A/N: Josh got his hair redyed to red in the story because he was not digging the blue as much as the red. In reality, I forgot I dyed his hair blue and the timespan just happened to be good for a redye.
AT 10/25/2003 8:18pm (Josh)
Perez sat on Josh's bed while Josh got changed in his closet. He put on some skinny jeans a Green Day shirt. He grabbed a red beanie and black fingerless gloves and put them on. Josh grabbed his red eyeshadow and started spreading it around his eyes. He brushed out his red hair into a fluffy mess. He looked at the beanie and thought for a moment. It would be a little hot down in the basement with so many people partying, so sweat would collect pretty quickly under the cloth. He set it down and looked in the mirror again. Josh felt like there was something missing. He already had a change of clothes to change into later because he was NOT sleeping in sweaty jeans for a whole night.
Then, he realized. It's a rave. I should go all out. He started grabbing tie dye arm bands and bracelets and started sliding them up his arms. He put on a couple of necklaces as well and grabbed some sunglasses. It looked kind of funky, but he knew in the UVs, he'd be glowing. It was his first actual party, so he wanted to attract some attention.
He looked in the mirror at how he looked and sighed. I guess it'll do. Josh walked out into his bedroom. "How do I look?" he asked.
Perez raised an eyebrow. "It looks good, but I know what you're missing." he said. He pulled out a couple bottles of face paint. "It's glow-in-the-dark and it will definitely bring attention to your face."
Josh shrugged. "By all means."
Perez scoffed. "Those are the shoes you're wearing? Josh. You don't wear flip-flops to one of Jon's raves. Chance's? Maybe. Jonathan Bellion? Hell, no! Go get a pair of shoes you don't mind getting painted on." he ordered with a disappointed look.
Josh groaned, went back into his closet, and dug out a pair of old tennis shoes he wore a couple years ago that still fit him. He presented them to Perez, who nodded approvingly. He pulled out a few paintbrushes out of his bag as well as some stensils and an airbrush. Josh looked at Perez in disbelief at the fact that he really brought all of this stuff.
"Perez-" Josh started.
"Relax, mi hermano, it's fine. I worked at a tattoo shop a while back. Look on the bright side, bro. At least it's an airbrush and not needles." Perez said, chuckling slightly. "Let me see your shoes."
Josh watched as Perez started painting on intricate patterns onto the shoes. He realized soon enough that Perez was going for a tie dye look on the cloth parts and darker colors on the solid parts. He finally finished up and presented the shoes to Josh. They looked really cool. Perez dug out a small UV light and shined it on the shoes. They glowed in shades of pink, light blue, dark blue, yellow, green, and purple. Perez smiled at Josh.
"Looks good, right?" Perez said confidently.
"Yeah, it looks good." Josh said with shock.
Perez grabbed the airbrush and the glow-in-the-dark paint. He filled the brush and looked at Josh. "Hold very still. We have to hurry, too. Jon texted me earlier asking how long we were gonna be. Your mom know you're going to a party?" he asked curiously.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in." Josh called.
Laura walked in. "Hey, Josh! Evening, Perez! You two getting ready for that party?"
"Yes, ma'am, we are." Perez answered.
She laughed. "I see. Well, you two have fun. Josh, if you get to drinking or smoking, I don't want you driving. Period." Laura said sternly.
"Yes, Mom, I know. Hey, Tyler stopped by. You know how his truck has been having some issues?" she asked politely.
Josh nodded very slightly while Perez kept painting. "Yeah, what about it?" he replied.
"Well, he's downstairs now and he needs a ride to the party. Could you give him one?" she asked hopefully, clasping her hands together.
"Yeah, of course." Josh chuckled.
His mother blew him a kiss. "Thank you, hon. Have fun and be careful. The outfit is looking good. Brings me back to the '70s." she sighed happily. She left the room and closed the door behind her.
Perez peeled the stensils off of his face and looked at him. "Hell, yes. You look good. Anyone would be lucky to dance with you tonight." he exclaimed with pride.
"Thanks. Is that it?" Josh asked curiously.
Perez shook his head and packed his painting stuff into his bag. "Nope, we are all good. I'm ready whenever you are, my car's back at home." he said.
"Alrighty." Josh bent down to put his shoes on.
"Damn, bro." Perez suddenly remarked.
Josh started tying his shoes. "What?" he questioned.
Perez made a squeezing motion with his hands. "Thicker than a milkshake." he responded. Josh rolled his eyes. "Those jeans are tight. They really make your butt look good."
He chuckled. "Here I was thinking you were also straight."
"No, bro. No one in this group is straight except Ty and Jon. Everyone else? Gay, bisexual, pansexual. Well, Emerson is asexual, he doesn't like sex or romance." Perez responded.
"Mm. Well, don't get too comfortable staring at my ass." Josh joked, grabbing two blankets and a pillow.
They walked out into the hall and down the stairs. Tyler stood up and raised an eyebrow at Josh. "I thought you never been to a party before." he pointed out.
"Nope. School wasn't big enough for actual parties." Josh responded with a smile.
Tyler sighed. "Well, first impression looks nice. Come on, Jon is on my ass right now. Everyone else is already there, he's waiting on us three. You know how to get there, Joshua?" he asked gruffly.
"Down by Em's. I know. He showed me the warehouse last month when I went over to his place." Josh shrugged. "It's gonna be great. We'll get to watch the football players compete against who can chug the most beer without stopping. The cheerleaders are gonna be doing lines of coke in the bathroom. We are going to have the time of our lives."
They walked out to Josh's car and packed their stuff into the trunk. They got in and put their seatbelts on. Josh started the car. He backed out of his driveway. He could see his mother in the window watching as they left. Soon, he was driving through South Side. It was a middle class neighborhood and usually had all of the doctors and lawyers and architects. The neighborhood Emerson lived in was vastly different. It was lower class. A lot of the buildings were run down or abandoned. The houses were small and two or three bedrooms if they weren't trailers. It was also a pretty sketchy area since a lot of business went on down there. Emerson didn't look like it because he knew how to hide it with makeup and he went to Columbus High, but he was raised around drug deals and alcohol.
Tyler had vaguely mentioned it once how Emerson was a stoner when they met him in elementary school. He was the one that turned Brendon into a stoner. But Emerson was always a genuine dude. He was more like a therapist to the group if they needed to get some emotions and thoughts out.
They eventually got into the Far South, which was Emerson's neighborhood. Suburban houses quickly turned into smaller houses and trailers. Lawns went from freshly mowed to wild and untamed. Some houses were rundown and abandoned. The streets looked like they hadn't been paved in several years, maybe even a couple decades. Finally, they saw several cars up ahead. Definitely over a hundred. In front of it was a huge warehouse.
Josh chuckled. "Here we are." he said. He parked closer to the entrance where Jon's car was. The other guys' vehicles were there, too.
Tyler clicked his tongue. "I'm really doing this." he muttered.
"Hey, Ty, it'll be alright. You got me and everyone else we know there. Except Ryan. Damn boss." Perez pointed out, looking back at Tyler reassuringly. "If you get uncomfortable, you can leave. But promise me you'll at least try to have fun?"
The boy groaned. "Fine, Perez, I'll stick around for a bit."
Brendon ran out towards them. "Hey, it's about time. Party's this way." he exclaimed excitedly.
Josh, Perez, and Tyler followed Brendon into the warehouse. They could faintly hear the music through the ground. It must be super loud if they could hear it through the concrete floors. Josh looked over at Tyler. He seemed to hear the noise, too. He looked pretty nervous, which was a strange sight to Josh. Tyler had always been a tough, confident, outgoing personality.
He reached over to Tyler's shoulder and slowed him down so they could talk quietly. "Hey, it's gonna be fine. As soon as you get in there, you're gonna forget that you were ever nervous. It'll be fun." he whispered reassuringly.
Tyler nodded. "Yeah." he responded, looking down.
"Stick with me, alright?" Josh suggested, though it was more of an order.
They got to the stairs and they began descending into the basement. They got to the metal door where two people, whose entire bodies - faces included were covered, were standing guard. They moved in front of the door as the four of them walked up. "What's your name?" one of them asked.
Brendon scoffed. "Really? I JUST left. Brendon Urie, Perez Ayala, Josh Dun, and Tyler Joseph. Close friends of Jon's."
They opened the door and let them in. Josh looked at his clothes. He was pretty much glowing. There were neon and UV lights everywhere. There were so many teenagers in the room, which felt endless. They were all dancing, drinking, partying, making out, and a few couples were straight up fucking in the corners. Several people were doing lines of coke off of some dude's chest. Then, they got into the mosh pit in the center. There was a neon disco ball in the center, where several dressed up people were dancing like crazy. The DJ was playing music on a raised platform off to the side. And opposite to the DJ by the dance floor was what appeared to be a bar.
Perez went off into the crowd while Josh brought Tyler to the bar where Pete, Patrick, and Andy were sitting. Andy looked back and smiled. "Hey, Bren. Hey, Josh." he said. Josh noticed Tyler had sort of tucked himself behind Josh.
"And TyJo? That you back there?" Pete asked, leaning back to see Tyler.
Patrick gasped slightly. "Ty? What are you doing here? I know you said you were going, but I didn't think you'd make it past the small orgy in the corner way over there." he joked with a small chuckle.
"Yeah." he simply said.
Andy clicked his tongue. "I'm gonna go join the fray. You should join in, Tyler. Spend a few minutes in there and the cheerleaders will be all over you." he said, standing up and walking into the crowd.
SAT 10/25/2003 9:33pm (Tyler)
Tyler sat beside Pete while Josh sat on Tyler's other side. Pete grabbed Andy's glass and chugged the rest of the drink. He snapped his fingers and the bartender came over. It was Emerson's cousin, Jeremy. "Some, uhhhh, whatever Andy got." Pete requested, most likely half-drunk already.
Jeremy nodded and poured a brown liquid into the glass. Pete slid it over to Tyler. "Try it. It's pretty good." he said, slurring slightly.
"Pete, stop trying to get Tyler drunk, he's nervous enough being here." Pat scolded, slapping Pete's hand.
His boyfriend looked at him. "Exactly, he's nervous. This'll calm his nerves down a bit." Pete pointed out.
Josh nudged Tyler's shoulder. "Go on, try it."
Tyler lifted the glass to his lips. It smelled strongly of alcohol, but also had a pretty sharp scent of cinnamon to it. He could feel three pairs of eyes on him as he contemplated it. Patrick's eyes were concerned and worried for him. Pete's eyes were mischievous. Josh's eyes were curious if he would actually do it. He sighed and took the glass off his lips a little.
"Awww, look, he's so innocent." Pete joked, laughing as he took another sip of his drink. Patrick groaned and grabbed Pete's glass and took a sip, exasperated with his boyfriend.
Tyler scoffed. "I'm not innocent." he grumbled.
"Then try it." Josh challenged with a smirk.
He looked at the glass. Fuck it. Josh is my ride, there's no way I'm getting back home. he thought to himself. Tyler lifted the glass to his lips and chugged the whole thing, slamming it down on the counter as the drink burned down his throat. Josh, Pete, and Patrick looked at him with pure shock, amusement, and worry.
"Oh. My. God. Tyler, you-" Pete started.
"Tyler, you did not just drink that." Patrick said incredulously.
Pete called over another glass. Tyler chugged it down, too. "Happy now?" he asked sarcastically.
Josh grabbed his arm. "C'mon, baby boy, let's have some fun. Just you, me, and two hundred people." he said excitedly. They made their way to the center of the crowd. There were people everywhere. Finally, they made their way to the middle were the whole group was. They were all drunk, high, or cross-faded out of their mind.
Brendon passed Tyler a whole bottle of champagne, unopened. Tyler popped the cork off and slung the bottle around as the liquid came shooting out. Everyone started cheering as they were showered with champagne. Tyler lifted it up and took two or three huge gulps of it. He passed it off to Josh, who started drinking from it, too. A fuzzy feeling took over his stomach. The music was so loud, the world was starting to spin a little, and there were so many people around him.
But all he could focus on was Josh in front of him. Something was pulling Tyler towards him. He had lost complete focus on the world, he was completely disoriented. A strong smell of weed was now in the air. But he didn't care. Josh hadn't drank as much as Tyler, but he did smoke a little bit judging by the smell of weed coming from him.
He began to stumble towards Josh, falling straight into his arms. Tyler looked up into Josh's brown eyes. Those beautiful, mocha-brown eyes. Their faces got closer until Josh pulled back with a confused expression, holding Tyler straight up so he didn't fall over.
"What about Jenna?" he asked.
"Jenna? Who's... Jenna?" Tyler slurred in a drunken daze.
Josh raised an eyebrow. "Your girlfriend. The one you bring up all the time?" he said with confusion.
"Girlfriend?" the boy questioned. Josh nodded. "I don't have one of those. I'm gay, didn't you know that?"
Josh's eyes widened. "Huh?"
"For you. I'm gay... for you." Tyler was slurring heavily now.
"You're drunk off your ass. Let's get you home." Josh said. He sounded far away, his voice was echoing.
Tyler's vision was starting to spin faster. The lights were beginning to get super bright. The people around him were moving faster and faster. He looked around. Josh said something and started walking away. Tyler tried to walk after him. Instead, he tripped on his feet and fell.
He looked up. Josh was standing over him. Tyler tried to say something, but his voice wouldn't seem to work. All he felt was Josh pick him up and then everything went black.