Problem (Daniel Garcia x Reader)
word count: 2,525 | this is a repost from 2021
As he stared at your texts, Daniel didn’t know what to do from here. He couldn’t stop thinking about you, no matter how hard he tried to get out of his head, his thoughts kept running back to the way you smile at him when you greet him, the time you’d given him a kiss on the cheek after he won his match against Lee, the lingering hugs you gave him when you saw him every week. It was becoming a problem, one that Daniel hadn’t foreseen happening.
Daniel didn’t need problems. He was busy enough, wrestling many times a week, he didn’t have time to think about you, or what you were doing. And yet you stubbornly refused to leave his mind, the star of many of his daydreams and it was getting annoying. You texted him a lot, and Daniel wanted to seem more laid back, take longer to respond to you, but he often found himself replying to you almost instantly. He liked talking to you, he just didn’t understand the way it tugged on his heartstrings whenever you messaged him.
During Dynamite, Daniel tried to hide from you, tried to avoid you since he couldn’t figure out what exactly was going on in his head, and in his heart, and why he was feeling so drawn to you. But the second he saw you chatting with Rebel, Jamie, and Britt, he found himself calling you over with a smile on his face. And he internally cursed at himself, but as you approached him, his cheeks turned pink and he couldn’t even help it.
“Hey!” You greeted him with a grin, throwing your arms around his waist. Daniel’s arms came around your shoulders as you pressed your head against his chest, your way of hiding the smile on your face. Daniel could feel his heart racing when you pulled back, friendly smile still coating your face.
“It’s good to see you,” he said with a smile, instantly regretting it, wishing he could’ve kept it to himself.
You blushed, “Aww, are you finally admitting you like my company?”
Daniel rolled his eyes as you poked his side, “It could be worse.”
“Wow, well thank you for tolerating me, Death!”
“Are you going out after the show tonight?” He found himself asking. He didn’t know why did, he didn’t care, he shouldn’t care!
“Yeah! Are you?”
He played it off with a shrug, “Maybe.”
“Maybe,” you mocked his deep tone, “C’mon am I gonna have to put up with everyone all by myself?”
“Am I gonna have to put up with everyone else just to please you?”
“You’re coming tonight, Garcia. I hope I’m worth it!”
And it just slipped out, “You always are.”
At first he regretted it, seeing the shocked look on your face, but the second he saw the way your eyes lit up, his worries had faded. You grinned at him, leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek. Daniel groaned, pretending to be annoyed by it, but you could tell he was blushing, and biting his lip to hide his smile.
“You’re secretly the sweetest, Daniel. I’ll see you later tonight, yeah?”
“Yeah,” he choked out, and you smiled at him once more before leaving to get ready for your match.
And you saw him later that night, a lot of the AEW roster was hanging out together, but you chose to stick near Daniel until eventually your social meter ran out, and you asked him if he wanted to head back to the hotel with you. You noticed the way he blushed when you said that, but you chose not to say anything about it.
Daniel was a gentleman, walking you right to your door, and you thanked him with a hug and a smile. You loved hugging him, the way his arms came around you like he didn’t want to let go. You were slowly getting Daniel to open up to you, which had been your goal since you met him. You’ve had quite the crush on him, and finally it felt like you were getting somewhere.
As you pulled away, you whispered “Goodnight” to him, taking a step back. As you turned to enter your hotel room, Daniel grabbed your arm, forcing you to face him. His other hand cupped your cheek, bringing you towards him as he leaned down to kiss you. You felt your heart race as you kissed him back, moving your hands to his sides to pull his body right against yours. You just about melted into him, the fire behind his kiss had you wanting more, and you had to ball your fists to stop yourself. He pulled away slowly, reluctantly letting go of you. You couldn’t hide the smile on your face, wide as he mirrored your expression.
Grabbing his hand, you pulled him towards you again, and he smirked as you leaned in to kiss him. Daniel kissed you back eagerly, hands moving to your hips. You wanted so much more, your hips moving against his thigh, making you whimper at the friction. Daniel groaned into the kiss, hands tightening on your hips as he helped you move on him. He let out a strained moan as he pulled away again, taking a step back, hoping you wouldn’t look down at his jeans and notice the effect you had on him.
“Goodnight,” he said with a smile, and you wondered how you were supposed to recover from that.
As Daniel walked back to his hotel room, the bliss he felt from kissing you soon faded into frustration and regret. He didn’t have time to go around kissing people, he didn’t have time to get himself wrapped up into you, but damn if you didn’t have a hold on him. He groaned as he entered his hotel room, immediately collapsing onto the bed.
“Why did I just do that?” He asked himself, mistaking the butterflies in his stomach for pain. He wanted to, he really did want to, but he needed to be focus on his career, not on you. He could feel his phone buzzing in his pocket and he sighed heavily before reaching to check it.
You: we should do that again sometime :)
Daniel smiled, his fingers reacting before the rest of his brain did, and he typed out “Nothing would make me happier” in response. As he was about to send it, he panicked, pressing on settings and promptly blocking you.
“AEW Championship would make me happier,” he said to remind himself, “Stay focused.”
When you didn’t receive a response, you assumed he just passed out early to bed, not thinking much of it. But on Thursday morning, he still hadn’t replied to you, and it was started to make you frown. Was he ignoring you? Or was he just not checking his phone? You knew he was flying home, so maybe he was preoccupied with traveling. Too nervous to double text him, you decided you’d let him reply whenever he was ready. You didn’t want to push it.
When he didn’t respond all day, you laid in your bed at night, pouting, wondering what had gone wrong. You’re honest with your feelings, and not scared of communicating, so you called him, wanting to talk about it. When the call didn’t even rang, you realized you’d been blocked.
Oh.
Your frown was deep as you opened up Twitter, only to find out that you were blocked on there too. You scoffed when you opened up Instagram, and you were blocked from his account.
What had you done wrong?
He was the one who kissed you, and judging by the way his whole face lit up afterwards, he must’ve enjoyed it. If he didn’t enjoy it, he could’ve at least told you that, instead of blocking you on everything. You’d been friends for a few months now, surely a conversation about it would’ve been enough. Maybe he didn’t like you the way you thought, but why would he bother kissing you if he didn’t?
It was hard to process, the mixed signals were driving you insane and you couldn’t stop thinking about what could’ve caused him to block you. It’s not like you were flirty with anyone else, so he couldn’t have been jealous. So why block you? If you were his friend at the very least, why would he block you on everything? Admittedly, it eats away at you. You don’t understand why Daniel suddenly had no desire to talk to you after kissing you.
Daniel misses you during the week, unable to stop thinking about kissing you, and the sweet look you gave him after he pulled away. Blocking you was supposed to give him a sense of clarity, let him focus on training and getting better in the ring, but he couldn’t get you out of his head. He wondered what you were doing, if you’d noticed that you were blocked, if you were thinking about him the way he thought of you…
He felt kind of stupid, but he didn’t unblock you, knowing he had to stay concentrated on his career. You were simply too much of a distraction. A very pretty, ridiculously tempting distraction, and he could not indulge without feeling guilty. But also, he felt really guilty for blocking you too, it wasn’t your fault that he kissed you, and it was clear that you both enjoyed it.
The next week at Dynamite, you were livid, intent on finding Daniel to yell at him. How dare he lead you on one minute and block you the next? How dare he kiss you, make you feel like you’re on the top of the world, and then drop you like you’re nothing? You scoured the halls, trying to find him, but every time you caught a glance at him, he immediately went the opposite direction. Coward.
He couldn’t avoid the fact you might’ve been waiting for him after his match. He knew you weren’t dumb, there’s only one way back to the locker room, so he convinced his dads to help him out. And there you were, waiting for him after they’d won their match, your arms crossed over your chest, a deep scowl on your face. You still looked pretty, even though you were scowling, and Daniel was annoyed at his own thoughts.
“Nothing to see here!” Matt yelled.
“Yeah, move along!” Jeff added.
And as you hopelessly tried to argue with Matt and Jeff, they physically blocked you as Daniel practically ran to the locker room to get changed. You huffed in annoyance when they still didn’t stop harassing you, and it was clear that Daniel hadn’t told them the story.
“Leave our son alone! He doesn’t need his heart broken by you!” Matt yelled at you.
“Then why did he break mine?” You snapped, unable to stop yourself from frowning, “Why would he kiss me if he wasn’t interested? Now I’m blocked and he won’t talk to me.” And they were both silent for a few seconds, and you felt you should apologize, “It’s not your problem, I’m sorry.”
“Room 354. Don’t tell him I told you,” Jeff said. And now you at least had a hotel room. You thanked him, while Matt started to argue with him.
When you got back to the hotel, you weren’t even on the same floor as Daniel. At first, it sunk in, he wanted nothing to do with you anymore, so you just needed to leave him alone. But dammit, you couldn’t get the whole situation out of your mind, and you were so much more hurt than you wanted to admit. You were really falling for Daniel, so for him to just… cut you out like that? So unfair.
Daniel heard the knocks on his door, and he just assumed it was Matt or Jeff, so he forced a smile as he opened the door. His jaw dropped when he saw you in front of him, dried tear-stains down your cheeks. His heart broke to see you so upset, and he just wanted to fight the jerk who hurt you, but he knew he was the one who was guilty.
“Just tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it,” you choked out. Hours ago, you were almost willing to fight him, yell at him, call him a jerk, but honestly? You just missed him. You missed him and his company so much and it was killing you.
“Come in,” he said softly, stepping aside so you could enter his hotel room.
“You know, if kissing me was so terrible for you, you could’ve just said that? Instead of blocking me on everything? If you just wanted to be friends I’d understand. All you had to do was say that. And yeah, maybe I’d be a little hurt, but it’s still better than completely cutting me out, and running away from me. What did I do that was so terrible for you?”
Daniel sighed, tilting his head down, “You’re gonna think I’m an idiot.”
“I already do think that.”
“Kay, well, you’re gonna think I’m even more of an idiot. You didn’t do anything wrong, and kissing you was definitely not terrible for me. I panicked, alright? I need to focus on my career, and I can’t do that when you smile at me like that, when you’re hugging me at shows, when you look that damn pretty even when you’re crying… I promised myself I wouldn’t have any distractions. I really like you, a lot, and it scares me. I know I shouldn’t have kissed you, and I’m sorry, I just… I don’t understand the things you’re doing to my heart.”
You looked down, “I wouldn’t be a distraction to you. Look, we both want the same things, right? To be at the top of AEW, to work our asses off and win titles. So, if you really do have feelings for me, why wouldn’t we work together on it? I take my work seriously, Daniel, but that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to be happy either. Hell, we could train together, I don’t want to be in your way. But if that’s how you feel, then I get it. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”
“I can’t just be friends with you,” he said, making your frown deepen, “Not when I can’t stop thinking about grabbing you and kissing you. I’m really sorry I hurt your feelings, I was scared because I realized how I really felt about you, and I shouldn’t have blocked you like that. I probably don’t deserve another chance, but, I like the idea of us working together towards our goals, and I want to be able to take you out on dates and kiss you and hold you… so, could I please have another chance?”
You couldn’t hide the smile, “You are so lucky you’re so cute, Death. One more chance.”
“I won’t mess this up,” he said, his hand reaching up to cup your chin. He wiped your tears away gently, before leaning in to kiss you once more.
