flower crowns and other neat stuff - joshler

part 1

tyler walked up to the grey building, apprehension thrumming in his veins. it looked like a prison, although, to be perfectly fair, it kind of was.

it was his first day at the new school, and he had no idea how it would go. would it be full of close minded idiots who couldn't handle a guy liking pastels (seriously, was this the fifties?) like his last school, or would it be better?

there was only one way of finding out, and that was going through the day.

he smoothed his light blue sweater down, took a deep breath, and walked through the front doors. immediately he was met with stares from the people milling around the halls.

some douchey looking guy wearing so much hair gel that if he went into the ocean he'd probably have the same effect as an oil spill called out, "nice lipstick, fag!" tyler flinched. less than five minutes into being there and he was already getting slurred at.

he was about to make a biting remark about exactly where mr. overuse of old spice could shove his nike sandals and homophobia, but just then a boy with cotton candy-pink hair and a large amount of eyeliner rolled in between tyler and the fuckboy. literally rolled. he was wearing heelies. stop him.

"now, darren, it is time to shut the fuck up. don't you have some girl to harass on kik?" said tyler's brightly-coloured saviour. the fuckboy frowned at him. "dude, i was joking. i'm not homophobic or anything. chill." a taller boy who tyler had previously not noticed walked up to stand beside the boy with the questionable shoe choice. "you just used a homophobic slur. that is the definition of homophobia."

darren shook his head emphatically. "no, it's just like an adjective. it's not offensive," he said, like that explained everything. the shorter boy raised his eyebrows. the tall one scoffed. "really? you, a straight boy, are telling me, a gay male, what is and is not offensive to gay people."

darren rolled his eyes. "whatever man. i'm not homophobic though, i have plenty of gay friends and stuff." he stomped away. cotton candy hair turned to his companion and highfived him.

"nice job, mikeyway! we slayed a fuckboy!" he said enthusiastically. he laced their fingers together and spun around to tyler, who was standing there staring dumbly. it was not every day that somebody not only stuck up for you, but kicked ass while doing so.

a day that had seemed like it was going bad had been completely spun around.

"hi, i'm pete!" he said to tyler. "this is my mikey bae." the taller of the two stared in horror at pete. "never say that again. ever." pete shrugged. "i can't make any promises."

tyler blinked. okay, then. "i'm tyler, i'm new," he introduced himself.

pete smiled widely at him. "welcome to hell! i love your sweater. don't you love his sweater, mikey?" mikey nodded. "it's a nice sweater." tyler smiled. "thanks. it's like the softest thing ever. plus, it matches my flower crown." he pointed to said flower crown in all its light blue glory.

pete stared at him for a second before saying, "dude, you're totally like, one of us. you've gotta join our squad." mikey wrinkled his nose. "don't call it that, it makes us sound like eleven year old girls on instagram. nobody want to sound like that." pete looked at him funny. "literally no one cares, man. no one."

mikey stared at him for a minute, completely silent until pete put his hands up in surrender. "okay, it's not a squad. but, anyway, how 'bout it tyler? join our not-a-squad?" tyler considered it for a minute before shrugging. "sure, why not?" pete grinned widely. "awesome! dude, the other guys will love you!"

tyler smiled nervously. so, apparently he now had friends after being there for, like, ten minutes. that was a new record for him.

"um, i have no idea where my locker is, can you show me?" tyler asked. pete nodded. "sure, what's the number?" tyler handed him the slip of paper with his locker number and schedule on it. pete read through it for a moment before looking up.

"this is right next to mikey's! you can be locker buddies!" pete said excitedly before rolling off down the hall, mikey trailing behind him. tyler assumed he was meant to follow, so he did just that. it was rather hard to keep up with them, given pete's wheels and mikey's ridiculously long legs, but tyler somehow managed.

eventually they reached his locker, sandwiched between one covered in sequins and one with a picture of mikey and pete taped to the front. mikey had a small smile, and pete was kissing his cheek.

tyler could already tell they were one of those disgustingly cute couples that were made to torture sad single people like himself. it was a safe assumption, seeing as mikey had an actual picture of them being coupley on his locker, jesus. way to rub it in.

tyler opened his locker and mikey and pete began talking about whatever as he did what he had to. when he was done he looked back at them and realised they'd been joined by a guy in a light purple hoodie.

he had big glasses and he sparkled like it was part of his morning routine to take a bath in glitter. he noticed tyler staring at him and smiled wildly. "hello there, locker buddy. i'm brendon, fucker of the dallon," he introduced himself.

mikey rolled his eyes. "we don't want to know about it, brendon," he said wearily, like this was something brendon needed to be frequently reminded of.

brendon kept smiling a cheshire cat smile. "you say that now, but i can assure you if i was to stop informing you of our sex life you'd be cold and empty inside. also, you wouldn't have anything to think about when you jerk it." mikey sighed tiredly.

tyler raised his hand in an awkward wave. "i'm tyler. i'm-" "new, yeah, i figured. i guess you've already met pete and mikey. petemikey. petekey. hey, i like that," he said rapid fire. tyler had only heard him say, like, five sentences and he could already tell that it would be rather hard to keep up with him.

tyler nodded, unsure of himself. seriously, how was one supposed to communicate with other people? tyler had no idea.

"we have to get to class. tyler, you're going the same way as me, so we should get a move on," mikey interrupted any other chances of conversation.

mikey said goodbye to pete (in form of a kiss on the cheek) and brendon (in the form of a "see you later") and tyler threw another awkward wave in the direction of the other two boys before following mikey off in the direction of the class they apparently were in together.

it seemed oddly convenient that he had managed to befriend someone who had the same first period class as him, but he decided to just roll with it. in a completely non-heelie related manner.