Pretty Boy ☆ Joshler

eight

Monday came way too fast and before Josh could realize, he was being driven back to school by an overly cheery Brendon. In the car, Josh stared out the window, his head cloudy with tired Monday feelings. He held his half of the project he and Tyler shared. Tyler.

The clouds cleared a little and Josh knew he only needed to make it through the day to see the boy's eyes. Maybe he could make him smile like he did on Friday. A grin appeared on his face involuntarily.

He looked down at his half of the project, wondering if it would be good enough. Tyler was a great model but Josh had no idea what his art was like. What if their colors didn't match at all? What if he'd messed up without knowing? What if Tyler's half was amazing while Josh's looked like it was done by his three year old cousin?

Before Josh could make his stomach twist in anxiety the car was stopping in front of the school. Brendon tousled his hair and was gone into the building. He sighed, adjusting his short curls and then leaving the car to fall back into the routine of last week.

It seemed like Ms. Baldwin was making a point to give Josh a hard time this morning. He couldn't imagine why considering he made it to class on time and never talked during her lessons, no matter how much math made him want to throw up. It started when she called attendance, she called his name and he answered 'here' just like any other student would.

"Yeesh Josh you sound a little, I don't know, tense this morning. You don't have to yell." Josh was confused and let it show on his face. Ms. Baldwin raised her hands feigning offence. She then urged him to "chill out" and continued to call attendance.

Next, as the classed worked through a lesson in their text books, Ms. Baldwin asked a question for the students to answer. Of course she called on Josh, the fact that he didn't have his hand raised just demonstrated how he wanted to be called on. Not. Josh struggled to calculate a solution to the system of equations on the front board. The eyes focused on him were distracting, causing him to make several mistakes before he finally found the answer six minutes later. Six minutes was a long time when everyone in the classroom was giving him an unamused stare, some even questioning whether he should be in this grade or not. Yeah that was nightmarish.

But it didn't stop there. Ms. Baldwin continued to pick on him, making snarky remarks about his bright hair and passive aggressively pointing out that his grade in the class was not the best. By the end of the period, Josh was red in the face and ready to hide in the bathroom for the rest of the day. The bell finally rang and he bolted from the room, trying to block out the voices of his peers as he walked to his second period. He just wanted to fast forward to art.

The rest of his morning classes were dull as expected but Josh would rather his teachers give a boring lecture than pick on him, or anyone, really. The lunch bell rang, cueing the class to file out into the hallway. Josh walked slowly, scanning the sea of heads for a specific one. Another few minutes and he still couldn't find Brendon. Maybe he was waiting for Josh in the cafeteria.

At the lunch table Brendon had claimed, Pete, Patrick, Dallon and the rest all sat together. Sarah was there, too, on Brendon's right, Dallon on his left and couple of other girls Josh hadn't seen before filled the other two seats in Brendon's vicinity. The only empty chair was one at the end of the table next to Patrick. Josh sat in it, feeling slightly out of place. He looked across the table trying to catch his best friend's eye but the boy was busy, having a buzzed conversation about a possible Pvris concert.

Josh sighed, pretending to be occupied with his phone. Maybe this was just one of those days. A long, tedious one that just made him want to hop back into bed and start over. Lunch was over quickly and he stood, making his way to Spanish. Brendon walked near him, saying goodbye to Sarah before brushing Josh's shoulder with his.

"Hey dude where were you at lunch?" Brendon asked, a bit of worry on his face.

Seriously?

"I was there. At the table. The whole time." Josh punctuated each sentence with a small nod. Brendon tilted his head, much like a confused dog.

"Really? I didn't even see you..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, J. Make it up to you with lunch tomorrow?"

"You better." Josh gave Brendon a cold stare before breaking into a smile. Of course, the whole ordeal was burning him alive but he could never stay mad at Brendon. It was impossible.

After almost dying of anticipation, the bell finally rang for last period. Josh arrived in the art room three minutes before the bell and set his project out on the desk. How was he supposed to look natural while waiting for someone like Tyler Joseph to enter the room?

He took a look at his painting and became self-conscious again, questioned his life choices, and planned an escape route from the school just in case he made a fool of himself all in less than two minutes. One minute left to the tardy bell.

Where is he?

Josh realized that Tyler was a senior and almost a legal adult with a job. He probably just decided not to come to school today. Josh let out a long and slow sigh. This day was just one big let down. The bell rang and he went back to analyzing his painting.

"Hey Jishwa." A familiar, soft voice came from his left and he grinned for the first time since this morning. Funny enough, his last real smile had been caused by the same boy.

Pretty brown eyes met his own and he whispered back, "Hey Tyjo."

Tyler smiled, pulling his half of the project out of his bag. Josh couldn't see it from where he sat so he waited patiently for Mr. Way to start the class.

"Ah." Mr. Way arranged a few items on his desk. "Our exchange student was almost tardy to last period and it's only his second day. Josh, what did you do to him?"

"Nothing, yet." Josh retorted in the most suggestive tone possible. He didn't mind getting sarcastic remarks from his orange-haired art instructor. This was mostly because he was the type of teacher that invited a student to return all sarcasm with the same amount of force.

"Wow. Okay." Mr. Way gave a breathy laugh. "Anyways..."

Tyler's face reddened slowly as he bit his rose pink lip to hold back a smile.

After explaining a few things about how projects are graded and displaying a few works from previous periods, Mr. Way gave the class twenty minutes to get their paintings together. Josh turned to Tyler who had recovered from short-lived embarrassment.

"Sorry about that." He cleared his throat and scooted his chair closer to the other boy's desk.

"It's fine. But only because you're hot." Tyler said this with a certain matter-of-factness that cut right through Josh's emotional barrier. It was his turn to blush, and he looked anywhere but Tyler as he calmed himself down. Why did he have to bend like a flower at every compliment he received?

Tyler placed his painting on the desk for Josh to see. It was amazing with blues, purples, and pinks mixing together to make black at the darkest point of the scene. Josh voiced his admiration and Tyler accepted it with quiet modesty.

Josh sighed inwardly as he pulled his painting out and layed it on the table. It was almost complete opposite of Tyler's. White and yellows and oranges covered the page and Josh decided it looked plain in comparison to Tyler's.

Tyler disagreed, quickly lining up the two halves. They contrasted dramatically but it was obvious that they made up one picture. Josh looked up to see Tyler grinning at him, his eyes twinkling and his adorably crooked teeth glinting in the fluorescent lighting. Josh melted and smiled back, his self-esteem rising a few points. Tyler thought it was good so it must be good, right?

Man, he was in deep.

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