JOSH DUN VS THE WORLD ✓

CHAPTER EIGHT: WE ARE DESPERATE BROKE NOBODIES

SAVING...

SAVING...

SAVING...

SAVING OF CHAPTERS 6 AND 7 COMPLETE!

By the time their next band practice rolls around, Josh falls into a funk. Not the good kind of funk, though, but the one he'd fallen into after She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named smashed his heart into laying shards of emo Josh.

He would be lying if he said he doesn't miss having Halsey around all of the time. Not seeing anymore of her wide eyed fascination each time they ended a song at practice.

His post-breakup depression must've affected his playing too, because Max yells his name right in his ear, breaking him out of his mental self-pity party.

"Josh!"

He jerks back to the present, stunned to see that they're standing in the middle of their apartment facing the empty and raggedy couch across Jon and Josh's shared bed.

"Earth go dumbass," Hayley scoffs and rolls her eyes when Josh's face flushes with embarrassment.

"Dude, you only played one note for the entire sound," Max says, looking worried.

They still haven't talked about what went down the night of their fight or why Jon was now sleeping at a FWB's house, and Josh is scared to ask. Luckily, Max returned to his normal, panicky self soon after Josh broke up with Halsey and dropped the subject entirely. Josh takes this as a good sign because he really doesn't want to think about what might've happened that he can't remember.

"Is the absence your fake high school girlfriend distracting you?" Hayley asks snootily. "We could always give her a call."

"What? I don't..." Josh goes pale as he remembers that they don't know yet. He only told Max and his sister so they'd get off of his back. "We're not... together anymore. I broke up with her like, two weeks ago. Get- get with the program, Hayl."

Young Ryan, who's sitting on their big amp, perks up. He looks happier than he should. "So that's why she hasn't been around."

"Is that why you've been acting all emo for the past two weeks?" Hayley crows.

Josh scowls and ignores her. "Can we start from the top? I swear I'll do it better this time."

They do, and immediately upon ending, Max and Hayley are talking about something Josh tunes out until they're out of their apartment and walking with the dark and icy wasteland that is the streets of Toronto, Canada. He doesn't even realize that he has no use where they're going until they pass the pizza joint they always go to eat at midnight.

"Where the hell are we going?" He asks twenty minutes too late.

Hayley rolls her eyes and ignores him. Max doesn't answer because he's too busy fangirling over some super famous record label guy DW who is supposed to be wherever they are going.

"We're going to Billie's party, remember?" Max tells Josh after a break in his rant. "To meet with those dudes so we can finally get signed."

"Only desperate broke nobodies go to college parties just for the slim chance of getting signed to a record label," Hayley says. "Oh, right. We are desperate broke nobodies. Fuckin' figures."

"Oh, this is gonna suck!" Josh groans, burying his face into the scarf around his neck.

"Suck!" Young Ryan repeats with misplaced enthusiasm.

NOW ENTERING:
THE PARTY

"This sucks!" Josh shouts, gripping the Diet Coke in his hand too tightly.

"Sucks!" Young Ryan echoes.

Josh looks around. He knows maybe half of the people from his old college days and mingling with drunk and/ or high college dropouts was about as fun as lying on a nude beach full of carnivorous crabs. So, he chugs his drink and drops his now empty solo cup into a nearby trashcan.

"I'm going to pee due to boredom," he announces, leaving Young Ryan alone with Hayley. She's staring off somewhere into the crowd with a completely emotionless look that makes him believe she'll start murdering people any second.

The moment he breaks off from his group, Josh sees a flash of a green bomber jacket weaving in between the dancing students. He fixates on it, following the man until he ends up at a makeshift bar near the opposite end of the frat house.

The man doesn't turn around but seems to know Josh is there, because he pours two drinks. Upon seeing this, he panics, spinning on his toes and running off up the stairs. Josh bumps into one of his old college friends at the top of the stairs, who's talking about music for deaf people.

"Hey, Brad!" Josh shouts over the music to get his attention. "You know everyone, right?"

Brad turns and leans against the wall, raising a cup at Josh. "I sure do. What do you need, old pal?"

"Have you seen this guy?" Josh holds up a half assed sketch of a person he did with sharpie downstairs.

"Yeah, that's Tyler Joseph."

Josh practically melts at just his name. "Tyler Joseph."

"Yeah, I'd keep your distance though." Brad leans in and whispers, "He's a total badass. Way too intense for you kind of scene."

"I'll try not to be offended by that," Josh pats Brad's shoulder and takes off, asking as many people about Tyler Joseph as he can.

"I heard that he's gay."

"He has a boyfriend in New York. Some big producer guy who signed Fall Out Boy."

"Total badass."

"He works at Amazon right across from my work!"

"He's got some battle scars dude."

Josh lands with Billie and Max, who are looking cozy for a couple that just broke up a month ago. He asks them if they've seen Tyler anywhere, and Billie starts yelling at him.

"What the hell do you want with Tyler?" She demands.

"Nothing, I was just... curious." Josh smiles innocently, but she sees right through him.

"No, no fucking way. Josh, I don't care about your goddamn homosexual indecisiveness, you're not going to scare away the coolest guy at my party."

Josh's confidence deflated by 20 percent. "I'm not going to scare him away. He has a boyfriend."

Max rolls his eyes. "You're fucking hopeless," Billie scoffs, turning to Max, whose face flushes bright pink when she kisses his cheek. "Tell him."

"Isn't Tyler Joseph single?" he asks.

"I thought you guys weren't together," Josh says.

Billie shrugs off Max's arm. "I forbid you from going anywhere near Tyler."

"But-"

"I forbid you!"

Josh pouts and leaves them, walking sullenly through the crowd and to the kitchen to grab another drink. He grabs a cup of beer, dumps it into the sink after wondering whether or not it was a good idea to go down that road again, and fills it with Diet Coke instead.

As he takes a step back, Josh turns and sees a dark green jacket and sad brown eyes staring at nothing. Tyler Joseph is there, sitting against the wall.

Billie and Max are nowhere to be seen. Time to make his move.

CHAPTER EIGHT COMPLETE!
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