Work Text:
// Christmas Love: Joshaya one-shot \\
Whenever Joshua walks into the apartment of his older brother Cornelius, he's greeted with the wonderful sight of Maya Hart, his niecest' best friend since their childhood. As they were younger, they used to hang out a lot, even without Riley's presence.
These times are long gone and it's all his fault.
Maya has been smitten with Josh since the very first day she met him. What she didn't know and still doesn't know is, that he has felt and still feels the same way about her ever since. She has never been the shy type, she always told him how she feels about him but he? He always refused to tell her the truth. She never knew why. So the blonde started to ignore him but she never told Riley the reason for her their sudden change of behaviour towards each other. The brunette stopped questioning it after a while.
Now, whenever he sees her, he feels guilty. The feelings for her got only stronger over the past few years and seeing her feels like falling all over again. Especially, when he sees her in some comfy clothes - a green sweater that's way too big for her, a pair of black leggings and her beautiful blonde waves tied up into a messy bun. She just looks so adorable and Josh can't help but to stare at her.
It's a few days before Christmas Eve, the sun has already gone to sleep. Josh has let himself into the apartment and is greeted with a tight hug of his older brother, Cory. Then, Topanga approaches him, wrapping her arms tight around the beanie-wearing boy. Riley and Maya are seated on the couch, trying to find a movie to watch, ignoring the suggestions Auggie is practically yelling at them. They don't notice that Josh has arrived so he walks up to them and hugs his nephew for a few seconds before tapping onto Riley's shoulder lightly. She turns around quickly and her hair hits Maya's face due to the speed.
"UNCLE JOSH!" Riley yells happily and stands up, hugging her uncle and almost knocks the both of them down onto the ground.
"Hey, how's my favourite niece?" he asks while hugging her. In the corner of his eyes, he can see the - now quiet - blonde rolling her eyes. As he lets go of his niece, he thinks about saying Hi to Maya but he isn't quite sure, if she would like that. Thankfully, his nephew takes his hand and jumps up and down.
"Wanna play UNO with me, uncle Josh?" Auggie asks hopefully and grins at him widely. Josh nods in response and a loud YEAH from Auggie appears before he drags his uncle to the table in front of the couch. He pushes his uncle slightly so they change their position and Auggie kneels down, sitting in front of his older sister Riley. Josh hesitates because he'd sit in front of Maya but as his nephew stares at him confused, he sits down quickly.
"Watch it," Maya throws at him, as he accidentally bumps his elbow against her leg.
"I'm sorry, Maya," he says softly and turns around just in time to see, how she rolls her ocean blue eyes at him once again. He's still looking at her, so she glances down at him and their eyes lock with each other for a brief moment. She's the one to look away first, clearing her throat slightly, making him smile.
• • •
The next day arrives and Josh sits at the table - alone - working on some schoolwork. It's almost noon as Maya walks into the living room, lookind around slightly confused.
"They're gone to visit Topanga's mother," Josh tells her, not bothering to look up at her. He knows that she would have asked either way.
"Oh. Okay," she says quietly, feeling uncomfortable around him - especially being alone with him. A sigh escapes his lips, causing Maya to look at him. "What?" she asks annoyed. Josh huffs out a laugh and finally looks up at her.
"It's wrong," he says. "This is wrong."
He gestures between the both of them. Suddenly, Maya can feel the anger rising inside of her.
"And what exactly is this?"
"I don't know," he answers truthfully. "We're avoiding each other and I don't want that for us."
He takes a few steps towards her, causing her to walk back. "Stop walking away from me, Maya." her body language tells him that she's angry but her eyes say something different. They betray her and tell him, that she's more scared than angry.
Her eyes tell the truth.
"There is no us. There never was," she says sternly. "And why shouldn't I walk away from you, Josh? Huh?! You didn't bother with staying as I wanted to talk you all those years ago."
He stops walking instantly. His blue eyes are piercing through hers.
She sees pain and hurt in his eyes... but mostly regret.
"Maya," he can barely whisper. "I'm sorry." it feels like her lungs are drained, like there's no air available to breathe. Tears sting her eyes and all she can do is to run away from him. She barely registers his voice yelling her name as she races through the hall of the Matthews' apartment, speeding into her best friend's room and locking the door behind her, before she slides down onto the ground.
She doesn't want to cry because of him.
Not again.
Pulling up her knees, she throws her arms around her legs, letting her face disappear in between her knees, trying to muffle her sobs. Josh stands in front of the door to Riley's bedroom as quiet sobs appear. He listens to them, as he turns his back to the door and lets himself slide down until he sits on the ground, a single tear rolling down his cheek and sinking into the fabric of his jeans.
• • •
He doesn't see her again until Christmas Eve.
After their... conversation she left the Matthews' apartment, excusing herself to Riley with something like I want to spend some time with my mum even though they all knew that the blonde lied to her best friend. Riley knows that Maya's mother is working all day long, that's why Maya was there the other day, even before Christmas Eve. Now she's here again but it doesn't look like she wants to.
Topanga, Auggie and Riley decorate the Christmas tree while Cory and Shawn laugh at each others jokes in the kitchen, drinking beer while doing so. Maya sits at the bay window in the living room, drawing something in her sketchbook quietly. Every once in a while Josh turns around from his spot on the couch just to make sure, she's still there.
What he doesn't know is, that Cory and Shawn catch him looking at the blonde girl. They smile at each other knowingly as Cory's youngest sibling looks at her once again.
"Does he know how obvious he is?" Shawn asks his best friend as they watch the young boy. Cory shrugs at that with a smile.
"I don't think so," he finally says. "Love makes you blind." a nod from Shawn tells Cory, that his friend agrees with him on that and they get back to their actual conversation, both knowing what Cory just implied on his statement.
"Hey, peaches," Riley greets her best friend happily. "You' sure, you don't wanna decorate the tree with us?" she asks, once again trying to convince her. Maya just shakes her head, keeping her eyes on her sketch. Riley smiles sadly at her and lays her hand onto Maya's shoulder, squeezing it slightly before she stands up and joins her mother and her brother again.
With a smile Maya finishes her sketch - it's the couch from the living room out of her perspective and you can see Josh's head turned around, looking at her concerned.
She knows that he glances at her every once in a while - even that he's staring at her right now.
• • •
Opening presents is Riley's favourite tradition of Christmas, besides eating the delicious dinner her mother creates every year. Wrapping paper is flying through the living room of the Matthews' apartment as everyone opens a present. The sound of tearing the paper fills the room and sometimes you hear a loud Yay or a happy Thank you so much. Maya sits on the floor in-between the couch and the armchair. Riley, Auggie, Cory and Shawn sit on the couch while Topanga leans against the backrest of the couch. Josh is seated on the armchair and glances down at Maya.
Her and Riley hug as Maya sees that Riley bought her a bracelet that matches one of Riley's. A smile plays on the blonde's lips and Josh feels himself getting happier at the sight of her smile. Cory nudges Shawn's shoulder with his own and nods at his little brother, smiling too. Shawn chuckles softly at Josh's facial expression.
After a while, Cory and Shawn disappear into the kitchen and drag Cory's wife, Topanga, with them. Riley gathers her presents and makes her way to her bedroom while Auggie does the same, leaving Maya and Josh alone in the living room. Just as Maya is about to stand up, Josh grabs her wrist carefully and with his other free hand, grabs a box from behind him. They look at each other and Maya only leaves is gaze to take the box from him.
"Is this for me?" she asks quietly. Josh nods immediately.
"Yes, it is," he says softly. He lets go of her wrist, both instantly missing the feeling of their touches on each other. Maya looks at him once again before tearing the wrapping paper into small pieces. As she opens it a gasp escapes her mouth at the sight of a black sketchbook. She flips through the empty pages, loving the feeling of these blank pages she can fill with sketches. Josh smiles at her reaction and soon Maya returns the smile.
"Merry Christmas, Maya," he whispers and he swears he can see a tear in the corner of her eye.
"Thank you, Josh," she tells him softly, gazing into his eyes. "Merry Christmas to you too," she says quietly but he can hear the happiness in her voice. The adults, who have watched this entire scene, smile widely at the two teenagers, confusing Riley and Auggie as they come back. They don't have a clue on what's going one, they completely missed the scene.
The time passes with family activities like playing some board games, watching Christmas movies - only classics - and more food because Cory and Shawn insisted on some more dessert. Maya smiles through all of these things just like Josh and the day ends with them being happy because of each other, with the adults getting happier because the two teenagers finally made up and with Riley and Auggie still having no clue on what's going on.
• • •
It's late at night as Maya tiptoes out of Riley's bedroom without her noticing. The blonde heads into the direction of the spare room where Josh lives over the holidays. Carefully she opens the door and peeks into the room, checking if he's asleep. As she hears his quiet snores, she opens the door a little more and slips into the spare room. The blonde walks over to the desk and places a piece of paper on top of it. She glances over at Josh and sees his sleeping figure in the dark, so she quickly walks out of the room again and closes the door behind her. As she hears the door clicking, her hand lingers on the door handle.
Josh opens his eyes carefully after he hears the door closing. Slowly he sits up and and a smile spreads across his face. His hand reaches out to turn on the lamp that stands on the nighstand next to the bed. He glances over to the desk and sees a sketch, so he stands up quietly to get a better look at it.
Maya smiles as she sees how a light turns on in his room. She can see it through the little gap that's between the door and the floor. Biting her lip for a few seconds, she fights the urge to open the door again and lets go of the door handle and walks over into the bedroom of her best friend again, laying down next to her on the bed and closing her eyes, still smiling brightly.
Josh's grin grows even wider as he sees the sketch clearly.
It's the sketch Maya drew earlier that day, letting him know that she noticed him staring at her.
Under the sketch, she wrote something.
"I'm sorry too."