band aids ↠ joshler ✔

e l e v e n

1 year and 4 months

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tyler and josh were awoken the next day by the sound of ray knocking and unlocking their door.

'oh, yeah, new schedule. great.' josh sarcastically thought to himself, stretching, but then immediately rolling over and dozing off again.

it was then that josh realized, too, that he was lucky to have the bottom bunk. the knocking surprised tyler so much he literally fell off the top, dropping onto the floor with a loud thud.

josh scrambled out of bed at the sound of tyler falling to the floor just as ray opened the door, raising an eyebrow at the scene.

"uh, sorry to interrupt whatever's going on here, but it's time for breakfast, so..."

with a half-awkward smile, josh replied, "yeah, one sec," before pulling tyler (who was still half asleep) back to his feet.

they both quickly changed clothes before leaving out the door. they made their way to the back of the lines of strangers before quickly grasping hands as usual, both boys equally nervous about being surrounded by new faces.

they barely made it ten feet before somebody stepped on the back of josh's shoe.

he ignored it, of course, mistaking it for just an accident. but not fifteen seconds later, a comment let's him know otherwise.

"walk faster, fag."

josh's face drops before he turns his head on impulse, getting a clear view of the face behind him.

stubble littered the man's face, his eyes collected bags underneath, and his hair was untidy and a shade of blonde so greasy and dark it almost looked green.

josh held his tongue and turned back around, not wanting to start any problems.

"he wasn't t-talking t-to you, r-right?" tyler asked quietly.

"no," josh responded, not meeting tyler's eyes.

neither talked, but josh squeezed tyler's hand tighter.

-

"lunch was like, super boring without you guys. we were stuck with these two others who were super lame. jon bellybutton and paul meanie-pants."

"what?" josh asked, almost laughing.

"their real names are jon bellion and paul meany... but i like my names for them better." brendon explained, rolling his eyes. "they both came in together because their heads are screwed up. bellybutton has fregoli's delusion and meanie-pants has cotard's delusion."

"what are those?"

"i dunno, i wasn't listening." brendon said. he kicked the stream, splashing water on the fence opposite him, before leaning on dallon's arm. "they're annoying. why can't you come back and have lunch with us instead?"

"it's not our choice, man. at least we can still hang out here."

brendon groaned.

"and how'd you know they were annoying if you didn't listen to them?" josh asked, raising an eyebrow as a smirk simultaneously found it's way to his lips.

brendon only crossed his arms before pouting and admitting, "they just are."

tyler laughed quietly, linking arms with josh and dipping his shoes into the water like usual.

"hey," brendon spoke up (wow what a surprise), "do you guys like to sing?"

josh raised an eyebrow, "what?"

"i do. i used to sing all the time." he said happily.

"r-really?" tyler asked.

"yep. i used to sing here when i first got here, but the guards told me to shut up because, 'urie, it's 3 am' and 'people are trying to sleep'," brendon explained while waving a finger, intimidating the guards. "but i asked dallon if he liked my singing and he nodded, so i couldn't have been that annoying."

tyler and josh nodded simultaneously, they knew brendon well enough to be able he wanted to keep talking.

"when i get out of here i want to start a band. do you know what i'll cal it?"

tyler and josh shook their heads.

"i'll called it, 'stressed¡ at the nightclub.'"

"wow..." josh replied, "that's a sick name."

"i know, right? but, like, something's missing. maybe i'll change 'nightclub' to 'discotheque'."

"anxiety? at the d-discotheque," tyler suggested.

"that's perfect!" brendon perked up, his eyes going wide.

josh leaned back onto his elbows, "anxiety? at the discotheque, and their smash hit, 'i write tragedies not sins."

brendon laughed, "yes, this is amazing. the perfect plan."

"yeah, but how good really are you at singing, huh? and can you play any instruments?" josh questioned, grinning.

"three octaves and seven notes, also i can play pretty much everything, thank you very much."

"r-really? that's actually incredible, d-dude," tyler cut in.

"thanks." brendon smiled proudly. "just wondering, do you stutter when you sing too, or...?"

dallon nudged brendon, but he ignored it.

"oh," tyler said, "i d-don't sing."

"that's too bad... you'd be good."

"n-no... i wouldn't," tyler shook it off.

"you told me though that you wanted to make music though," josh interrupted, "and i'm with brendon. i bet you'd be really good!"

tyler shrunk slightly, "no, no, it was a d-d-dumb d-dream," he looked off, turning his face to the sky.

"well who told you that?" brendon asked.

"m-my mom."

"well she was lame anyway. besides, she's dead, so why are you still listening to her?"

this time, dallon punched brendon in the arm in attempts to shut him up, while josh just took in a large breath of air.

"w-what? how d-do you know she's d-dead?"

brendon's jaw fell. "oh, um, er... you told us before."

"i d-did?"

"yeah. like, third day at lunch or something." brendon lied, trying to make it sound convincing as sweat began to form on his forehead.

"oh... i d-don't r-remember."

"it was a while ago, and i realize that i overstepped my boundaries and i'm sorry and we should stop talking about this because it might make you uncomfortable and now i feel bad and i don't really want to talk about it either and i'm sorry so let's talk about something else," brendon rambled on without realizing. "anyway what do you guys think about that guy with the pink hair, hot or not?"

tyler seemed flustered, and just kept staring out the ground, so josh swooped in. "do you mean that guy pete?" he asked.

"yeah, that guy."

"first, definitely hot, second, there's no way i'll let you get together with him."

"why not?!"

"because i've been waiting for you and dallon to come out as a couple from day one."

dallon and brendon's faces both turned bright shades of red, and tyler looked up at them to let out a laugh.

"um, no, that's not a thing. we're not a thing," brendon exclaimed, pulling his head up off dallon's chest.

"sure, but don't forget to invite me and tyler to your wedding, all right?"