Pretty Boy ☆ Joshler

eleven

The buzz from yesterday still hadn't left Josh's system when he woke up on Sunday. He woke up smiling for the first time since the first day of summer earlier this year. Shuffling down the stairs, he greeted his mom who was making pancakes.

She always made pancakes on Sundays. Josh knew it was because she felt bad for working irregular hours for 6 days a week but he never held her work schedule against her. She was the hardest worker he knew, what with his dad not being here and--

Josh shoved that thought back to the gross place it came from. He was feeling too good to bum himself out over something dumb.

He sat at the breakfast bar and thanked his mom when she placed a plate in front of him. 30 minutes later and all the pancakes were gone, leaving behind dirty dishes that Josh insisted he wash. When he'd finished the chore, he realized that he had the entire Sunday to do whatever.

Pattering back up the stairs, he tried to think of something other than his usual scroll through tumblr and Netflix binging to fill his time. But as he returned to the living room couch with his phone, he found himself doing just that. The sounds of AHS filled the room and he snorted out a laugh, reblogging the first post on his dash.

He paused to see another picture of Tyjo- the nickname was stuck in his mind now- gracing his phone screen. Tyler even had his own tag, multiple posts dedicated to him were floating around the site. Josh debated whether it would be wise to create another fan account centered around the boy. It felt weird to talk about Tyler on the internet now that he knew him personally. Driving around with him in the passenger seat made posting pictures of him on social media seem superficial and excessive.

Josh thought for a moment and opened his instagram. It wouldn't be hard to start over with a new account. Maybe he would be able to post pictures of Tyler he takes himself.

His phone beeped, a new message popping up on the screen from Brendon. Josh opened up the conversation and read the texts he'd received yesterday.

(Sat. 11:32 am)
Breadbin Urie: Hey J

Breadbin Urie: J??

(Sat. 5:56 pm)
Breadbin Urie: i need some advice and im kind of freaking out right now could you answer please

(Sat. 7:19 pm)
Breadbin Urie: never mind

Josh's mood changed as he thought of all the possible reasons Brendon could be asking for advice. Josh wasn't nearly the most experienced of the two of them, there was only one main thing he'd done that Brendon might ask him about.

Breadbin Urie: please j i need to talk to you

JD: come over

Seeing that his message had been read, Josh knew it would only take about 10 minutes for Brendon to show up. He prepared to apologize but also to scold. Brendon had virtually ignored him for the past two weeks and suddenly he needed help. Of course, Josh would help him with no hesitation. He was a friend. But he needed it to be known that the lack of interaction was not appreciated.

The doorbell rang and he rose to unlock the door. Brendon stood on his porch, hair disheveled and slightly pale. A short awkward silence followed.

"Man, what happened? You look kind of sick." Josh stepped aside to let his friend in. Brendon immediately drifted to the couch and layed down, roughly shoving his face into a throw pillow.

"That's because I am." He mumbled behind the cotton-stuffed fabric.

"Well then get off my favorite pillow I don't want your bacteria." Josh closed the door and stood beside the couch.

Brendon sat up slowly and took a deep breath, releasing it a few seconds later. He didn't look very sick, just a little shaken up. "Did you get my messages?"

"Yeah just now. What was that about, by the way? Are you alright?" Sitting in the now free space, Josh's voice took a concerned tone.

"You know I'm bisexual, right?" Brendon watched the AHS credits on screen.

"Yeah, so am I." Josh sat up straighter, "When I came out to you, you literally said 'me too'."

Brendon cracked a smile at that, despite his current unhappy mood. "Yeah well. You and Pete were the only ones that knew until last night. I came out to my parents."

Josh's eyes widened and he turned towards the boy. "Are you kidding?"

"Nope. Kinda wish I was though."

"What happened?" Josh was more than a little concerned now. They had talked about how they predicted their families to react to them coming out. Josh told him how his predictions had been extremely off. Only his mom and siblings had reacted the way he had pictured. His dad, well. His dad didn't live here anymore. Upon hearing Josh's story, Brendon had decided he wouldn't be ready to come out for a long time. Josh guessed he would hear why Brendon had changed his mind.

"Nothing happened. They just said 'okay'."

"Well isn't that good?"

"It would be if I didn't hear them arguing about it a couple hours later. It's like they're walking on egg shells around me, J. I know they want to ask questions and talk about it but they won't say anything to my face. I felt relieved to get it out at first but now they're just judging me behind my back." Brendon sighed deeply again, rubbing his temples with his fingertips.

Josh felt a pang in his chest, remembering how he had disregarded the message notifications. Sure, Brendon hadn't been the best of pals lately but Josh had ignored him when he needed him to be there. Guilt infringed his thoughts and he let it take over his words.

"I'm sorry, Bren. I didn't mean to ignore your messages I was just busy. I would've told you to hold off until you were completely sure."

"Oh you would've?" He snapped a little, causing Josh to go quiet. Brendon sighed yet again. "Sorry. I'm just trying to figure out what to do now. I can't keep listening to my parents bicker about which one of them messed up and how they're going to deal with me."

Josh nodded, mumbling another apology. He tried to think of a solution, wanting to help Brendon out as soon as possible. He knew the situation wouldn't be resolved anytime soon, it wasn't that type of deal.

"Well, hey. You can stay here for a few nights if you need some time away from them. There's no point in letting them drive you crazy. I'm not going to let you deal with this alone."

Brendon was quiet for a moment but he smiled and nodded. Josh smiled too, his best friend was back and he had someone else to talk to. He leaned over and engulfed Brendon in a bear hug. "Dude I have so much to catch you up on."

Brendon smiled wider and prompted Josh to tell him everything. Two weeks worth of conversation followed and the boys ended up talking until late in the afternoon. When they ran out of conversation, they transitioned to watching television, Brendon introducing Josh to a new show for him to invest a significant amount of emotion into. They only paused to eat dinner before returning to a Mr. Robot marathon. Relaxed on the couch, his head resting on Brendon's shoulder, a small smile remained on Josh's face as he fell asleep.

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A month is a long time. Sorry peeps.
I think I'm in love with Rami Malek.