Trigger Warning

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Drug and alcohol use; marijuana.

Start the song. It's Pretty Girl by Jet Black Alley Cat.

Josh spent the majority of the next hour following Hayley and Ashley around, looking out for the Brown Eyed Wonder who has yet to be identified to him. The girls just kept giggling every time Josh would mention him, but never uttered a word about who he was or why being so elusive was such a normal thing for him. Brendon and Ryan were nowhere to be found, probably locked in their room again, and probably for the rest of the night judging by the missing twelve pack of beer from the fridge and the steady stream of marijuana smoke coming from under their door.

Eventually, the girls led Josh to the room where everyone was playing flip cup. They invited Josh to join, but he didn't know the game and didn't want to drink anymore, so he opted for just watching them. From what Josh did know, they were absolutely winning the game. It didn't take him long to get somewhat bored, though, so he decided to walk away from the game and head toward the back patio. There were more people outside than there were inside, he must've just not noticed them because he'd been in the house the whole time.

He had his second and last drink of the night resting between his fingers as he watched those around him passing joints around and laughing as they smoked cigarettes by Hayley's pool. The ambiance of the entire party was out of Josh's comfort zone, but still felt like something he could find himself being comfortable in. No one was pressuring him to take any of the drugs they had, they weren't shoving drinks in his face and they weren't coming on to him in ways that would make him uncomfortable. He thinks, in a different life, he'd attend more of these parties with Brendon and his newly developed friends if he wasn't so keen on living the life he already had planned.

In the midst of his thoughts, he didn't hear someone walk up beside him to lean on the banister and when he went to take a drink he almost dropped the bottle when a voice said "Pretty boys like you shouldn't be outside alone."

He turned his head to immediately catch eyes with the Brown Eyed Wonder he'd been silently searching for all night, and he felt his breath get caught in his throat. The boy cocked his head to the side and let his eyes roam over Josh's whole body before he looked back at him with slightly furrowed brows. "I've never seen you before," he said, his voice sounding sultry and raspy. "What's your name?"

Josh swallowed slightly before managing to choke out his answer. "Josh."

The boy in front of him nodded and that's when Josh got a good look at his features. He had very lightly tanned skin, the same soft caramel color all the way around. His cheeks and nose were dusted lightly with freckles, and his eyes actually looked like chocolate. He had a slender jawline and his skin was near flawless - almost looking airbrushed. Josh felt his mouth dry at the sight of him, and felt his heart almost stop when the boy smiled at him.

"You don't do this often, do you?" His question was so soft that it couldn't be taken as malicious in any way, so Josh just shook his head softly. "What brings you here, then?"

Josh swallowed again. "My best friend comes here all the time," he said softly. "We just graduated high school, and he said I needed experiences before I left for college."

The boy nodded. "Who's your best friend?"

"Brendon Urie," Josh answered.

The boy lit up. "Oh, the Beebs," he said happily. "He's such a sweetheart. Saved my ass a few times. He and that Ross boy are the cutest damn couple I've ever seen." He laughed gently, looking over Josh once more before looking up into his eyes. "Kinda makes me wish I had something like that."

Josh felt his mouth dry again. He took a sip of his drink to cover it up, but he saw and heard the boy let out a soft chuckle before he felt a hand slip into his. "Let's get you back inside."

Josh didn't try to pry his hand away, just simply nodded as he was led inside. He didn't object when he was led into the kitchen, his empty bottle taken from his hand and another placed between his fingers. He allowed the boy to lead him back to the master bedroom, which had to be Hayley's room. There were posters of The Ramones, The Killers, The Doors and Jim Morrison, Morrisey and many others lining the walls and it was adorned with only a king sized bed and one small dresser on each side. There were three other people in the room; a girl dressed in all black with a black beanie and big, thin framed circle glasses sat by the window, and two boys wearing cut-off t-shirts and combat boots sat in the floor. Josh didn't recognize them. The boy said he didn't know them either, but they knew him, if only by name and reputation.

The two of them sat on the foot of the bed, and the unknown boy pulled a bag of joints from his pocket, tossing one to each of the other three in the room as they all handed him twenty dollar bills. He offered one to Josh who shook his head, telling him he didn't smoke. The boy shrugged and put the spliff between his lips and igniting the end of it, taking a long drag and holding it in for a few seconds before blowing the smoke past his lips. "You're a bit of a square, aren't you?"

Josh looked a bit surprised as he furrowed his brows. "Sorry?"

The boy laughed gently. "Don't take it as a negative connotation," he said. "It's alright to be a square. I'm just guessing because I've been watching you most of the night. You finished one drink as soon as I got here, you nursed that second one for over an hour, and you haven't even opened this one yet. You haven't been smoking cigarettes with anyone, and you don't smoke weed. So, either you're a square, or you do harder drugs and don't touch the baby stuff."

Josh laughed, a little embarrassed. "Take the latter," he said softly. "I've never even drank alcohol before tonight. This is the third drink I've ever had in my life."

The boy nodded and, after a moment, took the drink from Josh and set it on the floor. "Don't want you getting too drunk on my account." He took another hit from his joint, blowing out the smoke away from Josh before turning back to him. "Tell me about yourself, Josh."

So they sat on the bed for the next thirty minutes, Josh telling this beautiful, strange boy his boring life story. Loving son, great friend, perfect student, and total square. The most exciting thing he told him was that he had broken his arm falling out of his tree house when he was seven, and Brendon cried for an hour because he thought he was dead. "Brendon begged my dad to tear down the tree house after that," he said with a soft laugh at the memory. "Then, when we were sixteen, we sat on my back porch staring at the tree for like, an hour, and he just says, 'Too bad your dad tore down the tree house. I could hide Ryan in it.'"

The boy beside him was laughing languidly, his joint long gone and his body sitting closer to Josh's. Their arms were brushing gently, and Josh had grown used to the feeling about twenty minutes ago. He felt so comfortable sitting next to this boy, whose name he still didn't know, but didn't care too much at the moment. "You're pretty interesting for a square, Josh," he said softly, turning to look at him.

Josh turned to look at the boy, noticing their close proximity and smiled gently. "You're not too bad yourself," he whispered, watching the boy smile.

Just then, the door to the bedroom opened and Brendon was looking at Josh with a relieved smile. "I was looking for you everywhere, Joshua Dun," he said like a stern parent. "It's like, 1:30 in the morning, and we told your mom we'd be back about 30 minutes ago."

Josh nodded as Brendon left the room, most likely going to find Ryan. He looked back to the boy who was now sitting up straight on the bed next to him and sighed gently. "Guess I gotta go," he said softly.

"Are you okay to drive?" His voice sounded so sincere that it made Josh's heart flutter.

It just struck Josh in that moment that the slight blurriness he had felt an hour ago was gone, but he still didn't trust himself to drive home. He looked at the boy with a slight shake of his head. "Probably not, but it's okay. Ryan doesn't drink, so he'll drive home."

The boy nodded. "That's a good idea." It was quiet between the two of them for a moment before the boy rested a hand on Josh's cheek and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I'll see you around, Square," he whispered before getting up and heading out of the room.

Josh touched his finger to the corner of his mouth and quickly turned toward the door. "Wait!"

The boy stopped and turned to look at him with a soft smile. "Yes?"

Josh stood up and wiped his hands on his jeans, looking extremely nervous. "What's your name?"

The boy smiled even wider, taking his bottom lip between his teeth as he laughed gently. "It's Tyler," he answered, his voice that same sultry allure as earlier, before he disappeared down the hall.