random AU drabbles
Just little revisitations of some of the AU stories I've written about Quentin and Tyler Jordan. In order of that list, basically.
- High School AU-
Tyler Jordan was surprised at the difference between the words that came out of Quentin's mouth and the words that came out of Quentin's pen. The older boy went through the halls of their high school doing his best to not be noticed usually, and he was good at it for the most part. Sometimes his mouth would get the best of him and a sarcastic comment would result in him getting chased and sometimes caught and beaten up. Tyler Jordan almost couldn't believe that the sweet notes he found slipped into his locker a couple times a week came from the same person who couldn't seem to manage to say something nice about anyone except his-- whatever Tyler Jordan was to Quentin. They weren't boyfriends, not really, not in any way that mattered. Quentin couldn't break up with Alison, she wouldn't let him, and Tyler Jordan still loved Maria, couldn't figure out what to do about the girl he wanted to marry and the boy he wanted to make out with.
Tyler Jordan was developing quite a stash of notes, though, hidden carefully in the case of the tuba he hadn't played since middle school, an instrument no one had any reason to ever touch. Some of the notes were brief, just a couple of lines-- I dreamed about going on a walk with you last night. Holding hands like it didn't matter who saw.-- some of them were longer, actual poems, daydreams, long-form puns. None of them were signed, not even with an initial, but Quentin's handwriting was distinctive, neat but heavy-handed lettering.
Tyler Jordan didn't write notes back. He'd written one, but Quentin had brought it back to him to read out loud because Tyler Jordan's handwriting was a disaster. Tyler Jordan had a much easier time saying nice things than Quentin did, anyways. And he had a feeling that the nice things he said to Quentin were the only nice things Quentin heard.
---
- Band AU-
"Hey."
"What?"
"I told you not to do that."
"Do what?"
"Bite me like that, you fucking vampire. How many times do I need to tell you not to leave marks on me?"
"Oh, come on. You look better a little bruised."
"You're a bastard."
"Look, come here..." They were already slumped together on the couch; Quentin reached up to tilt TJ's face toward him. "Do you realize how hot people think it is when you toss your head and there's a mark right there on your throat? It makes people think about how it got there."
"Oh yeah? And what do they think?" Quentin smirked and leaned closer to murmur in his bandmate's ear.
"It's not a huge secret. Most of them are pretty sure I'm the one who put it there."
"You possessive motherfucker."
"Uh, yeah," Quentin said, "no shit, if you didn't want me to get possessive of you you shouldn't have started kissing me on stage. What did you think was going to happen?"
"Mm, I don't know... we'd sell more tickets."
"We did."
"We'd get a reaction out of the fans."
"Baby, don't pretend you don't know how much of one we've gotten."
"You'd tell me you love me." TJ bit his lip as soon as the words escaped, but Quentin looked more amused than anything.
"Is that what you want?"
"Only if it's true." Quentin studied TJ's expression for a moment, then rolled his eyes and moved to straddle TJ's lap.
"You mean more to me than anyone else does."
"That's not saying much. I know what you think about most of the world." Quentin smirked harder, and TJ pinched his hips. "Asshole."
"TJ..." Quentin caught TJ's face between his hands, meeting his gaze, and the smirk melted into a small, sincere smile. "I do love you. Okay?" TJ didn't blink, searching Quentin's eyes for the truth and finding nothing shady in their perfect green depths.
"Okay," TJ said. Quentin arched his brows expectantly and rolled his eyes when TJ didn't say anything.
"All right then. Unreciprocated emotional confessions. I feel used."
"Shut up," TJ said, and he bent his head to bite at Quentin's throat until Quentin gasped. "Like I'm not completely transparent about loving you," he sighed against Quentin's skin, then worried that spot with his teeth until it was a dark red mark. "There. Let the fans speculate about how that got there."
---
- Wings AU-
"Do you pay any attention to aviology?" Tyler Jordan asks one night, fingers carding through Quentin's softest feathers. Quentin scoffs.
"Don't tell me you believe that stuff."
"No, of course I don't, but it's funny to think about."
"Maybe it's funny for you. It just makes people think I'm a secret psycho."
"Why, because you've got a raptor's feathers?"
"Aviology says that people with predator's wings are more likely to be violent."
"Quentin. You are more likely to be violent. You pick fights all the time. You told me that yourself."
"It's a stereotype."
"Yeah, one you live up to."
"There aren't any really negative stereotypes about seabird wings."
"Sure there are. We're said to be unreliable."
"You're not unreliable. You're so reliable."
"We supposedly never settle down."
"Don't you want to be a touring musician? No shit you don't want to settle down." Quentin looks over his shoulder and sighs. "Why'd you bring it up?"
"I don't know..."
"Come on, you had to have a reason."
"I read that people with kestrel wings tend to be uncommonly faithful," Tyler Jordan says playfully, and Quentin flicks a wing to hit him. "Are you?"
"I might be," Quentin says. "Now that I have someone worth putting my faith in."
---
-Beauty and the Beast AU-
"Q? Are you awake?" Tyler Jordan called up the stairwell. A few moments later Quentin poked his head around the doorway, green eyes half-lidded and ears relaxed.
"What's wrong?"
"I, um..." Tyler Jordan looked down, a little embarrassed that his first instinct had been to wake Quentin up. "I had a nightmare. Like a really awful one. I just... don't want to go back to sleep and I don't want to be alone." Quentin blinked down at him.
"I'll be down in a sec." It really was only about fifteen seconds later he came downstairs, shrugging his hoodie on over his fur as he descended the staircase. "I understand having shitty dreams," he said, following Tyler Jordan into the room where they spent most of their time together and sitting close beside him on the couch. "Do you want to talk about it or do you want to be distracted?"
"I don't want to think about it," Tyler Jordan said. "You're just... not gonna kill me if you get tired of me, right?" Quentin snorted a laugh.
"I might look like a cat but I'm not toying with you like a mouse," Quentin said. "I apologized for threatening to hurt you, didn't I? I'm sorry if I scared you. You're my only friend, I'm not-- I can't afford to drive you away." He cuddled up to Tyler Jordan, one arm around him stroking his shoulder reassuringly. Tyler Jordan made a soft sound and turned to bury his face in the bend of Quentin's neck, breathing in the catnip scent of short brown fur. "I've been having nightmares too," Quentin confessed.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. But that's nothing new. It's been basically the same three nightmares on repeat since I got cursed. The one where I'm a stray cat and I die on the street, the one where I stay like this for the rest of my life and I die alone, and the one where the person who did this to me comes back and tortures me."
"Jesus." Tyler Jordan slid an arm around Quentin's waist and held onto him. "You've got some abandonment issues."
"No fucking shit. You couldn't tell that from me not letting you leave?"
"I didn't say I was surprised about it."
"Yeah, you're not dumb." They snuggled together like that, Quentin purring quietly when Tyler Jordan settled a hand on the back of his neck and played his fingernails through fur.
---
-Star Trek AU-
"I love your eyes," Tyler Jordan said dreamily. Quentin arched an angled brow.
"I was considered unlucky because of them."
"Oh, really?"
"Are eyes the color of blood auspicious in any culture?"
"Andorian," Tyler Jordan said. "But they're blue all the way through. It's a sign of genetic anomaly in most species." Quentin's lips quirked up.
"That's me. Anomalous."
"You're interesting because you're not average," Tyler Jordan said, reaching for Quentin's hand. "You're not defective, you're unique."
"There's no difference to Romulans," Quentin said. "Being unusual is a flaw. Being unusual in as many ways as I am most often leads to being disappeared."
"Does that happen a lot?"
"People being disappeared? Yes. The Tal Shiar would remove anyone who dissented to the status quo. I only lasted as long as I did because I didn't talk about how much I hated my life."
"You disappeared yourself," Tyler Jordan pointed out, and Quentin smiled.
"Yes."
"Well, for whatever it's worth coming from me, I think your eyes are beautiful."
"It's worth everything coming from you," Quentin said quietly, lifting Tyler Jordan's hand to kiss his knuckles.
---
Soulmark AU
"Could you do me a favor?" Quentin asked when they were cuddling on the couch.
"Probably," Tyler Jordan said. "What's up?"
"Do you think you could write on me?"
"Uh... yes? Is there something in particular you'd like me to write?"
"No. Whatever you want. I just... want your handwriting somewhere on me I can see it."
"Aw, storm cloud." Tyler Jordan kissed Quentin's cheek. "Of course I can. Just tell me where."
- High School AU-
Tyler Jordan was surprised at the difference between the words that came out of Quentin's mouth and the words that came out of Quentin's pen. The older boy went through the halls of their high school doing his best to not be noticed usually, and he was good at it for the most part. Sometimes his mouth would get the best of him and a sarcastic comment would result in him getting chased and sometimes caught and beaten up. Tyler Jordan almost couldn't believe that the sweet notes he found slipped into his locker a couple times a week came from the same person who couldn't seem to manage to say something nice about anyone except his-- whatever Tyler Jordan was to Quentin. They weren't boyfriends, not really, not in any way that mattered. Quentin couldn't break up with Alison, she wouldn't let him, and Tyler Jordan still loved Maria, couldn't figure out what to do about the girl he wanted to marry and the boy he wanted to make out with.
Tyler Jordan was developing quite a stash of notes, though, hidden carefully in the case of the tuba he hadn't played since middle school, an instrument no one had any reason to ever touch. Some of the notes were brief, just a couple of lines-- I dreamed about going on a walk with you last night. Holding hands like it didn't matter who saw.-- some of them were longer, actual poems, daydreams, long-form puns. None of them were signed, not even with an initial, but Quentin's handwriting was distinctive, neat but heavy-handed lettering.
Tyler Jordan didn't write notes back. He'd written one, but Quentin had brought it back to him to read out loud because Tyler Jordan's handwriting was a disaster. Tyler Jordan had a much easier time saying nice things than Quentin did, anyways. And he had a feeling that the nice things he said to Quentin were the only nice things Quentin heard.
---
- Band AU-
"Hey."
"What?"
"I told you not to do that."
"Do what?"
"Bite me like that, you fucking vampire. How many times do I need to tell you not to leave marks on me?"
"Oh, come on. You look better a little bruised."
"You're a bastard."
"Look, come here..." They were already slumped together on the couch; Quentin reached up to tilt TJ's face toward him. "Do you realize how hot people think it is when you toss your head and there's a mark right there on your throat? It makes people think about how it got there."
"Oh yeah? And what do they think?" Quentin smirked and leaned closer to murmur in his bandmate's ear.
"It's not a huge secret. Most of them are pretty sure I'm the one who put it there."
"You possessive motherfucker."
"Uh, yeah," Quentin said, "no shit, if you didn't want me to get possessive of you you shouldn't have started kissing me on stage. What did you think was going to happen?"
"Mm, I don't know... we'd sell more tickets."
"We did."
"We'd get a reaction out of the fans."
"Baby, don't pretend you don't know how much of one we've gotten."
"You'd tell me you love me." TJ bit his lip as soon as the words escaped, but Quentin looked more amused than anything.
"Is that what you want?"
"Only if it's true." Quentin studied TJ's expression for a moment, then rolled his eyes and moved to straddle TJ's lap.
"You mean more to me than anyone else does."
"That's not saying much. I know what you think about most of the world." Quentin smirked harder, and TJ pinched his hips. "Asshole."
"TJ..." Quentin caught TJ's face between his hands, meeting his gaze, and the smirk melted into a small, sincere smile. "I do love you. Okay?" TJ didn't blink, searching Quentin's eyes for the truth and finding nothing shady in their perfect green depths.
"Okay," TJ said. Quentin arched his brows expectantly and rolled his eyes when TJ didn't say anything.
"All right then. Unreciprocated emotional confessions. I feel used."
"Shut up," TJ said, and he bent his head to bite at Quentin's throat until Quentin gasped. "Like I'm not completely transparent about loving you," he sighed against Quentin's skin, then worried that spot with his teeth until it was a dark red mark. "There. Let the fans speculate about how that got there."
---
- Wings AU-
"Do you pay any attention to aviology?" Tyler Jordan asks one night, fingers carding through Quentin's softest feathers. Quentin scoffs.
"Don't tell me you believe that stuff."
"No, of course I don't, but it's funny to think about."
"Maybe it's funny for you. It just makes people think I'm a secret psycho."
"Why, because you've got a raptor's feathers?"
"Aviology says that people with predator's wings are more likely to be violent."
"Quentin. You are more likely to be violent. You pick fights all the time. You told me that yourself."
"It's a stereotype."
"Yeah, one you live up to."
"There aren't any really negative stereotypes about seabird wings."
"Sure there are. We're said to be unreliable."
"You're not unreliable. You're so reliable."
"We supposedly never settle down."
"Don't you want to be a touring musician? No shit you don't want to settle down." Quentin looks over his shoulder and sighs. "Why'd you bring it up?"
"I don't know..."
"Come on, you had to have a reason."
"I read that people with kestrel wings tend to be uncommonly faithful," Tyler Jordan says playfully, and Quentin flicks a wing to hit him. "Are you?"
"I might be," Quentin says. "Now that I have someone worth putting my faith in."
---
-Beauty and the Beast AU-
"Q? Are you awake?" Tyler Jordan called up the stairwell. A few moments later Quentin poked his head around the doorway, green eyes half-lidded and ears relaxed.
"What's wrong?"
"I, um..." Tyler Jordan looked down, a little embarrassed that his first instinct had been to wake Quentin up. "I had a nightmare. Like a really awful one. I just... don't want to go back to sleep and I don't want to be alone." Quentin blinked down at him.
"I'll be down in a sec." It really was only about fifteen seconds later he came downstairs, shrugging his hoodie on over his fur as he descended the staircase. "I understand having shitty dreams," he said, following Tyler Jordan into the room where they spent most of their time together and sitting close beside him on the couch. "Do you want to talk about it or do you want to be distracted?"
"I don't want to think about it," Tyler Jordan said. "You're just... not gonna kill me if you get tired of me, right?" Quentin snorted a laugh.
"I might look like a cat but I'm not toying with you like a mouse," Quentin said. "I apologized for threatening to hurt you, didn't I? I'm sorry if I scared you. You're my only friend, I'm not-- I can't afford to drive you away." He cuddled up to Tyler Jordan, one arm around him stroking his shoulder reassuringly. Tyler Jordan made a soft sound and turned to bury his face in the bend of Quentin's neck, breathing in the catnip scent of short brown fur. "I've been having nightmares too," Quentin confessed.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. But that's nothing new. It's been basically the same three nightmares on repeat since I got cursed. The one where I'm a stray cat and I die on the street, the one where I stay like this for the rest of my life and I die alone, and the one where the person who did this to me comes back and tortures me."
"Jesus." Tyler Jordan slid an arm around Quentin's waist and held onto him. "You've got some abandonment issues."
"No fucking shit. You couldn't tell that from me not letting you leave?"
"I didn't say I was surprised about it."
"Yeah, you're not dumb." They snuggled together like that, Quentin purring quietly when Tyler Jordan settled a hand on the back of his neck and played his fingernails through fur.
---
-Star Trek AU-
"I love your eyes," Tyler Jordan said dreamily. Quentin arched an angled brow.
"I was considered unlucky because of them."
"Oh, really?"
"Are eyes the color of blood auspicious in any culture?"
"Andorian," Tyler Jordan said. "But they're blue all the way through. It's a sign of genetic anomaly in most species." Quentin's lips quirked up.
"That's me. Anomalous."
"You're interesting because you're not average," Tyler Jordan said, reaching for Quentin's hand. "You're not defective, you're unique."
"There's no difference to Romulans," Quentin said. "Being unusual is a flaw. Being unusual in as many ways as I am most often leads to being disappeared."
"Does that happen a lot?"
"People being disappeared? Yes. The Tal Shiar would remove anyone who dissented to the status quo. I only lasted as long as I did because I didn't talk about how much I hated my life."
"You disappeared yourself," Tyler Jordan pointed out, and Quentin smiled.
"Yes."
"Well, for whatever it's worth coming from me, I think your eyes are beautiful."
"It's worth everything coming from you," Quentin said quietly, lifting Tyler Jordan's hand to kiss his knuckles.
---
Soulmark AU
"Could you do me a favor?" Quentin asked when they were cuddling on the couch.
"Probably," Tyler Jordan said. "What's up?"
"Do you think you could write on me?"
"Uh... yes? Is there something in particular you'd like me to write?"
"No. Whatever you want. I just... want your handwriting somewhere on me I can see it."
"Aw, storm cloud." Tyler Jordan kissed Quentin's cheek. "Of course I can. Just tell me where."