#auttum

He only knew him as the boy with the orange scarf.

Every morning and every afternoon, Josh watched as a boy around his age rode his bike past his house. He was always wearing a sunset-orange knitted scarf, wrapped twice around his neck with the ends trailing behind him. Occasionally, if it was especially cold, he would wear mittens and a beanie in the same color, but he always wore the scarf. The color of the scarf paired beautifully with his tanned skin and fluffy brown hair, and gave him a slight appearance of being the personification of the autumn season. Josh knew nothing about the boy, not even his name- but he was completely and hopelessly in love with him. His friend Jenna, thought he was completely insane, and made a point to tell him this every time the boy passed by his house.

“You’re doing it again…” Jenna sighed, twisting a strand of hair around her finger as she tucked one of her legs underneath her.

“Doing what?” Josh asked, turning away from his bedroom window.

“You know what I’m talking about. That boy…” Jenna pointed at the the boy’s figure moving across the sidewalk. “You need to give it up… you don’t even know his name, for god’s sake.”

“I do know his name! I mean… I will as soon as I can ask him…” Josh mumbled, lowering his head and causing a lock of freshly dyed crimson hair to fall in front of his face. “I want to just go up to him and talk to him, but I just can’t!”

“Of course you can talk to him… just walk up to him while he’s going by and ask him what his name is or something…” Jenna shrugged.

“But I can’t, Jenna! Every time I even try to talk to him, it’s like I can’t speak around him! But he’s just so cute and he seems so nice and I just-” Josh cut himself off with a groan of frustration. “I just want to be able to act normal around him, y’know?”

“Look, Josh… I kind of feel sorry for you.” Jenna put her hand on Josh’s shoulder. “Tell you what… if you go up to that boy the next time he comes by and get his number, I’ll help you out. I’ll tell you how to function like a normal human being around him, got it?”

“I can’t just walk up to him and talk to him! He probably doesn’t even know who I am!” Josh sputtered.

“I bet he’s seen you staring at him a bunch of times, so he probably knows your face at least.” Jenna shrugged. “If you want me to help you, you’ve got to put a bit of effort in.”

That was how Josh found himself lying on his back on his front lawn, music blasting through his earbuds as he glanced down the sidewalk every couple of minutes, on the lookout for the boy with the orange scarf. But soon, his hopes began fading- it was almost 7pm, and the boy usually had already passed at that time. Sighing, he stood up and stood on the sidewalk, looking up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set, red and yellow streaks spread across the horizon like strokes from a paintbrush across the sky-coloured canvas. This is pointless, Josh… he’s not coming by. You were stupid to think you could even talk to him like a normal person anyways...

There was a sudden squeal of tires from behind him, promptly followed by the crunch of plastic and something wet hitting his back. Josh flinched and turned around, instantly freezing when he saw the boy in the orange scarf behind him. He had a look of horror on his face and his limbs were shaking, one hand attempting to hold his bright yellow bike still as he sat on it and the other hand holding an empty Starbucks cup without a lid. There was what appeared to be the remains of a caramel latte dripping down the side of the cup, and Josh assumed the rest of it was what had splashed on his back.

“I… I’m so sorry!” the boy blurted, tears spilling from from his eyes and dripping down his cheeks. “I didn’t mean to, I was trying to stop ‘cause you were in the way and I couldn’t stop in time, I’m sorry-”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay…” Josh put his hands on the boy’s shoulders, crouching down to his level- the boy was at least six inches shorter than him. “It’s okay, it was an accident… you didn’t mean to…”

“I know, but I got it all over your shirt-”

“It’s okay, honestly. I’m not upset…” Josh shook his head.

“I could wash your shirt if you wanted to…” the boy suggested, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand.

“No, it’s fine, you don’t have to…” Josh reassured him. “It’s fine, it wasn’t your fault.”

“At least let me do something to make it up to you…” the boy mumbled, looking down at the ground and tightly gripping the strap of the ukulele case hanging on his right shoulder. “At least let me come inside and find some way to make up for it…”

“You can come in, but you don’t have to make up for anything…” Josh smiled at him. “...what’s your name, anyways?” “Tyler Joseph…” the boy said quietly.

“I like that name…” Josh nodded. “It suits you…”

“Thank you…” Tyler smiled for the first time since they had started talking, playing with the edge of his scarf. “What’s yours?”

“Josh Dun.” Josh replied with a little grin.

“That’s a really pretty name…” Tyler said quietly.

“Thanks… you wanna leave your bike in the garage and come inside?” Josh asked.

“Sure…” Hopping off the bike, Tyler pulled it up the driveway towards the open garage door, dragging it by the handlebars. Josh trailed after him, chuckling quietly to himself as his fluffy hair bounced a little bit with every step. As Tyler leaned his bike against a wall of the garage, Josh opened the door leading into the house, noticing Jenna sitting on the couch with a giant bowl of popcorn on her lap.

“Well? Did you get his number?” Jenna asked, raising an eyebrow when she saw Josh.

“Nope. Come on in, Tyler…” Josh smirked at Jenna’s shocked expression when Tyler stepped into the house, playing with his scarf and looking around the living room. He turned back to Tyler, walking backwards so he could keep looking at his fascinated, adorable face. “I’m gonna go change my shirt, do you wanna wait down here or…”

“Just let me clean your shirt, please…” Tyler insisted. “It was my fault it got ruined in the first place…”

Josh let out a little sigh. It wasn’t Tyler’s fault, not at all, but it didn’t seem like he was going to forget about it anytime soon. “You don’t have to, but okay…”

“Thank you…” Tyler smiled, trailing after Josh to the laundry room. He hopped on top of the dryer, swinging his legs. “Do you want me to cover my eyes, or…”

“No, it’s okay.” Josh pulled the latte-covered shirt over his head, dumping it on the floor and grabbing a folded clean shirt off the washing machine. He couldn’t help but notice that Tyler had been staring at him for a few quick moments, but quickly turned away and pretended to be interested in something on the floor. As Josh pulled the new shirt over his head, Tyler clambered off the washing machine and picked up the shirt, bringing it over to the sink in the corner. As he walked over to him, he heard Tyler say, “I really like that tattoos on your chest…”

“Oh, thank you!” Josh grinned. “I got those a few months ago… and I got this one on my arm about a week ago.” He gestured towards his arm, which had a beautiful detailed design of a tree.

Tyler let out a little amazed gasp, his fingers gently brushing over the ink on Josh’s arm. “It’s beautiful…” He smiled, tracing the outline of the tree with one finger.

“Thanks…” Josh’s eyes flitted towards up towards Tyler’s face. He seemed completely fascinated with his arm, blinking slowly as he gently touched the tattooed skin. “My parents weren’t thrilled when I blew my birthday money on them, but whatever…”

“You didn’t blow it… if it makes you happy, you should do it!” Tyler chirped. “Plus, they look gorgeous on you…” He flipped the end of the orange scarf over his shoulder, putting his hands in the pockets of his black skinny jeans as the smile slowly faded from his face. “I got distracted, sorry… I should probably clean your shirt now…”

“You know what, it’s fine.” Josh shook his head. “I’ll take care of it later…”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to make you go out of your way when I could just get it done…” Tyler sighed.

“I’m positive, Tyler. You want to go meet my friend Jenna?” Josh asked, quickly changing the subject.

“...sure.” Tyler nodded and followed Josh back into the living room, trailing after him and looking a lot like a lost dog. “Is she nice?” “I guess you could say that,” Josh shrugged with a chuckle. “Hey, Jenna! I want you to meet Tyler…”

“You really went above and beyond, wow…” Jenna mumbled, her eyes widening slightly as she caught sight of Tyler.

“What does she mean, Josh?” Tyler asked quietly, grabbing onto Josh’s elbow and standing partially behind him.

Josh couldn’t help but let out a barely audible “aww” at Tyler’s actions, getting enough courage to reach down and ruffle his hair. “It’s an inside joke… anyways, this is Jenna.”

“Hey.” Jenna grinned. “Your name’s Tyler, right?”

“Yeah…” Tyler let out a nervous chuckle. “Hello…”

“Cool name. You play ukulele?” Jenna asked, gesturing towards the ukulele case still hanging from Tyler’s shoulder.

“Oh, um, a little bit. I’m not very good at it, though… and I’m not comfortable playing in front of other people yet…” Tyler stuttered, his head shaking involuntarily in what seemed like some sort of nervous tic.

“Hey, that’s fine… you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Josh reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I bet you sound beautiful, though.” “Um, thank you…” Tyler squeaked, tugging the edge of the scarf over the lower half of his face in an attempt to hide the violent red blush on his cheeks.

“No problem… you wanna watch some Netflix or something?” Josh asked.

“Sure… can we watch Supernatural?” Tyler asked quietly.

“Dude, I love that show!” Josh grinned.

“Me too!” Tyler exclaimed, breaking into a wide smile. “We already have something in common…”

“Already?”

“Well, yeah… you probably wanna be friends with me; that’s why you brought me inside, right?” Tyler asked. “Unless you’re planning to murder me or something…” “What? No!” Josh shook his head, letting out a little chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to murder you.”

“That’s good.” Tyler plopped down at the end of the couch, leaving room for Josh in the middle.

“I wouldn’t murder you. You’re too nice to kill,” Josh said jokingly, feeling a bit upset at Tyler using the word “friend.” As he sat down on the center on the couch, he felt Tyler rest his head on his shoulder and cuddle up to him. With a little smile, Josh put an arm around his waist and hugged him close, feeling a rush of relief when Tyler didn’t pull away. He gazed fondly down at him, twisting his fingers into the material of his scarf. You are lovely.