Work Text:
Dating had never really been at the top of Octavio’s priority list.
Dating someone would probably be cool and all, but like, if he had to make a top ten list of things most important to him in life, having a boyfriend would definitely be in the lower half of that list. Defying death was number one, obviously, and getting a pet bunny barely edged out having his own indoor skate park at number two.
Being in the Apex Games, though, ticked a lot of the boxes on his list automatically. Defying death, yup. Blow shit up, definitely. Annoy Che whenever they were on the same squad. He bought a new pet bunny as a reward for himself after winning one of the Games, and he may not have an indoor skate park yet, but getting a boyfriend suddenly found itself a little higher on his priority list...if only to satiate his boredom outside of the Games.
Some stuff happened, things were broken, Crypto shouted at him, some other stuff happened, then they were kissing and now they were dating. How they got there wasn't important. What mattered was the fact that he did have a boyfriend now, so he could put all of his focus into getting that halfpipe installed.
Having a boyfriend was pretty cool, actually, and having Taejoon as his boyfriend, specifically, was very cool. For several reasons, those being:
- He had a big dick. That was the most important reason he dated Taejoon. Definitely that, and nothing else.
- He listened to Octavio ramble about his favorite things without telling him to shut up (much), and also listened to him go off on tangents about what he did during his day or the stunts he performed. He didn't even protest the way he told his stories, which Che often called ‘meandering’. So that was neat.
- Being on the run from the Syndicate and Gaean authorities made him a fugitive and dating a fugitive was way, way more exciting than dating some pencil-pusher from Psamathe. Being a hot and not-boring boyfriend were his only requirements for having a boyfriend.
- The Thing he had started doing recently was pretty nice too, a Thing that had started entirely on accident but made Octavio feel Lots of Things.
The Thing was like. Really, really embarrassing to admit. One might think Octavio wouldn’t get embarrassed over stuff like that, but he did because he had an image to keep up, and that image was of a death-defying, high-speed daredevil who ate grenades for breakfast. Not a stupid gay who fell apart when his boyfriend said nice things about him.
Yes, Octavio wanted attention, but he was at least good at downplaying it, unlike Elliott. He did this for the rush, and the fans were just a bonus, he often said—but the fans were a really nice bonus, and more personalized attention from the people in his life specifically always made him feel Something, though that exact Something differed depending on the person.
Anita telling him he was on point whenever he hit all his shots made him feel Something, Fitzroy clapping him on the back after a particularly big boom! made him feel Something, and Taejoon calling him cute after he accidentally sent him a picture of himself made him feel Something.
‘Cuz that’s how it had started. An accident.
Octavio took a lot of selfies, mostly out of boredom. He posted the cool ones—the ones taken during the Games whenever he pulled off something astounding—but a lot of them were just on his phone with nowhere to go. They were usually of his bare face, and he wasn’t planning on doing a face reveal anytime soon, as the mask was a part of the magic of Octane, so he wasn’t gonna post them on social media. It wasn’t like he was going to send any of the other Legends his ugly mug, either. So they just sat in his gallery, collecting metaphorical dust.
A lot of them had filters or scribbles he’d done while bored, messing around on his phone while in a space he couldn’t exactly act out in, like public transport. In fact, public transport was where had been when he’d first done it.
Arms hooked around a pole to keep himself from falling to the ground, leaning against it heavily and texting Taejoon while the rest of the subway passengers yawned or otherwise looked dead on their feet. The two of them were going to have lunch at one of Octavio’s favorite cantinas, and he was talking to his boyfriend on the way to his place just to give himself something to do.
At some point he brought up his new pet bunny, and went into his gallery to select a photo of her to send. While scrolling, though, he accidentally selected a selfie of himself without noticing, so when he finally sent the picture of her it also sent that selfie. A stupid, filtered selfie he’d scribbled cat ears and curse words on.
Octavio: ok first of all shes not a demon
Octavio: she is a BUNNY
Crypto: same difference.
Octavio: FUCK U
Octavio: SHES BABY
Octavio: [image.png]
Octavio: [image.png]
Crypto: ?
Octavio: oh shit
Octavio: that 1st one was an accident
Crypto: cute.
Octavio: ur talkign about the bunny right
Crypto: no.
Crypto: i’m talking about you.
Octavio: e
He almost dropped his phone as he read that.
Octavio wanted to chalk it up to the train taking a sudden, sharp turn, but he knew from the mysteriously hot feeling beneath his collar that that was not the real reason at all.
Staring at his phone, Octavio read everything over and over again. From the name at the top (Crypto, ‘for security reasons’ or whatever) to the final text he’d sent—’I’m talking about you’. Blunt, like he typically was.
Okay, so he wasn’t hallucinating. Taejoon really had said that about him. In response to one of his stupid selfies. With cat ears.
Octavio could have responded to that message in several different ways, but he was trying desperately to not feel like a fool who got flustered by a simple compliment, so he just said the first retort he could think of.
Octavio: oh so ur a catboy fucker now
Crypto: i don’t know why i bother.
Octavio: do u want me to wear cat ears the next time we fuck
Crypto: i’m suddenly very busy and have to cancel our plans today.
Octavio: ok
Octavio: coward
Crypto: i’m not a coward
Octavio: if u weren’t a coward u would admit u like catboys
Crypto: i will not be baited into this
Octavio: so u don’t like me???
Octavio: is that what ur saying
Octavio: by your indirect admittance of catboyphobia
Crypto: honestly, i’m just impressed you know how to spell ‘admittance’
Crypto: i do not like catboys. i do like that picture, though, and i think you look cute. that’s what i was trying to say
The subway slowed to a stop, his stop, and he rushed to get off the damn thing before he could catch fire, because his face was burning right now.
Why the hell was he reacting like this? Taejoon called him a plethora of things all the time, cute being one of them, and he’d never had this sort of reaction. In fact, this was a very Taejoon-like response—every time he called that nerd cute or hot or whatever his face would flush, because he was a stupid loser and Octavio was not a stupid loser, thank you very much.
Maybe it was because he hadn’t slept in a couple of days and was a little off. Maybe Taejoon had just called him ‘cute’ despite the stupid picture because he felt an obligation to do so, being his boyfriend at all. Maybe this was just a fluke.
That must be it.
Not wanting his boyfriend to think he’d been rendered speechless by his compliment, he texted back the only thing he could think of as he climbed up the station stairs—
Octavio: what kind of sick fuck doesnt like catboys
After The Incident, Octavio started sending more selfies. Another ‘accident’, just to see if his boyfriend would respond in the same way, and he did. Then he started sending them without disguising the fact that he was sending them just to fish for compliments, and Taejoon obliged him, every single time.
Whenever the other man told him he looked nice or hot or that he liked his earrings or whatever, he would feel Something, even as he tried to play it off as a joke and told Taejoon that he was wrong.
Octavio liked attention, he was self-aware enough to admit that, but the specific feeling he got whenever he sent Taejoon a picture of himself was a little different than the feeling his fans cheering him on gave him. It was more intimate, almost, and that was kind of scary but also he really, really liked it. Liked it enough that he sent Taejoon what must be like twenty selfies a week; different angles, outfits, overall vibes.
Selfies where he made stupid expressions and selfies where he slid his hands beneath his shirt and tried not to let his glee show whenever Taejoon responded in the exact way he wanted him to.
("Whoa, hey," Octavio said, approaching Taejoon from behind and practically yanking his phone from his hand. "I just saw me."
"That's how pictures work," Taejoon replied, dry, as he held his hand out expectantly for his phone back. Octavio went into Taejoon's gallery with a smirk, seeing what had made him grab his phone in the first place: the photos of Octavio he'd saved.
"Isn't this some kind of 'security risk'?" Octavio teased, going through each of the pictures. It looked like he saved them all. "What if someone hacks your phone, Hackerman?"
"They're all encoded, and besides, nobody could get into my phone anyway. I'm not some hack." Taejoon seemed pleased with his own pun. God he hung around Natalie too much.
Octavio tossed him his phone back with raised eyebrows. "Sure. That's what you said about your drone."
Taejoon flushed. "That was different. I've got better security, now."
"For some stupid photos?" Octavio teased, pushing past him to grab at his skateboard. He'd been about to head out.
"I like them," Taejoon murmured, and Octavio fought back the silly grin threatening to split across his face, feeling Something once again.)
Knowing Taejoon saved his dumb photos motivated him to take even more, now that he knew his boyfriend probably meant everything he'd said about him being cute. Because he was right, of course. Octavio was cute as hell. He didn't know why he'd doubted, even for a second, the things Taejoon said. He was cute! And hilarious! He was a fucking catch!
(Get a grip, Silva.)
Currently he was posed in front of his bathroom mirror after a work-out, wearing a new shirt he’d gotten over the weekend. It was his new merch cut into a crop-top, his preferred style, with a pair of shorts he'd picked up from the floor. He took a quick picture of himself, tilting his torso juuuuuust right to get the light to glint off his abs, before sending it to Taejoon.
The response was almost instant, as if the other man knew he'd been about to send him something.
Octavio: [image.png]
Octavio: buenos dias fuckboy
Crypto: i’m begging you to stop beginning every conversation with that
Crypto: but hi, you look cute. i like your shirt
Octavio: and ?
Crypto: i want to kiss you.
Fuck. Feelings. He was feeling things. Fuck.
Still, he kept pushing, wanting to hear it all.
Octavio: and ??
Crypto: i can tell you’ve been working out :)
Octavio: YES
Octavio: holy trinity
Crypto: we do this every day
Crypto: aren’t you getting tired of it?
Octavio: nope
Octavio: i like it when u call me cute. exposes the fact that ur gay
Crypto: i think this situation says more about you than it does me
Octavio: no it doesnt
Crypto: you like me calling you cute
Octavio: i do not
Crypto: sure.
Octavio: i just think you look dumb
Octavio: callign me cute
Octavio: cuz im not cute
Octavio: im a daredevil
Octavio: and also i look fucked up
Octavio: so ha
Octavio: this is just me making fun of u
Crypto: okay
Crypto: well, it’s cute anyway
Crypto: you're very cute.
He flopped backwards onto his bed, glaring at his phone as his cheeks burned red, because he had sought compliments, not being called out. Taejoon had played along up until that point, not pointing out the fact that Octavio was clearly fishing for praise, but now that he had he found himself floundering.
Stupid Taejoon. Stupid Octavio for reacting like That to simple compliments and his boyfriend figuring it out. What the fuck was wrong with him.
Octavio: no im not
Octavio: u know what
Octavio: YOU send me a selfie
Octavio: so i can tell u that u look stupid
Octavio: pendejo
Crypto: sure.
Surprisingly, his boyfriend obliged with an image that had a particular lazy quality to it—Taejoon laying across his couch, propped up on a pillow with his laptop resting on his chest, his hair messy. He wore a loose black t-shirt, and Octavio could see the built musculature of his chest even at this angle. His mouth went dry.
Crypto: go ahead.
Crypto: call me stupid.
He was tempted to, had definitely been planning to do it, but now his fingers hovered over his keyboard as he debated just...being honest with him, because he looked good. He looked hot, cute, sexy, and a bunch of other words in at least two different languages, and Octavio kind of wanted to tell him that. Maybe then he’d get another selfie. Maybe then Taejoon would flush prettily for him.
Octavio stared at the picture again, taking in the shape of Taejoon’s face, the small tilt to the corner of his mouth like he was holding back a smirk, and felt Something again.
Stupid Taejoon. He was going to tell him that he was stupid, because he was. He was a stupid computer nerd and one selfie wasn't gonna change that.
But what came instead was—
Octavio: fuck ur hot
Crypto: that’s not exactly an insult
Octavio: shut up
Octavio: send me another one
Taejoon obliged him once again, this one with his fingers carded through his hair and a small smile on his face. He looked tired, but it was still a cute picture. The fact that he had sent it all was something of a miracle.
He exited out of the messaging app and then re-entered, just to make sure that it wasn't a figment of his imagination. Taejoon's pretty brown eyes staring back at him told him it wasn't.
Octavio: one more
Crypto: have you ever said ‘please’ in your life?
Octavio: por favor
Octavio: now
The third picture took a bit longer to be sent, but he understood why as soon as he saw it. Taejoon’s face was partially hidden by his cat, his hand against its chest as they both looked into the camera. The cat’s mouth was half-opened in an unheard meow.
Octavio saved all three of these pictures. He had that same warm feeling inside him, the same one he got whenever Taejoon complimented him. He found his bunny hopping around his TV cables (uh oh) before holding her up and taking a picture with her, not wanting to be one-upped by the older man.
He sent him one last message.
Octavio: [image.png]
Octavio: ur dumb u look dumb and i think u should send me more selfies so i can make fun of u im gonna go stream bye
He needed to take his mind off his boyfriend right now. Setting the bunny down and shuffling around his room, he eventually found his mask and pulled it onto his face, successfully hiding the flush that had risen to his cheeks. He could think about why sending Taejoon selfies and getting the same in return made him feel like this later--or rather, put it off and just pretend that he didn't care. For now, he had games to play and fans to please.
Behind him, his phone buzzed on his bed with another message.
Crypto: [image.png]
Crypto: i mean it, octavio.
Crypto: 너는 너무 귀여워요.