josh was at his lowest when the big top rolled into town. tyler was the star of the show until josh stumbled into his life and dragged him down with him.
{lowercase intended}
**sexual content
josh searched the faces of the troupe around him until he finally saw the cherry-red lips and warm, chestnut eyes that stood out from the others.
tyler met josh's gaze and strode over to him.
"is wentz gone? i saw that he was kinda all over you..."
"yeah," josh let out a nervous laugh that crumpled into a cough, "he's, uh, gone to get drinks."
tyler folded his arms and smirked, "oh, too bad... he'll come back and kick my ass for talking to you."
"really? what happened while i was gone?"
the spike of concern from josh sent tyler reeling, but he knew that he couldn't tell josh about their boss' plan for fear of scaring josh away, "ha, he basically dragged me outside and got all worked up because he thought that we were, like..."
josh finished tyler's sentence in his head, "yeah, he seems a little intense sometimes. why does that even matter to him, anyways, even if we were? let me know if he says anything else and i'll talk to him."
"josh, wait, don't-"
"i'm back with drinks!" pete cut in, cutting right in front of tyler and driving his heel into the boy's shin. tyler let out a yelp that was inaudible over the sound of the music, before steeping around his boss to be next to josh. it was obvious that josh hadn't seen the kick, but he still gave tyler a worried look when he saw the pain across the brunette's face.
"sorry, kid," pete sneered, "they didn't have any juice boxes up at the bar or i would have grabbed you one."
tyler rolled his eyes before something in one of the beers caught his attention. it was the little, white pill from wentz' pocket that now sat dissolving at the bottom of the bottle. tyler couldn't keep staring at the beer for too long, so he acted fast to save josh.
"beer works fine for me." he snatched the drugged bottle out of the ringleader's clammy hand.
"hey, hold on a second-"
"what's wrong, pete? you own the whole bar, just go get another one." tyler knew he was being a little too cocky, but he also knew that pete wouldn't do anything rash in front of josh.
pete kept eye contact with tyler while shoving the other beer at josh, "no problem. i'll be back."
josh waited until pete was out of earshot to question tyler, "so i guess you're trying to get your ass kicked, huh?" he teased, slightly impressed that someone in a sparkly, blue body suit would have the guts to sass someone twice their size.
"something like that." tyler took a deep swig of his beer and the sudden remembrance of the roofie that now tainted the alcohol rushed into his head as he pulled the bottle away from his lips.
suddenly the music changed and the middle of the dining car was cleared to make room for a dance floor. the already dim lighting was turned off and people worked quickly to get the strobe lights up and running in time with the electric music that was now shuddering the train car on its tracks. some of the more intoxicated members of the troupe made their way into the middle to get the dancing started.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
tyler looked over at josh while they were both watching the wild display in front of them. a bright red strobe light passed quickly over josh's newly dyed hair and tyler suddenly remembered that he didn't complement josh on how good it looked. how great it looked.
"i really like your hair by the way!" tyler attempted to shout over the music, but he only earned a quizzical look from josh.
"what?!" josh cupped a hand to his ear.
tyler leaned over to try again, but the drug in his system was starting to take its toll as he fell right against josh's shoulder. it was decidedly a bittersweet accident because tyler steadied himself by placing a hand on the older man's chest. tyler hadn't guessed he would feel so strong.
josh wrapped an arm around tyler, who was clearly embarrassed by his fumble, "whoa, are you okay, ty?" he asked, now that tyler was close enough to hear him in a speaking tone.
the brunette nodded and decided to save his complement for later.
a few moments later, brendon stumbled out of the crowd of dancers and stopped in front of tyler and josh, "oh, c'mon you two," came tumbling out of his mouth, "don't just sit around!"
"wanna dance?" josh looked down at tyler, who still had his hand on josh's peck.
"sounds great," tyler went to move from his place, but his feet felt like they were bolted to the ground. he hadn't realized how much of his beer that he had actually consumed and was now suffering the full-fledged consequences of ingesting Rohypnol, "hold on, i kind of need to step outside for a second."
"okay, i'll go with you."
******
once they got outside and josh helped tyler down the side steps, it was clear that tyler wasn't in any condition to rejoin the party.
"you look like you're gonna pass out."
"i feel like i'm gonna pass out."
"i'm going to take back to our room, okay? you should really get some rest, ty."
"that sounds like a good idea..." tyler managed to say, before slipping on the dewy grass beside the train tracks and falling onto his back.
josh scooped him back up in one swift motion and put tyler back onto his feet. tyler made a mental note to celebrate being held by josh when he wasn't so incoherent.
"actually, i think joseph can find his way back on his own," pete staggered down the steps of the dining car, "'cause i've been waitin' a while for my time with you, dun."
"he's not in great shape, sir." josh tried his best to speak politely to the slob that stood in front of him.
"joseph is fine. come with me."
tyler didn't have time to wait and told josh that he would be alright.
