Hoodies & Headlines
midnight scares
Authors note: So I tried a little something. I really kinda fell in for Josh Allen propaganda, so here is my try for my kinda oc Jade x Josh universe. It’s an complete au, like I thought about this, pointers are welcome tho. Hope u will like it :) Reposts, likes, comments will be appreciated
Photo credits: Pinterest
Divider credits: @enchanthings and @saradika-graphics
Word count: 1,266
It’s late. Not party late. Not post-game chaos late. Just quiet-house, fridge-humming, everyone-asleep late. Well for two athletes in Buffalo definitely late.
Jade is sitting cross-legged on the kitchen counter in one of Josh’s hoodies. The big one. His, smelling like him. The soft grey one from the Buffalo Bills one, she absolutely stole from him and refuses to return. Her hair is messy. Makeup half gone. One sock on. The other? Missing in action. The kind of look off season where she was kinda forced to do an online interview that afternoon but refuses to do anything.
Josh walks in, shirtless, sweatpants low on his hips, rubbing his eyes.
“Why are you awake?” he mumbles. She doesn’t answer right away. She’s staring at her phone but not really reading it. He knows that look. The one where she thinks so damn much.
Josh steps between her knees automatically, hands settling on her thighs like it’s muscle memory. Because it is.
“Jadey.”
She exhales. “Do you ever think about… like… how fast everything moves?”
He squints at her. “That’s vague. Are we talking football fast or life fast?”
She huffs a small laugh. “Life fast, quarterback.” He rests his forehead against her stomach. Warm. Solid. Safe.
“It’s just… one second I’m in Ohio, then Nebraska, then Buffalo is home. Next thing I’m flying across the world, winning medals, I’m sent to the Olympics and then somehow I end up here.” She gestures vaguely around the kitchen.
“In Buffalo. In your hoodie. Engaged to you.”He tilts his head up at that. “Somehow?” he repeats. Her lips twitch.
“You know what I mean.”
Josh studies her face. He knows when she’s spiraling and when she’s just thinking. This is thinking. Soft thinking. The kind that creeps in when it’s too quiet. The 2a.m. kind of thinking.
“You regret it?” he asks gently. Her hands freeze in his hair.
“What? No. God, no. Hell no.” She leans down, presses her forehead to his. “Don’t even start Josh.” He smirks faintly. “Just checking.”
She rolls her eyes.
“You are literally the most paranoid confident man I’ve ever met.”
“That makes zero sense.” He laughs.
“Exactly Joshua.” She smirks. He laughs under his breath and kisses the inside of her knee absentmindedly.Jade’s voice softens.
“I just….” She pauses and sighs “I didn’t think I’d get… this.”
“This?” he repeats after her.
“This life. Stability. You.” She swallows. “Meaning someone who doesn’t flinch when I’m too much, who gets me, calls me on my shit.”
Josh pulls back slightly. His hands slide from her thighs to her waist.
“You’re not too much. People just sometimes made u look that way, hon.” He kisses her head. She raises a brow.
“Babe. I switch languages mid sentence. I cry at dog commercials. I once yelled at a TSA agent in Italian because he annoyed me.”
“You were iconic, and hey it got the job done” he says seriously. She snorts, like bad loud big one snort.
He steps closer so she’s forced to wrap her legs around him. She does it without thinking. Ankles locking behind his back.
“You are not too much,” he repeats, quieter now. “You’re just… you. And I love u for that.”
Her fingers trace the scar near his collarbone from a rough game last season.
“You don’t ever get scared?” she whispers.
“Of what huh?” He again kisses her head softly.
“That one day we’ll wake up and it’s gone. The normal. The us.”
Josh doesn’t answer immediately. Because yeah — he thinks about it sometimes. Fame. Fans. Pressure. Injuries. The league’s eyes on him. The way the world watches everything. Being an NFL QB isn’t always easy. Loving one? Neither. But instead of saying that, he cups her face.
“Jade.” Her eyes flick up. “I play for the Buffalo Bills. I get hit by 250-pound men for a living. Every Sunday is basically controlled chaos. She frowns slightly. “Romantic.” He ignores that. Just puts his arms around her and snuggles to her.
“The only thing in my life that feels calm is you. Even when you’re yelling. Even when you’re dramatic. Even when you steal my hoodies and pretend they’re yours.”
“They are mine.” She snaps back.
“See?” he says. “That. That’s my peace.”Her throat tightens. She hates when he does that.
When he says something simple but it lands like that. He is always like this, knows what to freaking say.
“So no,” he continues softly.
“I’m not scared it disappears. Because I wake up every day and choose you. And you choose me.”
She stares at him for a long second.
“God you’re annoying,” she mutters.
And snuggles her face to his collarbone. Oh he is warm and smells so good, not fair.
“Why?” He muttered.
“Because you say things like that and then I can’t even argue. And that’s annoying Joshua.” He grins.
“You love it.” She un-snuggles and kisses him. Not rushed. Not heated. Just slow and warm and familiar. The kind of kiss that says we’re okay. The kind what says I love you like crazy. When she pulls back, she rests her nose against his.
“You know what’s funny?” she says quietly.
“What?” He looks to her eyes, oh yea that wonderful, deep eyes thhat still steals breath from her.
“I was terrified of you when we met.” She admits and closes her eyes. Josh actually laughs.
“Me? U kidding” he pulls his face from her and looks at her.She opens ear eyes and blushes.
“Yes, you. Big NFL golden boy. America’s quarterback. I thought you’d be like…” She gestures vaguely. “Full ego. No depth.”
“And? What did you found out? ” he looks at her.
She looks at him, just staring him down and the she full on says.
“And then you cried when that stray dog followed us out of the restaurant. Like second date in.” She laughs.
He groans. “We said we’d never bring that up again.”
“You named him Pancake.” She laughs
“He looked like a Pancake!” He kinda yells back humorously.
She’s laughing now. Fully. The earlier heaviness gone. Leans back to his chest. Josh just watches her like she hung the moon.
“Hey,” he says softly.She calms instantly.
“Yeah?”“Marry me sooner.” He whispered.She blinks.
“We are already engaged. We are kinda in the middle of planning Josh.”
“I know. But like. Let’s skip the long wait.” He puts his hand thru her loose hair piece.She studies him carefully.
“You serious?”
“Yeah.” He shrugs lightly.
“What are we waiting for? Another perfect season? Another award? Another whatever?” Her thumb brushes his cheekbone.
“You just want to lock me down before the Olympics.” She laughs.
“Correct,” he says immediately. “I you, if you even make it to them, year is long time for things to happen.Injuries. Babies. Whatever.”
“Joshua Patrick Allen, babies?”She laughs and kisses him again.
“Okay,” she whispers against his mouth.
“Soon. We will do it soon.”His arms tighten around her.
“Do you promise future Mrs. Allen?”She presses her forehead to his and nods.
“Promise, quarterback.”
Josh snickers and shoots her a look, the one where she knows he’s planning a mischievous attack. He picks her up, carries her off the counter like she weighs nothing to the bedroom, even though she protests dramatically.
“Josh, I can walk—”
“Nope.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“And you’re marrying me.” She hides her smile against his shoulder as he walks toward the bedroom.
The house is still quiet. Outside, Buffalo is asleep.Inside, the world feels small. Contained. Safe.
And for two people whose lives are anything but calm — this is enough.
