Seventeen Scenarios

Somebody Else - Joshua

Joshua's girlfriend despises the reader, his best friend.
---
"Honestly Jisoo, you act like she's some kind of wonderful saint or something," Jiyeon huffed.
"She's my best friend," he replied innocently, glancing nervously at you.

You kept your eyes on your phone, pretending to be totally oblivious to their conversation. You knew who they were talking about. They were talking about you. Park Jiyeon, Joshua's girlfriend, had a strong hatred for you, despite the fact that you tried your best to be friendly and stay out of her way. Poor Josh was constantly stuck in the middle of the two of you. He knew that you were suffering, and he felt incredibly sorry, but believed that Jiyeon just had to get to know you and like you, and then she would finally be an okay girl for him.

"She's so annoying though! How do you put up with that?" she raged on.
"There's nothing to 'put up with', Yeonnie, she's always been great to me." he said.
"But I've been better, right? I bought you that jacket once, remember?"

Joshua shifted nervously. He honestly felt that you were far better to him than she ever was, and he hated lying more than anything, but saying so would detonate the entire minefield.

"Yeah," he said quietly, "so, uh... how are you liking that book I lent you?"
"Oh it's awesome, no annoying or boring side characters!"

You felt your heart swelling with irritation, and quickly stood up from the table.

"Hey guys, thanks for inviting me, but I have to get going now," you announced dryly.
"You haven't eaten... are you feeling okay?" Joshua asked with concern.
"I'm fine, I just have things to do."
"Do you need help getting ho--"
"Yeah, I think you should go too. Byebye!" Jiyeon chimed, cutting him off.

Your eyes met his, and they were saturated with apology. "I'll be fine, Josh, I'll just have Jeonghan come and get me."

Before you could let yourself hear any more of Jiyeon's snide remarks, you slipped on your headphones and walked briskly out of the restaurant. You texted Jeonghan and he agreed to pick you up a few blocks down, where you shortly met him with Seungcheol and Vernon with him in the car.

You climbed in the back seat next to Vernon and sighed quietly, leaning your head down and letting your hair cover your face.

"I take it that Jiyeon was there?" Jeonghan asked sensitively.
"Yeah," you muttered.

The boys all made a collective "ah" of understanding. They weren't particularly fond of Jiyeon either, partly because she dominated Joshua and partly because she was just a massive bitch. They knew how you felt about Joshua, and they had definitely seen how she treated you.

You arrived back at Seventeen's dorm, Seungcheol insisting you spend the night so that you aren't lonely, and you gratefully obliging. Jeonghan ordered dinner and the rest of you gathered in the living room to watch movies for the rest of the evening.

----

Joshua arrived around 10pm, walking quietly into the dorm and shutting the door gently behind him. He walked by the living room, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw that you were sitting there huddled up between Jeonghan and Seungcheol on the couch with Vernon hanging out on the floor.

Your eyes met his and chills ran through your body as you read his emotions, screaming of both disappointment and... relief? He looked back to the hallway and continued walking, hearing his door close shortly after. You and the others exchanged concerned glances.

"Do you... think he's okay?" Seungcheol asked quietly.
"I'm not sure, I don't remember ever seeing him this way before," Jeonghan responded.
"Maybe you should go check on him, Y/N," Vernon said, looking back at you.

You nodded in response and slowly stood up, cautiously making your way to Joshua's room. Leaning your ear to the door, you noticed that he was speaking to someone.

"Jiyeon, please stop calling me. We're done, okay?"
A pause.
"I already told you why. I can't be with you if you're going to be so disrespectful to Y/N."
Another pause.
"I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that you can't see how good of a person she is."
And another.
"No. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but it does. Goodbye."

An explosion went off in your heart. So he had broken up with Jiyeon... because of how she treated you? But he seemed to like her so much, why would he worry about you? A strange victorious feeling pooled inside of you, but it was bittersweet followed by the realization that he was likely hurting.

Wrapped in your thoughts, you hadn't noticed the footsteps coming from the other side of the door. Before you could react, the knob turned and the door opened, revealing a particularly calm looking Joshua.

"...Hi." he said, shocked by your presence.
"Hello..." you responded awkwardly.
"Um... how long have you been standing there?"

There was no way you were going to let yourself lie to him, but how rude would it make you look for eavesdropping? You stuck to your moral decision, a pit of worry digging at you.

"A couple of minutes..." you said quietly.
"Did you hear anything?" he asked, his tone staying calm and gentle.
"Uh... yes..."

He put his hand on your shoulder and guided you into his room, shutting the door behind him and sitting you down on his bed next to him.

"I'm actually glad you were there, Y/N," he said, his face starting to turn slightly pink.
"Ah, well I'm here for you if you need to talk about it," you offered.
"Oh, um, that's okay. I'm not upset about Jiyeon... I like someone else anyways."
"Huh? Who?"
"I don't think I can tell you. She might not like it, or me, if I do."
"Well, do you think she likes you too or something?"
"That's what I'm worried about. I'm not sure."

You cocked your head curiously. It was so unlike him to not tell you something, and it was even more unlike him to be anxious around you.

"To be honest, I don't think she likes me as more than a friend," he said in a shaky voice.

Another violent explosion went off in your heart. It was clear as day that he was talking about you. He didn't have any other super close friends aside from the other member of Seventeen. There was no other explanation to him not opening up to you. You were the other person he liked.

"J-Josh... I think she does," you said, beginning to stutter yourself.

Joshua's eyes widened at your words. He didn't expect you to catch onto his hints, let alone in a positive way. In a flash, you locked one another in a passionate hug. You couldn't see his face, but you could tell he was smiling, and you were too.

"I'm so sorry I let Jiyeon treat you the way she did for so long. I thought that if she just got past whatever she had against you, and if she would like you, I could deal with having someone that wasn't you," he finally confessed, "I was so sure you only liked me as a friend and I didn't want to ruin that. I tried dating other girls to try to find someone good enough, but there's nobody like you. I love you, Y/N."

You pulled away from him, holding his hands in yours, "I love you too, Joshua. I have for a long time. You don't have to apologize for how Jiyeon was acting; I couldn't care less. I'm just happy about us now."

Relief and joy washed over his face as he let out the breath he had probably been holding for weeks. He hugged you again, shorter this time, and helped you up from the bed.

"So... you guys were watching movies back there?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think we still have a couple left in our marathon if you wanna join in!" you said.
"Sure!"

You walked hand in hand back to the living room, Joshua taking a seat on the armchair and pulling you over to sit on his lap. The others looked at you curiously, but you just nodded at them and they knew. The rest of the night was lighthearted and enjoyable, especially since it was spent in the company of someone special you could finally call your boyfriend.