In The Dark - {joshler au}

4. Parties / Connections

Wait to start the song.

"Hey, Ty, you just get home?"

Tyler shook his head at his friend who stepped into his room, looking at him with squinted eyes. "Nah," he answered. "I've been here for like 20 minutes. I just always look tired."

Brendon laughed, walking over and shoving Tyler by his shoulder. "Shut up," he said playfully as he picked up the pack of cigarettes his younger friend had on his desk. He shook it before opening it, seeing there was less than half a pack left. "Need me to get you cigarettes?"

"I can pay for 'em, Bren," Tyler said, finishing pulling on his jeans and going to grab his wallet off of his desk, only to be stopped by his older friend.

"That's not what I asked," he said, eyeing Tyler knowingly as they both smiled at each other.

Tyler nodded, ducking his head after. "Yeah," he said softly. "Yeah, could you?"

Brendon grinned, patting Tyler on the back and leading him from his room. "You know I got you," he said softly.

Tyler simply nodded, walking into the kitchen where his mom was finishing up cleaning the dishes from dinner. "Hey, Momma," he said, catching the attention of his mom, who smiled back at him. "We're gonna head out now."

"Okay, baby," she said with a smile. "You guys coming back tonight?"

Tyler looked to his older friend, who rose an eyebrow at him. "Are we gonna be drinking?" Brendon simply nodded, Tyler nodding back. "No ma'am," he directed at his mom. "We're gonna be drinking so we'll probably just crash there."

His mom nodded. "Smart boy," she said. "If you guys wanna come home, though, you can always call me. I'll come get you."

The boys both nodded, thanking her as Tyler pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Love you, Mom," he said. "See you tomorrow!"

"Love you," she called back. "Have fun, be careful!"

"We will!" Both boys called back to Tyler's mom as they left the house and clambered into Brendon's car. "So," Tyler spoke as they pulled away from the house, "what's the occasion for the party this time?"

Brendon chuckled as they headed toward the gas station. "It's Carmen's 18th birthday party, apparently. Her birthday was last month, but Jake decided he wanted to have her party when her parents were out of town."

Tyler nodded with a laugh as they pulled into the gas station parking lot, Brendon unclicking his seatbelt and turning toward his friend. "Want anything else while I'm in there?"

Tyler shook his head, leaning back against the seat with a soft smile. "Nah, I'm good, Bren. Thanks."

The older friend simply nodded, closing the car door and heading into the gas station. Tyler pulled out his phone and decided to scroll through Instagram while he waited on his friend. His feed was full of all of the same bullshit as every other day; posts from popular kids who followed him for some unknown reason, a couple of uploads of Ashley's latest paintings, and a wild abundance of posts from Ryan containing slice-of-life photography.

His smile started to grow however as he came across a picture of Josh lying in his bed, only his feet visible as his dog lies across his lap and his TV shows the Netflix logo across the screen. Its caption simply read:

night in ft my dude #jimdun

Tyler laughed softly as he double tapped the photo and slid his phone back into his jean pocket just as Brendon exited the store. When he opens the car door, he smiles widely at Tyler and hands him his cigarettes and a can of Peach Peace Tea. "I know you said nothing else," he started as he climbed into his seat and shut the door, "but they finally restocked the Peace Teas, and I figured you'd want one."