❝ envy ❞
┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° synopsis you never knew he could be so envious of his own bandmates. ┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° genre & tags fluff / idol!au / jealous shua / sort of insecure josh if you look hard at the end / its sweet overall tho ┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° pairing joshua x afab!reader ┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° w.c 1.9k words
┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° author’s note requested by anon, ily2<3
˚ ༘♡ ·˚꒰ now loading… enjoy! ꒱ ₊˚ˑ༄
Y/n l/n, a growing rookie solo artist under Pledis Entertainment but if anyone knew you well enough, they’d also know you as Joshua Hong of Seventeen’s partner. Joshua had long debuted by the time that you’d become a trainee under Pledis’ strict ways but he and Seventeen often visited you while you were practising. They remembered their trainee days well and they offered an array of support to you during the harsh times when they hit you. Pledis had already made it clear they had no intentions of debuting you in a group - they didn’t exactly have the trainees to debut a group and they also weren’t exactly scouting for any. You didn’t mind, perhaps being a solo artist would make your talents thrive even more.
After your debut with a catchy, summery girl crush song in the month of June, you were quick to gain popularity as Pledis’ latest rookie. But it came as even a shock to Seventeen’s millions of fans when it was hinted in an interview with Seventeen that they’d be having a comeback soon - and even more of a shock when they let it slip that it was a collaboration with you. In the time leading up to it, you’d never spent more time with Seventeen’s members without Joshua around. Yet you had to work with both Soonyoung and Jihoon almost daily.
“What if we add this part to the pre-chorus?” You mumbled from where you sat beside Jihoon in his studio. Jihoon made a soft noise, watching your finger trace the screen of his laptop where you were both working on the instrumental of the song. The track would be on their newest album they were preparing for and in all honestly, Jihoon had admitted to you that it was nice to have someone to share the work of writing music with for once.
“I mean we can test it, definitely.” Jihoon nodded, dragging the part you were focusing on and letting you test where you were thinking of putting it. The two of you sat quiet as you listened to it play, tapping your feet quietly.
“Opinion?” Your gaze glanced over to Jihoon’s furrowed brows. He nodded, running his hand through his hair just as the door to his studio opened and Joshua and Mingyu shuffled into the dark room. A smile crept upon your face, leaning your head back as Joshua leaned down to press a kiss to your lips.
“How’s it going in here?” Mingyu hummed, throwing himself onto the couch by the wall as Joshua continued to stay behind you, his hands on your shoulders. Jihoon sloped back in his chair, looking at his laptop screen.
“Well y/n might have just made a turning point in this, we moved a part from a verse to the pre-chorus and it’s not too shabby,” Jihoon chuckled, glancing over at you. You beamed with pride but you couldn’t help but falter under it, your cheeks turning red as Joshua’s hands squeezed your shoulders slightly and you thought it was out of reassurance, “I mean we can always get your opinions on it too?”
“Sure,” Joshua mused, looking over at Mingyu who nodded, “would love to see what my girlfriend’s brilliant mind is up to in here.”
You wasn’t stupid, you caught onto how Joshua emphasised the ‘my’ in his sentence and you slowly glanced up at him, trying to hide the fact your heart did mini backflips when he smiled his little bunny teeth down at you as Jihoon began to play the sample of the song. Pursing your lips, you looked away from him embarrassedly. Maybe he was just being proud of you and you were overthinking it.
-
For a week straight, you had to spend time with Soonyoung and his handy choreographers in the dance studio trying to figure out how you could be incorporated into a Seventeen choreography. You’d figured that would be difficult enough, you were definitely not as skilled when it came to dance as Seventeen were and your dances as a solo artist were simple enough thanks to only having two back-up dances.
Hence, you spent more time with Soonyoung trying to learn this dance he was setting up for all of you than you had spent in Jihoon’s studio writing a whole song with him. Of course, this left you aching and constantly exhausted.
“You look like you’re about to fall asleep,” the warm voice of your boyfriend hummed as he entered the living room, a towel around his neck since he’d not long emerged from the shower, “let me guess, Soonyoung?”
You whined, nodding gently as your whole body hurt to move while you shuffled on the couch to make room for Joshua to sit himself down.
“How the hell do you deal with his choreographies?” You mumbled, curling into his side as he wrapped an arm around you. He chuckled a little.
“I’m used to it by now,” Joshua sighed, tilting his head back. You traced his jawline with your eyes and the way his eyelashes fluttered shut, “it’s almost like my girlfriend spends more time with my band than me.”
You snorted, sitting up to look at him as he turned his head, smirking a little.
“You rascal- I can’t believe you,” you laughed, hitting his shoulder as his grip tightened on your hip, “there’s no way you, Joshua Hong, are jealous right now?”
“I mean, why shouldn’t I be?” He whined, pulling you closer so you were borderline on his lap, “Jihoon and Soonyoung have seen you consecutively for two weeks now, every day.”
“Because they’re the most important two when it comes to releasing a comeback,” you huffed, shaking your head, “and now that we’ve done all the hard work, you get me all to yourself again - except for promotions... and the music video...”
“I get it, I get it.” Joshua scoffed, finally pulling you onto his lap as you rested against his chest. You could feel the heat of his body through his shirt and you just knew he’d cooked himself alive in his shower.
“I still can’t believe it,” you continued and Joshua groaned loudly, recognising you were never going to drop it, “you are so..”
Joshua cut you off, pressing his lips to yours.
“Handsome?” He poked when you pulled apart. You scoffed, rolling your eyes.
“Stupid.” You taunted, flicking his forehead.
-
The time came where the fourteen of you crowded into Seventeen’s dance studio, vigorously learning the dance Soonyoung and yourself had concocted with the help of a few choreographers. The air was thick with tense energy as the lot of you focused heavily on not messing this up, the others learning intently from Soonyoung and yourself.
“You made it too difficult this time.” Seungcheol scoffed as they all fell to the dance studio floor in breathless pants and covered in sweat. Soonyoung chuckled as Seungcheol chugged his water from his bottle, the plastic crinkling even though you thought the water was probably lukewarm by now.
“It was all down to y/n here, she’s a much better idol than us by far.” He gloated, his hand patting your shoulder and lingering as he flushed you in compliments. Heat rose to your ears, making you laugh nervously as you shook your head and waved your hands to brush off the compliment. Across the room, you’d noticed Joshua’s narrowed eyes on Soonyoung’s lingering hand.
“No no no,” you laughed, a little awkward as you took a step away from Soonyoung so his hand fell, “this was all on you guys - the song especially, Jihoon.”
The group chorused in soft compliments to you, some mimicking your debut song or doing some of the dance to it at least as you sauntered to the tense aura of your boyfriend by the wall.
“Shua?” You whispered to try get his attention as you sat down and he didn’t raise his gaze from his food, “Josh? Joshu-”
“Yes?” He mumbled, finally raising his eyes to look at you. You pouted, puffing your cheeks as your arms folded across your chest and you threw yourself back against the wall. Joshua leaned back against the wall, much more calmer than you.
“Can you stop acting like a toddler in a sulk just because one of them touched me?” You huffed under your breath, not turning to acknowledge your boyfriend as he turned to look at you. He sighed, looking away.
“It’s not that, baby,” Joshua cleared his throat gently, his long fingers fiddling with his empty plastic water bottle, “but maybe it’d be best to discuss it at home.”
Your tongue poked your cheek and Joshua knew you wasn’t happy with delaying this conversation until later that night but you settled for it when he hooked an arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his side as he pressed a kiss to your head. You could perhaps forgive him for moments like these.
-
Joshua was reluctant to cook dinner and your whole body thrashed in pain whenever you moved, so you were more than reluctant to cook - especially if you’d be doing it alone. That meant that Joshua ordered takeaway again, running you a hot bath as he sat on the toilet seat lid and kept you company in the dim bathroom kept light by a few candles Joshua had lit.
“Are you going to talk now on why it was so criminal for Soonyoung to touch me earlier?” You mumbled, your eyes closed as you tilted your head back and took in the way the bubbles tickled at your skin and the heat hugged you in comfort.
“When you were still a trainee - before we got together - we spent a lot of time with you, right?” Joshua started, waiting for you to nod in confirmation as you finally opened your eyes to look over at him, “well the guys would always talk about you, like constantly. Soonyoung especially, man he was head over heels for you.”
“So you’re worried Soonyoung still likes me?” your voice was quiet after hours of yelling over the song you’d written with Jihoon to help teach the choreography with Soonyoung, “baby you know it doesn’t matter if he does - right? Who am I dating?”
“Me?” Joshua replied, almost uncertainly since he was quite confused why you’d asked it in the first place - of course you were dating him.
“Then why the fuck would I care about Soonyoung? I couldn’t give a shit if he came to me with hundreds of roses and a new car, Josh,” you laughed, shaking your head as you leaned onto the side of the bath, looking up at Joshua’s clear skin, “don’t be so silly, baby. You’re mine.”
A soft smile crept across Joshua’s face as he admired the way you folded your arms on the side on the bath, resting your chin on them as your eyes looked up at him ever so innocently. He had to laugh mentally over how the bubbles consumed your form in the bathtub and the way the ends of your hair was wet from soaking in the water but the top of your hair was dry. Joshua could stare at every blemish on your face and body and he’d still happily gloat that you were his.
With that thought in mind, he leaned down to meet your face and pressed his lips to yours. You smiled into the kiss, reciprocating.
“It’s funny that you were jealous though.” You whispered against his lips and he scoffed, pulling away. Your hand reached up, covered in bubbles as you blew them into his face.
“You’re so mean,” he sighed, wiping some bubbles on his face, “but you’re mine so I’ll cope.”
