Work Text:
The bright screen lit the little space in Josh's bunk as the vehicle moved haphazardly on. Huddled under a sweaty blanket, he could imagine the soft, distant Georgia landscape rush by outside. Tyler was sleeping in the bunk across from him; he could hear the contented snores. They were one of the reasons he was up past midnight with a busy schedule the next day, but it wasn't the reason.
As soon as Josh fell asleep, he would be whipped away to a different place by morning, and Tyler was already on his way. Josh wished he could hear Tyler's voice right now, the one he stayed up with for so many years until they saw the sun rise outside the window in the endless Ohio winters. He missed his friend, even when he was mere feet from him. With all the things going on in his head, Josh couldn't accept sleep. Especially when that meant leaving him, the man Tyler wasn't even thinking of in his slumber. Tyler didn't know about the chemicals between Josh and this other man. And Tyler knew about everything.
The whole crew had known for a few weeks before that the president of the country, President Barack Obama, was coming to their Atlanta show. They'd told Josh and Tyler three days before. Barack had been in the area then, was familiar with the band, (maybe even a fan, Tyler and Josh had enthused one night over burgers) and had not announced his plans to anyone but the venue and artists. Josh had expected it all to be rigorously strict, with Secret Service agents crowding the entrance and the streets outside, but he hadn't seen any at all. Barack had stopped by minutes before Twenty One Pilots was scheduled to go on, just for words of luck and encouragement.
And that's when things started to click. Tyler was swept away with the president's charm and interest in both him and his band. When Tyler was pulled aside last-minute, Barack and Josh had time to meet. Josh didn't even remember much from that brief three minutes they talked; Josh was so nervous, and not just because of Barack's fame status. Turns out he was actually really cool, and who knew that the President of the United States' favorite Twenty One Pilots song was 'Forest'?
Josh had followed their "date" with one of the most energetic shows he could remember. Every hit of the snare and thump of the bass was perfectly in time. But now, they were traveling away from Barack and his fabulous music taste and charming personality. Soon, they'd be in an entirely different time zone and Tyler would forget about this event soon enough, on to something bigger and better.
Josh scanned the screen of his phone, and after a few minutes of quiet gear-turning and sleepy Tyler noises he opened up to Twitter. He didn't want to seem desperate, just wanted to talk again. Composing a tweet, he didn't want to get sloppy, didn't want the entire fan base to know about anything yet, especially when nothing was definite. So he sent Barack a "hey", carefully typed and sent at exactly 2:16 AM. In due time, it would be 1:16 again in Tennessee and Josh would have to relive the stresses of that careful message again. He hoped Barack would see it, before they got too far from each other.