her pointer and middle fingers out to Josh.

Josh accepted the offer hesitantly. "Thanks...?"

"You reek of cigarettes," Ash said matter-of-factly as a way to explain her previous actions.

"Probably because I smoked one right before first period," he retorted, using the hand that wasn't stored in his pocket to unwrap the item and pop it into his mouth.

Ash just hummed in response, grabbing herself a piece as well before taking hers and Josh's wrappers and shoving them back into her backpack.

Shortly after that, the school band ceased their playing of their fight song to signal the start of the assembly. Josh watched a certain individual walk up to the podium situated in front of one of the walls without bleachers. He had completely forgotten that Tyler Joseph won the student body presidential election last spring— not that he kept tabs on the guy or anything.

"Welcome back, Claremont Cougars!" Tyler began excitedly. "I hope everyone had a good summer. My name is Tyler Joseph and I'm this year's student body president..."

Josh began to tune Tyler out, not able to give literally any less fucks about what he was saying. Not only was the Welcome Back Assembly absolutely awful, but having Tyler in charge would no doubt make it exponentially torturous. Well, at least until the execution of Josh's plan anyway. That would at least bring him some excitement.

Josh peered into his pocket as subtly as possible to check on Rusty, smiling when he saw the little dude resting there peacefully. He let out an annoyed sigh, however, when he realized he would have to sit there in boredom until it was time to release the kraken— or, well, snake.

Without meaning to, he accidentally popped his gum loudly when he tried blowing a mini bubble inside his mouth. He caught the way Tyler froze for a split second before he continued talking. The hesitation was so quick that Josh didn't think anyone else even noticed it. Yet again, the mischievous grin that first made an appearance earlier that morning showed itself on Josh's face.

He waited a few beats before popping his gum again. This time, Tyler kept talking, but Josh picked up on the way his eye twitched at the sound.

"Shut the fuck up or I'm gonna confiscate your gum," Ash whispered to him. "I'll stick my God damn hand into your mouth and yank it outta there if I have to, and you know I will."

"As much as I'd love to do that just for you..." Josh whispered back. "...I think it's worth the reaction we're getting from Mr. President over there," he snickered.

Ash glanced over at Tyler, which Josh took as his cue to create the noise again. Somehow, Tyler's eye twitch that time was bigger than his last.

Emitting a small laugh, Ash crossed her arms across her chest and contently sat back in her seat. "Be my guest," she concluded, visibly amused.

Josh paused the nuisance until Tyler was finished speaking and some other girl took his place at the podium. Once Tyler was standing back by the wall that was behind him, Josh let out another pop.

Tyler immediately searched the room for the source of the interruption, in the end, landing on Josh— who had been sitting there, smiling and chomping his gum exaggeratedly to show Tyler that he was, in fact, the one broadcasting that beautiful sound to the world.

Tyler's glared at Josh through the slits of his eyes, anger very evidently starting to wash over his entire body. Josh didn't know how throughout the last four years they'd gone to school together Tyler still hadn't figured out that if he just simply didn't react, then Josh would have no reason to provoke.

Josh popped his gum a few more times after that but quickly became bored again as Tyler's responses gradually grew less intense.

He allowed some time to pass, but once the cheer squad performed their routine and the principal introduced the new staff members they had that year, Josh decided he was ready for his scheme to unravel.

Tyler took the stage again to present the other student government officers. "I've already shared who I am a few times, so I won't put everyone through that again," he laughed ever so slightly, obviously hoping that he would receive a few chuckles in return. He smiled in satisfaction when the gym collectively replied with some variation of a pity laugh. "But I did want to introduce the rest of my wonderful board and make you all aware of a few of the events we have coming up."

Two girls and a guy stepped up next to the podium and Josh nudged Rusty slightly to get him to move a bit. Once he felt the snake wiggle around, Josh guided him back up the sleeve of his hoodie and waited for him to conceal himself enough that Josh could remove his hand from his pocket.

"Why are you being so weird?" Ash asked quietly, glancing at her best friend warily.

Not really wanting to say "you'll see" for the third time that morning, Josh ignored her as he discreetly leaned down towards the floor and directed Rusty back down his arm. The creature poked its head out and Josh grinned while the snake began to slither out.

He aimed his sleeve off to the side with the goal of getting Rusty to travel against the base of the bleachers first. It took a lot for him to physically hold in his excitement as Rusty perfectly complied with Josh's plan.

Watching until Rusty had made it a few feet over to Josh's right, he sat back and waited patiently for the chaos to ensue.

Josh focused his attention back on Tyler, the smirk on his face growing when he caught a glimpse of orange out of his peripheral vision. "... our secretary and social media backslash PR officer, Sabrina Carpenter. And last but not least, our treasurer, Dallon Weekes," he droned on. "Our first spirit week kicks off next Monday, and the list of themes for each day is posted on our Instagram as well as around the school hallw—"

Tyler was abruptly cut off with an ear-piercing scream. "Snake!" Someone shrieked.

Rusty had reached the other end of the gym by then, and Mrs. Paulson bolted out of her seat in the teacher section, hurrying over and safely scooping the reptile up off the floor.

Amidst the commotion of people screaming and running out of the room, Josh met Tyler's panicked gaze and grinned innocently. The brunette put two and two together and an expression resembling that of a genuine desire to commit homicide overcame his face.

In Josh's defense, he was just doing what his boss had told him to do: have a good first day today. He sort of originally intended to either way, but the way things played out simply required him to make it for himself.

Josh couldn't help but be slightly impressed with himself, but more importantly? A good first day of school he sure as hell had.

Chapter Text

Tyler was fuming.

As he paced back and forth right outside the school's main office, a mix of emotions surged through him that he couldn't even find the phrasing to describe. Somehow, words like embarrassed, humiliated, furious, or outraged didn't do the way he felt justice. Despite that, Tyler also struggled to elicit vocabulary that felt more accurate— and this was coming from the same person whose highest SAT score was 1500!

Jenna and Sabrina stood off to the side, watching Tyler intently, visibly hesitant and unsure of how to navigate this situation. It was almost like any sudden movement might cause him to snap and fly off the handle. At that point, hell, it was nearly a guarantee.

Tyler's frantic movement was halted upon hearing the sound of a door opening. His head whipped up, and complete rage filled his body when he saw who was exiting the office.

It seemed as though the other person noticed Tyler's presence at the same time, their eyes meeting. A smirk overcame their face as they let the office door close swiftly behind them. "Joseph," they spoke, nodding slightly with faux respect.

Tyler simply tightened his grip around each strap of the backpack he was wearing in an attempt to ground himself, narrowing his eyes. "I hate you so much," he seethed. "Like. Literally so fucking much."

Josh's expression turned into one of insincere and sarcastic adoration, obviously in a way that was meant to mock Tyler. "Aww, for you to even spend your valuable time and energy thinking of me is such an honor," he pouted condescendingly, hand over his heart. He started to leave, but paused, turning back to look at Tyler. "Nice job at the assembly, by the way. Too bad you never got the chance to wrap things up. I hope you don't feel too rattled after what happened, though, 'cause I'm positive today'll go down in school hiss-story," he added.

Tyler watched with unadulterated contempt as Josh snickered at his own jokes, continuing towards wherever it was he was going— which was supposed to be second period, but knowing Josh, Tyler figured he was probably skipping school to go like... steal candy from a baby or kick puppies or something.

"That asshole is not about to get away with this," Tyler grumbled angrily, yanking open the office door. He didn't even wait to see if Jenna or Sabrina decided to follow.

"Mr. Joseph! How are you? How was your summ—" the secretary began, her tone sickly sweet as she welcomed him. However, she cut herself off once she realized Tyler wasn't stopping at her desk. Instead, he made an immediate beeline for the all-too-familiar principal's office. The secretary instantly resumed speaking, only this time, matching the speed of her words to the quickness of Tyler's feet. "Mr. Joseph, you know very well that if you wish to meet with the principal, then you need to have an appointment or wait for me to—"

"Not now, Janet," he interrupted without so much as a glance. "Don't you have an ex-husband to go argue with on the phone? Y'know, since that's something you tend to do while on the clock?"

That stopped Janet from talking.

It didn't take more than a couple of seconds for Tyler to reach the end of the hallway, which was where the principal's office was located. Not bothering to knock at all, he flung the door open and burst into the room unannounced.

Tyler noticed that his principal didn't seem surprised by his sudden entrance in any way. If anything, it was almost like he was expecting it to happen at one point or another before the end of the school day. "Hello, Tyler," he greeted, a tired yet polite smile on his face.

Tyler, though, completely ignored the acknowledgement. "Are you seriously letting him get away with this, Mr. Farro?" He demanded, referring to the fact that Josh had waltzed right out of that same office just moments earlier without consequence.

Mr. Farro simply sighed and rubbed his temples. "Sit down," he replied, gesturing to one of the empty chairs placed in front of his desk.

Tyler let out a huff, but complied, slipping his backpack off and setting it on the floor next to him before taking a seat and crossing his arms in front of his chest indignantly.

"Thank you," Mr. Farro followed up. "Now, first of all, are you okay?"

"Okay?" Tyler let out a humorless laugh in disbelief. "That little stunt he pulled probably just ruined my entire reputation as student body president."

"Tyler, your reputation isn't—"

"I've worked my ass off the last four years for this, Mr. Farro. You of all people know this. So much work, and for what? Some lowlife degenerate with a combination of several undiagnosed personality disorders to make it all come crashing down?"

"Tyler, that's enough," Mr. Farro spoke, his voice stern but laced with exhaustion. He pinched the bridge of his nose as stress radiated from him.

"To answer your question: no, I'm clearly not okay," Tyler snapped back. "My turn. Why the hell isn't he in the process of being expelled right now? My personal feelings aside, he not only endangered an animal, but he also technically stole and abused school property. According to the district handbook—"

"Tyler," Mr. Farro repeated, interrupting the inevitable rant.

"What?" Tyler replied in a way that made his irritation very evident.

"We don't have any proof," Mr. Farro finally stated. "That Josh was the one that did it," he clarified.

Tyler thought he was about to have an aneurysm.

"What do you mean there's no proof?" He asked exasperatedly. "Hello! All the cameras installed in the ceiling, maybe?"

"Do you really that think every single camera in this building still actually works?" Mr. Farro raised an eyebrow, sitting back in his seat with slight amusement.

Tyler threw his head back and rubbed his face in frustration. He groaned loudly, but he wasn't sure how well the intensity of the noise translated, since his hands muffled it quite a bit. "This stupid fucking public school and its public school funding," he mumbled just low enough that Mr. Farro wouldn't hear him. He took a deep breath while he sat back up and redirected his attention back to his principal. "Surely one of them picked something up."

"We tried, Tyler. The footage we did manage to get was either too grainy or taken from too far away to confirm anything. I'm sorry."

"Mr. Farro, we both know it was him."

"I know," his principal exhaled in agreement. "But there's nothing we can do without concrete proof. It's protocol."

Tyler bit his tongue to avoid saying anything that would get him in trouble, forcing himself to just nod his head in acceptance. "Got it," he spoke through gritted teeth as he stood up, snatching his backpack up off the floor. "Thanks."

He made his way to the door, about to leave, when Mr. Farro stopped him. "Tyler?"

The mentioned turned his head to look at Mr. Farro, he shoulders slumping. "What?" He sighed.

"You did a great job this morning," Mr. Farro complimented sincerely with a small smile. "I know you'll be an amazing student body president, even if things don't always go exactly as planned. Don't let someone like Josh ruin your day or your year or your life," he joked slightly.

Tyler, for the most part, knew that Mr. Farro was being genuine (or, well, he hoped he was— not that he'd ever admit that out loud), but that also didn't really mean shit to him at that point. He held back the scoff that so badly wanted to escape his lips and turned his focus to leaving the principal's office instead.

Silently, he twisted the doorknob to let himself out, the abrupt sound of the door shutting echoing behind him as he made his way back down the hallway toward the front of the office.

Upon his arrival, the first thing he noticed was that Jenna and Sabrina had been waiting for him, each occupying a spot in the row of chairs that were lined up across from the secretary's desk.

Well, the first thing he actually noticed was Janet glaring at him, but he disregarded that.

The two, who were in the middle of a talking, saw him approaching and immediately stopped what they were doing. Jenna sprung up from her seat, meeting him just a few steps away from where she had been sitting.

"How'd it go?" She asked quietly, her eyebrows knitted together in concern.

Tyler glanced over at Sabrina to see her looking over at him with an expression that matched Jenna's. Tyler simply gestured with his head for them to go to the hallway to discuss the matter.

Both girls seemingly understood, following him out and over to a semi-secluded spot by the school's main trophy case. Once the trio reached their destination, Jenna and Sabrina stared at him expectantly. "So?" the latter prompted.

Tyler's mind felt like it was running a million miles a minute as his pointer finger searched for, and eventually found, the cuticle of his thumb. He knew that— by the time 3:30 rolled around —that exact area of skin would be a bloody mess due to his inevitable and incessant picking, but that was the least of his problems at the moment. It's a habit he hasn't been able to kick since picking it up as a coping mechanism in middle school. Despite that, now sure as hell wasn't the time to try.

Tyler took a deep breath. "There's no proof, apparently. That Josh was the reason the snake got out. Half the cameras in this shitty ass school are broken, I guess."

Jenna exhaled in defeat. "Figures."

"Are you gonna do anything about it?" Sabrina pressed further.

"I don't think there's anything I can do, Sab," Tyler stated matter-of-factly. "Right now—" he paused slightly, letting out an agitated sigh. "Right now, I need to try to focus on what's important, and Josh is not that. Definitely not to me, and honestly probably not to anyone at all."

Suddenly, a familiar ring emitted through the loudspeakers, cutting their conversation short. A literal save by the bell.

The hallway began to fill with students leaving their second period classes and making their way to their next ones. Fortunately for Tyler, his next class was AP Government; that class, at the very least, was familiar territory. Semi-unfortunately for him, though, he had it with Jenna.

This wouldn't be an issue in any other circumstance or on any other day, but he didn't want to devote any more of his attention to the situation, and he had a feeling she might push him to talk about it on their way to class. The more he thought about everything—the fact that he'd worked so hard on planning the assembly for essentially nothing, that his first official act as student body president was a disaster, or that the worst person in his entire school had caused it—the more he felt like a hopeless failure.

"Well," Tyler sucked in a breath. "We'll see you at lunch, Sab?"

"For sure," she smiled halfheartedly before turning and walking off in the opposite direction.

Tyler just sighed quietly to himself as he began making his way towards his AP Government class with Jenna in tow.

"How was everyone's day?"

At first, Tyler remained silent in response to his mom's question— as did his siblings. He assumed it was to avoid talking over one another, though, rather than because they too had the worst, most embarrassing first day of school ever.

The entire Joseph family sat around the dining table, enjoying the meal that Colette had prepared for them that night. Well, the entire Joseph family minus Tyler was enjoying it; the latter was sort of just moving his food around with his fork to occupy himself.

The stillness in the air, accompanied only by the clanging of silverware against dishes, prompted Tyler's dad to follow up. "Why don't you go first, Jay? You likin' fifth grade so far, bud?"

The mentioned perked up and nodded. "Yeah!" He began happily. "I really like my teacher. The library's starting a new book club, I think I'm gonna join! We also have a new gym teacher..."

Tyler tuned his youngest brother out, his head resting in his hand as he continued to search for entrainment in the grilled salmon he kept pushing around on his plate. He briefly wondered what kind of life that salmon had lived leading up to this moment, where it now existed only as part of his family's dinner. One day, swimming around aimlessly, just living its life; the next being plucked from its home and emptied out, only to sit lifeless and untouched in front of Tyler.

In Tyler's opinion, though... that still sounded like a much better experience than the ones he had at school earlier.

Eventually, Zack chimed in with his own comment, which drew Tyler's focus back to the conversation.

"At least my day wasn't anywhere near as bad as Tyler's," he snickered, taking a bite of asparagus.

Tyler rolled his eyes, letting the fork that was resting in his hand fall from his grip and make a slight clattering sound. As soon as he was about to fire back with his own snarky reply, their mom spoke up.

"Aww, honey," she acknowledged sincerely as Colette came around and filled up her water glass. "What happened?"

"The Welcome Back Assembly got cut short. He only got like 20 minutes into it before the zoology snake somehow got out and joined us in the gym, causing all hell to break loose. Total shitshow," Zack answered on his older brother's behalf, making no effort to hide his smirk.

"Do you ever shut the fuck up?" Tyler snapped at him.

"Boys," their dad tried, his voice tired.

Tyler paid him zero attention, though, and kept talking. "Not only was my day absolutely ruined, but my dickhead brother is having the time of his life rubbing it in my face—"

"Tyler," his mom started.

"—and it didn't just 'somehow' get out, either!" The mentioned continued ranting, using invisible air quotes to reference Zack's phrasing. "The biggest asshole in the grade freed the thing and is getting away scot-free since there's apparently no proof—"

"Tyler," his mom repeated, but was drowned out by the noise of Zack cackling, presumably at Tyler's explosive outburst.

"—because it's a stupid fucking public school! I've worked too God damn hard just to end up—"

"Tyler!"

Finally, his mom's voice stopped him. "What?" He responded, making the irritation in his tone as obvious as he had in the principal's office earlier that day.

"I'm sorry you had a bad day and that the assembly didn't go the way you planned, but you seriously need to calm down, honey. At this rate, you're going to end up giving yourself a stroke if you don't."

"I can't calm down when I know I'm unfairly getting the short end of the stick here, Mom! None of this would've happened at a private school."

"You know that's not an option anymore, Tyler," his mom reminded softly. She hesitated for a moment before proceeding. "Do you maybe... need to start going back to therapy? It might help to actually give it a shot this time."

As soon as those words left his mom's mouth, the room fell silent again—not even the sound of chewing or silverware clinking against dishes could be heard. Tyler swore he could've heard a pin drop. 

Even Zack's smile immediately fell. Up until then, he'd still been laughing over Tyler's meltdown. If Tyler wasn't practically frozen in place, he would've gotten whiplash from how fast Zack's expression shifted from amused to dead serious.

That single question was so visceral, he was convinced he actually felt the air thicken as his skin began to crawl. Tyler was exactly like that fucking salmon on his plate: yanked out of the water, thrashing and choking on air; stripped raw and sliced down the middle before being gutted and completely scraped out; a corpse lying on a cold plate with glazed over eyes, stabbed and jolted in every direction for human contentment.

His throat feeling like sandpaper, he swallowed before responding. "No," was all he could manage to get out.

His mom pressed further, her voice cautious and level. "Are you sure, honey? If you're already this emotional and reactive just one day into the school year, then—"

She was cut off by the abrupt screech of Tyler's chair being shoved back. He stood, now abandoning his untouched food altogether.

Quietly, without so much as a second glance in his family's direction, he returned his chair to its original position and exited the dining room.

Chapter Text

"Hi everyone. Welcome to our first student government meeting of the school year!"

Tyler's eyes caught the clock on the back wall of Mr. Way's classroom, smiling to himself proudly as the red hand drifted just past 5 o'clock. Starting the meeting on time down to the exact second? Now that was punctual.

Once those words left Tyler's mouth, the various conversations around the room ceased. Tyler took a moment to scan the room. While most of the students sitting before him were familiar in some capacity, he was pleased to see more fresh faces among the group than he originally expected. Sure, he'd already met all the new members during the interview process, but it was gratifying to finally see the entire student government gathered together for the first time.

"Today's meeting will probably run shorter than usual, since there's not too much to cover, but expect these to normally last until 6:30 or 7."

A few heads nodded in response to that, so Tyler took that as his cue to continue speaking. "Okay, so, as corny as it is, we're gonna go around and introduce ourselves so our new members can get to know everyone a bit better. Let's say name, grade, and what you're looking forward to the most this year— just in general; doesn't necessarily have to be student gov-related.

"I'll go first: I'm Tyler, a senior and the student body president. The thing that I'm looking forward to the most is, well, being the student body president. Student gov's in charge of most of our school's big events, and, personally, I've always found it really rewarding to help make those happen. I hope the rest of you do too," he finished with an encouraging smile. He glanced over at Jenna, who seemingly understood that it was her turn.

"I'm Jenna, also a senior and student body vice president. The thing I'm looking forward to the most this year is..."

Without even realizing it, Tyler began to tune her out as he collected his thoughts. He exhaled quietly, and Mr. Way, who was sitting at his desk, raised an eyebrow at Tyler, as if silently asking "is everything alright?"

Tyler's smile felt a bit more forced that time as he offered a simple nod in return. Mr. Way followed up with a supportive smile of his own, matching Tyler's encouraging one from just moments earlier.

After Jenna's introduction came Sabrina's, and then Dallon's (who was their treasurer). Tyler shifted his attention back to the meeting once the regular members' introductions were about to begin. It was evident that no one else knew who should go next, which prompted Tyler to clarify. "We can start at this group," he pointed to the cluster of desks off to his left.

Immediately, all four students sitting in that exact spot looked nervous, and Tyler had to hold back a laugh— not because he was making fun of them, but because they were very obviously freshmen. Nostalgia filled his body in the same way that memories of meeting Sabrina in student government their freshman year filled his mind.

Roughly 10 minutes later, introductions came to an end (with one senior saying the thing they were most looking forward to was graduating), and Tyler resumed making his way through the agenda that Sabrina had typed up the day before:

I. Call to Order

Done.

II. Introductions and Attendance

Done.

III. Old Business
     a. Welcome Back Assembly

Any semblance of composure instantly vanished from Tyler's face, his mouth pressing into a straight line.

He must've been quiet for longer than he intended, because Sabrina piped up with a "pst." His head shot up, and their eyes met. "Welcome Back Assembly," she whispered, clearly reminding him of where they were at on the agenda.

"Yeah, I know," Tyler whispered back, the irritation in his voice slipping through. He cleared his throat and turned his focus back to the other members. "Well, uh," he paused. "The next thing we were supposed to discuss was the Welcome Back Assembly, but that obviously didn't go as planned, so..." he trailed off, unsure of how to segue. A very tense and uncomfortable energy hung in the air.

"Do you remember the Welcome Back Assembly from your freshman year, Tyler?" Mr. Way suddenly asked, saving everyone from a suffocatingly awkward silence.

Tyler looked over at him, eyebrows furrowed. "Um, not really..." That had happened so many years and events ago; why or how the hell would he have retained any part of it?

Mr. Way smirked a bit, though it didn't come across as cocky or smug at all. "Student body president tripped walking up to the podium. Smacked her face directly on the floor. Broke her nose. All while the entire school was watching."

As soon as Mr. Way elaborated, Tyler began to recall that exact moment. God, the secondhand embarrassment was so intense that Tyler felt like he was the one who'd been humiliated. 

"Okay... what does that have to do with—"

"Could always be worse," Mr. Way concluded, shrugging a bit. "You could be on day two out of 14 of wearing a nose splint."

The corner of Tyler's mouth turned up ever so slightly at that. "Guess so," he agreed.

"Plus," a sophomore added. "It still gave us a reason to not be in class... which I don't think anyone can complain about."

That got a laugh out of Tyler as well as the rest of the group. "That's a good point." Feeling much more confident than a moment prior, he picked up where he'd left off on the agenda. "Okay, so for new business: the Club and College Fair is next week. Jenna and I will be working that table, so we won't need any volunteers this time. We do, however, need to start thinking about homecoming."

That resulted in a few groans.

Thankfully, Tyler was successful in concealing his irritation that time. "I know, it's early, but we need to finalize a theme by the end of next week for admin approval— so start thinking of ideas now. During our upcoming meeting, we'll make a list of possible themes, narrow down the best ones, and vote on it. After that? We start forming committees and get to work."

Some new members had appalled expressions on their faces, presumably at the idea of preparing for a dance a month and a half in advance, while a few returning ones just appeared grim.

Tyler could sympathize with their perspective... somewhat. Yeah, planning homecoming was a major pain in the ass, but that's also literally what they signed up for when they applied and committed to student government. He's trying (albeit not very hard) not to be a hardass as student body president— at least not this early into the semester —but he'll call out bullshit when he sees it; in his (correct) opinion, an intentional lack of effort made for any event, not just homecoming, definitely counts as bullshit.

There was no room for oversight or unexpectedness. If the next five years of Tyler's life were already predetermined, then the rest of the school year sure as hell was too. Another error would not only further jeopardize his reputation, but would probably also result in him ending up in some type of hospital (and he really didn't want to prove his mom right on that).

The meeting wrapped up just a few minutes after 5:30. Tyler made sure to remind everyone about the upcoming spirit week, (his tone totally nonchalant and not at all sounding desperate for participation). He also reiterated the importance of turning notifications on for the student government group chat, especially for when homecoming preparation officially begins.

Just as Tyler was about to dismiss the group for the evening, Sabrina jumped up, as if she suddenly thought of something. "Wait!"

"What?" Tyler asked. He peered over at Jenna, who seemed equally confused.

"We should get a group photo to commemorate our first meeting of the year! For the socials!" She suggested excitedly, already grabbing her phone and moving towards the cabinets on the back wall.

Unenthusiastically (like most group photos), everyone shuffled to the opposite side of the classroom and positioned themselves directly in front of the whiteboard. After a brief, inept attempt at organization, each member lined up without obstructing one another— even if that meant the front row had to sorority squat.

Sabrina ensured Mr. Way understood the exact angle and position she wanted her phone at before slipping in between Tyler and Dallon. Mr. Way counted down, taking several pictures (much to Sabrina's satisfaction), including the obligatory "silly one."

Sabrina insisted on double-checking the photos to confirm there was at least one that met her standards, and once she did, the meeting was finally over

Tyler waved to a few people who initiated the gesture on their way out the door. As soon as the final non-executive member was gone, Tyler let out an almost relieved breath.

One student government affair completed successfully, only what seemed like a billion more to go.

"Were you really that worried about a meeting?" Sabrina asked, her tone sincere.

Tyler shot her a look. "After yesterday? Absolutely."

"That's probably because a certain someone wasn't here to ruin it for you," Sabrina pointed out, rolling her eyes at the mention of said individual.

Both Mr. Way and Dallon stared at them, visibly confused.

Tyler didn't even bother attempting to hold back his own eye roll, the reason for it the same as Sabrina's. "Josh Dun."

"What about him?" Dallon inquired.

"He's the one who let the snake out."

"How do you know?" Mr. Way added.

"Oh, trust me," Tyler scoffed. "I just do."

Mr. Way appeared unconvinced. "I think he's in one of my regular afternoon classes. Seems like a fine kid," he shrugged and started gathering his belongings, getting ready to head home.

"He's probably the worst person I've ever met in my entire life," Tyler informed honestly. "And I've met a lot of people."

Mr. Way gave him a look. "Tyler," he deadpanned.

"What? He is!"

"Be nice," was all Mr. Way said, grabbing his messenger bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "Alright, as much as I love student government and chitchatting, I've been up since 4 a.m. and feel like I could sleep for a week straight, so..."

The others caught on to what Mr. Way was insinuating and quickly collected their things as well.

They bid the teacher farewell as he stayed behind to lock his classroom door. Dallon split off from Tyler and his friends, and the trio began their journey to the parking lot together.

"Hey, it's not even 6 o'clock yet... do you guys wanna go do something? Get food maybe?" Jenna proposed.

As much as Tyler didn't want to admit it (to himself or anyone else), he was already starting to feel exhausted. He hoped it was just nerves brought on by the first few days of school for someone in his position. Regardless of the cause, he knew he was tapped out for the day.

"I would really love to, but I already have a calc bc assignment due tomorrow that I haven't even touched yet," Tyler lied, hoping the other two would believe it. He knew, without a doubt, they'd be there for him no matter how drained he was. Despite that, the pressure of academics and student government was already steadily building, and it was only the second day of school—  which was too soon to reveal any cracks in his perfectly crafted exterior. "Raincheck for this weekend?"

Jenna glared at him skeptically, which he pretended not to notice, as they neared Tyler's car.

"Works for me," Sabrina shrugged, glancing at Jenna for her answer.

"Sure..." she trailed off, still staring Tyler down with slight disappointment.

In an effort to ease her concerns, he leaned in and kissed Jenna slowly and softly, allowing her to be the first to pull back and end the exchange. Thankfully, that seemed to do the trick, as she appeared significantly more content than she did just a few seconds ago.

Offering the two a reassuring smile, he stopped walking once they reached his car. He turned, leaving his friends to continue toward the far left side of the lot where their cars were parked.

"Hey," Jenna said suddenly, causing Tyler to look back at her.

"Yeah?"

"I love you," she reminded, a gentle smile gracing her lips.

Tyler couldn't help but smile back. "I love you too," he echoed honestly.

"Like I said yesterday... you guys are cute or whatever," Sabrina cut in. "But I was just joking when I asked you guys to wait until today to make me throw up. I would prefer to just not throw up at all, actually."

Shaking his head with a laugh, he resumed making his way to his car. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," he spoke, unlocking the vehicle with his key fob.

"See ya," Sabrina offered him a small wave, and Jenna sent one last smile.

Tyler watched the two make their way to their cars, and once he deemed them far enough away, he finally got into his own.

After tossing his backpack in the backseat, he sat for a moment, letting out another sigh of relief.

As long as everything else planned for the year was executed as intended (in terms of both student government and Tyler's life in general), he'd be fine. He'd be able to navigate it without having some sort of psychotic break.

Unfortunately for him, though, anxiety began to burn through his stomach with the feeling that the snake incident wouldn't be the last of Josh's chaotic behavior.

Tyler would just have to make it a priority to get Josh busted for something expellable then— and sooner rather than later.

Chapter Text

Josh was trying really, really hard to not get pissed the fuck off.

Sure, Saturdays were almost always busy at Bloom— especially from the moment they opened until around lunchtime or so— but holy shit, it was like the entire town had met up and conspired to storm the building together.

Josh was certain the fire department was about to show up and fine them for exceeding their occupancy limit.

It also didn't help that the third person who was scheduled for the morning shift called out, which left only Josh and Bea.

Needless to say, his patience had already been tested far too much for the day, and it was barely past 1 p.m. Maybe he'd be slightly less irritated if he hadn't been scheduled for a 10-hour shift that started at 5:00 in the morning, but he highly doubted it

Luckily, for Josh's sake (and those around him), things were starting to slow down and become much more manageable but still steady enough that time didn't pass agonizingly slowly.

Letting out a breath, Josh wiped a few drops of sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm. He could really use a cigarette after the rush they'd just experienced, but he didn't want to leave Bea by herself with the possibility of things picking up again once he stepped out.

Josh's eyes caught the mountain of dirty dishes sitting in the sink, and he couldn't help but grimace. He had a feeling he'd get stuck with the responsibility of washing them before his shift was over.

Almost as though she could read Josh's mind, Bea spoke up. "Y'know those dishes are gonna need washed sooner or later," she mentioned, giving Josh a look that communicated it was inarguably his turn to do them.

"I know, I know," Josh groaned. "This entire place is a bit of a shitshow, though, so we should probably take care of that first."

Bea took a look around the coffee shop, quickly understanding what Josh meant: several tables still had dishes waiting to be cleared, while the majority were noticeably due for a wipe down; the self-serve station near the back of the room was running low on several items; and the bar itself was not only a mess but also in desperate need of a restock.

Bea's sigh was heavy with both annoyance and exhaustion. "Divide and conquer?" She suggested.

Josh smiled a bit at that— at least he wouldn't have to do it all by himself. "I'll bring dishes over and wipe off tables if you wanna start refilling syrup bottles and keep an eye out for customers?"

Bea mirrored his smile, seeming content with that arrangement. "Works for me."

It only took Josh 20 minutes or so to clean and restock the seating area, occasionally checking on customers in the process. Once he was back behind the counter, he noticed that Bea was in the middle of making a drink, so he continued resetting the bar.

The straw canister was nearly empty, prompting Josh to crouch down and open one of the under-bar cabinets. He haphazardly dug through it, shuffling items around as he did so, but let out a huff when he didn't find what he was looking for. "Bea?"

"Yo."

"Where are all the damn straws? I used up the last box restocking the condiment bar."

"There aren't any down there?" She asked, topping off a frappuccino with whipped cream.

"Yes, there are several boxes of straws right in front of my face. That's exactly why I asked where they were," he deadpanned, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Bea rolled her eyes at his attitude as she handed the customer their to-go cup. They exchanged brief farewells before she turned her full attention to Josh. "You'll probably have to go get some more from the back room then, smart ass."

Sighing, he stood back up and closed the cabinet door. He sent Bea an exaggerated look of betrayal. "Can't believe you just name called me. I thought we were friends."

"Hey, I only name call my absolute bestest friends," Bea assured, holding back a laugh in an effort to appear at least somewhat serious.

Josh snorted at that. "Flattered." He started to walk off but paused as a thought struck him. "Do we need anything else while I'm back there?"

Bea took quick inventory of their supplies, shaking her head a few seconds later. "Nah. Don't think so, anyway."

"Okay..." Josh trailed off, audibly unconvinced, heading towards the back. Something told him this wouldn't be his only trip there for the day.

The back room was located just at the end of the hallway, so it's not like it took him very long to reach it. He opened the door and propped his foot against it to keep it from falling shut behind him. Scanning the shelves, he smiled in satisfaction once he found the straws. He grabbed a few boxes just to be safe and began making his way back to the front of the coffee shop.

Just as he was about to round the corner, though, Josh saw something that stopped him in his tracks.

Bea was currently taking orders from a group of customers. That, in itself, wasn't weird— obviously, considering that was literally their job. No, what brought Josh to a standstill was the fact that it was an all-too-familiar trio.

He watched Sabrina explain what seemed like a fairly complicated drink to Bea while Tyler and Jenna hung back, chatting as they observed the menu on the wall.

Although Josh was able to register the sight just in time, his brain failed to send the message to his body fast enough to retreat before being spotted.

As soon as Tyler's eyes drifted in his direction, Josh let out a quiet gasp and ducked around the corner, hoping he managed to successfully hide without getting caught.

That reaction might've seemed a little out of character for Josh given the pure elation that surges through him whenever he fucks with Tyler. But... there was one major difference between this encounter and every other one they've had: the location.

At school? Josh couldn't give less of a shit about that place, seeing as his only "goal" was to finally graduate and get the hell out of dodge. Pissing Tyler off was simply another way to keep himself entertained until the end of the school day rolled around.

Now? They were at Josh's job, and that was something he quite literally could not afford to lose. His enjoyment for shit-starting aside, Tyler could very well use this moment to get even with Josh, and because he was on the clock, his only option for a response was a customer service laugh and gritted teeth masked by a strained smile.

Josh remained as still as humanly possible for a solid minute before very slowly peering around the corner to check if— yeah no, Tyler definitely saw him.

Their eyes locked immediately. A look of deep, genuine abhorrence flashed across Tyler's face as he scowled, rolled his eyes in disgust, and started to turn back to his friends.

Yet... he paused after noticing the shirt that Josh was wearing— which, as expected, advertised his place of work. Their uniforms were pretty laid back (just jeans and one of the Bloom-branded shirts), but it was still very clearly a uniform.

That, paired with the boxes of straws in Josh's hands, caused realization to dawn on Tyler. His eyebrows furrowed, then raised, and finally relaxed as his mouth twisted into a cocky smirk and his eyes flicked back up to meet the other's.

Oh, Josh was fucked.

He kept his head down, refusing to look up as he continued toward the bar. Wordlessly, he set the boxes on the counter and busied himself with refilling the straw canister.

Josh knelt down to put away the extra straws just as Jenna finished her order and Tyler stepped up to place his.

Without meaning to (and internally cursing himself for it), he glanced up at the group and made eye contact with Tyler for the second time in less than five fucking minutes. Tyler refused to break, though, subtly staring Josh down as he gave Bea his order.

Tyler eventually tore his gaze away from Josh in order to pay for their drinks. "We'll bring those over to you as soon as they're ready," Bea informed with a kind smile, taking Tyler's receipt from the printer and handing it over.

Tyler sent Josh one final look before mirroring Bea's smile. "Thank you," he replied. He placed a crisp $50 bill into the tip jar by the register before leading Jenna and Sabrina over to the cozy couches on the far left side of the room.

Once they were out of earshot, Bea grinned, presumably pleased by the large tip they'd just received. "I like him!" she instantly decided, a new spring in her step as she reached for a glass.

"No, you don't," Josh refuted, standing back up. "And remind me to leave a note for Taylor before I leave today, telling him to exclude me from that portion of the tip-out."

"What? Why?"

"I'd genuinely rather be homeless than take money from him," Josh told her in probably the most serious tone he's ever used. "We go to the same school. He's actually the worst. And that's coming from me."

Bea let out an unconvinced hum. "Seems a little dramatic."

"Maybe. But so is he," Josh shrugged, resting against the counter.

The pair made small talk as Bea completed Sabrina's drink and started on Jenna's. Josh took it upon himself to make Tyler's, forcing himself to ignore the overwhelming urge to spit in the bottom of the glass. With less than an hour left in his shift, all he wanted was to get home and pass out in bed forever.

Suddenly, another wave of customers arrived, causing Josh's stress to spike. Definitely not as many people as earlier, but still a bit much for just the two of them.

Once Josh was done with Tyler's drink, he began taking orders so Bea could finish Jenna's. After that, she set all three glasses off to the side and instantly started on the new orders.

The brief rush didn't last as long as Josh had expected, leaving him without a task as Bea worked on the final order.

"Those drinks aren't gonna grow legs and walk over there themselves, y'know," Bea piped up.

"Huh?"

"Your friend and his friends. Their drinks." 

Josh's eyes narrowed. "First, not my friend. Second, absolutely fucking not."

"Josh," she said, giving him a look. "I'm a little preoccupied right now, and the drinks have already been sitting there long enough that the ice is melting. That's not very good customer service."

Josh frantically searched for an excuse. "I can't because the, uh..." his eyes landed on the dish mountain in the sink. Bingo. "The dishes! The dishes still need to be done and I'm off soon, so..."

"You seriously hate this guy so much that you'd rather do the dishes? I'd bet money you'd lick the sticky floor beneath us before willingly doing the dishes."

"Just trying to be a responsible employee," he responded, attempting to sound nonchalant. Bea looked thoroughly unamused, and Josh could tell she was about to get genuinely annoyed with him. "Fuck, okay, fine," he sighed, grabbing the tray the drinks sat on. 

Begrudgingly, he made his way over to the trio, who were mid-conversation and laughing together. He plastered a fake smile on his face. Maybe if he played nice, then Tyler would too.

Josh reached the group, and the conversation immediately ceased as three pairs of eyes darted over to him.

He glanced down at the store copy of the receipt Bea had stuck to the tray to make sure the right drinks went to the right people. Not quite sure who ordered what (and not wanting to embarrass himself by guessing), he read it aloud. "Brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso, light ice, extra shot of espresso, and a sprinkle of cinnamon?"

Sabrina perked up, prompting Josh to hand her the glass. She removed the paper from her straw, stuck it in the drink, and took an excited sip. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Holy shit, this is amazing."

Josh chuckled a bit at that. "Well, good. Credit goes to my coworker Bea since she made it, but I'll let her know you like it. That one and this next one were all her." He had an idea which person the said drink belonged to between Jenna and Tyler but still checked to be sure. "Strawberry matcha latte?"

Jenna signaled that it was hers, so Josh passed it over, smiling when her reaction to tasting it mirrored Sabrina's. Finally, he read the last item on the receipt. "And... an iced honey almond milk flat white," he concluded, picking up the glass and tucking the tray under his arm as he held the drink out to Tyler.

Tyler made no move to touch it, though, instead sucking in a breath through his teeth and wincing slightly as he expressed a very obvious faux form of sympathy. "Oooh, sorry. That's not what I ordered," he informed, his tone full of condescension.

Josh blinked. It was, without a doubt, what Tyler had ordered. He'd been right there when Tyler said it, hearing every word. "No, I'm pretty sure—"

"Iced Americano with a splash of heavy cream," Tyler "corrected" patronizingly. "Maybe the word 'iced' in both of the names confused you or something," he suggested in a way that made Josh seem completely incompetent.

Then, Josh caught Jenna and Sabrina trying to suppress the smiles spreading across their faces, and that's when it clicked.

This was Tyler fucking with him.

Josh brought the drink closer to himself as he refrained from inhaling in frustration. Of course karma would choose that day, out of all days, to bite him in the ass.

Unfortunately... the only thing he could do was grit his teeth behind the strained smile he offered Tyler. "My apologies," he replied, his tone clearly communicating his irritation with Tyler. "Let me go remake that, and I'll have it right over."

"Thanks," Tyler smiled sarcastically, coughing out a laugh when a giggle escaped Jenna's lips.

Now Josh could really, really use a cigarette.

Taking a deep breath, he turned and headed back to the bar. Bea's eyebrows furrowed in confusion when she saw him return with one of the drinks. This resulted in Josh shooting her a look that basically said, 'I fucking told you so.'

"What happened?" She asked.

"Not his order," Josh explained, snatching a glass up to prepare the "correct" drink. He paused momentarily, debating putting that glass back and grabbing one of the dirty ones out of the sink instead, but remembered that he does, in fact, need this job.

"Huh? Did you make the wrong thing?"

Josh immediately spun around to face her. "No. I made exactly what he ordered."

Before Bea could respond, he showed her the receipt still stuck to the tray, then gestured to the drink now abandoned on the counter, proving that it matched what was listed on the receipt perfectly.

Her expression shifted as she understood what Josh was implying. "Oh."

"Yeah," Josh scoffed, resuming his task.

"Do you think he woulda done that if I had taken it over to him instead?" Bea asked, sounding genuine and even a bit guilty.

Josh physically softened at that, realizing Bea thought he was mad at her for putting him in that situation. He glanced at her, shrugging as if to let her know it wasn't her fault. "Who knows, honestly."

It was silent for a moment and Josh was about to clarify that he wasn't upset with her, when Bea spoke up again. "Do you want me to spit in his drink for you?"

It wasn't until he looked at her that her playful expression made it stupidly obvious she was just kidding. Regardless, the mere mention of it was enough to make him laugh. "I'd take you up on that offer if I wasn't almost positive he'd find out and then go run to Mommy and Daddy to get this place shut down."

"Seems like the type," Bea snorted.

"Told you. He's the worst. And like I said, that's coming from me of all people."

In his peripheral vision, he saw Bea roll her eyes, appearing offended on his behalf. "Josh, you're literally one of the best people I've ever met. The fact that you say he's the worst doesn't mean anything to me either way, because you're definitely nowhere near as bad as he is."

Josh tried holding back a smile at her words but failed when a face splitting grin emerged. "How would you know? You just met the guy," he teased.

The blush that coated Bea's face was nearly undetectable. "You're one of the best people I've ever met," she repeated firmly, her voice full of conviction.

Not used to that kind of sincerity (or really anyone audibly giving a fuck about him in general), Josh felt a bit awkward. How the hell was he supposed to follow that up sufficiently when it was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him?

So... he simply plucked a straw from the canister and extended that, along with Tyler's drink, out to her. "You're not so bad yourself," he joked. "Now if you really wanna make it up to me, you can give him his drink this time so my ass doesn't wind up getting fired and/or thrown in jail."

Thankfully, Bea laughed at that and accepted the proposition, grabbing the items from him. "You got it."

Shutting his front door, Josh leaned back onto it with an exhausted sigh, letting his eyes slip shut for a moment.

"Hey."

Reopening his eyes, he saw his sister reading on the couch and decided to join her. He propped his skateboard up against the wall, then walked over and dropped down beside her. "Hey."

"How was work?" Ashley asked, setting her book down to give him her full attention. It looked like something that would be handed out in an AP class, but then again, she also liked reading those types of books for fun, so it was hard to tell whether she was reading it as part of an assignment or of her own volition.

Josh glanced at her. "Honest answer or appropriate answer?"

Ashley rolled her eyes but was smiling. "The honest one, dork."

"Absolute. Fucking. Shit."

Ashley's smile quickly faded, her eyebrows furrowing. "What happened?"

He covered his face and groaned loudly into his hands. After a second, he slowly let them fall to rest by his sides. "Tyler Joseph."

"Tyler Joseph? Like student body president Tyler Joseph?"

"Yep."

"Okay... what did he do that was so bad it ruined your shift?"

"Exist."

Ashley clicked her tongue and lightly hit his shoulder. "Be nice."

"To him? Not a chance."

"Other than that...?"

Josh shrugged a little, feeling defeated. "It was actually the busiest I think I've ever seen it in the entire time I've worked there. The other kid called out, so it was just Bea and me."

Sympathy flashed across her face. "I'm sorry, Josh."

Suddenly aware of the vulnerable shift in energy he'd just caused, he drew in a sharp breath and stood up. "Where're Jordan and Abbie?"

"Jordan's in his room doing homework... I think. And Abbie's babysitting at the Prescotts' until 9:00."

Josh's eyes widened as stress instantly hit him. "9:00? That's way too fucking late for her to bike home alone. I'll have to go pick—"

Ashley interrupted him with a comforting smile. "They offered to drive her over after they get home."

Josh sighed in relief, his anxiety subsiding. "Okay," he paused. "And you? Are you okay?"

"I'm always okay. I do have to leave in like 20 minutes for a tutoring session— just to give you a heads up. I should be back in a couple of hours, though."

"Wait, I thought you had work this morning."

"I did. At the bookstore."

"Why the hell are you essentially working a double? As a 16-year-old on a Saturday?"

"For the same reason you got up at 4 a.m. to work a 10-hour shift as an 18-year-old on a Saturday," Ashley retorted.

Involuntary, both pairs of eyes drifted toward the stairs. Before Josh could ask his sister any more questions, Ashley cut him off again. "All squared away. Don't worry about it. I'll be back home in a bit and will make sure it's all taken care of for tonight."

Josh smiled sadly at her. "You're the best. You know that, right?" He reminded her for what felt like the millionth time that month alone.

"Of course I do," she replied the same way she does every time. "Abbie's eating at the Prescotts', so we don't have to worry about that. I made mac and cheese for Jordan and me earlier, but I have no clue what we're doing for dinner," she admitted.

"I'll think of something," Josh assured. "I always do."

"Did you eat anything at work?" Ashley asked, visibly worried.

"Does a one-day-old bagel count?" He replied in a lighthearted tone, kicking his shoes off by the door as he prepared to head upstairs to his room.

She shot him a look.

"Well, it's definitely better than a two-day-old bagel. It was gonna go stale anyway, so it was either me or the birds." That did nothing to ease her concerns, though. He could tell. He could always tell. "Ate a sandwich on my lunch break," he promised.

"Good."

"Have fun tutoring," he snorted, mostly at the idea that tutoring could ever be fun. "Text me if you end up needing anything before you get back. I'm gonna go to my room and tell you I'm doing homework, but I'll actually be watching South Park in bed."

Ashley laughed softly. "I love you."

Josh sent her a warm and heartfelt smile. "I love you too."

He let her be as he climbed the stairs and reached his door. Stopping with his hand on the doorknob, he turned around and knocked on the door across the hall instead. "Come in," a voice called.

Josh opened the door and poked his head in. Jordan sat at his desk, playing Minecraft on his school laptop. So much for doing homework (like Josh had any room to talk). He didn't even know how the hell Jordan managed to get the game downloaded onto it, and honestly, he didn't think he wanted to. "Just got home. Wanted to check on you real quick before my designated one hour of bed rot time."

"All good," Jordan confirmed, semi-distractedly, giving a thumbs up as he killed a creeper.

"'K. I still gotta figure out something for dinner, but I'll let you know when I do. Love you."

"Love you too, bub."

Josh closed the door behind him before entering his own room. Sitting down on his bed, a small smile graced his lips. Even on his shittiest days, he was grateful there was always something (or someone) to help him get through it.

Chapter Text

Today was Josh's least favorite day.

Not of the week. He didn't really have one of those— maybe Saturday if he had to pick one; every day was sort of his least favorite day of the week, in all honesty.

No, today was his least favorite day of the month.

The 1st. Well, September 1st to be exact.

He'd lucked out getting scheduled for the morning shift again, not having to leave for work until noon, but that didn't mean he had the luxury of spending the morning relaxing.

Instead, he was currently sitting at his kitchen table with a fucking calculator next to him like he was an accountant or something.

His three siblings sat with him, watching intently until they could contribute to the situation.

"Okay," Josh let out a tired breath, running a hand through his hair. "That's Ashley's and I's paychecks combined."

Abbie set a thin stack of money on the table. "Here's all of my babysitting money from the past week."

Josh paused, waiting to grab it. "All of it?"

Abbie looked at him, visibly communicating that the question made her think she'd done something wrong. "Yeah..."

Josh shook his head, finally taking the cash and counting out $20 worth to give back to her. "Here."

Abbie's hand didn't move. "What—"

"You shouldn't have to spend all of your money on bills, Abs. You're just a kid."

"So are you," she responded, still not accepting the offer.

Josh sighed once again, leaving it on the table in front of her. "You worked hard for this, Abbie. Please just keep it. Going back and forth about it only stresses me out more."

Clearly feeling guilty, Abbie slowly reached for the money and pulled it towards herself.

Before Josh could say anything else, Jordan chimed in, handing Josh his own thin stack. "Walked Mr. Wilson's stupid, ugly chihuahua and scammed a couple rich kids into overpaying me to jailbreak their phones. Here."

Josh couldn't help but laugh at his brother. Whatever worked was fine by him. He collected the money, counted out another $20, and returned it to Jordan. After witnessing the previous exchange between Josh and Abbie, Jordan took it back without protest.

Josh began totaling up the combined cash but stopped actually keeping track of the amount as he neared the end of the pile, already knowing they were still a couple hundred short. Back-to-school shopping must've hit them harder than he had planned.

Throwing a (hopefully) convincing smile onto his face, he hit the edges of the bills against the table to line them up neatly. "All good. Rent's covered."

Abbie and Jordan let out breaths no one, including themselves, had even realized they were holding. Ashley looked skeptical but remained quiet.

His youngest two siblings got up from the table, with Jordan announcing he was going to a friend's house and Abbie heading up to her room to watch some anime Josh had never heard of.

Once they were both out of the room, Ashley's eyes flicked up to meet Josh's. "You're lying."

"What..." Josh replied, his voice significantly less convincing than his smile had been. "No I'm not... that's crazy... what makes you think—"

Josh didn't even get a chance to react before Ashley snatched the money out of his hand, holding it out and away from him as she flipped through it herself. Josh's attempts to grab it back, though, were futile, as it didn't take long for her to count it all.

She shot Josh a look, disappointment spreading across her face caused him lying. "We're still $250 short."

He faltered, shoulders slumping a bit. "Yeah. We are."

"Okay... what the hell are we gonna do? Rent is due today."

"I know that, Ashley. I know what fucking day it is." He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, not even registering the shitty tone he had with his sister. "I'll just..." he sighed and glanced back up at her. "Take the rest from the... emergency fund."

"Emergency fund?" Ashley raised an eyebrow, scoffing in disbelief. "Since when could we afford an emergency fund?"

Josh hesitated. He'd kept this information secret for surprisingly longer than he thought he'd be able to, but knew Ashley would have to find out at some point. He mumbled out an answer to her, hoping she wouldn't bring up that she couldn't—

"You know I didn't hear that. What emergency fund, Josh?" She repeated more urgently.

He avoided eye contact, speaking louder than before. "The college fund Grandma and Grandpa set up for us before they died— my college fund."

A mixture of anxiety and guilt flooded his body as he watched Ashley put her head in her hands. "Josh..."

"I refuse to touch your guys'," he quickly added. "Ashley, I swear. I will never, ever take anything from yours or Jordan's or Abbie's—"

"That's not what I'm upset about," she said into her hands. After a moment, she dropped them and sat up, her demeanor completely and utterly drained. "That fund is for you, Josh. Your future."

"I accepted a long time ago that college isn't an option for me— even if I did wanna go. I'd rather use that money to make sure we're taken care of. I don't mind. I never do. I'd do anything for you guys."

Ashley mustered a half-hearted smile, but the sadness behind it kept it from fully reaching her tired, baggy eyes. "I know you would."

"Like I said, it's an emergency fund. I only use it when I absolutely have to. Otherwise... that shit would be drained after like... six months."

A contradictory, melancholy laugh left Ashley's lips. "Yeah, you're probably right." She paused, exhaling a bit through her nose. "Just... promise me you won't give up on yourself for them— for us."

Josh offered her what he intended as a reassuring smile. "I won't. I promise."

Josh was really starting to regret not skipping the rest of the school day on Monday.

Why the fuck did seniors even have to go to the Club and College Fair? Most of them already knew where they were going to college, and half the school activities were application-only, so it's not like they'd be around next year to join anyway.

Sure, it got him out of class, but (and he never thought he'd say this) he would way rather be discussing the three branches of government than awkwardly standing alone in the gym like a fucking sim waiting for an action to be queued up.

As editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, Hayley was obviously running that booth.
Ash was basically the unofficial president of the art club, so that's where she was. Josh couldn't even go bother his sister because visits were staggered by grade to avoid overcrowding. And if he tried to skip school now, slipping out the door would be too obvious without a sea of other students to blend in with.

At least he got something out of showing up to the assembly. How the hell was he supposed to entertain himself here? Hayley or Ash didn't have to explicitly tell him, but Josh already knew that hanging around either of their tables the whole time would piss them off.

Overcome with boredom, he let his eyes lazily scan the various clubs and colleges stationed throughout the room.

Suddenly... his eyes stopped.

A booth did, in fact, manage to pique his interest. Well, not the booth itself— but the people at the booth.

A smirk slowly growing on his face, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and made his way over to the table.

The two sitting at the booth were mid-conversation, and it wasn't until Josh was right next to them that they even realized he was there.

"Why the fuck are you over here? Don't you have a wall to go graffiti?" Tyler asked, pure disgust seeping through his tone.

Josh clicked his tongue disappointedly. "Y'know, as much as I'd love to, I gotta save what's left of the can to huff later."

Tyler rolled his eyes. "You huffing spray paint would explain a lot, actually."

"Jeez, Joseph. If you wanted to make out with me all you had to do was ask."

Tyler glared at him. "Funny," he sneered.

"Thanks, I try," Josh beamed obnoxiously.

Jenna was staring at Josh warily, a frown on her face. "Did you just come over to be an asshole? Or is there something you wanted? We're kinda busy."

"God forbid a man has hobbies," Josh held his hands up in defense.

"Yeah, because you're just so interested in student gov," Tyler deadpanned.

Josh feigned offense, hand over his heart. "There's nothing I'd love more in this life than to serve right alongside you on the board as your vice president, Tyler," Josh replied with a small pout, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, by the looks of it, you're probably gonna have to repeat a grade, so there's always next year!" Tyler responded, his smile tight.

Just as Josh was about to fire back with his own remark, he caught a glimpse of Tyler's water bottle. Of course he, of all people, would have an ugly-ass "Stanford University Future Graduate" sticker.

Then, he remembered: this was the Club and College fair.

It didn't take him long to spot the Stanford representatives at their own table, which just so happened to be conveniently located near the student government one.

This wasn't technically Tyler's job, but his reputation and future were close enough. There's absolutely no way he'd blow up at Josh and risk the Stanford representatives seeing it happen. Which meant... another perfect opportunity to fuck with him.

Josh's thoughts were interrupted by a pair of fingers snapping impatiently in front of his face.

His eyes flicked back to Tyler, whose expression remained flat and unamused. "Why are you still here? Don't you have some heavy traffic to go play in? A bridge to jump off of? Bleach to go drink?"

Josh pretended to be in deep thought for a moment. "Traffic... no, bridge... no... bleach... no," he mumbled. "I think that's all scheduled for later in the week! Lucky you!

"Okay, can you go be a waste of space somewhere else then?"

"I know you're trying really hard to get into my pants right now, Joseph, but at least take me out to dinner first."

"In your dreams," Tyler snorted.

"Damn, you caught me."

If Tyler responded to that, Josh tuned him out, instead taking a moment to survey their booth setup and the handouts available. In front of Jenna was a stack of fliers advertising student government, explaining what it was, when applications would open for the following year, and how to apply. Next to those were thin, flexible magnets listing every upcoming student government event along with their scheduled dates. On the opposite side of Tyler's laptop were two boxes: one filled with a variety of sticker designs, the other with pins featuring their school mascot.

Before Tyler could tell Josh to go off himself again, he decided to seize the opportunity he'd identified just minutes earlier. As exaggerated and over-the-top as he could be, Josh looked off into the distance, whistling a bit for added effect, and moved to slip his hands back into his pockets. Unfortunately, in the process, he managed to "unintentionally" knock the box of pins off the table.

The sound of dozens of plastic pins clattering onto the hard gym floor was like music to his ears. He hadn't even considered that the room's acoustics would only amplify the noise— not enough to be louder than the buzz of conversation around them, but definitely enough to really piss Tyler off.

Slowly, Josh redirected his gaze back to Tyler, trying his hardest to hold in the cackle that was desperate to escape after seeing how red Tyler's face was. Oh, he just made it too God damn easy.

Taking a page out of Tyler's book, Josh sucked a breath in through his teeth and winced slightly, an obviously insincere apologetic expression taking over his face. "Oooh, soooo sorry. I'm such a klutz, ugh." Josh made sure his tone dripped with as much condescension as Tyler's had at Bloom on Saturday. "That was an accident, swear." It was probably a good thing Josh didn't swear on anything, considering he was clearly lying.

"No, you—" Tyler started, his voice raised. He stopped himself, quickly glancing in the direction of the Stanford representatives. "You were an accident!" He whisper-yelled through gritted teeth, jaw clenched.

Josh simply shrugged. "Probably."

Tyler closed his eyes and took a deep breath, standing up and bending down to pick up the mess Josh had made. Jenna sprung up as well, hurrying over from her side of the table to help.

Josh waited patiently for them to finish their task, a sickly sweet smile forming. Once they returned to their seats (Tyler grumbling insults that Josh knew were probably best left unheard) Jenna spoke up for the first time in a while. "Are you done yet? Did you get it out of your system?" She glared, a bite to her words and harshness in her voice.

Josh paused briefly, then reached toward the magnets, making sure Tyler saw him take five. He perked up with a taunting grin, knowing it would only add to Tyler's irritation. "I have now!"

Tyler just pinched the bridge of his nose with a frustrated sigh. Josh finally allowed himself to chuckle lowly, turning on his heel to go visit Hayley.

"Always a pleasure chattin' with you, Joseph. We should do this again soon."

Chapter Text

Tyler woke up in a really shitty fucking mood.

More so than usual, anyway.

Actually, the phrase "woke up" was generous, considering he'd barely gotten any sleep at all.

Although Thursdays were even-period block days at his school, meaning he only had half as many classes to worry about getting homework done for, they didn't come with any lighter of a workload.

For AP Environmental Science, he'd been assigned a five-page FRQ practice packet, plus eight in-depth pre-lab questions due before their lab later that day.

Mr. Way wanted the first four chapters of Frankenstein read ahead of class so they could spend the period on analysis and discussion.

His calc BC teacher had described their upcoming quiz as "basically a test," so he had a six-page study guide to complete in addition to his regular homework.

And he needed to have some sort of rough draft defending the affirmative side of the resolution for his first debate competition of the year ready to present and get feedback on during practice after school.

Tyler was barely able to even look at his own bed until some time after 4 a.m., let alone actually fall asleep sleep before then. The three or so hours of rest he did manage to get didn't help at all, as he kept waking up in a cold sweat, afraid he'd accidentally slept through his alarm.

Block days did come with a 50-minute late start (intended for students to work on homework, get help from teachers, or meet with clubs and activities... though most students just used the time to sleep in), but that wasn't an option for Tyler. Instead, he had to get together with the rest of the student government board to begin homecoming planning.

So, it was really no surprise that— between his insanely high stress levels and severe sleep deprivation —Tyler was starting his day in a really shitty fucking mood.

After taking a near-deadly shower (during which he nearly fell asleep not once, but twice), he put just enough effort into getting ready to look presentable before heading downstairs to the kitchen.

Per usual, he was met with the sight of his siblings eating together at the breakfast nook. His mom sat at the island with a cup of coffee, her laptop open in front of her. Colette stood nearby, scooping the last of a pan of scrambled eggs onto an otherwise empty plate— presumably for Tyler. He didn't even have the energy to tell her not to bother.

Silently, he walked over to the pantry in search of something he could throw in his backpack to consider eating later.

"Good morning, honey," his mom eventually greeted, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Mhm, yeah, sure," Tyler mumbled tiredly, scanning the shelves for a granola bar.

"Always such a ray of sunshine," Zack commented sarcastically. Tyler didn't even need to turn around to know he had a smug grin on his face. Tyler simply raised his middle finger up at him in return.

Not long after, Tyler found the box of granola bars— well, the empty box of granola bars. One of his siblings must've eaten the last one and neglected to throw the box away. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Tyler groaned, exiting the pantry. He shot a nasty glare at all three of them before tossing the box in the trash.

"I know your only two friends are girls, Ty," Zack began. "But I didn't know that also meant their periods were contagious. Maybe Maddy has an extra tampon you can use."

"Oh my God, Zack!" Maddy squeaked in embarrassment, throwing her hands over her bright red face.

Tyler allowed his brother to snicker at his own "joke" for a moment. Just as their mom was about to scold Zack, Tyler looked directly at him. "I really wish Mom would've aborted you like she wanted to," he spoke, no humor in his words.

Zack's laughter stopped immediately. "Wait, what?"

Their mom redirected her attention to Tyler. "Tyler Robert! That was extremely uncalled for. Apologize to your brother."

Tyler, face still emotionless, glanced between his mom's stern stare and Zack's dumbfounded one. "I'm sorry that Mom wanted to abort you. I'm super sorry that she didn't actually go through with it."

Normally, the panicked confusion that washed over Zack would've left Tyler smirking in victory. Today, though, he was too drained to revel in his brother's distress.

"Tyler!" His mom reprimanded.

He disregarded her, making his way to the front door. The last Tyler heard of the exchange was Zack asking "Mom! Is that true?" as he grabbed his keys off the hook, closed the door behind him, and walked out to his car.

(It was, in fact, not true. But even if it was... Tyler would've been less than two years old at the time. He wouldn't have known something like that.)

20 minutes and one pit stop at the gas station later, he was sitting in one of his library's study rooms with the rest of the student government board, running on nothing but his crippling fear of failure and a cherry slush Alani.

"I still think this theme is so fucking stupid," Tyler scoffed as he turned on his laptop and logged in. "'Let's Disc-glow Crazy?' Seriously? Glow-in-the-dark and disco are obviously two very distinctly separate themes. Can't believe Mr. Farro actually approved this shit."

"I'm honestly kinda impressed they somehow managed to tie twice during the voting process," Dallon spoke up. "I guess it does make sense to combine them at that point."

"Just because it supposedly makes sense it doesn't mean it's not fucking stupid," Tyler grumbled, taking a drink of his Alani. "The name's even worse. Seriously? We couldn't come up with anything better?"

The lack of response from the other three was enough to end the conversation. Tyler didn't even notice; he was too busy trying to sign back into his Google account with eyes so tired he could barely make out the letters on his screen.

It was the nudge of his foot from under the table that captured his attention. He glanced toward where it came from and saw Jenna staring at him, her eyebrows knitted in concern. 'Are you okay?' She mouthed.

Tyler simply shrugged, letting his shoulders slump back down dejectedly. He was unable to conceal the defeated expression settling on his face, too exhausted to even care anymore.

Without a word, he created a new Google Sheet and shared it with the other three so they could begin forming the homecoming committees.

Fortunately, the task didn't take long, and once they were finished, it was decided that Dallon would handle all things budget and finance and lead the ticketing committee; Sabrina would take care of promotions and social media while heading the events committee; Jenna volunteered to contact the vendors they'd need for the dance and oversee the parade committee; which left Tyler with both the court nomination and assembly committees.

Regular members were assigned, if possible, to their first-choice committee. Tyler grabbed his planner out of his backpack (intentionally ignoring how much was already written across the two pages in front of him), and jotted down a reminder to double-check and finalize the groups before their next meeting. Even with a month left until homecoming week itself began, it still somehow didn't feel like enough time to prepare.

By the time the warning bell rang to signal the start of class, the four were satisfied with the progress they'd made. Dallon was the first to leave the study room, waving to the others on his way out.

Sabrina offered Tyler a supportive smile as she quickly grabbed her bag, clearly in a rush to make it to her first-period class on the opposite side of the building. "See ya guys at lunch!" She called cheerfully as she exited.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Jenna pounced.

"What's wrong?" She immediately asked Tyler.

Tyler sighed, setting the pen that was in his hand on his now-closed planner and rubbing his face in exhaustion. "Just tired," he mumbled.

"Just tired? No offense, but you look like hell."

"Thanks, Jen," Tyler deadpanned irritably, standing up and collecting his belongings.

Jenna frowned. "What time did you end up going to sleep?"

Tyler hesitated as he finished off his can of Alani, holding onto it to dispose of once he reached the recycling bin in the hallway. "Don't know," he lied, moving to zip up his backpack.

"Tyler..." Jenna began, her tone turning the single word into a warning.

"What?" He looked at her with heavy eyelids, completely jaded.

Jenna opened her mouth to respond but closed it a moment later. Finally, after a few seconds passed, she spoke. "I love you," was what she decided on.

Tyler mustered a half-smile at that. "I love you too."

"And I'm endlessly proud of you and how hard you work."

That smile faded as quickly as it formed, an external indication of how extremely vulnerable Tyler now felt. "Thanks," he replied, his voice barely audible.

"Let Sabrina and I know where and how we can help, okay? You're not alone. And that doesn't apply just to student government responsibilities," Jenna reminded earnestly.

"Okay," Tyler whispered quietly.

Jenna returned his previous smile with one that was much more encouraging. Rising from her chair, she met Tyler where he was with a gentle kiss.

He let himself melt into the action, but this time the automatic reciprocation felt more out of... desperation... than affection. Shoving the unwelcome thought aside, he pulled away with a tight smile.

If Jenna noticed his forced expression, she gave no indication. Instead, she laced their hands together. "Wanna hang out tonight after your debate practice? We don't have to do anything specific, we can just chill."

Tyler nodded, not removing his hand but also not necessarily returning the grip. "Yeah. I'd like that," he responded, his words— at the very least —honest.

"Me too."

Tyler liked Mr. Way, he really did...

But he was real close to falling asleep on his copy of Frankenstein.

Tyler raised his wrist, checking the screen of his Apple Watch to see how much longer until class was over. 10 minutes. He could survive the next 10 minutes.

AP literature was Tyler's 4th period, and he had big plans waiting for him as soon as that bell rang.

The big plans in question?

Taking a one-hour nap in his car and avoiding anyone he's ever known instead of going to lunch.

When those 10 minutes were finally over, he sluggishly stood up and hoisted his backpack onto his desk chair to begin gathering his things. Although Tyler wanted nothing more than to be the first one out of that classroom, he didn't have enough energy to go any faster than he had to.

So... he wasn't surprised that he actually ended up being one of the last students left. Once he had everything put away, he slung his bag over his shoulder with an involuntary yawn. Before he could make it to the door, though, he was stopped.

"Tyler?"

The mentioned looked over to see Mr. Way observing him. "Yeah?" Tyler sighed out.

"Got a second to chat real quick? "

Tyler didn't know why, but the moment those words hit his ears, he froze. "Um." His hands tightened around each of his backpack straps until his knuckles turned white. "S-sure."

Mr. Way didn't respond at first, evidently waiting to proceed until it was just the two of them.

It seemed like it took years for the remaining stragglers to exit the room, but once they did, Tyler's anxiety only increased tenfold. His pointer finger instantly gravitated to the cuticle of his thumb, destroying both his skin and any effort made over the past few days to heal what he'd previously picked raw.

Tyler knew he had nothing to be worried about. His current reaction was irrational and unnecessary. The only reason he was responding this way was because he was severely sleep deprived and stressed the fuck out. His body was already on high alert, and he felt much more sensitive and vulnerable than usual. Again, Tyler knew this, but his brain failed to process the reality of the situation.

He'd known Mr. Way for years. They'd spent countless hours together for student government. Tyler trusted Mr. Way. Then again, he'd also trusted—

"Is everything okay?"

Mr. Way cut Tyler off from spiraling any further. He blinked, forcing himself to swallow his extremely dry throat. "Huh?"

Concern etched itself onto Mr. Way's face as he slid his hands into his pockets and stepped out from behind his desk. "I asked if everything was okay. You seem a little out of it today."

"Um," Tyler nodded shakily, finally making eye contact with the older man. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just tired."

Mr. Way now stood just a couple of feet away from Tyler. "Okay, well..." he trailed off, audibly unconvinced. Before continuing, he set a hand on Tyler's shoulder, a gesture that was obviously meant to be nothing but genuine and supportive. "Just let me know if you need anything, alright? I'm here for you."

Tyler's breath involuntarily hitched, and he became as stiff as a board the moment his teacher made physical contact with him. He inhaled sharply, taking a clumsy step backwards. "Mhm. Got it. Thanks, Mr. Way. Gotta go. Bye," he rambled out, making no effort to hide the panic in his voice.

Giving Mr. Way no chance to reply, he all but bolted out of the classroom, speed-walking to his car like his life depended on it.

Once he reached the vehicle, he hurried inside, slamming his driver's side door shut and tossing his backpack onto the seat next to him.

Tyler closed his eyes, resting his head on the steering wheel as he attempted to regulate his breathing before he passed out from a lack of oxygen.

He felt his Apple Watch vibrate a few times but ignored each buzz completely. Jenna and Sabrina were probably trying to get ahold of him, wondering where he was.

Instead, he simply reclined his chair, turned onto his side, and let his eyes slip back shut. He just needed to get some rest. Maybe then his own mind would finally shut the fuck up and stop ruining his life.

Well, he hoped it would, anyway.

Or else he was in for a rough rest of the school year.

Chapter Text

When Tyler walked into his AP Government class on Friday and saw what they were doing that day, an ear-to-ear grin spread across his face.

Typed out on the title slide of his teacher's daily PowerPoint were two of his all-time favorite words:

Federalism Debate

Tyler all but skipped over to his desk with exhilaration coursing through his veins. Jenna trailed behind him, shaking her head with a soft giggle.

"Ugh, I just love arguing," he spoke blissfully as he sat down in his seat.

"You're so cute," Jenna gushed, sliding into her own desk beside Tyler.

"Thanks?" He laughed, audibly confused by what it was that she found "so cute."

"It's cute when you get all passionate and excited about something," she clarified. "Even if that 'something' is arguing," she followed up jokingly.

A voice cut Tyler off before he could respond.

"Be nice today."

Looking in the direction it came from, Tyler saw his teacher Miss Kiyoko (who was also, coincidentally, the secondary speech and debate coach) standing behind her desk, giving him a pointed look. "Me? I'm always nice!" he gasped slightly, feigning offense.

"Tyler," she deadpanned, basically telling him to cut the bullshit.

"Fine," he sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes. Miss Kiyoko just let out a small laugh at his theatrics in return.

"I take it you're feeling better today than you were yesterday?" Jenna hummed, facing Tyler with her elbow propped up on the desk and her head resting in her hand.

"Yeah. Much better," he exhaled in relief. Then a sudden idea came to him. "Are you busy tomorrow?"

Jenna remained silent at first, clearly going over her schedule for the day in her head. "I don't think so," she eventually answered. "Why?"

"Let me take you out on a date. A real date. Not just lying in my bed and watching Parks and Rec like we did last night."

"I won't say no to a date," she giggled. "But, for the record... I never mind just lying in bed and watching Parks and Rec with you."

A genuine, appreciative smile appeared on Tyler's face. "I love you. And not just because you lie in bed and watch Parks and Rec with me."

"I love you too," Jenna echoed sincerely.

The bell finally rang, which signaled the start of class. Miss Kiyoko made her way to the front of the room, giving everyone a chance to get settled.

"Good morning, everyone!" The class mumbled back a collective "good morning," so she continued. "Okay, since today's Friday— which means everyone's probably already checked out for the week —I figured we'd do an activity today instead of our usual notes." She paused as she clicked her Bluetooth remote, advancing the PowerPoint to the next slide.

It didn't take long for her to explain the activity. It wasn't technically a debate, but semantics weren't important to Tyler. He could turn anything into a debate if he wanted to.

The class would be split into three groups, each given a "power," or topic. Miss Kiyoko would assign every group a level of government. After the groups discussed and presented why their power should fall under that level, Miss Kiyoko would choose which argument was the best. Then they'd move on to a new topic, the levels of government rotating between groups.

Unfortunately, that meant Miss Kiyoko formed groups using the numbering system, having students hold up a one, two, or three with their fingers. As a result, Tyler and Jenna ended up in separate groups. It wasn't the end of the world or anything, but it did mean Jenna's group would lose every round without Tyler in it.

Once everyone was seated with their groups, the first topic was revealed. Tyler's group finished their discussion before the allotted five minutes were up, and nobody objected when Tyler offered to be the one to present their case.

Miss Kiyoko called time and let group one start off. Tyler had to admit their argument was stronger than he'd initially expected, but still knew his group's was stronger.

When Miss Kiyoko gestured for his group to go next, her gaze fell mostly on Tyler, obviously already knowing he'd volunteer to represent his group first.

Sitting up a little straighter, Tyler began speaking. He expertly wove together their key talking points, addressing some of the other group's along the way.

The last group finally went, and Tyler couldn't help but smile when he noticed that Jenna was the one speaking for them.

Miss Kiyoko was one of the people who'd taught Tyler how to debate successfully, and he knew exactly what she looked for in an effective argument, so it was no surprise when she chose his group as that round's "winner."

The second round began. After Tyler's group had their argument prepared, he went to take a drink from his water bottle, only to realize it was empty. He asked Miss Kiyoko for permission to go fill it up, and once she nodded, he got up and made his way over to the door.

The water fountain located at the front of the social studies hallway wasn't far, so it didn't take long for him to reach it. However, as he approached the fountain, he noticed something that caused him to throw his head back and groan dramatically.

The bottle filler's filter indicator glowed bright red, and an "out of order" sign was taped over where the bottle was supposed to go.

With a sigh, he turned and began walking in the direction of the math hallway, which is where the next closest water fountain was.

As he neared his destination, Tyler noticed something out of the corner of his left eye that caught his attention.

The door to one of the janitor's closets opened just enough for a girl with light brown hair to discreetly slip inside. She moved with a suspicious energy, as if she were up to something she shouldn't be.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening, and Tyler's lip curled in disgust at the realization. He simply shook his head in disbelief, continuing his journey to the math hallway. Whatever that girl was about to do, and with whoever she was about to do it with, was frankly none of his business.

He arrived at the fountain, and, thankfully, the bottle filler filter indicator was green. Twisting the lid off of his water bottle, Tyler held it underneath the dispenser and hummed contently as water started flowing out of the machine.

He forgot that this specific fountain took forever, though, so Tyler let his eyes wander in search of something to entertain himself with while he waited.

It didn't take him long to notice something— or, well, someone —that piqued his interest.

Tyler watched distastefully as Josh Dun walked down the hallway with his hands in his pockets and gaze glued to the floor.

Involuntarily, Tyler's eyes rolled at the sight of the man. He went to check how full his water bottle now was, only to be stopped by what happened next.

Josh halted right outside the same janitor's closet from before. He glanced around, looking both ways. Tyler must've been obstructed from his view, considering there was no indication that Josh saw him.

Once he'd deemed the coast clear, Josh opened the closet door and ducked inside.

Disgust washed over Tyler, shuddering at the realization that Josh was the "whoever she was about to do it with" in that situation. This was definitely not information that he needed, but thanks to Josh, he now had. Tyler didn't know how a person could get any more insufferable. Not only was Josh skipping class (like the delinquent he is), he was also in the janitor's closet, probably giving that poor girl herpes.

Tyler gagged a bit at the thought and forced himself to find a distraction— literally anything else.

His eyes darted over to the bulletin board hanging by the entrance to the math hallway. Posters for various clubs, activities, and events covered the surface, and Tyler picked one at random to focus on instead. He couldn't give less of a shit about anime club, but it was still better than what he'd previously been thinking about.

Eventually, the sensation of cold water spilling out onto his hand snapped him back to reality. Tyler pulled his water bottle away from the dispenser before reattaching the lid.

He began heading back to his AP Government class, fighting the overwhelming urge to vomit at the sight of that janitor's closet door.

Tyler'd only taken a couple of steps from the water fountain when he saw his math teacher from last year walking down the other side of the hallway, carrying a stack of papers in her arm.

"Hi, Tyler," she acknowledged with a kind smile.

Tyler attempted to return the smile, hoping his face didn't appear as repulsed as he currently felt. "Hi, Mrs. Erickson."

That was their entire interaction. Well, it would've been, if not for the realization that struck Tyler the moment they passed by each other. He froze in the middle of the hallway once it hit him.

This was it. This was his chance.

To get Josh expelled.

It was almost scary how quickly he formulated his plan. Sending a silent apology to both Mrs. Erickson for what she was about to witness and his Owala, he unscrewed the top of the water bottle ever so slightly. Then, on complete "accident" of course, he let the object slip from his hands, watching in fascination as it hit the tiled floor with a loud clang. Water instantly spilled out of it, leaving behind a sizable puddle.

The noise obviously caught the attention of Mrs. Erickson, who turned around to see what had caused it.

Immediately, Tyler started profusely "apologizing," feigning a guilty expression. "Oh my God, I am so sorry!" he rambled out as he bent down and picked up his water bottle. "I didn't mean to! I thought the lid was on all the way."

Huh, Tyler thought, if this whole President of the United States thing doesn't work out, then maybe I should become an actor.

Mrs. Erickson responded with a forgiving smile. "Hey, it's okay. It happens," she made her way back over to help Tyler. "Good thing we're next to a janitor's closet," she joked with a soft laugh. "Do you mind holding these while I grab some paper towels?" She asked, holding her stack of copies out to Tyler.

He accepted them gratefully. "Of course I don't mind," he nodded. "Thank you."

Mrs. Erickson sent him one last reassuring smile as she walked toward the closet. Tyler smirked in satisfaction, pleased (and a bit impressed) that an uncharacteristic act of spontaneity actually worked out for him. What could he say? He was an opportunist.

It only took seconds for Mrs. Erickson to reach the door. Tyler held his breath in anticipation as she grasped the handle and swung it open.

He (luckily) couldn't see the inside of the closet from where he stood, but the combined sound of Mrs. Erickson's shocked gasp, the girl's mortified shriek, and Josh's irritated groan told Tyler all he needed to know. And it was like music to his ears.

Dipping his hand into the bowl of water on the table in front of him, Josh let a thin layer of liquid coat his fingers. He pulled them out, ensuring they were slick but not too wet, and gently rubbed his fingertips across the soft clay.

The goal for his ceramics class was to finish their coil pots before the end of the period so Mr. Iero could fire them in the kiln over the weekend. To his surprise, Josh seemed a bit ahead of schedule compared to everyone else—other than Ash, of course.

She sat to Josh's left, humming quietly as she worked on her project. While everyone else was making simple coil pots, hers was much more impressive. The base was a curled-up snake, its body achieving the coil requirement for their assignment as it looped around itself a few times, forming a stack of rings. Its body eventually tapered off into its head, hovering slightly above the pot itself, signature beady eyes and sharp fangs on display. At the bottom, the tail curved outward ever so slightly to mimic a sense of liveliness. Currently, Ash was in the process of carving scales into the clay using a small ribbon tool.

"Show-off," Josh teased, delicately smoothing out an indent on the top coil of his own pot.

"Took inspiration from the little stunt you pulled at the assembly last week," Ash smirked, focus never wavering. "So, thanks for that. Plus, I've already taken this class once before and have been sculpting shit since I was old enough to be trusted not to eat Play-Doh, so showing off kinda just comes with the territory."

"Clearly," he retorted with a playful scoff, a matching smirk appearing on his own face.

Ash jokingly gasped, tearing her eyes away just long enough to glare at Josh. "You're a dick."

His smirk only grew. "You are what you eat— err, well, suck, I guess," he hummed, finally satisfied with the surface of his clay.

Ash gagged dramatically in response. Josh just snickered loudly at her theatrics, grabbing a pottery rib to correct any minor imperfections on his pot.

The two stayed mostly silent for the next few minutes, working on their respective pieces. Josh would never give Ash the satisfaction of knowing this, but he was, oddly enough, starting to genuinely enjoy his ceramics class.

With one last finishing touch, Josh sat back to admire his pot. His body warmed with pride at the sight of it. It wasn't special— and hell, it wasn't anything nearly as cool as Ash's —but it was his; it was tangible representation of his hard work.

Josh was surprised, yet again, as he went to place his pot on the "to be fired" shelf, only to notice it was otherwise empty. Sure, he was guilty of rushing through his schoolwork just to get it done and over with, but he knew that wasn't the case this time.

Maybe he was actually capable of producing something of worth other than a latte or paycheck.

A soft, subconscious smile graced his lips as he gently set the pot down on the shelf.

Once he returned to his table, he realized class wasn't even halfway over yet. Ash was too locked in to carry on a conversation, and Josh was honestly a little scared to interrupt her. So, with nothing else to do, he sat down and pulled his phone out.

He was in the middle of playing Hayley back in iMessage 8-ball when a Snapchat notification appeared at the top of his screen. Finishing the rest of his turn, he swiped down and tapped on the message. It was from a girl named Mackenzie that he's known since middle school. He was pretty sure she was also in his English class this year. What he was certain of was that, while they weren't necessarily friends, they definitely weren't... strangers ... either.

Josh rarely used Snapchat, and when he did, it wasn't for much, so he could already guess what the message said before even opening it.

Kenzie
hey! are you doing anything tonight?

Josh
working

Josh
why

Kenzie
ughhhh

Kenzie
how about tomorrow?

Josh
working

Josh
why

Kenzie
ugh okay nvm

Josh
why

Kenzie
why else would i be texting u

Josh
ah

Josh
fair enough

His eyes drifted up to the text notification he got from Hayley, letting him know it was his turn in 8-ball again.

Josh went to play her back but stopped, a realization hitting him.

He wasn't working right now. And he did have another 25 minutes to kill before class ended...

Josh
well wyd rn

Kenzie
wdym i'm in class

Josh
ok but r u busy

Kenzie
i'm in class

Josh waited for a moment when he saw her Bitmoji pop up with a thought bubble, indicating she was typing her response. The longer it took, the harder he had to stifle a laugh.

Kenzie
no i guess not lol

Josh
meet in the janitor's closet near the math hallway in 5?

Josh fully expected her to tell him to fuck off— so much so that he swiped out of Snapchat completely and began playing his 8-ball round.

A few minutes passed without an answer, and Josh almost forgot he'd even mentioned it. That is... until another Snapchat message notification appeared as he was sending his turn back to Hayley. He tapped on it.

Kenzie
fuck it

Kenzie
sure

Kenzie
gimme a sec tho. i gotta wait until this person gets back with the bathroom pass

Josh figured leaving her on opened was enough of a reply. That smirk from before returned, except now it was significantly more mischievous.

Ash somehow noticed this, despite most of her attention still being fixed on the scales she was etching into her clay snake. "What are you up to?" Her eyes narrowed accusatorially.

"Hmm... nothing," Josh hummed cheekily, standing up and pushing his chair in. The dick-sucking comment from earlier had been a joke (for the most part, anyway), but he wasn't about to complain that he was on his way to go be on the receiving end of it.

Ash scrunched her nose up. "Ew. You're so gross. Have fun."

Josh couldn't help but laugh at that. "How'd you even—"

"We're best friends, Josh. I know you," she paused. "Also your boner is visible from, like, a mile away."

Panic flooded Josh, and his eyes snapped down to his crotch, only to see... nothing.

Ash started cracking up, and when he realized she was just fucking with him, he rolled his eyes. "I'll report back with how fast I come," he spoke quietly into her ear, patting her shoulder supportively as he did so.

"No, you will not!" She gasped, yanking her shoulder back from his touch. "God, Hayley and I are gonna have to have so much sex to cancel out everything that just happened in the last 60 seconds."

With another laugh, Josh shook his head and made his way over to Mr. Iero's desk. After getting permission to... go to the... bathroom... he began walking toward the math hallway (which was conveniently located on the opposite side of the school. What? He couldn't be too risky.).

Eventually, he reached the closet, but hesitated. He glanced both ways and let out a small breath, relieved that the coast was clear.

Josh ducked inside and let the door shut completely behind him before flicking on the light. Mackenzie turned to face him, smiling.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hey," he copied with a lazy smirk.

Mackenzie took a few steps forward, now nearly face-to-face with Josh. She glanced down at his mouth, then quickly back up.

Josh placed a hand on each of her hips, abruptly closing the space between them. This caused her to let out a small squeak of surprise, which Josh laughed at as he leaned in, connecting his lips to hers with a deep kiss. Mackenzie immediately melted into it, her right hand coming up to rest upon his shoulder.

The kiss intensified almost as quickly as it began. Mackenzie parted her lips, and Josh took that as his cue to explore her tongue even further with his own. Reaching for the light switch, he felt around the wall distractedly until he found it and flicked it back off.

Catching her bottom lip between his teeth, Josh tugged on it gently as he broke the kiss. His lips instead made their way to Mackenzie's jaw, leaving a trail of kisses as he worked his way down. She tilted her head up slightly, giving Josh better access. Once he reached the spot right below her ear, he sucked lightly on her skin, smirking against it when she gasped in pleasure.

Josh left a few more subtle hickeys before reattaching their lips. Mackenzie grabbed his cheeks as she pressed their bodies even closer together.

He took the split second they separated for air as his opportunity to speak. "Your turn," he informed, his voice gravelly.

Those two words were all it took for her hand to drift down toward his crotch, smiling against his lips when she felt the effect she was already having on him. "What's in it for me?" She mumbled into a brief and messy kiss.

Josh smirked once they pulled apart. "Let's see how this goes, then I'll decide."

A breathy giggle left Mackenzie, and she wasted no time fumbling with his belt, sliding it out of the loops once the buckle was undone. Josh heard it hit the floor, but wasn't able to register where exactly she'd dropped it as his focus instantly shifted to the unbuttoning and unzipping of his jeans.

Josh was almost entirely hard by the time his pants and boxers were around his ankles. He threw his head back, and his eyes slipped shut as soon as he felt her mouth make contact.

It'd been a hot minute since Josh had been touched by something other than his own hand, and he already knew he wasn't going to last long. The two did have to be quick, though, with class halfway over, so he couldn't be bothered to feel too embarrassed about it.

Even though only a couple of minutes had passed, it somehow simultaneously felt like both seconds and years to Josh. The more Mackenzie teased him with her tongue, the more he struggled to control his breathing. One particular movement from her had Josh swallowing roughly, almost seeing his own Adam's apple bob up and down at the sensation.

As she continued, Josh gripped a fistful of toilet paper from one of the rolls on the shelf behind him. "Kenz, I'm gonna—"

Suddenly, Josh heard a particular noise, and his eyes snapped open as bright light flooded the room. Mackenzie immediately released him, but the shocked gasp and mortified shriek that followed made it clear it was definitely too late.

He didn't even acknowledge the teacher, who he'd only seen before but didn't know the name of, standing in the doorway of the janitor's closet. Instead, Josh simply groaned in irritation at the interruption while yanking his boxers and pants back up.

So much for having something to report back to Ash on.

Chapter Text

Throughout all his years at Claremont High, Josh has never ever seen Mr. Farro as angry as he was right now.

And by this point, he's ended up in that man's office so many times that he might as well have a punch card.

Josh watched as Mr. Farro struggled to find the right words to address the situation. "I cannot believe..."

"You're telling me," Josh scoffed. "You're not the one who got blue balled, Mr. Farro."

Somehow, Mr. Farro's face became even redder than it already was. He opened his mouth to respond but closed it a moment later. Putting his head in his hands, he took a deep breath and stayed in that position for quite a while. Eventually, he let his hands fall and directed his attention back to Josh. "Do you know how many years you've taken off my life?"

"Ooh! Is this a guessing game? Does whoever gets closest to the answer get a special pri—"

"Josh!" Mr. Farro snapped. "Can you be mature about something for once in your God damn life?"

Josh threw his arms out in exasperation, feigning offense. "I am!"

That was a lie. He was, in fact, not being mature about this. In all honesty, Josh didn't really give a shit about being in trouble. It was nothing new for him.

Mr. Farro clenched his jaw. "You
seem to be having a hard time grasping how serious this is, so allow me to help," he began, his voice low. "Sexual misconduct is a class III offense."

Josh blinked. "The hell does that even mean?"

"It means—" Mr. Farro took another deep breath to regain his composure. "It means that this is, by far, the most trouble you've ever been in. You're on the verge of expulsion right now, Josh."

Josh raised an eyebrow at that. "Expulsion seems a little dramatic considering I didn't even orga—"

"Josh..." Mr. Farro cut him off, his tone acting as a warning.

"Just saying," the mentioned mumbled, holding his hands up in surrender.

His principal sat back, pinching the bridge of his nose. After a few seconds of silence, he continued talking. "There's a reason we gave up on assigning you detention by the end of your sophomore year— you never learned from it. It became more of a pain than you're honestly worth."

"Gee, way to make a guy feel special."

"Your five out-of-school-suspensions and 15 in-school ones obviously haven't taught you anything either. So no, expulsion is not "a little dramatic" at this point."

"Okay, so..." Josh trailed off. "What are you waiting for?" He asked, his voice bored.

"Even if I wanted to expel you— and trust me, I really want to right now —I don't have the power to. The school board makes that decision. All I can do is recommend expulsion."

"Is that what you're gonna do then?"

Mr. Farro didn't immediately reply, visibly conflicted. Finally, he spoke. "I don't know..."

Josh scoffed, getting irritated with the back and forth of it all. Either expel him. Or don't. He didn't give a fuck either way. "You literally just told me that you want to expel me."

"What I actually want, Josh, is for you to grow up and get your shit together. You have no respect for anyone— especially not authority —you can never take anything seriously, and I don't think you've had to be responsible for anything a day in your life," he paused, holding Josh's gaze. "I'm just not sure that expelling you would change any of that," he admitted, his voice tinged with disappointment and reproach.

Josh remained quiet at first, not quite sure how to respond. Eventually, though, he did. "I don't think you're allowed to say 'shit,' Mr. Farro. That's not an appropriate word to use at school."

Mr. Farro simply sighed, evidently abandoning his attempt at getting through to Josh. "I'm going to take the weekend to think on this so I don't make any rash decisions. I'll have my final verdict by Monday morning. You, however, are suspended for the rest of the day," he informed, rolling his chair over to the computer. He spent about a minute or so clicking around before picking up his phone.

"Who are you calling?" Josh asked smugly, already having an idea but posing the question anyway.

"Your parents. One of them needs to come sign you out of school. But I'm sure you don't need the reminder, considering this is now suspension number 21."

Josh snorted. "Yeah, good luck with that."

Mr. Farro was too busy dialing Josh's mom's number to acknowledge his comment. Josh watched Mr. Farro bring the phone to his ear, and he could hear every ring from where he sat a few feet away. Finally, after the last ring, a robotic voice began prompting Mr. Farro to leave a message. Josh had to stifle a laugh when he actually did.

Visibly annoyed, Mr. Farro set the phone down. "Guess we'll try your dad," he spoke, turning back to his computer.

"Don't bother," Josh advised, his cocky attitude instantly fading. "He won't answer."

"It's at least worth a tr—"

"He won't answer," Josh repeated, his eyes meeting Mr. Farro's. Josh wasn't aware of what emotion he currently seemed to be conveying, but whatever it was, Mr. Farro picked up on it.

He accepted Josh's response with a sigh. "Well," he propped his elbows up on his desk and folded his hands together. "I guess you are 18 now, so... you can go ahead and sign yourself out. But you need to leave the premises immediately. No wandering or hanging around."

Josh rolled his eyes. "Mr. Farro, I don't even wanna be here when I'm supposed to be. You don't gotta tell me twice." He paused. "I do need to go get my skateboard out of my locker, though."

Mr. Farro nodded. "That's fine. The SRO will escort you there and then out of the building."

"The SRO?" Josh stared at him incredulously. "It's not like I brought a gun to school. The only loaded weapon I planned on shooting was my—"

"Josh..." Mr. Farro cut him off yet again, his tone the same as before.

"Whatever."

While Josh waited in the main office, he pulled his phone out. Immediately, he saw the dozens of notifications on his screen— most coming from his group chat with Hayley and Ash.

There were too many messages to catch up on before the SRO got there, so Josh only read and replied to the most recent one.

pussyslayers 😼

Hayley
what the hell is closetgate? josh what the fuck did u do?

Josh
not finish. thats for sure

Ash
ew. josh

Josh
idk what everyones so worked up about

Josh
mr farros just overreacting i think hes in a bad mood or smth

Hayley
what do u mean overreacting?

Josh
damn hayley do i get a lawyer for this interrogation?? ffs

Hayley
answer the question asshole

Josh
mr farro said something about expelling me idk

Josh
hes gonna take the weekend to think about it

Josh
got suspended for the rest of the day tho

Ash
josh that's serious

Josh
ya. seriously fucking stupid

Hayley
no. josh. getting expelled is serious

Ash
what even happened

Josh
what do u think happened

Josh
got caught in the janitors closet

Ash
josh that's SUPER serious

Ash
now u have me worried about u thanks a lot asshole

Josh
why lmfao

Hayley
dpmo

Josh never got the chance to respond, as he was interrupted by the office door opening and the SRO walking in. He offered Josh a warm smile despite the current circumstances. "Ready, kid?"

Josh exhaled through his nose slightly. "Guess so."

It was just after 9:30 when Josh arrived home from work later that night. As he was shutting and locking the front door behind him, he noticed Ashley sitting on the living room couch. She did not have a book with her this time. Her arms were crossed. And she looked pissed.

"Hey," Josh offered with a tired smile, kicking his shoes off. "Did you guys eat—"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She snapped.

Josh stopped, a bit shocked at her sudden outburst. "Huh?" He replied, audibly confused.

"Don't act stupid, Josh," she scoffed, standing up with her arms still crossed. "Because I know you're not."

"I genuinely don't know what you're talking about."

"The fact that you might be getting expelled? That ring a bell at all?"

Josh's body relaxed at the realization, and he rolled his eyes. "Why is everyone making such a big deal outta this?"

"Because it is a big deal!"

"No, it's not—"

"I know you don't really give a shit about yourself, Josh, but there are a lot of people who do, and we can't just stand by and watch you throw away your future like this."

Josh snorted at that. "What future?"

"You really wanna live life as a high school dropout? That's what you want for yourself?"

"It wouldn't make me a—"

"Yes, it would, Josh,"  Ashley finalized, stepping toward him and lowering her arms in defeat. "You don't understand how severe this is. How would you even reenroll in alternative school? Who would sign your expulsion and transfer paperwork?"

"Me, Ashley," Josh refuted, that same irritation he felt in Mr. Farro's office returning. Why couldn't everyone just let this go? It's not that he didn't give a shit about himself, it's that he genuinely didn't care about this situation. He's been a troublemaker since middle school; this was nothing out of the norm.

"I'm 18 now. I can take care of all that shit myself— like I do with everything else. Besides, even if it did mean that I'd have to drop out, it'd just be one less thing for me to worry about," he stressed, that irritation quickly seeping into his tone. "At least then I'd be able to work full time and make more money, which would take care of another thing that I have to fucking worry about! Y'know what, Ashley, maybe I should just drop out! It'd sure as hell make life a whole lot fucking easier!"

Unfazed by Josh's explosive response, Ashley stood her ground. "If you get expelled," she began sternly. "I will never, ever forgive you, Josh. Ever."

The seriousness of his sister's face told Josh that she wasn't fucking around, and because he was too tired to keep going in circles over something so insignificant, he relented. "Whatever," he sighed. "If it makes you happy, I'll try my best not to. Won't know until Monday, though."

Ashley seemed pleased with that answer. "Okay," she nodded. "Thank you."

"Mhm," Josh replied disinterestedly, turning to go upstairs.

"Josh," Ashley blurted out, stopping him.

"What?" He groaned obnoxiously, making his annoyance clear.

"Yes, we ate dinner. Your leftovers are in the fridge. Top shelf."

The corners of Josh's mouth couldn't help but twitch upward. "Thanks."

"Of course." She fell silent, but Josh could tell she had more to say. He hung back for a moment, which she took as her cue to continue. "I love you, Josh. I just want what's best for you, okay? You're worth more than you think you are, and you deserve more than you think you do. Even if you don't see it."

Josh let out another sigh, but it was softer than his previous one, communicating understanding rather than frustration. He walked over to his sister, instantly pulling her into a tight hug. She squeezed back just as hard.

"I love you too," Josh mumbled, kissing the top of her head. A few seconds later, they let go of each other, and he offered Ashley a reassuring (albeit strained) smile. "I ate earlier, so you guys can have my leftovers. I'm gonna go to bed. Do you have work in the morning?"

"Yeah," she replied, her voice quiet. "At 10:00."

"My shift doesn't start 'til one, so I'll make breakfast and have everything taken care of before I leave."

"Okay," Ashley whispered.

"'Night," Josh began to make his way to his room but paused at the bottom of the stairs. "I love you," he repeated firmly, his voice full of conviction.

Ashley smiled half-heartedly in exchange. "Goodnight, J. I love you too."

Chapter Text

"Ty!" Jenna gasped in surprise once the passenger side door of Tyler's car opened, courtesy of a valet. She stepped out, still audibly in awe. "How did you get us a reservation here? I've heard this place is booked out years in advance."

Tyler smirked, pleased with himself for picking a good date spot. Upon exiting the vehicle, a second valet approached him with a welcoming smile. Tyler returned the gesture as he handed over his keys and a $5 bill, receiving a ticket in exchange. He pocketed the small piece of paper before making his way around the car, where Jenna was waiting for him. "My dad plays golf with the owner at the country club. Called in a favor," he explained, lacing their hands together and guiding her toward the front of the restaurant.

The doorman greeted the couple on their way in, and they offered a quick thanks in return. Once they reached the host stand, an older woman greeted them with a kind smile. "Welcome! Can I get a name for the reservation?"

"Joseph."

The hostess searched the tablet in front of her for their reservation. Confusion gradually took over her face as she struggled to find it. Just as Tyler was about to explain that his name was added last minute, her expression relaxed. "Found it." She tapped the screen a few times, then retrieved two menus and flashed another smile at them. "Follow me."

Their table was located near the back of the restaurant, by a large window overlooking the beach. Tyler and Jenna took their seats. "Your waiter will be right with you," the hostess informed politely, setting the menus on the table before walking away.

Jenna admired the beachfront view, her glistening, blue eyes mirroring the shimmer of the water under the setting sun. Tyler wasn't surprised by her reaction. Jenna loved the beach— it was one of her favorite places.

Tyler hated the beach.

He was pretty sure most of that revulsion came from the sand— something about the texture and the gross... stuff... scattered all over it made his skin crawl. Just imagining that sand under his feet was enough to make him shudder, and he had to force himself to stop so he wouldn't ruin their date.

Going to the beach was one of the only things Jenna could almost never convince Tyler to do. It was very, very rare that he caved and went with her (and when he did, it came with a lot of complaining on his end).

Clearly, they'd both been lost in their own little worlds, only realizing it when their waiter's arrival brought them back down to earth. They ordered their drinks, and the waiter gave them a moment to look over the menu.

Tyler grabbed his but only pretended to read through it. Thankfully, the menu was also posted online, so he already knew what he was getting. The only prior information he'd had about the place was that it was an upscale seafood restaurant, and while Tyler liked (some) seafood, he definitely did not like the unexpected. Being able to see his options beforehand let him plan his order in advance. Now, he was prepared. He knew what to expect.

Jenna studied her own menu thoughtfully, humming softly to herself. "Kinda wanna try the tasting menu..." she mumbled out. Suddenly, she gasped, clearly hit by an idea. Tyler could've sworn he saw a light bulb go off above her head. Either that, or the one over their table just flickered. "We should do the tasting menu together! Aww, that would be so cute! Couple goals!"

Tyler hesitated at first. Even though the tasting menu was featured on the regular one, the only details listed were the number of courses and the price. It was his exact definition of unexpected.

Then... he took a moment to actually consider it. Yesterday's random act of spontaneity did end up working in his favor.

Tyler was definitely still riding the high of finally getting Josh expelled, and while he knew this feeling was only temporary, he couldn't really bring himself to care.

So... he agreed. "Okay," Tyler nodded, his mouth curling into a soft smile. "I'll do the tasting menu with you." How bad could it possibly be?

Jenna cheered and clapped her hands together excitedly. "I know you don't love trying new things, but this'll be fun," she assured.

Their waiter returned not long after, took their orders and menus, and let them know their first course would arrive shortly.

Once he was gone, Jenna stood up with a soft smile on her face. "Just gonna go use the restroom real quick before the food gets here. I'll be right back."

Tyler nodded, matching her expression with a simple smile of his own. Jenna pressed a light kiss to his cheek as she walked past him.

Having visited his fair share of fancy, upscale restaurants, Tyler knew what was and wasn't socially acceptable in an environment like this. So, no matter how awkward Jenna's absence made him feel, he left his phone in his pocket.

Instead, Tyler glanced around at the various pieces of art and decor until he found one that caught his interest. It didn't take him long to settle on a painting hanging to his right.

It was presented from the perspective of someone overlooking La Jolla cove.
The background was made up mostly of jagged cliffs, but a few palm trees poked out from behind them in the distance. Large waves crashed against the base of the rock, but Tyler hardly noticed them as a wide grin spread across his face at the sight of something else: the numerous sea lions lounging on the cliffs and playing in the water. Nostalgia enveloped him like a warm hug when he remembered just how many of his most cherished childhood memories involved sea lions.

All of a sudden, his view of the painting was interrupted by a pair of alluring, dark brown eyes. Tyler blinked, refocusing his vision.

A guy with curly hair the same shade as his eyes was standing in front of Tyler, a charming grin tugging at his lips. It was only then that Tyler realized the stranger's expression was simply a reflection of his own. The guy scanned Tyler up and down, making no effort to hide the fact that he was very obviously checking him out. Those alluring, dark brown eyes darted back up, catching and holding Tyler's gaze. Then... his grin grew a little more flirtatious. "Hey, handsome."

Tyler's eyes instantly widened. He felt his entire face heat up and turn bright red. The guy didn't seem offended by Tyler's response at all, simply winking at him before walking off.

Forcing his face to return to its usual color, Tyler paused to process what the hell just happened. His efforts proved futile, though, because his face burned right back up when it hit him; it was only minutes ago that he'd been sitting there, staring off with a stupid, cheesy fucking grin. That guy probably assumed the smile was meant for him.

Tyler put his head in his hands to muffle the loud groan he let out. He hid behind them for a moment, waiting for the redness in his face to disappear. The only reason he was reacting like this was because he was embarrassed. That's it.

Out of nowhere, something touched his shoulder, startling him. Like gasoline on an open flame, anxiety ignited in Tyler's chest. He quickly dropped his hands and whipped his head to the right but sighed in relief when he realized who it was. "I'm sorry!" Jenna apologized sincerely. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to see if you were alright," she explained, tentatively sitting back down.

Tyler exhaled a bit through his nose, dismissing her concern with a subtle head shake. "Yeah, I'm fine," he breathed out. "Something kinda weird happened while you were in the bathroom. Everything's okay, though."

"What was it?" Jenna pressed, eyebrows knitting in concern.

Tyler mustered a tight yet (hopefully) convincing smile. "Nothing worth worrying about."

"Are you s—"

Jenna was cut off mid-question as a plate was set in front of each of them. Despite tuning out the description of the first course after hearing the words "miniature crab cakes," Tyler had never been more grateful to see a waiter in his life.

The two didn't fully acknowledge their dishes until their waiter was gone. Tyler relaxed at the sight of the familiar food. He's had dozens of crab cakes before, which helped reaffirm that he'd be able to handle this whole "trying new things" situation just fine.

Luckily, it seemed like Jenna had completely forgotten about their previous conversation, considering she never brought the topic back up. And Tyler definitely wasn't going to remind her.

They each grabbed a crab cake from their plates, Jenna giggling at Tyler's gesture to "clink" them together as if they were toasting. Her laughter brought a genuine grin to Tyler's face, and he felt his mood start to improve dramatically.

"To trying new things," he offered, even if the sentiment was a bit corny.

"To trying new things," Jenna hummed in agreement.

They bit into their cakes, both audibly approving of the flavor. Catching each other's reactions, they finished chewing and swallowing before laughing together.

Once the sound died down, silence settled over them as they ate their food. Eventually, though, Jenna broke it. "Hey, Sab and I are going homecoming dress shopping next Saturday. Do you wanna come with?"

"Don't need to. Already have mine picked out," he joked.

Jenna rolled her eyes playfully. "You know that's not what I meant."

"As much as I'd love to..." Tyler lied. He didn't have the heart to admit how fucking boring that sounded to him. "... I can't. I have my first debate competition of the season next Saturday." He paused. "Plus, wouldn't that be kinda weird?"

Jenna cocked her head slightly in confusion. "Why would it be weird? You've gone with us in the past."

"I dunno..." Tyler trailed off. "Wouldn't it be, like... intruding?"

"How so?"

Tyler held back an irritated sigh. "Because we're dating now, Jenna," he reminded her. "Isn't that... taboo?"

"It's not like I'm shopping for a wedding dress, Ty," Jenna teased.

For some strange reason, that comment made Tyler's stomach churn— the thought of getting married made his stomach churn, but he wasn't quite sure if it was at the concept itself or specifically marrying Jenna. He had no idea why his body was even responding this way; it's not like they've never joked about getting married to each other. Tyler shoved down the discomfort that was beginning to manifest in the bile rising in his throat. He told himself that he was just shaken up after that guy inappropriately assumed his sexuality earlier. That's all.

Tyler was convinced he was living in a real-life fairy tale and that their waiter— whose reappearance effectively ended his discussion with Jenna —was his fairy godmother in disguise. He cleared the now-empty plates from their table and returned a few minutes later with their second course: seared scallops.

This was... less familiar to Tyler. Sure, he's heard of scallops, and he's probably had them at least once, but he was too embarrassed to confess that he didn't even know what the fuck a scallop was. It didn't look entirely unappetizing, though, so Tyler figured it was worth a try.

He hesitantly brought his fork to his mouth and took a bite. After chewing for a moment, he decided it tasted fine. It wasn't disgusting by any means, but it also wasn't something he'd willingly order for himself in the future. It was just average enough for him to finish so he didn't come across as rude or disrespectful. Jenna seemed to be enjoying it, though, so Tyler kept his opinion to himself. The couple continued to chat while they ate, and Tyler's mood began to improve again.

The satisfaction Tyler experienced from being able to identify the third course was quickly outweighed by the disappointment he felt once it was set in front of him. He already knew that he was not a fan of caviar. Still... he choked the food down, remaining mostly silent so he could focus on not gagging.

Tyler had to pretend he didn't hear the name of their fourth course when their waiter introduced it. He needed to be mature about this. Jenna wanted him to try this tasting menu with her, and he wasn't going to ruin their date by pussying out halfway through it. Her current expression was neutral at worst, so... Tyler forced himself to ignore the fact that he was eating grilled eel.

However... the second the fifth course was revealed, his goal of not pussying out immediately went out the window. 

On his plate was what had to be a whole cooked octopus— tentacles and all. Fuck this shit, he decided. 

"I can't," he blurted out, his wide eyes flicking up to meet Jenna's. "I managed to suck it up and eat the last two, but this is where I draw the line. I can't. I'm sorry."

To his absolute surprise, Jenna breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God you said that." Her body relaxed. "I was ready to call it at the fish eggs."

An involuntary laugh escaped Tyler. "Why didn't you say anything?"

That caused Jenna to laugh too. "I didn't wanna seem difficult. I haven't had nearly as much fancy seafood as you have, and I was worried I was being picky. Why didn't you say anything?" She countered.

Tyler's mouth settled into a crooked smile. He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't want to ruin our date," he provided truthfully. "You really wanted me to do this with you, and I didn't wanna let you down."

"Are you kidding me?" Another laugh left Jenna, but this one held more disbelief. "You could never let me down, Ty."

Tyler could sense the energy between him and Jenna shifting into something more vulnerable, so he chose not to address the latter half of her reply. Instead, he glanced down at his plate and back up at Jenna. "Yeah, there's no fucking way in hell I'm eating Squidward. He suffers enough as is."

Jenna laughed even harder at that and had to clamp her hand over her mouth to muffle her uncontrollable giggles. Tyler bit his bottom lip so hard he nearly drew blood, struggling to stop himself from losing it in the middle of one of the nicest restaurants he's ever been to.

Eventually, Jenna was able to calm herself down, and she exhaled happily as she wiped a genuine tear from her eye. "Isn't he a squid?" she pointed out.

"Nope," Tyler shook his head, still grinning. "Don't know why, but he's definitely an octopus." Before Jenna could try to challenge that, he continued. "Wanna get outta here? And go pick up some actual food?"

"You read my mind."

The moment their waiter came over to check on them, Tyler made his move to get them the fuck out of there. Noticing the couples' untouched plates, concern etched itself onto his face, his eyes meeting Tyler's. "Is everything alright?"

"We're ready for our check," Tyler spoke loosely, hoping he wouldn't have to elaborate and risk offending their waiter.

"There are still a few more—"

"We know."

The waiter suddenly appeared somber, looking commiseratively at them over his thick, rimless glasses. It was as if he assumed Tyler was completely unaware of the choice he was making. "But you'll be missing out on the final course before dessert— our award-winning Bluefish tuna eye," he noted, his tone presenting the dish as the opportunity of a lifetime.

"Yeah... we're okay with that."

How did Tyler and Jenna's date ultimately end?

With the two of them lying on his bed, watching Parks and Rec.

Their legs tangled together, Tyler was sitting back against his pillows while Jenna rested her head on his chest. Her hand had made its way up to his hair, the gentle scratching of her nails on his scalp putting him at ease.

"I don't think I could ever live in the Midwest," Tyler mumbled out absentmindedly, prompted by one of Leslie Knope's countless, unrelenting acts of dedication to the town of Pawnee, Indiana.

"No?" Jenna hummed out in response.

"No," he confirmed. "Can you imagine living there in the winter? What if you're, like, running late? Don't they have to let their cars heat up and scrape off their windshields and shit? Ice all over the road and concrete. Sounds sad and cold. Gross."

Jenna giggled at Tyler's unintended tangent. "Ugh, and living in like... Ohio? Super gross!" She added to humor her boyfriend.

"God, not Ohio," Tyler groaned dramatically, cracking up when Jenna laughed again.

"Love California, though," she concluded as she nestled further into Tyler's chest.

"Love California," he concurred. "But I love you more," he reminded, pressing a light kiss to the top of her head.

Instead of the kiss on his chest that Tyler had expected from Jenna, she moved away from him completely, making him furrow his eyebrows in confusion. Before he could question her, though, she brought her hand up to his cheek and pulled him in for a slow kiss.

Tyler immediately reciprocated, ignoring the temptation to keep one eye open so he could keep watching Parks and Rec while they made out. That temptation was fulfilled, however, when Jenna started trailing a soft line of kisses down his jaw (granting him the ability to see the TV).

After a moment, she reconnected their lips and shifted so she was now sitting in Tyler's lap, straddling him. She left one hand on his cheek and, without breaking the kiss, let the fingers of her other trail down his chest, stopping at his waist.

It was the gentle tug at the band of his sweatpants that caught Tyler's attention.

He immediately broke the kiss and exhaled breathlessly— a feeble attempt to disguise the gesture as natural instead of borderline panicked. The hand that Jenna had been using to cradle Tyler's cheek fell to rest on his shoulder as she gazed at him with the utmost adoration. Guilt bubbled up in his stomach once he saw her expression.

Regardless, he cleared his throat and forced a smile on his face. "Hey, y'know what we haven't done in a while?" Jenna simply raised an eyebrow, which Tyler took as his cue to continue. "Played tennis." Jenna opened her mouth to respond, but Tyler kept going before she could get a word in. "We should go play! Right now!" He suggested enthusiastically, hoping his tone successfully sold the idea as an offer that was simply too good to pass up. 

Jenna looked at him quizzically, her nose scrunching slightly. "You wanna play tennis? At 9 o'clock at night?" she laughed lightly despite the audible confusion in her voice.

"Yeah! Why not? There're lights around the tennis court outside. Never too late to get a game in!"

Jenna shook her head, letting out another laugh. It was obvious she thought Tyler was joking. "You're cute," she hummed. "I bet you get even cuter with every piece of clothing you take off."

Her hands found their way to the bottom of his shirt. Swallowing the softball-sized lump in his throat, Tyler let her remove it without protest.

He remained completely still as Jenna's eyes roamed over his lightly toned torso. "Love when I can prove a theory right," she breathed out, attaching her lips to his in a kiss far more heated than the last. Tyler melted into it involuntarily, deepening the kiss as he did so. Maybe if he distracted himself enough, he could keep his creeping discomfort at bay.

Jenna broke the kiss just long enough to pull her own shirt off, leaving her in only a bra and pajama shorts. She pushed Tyler further into the pillow, and her hand drifted back down toward his sweatpants.

Again, that specific move set off warning bells inside his head. This had instantly turned into a flight-or-freeze scenario, and Tyler'd already exhausted the freeze option. So... he pulled back against his pillows as far as he could. Glancing exaggeratedly over Jenna's shoulder at his large flatscreen TV, Tyler clicked his tongue and let out a sigh of disappointment. "Aw, man," he nodded toward the screen. "This is my favorite episode! Guess that means we have to watch it. Right now. 'Cause it's on."

The slightest flicker of irritation flashed across Jenna's face, and Tyler probably only picked up on it because he himself was irritated more often than not. "You've seen this show, what, like six times already?" She asked, her barely masked annoyance slipping through a soft laugh.

"Seven," Tyler corrected meekly.

"See," she responded, dragging out the single word as if it alone proved whatever point she was making. "We can always restart the episode when we're done," she added dismissively.

Jenna moved off Tyler's lap, but her body language made it very clear it was only a temporary adjustment so he could take off his sweatpants. His blood ran ice cold as he reluctantly removed them.

Tyler was trying as hard as humanly possible to calm down and force his body to just enjoy this fucking moment. His super hot girlfriend was there, in his bed, attempting to have sex with him. Who the hell would be stupid enough to turn down this opportunity?

Tyler, apparently.

Because as soon as Jenna crawled back into his lap, his mouth was moving before his brain could register what he was saying. "Did you know one in 18 people has a third nipple?" He blurted out. "It's caused by a mutation in inactive genes."

Jenna laughed at that. "I did not," she smiled amusedly. Tyler watched her eyes flick back and forth between his own nipples. "Look mutation-free to me..." She paused, a playful expression forming. "Unless you're hiding something...?" She lightly dragged her fingers down his chest, stopping just below his bellybutton and nodding in satisfaction. "Not that I can see," she reported, a small giggle leaving her lips.

Without giving him a chance to reply, Jenna pulled Tyler closer to passionately reignite their kiss. He brought his own hands down to her waist, gently holding her in place while he kissed back with subconscious desperation.

Eventually, Jenna lowered her arms, her fingers lightly ghosting over Tyler's spine and sending shivers down it. He'd never admit it aloud, but Tyler genuinely couldn't tell whether his reaction was from being turned on or absolutely terrified.

Jenna's lips traveled down to his collarbone, and Tyler surprised himself with an involuntary gasp of pleasure when she sucked on his skin. A wave of reassurance hit Tyler, grateful that his brain had finally decided to comply with his wishes. She scattered a couple more bruises across the area before her mouth found its way back to his. Tyler hummed in satisfaction at the gesture, causing Jenna to smile into it.

Unfortunately for Tyler... his comfort was extremely short-lived. That wave of reassurance rapidly transformed into a tsunami of dread when Jenna paused their make out session to slide off her pajama shorts. This left the both of them in nothing but their underwear, and the reality of their current situation instantly sank in. This was becoming real. Too real.

Jenna slowly reconnected their lips, and Tyler's need to prolong the inevitable intensified. Just like earlier, words began tumbling out of Tyler's mouth before he even realized it. "I bet you also didn't know that a standard golf ball has 336 dimples," he murmured into the kiss.

"No, I didn't," Jenna mumbled back, clearly disinterested. "Mhm, super cool, though. So smart and so hot, Ty."

Tyler was wound so tight he felt like a rubber band stretched to full capacity, and the moment he finally snapped was when Jenna's hand slid down his thigh toward his crotch.

Immediately, Tyler jerked his head back and tightly pursed his lips, which was his way of denying her access from going any further. A mixture of confusion and worry overcame Jenna's face.

"Is everything o—"

Suddenly, she cut herself off when something on Tyler's TV caught her attention. It wasn't until then that he saw which episode was actually playing, and it was just Tyler's fucking luck that it was "Filibuster" from season six. His timing couldn't possibly have been any worse.

Jenna glanced between Tyler and the screen a few times, and it almost physically pained him to witness her slowly connect the dots. As the truth dawned on her, every trace of concern completely vanished and was replaced by apathy.

Turning back around to face her boyfriend, her expression was cold and her mouth pressed into a straight line. "Tyler?" She spoke, her voice steady. 

The mentioned gulped. "Yeah?" He responded tentatively.

"Are you filibustering your way out of sex right now?"

"... no...?" Tyler tried, his voice quiet and timid— the exact opposite of his usual demeanor. He hated that he let his uncertainty and vulnerability spill out in his answer— hated himself for not concealing it better.

Jenna's face softened at the deer in the headlights look Tyler knew he was giving, and her shoulders relaxed. He couldn't quite identify what emotion she was conveying this time, but it was definitely some variation of pity, and he decided he much preferred the apathy. "Are you okay?" She asked carefully, speaking gently.  "You look like you're gonna be sick."

Oh, thank God, Tyler thought. An excuse.

"I think it's the seafood," he replied trepidatiously. "Hurling all over you during sex is probably the least romantic thing I could do," he added, some of the built up tension in his body fading when his words got a laugh out of Jenna.

"Probably," she agreed. Pausing for a moment, Jenna suddenly appeared a bit nervous and hesitant herself. "You know you don't have to do anything you don't want to... right?" She verified, refusing to meet his gaze as she twirled a loose thread on Tyler's comforter around her finger.

The guilt from earlier returned full force, practically knocking the wind out of Tyler. He disregarded it and mustered a half-hearted smile. "I know," he assured. "I didn't even notice I wasn't feeling well until you pointed it out," he lied. "Which explains... a lot. So, raincheck? For when I don't have fish eggs probably hatching in my stomach as we speak?"

Relief swelled up inside Tyler when that coaxed another laugh out of Jenna. She seemed much more content now than she had seconds ago. "Sure," she accepted with a small smile.

"I love you," Tyler reminded honestly.

"I love you too."

Running a hand through his hair, Tyler sighed defeatedly. "Yeah," he said when his stomach churned. "Definitely might vomit," he confirmed honestly. "Good call. I don't think there's anything more humiliating than puking on your girlfriend mid-climax," he joked, a more genuine smile emerging when Jenna laughed again. 

"Agreed," she yawned out.

"Tired?" Tyler teased.

"I guess so."

It didn't take long for the two to get dressed and ready for bed. A few minutes later, they were under the blankets, Tyler's arms wrapped around Jenna as she took on the role of little spoon. Parks and Rec was still playing quietly on the TV as background noise.

Despite Jenna's sleepiness, Tyler had never felt more awake. He closed his eyes, hoping it might help him doze off faster.

Just when he thought Jenna was asleep, she spoke up. "Ty?" She asked softly.

"Yeah?"

"If you still wanted to play tennis, I'm not busy tomorrow."

Tyler couldn't help but smile at that. "I think I'll take you up on that offer."

"Good," Jenna hummed, a matching smile audible in her voice. She snuggled closer to Tyler, pulling his arms around herself more. "I love you."

Tyler pressed a light kiss to her shoulder. "I love you too," he whispered.

Eventually, Jenna's breathing evened out, and Tyler knew she was fast asleep. He sighed a little, tilting his body toward the ceiling the best he could without disrupting her. It seemed like a million different thoughts were plaguing his mind as he tried analyzing everything that just went down.

For the first time since Jenna had become his girlfriend... Tyler kind of wished she was just his best friend again; at least then she could talk him through this. Sure, Sabrina was his best friend too, but he'd known Jenna since they were 12.

The more he lay there and thought about it, though, the more he began to doubt himself. Even if he and Jenna weren't in a relationship... Tyler still wasn't absolutely certain he would tell her about something like this, and that frustrated him to no end.

He didn't know what the fuck his problem was.

But he did know he needed to get the hell over it.

And sooner rather than later.

Chapter Text

Josh's ass barely got the chance to touch his seat on Monday morning before Mrs. Paulson was heading toward his lab table with an unamused expression on her face. 

He lets the zoology snake out one time, and suddenly he's the bad guy.

"Mr. Farro would like to see you in his office," she informed in a low voice. "Now."

Josh held back a dramatic groan as he stood up. "'K," he sighed exasperatedly, slinging his bag over his shoulder and making his way out of the room.

The trip from Josh's anatomy class to the front office wasn't long, but he still used it as a chance to evaluate his current situation while he walked.

Either Mr. Farro had decided to recommend expulsion, or... Josh had no idea what the hell was waiting for him behind that door. The second worst-case scenario, he decided, was another suspension, but he knew school administration was already so fed up with his antics that it would be deemed an inadequate punishment. He might luck out, getting stuck with janitor's duty every day until the end of the school year or something. (Which almost seemed fitting, given where he'd been caught.)

A couple of minutes later, Josh reached the main office. He had planned on going straight to Mr. Farro's office the moment he got there, but a familiar voice quickly intercepted those plans.

"Josh! How are you, honey?"

The mentioned looked over to his right and perked up a bit when he realized who was speaking. Taking a detour over to the secretary's desk, a small smile settled upon his face. "Hi, Janet," he greeted, resting his arms on the wooden counter and his chin atop his arms. "In trouble," he added as his smile curved into a slight smirk. "How about you? How are the kids? Is your ex-husband still being a dick?"

Janet let out a warm laugh in response. "He absolutely is," she confirmed. "The kids are good. I suppose I'm alright myself. My next question was if you're staying out of trouble, but it seems I already have my answer."

"Yeah... follow-up from last Friday's incident," Josh explained loosely.

"Ah," Janet nodded, evidently understanding what he was referring to. "Well, I won't keep you any longer, then. Do you want any snacks for the road? I snagged all the good ones from the lounge to hide in my drawer," she winked.

Josh chuckled. "I'm okay, thanks though. I'll see ya later, Janet."

"Have a good rest of your day, honey."
She paused, sending a knowing look his way. "And stay outta trouble," she joked sternly.

Josh laughed as he made his way toward his original destination. "No promises!" He called back, turning down the office hallway like he'd been there a thousand times. Well, maybe not a thousand, but definitely a few dozen.

Once Josh was standing outside of Mr. Farro's office, he cracked the door open and poked his head in. "You rang, Zac?"

Mr. Farro sat behind his desk, visibly unimpressed with Josh's greeting. "Sit down, Josh."

"Well, good morning to you too, grumpy pants," he replied, fully entering the room and taking a seat in one of the chairs across from Mr. Farro. Josh resisted the urge to kick his feet up on the man's desk, knowing he couldn't push his luck too much. "How was your weekend? Do anything fun?" He continued, even though it was obvious to both of them that Josh couldn't give less of a shit about how his principal had spent his weekend.

"As a matter of fact," Mr. Farro began, leaning back slightly and narrowing his eyes in a way that was meant to challenge Josh. "I did. I came up with your punishment."

"As an alternative to getting expelled?" He clarified with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes."

"I'm all ears." Josh couldn't help the shit-eating grin that spread across his face. What could possibly be worse than expulsion?

"Given my genuine concern for your lack of respect and responsibility... I've made an... arrangement..."

Josh chuckled a bit. "Okay...?"

"You, Mr. Dun, are now the proud co-vice president of student government. Congratulations."

It took a second for those words to reach Josh's ears, but once they did, he cackled loudly, doubling over in hysterics. It eventually became difficult for him to breathe with how hard he was laughing. Mr. Farro just stared at him, radiating boredom.

Finally, Josh sat up and wiped a legitimate tear from his eye. "Oh, man..." he exhaled with a small giggle. "That was so good, Mr. Farro. Why're you letting all your talent go to waste as a high school principal? You should quit this job to go do stand up. Like, immediately." He shook his head ever so slightly. "Seriously, though. What's my punishment?"

"I just told you," Mr. Farro responded, his expression completely devoid of any humor or playfulness.

Josh immediately sobered up when he realized Mr. Farro was, in fact, not kidding. "Why the fuck would anyone trust me to be involved with something like that?" He questioned, hoping that if he directed his worry toward the well-being of others rather than himself, then Mr. Farro would reconsider.

"Josh, language, please," his principal sighed. "Like I said, you need to learn some respect and responsibility. I think this'll be a good opportunity for you to do that."

"I'll take the expulsion," Josh decided without any hesitation.

"Josh..."

"I am being so deadass right now, Mr. Farro."

"As much of a pain in the ass as you are... I don't think you deserve to get expelled."

"Okay, well, if my only other option is that—" he referred to the concept of student government with audible distaste. "— then I do think I deserve to get expelled."

"No, you don't," Mr. Farro countered.

The last thing Josh wanted to do right now was admit that Mr. Farro was right. Sure, he'd be able to sign his own expulsion or re-enrollment paperwork if needed, but that didn't mean the process would be easy. Plus, he'd be putting his relationship with his sister at risk, and that wasn't something he could afford to do— literally or figuratively. Josh would be a fucking idiot if he let himself lose one of the most important people in his life over school of all things.

But then... Josh thought of a legitimate excuse. "Am I getting compensated for this?" He asked.

Mr. Farro looked at him with a blank expression, blinking in disbelief. "Why would you be getting paid?"

"Student gov meets every week, right?"

"Yeah, on Tuesdays..."

"So... that means I'm working one less shift a week. Which in turn... means I'm making less money. Therefore... I need those funds reimbursed in some way. Basic math, Mr. Farro."

"No, you're not getting paid," Mr. Farro deadpanned, even though that information didn't necessarily need to be specified.

Josh only stared back at Mr. Farro, not knowing where to go from there. His face must've communicated to his principal that he wasn't trying to be a smartass and this was an actual issue for him, because something adjacent to understanding flashed through Mr. Farro's eyes. Without a word, he rolled his chair over to his computer. Josh watched him type a few words, click a couple of times, and type some more before eventually redirecting his focus back to Josh. "You have study hall 6th period."

"Yes," Josh confirmed, not quite sure if what Mr. Farrow had said was a question or a statement.

"I'm willing to... compromise..." Mr. Farro began hesitantly. Josh raised an eyebrow, prompting him to continue. "Knowing you, I doubt you even do anything productive when you're in study hall anyway—"

Josh interrupted him with a flattered smile. "You know me so well, Mr. Farro."

The corners of Mr. Farro's mouth twitched up ever so slightly, but he remained professional and composed. "So... if it would help... I can grant you early release instead. It wouldn't add a ton of time to your schedule, but you'd be done with school by 2:20 on regular days and 1:50 on even block days."

As Josh considered the offer, Mr. Farro continued. "But. I'd need a signed letter of agreement from your boss, a consent form filled out by a parent— since you are still in high school —and weekly paystubs proving that you're actually at work and not off doing God knows what. You certainly wouldn't qualify for this otherwise, considering your behavioral record and your C-average academic status, but I can make an exception if it'll help with missing an evening of work."

Checkmate. That was it. Josh was out of excuses. There was nothing else to save him from being subjected to hell on earth. God, even just the thought of having to spend a minimum of two hours a week with Tyler made him want to—

Wait.

Tyler.

Josh's eyes immediately flicked over to Mr. Farro, meeting his gaze. He sat up a bit in his chair. "Does Tyler know about this yet?" There was absolutely no fucking way Tyler agreed to this. Not a chance.

Mr. Farro faltered for a moment before replying, which caused a light tingle of excitement to manifest under Josh's skin. "No, he doesn't. I have to speak with him after we're done."

It took every ounce of willpower in Josh's body to conceal a face-splitting grin. Even though student government meetings took place after school... he was definitely still off the clock. The presence of Stanford representatives at the Club and College fair meant nothing to Tyler— not compared to his role as student body president, which was basically his version of a part-time high school job.

That meant Tyler'd just have to learn the hard way that fucking with Josh, especially at his place of work, simply resulted in Josh retaliating twice as hard. This clearly wasn't the outcome Josh had expected or hoped for (or even wanted, for that matter), but it was pretty much his only option at this point. So... why not make the most of it?

He settled for a half-irritated sigh instead of the mischievous and devilish smirk he was currently fighting. "Fine."

A pleased smile overcame Mr. Farro's face as he clasped his hands together, resting them atop his desk. "Great! Next meeting's tomorrow at 5:00. Secretary takes attendance, so don't even think about skipping out, or else our little early release negotiation is null and void. If you put anything less than the minimum effort required into this, you're expelled. No more chances," he finalized sternly.

Josh nodded. "Got it."

"Now... get to class."

Josh gave a dramatic salute followed by a "yes, sir," before hopping up and slinging his bag over his shoulder.

As he headed for the door, he made a mental note to text Bea about covering his shift tomorrow. But just as he was about to leave, Mr. Farro stopped him.

"Josh?"

He glanced over at the man. "Yeah?"

After a brief moment of hesitation, Mr. Farro sighed. "Don't make me regret this," he warned, his tone both serious and cautious.

Josh gazed up at the ceiling as he pretended to consider those words, even humming and tapping his chin for added effect. He gave up fairly quickly, though, allowing that smirk from before to slowly reveal itself.

Throwing open the door, Josh took one last look at his principal, his smirk growing. Mr. Farro received the same response Josh had given Janet earlier: "No promises!" He called cheekily as he left, letting the satisfying click of the door echo behind him.

Chapter Text

Tyler didn't think his mood could've been any better than it was when he arrived at school Monday morning. It felt like a fresh start— almost as if it was the first day of school all over again. Except this time... Josh wouldn't be able to ruin anything for him if he didn't even attend Claremont High anymore.

Practically skipping all the way from the parking lot to his AP Psychology class, Tyler made his way over to his desk with a bright smile on his face. He sighed blissfully, sitting down and pulling his laptop out of his bag to take notes on.

There were still a couple of minutes until the final bell rang, so Tyler took the opportunity to update his planner. His contentment only grew with every task he was able to check off his to-do list. He knew all that effort would be instantly replaced with twice the workload— especially once homecoming committees were officially formed and announced during tomorrow's student government meeting —but he allowed himself to enjoy the moment while it lasted.

It wasn't long after that his teacher walked through the door with a stack of papers in her arms. Tyler had a feeling it was more AP practice question packets, but the aversion he normally felt toward the activity was drowned out by pure elation.

The bell eventually rang, prompting Tyler to put his planner away and open up his notes document. His teacher instantly began that day's lesson, explaining to the class that it was one of the densest units they'd be covering for the year.

Unfortunately for her, Mrs. Morales was only a few slides into her PowerPoint when her classroom phone went off. She appeared slightly annoyed by the interruption but paused and stepped away from her spot by the projector screen to answer it.

The class, Tyler included, mostly disregarded the distraction, assuming it wasn't about anything important.

The quiet side conversations that had started when Mrs. Morales took the call ended as soon as she hung up, clicking the receiver back into place.

"Tyler?"

The mentioned, who was almost done typing up the slide his teacher hadn't gotten the chance to go over yet, snapped his head up when he heard his name. "Yeah?"

"Mr. Farro wants to see you in his office."

Despite it being common knowledge that Tyler was student body president (meaning he met with the principal fairly often), the class erupted into a chorus of "ooooohs," as if he were in trouble.

Rolling his eyes at the immature and unnecessary reaction, Tyler closed his laptop and got up. He had no idea how long he'd be gone, so he gathered his things and slipped his backpack on.

As he walked, Tyler wracked his brain for any mention of a meeting with Mr. Farro he might've forgotten about. After failing to recall anything, he tried thinking of any other reason why his presence was being requested without any prior knowledge. Usually, if Mr. Farro wanted to see him, he'd shoot Tyler an email in advance or ask him to stop by whenever he had a chance.

The only thing that came to mind was that maybe Mr. Farro needed some sort of witness statement about last Friday's incident, since Tyler had been there when Josh was caught.

Other than that, though, he couldn't think of an explanation by the time he reached his destination, so he shrugged it off, knowing he'd receive his answer soon enough.

Once he entered the main office, Tyler immediately headed down the hallway— with, surprisingly, no protest from Janet. Whether it was because she didn't feel the need to, considering Mr. Farro was expecting him, or because she'd simply given up on fighting Tyler and his stubbornness, he wasn't quite sure.

Stopping in front of the principal's office, Tyler gave a light courtesy knock before opening the door. "Hey, Mr. Farro!" He greeted cheerfully.

The two locked eyes, and Tyler's smile faltered slightly when he noticed the almost... remorseful... look on Mr. Farro's face. "Hi, Tyler," he replied somewhat cautiously. Despite the rest of his demeanor, Mr. Farro offered Tyler a gentle smile of his own. "Please have a seat."

Tyler hesitantly made his way over to one of the chairs positioned in front of Mr. Farro's desk. The sound of the door shutting behind him was deafening against the tense silence that had settled upon the room. Setting his backpack on the floor next to him, Tyler sat down and looked at Mr. Farro expectantly.

"Did you have a good weekend?" Mr. Farro asked, his tone artificially sincere.

Tyler blinked. "Um, yeah," he nodded a bit. "For the most part." After an awkward pause, he returned the question. "How about you?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Me too," Mr. Farro echoed. "How are, uh... classes going?"

"Good..." Tyler trailed off, confused by all the pointless small talk. Even though he didn't know exactly why he was in the principal's office, it obviously wasn't just because Mr. Farro wanted to chit chat.

"How about homecoming—"

"Mr. Farro, why am I here?" Tyler cut him off bluntly. "You never call me down to the office like this," he pointed out.

His principal sighed, rubbing his face in exhaustion. The longer it took for him to continue speaking, the more anxious Tyler felt.

Eventually, Mr. Farro removed his hands and met Tyler's gaze. "There's been a... uh... development. To the student gov exec board."

Tyler raised an eyebrow. "What kind of development?" If this had anything to do with Jenna or Sabrina, he definitely would've already known, which left Dallon as the only other person this could be about. Had he resigned as treasurer or something?

"Well," Mr. Farro sucked in a breath, seemingly deciding to rip the bandaid off. "There's been a new addition. A co-vice president."

Those words were like a slap to Tyler's face. He did not like the unexpected, and this was, undoubtedly, the most unexpected situation he could possibly encounter right now. The unexpected came with the inability to be prepared. If Tyler was prepared, then he could navigate whatever was coming. How the fuck was he supposed to navigate this of all things?

He tried to steady his now-rapidly beating heart as he absorbed this information, doing his best not to work himself up into a panic attack.

"Who?" Tyler forced himself to ask. Maybe he was preemptively freaking out for no fucking reason. Maybe whoever this addition was wouldn't be that bad.

The sigh that Mr. Farro let out that time was heavy with guilt, which didn't exactly reassure Tyler.

Even though he'd heard Mr. Farro's response, the name alone was enough to make Tyler's brain shut down. He wasn't sure how long it took for him to register Mr. Farro's hand waving in front of his face. It could've been seconds. It could've been an hour. Tyler wouldn't have known the difference.

"Tyler?"

The mentioned came back to reality, redirecting his focus to his principal, who had a deeply worried look on his face.  "Yeah?" Tyler replied meekly.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Farro pressed, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

Tyler coughed out a weak laugh. "That was real funny, Mr. Farro," he spoke, audibly in denial of what he'd just been told. "It sounded like you said the new co-vice president is Josh Dun."

That would be impossible. Josh had been expelled— Tyler was sure of it. His random act of spontaneity had worked out perfectly and gotten Josh expelled. There was no way he hadn't been expelled.

Mr. Farro remained silent at first, clearly not knowing how to handle that reaction. "That is what I said, Tyler," he eventually confirmed softly, his tone resembling how one might approach a skittish, easily spooked animal.

That careful tone didn't mean shit to Tyler, though. He felt something inside of him shatter into a million pieces. His blood ran ice cold for only a split second before instantly beginning to boil.

Slowly, he locked eyes with Mr. Farro. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Evidently taken aback by Tyler's language, Mr. Farro's eyes widened a bit, but he quickly regained his composure. "Tyler—"

"How does that pervert even still go here? And why am I getting punished for something he did?" He demanded exasperatedly.

"You're not getting punished—"

"Nobody in this stupid fucking public school even likes that loser creep! What happened to democracy? Huh?"

"Okay, Tyler, that's—"

"You're seriously letting the poster child for fetal alcohol syndrome be in charge of—"

"Tyler! That's enough," Mr. Farro interrupted sternly once he was finally able to get a word in.

Tyler threw his hands up in defeat. "You can't do this to me, Mr. Farro!"

"Technically," Mr. Farro began, sitting back in his chair. "I can do whatever I want, considering I'm the principal," he informed, sounding slightly amused.

"So this is a dictatorship now. Got it."

Mr. Farro shot him a look. "Tyler," he deadpanned. "Don't you think you're being a bit overdramatic about this?"

"No."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Mr. Farro let out a weary sigh before continuing.

"I promise it won't be as bad as it seems. Josh is only the co-vice president for a reason: it gives him enough responsibility without letting him do any real damage. Mr. Way already knows about the situation and assured me he'll keep an eye on it. The worst that can happen is that he doesn't put in any effort or decides not to show up to meetings and events."

Tyler put his head in his hands, taking a deep breath so he didn't say or do something he might regret. Even though student body president was just a stepping stone to his ultimate goal, he gave at least somewhat of a shit about the position.

He'd spent the last four years busting his ass to get where he was. The last thing he was about to do was let some deranged asshole like Josh take that away from him.

So... after a long stretch of silence, Tyler exhaled in surrender. "Okay," he conceded.

His cooperation must've caught Mr. Farro off guard. He stared at Tyler for a moment, then blinked and raised an eyebrow. "You're alright with this?"

Tyler let out a dry, humorless laugh. "Fuck no. But it's not like I really have a choice here, do I?"

Mr. Farro's pursed his lips in disapproval. "Language, Tyler."

"English, Mr. Farro."

Visibly unimpressed by the smartass response, Mr. Farro shot Tyler another look. "Y'know, I'm honestly surprised you and Josh don't get along, given you're both an absolute pain in my ass."

Tyler scoffed at that, standing up and grabbing his backpack. "At least one of those pains in your ass is actually worth something," he retorted. "Is that all? Or do you have any other life-ruining updates for me while I'm here?"

Letting his professionalism slip for a moment, Mr. Farro rolled his eyes. "That's all, Tyler."

"Perfect," Tyler smiled sarcastically as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and exited the principal's office.

Tyler's eyes kept flicking back and forth between the clock on the back wall of Mr. Way's classroom and the door.

The closer it got to 5:00 with no sign of Josh, the more he felt a strange, contradictory mix of irritation and contentment. There was a part of Tyler that hoped he'd decided to fuck off and not show up. Actually, all of him hoped that.

Right before the meeting began, Jenna got Tyler's attention. "Is he coming or not?" She whispered, obviously annoyed. Her reaction to the news that she'd be sharing her title hadn't exactly been... the best.

"Fuck if I know," he whispered back.

"Maybe... he forgot...?" Sabrina suggested hopefully.

Tyler sighed and looked at Mr. Way for an explanation, who just shrugged as if to say he didn't know either.

Once the red hand on the clock drifted past the 12, Tyler let out a relieved breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. No Josh meant no stress, and no stress meant another day he managed to keep his sanity intact.

"Hi, everyone!" Tyler greeted. "I hope you all had a good weekend. Today is homecoming committee day!" He announced excitedly. When that information was met with nothing but silence, Tyler continued. "Yay...!" He encouraged, smiling in satisfaction when the rest of the room murmured out a collective and bored "yay..."

"I think— for the most part, anyway —everybody got their first-choice committee," Tyler explained. "So hopefully you're happy with where you ended up. You'll be spending a lot of time with this committee over the next few weeks, so if you have any issues with it, for whatever reason, definitely let us know."

There were some head nods, which prompted Tyler to start reading out the names for each group. Once that was done, he'd assign each committee an area of the room and let the respective board members take it from there. Tyler knew he was incredibly lucky to have a board he genuinely trusted. Otherwise... he had no doubt he'd end up trying to run every committee himself, no matter how impractical that would be.

He'd successfully gotten through the names of Dallon's, Sabrina's, and Jenna's committees without interruption. Tyler was halfway down the list for the first of his own when he heard something that made him freeze.

The slight squeak of the classroom door opening captured the attention of more than just Tyler, apparently, given that several others glanced in that direction as well. It was who had opened the door, though, that caused Tyler's heart to sink.

The energy in the room shifted the moment Josh walked through the doorway, instantly becoming tense and awkward. He let the door swing shut behind him but didn't move any further.

As soon as Josh opened his mouth to speak, Tyler cut him off. "You're late," he informed flatly, narrowing his eyes and making no attempt to hide the resentment in his voice.

Josh seemed a bit thrown off by the direct confrontation. "Sorry. I was in the, uh... bathroom."

The fact that it was nearing 5:10 and the strong smell of cigarettes clinging to Josh told Tyler that was a lie, but he chose not to address it. He had bigger things to worry about than underage smoking on school property. "Don't care. Not an excuse. You have a responsibility to be here on time."

Josh blinked at that. "Um. Okay. It won't happen again, I guess," he mumbled out.

Tyler raised an eyebrow, feeling his patience wearing thin. "You guess? Or you—" he paused, taking a deep breath to keep his composure. "Y'know what? Never mind. Just go sit next to Sabrina so I can do my job."

Sabrina hesitantly moved her backpack off the empty chair to her right and rested it against the wall behind her. Tyler didn't even wait until Josh had taken his seat, simply picking up where he'd left off.

Once he finished reading the names of those in the last committee, Tyler exhaled softly and managed a smile (even if it was slightly strained). "Any questions before we get into groups?"

He assumed the answer to that was no until a freshman slowly raised their hand. Tyler nodded slightly, signaling for them to speak. "Who's that?" they asked, gesturing somewhere behind Tyler.

Turning around, Tyler realized they were talking about Josh. "Oh, him?" He acknowledged, turning back around. "Not important," he added with a dismissive shrug.

"Tyler!" Mr. Way scolded. The mentioned looked over to see his teacher staring at him disappointedly.

"What? He's not!" Tyler shot back defensively. When Mr. Way's expression remained the same, Tyler threw his head back and he let out an obnoxious groan. "That's Josh. He's the new co-vice president alongside Jenna," he explained to the rest of the student government, his voice monotonous but bitter.

As expected, nobody gave a fuck, so Tyler continued as if the topic had never even been brought up. It was decided that Dallon would take the back left corner of the room, with Sabrina opposite of him, Jenna in the middle, and Tyler staying at the front where he could keep his two committees separate.

Everyone got up and went to their assigned area, and amid all the shuffling and quiet conversation, Tyler heard a particular voice that made him want to grab the scissors off of Mr. Way's desk and gouge his own eye out with them. "What do I get to do?" It asked cheekily.

Tyler glanced over to see Josh wearing an ostensibly innocent grin as he waited to be assigned a task. Stepping toward him, Tyler spoke quietly. 'You get to stay outta my fucking way, that's what,' he said, just loud enough for Josh to hear.

Josh frowned, but before he could reply, Tyler redirected his focus to his first group: the assembly committee. He figured he could get them started, then touch base with the court nominations committee.

It was only a few minutes later, though, that things began to go awry. As Tyler went to ask Mr. Way a question, he saw something that immediately pissed him off.

The words flew out of Tyler's mouth before he could stop himself. "Are you seriously on your phone right now?" He snapped.

Josh didn't even glance up, his attention fixed on swiping his thumb in every direction across the device's screen. "Yeah."

"Okay... and why the hell are you on your phone?" Tyler demanded, too busy seeing red to notice that the conversations in the room had started to quiet down.

"What else would I be playing Subway Surfers on?" Josh responded as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Clenching his jaw as tight as possible to avoid freaking the fuck out, Tyler clarified. "Why the hell are you playing Subway Surfers, then?"

Josh shrugged, still fully locked in on his game. "What else am I supposed to do? You told me to, and I quote, 'stay the fuck outta your way,' so this is me doing that."

Even if the room hadn't fallen completely silent by then, the only thing Tyler would've heard was the high-pitched ringing in his ears as he grew absolutely livid. "You are such a—"

"Okay!" Mr. Way interrupted with a nervous laugh. "Why don't we end tonight's meeting there? We can pick this back up again next week."

Too outraged to point out that ending the meeting early would put them behind on planning, Tyler glared violently at Josh while the rest of student government filed out of the room.

It wasn't until the last non-executive member left that Josh spoke. "What's that one saying?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious as he finally tore himself away from his phone, locking it and slipping it into the pocket of his hoodie.

That caught Tyler off guard, who— up until then —had been prepared to go the fuck off on Josh as soon as he could. "You— huh?" One look at Jenna and Sabrina told him they were just as confused as he was. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Josh didn't respond right away, but it didn't take long for him to perk up, as if a light bulb had gone off above his head. "Oh yeah!" he nodded, meeting Tyler's gaze. "If you're gonna stare, Joseph, you might as well just take a picture. Lasts longer," he added, a smug smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

As soon as Tyler realized he'd fallen for the bait, he lost his shit. "What the actual fuck is wrong with you? Were you dropped on your head as a baby or something?"

Josh shrugged. "Honestly? Probably at least once."

"How is this even any fun for you?" Tyler demanded indignantly. "This is supposed to be your punishment! Are you some type of sadomasochist? Do you just get off on making me miserable all the time?"

Josh paused, visibly in thought. "Y'know, now that you mention it..."

Tyler felt his face heat up, turning bright red from how infuriated he was. Josh, of course, noticed this instantly and jumped at the opportunity to use it against him.

"Aww..." He cooed. "Are you blushing? Does the thought of me getting off to you make you blush?" He gushed dramatically.

Tyler fought the overwhelming urge to strangle Josh until his eyes popped out of their sockets like one of those rubber stress toys. Running for President of the United States seemed like it would be pretty difficult if he was too busy rotting in prison for murder. He settled for verbal assault instead, but as he went to fire back, a sudden laugh cut him off.

A deep sense of betrayal filled him when he turned toward the noise and realized it had come from his teacher. "Mr. Way!"

Trying (and mostly failing) to disguise the sound as a cough, Mr. Way cleared his throat. "Not funny," he shook his head in disapproval, even though it was obvious he was struggling to keep a smile off his face. Still trying not to laugh, Mr. Way stood up and grabbed his coffee cup. "I'm gonna let you guys work this out yourselves. I'll be back in a bit," he said, making his way over to the door.

That prompted Dallon to speak up as well. "Yeah... I'm probably gonna head out, if that's okay."

Tyler didn't think he could reply to Dallon without accidentally snapping at him. Thankfully, Jenna already knew this and spoke on his behalf. "Yeah, that's fine," she sent him an apologetic smile. "Have a good night, Dal."

Dallon matched her expression with an awkward smile of his own, offering a small wave as he followed Mr. Way out of the classroom.

Tyler buried his face in his hands, letting out a loud, frustrated groan. After a moment, he lowered his arms in defeat and looked at Josh. "So what? You're just here to ruin everything, put us behind, and make it impossible to get anything done?"

Expecting another smartass comment, Tyler was surprised when Josh simply rolled his eyes. "If you pulled your head out of your ass and stopped making everything about yourself for even one second, Mr. President, maybe you'd notice that I don't wanna be here any more than you don't want me to. Unfortunately for both of us, though, I don't really have a choice. If you're as smart as you want everyone to think you are, you'd give me something to do. Not only would that take some of the workload off you, but it'd also keep me busy and prevent me from blowing up the school or whatever it is you think I'd be doing otherwise. But if you're not gonna give me anything to do, you can't exactly stand there and bitch about me not doing anything."

The abrupt shift in Josh's demeanor left Tyler momentarily speechless. When he didn't immediately reply, Josh took it as his cue to continue.

"I'm assuming your silence means that we're done here. So," he stood up, shoving his hands into his pockets, and walked toward the door. "If you'll excuse me, I have a date with Destiny. Literally. Like with Destiny Olsen. Well, calling it a 'date' is probably a bit much. More of a... meet-up... but y'know," he stopped, grasping the door handle and glancing back at the trio with a shrug. "Who cares about semantics when you're about to go fuck the 12th hottest girl in the grade?"

Tyler could only stand there, utterly stunned, as he watched Josh leave the classroom.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Jenna and Sabrina turned to Tyler, appearing just as dumbfounded as he was.

Way too much had happened in the past three minutes for Tyler to process all at once, but there was one thing Josh said that stood out to Tyler.

Meeting his friends' gazes, he blinked. "How the fuck does he even know what 'semantics' means?"

Chapter Text

Josh stand corrected.

He did have a least favorite day of the week, he decided.

And it only took a week of being co-vice president of student government for him to conclude that it was Tuesdays.

Sometime after Josh's first meeting, Tyler sent him an extremely passive-aggressive email outlining his duties and expectations as co-vice president.

When Josh didn't care enough to respond to his initial email, Tyler sent a follow-up (with both Mr. Way and Mr. Farro CC'd) exactly 24 hours later, "just touching base" to "politely request confirmation" that his previous email had "found Josh well."

Josh begrudgingly sent back "yep. got it. thanks," and hasn't bothered to check his inbox since.

Later that night, he'd find out if Tyler was willing to trust him with any homecoming responsibilities. Part of Josh hoped so, just to take it extremely unseriously and piss Tyler off even more. But another part of him hoped not. That he could play Subway Surfers during the meeting again instead. He was so close to beating his own high score and topping the leaderboard. So God damn close.

That's what he was currently doing, actually: sitting on the roof of his house, smoking a cigarette, and locking the fuck in on Subway Surfers before he had to finish getting ready (or, well, check to make sure everyone else was) for school.

Raising the cigarette to his mouth, Josh was mid-inhale when the sound of his bedroom window sliding open startled the shit out of him, breaking his focus and causing his character to smack directly into the back of a train.

Smoke tumbled from Josh's lips as he groaned at the interruption and turned around to see his brother. "What?" He sighed.

"The shower's not working," Jordan told him.

Josh's anxiety immediately spiked at those words. Wracking his brain, he tried to remember the last time he paid the water bill. He'd paid the water bill... hadn't he? Or was that the electric bill he was thinking of? Maybe it was the—

"It's only the shower," Jordan clarified, stopping Josh from spiraling any further. "Everything else is fine."

The breath Josh let out was only partially relieved, since he still had no idea what the issue was. It worked fine when he used it last night after work. Taking one final drag of his cigarette, he stubbed it out and dropped it into the designated Cigarette Butt Cup he kept just outside his windowsill.

Josh shooed Jordan out of the way so he could climb back in, shutting and locking his window behind himself. "What's wrong with it?" He asked as the duo exited his bedroom and made their way down the hallway.

"It won't go from bath to shower," his brother explained once they entered the bathroom.

Josh pulled the curtain back and turned the shower on. Sure enough, pulling the lever on the faucet did nothing. Turning the shower off, he pushed the lever down before trying again. Still nothing.

"Fuck me," Josh groaned, rubbing his face tiredly. He took a deep breath before dropping his hands and exhaling in frustration. "Okay, well, hopefully it's something a WikiHow or YouTube tutorial or some shit can fix, but I don't have time to deal with this right now. It'll have to wait until later tonight when I get home from my stupid-ass meeting." Pausing, he realized Jordan still needed to shower. "Just," he ran a hand through his hair. "Go use Mom's shower instead, I guess."

Seemingly caught off guard by that solution, Jordan hesitated for a moment. "Oh, um, okay," he nodded slowly. However, despite the visible acknowledgement that he'd heard Josh, he made no move to leave the bathroom. After a couple seconds of silence, he continued. "Do you think she'll mind?" He inquired timidly.

"Not really," Josh shrugged. "But I honestly don't give a fuck either way. It's not like we have much of a choice here. Besides... I doubt she'll even notice."

Jordan let out a sad and defeated sigh. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Josh managed a halfhearted smile, patting his little brother's shoulder in a way that was meant to be supportive but came off as stiff and awkward instead. He wasn't quite sure if it was the right response, but after years of conditioning himself to avoid vulnerability like it was the plague, it was the only response he had.

Subtly steering Jordan out of the bathroom, Josh made sure to flick the light off on his way out. "Did Abbie shower before bed last night like she was supposed to?" He asked, relaxing ever so slightly at the head nod Jordan gave. One less thing to worry about. "Okay, good. I'm gonna go see if she needs anything and check on Ashley." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and frowned at the time, knowing his two youngest siblings would need to leave for school soon. "Try to hurry, though, okay? I don't want you guys being late."

Josh figured Joran could finish getting himself ready, so he let his brother be and headed toward his sisters' bedroom. Once he reached their closed door, he knocked gently, only to receive nothing but silence in return. Furrowing his eyebrows, he knocked again, this time a bit harder. Still nothing. They usually kept their door open when neither of them was in their room, so at least one of them had to be in there.

Quietly cracking the door open, Josh poked his head into the room with a hand over his eyes— just in case. When he heard no gasp of embarrassment or yelling for him to get out, he separated his fingers and peered through the gap. As he removed his hand altogether, Josh's heart ached at the sight in front of him.

Abbie was nowhere to be seen, but Ashley was certainly accounted for. She was fast asleep in her bed, still in the clothes she'd worn to school (and presumably work) the day prior. A notebook, pencil, and calculator had been left abandoned in the empty space next to her, and she was lying with her face on an open textbook, which most likely meant she'd accidentally dozed off while reading.

With a heavy sigh, Josh walked over to her and gently slid the textbook out from under her cheek. Ashley barely registered the movement, simply nestling her head into her pillow as a soft exhale left her nose. He knew she deserved the extra rest, so he set the textbook on her nightstand before leaving the room and closing the door softly behind him.

Josh made his way downstairs, and it didn't take him long to find Abbie, who was sitting on the couch and eating a bowl of cereal while watching SpongeBob. "Morning," he greeted, entering the living room.

"Morning," she mumbled back, eyes glued to the TV as she shoveled a spoonful of Honey Nut Cheerios into her mouth.

Dropping down on the couch next to her, Josh let out an involuntarily loud yawn. "Which episode is this?"

"The one with the Hash Slinging Slasher."

"Ah, yes. A classic."

Abbie finished her cereal a few minutes later and set her bowl on the coffee table. When neither sibling moved, she shifted closer to Josh and rested her head on his shoulder while they continued watching TV together.

The further into the episode they got, the more Josh contemplated creating his own urban legend of a serial killer who ruins school dances— just to scare Tyler. The Homecoming Sash-Wearing Slasher did have a nice ring to it...

Eventually, footsteps on the stairs caught Josh's attention, and a few seconds later, Jordan appeared with his backpack on. "Ready, Abs?"

Abbie nodded, turning the TV off and standing up to grab her cereal bowl off the coffee table. "Yeah, lemme just get this into the dishwasher first."

Before she could get far, Josh held a hand out to stop her. "I got it."

"Are you sure?" Abbie asked, hesitantly complying.

His mouth curved into a soft smile. "Yeah," he assured.

She mirrored his expression. "Thanks, bub."

While Abbie removed her backpack from the coatrack, Josh added, "Have a good day, guys. I love you." Both siblings echoed the sentiment on their way out the door, heading to the garage to get their bikes.

Josh waited for the familiar sound of the garage door opening and closing. Once he was sure that Abbie and Jordan had left, he begrudgingly rose from the couch and made his way toward the kitchen to take care of Abbie's cereal bowl.

It was as he was approaching the dishwasher, though, that the glowing green light reminded him it was full of clean dishes. He groaned at the realization, having completely forgotten he'd started it before going to bed.

With a huff, he placed Abbie's cereal bowl in the sink so he could instead begin unloading the dishwasher.

"This is seriously the best theme you guys could come up with?"

Since last week's student government meeting was cut short, Josh never learned what that year's homecoming theme was. In fact, that information wasn't revealed to him until the day prior, when he learned it along with the rest of the school.

This week's meeting had ended slightly earlier than initially expected, but that didn't mean Josh finally got to go home— oh, no. As the co-vice president, he was obligated to stay behind with the rest of the executive board to continue homecoming week planning.

Mr. Way had stepped out to, according to him, "make some copies for class tomorrow and swing by the teacher's lounge" (... but... given how long he'd been gone, Josh had a feeling he was actually in Mr. Iero's classroom).

"Unfortunately," Tyler sighed, typing away at his laptop.

"The name's even worse. 'Let's Disc-glow Crazy?' That's so lame."

"Trust me, I know."

Glancing up from his own laptop, Josh's eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he realized those words had also come from Tyler. "Wait, that wasn't your decision?"

Tyler looked genuinely offended by that. "No," he deadpanned. "It wasn't."

"Oh. Well... considering how terrible of an idea it is, and, y'know, the fact that you're an obsessive control freak, I sorta just assumed that it was," Josh explained, shrugging nonchalantly as he returned his attention to his laptop.

From his peripheral, he saw Tyler roll his eyes and had to fight the smirk tugging at his lips. But, other than that... Tyler barely reacted to the comment (much to Josh's surprise and disappointment). There was no argument. No insult. Nothing. Instead, he let out an exhale that sounded a bit defeated. "Do you happen to have anything better, then? For a name?"

Josh glanced back up, only to be taken aback by Tyler's serious expression— it seemed like he was legitimately asking for Josh's input. "Oh, um," he paused. "I dunno..." Trailing off, Josh thought about it for a moment. "Maybe like... Disco in the Dark? Or Disc-glow in the Dark, if you wanted to keep the corny pun."

Tyler stared at him, almost in astonishment. "Huh."

"What?"

"I don't... completely hate that."

"Thanks?" Josh replied, not quite sure if that was meant to be a compliment or not.

Tyler was too busy staring off to acknowledge the response, clearly deep in thought. Josh could practically hear the gears turning in his head as he considered the suggestion.

It only took a few seconds of silence before a voice suddenly interrupted. "Tyler."

The mentioned's head snapped up to lock eyes with Sabrina, who was the one to say his name. "What?"

"We can't—" a strained laugh escaped her lips. "We can't just change the name after the theme's been announced. I've already hung up all our posters."

"Okay. So?" Tyler followed up, obviously not seeing the problem.

Sabrina blinked in disbelief. "So... that means I'll have to edit every single poster I designed, reprint them, take down the ones currently hanging all over the school, and replace them with the new ones."

"And...?"

"Does that not seem a little counterproductive to you?"

"Not enough to matter, no."

Josh couldn't help but feel bad seeing the hurt that flashed across Sabrina's face at Tyler's remark. "The name's not really that—" he began, attempting to defuse the situation.

Completely disregarding Josh, Sabrina crossed her arms and scoffed. "So my time and energy don't matter?"

Tyler's lips pressed into a thin line. "We both know that's not what I said."

"She's... kinda got a point, Ty," Jenna piped up softly. "We still have a lot to worry about, and this isn't really the most important thing to be focusing on right now."

Tyler turned toward her, raising an eyebrow. "So you're taking her side on this," he deduced, irritation slipping into his voice.

Jenna held her hands up in defense. "I'm not taking any sides."

"Well it sure fucking seems like it."

"I'm just saying—"

"You're one to talk!" Sabrina told Tyler exasperatedly. "You're on, of all people, Josh's side about this?"

That question clearly caught Tyler off guard; he stilled, blinking once before a blank and somewhat unreadable expression overtook his face. That's when it clicked for Josh: he and Tyler were actually... in agreement on something.

Tyler must've realized this at the same time Josh did, because he briefly glanced at Josh, then redirected his attention back to Sabrina. "I'm not!" Tyler replied, his tone instantly becoming defensive. "If anything, I'm on, uh... the people's side! Yeah. The people's side... anyway— it doesn't matter. I get the final say here. We're changing the name. End of discussion. It can't be that hard or take that long to edit some God damn text boxes in Canva. A fucking dyslexic toddler could do it," he snapped. "So figure it the hell out. Or I will."

Once Tyler was done speaking, the room fell dead silent. It felt like the air surrounding the group was blanketed in a thick layer of tension.

Josh was so fucking uncomfortable. He could only imagine how Dallon felt; the poor guy somehow always ends up in the middle of some bullshit executive board drama.

Unable to take the awkwardness any longer, Josh spoke up again. "Hey, uh... I usually get to school a bit early, so I can help rehang posters tomorrow before class, if you want, Sabrina," he offered with (what he hoped came across as) an encouraging smile.

The girl just shot him a glare in return, muttering something under her breath about how if fixing the posters was so easy that a dyslexic toddler could do it, then maybe Josh should take care of it.

Josh rolled his eyes, not taking the comment too personally. Her being best friends with someone like Tyler certainly checked out, though.

Redirecting his attention to Tyler, Josh tried again. "So yes... you want my help...? No... you don't want my help? Just tell me where you're at with wanting my help." 

"I—" Tyler began but paused, fully processing what Josh had said. "Are you seriously referencing Pitch Perfect right now?"

"Yes," Josh confirmed shamelessly.

Tyler was the one to roll his eyes that time. "I don't necessarily want your help, but if you want to help, I can't really stop you."

That brought a smug smirk to Josh's face. Tyler so wanted his help.

"I'll have Mr. Way print out the new posters tomorrow morning," Tyler continued. "Just... text me when you get here, and we'll go from there."

"And how am I supposed to do that when I don't have your number?"

Letting out a sigh, Tyler grabbed his phone from off the desk and extended it to Josh. "Here."

"Are you asking for my number, Joseph?" Josh teased but accepted the item nonetheless.

He wasn't surprised when Tyler responded with another eye roll. What did surprise Josh, though, was the light blush that spread across Tyler's cheeks alongside the action.

Suddenly, a loud, dramatic cough cut through the room. Both Josh and Tyler glanced in the direction of the sound and saw it had come from Jenna.

Tyler raised an eyebrow at her. "Sorry," she smiled sheepishly. Despite Jenna's expression, Josh could hear the insincerity in her voice, making her apology feel empty. "Needed to clear my throat," she elaborated, reaching for her water bottle.

Shaking his head at her lack of subtlety, Josh finished adding his contact and handed Tyler his phone back. He watched as Tyler pressed the screen a few times before Josh felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket. "There," Tyler said. "Problem solved."

"Cool," Josh nodded. "Thanks."

"Oh, uh, you're welcome."

It didn't take long for Tyler to call it a night, saying they could plan more after next week's meeting. Josh left almost immediately, not seeing any reason to stick around and knowing he needed to figure out whatever the fuck was wrong with his shower as soon as possible.

As he skateboarded home, Josh let his mind wander, thinking back to the unexpectedly tolerable interactions he'd had with Tyler that night. Maybe he wasn't all that bad, Josh decided. Just maybe.