Maya Meets World
(Disclaimer: I own zero things, except my two dogs -they're not in this fic though. All characters are MJ/Disney)

Chapter 1: Maya Meets Grad School

Maya slung herself into a seat in the back row, her hair thrown on top of her head in a large messy bun. She brought her knee to her chest resting the heel of her boot on the front half of her chair. Pulling out a sketchpad, Maya's attention was immediately centered on a new sketch.

Tonight was the first night of class for Maya. She sat in her seat, her toe tapping along to her internal soundtrack as the remaining members of the class filled in.

Art History. A love-hate relationship for Maya. Having Mr. Matthews as her history teacher for the majority of her adolescence, Maya always had an interest in history, but when it came to art, she would much rather be acting than reading. As class began, Maya tried to pull herself out of her current focus.

New Message. From: Riley
Good luck tonight, Peaches! Stop drawing and pay attention.

Maya chuckled to herself and clicked her phone off without responding to Riley's message. She sat her pen down and propped her head in her hand as she listened to course objectives and schedules for the semester.

The sound of hurried feet down the hallway, followed by the class door opening distracted Maya from what her professor was saying. She picked up her pen and was quickly pulled back into her sketch. As a seat near her rattled, the late student picking his spot for the night, Maya continued drawing.

"Let's take a break and we'll meet back here in say, ten minutes." Dr. Khan announced and Maya finally looked up from her drawing. She pulled her phone out of her bag and clicked the side lighting up the time. Two hours? She thought. She had been so engulfed in drawing that two hours had passed without her realizing it.

A hand appeared at the top of her sketchpad, "Pen, huh?"

Maya was used to getting this question and without missing a beat, she spit out her frequent response, "Pens are honest." She said finally looking up. In an instant that felt like a lifetime, Maya felt her heart speed up, the blood rushing to her cheeks and an all too familiar feeling in her stomach that was almost exclusive to this one person. "Josh," she exhaled.

Josh smiled and extended his arms, opening for a hug from his friend he hadn't seen in years.

Maya stood up and attempted to rein in those feelings she hadn't felt in years. She leaned onto her tiptoes as she embraced a now mid-twenty year old Joshua Matthews.

"How've you been, Maya? It has to have been what, two -three years?" Josh asked pulling himself back eyeing Maya up and down with an endearing look in his eyes.

Maya raised an eyebrow and nodded. "At least."

"Alright class, let's bring it back in…" Dr. Kahn announced settling the remaining chatter happening in the classroom.

"We need to catch up." Josh nodded in Maya's direction tapping her desk then stepping back to his seat with a smile.

"Yeah," Maya nodded. She picked up her pen, flipped to a blank page in her sketchpad and focused her attention downward once more. She wracked her brain for a song to distract her while she sketched, but nothing came; her internal soundtrack had paused, replaced with past conversations and thoughts she had as a teenager. She began tapping on pad out of frustration, and the simple need to be moving her pen. She thought something would come, something always comes. But, for the remaining 90 minutes of class, Maya drew nothing.

"We'll see you all next week."

And with that, Maya slapped the cover of her sketchpad down frustrated with herself, and tossed the pad and pen into her bag. She quickly grabbed her keys and slung her bag over her shoulder as she practically stomped out of class.

"Whoa, hey, hey -" Josh quickly gathered his notebook and jacket, bumping into a desk as he tried to hurry out of the classroom to catch up to Maya. "Maya," He said touching her shoulder.

Maya turned and smiled "Oh hey."

"In a hurry?"

Maya scratched her head and furrowed her brow slightly. "What? No. Sorry. Writer's block." she said with a smile, nodding to her bag.

"No way, you were so focused on that thing during class."

Maya looked back up at Josh confused, he was sitting a row in front of her in class, how would he know how focused she was on her sketchpad. She shook her head, trying not to give it too much thought.

The sound of a phone vibrating came from Joshua's direction and he pulled out his phone giving it a quick glance. "Mmm." He said clinching his jaw and clicked the phone back to blackness. "I gotta head out, but we definitely need to catch up. It was really good to see you again, Maya." Josh said giving Maya another quick hug. "Missed you, kid."

Maya chuckled and rolled her eyes slightly, kid.

Maya stared at her sketchpad blankly. She glanced at her clock: 3:08AM. Dammit. She thought. She sighed in frustration as she closed her pad, not having added a single line in the past seven and a half hours. She shut the lights off in her room, her head hitting her pillow, but her eyes fixating on the nothingness in front of her as her mind continued to play images and conversations with a certain brunette on a loop in her head.

8:15AM

New Message: (212)-555-7692
Hey Maya, it's Josh. Riley gave me your number. It was really great seeing you last night. Looking forward to class next week.

Maya took a deep breath and dialed her best friend's number. "Riley. Did you give your Uncle Josh my number?"

"Well, hello to you, too, Maya," Riley started. "And listen, he called, and I hadn't heard from him in a long time. He's doing really well. Hey, did you know he's in Grad school too? Oh…" she trailed off slowly realizing now why Josh had called her so late last night.

"Yeah…" Maya said knowingly, her eyes narrowing.

"Well, you're welcome." Riley said with a proud smile.

Maya shook her head, "No, Riley, not you're welcome. Don't you think if I wanted him to have my number I would have given it to him?"

"Don't you think this is the universe saying 'hi'?"

Maya could hear the smile on Riley's face through the phone. "Nooo, I think this is Riley."

"Think what you want, Maya." Riley said raising a finger in the air firmly believing the universe brought these two back together.

"When are you working?" Maya asked changing the subject.

"I've got a 12 tomorrow and Sunday."

"What happens at an animal hospital from 11PM to 4AM?" Maya asked genuinely intrigued.

"Hopefully nothing, Maya! It's a hospital for animals!" Riley replied sounding hurt just thinking about animals needing to be taken to the hospital. If it were at all possible, Riley's sweetness had only grown with time. Her love and awe for the world around her never waned, and she was always a breath of fresh air for her lifelong best friend.

Maya laughed, "Alright, Riles. Well, call me when you're off and we'll go get drinks."

"Coffee. Noon. Me and you."

Maya laughed. "I can do that." she nodded.

"Perfect! I love you, Peaches." Riley said as sweet and loving as she could.

Maya couldn't help but smile at the honesty in her friend's voice. "Love you too, Honey," she replied with some of that Riley Matthews sweetness that had rubbed off on her over the years.

To: Josh Matthews
Josh -it was good seeing you last night too. I'm looking forward to class as well. Art history: 5 stars.

Almost as soon as the tone ended that the text had been sent, Maya's phone began ringing.

Incoming Call: Josh Matthews

"What?" Maya said to herself. "Hell." She whispered and hit the green answer button. "This is Maya."

"Maya! Hey! It's Josh."

"Josh…?" Maya played dumb.

"Matthews… Riley's uncle… Uncle Bo - - "

Maya cut him off, "Hmm… doesn't ring a bell. Sorry, you must have the wrong number." She continued to tease him.

"Maya!" Josh half yelled.

"Ah, I'm just screwin' with ya, Matthews. What's up?" She said tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Maya! You had me thinking I called the wrong number and everything, woman."

Woman. Better than kid.

"So you needing help with our assignment already?"

"We have an assignment already?!" Josh exclaimed panicked.

Maya got tickled and couldn't hold in her laughter. "Gee, for being three years older than me, I seem to have this whole grad school thing down way better than you."

"Hey, hey, hey."

"Oh, I'm sorry, class just starts ten minutes earlier for the rest of us." Maya continued to poke at Josh.

"Alright, I deserve that one." Josh conceded. "What are you doing tonight, I really want to see you again." Josh's voice was low and soft, exactly how Maya remembered it, exactly how it always was and that feeling in Maya's chest returned like no time had passed.

Maya paused for a moment thinking about her options. She could feel her heart beating harder against her chest and her face reddening just at the thought of seeing Josh again. What the hell? "I'm free if you're payin." she chirped back.

Josh laughed. "Deal. You pick where. Take me somewhere that means something to you."

"Okay. I'll shoot you an address."

"Perfect. Okay, well, I'll see you soon then."

"Bye, Josh," Maya laughed. She could hear the nervousness in his voice, she came to recognize it throughout her teens. It was hard for her being a fifteen year old with feelings for an seventeen year old. But the more the two hung out, the older Maya got, the harder it became for Josh as he continually fought the feelings they both admitted they had for each other. By the time Maya was seventeen, her senior year in high school, Josh had all but disappeared from her life. She continued to live her life, and he lived his as well; graduating college, traveling, apparently coming back to school…? Maya shook her head, refocusing her thoughts. Was this someday?

End of Chapter 1

Alright, so like every other Joshaya shipper, GMSL p1&2 had me all in my feels. Immediately after watching the episode I text my sister and told her "I feel too many things right now. I need to write fan fiction or something" and so here I am. I've obviously aged them, this is keeping in line with GMW cannon, but it is a future fic. (Sorry, it's been a million years since I was a teenager, and that headspace was never a fun one for me, so let's make them adults and give em some grown up things to deal with, because man does life just get even more complicated!)

I haven't written anything like this in… over ten years. (See my profile for the whole background on that/me). Unfortunately, I can't promise an update schedule at this time, but I have a goal to draft two chapters a day, and I have an outline currently slated for 27 chapters and an epilogue -potentially a follow-up one shot at the very end, and I currently have 8 written! (Though, I admit, this is day six working on it, so I'm already a little behind schedule)

I hope you guys enjoy and, if you have any comments or writing critiques/suggestions, I live for feedback, feel free to share! I know the route to improvement, and feedback plays a big part of that.

Thanks for reading! I hope you guys hang with me -it's been a really fun ride so far writing this story, and I love where it goes!

Until next time,
Be Kind. Do Good.
3 Manders

Up Next: Chapter 2: Maya Meets the Crypt Cafe (Maya and Josh meet for drinks and catch up)