Tyler Joseph has a method to his madness.

He knows it dumb but it's how he works best.

Tyler is a songwriter.

And a singer.

And a piano player.

And a ukulele player.

And a bass player.

Really what doesn't the man do?

He wasn't a hot shot celebrity or anything though. Or at least in his opinion he wasn't. He friend, Jenna, liked to argue with him by pointing to the Grammy on his studio shelf but he knows it wasn't him who won that. It was the fans. It was their award. Not his.

That's where he currently was— in his studio. He had been trying for the past week to work on lyrics for his next album but it was draining him. He had even tried shutting himself in there for a week before Jenna dragged him out to go shower and eat something besides granola bars and beef jerky.

Jenna made him take a break for a couple days. They had gone shopping (resulting in paparazzi harassing him), they went to a movie (resulting in paparazzi harassing him), and they went to the Apple store together to get Jenna a new phone (once again, resulting in paparazzi harassing him). He figured that time away was enough for him and he threw himself back into the studio. He felt if he wasn't working he was slacking off and then he felt guilty.

Like said before, Tyler Joseph has a method to his madness. It all revolved around his writing process.

He came up with the best ideas and lyrics when he was in his windowless studio, alone, only using a lamp with four lights on it. One of those cheap lamps that are put in college dorms.

He had been writing that way for years since that's how he wrote when he lived at home. He had to share a room with his younger brother, Zack, and he would sneak out his journal late at night and use the lamp next to his bed to write so it wouldn't wake his brother up. He had just gotten used to it.

Tyler sat at his desk, pen and paper in front of him. He was stuck, clogged even. He had tried everything, even just staring intensely at the blank paper to see if he could think of anything. He couldn't.

Suddenly, his light flickered before one of them blew out completely, leaving the room slight bit darker. He groaned and pushed back from his desk. "You've gotta be kidding me," he mumbled to himself. Tyler sighed in annoyance as he realized he had to go inside his house to get another light bulb and left his studio (which used to be his shed) and entered his lonely and empty house.

He walked into the kitchen, making his way to the hall closet where he kept spare lightbulbs and cleaning ingredients. His eyes scanned the shelves and settled on the small box holding a single lightbulb. He grabbed it and went back to his studio.

Tyler let the door shut behind him and turned on the overhead lights he usually kept off and headed over to the lamp. Turning it off, he twisted the dead lightbulb out and put the new one in. However, when he turned the light back on the bulb glowed for a minute before going out as well. "Of course this would happen to me," he mumbled, screwing it out and throwing both burnt out bulbs in the trash. "Of course I would be stupid enough to leave a dead bulb in the cupboard."

Tyler ran a hand through his long hair (he knew he needed a haircut and all his fans were giving him shit for the length but he couldn't be bothered to get it cut) and turned the light back off as he left the studio. He grabbed the keys out of his pocket and locked the door before going into the house to get his car keys, wallet, and phone. He really didn't want to go to the store cause he knew he would probably get harassed by tabloids and paparazzi but if he didn't go get another lightbulb now he never would and the album would never get finished. His eyes caught the clock on his microwave and he noticed it was a little past one in the morning. Hopefully he'd be left alone.

---

Josh Dun fucking hated his life.

It was almost two in the morning and he was standing behind a Walmart check out lane, wearing a vest that his younger sister said made him look like a Roblox character.

He doesn't even know how he ended up working the night shift at a shitty discount store. He had moved from Ohio to Los Angeles for college to peruse film at the Los Angeles Film School and when he graduated a year ago he was stuck with an expensive apartment and no job to pay for it so instead of chasing his dreams he was working in a Walmart.

His roommate and best friend, Mark, had better luck since his father had pulled some strings and gotten him a paid internship at Warner Brothers studios but he couldn't do anything for Josh (he also assumed it was because Mark's dad hated him). Josh hated high school because it was shitty, he hated college because it was shitty (and expensive), and he hated adulthood because it was shitty. He debated moving back home but he would get nothing but "I told you so"s from his parents and being poor and lonely beat that any day.

The red haired man let a sigh escape his soft lips. He noticed there were two pens lying by the cash register and he picked them up, twirling each one in his finger out of boredom. Josh was literally the only person working the register at the moment. One of his managers was in the back preparing deliveries and then there were a few people cleaning around the store but other than that it was empty.

His mind began to wonder and he subconsciously began hitting the platform above the register with his pens, creating a rhythm with them. Josh started getting really into it until he heard someone clear their throat. He stopped, hoping it wasn't his manager coming to beat his ass. Throwing the pens back by the register he looked over and saw it wasn't his manager but instead it was a man who looked around his age, maybe a little older. He was holding back a smile and Josh almost blushed, knowing it was because of his previous actions. Josh couldn't really tell though because the bags under the guy's eyes made it look much older than he probably was. The red haired man also noticed how familiar he looked but he couldn't seem to put a name or importance to the face. He was probably just someone who he's helped check out before.

"Good evening," Josh mumbled as the man set the things on the conveyer belt. "Sorry about that I was kinda spacing out," he laughed nervously.

"Nah don't worry," the guy spoke. "I get it. I was getting bored at my house and decided to get out for a bit."

Josh grabbed the first item and scanned it. "Get out and buy lightbulbs and beef jerky at two am?" He questioned with a smile. He didn't usually make small talk with his customers but he's been bored out of his mind since he started his shift at eleven and he was going to take any chance he could get.

"Yeah," the man laughed as he ran a hand through his slightly long hair. "I mean I know it was only pens on a counter but you sounded pretty good for what it's worth."

"Thanks," Josh smiled. "I used to play percussion in middle school and even though I quit band I've always had a knack for making unnecessary noise that no ones likes," he joked making the guy laugh once again.

"Do you still play?"

"Not really," he shrugged. "Just pen drumming. I graduated from college about a year ago and that consumed most of my time. Now I'm just working to scrape by there's no way I'd be able to afford a drum set," Josh had finished scanning and was ringing up the total but he didn't want the conversation to end so soon.

"I remember when I was in college a few years back," he smiled. "I mean I didn't finish but..."

"Any reason?"

"I spent too much time writing songs and stuff and started slowly failing my classes before dropping out all together," he shrugged.

"You write songs? That's so cool."

The man gave him a weird look before a look realization fell upon his face. He cracked a smile. "Yeah. It is."

Josh could tell the conversation was ceasing so he looked down at the screen. "Your total is $21.04," he told him. He watched as he grabbed out a twenty and two ones. Josh quickly got his change and gave it to him. "Have a good rest of you night and good luck with the song writing. I'm sure it'll take you places if you're passionate enough."

"How did you know I was stuck with writing?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"Just a hunch," Josh shrugged. "I used to eat beef jerky while late night studying in college. Great comfort food."

"It really is," the man sent Josh a genuine smile before grabbing his bags. "Have a good night too," he replied before walking off.

Josh couldn't help but smile, finding whoever that was fascinating.

---

The whole way home Tyler drove way above the speed limit. As soon as he walked out of Walmart he was hit with a ton of inspiration. He had a melody in his head that he had hummed into his phone but he didn't want to put lyrics in it. He always wrote his lyrics down.

He couldn't help but think about the employee at Walmart. Tyler thought he was judging him at first but then quickly realized that wasn't the case. Tyler found him kind of cute too so it's a good thing he wasn't a dick. He also didn't know who Tyler was which was a plus since it seemed like he was always being followed and praised.

The brunette pulled into his driveway and leapt out of the car once it was parked, leaving the bags in the back seat and his phone and wallet in the front. He made sure to lock it before hurrying to his studio and unlocking that.

Flipping the overhead light on, he ran to his desk and picked up the pen, writing the words down as they came to mind. It was like the sink finally unclogged and it had turned into a waterfall.

He didn't know what had sparked this creative kick but he couldn't help but think it was the Walmart employee he had just talked to.