Colors // Joshler

// 52. A Beautiful Crescendo //

Tyler headed outside, and sure enough, Josh was waiting. He had been looking at his phone, but once he heard the front door open, he lifted his head up, and a sky blue grin was on his face again. "Ready to go?"

"Yup." Tyler adjusted his backpack on his shoulders, and grinned back at Josh. The two of them set out.

Rather quickly, Josh reached out and grasped Tyler's hand, slightly surprising Tyler. Josh's hands were a little bigger and rougher than Tyler's, but Tyler didn't mind. It was absolutely wonderful, in fact.

The two boys walked hand in hand, talking about various things, until they reached the school gates. They both paused before going in, and finally, Tyler remembered how homophobic his school was, not to mention the fact that the clique didn't know what was going on.

Frankly, he himself didn't know what was going on either, but it felt like a good thing, so he let it happen as it went along.

He let go of Josh's hand, but Josh reached out to grasp it again, and he kissed the top of it, like a gentleman in an elegant movie. Since neither of them were gentlemen--rather, just teenagers in high school--it was kind of silly, but it made Tyler giggle, and that made Josh smile. It was all that was needed.

They walked into the school yard, hands in their pockets instead.

As usual, the clique was just outside the front doors of the school. Brendon and Pete were leaning against the wall, while Frank and Gerard sat, cuddling, on the ground. As Tyler sat down a few feet away from them, he briefly imagined him and Josh cuddling like that. It was pretty cold outside.

Josh easily slipped into the conversation Pete and Brendon were having, and Tyler easily listened.

Josh's voice had always been easy for him to listen to. It varied in shades of blue, depending on the tone--soft baby blue when he was quiet, dark blue when he raised his voice, and a natural sky blue for his usual carefree voice. It was such a beautiful crescendo, Tyler couldn't help but admire it.

"Hey, Tyler! Earth to Tyler!"

Tyler blinked. He hadn't been paying attention. "Sorry, what?"

"Something going on?" Brendon was glancing down at Tyler, having been the one who grabbed his focus a moment ago.

Quickly, Tyler pushed any pink thoughts of Josh into the back of his mind and tried to draw back his usual gray state. It felt sort of achy now. "No, why?"

"You and Josh keep making eyes at each other," Brendon declared. "It's totally obvious."

Brendon wasn't wrong. The entire morning, Tyler's eyes had been on Josh, just watching him, and Josh's eyes hadn't strayed far from Tyler, either. The dark-haired boy felt like he didn't have to hide his feelings from Josh so much now, but he had sort of forgotten to hide it from his friends.

Luckily, before Brendon could press any further on the subject, Gerard spoke up. "Leave them be, Brendon." His tone was gentle, but his hazel eyes were almost piercing with warning as they looked up at the boy.

Brendon just scoffed, but he changed the subject, and Tyler was relieved. He gave Gerard a grateful look, and the other boy simply nodded his head in response, cuddling into Frank's chest and listening to the new conversation.