It Ain't The Speakers |-/ JOSHLER

16: asleep ør dead?

TYLER'S PØV

I waited for the crowd to quieten down. It was sort of scary when all attention was on us. 

"That was f*cking dope!!" Mr Urie commented out of nowhere, and we could hear the other two judges off-mic telling him to stop swearing in front of all the kids. "As if they don't already do it!" 

"Introduce yourselves," the one with rad eyeliner started off with the standard question.

"This is my fren Josh from class 3E...and I'm Josh's fren," I answered, though I was quite sure I missed out something...

"And my fren is Tyler from class 3A," Josh added, leaning in towards the microphone in my right hand. I mentally facepalmed myself. The judges seemed amused, though.

"So, Josh and Tyler, do you have a band name?"

"Yeah, um, we're Twenty One Pilots."

"Interesting. At least you won't lose the feeling of feeling unique, d'you know what I mean?" Mr Urie replied.

Josh and I awkwardly nodded. "I guess?" We were so awkward I could almost die from it. 

"This is rather different from your previous song, what genre would you consider yourselves?" Mr Stump asked us. "It's like, you look so Seattle but you feel so LA."

Knowing me, Josh chuckled slightly at the question. We clearly didn't know. "Well, this is not rap, this is not hip hop... Uh..." I tilted the microphone towards Josh, hoping he could fill in for me again. He bit his lip uncomfortably. I felt bad for making him speak despite knowing he's really afraid.

"Just another attempt to make the voices stop?" he said.

"I understand, it's great that you do not limit yourselves to one genre."

"Pat personally considers himself soul punk," Mr Wentz added, and our math teacher narrowed eyes at him.

"So, what's the meaning behind this song?"

Josh was fiddling nervously with the drumsticks in his hands. I know he's nervous. I wish I prepared a speech to answer this question...I'm the worst at phrasing my thoughts, but I shouldn't put Josh in a tight spot, right?

"Uh so... this song is titled Guns For Hands, stuff to do with how people hurt themselves and others..."

See what I mean? That was such a bad start. Josh gave me an encouraging look and I tried to continue.

"...What this song has meant to me has changed and become more complex from the initial conception of the idea till today where we present it on stage... The different things we go through causes people to relate to something differently, even though we're all looking at the same thing. People try to interpret what the song is saying and in a way I feel like I'm supposed to let that live and not answer the question... There's no fixed answer, and the meaning of the song is up to each individual to create themselves, for themselves." The judges nodded understandingly. Whew. I can't believe they actually accepted that response. 

"Lastly..." Mr Urie said, sweeping his hair back, "we know both of you started out as individual contestants, and like the others, we had both of you paired up for Round 1. What made the two of you stick together for this round?" 

I was taken aback when Josh wrapped his hand around mine to bring the mic to his lips. "I don't know what I'd do without Tyler." he said. My heart skipped a beat.

"...I try to picture me without Josh but I can't," I spoke softly into the mic.

Josh looked me in the eye and pulled it back towards him "Tyler is everything, I don't want to lose him... Not ever again."