"wear something cute, okay?"
josh is immensely flustered as he examines himself in the mirror for the fifth time, having completely changed his outfit each of those five times. he groans in frustration, still not feeling quite right about his appearance.
he has on brown cargo pants and an oversized black band tee with a black long-sleeve shirt layered underneath. a pair of black and white nike dunks adorn his feet, a few necklaces dangle on his chest, and black plugs sit in his ear lobes.
his hair looks insane—black curls flying wildly in every which way. maybe that's the problem. he pulls on a brown carhartt beanie in an attempt to suppress the wilderness that is his curly hair. it works mostly. small spirals still peek out from beneath the edges, but at least it's mostly contained. he looks in the mirror one last time, hoping he'll satisfy tyler's request.
although there isn't currently snow on the ground, it is february and very cold. josh debates if he should bring a coat or not, but ultimately decides he'll be fine. a coat would just ruin his outfit, anyway. he checks the time, sending tyler a text.
leaving now. be there soon
he gets a response almost immediately.
kk see ya soon joshie <3
the drive to tyler's place is about ten minutes. josh is sure to have panic at the disco playing by the time tyler slides into his passenger seat, causing the younger to grin.
"excited?" he asks, mindlessly scrolling through his phone as josh pulls out of the driveway and starts down the road to riley's pub.
"i'm just glad to be hanging out with you," josh admits. "but it'll be cool to hear them play, too."
tyler changes the topic, starting to go on a rant about andy and how annoying he is. josh doesn't understand why tyler even bothers to hook up with him; he's never heard tyler say one nice thing about the guy. he doesn't voice this though, knowing it would make tyler mad.
they're pulling into the gravel parking lot about twenty minutes later, the sound of the tiny rocks crunching underneath their feet as they enter the bar. the place is mostly wooden, almost with the vibe of an old saloon even though it's technically a pub. it's not terribly crowded, but there's definitely a larger audience than the last time tyler dragged him to one of these events. a few other kids that josh knows from school are there as well. hayley from history, vic from calc, zack on the football team, and one of their foreign exchange students, jimin.
tyler tugs on josh's shirt, pointing at the direction of the stage. "god, look at them."
josh doesn't get what's so great about them, particularly the one tyler can't stop drooling over. they're cute, he guesses, but tyler outdoes them all.
"you know, joshie, i bet eyeliner would look good on you too," tyler says. he reaches out, taking josh's face in his hands and studying him carefully. "yeah, definitely."
"really? eyeliner?" josh chuckles. "guess i could try it sometime."
"you'd look cute," he shrugs.
"am i not already?"
"that's not what i meant" tyler laughs, smacking josh's arm, "don't be a nerd."
"fine, but you have to help me do it."
"fine," tyler agrees.
before he can process what's happening, tyler's fingers close around his wrist as he begins dragging him towards the small stage. he wants to protest, but knows his attempts would be futile because tyler would just ignore him. he joins his friend front and center, watching the four guys on stage set up their equipment. tyler makes the point to clear his throat, gaining the attention of who josh recognizes is the lead singer, brendon.
"hi," tyler smiles as the singer comes closer. he lets out an air-headed giggle that makes josh roll his eyes. "we wanted to meet you, i guess. i'm tyler. this is my friend, josh."
josh nods, offering a smile. he hates the way brendon's eyes slowly move up and down to scan tyler's body. his lips curl into a gross smile.
"i'm brendon. this is my band."
"panic at the disco," tyler nods, intensely holding brendon's stare. "we know. i know you guys. your music is great."
"well, thanks," brendon grins, his eyes never leaving tyler's.
josh feels so out of place. he clears his throat awkwardly, gaining tyler's attention for only half a second.
"let me buy you a drink," tyler offers brendon.
"alright. what are we having?"
"jagerbomb?"
"sounds great."
they look at each other for a moment longer before tyler finally pulls himself away. josh stops him in his tracks, watching brendon turn towards his bandmates.
"how are you going to get alcohol, dummy? you're underage."
"jenna's behind the bar," he grins, nodding in that direction.
josh turns to spot the blonde head of hair rushing around to serve her customers. he sighs.
"okay, i'll be here."
tyler pecks his cheek before happily making his way to the bar. josh wipes the wet kiss on the back of his hand, huffing in annoyance. feeling anxious now that he's alone, he resorts to checking his phone. he has a few messages from frank and mikey teasing him about how much fun they're having without him.
you guys are terrible liars
he grins at his response before the conversation on stage catches his attention.
"spencer, what about that one?"
josh watches out of the corner of his eye as brendon and the spencer guy look in tyler's direction.
"i don't know. are you sure he's-"
"listen. i know guys like him. they love to act all cocky and shit, but they do not give it up. he is definitely a virgin. i've dated guys like him before. trust me."
josh can't hide the disgusted look that makes its way to his face. these guys are weird.
"i don't know," spencer repeats.
"well we didn't drive out here for nothing, so..."
josh can't stand to listen to them anymore. it's horrible to hear them talk about his best friend this way. and maybe he's a little jealous. he walks up to the stage again, earning their attention with a loud, "excuse me."
they both turn their direction to him, blank stares on their faces.
"yeah?" brendon asks.
"that's my best friend that you're talking about," josh pauses, not even sure where he's going with this, "and you're right. he is a virgin. that beats sleeping with gross guys like you."
he wants to say more, especially considering the way brendon's face seems to light up at the mention, but decides to walk away. he'll just find tyler and tell him what he heard. there's no guarantee he'll even care, but he at least deserves to know the way they were talking about him as if he was some piece of meat.
tyler approaches him with two jagerbombs in hand, grinning triumphantly. "ta-da."
"those guys are fucking weird, tyler. just forget about it."
"i think brendon wants me," the younger says, glancing in the direction of the singer.
"only because they think you're a virgin. i heard them talking about it."
"what?" tyler gasps.
"yeah, it was really weird."
"i lost my virginity two years ago!"
josh rolls his eyes, remembering the specific instance thanks to tyler giving him a play-by-play way more times than he needed to. "i know that."
before tyler can respond, the sound of a guitar begins to fill the bar. he shrugs and sets down the jagerbombs, grabbing josh's hand and leading him to the front of the crowd to watch the show. he doesn't understand how tyler can just blow something like that off, but then again he hardly understands anything about the boy.
from the front of the crowd, josh can see the band clearly. he can also clearly see the strangely intense eye contact between brendon and tyler, making him feel weird inside. tyler isn't singing along with the songs as he had been in the car, but instead is standing there with a little grin on his face.
josh has to admit that the band sounds really good, even better in person actually. he tunes into the lyrics of whatever song they're performing.
so testosterone boys and harlequin girls will you dance to this beat and hold a lover close?
josh feels a hand close around his own. he glances down, finding tyler has interlocked their fingers together. the younger looks at him, toothy grin planted on his face, causing josh's stomach to do somersaults.
so i guess we're back to us, oh cameraman swing the focus.
tyler's attention returns to the band and josh finds himself annoyed with the stupid words to this stupid song and how they fit the stupid situation stupidly well. he drops tyler's hand, mostly to see if it'll cause any sort of reaction, but it doesn't. tyler doesn't even seem to notice. if he does, he definitely doesn't care. he's more worried about giving brendon fuck me eyes.
suddenly, a commotion breaks out behind them. people start screaming and glasses start shattering. josh quickly turns to search for the problem, but it would be impossible to miss. a bright orange blazing fire quickly begins to spread uncontrollably through the bar. within seconds, the heat is unbearable and the smoke is suffocating his lungs. people are running frantically to escape, trampling each other, but a fallen beam blocks the exit.
he comes to his senses, suddenly, noticing tyler is standing still beside him.
"we have to get out of here!" josh yells, grabbing the younger's hand and pulling him in the direction of the bathrooms.
the fire hasn't spread that far yet, thankfully, so the two are able to lift open the bathroom window and carefully slide themselves out head-first. josh goes first, grabbing tyler's arms to help ease him to a more gentle fall than the one he just took. they stumble away from the bar which is now completely engulfed in flames, collapsing to the ground in a heap. josh is coughing and sputtering, but tyler sits silently with a dead stare in his eyes.
some instinct takes over and josh immediately goes into protective mode, grabbing tyler's shoulders and shaking him slightly. "hey, hey, tyler. are you okay?"
screaming catches his attention. a man runs out of the bar, enveloped in flames. josh's jaw drops at the sight, his eyes widening out of terror. tyler goes to look, too, but josh quickly captures his head in his hands and forces him to keep his hollow eyes trained on josh. his lips are parted slightly, empty gaze devoid of emotion.
"tyler?"
suddenly, a voice rings out from behind him.
"thank god you guys are alright. i've been looking everywhere for you."
josh whips his head around, speechless at the sight of brendon unscathed before them. he has a drink in hand which josh can't even believe. how did he manage that? was that really the most pressing matter on his mind?
"listen, it's really dangerous out here," brendon says, as an explosion of fire causes josh to jump. "let's go someplace safer."
finally, something sensible.
"yeah, let's go tyler. i'll drive us home."
"oh, actually i was thinking we could head to my van," brendon shrugs, taking a sip of the dark liquor in his glass.
josh is frozen in astonishment, his face contorting in confusion. he casts cold eyes towards the older man. "what?"
brendon kneels down beside them. "i'm in survival mode, obviously. i want us to get to a familiar place, which is my van."
josh sees tyler nod slightly. he quickly shakes his head in response, but brendon speaks before he can.
"okay, he's in shock. great. here, take this," he holds the cup out to tyler.
josh watches in disbelief as tyler takes the drink and gulps down its contents.
"tyler?"
brendon takes tyler's hand and drags him to his feet, starting to lead him in the direction that the van is. he quickly stands as well, jaw slack as he tries to comprehend what's even going on right now.
"come on, ty, let's go!" he yells desperately.
"yeah, let's go to the van," brendon says nonchalantly.
"i wanna go to your van," tyler mumbles quickly, allowing himself to be dragged further from josh. "let's go see his van, joshie."
"why?" josh yells, feet planted as they get further away from him. "i can take us home tyler, come on! let's just go. ty! please?"
"whatever!" tyler shouts back. "just shut up. drop it."
he watches in horror as tyler climbs into the van, nearly collapsing on the spencer guy's lap the moment he sits down. his eyes meet josh's, but they're lifeless. josh feels tremendously guilty for just letting tyler go with them. he has a terrible feeling deep in his stomach that something bad is going to happen to him. they're going to rape him. or kidnap him. or murder him. god, josh can't even begin to imagine the horrors.
he's still frozen with shock as brendon shuts the door to the van, turning to give him a sly wink before they drive off.