#need a shua baaaad:(((

[synthetickitsune]

heart is full of fairy lights

pairing: joshua x gn!reader rating: G wc: ~1.3k summary: you finally return home to your apartment after studying abroad, and your roommate joshua can't seem to let you out of his sight. some potentially maybe-more-than-strictly-platonic feelings are had. warnings: none tags: fluff, pure fluff, oh my god they were roommates, friends to maybe-we-could-be-more-than-friends???? a/n: this is for the lovely ko-fi anon as part of my emergency commissions who requested "soft, fluffy, touch-starved shua" <3

Joshua can't seem to keep his hands off of you.

And not in a sexy way (shut up, Seokmin), but in a way that's... gentle. A simple need to be close and nothing more complicated than that. All night, he hasn't been more than an arms-length away from you. He was the first to greet you when you walked into your surprise "Welcome Back" party, and his touch has been trailing after you ever since.

Joshua can't seem to keep his hands off of you, and like a flower blooming towards the sun, you've been soaking up every ounce of his presence.

You'd missed him — more than you'd thought you would when you left to study abroad for the quarter.

Calls and texts and facetimes hadn't been enough, and as you sit together on the couch — surrounded by friends as you're pressed together at the shoulder, hip, and knee — you think maybe it hadn't been enough for him either.

It's late by the time the rest of your friends have trickled out of your apartment, leaving you and Joshua still pressed together on the sofa. The newfound silence is a peaceful relief, and you sigh as you let your head fall to the side, resting it on his shoulder. You only whine a little bit when he slightly adjusts your positions so that he can wrap an arm around your shoulders, giggling quietly at your annoyance.

"Long day?" he asks.

You simply groan in response, and he gives you a commiserating hum in return, squeezing your shoulders a bit.

God, you'd missed this so much. Just— getting to sit together and soak up the simple physical affection.

You're not sure how long the both of you sit there, but you think you might have nodded off because the next thing you know, Joshua is gently shaking your shoulder.

"Hey, y/n, c'mon, you can't sleep on the couch. Let's go to bed."

You know he's right, but you groan in frustration anyway and lean more of your body weight on him. "Make me," you pout.

His reply is immediate. "Okay."

Uh oh.

"Wait—"

And then he's sending you sprawling over the couch cushions as you let out an indignant squawk. You splutter as he stands up and holds out a hand to you, a calm smile on his face like he didn't just literally shove you over.

"How did I manage to forget how absolutely deranged you are?" you mutter as you grab his outstretched hand.

He shrugs at you, and then he pulls you up so you're both standing. You glare at him half-heartedly, and he just keeps smiling at you like the cat that caught the canary.

After a moment, something in his expression softens, and he gently squeezes your hand. "Let's go to bed. Also, um." His smile turns a little nervous at the corners. "I have a little surprise for you."

"A surprise?"

He nods. "Yeah, it's in your room, c'mon."

You follow him the few feet down the hall to your bedroom door, hand still clasped in his, and then he turns around to face you.

"Wait here," he blurts, dropping your hand as he opens the door and quickly slips inside, closing it right behind him.

You blink at the space where Joshua just was a second ago, wondering what kind of surprise needs him to leave you out in the hall like this.

Less than a moment later, he calls through the door, "Close your eyes!"

"What are you doing?" you call back, suspicious. You don't think he's about to pull some kind of prank, but you also wouldn't put it past him. Especially if he's been hanging out with Jeonghan recently.

"Just close them!"

"Ugh, fine." Still suspicious, you roll your eyes before doing as you're told.

"Are they closed?"

"Yes."

A pause. "Are you sure?"

Am I— You manage to keep your eyes closed as you roll them even harder. "Yes."

"But how can I be sure?" Even muffled through the door, you can hear the teasing in his voice.

"Joshua Hong."

There's a click as the knob turns and the near-silent whoosh of the door opening.

"You know I hate it when you use my full government name." The pout is evident in his voice.

"And you know I hate it when you keep me in the dark." You gesture to your still-closed eyes. "Literally, this time."

He huffs fondly. "Not for long."

Before you can open your mouth to reply, he gently grabs your shoulders and leads you into your room, shifting so that he's behind you.

The teasing atmosphere has melted away, and it leaves you standing in his warm presence. "Open them," he prompts quietly.

You do so, and you can't help the gasp that escapes your lips. "Oh my god, Shua."

Your room looks the same as normal, except instead of being lit by the standing lamp you keep in the corner, the room is softly illuminated by the strings of fairy lights now hanging above your bed.

"You've talked about getting them for forever and..." Joshua starts explaining. "I don't know, I just thought it would be a nice surprise to come home to."

You walk forward, out of Joshua's grasp to get a closer look at the lights. "It's beautiful," you murmur. And you're not just talking about the lights, you're talking about the gesture, too — the fact that Joshua took the time to get the lights and set them up in your room so that they'd be ready for you when you got back.

It's not a grand gesture by any means, but somehow, pressing into all the nooks and crannies of your jet-lagged heart, it feels like one.

You turn back around and without a word, wrap your arms around him and squeeze.

He immediately squeezes back, resting his head against yours. "Welcome back, y/n." He sighs, in what almost sounds like relief. "I missed you."

You know the tears that start to gather in your eyes are in part because of how exhausted you are, but the fact remains that you can't put into any kind of words just how much you missed him too, and just how much that feeling is bubbling up inside your chest and pressing against your ribs.

Squeezing back even tighter, you hope he can feel the I missed you, too you're trying to hug into him.

The world narrows down to just the two of you, holding each other in the glow of the fairy lights, and even though you know you need to sleep, you don't want to let this moment go — let him go.

So you don't. After a few moments, you start to waddle the both of you toward your bed, Joshua going along without complaint, and soon you're both tipping sideways onto the mattress with a startled oof.

You wiggle on top of the blanket until your head reaches your pillow, and you pull Joshua up along with you until you're lying face to face. The fairy lights above you paint galaxies in his eyes, and the look he's giving you is so full of something that it feels like your chest is filled with galaxies, too.

There's a lot that's going unsaid between the both of you, you know, but there's only one question you can think of asking right now.

"Stay?"

"Of course, y/n," he murmurs. And if his eyes hold galaxies, then his smile holds the moon, soft and beautiful and always waiting for you, no matter how far you go. "Always."

[synthetickitsune]

No but just Jeonghan/ Jun or MAYBE even Joshua as dad's??!!! bruh-that will be too much for my heart to handle- like omg

-😺

are you reading my mind???? no because for the last few weeks i'm thinking if it's just the hormones or if i'm down baaaad for shua and jun with kids lmaoo, i need help i can't take this-