Work Text:
You sigh deeply, throwing the datapad onto the table with a loud thunk. Quinn raises his head from his own screen, giving you his full attention. “Is everything alright, love?” he asks. You can see that he’s rising from his seat which makes you put your hand up. “I’m fine. Really. You don’t need to come here.”
Quinn hesitates but eventually follows with his original plan, and comes to sit next to you. “You have work,” you insist. “That can wait,” he counters and takes your datapad from the table with your hesitant permission.
He looks through it and you can’t help but keep your eyes on him, searching for any sign of disappointment. It never comes. “What you have done here is amazing,” Quinn says, and you roll your eyes, even though a blush rises to your cheeks. You take the datapad from him.
“It’s not good enough. No one is going to like it,” you say and look at your work frustrated. You immediately pick up all the mistakes that are in it. “I like it,” Quinn offers.
“You always say that.”
“Because it’s true,” he says. He sounds so confident, as if what he’s saying is a fact and not just his opinion. You look at him, not really knowing what to say. Quinn’s brows furrow and he thinks hard. “You know why I was hesitant to share my feelings with you?” he asks.
“You feared that I wouldn’t feel the same way, and that even if I did, I would eventually grow to hate you,” you say. He has told you this before, and you still find it odd. How could he have thought that you wouldn’t like him? He is everything that you have ever wanted in a partner.
Quinn nods. “Fear,” he says, taking your hand into his own. His intense blue eyes peer into your soul. “If I had not gotten over my fear, I wouldn’t now be able to share my life with the most wonderful person in the galaxy.”
He kisses you, but it’s cut short when you let out an embarrassed little laughter. “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme example?” you ask. Quinn’s cheeks flush but he shakes his head. “The principle is the same. The more you fear, the less you get to experience everything life has to offer you. Even if it seems hard, sometimes you just have to look past all the flaws and throw yourself out there.”
“Like you did with me,” you say and smile, starting to understand. Quinn answers to your smile and wraps his arms around you, looking at your datapad. “So?” he asks. You let your gaze drop to your work again. The mistakes are still rather glaring, but when you look at Quinn’s reassuring face, you nod.
Even if your stomach twists into a knot, you press the upload button, sharing your work to the galaxy. “People are going to love it,” Quinn murmurs against your ear, taking away the datapad from you. “And if they don’t, for whatever obscure reason, I still do.”