Greta Van Fleet // Oneshots

A Colored World // Josh Kiszka

Warnings: none–pure candy fluff, we love our sunshine boy~

This comes to us by an outside request–thank you! I'm always flattered to be entrusted with all of your requests and I hope this one delivers. This is also for Josh himself, though I know the boys don't read this stuff (nor should they, let's be real), I know we're all sending him some major love right now & I hope, in some fantastical and cosmic way, the love from this gets to him, too.

—

You loved your kids–well, "your" kids–but the lack of sleep and their, for whatever reason, more exuberant energy than normal was draining you little by little. It had to be because the school year was ending soon. Still, you imagined if you were 4 years old again, you wouldn't ever feel like you were bogged down by schedules or even the comings and goings of the sun and the seasons, and you envied that sort of blissful ignorance they had.

Today it was all about creativity–that was sort of the thing every day actually, but you'd made a point to bring in various CDs you thought the kids would like, and simple sheet music for certain songs so they could follow, so all of you could sing together. Not that singing was a great skill of yours, but you enjoyed doing it with the kids when you could. They were always enthusiastic and fun, always eager to try something new and never too fearful to just belt it the hell out.

The jingling of something–you couldn't discern what yet–as you started up the computer and readied your collection of CDs caused you to turn to the doorway where, like a daydream come to life, Josh was there, the gold in his ears glimmering as he turned his head. He looked to the kids first, a big smile on his face as he tapped the tambourine against his knee, then he met your eyes and the smile became an open-mouthed grin.

The tambourine jingled louder when he wrapped his arms around you and squeezed. "Hey, pretty lady," he said, that warm voice you'd missed so much gentle in your ear. "I missed you."

You squeezed him back. "I missed you too–what are you doing here? I didn't know you'd be back in town."

"We took a detour," he told you, pulling back and kissing your cheek. "And I remembered you said today was music day, so I sort of invited myself, if that's okay."

You were blushing, feeling like you must be as exuberant as your kids. "Yeah, are you kidding?" you replied and ruffled his hair. "They'll actually have a real musician teaching them."

Josh laughed, tipping his head back. "Well, we'll see. What did you have planned?"

"Okay, don't laugh," you began, turning to rifle through the CDs. "I was gonna start with a classic: 'We Are The Dinosaurs.'"

Josh did laugh, but not at you, nor at the song choice. He moved in close and looked it over with you. "That's great–who doesn't love dinosaurs?"

"I feel like you could easily incorporate your tambourine into it," you said, gently flicking a bell with your fingertip. "And it's really easy to sing along to, obviously."

He smiled again. "I'll try to follow along."

You both sat in front of the kids, all of them in a circle on the bright blue and purple carpet, the music just beginning and Josh readying his tambourine, smiling at the kids. You loved that Josh was like a kid himself, with his wonder and amusement seemingly unwavering, and him in this particular environment just seemed to work.

He did quickly work with the song, establishing his rhythm and interjection of the tambourine easily, and the lyrics were even easier to attach himself to. You knew the song by heart, having listened to it a thousand times, but with Josh playing and singing next to you, it felt like an entirely new experience.

One of your kids was already very taken with Josh, which you weren't surprised by. He'd always reminded you of Josh a little, with his boisterous energy and loud laugh, his vibrant silliness and affinity for music, too. He looked up at Josh with big, awe-struck eyes, moving them down to the tambourine whenever Josh tapped it, and started to clap along to that same tambourine playing.

You giggled but kept singing, getting a kick out of the whole thing. When it ended, no one seemed too eager to have it all end, so you turned to Josh and asked, "What if we did 'Anthem?'"

He grinned at that and squeezed your knee. "It might not be the same without Jake's guitar, but I think you and I could make up for it."

And you felt you both did–Josh's voice was as beautiful as ever and he made sure you were in sync, swaying side to side in your chairs, him tapping the tambourine against his knee and into his hand. You both managed to corral the kids into singing the chorus in unison–just like in the actual song–with you getting them started and Josh doing his classic vocalizations, his free hand moving in the air with each note.

The kids were super into it and you were too, glancing over at Josh continuously, your heart swelling with adoration. He caught your eye and smiled, then winked, and your heart melted.

"Anthem" had always been your favorite Greta Van Fleet song. You loved its endearing simplicity, its uncomplicated message and authenticity, and singing it alongside your most favorite person felt like yet another daydream. Whenever you heard the song, you felt like maybe the world really could go back to being vibrant and colorful, full of love and tenderness, and the kids singing with you made that daydream feel more and more like a real possibility.

After giving the kids their snacks, you handed a juice box to Josh and smiled, taking one for yourself too. He smiled back and you both sat on the desk, his tambourine motionless at his side for now.

"You're so cute," you told him as he took the first sip, watching his lips pursed around the tiny plastic straw. "Thank you for coming in and surprising all of us."

"It was really for you, Y/N," he said, leaning into your side. "But I had a lot of fun. You think they like me?"

You laughed. "Yeah, no doubt–did you not see them staring at you?"

"It's the tambourine," he insisted and rested his head on your shoulder. "I really missed you."

You sighed and rested your hand on his leg. "I missed you too, Josh."

"We're leaving tomorrow," he said, placing his free hand on top of yours. "So can I see you after school today?"

There went your heart again, swelling to the point of bursting. "Yeah, I'd love that," you said, smiling a little to yourself at the purple stain on Josh's lips.

Josh glanced out at the kids, all seeming to be distracted by their own juice boxes and the song "Down By The Bay" playing from the speakers, then leaned into you and kissed your lips–a lingering, gentle kiss that tasted like sugared grapes, his tambourine jingling quietly as you moved closer to one another.