A/N: an old request of a tired Strictly Joe mixed with something from my own head. Also why does it feel weird to now write things based on him...
It was one of those weeks that felt like a Thursday on a Monday and now that it was actually Thursday, Joe was knackered. Practice had run late again and it was past one in the morning by the time his key turned in the lock and he dropped his bag by the front door. He wondered whether his girlfriend was home but her worn in slip-ons near his own shoes answer his question.
Skipping a snack of any sort, Joe grabs a bottle of water and quietly makes his way upstairs to run a bath. His body wanted to skip the bath, crying out for sleep instead, but he’d already made that mistake in week 2 and he wasn’t about to wake up incredibly sore tomorrow.
As Joe moves to his closet, he eyes your sleeping figure; you’re curled up on your side and the duvet has slipped off half of your body revealing your odd position. Joe bites back a laugh, knowing how often you kicked the blankets off in your sleep-there were a few times he’d woken up to a kick in the stomach from a sleeping Y/N.
As quietly as possible, Joe passes by the bed and stops for a second just to see his girlfriend’s face. It had been two whole days of not seeing each other after a whole year and a half of going out. You were nearing the end of your residency and your random schedules made it hard to see each other but throw in his late nights practicing and it meant no quality time together.
Joe reaches out to brush back a strand of your h/c hair. She was so beautiful, he thought before slipping out of the room.
The bath is almost full by the time Joe gets to it so he strips off and eases into the warmth of the tub.
You're not quite awake when you hear the floorboard near the door that was known for creaking. You blamed it on that one time an angry Caspar tackled Joe to the floor there after a prank gone wrong.
Was it morning already, you wonder. You were still so tired after a full eighteen hour shift at the hospital; you wanted more sleep.
This thought gets you to crack your eye and turn to Joe's side of the bed but it's empty-never been slept in. You bolt upright and reach for your phone immediately thinking of the worst scenarios but your alarm illuminates the time before you get to it: 1:54am-you had only been sleeping a couple hours. Joe's side was perfectly done because he hadn't gone to bed in the first place.
You lay your head back down and close your eyes, sighing as your beating heart goes back to normal. This week was way too long-longer because you'd barely seen Joe. And you were so very tired. You missed evenings with Joe but you were so proud of how far he'd come with dancing-you didn’t mind the weird schedule if it came with the price of Joe’s happiness.
A low humming catches your attenion as you begin to relax and you open your eyes again, turning your head to notice the faint warm light on the floorboards. And now that you were conscious of it-it did smell like vanilla. Joe must be home in the bath.
This thought alone convinces your tired body out of the comfortable bed it lay in to get a glimpse of your boyfriend. But not before you wrapped yourself in a furry blanket and slipped on your house slippers.
The door to the bath is ajar and Joe doesn't notice as you silently push it the rest of the way open but he catches your reflection in the mirror as you walk in and jerks his head your way.
"Shit you scared me," he chuckles when he sees it’s just a tired-looking Y/N.
"Sorry," you say softly. You shuffle to the tub and Joe reaches for your hand that dangles at your side.
"Did I wake you?" He asks, concerned that he'd potentially interrupted your sleep.
"Nah," you fold your knees and sit cross-legged on the floor beside the tub. The tiles were cold so you wrap your blanket tighter around you. "I just wanted to see your face."
Joe dips his hands into the bath’s foamy bubbles and creates a white beard for himself. "Here it is."
"Christmas is still a month away Santa Claus," you laugh at his silliness. Even with the tired bags under both your eyes, there was still time for play.
You swipe some of the bubbles off and blow them back into his face. He grabs your hand once it's empty and kisses your knuckles.
"I've missed you too." He kisses your hand again and you feel fluttering in your stomach as he smiles at you. Joe had a way of looking at you so tenderly, like you were a fragile thing he coveted and it always made you as nervous as the first time you saw him. The truth, however, was the complete opposite. You-your love for each other...you two were made of strong stuff. No matter how complicated your hours got as you chased your dreams and Joe chased his, you two were always with each other. Nothing fragile or breakable about that.
"How was practice?" You cover your yawn with the blanket. "How're you getting on?"
"We nearly nailed it! Just a bit more practicing," Joe comes alive as he talks about practice. "Can't tell you specific bits though-I can't wait for you to see it all on Saturday."
"Me too," you squeeze Joe's hand. “I’m oddly nervous.” You'd finally managed to get the Saturday evening off and you were going to watch Joe live for the first time since he started. Joe normally sent you clips of practice to watch during the week to catch you up on what he was up to but this week he refused to show you anything so as not to spoil the final performance. "But mostly I’m excited to see you in all your dancing glory up on the stage! Finally get to celebrate with you on time."
"Well we celebrate only if we make it to the next round." Joe says and the way his eyebrows scrunchle you can tell it was stressing him out.
"You're definitely making it," you trace out his brows to smooth the worry out. Tracing your finger down his nose you say, "You work way too hard not to make it-"
"Hey," you cut him off. "Don't doubt it."
You lean forward and kiss him, not realising how you missed even the solidness of Joe. And even though your hair gets wet as he tangles his soapy fingers into it and the corner of the blanket soaks into the tub, you hold the embrace for as long as you can.
"I'm so proud of you," you whisper as your forehead rests against his. "You've accomplished so much and I'm so proud."
"And I'm really proud of you," Joe deflects the praise humbly. "You've only got two more weeks of insane hours!"
"Just take the bloody praise without flipping it back on me will you?" You smile before pecking his lips.
"Touché," Joe flicks bubbles onto your nose.
You laugh and push him away, sitting back down on the floor but he grabs your hand and holds it to his slick chest. His thumb strokes the ridges of your knuckles and you settle against the side of the porcelain tub, your head laying on the edge. The two of you stay silent as you gaze at each other in the dim lighting, your arms running the length of the space between you two as you hold onto each other, both marvelling at how you got so lucky without saying a single thing. The dim lighting adds to the ambience of the night, the scented candles warming the room, and the gentle music playing from the speakers does the trick-lulling your eyelids closed.
Joe watches as you fight the sleep and slowly give in to it, your head resting against the side of the tub and the blanket wrapped tightly around you. He knew you'd just had a long shift and how normal it was for you to fall asleep right about anywhere-but this was new.
Joe stealthily reaches for his phone with his other hand and takes a picture for his collection of Y/N-sleeping-in-random-places. So far, there were over fourty photos.
Finally relaxing his own shoulders, Joe closes his eyes and allows his muscles to soak into the warmth of the water-minus the one hand still holding onto yours. He smiles to himself at what the two must look like. But he knows he would take any moments with you in your hectic lives, even if it was the simple act of holding hands just to feel close to each other. Even if that meant one of you sat on the bathroom floor while the other was submerged in water.
When the bath water eventually turns lukewarm, Joe sits up and moves your hand to your lap. He steps around you carefully to finish his nighttime routine. After tying his robe, he kneels to where you still slump, surprisingly in deep sleep.
"Y/N love," Joe tucks your hair behind your ear. You don't even budge so Joe shakes your shoulder. You mumbles something that sounds like go away and he can't help but laugh.
"You know I could put your hand in the water and then go away and you'd probably pee your pants," Joe tells you as he gets one arm under your knees instead and lifts you.
"Piss off," you mumble against his chest.
"Now you're awake," Joe shakes his head as he carries you to bed. "You just pulled the oldest trick in the book on me.”
You’re too tired to respond but a small smile tugs at your lips. It's mischievous and childlike, Joe observes. God, he loved this woman.
"Should've left you on the floor," Joe continues as he places you gently into bed and pulls the covers over your body. He settles in next to you, pulling you closer to his body because he'd missed the feeling. The way your solidness grounded him.
"I love you," Joe whispers into your ear, 3 words he never tired of telling you. You hum back, too tired to say the actual words-but hoping he understood it was tired talk for I love you too. With the way he tightens his grip around your waist, however, you were certain he understood it perfectly.
