When Josh was told he was getting married, the only thing he did was laugh. He was practically crying by the time he realised Brendon was serious.

Jon stared at his best friend, his eyes wide. "You're fucking kidding, right?"

Brendon shook his head. "It's too dangerous for you to be here. You need to escape the country, and this is the easiest way. It won't be too bad. You'll finally get to experience American school."

"God, I have to go to school?" Josh groaned dramatically.

"Josh," Brendon sighed. "I'm sorry. You have to do this."

Josh frowned and crossed his arms. "I'll at least be with a guy, right?"

Brendon chuckled. "Of course."

"What's his name?" Josh asked.

Brendon pulled out a file and pushed it towards the other boy. "Tyler Joseph. He's from Columbus, Ohio."

Josh opened the file and studied the photo inside. He scrunched up his nose and narrowed his eyes before looking up at Brendon. "He looks twelve, B."

"He's sixteen," Brendon replied.

Josh raised his eyebrows . "He's not being, like, forced into this, right? He wants to do this?"

Josh noticed Brendon's hesitating. He knew how much Josh disapproved of his father's ways. Neither of them could escape it, though. Both of their fathers were mobsters; Josh's being the much more powerful once. Brendon was practically a butler for the Duns. That was how he became friends either Josh.

"The Joseph's made a mistake, a long time ago, and this is the consequence. They can pay your father back, or they can do this. They're the ones who made the decision, not us."

"I still think it's bullshit," Josh muttered, standing up to leave.

Before he go could go, Brendon grabbed his arm. "You're going to die if you don't leave. You know that, right?"

Josh rolled his eyes and tugged his arm away. He walked off, not knowing how to feel. On one hand, he would be safe. No more kidnappings, right? But in the other hand, he would be forcing some poor kid into a marriage neither of them wanted, and that couldn't really be justified at all. Josh didn't have much of a say in the matter, though. He never did. His father told him to do things, and he'd do them. He did what he had to do to stay alive in a dangerous family.

Josh knew the price of saying no. He had an older brother once, Jordan. He had a girlfriend, and he was in love with her. He wanted to escape and move away. Josh's father wasn't happy about it, but he complied until Jordan's girlfriend saw too much. He took that as an opportunity to kill her, and then Jordan killed himself.

Josh shuddered at the memory. He was fourteen when it had happened. It was three years ago, but sometimes it felt like it was yesterday.

Josh sat down in front of his computer. He searched up 'Tyler Joseph Columbus Ohio', looking for any information on the guy. All of it was probably in the file, but Josh was too stubborn to go back to Brendon to get it. He scrolled through google, looking for anything that could be his technically-fiancé.

Josh grinned in triumph when he found a school newspaper that had been published online. He clicked on it and scrolled down, seeing a picture of Tyler playing basketball. He read the article, leaning into the screen like an old man and repeating the words under his breath. He had to reread it a couple of times- he could perfectly speak english, but reading it was a whole different story.

Worthington High has won another game, and an exciting one at that. Our team played against Olentangy High and won with just 1 point, scored by point guard and team captain Tyler Joseph. He scored a 3-pointer in the last two seconds of the game, resulting in what will surely go down as one of Worthington High's greatest sporting moments. Joseph still has the record for most 3-pointers scored on the Worthington court. Other impressive performance were Awsten Knight, who scored 30 points, Mikey Way, who scored 26, and Dallon Weekes, who blocked at least 12 goals from the other team.

Josh clicked off the website and continued searching. When he couldn't find anything, he sighed and leant back in the chair. All that he had discovered was that Tyler was an athlete, which sucked because Josh hated sport.

Josh looked at his wrists. There were still bruises from the rope. He frowned, his mind racing with thoughts. He didn't want to leave Russia. It was his home. He had friends and- well, not exactly family, but he had people that looked out for him. He was aware, though, of the dangers that would follow if he stayed. He wasn't entirely sure of what he wanted.

He wasn't sure of anything.