Work Text:
If there was ever a picture of a content, domestic life, this would be it.
Kevin is sat sideways in his armchair, legs swung across one of the arms with a cushion behind his neck for support. He’s kicking his feet idly as he reads his book, flipping over the page. It’s practically the only sound in the room.
Javier has his headphones on, and he’s sat at his laptop, staring intently at the screen. Cross-legged on the floor, a cushion between him and the cold wood, he’s hunched over. His new hobby is mastering the audio on his old vinyl, so a vintage record player is sat next to him, hooked up to his computer. After breakfast that morning, he’d pretty much gone straight to this - as had Kevin to his book. It was an unspoken routine nowadays. To sit comfortably in each other’s presence.
There’s not much noise, bar the regular flip of the page from Kevin, and the occasional sound of fabric against fabric as Javier became aware of his hunched-over posture and corrected it. He’s wearing one of Kevin’s hoodies, one he’d had for years, and the arms are tight around Javier’s biceps. He’s conscious to move cautiously - the last time he borrowed one of his boyfriend’s hoodies, he’d stretched too far while reaching over to fix Kevin’s curls and the back had ripped completely.
“Javier,” Kevin speaks from his position on the chair, letting his head drop down to watch his boyfriend upside-down. There’s no response the first time, his headphones clearly blocking any outside noise. Kevin tried again anyway, but nothing changes.
From his chair, he stretches an arm out to scramble around the desk nearest to him, searching for anything he could use to throw - aiming for the most impact with the least damage, of course. He first lands upon a paperweight but very, very swiftly decides against it and moves on to a pen - a little more innocent, but he sees a future in which Javier turns at the last second and boom, there goes his eye. It’s this that spurs him on, finally deciding on a coaster. It’s one that he gifted Javier a few years ago, prompted by the fact that he was constantly leaving stains from his coffee mugs on all their wooden furniture.
He tries once more to get his attention with his name, but it’s largely half-hearted, and he raises his arm to lob the coaster across the room. It makes a sharp *smack* when it connects with the side of Javier’s face, having landed flat against his cheek, and it spins on the floor as he turns his head, offended.
“What, man?”
Javier’s brow is furrowed as he almost rips his headphones off, twisting his body around to face his boyfriend. Over time, ‘man’ had become a common term of affection between the two - it was convenient when it came to the workplace, meaning they could remind each other of their love as often as they wanted. It probably made very little sense to anyone who knew, but they thought it was sweet, and that’s what mattered.
“How’s the music going?”
Javier pauses and raises an eyebrow.
“...Great?” He draws the word out, questioning why exactly he was assaulted in order to be asked this.
Kevin smiles and swings his legs off the arm of the chair.
“Good. Good, I’m glad,” he speaks as he walks across the room, reaching Javier and crouching down behind him to rest his arms over his shoulders. On instinct, he nuzzles Javier’s jaw and rests his chin beside his face.
“Kev, not that I don’t appreciate your affection every second I receive it, but I’m kinda in the middle of something here,” Javier mumbles, volume unsteady as the hours of headphone usage have skewed his perception of sound.
Kevin hums in acknowledgement and presses a series of kisses to Javier’s cheek wordlessly. It’s this that makes Javier a little worried - it’s not that Kevin wasn’t affectionate (that’s not true at all, and you could often find him attached to his boyfriend at the hip), but he rarely interrupted Javier when he was involved in something. This concern alone is enough to have Javier pushing his laptop away and scooting back against the sofa, allowing Kevin to slip into his arms completely. The other man does so immediately - he’s curled up next to Javier in a second, arm draped over his waist and head resting upon his chest. He’s not making eye contact.
Pulling him closer, Javier wraps an encompassing arm around his boyfriend, holding him tight - Kevin prefers heavy pressure, he knows that.
“What’s up? You wanna talk about it?”
Javier’s words are soft and gentle, and he waits patiently for an answer. After a moment, Kevin hesitantly nods against his chest, nudging himself ever closer. It takes a further moment for Kevin to muster up the energy to speak.
“It’s stupid.”
Two words, and Kevin is burying himself in Javier’s chest. Two words, and Javier’s heart is breaking, because even the smallest sign of unhappiness from the man he loves will never fail to hurt.
“No way that’s true, and even if it is - which it’s not - I wanna hear it anyway,” Javier reassures him, rubbing a hand up and down his back. Kevin folds himself further into Javier, which others would assume is a bad sign, but Javier knows him too well - he knows it’s Kevin feeling safe.
“Please don’t ever leave me. Just tell me if I’m doing something to make you unhappy, and I’ll fix it.”
It’s barely audible and Javier almost doesn’t catch it all. It takes a second for him to process what’s just been said, but once he does, he regrets the delay, and rushes to answer.
“I wouldn’t even think about it for a second, Kev. Can I ask what prompted this?”
There’s no movement for a moment, just safe silence until Kevin speaks again, a little more bass in his voice this time around.
“I was reading this book, and I don’t know, I guess I saw some of us in them, and everything was going so well. They were so in love, Javi, but you- he just… fell out of it. Because I got on your nerves.”
Kevin’s starting to ramble, Javier can tell, but he’ll let him get it all out before he intervenes and assures him that he’ll always be there.
“And, and I know that sometimes we fight over silly things and they’re just that - silly - but what if we underestimate them and they build up and all of a sudden you find that you love me but you don’t like me?”
He takes a deep breath after finding he’d not stopped once during his slightly panicked rant.
Javier blinks once, then twice, and answers.
“First of all, it’s super cute that you were imagining us.”
Kevin lets out a small exhale at this - not quite a laugh, but enough for Javier to know that his initially light-hearted comment was helpful and not overstepping. He continues.
“I know we fight sometimes, Kev, but you make it seem like it’s always your fault, and I promise you it’s not. I fuck up just as much as you, probably even more, so don’t ever feel like that burden’s on you, okay? I will always love you, and I will always like you.”
At this, Kevin raises his head a little, and Javier guides him the rest of the way, so that they’re eventually face to face. He presses a kiss to his forehead before he goes on.
“Just because we’re dating now, doesn’t mean we stop being partners - I always got your back, mi amor.”
A smile adorns Kevin’s face and he leans into Javier’s touch, revelling in the second kiss he presses to his forehead and nuzzling into the crook of his neck. Javier takes the opportunity to kiss his crown before reaching down to interlace their fingers, bringing both of their hands up to rest above his heart. The steady beat calms Kevin until it softly lulls him to sleep, Javier following swiftly behind him.