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"... his fiery haired, fiery tempered best friend..."
4 reviewsI am fully aware that Paramore are not technically affiliated with Fall Out Boy, but there was no catagory and I've suggested it already... Anyway, this is a Josh Farro, Hayley Williams fic. ...
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Josh looked down at the photograph in his hand, it was of his fiery haired, fiery tempered best friend, Hayley, right before her 16th birthday, the two had always been inseparable. They met through Hayley’s big brother, who befriended Josh’s big brother in kindergarten, all those years ago. They had always had a connection, unbeknownst by the two for so long. It was Josh who realised it at first, the hormones kicked in sooner for him than it did Hayley, but when they did, she knew Josh was the one for her. He knew her better than she knew herself, and sometimes, although she hated to admit it, and she’d never admit it to him, it scared her. He could read her mind, finish her sentences and walk in step with her, he knew what way she wanted to walk before she showed any inclination of going that way.
He turned the page of the photo album, a photograph sliding out, having obviously not been attached properly. He picked it up from the floor and examined it. It was the two of them and their respective brothers. Hayley with her brother Logan and Josh with Zack, each of them pulling faces at the camera. This was a really old photograph of the four of them, most probably pre-Paramore era, judging by Hayley’s hair, these kinds of photos were Josh’s favourites. She was the girl he fell in love with then, it was her quirky sense of humour and style that did it, and he still loved it and her to this day.
Going further into the photo album, he found pictures of their first day of high school. He remembers being nervous, but not as nervous as Hayley had been. He tried to hide it for her sake, to convince her everything was going to be ok, but in truth, he didn’t know what was going to happen, just like her. He remembered her phoning him the night before school, almost in tears, going on about not wanting to have her head flushed down the toilet and not wanting to be thrown into trash cans ‘because I’m only little Joshy, they’ll get me, I know it’ was how she had put it. He walked to her house the next day and she fell into his arms, they held each other for a bit, as friends do, and he calmed her down, not knowing why she was getting so worked up over it, it was only school, but he would persevere, she was his best friend after all. They walked to school that morning hand in hand, stealing glances at each-other every-now and again. They were always thought of as the perfect couple, even though they weren’t dating, and secretly, Josh was happy that people thought he was good enough for her, because he thought, no, he knew, she deserved the best.
The next photo to catch Josh’s eye was one he couldn’t remember being taken. It was taken when the two of them were waiting on the bus outside school to take them to camp. They were both sitting on their luggage, Josh’s arm around Hayley’s waist, a content smile playing on each of their features. It was at that trip to camp that Josh finally plucked up the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend. Josh would never forget the way her eyes sparkled in the firelight, the way her lips felt grazing against his, she was perfect, and god, did he know it. When the news finally got out that they were dating, no one was really surprised, they all knew it was a matter of time, Josh just didn’t have the balls before.
He opened another album, this one labelled with a date after camp, but before Paramore. The first picture in this album made him smile. It was of Hayley climbing out her attic bedroom window, getting ready to walk over to his room. The two took turns every-night, one night Josh’s room, the next it was Hayley’s. They missed each other so much when they were apart it was crazy. They wouldn’t do anything when they snuck over, Hayley was a devout Christian, and Josh respected that, he would never do anything to hurt or upset her. They would just cuddle, and talk, they could talk for hours, about every random subject, anything that came to mind, they never got bored of each others company. Not long after they got together, Hayley started getting singing lessons with Brett Manning, even though she didn’t need them. Josh loved listening to her sing, she loved it, you could tell with her eyes, you could always tell what Hayley was thinking by her eyes, if you knew her well enough.
It was at one of these lessons that Hayley met Hunter and Jeremy, it was also around this time that she got heavily involved in photography, that’s where this picture came in. It was the guys, all five of them, Paramore, although, they weren’t called Paramore at that time, they were just five friends, who loved to make music and have a good time. Josh, however, was the only one to truly believe in her, the guys didn’t fully believe she would have the commanding presence on stage that was so needed for a lead singer. He stuck with her though, and after the guys heard her singing absentmindedly, doodling on Josh’s arm, they knew she was the perfect candidate for their singer, not to mention she was an awesome song writer.
Hayley, as aforementioned, was really into photography in her teenage years, and documented the whole of the band’s time in the studio, recording some demos, with her camera, this was the time in Hayley’s life Josh loved the most. She was a young woman now, and more beautiful than ever – still fresh faced, but more grown up, her parents divorcing had forced her to grow up and deal with things a teenager shouldn’t have to, if it wasn’t for him, he knew Hayley wouldn’t be the way she was. It was her parent’s anniversary when this picture was taken; their divorce was really getting to her and, unlike Jeremy, Josh could tell Hayley was hurting, especially looking back on it now, she was sitting writing, she’d been writing the same song the whole day ‘it has to be perfect Josh, my parent’s have to know what they’re divorce did to me’ she had told him. And perfect it was. Emergency had always been, and probably always will be one of Josh’s favourite songs Hayley had ever written; it portrayed her to the letter. All of her emotion and just enough of her personality went into that song, so they had recorded it, that same day.
The photo of their van, which Hayley had so kindly named Marge, made Josh reminisce about the old days even more. He remembered Paramore playing both the Purple Door and Warped Tour shows in Tennessee. Soon after Paramore met John Janick, the co-founder of Fueled by Ramen, an alternative record company, who had heard their demos. He came to a Taste of Chaos show, and soon after, they were signed.
Soon after, Josh started to notice a change in his girl; she wasn’t the same Hayley around anyone but himself. She was suddenly louder, more rambunctious and flirty, that wasn’t Hayley, she’d always had her mad 20 minutes sure, what teenager didn’t, but she was never flirty, or forward in that way. About a 2 weeks into the recording of their first album, ‘All We Know Is Falling’ Hayley and Josh took the leap from teenagers to adults, and slept with each other, something Hayley said she wouldn’t do until she was married, and it was her who had started making out with him, and her who had unzipped his pants, not that Josh complained, he loved her for her, but he also loved being able to touch her and please her, nothing made him happier than to please her.
The next thing to pop out at Josh was a picture of Hayley, and her newly died red hair. That was the weekend Jeremy had decided to leave Orlando, where they were recording, and go back to Tennessee, leaving the guys in the lurch, it wasn’t the same without him, everyone felt the missing presence, even after finding John by accident at a Starbucks down the road. It was Hayley who John had spotted first, as she was keeping the table as Zack, Hunter and Josh got the drinks, and a muffin for Hayley. They somehow got onto the subject of music, thanks to John, noticing their accents, he realised they weren’t from the area and asked what they were doing there, Hunter told him about recording, and Zack explained their predicament. John mentioned he could play bass and so Hayley invited him back to the studio to hear him play, he was good, Josh would give him that, but he was no Jeremy.
Having Jeremy missing inspired Hayley on this next photo, it was their album art for ‘All We Know Is Falling’. The photo was quite simply an empty red couch with a shadow walking away from it, once again showing the empty space without him. Just before tour, the guys returned home to Tennessee, where they met up with Jeremy, after explaining how much they missed him, and how it wouldn’t be the same on tour without him, he decided to rejoin the group, the guys left it to Josh to break the news to John, boy Josh did not enjoy that.
The album launch party was where Hayley’s camera was let loose next. But it wasn’t her taking the pictures, as every picture from that night was of Josh and Hayley, holding hands, cuddling, dancing, and several of them kissing, where they thought no one could see them. The album launch party was also the night they found out that the album had went into the billboard charts at number 30, a big feat for a little known band from Tennessee, the party was turned into a double celebration, thank goodness for the launch being late, Josh never wanted to see so many label reps in the one room again. Ever.
The promo shots of the guys were the next in the album. They were the promo shots from the ‘Pressure’ video shoot, Shane Drake, the director, listened to Hayley’s idea about the video and instead of the ‘million dollar’ video none of the guys had wanted, the video was turned into a simple, yet effective, performance video in a warehouse, however, they didn’t place in that charts that time, it wasn’t until they decided to release ‘Emergency’ did they really start to gain a fan base, they teamed up with the same director for this video as the last, and they went down a more theatrical route this time. They dressed up in bloody costumes; Hayley even wore a dress, something only Josh had seen a mere two times before. The last song to be release from the first album was ‘All We Know’ most of this video was made up of live performances, and coincidently, this was around the time that Hayley was getting into filming. She carried a cam-corder everywhere she went, recording everything that happened on tour for our parent’s to see, and so, their video also contained a lot of her video material.
After Warped Tour, the guys took a break, and Hayley and Josh went back into the same sort of routine they had when they were younger, sneaking into each others rooms at night although, things weren’t as innocent between them as they used to be and they were almost caught a few times, that was the picture Josh was looking at at the minute, the two of them were lying, fully clothed, in bed, just mucking around, like they were kids again, and Hayley was playing with his camera, as usual, Josh used to love it when it was just the two of them together, no-one to interfere with their relationship, it was their time, and they savoured every minute. The picture was of Josh, kissing Hayley’s cheek and Hayley feigning shock, mouth open in an ‘O’ shape. Hayley’s mom had heard her laughing and came into check on her, Josh only just made it into the closet in time. It wasn’t that their parent’s didn’t approve, it was they exact opposite actually, their parent’s especially Hayley’s were, like their daughter, heavily religious.
Josh picked up the last, and largest of the photo albums, and smiled, this was his favourite era with his band, the ‘Riot!’ era. He was looking at yet more photographs from the recording phase, it was just after Hayley had died her hair bright orange with blonde flashes. He loved her hair like this she was back to his Hayley, bright and bubbly. They took longer on this album than on others because they could, with the last album, there was more pressure to get done and get out there promoting, showing people what they were made of. It wasn’t long after this picture was taken that Hunter left, Josh remembered, Hunter had left to spend more time with his fiancé, Josh really missed him, he would spend hours, talking to him about his relationship, even Hunter knew Josh and Hayley were destined to be together.
The next photo really made Josh smile; it was his and Hayley’s engagement party, yes engagement, after numerous tours promoting ‘Riot!’ Josh finally plucked up the courage to ask Hayley to marry him, she, of course agreed. Their engagement party was held at, Angel’s and King’s, Pete Wentz’s bar. All their label buddies were there, and it was an awesome night. They flew home to Tennessee the next day to tell their parents the happy news and, needless to say, they weren’t totally surprised as before, everyone knew it was only a matter of time; Josh just had to grow the balls and ask her.
Their wedding was a quiet affair, it was just the band, and Hayley and Josh’s families. Hayley wore white, and Josh a tux, she really looked beautiful Josh thought, flipping through the wedding pictures. The wedding was held at home in Tennessee, they honeymooned in the Caribbean.
Not long after their wedding Hayley discovered she was pregnant. Both parents were ecstatic. Josh secretly hoped for a boy, and Hayley secretly hoped for a girl, although both of them claimed neither cared, so long as it was healthy. Josh fingered through the photos of Hayley positively glowing, a baby bump clearly visible through her tight t-shirt. He loved the way she looked pregnant, it was true what they said, pregnant people really do emit a glow.
About 6 months after the last photo was taken, their son, Liam, was born. He weighed in at 6 pounds 9 ounces, and was his mom’s double, except for the eyes, he had Josh’s eyes. Josh removed the photo of the three of them at the hospital; he was going to frame that one.
The next year went by without a hitch, Paramore were back in the studio, writing their third album, it wasn’t long after the third album was released that things went all wrong. The two of them were lying in bed, when Josh found a lump on Hayley’s left breast. She brushed it off, saying there was nothing to worry about, Josh urged her to go to the doctor and get it checked, but with everything going on at home, like looking after Liam, things were hectic, and it soon went to the back of their minds. Before either of them knew it, they were on tour.
Hayley went downhill fast after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, the doctors did all they could, they removed the tumour and started her on chemo. Josh remembered her crying and he held her in his arms telling her everything would be ok, but it wasn’t they both knew that, the chemo therapy wasn’t having the desired effect. Hayley stayed strong, only hiding her modesty with a bandana in public ‘I don’t like the way they stare at me like I’m some kind of freak’ she always said.
Hayley died on the 21st of August 2009, a few weeks after Liam’s second birthday. She stayed strong until the end, even scheduling, and performing, several acoustic shows, her voice still beautiful, but not what it was.
Josh smiled down at their son, he looked so much like her it was scary, Liam was 10 now, and yes, he asked questions about his mother, and he knew everything, he knew what an amazing musician and person she was, and boy, was he proud of her.
He turned the page of the photo album, a photograph sliding out, having obviously not been attached properly. He picked it up from the floor and examined it. It was the two of them and their respective brothers. Hayley with her brother Logan and Josh with Zack, each of them pulling faces at the camera. This was a really old photograph of the four of them, most probably pre-Paramore era, judging by Hayley’s hair, these kinds of photos were Josh’s favourites. She was the girl he fell in love with then, it was her quirky sense of humour and style that did it, and he still loved it and her to this day.
Going further into the photo album, he found pictures of their first day of high school. He remembers being nervous, but not as nervous as Hayley had been. He tried to hide it for her sake, to convince her everything was going to be ok, but in truth, he didn’t know what was going to happen, just like her. He remembered her phoning him the night before school, almost in tears, going on about not wanting to have her head flushed down the toilet and not wanting to be thrown into trash cans ‘because I’m only little Joshy, they’ll get me, I know it’ was how she had put it. He walked to her house the next day and she fell into his arms, they held each other for a bit, as friends do, and he calmed her down, not knowing why she was getting so worked up over it, it was only school, but he would persevere, she was his best friend after all. They walked to school that morning hand in hand, stealing glances at each-other every-now and again. They were always thought of as the perfect couple, even though they weren’t dating, and secretly, Josh was happy that people thought he was good enough for her, because he thought, no, he knew, she deserved the best.
The next photo to catch Josh’s eye was one he couldn’t remember being taken. It was taken when the two of them were waiting on the bus outside school to take them to camp. They were both sitting on their luggage, Josh’s arm around Hayley’s waist, a content smile playing on each of their features. It was at that trip to camp that Josh finally plucked up the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend. Josh would never forget the way her eyes sparkled in the firelight, the way her lips felt grazing against his, she was perfect, and god, did he know it. When the news finally got out that they were dating, no one was really surprised, they all knew it was a matter of time, Josh just didn’t have the balls before.
He opened another album, this one labelled with a date after camp, but before Paramore. The first picture in this album made him smile. It was of Hayley climbing out her attic bedroom window, getting ready to walk over to his room. The two took turns every-night, one night Josh’s room, the next it was Hayley’s. They missed each other so much when they were apart it was crazy. They wouldn’t do anything when they snuck over, Hayley was a devout Christian, and Josh respected that, he would never do anything to hurt or upset her. They would just cuddle, and talk, they could talk for hours, about every random subject, anything that came to mind, they never got bored of each others company. Not long after they got together, Hayley started getting singing lessons with Brett Manning, even though she didn’t need them. Josh loved listening to her sing, she loved it, you could tell with her eyes, you could always tell what Hayley was thinking by her eyes, if you knew her well enough.
It was at one of these lessons that Hayley met Hunter and Jeremy, it was also around this time that she got heavily involved in photography, that’s where this picture came in. It was the guys, all five of them, Paramore, although, they weren’t called Paramore at that time, they were just five friends, who loved to make music and have a good time. Josh, however, was the only one to truly believe in her, the guys didn’t fully believe she would have the commanding presence on stage that was so needed for a lead singer. He stuck with her though, and after the guys heard her singing absentmindedly, doodling on Josh’s arm, they knew she was the perfect candidate for their singer, not to mention she was an awesome song writer.
Hayley, as aforementioned, was really into photography in her teenage years, and documented the whole of the band’s time in the studio, recording some demos, with her camera, this was the time in Hayley’s life Josh loved the most. She was a young woman now, and more beautiful than ever – still fresh faced, but more grown up, her parents divorcing had forced her to grow up and deal with things a teenager shouldn’t have to, if it wasn’t for him, he knew Hayley wouldn’t be the way she was. It was her parent’s anniversary when this picture was taken; their divorce was really getting to her and, unlike Jeremy, Josh could tell Hayley was hurting, especially looking back on it now, she was sitting writing, she’d been writing the same song the whole day ‘it has to be perfect Josh, my parent’s have to know what they’re divorce did to me’ she had told him. And perfect it was. Emergency had always been, and probably always will be one of Josh’s favourite songs Hayley had ever written; it portrayed her to the letter. All of her emotion and just enough of her personality went into that song, so they had recorded it, that same day.
The photo of their van, which Hayley had so kindly named Marge, made Josh reminisce about the old days even more. He remembered Paramore playing both the Purple Door and Warped Tour shows in Tennessee. Soon after Paramore met John Janick, the co-founder of Fueled by Ramen, an alternative record company, who had heard their demos. He came to a Taste of Chaos show, and soon after, they were signed.
Soon after, Josh started to notice a change in his girl; she wasn’t the same Hayley around anyone but himself. She was suddenly louder, more rambunctious and flirty, that wasn’t Hayley, she’d always had her mad 20 minutes sure, what teenager didn’t, but she was never flirty, or forward in that way. About a 2 weeks into the recording of their first album, ‘All We Know Is Falling’ Hayley and Josh took the leap from teenagers to adults, and slept with each other, something Hayley said she wouldn’t do until she was married, and it was her who had started making out with him, and her who had unzipped his pants, not that Josh complained, he loved her for her, but he also loved being able to touch her and please her, nothing made him happier than to please her.
The next thing to pop out at Josh was a picture of Hayley, and her newly died red hair. That was the weekend Jeremy had decided to leave Orlando, where they were recording, and go back to Tennessee, leaving the guys in the lurch, it wasn’t the same without him, everyone felt the missing presence, even after finding John by accident at a Starbucks down the road. It was Hayley who John had spotted first, as she was keeping the table as Zack, Hunter and Josh got the drinks, and a muffin for Hayley. They somehow got onto the subject of music, thanks to John, noticing their accents, he realised they weren’t from the area and asked what they were doing there, Hunter told him about recording, and Zack explained their predicament. John mentioned he could play bass and so Hayley invited him back to the studio to hear him play, he was good, Josh would give him that, but he was no Jeremy.
Having Jeremy missing inspired Hayley on this next photo, it was their album art for ‘All We Know Is Falling’. The photo was quite simply an empty red couch with a shadow walking away from it, once again showing the empty space without him. Just before tour, the guys returned home to Tennessee, where they met up with Jeremy, after explaining how much they missed him, and how it wouldn’t be the same on tour without him, he decided to rejoin the group, the guys left it to Josh to break the news to John, boy Josh did not enjoy that.
The album launch party was where Hayley’s camera was let loose next. But it wasn’t her taking the pictures, as every picture from that night was of Josh and Hayley, holding hands, cuddling, dancing, and several of them kissing, where they thought no one could see them. The album launch party was also the night they found out that the album had went into the billboard charts at number 30, a big feat for a little known band from Tennessee, the party was turned into a double celebration, thank goodness for the launch being late, Josh never wanted to see so many label reps in the one room again. Ever.
The promo shots of the guys were the next in the album. They were the promo shots from the ‘Pressure’ video shoot, Shane Drake, the director, listened to Hayley’s idea about the video and instead of the ‘million dollar’ video none of the guys had wanted, the video was turned into a simple, yet effective, performance video in a warehouse, however, they didn’t place in that charts that time, it wasn’t until they decided to release ‘Emergency’ did they really start to gain a fan base, they teamed up with the same director for this video as the last, and they went down a more theatrical route this time. They dressed up in bloody costumes; Hayley even wore a dress, something only Josh had seen a mere two times before. The last song to be release from the first album was ‘All We Know’ most of this video was made up of live performances, and coincidently, this was around the time that Hayley was getting into filming. She carried a cam-corder everywhere she went, recording everything that happened on tour for our parent’s to see, and so, their video also contained a lot of her video material.
After Warped Tour, the guys took a break, and Hayley and Josh went back into the same sort of routine they had when they were younger, sneaking into each others rooms at night although, things weren’t as innocent between them as they used to be and they were almost caught a few times, that was the picture Josh was looking at at the minute, the two of them were lying, fully clothed, in bed, just mucking around, like they were kids again, and Hayley was playing with his camera, as usual, Josh used to love it when it was just the two of them together, no-one to interfere with their relationship, it was their time, and they savoured every minute. The picture was of Josh, kissing Hayley’s cheek and Hayley feigning shock, mouth open in an ‘O’ shape. Hayley’s mom had heard her laughing and came into check on her, Josh only just made it into the closet in time. It wasn’t that their parent’s didn’t approve, it was they exact opposite actually, their parent’s especially Hayley’s were, like their daughter, heavily religious.
Josh picked up the last, and largest of the photo albums, and smiled, this was his favourite era with his band, the ‘Riot!’ era. He was looking at yet more photographs from the recording phase, it was just after Hayley had died her hair bright orange with blonde flashes. He loved her hair like this she was back to his Hayley, bright and bubbly. They took longer on this album than on others because they could, with the last album, there was more pressure to get done and get out there promoting, showing people what they were made of. It wasn’t long after this picture was taken that Hunter left, Josh remembered, Hunter had left to spend more time with his fiancé, Josh really missed him, he would spend hours, talking to him about his relationship, even Hunter knew Josh and Hayley were destined to be together.
The next photo really made Josh smile; it was his and Hayley’s engagement party, yes engagement, after numerous tours promoting ‘Riot!’ Josh finally plucked up the courage to ask Hayley to marry him, she, of course agreed. Their engagement party was held at, Angel’s and King’s, Pete Wentz’s bar. All their label buddies were there, and it was an awesome night. They flew home to Tennessee the next day to tell their parents the happy news and, needless to say, they weren’t totally surprised as before, everyone knew it was only a matter of time; Josh just had to grow the balls and ask her.
Their wedding was a quiet affair, it was just the band, and Hayley and Josh’s families. Hayley wore white, and Josh a tux, she really looked beautiful Josh thought, flipping through the wedding pictures. The wedding was held at home in Tennessee, they honeymooned in the Caribbean.
Not long after their wedding Hayley discovered she was pregnant. Both parents were ecstatic. Josh secretly hoped for a boy, and Hayley secretly hoped for a girl, although both of them claimed neither cared, so long as it was healthy. Josh fingered through the photos of Hayley positively glowing, a baby bump clearly visible through her tight t-shirt. He loved the way she looked pregnant, it was true what they said, pregnant people really do emit a glow.
About 6 months after the last photo was taken, their son, Liam, was born. He weighed in at 6 pounds 9 ounces, and was his mom’s double, except for the eyes, he had Josh’s eyes. Josh removed the photo of the three of them at the hospital; he was going to frame that one.
The next year went by without a hitch, Paramore were back in the studio, writing their third album, it wasn’t long after the third album was released that things went all wrong. The two of them were lying in bed, when Josh found a lump on Hayley’s left breast. She brushed it off, saying there was nothing to worry about, Josh urged her to go to the doctor and get it checked, but with everything going on at home, like looking after Liam, things were hectic, and it soon went to the back of their minds. Before either of them knew it, they were on tour.
Hayley went downhill fast after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, the doctors did all they could, they removed the tumour and started her on chemo. Josh remembered her crying and he held her in his arms telling her everything would be ok, but it wasn’t they both knew that, the chemo therapy wasn’t having the desired effect. Hayley stayed strong, only hiding her modesty with a bandana in public ‘I don’t like the way they stare at me like I’m some kind of freak’ she always said.
Hayley died on the 21st of August 2009, a few weeks after Liam’s second birthday. She stayed strong until the end, even scheduling, and performing, several acoustic shows, her voice still beautiful, but not what it was.
Josh smiled down at their son, he looked so much like her it was scary, Liam was 10 now, and yes, he asked questions about his mother, and he knew everything, he knew what an amazing musician and person she was, and boy, was he proud of her.
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