Glowing Eyes || Adopted by Josh Dun

hometown

December 10th was technically my first day in Ohio, even if it was only an hour spent mostly in the air. It was the second flight I'd ever been on, and I sat in between Jenna and Josh on the left side of the plane. Tyler got stuck in the center isle (he lost rock-paper-scissors).

It was roughly eleven p.m, and I leaned on Josh's shoulder, half-asleep. He nudged me softly, coaxing me awake. "Lynn, Lynn," he whispered.

I reluctantly sat up, rubbing my eyes with the backs of my hands. "Did we land?" I asked sleepily.

Josh chuckled lightly, "No, but we will soon. The pilot told us we were in Ohio a while ago. I thought you might want to look."

The only thing I could make out so far was Josh's pink hair highlighted in the mellow light, and the oval window to his left. I leaned forward, looking out of the window and down at the scene below me. We flew high above a carpet of trees for a few moments. Something I had never really seen before, living in a city. Though it was only a few short seconds of forest, I remember it so clearly.

And then the forest halted for a city. A huge, bright city. "That's Columbus," Josh smiled, staring admiringly out of the window. The city lights reflected off of his mocha brown eyes, and his squinty-eyed smile was hazy with sleep. "Well," he laughed, "the bigger part of Columbus. We live a little farther outside of the city."

I didn't say anything, just listened and watched. Josh knew me well enough to understand fully. At that point, neither of us had to tell the other things for courtesy. We just knew, and we were happy with that.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but soon the pilot came back over the intercom, informing us that we were approaching the airport. Josh and I started grabbing my things, and reality sucker punched me straight in the chest. I was in Ohio. I was about to meet the rest of my family. My family. For Christmas.

I remembered having dreams about things like that as a kid - of having a big family to go home to for Christmas. I would sit and close my eyes and imagine having grandparents and cousins, and doing something as stupid and cheesy as baking cookies late into the night with grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles. I imagined a fire burning as snow stuck to the windows in the early morning light, laughter accompanying a Christmas music someone put on in the background. Now, as I followed Josh off of the plane and into the Columbus airport, it was so close I could taste it. I could feel my fingertips tingling and the thought of it.

As we all got our bags and stepped out into the heart of the airport, we were created by a group of fans singing Hometown. I smiled and laughed as Tyler conducted them, Josh clapping and cheering them on. It was everything I could have imagined, and one thought crossed my mind as we walked out into the cold, December air.
Home.

•••••••

"What if they don't like me?" I panicked, turning to Josh who drummed his hands on the steering wheel. "What if they think I'm obnoxious? Or like I was the worst thing that ever happened to you? What if--"

"Lynn," Josh stopped me, laughing and turning to face me for a quick second. "You're worse than a girlfriend. Calm down, they'll all love you, I promise. You'll fit right in."

I took a deep breath, sinking back into my seat in defeat. "Okay," I gave in.

I stared out of the window at the small, sleepy town we drove through. This was Josh and Tyler's town. That was weird to think about.

Finally, Josh pulled into a large but simple, two story house. The lights were all on, and there were quite a few cars in the driveway and down the street for it. I looked at Josh, who smiled. "This is it! You ready?"