Fic: The Way to a Man's Heart (is Through the Taco Bell Drive-Thru)
Title: The Way to a Man’s Heart (is Through the Taco Bell Drive-Thru)
Pairing: Cash/Deleon
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Alex is so hungry he’d punch a child for Taco Bell.
A/N: For the cabfic textsfromlastnight.com challenge. I picked this prompt: (706): i would punch a child for taco bell. Thanks to mintyfiend for the wonderful beta. All mistakes are mine.
“I’m hungry,” Alex announces pitifully from where he’s lying prone on the sofa, head resting on a cushion.
“Hmm,” Cash says in response, not looking up from his laptop.
Alex waits for Cash to look over at him. When he doesn’t, Alex sighs dramatically.
“I’d punch a child for Taco Bell right now,” he says.
Cash still doesn’t look up. Alex waits a beat and then repeats himself.
“How old?” Cash asks, focus firmly fixed on the computer screen. He pecks at a couple of keys while Alex frowns at him.
“What?”
“The child. How old would the child you’d punch be?”
“Does it matter?” Alex asks and Cash finally glances over for a brief moment.
“Yeah. I mean, are we talking a teenager here? Middle school? Elementary? Would you punch a preschooler for Taco Bell but you’d draw the line at a toddler? Are you so hungry you’d punch a newborn?”
Alex blinks at him thoughtfully for a moment. “Like…5 or 6 years old, I think.”
“A 6 year old could totally take you,” Cash smirks and Alex glares at him and pretends he hadn’t taken that sort of thing into consideration when making his choice.
“Whatever,” he says. “Seriously though. I’m so hungry. I need a taco.”
“Go and get one then,” Cash says, his attention back on his laptop screen again.
Alex shakes his head, even though Cash isn’t watching. “I’m really comfy here,” he says. “And it’s too hot to move.”
Cash doesn’t respond.
“Caaaaaaash,” Alex whines.
“Jesus fuck, Deleon,” Cash says, glaring at him. “I’m trying to work here.”
Alex pouts. “But I’m hungry. And bored. And lonely.”
“Pay attention to me,” Cash mimics Alex’s whine. “Look at me. Stop what you’re doing ‘cos I’m so important.” He rolls his eyes at Alex and shuts his laptop, setting it aside.
“Where are you going?” Alex asks when Cash is halfway to the door.
“Away from you and your bitching and moaning,” Cash snaps and walks out.
Alex stares at the door in dismay. He lies in silence for a few moments, then looks to the other side of the room.
“Johnson,” Alex says sweetly.
Johnson pushes his ear buds further into his ears and makes a show of letting Alex see him turn the volume up on his iPod.
“I hate everyone,” Alex says to himself, and flops back down into his comfortable sprawl. He tries to ignore the way his stomach is growling by humming loudly to himself.
~~~
Cash shows up thirty minutes later and tosses a brown paper bag onto Alex’s stomach.
Alex opens his eyes and looks at the Taco Bell bag, then over at Cash.
“You got me food?” he asks, and Cash ignores him, picking up his laptop again.
“Where’s mine?” Johnson asks, and Cash glares. “Oh, right, you don’t love me as much as you love Deleon,” Johnson adds. “I forgot.”
Cash looks furious suddenly. He glares at Johnson ominously and Alex would wonder what’s going on between them except he has more important things to think about.
“No soda?” he asks, opening the bag and pulling out the giant taco. It’s his favourite and he hums happily as he unwraps it.
Cash pauses as he’s about to sit down and motions across the room. “There’s coke in the fridge,” he says.
Alex looks over at the fridge, then back at Cash. He makes a pitiful noise.
“Fucking…” Cash puts his laptop back down a little violently and stomps over to the fridge. He yanks it open and rummages around inside for a moment. He tosses a can over to Alex and then lobs another can across the room where it lands hard on Johnson’s stomach, cutting off the snickering coming from Johnson’s direction.
“Can I get back to work now?” Cash demands and Alex hesitates, but Cash is already up so…
“Straw?” he asks, pouting pitifully.
“What did your last slave die of?” Cash asks as he locates a straw and brings it over.
It’s orange and Alex wants to make a face- he’d much prefer green- but he’s not going to be a brat and also Johnson has launched into a loud, out of tune version of ‘Too much love will kill you’ which Alex thinks is random but amusing none the less.
Cash doesn’t seem to be appreciating Johnson’s singing. He’s sitting back opposite Johnson, glaring at him over the top of his laptop.
“You shut up,” he says, pointing warningly at Johnson. “And you,” he adds, moving his finger to point at Alex, “you eat your taco and leave me the fuck alone. I need to get this shit done.”
Alex nods and looks over at Johnson who smirks at him. Alex hates when Johnson does that because it always means he knows something Alex doesn’t. Alex can never get Johnson to tell him the secret- he doesn’t give in to excessive amounts of whining like Ian does, doesn’t get bored of teasing him and blurt the secret out like Marshall does, doesn’t sigh dramatically and mess with Alex’s hair and say, “fine, but if you tell anyone I told, I’ll kill you” and then doesn’t get too mad when Alex inevitably tells, like Cash does.
So Alex narrows his eyes a little and takes a big bite of his taco, licking his lips loudly. He smacks his lips in satisfaction because he has a taco and Johnson doesn’t and it’s got to be pissing him off. He sucks hot sauce off his fingers and glances at Johnson, expecting him to be watching with undisguised jealousy but Johnson’s not looking at Alex. He’s watching Cash and Alex cuts his eyes across to see what Cash is doing.
Cash isn’t doing anything though, other than gazing at Alex. Which is nothing weird- Cash does that all the time and, okay, maybe some people would find it creepy, but Alex likes to have Cash’s attention more than he likes to have anyone else’s. Alex sucks the sauce off his index finger, feeling his cheeks hollow, and that’s when Cash’s tongue flicks out and licks across his lip quickly.
It makes Alex pause, finger still in his mouth, because that’s not a reaction he’d expected. Alex frowns and takes his finger out of his mouth, and that’s when Cash’s gaze flicks up and his eyes meet Alex’s. Cash colours and looks away, focusing on his laptop screen and tapping away at the keys quickly.
Alex isn’t sure what that means, so he shrugs and turns back to his taco. He has it raised to his mouth, about to take another bite, when it hits him.
He sits up and stares at Cash, then down at his taco. He looks over at Johnson who rolls his eyes and nods as if to say, ‘finally, you moron’.
Alex gets up and goes to sit beside Cash.
“Want some of my taco?” he asks.
Cash doesn’t look up, but he wrinkles his nose. “Shit, you’ve eaten most of it already?” he asks. “Dude, it’s been, like, two minutes. I’m not getting you medicine when you get heartburn from eating too fast.”
“No, look, here-” he holds out the taco and Cash looks at it and frowns.
“Don’t you like it? Is it wrong? I thought that was your favourite.”
“It is!” Alex insists. “I just thought…I dunno, we could share it?”
“I’ll have it if neither of you want it,” Johnson calls over and Alex flips him off.
Cash stares at the taco for a moment then shrugs and takes it. Alex watches him take a bite and chew with his mouth mostly closed, which is a nice change. He hands the taco back to Alex, who cradles it in his hands and grins.
“You like me,” he announces happily.
Cash nods. “I do. Sometimes I question my own sanity but…”
“No,” Alex shakes his head. “You like me. You went out and bought me a taco because I wanted one. You always do shit like that. You put up with me when I’m in a mood. You make the others leave me alone when I need to cry. You watch out for me and just watch me and-“
“I don’t-”
“You do,” Alex says firmly, and Cash doesn’t try and deny it again. He looks away and frowns at the tattoo on the back of his hand. Frowning is a perfectly reasonable reaction to have to that bit of ridiculousness, in Alex’s opinion, but he’s pretty sure the reason for the worry on Cash’s face isn’t because of his body art choices. He’s pretty sure that it’s because Cash is apparently unaware that Alex likes him back.
“Know what I do?” Alex asks.
Cash raises an eyebrow and steals the taco for another bite before returning it.
“What?” Cash says through a mouthful of food and Alex makes a face.
“I do not get grossed out by you doing that even though it’s revolting. And I support your dubious choices. And I bribe Marshall so that I get to ride shotgun whenever you’re driving the van because I like keeping you company up front even though you insist on listening to shitty music. And I-”
“Alex,” Cash interrupts. His voice sounds a little strange and he doesn’t call Alex ‘Alex’ when ‘Singer’ or ‘Deleon’ would do so it makes Alex stop and listen. Except Cash doesn’t say anything else, just stares at him.
So Alex does the only thing that makes sense. He leans in and kisses Cash.
It’s kind of gross because there are still some bits of taco in Cash’s mouth, but when Cash kisses back it’s kind of awesome anyway.
Cash leans back, breaking the kiss and grins at Alex. There’s just a tiny hint of shyness in his smile and it makes Alex lean in and kiss him again.
Cash makes a happy noise in the back of his throat and puts his laptop to the side. It frees his lap up so that Alex can climb into it, straddling Cash’s thighs with his own as they kiss.
Behind them, Johnson clears his throat. “Uh, guys?” he says. “I’m still in the room. And that’s gross and not something I ever needed to see.”
Alex feels Cash’s hand leave his waist, and he knows he’s flipping Johnson off.
“Here,” Alex says, thrusting out the remains of the taco in Johnson’s direction. “Go away and eat this.”
“Ooh!” Johnson says.
Cash kisses Alex again so he can’t see Johnson walk towards them, but he feels the taco being taken out of his hand, hears the footsteps towards the door and the soft, disgusted laugh before the door shuts and they’re alone.
“Huh,” Cash says several minutes later. “Didn’t think you’d be this easy just for a taco.”
Alex sits back a little so he can tug Cash’s shirt off. He rubs his thumb across the thirtizzle tattoo absently and grins. “Wait until you see what I’ll do for a chalupa,” he says, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
It makes Cash laugh, and he’s still laughing when he leans in and kisses Alex again.
Pairing: Cash/Deleon
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Alex is so hungry he’d punch a child for Taco Bell.
A/N: For the cabfic textsfromlastnight.com challenge. I picked this prompt: (706): i would punch a child for taco bell. Thanks to mintyfiend for the wonderful beta. All mistakes are mine.
“I’m hungry,” Alex announces pitifully from where he’s lying prone on the sofa, head resting on a cushion.
“Hmm,” Cash says in response, not looking up from his laptop.
Alex waits for Cash to look over at him. When he doesn’t, Alex sighs dramatically.
“I’d punch a child for Taco Bell right now,” he says.
Cash still doesn’t look up. Alex waits a beat and then repeats himself.
“How old?” Cash asks, focus firmly fixed on the computer screen. He pecks at a couple of keys while Alex frowns at him.
“What?”
“The child. How old would the child you’d punch be?”
“Does it matter?” Alex asks and Cash finally glances over for a brief moment.
“Yeah. I mean, are we talking a teenager here? Middle school? Elementary? Would you punch a preschooler for Taco Bell but you’d draw the line at a toddler? Are you so hungry you’d punch a newborn?”
Alex blinks at him thoughtfully for a moment. “Like…5 or 6 years old, I think.”
“A 6 year old could totally take you,” Cash smirks and Alex glares at him and pretends he hadn’t taken that sort of thing into consideration when making his choice.
“Whatever,” he says. “Seriously though. I’m so hungry. I need a taco.”
“Go and get one then,” Cash says, his attention back on his laptop screen again.
Alex shakes his head, even though Cash isn’t watching. “I’m really comfy here,” he says. “And it’s too hot to move.”
Cash doesn’t respond.
“Caaaaaaash,” Alex whines.
“Jesus fuck, Deleon,” Cash says, glaring at him. “I’m trying to work here.”
Alex pouts. “But I’m hungry. And bored. And lonely.”
“Pay attention to me,” Cash mimics Alex’s whine. “Look at me. Stop what you’re doing ‘cos I’m so important.” He rolls his eyes at Alex and shuts his laptop, setting it aside.
“Where are you going?” Alex asks when Cash is halfway to the door.
“Away from you and your bitching and moaning,” Cash snaps and walks out.
Alex stares at the door in dismay. He lies in silence for a few moments, then looks to the other side of the room.
“Johnson,” Alex says sweetly.
Johnson pushes his ear buds further into his ears and makes a show of letting Alex see him turn the volume up on his iPod.
“I hate everyone,” Alex says to himself, and flops back down into his comfortable sprawl. He tries to ignore the way his stomach is growling by humming loudly to himself.
~~~
Cash shows up thirty minutes later and tosses a brown paper bag onto Alex’s stomach.
Alex opens his eyes and looks at the Taco Bell bag, then over at Cash.
“You got me food?” he asks, and Cash ignores him, picking up his laptop again.
“Where’s mine?” Johnson asks, and Cash glares. “Oh, right, you don’t love me as much as you love Deleon,” Johnson adds. “I forgot.”
Cash looks furious suddenly. He glares at Johnson ominously and Alex would wonder what’s going on between them except he has more important things to think about.
“No soda?” he asks, opening the bag and pulling out the giant taco. It’s his favourite and he hums happily as he unwraps it.
Cash pauses as he’s about to sit down and motions across the room. “There’s coke in the fridge,” he says.
Alex looks over at the fridge, then back at Cash. He makes a pitiful noise.
“Fucking…” Cash puts his laptop back down a little violently and stomps over to the fridge. He yanks it open and rummages around inside for a moment. He tosses a can over to Alex and then lobs another can across the room where it lands hard on Johnson’s stomach, cutting off the snickering coming from Johnson’s direction.
“Can I get back to work now?” Cash demands and Alex hesitates, but Cash is already up so…
“Straw?” he asks, pouting pitifully.
“What did your last slave die of?” Cash asks as he locates a straw and brings it over.
It’s orange and Alex wants to make a face- he’d much prefer green- but he’s not going to be a brat and also Johnson has launched into a loud, out of tune version of ‘Too much love will kill you’ which Alex thinks is random but amusing none the less.
Cash doesn’t seem to be appreciating Johnson’s singing. He’s sitting back opposite Johnson, glaring at him over the top of his laptop.
“You shut up,” he says, pointing warningly at Johnson. “And you,” he adds, moving his finger to point at Alex, “you eat your taco and leave me the fuck alone. I need to get this shit done.”
Alex nods and looks over at Johnson who smirks at him. Alex hates when Johnson does that because it always means he knows something Alex doesn’t. Alex can never get Johnson to tell him the secret- he doesn’t give in to excessive amounts of whining like Ian does, doesn’t get bored of teasing him and blurt the secret out like Marshall does, doesn’t sigh dramatically and mess with Alex’s hair and say, “fine, but if you tell anyone I told, I’ll kill you” and then doesn’t get too mad when Alex inevitably tells, like Cash does.
So Alex narrows his eyes a little and takes a big bite of his taco, licking his lips loudly. He smacks his lips in satisfaction because he has a taco and Johnson doesn’t and it’s got to be pissing him off. He sucks hot sauce off his fingers and glances at Johnson, expecting him to be watching with undisguised jealousy but Johnson’s not looking at Alex. He’s watching Cash and Alex cuts his eyes across to see what Cash is doing.
Cash isn’t doing anything though, other than gazing at Alex. Which is nothing weird- Cash does that all the time and, okay, maybe some people would find it creepy, but Alex likes to have Cash’s attention more than he likes to have anyone else’s. Alex sucks the sauce off his index finger, feeling his cheeks hollow, and that’s when Cash’s tongue flicks out and licks across his lip quickly.
It makes Alex pause, finger still in his mouth, because that’s not a reaction he’d expected. Alex frowns and takes his finger out of his mouth, and that’s when Cash’s gaze flicks up and his eyes meet Alex’s. Cash colours and looks away, focusing on his laptop screen and tapping away at the keys quickly.
Alex isn’t sure what that means, so he shrugs and turns back to his taco. He has it raised to his mouth, about to take another bite, when it hits him.
He sits up and stares at Cash, then down at his taco. He looks over at Johnson who rolls his eyes and nods as if to say, ‘finally, you moron’.
Alex gets up and goes to sit beside Cash.
“Want some of my taco?” he asks.
Cash doesn’t look up, but he wrinkles his nose. “Shit, you’ve eaten most of it already?” he asks. “Dude, it’s been, like, two minutes. I’m not getting you medicine when you get heartburn from eating too fast.”
“No, look, here-” he holds out the taco and Cash looks at it and frowns.
“Don’t you like it? Is it wrong? I thought that was your favourite.”
“It is!” Alex insists. “I just thought…I dunno, we could share it?”
“I’ll have it if neither of you want it,” Johnson calls over and Alex flips him off.
Cash stares at the taco for a moment then shrugs and takes it. Alex watches him take a bite and chew with his mouth mostly closed, which is a nice change. He hands the taco back to Alex, who cradles it in his hands and grins.
“You like me,” he announces happily.
Cash nods. “I do. Sometimes I question my own sanity but…”
“No,” Alex shakes his head. “You like me. You went out and bought me a taco because I wanted one. You always do shit like that. You put up with me when I’m in a mood. You make the others leave me alone when I need to cry. You watch out for me and just watch me and-“
“I don’t-”
“You do,” Alex says firmly, and Cash doesn’t try and deny it again. He looks away and frowns at the tattoo on the back of his hand. Frowning is a perfectly reasonable reaction to have to that bit of ridiculousness, in Alex’s opinion, but he’s pretty sure the reason for the worry on Cash’s face isn’t because of his body art choices. He’s pretty sure that it’s because Cash is apparently unaware that Alex likes him back.
“Know what I do?” Alex asks.
Cash raises an eyebrow and steals the taco for another bite before returning it.
“What?” Cash says through a mouthful of food and Alex makes a face.
“I do not get grossed out by you doing that even though it’s revolting. And I support your dubious choices. And I bribe Marshall so that I get to ride shotgun whenever you’re driving the van because I like keeping you company up front even though you insist on listening to shitty music. And I-”
“Alex,” Cash interrupts. His voice sounds a little strange and he doesn’t call Alex ‘Alex’ when ‘Singer’ or ‘Deleon’ would do so it makes Alex stop and listen. Except Cash doesn’t say anything else, just stares at him.
So Alex does the only thing that makes sense. He leans in and kisses Cash.
It’s kind of gross because there are still some bits of taco in Cash’s mouth, but when Cash kisses back it’s kind of awesome anyway.
Cash leans back, breaking the kiss and grins at Alex. There’s just a tiny hint of shyness in his smile and it makes Alex lean in and kiss him again.
Cash makes a happy noise in the back of his throat and puts his laptop to the side. It frees his lap up so that Alex can climb into it, straddling Cash’s thighs with his own as they kiss.
Behind them, Johnson clears his throat. “Uh, guys?” he says. “I’m still in the room. And that’s gross and not something I ever needed to see.”
Alex feels Cash’s hand leave his waist, and he knows he’s flipping Johnson off.
“Here,” Alex says, thrusting out the remains of the taco in Johnson’s direction. “Go away and eat this.”
“Ooh!” Johnson says.
Cash kisses Alex again so he can’t see Johnson walk towards them, but he feels the taco being taken out of his hand, hears the footsteps towards the door and the soft, disgusted laugh before the door shuts and they’re alone.
“Huh,” Cash says several minutes later. “Didn’t think you’d be this easy just for a taco.”
Alex sits back a little so he can tug Cash’s shirt off. He rubs his thumb across the thirtizzle tattoo absently and grins. “Wait until you see what I’ll do for a chalupa,” he says, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
It makes Cash laugh, and he’s still laughing when he leans in and kisses Alex again.