Chapter Text
Attention Apex Legends. Please make way to the main dropship area to receive your teams and prepare for drop.
Those words made Tae Joon panic. He wasn’t scared though, don’t get him wrong- he’d been in the ring too many times to count, so much so that he’d grown numb to the anxiety that used to seize him as he fell into the arena. No, he was panicking because no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find his fucking jacket. He had spares, of course, but they were either in the wash from the last few games or unwearable due to bullet holes in the fabric. This was his one good jacket, where the fuck was it? He swore he had it hung up on his door, as he usually did, but it wasn’t fucking there when he looked. He’d torn apart his room looking, he’d even peeked into his roommate’s rooms to see if it could’ve gotten added to their laundry by accident. Nothing. After looking under his bed for the tenth time he took a seat, running a hand through his hair. Was he just going insane?
“Hey, Crypto- you coming?” he heard Mirage call from the lounge area, and huffed sharply. He didn’t need his jacket, he just… wanted it. He didn’t need it. He wanted it. He’d be fine without it.
But he wanted it .
He whistled for Hack, and she followed through with a soft beep as he picked the harness up from where it laid on the floor. He slipped it on, and she fit nicely into the holster on his back. He walked out, and immediately-
“Bastard.” he hissed, and Octavio stared at him guiltily, a familiar white jacket wrapped tightly around him. “That’s mine. ” Sure, after growing up in an orphanage surrounded by other children at all times, he was used to having his shit ‘repurposed’ or ‘borrowed without permission’. But that didn’t mean he had to like it, whether Octavio was his boyfriend or not. Sure, seeing him in his clothes was a comforting thought, but that was while they were alone, in the privacy of their room, when they weren’t being supervised and picked apart by the media.
“Uh- I can explain.” Octavio muttered, tugging the jacket tighter around himself, and he could tell, even behind the mask and goggles, he was giving him a stupid, hopeful smile. It was one he’d grown familiar with, one Octavio would shoot him whenever he was caught doing something he knew would get his ass in trouble..
This was something he knew would get his ass in trouble.
“Give me my jacket, Octavio.” he grunted, holding out a hand for it. The overhead announcement blared again, and as it sounded he stared at Octavio, raising his eyebrows pointedly. “We don’t have time for games. I need it.”
Octavio rolled his eyes, backing away from Tae’s outstretched hand and starting to head to the main area where everyone was slowly collecting, staring up at the screens that displayed their team compositions for the day.
“You sound like my nanny, Kim.” he muttered, turning and sticking his tongue out at him. Tae-Joon’s eye twitched. He had half a mind to just yank the stupid jacket off of him, and he almost did- but his attention was caught by the overhead televisions. Caustic and Horizon were on a team together, Bangalore and Bloodhound, Lifeline and Wraith, Crypto and-
Of course .
He walked over to stand on the same launch pad, glancing down at Octavio, who was staring into his zipped up jacket, and… making cooing noises, babbling in Spanish like he was talking to a baby. He leaned over slightly to try and look.
“What the hell are you-” he was interrupted by the sudden jerk of the ship as they started to lower into the open air. Without his jacket, he was suddenly made aware of how cold it actually was on Talos, wind whipping at his skin, the icy chill sinking into his bones. He tried to ignore it. He was the jumpmaster, and on the map, he pinged Fragment East. Octavio usually liked to drop hot, much to his own dismay, but he wouldn’t hear the end of it if he didn’t let him have what he wanted e.
“No, don’t wanna.” Octavio shook his head, and instead, pinged Overlook, on almost the opposite side of the map from the trajectory of the ship. It would be a tough jump to make, but Tae-Joon could do it. But that brought on several questions. Why was he acting so strange? He was so… not-Octavio. Quiet, actually thinking ahead it seemed- what was his problem? Was there a problem? I mean, there had to be, because he wouldn’t be acting so fucking weird otherwise-
“Kim, c’mon, let’s go.” Octavio huffed, grabbing his hand and pulling him off into the open air. God he was so cold, he wished he could have his stupid fucking jacket-
He looked over at Octavio, and his confusion only grew. Usually, when he dropped, he was in his element- arms outstretched, yelling and cawing like some type of featherless bird, doing flips and tricks to impress his fans as they watched the livestreams of the games. As of now, he was essentially curled into a ball, arms wrapped around whatever it was sitting in his jacket.
You know what- whatever. He wasn’t going to worry about whatever was going on with Octavio right now. He had a job to do, and that was to carry his boyfriend’s sorry ass to a win, no matter how hard it was. He looked away, picking out a building to land in. Octavio picked the building farthest from him. He didn’t see anyone landing with them, which was great, a smooth start to a game was always nice, however rare.
The first few minutes went without hiccups, and Tae-Joon found himself armed with a Hemlok and a Triple Take. Not bad. He waited for Octavio to finish looting, which, again, was strange- usually, he’d be miles away by now, running towards a fight in order to third party them and steal a few kills. Tae-Joon usually just hung back and provided cover with Hack or a few well aimed sniper shots. But, he wasn’t necessarily complaining about not being rushed. Octavio finally caught up with him, but immediately jabbed a stim into his torso, using his other hand to toss out a jump pad and go flying.
Tae-Joon hated those things, and the sentiment only grew stronger when he faceplanted after trying to use it, pulling himself up from the snow with a groan. He made a mental note to short any cameras that were in the area, and sent out Hack to do so. In previous seasons, he’d been mocked for his inability to use such an essential piece of Octane’s character- they’d made a fucking compilation video of his numerous faceplants. Octavio, of course, loved watching it over and over again, oftentimes zooming in on his face as he realized he was going to hurt himself or mocking how his arms flailed in the air ‘like a big baby!’ Tae-Joon had to remind himself that he was essentially risking everything for Octavio sometimes, and that there was really no going back- no matter how annoying he was. Whatever, he was probably just doing it so he could get there first and nab whatever loot was left. He just had to keep that in mind. They moved to Geyser, picking through what little was left.
“Hey, Crypto- check and see if someone else is around.” Octavio’s voice chimed over the comms. Instead of clouding his mind with thoughts of how goddamn weird that was, Tae Joon instead crouched down inside of a building, opening up his cube. But Octavio normally wouldn’t care if any squads were in the area, he’d never asked about that before-
Hack interrupted his thoughts with a chirp, flying from her holster and heading outside to check the banners.
“Mm. There are no squads in the area.” he murmured. He didn’t hear a response from Octavio, and was just about to recall Hack- but curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to look for him. Hack flew up, surveying the area- it wasn’t hard to catch sight of Octavio, his bright green outfit standing out against the dull yellow-y green of the grass surrounding him. Hack moved lower down, and her buzzing must’ve caught Tavi’s attention, as he flinched, lunging at something moving in the grass. It was- It was pink, and- and fluffy, it looked like.
“Hyeon, go away! ” Octavio whined at him, curling around whatever it was so Hack couldn’t see it. However, he did catch a glimpse of a small, pink, fluffy paw poking out from between Octavio’s arms.
Wait a fucking minute.
Tae-Joon almost threw his cube to the ground at his realization, and he could feel the angered blush rising to his face. There was no way in hell Octavio was so stupid as to bring his fucking rabbit into the ring, but judging by what he just saw, and was going to confirm, it appeared he really was. He would say he couldn’t believe it, but that really wasn’t true- this felt 100% like something Octavio would do.
He stormed out into the field where Octavio was still curled up, his jacket moving and wriggling as Navi Jr. struggled in his arms.
“Show me. Now.” Tae demanded, and Octavio looked up at him guiltily.
“I- Hy-Hyeon, please-”
“I said show me.” he hissed, and Octavio let out a slow sigh, opening up his arms. Navi Jr. tumbled out, bouncing along in the grass for a moment before settling on munching on a purple flower she spotted. Tae felt rage build up in his system. He let out a slow, careful sigh trying to calm himself before he said anything stupid he might regret. Before he could even ask, however, Octavio started up, obviously full of nervous, anxious energy.
“Listen, Kim, I just- I kept thinking about her, sitting all alone in her cage whenever we had a match, she probably misses me so much when I’m not there, so I just had to bring her! Besides, I’ve been playing it super safe this whole time, and nothing happened! She’s totally safe when she’s with me, promise. I’ve got super good armor, and I’ll hide her in your jacket whenever we come up against a squad. I won’t get distracted or anything, either- and, and we have Hack to watch our backs too!” he babbled like an idiot, and Tae-Joon wondered why he was willingly putting himself through this. “I thought through everything before bringing her here, promise. The pocket in your jacket holds her perfectly, I’ve got snacks for her, and we’re taking breaks whenever she needs it! Besides, Bloodhound brings Artur into the ring all of the time, so I mean why can’t I-”
“What happens when we die, Octavio?” Tae-Joon interrupted, quirking an eyebrow and pursing his lips.
“Uh- what?” Octavio cocked his head to the side.
“When we get knocked, and bleed out. What happens to Navi?”
“Uh… she gets revived, just like we do.” he snorted, watching Navi as she thumped along, moving to another flower to snack on.
“No she doesn’t, Octavio. ”
Navi’s quiet nibbling was the only thing heard for a few moments, Tae-Joon holding eye contact with Octavio as the gears in his head turned.
“But- But I thought-”
“She’s an outsider in the ring, Octavio. The system won’t recognize her DNA, it won’t revive her like normal. If anything happens to her, it’s permanent . Did you really think this through? Or are you just that stupid?” he spat, and Octavio spluttered for a few minutes, then looked at Navi.
“I-I just thought-” Oh god, his voice cracked. Tae-Joon didn’t actually want to make him cry . “I just wanted to bring her, I didn’t know - Joon, you gotta help me.” he croaked, moving his goggles up to his forehead. His eyes were filled with tears.. “Please, you need to help me, please, Joo-”
Tae interrupted him by clamping a hand over where his mouth would be on his mask. He looked away for a minute to regain himself. He shouldn’t help Octavio. He really shouldn’t. This was a stupid mistake, something easily avoidable if he would’ve just thought things through. Even then, however, he knew for a fact that Octavio would be heartbroken if Navi Jr. died, and most likely wouldn’t speak to him again if Tae-Joon didn’t help him. He could almost imagine a devil on his shoulder and an angel on the other, arguing back and forth.
‘You’re dating an idiot! This is his fault, his problem, not yours!’
'But he loves that rabbit, if anything happened to her, he’d be so sad…’
‘Why should WE have to clean up after his mistakes? It isn’t our fault he has the IQ of a peanut!’
At that point, he shook his head, looking at Octavio once more. He was sniffling at this point, hands clamped around Tae-Joon’s wrist. He sighed deeply, shaking his hands off.
“Fine. But-”
Octavio gave him the fucking fright of his life when he leapt up into his arms, knocking him flat on his back in the flowery field. He groaned, pain shooting up his spine as Octavio lowered his mask to smother him in kisses. Tae-Joon’s face scrunched up.
“이 바보야, 뭐하는 거야?” he hissed, but Octavio seemingly ignored him, eventually grabbing his cheeks and pulling him in to kiss his lips. Every alarm bell that was ringing in Tae-Joon’s head was suddenly silenced, and for a few moments, he stopped fighting it, accepting the gentle kiss to his lips. Tavi pulled away first, grinning cheekily. He slipped his mask back on, pulling his goggles back over his eyes and sitting back on Tae-Joon’s legs. Tae-Joon sat up, looking at Octavio through narrowed eyes.
“Don’t do that again.” he mumbled, but his tone wasn’t as authoritative as he wanted it to be. He was just worried about getting caught, some camera that Hack couldn’t block catching video of them together, a rookie willing to sell them out to a news outlet for a quick buck catching sight of their intimate moment. He let out a deep sigh, and Octavio just laughed.
“I was just trying to thank you.” he chimed, and Tae was about to let himself laugh, but then he heard a voice cry:
“BOMB’S AWAY, FELLAS! ”