Chapter Text
monday.
Junhui's mornings started like this. He'd be dashing around his unit, getting ready, while one Joshua Hong would just be stirring his tea by the kitchen counter. He spared his upstairs neighbour a glance as he put on some socks.
"Why do you always have breakfast here? Your unit's way more luxurious than mine."
Joshua fondly chuckled before saying, "I told you, I'm saving up for a toaster. And yours works perfectly."
Junhui just shook his head in disbelief, smiling to himself as he tied his shoelaces.
"You sure you're not just hanging around here because you have a super-secret crush on me or something?" Junhui teased as he stood up, fixing the way the straps of his backpack were perched on his shoulder.
"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe I have been in love with you all this time," Joshua teased back.
"I knew it. You couldn't resist these looks," What Junhui said made Joshua choke on the tea he had just sipped. "I'm heading out. Lunch?"
Joshua just nodded and waved him off. Junhui laughed and left the unit, looking forward to lunch. He found it funny that they could just joke about feelings, especially romantic ones, like that, especially when they both rarely expressed what they felt most of the time.
In the middle of his sophomore year in university, Junhui met Joshua. The elder had reached out to him, saying that he enjoyed Junhui's short vlogs and random content on his channel inspired him and that he liked the younger's editing style. He offered to give Junhui a part of his earnings from YouTube if he edited for him. Junhui gladly accepted; he watched Joshua's videos and liked his content long before meeting. It was extra pocket money and it would help out a lot, considering he's a film major. What he didn't consider was how difficult it would be to balance being a full-time editor and a full-time student. Thankfully, Joshua was understanding and really kind, especially when Junhui would show up at his door, looking like he was fresh out of hell, claiming he can't finish the video within the weekend.
It was 2 years later. Junhui was a senior and Joshua had decided to fully commit to being a YouTuber. Junhui had gotten used to his hectic schedule that continued throughout the summers and holidays that flew by. Thanks to his sideline with Joshua, he was able to learn how to manage his time somewhat properly. Now that he'd mastered the art of managing time, cramming, and working smarter, he had enough time to finish school work, editing, and chores, with a little more time to spare.
The last of his morning classes thankfully finished 10 minutes earlier, giving him time to enjoy the walk to the café where he was meeting Joshua. He entered the café, going over his mental list of tweaks to add to the week's video over lunch. He spotted Joshua in the far corner of the café, barely missing him. He's wearing a cap again? Is he so famous that people are able to recognise him now?
He waved at the elder, who beckoned him to come closer upon seeing him. He walked over to the table.
"I ordered for us already. Go take a nap or something while the food isn't here yet," Joshua softly said with a smile.
Junhui's heartbeat got louder in his ears. He took a deep breath before returning the smile, shaking his head.
"I'll get some homework done so we can just hang out tonight."
“Admit it, you have a crush on me.”
“Shut up, hyung.”
In the middle of the comfortable silence between them, Joshua suddenly spoke up.
“I asked a question on my IG story.”
Junhui looked up from his plate, eyes slightly widened in curiosity.
“I asked what they wanted to see more of in my videos,” Joshua continued. “Guess what the most common answer was.”
“What?” Junhui replied with a raised eyebrow.
“I literally just told you to guess.”
“Just tell me.”
“You.”
Junhui paused in the middle of biting into his burger. What? Whatever warmth was spreading across his cheeks were caused by shock, confusion, and that thing he felt whenever Joshua looked him in the eyes (or fixed the collar of his shirt or linked arms with him or playfully ruffled his hair, and the list goes on). Maybe his look of genuine shock and confusion was enough for Joshua to continue with a fond chuckle.
“The viewers want to see more of you in the vlogs. Some even complained about how they barely saw your face and it was always just your hand or your back. It doesn’t help that you blur out your face even if they already know what you look like.”
Junhui’s gaze softened upon hearing Joshua’s chuckle. He knew how much the older man loved what he was doing. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to hang around Joshua with the camera on sometimes. But Joshua wasn’t done yet.
“So I was thinking,” Joshua had that glint of excitement in his eyes whenever he had something nice planned out. Junhui always thought it was cute but he had convinced himself it was ‘platonic fondness’. Whatever that means. “That maybe we can do some sort of series for what they want to see more of. Hold on, let me look through the responses again. Maybe there’s a new one.”
Junhui just nodded and continued eating. He usually let Joshua talk first, especially when it came to the YouTube stuff. He was the editor after all; Joshua had control over everything that comes out of his channel.
“Here’s an interesting one,” Junhui looked up and nodded again to let Joshua know he was listening. “‘Switch roles with your editor for the next 4 uploads. A whole month of YouTuber Jun and Editor Shua sounds interesting.’ Hmm, this is pretty smart. What do you think?”
“Your viewers really made an effort to give you helpful answers, huh?” Joshua laughed. “It’s not a bad idea. D’you think you’re ready to edit videos again?”
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little scared,” Joshua confessed, smiling sheepishly with lifted shoulders and a scrunched up nose.
“I can still help you out if you want,” Junhui answered, shrugging nonchalantly as he took note of the platonic fondness that washed over him with Joshua’s confession, the sheepish smile, and the nose scrunch.
“Nope. Let’s talk more about this later at your apartment.”
“Hey it’s your turn to cook dinner!”
“Okay, fine. I’ll see you later at mine.”
After his classes, Junhui went straight to Joshua’s unit; the extra flight of stairs made him even more tired, which resulted in him panting as he arrived at Joshua’s door. He took out the spare key from his wallet that he received a few days after finding out that his new boss lived near, like directly-one-floor-apart near. He walked in, toeing his shoes off by the door.
“Junnie, is that you?” Joshua’s voice called out. There it was again, the warmth. The magical platonic fondness that he felt so often.
Junhui breathed out a chuckle in hopes of making the warmth on his cheeks go away as he plopped on the couch, sarcastically saying, “No, I’m a burglar. I’m here to rob you of your beautiful and perfectly working toaster.”
Junhui heard Joshua chuckle as a response and after a few seconds, all he could hear was Joshua’s humming and the low sizzling from the pan. For some reason, these sounds brought him comfort and made him feel at home; as opposed to his clumsy kitchen clattering and monotonous keyboard clacking that just felt hollow. He basked in the feeling of being at home, despite being at someone else’s.
“Hey, this’ll be ready in a bit. Go take a shower.” Junhui heard Joshua’s voice getting louder and his presence approaching.
Ignoring what the older man had said, he just laid there and sighed. He was surprised to feel his backpack straps gently being removed from being looped through his arms and his bag being lifted from his back. He felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. He lifted his head to peak at Joshua and he regretted doing so. He found himself locking eyes with him. And there it was again; the unstoppable warmth that spread across his entire being and the platonic fondness making the heart in his chest beat like crazy. Their eyes stayed locked for a few more seconds before Junhui looked away and sat up.
“All right, fine, I’ll take a shower now.”
“You still have clothes left from when you spent the week over because of a spider in your bathroom that only turned out to be a bunch of hair.”
“You did not need to say that.”
After taking a shower, Junhui found himself thinking about how it was so cute (it’s the platonic fondness!) that he had left a bunch of clothes, a toothbrush, and a spare of his favourite blanket over at Joshua’s. He found it cute as he’d never had this type of friendship with anyone before. With his friend-boss-neighbour, he was comfortable.
He grabbed a change of clothes from Joshua’s side of the dresser, instead of his designated little corner. His clothing of choice were his favourite ones to steal from the elder; a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. It wasn’t weird for the two of them to steal clothes from each other because it was always easy to return, considering they always did their laundry together at the laundry shop across the street.
It was their uploading day. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for Junhui to be spending the evening at Joshua’s. Aside from staying an entire week over because of the mistaken bunch-of-hair spider, the two often stay up after uploading to talk about things to improve in the videos or just chat about everything and nothing until they fall asleep. They used to do their uploading days in Junhui’s apartment, but Junhui suggested that they hung out at Joshua’s when he had a new internet modem installed. (He may or may have not suggested that so he could quickly finish his schoolwork too while waiting for the video to upload.)
When Joshua first approached him, he was struggling to manage his time between school and personal life. After testing the waters of being Joshua’s editor and following a routine Joshua helped set up for him, the whole process taught him how to juggle all of his responsibilities and have good grades, all the while using his job to release the pent-up emotions he’d held onto and suppress the entire week. Being good at following and maintaining the routine still didn’t rule out the possibility of Junhui passing out in class though.
Absentmindedly rubbing the back of his head with a towel, Junhui walked back to the living room. He then noticed how the vibes of the room had changed, especially the smell. Jeez, what’s that? He watched as Joshua hurriedly pranced around the living room, lighting up candles, which Junhui assumed were scented. From where he was standing, he could see the previously peacefully sizzling frying pan dumped in the sink.
“What are you doing?” Junhui simply asked, taking a seat on the couch.
“I may or may have not just burned our dinner.”
Junhui paused from drying his hair and looked up at the older man, who just gave him a sheepish grin; again, with the shrugged shoulders and scrunched up nose. Again, there came the warmth and its best friend, platonic fondness. The doorbell rang, making Joshua jump a little.
“Must be the pizza!”
“Junnie, look, there’s this pretty cute quote someone left behind in the comments!”
Junhui walked over to the living room and stood just behind the couch, crouching over Joshua’s shoulder to see what the latter was referring to. It wasn’t hard to ignore his heartbeat ringing in his ear. It wasn’t until he read the comment.
They say you’ll see what a person is afraid to lose through what they take photos of. Junhui has so many photos of Joshua in his gallery hahaha
“You only take up so much of my gallery because we always hang out and I work for you,” Junhui jokingly said, turning his head to look at Joshua.
He then realised that their faces were just inches apart. He couldn’t ignore his heartbeat anymore, especially when it was so loud, he was scared the latter could hear it. The platonic fondness was especially loud that day. Joshua just laughed and squeezed one of his cheeks. Another wave of warmth washed over, along with relief.
“You’re so cute when you deny the fact that I’m your best friend,” Joshua then softly said, fondly smiling at him.
Junhui quickly looked away, facing Joshua’s laptop again. Can my heart stop acting like it’s about to jump out of my chest? This is just friendly banter, jeez.
“Maybe we should reply to this subscriber of yours.”
“Take a seat, then. You’ll get tired from crouching like that.”
After taking a seat on the couch, Joshua moved closer to Junhui so they could both hold the laptop, one thigh each. Joshua’s was so close to Junhui’s. Jesus Christ.
“I’ll type my reply first,” Junhui said, clicking ‘Reply’ for the text box to open.
Ofc I’m scared to lose him!! He’s my only source of income :P -Junhui
“Ouch?” Joshua joked, glancing at Junhui, to which Junhui just stuck his tongue out at.
he’s still in denial that he’s scared to lose me bc i’m his best friend lol -josh
“Let’s look at other comments,” Junhui said as the platonic fondness made its presence known once again through another wave of warmth washing over his entire body and soul.
They scrolled through the other comments; some complimented him for his outfits, some his wacky singing in that one clip where he was washing the dishes that Joshua filmed unbeknownst to him. Some even complimented his hands for some reason, along with other things Junhui barely noticed about himself. He kept seeing a word that the subscribers kept commenting. He didn’t really understand what it meant because it looked like some sort of crossover of his name and Joshua’s.
“Hey, what does this mean?” Junhui asked, using the cursor to point at the weird word.
“Oh, Junshua ?” Joshua said, chuckling. “Seungkwan explained this to me before. It’s like a name for us as a couple or something like that. I think the viewers think we’re dating, or they want us to. Funny, isn’t it?”
Another surge of warmth made him repeat the question to himself in his head. Funny, isn’t it? Couple? Dating? What? Junhui stared at the word and tried to sound it out in his head. Junshua. Jun-shua. Jun-shu-a. The words he heard made him think about his platonic fondness for Joshua. Maybe it was obvious? But he had a more important concern at hand.
“Jun..shua? Why not Junsoo?”
Joshua just furrowed his eyebrows at him in confusion, tipping his head to the side like a puppy. Warmth. There it was again. My friend is adorable.
“You know.. Junhui, Jisoo. Our Korean names?”
“Right!” Joshua’s face lit up upon realising what Junhui was talking about. He lost count how many times he felt a wave of warmth wash over him.
Joshua looked like he was actually thinking about it. Good god, I was just kidding. Junhui continued scrolling when Joshua nodded to himself.
“I like Junsoo, but if they say it’s Junshua, then it’s Junshua. We can use Junsoo too! Like for vlog titles and stuff?”
“Wait, what? I thought we were kidding? We aren’t even dating!”
“I mean, if you’re uncomfortable with it, it’s okay! It was just an idea,” Joshua said, smiling softly.
“I’ll… think about it.”
tuesday.
Joshua was part of the same scenario that flawlessly played out every morning as long as Junhui was in the vicinity. He was chilling by the kitchen, enjoying his breakfast as he watched the editor, his editor, dash around hurriedly as he got ready because for some reason, Junhui always woke up 15 minutes after his alarm. Joshua once asked him why he always woke up late and the latter just shrugged nonchalantly and coolly said that it always slips his mind that he actually has to go to school.
That morning, Junhui decided to have semi-breakfast. That’s what they called it because he just took a bite of whatever Joshua was having before hitting the shoe rack next to the door and hurriedly slipping on his shoes. Joshua quietly watched as the latter did so. That’s when he noticed his vlogging camera hanging from Junhui’s left wrist.
“You’re taking my camera with you?” Joshua asked, surprised, as he raised his warm mug to his lips.
“Yep,” Junhui replied, not even sparing him a glance.
“Why, do you have a school project or something?” School project? What are we, in middle school? Joshua wanted to facepalm. What he had said made Junhui pause while reaching for the doorknob and look back at him, Joshua could feel his cheeks get warmer; even warmer than the mug in his hand.
“I thought I told you,” Joshua tilted his head to the side, a habit of his whenever he’s confused. “Anyway, I’m cool with the Vlogger Junnie Editor Shua thingy. And the couple name thing, too.”
“Oh. Cool.” Was all Joshua could muster. He was taken aback by what he had just heard. A flurry of shua, couple name, junnie in Junhui’s voice was on repeat in his head, making him a little dizzy.
“Alright, I’ll see you later. Lunch?”
“You know where I’ll be.”
Junhui flashed him a smile and waved at him one last time before heading out the door. As soon as the door shut, Joshua put his mug back down on the table and raised his hands to cup his cheeks. What was that?
friday.
After so long, it’s finally Joshua’s turn to edit again. He was expecting a lot of footage from Junhui since he was a pretty busy man. Who knows what he does with all the time and all the tasks he has in his hands? Joshua wondered as he opened Junhui’s folder in the hard drive attached to his laptop. The videos were sorted into separate folders according to the day they were filmed. As always, Junhui was organised when it came to his digital space. His physical space? Could be better.
Along with the videos organised, Junhui had left him notes for each day, indicating what he did to make the editing process even easier. Joshua settled into his couch, plugged in his earphones, and started going through the footage. He saw a handful of things he never noticed just through a few days’ worth of footage, which made him wonder just how much Junhui knew about him. He found out that despite being swamped with uni responsibilities, his editor work, and his little side gigs here and there, Junhui still found the time and had the heart to offer Korean tutoring sessions to foreign students like him and help out in Professor Zhang’s and Professor Wang’s basic Mandarin classes as well. He also found out that Junhui was friends with so many people. From the newest batch of freshmen to most of the kids in his batch and up to his seniors in graduate school. Despite knowing so many people, most of Junhui’s footage was just of himself doing his thing alone. Joshua realised that aside from him, Junhui didn’t really consistently hang out with anybody else. That made Joshua feel a little bit warmer inside.
After going through what felt like ten hours of footage, Joshua was finally done. He decided to take a break before starting on the rough cuts. While sipping on his coffee, he thought of sending a text to the younger. He pulled out his phone from his hoodie pocket, setting the mug back down on the coffee table.
boss shu
you’re so busy how do you manage all that
After a few seconds, his phone buzzed in his hand.
Junnie
I don’t haha jk
Idk it was pretty hard at first
But I got used to it
Thanks to u
And this job
So
Thank u :)
Joshua couldn’t help smiling at the screen. Junhui rarely talked like that. When he did, Joshua always felt like he won the lottery, despite Junhui always being more expressive when he’s around Joshua. Despite all the playfulness, Joshua could see through it and make Junhui comfortable enough to show what he feels.
boss shu
you big old sap
you’re welcome :p
junnie
That wasn’t me I was hacked
Aren’t u sleeping yet?
It’s past ur bedtime gramps
Texting Junhui never failed to make Joshua giggle and bring a smile on his lips that he could never stop from spreading. Joshua’s a pretty simple man. Junhui texts him, he smiles big. See? Simple.
boss shu
not yet
editing ;(
junnie
Oh
Hahaha
Im finally getting to sleep early woo!!!
Good night lol
Good luck with that :p
boss shu
thx juno ! good night^^
As Joshua edited Junhui’s footage, he noticed more things. Like how the younger enjoyed sticking Post-It notes on whatever surface available, especially when studying, since the little bits of information available to his eyes made it easier for him to take note of important details, as he had said in the notes he left for Joshua. Or how he quietly hums to himself when he’s walking. Or how, no matter how busy and in a rush he was, he’d stop to pet a cat whenever he saw one. Or how he loves toying with the sleeves of his oversized sweaters. He also noticed the younger’s love for food as his footage was mostly him snacking on something he had sneaked inside the classroom or eating full meals during his vacant periods.
Joshua was amazed by that man’s ability to finish tasks efficiently and save so much of his time. Aside from being amazed, Joshua was mostly amused by Junhui’s antics. You see, Junhui is a goofy, goofy man. Just by the less-than-a-week’s worth of footage, Joshua saw how Junhui loved being absolutely silly with his friends and hitting them up with corny pick-up lines and bad dad jokes so often that his friends, Minghao and Yanan, weren’t even fazed anymore when he had greeted them with one each upon seeing them.
How Junhui was around kids was really amusing, too. One would think it would be more on the endearing side but just when you thought Junhui couldn’t get any sillier, he does. And he does when he’s around kids. That Wednesday after Junhui’s morning class, he picked up his friend, Zhennan’s siblings from school as his friend was still in class by the time the kids’ classes ended. Apparently, Junhui picked them up every Wednesday and bought them snacks of their choice as they waited for their gege’s class to finish up. The footage showed that the kids loved Wednesdays because their Jun-ge always gets them the snacks that their gege never buys. Joshua knew that Junhui had a younger brother but it often slipped his mind that Junhui probably missed hanging out with his own brother. Joshua made a mental note to offer to pick up the kids with Junhui next Wednesday so he could treat them all to ice cream. What kid doesn’t like ice cream, right? (Kid = Junhui included)
sunday.
It was almost dinner time. The curtains haven’t been drawn all day and one Joshua Hong on editing burrito mode was still sitting on his couch, hunched over and clickety clacking away on his laptop. A sea of empty caffeinated drink cans occupied the once-clean coffee table, along with a few cup noodle containers and an empty pizza box. The hollow, monotonous, and almost simultaneous clacking of Joshua’s keyboard and the obnoxious clicking of his mouse were interrupted by a ping from his phone. Joshua wearily glanced at his phone before reaching over to get it.
junnie
Done with tutor duties! Dinner?
boss shu
almost done w/ editor stuff
come over?
junnie
Ooh~
Can’t wait to see ur work ><
How does hot pot sound?
boss shu
i kno u’ll like it:)
sounds perfect !
c u
junnie
Okiedokie see ya
For the first time that day, Joshua looked out the window but was greeted by his drawn curtains. Wow, what time is it? He looked at the time on his phone and realised he had barely moved from his spot the entire day. He moved the pizza box to place his laptop on the coffee table and stood up to stretch, making his thick blanket drop from his shoulders in the process. Feeling drained from being face-to-face with his laptop all day, he decided to take a shower. Before entering the shower area, Joshua sent a quick message to Junhui, with Baekhyun’s latest album playing in the background.
boss shu
im in d shower
let urself in
As the warm water hit his skin, Joshua sighed in comfort. No matter the weather, his unit felt like the Antarctic. Joshua was convinced the air conditioner was broken but Junhui joked that maybe it was because he’s from California. Joshua was starting to think that Junhui was right about that. When he walked into the living room, one Wen Junhui was standing by the couch with his pretty tall nose scrunched up in disgust. Joshua looked at what Junhui was looking at. Oh, right, the table. He hadn’t cleaned the coffee table. The pizza box, cup noodle, and empty energy drink can sea of trash were still in place.
“Sorry. I’ve been on the couch all day.”
“I can tell.” The disgusted look on Junhui’s face was still there as he proceeded to clean the coffee table.
“You act like your desk doesn’t look like a dumpster during midterms and finals,” Joshua retorted, shaking his head in disbelief as he picked up the empty cans.
“At least tell me you ate rice for lunch,” Junhui said, eyes pleading.
Joshua just shrugged.
“Jeez, hyung. If you want to pull all-nighters or whatever, at least eat well. That’s how I’m so great at handling everything on my plate.”
“Yup. Sure. Says the guy who passed out in class two days ago.”
Junhui narrowed his eyes at the elder before heading to the kitchen and setting up their dinner on the kitchen island. Joshua just laughed and followed.