tagged // joshler

(7)

since josh had been let out early from school, he agreed to meet tyler for lunch at a a small café near tyler's apartment. josh had overestimated the amount of traffic and found himself 20 minutes early, seated by a window. every so often he'd look up and peer out the window, anxiously awaiting the moment tyler would walk up. after 15 minutes he relaxed a little bit, reminding himself that he was early and tyler would be here, just as he'd said. he redirected his attention to his phone, where he mindlessly scrolled through instagram. after a few minutes, he heard a voice which caused him to look up from his phone.

"hey! you must be josh."

'holy shit,' josh thought. was it possible that tyler was even more beautiful in person?

he struggled to find the words to respond, chuckling lightly. "y-yeah, that's me." he smiled as tyler sat down in front of him and opened up a menu. "boy, am i hungry. i hope i didn't keep you waiting too long. how was your drive?" tyler asked, looking up at josh, who hadn't moved since tyler sat down.

josh was trying not to be star struck, but not staring at tyler was practically impossible. he was blown away by his beauty, every aspect of him. he wondered if this was what love really felt like.

and then he noticed tyler was staring at him. shit, had he been talking to him?

josh shook his head. "um, sorry? what did you say?" he felt his face turn red as tyler laughed.

"no worries. i was just asking about your drive."

josh relaxed a little, comforted by easy going tyler seemed. "the drive was good, thank you." he smiled and picked up a menu of his own. "i've never been here before. what's good to eat?" he asked. really, he could have found something on his own, but he found it impossible to focus on the menu's small print.

"hm," tyler said, searching the menu. "one of my personal favorites is the monte cristo. it's a super good sandwich, but it's huge, so if you'd like to try it we can share."

josh smiled. "that sounds great."

while tyler called a waiter and ordered their sandwich josh pulled out his phone to text ashley. his message read:

i know i should have told you this before i drove here but i'm currently seated in a café with tyler joseph. get on my level

after pressing send, he turned his phone on silent. "thank you so much for agreeing to hang out this week. if i'm being completely honest, i didn't think you'd say yes," said josh.

"are you kidding?" tyler replied. "i've had a blast talking to you these past two weeks or so and i wanted to be able to put a face to the name."

josh smiled, not knowing how to respond. he was terrible at small talk. actually, he was pretty much just bad at talking to people in general, especially someone he really liked, like tyler.

"so," tyler continued, breaking the silence, "i was thinking you could stay with me in my apartment. i mean, unless you had already planned on staying elsewhere. i just happen to have an extra room and it's all yours if you'd like it."

josh grinned. "that sounds great! thank you." just then a waiter came to their table to drop off their sandwich and refill their water glasses. "you two boys enjoy," he said, walking away.

"geez, you really weren't kidding about the size of this sandwich." josh cut the sandwich into two triangle shapes, sliding one half onto a smaller plate for himself. he noticed tyler quietly laughing at him.

"what?" josh questioned.

"it's nothing," tyler said. "it's just the triangles. they're cute. i haven't eaten a sandwich like this since i was a kid," he slid his half of the sandwich onto his own plate.

josh shrugged. "i think a sandwich tastes better cut into triangles." he took his first bite of the sandwich and a loud mmm! escaped his lips. "not like this needs any help. i think this is the best thing i've ever eaten." he took another big bite while tyler laughed. josh momentarily set down the sandwich so he could take a sip of water.

"oh, josh," tyler said. "you've got something on your face."

josh licked his lips in an attempt to get rid of whatever had been on his face. "is it gone?" he asked tyler.

"not quite," he said, though josh had been far off. he had a huge glob of mustard right in the middle of his cheek. "here, let me get it." he wet his napkin in his water class and leaned over the table to wipe the mustard off of josh's cheek.

the two boys made eye contact as tyler slowly wiped josh's cheek clean. tyler paused before sitting back down, getting lost in josh's eyes. he hadn't realized how beautiful they were until that moment. he wished he could stay like this forever, but, remembering he was in public, he sat back down. "um, it's gone now," he muttered, his face turning a bright pink color. josh couldn't believe what had just happened.

"thanks," he replied. the two went back to eating, not much said as they both thought about what had just happened.

~

after the meal, tyler walked josh out to his car. "so is it okay if we just head back to my apartment? you're probably tired after driving here today. we can go out and do some stuff tomorrow." they stopped upon reaching josh's car.

"sure, that sounds okay. i'll just follow you there." tyler waved as josh climbed into his car, tyler into his own. he waited until he knew tyler couldn't see him and did a small fist pump in the air, mouthing the word yes! as he did so. he'd just had lunch with tyler, and it had gone okay. okay? hell, they'd even had a moment. he took a deep breath to calm himself down, knowing he'd need a clear head to drive, and he didn't want tyler to see him so giddy.

...except tyler had already seen him through the reflection of his rearview mirror, and had thought it was the cutest thing in the world. he smiled to himself and looked at josh in his mirror once more before pulling out of the cafes parking lot and heading toward home, josh following close behind.

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hey look i finally wrote a long chapter. go me!

it's 1:05am here and i have softball practice in abt 7 hours but i just really wanted to update one last time before bed. plus, i'm in an amazing mood because the show i went to tonight was so incredible! there were literally like ten people there (who weren't staff) the entire time and we got to interact with the band, it was great. my friend and i took photos with them and bought t shirts and stuff. it was so much fun. i' never knew how great small local shows could be.

well, i hope you like this update! as always, thanks for reading!

mik