Sugar Across The Hall | J. H.

IV.

♫- Hear Me Out, Nerdy Love

"You are such a chicken, Shua," Wonwoo jests, eyes trained on the screen as Bowser picks up the former's green dinosaur and launches him off the battle stage. The game ends, declaring Wonwoo the winner as Joshua tosses his controller onto the couch and sighs.
"I think you'd feel the same if you were up against the best smash player on the block."
"Don't feed his ego like that; I haven't humbled him yet," Vernon chuckles, picking up the discarded controller and selecting a new character to battle the winner with.

Just then, the oven beeps, and Joshua throws himself over the back of the couch to go and tend to the oven. Did he bake triple chocolate brownies just for a hangout with the boys? Absolutely he did.
And it was worth every second, judging from the heavenly smell that fills the apartment.

"Yo- if the pizza doesn't show up soon," Vernon calls from the couch, half laughing, "I'm gonna make half that tray disappear, for real."
"Along with your tastebuds, idiot."
"Worth it."

Joshua chuckles at the banter between the two opponents as he sets the glass dish on the stove, then discards his oven mitts on the counter. He checks the time, deducing that the pizza should be arriving shortly, and then takes his place back at the corner of the couch to spectate.
"Mother-" Wonwoo groans and slumps into the couch as Vernon hands Joshua back his controller, a smug smile on his face as the announcer broadcasts the former's defeat.

There are few other ways Joshua likes to spend his weekends; unless Soonyoung drags him out to go for a bar crawl, he's perfectly fine being a homebody with his friends.

Someone knocks on the door, and Vernon gets up to go get it since the other two are occupied.
"That's the pizza; the tips are on the counter," Joshua instructs, not taking his eyes off of the screen in fear of getting his ass handed to him by Wonwoo a third time.
"Got it."

Swinging the door open however, Vernon finds himself holding out a wad of cash to an unsuspecting girl, wide-eyed and holding what he recognizes as Joshua's varsity jacket.
"Oh- you're not the pizza guy," he grimaces, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly with a smile.
"No, uh- is Joshua home?" You ask, rocking on your heels. You catch a whiff of chocolate coming from inside and fight the urge to walk past him.
"Yeah, just a sec- hey Joshua," he yells behind him. "There's a girl here asking for you-"

You hear a gasp, a thud, and then uncoordinated footsteps before Vernon casually gets shoved to the side and replaced with your neighbor, slightly out of breath but still wearing his signature smile.
"Hey! What's uh...what's up?" he says, leaning against the doorframe in a casual-adjacent manner.
"You left this in my apartment last night," you say, holding up his leather varsity jacket. Behind the door frame you hear muffled laughter, and you can't help but look just over his shoulder out of curiosity. "I was waiting for a good time to return it but I...Wonwoo?"

The man with curly black hair suddenly stands up from the couch, adjusting his black glasses as he registers who's behind the door. "Y/n? What are you doing here?"
"I live here!"
"I-" Joshua steps back, looking quickly between the two of you. "You two know each other?"
"Yeah she's only like, my best friend's younger sister," Wonwoo explains, walking over to the kitchen so he can see you better. "I didn't know you lived in Shua's building, though."

"Sh- Shua?" You smirk and look up at Joshua as his neck begins to turn pink under his hoodie.
"I made brownies, did I mention that?" He takes his jacket and quickly runs back to his kitchen, picking up a knife to cut you a square. You stay by the door, trying and failing to psychoanalyze the man who had originally answered it.
"I'm Vernon by the way," he suddenly speaks up, not wanting to be the only stranger.
"Y/n," you say, holding out a hand that he meets with a firm handshake. You subsequently realize that Joshua keeps attractive company, which doesn't surprise you as much as you feel it should.

"It's kind of hot, but..." Joshua approaches you with probably the most mouth-watering brownie you've ever seen sitting atop a napkin. "...it's triple chocolate and I might have put espresso powder in it and-"
"Say no more. I'll tell you what I think of it in the morning." You gladly accept the treat, saying your goodbyes to everyone before dashing off to your apartment, and leaving Joshua shaking his head and smiling to himself.

Or, not to himself, as he shuts his door and is awkwardly reminded of his friends' presence thanks to Vernon clearing his throat.

"That's her? That's the girl that moved in next door?" Vernon asks incredulously, starting to laugh as he stares at Wonwoo, who has his hand over his own mouth.
"You were in her apartment last night?"
"And you left your favorite jacket?"
"Guys, whatever you're thinking, I can assure you that's not what happened," Joshua tries to reason, heading back to the brownies to cut the rest of them.
"It better not be, not unless you want her brother to snap you in half," Wonwoo half-jokes, watching Vernon follow Joshua to the kitchen.

They watch in silence as Joshua makes clean lines into the chocolate dessert, and Vernon doesn't hesitate to steal one the second the knife is out of reach.
"So..."
"So?"
"So," Vernon begins, halfway through his brownie, "she's cute and your ears are pink. Am I wrong in assuming that there's something going on here?"

Joshua grips the counter, avoiding Vernon's gaze as he feels his temperature rise just slightly.
Yes, it's only been a month since you've moved in. He only just got your number last night(you tripped a breaker blow drying your hair and were scared you blew a fuse, and he offered it up in case something actually serious happens), and he still mostly only knows trivial things about you, but he can't lie. He wants to know more than just your opinion on his brownies.

He looks up at Wonwoo leaning against the door, who looks back at him with that all-knowing smile of his, and he knows he'd never be able to hide his true feelings from the token introvert.

"...no."

And as if on cue, the doorbell rings.

"PIZZA!"