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august 3rd 2023

Tyler’s POV

I’m sitting on my bed, looking at the files on my lap. The resignation papers of my stylist. He quit. What am i supposed to do now? People constantly drag the outfits i wore on stage during the vessel era… John was with us since the release of Blurryface, up until Scaled and Icy. I’ve got all this new music. There’s gonna be a tour, and music videos. music videos that i need to look good in. I don’t want to be judged again. I don’t want to hate myself again.

I look over towards my bathroom. It would be so easy to just- “no, don’t even think like that.” I murmur. Needing to snap myself out of it. Cutting is not an option. I’ve been clean for years. This is just a setback. I just need a distraction, and tell josh I’m worried about this. He’ll know what to do. I grab my phone, searching up his contact. I decide to text him.

Tyler: hey man, you doing anything?

…

Tyler: if you’re busy please let me know, kinda not doing great.

Josh: Whats up?

Tyler: i’m overthinking this whole stylist thing

Tyler: can you come over or something? i need to do something.

Josh: Yeah, ill be right there!

Good, okay. Josh is coming. I force myself to stand up and walk downstairs. Forgetting the papers on my bed. I walk towards the kitchen and grab a red bull from the fridge. i push myself up and sit down on the kitchen counter. Waiting for him.

It only takes a few minutes until i hear my frontdoor open, but my drink is long gone. Poor Josh, he’ll have to deal with my caffeinated ass. “I’m in the kitchen” I yell out. And I hear him walking this way. “Hey” I nod once hes here, but I can’t help my smile. He smiles back. “Whats up buddy?”

“I- honestly I’m just scared… this whole… John quitting thing, isn't good for my nerves.” I respond. And he nods. “’Hey… I get that you're worried, but its gonna be fine. We can find a new stylist, and if we cant, We’ve had a lot of experience now, we will be fine, I swear it.” I knew it. He always knows what to say. I nod. “Yeah you're right. you're right, I’m just overthinking.” I sigh.

“Well that stops now, lets go get some coffee or something.” He eyes my red bull “Well coffee for me, tea for you.” Now that gets a laugh out of me. “Alright, lets go.”

---

We walk into my favorite coffee shop. We make our way to the register and order our drinks. The server is making a lot of eye contact, so naturally i look around. I hate eye contact. And that’s when I spot her. She must catch everyone's eye, always. Her outfit is… incredible, to say the least. her top is made from, old converse? baggy jeans… She sure knows her fashion. Of course I land my eyes on someone who understands all of that. Josh hands me my herbal tea. He looks over at the girl. And we make our way to our usual booth.

“You know her?” he asks, I shake my head. “I don’t, like her outfit though.” I pry my eyes away from her. But its hard, she’s so focused on whatever is on her laptop, mouthing along to whatever shes reading, or listening to. Even the headphones shes wearing look cool. Man.

“Yeah its cool” Josh says. “Maybe she should be our new stylist” He jokes. I think. I look back at her. “The random girl in a coffeeshop?” She would do a good job though. She looks up from her laptop, and notices me. Fuck. I quickly look away. She must think I’m some sort of creep.

Josh grins. “She caught you staring?” He teases. I grumble. “I wasn’t staring… was just… looking.” Josh just laughs. Dick. I look at her through a side-eye, shit shes still looking at me. I take a deep breath and look back at her. She smiles. ‘cool outfit’ I mouth. She grins. ‘thanks’ She mouths back. And i could swear a saw a glint of a tongue piercing. I smile at her. And look away again because I cannot look at someone that pretty for that long.

I turn my attention back to josh, and we chat for awhile, it eases my nerves. when I finish my tea I get up to use the restroom. Once I come back I expect Josh to be where I left him, but of course, he isn't. I look around, and it doesn't take long for me to find him. He’s talking to her. Guess I have to as well. I walk over to them. “Hey” I say, praying I don’t sound too awkward. “Hey” She smiles and tells me her name. It’s a beautiful name, a beautiful smile. “I’m Tyler” I shake her hand and sit down next to josh. “Really digging your outfit.” I add.

She blushes a bit, fucking cute. “Thanks I- I love fashion its uhh, my passion I guess.” She says and I nod. “Yeah I can tell.” I offer. Josh decides to speak up again, “Do you have any future plans in fashion?” He asks. Where is he going with this? A soft smile plays on her lips. Though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Well… I go to fashion school… but y’know… Not everyone gets lucky and wins their bread with expressing their art.” She says bitter-sweetly. She knows us? “Yeah not everyone is that lucky.” I look back at Josh. And smile. We are that lucky. “But hey, who knows. What do you aspire to be? Designer? Stylist?” I add, Okay maybe I do want her as my stylist. She could make me look cool. Plus she seems nice.

“honestly? both. i love creating my own clothes… but that’s… nobody sees it y’know? and of course, i do it because i love creating but… id like a little recognition. so styling people in the clothes i made for them.” she says. okay we gotta bag her. “you got like a portfolio or something?” i ask, trying to sound casual. i watch as her eyes widen a bit. but she nods. “uh yeah. you wanna see it?” she aks. making both me and josh nod. she presses a few buttons on her laptop and than turns it around. we scroll through the page. photos of her wearing different types off clothes. i look at josh. and i nod. he speaks up. “hey uh… this may sound a little forward, but we actually- our stylist just quit uh- we’re in a band” she smiles. “yeah i know”

“You do?” I ask surprised. She blinks “uh, doesn't everyone?” She laughs. making me and Josh smile. “Well, since you know… We ARE looking for a new stylist, perhaps we could work some things out?” Josh asks, and her eyes widen. “Are you serious?” She looks anxious. “Dead serious” I tell her. She smiles again. I like it when she smiles. We spend a few more minutes figuring out logistics, and then josh and i go back home.

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August 13th

Your POV

“Okay… follow me.” 

The man didn’t even use a commanding tone but it has me following him like a lost puppy nonetheless. Suddenly the amount of crowd control he has makes a lot more sense. 

We make our way up to his studio and he pulls out a chair for me. “Oh wow. A real gentleman huh?” I tease. That was dumb. God I hate myself. He just grins. I take the room in. “Think you’ve got enough redbull?” I chuckle when I see a wall full of empty cans. “Nah. I can never have enough. It’s uhh… you probably don’t care but it’s just a little collection. Every can is from another country. From tour.” He looks away and frowns. Is he embarrassed? “Seriously? that’s so cool” 

His entire face lights up. “Yeah? Thanks, its uh… you can tell from the site on the can… the abbreviation of the country of origin is on it…” Is he… shy? 

“Wait really? I didn’t know that.” we stare at eachother for a bit, and I swear I’m going to explode. “Do you have a tongue piercing?” He blurts out. Making me laugh. “Yeah” I stick my tongue out to show him. “Like it?” He nods and swallows. 

“So… uh here I’ve got some like- art type stuff. On my pc- here in this map.” He mumbles slowly. Why does he sound so nervous? I’m just imagining it. I look through the files with him. “I could do something with the… Clancy thing. Maybe like a stole?” I look at him for a approval and he nods “yeah that sounds really cool actually” 

I sketch out some rough ideas while he watches over my shoulder. We share ideas and thoughts about the clothing. “I’m definitely making Josh wear those glitter socks for a music video” he says with a grin. I chuckle “he’ll look amazing. Speaking of, can I hear some stuff? Know what I’m working with?” He doesn’t answer but starts looking through his computer and it doesn’t take too long until music fills my ears. “Which one is this?” I whisper, not wanting my voice to overrule the music. “Overcompensate. Will be released February 29th of 2025” I nod and listen intently. 

“wow that…” it takes a while for me to find the words that do it justice. actually, I can’t find them. “I don’t even have the words, Tyler. This is amazing.” He smiles, and I swear I see a hint of a blush. “thanks I uhhh… the last album I put out… didn’t do as good as I had hoped, a lot of fans were disappointed with the… pop sound? I guess. I hope this album will make up for it.” I frown “scaled and icy? I love that album.” He looks at me for a few seconds. “Thank you.” All I can do is nod.

Clearing my throat I ask “So do you have any outlines for what the music video is going to look like?” he opens a new folder and shows me documents of scanned sketches. We bounce ideas back and forth, it goes on for a few hours actually. I listen, he talks. I sketch, he inspires. But before too long, work is forgotten. We chat about a lot of thing. He’s a really nice guy. Dark. But nice. 

“Hey are you hungry?” He asks out of no where. But it’s not unappreciated, because yes, I am hungry. “Yeah actually… Should I go get us something?” His brows furrow. “You’re my stylist, not my assistent. I figured we could just go out and eat something. As friends not coworkers.” Dangerous territory. “That- yeah that sounds good.” As he gets up he accidentally knocks over some redbull cans and I cant help my laugh. I hear a muttered ‘fuck’ before I stand up to help him clean it up. “Sorry I shouldn’t laugh” He chuckles “Careful, don’t laugh at me again. I’d hate to have to fire you.”

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august 13th

Tyler’s POV

We make our way to the car. “Where do you wanna go?” I ask looking her up down. Her outfit as amazing as usual. Red fishnet stockings, a short black dress with… red lace sticking out? Oh that’s her bra. I can’t look at that. Fuck. I force myself to look away, she puts her oversized leather jacket on but it doesn’t hide anything. “Uuuhhh, any sandwich place around?” She asks as she takes her hair out from under her jacket. “Yeah, there’s a good sandwich place not too far from here” I open the car door for her. “Woah, you’re really taking this whole gentleman thing very seriously today huh?” I chuckle “I always do” okay not always but… i have this weird need to impress her.

I walk over to the drivers side and get in. “I really like your outfit.” I murmur as I buckle my seat belt. “Thanks, I really love the black and red combo.” that makes me smile. “Yeah me too, always have, we really incorporated it into the Blurryface era, I think it should make a comeback.” and it really should, I look good in black, I think. I feel good in black at least. “Well I will make that happen” she promises.

we enter the sandwich shop and wait for our orders. I can’t help but keep staring at her. Not like I’m some creep…. Shes just very pretty. She catches me staring and quickly looks away, I could swear I see a faint blush. But I’m just imagining things. “So what made you want a stylist?” She blurts out. Thank god for that distraction. “Well we’ve actually had a stylist before, but he quit, wanted to focus on his husband and children. But before we did… I was kind of- insecure about myself. And the clothes I wore. My mom told me to… stop wearing leggings, but I didn’t really know anything about fashion, and at that point we already had the budget to hire someone who did… What about you? How did you know you wanted to work in fashion” I ask curiously, wanting to steer the conversation away from my own insecurities. “Well you can’t laugh okay?” I raise an eyebrow. “I can’t laugh? Now I’m definitely curious.” I grin.

“Okay, the first time I started being interested in fashion was when I saw the devil wears Prada.” She shuts her eyes as if waiting for me to judge her. I just flatten my lips and wait for her to open them again. She carefully opens one. “You’re not laughing?” “You told me not to. Also I see no reason to laugh about that. Lots of people figure out their passion by seeing it in a movie.” She tilts her head at me. “You think?” “Yeah, didn’t that actress from Wednesday start acting because she saw Dakota Fanning in Man on Fire? I think its that actress.” She lifts her eyebrows, letting the glitters on her eyelids mesmerize me. “I didn’t know that.” She smiles at me, I smile back. But our little moment is soon interrupted by the server bringing us our sandwiches.

“So, how’d you know you wanted to be a musician?” She asks after swallowing a bite of her sandwich. I quickly swallow mine to answer. “Well, I had taken piano lessons when I was younger… But basketball was always kind of more important. Though I didn’t necessarily like that. When I was about 16, I rediscovered that piano and I just… Started creating. And I loved it. I loved who I was in the moment of writing and recording. I loved creating something that, nobody ever had before. That- That only I could understand. It gave me peace, something I hadn’t known in a while.” She sighs as I finish my story. I’m scared I’ll see pity when I look back at her. But all I’m met with is understanding. I think. “I know that feeling all too well. Drowning yourself in your creations just to…” “Get your mind to shut up.” I finish her sentence, she nods.

“So you struggle with… life too?” I ask carefully, not wanting to invade. But also dying to know all her problems. “Yeah, the regulars, anxiety, depressive episodes. Life isn’t as easy for some as it is for others.” I just nod. She’s right. It’s a lot harder for some people, said ‘others’ will never understand that though. “I’m sorry you’re going through that, but if there is one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s that you’re never alone.” She smiles again, couldn’t get enough of that smile even if I tried. “You have a really pretty smile yknow that?” She covers it with her hand immediately. “It was a compliment, not an insult.” I tease her. “I- I know, I’m just insecure about my smile.” I frown. Why do I care so much about her? And more importantly, what or who made her insecure about that angelic smile that makes me think only of sin. “Well, it’s easier said than done, but you really shouldn’t be.” “And you shouldn’t be insecure about what you wear. You’ll look good either way.” I laugh softly.

We tease each other back and forth a bit. I realize it’s easy to talk to her. Usually I find it incredibly difficult to talk to people I barely know. When we’re done eating the server comes back with the check, she grabs her bag but I pay before she gets the chance. “Oh uh- are you sure?” she asks insecurely. “You know I’m a millionaire right?” She laughs and shakes her head. “Okay, well played. Next time is on me though. I hate feeling like I owe someone.” “You don’t owe me anything. I wanted to go out, if i had made a sandwich for you back at my place, would you feel the need to pay?” She looks at me for a while, then says “No, but I would feel the need to make you a sandwich at my house.” Man, should’ve made her a sandwich at my place. “You’re weird.” “So are you.” “Yes I am.” We both smile and make our way back to my car. The ride back is just music and both of us singing along, she has a really nice voice. Once we make it back to my place I wonder if I can ask her to come back inside. I don’t want the day to end yet, but I also don’t want to overstep a boundary. “Well, I should get going, I’m buzzing with energy and there’s a lot of things I still need to do before I go to bed tonight.” Welp, that answers that. “Yeah of course. I can’t wait to see all the stuff you’re gonna create.”

As I’m laying in bed, I can’t help but think of what she said. Stuff to do, before going to bed. I wonder what that’s like for her, is she an insomniac as well? Does she sleep peacefully? Does she like cuddling? What would it be like to do that with her? What would it be like to wake up next to her, so I could get up, and actually make a sandwich for her. And to go back to sleep with her every night? Laughing with her, talking about everything and nothing. I quickly push those thoughts away when I remember that she works for me. I have to stop being so… close with her. We work together, I have to respect that. I hope she doesn’t feel like I’m crossing a line. It takes a while for me to fall asleep, but when I finally drift off, my dreams are filled with her.

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