Tell The World - Joseph Quinn (One-shot)
Prompt: "What's a Soulmate?"
Pairing: Joseph Quinn x You
Genre: After 1 year of dating it's time to let the world know
W.A.C Winner: @reidsog
Auth. Note: Thank you so much for the patience on this one! I had to rewrite it so many times! I hope you enjoy it and thank you so much for the support on my account!
You loved your job as the Stranger Thing's Social Media account admin. You loved seeing the comments that crossed your screen knowing that those reactions from little behind-the-scenes videos and photos you posted would make the day of a fan. What you loved most of all was the fact that you could do all that and more while being surrounded by the people you love and experience those fun memories together with them while posting them for others online to join in on those sweet and fun moments. You've been working for the Duffer Brothers since day one of shooting for Stranger Things. You were highly recommended since your degree was specifically for this sort of work and you had experience doing it for others. You enjoyed watching the kids grow over the years from S1 all the way to S4 which was what was being shot this year. You'd met many people who you'd befriended along the way and still talk to even after they were killed off the show and contract over with. You were just that sort of person. You were, in all senses, part of the family by that point since you've been part of the crew and you would not be boasting when you say you are very much loved by both cast and crew of this series.
You weren't complaining though. You enjoyed working for the Duffer Brothers; there weren't always rainbows and sunshine of course but it made up for the fact that you were around some great kids and then there was the fact that if you weren't working for the brothers then you wouldn't have met your boyfriend. You'd met Joseph Quinn at the beginning when the script for S4 was being looked over and you sort of just clicked during the course of the meeting. You hadn't realized you'd seen his face before on screen until you began talking and discovering the different movies he'd been in over the years. You'd known him for 3 years by now but you guys hadn't made it official to the public yet that you were dating - it has been a year ago when you woke up with a splitting headache in a hotel stark naked under the sheets. It was not as awkward as you guys had thought it'd be and it wasn't until you both realized how natural it felt to the both of you to wake up to each other that you finally sat down to talk about it - the past is history and you couldn't be happier; well, that's a bit of a lie. See, you guys have been keeping your relationship a secret from the world even if Joseph's fellow cast members know already. It was mostly to keep you out of the spotlight as much as possible so that you didn't get overwhelmed and boundaries crossed as Joseph's career sort of rockets off with this show. He wasn't sure how the fans would react if they knew he had a girlfriend and at first, you understood but you wished that you could go out and have dinner together without having to worry about being spotted by paparazzi or be able to post cute selfies together with you're boyfriend without having people jump on it like a pack of hyenas. You didn't mind the thought of it but you weren't sure how Joseph felt about the idea of going public since you avoided the subject - until now.
So, as you trotted down the stairs into the living room; dressed comfy and ready for the night in some gym shorts and one of Joseph's oversized T-shirts, you spotted Jamie and Joseph sitting on the couch laughing together while watching TV late at night when the rest of the kids were off asleep or doing whatever in their rooms. Your bare feet made your approach almost soundless so you enjoyed the little jumps the boys made as you flopped yourself on the couch between the pair of them. You'd grown very close with Jamie over the few years since you met Joseph since the men were very close being both British and on the same show together so it was only natural for you to kick your legs up onto Jamie's lap while you lounged your upper body against your boyfriend's side.
"Watcha watching?" you pipe up tilting your head up to look at Joseph's face.
"Hi, love. I dunno, I don't remember the name of it but it's funny." his dark eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled down at you and leaned down to press a kiss to your forehead. The tickle of his mustache scratched against the soft skin of your brow as you leaned into the tender press of lips making you smile in return.
"What no love for me? I'm hurt darlin! I thought we had somethin' here!" Jamie teased as his long slender fingers messaged your bare calves drawing your attention to him for a moment.
You nudge his thigh with your foot and give him a cheeky smile. "You know I couldn't forget you if you tried Jamie. You're like an annoying itch that just won't go away." you tease. Granted, it was rather true. There was no getting rid of Jamie anytime soon; he was too much of a sweetheart to forget and just ignore after the show was done filming not that you wanted to shoo the musician actor away.
"Aw thanks, babes." he gave playful kissy noises before reaching over to grab his vibrating phone on the armrest to see his girlfriend trying to facetime him. "Ah! That's my cue to leave! Gotta take this."
You slide your legs off his lap and curled them on the sofa beside you as he rises. "Tell Jess I said hi!" you chirp with a smile as the tall blonde headed out of the room and headed upstairs towards his room with a wave before his voice could be heard as he answered his phone.
Once it was just you and Joseph you guys had enough room on the sofa to fully relax further into the sofa. His frame slinked to lay flat on his back while he watched TV and you draped on top of him as his hand lazily dragged along your spine comfortingly. You loved moments like this when neither of you had work to worry about and could just relax in each other's embraces and be comforted by each other's presence. But tonight, you had something on your mind that you wanted to talk to him about. So once a commercial came on the TV you shifted to raise yourself partly off of him and look down at his sleepy face. He looked up with a curious look as you perch on his waist looking down at him.
"What's the matter love?" he asked softly as he saw the nervous look on your face. His hand raised to brush along your cheekbone as his dark puppy eyes searched your face for signs of distress.
"Joe…I've been thinking," you mumbled softly and lean your face into the warmth of his palm.
"That's never a good sign. Am I in trouble?" the man teased making a smile tug at your lips and you lightly smack his chest before he had the chance to grab your hand and bring it to his lips to give your fingertips a sweet kiss.
"No, you're not in trouble. I've just been thinking about our relationship…and I was wondering…" you bite your lip a little scared to say it. "I'd like to take our relationship to the next level."
His dark brown eyes widened comically and he nearly choked on his own spit as he pushed himself a bit to sit up making you slide from his waist to sit on his thighs instead. "B-babe, I would love to do that…it's just I was hoping you'd give me a chance to get a ring first before-"
You clamped a hand over his mouth and felt a flush grace your cheeks. "I'm not talking about marriage Joe. I-I mean not yet. I know It's only been a year but that's not what I'm talking about…I want to make it public. Our relationship. That's what I mean…I don't want to hide it anymore…I know it was for the best in the beginning but I'd like to think we've already passed the uncertainty stage of our relationship babe…" you look down at his T-shirt as you play with the fabric nervously. "The longer we keep it a secret the more it makes me feel as if something bad is going to happen or that you don't love me or that you're having some sort of doubts about our relationship; which if that's the case you gotta talk-" Joseph's strong arms wrapped around your waist to pull you closer and his nose nudged at your cheek as if he could feel the panic begin to form a ball in your chest.
"Baby hey! Darling breathe it's okay! Look at me, love." his hand raised so that your uncertain gaze fixed on his dark brown ones that looked at you with understanding and reassurance.
"There is no doubt. I don't doubt that I love you. I don't have second thoughts about our relationship. I would love to scream to the whole world that you're mine. I just wanted to make sure that you were comfortable with the idea…I didn't know that it was making you second guess yourself." his face shifted to one of guilt as he stroked your cheek; the press of his palm to your face not giving you a chance to look anywhere but him. Not that you would ever want to with those big brown eyes of his.
"We never really talked about it before after we said to keep things quiet…I just…I'm ready to let everyone know regardless of what will come. I don't want to hide, but I don't want to do it if you aren't ready for what will come afterward; you know there will be some backlash. I should know, I'm the one who sees all the comments on the social media pages as a living." your lips quirked up a bit into a small smile.
Joseph chuckled shaking his head. "I admit we probably should have talked about it sooner. I'm sorry I made you feel that way. But I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I don't care what people say because I fucking love you. Always." he nuzzles his nose against yours and your smile grows larger as you wrap your arms around his neck and squeeze a bit; drawing him closer and allowing your foreheads to press lightly together.
"So you'll tell the internet?" you asked hopefully
"Pick the social media account and the time; I'll be there," he told you with genuine warmth.
This was why you loved this man. He could be goofy as hell, and shy in public, but he was a sweetheart with such a pure soul. You were so freaking blessed to have him in your life. That much you tried to portray as you lean over to kiss him sweetly on the lips for a few seconds before pulling away to look down at his dark eyes as he smiled up at you.
"Let's do it tomorrow. You don't have filming tomorrow." you offer tilting your head and he grinned.
"Tomorrow it is! Just warn me before you start live streaming so I don't make a fool of myself." he joked tickling your sides and making you squeal with laughter.
"Deal!" you say before giggling and launching your weight into his chest and pressing your lips against his knocking both of you onto the couch.
~
You didn't know why you were nervous but you were. You loved going live and interacting with your followers; being on live and posting social media content was what you did for a living but this wasn't for the Stranger Things Fandom, this was for you and Joseph. This was all about the pair of you and god only knows what will happen when you finally allow the news to reach everyone. You chose to go live on your personal account on Instagram since that was mostly what you worked on; a lot of the followers of the Stranger Things fandom followed you because you had added your Insta tag to all of the accounts since you were the admin and mod of the cast's social media just in case there were any issues or messages that needed to be sent through or situated. Not that you minded. You often posted some behind-the-scenes selfies with yourself and other cast and crew. As someone who was with this fandom from the very beginning, you had a large number of followers so you knew as soon as you go live that notification will pop up on so many other people's phones and they'd tune into your live stream. The only difference this time was you'd be with Joseph at your side. You chose to take a walk into the garden that was outside of the boarding house for this part because frankly, you didn't know how you'd react to having your friends watching and making comments about it. So while the sun was still shining high in the sky and the scent of flowers and earth wafted around you; the pair of you chose to take a seat at a picnic table in the shade.
"Are you ready for this love?" Joseph rubbed your back as you fiddled with the phone trying to position it perfectly to center the pair of you as you sat beneath the shade a large tree.
"As ready as I will ever be! We can't hide forever baby," you tell him with a small but nervous smile as you lean yourself against his side. He smelled good; the cologne he wore was a comforting scent that was so familiar as it invaded your senses and you were thankful you weren't doing this alone.
"Then let's do this." a brief kiss to your temple was all you needed before your finger pressed the live button.
It didn't take long for the fans to start popping in and saying hello. At first, it seemed normal; hellos and how are you's up until they realized that Joseph was there too as he shifted a bit beside you to get better on screen. One arm wrapped around your back to grab the bench seat next to your hip as he leaned closer to peer at the comments section.
"Hello, guys! Welcome! I know I haven't gone live on here very often. I do apologize about that." you squint as the comments started coming in quicker "Ah yes, you see I have a special guest! Yep. Say hi to Joseph everyone!" you playfully raise a hand to squish your boyfriend's cheeks as he played along by giving little air kisses as his lips puckered from your fingers squishing his face.
"Hi everyone. How are we?" he leaned closer to look at the comments. So many people were commenting 'hellos' and some asking for a shoutout or to say their names. It was all overwhelming and you could see the video in front of you on the screen as his eyes shifted trying to read every comment that scrolled in; how adorable.
"Sooo. This live stream isn't my usual. I..well technically, we have some news!" you smile at the camera as you see more comments. "Good guess eddie_Munsonlover!" you grin.
"That's right. So, some of you guys have been speculating for a while now due to the posts circulating on the social media pages that Joseph is romantically seeing someone." you began ignoring the other comments in favor of spitting out what you needed to without distractions. "As his personal social media account assistant, I have permission from Joseph to put some rumors to rest and confirm some suspicions." You lick your lips nervously trying to keep that bright smile you usually wear.
The gentle squeeze to your waist from Joseph's hand there made your body subconsciously lean into him for support as well as gratitude as you finally break the news as you see messages commenting about 'look how he's holding her!' and 'omg he's so sweet! I wish I was her right now!' in different formations scrolling through.
"Joseph is indeed dating someone." you look up at Joseph and he tilted his head down to look at you with a cute little smile before nudging his nose against your playfully.
When the pair of you looked back down you could see so many people in all caps going wild at the little interaction. "Joseph and I have been dating for the past year!" you finally declare. "Now now please be respectful in the chat. No - I told you so's-." You pointed sternly to the screen before smiling with a little laugh.
"We were hoping to keep it under wraps for a while as I am not someone who often shows my face and didn't wish for the internet to break but Joseph and I have agreed it's about time we let the world know that we are dating and have been for a good bit. You guys are, of course, more than welcome to ask some questions if you'd like. If not we are more than happy to fill in" you stopped speaking when you saw the comments; a grin plastering on your face as people either gushed, screamed in all caps, or straight up emoji cried over the news.
Of course, there were some bad ones in there too but you ignored those; never can please everyone so you focused on the positive. So instead you look to Joseph who was busy grinning at the camera kind of shy as he read and even giggled a bit at the comments below up until you noticed what he was laughing at and turned to see that some of those usernames that you saw were actually…your jaw dropped.
"Jamie! You little shit head!" you laugh covering your face as you realized your best friend had popped on the live stream to watch and was commenting hilarious stuff in the chats that were making the other fans go crazy. You could practically hear his goofy fake girl voice asking questions like an obsessed fan and it only made you cackle even harder because you could only imagine him in your mind acting like a little school girl while he did those voices. The image made you laugh so hard that you were leaning into Joseph to help you upright.
"Oh look hi Maya!" Joseph waved to the camera and you popped your head up to see that indeed Maya's comments were popping in like a straight-up fan girl only causing to rile up the crowd.
"You guys are so dead." you didn't mean it but you were so happy your friends were there to support you. It took a few minutes of bantering before you finally settled down to try and answer some questions
"Alright. Let's get down to the Q&A before we get off track here" you squint reading different questions to see which one they wanted to answer.
"How long have we known each other?" you look over at Joseph who smiled and pretended to think as his dark eyes lifted to the trees above you.
"Technically now about 3 years, I think?" he cocked his head. "Gosh. It felt much longer than that hadn't it?" he smiled thoughtfully. "But we have only been dating a year as you guys already know," he added waving a hand around
"How did you two meet?" you read another comment and looked back at Joseph.
"Just through work, I guess. See, she's been with the Stranger Things cast long before I ever came along. From the very beginning so I sort of just slid in there for the season and we clicked instantly." Joseph shrugged not knowing how to answer in a more entertaining way but the fans seemed to love it anyways
"Oh here's a good one, love. What's your favorite thing about each other that made you fall in love?" Joseph read that one and looked over at you with a big smile that was filled with cheesy warmth and a playful twinkle in his eye. Even with that goofy grin on his face, you could tell he was eager to hear the answer.
Feeling a blush cross your features you looked down at the table and picked at the chipped wood as you felt the urge to hide overcome you. You weren't particularly shy unless it came to be all lovey-dovey in front of hundreds of people after so much of just you hiding away from the public eye when it concerned the British actor. But you loved the question and you couldn't help the way your voice became soft as you answered the question
"Hmm well, that is a good question. I would love to say it's his pretty face, sweet soul, and goofy personality which of course is part of it but the thing you guys don't often understand is that there is so much more to a person than what they let you see on the internet. I think my favorite thing about Joseph is simply how genuine he is and just how much his heart is open to people. He is so caring and loves without apologies. He doesn't have to apologize to anyone for the way he acts and you know just by one meeting with him that he was raised with respect for people." you smile thoughtfully before looking over at your boyfriend.
"He isn't perfect but he knows how to make me feel like I'm the only girl in the world he'll ever need. I used to dream about someone like him. To hold me tight and see me through times that are hard. To love me at my lowest. To stay with me whenever I'm scared and now that I have you I don't know what I would have ever done without you. Sometimes it scares me how much I love and need you. When I look at you my heart melts to the floor because every day I find something new to love about you more and more. I can't deny that a heart like yours is very rare; I feel so blessed to have the chance to know someone like you." you could see the tears glistening in his eyes and you felt your own start to sting.
"Sorry was that too much?" you laugh a little but his head was shaking as he hugged you to his chest and buried his face into your neck.
You hugged like that for a few moments before he pulled away wiping at his face. "I don't know if I can beat that answer." he laughed a bit. "Give me a second will you?" he rose from the picnic table and got out of view.
You giggled wiping your own eyes feeling slightly guilty for making him cry but at least they were happy tears right? While he composed himself you turned your attention back to the phone to see the comment scrolling by quickly. It wasn't until you noticed Joseph shifting behind you through the live stream screen that you turned your head in surprise to see him standing there with something in his hand. You froze a second before turning around on the bench not realizing that the live stream was seeing this real-time in full view as you had shifted away enough to be able to see what was going on.
Licking his lips nervously he slowly knelt down to be level with you. "A few years ago before I ever met you. Jamie and I were just talking the shit like men do, you know? And, at the time he was in this hard spot in his life with his girlfriend back then when he turns to me and asks 'what's a soulmate?' and back then I just froze because…I didn't know. I could come up with so many answers that just didn't fit what that word could possibly mean because it was just so…foreign. Something that people don't talk enough about because it's so controversial. The question stuck with me though…' what's a soulmate?' it was something I thought I'd never truly know the answer to. Until the day you walked into my life with that bright smile of yours." his tongue came out to moisten his lips nervously as he watched your expression; seeing the way you seemed to hold your breath while you stared at him unblinkingly.
"Did you ever figure out the answer to that question?" your voice came out a little shaky and your words brought a smile to his face as if he was glad to have the opening.
Tilting his head his hands that were holding something shifted to open the small black box to reveal a ring resting in the soft silk cushion as he reply. " It's uh… Well, it's like a best friend but more. It's the one person in the world that knows you better than anyone else. It's someone who makes you a better person. Actually, they don't make you a better person, you do that yourself - because they inspire you. A soulmate is someone who you carry with you forever. It's the one person who knew you and accepted you and believed in you before anyone else did, or when no one else would. And no matter what happens, you will always love them. Nothing can ever change that.” He reached out to take your hand in his.
"This isn't a…a wedding ring. It's a promise ring, the sign of my devotion to you and my love for you. I'm willing to wait for as long as you need me to until you are ready to say yes. But, meeting you made me realize that YOU are my soulmate and I will do whatever and everything I can to make you feel cherished and loved to the fullest extent that you deserve. If of course, you will have me that long?" there was a slight twinkle in his dark eyes
You looked down at the silver ring sitting inside the silken cushion-lined box. You couldn't help the tear that ran down your cheek as you felt the trembling of your limbs. You weren't scared or nervous. That was not why you shook and trembled from the nerves. It was because you couldn't believe this man was so perfect. You couldn't speak around the lump in your throat as you nodded. Allowing the actor to place the ring delicately onto your ring finger. You laughed a little when you saw the utter relief on Joseph's face as he finally looked up at you. You welcomed his embrace as his arms wrapped around you and hauled you up off the bench to swing you around in the air.
"I love you." you smile down at him as your fingers sink into his chocolate curls.
His pink lips parted into a large grin as he met your approach with his mouth to kiss the breath out of you. You were sure to have a make-out session if it weren't for a voice shouting from an open window making you break away to peer up at Jamie and Maya leaning out the window with cheeky little smirks and smiles on their faces.
"You're still live streaming babes!" Maya called down at your red flushed faces making the pair of you turn to realize that you'd totally forgotten about the Instagram live.
"Wrap it before you tap it!" could be heard be shouting from Jamie right before you rushed out a goodbye to the fans; face flushed and eyes sparkling as you ended the live stream.
You and Joseph looked up at each other and grinned before he was bending down and threw your body over his shoulder, snatched your phone off the table before he was damn near running across the lawn towards the house while your joined laughter echoed in the morning air and the rays of the sun making your ring glitter on your finger.
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