════════════════

Request: Darkmoon__Dakota : '5. Corn Maze. Josh Dun X Reader. So Josh, Tyler and the reader dress up as things from Panic!. Tyler is the Ringleader/Brendon Urie from Sins, Josh is Brendon from the ballad of Mona Lisa, and the reader is the demon from emperors new clothes. They bet whoever finds the center first, (which is marked by a chalk X) and the three split up and go into the maze and the reader and josh eventually find each other. I don't know how they get into this situation, but they kiss and some panic! fan sees them and screams, " GUYS BRENDON IS KISSING HIMSELF!" Yeah if you would do that for meh, that would be snazzy!'

Prompt 5: Corn field/maze

════════════════

"A corn maze?" you cocked an eyebrow in skepticism as you got your costume ready. "Really, Tyler?"

"Yeah!" he spoke into the phone, giving Josh a thumbs-up in approval of the costume he was trying on: 'Mona Lisa Brendon'. The three of you thought it would be cute to coordinate your costumes this year, and eventually decided on going as the different eras of Panic!. Well, eras of Brendon, if you're being technical. "There's this really big one not too far out of town that I've been waiting to visit for a while."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" you opened your closet and reached to the top to grab the supplies you needed to turn yourself into 'Demon Brendon', letting out an 'off' when one of the packets fell onto your head. "I mean," you continued, rubbing your scalp, "wondering aimlessly through rows upon rows of tall plants with no idea whatsoever about where we're going sounds very anxiety-inducing, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you," he sassed and you rolled your eyes. "Just come. It'll be fun."

"Yeah, that's what you always say. And surprisingly, most of the time, it is not fun."

"Most of the time," he pointed out, a smirk playing on his lips. "What if this is one of those times where it is fun, and you're gonna miss out on it?"

You ran your tongue over your teeth and narrowed your eyes. "I hate you."

"Love you too. We'll pick you up at 7," he blew a kiss into the phone before hanging up, leaving you to turn yourself into a demon.

~

"Wow," Josh said in amazement, his eyes widening in awe as he looked around at the maze, "This place is huge." 

You nodded in agreement as you gazed out at the enormous field.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Tyler sidled up to the two of you, having just payed.

"Not exactly the word I would use," you chimed, "but yeah, sure."

Tyler made a face at you while Josh turned to him. "So, where do we start?"

"I start over here," Tyler pointed at an opening a few steps away from him, "you start over there," he pointed at another opening further down the line, "and (Y/N), you start all the way over there."

"Hey, woah, woah, woah, hey," you stepped towards Tyler, frowning, "Are you telling me we're not all doing this stupid thing together?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," he gave you a sly smile, "It's a competition. Whoever reaches the center with the big 'X' first, wins. Didn't I mention that?"

"No!" you yelled, "No, you did not!"

"Oh. Oops."

You let out a low growl, making Tyler chuckle and Josh place a hand on your shoulder in an effort to calm you down. "There's no way in this life or the next that I'm going in there alone," you linked your arm with Josh's, "I'm going with Josh."

"Okay, first of all," Tyler pointed a finger at you, "get your own fren. Second, you can't partner up. It's against the rules." He turned his nose up into the air.

"What rules?"

"The rules that I made up two minutes ago."

Groaning, you stomped a foot on the ground. "I'm not going in there alone."

"Not even if we," he tapped a finger on his chin in mock contemplation before shrugging, "I don't know... Bet on it?"

You gasped, narrowing your eyes at the older boy while he simply cackled evilly. "You wouldn't."

"(Y/N)...."

"Tyler, please don't." He knew you never stood down from a bet, so to do this was pure evil.

"I bet you that you can't reach the center before either Josh or myself."

Josh kept his tongue, watching the exchange between you and Tyler with bated breath, his head moving from one of you to the other as if he was watching a tennis match. He wanted to say something, but he was too scared of pissing either of you off.

You gasped, frowning at Tyler as he raised an eyebrow, challenging you.

"What's it gonna be, (Y/L/N)?" he cocked his head.

"You're going down, Joseph."

~

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," you scolded yourself as you pushed your way through the hanging leaves of the corn, cursing as you stumbled over a rock in the path for what seemed to be the fifth time. "Well done, (Y/N). Good job. Yeah, just go ahead and make a stupid bet with a stupid bean without thinking of the consequences first."

"Uh, are you okay?"

You whipped your head around, and you were met with two pairs of wide eyes, full of concern. Two girls, one dressed as Sam Winchester and the other as Dean, were watching you with a worried expression; it was then that you realised that talking to yourself while stumbling around a corn maze probably wasn't what a sane - or at least a sober - person would do.

"I'm not crazy," you reassured them, and they nodded slowly, "or drunk. But I am pissed at myself for agreeing to this, because I'm really lost and I don't know what to do." Your breathing got heavier as you started to have a mini freak-out.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay," the girl dressed as Sam stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder. "We can show you the way out. We'll even go with you, if you want."

You shook your head violently. "No! No, I have to win! There's no way I'm letting Tyler have the satisfaction of me giving up."

"Wait a minute," the Dean narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side while she studied your face, no doubt trying to picture what you looked like without all the demon make-up. When it finally hit her, her face lit up. "Oh! You're (Y/N) (Y/L/N)! You're friends with Tyler and Josh."

"Oh my god," Sam muttered as she gaped at you.

"Well, that's not exactly a true statement. I'm friends with Josh. I hate Tyler." The girls sniggered. "I'm not joking!" you insisted, "He's the reason I'm in this situation. He's such an idiot; I told him this wasn't good for my health, but did he listen? Noooo. I mean, a slightly confined space, at night, with no definitive way of getting out... this is the worst! I have anxiety, you know!"

"Me too!" both of the girls perked up in unison, and you chuckled.

"Both of you?" you raised an amused eyebrow.

"Yeah. We're basically the same person," Dean shrugged.

"It's quite scary sometimes, actually," Sam nodded in agreement. "We even have the same name."

"Which is?"

"Alex," Sam answered, "But she goes as 'Visser' - it's her last name - ," she pointed at Dean, who waved, "And I go as 'Lex'."

"Nice to meet you, Visser and Lex," you smiled at the girls. "Would you girls be interested in helping me crush Tyler, by any chance?"

They shared a look before turning to you and smirking evilly. "Absolutely."

~

You tapped your foot on the ground along to the melody in your head as you stood and waited for the girls to get back from their little expedition.

Hearing two pairs of footsteps fast approaching, you straightened up and sure enough, the girls came running over.

"Okay," Visser panted, waving a piece of paper in the air, "I got a map of the maze, complete with extra direction annotation."

"How did you even manage to get this?" you asked as you took the paper, in awe of her abilities. The workers usually keep the map under lock and key.

"I had a little help," she smiled coyly, readjusting her t-shirt.

You laughed incredulously as Lex tsked. "Anything with a pulse," she quipped, patting Visser on the hip.

"I found Tyler," Lex announced, and you clapped your hands happily as she pulled out her phone, opening the tracking app, "I'm also tracking him as we speak."

"Wh-HOW?" you spluttered.

"I asked if I could have a hug and then I slipped my second phone into his pocket."

"You're amazing," you marvelled, and she bowed her head, "But why do you have two phones?"

"Long story," she waved a hand dismissively, eyes glued to her phone's screen, "Tyler isn't moving that fast."

"Cocky bitch probably thinks I'm lost and he has all the time in the world," you snarled, crossing your arms. "I mean, he's right, but still."

"Ah," Visser raised a finger, pointed it at the map and smiled, "he was right. Now, he's just stupid."

~

Josh leisurely strolled his way through the maze; he knew that the competition was in actual fact only between you and Tyler, so he wasn't making too much of an effort to reach the middle any time soon.

He rounded another corner, ducking under some plants as his thoughts drifted to you. He knew how bad your anxiety could get, and because he suffered from it himself, he was often the only one who was able to calm you down when you had a pretty bad case. His stomach dropped at the thought of you having an anxiety attack while getting lost somewhere in the maze, and he gulped when he realised that if that did happen, he wouldn't be there to help you through it.

He suddenly felt achingly angry at himself for allowing you to go in alone; he should've told Tyler off and just gone with you when you wanted him to.

Stopping in his tracks, he furrowed his eyebrows while he thought, eventually deciding on trying to find you instead of trying to get to the middle of the stupid maze.

Josh loved you, and if anything happened to you while he wasn't there, he'd never forgive himself.

~

With the help offered by the map and your two new friends, you were able to navigate your way through the maze quite easily, and you were sure that you would reach the centre in no time.

"And then we take a..." Visser glanced down at the map, "right, here."

Right when the three of you rounded the corner, Lex's phone rang.

"Oh," she said, pulling it out of her pocket and checking the caller ID, "I have to take this, it's my mom."

"That reminds me," Visser piped up, pulling out her phone too, "I have to check in with my parents too."

"(Y/N), the centre shouldn't be too far from here. You should keep moving if you wanna beat Tyler. We'll find you when we're done here," Lex said, before stepping to the side and answering the call.

"Are you gonna be fine on your own?" Visser asked worriedly as she handed the map to you.

You nodded. "Yeah, like Lex said – the centre isn't too far from here. I'm sure I can manage."

~

"Shouldn't have gone off. Should've just waited for the girls," you whispered to yourself as you apprehensively took small steps through the maze.

You'd gotten lost again – despite having a guided map. You weren't sure where you went wrong, and when you tried to retrace your steps, it only made things worse.

The moon was beginning to disappear behind a bunch of thin wisps of cloud, and it had taken any surety you had about getting out of this place with it.

After about five more minutes of aimless wondering, you swallowed your pride and decided to call Tyler to tell him that the bet was off, and demand that he find you and take you home. But in a sick twist of fate, when you reached for your phone, you saw that the battery had died.

That did it.

From the moment you'd set foot in this godforsaken maze, your anxiety had flared up and it only increased more and more with each passing second you were stuck between the corn rows. You'd managed to fare pretty well, considering the consequences, and had so far managed to avoid an anxiety attack, but the moment you'd realise that you were essentially stranded – lost in a 15 acre maze with your only means of communication in non-working order – you slowly started slipping into that all-too-familiar state of panic.

Your body began to feel tingly; it was as if ice was running through your veins. Your head spun from dizziness, your chest contracted and your knees gave out, dropping you to the ground with a dull thud. Gazing up at the sky, your vision started to become spotty, and you couldn't see straight. Every muscle in your body was screaming at you to move – to run – but of course, you couldn't. You wanted to cry out for help. You wanted to cry out for Josh. But your voice caught in your throat, and all that escaped was a hoarse whimper.

Shallow breathing.

Heart racing.

Total panic.

"(Y/N)?"

You heard your name being called; it sounded like Josh, but you weren't sure whether or not your brain was just playing tricks on you.

"(Y/N)!"

The voice was clearer this time, a tone of fear and the sound of fast-paced footsteps accompanying it.

The next thing you knew, Josh had taken you into his embrace, holding you as close to his body as possible and whispered soothingly into your ear.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm here. I'm right here. Just breathe, beautiful."

Your tense muscles relaxed tremendously, and you tried as best you could to regulate your breathing, using the rise and fall of Josh's chest as a guide.

After a minute, your breathing had slowed down but it still wasn't at a normal rate.

"(Y/N)," Josh gently took one of your hands in his and squeezed, while he hugged you closer, pushing your head into his chest over his heart, so that you could hear his heartbeat, "listen. Just listen. I'm here."

Soon enough, after listening to Josh's heartbeat while he whispered reassuringly in your ear, you were able to overcome the attack, and you were now 'back to normal' albeit still clutching onto Josh as if he was your lifeline. Which, in a way, you suppose he was.

Josh pressed a kiss onto your forehead. "You okay, beautiful?" he murmured against his skin.

"Y-yeah," you breathed, sighing into his chest and shutting your eyes tightly. "Because of you. Again." He smiled. "I seriously need to learn how to get over these things by myself; you're not always going to be there to help me through it," you frowned.

"What do you mean?" he returned your frown, "I'm always gonna be there for you. Forever."

"Not always in person, though," you chuckled.

"Well, I mean, there are ways that we could change that," he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Like how?"

"Like this."

The next thing you knew, he had slammed his lips to yours and nearly knocked all wind from your lungs.

He kissed you and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words could never be. His hand rested below your ear, his thumb caressing your cheek. You ran your fingers down his spine, pulling him closer until there was no space left between the two of you and you could feel the beating of his heart against your chest.

"LOOK!" Visser gasped, pointing at you and Josh with a shocked face, "BRENDON IS KISSING HIMSELF!"

You and Josh grudgingly pulled apart, turning to face the intrusive voice.

"VISSER SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE RUINING THE MOMENT!" Lex scolded, hitting her best friend across the arm.

"I know and I'm sorry but come on, Brendon is kissing Brendon! This is gonna break the internet!" she exclaimed, snapping a few pics.

"I'm so sorry," Lex apologised, mortified by her friend's awful behaviour. "I'll make sure she doesn't post anything. Oh, and congrats! You two are adorable!"

"Wait," you called after them as they started to walk away, "give me your numbers. You were a major help tonight; the least I can do is score you some tickets to see Fall Out Boy or something. You like them, right?"

"We fucking love them!" Visser beamed, as they both rushed forward to exchange numbers with you.

"Thank you, (Y/N)," Lex said sincerely, "You're amazing."

"Right back at ya," you shot the girls a wink and waved at them as they walked off.

Shortly after they left, Josh's phone went off with a text notification. He opened it, and you both sighed; it was a selfie of Tyler – a smug smirk on his face while he stood on the centre of the 'X'.

Josh turned to you with a sad look. "I'm sorry you lost, (Y/N)."

"Don't be," you giggled, "I got to kiss you. I'm the real winner, here."

_______________________________

Thank you for reading x