#this made me realise i haven't written for shua in a while

[etherealyoungk]

birthday blues no more - joshua hong

pairing: joshua x reader

warnings: none, fluff

wordcount: 940

a/n: also @fairyhaos this is also a little bday gift from me to you bub, hope you like it <3

you reach your apartment and step into the elevator, pressing the button and standing as the door is about to close. your eyes flutter shut and you let off a small sigh. today was exhausting like every other day, but today felt even more tiring. and today wasn't any normal day - it was your birthday.

you hear the whoosh of the elevator door opening and your eyes flutter open and you see a familiar face in front of you, joshua, your coworker. you both coincidently lived in the same apartment building, just a floor apart. he steps in, giving you a small nod of acknowledgement as he stands beside you.

the elevator ride is quiet until joshua speaks, his voice filling the space. "any birthday plans?", he asks, looking over at you. you meet his eyes and shake your head. "no, not really", you say. all your friends were busy and your family stayed out of town, so no plans, no one to celebrate with. but you were used to it, spending your birthday alone, not really doing much. you whisper a small bye as you leave, walking towards your apartment door, the keys jangling as you unlock the door and step in.

30 minutes later, you've changed and you're sitting on the couch, scrolling through your phone as you try to decide what you are feeling like eating for dinner when you hear the doorbell ring. you furrow your brows as you get up and open the door slightly, only to see joshua standing outside. you immediately straighten up and greet him with a small smile. in all the time you knew him, he'd never come up to your house, so seeing him at your door tonight was a surprise.

"oh hi!", you tell, opening the door wider.

"hi", he replies, giving you a small smile back.

"have you had dinner yet?", he asks, a hopeful look on his face. "no, i was just about to order something", you respond and he nods, a smile playing on his face.

"will you let me take you out to dinner?", he prompts and you open your mouth to say something but close it, words not forming. he must've seen the confusion on your face and speaks up in a rush. "that's the least i can do. i wouldn't want you to spend your birthday alone", he adds, running a nervous hand through his hair. he looks at you, a hopeful glimmer in his eyes.

"yeah, okay", you say softly and he smiles. "great! i'll meet you at 8?", he asks and you nod as you watch him walk away and you close the door, resting your back against it, and you found yourself smiling.

as you get ready, you think about joshua. he was your co-worker but it wouldn't hurt to say that he was cute. you put on a the best outfit you can match in the given time and check your appearance in the mirror one last time before you hear the doorbell ring again. it must be joshua.

you hurry out, slipping into a pair of boots and you open the door. you're almost caught staring too long at joshua, because wow, he looked really good. the car ride is quiet and to be honest, you were nervous. would it seem weird that your co-worker was taking you out to dinner? did this mean this was a date or just a friendly dinner? your mind was racing.

joshua was an absolute gentleman the entire night, engaging in conversation and you both talked about things you'd never talked about before. you got to know each other more than just as co-workers but as friends. the more you got to know him, the more charming you found him.

"how come no special plans for your special day?", he asks, sitting opposite you as you both wait for the food to arrive. you shrug, eyes looking down at the glass of water in front of you. "friends are busy", you mumble out, looking back up. "i don't know, i don't really feel the need to celebrate my birthday", you add and he nods, contemplating.

"but it does need celebration! you've made it through another year around the sun, that's a big feat", he says, giving you a smile, a smile that almost melts your heart. you chuckle at his words. "well, i'm happy to be celebrating with you right now", you tell and this makes him smile wider. "i'm glad you feel that way", he says. he surprises you even more with a cake that also happens to be your favourite flavour - fresh cream and strawberries. he softly sings for you as you make a wish and blow out the candles, feeling content and delighted. "what did you wish for?", he asks and you give him a look, titling your head to the side. "if i tell you it won't come true", you reply and he chuckles. "wouldn't want that now do we", he adds as he helps you take off the candles from the cake before the wax drips onto it.

that night, after dinner, you're lying in bed thinking about joshua. you giggle and smile to yourself, burying your face in the pillow. that's when you realise that this was the first time in a while that you had opened up to someone, that this had been the best birthday in a while and you wished it wouldn't end. you hoped your newfound friendship with joshua would continue to blossom and grow. that was what you had wished for.

taglist: @daisycheols @naaaaafla @slytherinshua @weird-bookworm @idubiluv @qaramu @n4mj00nvq @joshuaahong @itsveronicaxxx @fallingforshua29 @frankenstein852 @lvlystars

[babyleostuff]

my favourite person | joshua hong

prompt | i'm not a lot of people's favourite person

word count | 1.3k

genre | angst & (mostly) fluff

author's note | ugh i haven't written a longer fic like this in a while, i've missed this

Joshua was that type of person who never wanted to bother you with his own problems. He cherished you and your happiness way too much, so what would be the point in sharing his own worries with you?

He was a big boy, he could take care of himself, no matter how much he wanted to find peace and comfort in your arms.

You knew something was wrong, despite him insisting he was fine. You knew him like the back of your hand and something has been clearly bothering him.

His bright smile was gone and even if he did smile, it didn’t reach his eyes, like it usually did. He didn’t share any funny stories from the practice room, he went to bed without giving you your mandatory good night kiss and you woke up to his side of the bed cold and empty.

“Joshua, you really have to tell me if anything is bothering you,” you said and squeezed his arm. “I’m here for you.”

But the only response you got was a small smile and a “I’m fine darling. Don’t worry about me,” which didn’t make the case any better.

You decided to let it go and wait for him to come around. Especially, because he had a company dinner soon, which you hoped would cheer him up a bit.

Perhaps a talk with Jeonghan or Seungcheol wouldn’t hurt as well.

Leaving with a quiet goodbye and a kiss to your forehead (like he always did before leaving), made you hopeful you were slowly getting your Shua back.

Some of the boys posted a couple of pictures of them together, before the party even began and Joshua was in every single one of them.

He seemed fairly happy, but you knew very well he could have been pretending.

Nonetheless, you decided to put your phone away, there was no point in dwelling on whether he was fine or not.

He wouldn’t be coming back to your apartment tonight anyways, he never did after big parties. He was always afraid that he’d make too much noise and wake you up, so he always went back to his own place after a night of drinking.

Settling down for the night, you unawarely stroked the pillow on your boyfriend’s side, where his head would usually be. He had never told you this, but his heart always skips anytime you run your fingers through his hair, as a warm feeling settles in his tummy.

He was always convinced that love was an emotion that he’d never be able to describe, but the genuine care in your eyes and the happiness in your smile could make him talk about love for hours.

“Fuck.”

You tiredly rubbed your eyes with your (Joshua’s) sweatshirt, trying to pick up where the sounds were coming from, while still being half asleep.

You stumbled out of bed, not so gently running into your dresser, while trying not to freak out over a thief who's probably robbing your apartment right now.

Finally, reaching the kitchen, you exhaled in relief as you saw that it was only your boyfriend, trying to take off his shoes.

But then you realised something. Why was he here? And then you realised something else.

He was definitely not sober.

Seeing your boyfriend drunk was nothing new, but seeing him wasted was something you thought you’d never get to see.

“Honey, are you okay?” you asked, quickly grabbing his hand to get his attention. You couldn't help thinking that something bad had happened, as his eyes were wide and he seemed almost… scared?

Shaking his head, he clumsily grabbed your other hand, putting them on his cheeks.

For a second you thought about calling Jeonghan. You’ve never seen your boyfriend in such a miserable state before and it was scaring you. The light in his eyes was gone and his beautiful face showed nothing but pain.

Nothing about this was good, but the worst was that you still had no idea what had happened.

As you got lost in your own thoughts, you felt something wet hitting your fingertips and that was when you realised Joshua was crying.

“Oh baby,” you whispered, as he collapsed into your arms. His sobs echoed through your quiet apartment, while his shoulder shook with every breath he took.

He held tightly onto you, almost as you were his lifeline - the only thing keeping him alive. Your own heart was breaking with every cry that he let out, the sound shattering any ounce of hope that you had that he’d be all right.

You lowered both of you to the ground, so you could sit in the dark curridor, illuminated only by the moonlight coming through the window.

Taking a shaky inhale, he put his head on your lap, while you gently stroked his head and placed small kisses on his forehead, to let him know that you were there with him.

“I’m not a lot of people’s favourite person.”

The not so comforting silence of your apartment was finally broken by your boyfriend, who seemed to have calmed down, even though he still struggled to take a deep breath.

“What did you say honey?” you said quietly, brushing his hair away from his face.

“I think I’m not a lot of people’s favourite person,” he repeated, slowly pushing himself up to seating.

You looked at his tired expression, wanting nothing more to take all of his burdens away from him.

He was usually very good at avoiding the hate he got online, but from time to time, it could really get to him. It was unavoidable, you both knew that, but sometimes he wanted nothing more but to talk to his fans and have a good time with them.

But because a lot of people want to harm him, his reputation and his feelings, it wasn’t easy to manoeuvre between the good and the bad comments.

It seemed like this time he stumbled upon some really nasty shit.

“Why do you say that? Where did it come from?” you asked rhetorically, voice laced with concern.

He didn’t respond, only put his head on your shoulder, putting all of his weight onto you.

Not wanting to dig deeper, you put your arms tightly around his shoulders, and placed one of your hands on his tear stained cheek.

“You know,” you muttered so as not to startle him. “You might not be a lot of people’s favourite person, but you’re definitely my favourite person,” you kissed the side of his head, as you felt more tears rolling down his cheek.

“I have no idea how you’re feeling right now, nor will I ever get to experience what you’re experiencing, but I want you to know that despite all those horrible people that want to cause nothing more but pain, there are thousands of people who love you and cherish you.”

“Take a look around you. You have me, you have your brothers and you have your true fans that want you to be happy,” you whispered into his hair.

“I think that’s more than enough,” he said quietly, lifting his head to look at you.

His eyes were red, but to you they were the happiest they’ve been in a while. Even the corners of his lips were slightly turned upwards, to which you couldn’t help but smile.

“You cannot make everyone happy, Shua. There are going to be people that’ll want to hurt you, but remember that you’re always surrounded by people that love you,” you said.

He turned away to wipe his wet cheeks, feeling slightly embarrassed about his emotional outburst.

Usually, he’d go to his own apartment and cry himself to sleep, but tonight something made him come back home to you.

“Joshua,” you put your hand on his shoulder. “Next time, please talk to me before it gets that bad. I know that you don’t want to burden me with your worries, but I can't stand seeing you like this.”

“I love you so much, and I want us to go through the good and the bad together.”

He nodded and took your hand in his.

“Together.”