Archive of Our Own ^beta

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‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹

Tyler gazed out the car window and sighed. He hated moving, packing up anything and everything, seeing his life deduced to a few cardboard boxes. This was the 5th move in the past 3 years, he had gone to 5 different high schools. 5 different basketball teams, 5 different building layouts, 5 friend groups, and 5 different versions of himself. After the first move he knew there was more to come, so he decided to reinvent himself at every single school. It wouldn’t matter in the next few months when his dad’s job required them to move. This time it was cloudy Columbus Ohio. The fall air stung his throat a little bit, but he would be out of here soon enough. They pulled up to the new house, (he could never call them a home) and his mom turned around, smiling like she wasn’t exhausted with this. She always put on a brave face for them.

“Here we are! Columbus Ohio! Home of the Josephs!” She grinned and looked back at Tyler and his siblings. They smiled back, just trying to do what she did for them, but it was never easy. His dad parked the U-Haul and they got to work unpacking.

It all seemed pointless. Tyler had posters that sat in boxes for years now. He never felt like it was home enough to put them up. Trophies sat in the same box in his closet because they were annoying to have to repack with all the bubble wrap. By the time they had finished moving the boxes in, it was already late. They would get the rest of the big furniture later in the week, but for now it was just a few blow up mattresses. Tyler dragged all of his boxes up the stairs and blew up the air mattress. There was one box that he always unpacked first, and it was his keyboard. It was an older one, he had bought it at a thrift store before the first move. The keys were discolored and it was missing one of the rubber buttons but it was his. He set it next to his bed, not bothering to set up the stand tonight and connected his headphones. The familiar melodies made it all easier. The house could change, the room, the school, everything could change. But the keyboard was his. The music was his. Nobody could take that from him. It was a constant. He played the same few runs over and over, feeling his fingers hit every key, hearing the sound in his ears until he felt okay to stop. He rolled over and went to bed knowing full well he would wake up on the floor the next morning.

The sun peeked through the old blinds of his new room, it was a bland beige color like the second house was, but there were a few more windows. Just as he thought the air mattress had deflated and he was stuck on the floor. His back ached and he sighed. School was bound to be awful. The same routine as always. His name, where he’s from, and what he likes to do. Sometimes he would change up the story. His name was Tyler Joseph, he was from Venice Italy, and he loved to tapdance. His name was Tyler Joseph, he was from New York, and he loved to swim. His name was Tyler Joseph, he was from Bangor Maine, and he loved to snowboard. The ideas were endless. One time at his third school he convinced everybody he was from Germany with some mediocre accent. On his last day he dropped the accent and laughed at how stupid it all was. Who would he be this time? He smiled and got up, digging around in trashbags full of clothes. He decided on a pair of nice jeans, a hockey jersey from their time in Minnesota, and his beat up converse, a classic for first days. He grabbed the same school bag he had brought everywhere (a red jansport with plenty of stupid doodles) and walked downstairs. It looked like his parents had been up all night unpacking. The dishes were neatly stacked in the kitchen and all of the DVDs and Blu-Rays were in the living room (if you could call it that). Tyler’s dad tossed him the keys to the car and he barely caught them. 

“Go warm up the car sport, I’ll be out in a minute, mom and I are discussing paint colors.” He smiled the same tired smile mom did. The same look of “listen I hate this as much as you do.” and turned back to Tyler’s mom. He walked out and felt the cold sting his eyes immediately. He hated the cold, much preferred where it was warmer, like Georgia but this would do. He started the car and went through the CDs, finally deciding on “OK Computer” by Radiohead. His dad came out after the first two songs and drove Tyler to school in silence. The same dance they did every time. When they got to the school it was nice. Fairly big, looked newly renovated, and gave off stupid artificial prestigious vibes. He put one of his headphones in and pulled his sleeves over his hands so they wouldn’t freeze. 

He followed his dad into the building, taking everything in. The trophy case was full of old pictures and ribbons that were at least 20 years old, the brand new tiling, the stupid slogans on the walls. They stepped into the principal's office and it was just like always. “Welcome to this new school! We’re so excited to have you here, here’s the schedule, and have fun! Let’s see how long you last here.”

“Tyler does that sound good to you?” he must’ve zoned out because now the principal was looking at him and there was another boy in the room. 

“I’m sorry, what's happening again?”

“This is Josh Dun, he’ll be showing you around and will help you get acclimated over the course of the week, don’t worry, he doesn’t bite.” The older man in front of him laughed at his own stupid joke. Josh was a little bit shorter. He had dark brown curls and a lip ring. He wore a ripped band hoodie and these skinny jeans that looked like they were squeezing him half to death. He wore so much jewelry that metal detectors would fear him. 

“Yeah that sounds good. Thank you sir.” Tyler stood up and went to shake the man's hand, glancing at the nameplate on the desk. Principal Bourbaki, what an interesting name he would soon forget. He looked back at his dad and whispered to him that he would be fine, and to not worry. His dad left and suddenly he was walking around with Josh.

“The school's pretty simple. Math wing on the bottom left, english in the top left, science in bottom right, and history in the top right. Electives get scattered across, but stay pretty true to the set up. What are you taking this year?” 

Tyler looked down at the schedule, AP Literature, Calculus, Geology, AP Government, sound engineering, and team sports. The last two periods were empty study halls. Not the worst schedule he had gotten. He handed the paper to Josh who pulled glasses out of his pocket and read over it. The glass were these semi thick rectangle frames and Tyler couldn’t help but wonder why the hell he didn’t just wear his glasses all the time, what was the point of reading glasses?

“Oh! This is pretty solid, we have the same english and gov class, and sound engineering! Are you into music or was it just given to you?” Josh handed the schedule back and shoved the glasses back into his pocket.

“Uh… both I guess? It’s kinda whatever. Seems cool enough.” Tyler stared down at the schedule and then back up at Josh. “You like music? I mean duh… but like are you in band or somethin?” 

“Yeah! I play percussion and lead snare in the marching band. I love music, I don’t know what I would do without it. Listening’s cool and all but playing? That’s a whole ‘nother level.” Josh smiled and walked them to the first class. It was an interesting room. Tapestries covered the lights on the ceiling, which really seemed like a fire hazard in Tyler's non professional opinion. There was a beanbag in the corner and some posters he didn’t care enough about to commit to memory. Seemed like a young teacher trying to be “hip with the kids” or whatever. He picked a seat in the back and prayed to God that his teacher wouldn’t force him to come up and do the whole spiel. Unfortunately for Tyler, he apparently didn’t pray hard enough. He was forced to stand in front of everyone and do the whole stupid thing. But this time he didn’t feel like lying, and couldn't come up with anything clever.

“My name is Tyler Joseph, I’m from Arizona, and I love to play piano.”

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‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹

The rest of the day was typical, introductions, being flung into AP classes a month late and already drowning in work and the cafeteria food was… mediocre at best. Josh picked him up from every class and took him to the next one 5 minutes early like clockwork. But after lunch he had this audio engineering class. The band room was fairly big, and there was Josh behind the drum set. He was playing random things and hitting cymbals and Tyler didn’t know what it was, but it was neat. Josh was really into it, and that was cool. He couldn’t help but smile a little bit at the whole thing. He sat down and tried to guess what he would even do in this class. The band director was this guy in his mid 30’s who refused to let students call him Mr. He was on a first name basis.

“Please, just call me Keons. I’ve always felt weird being called Mr. anything. Too formal for me I guess. If you must give me a title, just call me Mr. K. I’ll deal with that.”

Tyler thought that was weird because usually teachers really like being called by titles, they liked the authority and all that garbage. The class was simple enough, learn how to use a program, make music, learn how to record and mix sound, and that was all. It was student led and pretty free in what you could do creative wise. No real assignments, no certain direction to go. Just music. While everyone else worked on their projects Tyler stood next to Mr. K as he set up the program and logged him in. He felt confident that he wouldn’t struggle in this class, he did this all the time. Music was his thing, the one thing he had. Easy grade for as long as he was here (him and his siblings estimated 4 months. Then they would be back on the road.) and it seemed pretty laid back. He was working on something at his seat when Josh appeared.

“Hey Tyler! I remembered that you played piano and I need a part for my project and my dumb percussion brain cannot grasp piano. Do you think you could help me out?” He looked like a lost puppy, the way he tilted his head to the side waiting for a response.

“Isn’t that why we have computer generated synth sounds? So that you don’t need to learn piano?”

“Well… yeah I guess but it's so fake. It sounds so fake I hate it. I would rather have raw, real sound than computer beeps. It butchers what piano even is.” Josh laughed and twirled around a drumstick. “You don’t have to! I can always figure it out, I get you’re still settling in and all that, I just figured I would ask.”

“No, I can do it. Like seriously I can, no big deal. You just better play drums for me if I ever need it.” Tyler closed the laptop and stood up. Josh just looked at him with this genuine grin, like that’s all he ever wanted. 

“Dude yes! Thank you so much. I seriously owe you one.”

The pair walked into the auditorium where this beautiful grand piano sat. Tyler was shocked because, holy shit, he hadn’t even seen a piano this nice at church. He sat down at the seat and played the same familiar melody to warm up. This was amazing, the acoustics were amazing. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He kept his head low, closed his eyes, and just felt how nice it sounded. The room bounced everything back with this clear vibrant tone he had never heard before. He looked back up and glanced at Josh. “So what are you looking for? Like what do I play?”

“Uh. Wow, you’re like the best piano player I have ever heard. Honestly play whatever and I will build around it. Seems like a nice challenge.” Josh seemed genuinely shocked and set up a microphone for the piano. “Can you just play a few things so I can make sure the mic is working?” 

Tyler played a bit of this song he was working on, just the beginning, a gentle melody similar to the warm up he played. Josh sat in the front row of the auditorium but Tyler  wasn’t focused on that. He played just about a minute before stopping and looking back up at Josh. “Is that good man? Sorry I got a bit carried away.” Tyler stood up and moved away from the piano like it was tempting him and he couldn’t give in.

“Holy shit. Ty that was amazing. Like seriously great. Thank you so much.” Josh walked up to the stage and grabbed the microphone, turning it off quickly before grabbing his laptop.

The nickname caught him off guard but he assumed it was just a slip or something. “Thanks? I mean it’s nothin special, just something I came up with recently. Glad I could help with your stuff though.” Tyler looked around the auditorium and soaked it all in. The paneling on the walls, the rows and rows of red seating, the catwalk above him. He walked back into the room and grabbed his bag. Josh trailed behind. 

“I'm serious! You got this real talent. Once in a lifetime kinda stuff. God I wish you were in jazz band, we have competitions in the spring and we could score so good with you there.” Josh rocked on his feet, heel to toe and back again, over and over. It seemed like he was never able to just be still. Seemed like a drummer.

“Pft, like I’ll be here by spring. I’ll probably be gone by January.” Tyler scoffed and looked around before looking back at a very confused Josh. “Sorry, uh, my family moves a lot. 5th high school since freshman year. Doubt I’ll get to stay. Sorry to burst your bubble.” Tyler looked down at his shoes and tried to forget that he had ever said anything. He knew it was better to tell people now before they got close but it never stopped stinging. The way people looked at him hurt more than the leaving. Knowing he could never have real friends stung. 

“Oh, word. I hope you stay. I want to see where this talent takes you.” Josh smiled sweetly, and usually Tyler would say that it was like every other person, but something about Josh was so different.

Tyler spent his study hall scribbling down lyrics and building piano parts in his head. He should have been doing AP work, but that didn’t matter. This song did. He didn’t know what it was, or what it was called, or what it meant. But he knew what it sounded like and how it felt. The final bell rang and he waited at the bus loop for his dad to come get him. He couldn’t get over how Josh was sad about him having to leave one day, but so excited for the time he had. Usually people would push Tyler away because of the inevitable fact that he would vanish. Vanish before prom, or senior sunrise. Tyler would be in another time zone by the time any end of year celebration would happen. But Josh seemed to genuinely like the fact Tyler was there at all. Whatever, Josh was only nice to him because Bourbaki made him. His dad picked him up and they sat in silence again. This is how it always had been. Silent because what was there to talk about? “Hey dad I had a really great 7th first day in 5 years! I played piano and debated whether anything I did had a purpose! How was your day of calling moving companies and doing paperwork?”

Tyler got home and there was more in the house. The couch was in the living room with a TV and entertainment stand. The dining room had chairs and a table finally, and his mom had paint swatches taped to the walls. He had to fight back an eyeroll because seriously, what was the point of painting a house they wouldn’t get to really live in? But whatever kept his mom happy kept him happy. He walked up the stairs and collapsed onto his mostly flat air mattress. The real one was propped up against the wall but he had no clue where the bed frame was. He rolled the air mattress back up and put it in the back of the closet and moved his bed to the corner of the room. He put on his bedsheets (a boring dark red) and dug out the rest of his bed set. He knew that if he kept his clothes in the bags and boxes for too long they would smell weird so he hung everything up. Finally it looked like a room and not a prison cell. He stared at the posters and debated putting one up before settling to put one trophy on the shelf on the opposite wall. He unpacked the rest of his things, his bass guitar he got two birthdays ago, the bookcase full of notebooks and sketchbooks, and maybe one real book. By the time he was done with that it was getting dark.

He went downstairs and smelled something sweet. Mom had this tradition of making a fresh batch of cookies at every house to test how well the oven worked, and by the aroma that swallowed the whole place it seemed like the oven worked pretty well. Dinner was takeout, like it always was the first week, but hey he wasn’t complaining. His siblings talked about their new teachers and how fun it was going to be. When it was his turn he talked about audio production and the nice piano. That’s all he wanted to share. After dinner was done he went upstairs and tried to do some of the immense amounts of work he had due last week, but he couldn’t do much of it before he started to get tired. The single lamp in his room wasn’t doing a great job of illuminating anything anyways. He looked at his ceiling, this one was one of the gross popcorn ceilings that seriously made him uncomfortable and debated whether basketball season would be here before they would leave again. It was too soon to know, but he hoped he could stay.

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‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹

The rest of the week went the same way it always did. People tried to get him to join friend groups, or sit with people at lunch, or come to football games.He didn’t care much for football, like yeah it was cool but he literally did not understand it. He had started sitting with Josh at lunch around the third day. Josh had this friend named Debby. She had long reddish hair, and her curls were tossed up in a bun most of the time. She was drum major for the band, and played clarinet and did NHS. She was fun and brought light to wherever she was. It was nice. There was no pressure on him to stay around for too long, he just had company for the time he was here. He didn’t talk too much, but he felt like he finally could.

“Hey Tyler, are you busy tomorrow night? We have a football game, we can get you in for free if you want.” Debby smiled and honestly, he considered it. He might as well go to just one. Get that “teenage experience”. 

“Uh… maybe. I don’t have a ride home or anything, parents are busy picking out paint colors or something.” He chuckled and pushed around vegetables on his lunch tray.

“Josh can drive you! He’s got a nice car.” Debby looked over at Josh who was clearly shocked that she had just thrown him out there. 

“Yeah of course! Football games are fun. We get to do halftime, and sometimes Debby’s friends are working concessions for NHS hours so we get free hotdogs. They’re mediocre but hell, better than the school food” He laughed and messed around with his lip ring as he spoke. 

And suddenly Tyler was going to a football game he didn’t even care about because Debby had voluntold him. And it’s not like he had anything better to do, it was either a football game or that empty unfinished house. The next class was more piano playing and muttering lyrics under his breath. 

“I am cold, can you hear? I will fly, with no hope, no fear.”

“Plummet as I sing-”

For the first time in a long time he could work, everything was flowing so nicely and his hands found the keys before he could even process it. Nobody else was on the stage, they were all working on the project in the main room, so Tyler was alone and everything was hitting him all at once. It was lonely moving around so much. Obviously he knew it wouldn’t be easy, but fuck, he didn’t think it would be this hard. Freshman year he had dreams of homecomings, and football games, and proms with all of his friends. He dreamed of state championships, of banners of him hung high in his school gym, for parties in his childhood home. He dreamed of all of these things and it had been stripped away from him, and he never really processed any of it. He just moved on, he forgot about each state, each town, every person the moment the house was sold and the last box was packed.

“All we are is an isle of flightless birds, we find our worth in giving birth, and stuff. We’re lining our homes against winding roads and we think the going is tough.”

Before he moved from Arizona, he had a girlfriend named Jenna. He seriously thought they would have been together forever. They were together for around 2 years, and did everything together. It was a perfect cookie cutter romance. They lived in suburbia, she was a cheerleader, he played basketball. They went to church together, and held hands in the pews. They would watch movies and cuddle on his couch on weekends. All of that was stripped away. When he found out he was moving all the way across the country, he started pushing her away. Longer response time, denied their hangouts, he even stopped answering the door. She took the hint and they broke up a week before he left. He gave up after that. He was mad. He was so upset, and he had ignored it for years now.

“We pick songs to sing, remind us of things nobody cares about. And honestly we’re probably more suicidal than ever now.”

He got louder, he sang out further and hit the keys with all the pent up aggression he had in him. He kept playing, he played through his vision getting blurry and finished it off with a flourish and a key smash. He buried his head in his hands. Breathing was a manual task. In for four, out for four. Jenna taught him that after a particularly rough game. In for four, out for four. In, out, in, out. When he was finally breathing properly he wiped his face, took a deep breath, and went back into the room. Everyone was working on their own, so nobody noticed he was back. Focused on their own work, their own lives. Tyler sunk into his seat and pulled out his headphones and scrolled through his Spotify. “Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness” by The Smashing Pumpkins was the clear pick. He clicked play and worked on AP Lit work. None of it really made any sense and he googled everything on pentameter, and structure. It’s not like any of it mattered.

After school Josh ran up to him, jingling his keys. He was in a thick sweater, ripped blue jeans, and a pair of combat boots. His hair was peeking out of his black beanie. 

“Hey! Tyler! What time do you want me to come grab you? The game starts at 6, but Debs and I gotta be there at 5 to unload the truck and set everything up. We can get food before if you want.” Josh was doing the same nervous tell he always did, rocking between his heels and his toes.

“Uh, how about 3? I’m down to grab something, don’t worry about paying.” Tyler smiled sweetly, it was nice to have someone care. That… was stupid of him. But it was too late to rescind his smile. 

“Sweet! I need your number, so I can like get your address.” Josh handed his phone over with a slight chuckle. It had a clear case with a picture of him tucked behind a drumset and a few miscellaneous stickers. Tyler typed in his number and sent a smiley face, so he would know it was Josh.

“I’ll see you then, thank you for the ride. I haven’t been to a game in years, I’m excited to see how Columbus does it.” He smiled again and handed the phone back.

“Oh trust me, the student section goes all out. The theme for the game is red, I’ll see you tomorrow! Hopefully decked out in red!” Josh winked and turned away and just like that, he was gone.

‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹

Tyler woke up at 11 the next morning. He has stayed up way too late playing a terrible game of catch up. School was once again proving to be a massive struggle. He rubbed his eyes, seriously debating going back to bed, and then got up. Everyone was already awake. Dad was at work, and mom was doing the dishes from breakfast. He walked downstairs and tried to tame his hair. It was always bad in the morning, seemed like Tyler was the worst victim of bed head. 

“Mornin mom, sorry I missed breakfast. AP classes are killing me already.” He yawned and walked over to the cabinet, grabbing a piece of bread and shoving it into the toaster. 

His mom was focused on the dishes and barely noticed he had rolled out of bed at all, “Morning sweetheart! Have fun at your game today, first one in a long time. Cash is on the counter for concessions, drive safe.” She hadn’t turned around but pointed to the counter where 20$ was tucked under a candle with some bullshit inspirational quote. “Home is where the smell is.” or some garbage. 

“Thank you momma, I’ll be home later okay? Call if you need me home before that.” without waiting for a response, he walked upstairs with a slightly toasted piece of bread. No butter, no jam, just… bread. He didn’t realize his mistake until he got all the way upstairs and by that point, it was far too late.

He spent the rest of the morning unpacking the rest of his stuff. A bookcase full of stuff he hadn’t read in years, his desk, CD player, computer, everything he would need. He stepped back and looked at his room. It felt alien, a copy of what he had. Like, yeah it was all of his stuff but… it felt so bare. So foreign. Whatever. He dug around in his closet for something red, eventually finding a red beanie, and a red zip up hoodie. This would have to work. He threw on a plain white shirt and black jeans. 30 minutes until Josh got here, so he sat at his piano and replayed what he came up with yesterday. It was always hard trying to replicate stuff like that. It was so full of emotion, and anger, that he didn’t know if he could replicate it. It was like trying to put together a smashed pot, he had all the pieces, but it would never be the same. He was in his own little world until his phone buzzed.

Unknown: im here :) 

He should probably save Josh’s contact. 

Tyler: sweet gimme a minute to find shoes, i’ll be right out

Josh: Aye aye captain, don’t take too long we still gotta feast.

That made Tyler laugh. He threw on some plain black slip on’s and shoved his phone, wallet, and house keys into his pocket. He gave his mom a quick goodbye, and he was gone.

Josh’s car was an old Toyota truck. It was beige and still had one of those bench seats but honestly it fit pretty well. Tyler opened the passenger door and was met by the scent of Josh’s cologne. His hair was neater than it usually was, styled for the performance he assumed, and he was dressed in a black compression shirt and red basketball shorts. Tyler didn’t expect it but Josh was built. It kind of made sense because usually drummers were but Josh was seriously just… muscle. He was playing something that sounded familiar but Tyler just couldn’t pick it out. It was lost with everything else in his head. The drive was fairly silent, Josh hummed and hit his steering wheel on beat, he drove well, and Tyler looked out the window. Columbus was nice, especially when you got further into the city. Tall buildings, billboards, signs of life. It was a nice reminder that there were other people around. That there was a life outside of high school. By the time Josh stopped Tyler hadn’t even noticed it. They were outside of what looked like a vintage 1950’s diner, and from what Tyler could see they even had a jukebox.

“This place is my good luck charm. It seriously has the best burgers in town. I try to go here before every show.” He smiled and pulled the keys out of the ignition. “If you’re not hungry they have really good milkshakes, stereotypical I know but hey, they do the whole retro diner thing right.”

Chapter Text

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The pair slid into a booth near the back of the restaurant. Josh took the seat next to the jukebox and Tyler slid in across from him. Their waitress was an older woman, probably in her mid 40’s. Her blonde hair was styled in pin up curls and she wore a teal dress, a nametag said her name in swoopy red letters “Amelia” she smiled warmly at the two of them and set the menus on the table. She nodded and walked away without another word. 

Tyler was confused, because usually the waiters talked to their tables and she had just walked away. “Is it always like that?”

“Yeah, I’ve been coming here all throughout high school so they kinda just know the deal. I’m not a huge talker, believe it or not.” He laughed and looked over the same menu he had seen a million times.

“I mean you seem pretty talkative to me.”

“Well, yeah. When you do the school tours you have to be willing to talk, and then I’m not sure what it was, but something said you were interesting and that I should probably keep talking to you. It was right.”

“Interesting? Interesting how?”

“Just how you are, how you interact with the world around you. How you act like you don’t care but sometimes I can tell that you do by the way you bite your cheek, or hold your hands together real tight.”

“Pftt. I didn’t think I still did that stuff. I should probably knock that off.”

“Don’t. It’s nice to see. I mean like- not like that. It’s nice to see that you still care… or. I don’t know.” Josh turned a shade of red and coughed, staring down at the menu. “So. What are you getting?”

“Burger, fries, shake. The classic. I judge places based on the fries.” Tyler smiled and circled what he was getting with his finger a few times. “Cause if you have bad fries that means you have bad food, cause it’s seriously not hard to make good fries.”

“Yeah that makes sense. I like the fries. They got this seasoning on them, and I have no clue what it is still but it is seriously heavenly.” Josh smiled and looked back up at Tyler, then at the Jukebox, then to the waitress. 

The food was actually amazing. Tyler was fairly surprised because every town had a local spot and sometimes they were literally just… bad. People usually just went there because it was a local legend, or they had some weird gimmick, or something along those lines. But the burgers here were juicy, and well cooked, and the fries and their weird seasoning were delicious. 

“I, Tyler Joseph, the number one fry critiquer rate this place a solid… 8/10. Good fries, seasoning is tripping me up but it’s delicious none the less.” Tyler smiled and ate the last of his fries, pushing the basket to the edge of the table.

“Who made you the number one fry critiquer? Gordon Ramsey?”

“Uh. No. Me. I did that. I’m the number one, who else critiques fries?”

“I got a friend named Mark who rates food places based on the taste of their cherry coke. I am not joking.”

“What?!? Isn’t it all the same though? Comes out of the fountain the same way in every place. I think your friend is crazy.”

“I do too but he is dead set on the fact certain places have ‘bad carbonation’ or ‘dirty machines soiling the classic taste’ . I am so serious.”

Tyler couldn’t stop laughing, he had to cover his mouth with one hand and hold his stomach with the other. He ended up sinking further into the booth. “Josh, that's ridiculous! Bad carbonation?!?”

“He looks at me and goes, I’m so fucking serious, ‘Josh we can never go here again. That coke was absolutely abhorrent.’ One time, we went to this place that had Pepsi, so he just got water and grumbled about how coke products are superior.”

“Oh my God, Josh, that's hilarious. Josh, that is the best thing I have ever heard.” Tyler slowly sat back up still clutching his stomach and laughing a little.

Once they paid and tipped the waitress they went on their way to the football game. The district's football stadium was massive. These big lights that made the whole thing visible for tens of miles away, and the stands. The stands were those really nice metal ones you see in NFL stadiums. There was a massive score board with the logo across the very top of it. A big dog with riling teeth and a red football jersey. Tyler was shocked. His stadium back in Arizona was nothing compared to this. His jaw was genuinely dropped. 

Since he had come with the band he got in completely for free, but he had to help unload the trucks. The band was fairly big, around 200 kids, so that was plenty of instruments. They all wore these red coats with silver stripes and buttons, a few kids had these cords hung around their shoulders, and then there was Debby. Debby had this sparkly kind of cape thing on one shoulder, and a silver cord on the other. Her hair was down and it hit just below her shoulder. She was stunning. Tyler walked around while Josh introduced him to some people, and gave him instructions on what he could help with, and where it all went. Tyler had never seen their world before. I mean pep band would play at basketball games but this was completely different. He had an immense amount of respect for them all now. 

“Hey Ty, I gotta go change and I seriously don’t trust these bathrooms. Will you come with me and make sure that nobody tries to peek at me?” 

“Yeah of course dude. You’ll have to lead the way because I feel like I am in a maze.” Tyler laughed a little and jogged up to Josh. The stadium was massive, like seriously insanely massive compared to his hometown. “How the hell did you guys afford this?”

“Fundraising, oh and the several thousand dollars from the city. That’s what happens when a city produces like 1,000 pro football players and each of them have massive pride for where they came from.” Josh chuckled and looked around again, he had never really thought twice about it. Josh pushed open a door to these fairly nice bathrooms and Tyler followed him in. 

“Did everyone else come in their uniforms?”

“Yeah, we’re supposed to but I don’t struggle too much getting into mine. Sorry for dragging you alone, the doors don’t lock the best, and I’d rather you see me changing then a random stranger. That… that didn’t sound- anyways.” Josh closed the door and Tyler stood outside the stall, and he didn’t want to admit the fact that what Josh said seriously got to him. His face was red and he didn’t really understand what he thought about it more than the fact he wouldn’t really mind seeing Josh shirtless. Fuck, that compression shirt was… pushing it. 

When Josh came back out Tyler couldn’t help but stare. He had seen so many kids in this uniform today but none of them looked like Josh. Tyler blinked a few times and looked away. 

“I hate to bug you again… but I may or may not need help zipping up this jacket. They don’t make it easy. And there are buttons, and a clasp… so.” Tyler wasn’t even looking at Josh but he could tell he was smiling a little bit.

“I got you, turn around?” Josh put his hands in the air and spun around dramatically. Tyler zipped up the jacket, pressed down all the buttons, but the clasp on the top was what got him. He had to move closer to Josh to get it, and touched his neck, and listen. It shouldn’t have gotten to him that bad. But it did. He moved Josh’s hair back and patted his shoulder. “Uh. Is that good?”

“Yeah that’s perfect, thanks dude.” Josh stretched his arms and grabbed an empty uniform bag and led Tyler back out. Tyler tried to shake the thoughts and the feelings from his head. Josh was basically a stranger, he had met him earlier this week, he was just helping a friend. He touched his neck. That was it, and he had to. It’s fine.

The band played tunes from the stands and before he knew it, it was halftime. Tyler was pushing a synth cart and all he could think of was how nice this keyboard was. It had drum pads on it, and all these buttons. Since he had to help them push off the field he got to stand on the track and watch the show with all the parents. Debby got on top of this massive podium, started conducting, and Tyler was hit with one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard. His attention snapped between Debby precise conducting, and Josh. Josh was in his own world, he did everything with laser sharp precision, each step, each hit perfectly calculated. He was focused and Tyler could tell that he seriously loved what he did. By the time the show was over Tyler was applauding and cheering louder than he ever had. The next ten minutes were a blur. He moved the synth back and helped load it into the trucks with the rest of the parents. Then he saw Josh. He was laughing and smiling, still had his snare. His hair was slicked back from sweat and he genuinely looked ethereal. The way that the stadium lights illuminated his face, he looked like an angel. When Josh saw him he took his drum off and ran over to Tyler, wrapping him in a tight hug. 

“What did you think? Thank you for coming, and for all your help.” Even though Tyler couldn’t see his face he could feel Josh grinning from ear to ear.

“It was amazing! You are seriously a natural, watching you out there was beautiful.” The words spilled out in a flurry. “I was just standing there and going ‘holy fuck he’s angelic. He’s perfect out there.”

By the time he had realized what he said it was too late. His face was a bright red and Josh just looked up at him. 

“Angelic? Perfect? Never heard those before.” Josh smiled like it was his last time doing it, like his life relied on it. He gave Tyler a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back, I gotta go put this in its case and load but then we can head out.” Josh winked again and ran off to go get his snare and do all the things. Tyler was standing frozen. Perfect. Angelic? What the hell was he saying? What was he thinking? Josh had kissed him. Josh Dun, one of the funniest, most unique people Tyler had ever met had kissed him. And he didn’t know how to feel.

After Josh had said goodbye to everybody, and Tyler had gotten the chance to congratulate Debby and give her a hug, the two were out of there. Josh was in that compression shirt still. His uniform was put on hangers and slung over his shoulder. And those damn lights highlighted everything Tyler was thinking. Those perfect abs, and those arms, and that face, and fuck what was he doing??? When they got back into the car Josh rolled down the windows and took a deep breath. 

“That was a good show I think. I mean you look shocked so it had to have been good.”

“Josh, it was amazing. You were amazing. The band was amazing. And oh my God. That synth was beautiful! Sometimes I wish I did more music stuff.” 

“There’s always the winter season.” Josh smiled and ran his hands through his hair, the curls returning to cover his forehead, and then he started the car. The cold autumn air was everything. “Sorry. For earlier. If I made you uncomfortable.”

Tyler looked over at him, the street lights occasionally illuminating his face. “No, it’s all good man. I-It was good. Don’t worry man.” Tyler was smiling like an idiot and he was so glad Josh was focused on the road. The rest of the drive was fairly silent, the music was soft and barely audible over the wind. When they pulled up to Tyler’s house he didn’t even think twice. He grabbed Josh’s face with both of his hands and kissed him. 

“Thank you for an amazing night Josh.”