Work Text:
Missions. Alejandro was no stranger to missions. He had done so many things at so many different places, it was hard to keep track. They got called in for something special that day. And by they, Alejandro meant Rodolfo and himself, along with a handful of Los Vaqueros. It was a small mission. The whole point was to not be seen. Take up as little space as possible, be heard as little as possible. Be as close to ghosts as they possibly could. Laswell was the one who signed them up for this mission. Something about being useful and a perfect fit, she had said. Of course, she couldn’t book multiple rooms at the same hotel at the same time without arousing suspicion. This led to Alejandro and Rodolfo being separated from the rest of their teammates. Everything was going fine. They had gotten through every possible security and had been handed the hotel key. A shared room… neither of them thought much off it. They had shared rooms on missions before. Usually they split the room in half.
As they reached the door however, they realised that they had been wrong. This wasn’t a room with two separate beds like they had thought. This room was furnished with only one bed, though that made the room fairly spacious. Slowly, the two of them approached the bed, their eyes wide. Alejandro’s in anger and Rodolfo’s in thought. Rodolfo slowly let go of the bag he had been holding, squinting at the bed. There were three pillows, fairly standard even for smaller hotels. While Alejandro was busy searching through his bag to call Laswell and make a “formal” complaint, Rodolfo did some maths in his head. If the bed was that wide and that long… How easily would it fit two people?
Alejandro managed to find the burner phone he had been given and gave Laswell an angry call.
“What is it, boys?” her voice rang metallically through the low quality phone speaker.
“The room,” Alejandro muttered through his teeth as if that would explain everything. At least Laswell managed to connect the dots fast enough to respond. She knew how much Alejandro hated repeating himself.
“Oh… right… I had almost forgotten about that,” she said, laughing quietly on the other end of the line. Alejandro’s grip on the phone tightened as Rodolfo looked up, seemingly done inspecting the bed.
“Well?” Alejandro practically demanded. Throughout all his years as a colonel, he had never had to share a bed like this. He’d shared rooms with plenty of people, sure. But this was not at all the same thing.
“Cutting down on expenses, boys,” Laswell said. She kept referring to Alejandro as “boys” because she had no doubt that Rodolfo was also listening, albeit silently. She was right though, of course.
“I saved your room for last and they wanted me to pay extra for an extra bed.” Alejandro let out an angry huff, his grip on the phone so tight his knuckles were beginning to turn white.
“And you couldn’t have done it anyway? It can’t have been that expensive.”
“You’d rather I cut down on something else?”
“Well, it would’ve been nice to-” Alejandro got cut off by Rodolfo’s hand on his shoulder. The other man was calm. He looked tired. Suddenly Alejandro felt a bit bad for shouting.
“Ale… calmala,” Rodlofo said, his voice low and calm. But when was it not, really?
Alejandro grumbled something under his breath. Neither Rodoflo nor Laswell could make out exactly what he was saying, but one of the words sounded very close to “pendejo”.
“We’ll talk to you later, Kate,” he finally said before hanging up the phone. Rodolfo took a slow step back, his hand falling from Alejandro’s shoulder as he observed the other man. He could tell Alejandro was still angry. There were signs. They were written in spray paint and waved high in the air. That thought made an amused huff of air escape his nose, which in turn made Alejandro look even more annoyed. He really was the most obvious man on the planet.
“Take some time outside,” Rudy suggested, gesturing at the glass doors leading out to a small balcony. “Breathe for a bit.” Alejandro grumbled some more as he complied, walking over to the balcony doors with angry steps and opening them, stipping outside. Rudy watched as Alejandro breathed in the cold evening air with his hands on the metal railing. Rodolfo knew he had to give Alejandro a bit of time to cool off. So while Alejandro was busy, Rodolfo moved about in the room. Tecnihally, there wasn’t much to do in a clean hotel room, but he could pack up their toothbrushes and things in the bathroom and fold their clothes in sections in each of their bags to keep track of them.
When Alejandro returned in and closed the doors behind him, Rodlofo was sitting on the bed with his back against the headboard, reading.
“Welcome back,” he said, glancing up at the other man as he closed the book and let it rest in his lap. “Feeling better?”
“No…” Alejandro muttered, sitting down on the edge of the bed. His arms crossed as he looked at Rodolfo. He had cooled off a bit, that much was obvious. He was no longer about to kill Laswell for saving money on the hotel room… right now.
“Ay… what you need is sleep.” Alejandro wasn’t about to argue. He knew he was tired but if he whined more now he might come off as too childish. Rodolfo was often right when it came to things like this, so he got up from the bed again to get ready. While Alejandro was brushing his teeth and washing his face, Rodolfo was changing. And then they would switch places and tasks. They had done that for years, ever since they joined the army together. To be efficient, they could get ready in less than five minutes, both at the same time. And then they were left looking on the bed. Well, Alejandro was looking at the bed. Rodolfo was already in it.
“Ale… sleep,” Rodolfo said again, gesturing to the other side of the bed for Alejandro to lay down.
“Shouldn’t we… take turns?” he suggested, making Rudy give a quiet scoff.
“You’re already ready for sleep. And we both need to be up at the same time in the morning. Stop whining and lie down. It’s very comfortable.” Alejandro stopped, his mouth already half opened to argue. But he thought better of it. At this time of night on a work day, not to mention away from Las Almas, Rudy was not in the mood for an argument. Perhaps they could talk about it later, but now was the worst time.
“Fine…” he muttered, crawling into the bed as well, huffing. He still wasn’t happy about this, but Rudy had made it clear that arguing wasn’t an option.
Rodolfo laid on his side, observing Alejandro for a little while. He could tell that the other man was tense. If he didn’t relax, he wouldn’t be getting any sleep. It was very important that they got sleep, especially on a day like tomorrow. A sigh escaped his lips before he could stop it. He shifted closer underneath the covers, his arms wrapping around Alejandro’s waist as he pressed the other man's back against his chest.
“Rudy-” Alejandro cut himself off as he felt the warmth spread to his body. It was… cosy like this. Warm and surprisingly soft. The covers weren’t scratchy like the last hotel they had been to and Rudy's arms around him felt strong and secure. Alejandro had never really been held before. Well, sure, he’d been held when he was younger, but never like this. He couldn’t recall a single time when he had been the little spoon. And here he was, Rudy’s arms around him like it was nothing.
Arguing felt like the logical choice. But he couldn’t even open his mouth as he felt Rodolfo’s hand slowly rub up his chest. It was surprisingly soothing. Soothing and warm. Alejandro exhaled slowly, feeling the anger and annoyance flow out of him with the air. He found himself leaning back against Rodolfo’s chest, his head resting against the pillow as his eyes slowly slipped closed. Rodolfo watched as Alejandro slowly relaxed and allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness. He could feel himself grow drowsy as well. Knowing that he needed sleep for the day ahead, Rudy gently pressed his face to the back of Alejandro’s neck and closed his own eyes. The room around them was dark, the only thing lighting up their soon to be sleeping forms being the dull moonlight that managed to push its way through the curtains. And soon, silence was replaced by steady, rhythmic breathing.
…
Later that week when they returned to fill in their associates and fill out the reports, Alejandro still glared at Laswell with a clearly displeased look. Walking next to him though was always Rodolfo. He didn’t seem to leave Alejandro's side, and Alejandro didn’t seem to mind his presence. He had never before, but they looked… closer now. Nevertheless, none of them mentioned the hotel or the room or the bed. They only spoke about the mission and even that was only discussed briefly. Laswell noticed. Laswell always noticed. She noticed how Rodolfo and Alejandro sat closer than normal when they ate. How Alejandro’s leg seemed to brush against Rodolfo’s in a way that could look almost intentional. She noticed how their hands brushed together as they walked and how their eyes seemed to lock for a few moments too long.
Taking this for what it was, a subtle sign, Kate decided to write that up in her notes for future missions. Next time she sent the two Mexicans on a mission together, she could spare some expenses on a single room instead of a double one. She was happy with that. And while Alejandro seemed angry next time it happened, he didn’t mention it that time either. He didn’t even complain about it.