this isn't much of a plot or anything but i cannot stop thinking about storm par crowding into a small diner somewhere after a long day and reader falling asleep on scott's shoulder
Tired | Scott x Reader
A/N: Jealous Scott! Kinda short, please leave more requests!
The diner was cute, quaint and filled with locals who stared at Storm Par as they filed into the establishment. You were behind Scott and in front of Javi, barely able to focus on keeping your feet in front of you.
Your group split in two, most Storm Par members filing into a six person booth, leaving you, Scott, and Javi a four person booth. Not really thinking, you sat next to Scott, too tired to abide by your usual nervousness around him. Javi sat across from the two of you.
“Are you okay?” You barely registered that Scott was talking to you.
“What? Oh, yeah, I’m just really tired.”
“What the hell did you do last night?” Javi laughed.
Well, in fact, what you had done last night was smoke a bong with Boone, get violently too high, and throw your guts up for two hours as soon as you got back to your motel room. You bit your lip.
Javi had been half joking, but your silence raised both men’s suspicions. “Oh my god,” Javi chuckled. “What did you do?”
“Would you kill me if I said I was maybe smoking with the enemy?”
“Yeah,” you groaned. “He had good shit. Too good. I got sick, didn’t sleep much.”
“He got you sick?” Again, you missed Scott’s tight, angry tone. Javi didn’t, raising a brow at his partner.
“It wasn’t his fault,” you defended Boone. “He loaded the bowl with keef and I’ve only smoked my pen for the last three months.”
Scott didn’t smoke, so he didn’t really understand, but Javi did, nodding. “Yeah, that’ll do it.”
The waitress interrupted. “What can I get you guys?”
Scott ordered first, then you, who ordered nothing but a coffee, and finally Javi. Scott tried to circle back to your night with Boone but you shrugged him off, yawning.
You were quiet as he eventually fell into conversation with Javi. Everytime you blinked, your eyes remained closed a little longer each time. Scott and Javi’s low voices lulled you to sleep. You stopped understanding what they were talking about, eyelids drooping, head hanging to your side. You fell asleep over your coffee.
Right onto Scott’s shoulder.
He’d been mid-sentence when he felt weight on his shoulder, immediately pausing his statement. He glanced over to see your head, resting on his shoulder as you breathed shallowly.
Javi chuckled. “You were so worried about Boone, but look who’s shoulder she fell asleep on.”
Scott didn’t blush, but if he did he would have. “Whatever,” he grumbled. He slouched in his seat to lower his shoulder, making you more comfortable. You sighed and nuzzled into him. Javi smirked at the look on Scott’s face. “Shut up,” Scott snapped, but even he couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at his lips.
Summary: Javi's job bring him back into the same town as a sort-of-ex, but if he wants a chance at rekindling anything, he's going to have to answer for his decision to work for Riggs.
Word Count: 3,189
Category: Angst, Fluff
A/N: Happy spooky season everyone!
Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.
I grinned as I lined up my shot on the dartboard ahead of me, ignoring the heckling of my friends and a few new competitors we'd met at the bar. I was the undefeated champ at darts, both tonight and in general, and I hadn't gotten here by letting people get in my head.
I let out a breath, completely focused on the center ring, and sent the dart flying in one smooth motion.
Bullseye. As planned.
I turned to my friends with a grin, enjoying their chorus of groans. While I wasn't completely undefeated for all time, I was undefeated tonight, and I was frankly having the time of my life.
"Okay, there's got to be somebody in this bar who can beat you," teased one of my friends, throwing an arm over my shoulder and turning to scan the rest of the patrons who hadn't been roped into our competition yet.
"I bet I could give it a shot."
I turned at the sound of the voice to see a man I hadn't seen in years.
Javi Rivera and I had met while we were both studying at Muskogee State College almost six years ago. We'd hit it off, going quickly from friends to dating, and after only a couple months, I'd started to be able to see a future with him. And then, three of his friends died in a tornado while they were trying to test their PhD project and secure grant funding.
I'd done my best to be there for Javi, but we'd pretty quickly realized he needed some space--from chasing, from school, from Oklahoma. From everything. Including me.
It sucked to say goodbye to someone I loved, but at the same time, I got it. We'd parted on pretty good terms, deciding for both our hearts it would be best for the break to be clean. I'd thought about him a thousand times since then, clean break or no, but I hadn't seen him once. Now, he was standing before me in the dive bar just outside my hometown, apparently challenging me to darts.
"...Javi?" I managed, a smile tugging at my face despite the shock and disbelief. He grinned back at me, holding his arms out but not making any move to close the distance.
"Hey. It's good to see you."
I grinned, quickly closing the rest of the space between us to wrap Javi in a hug.
"It's good to see you too! What are you doing here? ...How are you doing?"
He stepped back with a smaller smile on his own face, running a hand through his hair before he met my eyes again.
"Better. A lot better than the last time you saw me, actually. I'm working with a team that's researching tornados, trying to get better data to better understand them and hopefully make everybody safer as a result. My team's just passing through the area on our way to chase a some big cells developing further West, and we're staying in town for the night. I was really hoping I'd find you here."
"You know, I do have a phone. And I haven't changed my number."
He grinned. "That was going to be Plan C, if Plan A of finding you here and Plan B of finding you at another bar didn't work out."
I just shook my head and laughed.
"You know, there's a lot I could say about that, but I think instead I'm gonna settle for kicking your ass in darts."
"Oh, bring it on. I was watching you, I think you've lost your edge since the last time I saw you. And I can tell you right now, I haven't. I've only gotten better."
"Sure you have, Rivera. Come on, put your money where your mouth is. You start us off."
"If you insist."
Javi leaned in close, hitting me with a charming smile as he took his half of the darts out of my hand, taking his time and letting his fingers linger over mine. For a split second, it was like I was back in grad school again, spending weekends blowing off steam and occasionally working on our project from the back table of a bar. Then, he pulled back, turning his attention to the dartboard again.
"Loser buys drinks," he called as he drew his arm back, then let the dart fly. He hit an 18, but not on any of the score-multiplying rings. I grinned.
"You're on."
****************
Javi and I spent most of the rest of the night together, trading blows in darts and just catching up with each other again. To my delight, it had been like no time had passed since we'd last seen each other. We immediately fell back into the same happy, comfortable routine we'd had for years, and my heart did a happy little flip in my chest every time Javi leaned into me with the smile I loved so much.
We stayed out at the bar together long after my friends had left, hovering at a back table together until they kicked us out. Javi had walked to the bar from his hotel, so I gave him a ride back, the two of us lingering as clearly neither of us wanted to leave. When Javi finally hopped out of the car, it was only after we'd made plans to get together the next day, depending on the tornado situation.
Luckily for Javi and I, the forecast the following morning looked very calm. Javi texted me early, and we made plans to get together for lunch. I was practically walking on air as I drove into town, parking and hopping out to wait for Javi before heading inside. I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself, but having Javi back in my life even for these twelve hours or so had been amazing. I couldn't stop thinking about him, and frankly, I didn't want to.
Unfortunately, my happy little bubble got momentarily popped by a Storm Par truck pulling into the lot. I frowned and narrowed my eyes. They'd shown up in the area recently, swooping in like vultures and taking advantage of tragedy in the community to make a profit. If they were heading into the restaurant for lunch, Javi and I might need to find somewhere more peaceful to hang out.
I glowered at the truck, trying to project as much malice and disapproval as possible. Then the door popped open, and my heart stopped in my chest.
Javi climbed out of the driver's seat. He had on a Storm Par button down. He grinned and waved at me as soon as he saw me, but I couldn't do more than stare back. What the fuck was he doing?
"Hey! Sorry I'm a little late, I had a meeting this morning-"
"With Riggs?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them. Javi stuttered a step, the smile on his face dimming a little as I crossed my arms. He came to a stop in front of me.
"I... what?"
"I think that's my line, Javi. What the hell are you doing? Why are you showing up here in Storm Par shit?"
"I told you I was chasing again-"
"You told me you were here researching tornados! Not conning grieving people out of their family homes!"
Javi took a step back, blinking like I'd physically slapped him across the face. I huffed, trying to get a hold of myself. I'd been almost shouting by the end of my speech, and I really didn't want to throw a scene in front of the restaurant.
"Listen, I get why you're mad," Javi started, holding up his hands like a peace offering. "But Riggs is funding research that's going to allow us to better understand how, why, and when tornados form, which will save lives. We're on our way to the most complete understanding of a tornado ever, and we never would've gotten here without Riggs investing and getting us this tech."
I'd started shaking my head after the second sentence, getting faster and faster until Javi finished speaking. I huffed a disbelieving laugh and took a half-step back towards my car.
"There are other ways to get grant money, Javi. Ways that don't include Riggs."
"Yeah, just ways that include risking everything going into an EF5 that got almost all of my best friends killed."
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. It had been a dream come true when Javi walked into the bar last night, but this was quickly turning into a nightmare. Hurt, anger, saddness, and disappointment formed their own little tornado in my chest, and I barely managed to keep my voice level as I met Javi's eyes again.
"I know what you went through when you lost your friends. I understand why you're making the choices you're making. But you know as well as I do that Riggs is taking advantage of people, actively hurting people in this community, and that all the data you bring him with your research is just going to make it easier for him to swoop in looking to make a profit after disasters, not bringing help before them."
"That's not what we're doing-"
"You might be able to convince yourself of that while you're riding around in your stupid trucks, but unlike you, I was born and raised here, and I never left. I know what's happening, I know the reputation your sponsor has earned for you, and frankly Javi? I want nothing to do with it. Any of it."
Javi huffed in surprise, then scowled.
"I take it to mean that includes me?"
I nodded, slowly at first, then faster and more confidently as I took a few more steps back.
"As long as you're going to keep enabling the vultures? Yeah, that does include you."
He huffed again, a humorless laugh, as he shook his head and shuffled around like he couldn't figure out how to react. It felt like a knife to my heart, but I didn't let myself hesitate before turning around and heading back to my car. I'd sat and cried with neighbors in the wake of tornados, trying to salvage anything we could in the wreckage, before polished looking guys in suits came in and way underpaid for properties, then left without lifting a finger to help a single living thing in the devastated area. If Javi was willing to be a part of that, then he was nothing like the man I'd known and loved before.
****************
I sighed, dropping an armful of books on the kitchen table. I still had a few things to bring up from the storm shelter, but I couldn't stop myself from sinking into the nearest chair. It had been a long few days.
Less than 48 hours after Javi and I had our fight, one of the worst tornados of the year had touched down much too close for comfort. It had done some significant damage to the next town over, although not nearly as bad as it could've been. Exactly what had happened was still a little unclear, but it had been a long time since one had come that close to me. I hadn't been expecting it to affect me, but my knees were actually feeling a little weak.
I took a few moment to focus on breathing deeply, then rallied myself to move the last of my supplies out of the storm shelter. I'd just made it to my feet again when a knock came at the door.
I sighed and honestly debated pretending I wasn't home. But, most likely, it was a neighbor coming to check in or share news from the tornado. I didn't want them to worry, and I probably wouldn't get away with pretending not to be here.
I made it to the door just after another knock came, slightly louder this time. I swung open the door without looking outside first, then froze halfway through the motion when I found Javi staring at me, standing on my doorstep with a six pack of beer held loosely in one hand.
"Thank god you answered. Listen, I'm sorry. You were right. Kate was right. Storm Par... Riggs..." he shook his head, apparently at a loss for words. His hair and clothes were a mess, back to the Javi I'd known in grad school instead of the perfectly-pressed Storm Par rep I'd seen a few days ago. More than just that, though, he looked frazzled. Offbalance, in a way I'd never seen before.
"Javi... are you okay?"
He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head.
"Did you hear about the big one?"
"...The tornado that just hit?" He nodded. "Yeah. I've only heard bits and pieces outside of the siren, but yeah. What happened? Is everybody... you said Kate's name earlier."
He quickly reassured me, getting halfway through reaching for my hand before pulling himself back.
"Kate's fine. I convinced her to come out here and help with research, but she almost-" Javi stopped short, closing his eyes for a long, long moment. I frowned, briefly considering what to do next, but it didn't take me long to reach a decision. Javi seemed to be implying he'd ditched Storm Par, but even if he hadn't, I still cared about him. And he clearly needed somebody right now.
"Javi. Why don't you come inside and sit down? Take a breath for a minute?"
He nodded, opening his eyes again and taking a slow, deep breath.
"Thanks."
"Sure thing."
I held the door open, and Javi didn't need me to show him where to go. We'd spent a good part of our relationship hanging out in this house, and it hadn't changed much since then. I followed Javi, letting him decide where he wanted to settle. Eventually, we ended up on the back porch, Javi settling into the bench swing where we'd watched more sunsets than I could count. He set the six pack down by his feet, and after a moment's consideration, I sat down next to him.
Javi didn't look at me as I joined him, his stare still a thousand yards out on the sun that had just started to approach the horizon. I gave him a few moments, then gently reached out to take his hand. His attention immediately snapped to me, his eyes wide with surprise. I gave him a soft smile.
"How long as it been since we spent an evening sitting out here?"
He huffed a laugh. "It's been a long time."
We shared a little smile, then after a moment, I sighed. Javi seemed calmer, at least slightly, and now I needed some answers.
"So... you wanna tell me what brought you here?"
"I came to apologize. You were right about Riggs, and about what's important. I want to be helping people, and it's a long story, but it became clear in the last few hours that I can't do that as long as I'm working with Riggs. I just wish I'd been able to figure it out earlier."
Javi shifted, taking my hand in his and shuffling a little closer to me. The apology was sweet, and I'd missed having moments like this with Javi, but his answer still had a lot of holes.
"I'm glad to hear you're done with Riggs- I mean, I'm assuming that's what you're saying?"
"Yes. Very much yes."
I smiled. "Okay. But maybe you should start a little further back on explaining what happened between now and the last time I saw you. Starting with why you failed to tell me Kate was in town."
"...In my defense, I was planning to tell you at lunch."
I couldn't hold back a snort.
"Fine. Depending on how good the rest of your explanation is, you get a pass on that."
Javi laughed. "Good. Alright, let me think about this..."
It took a while, but eventually Javi managed to walk me through his whole story. It was the serious catchup we'd been planning to have over lunch, but with the added beneift of a private moment together in one of our old favorite places. A lot had happened since Kate had come to town, and she'd had the same kind of fight with Javi as I had, but he'd come around and stepped up when it mattered.
"So, now we're done with Riggs. We're working on a pitch for investors back East right now, actually. Kate's going to present what we've got so far, and hopefully we'll have ethical funding for helping people and nothing else by the end of next month."
I smiled, leaning into Javi. The sky was red from the sunset now, and we'd been holding hands the whole time. Even though we'd gone years without really talking, right now, it felt like nothing had changed.
"I'm glad to hear it, Javi. And I'm so, so glad you're okay."
"Yeah, me too. It was dicey there for a minute, but we're on the other side now."
I leaned a little further into Javi, and after a moment, he raised one arm and stretched it around my shoulders. I sighed.
"You know..." Javi started. He paused and cleared his throat, then shifted a little on the bench before continuing. "Kate and I could actually use some help working on those grant proposals, and maybe some of our future presentations. I know you've always been happy to do your own thing, but... we'd love to have your help if you want to come back to spending more time with us. I would love that."
I leaned back to look Javi in the eye, and I couldn't keep a gigantic smile off my face for even a second.
"Honestly Javi? I would love that. Both to be part of helping you guys finish what you started, helping our community, and... for you. I missed you a lot."
"I missed you too. So much. And I know I'm the one who left, but if you'd be willing to give us another shot... I'll be around for the long haul."
My heart did a backflip in my chest, and the beaming smile on my face mirrored the feeling.
"I would really love that Javi."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, good." He smiled back at me, then started leaning in before stopping short. "Can I kiss you?"
"Absolutely you can."
He grinned, then the two of us closed the distance as one, Javi's hand going to my waist as I tangled one in his hair. It felt right, and we both smiled into the kiss.
"No pressure if this is a little fast," I said, pulling back from Javi just enough to speak, "but... would you like to stay the night tonight?"
"You know I've stayed the night before, right? Regularly. I don't know if it can count as too fast if we've already done it a million times."
"Fair point. So what do you say?"
"I'd love to." He leaned in, placing a gentle kiss on my neck and then moving slowly up towards my ear. One of his hands moved to my thigh as he whispered: "I've got a lot to catch you up on if you're going to start writing grant proposals for us. I think we've got an all-nighter coming on."
I laughed, pulling back and swatting at Javi's arm. He just grinned.
"Okay, I'm officially banning work talk until tomorrow morning."
just convinced my parents to come see Twisters with me (my dad loved the soundtrack) and more Nice Things:
The shot after the tragedy, first shot of Kate since the time skip, and it's a pan from her hand gripping the subway bar. What better way to communicate in a single instant, "it's been five year's but she's still in that moment, hanging on for dear life"
Storm Par's vehicles are all named after the Cast of the Wizard of Oz, but Kate and Javi's vehicle is called "Lion," because she needs courage, hello, but so does Javi. (I think the bad guy's driving Tin Man, who "needs a heart," but I can't confirm.)
When Kate agrees to try her experiment out and Tyler offers to help, she's like, "we're going to drop them right in front, we don't need to go all the way in, that's dangerous" and he's like "that's why we have to go all the way in!" And the whole time he's driving them in and she's panicking he's talking over her panic, describing all the true things about what they're doing: "extra weight on the chassis, augurs ready, etc." because that's what you do when you're trying not to act in fear—you focus on the things that are true instead of on the scary things that might happen. And because he pushes her through that she gets to see something she, the weather-lover, never got to see before—the center of the storm! And come out on the other side okay! That's wonderful! He literally gets her past the moment she'd never been past, in storm chasing.
The part where Kate is trying to get Tyler out from under the debris but she can't and then Javi comes in and uses leverage to get him out—exactly the same thing Jeb did to turn their trailer over before the Tragedynado hit the first time. Except this time, instead of beat-for-beat repeating the tragedy after the leverage-stunt, Kate drives toward the tornado. How great is that??
Javi says "you have a gift, we have to use it to help the people we love" and Tyler says, "figured college would be a better use of my brain [instead of getting stepped on by cows]" but there's this lovely combination of "use what you've got for others, and enjoy that."
Kate lets go of the steering wheel and lets the tornado toss her around only after she gets the barrels to release, and finishes what she started.
Tyler takes her bags out of the airport for her in the last shot. That's all. That's it.
-Stopping at a Buc-ee’s is a rare occurrence, but is a time of celebration for everyone in Storm Par.
-Everyone except for Scott. In his typical “stick in the ass” fashion, he finds Buc-ee’s crowded and utterly annoying.
-Until you join Storm Par.
-Scott would storm through even the most crowded Buc-ee’s just to see you smile when he hands you a bag of chocolate covered beaver nuggets, and some cosmic pops.
-And you just know that evening at the diner there will be endless banter between him and Javi about Scott’s obvious crush on you, that he constantly denies despite weathering his least favorite “overrated” gas station to grab your favorite snack.
Might have to dip my toes into writing for Scott Miller because every time I see a fic where the reader is Tyler's sister I'm just like🧍🏾♀️and I'm tired of the reader being Kate or Tyler's sister friend.
for whatever reason a professor at MIT has a Phd in meteorology and translation and only takes one ressearch assitant/gives out one recommendation a year to the best student regardless of what program
translation student!black!reader and scott spend the year showing each other up and pushing each other to be better and in the end for the first time the prof chooses two students because they were both exceptional
OR
black!reader and scott have been academic rivals for the past couple years
the prof for one of their courses selects them as the team to represent MIT at a national tornado research competition
black!reader and scott are forced to work together to win
it's a struggle at first since they both have different research styles and ideas
but once they figure out how to work together they realize how well they work together
very much academic rivals to reluctant teammates to friends to lovers
Or maybe a reader who chose storm par for their work study in order to get their 3rd or 4th masters degree.... I think my brain likes that last one a lot.
It would start a week or two before the movie then follow the events of the movie.
Reader reached out to storm par about doing a work study
Reader mostly shadows Scott for the first week because he insists on ensuring they know everything and are up to his standards before they go out into the field.
The second week is when Javi went to get Kate (let's say it's not the first thing he does when he gets to ny)
Scott has spent this time preparing reader (who is from the city) for what to expect in the field (other storm chasers, tornado safety, the tornado wranglers and their fans, motels they stay at, etc,.) and reader has done their own research (shooting fireworks into a tornado and some of the other stunts are kind of cool but they'll NEVER admit that to scott)
In Oklahoma reader hangs back while kate is introduced to the group but does see Scott's reaction
Kate sticks to Javi while reader sticks with Scott IF she actually goes out with them with the data collectors.
Those moments where we don't see Scott he's usually with reader going over the numbers they gathered or teaching her something.
After the first time Kate has a panic attack Scott and reader are standing watching Javi speak to Kate and Scott says "I don't know why he's so hellbent on having her out here, she clearly can't handle it." and reader secretly agrees because it's obvious to the both of them she is shaken up because of the tornado
reader who is used to Scott's blunt way of speaking for the most part and is learning to pick up what he's not saying
Scott is an ass as usual. Reader ignores it at first and slowly starts to give subtle digs back.
The storm par team is shocked that Scott hasn't sent reader home in tears but realizes he tolerates them because they are quiet and attentive. If they make a mistake, which is rare, he only has to correct it once because they take care not to make it again.
reader who avoids Riggs like the plague whenever they can get away with it because even if he hasn't done or said anything racist gives them a vibe
You ever stop to think that Tyler and Javi have some kind of history before Kate came into the picture? They seem to know each other, or know OF each other, and Tyler almost acts like he's familiar with StormPAR... or at least Riggs's side of it. It makes me wonder if maybe its a little too personal for Tyler, like something happened to either himself or his friends
