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They get asked about fanfiction a lot. Like, to the point where they’re annoyed that fanfiction exists because they’re tired of being asked about it. Josh had heard of fanfiction before, of course, having grown up reading Harry Potter and being #1 MCR Stan (with the Party Poison jacket to prove it). He had no idea there was fanfiction about him and Tyler until someone asked them. At first it kind of unsettled them, but after a while they got used to the concept, and even better, it fueled their jokes about their relationship.
One afternoon, on a rare day off, they decide to be lazy and lounge around the bus watching X-Files reruns (Josh's favorite pastime). Tyler's not really paying attention to the episode, idly tapping around on his phone and huffing out a laugh every now and then. He shows Josh something ridiculous that a fan said about fanfiction being real, something the pink haired man doesn't really pay attention to.
But as he thinks about it, as he watches Scully and Mulder flirt with each other, hopelessly oblivious to the sexual tension, he realizes that there's probably X-Files fanfiction out there somewhere. There has to be, right? There's no way people haven't taken advantage of that. And that, that's something that definitely sparks his interest.
Which is how Josh finds himself on archiveofourown.org. He just googled "X-Files fanfiction," and this site was the first one that pops up. He reads a few short stories. Wow, these things are really well written. It sparks him to join the e-mail waiting list for an account (with the username scullyXmulder5ever) so that he can comment and tell the authors how sick their writing is. As he's reading, he can't help but wonder, has anyone written an X-Files fanfiction about them? He knows that there are many works written in an alternate universe (he did some research, okay?), and now he can't help but think of how cool it would be to read a story of himself as a character like Mulder (he would fight a man for Fox Mulder). Tyler would definitely be like Scully, the skeptic.
He searches the tags, and nothing comes up. Never did he think that he would be disappointed about a "joshler" fanfiction not existing. Seriously, don't the fans know him at all?
Which is how Josh starts writing a fanfiction starring him and his best friend, set in an alternate universe where they solve crimes that definitely involve aliens, because aliens are absolutely real, thank you very much.
And okay, it wouldn't really be X-Files without the sexual tension, right? Right.
He types the short stories up on his laptop and makes sure to keep it under lockdown. Josh knows his best friend wouldn't mind, and would probably laugh at him for being such a nerd, but still, he doesn't want to take the chance that Tyler would react badly to the fact that the story stars them. He types each story up as if they were all separate episodes of a show, with different cases to solve each time. At one point, at three in the morning when he's been up for hours on end just typing away, he realizes that he maybe has a problem, that maybe it isn't normal to write stories about solving alien based crimes starring you and your best friend with a healthy dose of sexual tension (it's totally not weird, what are you talking about). And he just so happens that he gets an e-mail notification about his account being approved for use. On the fanfiction site. The site where no one would judge him. Where they could tell him if it was good or not. Three a.m. brain thinks this is a great idea.
So he does. In filling out everything he needs for the story, he puts the relationship as Josh Dun/Tyler Joseph. Because they're friends. Friendship is a relationship. It isn't weird.
And then he realizes, he doesn't have a name for his story. Here's a list of all the names that he debates on using momentarily before erasing them.
Sick as Frick X-Files Fic
X-Files, Heck Yeah!
Aliens Are Real and Tyler is a Dipcrap
Tyler is a Dipcrap Skeptic
Aliens and Stuff
The Adventures of Josh and Tyler: The X-Files
We Don't Believe (But We Want To)
Wait. That last one is pretty good, actually. Holy crap, that's really good. Josh should try writing songs or something some time because this writing thing is really happening for him. He posts it, then promptly shuts off his laptop and goes to sleep.
As soon as he wakes up, Josh is aware of what he's done. Oh dear god, he put his writing up on a fanfiction site. Oh no. Oh no. He grabs his phone to check the time, and looks through his notifications. He's perplexed to see that he's got multiple emails. What the heck? Who even emails anymore? But he soon sees that they aren't real emails. They're from the fanfiction site. The site he posted the story to. The site he posted the story about him and his best friend in a totally not gay way. He clicks, logs onto his account (he has an account on a fanfiction site now, what is he even doing with his life), and sees that his inbox is full.
Full of comments on his story. His story about his totally platonic alien discovering crime solving relationship with his best friend. With maybe a little (a lot) sexual tension in there, but that's canon and how dare you say it means anything else.
People are L O V I N G it. They're begging for another chapter. And, really, Josh is just here to please the fans. Who is he to deny another chapter?
So. It becomes a regular thing. He's constantly typing away on his laptop, dodging questions from his friends who are growing ever more suspicious of him, and basking in the glory of his newfound popularity as a writer. The chapters are staggered like episodes. Each chapter has a new case, but there's an ongoing storyline in the background where he and Tyler are getting closer as friends, and maybe the tension gets a little more each time. But honestly it's not that big of a deal. It's not like they're actually being romantic or anything. Totally harmless and completely, 100% not gay.
Tyler is losing his mind with curiosity. Josh is always typing on his laptop, giggling to himself, and blushes furiously when asked about it. He refuses to tell anyone what he's writing, and keeps his laptop either with him, or turned off in his bag. It's password protected. Tyler's tried. He knows it's an invasion of privacy, but he just can't help it, okay? He feels like he's going completely insane, he's not used to his best friend keeping things from him. So that's why, when Josh slips up and left his laptop open, Tyler lunges at the opportunity. He sees the web browser open to a website he recognizes... As a fanfiction site. What the hell? Upon further investigation, he sees that it was a story starring he and Josh. Why in the heck is Josh reading this crap? And then he saw. It was an X-Files fic. Ah, that makes sense. The title is rather clever, too. He hears the toilet flush and quickly hurries away before Josh comes out, making a mental note of the title.
Okay, so, he doesn't really intend to become addicted to the fic. Really. He starts out just reading it to see why Josh likes it, and, well... It's really well-written. And funny. And it captures the two of them perfectly, because as much as Tyler hates to admit it, he knows way too much about the X-Files universe. Josh has forced him to watch practically every episode. And so he finds himself obsessively reading chapter after chapter of he and his best friend as Scully and Mulder. And there's a subtle undertone of sexual tension, but he can ignore it, because it wouldn't be the X-Files without it. It's totally not gay. And somehow he reasons with himself (at 3 am as he finally finishes the latest chapter) that it would be rude to read the story and not let the author know how awesome he thinks it is. So he comments. As a guest, of course.
"Dude, this is so sick"
"I swear I'm not even an X-Files nerd but jeez ur just that good"
"Dude you nailed Josh's personality man. But Tyler isn't that big of a douche I feel like"
A few weeks in, Josh notices that every time he updates, there's a new person that leaves a comment on every chapter. Whoever it is uses a guest account, and their name is always just a jumble of letters, but he can tell it's the same person. He's not sure why, but he finds himself waiting for this person to comment every time he posts a new chapter. He's suddenly afraid that he might somehow let this person down. That if they stop commenting or say something negative, he'll feel like he failed somehow. He tries not to think about that, but instead looks forward to reading their comments.
Tyler starts noticing that Josh is quieter than normal these days. A few times, he has to turn his head to make sure Josh is still even in the room, only to find his best friend quickly looking away and blushing. Josh never stared at him this much before, did he? For some reason at these times he's reminded of the X-Files fanfic. He shakes his head and tries not to think about what it means.
He's not staring, okay? It's research. For his story. People like it when the authors are descriptive, alright? And that's really all this is. And it's not weird. Josh starts to notice little things about his friend. Like, the way that Tyler's hair is mostly straight, but it's curled slightly when he's fresh out of bed, or the shower. Or, how Tyler seems to completely zone everything else out when he's telling a story. The way he seems to get really into it, motioning his arms, and over-exaggerating his facial expressions. The way his lips sort of push out more, and get a little spit-slick from the buildup of saliva in his mouth. He's really not staring at his best friend's lips for anything other than research for his story. It's practically scientific, okay? He doesn't notice the way staring at Tyler's mouth makes his own go a little dry, and his mind loses a little bit of focus. He doesn't notice the way that he's stopped even paying attention to what his friend is saying until he stops speaking and looks over at him. Later that night he uploads another chapter, and it means nothing that he's describing the plumpness of Tyler's lips in more detail than is strictly necessary.
This new chapter seems... a lot more intense than the others. There's way more flirting, much more obvious, and Josh's character seems to fixate on Tyler's appearance. Mostly, his lips. And the weird thing is, that's not the part that disturbs the brunet. What disturbs him is how little it bothers him. It's weird, seeing himself described like that, but the attention of Josh's character? Doesn't bother him at all. And he feels like it should, that the increasingly gay nature of this fanfiction should bother him, but it really, really doesn't.
Oh man, Josh really just hates everything right now. Because Tyler left his phone unlocked, and god he was just going to post something funny on his twitter or something, but the phone's browser is unlocked, and, well. Josh knows his own writing the moment he sees it. This is it, he thinks, I'm busted, he's never going to forgive me for this. But then, he realizes something. It's on the latest chapter. Wait, did he read the whole thing? goes through Josh's head, followed by, holy crap, he was in the middle of commenting? And he knows that snark. Tyler, his best friend whom he's been writing fanfiction about, is his favorite commenter. He looks at his surroundings- the cramped tour bus, the pillows askew on the floor, the N64 controllers sitting on the table top- and back at the phone in his hand. Because this cannot be reality. Tyler is still in the bathroom. He can pretend that he didn't see anything. Tyler is an active reader of the story, so there's no way he can know that Josh is the one writing it, he reasons with himself. Still, he can't help the way his heartbeat picks up to a level that is surely unhealthy when he hears the toilet flush. He sets the phone back down where he saw it, and bolts to the other side of the bus to sit at the little dining table just as Tyler is coming back into the room. The brunet eyes him a little suspiciously.
"You alright there, buddy?" Tyler asks, examining the way that Josh seems to be slightly out of breath and sweating a little, like he'd just come back from a run.
"Yeah, yeah. Why? Do I not look okay?" Josh internally winces at how panicked he sounds, but he can't help it. Tyler's brow furrows even further and he leans his head back just a bit as though he's deciding whether or not there's something wrong with his friend. He just shakes his head and drops down on the couch next to his phone.
"You are so weird sometimes." Josh thinks his best friend doesn't even know the half of it, but he shrugs it off and slinks toward the back of the bus. Tyler continues typing on his phone.
Things go back to normal after that. Well, that is if normal includes knowing that your best friend reads your fanfiction. Josh wonders vaguely if Tyler knows that he's the author of the story. But then, Tyler's never really been one to beat around the bush, right? Surely he would have said something by now if he knew. Tyler is definitely the type of guy that would humiliate Josh to death if he knew. They seem to start talking more, and Josh lets loose that he's writing a story. He says it just to see how Tyler reacts, but the brunet seems totally surprised and none the wiser about the actual nature of the story. Josh doesn't tell him, swears he'll take this secret to the grave, no matter how much Tyler pouts his lip and bats his big doe eyes.
They've been a little more affectionate than usual lately, but that's what happens when you're cramped together in a bus on tour for months on end.
But lately, Josh has been thinking about what it would be like to kiss his best friend. He doesn't really know where these thoughts are coming from, but for reasons he can't determine and won't look too closely into, they don't really bother him. He thinks about it idly, from time to time. Objectively, they're a great shape, but they don't look particularly soft. Tyler doesn't drink nearly enough water, so his lips are almost always a little bit chapped. For some reason, when Josh thinks about it in a totally normal thinking-about-your-friend and definitely not at all gay way, Josh thinks the slightly chapped lips might feel kinda nice.
A few days later, they're watching more X-Files, as they do, and they're deep into Season 3 at this point in their rewatch. This episode is called Quagmire, the episode in which Scully and Mulder get stranded on a rock in the middle of a lake. They shoot the breeze and flirt endlessly, both completely oblivious to the chemistry and tension between them. Of course, Josh has seen it before, and Tyler has, too, but the younger man never really paid much attention before. This time, when the episode has ended after they've discovered that shore was only a few feet away the whole time, Tyler's visibly annoyed.
"Really?" He says, snorting indignantly and looking over at Josh. "They didn't kiss?! What the hell man. They're so oblivious, it's almost painful."
Josh feels the corners of his mouth curl up in a small smile and he wonders for a moment if that's the way their fans feel about them sometimes.
The comments on his story are getting more and more aggressive.
"Omgggg this is the slowest burn everrrr"
"this is so good but they seriously are the most oblivious ever oml"
"Kiss already, dammit!"
""If they don't get together soon, I'm going to lose my mind."
It's 2 am, and Tyler is fast asleep in the bunk below him. Josh squints his eyes at his computer screen, partially because it's a bright contrast against the otherwise completely dark bus, but also because he's considering if he needs to be admitted to a psych ward. He keeps reading over and over the last paragraph of this chapter, but he can't bring himself to delete it. Before he can change his mind, he quickly submits the new chapter. He closes his laptop, and rolls over in his bunk to go to sleep. He tries very hard not to think about Tyler reading the new chapter.
Tyler can't believe what he's just read. He glances up from his phone and looks around his dressing room. He's alone, of course, since he and Josh have separate dressing rooms. Everyone knows it takes some time for him to apply his paint every night before the show, so they leave him alone for the most part. His paint has long since dried, he was just reading on his phone in the meantime before it was time to start the show. He taps a finger on the screen of his phone and finds that there's about ten minutes until he needs to be onstage. He jumps up hurriedly and rushes out of the room- he's supposed to have already picked up his inner-ear monitor from the sound techs and be ready to go on stage. As he gets over there, he sees Josh, all ready to go, chatting with one of the stage hands about some technical drum bit. Tyler's mouth goes a little dry as he stares at him for a second. Josh looks up at his approach and winks, then goes back to talking to the person in front of him. What in the world? Tyler thinks to himself as he blushes. That fanfiction is getting to me. He can't handle it.
-
They'd done it. They'd solved yet another mystery and it still wasn't aliens. Joseph was looking especially smug as he wrote up the final report for their latest case. Dun tried not to let it get to him as he tried to find work to keep him busy. After a few minutes, he gave up and sighed, bending over in his chair and putting his head down on his desk.
"Fine." He said, muttering mostly to himself, but knowing that Joseph could hear him. He could hear the other man make an inquiring noise like he was feigning innocence. "Ugh, fine, you were right! Again."
"What ever are you referring to?" Joseph cocked an eyebrow and looked at Dun with an amused expression on his face.
"It wasn't aliens." It pained him to say it, it really did.
"Hm." Came the reply, a monosyllabic triumph. Joseph's mouth quirked up into a small, self-important smile as he turned back to his paperwork. Dun pushed himself away from his desk with an aggravated noise and stood up.
"One day, it's going to be aliens, and let me tell you, I'm going to throw myself a big party. There's gonna be streamers, and-and balloons, and a big ol' banner, and you know what it's gonna say?" He gestured with his hands wildly around him as if to demonstrate the party with charades. "It's gonna say 'JOSEPH IS A SCEPTIC DIP-CRAP, AND HE WAS WRONG'."
At these words, his partner fixed him with a disbelieving but amused stare. Joseph was one of those people that could say a whole paragraph of things without ever saying a word. It was written all over his face as if to say 'you're such an idiot, why do I even put up with you.' Joseph shook his head and chuckled.
"I very highly doubt that day will ever come," he said as he stood, finished documents in hand, and he turned back as he passed Dun with a fond smile on his face, "but part of me hopes you're right."
It caught Dun by surprise. All this time he'd just assumed that Joseph was pig-headed and stubborn. Well, he was, but maybe he really was just passionate about science and finding the real truth. Dun found himself catching Joseph's wrist before he can walk away, not even really aware of what he'd done. Joseph looked down at Dun's hand and back up at his partner's face, the face that was staring at him in earnest, and he gulped nervously. The two men stood staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity, before both took a step forward, in sync, and connected their lips.
The kiss was short, but lingering. Dun felt his lips tingling long after Joseph pulled away.
-
"Dude. Why'd you have to go and make it gay?"
There was no mistaking who had left that comment, and Josh is heartbroken. It's silly, because there's no way for Tyler to know that Josh was the one writing the story, but he still can't help but feel that it's somehow a personal attack. He spends the entire next day sulking in his bunk, only coming out to use the bathroom. Tyler tries to get him to come out a few times, but Josh just grunts in response. Tyler just shrugs, figures that Josh is just having an off day, and leaves him alone.
This only lasts a day.
"Dude," Tyler rips the curtains of Josh's bunk open, "what is wrong with you? Are you sick?"
Josh has his back to him, and just grumbles in response. The brunet huffs out of frustration and rips the blankets off his friend. This only causes Josh to curl further in on himself for warmth, and Tyler pokes him until he starts squirming uncontrollably. Eventually Josh can't help but laugh as he rolls over and hits Tyler with his pillow.
They exchange a few awkward laughs, and Josh hesitantly accepts when Tyler challenges him to a game of Super Smash Bros Melee.
Things don't quite go back to normal after that, but almost. At a glance, most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference, but Tyler can feel the way that Josh's smiles are tighter than usual, his hugs shorter and less frequent. He's not sure what it means, but he doesn't know how to ask about it, either. They keep playing shows and no one talks about the awkward silences that fall over them sometimes.
He feels really weird about it, but Josh finds himself writing a new chapter a few weeks later. The ideas are still coming to him, and as much as he just wanted to abandon the work completely, he really loves the story. And it makes him feel crappy when he thinks of the people enjoying this story, and how they're looking forward to reading more.
He sits in the lounge while Tyler is watching a movie and continues typing away, rounding off the new chapter and pasting it into a new chapter on AO3 (yeah, yeah, he knows the acronym now). Once he's typed the last sentence of the chapter, he stands up to stretch out the kinks that have formed in his back over the past few hours, and makes a trip to the bathroom.
While he's absentmindedly washing his hands in the tiny sink of the bus, he realizes he forgot to hit "post," and worries for a moment that his laptop might freak out and delete everything in the two minutes before he gets back to it.
And- wait.
Crap.
He forgot to lock it before he walked away. Panicking, he dries his hands hurriedly and rushes back into the lounge, hoping against hope that Tyler was too preoccupied with his movie to notice Josh left his laptop unattended- and who is he kidding, Tyler tries to get a look at what Josh is writing every time he turns around- and he finds the brunet gaping at the screen wordlessly.
Everything in him screams run as Tyler looks up at him, mouth hanging open slightly and brown eyes wide with shock. He can't seem to remember how his legs work, though, and a really crazy part of him focuses on the spit slicked lips of his best friend- and wow, so not the right time to be thinking about that, Josh, what is wrong with you.
"Uh, I, um," Josh breaks the silence oh so eloquently, "I can explain?"
"You... this is. You. You're the one who." Tyler's brain seems to be short circuiting as he tries to wrap his head around what he just found. "You did-"
"I know, I'm sorry," Josh interrupts, flailing his arms in an abortive action, "I should have told you sooner."
Sinking down to sit on the small couch, Tyler nods and stares absently at the wall opposite him. Josh doesn't move, but lets out a breath like a balloon deflating. Tyler's in shock, which isn't necessarily good, but it's better than Josh had thought it would be. After a beat, something clicks in the younger man's brain and he looks up at his friends sharply.
"Wait," he says with a voice full of suspicion, dark eyes narrowing, "what do you mean you should have told me sooner?"
Josh shifts his weight from foot to foot and doesn't meet Tyler's eyes. "Well, I-"
"Oh my god, you knew!" Tyler's on his feet again and oh god Josh is actually contemplating throwing himself off the moving bus as Tyler rounds the table toward him. "You knew I was reading it! How?"
Mama Dun always taught him that honesty was the best policy and dangit, Josh is not gonna let his mama down now.
"You... you left your phone unlocked while you were reading it and I saw."
"You went through my phone?"
"Really?" Josh cocks an eyebrow and gestures at his laptop with one hand. "You're going to lecture me on invasions of privacy?"
Tyler huffs and he grumbles something that sounds like "yeah, you're right" at the ground.
"So..." he swallows audibly, "you wrote that- that... scene... knowing I was going to read it?"
There's a beat. He looks up, and Josh's eyes seem to be seeing right into him as the older man just nods. They stand there, staring at each other for several days- or actually a few minutes or seconds, but who even cares. Josh seems to snap out of it first as he quickly shakes his head and blinks rapidly.
"So, uh..." he clears his throat, but Tyler can't stop staring at his friend- when the heck did he get so freaking attractive? "I'm gonna just... yeah."
Josh makes to grab his laptop and go to his bunk where he will promptly die a million deaths from embarrassment, but Tyler's hand is on his arm, firm and warm. The brunet has always been the bold one, willing to push boundaries to get what he wants, and this is no exception. They're leaning in, breathing each other's air-
And then there's laughter, Josh can't even hold it in.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he's saying to a very offended looking Tyler, "it's just so much like my story and oh my god how cheesy are we, I mean-"
"Josh."
"Yeah?"
"Stop taking."
And Josh can't even complain about how rude that is, because in the next moment there are lips on his and it's everything he'd imagined it would be and more. Tyler's lips are slightly chapped as always, and rough against his. It's strong and there are hands in his hair, the whole thing leaves him a little bit dazed.
"So does this mean you're okay with me writing our fanfiction or would it be too weird because it's essentially based on real life now?"
He'll take the pillow thrown at his head as a green light to keep writing, and if fact and fiction blur sometimes, he's not complaining.