okay sorry but now i need even more john from tyler's pov that was so funny 😭
When Tyler opened his DMs and found a message from John Rich, and John explained that he had a fun idea for a "date" (John put that word in quotations), Tyler did not ask questions. Which was why he was in Greenpoint at a chilly outdoor flea market watching John dig through a pile of second hand action figures like was panning for gold.
There were hundreds of Broolynites milling about and crunching autumn leaves, and only one person had pointed at him while he and John strolled. But Tyler was also perfectly aware of the mom and daughter in his peripheral vision. They were having that conversation that people always had when they recognized him. Is that—? No way. It is. Should we get a picture? He might be busy.
Tyler was busy. He was watching a very cute man who was armpit deep in a huge plastic bin filled with well-loved toys.
"This," said John, pulling a Furby out of the bin and discarding it in disgust, "is to make up for you ambushing me on my own show."
"Forcing me to watch you thrift?" asked Tyler. He adjusted his sunglasses. "I could think of worser punishments."
"Well, you're gonna help soon, and when you accidentally touch a pile of waterlogged Beanie Babies in one of these flea market bins, we'll be even." He stuck his arm deep into the same bin, rummaged around, and then beamed. "Behold, my obsession."
John pulled out a very lumpy Garfield plush toy, but the Garfield had fangs and a red cowl with bats on it. John's smile was goofy and wide and triumphant, like a kid who had just gotten a new dirt bike for Christmas. He looked at Tyler and his eyes said, "isn't this thing stupid? Isn't this amazing?"
Tyler cradled John's hand in his as he inspected the stuffed animal.
"Looks old," he said, "and chewed. Like a dog definitely got a piece of this before it went in the donation bin."
John's eyes flickered up to him and down to their hands, and Tyler couldn't help it—he grinned as the color rose in his cheeks. Poor thing. It must be really inconvenient to blush so easily. Tyler rubbed the back of John's hand with his thumb, and pulled at the cowl of the toy with his free hand.
"Usually," said John, his voice coming out high before he cleared his throat, "usually if you find one of these in the wild they're knock-offs. So this is rare, you know."
"Thank you teaching me," said Tyler. He smiled. "Educational date."
John looked at him like a deer in headlights, the color reaching the tops of his ears. Then John turned away.
"I'm serious about you bin diving, Hughes," said John to a mountain of My Little Ponies.
"Of course!" said Tyler, following him. "It's why I'm here."
John. What possessed you to call out to your all-but-in-official-title new boss -- who you know to be one who can torment with no apparent grief -- that he is not, actually, the boss nor in charge. What happened in the synapses of your brain to make this compute as a good idea?
tyler: so i've developed a debilitating crush on john rich because i watched 20 episodes of Cover Sessions in a row
tyler: but when i meet him??? i'll realize he's just a normal guy and get over it
john: (is an utter bitch and witty and talented and adorable)
tyler:
tyler: when i have sex with him i'll realize he's just a normal guy and get over it
if john could actually figure out how to draw him, tyler hughes would be the arrow collar man to his jc leyendecker.
yes you got it! considering that the original model for the arrow collar man WAS leyendecker's partner, this checks out. :)
not to ruin the entire story but the moment john gets it? He fucking gets it. He can't stop drawing Tyler. Like the first month it's obsessive. And then later drawing tyler is just the thing john does; Tyler is his muse. It's like "john rich finally updated his instagram again—oh it's 20 sketches of tyler hughes again. Wait are they dating? They're dating right." All of John's captions are short and sarcastic, "if you're wondering no he never sits still," but all of the drawings are so lush and tender. Because john kind of draws as a default action??? and he's in love so it just spills out on the page. So he'd have sketchbooks of tyler doing the most mundane things but also surfing but also eating frightening amounts of food but also sleeping and every time John surfaces from a drawing and stares at it and stares at Tyler he's like oh my god i can't believe I couldn't draw him at one point, I can't believe I didn't see him like I do now.
