THIS WAS SO GOOD. first of joshua hong man of science (facts. evidence. tangential truths) had me weak in the knees and then u had to go blast me wide open with joshua hong, man of science who is also just terribly homesick but trying to conceal it all, paired with a vernon who just Sees And Knows And Wants to Let His Good Friend Know that he’s here to listen. and ugh i love how you write joshua’s voice here, how he’s slippery on purpose (like jeonghan!) but for a different purpose — if he let out all the things he was feeling, he wouldn’t know himself from the Joshua Hong of Seventeen, and i feel like you hit/hinted at this in a really cool way… also i always forget joshua hong is a capricorn and thus an earth sign (like me) and its pieces like these that always nail the coffin home. like yes absolutely joshua hong would pretend that everything is fine even if it’s not fine, even if it’s killing him, and of course little acts of kindness can bring it out (even if it’s scary!).

man i love rocket duo and the way you also explored how they can talk to each other (even though historically they do tend to be the more quiet ones of the group) was just. so perfect. they’re very steady bros…

my fave part:
It’s okay, hyung.” Vernon sighs and tucks his head into Joshua’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”

Oh. Okay.

“Promise?” Joshua asks with a teasing lilt in his voice.

An aborted laugh startles itself out of Vernon. He isn’t good at this either, Joshua realizes. But he’s trying to get it out of his system, too. Together.

This could be halfway. This could be it.