Trigger Warnings
//
Drug use, alcohol use, mentions of sex/sexual actions.

Wait to start the song.

Josh Dun was about as square as squares get.

Josh was the valedictorian of his graduating class. He never missed an opportunity to study, even though he was far above the others in his class. He worked at the local grocery store, and even spent his break times studying and finishing extra credit assignments. He's never been in trouble with the law - never even had so much as a detention in school. When graduation came around, there was no question who came out on top, and no one was even close to being surprised. He was going to Ohio State University on all kinds of scholarships due to his grades, and would be going straight to law school once he finished his pre-studies. Josh was the epitome of an upstanding citizen.

His friends? Not so much.

Brendon Urie, as smart as he was - even smarter than Josh (as far as Josh was concerned) - spent most of his time hanging out with his boyfriend, Ryan, going to parties, and getting high. By the time the were in the tenth grade, Brendon had gone from having straight A's and following in Josh's footsteps to be valedictorian to being lucky enough to finish the year with the bare minimum passing grade. He graduated in the 50th percentile of the whole class, placing 292 out of the 634 students in their class. He didn't really have any plans, but he was happy.

Brendon's turn in ambition wasn't Ryan's fault, though. Ryan stayed sober for the most part, meaning he never drank but he did smoke weed with Brendon every now and again. However, both of their transitions stemmed from Ashley Frangipane. Ashley had been the boys' best friend since they were in elementary school and, even when she dropped out of high school and became a tattoo artist, they never lost touch. She gave Brendon his first joint at fifteen, and that began his "downward spiral," as Josh's parents called it. Josh apologized to him, but Brendon didn't mind. He understood their worry.

All of this information seems unnecessary, but it's important that you know that with all of Josh's drive and ambition, and with his future almost mapped out for him, he definitely would not be doing anything to jeopardize that future.

Or, that's what he thought.

* * *

"Josh," Brendon sighed softly as he sat on his friend's windowsill, blowing marijuana smoke out of the window, "you have to come to this party with me and Ryan, even if it's the only one you ever go to. I promise you'll have a good time, and I won't even let you get that trashed. You'll have, like, one or two drinks and I'll absolutely cut you off."

Josh laughed as he threw a foam basketball against the wall, catching it as it bounced back to him and he repeated the process. "Brendon, I've never even drank alcohol before," he answered matter-of-factly. "Literally one or two drinks would have me on my ass and then I'd have to deal with you and Ryan fucking in my car after you drive me home."

Brendon laughed out loud before taking another hit from the spliff between his fingers. "Fair point," he choked out. It was quiet for a minute before he spoke again. "Ashley's gonna be there! You haven't seen her in about two months, dude."

Josh sighed. "That's not my fault, though," he pointed out. "It's the middle of June and she's got appointments filled all the way up to September. She's busy, I'm busy; we're all busy these days, dude. 'Cept you."

Brendon coughed before he looked at Josh incredulously. "Hey," he started, "I am busy. I do have a job, you know."

"Dealing weed isn't a job, Brendon," Josh answered with a laugh. "At least not one you can put on a college transcript."

"Bullshit," Brendon answered. "If these colleges or companies knew how much money I make in a month, I could be the leading executive for a sales branch, hands down." Josh laughed as Brendon threw the roach from his joint out of the window into the vacant lot next to the house. "Remind me to get that before we leave. I don't need your mom grilling me about it again."

Josh shook his head. "You mean when you leave," Josh said as Brendon groaned. "Dude, I'm not going."

Brendon sighed, half frustrated. "Why not, Josh?" He looked like he was almost pleading and it took Josh completely off guard. "We're officially graduated, man! You should be out there having fun, getting new experiences, dabbling in new things. You don't have any tests to study for, no assignments due tomorrow, and you don't work tomorrow - I already looked at your schedule because it's tacked on your wall, Josh. I want to have a good night with my best friend, and let him into my world, even for a split second."

Josh looked at Brendon's sorrowful face, feeling kind of bad for not spending time with his oldest friend. Even if the scenery would differ from Josh's entire personality, that didn't mean Brendon had to suffer and feel left out. He sighed gently, thinking it over as Brendon dropped to his knees in front of him. "I will totally suck your dick if you go to this party with me."

Josh groaned in playful disgust as he laughed. "Don't you have a boyfriend, you freak?"

Brendon shrugged. "Ryan would understand," he said. "He said do whatever it took to get you to go with us."

Josh dipped his head back and laughed. "How about I come to the party," he started, "and you get away from my dick?"

Brendon cheered happily before getting up from the floor and tackling Josh in a hug. "I promise you won't regret this, Josh!"

Josh rolled his eyes as he hugged back. "I better not," he said, pulling away. "One or two drinks, Brendon. We can stay as long as you want, but I'm only having one or two drinks. That's it."

Brendon nodded vigorously. "Honestly, I probably won't even let you have a second one," he said. "We want you to have fun, not get blackout drunk at your first party."

Josh nodded, grabbing his keys. "Let's go, then."

* * *

Start the song. It's Spit Punk Wizard by The Shortlist.

Entering the party wasn't what Josh thought it would be. Brendon and Ryan walked in ahead of him, the current party-goers exclaiming in happiness at their entrance as Josh trailed close behind. He figured it'd be your stereotypical party, but the music wasn't so loud he couldn't hear, kids weren't walking around with red cups, there weren't random people making out on the couches and no one was absolutely wrecking the house. There were maybe fifteen or twenty other people at the party, and the were all carrying different beer bottles, playing beer pong in one room and playing flip-cup in another. Josh didn't feel entirely overwhelmed and when Brendon handed him a bottle of something called Smirnoff, he thanked him and took a small sip as Brendon and Ryan watched.

He pulled the bottle away with a slight grimace, but nodded after a second. "That's not too bad," he said with a laugh.

Ryan clapped him on the back gently and Brendon laughed. "I knew you'd be a Smirnoff guy, dude," he said. "That one is green apple, my personal favorite. There's a bunch of different flavors in the fridge, so if you finish that one and you want another one, you can grab one more. Just one more though, Josh."

Josh nodded softly, looking at the alcohol content on the bottle's label. "I'll probably just have this one."

Brendon nodded and then pointed to the living room. "Let's go watch the beer pong game."

Josh followed Brendon and Ryan to the pong table, watching intently as Brendon leaned into his ear. "The girl with the fire colored hair," he started, pointing to a girl handing a beer to someone, "that's Hayley. This is her house. She's only nineteen."

Josh looked at Brendon with wide eyes. "How does she afford this place?" It was a valid question. The house was only one story, but had a full sized dining room, living room, lounge, sun room, kitchen and three bedrooms that Josh could see but probably had more down the hallways.

Brendon smirked knowingly as Ryan laughed and leaned toward Josh. "Her dad pays the rent so she won't tell her mom that her dad's sleeping with his secretary."

Josh's eyes widened even more. "But what about the bills?"

"And Mommy pays the bills so I won't tell Daddy the she's sleeping with her yoga instructor," a voice said from the other side of Josh, making him jump slightly. "They both think I pay the parts they aren't paying with the money from my job, but all that money goes to getting weed from Brendon and getting Mark to buy me alcohol."

Josh dipped his head down. "I'm sorry we were talking about you. That was rude."

Hayley awed from beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't apologize, sugar," she said sweetly. "You were curious. I understand. Brendon and Ryan don't know how to keep their big mouths shut, anyway."

Brendon pouted slightly, putting fingers to his lips and looking at Ryan. "My mouth isn't that big," he mumbled slightly.

Ryan shrugged. "You do have big fucking lips, Bren."

Brendon smirked and reached around Ryan, grabbing his ass. "You love my big fucking lips."

Ryan looked at Brendon for a second before nodding gently. "We'll be back in a bit," he said, grabbing Brendon's free hand and leading him toward one of the rooms as Brendon laughter filtered behind them.

Josh looked at Hayley who was shaking her head. "They practically live here on the weekends," she said with a smile. "What with Brendon's homophobic ass parents, this is the only place he gets to be with Ryan that they can't find him."

Josh nodded. "They used to stay at my house until my dad ratted them out to his parents," he said, taking another sip. "My parents got divorced not too long after that, so he's not in the picture anymore."

Hayley gave him a sympathetic smile. "Sorry to hear that, babe," she said gently. "Well, while those two are off fucking like rabbits, you wanna follow me around and mingle with me?"

Josh laughed gently and nodded. "Sure, why not."

For the next thirty minutes, the two of them strolled around, Hayley introducing Josh to her friends and Josh finding Ashley amidst all the commotion. The three of them bounced around until Brendon and Ryan came back and then they all dispersed into the kitchen to stand and talk around the island. Around ten o'clock, the front door opened and a few cheers erupted throughout the house. Josh looked toward the kitchen entrance, hearing Hayley say "Guess he finally decided to show up," before a pair of chocolate brown eyes were peering right at him.

The two didn't share words as the Brown Eyed Wonder walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer, saying hello to all of Josh's friends before disappearing back into the living room. Josh let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding before turning to look at Hayley. "Who was that?"

Hayley giggled softly, putting her bottle to her lips. "Trust me," she said softly, "judging from that look, you'll find out soon enough."