✾Josh✾
The walk home from school seemed very quiet to me. I guess Ty's previous socialisation had been a product of anxiety and a sort of the heat of the moment response to it all. I would've liked to talk more, but I wanted our friendship to be more relaxed from now on, I didn't want to pressure Tyler into doing anything he didn't want to.
"Sooooo," he said whilst his tongue was dancing over the trail of elongated o's.
I smiled a little when I realised Ty was the first to initiate in conversation, he glanced over instinctively and shook his head when he noticed my expression.
"Are you going to get excited every time I talk?" he said moodily, kicking rocks as we walked.
"Do you have a problem with that?" I said cocking an eyebrow.
"No, I guess if you're happy then I'll keep talking"
I laughed softly.
"I shouldn't have said that out loud right?" Ty continued to look down in shame and kick rocks to pacify his urge to ignore his feelings.
"It was cute"
"I'm definitely not cute Josh," he said trying to use an intimidating tone.
"If you say so boss" I nudged him playfully but he just mumbled something under his breath. I checked the road both ways and began to cross, but before my foot could leave the path I felt Tyler grab my now sweaty palm.
"Just making sure you're safe, cant let you get hit on my watch"
"I looked both ways, you didn't even look!" I scoffed.
"That was a weird way of saying thank you" he said coldly, Ty squeezed my hand as we walked across the road at his normal fast pace. The protective, and somewhat naïve, version of Ty made my heart flutter like the wings of a lovebird. He tried to act tough and authoritative and I couldn't quite decide if he was cute because he wasn't very good at it ,or if it was because he was good and it showed he cared. Either way it was obvious that Ty wasn't used to normal friendships, but it was adorable to see him making an effort.
"Thank you, I guess. We made it across a two meter length road and didn't get injured"
"That wasn't genuine" Ty retorted.
"Thank you Ty, I appreciate you looking out for me" I smiled as I tried to worm my hand away from his grip, he politely let me go.
"I suppose I'll take that" the sides of his lips were curling, but only ever so slightly. "Do you want me to walk you to your door?"
"I'll be okay, but thank you"
"So I guess this is us" Tyler rocked back on his heels and placed his hands awkwardly in his back pockets.
"It doesn't have to be" I shrugged.
"The music projects only due next month, we have loads of time to start it"
"I didn't mean that, I meant that maybe we could," I gulped, I forgot how piercing Ty's eyes could be when he wasn't the one in control of the situation. "We could maybe text each other or snap chat, I don't wanna annoy you but it'd be helpful to plan ou-"
"I don't know what snap chat is" Tyler's wavering tone made me feel physically weak, it was a punch in the face. Tyler hadn't had any friends to message, I should have realised.
"Its ok, don't sound so worried. I'll teach you sometime, for now we can just text yeah?"
He nodded briefly and passed me his phone, "Can you make a new contact please?"
When I opened the app I began to sob internally, I didn't mean to pry but I literally couldn't help it. His only contacts were his parents and his siblings, none of them had nicknames, they were all saved under formal names. His amount of contacts was so little that scrolling down was not an option.
"Is there a problem?" Ty said with embarrassment spread in his voice. He'd realised what he had shown me.
"No, I'm just thinking of what I should save my name as" I lied, trying to make him feel less uneasy.
"Josh Dun?" he replied, eyes as wide as the sky above. His lack of understanding set my heart off again.
I handed him the phone back, I'd saved my name as 'Jishwa✨', I thought a love heart was too much at this stage.
"Jishwa?" he asked, trying to sound out the name, "It's nice but its not your name, how will I know its you?"
"Tyler you're making it so hard for me not to cry right now"
"I'm sorry" he whimpered.
"It's okay, but you'll know its me because I took a picture and attached it to my contact. I figured it'd be useful"
"OK one second then"
Even the way he typed seemed so foreign to me, he held the phone in his left hand and used a finger from his right to fumble around the keyboard. Put it this way it took longer than a second for him to reply.
Unknown number: Hello, this is Tyler Joseph's phone number.
I quickly ran my fingers over my phones keypad.
"That's not fair! Hello, this is Josh's phone number, I know you're mocking me"
"Aw no I feel bad now, its cute how you text"
"The influences of my lack of social experience on my texts is a good thing?"
"Mmhm" I nodded, "Don't text and cross the road ok"
"I lack social knowledge, not general common sense"
"Don't get all defensive, I was being nice"
"See you later Josh"
"Text me later Ty"
"OK Jishwa!" I saw Tyler laughing to himself as he turned to walk in the opposite direction. I squealed happily to myself when I realised that I had peeled back another layer of the ominous figure that was Tyler Joseph. I wondered what he'd text me, or if he'd even text me at all. I hoped he would, it was exciting to think about what he'd talk about. Maybe he'd text me goodnight, maybe he'd show me things that fascinated him, maybe he'd plan to meet up more often. I slapped my face metaphorically, I was overthinking it all but I couldn't help it, I'd become borderline obsessed with Ty and it was scaring me because I knew he wasn't really capable of feeling the same.
//
♪Tyler♪
"Mom!" I called out, "Mom my cakes didn't rise!"
Kelly wandered into the kitchen, trying to pretend that she wasn't already spying on me. "Let me have a look Ty" she sorted through the mess I had left on the countertop. "Aaah" she said, trying to role-play as a detective, "I've found the culprit!"
She stuck out the bag of flour in her hands, "I don't see the issue with the flour, is it out of date or something?"
Kelly shook her head in disappointment, "I thought my son could at least bake fairy cakes!"
I looked down to the floor, "Well, where did I go wrong then? Teach me"
"You used flour, not self-raising flour. The clues in the name son. You tidy this mess up and I'll make a batch for you"
"No!" I said harshly, "Sorry for snapping, I just want to make these by myself"
"Who are you making them for?"
"No one, it doesn't matter"
The blood ran to my cheeks, "Are these for your boyfriend?" she smiled wickedly as she began to search in the cupboards for the self-raising flour.
"I told you, I don't have a boyfriend"
"I bet you will, after these amazing Joseph recipe cakes"
"Shut up mom, I can do the rest on my own thanks" I snatched the flour from her grumpily and started to remake my cakes.
My phone buzzed a soon after, but I still had flour all over my fingers which made it even harder to use my phone.
'Jishwa✨': I don't wanna annoy you, but I'm bored ❤️.
You're not annoying me.I was busy but I have 20 minutes free time now if you want to stay and talk
After I sent the message I realised how blunt it seemed, I clicked on the emoji button and scrolled through them. They all seemed too forward, I didn't want to use anything remotely heart related but eventually I found a simple smiley face. I sent it separately and waited impatiently for Josh's reply.
'Jishwa✨' 20 minutes? That's very precise, what are you doing? I hope its fun :)
I didn't want to ruin my lame surprise so I paused awkwardly before replying,
Nothing much, I just have to do something later 🌵
'Jishwa✨' Nice to see you experimenting with emojis ✨
I feel awkward without them. So, what are your plans for the night? ✨
'Jishwa✨' Don't steal my sparkle! Tbh nothing really, was just gonna practice some music to get ready for the project
I'm sorry, what does 'tbh' mean?
'Jishwa✨' To be honest
Sorry that I'm not good at texting
'Jishwa✨' You're fine, I'm not as bored as I was so you're doing something right
I'm glad. So, what do we talk about now?
'Jishwa✨' Anything you want to b
B? What does this mean? Again I am sorry
'Jishwa✨' It's just a cute nickname, and stop apologising! ❤️