Warnings: Profanity & late-night shenanigans

Word Count: 1894

Summary: Josh comes up with a solution to help you sleep, but things don't go quite as planned.

Author's Note: Hello! Late post, I know, but this ended up being a fic that I really like, so I think it will be worth the wait :)

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You watched as the clock on your bedside table switched from 2:59 to 3:00, marking the precise three hours that you had been laying in bed. You had tried every technique that you knew for making yourself tired, but every single one had only led to wasted time. If you weren't going to sleep, even after three hours of trying, you decided that you may as well make the most of whatever time you had before the sun came up and there would be responsibilities for you to attend to.

You glanced towards Josh's window as you shuffled towards the far side of your room. His window was open just a crack, no doubt to let in the summer breeze. He was always commenting about how he liked to listen to the frogs outside when he was trying to sleep. If only the same thing worked for you.

You squinted at the sudden bright light from your ceiling light. There were a couple half-finished sketches sitting on your desk, so you decided to work on those for a little while. That would at least get your blood flowing and - by some miracle - might make you tired again. You played some quiet music from your phone as well, just so your room didn't feel quite so eerily quiet.

Your sketch was almost complete when something smacked against your window. You whipped around to try and catch a glimpse of whatever it was that was launching an attack on the side of your house. There weren't any trees outside, meaning that it was more likely than not an animal. Or, worse, a person.

You turned your music up a few notches, hoping that it would drown out the noise if it were to happen again. A minute or so passed peacefully, until the same noise happened again. This time, it happened twice in a row.

"Ok, what the hell?" you muttered, deciding that this incident warranted an investigation.

You slid your window open and pushed your face up to the screen that separated you from the outside world. Down in the grass, you spotted a figure waving up at you. He was barely illuminated by the streetlight that stood out by the sidewalk, but it was just enough for you to recognize that familiar puff of pink hair.

"Are you insane?" you called down. "I thought I was about to get murdered."

"Sorry!" Josh answered. "Now get your butt out here!"

"What? Why?"

"We're going on an adventure! And bring your skateboard."

You sighed and looked down at your loose pajama shorts and oversized t-shirt. An outfit change was definitely in order before you followed Josh out to, well, wherever he was taking you. Athletic shorts and a sweatshirt you had stolen from Josh a number of years ago would have to do.

Josh was skating idly around the street when you finally joined him, carrying your own skateboard tucked under one arm. You took a moment to watch him move so effortlessly over the pavement - a skill you hadn't totally mastered yourself - and imagined what it would like to be on there with him. Skateboarding wasn't really an activity for two people, but you could dream.

"Ready?" Josh asked, sliding to a stop in front of you.

"Hold on, you have to give me some more details before we go anywhere."

You resisted the urge to put your hand on his chest, right over the decal on his sweatshirt. His eyes met yours and you bit down on your lip to keep a straight face.

"What details do you want?"

"First of all, why did you start pelting my window with rocks at three in the morning?"

"I woke up from a nightmare, decided to skateboard a bit to get myself to calm down, saw your light was on, and decided you might want to come along since you obviously weren't sleeping either."

"And you couldn't text me because...?"

"There's no fun in that," he grinned.

You sighed. "Alright, Dun, where are you taking me?"

"Around."

"Around?"

"Yeah."

You tried to look annoyed, but it was near impossible with the smile that Josh had on his face. He reached out and placed a hand on your shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

"Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then follow me."

Josh immediately took off on his skateboard, meanwhile you fumbled you catch up. Your head was still reeling from having Josh's hand on your shoulder and the way that his eyes had been staring into yours. Sure, the two of you had had your fair share of flirty moments before, but there was something different in the air tonight. Then again, maybe it was just the fact that the two of you were out at three in the morning. That would make any experience feel different.

"We must look like a pair of crazy teenagers," you said, once you finally caught up to Josh, "skating around in the middle of the night like this."

"Yeah, except both of us are well into our twenties," he added with a laugh.

You smiled and skated past Josh, enjoying the way that the wind was blowing through your hair. The only sounds were the steady roll of your skateboard wheels along the pavement and cars driving down the distant freeway. Having Josh with you also took off the edge of being out alone at night, allowing you to feel completely at ease.

You eventually came across a house that had a number of different brightly colored flowers in the front yard. Josh nearly crashed into you as you made a sudden stop in front of it, wanting to take a moment to admire all the different plants. There were more flowers than you knew the name of, but that didn't make them any less beautiful.

"What are you looking at?" Josh asked. He rolled over to where you were standing, but didn't step off his skateboard like you had.

"Just the flowers," you said, leaning over a little so you could get a closer look. "I've never seen them before, even though I've lived here for years."

"I know the lady who lives here. She's friends with my parents. Her and my dad are always talking about gardening."

"I didn't know your dad was into gardening."

"You'd be surprised."

You stood and admired the flowers a little longer until you decided that you didn't want to keep Josh waiting. The flowers would still be there tomorrow, if you felt so inclined to come back and look at them. Just as you were about to get on your board, you noticed that Josh was staring at you out of the corner of your eye. He averted his eyes as you turned to look at him.

"Why were you staring at me like that?" you smiled.

"Like what?"

"Come on, Dun, don't play dumb," you said, reaching out to push lightly at his arm.

"Ok, ok," he giggled, ducking away from your hand. "The light of the street light made you look really nice."

"That's the best compliment you could come up with?"

"Yes."

You laughed, "What a terrible compliment."

"Hey! I was under a lot of pressure with you standing there looking like that."

You looked down at the outfit that you had thrown together just before leaving the house, "Yes, a mess."

"A cute mess."

Josh was still standing on his skateboard, meaning that you had to look up at him more than usual to meet his eyes. There was a smirk on his lips as he met your gaze, followed by a lip bite as you looked up at him.

"Are you going to kiss me or what?" you smiled.

Without another word between the two of you, Josh stepped down from his skateboard and pulled you towards him. You started to lean in, but Josh went the same way and you ended up bumping your nose straight into his.

"Ow," you giggled, using your hand that wasn't currently tangled in Josh's hair to rub at your nose.

"Sorry," Josh laughed. His arms were still wrapped around you, holding you close to him.

"Don't you know you're always supposed to go right?"

"I got nervous."

"It's ok, come here."

You leaned in again, this time making sure that you weren't going to bump into one another before pressing your lips to his. They were surprisingly soft and seemed to fit perfectly against yours. It didn't take long for you to start smiling against his lips.

"What?" he whispered, pulling back slightly. "Did I mess something else up?"

"No, I just can't believe we're making out in front of your mom's friend's house at three in the morning."

"Well, when you put it that way," he smiled.

You pressed another quick kiss to his lips before grabbing your skateboard from where it had ended up discarded on the ground. Josh did the same.

"Come on, we should get home. People are going to be waking up for work soon."

"Good call."

You allowed Josh to lead the way home since he actually knew where he was going. There were a few times where he tried to hold your hand as you skated next to one another, but it only ended with one of you nearly face planting into the pavement. After your numerous failed attempts, you decided to save hand holding as a walking activity.

Your heart sunk when your house came into view. Spending the last hour with Josh had completely made up for your three hours of failed sleeping attempts, and you weren't looking forward to having to get back in bed alone. Thankfully, Josh walked you to your door, just as unwilling to put an end to the night so soon.

"Thanks for skating with me," he smiled.

"Thanks for bringing me along. I think it was just what I needed."

"I think it was just what both of us needed."

He hooked a finger under your chin and pulled you into another kiss. This one was more gentle than the last few, but just as sweet.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said. "Maybe I can take you on a proper date or something."

"I would like that."

"Goodnight, Y/L/N."

"Goodnight, Dun."

You waited for Josh to make it to the sidewalk in front of your house before stepping through the front door. The climb up to your room felt like forever, even with the light spilling out from under the door to remind you just how far you had to go. Your pajamas from earlier that night were still on the floor, making getting changed an easy task.

Josh was standing by his own window, fiddling with something on his bedside table. You stood and watched him for a moment, hoping you could catch his eye before you got in bed. Right when you were about to give up, he turned and noticed you. He smiled and blew a kiss your way, which you pretended to catch.

You shut your light off and crawled under the covers, letting the first kiss you shared with Josh play over and over again in your head. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't wipe the smile off of your face.

You fell asleep just as the clock hit 4:00.