#joshua x malereader

HAPPY MERRY (possibly late) CHRISTMAS this is what you get heathens, you’re welcome

•summary:christmas traditions with joshua
•pairing: joshua hong x male!reader
• word count: 1158
•to do

“Remember,” Joshua watches you pull the plate of cookies away from your younger siblings and cousins. “We have to save some for Santa.”

Some of the kids gasp, all of them looking at you with wide eyes. One of them looks at their cookie with horror.

“Which ones do you want to save?” You ask.

Your youngest sister, sitting on your lap, leans forward. She pokes at one. It’s a sugar cookie very sloppily- or prettily as Joshua should say- decorated by her. Red, green, and purple icing cover it in different splotches. It looks to be the remnants of a snow-man.

“That one? How many should we give him?”

Joshua wants to interact with you in this precious moment. He wants to join in making the kids gasp and smile, but he’s locked in his spot. He’s leaning against the counters with an empty mug in his hands.

The five below-eight-year-olds throw out different answers. One of your cousins asks about food for the reindeer, and you very excitedly mention you brought special carrots for them. Joshua smiles at you. He would be lying if he said he was completely excited to be with your family over the holidays instead of only with you or with his own family, but this moment. This moment with a bunch of kids crowding around you and you becoming more excited than he’s seen all week. You smiling and decorating cookies, making gingerbread men, reading Christmas stories, and putting up Christmas lights everywhere. It couldn’t be more perfect. He never wants to leave. He doesn’t want the Earth to move at all.

Sadly, it does.

A 9pm timer for the kids goes off. You gasp and look over at Joshua. He’s knocked breathless by how beautiful you look before reality comes back. He presses the button to stop the alarm and watches the beginnings of chaos. Some of the older kids look around, not quite knowing what to do. You stand up and put your sister down. You, very dramatically, look at your wrist. You’re not wearing a watch, but none of the kids are paying very close attention to that.

Your mom appears from the living room, followed by the teenagers and the kid’s parents. She shakes her head and looks to you. “We should check where Santa is.”

One of your older cousin’s drops his mouth open. “I hope we didn’t stay up too late! He might’ve passed us already.”

Every other parent groans and begins to calm their kids down. Your cousin’s wife smacks his shoulder.

You smile. “Let’s check. I’ll get my computer.”

The kids scramble into the living room. Somebody manages to hand you the computer before it gets trampled. You type in the tracker and wait for it to load. The kids crowd around you, all of them trying to get a good look. The ones that can read analyze the webpage like it’s a bomb-defusing manual. The others look to you with frazzled expressions.

“Co-lor-a-do.” One of the kids sounds the word out.

“He’s in Colorado.” You shake your head and point to the screen. “Look, we’re up here. How far away is he? How many states away is Colorado? One, two.”

The kids count with you, then look at each other.

“Two states away?” Your mom shakes her head. “That’s pretty close. Maybe we should all get to bed.”

The kids nod and scatter into the house, quickly followed by their guardians. You close your laptop with a smile. You finally walk up to Joshua. Your smile is so bright. It penetrates right through his chest. Something future-seeking stirs inside him. He wants to spend every Christmas like this. With you, surrounded by family, with kids freaking out about Santa, and the smell of Peppermint and Gingerbread mixing in the air.

Joshua leans down to kiss you. Your smile doesn’t change at all. If anything, it gets warmer. 

“Do we have to get presents ready for the kids?” He whispers the question in case of any little ears.

You seem confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Santa brings presents.”

He rolls his eyes at you. “I love you.”

The statement is slightly odd in the situation, but you return it.

“I love you too.” You wink at him. “Merry early-Christmas.”

His hand caresses your face. The kids running around you and the adults beginning to gather supplies fade away. You look at each other for a while before the realization of your family being in the room comes to you again. You step back with a final kiss on his cheek.

“I think we should eat some of the cookies, so Santa doesn’t get full only at our house. And somebody should take a few bites of the carrots for the reindeer.” You giggle at yourself. “What do you think?”

“I think Santa and his reindeer will have already had some of each, so it’s the least we could do, really,” Joshua adds on.

*

You sit underneath the tree, pushing presents back further to stop them from completely taking over the living room. Joshua hands you different gifts. He watches you painstakingly place each present even when you know at 6:15am tomorrow morning it’ll all be gone.

“What kind of traditions are we going to have for our kids?”

His question surprises you some. He can see it with the quick flash of panicked expression before the thought sets in.

“Ooh,” You’re seriously thinking it over. “I’m not sure. What do you think?”

“I like how all of your family says Santa is real, and if you say he isn’t, you don’t get presents.” He smiles. “The putting up of the Christmas tree closer to Halloween, not so much.”

You nod your head. “Yeah, I agree with that one. Your family does Secret Santa, though, and I would love that when they got older. Oh! And opening one present on Christmas Eve and it’s always matching pajamas that you have to wear when opening presents, that’s got to stay forever, I don’t care if we have moody teenagers and they hate it.”

“Definitely.”

Quiet passes for a second. Both of you have small smiles on your faces. You look at Joshua. Both of you nod at the same time.

“All out decorations.” You nod your head.

“Our house will be the star of the Good-School-Zone sub-division we will live in.”

“Oh, yeah. Karen down the street who runs the HOA and has lived there since the houses were built is going to pissed that we have better decorations than her.” You nod your head. You’re already scripting arguments with this fake woman. “And all of the kids will love coming to our house for Halloween. Full-Size Candy Bars.”

Joshua laughs as you over pronounce each word.

You’re excited about your future children together, and his heart swells. You’re already filling his future life. He wouldn’t have it any other way.