#joseph quinn x femreader

Part 2 of Touch!!! I cannot thank y’all enough for the response on that fic. I never used to get that many notes on my writing in the past, so to have it happen is just the best. Anyway, you and Joe confess your obvious feelings for one another in this one, but not before a little self indulgence on my part lmao. Prepare for a repost if this doesn’t show up in his tags like last time bc tumblr is a mess.

Read Touch here

Pairing: Joseph Quinn x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, pining, FLUFF, touching (a lot, seriously,) reader is an overthinker but that’s okay, subpar written confession because I’m burnt out y’all, unedited for now

WC: 2.5k

Ever since the D&D game video dropped, Stranger Things’ corner of the internet remained a complete and utter mess. It graduated from the YouTube comments to damn near everywhere else. Wherever you turned on any social media app, there was a TikTok edit, a Twitter thread, a YouTube compilation, or a link to a Cosmo article, all about your moments with Joseph, which happened on camera. Things were already pretty hectic with the events and ships happening within the show, but when speculation grew of a romance happening outside of the show, well, the public took it and ran with it. 

Things between you and Joseph stayed relatively the same, platonically attached. It was as though millions of people weren’t talking about how ‘obviously into each other’ you two were, granted he even knew about that. Nothing changed for you personally, either. It wasn’t like you were unaware of your growing feelings for Joseph before people started noticing. Your racing heart and unstoppable smile whenever he laid a gentle hand on you, or was simply just around you, was enough of a giveaway to yourself.

One thing was for certain though, you weren’t going to say anything. You felt like you had done a pretty decent job keeping your feelings masked. You had a good, comfortable thing with Joseph going. You felt secure around him-content. Nothing should have to ruin that. Keeping quiet and convincing yourself he didn’t feel the way you did was the best option. Plus, dating co-stars was a big, fat ‘no’ in Hollywood. A somewhat outdated rule, sure, but you intended to adhere to it.

No matter how hard it was starting to become.

And you were reminded of just how hard it would be, by your current situation.

The two of you laid in your room in your Los Angeles apartment, Top Gun playing on the television across from your bed. Joseph was propped up against the quilted headboard, his arm securely around your body as your head laid on his chest. 10 minutes prior, he noticed you were nodding off and opened his arms in a wordless invitation-like always.

“You’re not mad this is putting me to sleep?” you had asked, halfway smirking. You burrowed your head into his plaid shirt, the smell of his cologne flooding your nose.

“Why would it?,” he asked, rubbing your shoulder soothingly. 

“Well, it was my idea to watch this movie,” you said. He had been begging you to go see Top Gun: Maverick with him since it came out, and you agreed, though you wanted to watch the original first. So, you made a night out of it, and about two hours prior, he showed up to your door with kettle corn and sour skittles, and you supplied the wine and pizza. 

He was particularly excited about the latter. Even if it had been a few years since he had to give up pizza to lose weight for Eddie, he still felt like he had to make up for all the lost pie. He immediately dug in, and you remembered swiping away some sauce from the side of his mouth with your thumb, which he had swiftly licked clean for you. 

That, you blamed on the wine.

“True,” he admitted, fingers crawling down to your rib cage, making you shiver a bit. “But I’m not going pass up on the opportunity to hold you,”

You couldn’t reply when he had said that, you just remained completely still and quiet. Though, the tingling in your cheeks at his words indicated that you were not as unbothered as you wanted to seem. 

It wasn’t a secret that the two of you loved each other’s embrace, though neither of you had ever said it outloud, either, at least to one another. The only time you could remember was one time on set when, during a break, you had your arms wrapped around Joseph’s shoulders while he sat in a director’s chair, his fingers laced with yours as you spoke. Gaten jokingly made a comment about your constant attachment to each other, and Joseph had simply said, “I rather enjoy that constant attachment.”

A photo of the two of you in that position was posted on the Stranger Things instagram story, along with various other BTS photos. It was only the back of you, but, like any other relationship speculation, it was all anyone needed to turn an inch into a mile. God forbid two friends hold each other in a way that is actually very platonic, thank you very much.

Joseph’s hand dragged down further, meeting your hip, dangerously close to your backside, pulling you out of your thoughts.

“You fall asleep on me, love?” he asked, and you quickly recovered from his previous words, his actions, and his pet name for you, and shook your head lightly. 

“No, I wanna at least wait for the movie to….,” you trailed off, looking up at the screen to see the end credits rolling. “…end,” you deadpanned. You didn’t realize that much time had passed. “So much for that,” you shrugged.

Joseph chuckled as you stretched across him to grab the remote, and switched the TV off. You got up and began gathering the dirty dishes-the plates, wine glasses and the popcorn bowl. You made your way to the kitchen and heard his footsteps coming after you. 

You began loading the dishwasher when he spoke. “Did you enjoy it, at least?” he asked.

“I enjoyed seeing a young Tom Cruise,” you laughed, and it was true. That was the only thought you remembered having, that 23 year old Tom was hot. Deuxmoi asshole allegations be damned.

“Fair enough,” he said, and you heard the teasing edge in his voice. “I’d love to stay and have a one-sided conversation about the movie, but I should get going, I have a meeting in the morning,” he said. You turned around and saw he leant against the counter, arms crossed.

You smiled, ignoring his little dig at you, knowing it wasn’t serious. “Ooh, is that face gonna grace the TV screen again soon?” you teased. You were a little disappointed, though, almost wishing you had fallen asleep. He always stayed over when you did, mostly because he’d doze off shortly after you. 

He chuckled and shook his head, stepping forward, arms opening. “Maybeeee,” he drew out his answer as you happily walked into his embrace, arms locking around his torso. One of his arms wrapped around your body, the other held the back of your head, pressing your face into his collarbone. 

It didn’t matter how many times you had been in his arms, the goodbye hugs always made your nerves explode the most. The two of you always embraced like the other was going on a month long trip to a place with no wifi, cell or postal service. 

The two of you loosened the embrace after what felt like forever, but your arms hung around each other still. “You know I really would stay if I could,” he said, taking your chin in his grip.

“I know,” you nodded. “But, you have casting directors to wow in the morning,” you smiled.

“Let’s hope I do,” he replied, grinning. “Have a good night, babes,” he muttered, staring down at you intensely.

“You too,” you said back just as softly, butterflies flittering in your stomach.

When you thought he’d turn away and leave, his hold on your chin remained, his hanging mouth open as though there was more he wanted to say. The words, however, seemed to die on his tongue. His large brown eyes examined your face, quivering as they did.

“You good, Joe?” you asked, tilting your head.

He hesitated, literally freezing up for a second, before he snapped out of…whatever it was, and shook his head. “Yeah, I’m alright. I’ll call you tomorrow,” he mumbled out quickly. He released you entirely and speed walked towards the door, sliding out quickly as you looked at him in confusion. The door closed behind him, quiet harshly.

“Okay, then,” you said to yourself as you stood there, staring at the brown wooden surface.

Did he just shut your own door in your face?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You hadn’t mulled over Joseph’s odd little moment before he left for too long. It was after 1 AM and you were too tired to overthink about that man. You hopped in the bath for a quick shower, changed into some lacey pajamas and crawled back into bed.

You were making yourself comfortable when the sound of rapid knocking on your front door made you jolt up. Before you could wonder who the hell was showing up at your door in the middle of the night, the knocks became more insistent. You threw the comforter off your body and got out of bed, making your way towards the door, turning the living room light on. The rapid fists landing against the door made it vibrate, and you knew you weren’t the only one it woke up. You expected a complaint from the Karen next door in the morning.

You unlocked the door, surprise replacing your annoyance as you saw it was Joseph, looking frantic, leaning against the door frame, supported by his forearm.

“Joe? Did you forget so-” you began, but he cut you off.

“I need to tell you something,” he said, looking into your eyes. His own held a look of desperation within them.

“Okay….,” you said, stepping out of the way so he could enter. He walked in slowly, hands rubbing nervously at his jeans. You heard him let out a couple of heavy breaths.

“Wanna sit down, have some water?” you offered. It had been a while since he left at first, and from the looks of it, he obviously ran back here to tell you whatever it is he had to tell you.

“No, no, I just…have to get this out,” he turned to face you, visibly hyping himself up, and any tiredness you had began to fizzle out, because this was obviously eating at him. Your brain began to swarm with the possibilities of what he could be wanting to tell you, trying and failing to ignore the negative, outrageous shit that your anxious mind conjured up.  For some reason you began to think he was going to tell you to fuck off of and that your little relationship was stifling and burdensome.

Fuck you, anxiety.

He put you out of your misery, somewhat, when he started talking, the words tumbling out rapidly. “Okay, so, I’ve been trying to come up with an entire plan on how I would do this, what I would say, when I would say it. I’ve felt this way for three years now and it’s killing me to keep it to myself any longer-”

You furrowed your brows, and held up a hand to stop him. “Joe, slow down-”

“-and now, here I am trying to spill my guts to you in the middle of the night after running back here, looking like a proper idiot, and you’re probably wondering ‘what the fuck is wrong with him’-”

“Joe, can you-”

“-and I’m wondering if this was a mistake, should I not have listened to those comments on YouTube I spent hours reading, talking about the way you look at me, maybe it give me wasted hope, am I about to ruin everything between us because you won’t feel the same way I do,”

Your eyes widened. You didn’t try to stop him again, because you physically felt frozen.

He breathed in, his chest puffing out. “But I just need,” he stressed, “To let you know this. It’s become physically painful to be around you and hold it in now,”

A beat or two of silence passed as the two of you just looked at each other, you with anticipation, him with determination. 

“I love you, Y/N,” he finished breathily.

And just like that, a moment you could only dream of in recent years, was finally happening. Your eyes were still wide, but a smile pulled at your lips, your gaze unwavering.

“From that first table read, I loved how easily we clicked, even if you seemed so shy at first, but I love how vivacious you became. I love how close we got, and how that closeness just increased by thousands,” he uttered, he took a step towards you, but he paused again. 

You began walking toward him, face relaxing. He continued.

“I love how much we make each other laugh even when whatever it was, wasn’t that funny. I love movie nights with you, even though you never stay awake long enough for them. I love how I feel like I can tell you anything, even when I get scared and ramble way too much, like I did just now,” he paused and chuckled as you stopped dead in front of him, a good inch between you. You looked up at him, lips folded in, eyes searching his face, waiting for him to finish.

He laid a large palm on your cheek, thumb resting at the corner of your mouth. “I love your beautiful fucking face, and this goddamn smile,”

He dropped his hand and took yours with it, lacing your fingers together and looked at the entanglement for a second. He squeezed your hand, fingers pressing into the back of it, almost like he wanted to ground himself and make sure this was actually happening. 

“I love how it feels when we touch each other, and I don’t know if you’ve felt it too, but its literally the best fucking feeling in the world to me,” he spoke. 

Oh, you felt it too, alright.

“And it’s what told me the most, that I was absolutely, undoubtedly, 100%, in love with you,” by the tone of his voice and finality within it, you knew he was done.

You realized you had become numb to any nerves you thought you would feel during a moment like this. You thought your heart would beat so fast your body would tremble, and you would’ve choked on your own words so badly it would hurt. Somehow, hearing his confession gave you the assurance you needed in yourself, and you didn’t doubt him for a second. Your overthinking ceased in its entirety. You nearly regretted driving yourself crazy trying to suppress your feelings. He was here, in front of you, telling you how you felt, echoing every word you ever wanted to say to him. 

Your sudden boost of confidence led you to take charge of the next move. You undid your hand from his, and draped your arms around his neck.

“You done?” you asked, beginning to lean in slowly.

His hands gripped at your waist, tugging you closer, almost desperately. “Yeah,” he whispered.

“You sure?” you asked, lips so close to his that a soft breeze could bring them together.

“Yeah,” he practically whined.

“Good,” your voice came out barely audible.

And without another word, you pressed your lips to his own, pouring in every inkling that you could, that you felt the same way about him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m sorry for leaving y’all hanging there at the end, but I wanted to leave the rest of the night open for interpretation I am also, like I said in the warnings, burnt out so this will most likely be last fic for a while, at least until volume 2 comes out. But thank you Eddie and Joseph for reminding me how much I love writing. I’ve missed this shit so much lol.

Hope you all enjoyed