Guardian
Pairing: Joel Heyman x Reader Genre: Fluff (I think) A/N: It’s been too long! I know it was my fault but let’s reminisce and catch up! I’m writing again holy fuck! Oh-! And the way I write anxiety and dissociation is how I handle it, sorry if it’s not accurate to how you may act.
——
Your third year as a guardian at RTX couldn’t have held any greater surprise than the person you’d be guarding. Joel Heyman had been a well known challenge, his antics earning him a spot in the company’s- and community’s- hall of infamy, so to speak.
Caiti’s words echoed through your head. He likes to run away. He’s slippery in crowds. He doesn’t like to eat. All of her warnings and his schedule were on repeat in your mind as you worked your way through the crowd in the main hall. Just moments ago, you were less than eighteen inches away from his back, and you took your eyes off of him for what seemed like a second, and as you stalled, he left. Well- you’d stalled and stayed still as he kept moving. And he knew the convention floor better than you did and his stride was much longer than yours (you swore this man was all leg). You were determined to catch up with him, but he ducked and dipped around people and monuments taller than he was and stayed out of your sight quite expertly.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t hid from you before- you’d just always found him after a few minutes. But he’d been gone almost ten minutes into his lunch break and you were just barely keeping yourself from crushing the apple and chicken salad you’d bought him (recommended by Caiti). It didn’t make sense not to be anxious about the situation. And nothing would help ease your nerves. Crowds of people- happy people- and all the noise. Chatter, laughter, conversations, sales, pictures being taken. Everything. Everything was horrendously loud and everyone was incredibly too close to you. The room was way too hot and your lanyard and shirt were practically choking you. It hurt. Everything around you weighed down you, crushing your throat and blocking it up, pushing down on your chest and curling your fingers around the plastic salad bowl. You needed to find him but everyone was swarming around you and the noise was inescapable. Your mind was buzzing with hypothetical situations that haunted you and time moved at a crawl as your mind and body detached from one another; almost to the point that later on that day, you swore that you watched yourself slump down against a wall, your eyes devoid of any emotion and your body moving almost hyper mechanically as you did, your legs sticking out almost into the foot traffic and the salad dropped next to you.
You really thought you could handle this. The previous years, the stress hadn’t gotten to you like it did now. Maybe the people were more cooperative or maybe you just felt something more for him that made you more protective of him-? Either way, this was not something you were accustomed to. The next ten minutes felt like ten hours. People passed by and you had to at least try to see this from their perspective. A guardian, sitting on the floor with someone’s lunch, looking like they were a million miles away. You wanted to laugh- especially at the half crumpled salad but your throat was still too constricted to even make a sound. As your minds pace slowed, two things became prominent on your mind. Where the hell was Joel, and would this incident get you punished- or sent home?
You’d calmed yourself down enough and decided to keep the the salad for yourself. You stood up and reorganized yourself as you looked at your surroundings. You took a deep breath and grabbed your things and a familiar voice approached you.
For the first time that day, your heart sped up, not out of anxiety, but a cocktail of relief, anger, frustration and betrayal upon seeing his smile.
“Where were you?” He grinned and teased, slinging an arm over your shoulders.
“I,” you started, pushing his arm off of you. “Was busy looking for your ass, who thought id be a good idea to just run off and leave, as if it isn’t my job to keep you safe and-” you took a deep breath and he shrunk back, shoving his hands into his pockets. “And then you act like you being missing for half-a-fucking hour wouldn’t have any adverse effects on the people around you-!” You hissed in a low voice. Joel’s smile fell into a concerned and remorseful face, his lips parting so slightly. He looked almost apologetic as you went from angry to anxious. Guilt painted his face as you glared at the floor. He cleared his throat and almost bashfully started to speak.
“Well- I- I’m sorry, can I make it up to you?” He asked in a gentle voice. You whined to yourself and knitted your eyebrows together and ground your teeth together, crossing your arms over your chest.
“Sure.” You huffed flatly, taking his own and the receipt for his lunch, jotting down your hotel, room and phone number. “Don’t even think, about standing me up.” You tried to sound playful, hoping to lighten the mood, but your voice came across more bitter than anything else.
“Promise- I won’t-” He stuttered, and you grinned ever so slightly.
“Call me ahead- or text. Text me.”
–
The next day, you came in to meet Joel with your breakfast and his coffee, and Joel, to your surprise and pleasure, stayed by your side and in your line of sight. He kept you with him when he ducked away and into crowds, mumbling to you about how bad you two were being. You couldn’t help but smile as he stayed with you, he’d gone out of his way to keep you with him, even keeping his arm around your waist and almost pressing his hips to yours and his side every so often. You escorted him through the hall even though it looked to be quite the opposite situation, from the way he held onto you and how you grinned and chuckled at some of his responses to fans and other guardians.
As you two made it to the back of the hall, he leaned into your ear.
“Do I have to text you before I make it up to you?” He whispered to you.
“Well, what do you have in mind?”
“I wanna take you to lunch today- wanna go?”
“Like- right now? I look like a mess and we only have thirty-”
“They expect me to be late and- you’re always cute.” He mumbled in your ear, your face starting to heat up as you shoved him lightly.
“You’re a fuckin dork..” You mumbled, closing the distance between you two. “Just take me out already.” You hummed as he held the door open for you.
“I’d love to.” He smiled in that movie-star way, drawing a smile and giggle from you almost effortlessly.














