Chapter Text
The next morning, Tyler awoke to a creaking sound at the foot of his bed, and a perpetual, " Wake up, wake up, you gotta come downstairs !" in the form of the two young, squeaky voices of his youngest siblings. It took him a few minutes, but Tyler eventually rolled onto his back to gaze over at Madison and Jay, raising his eyebrows inquisitively.
"There better be a really good reason I'm up right now," he teased, reaching forward and grasping at Jay's sides, making him jolt and emit several shriek-like giggles.
"You gotta come downstairs now," Madison emphasized seriously. "We have company!"
"Wait, seriously?"
"Just get dressed," Zack called from the doorway. He stood just outside the confines of the bedroom, fully dressed, a backpack slung over his shoulder. "Come on, guys, let Tyler be."
With a pleased harrumph, Madison hopped out of bed and darted into the hallway, closely followed by Jay. Tyler gave Zack an incredulous look. "Company, huh?"
Zack simply winked, and shut the door on his way out.
With a loud sigh, Tyler rolled himself out of bed, shuffling himself over to the closet to snag the most comfortable but least lazy clothes within reach, and got dressed. He wasn't sure what exactly "company" meant, but in any case, it was the day after Christmas and he wasn't going to great lengths in order to impress anyone. And with one final glance at his hair- a tousled mess, but there was hardly anything to be done about that- Tyler made his way out of the room and downstairs.
The scene unfolding before him in that moment made Tyler do a very abrupt double take. There, in the living room, was his brother, his boyfriend , Mark, Michael- hell, even Debby was there. He glanced back at the kitchen, as if questioning the reality of the situation, but his mother was sat at the table, reading her Bible, as if this was a perfectly normal occurrence.
As soon as he registered Tyler’s presence, Josh beamed over at him. "Hey!"
"Um... hey?" He was met with a chorus of mischievous giggles. "An explanation would be really great."
"Well." Suddenly his father appeared out from somewhere behind him, making Tyler jump in surprise. "Right before break started, your friend here-" he gestured at Josh, who waved a little at the recognition, grinning so widely his face seemed to have gained at least a hundred new dimples, "asked a little favor of your us."
"... Okay?"
"We're going on a trip," Josh informed him vaguely, wriggling his eyebrows. "But, um... before we go, I mean, I wanna make sure you're cool with this and all, cause... I mean, we can-"
"Josh signed you guys up to play at a music festival in Columbus!" Zack blurted out excitedly, and in that moment, Tyler swore he was about to faint. It was going to happen. The room became a bit wobbly, and had he not reached out to grasp the wall he would've no doubt fallen right over, he was so shaken.
"Wait, what ?!"
At that Josh scrambled forward, looking to Tyler in some rushed form of reassurance. "We don't have to, if you don't want to. We can just watch the other acts, you know."
"Just gimme a second," Tyler mumbled, looking around his living room in awe. "How... I mean, we don't... songs, I-”
Zack wiggled his eyebrows at that. "I may have leaked some of your song demos from the computer to Josh, just so he could practice drumming to them… but only some of them!”
"... You're kidding me, right? You're pranking me."
At that, Josh grasped Tyler's hand and started rushing him out the front door, leading straight to... oh my god . In the back of the truck were Josh’s electric drums, dismantled and folded up, next to Tyler’s keyboard, a brand new stand, and- his lyric journal.
"Oh my god," Tyler whispered.
"Yeah."
"Josh."
"Yeah?"
"We're gonna play music for people."
"If you wanna."
Tyler simply stared, then after a moment of disbelief, nodded fervently. Part of him realized they were still holding hands, but somewhere along the way Zack had come out to hide that fact, standing behind them and admiring the contents of the truck as discreetly as possible. It took all of Tyler's willpower to not launch himself at Josh and kiss his boyfriend senseless.
"Okay."
From the doorstep behind them, their makeshift crew cheered.
~
It dawned on Tyler just how grateful he was to have been woken up so early on a day off once they'd started driving and he very quickly realized they needed to figure out a setlist. It was Josh, Tyler, Michael, and Debby in the truck- Mark had offered to drive Zack, and pick up one of his friends along the way. They hadn't set out until Tyler had rushed back inside to transfer audio samples and backing tracks he'd created with the synth options on his keyboard in his spare time onto his phone, and snagged his ukulele from upstairs- just in case. By the time they'd set off, Tyler was ridiculously grateful to be out of the sight of his family, and in the presence of people he could hold hands with Josh in front of without worrying. The simple touch alone reassured him immensely, calmed his racing heartbeat and frazzled nerves as he flipped through pages and hooked up his phone to the truck aux chord.
"I think we should do Taxi Cab," Josh offered once they made it onto the highway. Tyler's eyes zeroed in on the stretch of open road as his mind whirred into frantic action, turning over the thought for a moment. "Since we have definite drums for that one."
At that, Tyler groaned, slumping further into the passenger seat. "What songs has Zack even sent you, what do we have figured out? How is this going to work ?"
"Maybe you could do a cover?" Michael chimed in from the back, shrugging a little. "Just to fill in some space."
Tyler nodded at that, looking to Josh for his reaction. "I have one in mind."
"Oh?"
A pause. "I'm not telling."
"Sure, Mr. Worried-To-Death-Over-The-Setlist."
"It's a valid concern, most of these songs are hardly finished!"
"Play us a couple!" Debby interjected. "It's gonna take us a while to get there, you could bounce ideas off me and Michael."
"Yeah, I'm willing to offer my vast musical knowledge to you guys."
" Thanks , Michael."
Regardless, Tyler began scrolling through his phone to find recordings, synth backups he'd put on the Garageband app on his phone. "Do you have Trees with you?" Josh suggested. "That's a solid one."
"Did Zack leak that one to you?”
“Well..."
"Play it!"
Tyler kept his eyes glued on Josh as he pressed play, and a static-y synth melody resonated through the speakers. He felt Josh squeeze his hand lightly, and smiled a little at the pleased look on his face as the song played, moving into the verse. "You should sing it."
"What? No."
Josh giggled, starting to rub his thumb over the back of Tyler's hand. "It'll be good practice, you know."
Immediately Tyler dropped his gaze to their connected hands, to their interlaced fingers, and the gentle feel of Josh's thumb against his skin. With a sigh, he started the recording over, lifting his eyes and training them on the road ahead.
"
I know where you stand,
silent in the trees.
And that's where I am,
silent in the trees.
Why won't you speak
where I happen to be?
Silent in the trees,
standing cowardly
."
Out of the corner of his eye, he could vaguely register Josh drumming on the steering wheel with his free hand, could see the bright smile on his face. He watched Josh glance up into the rearview mirror and back at their friends, and his smile doubled, so he figured their response had been a good one.
"
I can feel your breath,
I can feel my death.
I want to know you,
I want to see,
I want to say, hello
."
As soon as the verse transitioned into the bridge, Tyler broke himself out of his reverie, staring intently down at his phone as the track continued. "It just repeats again," he explained softly, and his grip on Josh's tightened a little, but it was completely unrelated to his nervousness at the fact that he'd just shared one of the most personal songs he'd ever written with his two friends in the backseat. Completely, utterly unrelated.
"Shit," he vaguely heard Debby mutter, a soft sound. "Tyler, that's incredible." She paused, and he felt it when she reached up and gently touched his shoulder. "Seriously, I'm at a loss right now. That song hits deep . You've gotta play it tonight, people will love it."
Tyler swallowed hard, glancing back at Debby in mild fear. "You think so?"
Michael scooted forward to the edge of his seat, nodding over to Debby. "She's right, man. Like, I knew you could write a song, but that's..." He shook his head a little, lips spreading into a wide, toothy grin. "That's a song ."
A blush spread hotly over Tyler's cheeks, and he ducked his head to hide behind the back of the passenger seat. "Thank you," he murmured softly, under his breath. "That means a lot."
"And I thought Taco Bell Saga was a masterpiece."
Tyler groaned. "No. No, we're past that. I swear-"
"Taco Bell what?"
Beside him, he heard Josh laugh. Tyler peeked out from his hiding place behind the seat and through his free hand, pouting up at his boyfriend for a split second, before the bright grin on Josh's face became too contagious, and he couldn't help but let a laugh break free.
"Michael, tell me you've got a recording of that with you."
"Oh, do I."
And if one stolen aux chord later they were blasting a medley of songs rewritten as a ballad to a fast food Mexican restaurant and laughing until Tyler, quite literally, got stomach cramps- well, he didn't really seem to mind much in the end.
He'd known in the back of his mind that his friends would be supportive no matter what, that even if they didn't particularly love the music, they'd have his back that day. But to get such a strong reaction right off the bat... Tyler had definitely been taken completely off guard, thrown to left field and left gaping in confusion and awe at the people he'd somehow gotten lucky enough to surround himself with. Who knew that a childhood friend he'd lost contact with, a girl from his youth group he barely knew, a basketball player from the team he'd quit, and a rebellious, bright haired boy with a punk nose ring and the softest heart he'd ever known, would become the most important support system in his life?
A split second later, with wide, awestruck eyes, Tyler mouthed a quick, "I love you," to Josh. A second later Josh's gaze was torn back to the road ahead of them, but Tyler could see his boyfriend smiling, and that was enough, until their next moment alone.
Everything was more than enough. Everything was good, for the first time in his life, and whether or not it would last wasn't something on Tyler's mind. For the first time in his life, he was living in the present. And it felt good.
~
Signing in to a music festival event was definitely not something Tyler had done before, but Josh seemed to know his way both around the venue- a wide open green space on the outskirts of town- and with the coordinators of the event. It wasn't very long, thankfully, before they were driving off to their own little space outside the event itself to practice.
"I can set up my drums if you want to practice," Josh offered as they parked. Tyler scrambled out of the truck quickly, ready and itching to practice, to prepare, to be ready to perform that night. A tentative setlist had been made, but there was heavy emphasis on tentative- it all depended on how quickly they could finish final song arrangements and actually be confident in those arrangements.
"Let's do that," Tyler agreed. "When do they need us ready to go onstage?"
"I can go figure that out," Debby assured them. "Wait, who exactly will they be waiting for?"
Josh looked to Tyler expectantly. "Come on. It's your chance to have the band name of your dreams."
"You're mocking me."
"I am not, it's a really sick name!"
Debby cocked her head to the side in confusion, so Josh continued. "Tyler came up with a potential band name a while ago, and he's embarrassed about it now, but I swear, it's a really cool name when he explains the meaning behind it." He grinned sheepishly at Tyler, reaching over to grasp his hand and kiss his temple apologetically. "I may have also signed us up under than name, so."
" Josh , you did not !"
With a bright laugh, Josh nodded. "Go on."
Tyler huffed, shaking his head in disbelief, but a smile was creeping its way onto his lips regardless. "Twenty One Pilots," he muttered, leaning his head on Josh's shoulder and avoiding eye contact at all costs. "It's from this, uh, play we had to read for AP Literature... All My Sons. Where, um... this dispatcher has the option to either send out these faulty parts for these airplanes, or recall them. And he sends the parts out, and... twenty one pilots died."
There was silence for a moment, broken only by a low whistle from Michael. "That's intense," he muttered, but when Tyler peeked over at his friend, he was grinning. "I love it. It fits you, and your music."
"You think so?"
"Oh, I know so."
Debby just rolled her eyes, making her way toward the gathering of tents in the distance. "So, twenty one pilots, got it. Michael, wanna come with?"
"Sure thing," he agreed, for a moment wondering why his presence was needed- but with one glance at the boys in question nodded and scurried off alongside Debby. "Have fun practicing!"
"You're awful."
"Love you, too!"
Tyler giggled a little, nuzzling his face into the crook of Josh's neck. "I can't believe you."
"Hey, Twenty One Pilots is a cool name."
"No, I mean... all of this," Tyler expanded, gesturing one arm outward. In response Josh snuck an arm around Tyler's middle and pulled them flush against each other, almost like a surprise hug. Tyler simply sighed, reaching up to drape his arms around Josh's neck. "Playing music with me. Hell, getting me to play a music festival. I never thought I'd be doing something like this in a million years."
"You deserve it, baby," Josh murmured, then started peppering kisses all over Tyler's face, making him giggle. "Love you so much. I'm so proud of you."
"We haven't even performed yet."
"Yeah, but you put on a little show on the way here," Josh countered. "I know how much your music means to you. Just the fact you agreed to all this." Josh pulled back a little bit then, catching Tyler's gaze with his own. "That's really fucking brave of you, you know."
Tyler shook his head, averting his eyes with a small sniffle. "Don't make me sappy right now. We need to rehearse."
At that, Josh tipped his head back and laughed. "Okay. Let me get the drums ready, and we can rehearse. Wanna start with Taxi Cab?"
"Sure."
"Wanna tell me about the mystery cover you have in mind?"
"... Nah."