joshler oneshots

your skin is plastic, but darling, it's so lovely

summary:

in which tyler is used to cameras and josh helps him prepare for them.

or:
in which tyler is a model, josh is a makeup artist, and tyler thinks josh is very, very pretty.

words: 900

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tyler is used to flashing lights now.

he no longer blinks as the cameras flash and the studio lights heat up his skin. he perfects the art of shaping his body into unrealistic poses that will look so natural to those who are blind to dirt.

he moves with purpose, with grace that lets clothes drape perfectly over his body and confidence that makes his smile something to be envied. the light that casts across his face today is dark blue. it throws deep shadows over him like a cloudy sky, and he accepts it like you would embrace another person.

he pulls a knee up to his chest and lets his other leg dangle off the stool. he rests his hands on his black sneakered foot and turns his head to the side, his neck exposed.

the photographer mumbles words of encouragment and shouts for one of the interns to change the light to pink. another intern wraps a coil of lights around his shoulders and through his fingers.

he lays down on the floor, gently moving the stool aside and stretching his arms to his sides and raises his feet as someone lightly ties them together with more strings of lights. he lets the ones on his fingers dangle slightly as he tilts his chin upwards.

"very good!" calls the photographer.

"that's all for today. wear something red tomorrow, please."

tyler sits up and unwraps the lights where they form a noose around his neck.

someone directs him with a light hand towards the makeup room, where a new figure sits at the stool in front of the glowing mirror, unmoving.

he turns around, and his smile is stunning.

"tyler, right? im josh."

he nods.

he gets up off the seat easily, and gestures towards it with a hand. tyler sits down lightly, ready to flit off at any moment from this warm room that is only illuminated by the mirror and the lights strung up around the room.

"so is this where they got all those lights from?" tyler asks.

josh looks up from where he's digging through the drawers of the desk.

"hmm? yeah, the intern looked like she was going to cry if i didn't give her any."

he sets a bottle of makeup remover and a pile of cotton swabs down on the counter and takes a moment to stretch, raising his hands far above his head, pulling his shirt up slightly.
tyler feels his face get a little warmer.

josh pours a bit of the remover onto the swab and pushes a warm hand under tyler's chin and begins to wipe the makeup off his face with an almost childlike concentration. tyler takes this opportunity to study his face.

his eyes are dark and framed by long lashes that throw light shadows onto his cheeks under the lighting of the room. his tongue pokes out just barely from his lips as he tilts tyler's face from side to side to remove everything properly.

then, the warmth under his chin is gone and josh is throwing the used cotton swab away with a little smile, and tyler can't help but think that he would look so beautiful under the warm pink lights of the studio or in the natural light of his brightly lit art studio.

josh takes a piece of gum out of his pocket and hands it to tyler with a grin.
"for being such a good boy."

tyler rolls his eyes but unwraps the bubblegum and blows a bubble at josh as he leaves.

he wakes up with his nerves tingling and his head throbbing.
today is a new day, he tells himself.

he stumbles into the bathroom and shakes two pills into his hand.
today is a new day.

he puts on a black jacket with a red zipper and red ripped skinny jeans.
they weren't like that when he bought them.

he shakes away the thought and grabs a tube of black face paint.
he runs downstairs and calls for a taxicab.

josh is there when he enters the dark makeup room.
he sits tyler down on the stool and tyler gives him the black face paint.
the photographer shows him the photos from that day.
tyler asks him if they can call the collection blurryface.

one day, tyler asks josh, his fingers brushing gently against josh's pale hands, if he'd like to come over. there's something he wants to show him.

josh smiles a little, his tongue poking out from his teeth and agrees.

they hold hands as they laugh and run across cross sections and up the stairs to tyler's apartment.

they head upstairs to the art studio, where most of the walls are windows and they illuminate the sculpture sitting in the semi center of the room.

it's josh, crudely constructed out of spray painted plastic and cut up soda bottles.
josh looks at it with an awe in his eyes that tyler has never seen before.

tyler pulls him a little further to the right, and the sun casts plastic josh's shadow in the shape of an angel.
josh grabs tyler by his hips and kisses him, slow and deep.

later, they lie on the floor of the studio and watch the shadows creep across the floor as the sun sets.

tyler mumbles into josh's shoulder,
"your skin is plastic, but darling, it's so lovely."