Chapter Text
Josh, Tyler, and Mikey agreed to meet at Josh's house in an hour. That way, Mikey could take Tyler to his house to get some food into him. Tyler hated feeling like a burden, but he couldn't exactly say no. He couldn't go to his mom. He just couldn't. Every single time he'd try to be firm with her to help her, he cracked. Each time, she responded with a different variation of the phrase, "I promise I’ll get better, baby.” And he believed her. Every. Single. Time. Mikey of course, knew about this and wordlessly caught Tyler each time he felt like he was about to fall into oblivion.
The familiar sight of the Way's home brought a slight warmth to Tyler's chest. Ever since Gerard’s disappearance, he'd been over pretty much every day until he absolutely had to leave. Sometimes he'd stay for a week. Sometimes he'd just stay until Mikey fell asleep. He had to be there for Mikey. He couldn't just watch him deteriorate in his room all alone. Hell, he'd deteriorate with him if he had no other choice. They were in it together. Mikey parked and wordlessly took the keys out of the ignition. With a small sigh, he looked over to Tyler. His eyes traced over his best friend's tired features and offered a small smile.
"How bad was she?" he asked, the gentle tone to his voice coming out as a whisper.
"I didn't even want to check," Tyler muttered, playing with the hem of his jacket. Instead of responding, Mikey just nodded and motioned toward the house. The two boys fell into a comfortable silence as they walked to the front door, the sound of the snow beneath their feet producing a satisfying crunch. Once the boys toed their shoes off, they both headed to the kitchen right away. Mikey's mom Donna called a soft 'hello boys' from the living room.
"Hope you're well, Donna," Tyler called back, elbowing Mikey as he mocked Tyler’s tone in a high-pitched voice. Sometimes, a sliver of the old Mikey came back once and a while. Tyler just rolled his eyes in response and motioned for Mikey to open the fridge because Tyler couldn't do it on his own. Why? because it was rude. That's why.
"You're so weird man," Mikey sighed, shaking his head. He rummaged through the fridge and passed Tyler a Redbull, along with a small container of leftover salad. Tyler gratefully accepted the two items and went to sit at the kitchen island. When he saw Mikey reach into a cupboard for bread and peanut butter, he opened his mouth to protest. But to Tyler’s surprise, Mikey held up a hand to silence him. "You haven't eaten all day, and you probably won't eat again after this until I force you to come here tomorrow. So you're gonna eat this all up and then once you're done, we're going to Joshua’s," he spoke, his back to Tyler as he prepared two peanut butter sandwiches. Tyler imagined Mikey’s signature poker face, and a smile found its way onto his lips. Tyler remembered Mikey’s behaviour earlier in the day and swallowed as he tried to think of a way to bring it up.
"Rough morning?" he asked, stabbing at the pieces of lettuce and tomatoes in his container of salad. He heard Mikey let out a sigh and saw him nod. "How are you feeling now? We don't have to go to Josh's place today if you aren't up for it. There's always tomorrow," he offered, and took a bite. The crunch of the salad made his mouth water. Food just hits different when you're hungry.
"Yeah, but m'okay now. Just thinking, is all," Mikey responded and slid a plate over to Tyler that held the two sandwiches. "Eat up, I gotta go hide my stash," he whispered, patting his pocket and turning to exit the kitchen. Tyler made a noise of protest because his mouth had been stuffed with peanut butter and bread. Mikey didn't even turn around. Asshole. Eventually, Tyler finished up his little meal. He decided to do the dishes that he had dirtied because it was the right thing to do. About five minutes later he barged into Mikey’s room, successfully startling his poor friend. Tyler let out a cackle and doubled over as he closed the door behind him.
"I totally got you, dude! You should've seen your face." he giggled, as Mikey just stared at him with his eyes narrowed.
"You're lucky that I’m stoned off my ass, Joseph," he grumbled, a grin barely poking through his plainly obvious facade. Just as he mentioned it, Tyler’s nose wrinkled. Yeah, he could faintly smell it.
"Dude, it stinks." Tyler tutted and threw himself on Mikey’s bed. The bed swallowed him whole, being too soft for Tyler’s liking. "Jeez, no wonder why I never sleep with you when I stay here. Your mattress is ass," he complained, rolling onto the floor. Mikey was sprawled on a bean bag, just staring at the ceiling with a vacant look on his face.
"I think I smell wonderful. And it's a good thing we aren't fucking, then." Mikey smirked, earning a well-deserved smack upside the head from Tyler.
"Shut up!" he nearly shrieked, colour blossoming instantly on his cheeks from embarrassment. Ever since he came out to Mikey as bisexual, the little asshole had been throwing low blows at him constantly.
About twenty minutes later, the two boys were tugging on their shoes and saying goodbye to Mikey’s mom. Tyler was in a pretty good mood, and his mood rubbed off on Mikey as well. The boys didn't look deathly tired for once. they looked normal. As they walked to Mikey’s vehicle, a certain dark-haired kid was taking out the garbage from the house to their left. Tyler made eye contact with him, and the boy's facial expression turned to one of great sorrow. Tyler could almost see his little heart aching right in his very chest. Huh. He'd seen the guy around school sometimes, but that was pretty much it. Tyler looked away, his jaw set as he climbed into Mikey’s car.
"You see that kid? Looked like we kicked his puppy or some shit," he said, buckling his seatbelt. Mikey was on his phone next to him and shrugged.
"Probably got into trouble at home or something. None of our business anyways," and with that, Mikey pulled out of his driveway. Tyler told Mikey Josh's address. He'd texted it to him earlier. The drive was nice, the cool breeze flowed through Tyler’s open window as Mikey drove. Eventually, they pulled up to a house that made the two look at each other with a look of pleasant surprise. The house was nice. Better than nice, actually. The house had a beige exterior with brick on the bottom level of the house. The second level's exterior was just beige paneling. The front yard had a sidewalk path to the front door, but because of the snow, it just looked like they shoveled a random path to their front door. To the left, the house had a large two-door garage. The front door was a deep brown, with a glass window in it. Huh. Tyler and Mikey’s houses were decent, but it was obvious that this one was newer. And way more expensive. He wondered how many people lived there. He'd find out soon, seeing that both of the boys had hopped out of the vehicle with their bags and began walking to the front door. Tyler shot josh a quick text telling him that they arrived, just as they got to the door. About 23 seconds later (Mikey kept count, don't mind him), Josh opened the door with a smile. he was out of breath because he practically flew down the stairs in an attempt to get to the door before any of his siblings did. Otherwise, his friends would've been bombarded with irrelevant questions.
"Hey. C'mon, let's go," Josh greeted them. He noticed the confused looks on both of his guest’s faces and motioned for them to follow him. Josh peered around their staircase leading to the second floor, relieved that all three of his siblings were all doing their own things in the living room, the TV loud enough to block out the noise from the three teenagers. He led the two up to his room.
"Neat freak just like Tyler, huh?" Mikey scoffed when they all made it unscathed to Josh's room.
The first thing that Tyler noticed about Josh's room, was that it was nice and clean. Just how he liked his own room. The room was larger than Tyler’s, but that was no surprise to him. His bed was against the far wall, just beneath a large window. A bookshelf sat across from his bed, and his closet door was a few feet away from the door to the hallway. He had music posters around his bed and a desk at the foot of it. A roll of yellow duct tape sat on the desk. Across on the wall, sat a large TV with multiple gaming consoles around it. Not bad. Not bad at all.
"Everything has a spot, yes. But I don't think that necessarily makes me a neat freak," he frowned, before walking to his desk to grab his math notebook. Mikey looked at Tyler and mouthed 'neat freak' before Tyler mouthed back 'be nice'. "So I guess you guys can ask me questions about our assignment today, alright?" he gestured to his fixed bed. "You guys can take the bed or work on the floor. Whatever works for you. You can have the desk if you'd like." he offered, but Tyler had already clambered onto his bed, and Mikey had already plopped himself against the side of the bed on the floor. Once they were situated, Josh tried his best to help them with what they were struggling with. Tyler knew what he was doing, but he didn't know why he was doing it. In josh's opinion, math theory was just as important as the actual work. If you didn't know why you did certain things, you'd definitely have problems. Mikey on the other hand struggled with it all. Eventually though, he had a 'genius breakthrough' as he put it, and finally got the hang of it.
Once the two boys understood, they still had a few more questions to do.
"Wanna take a break?" Josh asked the two. "I have Mario Kart on my Switch? We can play on my TV," he shrugged, secretly wanting to play with the two pretty badly. At the mention of his favourite game, Tyler perked up with an excited look on his face.
"Dude! You have Mario Kart? Of course we'll play. C'mon Mikes, get up here," he said as he pulled Mikey by the shirt up onto the bed. Mikey swatted at him, but he was successful in getting him onto the bed. A win. Josh grinned a toothy smile at the two and climbed onto his bed beside Tyler. their sides touched, and josh would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the soft warmth seeping into his side.
Tyler ignored the funny feeling in his gut as Josh set up the game, thinking of anything but their close proximity.
For the next forty minutes, the three played many intense rounds. Tyler coming in first every single time. Mikey and Josh were pretty much neck and neck every game, which annoyed Mikey because the new kid was beating him. Every time Mikey won though, Josh congratulated him with a high five and he found it hard to be annoyed with such a nice kid.
"I’d hate to wreck the fun, but you guys should probably finish the assignment," Josh piped up, setting down his coloured controller.
"But Joshu-"
"Mikey, Josh is right. We're almost done," he reasoned and handed Mikey his notebook. He grabbed his own from behind josh, and got to work. In the meantime, Josh got up and grabbed his phone from his desk. A few minutes later, the boys heard the sound of the front door open. Tyler noticed that Josh got up rather excitedly, and practically ran out of his room and down the stairs. Both Mikey and Tyler raised an eyebrow at each other.
"What was that about?" Tyler wondered, looking at Mikey.
"I dunno. The kid seems like a spaz though.." he said, looking thoughtful for a split second. Tyler caught that and smiled slyly.
"Butttt.....?"
"But he's alright, okay? That what you wanted to hear?" he smiled with a roll of his eyes and punched Tyler’s shoulder. "It's getting late. C'mon, you should at least check on your mom," he said quietly. Tyler pursed his lips and nodded, knowing that Mikey was right. The entire time he'd been over at Josh's, he didn't even think of his troubles at home. He couldn't figure out if it was a good thing or not.
Josh poked his head into his room, holding a plastic grocery bag with hidden items inside.
"Hey, guys. My parents just got home and they were wondering if you'd like to stay for dinner or not," he explained, setting the bag onto his desk.
"Actually, we were just packing up. Thanks, Joshua. You really helped," Mikey said, sounding rather monotonous, but Josh would take it. Then, he walked past him and headed down the stairs.
"Maybe next time we'll stay. If you'll have us over again," Tyler added with a small smile as he packed his things into his bag. "What's in the bag?" he asked, pulling his bag onto his shoulders. Josh grinned.
"It's a secret. You'll find out tomorrow, Ty."
"Ty?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow. Just as josh opened his mouth to explain himself, he put a hand up. "No, it's alright. I like it," he smiled. "I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?" and walked downstairs.
♥️
The next day's math class went by fairly quickly and josh was pleased to see that both Tyler and Mikey kept up quite easily to their assignments that day. It made him feel good. Helping people felt good in general, but getting two new friends was also a plus. When Tyler first saw Josh's now bright red hair, his eyes widened a bit and made Josh's stomach flutter.
"Like it?" he smiled as he set his things down on his desk and slid into his seat.
"You look really badass. It suits you, J," he nodded, smiling with his teeth. Josh totally didn't melt a little inside when Tyler told him that. Nope nope nope. Throughout the period, Tyler and josh sent random memes to each other on Instagram. It was nice. After saying quick goodbyes to his two friends in the hall, he scurried to his next class.
After walking into the classroom, he immediately felt eyes on him. His eyes met with a pair of hazel ones. To josh's surprise, the kid waved him over. Huh. Whatever, it’s not like he’d reject an opportunity to make a new friend. Josh made his way over to the kid. He had thin, sculpted eyebrows and a striking scorpion tattoo on the side of his neck. Jeez, it was sweet. Josh had wanted a sleeve for the longest time, but he knew that his mom wouldn’t allow it as long as he was under her roof. Anyways, back to the kid. He was wearing black skinny jeans, a Halloween sweater, and had black eyeliner smeared around his eyes. Now normally, Josh would've thought that the kid's style was tacky (coming from a guy who liked to wear tape) but it actually worked pretty well for him. His hair was jet black and his fringe hung in his eyes.
"What's up, man? 'M Frank,” he nodded, gesturing for Josh to sit next to him.
"Oh. Hi, I'm Joshua. Just Josh is fine, though," he smiled, pulling out his notebook.
"Hey, Just Josh. You're new, yeah? Haven't seen you around."
"Yeah, I transferred from Pencey on Monday," he nodded and ran a hand through his fresh red locks.
"Oh shit, really? I used to go there! I moved here last year," Frank smiled. "You make any friends yet?"
"That's sick dude," Josh smiled. "And yeah. Tyler and Mikey. We have math together and they came over last night," he said and didn't miss the shocked expression on the shorter dude’s face. "What?"
"Like, Mikey and Tyler as in Mikey Way and Tyler Joseph?" he asked, not believing his ears.
"Uhhh yeah? What, are they secret murderers or something?" he asked, an odd sense that felt like he was missing something settled over his shoulders.
"Wait. You don't know what happened during winter break?" Frank asked in disbelief, and then lowered his voice once Josh shook his head, pretty clueless. "Mikey's brother Gerard went missing on the first night of the break, dude. Well, technically he was kidnapped. But since the police couldn't find any leads, they just classified him as missing. He didn't deserve that. He had the kindest soul on earth. On December fourteenth Tyler, Mikey, and Gerard were coming back to town after cruising for a bit on the highway. They stopped for a stranded car and just like that, the two people inside grabbed Gerard. Mikey and Tyler put up a fight, but the bastards still got away. Police closed his case a few days ago I think," he explained, his voice far too venomous to be just another student with no affiliation with the Way boy. Josh decided not to ask. He sat there for a moment, dumbfounded.
"Holy shit, I had no idea," he breathed quietly.
"Yeah, it was bad. The two of 'em were asses to anyone who asked about Gee- Gerard," he corrected himself quickly, Josh almost didn't notice it. Almost. "By the time school started again, everyone knew not to bring it up. They'd be cut up by Mikey’s sharp ass tongue in an instant. I feel bad for the kid though," he sighed, looking sadly at his own notebook.
Just then, their teacher walked in. He sent an apologetic glance to Frank and spent the rest of the period thinking about Gerard.
♥️
When lunch came around, Josh wandered around and eventually found Tyler and Mikey sitting on the edge of a window in the cafeteria. By the timid and gentle look in Josh's eyes, Tyler knew that Josh knew about Gerard. Damn it.
"I’ll be back," he muttered to Mikey before sitting up and pulling Josh to the hallway. He crossed his arms and looked Josh in the eyes. "Who told you?" he asked him. He wasn't angry with Josh, he just wished that he'd been the one to tell him. Or even better yet, Mikey. He just didn't want josh to treat them like they were delicate. They weren't. Josh swallowed and frowned.
"A kid named Frank in my English class," he admitted, and wrapped his arms around himself. Tyler let out a sigh. Before josh had a chance to tell him how sorry he was, Tyler cut him off.
"Listen. You're really fun to be around and you're the first person to look at us without pity in their eyes. Without looking at us like we’re hurt little kids. Don't start now,” he sighed, rubbing his temples with his hands. He felt a little choked up, not wanting to bring up his friend if it wasn't necessary. "It was a month when school started again," he mumbled, wringing his hands together as he spoke. Josh was still silent.
"Yeah, I heard. Tyler, Frank told me that the police didn't find any leads," he said and was prompted to continue when Tyler looked up at him. "Do you- do you think that maybe they overlooked something?" he asked honestly. Tyler's face flashed a look of anger and then hurt.
"Josh, Gerard was my best fucking friend. It's not a fun mystery for you to solve! He was a real person with real emotions, and I’d honestly rather have him be lying dead in some field than alone and scared somewhere," he spat, crossing his arms. Deep down, he knew he didn't feel like that. He wished that Gerard was out there somewhere, and he wished that he could save him. He began to walk away until Josh reached for his arm.
"No, shit- Tyler!" Josh gasped. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I swear. I just- it's barely been a month, Ty. It seems like they gave up so quickly," he said softly, pulling Tyler closer. "I read a lot, okay? Normally the police take at least a few months before they close a case, Tyler. Especially around our area. Kidnappings aren't that common. They should be doing more. Besides, it's not like he just vanished into thin air. You guys witnessed it. They have more straws to grasp at," he explained. Tyler stood, looking down at his boots.
"You're right, I guess. I appreciate it, Josh. Thanks. I think I'm going to go home with Mikey after lunch. You can come to sit until we leave, though," he said before making his way back to the cafeteria.
Josh followed, feeling guilty for making Tyler upset.