"Josh, you know that I consider you one of my best friends," Brendon said as he took a step forward so that he was only inches away from the drummer, "but if you come between me and my girl, I won't hesitate to kick your ass."

Josh let out a light scoff. "I don't need to come between you and (Y/N)," he said calmly, raising his brows before hardening his face, "You already did that yourself."

Brendon's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched simultaneously; you could see his right hand twitch slightly, as if he was debating whether or not to throw a punch at the man in front of him.

Josh's body language surprised you. Everyone who knows him knows that he's not a fighter; he's usually the mediator, the guy who prevents fights from happening, not one that's involved in them. Yet, when faced with a pissed off Brendon, he didn't back away or even try and calm his fuming counterpart down; he stood his ground, muscles tensing and face hardening as he stared at the singer as if to say Go ahead. Hit me. It scared you, honestly – this was a side of Josh you'd never seen before. Which is why you knew that you needed to put an end to this – once and for all – before someone did something they would regret.

"That's enough," you huffed, struggling to squeeze yourself into the tiny space separating the two band members, "Stop it. Both of you."

With a great amount of effort – and a mean frown on your face – you managed to shove both of them apart.

"This needs to end," you said softly, avoiding their gazes and looking down at the ground instead, "I don't want you to fight. I know that you both want me to be happy, and I think I know who it is that makes me happiest," you took a deep breath and turned to face him, "You."

~One Week Earlier~

It had been three days since the get-together at Dallon's house, meaning it had been three days since you had last seen or heard from Brendon – a wonderful fact.

He hadn't tried to call or text you since the argument, which was probably in his best interest. You were still insurmountably infuriated with him and unless he wanted his eardrums blown or his face tattooed with your handprint, it was wise of him to not make any kind of contact with you.

You were on the road with twentyonepilots, and they were playing a show in Las Vegas tonight. Understandably, you were a bit jumpy about being in the same city as Brendon, but you were almost certain that he wouldn't dare try and seek you out.

But 'almost' wasn't enough.

You had underestimated Brendon and his desperation to win you back, resulting in you almost having a heart attack when he strolled onto the tour bus you were lounging in.

You sat up in your seat so fast that you gave yourself a mild case of whiplash. "What the hell are you doing here?" you demanded.

"Isn't it obvious?" he replied, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets as he took tentative steps towards you, "I came to see you."

"I don't want to see you."

"I know you don't," he sighed, looking up as he scoffed at himself, "But I needed to tell you that I'm sorry."

"A text would've been fine," you said flatly, maintaining a poker face as you looked at him.

"I wanted to see you. I have things I want to say to you that can't be said over text. May I?" he questioned politely, gesturing to a spot on the seat next to you.

His warm, chocolate eyes bored right into you, coaxing you to agree and damn it, the longer you looked at him, the more you felt your resolve slowly but surely slip away.

"Yeah," you murmured, waving your hands dismissively before wiping them on your jeans and turning your head to the other side, away from him.

A silence fell between the two of you and you sat like that for a little bit before he broke it.

"The argument we had the other day... I crossed the line. I shouldn't have said what I said. I know that I hurt you and I hate myself for it. There's no excuse for my behaviour. I just..." he trailed off, exhaling, "I just want a chance to make things right with you so badly, (Y/N). I want to show you how sorry I am and prove that if you let me back in, I will never hurt you ever again."

You closed your eyes and bit your lip, tears already forming. "If you wanted to make things right, why didn't you say something the first time you saw me with Tyler and Josh? Why did you just pretend like I was a stranger? Like I meant nothing?" you questioned frailly, looking at him with sad eyes.

He swallowed, starting to fiddle with his fingers. "I was too much of a coward. The look in your eyes when you saw me that day..." he chuckled lightly and shook his head, "it was pure hatred. I knew that you hated me for leaving you, and I hated myself too. I wanted to try and make things right with you, but I was too afraid that you'd just reject me. So I just avoided making contact with you, because I knew that if I did, I wouldn't stop until you were mine again."

You shifted in your seat to better face him and furrowed your brows, shaking your head at him. "It wasn't hate you saw that day, Brendon. It was hurt. When I saw you, everything just came flooding back and I... I couldn't take it. It was like my heart was breaking all over again."

You went quiet for a moment before looking at him earnestly. "I know that I've said it multiple times, but I don't really hate you. I could never hate you," you whispered those last five words.

"Really?" he chuckled, raising an eyebrow in amusement, "Because you were pretty convincing."

"Yeah, well," you breathed, cocking your head and shrugging, "that's what happens when you tell yourself something for eleven years. You get pretty good at pretending it's true."

Another silence fell over you, only this time, it held much less tension. Again, Brendon was the one to break it.

"(Y/N), can you look at me?" he asked softly.

Slowly and carefully, you turned to face him. He gave you a small smile, and even though a part of you wanted to, you didn't smile back.

"Do you think," he started but stopped after the first three words, too scared to continue his question; but when you gave him an expectant look, he found the courage to do so, "you could ever give me a second chance? Give us a second chance?"

You felt your stomach drop and you gulped before drawing in a shaky breath. You knew that this question was coming. You knew it. And you dreaded it, because you also knew that your answer wouldn't be one he wanted to hear.

"Brendon," you croaked, letting out a short breath, "I'm sorry, but I can't."

Brendon felt his heart shatter right then. "Why not?" he asked quietly.

You couldn't answer him. You just sat there and looked at him forlornly, shaking your head slightly.

When you couldn't give him an explanation, he came up with one of his own. His faced paled as he rolled his tongue against his cheek before speaking again.

"There's someone else, isn't there?"

Again, you didn't answer him. You tore your gaze from him and averted it to your lap.

"Who is it?" he pressed, "Is it Josh?"

Your shoulders tensed up. It was an extremely subtle movement, but Brendon caught it. Knowing that his assumption had been correct, he straightened up in his seat; he suddenly felt sick.

Before either of you could say anything else, the door to the bus opened and Tyler and Josh sauntered inside.

"Oh, hey, dude," Tyler greeted with a smile when his eyes landed on Brendon, "I didn't know you were dropping by. You staying for the show?"

"No," Brendon replied flatly, getting up, "I was just leaving."

Tyler made a puzzled face. "Alright, then. Guess we'll see you-" he stopped speaking when Brendon stormed past him and out the door, purposefully bumping shoulders with Josh on the way out.

"-later," Tyler frowned, jutting a thumb over his shoulder at the singer before turning to you, "What's up with him?"

You opened your mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, tears rolled down your cheeks, prompting Josh to immediately rush over and pull you into his embrace.

~

Even after the show, when he was practically exhausted, Josh still insisted on cuddling with you until you fell asleep, playing with your hair in an attempt to soothe you.

"So, yeah, I'm pretty sure that he hates me now," you sighed. You had just gone over the details of your and Brendon's conversation – although you left out the parts involving you having feelings for Josh.

Josh's chest puffed out as he scoffed. "He has no reason to hate you. He broke your heart and left you alone for eleven years; you have every right to move on."

You raised an eyebrow and lifted your head from his chest to give him a perplexed look. "Last time we spoke about this, you said that I was being too hard on him."

"Yeah, I mean, I don't think you should hold a grudge against him. You should forgive him for what he did. But you should also move on if that's what you feel you should do."

You stayed in that position for a little while, just looking at Josh while he looked back at you. Then, you decided to take his advice.

Swiftly, you bent your head down and captured his soft lips with yours. He was shocked at first, but once it wore off, he gripped the back of your neck and kissed you harder.

"Wait, what are we doing?" he asked, pulling back a little.

You crashed your lips back onto his. "I don't know about you," you mumbled into the kiss, "But I'm moving on."

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Note: Hahaha! #TeamJish for the effing win!
(Just to clarify: this is not the last chapter of this series.)

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Thank you for reading x