Down in the Forest || Joshler [Completed]

1- Stupid Summer Camp

"Tyler Robert Joseph, you better not be in bed right now!" I shot up and jumped out of bed. I threw on the closest pair of jeans and shirt off of my floor. My mom pushed open my door and I leaned against my dresser as casually as I could. "Oh, well, good. Grab your bag and get some breakfast before we go." I let out a sigh as she left my room.

My junior year of high school had been, well, rough, so my parents decided to send me to work as a counselor at a sleep away camp this summer. My parents tried to tell me that it was "for my own good" but I knew they just wanted me out of the house. I wasn't too upset though. Time away from home meant more time to be myself.

If you must know, I'm very gay and very in the closet. In all honesty, I was sort of relieved to be in the middle of the woods two towns over. There wasn't a high chance of seeing anyone I knew, so I could act however I wanted. The downside was that it was in the middle of a forest. Forests have bugs.

I grabbed my ukulele that I kept hidden at the top of my closet and packed it carefully into my suitcase. Once I was sure that I had everything that I needed, I carried my bag downstairs.

"Tyler," my father's voice boomed behind me. I set my bag down and turned to face him.

"Yes, dad?"

"You know why we're sending you to this camp, right?"

"So I can't mess anything else up?" I asked. My dad scowled at me.

"No, Tyler," he said, clearly not amused. "Not exactly. We just think you need to spend some time outside and away from home. Y'know? Also, it should be a good way to show us you can be responsible."

"Okay," I said, trying to smile. He must've believed it because he patted my shoulder and led me to the kitchen. I had a quick bowl of cereal, watching silently as my siblings all argued about something unimportant. When I was finished, I brought my bag out to my mom's car and we began our drive. I rolled my eyes internally as my mom put on the news.

After what felt like an eternity of driving, we pulled onto a dirt road. Slowly, the cabins crept into view. There were a few teenagers meandering around the area and I became nervous. She pulled around to the drop off zone and I took a deep breath before getting out of the car and getting my bag out of the trunk. My mom got out too and walked around to where I was. She had tears forming in her eyes and I almost got back into the car. Seeing people cry always made me weak. Especially when the person crying is my mom.

"Be good, Tyler. And, please, make sure you eat enough," she said, smiling.

"I will, mom." She hugged me tight and placed a kiss on my cheek before getting back into the car. I watched her drive away before turning back towards the buildings and following the other teens. I scanned the rest of the counselors to try to see if there was someone I recognized. When I didn't see any familiar faces, I smiled.

"Okay, counselors, my name is Mr. Roberts and welcome to Camp Lotus!" He held his arms out in a gesture to the surrounding area. "Now, before we get to cabin and bunk assignments, I'd like to go over a couple of rules and regulations. Firstly, there is no cell phone reception here." We all groaned slightly and Mr. Roberts smiled. "I know. But, that means you'll, hopefully, pay more attention to the campers and less to Twitter. Um, yes?" I turned to look at who had raised their hand. It was a girl with shoulder length hair that was a bright orange-red color.

"Are the cabins separated by gender?"

"Yes! I was just about to get to that actually. Maybe we can hold all questions to the end," Mr. Roberts replied, giving the girl an annoyed look. A few people laughed before he continued. "Back to the rules, all counselors must be in their cabins after 11 pm and all campers in your group must be accounted for at all times. I have already randomly assigned your partners, so don't try to talk me into letting you pick." He grabbed a clipboard off of the picnic table he was standing next to and stared reading. "I'm gonna call two names. You will both come to the front and be assigned a cabin. When you are assigned a cabin, the two of you will leave to unpack. First up, Hayley Williams and Ashley Fr-Frang-Frarang,"

"It's Frangipane," a girl with long, blue hair said, as she walked to the front.

"Sorry," Mr. Roberts said. She just sighed and set down her bag. The girl that had raised her hand walked forward too. "You guys will be in Cabin A." He pointed to their cabin and they left. "Next, Marina Diamandis and Melanie Martinez." A girl with black, curled hair and a girl with hair that was dyed two different colors, black and pink, split down the middle, walked forward. "Cabin B."

"Nice to meet you!" I heard one of the girls say as they walked towards their cabin.

"Brendon Urie and," Mr. Roberts said before stopping and sighing. "Dallon Weekes." The two guys high-fived before walking to the front. I assumed that they knew each other and took a note to watch out for them. "Cabin C," he said, unenthusiastically. "Joshua Dun and Tyler Joseph." I picked up my bag and walked to the front. A guy with brown, curly hair that was shaved on the sides, into what was almost a mohawk, walked up to me. I gave him a smile but he just looked down and away from me. "Cabin D." We walked in an awkward silence, neither of us knowing what to say.

I held the door to the cabin open for him and he just walked in past me. I rolled my eyes at his lack of manners and walked to the bunk we would be sharing.

"Top or bottom?" he asked. My eyes went wide and I could feel a blush crawl onto my neck. Was I that obviously gay? If so, how had I stayed in the closet for so long?

"Um, what?"

"The bunk bed. Do you want the top or bottom bunk?" He asked again, a confused look on his face. I laughed.

"Oh, yea. Duh. Um, I'm fine with whichever." He threw his bag up onto the top bunk and I smiled, setting mine on the bottom. I decided I had to try to have a good relationship with this guy, even if he was gonna be rude. He was cute. I turned to face him and held out my hand. "I'm Tyler." He gave me a look as if my hand was covered in bugs.

"Are you being serious right now?" he asked, laughing slightly.

"What do you mean?" I pulled my hand away and tried to hide the fact that his words hurt.

"Dude, I've gone to school with you since 6th grade. You seriously don't know who I am?" I felt a pain in my chest that I'm sure he felt too.

"Oh my god. I'm sorry man. But, I honestly don't." He sighed and scratched his neck. His arm muscles were prominent and I swallowed. If he knew me, then the only upside to this camp had just vanished.

"It's whatever. I mean, I'm kind of a nobody at school. I can't really blame you." I frowned slightly.

"I doubt you're a 'nobody', Josh." 

"Oh please," he scoffed. "That's coming from Mr. Popular! You're Tyler fricking Joseph. You wouldn't know." I scrunched my eyebrows together and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'm sorry, dude. Jeez." I turned away from him and began unpacking. He just sighed before doing the same.