CATEGORY: Fluff, angst, songfic
FEATURING: popular!Josh and outcast!Tyler (high school AU)
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Mentions of HOSPITALS, SICK RELATIVES, HOMOPHOBIA, and of course, NORTHERN DOWNPOUR! BE WARNED, EASILY TRIGGERED RYDEN FANS!
PROMPT: Josh waits at his bus stop in the rain, and Tyler offers to share his umbrella.
WORD COUNT: Approximately 1,420

If all our life is but a dream
Fantastic posing greed
Then we should feed our jewelry to the sea
For diamonds do appear to be
Just like broken glass to me.

It is raining as the boy leaves the apartment. He mumbles a few curse words at the sight of the storm, but heads down the street anyway. While he does wear a jacket, it's not the type for rain, and so the water just soaks right through. It's not raining hard, but the drops from the downpour are heavy with water. The boy walks along the sidewalks, crossing streets here and there until he reaches the bus stop.

Just my luck that it'd rain today, the boy thinks. The boy's name is Joshua Dun, and he was just visiting his friend Brendon, who is about a year older than Josh, and thus already in college. Brendon was pretty popular in high school, and Josh, being his right-hand man, is now the popular one in Brendon's absence. He already has a clique of popular friends: Pete, Frankie, and Dallon. He doesn't have a girlfriend at the moment, but there is a girl Josh is thinking about asking out; Debby, the girl across from him in history.

As Josh waits at the bus stop, he wishes he had a car. His wet clothes are sticking to his skin, making him uncomfortable. The rain was predicted to spread all over the northern half of the state, but Josh somehow forgot his raincoat. A northern downpour, Josh thinks.

And then she said she can't believe
Genius only comes along
In storms of fabled foreign tongues
Tripping eyes, and flooded lungs
Northern downpour sends its love.

"Would you like to share my umbrella?" says a soft voice. Josh turns his head left towards the sound of the voice. A boy dressed in a dark gray jacket, black t-shirt, skinny jeans, and well-worn combat boots stands a few feet away. He has soft-looking dark brown hair, and the eyes to match.

Hey moon, please forget to fall down,
Hey moon, don't you go down.

Josh recognizes the boy, though he doesn't know his name. He's seen Pete and sometimes Frankie picking on him in the hallways of the high school, he's almost sure. The boy has a bit of a reputation for being dark, in a strange, slightly creepy sort of way. Josh pretends he didn't hear the boy speak.

"Would you like to share my umbrella?" the soft voice repeats, and Josh sighs. "Yes, please." The boy, who's just about Josh's height, steps over to Josh and lets the umbrella cover him. Thankfully, it's large enough to shelter them both.

"You're welcome," the boy says after a moment, though there's no irritation or spite in his voice at Josh's reluctance to thank him.

Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weather-vanes my one and lonely.

"Thank you," Josh finally says. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and opens up Twitter to see what everyone else has been up to. Pete, Dallon, and Frankie are apparently out with some girls. Josh wonders why they didn't invite him.

"You're Josh, right?"

Slightly frustrated, Josh puts the phone in his pocket. He doesn't really want to have a conversation with this boy, but it seems like he's going to have to. "Yeah."

The ink is running toward the page
It's chasing off the days
Look back at both feet
And that winding knee
I missed your skin when you were east
You clicked your heels and wished for me.

"I'm Tyler." The boy fiddles with the sleeve of his coat, and Josh sees that his fingernails are painted black. It's...striking. "So what brings you out here on a day like today?" Tyler looks up at Josh and catches him staring.

Josh shrugs slightly and turns his head away, pretending he wasn't looking at Tyler. "I was visiting my friend Brendon."

"And you forgot your raincoat?"

He nods lightly. "Yeah, I was running late and so I was in a hurry."

Through playful lips made of yarn
That fragile Capricorn
Unraveled words like moths upon old scarves
I know the world's a broken bone
But melt your headaches and call it home.

Tyler fiddles with his sleeve again, then stops. "I was visiting my grandmother at the hospital down the street." He pauses. "She's my only family."

Josh feels a small ache in his heart for Tyler. He has a big family back home, and it must be hard for Tyler to have next to no one. "I'm sorry. Is she going to be okay?"

The dark-haired boy shrugs slightly, lowers his eyes. "I don't know."

Hey moon, please forget to fall down,
Hey moon, don't you go down.

There's another brief pause before Josh speaks. "Are you staying with anyone while she's away?"

Tyler shakes his head. "No, I'm home alone, but my neighbor is looking after me."

Josh doesn't know what to say. He pulls his dark gray beanie a little tighter over his dark blue curls. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

The two boys stand quietly for another few moments.

"So where are you heading to?" Josh asks.

Tyler lifts his eyes back up again, seemingly relieved at the change of subject. "Probably to Taco Bell. I need to pick up something for dinner. What about you?"

"Home, I guess. I don't really have any plans." Josh hesitates, and Tyler notices. "What?"

Sugarcane in the easy  morning
Weather-vanes my one and lonely.

Josh is thinking about what Brendon said to him when he arrived in his apartment. The older boy had called Josh over alone, specifically.

Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weather-vanes my one and lonely.

"I'll try and put this simply." Brendon had sipped the warm coffee from the cup in his hands before continuing. "Popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be. You have to follow certain strict guidelines. You can't really be yourself. For example, if something is different about you, like your clothes or your attitude, then you're out."

Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weather-vanes my one and lonely.

"Why are you telilng me this?"

"Because I want you to know what you're in for, if you accept it." Brendon's eyes were honest as he looked into Josh's face. "You have to be the image they want you to be. Otherwise, you'll never make it with the others."

Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weather-vanes my one and lonely.

Brendon paused, then spoke again. "I'm rather gay, actually."

That's when his boyfriend, Ryan, came out of the kitchen (A/N: oops I misspelled closet) and asked if Brendon and Josh would like any more coffee.

Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weather-vanes my one and lonely.

Brendon went on to explain that he'd known he was gay for several years, since the start of high school, but had kept it secret in fear of being rejected by his popular friends, who were homophobic. "By the time I realized who I was, it was too late to back out. I would have been destroyed." Brendon put his hand on Josh's shoulder. "But for you, my friend, it isn't too late. You have the choice. You can be yourself, and be unpopular, or you can pretend to be someone you aren't. It's up to you."

Sugarcane (hey moon) in (hey moon)
The easy (hey moon) morning
Weather-vanes (hey moon) my (hey moon)
One (hey moon) and lonely.

For a long time, Josh has made himself appear and act true to the popular stereotype. But even worse, he's made himself think that way, too. He's trained his mind to think that it was like this since day one. He's ignored any thoughts of things that would be considered wrong for a popular person: things like sci-fi movies, video games, aliens, cats, and boys.

Standing there at teh bus stop, all of this comes back to Josh, and he realizes right now, this moment, is his first and possibly only chance to make his choice. To be himself. He can do what he wants, or he can make the popular choice.

He takes  deep breath. "Tyler, can I take you to dinner?"

Hey moon, please forget to fall down,
Hey moon, don't you go down.

Puzzled, the dark-haired boy tilts his head to one side. Josh finally lets himself admire how adorable he is, and he gets a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest. "What?"

"Can I take you to dinner?"

A grin flickers across Tyler's face, and Josh realizes it's the first time he's ever seen the boy smile. "Yes. Yes, you can."

You are at the top of my lungs
Drawn to the ones who never yawn.

_____________

A/N: Dedicated to iCheezburgerGod

for saying "hey moon" yesterday and triggering me with this ryden/joshler idea

xD