tyler lightly bobbed his head to the music playing from somewhere inside the house, discreetly searching for his friend in the crowd of people.

he hated parties for this specific reason. either he'd lose his friends and look like a loner or some really nice guy would start talking to him and he'd scare them off with his awkwardness. apart from the cheerful christmas atmosphere and the smell of gingerbread in the air, tyler was bored. he sighed, sitting down on the couch and sipping his drink, tugging the santa hat on his head. it was a little too big, but there weren't any smaller ones at the store, much to tyler's annoyance. he thought he looked like an idiot in a christmas sweater, sitting alone on a couch during a party. maybe if-

"tyler, i finally found you!" his bestfriend, brendon, said to him, plopping down on the couch next to him.

"oh, hey." tyler smiled softly, feeling a little better now that his friend was here to save him.

"are you having fun, babe?" brendon asked, his tone soft.

tyler shrugged. brendon knew that he didn't like parties, but tyler only agreed to it because someone told him there would be a certain guy here.

tyler and this certain guy weren't the best of friends, but they knew each other and tyler thought he was really cute. he was one of the only people that didn't mind his awkwardness, and tyler was thankful that he had another person besides brendon to tolerate him. this certain guy had the cutest laugh and the nicest teeth and the prettiest smile he's ever seen, and yet, tyler couldn't-

"tyler!" brendon whisper-yelled, waving his hand in front of his face. he's called his name twice and he hasn't responded.

"what?" tyler snapped out of his daydream, focusing at brendon.

"i said josh to your twelve o'clock."

tyler looked straight forward to see josh wearing antlers on his wild, brown hair. he was laughing at something his friend was saying, and tyler could see his eyes crinkle up at the corners. tyler didn't like the pang of jealousy that shot through his veins when josh's friend touched his shoulder in a flirty way, batting her eyelashes at him. josh seemed flustered, pointing to an area behind him before turning away and leaving.

"ty, you should totally go talk to him." brendon said, watching him disappear behind the opening of the hallway into the kitchen.

"no way, he's going to think i'm a stalker or something." tyler said, looking down at the contents of his drink.

it was empty.

"he won't. your drink is gone, just say you were going to go refill it."

tyler thought the idea was actually a good one for a quick second, but shyness got the best of him and he shook his head.

"tyler, you know you want to." brendon poked tyler's side, making tyler laugh at the tickling sensation.

brendon smiled too, shooing tyler away. "now go get your man."

tyler got up, his cup taking in his interest more than this party as he looked down and made his way to the hallway. he was nervous as shit right now, but brendon somehow managed to give him a little confidence. he wanted nothing more than for josh to think good things about him, not that he was a loser or something. how could he compete with that girl, though? did josh even like boys? his friend was super cute, blonde hair curled underneath a santa hat. as for tyler, he-

he stopped thinking when someone bumped into him as he was about to enter the hallway.

"whoa, sorry!" josh apologized, smiling a bit at the sight of tyler.

"it's fine." tyler's voice was soft as he looked down at his cup again.

tyler fell into a silence as josh held a smile towards him, blushing cheeks and a racing heart making him speechless. josh didn't mind, in fact, he thought it was cute how shy tyler was.

"you look nice. i like your sweater." josh commented.

"thank you." tyler said softly, pulling down his oversized santa hat. "i like your antlers." he smiled shyly.

josh smiled at the compliment and tyler could see the pink tint that took to his cheeks. holy shit, he made him blush. he wondered if brendon saw that, looking to the right to his bestfriend. brendon flicked his eyes up to the ceiling and pointed, tyler following his gaze. he saw the dreaded green plant hanging on top of the opening to the hallway, red beads decorating it. tyler blushed profusely at this, josh noticing the newfound color that stained tyler's cheeks.

"what's wrong?" josh asked.

"there's m-mistletoe on top of us." tyler didn't make eye contact with josh, his voice small with embarrassment.

"oh, yeah." josh looked up too and saw the plant, cheeks warm as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"we don't have to kiss, it's totally fine." tyler started, trying to save himself from being rejected. "like, it's understandable if you don't want to, i-"

josh cut him off by holding his collar and pressing his lips to tyler's. tyler tensed up in surprise, but soon kissed him back after a few seconds. there was no way he was going to pass up an opportunity to kiss josh.tyler leaned into it, holding onto josh's hips for support as he felt his knees go weak. he was kissing josh dun.

it was soft and sweet, making tyler's heart flutter nonetheless. he pulled back to catch his breath, looking over josh's face. the realization of what just happened between the two set in, tyler bursting into a giggle and hiding his face in josh's neck. josh smiled wide at tyler before erupting in a fit of giggles, too. tyler heard brendon cheer over the sea of voices in the living room, glancing back to see him giving a thumbs up and quickly resuming what he was doing, acting like he was waiting for someone while casually sipping his drink.

"i'd like to do that again sometime." josh said, a small smile on his features. "do you want to go on a date tomorrow?"

tyler stood there, speechless. he looked back at brendon who shooed him on, nodding his head furiously.

"y-yes. that would be nice." tyler smiled, looking up at josh's hazel eyes.

"i'll see you tomorrow, then?" josh asked.

tyler nodded, waving goodbye to josh before meeting with brendon on the couch.

"holy shit, holy shit! dude, you're so welcome." brendon nearly shouted out of excitement, proud of tyler.

tyler rolled his eyes, smiling to himself and trying to get his heart to stop fluttering at the thought of josh.

he decided he would come to christmas parties more often.