Hey Tim, buddy, how exactly do you handle Jay’s relentless lack of common sense?
I make sure he eats at least twice a day, and I can't allow him to touch any blood. Then the way I handle handling Jay after all of THAT is taking a pill every hour and smoking every 30 minutes.
“ugh,” jay groaned, “it’s so hot, i think i’m gonna die.”
jay laid flat on the bed, arms and legs spread out like a starfish in attempts to keep cool, one arm draped over the side. tim was sat on the floor next to him, humming as jay ran his fingers through his hair. “you’re not gonna die, you big baby,” tim responded, chuckling, “we should get out, it’s a really nice day.”
jay shot him a side eye. “tim. tim, outside is where the sun is, the heat is—no way in hell am i going out there.”
“you’re so dramatic.” tim took his hand and kissed the knuckles gently before standing up. “c’mon, just for a little bit, i promise it won’t be that bad.”
jay curled up on his side, refusing to move. “jay, i will literally carry you to the car if you don’t get up,” tim warned.
“ugh, fine,” jay conceded, “but if i get a sunburn, i’ll be so pissed.”
tim rolled his eyes, but started packing a little bag nonetheless.
the car ride went seamlessly, save for jay complaining that he was boiling alive despite the AC being on at full strength. soon, they were at the park and making their way through the woods to the little clearing they had gone to before, walking hand in hand.
they settled in the grass beneath the shade of a willow tree, jay’s head resting in tim’s lap as he stroked his hair soothingly. there was a nice breeze keeping them cool, so jay saved his complaints about the heat for the time being. jay’s eyes drifted open and closed, relaxed by the feeling of his boyfriend’s hands in his hair, humming slightly.
“you’re so pretty, y’know that right?” tim said idly, smiling down at jay.
jay scrunched up his face, pretending to think. “i think you may have mentioned it once or twice, but i’m not opposed to hearing it again.”
tim snorted, mumbling a quiet “dork,” and kept petting jay’s hair. he stared out at the small lake, watching water skater bugs dance across the surface, and an idea popped into his head.
“jay.” he shook his boyfriend a little bit, rousing him from his somewhat-sleepy state. “we should go swimming!”
“swimming?” jay raised an eyebrow. “since when did you like to swim?”
tim shushed him, “it’s perfect weather to do it, it’ll help cool us down. c’mon please, jay?”
sighing, jay sat up. “alright, alright—but only because you asked nicely.”
tim kissed jay’s cheek, beaming at him. they both kicked off their shoes, before jay piped up, “wait we don’t have anything to swim in—i’m not gonna get my clothes soaked.”
“it’s fine, no one else is around so you can just ditch your clothes altogether,” tim replied, stripping down.
jay followed his lead, folding his clothes into a little pile, and wading into the water. the cool water helped beat the sun’s heat, and jay sighed contentedly. “ok, you were right—this was a good idea.”
“hah, i told you.” tim swam over, splashing him a little.
“oh it is on,” jay said determinedly, “i’m gonna splash you so hard.”
tim smiled, teasing jay, “oh yeah? bring it, merrick!”
jay slapped his hand into the water, sending a large splash of water directly into tim’s face. in retaliation, tim dunked jay’s head under the water, getting his hair all wet. the two of them laughed, continuing to splash each other with bigger and bigger amounts of water. they fought like this for a few minutes before jay finally succeeded in splashing tim out of his smugness.
“oh no, you got me!” tim declared dramatically, laying back in the water, “i’m defeated!”
jay laughed at him, smiling wide. “no one beats jay merrick in a splash fight!”
tim smiled back. “so humble,” he muttered, sitting up and pulling jay close by his waist. he kissed him sweetly before resting their foreheads together. “this was nice,” he said.
jay nodded in agreement and brought their lips together again. “i’m starting to get tired though, we should get out.”
with that, the two of them made their way back to the shore to dry off on the grass. the sun helped them dry off quickly, and they laid together chatting idly until they were completely dry. soon after, they made their way back to the car, the sun starting to set.
“thank you for convincing me that this was a good idea,” jay said as tim started the car, “i really enjoyed this.”
tim smiled at him, taking his hand over the dash. “no problem, i really enjoyed this too.”
jay nodded, and rested his head against the window, starting to feel his eyelids grow heavy. the last thing he felt before drifting off to sleep was tim pressing a kiss to his knuckles.
as promised, the next day when jay discovered he got sunburnt, he was pissed.
Tim’s jacket is warm and familiar, falling in gentle folds across his back. The cold front zipper tickles his arm, the only indicator he has that the temperature’s dropped since they checked in earlier.
Tim ran out and got them some snacks, but by the time he returned, Jay was asleep… 🥺 That’s okay though, he deserves some rest after driving all day
taps fingers Hoody/Jay? I love the thought of these two touch-starved boys snuggling. Even if Hoody's basically a feral cat
here ya go arc!!
it wasn’t incredibly often that jay got to see the hooded person (who he’d dubbed “hoody” or just "hoods"), but this time when they broke into his & tim’s home, something felt different.
jay was sitting on the couch, flipping through bad daytime tv channels, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. he almost jumped out of his skin at the touch, but settled down a bit when he realized who it was. he’d since learned that hoody wasn’t a threat to them, but rather a strange cryptid set out to help with their mission.
“hey,” jay said to them, "what are you doing here?"
like usual, they said nothing, but gestured to the space next to him on the couch.
"you want to sit with me? we can watch tv together," jay offered.
hoody nodded enthusiastically, plopping down beside the man. jay laughed at their eagerness, and made some room for the cryptid.
"we're watching court shows, i hope that's okay with you." hoody scooched up close to jay, butting their head against his shoulder. jay got the hint, and lifted his arm to let hoody bury themself into his side.
jay chuckled at the tv, "these shows are so trashy, i love them."
hoody chirped in agreement, draping their legs over jay's lap. jay stroked over the soft material of their tan sweatshirt soothingly, and the cryptid made an almost purring noise, which surprised and amused jay, so he kept at it. they soon fell into a lull of silence, cuddled up together & occasionally snorting at dumb moments in the show.
after an hour or so of shitty court tv drama, jay piped up.
"hoods?" the cryptid looked up at jay, "you know you don't have to wear the mask around me, right?"
hoody nodded, keeping the mask on but lowering the hood, and leaned back against jay's shoulder.
jay noticed the hooded person was starting to get tired, their breaths getting slower and heavier, and turned the tv down a few notches. yawning, jay began to doze off himself he maneuvered slightly so he could lay down more, careful to not wake the sleepy cryptid.
soon enough, the pair were fully asleep to the sound of the tv soothing them like a lullaby.
—
"hey jay, i'm home!" tim called as he opened the door. turning into the living room, he saw the hooded person curled up against jay's side, jay's arms wrapped around them.
"looks like we have a guest, huh?" he said to himself, going to fetch a blanket from the linen closet.
when he returned, tim smiled at the two sleeping people, carefully draping the blanket over them and pressing a kiss to each of their foreheads. “g’night you two.”
summer in alabama meant oppressive heat, but today was actually surprisingly pleasant, so tim and jay decided to take advantage of it and go on a date. luckily, they also had a break from filming with alex, so they packed up tim's car and headed out for a picnic.
the drive out of the city was nice, windows down and music turned up. jay gazed over at tim while he drove, twining their hands together over the center console.
"when was the last time we were able to go on a date?" jay asked tim.
"god, not in forever," tim said, "but i'm glad we're getting the chance to now."
"where are you taking me for our picnic?" jay asked curiously.
"it's a surprise," tim replied, "i promise you'll like it though."
jay flashed a smile over at him, humming along quietly to the radio.
the drive went by quickly, and soon enough they were pulling into the lot of a small wooded park.
"a park?" jay questioned, "why didn't we just go to rosswood? it's a lot closer."
"rosswood isn't romantic," tim stated simply, grabbing their basket & blanket from the back of the car. "this place is nice! now c'mon, let's go."
tim took jay's hand once again, and they made their way into the woods. after 15 minutes, jay was readying to complain about how far they had to walk, but he was quickly shut up by the sight in front of them when they made their way through the trees. it was a small waterfront clearing, surrounded by willow trees filtering soft light over the grass.
"oh my god, tim..." jay said quietly, taking in the scenery, "it's beautiful."
"i know, and that's why i wanted to bring you here." tim smiled, pulling jay closer by his waist to press a kiss to his cheek. "let's spread out the blanket."
soon, they were settled in the shade of one of the trees, happily munching away at the sandwiches they packed. a nice breeze helped keeping them cool from the sun.
“this is great,” jay sighed, turning to look at tim.
tim smiled, laying back on the blanket. “it sure is, i love spending time with you like this.”
jay nodded, scooting over to lay next to tim. “it’s so nice out, i wanna take a nap.”
“you always want to nap when we’re together,” tim snorted, “what am i that boring?”
“no!” jay exclaimed, cuddling up to tim’s side, “you’re just...snuggly, it’s comforting.”
“i know, lovebug. i’m just teasin,’ c’mere.” tim hugged him close, brushing his hair off of his forehead. and with that, they drifted off to rest in the summer sun.
their nap was short-lived, however, as they were woken up by loud quacking. jay sat up, rubbing his eyes, only to be met with a family of ducks attempting to infiltrate their picnic basket.
“tim, tim, wake up!” jay shook the man awake. “look!”
“hm?” tim sat up groggily, yawning a bit, “oh, ducks!”
jay seemed to be buzzing with excitement. “i wanna feed them! let’s give them some of the sandwich bread!”
“jay, that’s not good for them,” tim informed, making jay slump down slightly with a pout.
“if only we had something like...” tim rummaged around in the picnic basket, producing a small tupperware and pulling off the lid with a flourish. “peas! they’re safe for ducks to eat.”
jay perked up again, surprised. “how’d you know that?”
he passed the tupperware over to jay, who immediately grabbed a handful to offer the ducks. “i may or may not have come here before to feed the ducks...”
“tim!” jay exclaimed, “that’s adorable, oh my god!”
tim blushed slightly, grabbing his own handful for the ducks to eat. both of the men fed them handfuls of peas until they had none left, jay laughing at how they tickled his palms.
the ducks eventually waddled away, leaving tim & jay sitting together in the shade. they spent another half hour chatting and picking at the food they packed before deciding to wrap up for the day, and made their way back to tim’s car.
once they were settled, tim tugged lightly at jay’s shirt, pulling him into a soft kiss over the center console. “today was great, i really loved hanging out with you like this.”
jay smiled, pressing another gentle kiss to tim’s lips. “i did too, i hope we can do this more soon.”
nodding, tim started the car and pulled out of the lot.
with their hands entwined over the console, tim and jay drove back to their house, ready to have a cozy night in with one another.