It was two days since Joseph and Adelaide had returned home when Addy was woken up from her sleep by a series of doorbell rings going off non-stop. With a groan of frustration, Adelaide gets up from her bed and walks downstairs to the front door.

Opening the door, she is greeted with the sight of all her girlfriends- Rachel, Lizzie, Phoebe, Nina, Kat, Danielle, Candice and Claire; they were all here and they had bags of food and desserts in their hands.

"What are you guys doing here?" Adelaide questions with a raised brow as Phoebe pushes her aside and they all walk into the house without a care in the world.

"I asked something," Addy repeats.

"We're here for the tea," Danielle grins innocently at her as the girls begin to set up all the food on the kitchen counter.

"I don't have tea. I'm more of a coffee person," Adelaide retorts as Lizzie rolls her eyes.

"Please Addy, you might be beautiful but you're not funny," she replies as Adelaide huffs.

"No but, seriously, what tea?" she asks again.

"About you and JoMo," Candice blurts out in a 'duh' tone, "like...he finally told you, yay!"

"Wait what? You all knew about this?" Adelaide frowns.

"Technically, yes," Nina answers.

"How?"

"Daniel found out first. He told Claire, Pheebs, Seb, Chris, Lizzie, Paul and Ian," Kat begins explaining, "so, back then Ian told Nina. Nina told Candice and me while Paul told the other guys. Candice being Candice, blurted out about 'how cute your wedding would be' on a call while you were ignoring us, and basically everyone who didn't know found out then."

"Sorry about that," Candice mumbles as the others laugh.

"Oh," she replies, knowing there was no way she was getting out of this, "lemme go freshen up in a sec," she tells them before walking back upstairs to her room.

On the other end, Joseph returns to his house after his morning run, only to find 5 cars parked in his driveway and loud noises filtering out of his house. He cautiously pushes open the door and walks into the living to find the guys there- Daniel, Paul, Ian, Charles, Sebastian, Chris, Ben, Steven and surprisingly enough, Will.

"What are you guys doing here? How did you get in?" he quizzes, causing their attention to snap at him from their own chatter.

"Hello to you too, JoMo," Ben smirks.

"I had your spare key, remember?" Daniel asks rhetorically, answering his earlier question.

"No. because I never gave you my spare key."

"Okay fine, I find yours in your duffel bag on set and I got one copy made for myself," Daniel admits as Joseph looks at him with shocked eyes, "only for emergencies. I swear I don't sneak into your house and steal your food."

"What emergency is this?" Joseph then asks.

"The most urgent one," Charles replies.

"Yeah, we want to know what you and Addy are up to," Steven chimes in.

"I, for one, want to know what your intentions are towards my sister," Will says, trying to sound intimidating.

"Hey kid, let us do the intimidation part," Ian jokes, "so JoMo, go on. Plead your case."

"You've all known me for years and you're asking me about my intentions towards Del?" he asks in an 'are you serious?' tone.

"Better safe than sorry," Paul shrugs, "besides the girls are all at Addy's, getting her to talk. Why should we boys be left out of the tea, right?"

Joseph looks at them with a flustered look before quickly recovering and rolling his eyes at them as Daniel offers him a beer bottle.

"Beer at 10AM? Are you guys for real?" Joseph asks, "put that away, I'm making coffee for everyone."

15 minutes later, Adelaide was all changed and freshen up when she came downstairs to see dealicious series of breakfast meals laid out on the dining table as she takes her seat between Claire and Kat.

"This looks delicious," she comments as they all begin to dig into their meal.

"Yeah fine, now quit stalling and tell us!" Lizzie chirps as Adelaide rolls her eyes but a smile overtakes her face as blush creeps up on her face.

"Okayyy so,"

It was 15 minutes later when Joseph had handed everyone their coffee and whipped up fried vegan sandwiches for everyone. They were all now seated in the couch-area when Daniel nudges him, "I don't think I can wait any longer. Tell us what happened!"

A smile breaks out of Joseph's face at the thought of Adelaide before he begins the story, "alright so,"

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

*flashback*

"That was so amazing," Adelaide grins as she finally lifts her head from Joseph's shoulder and gets to her feet after the firework show ended, "today as so much fun! And we got everything on the list! Thanks to my route, of course," she says before holding onto Joseph's hands and pulling him to his feet to, "and thank you so so so much, Jo, for doing this with me. I can't thank you enough," she says, jumping up and down in an energetic manner as Joseph's heartbeat began to quicken, knowing now was the time. He had to tell her. 'Now or never,' he thought to himself.

"Anything for you, Del," he whispers as she smiles at his adoringly before hugging him tightly.

"You're such a sweetheart," she says as they break away from the hug, "but I'm so tired now. We should really get back now. And then we can wake up early tomorrow, explore a little more and leave after lunch, what say?" she rambles on, beginning to walk away towards their hotel when Joseph holds onto her arm, causing her to turn around, "what?"

"Del," Joseph sighs loudly in nervousness, "there's something I need to tell you. I've been meaning to tell you for the longest time now but it was just never the right time...until now."

"What is it?" she asks in concern, now fulling turning around to face him.

"I love you," he blurts out, not being able to keep the secret to himself any longer. There it was, he said it. He had finally told the girl he had been in love with for over half a decade now. The secret was out and into the world. And now there was only one thing standing in their way, her response. Everything depended on it. Her next words would decide where they stood for the rest of their lives, whether they'd remains friends or be more, or be nothing at all. It was all on her now.

"Aww love you too, JoMo," she replies in a playful tone, causing Joseph to shake his head 'no'.

"No, you don't get it. I love you. I'm in love with you. Have been for years now," he elaborates, "and I know you just got out of a bad patch but I just... I couldn't keep this to myself anymore."

Adelaide just stares at him in shock, making him continue, "I know this is a lot but..."

"H-how? Why me?" Adelaide whispers.

"Why not you?" Joseph retorts back, "I wish I could explain how wonderful you are. How I could look into your eyes and never get tired of your beauty. How the sound of your voice gives me butterflies. How seeing you walk into a room, hell even the thought of you makes me smile. There's not enough words for me to describe how much you mean to me. And how much I love you. And I wish you could see yourself through my eyes because only then would you realize how special you are to me, Del."

Tears pool into Adelaide's eyes at Joseph's heartfelt confession, "wh-what about Persia?"

"What about her? She knows it's you, it's always been you. And I'm sorry it took me so long to say it out loud to you. I could swear there hasn't been a day that I stopped loving you and you haven't gotten out of my head at all since the first time I met you. It just took me the fear of losing you forever to realize that nothing else matters. No fear is worth losing you over," he whispers back as he walks closer to her and wipes her stray tears away.

"I've never been lucky with love, Jo," Adelaide reminds, "from my first highschool boyfriend to every other guy- I'm cursed when it comes to love. I ruin it everytime and I...I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you."

"And you won't," Joseph retorts, "no matter what decision you make, you will always have me by your side, Del. Always. And as for you being cursed when it comes to love; Del, you're the most loving and lovable person I know. All your friends see it, all your family sees it. Even people who don't know see it."

"I ruin this like I ruin everything," Adelaide mumbles.

"I don't care. As long as it's you and me, I don't care. If you think so, then so be it. Ruin me. Be my downfall. Because I only want two things in this world. I want you and I want us. That's it. I love you and that's the beginning and end of everything," he confesses, "you don't have to decide anything now. I've waited half a decade and I'll happily wait another half a decade if that's what it takes to have you. Because I know it'll always be you. No one else makes sense. Only you."

Adelaide was at a loss of words. She didn't know what to say, what to think. This was real. All of it was real, but it all felt like a dream. So without thinking, she did the one thing that could confirm this wasn't a dream. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist. They both stared earnestly into each other's eyes, getting lost in a sea of blue and brown. Adelaide's breathing quickened as she etched even closer to him, his grip on her tightening with every move to the point where she could feel his hot breath on her face.

"Del," Joseph whispered, unsure of what to do. Of course, he wanted to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her so badly, kiss her in the morning, at night. Just kiss her and love her like she deserves to be loved. But he also did not overstep his boundaries and wanted to give her as much time she needed to figure out her feelings.

She didn't reply but only stood on her tiptoes and crashed her lips on his, softly at first, and then with a swift gradation of intensity that made her cling to him as the only solid thing in a dizzy swaying world. Joseph was caught off guard at first, but as soon as he realized what was happening, he kissed her back with just as much passion. This was truly happening. They were kissing each other. But unlike every other time they had kissed, this time was real. There was no camera rolling. This wasn't an act. This was as real as it could get.

His insistent mouth was parting her shaking lips, sending wild tremors along her nerves, evoking from her sensations she had never known she was capable of feeling. Both their hearts were ponding in their chests, oxygen becoming limited but neither wanted to stop. Until they had to.

The two pulled apart and resting their foreheads against each other's, trying to comprehend what had just happened. There was no turning back now. They both knew this was real. It had happened and there was no denying it.

"I...I think we should take this slow," Adelaide whispers with her eyes closed, "I can't rush into this and risk losing you forever, Jo."

"You won't," he whispers back as they both look up into each other's eyes, "you won't ever lose me. But we can take as long as you need. We'll do this your way, Del. However you feel comfortable. Like I said, I don't care about anything else as long as it's you and me," he replies as Adelaide smiles at him softy.

"But before that, I think I want to kiss you one more time," he says, "can I?"

Adelaide chuckles at his sweet gesture and nods, that being all the confirmation Joseph needed before he crashed his lips onto hers again. To both of them, it felt as if their whole world had been waiting for this moment. As if all the love inside their souls, as well as their bodies combine a passionate mixture of feelings, their bodies pressed together heatedly against each other's, breathing heavily as their lips pressed together. They could taste their shared breath, feel the thud of their combined heartbeat as they fumbled to give a stable footing on the ground, not being able to get enough of each other.

But yet again, their wretched lungs were being needy, causing them to pull away from each other unwillingly.

"We should head back before the staff kicks us out," Adelaide jokes as Joseph chuckles, holding out his hand for her to take. He wraps his arms around her waist, her resting her head of his shoulder as they both walked back to their room with giant smiles plastered on both their faces.

That night, the two slept peacefully in each other's embrace for the first time in a long while. Being cuddled up against each other, basking in their presence, everything was perfect in that moment.

"Thank you for everything, Jo," Adelaide mumbles right before falling asleep in his arms as he smiles down at her.

"Anything for you, my love," he whispers back, placing a small kiss on her forehead before he too fell asleep, with the love of his life in his arms. It was just them and no one else. It felt right. It felt like it was meant to be this way all along.

*end of flashback*

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

By the time Adelaide had finished her story, all the girls had tears sparkling in their eyes.

"That is single-handedly the most adorable thing I've ever heard," Danielle sniffles.

"We're all so happy for you, Addy," Candice exclaims, hugging her tightly as the others joined in as well.

"We're rooting for you both," Kat adds as the others nod.

"You know, I think it never worked for both of you before this because it was never meant to be anyone else. Just you two," Claire chimes in as Adelaide smiles at the thought.

"Thanks, you guys," she replies as a blush creeps up on her face, yet again at the thought of him.

With that, the girls went on gossiping about their lives, spending the entire day to themselves, not even letting Adelaide answer Joseph's million calls, saying he couldn't already be stealing their girl from them.

On the other end, when Joseph finished his story, the guys all looked at him, proud and happy.

"Damn it," Daniel curses while wiping away fake tears, "this is a proud dad moment. You finally did it, man."

"We're happy for you two," Steven adds.

"Yes we are. Like I said years ago, if it's gotta be someone with Addy, I'm happy it's you," Ian agrees.

"Yes, at least we know where you live, in case you mess up," Sebastian jokes, causing everyone to laugh.

"I promise I won't hurt her," Joseph replies sincerely, "ever. I love her, I really do. And I'll do anything to keep her happy," he says while looking directly at Will.

"I know that, man," Will replies, "I know Addy's safe as long as she's with you. I think we all do."

Joseph nods in appreciation as Daniel speaks up again, "okay now that story-time and the threatening session is over, let's get drunk!"

The others laugh at his antics before getting the beer bottles out and spending the entire day chatting away.

[tagged: phoebejtonkin, elizabetholsenofficial, katgraham, nina, claireholt, craccola, thedaniellecampbell, rachieskasten]

View comments

mr.danielgillies Hope you had fun without us 🙄

↪ adelaidebrown We did, tysm 😊

↪ paulwesley We had more fun than you did, though

↪ phobejtonkin It's not a competition, Paul

↪ williamgbrown You're only saying that since you know you'll lose

↪ adelaidebrown Where are your manners, Will? Don't make me tell mom

usernamej I love Will and Addy's sibling bond

usernamet OMG Will was with the guys today aww

therealjosephmorgan Tell me you didn't make all that

↪ adelaidebrown What if I did?

↪ therealjosephmorgan Is your house still intact?

↪ adelaidebrown Ugh, you're being meann

↪ therealjosephmorgan I'm just concerned

↪ adelaidebrown For my house? Not me? Okay

↪ mr.danielgillies Hey kids, take the fight to the GC, not here. But also not DMs cause I wanna know what happens next

usernamey daniel omg-

usernamea I'm loving all this content

↪ usernamed The #Joselaide interactions>>>

usernameg  Anyone else notice how Toby and Addy barely interact anymore?

↪ usernamek  YES. Wonder what happened

↪ usernamew Maybe the rumors were true

[tagged: mr.danielgillies, imsebastianstan, chrisevans, paulwesley, iansomerholder, charlesdavis2013, williamgbrown, therealjosephmorgan]

View comments

adelaidebrown Sick invite, @therealjosephmorgan

↪ therealjosephmorgan Maybe our invite to your 'brunch' got lost in the mail, huh?

↪ adelaidebrown Ranma ate it

usernameh Omg hahah raNma ate it

usernameq Will hanging out at his future brother-in-laws place aww

↪ usernamef Let's not jump that far but YES, awww

Author's Note
"Part Time Lovers" hit 2k reads and is trending #1 on Adelaidekane. So here's a 'thank you' treat for you all, lysm. Thanks for all the support you all show!