When the Curtain Falls •Joshler•

2. Miracle Aligner

It was all sweat and swaying hips and music so loud you couldn't hear anything else. That's the kind of thing that Josh enjoyed. Lights splattered colors of deep red and blue across the bodies dancing. The electric personalities all blended together in the pot that the club provided, making the air buzz with liveliness.

Axl Rose was having a birthday party, and it was one hell of a party. Girls were slinking themselves gracefully up and down poles at the front of the room. It was all surreal that Josh had been able to get in. He had no idea where Rose was—let alone had he ever met him—so the feat was one to be admired. Maybe the bouncer was off his game, or maybe he'd been instructed to let all people who looked like they knew what they were doing into the club. Either way Josh was thoroughly enjoying himself even though sweat was heavily gathering on his skin.

The song changed to one that Josh had never heard before, so he decided to take a break. The bar tender greeted him with a nod of the head when Josh's hands brushed against the smooth surface of the counter.

"Gimme a rum and coke. Heavy on the rum," Josh shouted over the music.

The man nodded and began pouring the drink. He was attractive—all sharp cheek bones jutting out under dark eyes and hair flippantly poised in curls framing his face. He gave Josh a friendly smile when he slid the drink towards him.

"There ya are," he said.

Josh thanked him and looked around the room unlike he had when he'd gotten there. Behind the bar was a space that was roped off. Men sat on luxurious looking furniture with their own private bar tender. Some of them were looking at the dancing bodies, while others were conversing with each other. However, the thing that stuck out to Josh was that one of them was looking at him.

The man looked like he was in his mid twenties with a smooth face and hollowed out cheeks that extenuated plump lips. Long eyelashes swept over large, dark eyes and his brown hair was curly and tousled. He looked like he had had one too many drinks, cheeks glowing with the effects of alcohol and eyes just hazy enough to show drunkenness.

Distantly, at some far outreach of his mind, his brain pulled out a name to go with that familiar face. It was Tyler Joseph, lead singer of The Punctured Yolks. He was always described to have a bit of a punctured yolk himself—maybe a little bat shit crazy.

Josh smiled to himself then let it roll outwards, becoming a flirtatious gimmick of a greeting. Tyler didn't stop looking at him, barely even batted an eye at the look Josh was giving him. If that was the way the man was going to play it, then Josh would just have a good time tonight. Rolling out his shoulders, he went back into the crowd of people and began dancing.

He wasn't about to let some rich asshole try to get in his head and lower his confidence. Josh knew that he could get what he wanted, and he wasn't about to let some sort of pretentious song-writing asshole make him think otherwise.

—

Soon enough the music became a blur of techno babble as Josh got his fill and the amount of drinks piled up. Against his better judgement, he had went to the club alone. Hayley hadn't wanted to come with him because she had work in the morning, and that was the extent of clubbing friends he had. He was vaguely aware of people staring at him as he got one last drink from the bar. Everything around Josh was pleasantly warm and buzzing, allowing him to grin down at the alcohol in his hand contentedly.

"You come here alone?" The voice came from over his shoulder. It was soft yet full of over blown confidence. Somehow, he knew exactly who it was and was able to keep his cool.

"I did," Josh replied neutrally, twirling around to see Tyler with a cigarette between his lips. "Smoking isn't good for your vocal chords, you know."