tyler enters the dining room, ryan trailing behind him, with a small smile. it immediately drops, however, when he notices every single pair of eyes is focused on him. he scans the room quickly, two faces standing out to him—debby and melanie, of course. he should've expected that they would be here, but the thought never really occurred.

brendon clears his throat, thankfully taking the attention off of tyler. "everyone, meet tyler joseph."

the attention is back on him now, but tyler can't help but only meet debby's eyes. she looks stunned, confused, maybe even a bit empathetic. he's surprised to see her there more than he is melanie. it's obvious she's itching to know what happened.

"you can have a seat, tyler," brendon speaks up, nodding towards an empty seat.

the brunette nods, ryan sitting in the chair beside him. a girl he doesn't know sits to his left, but debby is kitty-corner across the table. brendon orders for everyone to dig in, which tyler happily obliges—he's starving. habitually, he keeps his head down while he eats despite feeling so many eyes on him. tyler avoiding eye contact is like a self-defense mechanism at this point. if he can't see people staring at him, then it can't make him nervous.

light chatter fills the air as people banter back and forth across the table. tyler tries to tune it out, but the girl beside him leans in and whispers, "weren't you josh's bitch?"

mid-bite, tyler casts his eyes towards the girl. her hair is very clearly dyed blonde, black roots peeking through. she doesn't seem malicious, just curious, so tyler nods. "i guess you could say that," he says with a mouthful of taco, then adds, "how did you know that?"

the girl smiles. "it's all brendon has been talking about for weeks. he was so envious of josh."

"but why?"

she shrugs. "he must have a thing for you, or something, i don't really know."

ryan, who must've been listening in, scoffs. "puh-lease. brendon does not have a thing for you tyler, don't let hayley get to your head. even if he did, it's nothing you would want, i'm sure."

tyler's taken back a bit. was that supposed to be an insult?

"jealous, ry?" the girl, hayley, grins.

"as if." ryan rolls his eyes.

tyler decides to try to switch the subject. "you know, there was another girl named hayley at josh's. hayley williams."

"yeah, i've heard of her," she says. "i'm hayley kiyoko, the better one." the brunette decides there's not much he can do to carry the conversation further, so he just shuts up and finishes his plate.

after dinner, tyler is up in his bedroom. he's on his phone, rereading old text messages between him and josh because he likes to make himself suffer like that.

j: tyler.

t: joshua

j: i hate that. anyway, can you come down to my office?

t: whyyyy

j: need you.

t: it's 2:26 am and i'm about to fall asleep

j: don't make me come up there.

t: what do you even need!!

j: top secret.

t: omg. i'm coming. i stg josh

tyler smiles, remembering josh only made him come down to give him a kiss and take him in his bedroom to fall asleep together. he knows he shouldn't miss josh as much as he does, especially considering what he did, but that's easier said than done. josh doesn't seem to miss him though, he hasn't tried to call or text a single time. so tyler isn't going to try either. the bedroom door opening gains his attention. debby stands awkwardly for a few seconds before asking, "can i come in?"

"sure." tyler gets up off his stomach and chooses to sit instead, bringing his knees to his chest. debby shuts the door behind her and joins him on the edge of the bed. they sorta just stare at each other awkwardly for a moment before she finally speaks up.

"you shouldn't be here."

tyler just chuckles. "okay, but i am."

"why?"

"shit happened that i didn't agree with, so i left." he leaves it at that, deciding it's not really any of her business to know the pitiful details.

"but-" debby cuts herself off with a sigh. "i wish you wouldn't have came here, tyler."

"ouch?"

"i don't mean it like that." she waves her hand. "this place just isn't for you, tyler. it's not. josh was where you belonged, not brendon."

having no idea what she's trying to imply, tyler just says, "okay..."

debby sighs, dragging her palm down her face. "i'm sorry about whatever happened, but you shouldn't have left. i regret the things i did that landed me where i am today. josh's place is literal heaven compared to what it is here. i thought things were so bad there, but..."

she trails off, leaving tyler to piece together what she's trying to say. "it doesn't seem bad here at all. it seems better, actually."

a sad smile etches it's way onto her lips. "that's how he gets you."

before tyler can respond, the door opens. ryan lets out a relieved sigh. "debby, there you are. you're needed."

her and the brunette share a quick look before she silently gets up and heads out of the room. ryan opts to let himself in tyler's room. "what was she doing?"

"nothing," tyler shrugs. "she just asked me about what happened." ryan studies him for a moment, seeming to be satisfied with that answer. "what was she needed for?"

"oh, just work," he brushes it off, smiling.

an excruciating silence falls over them for the next few minutes, ryan standing around and seemingly refusing to leave while tyler is back on his phone. he glances up every so often, finding ryan watching him every single time. "do you need something?"

"yeah, actually. i just wanted to make sure that you're settling in nicely, which you seem to be. i also want to say that i hope you aren't expecting to get out of brendon what you got out of josh."

"huh?" tyler frowns.

"you know, the attention and affection. brendon's too sophisticated for that shit, which is a good thing judging by how it played out with you and josh."

okay, so tyler is starting to wonder whether his and josh's "secret" relationship wasn't so secret after all. does fucking everybody just know about it?

"don't get me wrong, brendon loves all of us. he just shows it in different ways, you know? everything he does is for us and-"

"ryan? i really appreciate you coming in here to talk to me but i'm really just trying to watch netflix. mind if i kick you out?" tyler interrupts, not wanting to hear whatever bullshit spiel ryan was about to give.

he blinks in surprise. "oh, okay. yeah, that's fine. i'll just see you in the morning."

"see you," tyler offers a smile. ryan doesn't return it, he just leaves and shuts the door rather harshly.

tyler's starting to question what exactly he's gotten himself into. things seemed perfect at first, but the whole vibe has altered—a bit scary, a bit creepy. trying to suppress any negative thoughts, tyler just goes back to reading his and josh's texts.

t: jooosh

j: why are you whining now?

t: shut up you love me. i want attention

j: i'm busy.

t: awww sad face

t: josh doesn't love me anymore

j: yes i do. you're distracting me.

t: i can come distract you in other ways ;)

j: don't even start.

t: you don't love me anymore :(

j: i do. i'm sorry.

t: nooo i'm just kidding! are you really too busy for me to come sit on your lap and give you a kiss?

j: oh, haha. no i'm not, but only one kiss. one, tyler.

t: two kisses? sounds good!

j: fine, two.

t: okay three! be down in a sec

yeah, they ended up fucking on josh's desk about ten minutes after that message was sent. reading all these messages provides tyler with serotonin for approximately .4 seconds. after that, he just feels sick to his stomach. he basically feels like he's grieving someone that's not even dead. he could reach out to josh at any second, but as much as he wants to do that he won't. he's stubborn, and josh is too. neither is going to text the other first, and tyler knows that.

he can't help but wonder what is going on back at home. yes, he admits josh's house still feels like it's his home. what's going on with josh and pete? what about billie and jenna? ashley? he could easily just text one of them... but they haven't texted first either. josh probably made them delete his number, or maybe they just never cared enough about him in the first place to check in on him. whatever the case, tyler knows he's going to have to cut off all ties eventually. no matter how much it hurts him in the process.