nine
Tyler's hands were pinned against the wall. Josh's teeth were on his neck, undoubtedly leaving marks. Tyler had gone over to Josh's to talk. Admittedly, they had, but Tyler had said something cheeky and now his back was against the kitchen wall and he had hickeys all over. Josh bit down on Tyler's collarbone, hard, and he was in the middle of screaming Josh's name when they heard the door open. Tyler thought maybe Josh would, you know, pull away, but he just put a finger to Tyler's lips and latched back onto his neck.
Tyler could see Gerard grabbing Josh's keys in the front hallway and heading into the kitchen. He seemed unfazed that he'd found Tyler up against a wall and just yelled, "get in losers, we're going shopping!"
Josh groaned and pulled away from Tyler to step towards Gerard. "You can't even drive," he said, arching an eyebrow. Gerard stared right back at him.
"Yes I can!"
"Your mom has your license," Josh reminded him, stepping closer. Gerard looked like he was about to bolt, so Josh wrapped him into a headlock and took his keys back, then strode ahead.
Gerard grumbled something and cracked his neck while Josh yelled, "c'mon! We're going to the mall."
Tyler took a deep breath and fell into pace with Gerard, who looked over at him, sighed, and said, "jesus, do you want my fucking scarf?" Tyler giggled as Gerard pulled the bandana from his neck and wrapped it around Tyler's.
A little later, on the drive there, Josh asked, "wait- did you quote Mean Girls earlier?"
Gerard shifted uncomfortably in the backseat. "Mikey had the remote."
The mall was fun. Tyler had only ever been there with his family (miserable) and the basketball team (miserable times ten). But being with Josh and Gerard was an entirely different story. Josh pointed to things that made him think of Tyler, and Gerard complained about the inaccuracy of some comic shirts and Josh bought him crappy mall food, but it tasted a little better because Josh knew what he wanted and what his favorite soda was.
As much as Tyler didn't like thinking of him as such, Gerard was basically their kid. He walked slightly in front of them, pointing at articles of clothing to make fun of, or snickering at Josh and Tyler holding hands. He sat in the food court when Josh had dragged Tyler into the bathroom to make out with him.
Towards the end of the trip, Josh's hand abruptly dropped from Tyler's, and Tyler looked at Josh questioningly. This was his first mistake- looking at Josh instead of looking forward, where a group of the junior and senior basketball players were standing. A few were chuckling and Tyler snapped his head forward when he heard Joe ask, "you a fag or something, Joseph?"
Tyler's vocal chords shut. He wanted to say something. Wanted to yell. He couldn't.
"What the fuck if he is, douche?"
Tyler appreciated Gerard's sassiness, but in a fight with any of the athletes, Gerard would be dead in five seconds, so Tyler put a hand on Gerard's shoulder, his grip strong enough for Gerard to get his message. He saw Josh step forward.
"I think you should leave him alone, Joe."
Josh's voice wasn't threatening. It was almost friendly, good-natured. But Tyler knew that Josh was probably strong enough to beat two of the basketball players up at one time. Tyler also knew that none of the team would start a fight in the middle of a mall. Joe held Josh's gases for a few moments before shrugging and walking again. The rest of the boys followed him, shooting glares at the trio. One guy walked a little slower, a terrifyingly tall Asian kid named Kai who Tyler knew was only playing basketball because it looked good to have lots of activities on college applications. Kai held out a hand which Tyler shook, slightly confused, and said, "nice job on Friday. You're a really good player," and then jogged off.
The whole encounter just boggled Tyler's mind.
Monday at lunch, he had no idea where to sit. He knew his place at the basketball table had been terminated- some freshman was in his spot. Tyler must have been standing there really awkwardly, because he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Patrick Stump say, "c'mon and sit with us."
So Tyler did, finding himself a spot between Josh and Gerard and pulling out the peanut butter sandwich Gerard had packed him. ("I don't really eat that much and all Mikey eats is fucking Lunchables, but I'm pretty sure we have peanut butter and I know we have bread, because, well, who the fuck doesn't?")
"Tyler fucking Joseph! You play basketball, don't you?" He heard someone say this very loudly, and immediately recognized the voice.
"You only know that because I told you, Brendon," Pete Wentz said, rolling his eyes as Brendon stood up and leaned across Gerard to offer Tyler a hand to shake, which he took awkwardly.
"Where are my manners? I'm Brendon Urie," the tall boy announced, moving from his standing position on the bench to lie down on the lunch table, kicking Halsey's tray onto the floor and putting his face in an uncomfortably close proximity to Tyler's. "Woah. He's cute. You're lucky, Dun," Brendon drawled, looking over at Josh and then theatrically whispering to Tyler, "you're lucky too. He's fucking great in bed."
"Get off of the table, Urie!" a teacher yelled.
"I'm getting there!" he shouted, sitting up.
Josh looked infuriated. "Shut up, Brendon."
Brendon smiled sweetly and hopped off of the table. "Whatever you say, Joshie."
Later at lunch, Josh looked over at Tyler and Gerard. "I can't give you guys a ride home, by the way, I have to go pick up my dad from the airport."
So at the end of the day, Tyler and Gerard had tried everyone they could think of. Halsey had to go straight to work, Patrick was staying after for tutoring, Pete was- well, Pete hadn't given any reason other than, "driving you guys home isn't a meme," but Gerard had promised Tyler he probably had a real reason.
When the two were walking out of the school from the back, they saw a tall figure leaning against the wall, smoking, and Gerard shouted, "Urie!"
"You're like, two feet away from me," Brendon said, looking over at the two of them with arched eyebrows. "Why are you yelling?"
"We need a ride home," Gerard explained, crossing his arms.
Brendon grinned wickedly and said, "it's gonna cost you, Way."
Gerard kicked a rock at the slim boy and said, "shut the fuck up and drive us home Brendon."
Brendon shrugged and dropped the cigarette, stamping it out with his foot and starting to walk away, beckoning for the two to follow him.
Tyler has bad luck. He has always had bad luck. When he was little, he fell out of his treehouse. Fell off the stage while performing a Christmas play at church. Pet a stray dog and had to get three rabies shots because the dog bit him. These all happened in a span of two months. So it was no surprise that, of course, the person who walked out of the doors at that moment was Joe.
"Hey fags," Joe said nonchalantly, smirking. The three of them all turned around.
"What the fuck did you just say?"
Tyler looked over. Gerard looked mad, but he wasn't red in the face, yelling mad. Brendon Urie, on the other hand, was, as he stalked up to Joe, looking pissed off beyond belief.
"I said-"
"Why do you give a fuck who he sleeps with?" Brendon shouted straight into Joe's face. "It's not your fucking life, you piece of shit. Besides, Tyler is sure as fuck doing better than you are in life- he gets more action, and besides, he's way fucking better at basketball. Didn't he make the winning shot?" Brendon's tone was almost mocking Joe, and Tyler almost took a step back from the sheer force of anger in Brendon's voice. It was too bad that Joe punched him in the face.
Too bad for Joe, that is, because within seconds he was pinned against the brick walls of the school and Brendon was screaming again. "Listen you pathetic fuck, if you come near Tyler, or Gerard, or Josh, or anyone I like again, I will fucking destroy you, okay?"
Brendon then let go of him and resumed walking to his car. Tyler was amazed. No one said anything on the drive back, just let Brendon brood and and press the bandana Gerard had given him to his bleeding nose.
"Thanks for the ride," Tyler said softly as they got out of the car.
Gerard paused before closing the door and said, "yeah, and thanks for, you know, scaring the shit out of that guy, Brendon."
Brendon grinned. "Anything for you, Gee Way," he said, laughing and leaning across the seat to poke Gerard's nose and then close the door.
Gerard looked down while they were walking to the door, and Tyler looked over at him. And then looked at him again.
Was Gerard fucking blushing?