mixed ON PAUSE //joshler au

c h a p t e r t h r e e //petco

sorry that i SUCK at updating but i've had no inspiration lately oof

🦋💧💙

the next day at school tyler was just a tad bit gloomy. he told himself that he wouldn't let today ruin his week. he can get like that sometimes- have one bad day and the rest of the week is ruined. tyler promised that this time would be different. the boy's friends were there to support him and cheer him up, even if they didn't know that they were supposed to be.

tyler was good at hiding his emotions. he'd just stick them in this bottle in the back of his head until he forgot about them. it wasn't until the darkest hours of the night that the contents of his soul would slip and fall out slowly, engulfing him into an endless cycle of just thinking silently to himself. however, sometimes quite is violent.

tyler was lost in thought while walking down the hallway of his school he didn't even notice that his girlfriend was talking to him.

"tyler!" jenna said louder than what was necessary. tyler snapped his head to her accidentally snapping back.

"what, jenna!" jenna's eyes softened at the boy and touched his bicep lightly in an attempt to calm him down. tyler took notice and took a deep breathe. "i'm sorry jenna. i've been trying to be collected calm and chill. i just didn't get much sleep last night. i was playing my piano and lost track of time." tyler explained

"tyler.." the girl said in a disapproving tone. "we've talked about this. you need to have decent amounts of sleep in order-"

"-for my emotional state to be okay. i know, i know" he said finishing her sentence.

jenna nodded her head satisfied. she stood on tip-toes kissing her blue boy's cheek. "i'll see you later ty."

"yeah, later"

+

tyler has work at petco later that day. they were hiring a new guy named john?? he wasn't sure. all he knew about him was that he was red and that he seemed chill from what others had said. if tyler was being honest, he really didn't care that much. he only worked there because he loves animals so much. his shift that day was at 4:30. schools lets out at 2:45 so he had some down time, but not much. the drive to the store was about 30 minutes. so as he waited until 3:45 to leave, he played around on his keyboard till then. by the time he had to leave, tyler had a little under half of a new song written. he didn't know what the name it would be, but he had some lyrics written down.

we all are stranger creatures than when we all started out as kids
culture forbids
we have romantic fantasies about what dying truly is
fall off the grid
we live for the night's decor
it reveals what we dream of
i know there's someone at the door
they called for help, of this i'm sure
but do i want to say goodbye to all the glowing eyes
i'm holding on to what i know
and what i know, i must let go
but i would rather play a song for the eyes to sing along (this is my fav song rn omg)

tyler packed his journal away in his work bag, along with other necessities and walked to his car. he arrived to work about fifteen minutes early. he had to show the new guy around, so he wanted to make sure he got there a bit early. he finally spotted the red boy awkwardly standing in the employees only room.

"um hey, you must be john, right?" his voice raised in pitch when he said his name not sure if he was correct or not.

the boy chuckled softly, "it's josh actually, but hey." josh stuck his hand out waiting for tyler to shake it.

tyler hesitantly grabbed his hand and shook it lightly, "oh! i'm so sorry josh, i'm tyler by the way." the blue boy gave him a cheeky grin, quickly noticing they hadn't stopped shaking hands. the boy pressed his lips in a firm line and took his hand back wiping the sweat in his black skinny jeans.

josh looked around curiously, "soo, are you showing me around or is someone else?" the smaller one of the two rocked back and fourth on his heels.

"oh yes! i'll be showing you around and i have your schedule. i'll also be helping you with what whatever you need to today. honestly, it's probably be best if you just stuck with me so i can show you what goes down around here. it's honestly not that bad! the dogs are the cutest and oh-" tyler started gushing, "the kittens! oh my gosh the kittens! they are the cutest you'll love them!" tylers eyes were practically sparkling at this point. he was out of breath and red, or dark blue, in the face from going on a rant about the animals. josh found this quite amusing and was intrigued by the boy.

the boy noticed that he had been rambling and cleared his throat. "anyways, we should probably clean out the dog cages and refill their water and what not." josh nodded his head submissively wanting to not disappoint tyler on his first day.

"lead the way boss!" josh saluted while saying this statement.

tyler just giggled and walked toward the kennels where the puppies were held forgetting about his melancholy mood, a flaming red boy following suit.