okay i had a dream about toye last night so now i need some toye fluff pretty please???? 🥺
Protective Joe Toye and I mean it's slightly fluffy i guess? i really hope you like it🙈 and i am 100% blaming @hellitwasyoufirstsergeant for giving me feels about his voice
I used the prompt ‘You didn’t have to get bloody knuckles for me to notice you’ and i can't remember where i seen it do all rights to the owner.
Taglist: @floydtab @curraheewestandalone
The sound of kissy noises drew Joe’s attention back towards his friends, the game of cards he was supposed to be playing long forgotten. He couldn’t concentrate, or care less who was winning, when directly over Buck’s shoulder in plain view was Y/N.
George bumped his shoulder, following Joe’s gaze. “Leave her alone, Joe. It's not like she’s your girl.” Luz mumbled with a cigarette handing from his mouth. He tried to distract his friend from the girl he was so obviously fascinated with and return his focus to the card game at hand.
“He doesn't even know her.” Guarnere chuckled, causing George and Buck to snort. Luz felt bad for laughing, but it was true, Joe just about knew her name and that was it.
While Joe and Y/N wouldn’t be considered friends, they were always civil towards each other. They often ran in similar circles and had many mutual friends, but if they went from one end of the week to the other without talking it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be friends, quite the opposite. He was just awkward around her.
Part of the problem was Joe didn’t know what to say to her. It was as if his mind went blank when he seen her, and he was frozen. It was like a compulsion, everything else faded into the background and he fixated on nothing but her. Just when he had gathered enough confidence to try and talk to her, she moved on to another table, setting him back to square one. The longer it went on, the more he became deflated.
That night was no different, just as he was about finally get it over with, she sat in a booth with some private who he barely recalled as Williams. The way she sat closely beside him made his blood run cold, glare in his eye narrowing. The final blow for Joe was when Williams puts his arm around Y/N, and she leaned in. It wasn’t that Joe was jealous- actually he was completely and utterly jealous. He needed to be real with himself and finally admit it. He wanted her.
Joe couldn’t keep his eyes off her and the way she touched Williams’ shoulder trying to move past him in the booth. She smiled politely brushing past him. As she turned to say goodnight, Williams grabbed her wrist, attempting to pull her back down beside him. It caused Joe to sit up straighter, ready to intervene if necessary.
“Where are you going?” The strength of the grip was unexpected, especially because of how intoxicated Williams was. The more Y/N tried to loosen his grip, the tighter it became.
“Jack, let me go.” Y/N tugged her arm with a greater force. It was already begging to turn red and she could feel her skin heating up.
Suddenly her arm was released, and she was being pushed behind George Luz. He looked over her arm, holding her hand in his with such a gentle touch. The difference between George and Jack was evident in that single action alone.
While George was asking Y/N if she was alright, she heard a scuffle behind her and several of the boys running in that same direction. In the booth she was in moments before was Jack having the life punched out of him by Joe Toye. Guarnere and Buck clawed at Joe’s arms, desperate to pry him off a now bloody Williams.
Y/N was in shock, everything happened so fast. Before she could even think she was shouting for Joe to stop. “Joe get off him, let him go.” She wasn’t angry at Joe, angry wasn’t anywhere near the top of the list of words she would use to describe the situation. She was worried.
Thankfully, Buck and Guarnere held Toye back by the arms, but that didn’t stop him from cursing the man he was all but trying to kill out. Threats spilled from his lips while other men Y/N had never seen before carried a very hurt Williams out of the bar, and out of Toye’s sight. To be on the safe side, Bill didn’t let Toye go until his chest stopped heaving.
Not once did Joe’s eyes leave Y/N’s. Anger radiated off him and he was still shaking with the adrenaline from the hostility of beating a man in front of the woman he loved. His expression weakened slightly when he saw she was bewildered with confusion of what had just happened. Shrugging his friend off him, Joe stomped out of the bar, passed Y/N, who immediately followed him She needed to know why he did what he done and if he was alright.
“Joe, Joe” she called after him. He kept walking and at first, she though he hadn’t heard her over the loud bar. Once outside, she realised he had heard her and chose not to acknowledge it. “Joe Toye don’t you dare walk away from me” Y/N roared at him.
The roughness in her voice wasn’t expected and Joe partially lost his balance on the loose gravel. He thought about his options for a minute. Should he run away and pretend nothing happened, or should he talk to her in what would be their first proper conversation? He chose the latter, deciding to talk to her about his actions was better than not talking to her at all.
Offering her a smoke out of a beaten carton, she gasped. The state of his knuckles surprised her; he hadn’t even noticed until he held his hand out in front of him.
“Your hand” She grabbed it and he nearly winced from the tiny cuts, but her touch was so soft. While she inspected his bruised and bloody hand, he tried to memorise every detail about her face. The light from the pub the only thing illuminating her features.
“It's okay, most of it isn’t mine.” He whispered with an affiliative smile, almost afraid to speak in case he frightened her. He looked down at her through his eyelashes, noting how she was prettier up close.
A slightly disappointed look crossed her face, but that didn’t stop his breathe getting caught in his chest when she looked up at him. “Why did you do that?”
“How else was I going to get you to notice me?” The smirk was matched with his raspy voice. His hand was still in hers, and Joe had no intention of letting hers go.
A sweet smile plastered across her face and the reddening of her cheeks was obvious from the light pouring from the pub window. Y/N never noticed how sexy his voice was before, maybe it was because she never really paid much attention to him. “You didn’t have to get bloody knuckles for me to notice you”
“I’ll remember that for the next time.” He said with a playful, and slightly sarcastic tone.
“There will be no next time Joe Toye.” She warned. The way she said his name twisted something inside him. Yep, he thought, that was definitely a feeling of love.
A surge of confidence washed over him from God knows where, but he blamed it on the close proximity of them both. “Maybe you should have a drink with me instead of some asshole.”
He waited for her answer, hoping it she would have a positive reaction and wouldn’t think he was being too forward.
Y/N leaned on her tippy toes and kissed he cheek delicately, Joe’s eye fluttering closed at the contact. “Only if you swear not to beat anyone up”
“I'm not making any promises, sweetheart.”