part 4

                                    

                                          
at about five o'clock (the time tyler declared appropriate for parties) he knocked on pete's door. it swung open immediately, revealing pete's glittery face. it looked like brendon had arrived, and brought his glitter bath with him.
                          
"yo, tyjo my main hoe! you're late!" pete said cheerfully. tyler scrunched up his eyebrows. "you said any time after three. this is after three."
                          
pete rolled his eyes. "i obviously meant to come at four. that's not so early that you look like you have nothing else to do, but not so late that you look like you don't care. basic party etiquette, tyler."
                          
tyler rolled his eyes while pete skipped off inside (he wasn't wearing his heelies. thank god). why was he even friends with him?
                          
he walked into the house, closing the door behind him, and was greeted with the sight of brendon and dallon apparently having a contest to see who could stick their tongue the farthest down the other's throat. (seriously, ew)
                          
"get a room!" frank called from the large couch that he was sitting on (technically. he was on gerard's lap, and gerard was sitting on the couch) before going back to watching the mario kart tournament that was occurring between ray and another guy with fabulous hair.
                          
someone called his name. "tyler! over here!" patrick was sitting on the floor next to an intimidating looking guy with a couple tattoos. (the town seemed to be disturbingly lax about giving tattoos to minors. or maybe parents were more chill about it there. tyler wasn't sure.)
                          
tyler sat down with the two of them and patrick smiled. "this is andy," he said, gesturing to the tattooed guy. the tattooed guy (apparently andy) smiled at him. tyler completely took back the thought that he was intimidating. andy's smile radiated sunshine and everything good in the world.
                          
"i'm tyler. i'm new," he introduced himself. andy nodded, "i know, patrick mentioned you. i like your lipstick, it's a nice shade."
                          
tyler grinned widely. "thanks, man. it was hard to find a colour that matched my nail polish and didn't look trashy on me." tyler lifted up his (light purple) nails to show the other boys what he meant.
                          
patrick nodded solemnly. "colour coordination is hard. i tried it a couple years ago, and it was so difficult i just gave up and grew giant sideburns. i'm still proud of them, though. they were a good thing."
                          
the one with the hair (not ray, the other one with the hair) shouted at patrick without even looking away from the tv screen, "those sideburns were poison, patrick. shut the fuck up."
                          
patrick rolled his eyes. "you're just jealous because people remember my name!"
                          
tyler looked between the fluffy haired guy (who was miraculously managing to flip patrick off and maintain a steady lead against ray with mario kart at the same time) and patrick. "um... what's his name?" tyler asked patrick quietly.
                          
"that's andy's boyfriend, joe. if he offers you a brownie, don't take it. unless you can handle your weed. i can't, and i ate one. one second i'm eating a pastry, the next i'm waking up next to a completely naked pete dressed in drag. that was not my proudest moment."
                          
tyler shuddered at the image. "i won't take brownies from joe."
                          
patrick patted him on the shoulder. "good. that's good."
                          
there was a shout as the round of mario kart ended with ray being pronounced winner. "sorry, man," he said, shaking joe's hand. "the hair gods must be with me today."
                          
the controllers were passed onto frank and dallon (him and brendon had stopped tongue fucking and joined the rest of the party) and the next level began. mikey broke away from the mario kart crowd and sat with the other three boys on the floor.
                          
"i don't feel like watching frank lose at mario kart. what's happening here?" he asked.
                          
andy shrugged. "nothing much. we're just watching the tournament from a distance." mikey sighed. "pete hasn't ordered the pizza yet so i can't eat away the boredom. let's talk about something."
                          
patrick looked happy about the idea. "like what?" he asked.
                          
mikey shrugged. "i don't know. how was your guys' weekend?"
                          
"i went to the record store with joe. then i worked on homework. now i'm here," andy said flatly.
                          
mikey nodded thoughtfully. "interesting. patrick?"
                          
"i bought the force awakens. then i watched it. and cried. and then i went over to gerard's house and watched the princess bride. then i went home. and then i came here."
                          
"that sounds exciting. what about you, tyler?"
                          
tyler shrugged. "nothing much. my mom made me go outside. i found a forest. i saw josh dun in the forest and i think i formed a band with him. and then i went to church this morning. and now i'm talking to you guys about my weekend."
                          
there was a united gasp from the other three. "you talked to josh dun?" patrick asked.
                          
"you went to church?" mikey inquired.
                          
tyler nodded. "he was nice. like his singing voice. and his face. also, yeah. my mom has me go because she wants us to act like a family."
                          
patrick looked shock. "you're still alive. how?"
                          
tyler shot him a confused look. "of course i am, church isn't that bad."
                          
patrick shook his head. "no, that's not what i meant. you talked to josh. and lived."
                          
tyler huffed. "why do you guys have such a problem with him, anyway? what did he do that was so bad that he made everyone want to avoid him?"
                          
mikey sighed. "tyler, i know you haven't been around here long, but trust me when i say you don't want to hang out with josh. he's bad news."
                          
tyler rolled his eyes. "you're literally only freaked out because you heard a couple rumours and think he's the spawn of satan. i'm pretty sure if you should be worried about anyone killing you, it's frank."
                          
mikey shook his head. "frank wouldn't kill me. then gerard would be mad at him. he's very anti-violence. also, i'm his brother. and if he's mad at frank, then he won't have sex with frank. and frank likes gerard sex, for some weird reason."
                          
tyler was going to keep arguing, but there was a frustrated shout from the couch that signaled the end of the mario kart round. pete stood up on the couch, brandishing a phone. "i will now order pizza. everybody, shut the fuck up."
                          
tyler still didn't know what was so bad about josh, though. maybe next weekend he'd go back to the forest and see for himself.