Another day of theater class and without Mark it had been quite lonely for Tyler. The only other person he had was Jocef. They were more of acquaintances though. They had a new project coming up and it was to perform a song, like last time, but inspired by a simple word. Tyler looked to Jocef and Jocef nodded his head back, thus creating the rapping duo again. They, yet again, had to pick from a hat and pull out a word.
"Concern."
_____________________________________________________
Tyler and Jocef had been working on their song for a good couple of hours and Mark came down to help produce. Tyler didn't know what to write about in the first half of the writing session. He looked up the word 'concern' and it meant '1. relate to; be about, 2. worry (someone); make anxious.' He knew something that did made him concerned.
ME.
IMAK EYOU PANICWI THFEAR.
ARE YOU SCAREDNOW!?
BE CONCERNED.
WO RRY!
IT'SNO TGOINGTO BEA GOO DSONG.
Blurryface knew how to make Tyler's mind crawl with thoughts, but Blurryface had a good one then.
Be Concerned
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They stayed up till' one in the morning finishing the song and when it was time to head to class, Tyler was beat. Blurryface was being raw and real telling him over and over how terrible the song was. Tyler knew he was wrong. He was. Blurryface was wrong. He had to be wrong.
I'MNOT WRONG!
WHE NHA VE I EVERB EEN?
REMEMBER WH-
"Tyler, Jocef! You're next!"
Tyler shook the thoughts away and they stepped in front of the class.
All the eyes staring at him.
All their faces blurring.
Tyler wanted it to stop.
"Well, our word was 'concern' so here's our song 'Be Concerned' written by Tyler and myself." Jocef explained and he hit play on the computer.
Music filled the room.
FAILURE.
THEY'REJUD GING YOU!
Tyler started singing and let the music control him.
Tyler: "Where'd you go, huh? They all think I know you,
It's so hard to motivate,
Me to devote a,
Single inch of me to,
Something I can't see I,
Don't mean to pry but why,
Would you even make the eyes?
I don't believe my ears,
And I'm scared of my own head,
I will deny you for years,
Then I'll make you raise me from the dead,
And if I said that I would live for you,
For nothing in return,
Well I'm sorry Mr. Gullible,
But lying's all I've learned,
So be concerned."
Jocef : "No music,
And I could talk about anything,
Whether or not it's worthwhile,
Is based on who's listening,
Most of us listen if it's,
Something we can relate to,
All of us relate,
If it's something we've just been through,
Take it for granted,
Trust is damaged and now we panic,
Living empty-handed,
Living lives like we can't manage, I can't feel you,
But still know where home is feeling like Jonah did,
Almost dropped the bat like every base was fully loaded.
So be concerned."
Tyler: "I am disappearing,
Inside my bird's eye theories,
I try to say goodbye, defy, and deny,
What it is I'm fearing,
Clearly I am dying, dearly I am writing,
Merely testifying, that the test to fly requires I,
Pass the test with colors flying,
I don't believe you most the time,
I'm lying 'cause I say I am fine,
You are the pearl, I am the swine,
So break my life and take this rhyme,
I'm so sorry but I do believe,
That all my bridges, I have burned,
And I've earned a policy of no return,
So be concerned."
They ended and sat down while the class clapped accordingly.
Singing sometimes helped fight Blurryface and Tyler was grateful Blurryface was quiet after that.
Tyler returned home and starting to pack for the weekend trip to Kentucky. He was looking for his old journal but couldn't find it so he decided to check in his car. He looked all around his car but didn't find it until he found it in his jacket pocket, again, but he did find something in his car. It was his ukulele. He had forgotten all about it since the day he bought it and decided to bring it along the trip to Kentucky.
____________________________________________
Twenty One Pilots packed Mark's van with Josh's drum set and all their bags and set off for Kentucky. It wasn't a long drive, only about two hours. They got there at five o'clock PM and their performance time was at eight so they had plenty of time to get ready and prepare. They were at a place called 'The Mad Hatter' and when they pulled in, there were plenty of other bands there too. They got out of the van and starting unpacking as Mark filmed; he filmed along the way as well.
"The whole show is double-booked. So we went from three bands, to nine bands... Welcome to uh, the underground local music of the United States." Tyler said to Mark as he filmed.
_____________________________________________________
They played a small set that night, due to it being double-booked but the crowd still seemed to like the wild, crazy, weirdness that is Twenty One Pilots live. Tyler let the music control him and the crowd seemed to like it. They even sold some merch and CD's that night. They were building a fanbase and it was seeming that Twenty One Pilots had a good chance at being a good band with just two people.
On the way to Ichthus, Tyler remembered one day when Josh and him were recording and talked about being just a two person band. Mark was filming that day as well. Mark was always filming though, ever since he let Tyler and Josh move in with him Mark had never stopped filming.
*FLASHBACK*
Tyler and Josh were working on a new song trying to make it right. It was seeming difficult though, placing the other instruments in by computer was getting rough.
"What do you think of that?" Tyler asked Josh when he replayed the bass part.
"It feels pretty good." Josh replied.
"So this is the one without bass in the track."
"Right."
"Okay, so you have another project."
"With bass and the-"
"With bass in the track."
Mark came behind them and filmed.
"Um, basically right now what we're doing is uh, we're trying to figure out the best way of going about getting bass tracks to come out. What we did is just threw bass tracks into our tracks that run through the main system and what's wrong about that is that the sound guy doesn't have the um, option of turning the bass down but not the track down. So what we're doing is we're creating a separate track just for bass and then we're going to be sending that through a different line um, out of a different channel on Josh's interface so that when we're able to give him control of the bass and the track on two separate lines. This all means, this all basically means Twenty One Pilots is going to be a two-piece band and we're gonna rely pretty heavily on technology and um, energy on stage to cover up the fact that we're only two people but I think we can do it um, it's just a lot of work. I just, I just wonder if we can put on enough of a show with two people."
*END FLASHBACK*
"Tyler?" Josh asked.
"Huh?"
"You zoned out again. What were you thinking about this time?"
"Being a two-person band and wondering if we can have a good enough show."
"I mean we did tonight. There were a good amount of people in that crowd and we're playing a festival tomorrow!"
"They were there for the other bands, though."
"Tyler, just watch. One day, we'll possibly be selling out arenas everywhere. This is just a start."
Tyler laughed, "I sure hope so, Josh."
Tyler laid down in his seat and wondered. Would it be possible for this small local band to do big things like that?
YOU ARE READING
The One I'm Not (Twenty One Pilots)
FanfictionIt's like breathing in as much air as you possibly can, and not wanting to exhale it all. Holding it in, how can a heavy soul be in that much control over itself? Tyler Joseph thought about that a lot, especially in his writing. How can he be in con...
