Prompt Post: Round 1
Welcome to Round 1 of the Common Law Meme!
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Please read the Rules before you post. If you have any questions/concerns, ask the mods!
ANNOUNCEMENT: We now have a delicious archive located here.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Duplicate prompts will be deleted. The text for duplicate prompts will be available here, if you wish to repost with more details. Please check the ( Read more... )
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Wes gets the call while driving Travis back to the precinct after finishing their latest case.
He answers the phone automatically, not bothering to check the caller I.D
"Yeah, Mitchell."
After the person on the other end responds, Wes will admit, he zoned through the rest of the conversation.
"Wes? Hey, man you alright?" Travis asks when he hangs up.
He knows he must look pretty shaken if he's getting a genuine, open look of concern from Travis but right now, that doesn't register either.
Wes doesn't even remember pulling the car over, but here they are, parked on the curb while traffic whizzes by them.
Travis reaches over and grasps Wes' shoulder. "Wes! Hey, come on, look at me."
Wes turns to Travis. He tries to focus on him, on what he's saying, he tries, but he can't. He can't because his mind chooses that moment to believe he's not getting enough air.
Then Wes panics, because he is breathing, he has to be, because there's no way he'd forget to do something like how to fucking breathe.
Then all of a sudden, his world tilts sideways as he's pulled out of the car by Travis. Travis… Right. He'd forgotten he was even there.
Travis is guiding him to the ground, making him sit, telling him to take deep breaths. Wes clings to Travis, focusing on the sound of his voice, never more grateful to the fact that Travis never stops talking.
Even though Wes is still shaking, numb, and freezing regardless of the fact that it's sunny 85 degree Los Angeles weather, he can breathe, and if he can breathe, then he can talk.
"I'm.., I'm fine, Travis." He says shakily.
Travis looks at him disbelievingly. "I don’t know if you've noticed man, but you are the exact opposite of fine right now."
Wes exhales sharply. "Okay, then I'll be fine. Now let me up." He snaps.
Travis shakes his head and tightens his grip on Wes' arms. "No way, absolutely not. You're going to sit here and chill until you don't look like you've had a run in with Casper the Friendly Ghost."
Wes opens his mouth to protest, but Travis glares at him and continues. "No, I don't want to hear it. You'll stay here even if I have to sit on you, and you know I would, Wes."
Wes scowls, but at the very least, doesn't argue.
"Now tell me," Travis said “What’s got you so freaked out that you gave yourself a panic attack?"
For a moment Wes looked like he was going to resist, but just settled on giving a tired sigh.
"That phone call? That was the fire department." He takes a deep breath. “Apparently there was a fire at the hotel. No one was hurt but..." He starts to trail off. Wes can feel the panic creeping back.
Something must show on his face because Travis' grip on his arms tightens. "No, we're not doing that, you hear me? I need you focus on me, okay? Focus."
Wes nods, closing his eyes, taking the next minute or so to keep his breathing even. When he finally opens his eyes, he sees Travis, patiently waiting on him.
"How bad is it?" Travis asks, as he slides over to sit next to Wes, both leaning against the car.
Wes, too drained to really care, allows himself to lean against Travis. "They don't know yet. Some rooms are completely brunt and others are untouched. But they don't..." Wes huffs, cutting himself off abruptly.
He tilts his head back, letting it bang against the side of the car.
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Wes sighs. "Yeah, pretty much.
Almost everything I own is in that hotel, Travis. If it's all gone-"
"Hey, you don't know that and worrying over it won't help you right now."
When his client... When that happened, it was something he couldn't control, but he knew what he could do, he became a cop. When Alex left him, it wasn't something he could control, but he knew what he could do, let her go, her happiness was more important.
Wes turned his head towards Travis, for the third time in his entire life; his control had been yanked out of his grasp. But for the first time, for the first time in his life, he didn't know what to do.
Suddenly Travis got up. "Come on; let's get you out of here." He said, reaching out a hand to help Wes up. He swayed a bit but otherwise managed to stay relatively balanced.
Wes frowned recalling Travis' previous comment. "I.., don't have anywhere to go."
Travis gave him a look he couldn't quite identify. "Of course you do, you always do."
Wes, still confused, shook his head. "Alex is out of town, I can't just-"
"Not Alex, Wes." He said, with that same look. Resigned, sad. That's what it was.
Wes' brain caught up to what Travis said.
Oh. Oh.
Travis was offering him a place to stay.
Before he could stop himself, he all but blurted out his question. "But why? I mean you don't even like me that much."
Travis looked like he was going to explain before he shook his head. "Never mind. It doesn't matter." He said and attempted to walk Wes over to the passenger side.
Wes, however, had other ideas and dug his heels into the dirt, his left hand grabbing Travis' wrist, stopping him.
"No." He said, unable to let it go. "It does matter. Why?"
Travis looked conflicted before he settled on determined.
Using his free hand, he grabbed on to Wes' jacket and pulled. The resulting force causing an already unstable Wes to stumble forward and into Travis and that's where his thought process ended because apparently, Travis was kissing him. Slow, and sweet, and so completely unrushed that Wes couldn't help but respond.
Travis finally leaned back, ending the kiss but keeping his eyes on Wes' face, giving him an appraising look; most likely searching for signs of another panic attack.
Wes gripped Travis tighter, giving him an accusing glare. "You never said anything."
Travis laughed and smiled at him. "Wes, I've spent over a year and a half metaphorically ‘pulling your pigtails’. You seriously didn't notice anything strange about that?"
Wes didn't blush, but it was a close thing as he shuffled awkwardly. "I thought that was you being, well, you. Besides, it's not like you've never tried to annoy me before."
Travis just grinned and shook his head.
"Now what?" Wes asked
"Now we're heading back to the station to lock up my bike and get you back to my place for some food and sleep."
"No, I meant with," Wes trailed off, letting go of Travis to flail his hands between the two of them, vaguely gesturing "you and me" to finish off his sentence.
Travis smiled softly. "Right now? Nothing."
Before Wes could interrupt he continued. "We need to get your hotel situation sorted first before anything."
Wes scowled "I don't like-"
"Surprises? Uncertainty? Having no control? All of the above?"
Wes glared at Travis.
He laughed. "Trust me Wes, I get it. I've known you for seven years, man. I think I know your obsessive ways by now. A week of just letting things be won’t kill you, and I've waited over two years for you, I can take a few more days."
Wes gave a partly annoyed, partly amused huff. "This isn't over." He said, as he climbed in the passenger seat.
Travis gave a genuine laugh as he got in and started the car. "Between us, when is it ever?"
As they drove away, Wes thought for the first time that maybe, just maybe, control isn’t everything.
-fin
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And I loved the ending as well. "Between us, when is it ever (over)?" Very true. And it's what we love about 'em. Years will pass between these two and out of nowhere, they'll pick up an argument from the day they met or something. LOL
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