semi-automatic ; j.d

thirty ; the first non-platonic, not sarcastic, actual 'i love you'

a/n thank you guys so much for 2k reads wow two thousand reads on my mediocre story

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so after they clean everything up-
okay, well, after josh cleans everything up, they settle on going to mia's room.

instead of their usual watching netflix routine, they just lay side by side on top of her bed with the record player spinning folie a deux and the string lights on.

josh tears his glance away from the ceiling and turns his head. he looks at the pretty brunette next to him and can't help but grin. being in love, he thinks, is a pretty fucking awesome feeling.

"stop staring at me, you creep," mia doesn't even have to look up from her phone to feel josh's gaze resting on her.

he stifles a laugh. "i can't help it, you're too beautiful."

"oh, so it's my fault now?"

"you're the one that has a problem with me staring at you," josh says back with a cheeky grin. his arms feel incredibly weird just remaining at his sides, especially when mia's next to him. one of the things he's learned since meeting her is that being next to her and not touching her doesn't feel right.

he moves his hand about a fraction of an inch and carefully slides his fingers in the spaces between mia's. because she's stubborn about her side of the bed being the one that's against the wall, he's left with the difficult task of trying to hold her hand that has bandages on it.

"does it hurt?" asks josh.

she shakes her head no. "not really. you did a good job fixing me up, dr. dun."

his lips pull back in a broad grin at that name, his cheeks blushing. he leans over a bit and kisses mia's temple. "mh, good."

"can you put a different record on?" she asks while turning her head away from her phone.

he sighs dramatically. "but it's all the way over there. and i'm so comfy."

"pleaaaase?"

"ugh, fine," josh mumbles, pretending like the walk from her bed to the record player is a million miles long. "what do you want me to put on?"

mia looks over at him with a thoughtful expression. "city and colour," she says, pointing to the stack of records that aren't in the basket.

he nods his head aimlessly, and it's quiet for a moment while he takes the fall out boy album out of the vinyl player and switches it out for the new one.

as the first song starts, josh stays seated on the floor in front of the record player with a small, thoughtful frown. the song is calm and relaxing, and its the kind of thing that josh feels like he could lose himself in.

"josh?" mia questions when she realizes that he hasn't come back on the bed yet.

he blinks into reality and turns his head, glancing back at her. "hmm?"

she pats the spot next to her. "c'mere."

so he does, and as he's laying back down next to her he wonders if maybe he can ask her something that's been in his thoughts for a while.