Work Text:
It's a warm Friday night, and Pavitr is incredibly bored.
None of his friends are replying to his texts, and while he considered fucking around at HQ, Margo had mentioned this morning that Miguel was pissed about something or other, and he doesn't really feel like risking that today. So instead, having seen every post on his social media feeds at least four times, and having walked around his house an uncountable amount of times, he lies on his bed and stares at the ceiling, thinking.
(Thinking may be a bit of a stretch. He's more… letting every song he's ever heard play in his head at the same time and not registering a single one of them.)
He jumps up, startled, when his phone starts to ring, almost hitting his head as he scrambles to pick up. Gwen.
"Hey, Pav," she starts, talking a little quicker than usual. "Could you do me a favor?"
"Sure!" Pavitr decides without hesitation, just glad to have something to do. "What is it?"
"Check up on Hobie for me? He hasn't replied since yesterday morning, and I haven't seen him at HQ, either," Gwen explains, and now that Pavitr thinks about it, he hasn't heard from Hobie in a while either. "I'd head over myself, but I'm kinda on a date."
"Yeah, I can do that," Pavitr agrees, "wait— you're on a date? Oooooh, did you and Miles finally—"
"Thanks, Pav! Thanks, gotta go, love you, talk to you later," Gwen says quickly, hanging up the phone before Pavitr can make fun of her any more.
Pavitr laughs, turning off his phone and quickly changing into his suit. He's been to Hobie's dimension so many times by now, he could probably find the guy's flat with his eyes closed.
He swings into Hobie's window to find his friend sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by cardboard and paper and paint and who knows what else. Hobie doesn't even look at him until Pavitr speaks. "Hobie?"
"Pavitr," Hobie says, eyes tired as he looks up at him. "What are you doing here?"
"No one's heard from you, man," Pavitr says, shutting Hobie's window and sitting down on his bed. "What's up?"
"I've been busy," Hobie replies, glancing down at the mess in front of him and then back up at Pavitr. "Really fuckin' busy."
"What are you working on?" Pavitr asks, tilting his head to look down at the sign Hobie's currently painting that reads, in big half-finished block letters, QUEER AS IN FUCK YOU!
"Shit for a protest coming up. Well, a few."
"...and how long have you been doing this? Like, when's the last time you took a break?"
Hobie pauses, quiet for a moment before looking up at Pavitr with a shrug. "I'm almost finished."
"That's not an answer," Pavitr says with a sigh. "I can literally hear the exhaustion in your voice. C'mere. Sit down."
"I am sitting," Hobie grumbles, but he moves to sit beside Pavitr on the bed anyway. "I'm not a fuckin' baby."
"Didn't say you were," Pavitr points out, clumsily wrapping an arm around Hobie's side. "When's the last time you slept?"
Hobie sighs, leaning into the touch, head resting on Pavitr's chest. Pavitr pauses for a second, but he keeps his arm around him, figuring Hobie could use the comfort. "Woke up at eight… yesterday morning."
"God, Hobie," Pavitr replies, voice exasperated but fond, "take a nap."
Hobie shakes his head against Pavitr's chest, mumbling, "Will when I've finished. Gotta get it done."
"No, you need to sleep."
Hobie doesn't say anything to this, and Pavitr just sighs, pulling him a little closer. Hobie seems almost like he's gonna get up, the way he freezes, but then he wraps both of his arms around Pavitr's back, letting himself relax into Pavitr's hold.
Pavitr runs his hands up and down Hobie's back, and it isn't long before Hobie's breaths even out and he's asleep. The feeling of his weight on Pavitr is new, really new, but it's not bad, and Pavitr holds him like that for a while, almost falling asleep himself. He'd never admit this out loud, but Hobie is really comfortable, and he smells good, sort of, like cheap cologne and cigarettes and guy, and okay, okay, Pavitr's getting ahead of himself, now.
He pushes down the warm feeling in his chest and gently moves Hobie off of him, propping his head up on his pillow, which he notes is really soft — silk? — and getting up off the bed. He moves some of the art stuff on the floor to the side, careful with the wet paint, just making enough of a path to move without messing anything up, and he makes his way to Hobie's small kitchen to see if there's something he can make, figuring Hobie will probably be starving when he wakes up, 'cause who knows when he last ate?
Shooting a quick text to Gwen — hobie's fine, overworked himself again. sleeping now — and then another, right after — tell miles i said hi ;)) — Pavitr starts to look through Hobie's kitchen for literally any sort of ingredients for a meal.
Okay, he doesn't have chicken, that's fine, he can work with that, he doesn't have rice, or any type of pasta, which is sort of a what the fuck moment but it's okay, and then he also doesn't have a single vegetable in this entire damn kitchen and that's enough to make Pavitr decide on takeout.
Another message to Gwen, i know you're busy but do you know hobie's chinese order, and then, i swear there is nothing edible in this place. He knows she probably won't see it for a while, but he doesn't know when Hobie will wake up anyway, so he has the time.
Which, speaking of that, what is he supposed to do while Hobie sleeps? He could clean, maybe, but he'd feel kinda weird about that, and you never know where to put anything in someone else's house anyway. He could, however, finish that sign Hobie was painting — the words were already outlined in pen, so all he needs to do is paint over them, and that can't be too difficult.
He heads back to Hobie's bedroom, Hobie still sound asleep, and he sits down on the floor where Hobie was when he came over. When he sets the now dry sign down in front of him, he notes that there are a bunch more underneath, all written out but not painted, and, well, he might not be an artist, but he can do a good job if he's helping out.
He almost immediately gets a little paint on his suit, which greatly annoys him, so he takes one of the paint-covered shirts from Hobie's closet — he'll apologize later — and throws it on, sitting back down to try this again. And as it turns out, painting is actually great for if you want to think, which Pavitr does not actually want at all, but he deals with it.
It's just— this all feels stupidly domestic, finishing work for Hobie while he sleeps just a few feet away, the fact that he's gonna order food for the two of them just as soon as Hobie wakes up, the fact that he's wearing Hobie's shirt, and it's too big for him and from a band he's never heard of but that kind of makes him like it more.
Not that any of this means anything. He's just helping out a friend, and every guy gets these stupid warm feelings around his best friend anyway, obviously, it's just— appreciation for a friend. And sure, maybe he sort of wants to take care of him like this all the time, but that's just because he knows Hobie forgets to take care of himself, and has nothing to do with how pretty he looks when he smiles, or how passionately he talks when he really cares about something, and okay, maybe Pavitr has found himself staring at Hobie's lips a few times lately, but that's just because… because he thought his lipstick looked cool, and not because he was imagining what it'd look like smeared on his own lips, and—
God, he has a problem.
He takes out his phone for some background noise, hoping to get rid of his thoughts, and for reasons completely unrelated to Hobie, looks up the band on the shirt. Just out of curiosity. No other reason.
It's definitely not his type of music, and he doesn't even know what a Dog Park Dissident is, but he listens anyway. It distracts him, if nothing else, and hey, maybe if Hobie wakes up while he's listening to them, he'll be impressed… not that he wants to impress him or anything. It was just an observation.
He's listening to some song so modestly titled Trans Starship Feminist BDSM Paradise when he hears a laugh from beside him, and he looks up in surprise to see Hobie sleepily sitting up, tilting his head in confusion. "What on earth are you doing?"
Pavitr chuckles, realizing he probably does look kinda silly. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"
"It's fine," Hobie says, waving a hand dismissively. "Good song, innit?"
"It's definitely… interesting," says Pavitr, setting down the paintbrush he's holding. "I just thought I'd help. You seemed really stressed, I thought maybe— I dunno."
Hobie looks almost like he wants to argue, and Pavitr can already hear him saying he doesn't need the help, but instead he nods, pursing his lips. "Thank you."
"Yeah," Pavitr says, moving to sit on the bed beside Hobie, "yeah, it's no problem. I'm gonna order Chinese for both of us — what do you want?"
"You're staying?" Hobie asks, surprise in his voice. "Well, can't say no to a free meal. Chow mein?"
Pavitr nods, turning off the music and ordering food for both of them — chicken fried rice for himself — and noting that Gwen still hasn't seen his message. "Gwen is on a date," he says casually, looking up at Hobie for his reaction.
"That so? With Miles, I suppose?"
"I assume so, yeah."
Hobie hums, leaning forward to look at what Pavitr's painted. "Pretty good," he says, looking back at Pavitr. "If you're this helpful, maybe I should stay up late more often."
"It's not about you staying up late, it's about you overworking yourself until you're exhausted. Just ask for help," Pavitr says with a quiet sigh, affectionately shoving Hobie's shoulder. "Too proud for that, man?"
Hobie pauses, shaking his head. "I don't see it as work."
It makes sense, frustratingly enough, and Pavitr doesn't exactly know how to phrase what he wants to say. He understands that activism and protesting and all of this is Hobie's passion, but it's also taking a toll on him when he tries to do too much of it all at once, and Pavitr has no idea how to make him see that.
"Even if you enjoy it," he starts, trying to decide how to phrase what he wants to say, "it still has the same effect on your body when you do too much, y'know? You gotta, like, know your limits and all."
"You sound like Gwen," Hobie says with a slight chuckle, leaning to the side so his shoulder is pressed against Pavitr's.
"Well, she cares about you," Pavitr says, leaning into the touch. "And I do too. So that's probably why."
"Stop being sappy, it gives me a headache," Hobie jokes, rolling his eyes.
"I'll get you a glass of water," Pavitr says, nudging Hobie before getting up and heading to the kitchen to fill up a tall cup of water for Hobie.
In the middle of filling the cup, there's a chin on his shoulder and a huff in his ears and Hobie's arms are wrapped around his waist and oh, god, he can't think. He goes to speak, but he doesn't get the chance before Hobie says under his breath, "Thank you."
"For— for the water?" Pavitr asks, a little breathless from being held out of nowhere like this.
"For everything," Hobie mumbles, and then Pavitr feels lips on the back of his neck, and a gasp leaves his mouth before he can register it.
Water overflows, spilling out of the cup and over Pavitr's hand, snapping him out of his jumble of thoughts. He shuts off the tap quickly, pouring a little water out of the cup so it's able to be carried without spilling.
It's fine. He's just… not gonna acknowledge it. Hobie's sleep deprived, not thinking right, he didn't mean anything by that. Obviously.
"Yeah," Pavitr says quickly, setting the glass of water down on the counter and just standing there for a moment, drying his hand off on his (Hobie's) shirt, and letting Hobie hold him. "Yeah, it's no problem, man."
Hobie squeezes Pavitr a little tighter, humming in agreement and kissing his neck one more time, and god, Pavitr's pretty sure he'll overheat if Hobie doesn't stop. Hobie's always been a touchy person, but not like this. Never like this.
"Drink your water," Pavitr insists, tilting his head back to look up at Hobie.
Hobie groans, but he lets go, downing half the cup of water in one big sip, which makes Pavitr chuckle.
"You're going to sleep again after we eat, by the way," Pavitr informs Hobie, immediately earning an eyebrow raise from the other man.
"You can't make me."
"Watch me."
Hobie does not get to respond, as the doorbell rings and Pavitr scrambles to answer it, signing off for their food and greatly thanking the man who delivered it. He carries the boxes back to Hobie's room, setting them down on his bed and sitting on one side of them, motioning for Hobie to sit across from him, which he does.
"Tell me about this protest coming up. Whichever one is next," says Pavitr, and Hobie's face practically lights up when he hears this.
Quickly swallowing his bite of food, Hobie replies, "It's something an old friend of mine set up. Our comrade — haven't seen him in a year or so, but I love him to death — was just arrested…"
Hobie goes on to talk about the plans they've made, how they're going to take care of the friend when he's released, and how they'll avoid being arrested themselves, and it's all really interesting to Pavitr, but especially the sense of community these people seem to have.
Before he really thinks about it, he's asking, "Can I come?" and making Hobie freeze in his tracks.
"You want to?"
Pavitr nods quickly, glancing away. "If that's okay?"
"It is," Hobie replies, a smile growing on his face. "Thank you. Be here Saturday morning, okay?"
"Okay," says Pavitr, "cool. I'll be here. Lemme try a bite?"
Hobie nods, and they both try a bite of the other's food, and Pavitr can't help but smile when Hobie steals a little more of his. God, he wants to kiss him.
Okay! Okay, Pavitr, slow down, stop thinking, he's your best friend, it doesn't matter that he acted like that earlier, he's just tired. Everything will be normal for the rest of the night, and you will not say or do anything embarrassing, and—
and then Hobie stretches his arms up above his head, shirt riding up to show a little bit of his tummy, and Pavitr literally almost chokes. Almost. It'd be at least a million times more embarrassing if he did choke, so at least he has that going for him.
His phone dings with a reply from Gwen. Idk. Is he awake yet? and then, right after, a selfie of her and Miles in what Pavitr thinks is Gwen's bedroom.
yes we got food, Pavitr says, and then, hesitantly, was he always pretty or am i going insane??
Thank you, Pav, Gwen replies almost instantly, Now Miles owes me money.
you what. you bet on this ?????
Gwen just sends a smiley emoji, much to Pavitr's annoyance, and he sets his phone down, looking back at Hobie. "Gwen texted. She was out with Miles," he says with a small smile.
"Of course."
Pavitr only ends up finishing half his Chinese food, as he always does, and as he's pulling off the shirt he took from Hobie to give it back, there's a hand on his arm to stop him.
"Stay?" Hobie asks, quickly adding, "you said you'd make me sleep."
"You want me to stay the night?" Pavitr asks, warmth rising on his face at the question. Hobie just nods. "...I can do that. Yeah. Lemme put the food in the fridge, oh, and do you have an extra toothbrush?"
"Probably," Hobie says, following him to the kitchen and then leading him to the bathroom to check. He does, in fact, have one, and he hands it to Pavitr like it's a sacred gift. "Yours now."
So they brush their teeth together shoulder-to-shoulder in Hobie's small bathroom, and it's sort of silly, the way Pavitr can't stop looking at the two of them in the mirror, but they seriously do look like a couple like this. Hobie keeps making these stupid faces at him, puffing up his cheeks and seeming to greatly amuse himself as he does, and Pavitr nudges his side every time he does it, which he's pretty sure is only encouraging him to keep making faces.
When they finish brushing their teeth, Hobie puts on his bonnet while he's still got the mirror in front of him and then tugs Pavitr back to his room, and Pavitr realizes he's actually about to sleep by him, oh, he's never… he's never done that before, but he doesn't fight it. It almost feels natural, the way Hobie pulls him close when they both get in bed, like they've done this a million times. It feels right.
With a quiet sigh, Pavitr curls up close to Hobie, face warm against his neck. Hobie puts an arm around him, chin resting on the top of Pavitr's head, sending a rush of warmth to Pavitr's heart.
He doesn't know what their relationship is. He doesn't know what things will be like in the morning, whether they'll talk about it or not. The one thing he does know, though, is that he's content like this, in Hobie's arms.
And that peace is all that really matters right now.