Work Text:
With a loud rattling noise the door closed in his face.
Alejandro swore under his breath and turned to the familiar prison cell. It looked run down and was scarcely equipped with a bench to sleep and a flimsy blanket.
He had been here before, his brain supplied.
Frustration and anger bubbled in his chest, though he couldn’t quite place where the feeling had originated or who it was directed toward. Maybe whoever had put him in here.
This place felt hostile.
A feeling of dread settled over him in the suffocating quiet, growing stronger with every passing second.
He shouldn’t be in here. There was a reason he shouldn’t be, but he couldn’t quite make sense of how he had ended up here or what he needed to get back to.
Shuffling could be heard out in the corridor, disrupting the loaded stillness of the moment.
Voices leaked through the cracks in the walls of his cell, tone aggressive and demanding. He couldn’t make out anything else, just the rattling of another door closing somewhere down the hall.
Quiet settled, but not for long.
A yelp sounded. Strongly muffled, but pained and scared.
Alejandro walked closer to the door, trying to concentrate on where the sound had come from. Another pained sound echoed through, this time louder.
Something clicked in his head.
Rodolfo. That was his voice even through the thick walls he could recognise it.
A scream reached his ears, closer to a sob. And Alejandro screamed back.
He wasn’t sure what he was screaming. There were words leaving his mouth he was sure, but none of them sounded like anything at all.
His fist connected with the door of his cell as he started hammering on it. Trying to destabilize it, to pry it open, to get to Rudy.
Rudy. His Rodolfo who was still screaming, and pleading.
His hands should hurt by now, from how vigorously he was beating them against the cold metal.
It somehow didn’t get through to him. The only thing reaching his dazed mind being Rodolfo’s pleas.
The scene changed. The smell of smoke filling his nose.
A small foggy part of his mind, had gathered enough information to know that he was dreaming, that none of this made sense.
Still he stared up at the building, heart pounding wildly in his chest.
“Hey, I’m seeing smoke. What’s your status?”his own voice was ringing in his ears, the silence following his demand for a status report making his chest tighten and his throat close up.
His legs started moving, not entirely of his own will, as he headed towards the back entrance.”Rodolfo? I’m moving interior.”
Finally a crackle could be heard over the comms, “Colonel, don’t- I’m not getting out…”
Alejandro jolted awake. Sitting up in one swift movement.
His heart was racing, every beat echoing in his ears.
Rodolfo. He had to get to Rudy.
Eyes darting frantically around the room, he tried to assess his surroundings in a panic.
Until his eyes fell onto the sleeping figure next to him, face barely illuminated by the light of the street lamp creeping through the blinds.
Rudy’s chest was rising and falling to a calm rhythm and Alejandro could feel the panic and urgency drain out of him a bit as the world came into focus again.
His love was okay and right where he belonged.
He got up, the bed squeaking quietly and Rudy stirred in his sleep as Alejandro headed towards the door of their bedroom.
His still slightly laboured breathing seemed entirely to loud in the dark and empty hallway and he could just hope it wouldn’t wake Rudy.
This had been the third time this week he had had this dream, or a variation of this one.
His husband would usually wake up from being jostled, pulling him back into reality with a gentle touch to his back and some soothing words.
Alejandro was glad it hadn’t woken him this time, the man deserved to have a restful night and it saved him the creeping feeling of guilt at taking up Rudy’s precious time to sleep.
The sip of cold water, he had poured himself a glass of once he had reached the kitchen, soothed his dry throat. He let out small sigh of relief and let his eyes fall shut, leaning against the counter.
He hated those dreams. Hated that he had to live through those scenarios, real and entirely made up alike. It drained him, more than he wanted to admit.
His thoughts were running faster again by the second, the quiet of the room not helping the spiral he was thinking himself into.
The silence was short lived though and he opened his eyes as quiet footsteps sounded in the hallway, quickly followed by Rodolfo appearing in the door frame of the kitchen, hair ruffled and eyes squinting towards Alejandro.
“Mi amor. ¿Qué pasa?” Rudy’s voice was sleepy, but gentle as he walked toward Alejandro, feet padding quietly against the tiled floor.
“I’m alright. Go back to sleep I will join you in a moment.” his voice sounded shaky and even scratchier than usual.
Rudy furrowed his brows, clearly not believing a single word he was saying. “Nightmare?” he simply asked, bringing a hand up to rest on Alejandro’s back, drawing little circles with his thumb.
Alejandro set his glass down on the counter and brought both hands up to rub at his face.
Of course Rudy would see right through him, he wasn’t sure why he had even bothered to try and lie.
He hummed in response. Rudy was looking at him attentively like he was expecting more of an answer.
“Same one as always.” Alejandro went on, providing the other with more context. “It’s stupid. It makes no sense, I know it’s not real. I don’t understand why it bothers me so much.”
Frustration shone clear in his voice. “I’m sorry for waking you. I’ll be fine you can go back to bed.”
He wasn’t sure why he was pushing back and being so argumentative, he had never had a problem with the other seeing him more vulnerable, with letting him help…. But tonight it felt worse, more impossible somehow.
Like these emotions were not something he should share.
Instead of doing as he was told Rudy stepped into his space further and gathered him up in his arms. Alejandro practically melted into the embrace, placing his arms around his husbands waist practically on instinct and pulling him closer.
It was quiet for a moment, Rudy’s familiar scent surrounded him, the faded remains of the other cologne soothing his racing thoughts. Maybe letting him see this wasn’t so bad after all.
“Cariño, dreams don’t have to make sense. Something can still scare you even if you know it’s not real.” Rudy said quietly into his ear.
Alejandro nuzzled his face into the others shoulder, tears prickled at his eyes, as his walls came crashing down faster than he could build them back up “I just don’t want to loose you.” It was more a broken whisper, “I’m so scared of loosing you.”
The confession hung in the room for a long moment, Alejandro desperately clutching onto Rudy like he would disappear if he didn’t, the only sound his occasional sniffing.
Rudy’s hands ran along his back in a calming motion, never stopping even while the other was gathering his thoughts.
He pressed a small kiss to Alejandro’s cheek before speaking, “We both know I can’t promise you, that you won’t have to find out what that’s like.” the words sounded pained, “No matter how much I might want to. But right now I’m not going anywhere. Don’t grief something you haven’t lost yet.”
Alejandro let out a small sob, “But I will have to at one point.”
Rudy hummed, “Maybe, but not in this moment.” he pressed another kiss to Alejandro’s temple, “Right now it’s just you and me, standing in our kitchen enjoying each others company and you will not loose this moment. Even if you might loose me.”
Alejandro hiccuped very indignantly at the softly spoken words, burying his face impossibly deeper into the other man’s shoulder, “Te amo, mi cielo.” the words were muffled.
“Te amo,” Rudy gave him a small squeeze.
Rudy took a step out of the embrace to cup Alejandro’s face with both hands wiping his thumbs over the others tear-streaked cheeks.
“How about we sit down tomorrow and talk about this more?” he asked, looking at Alejandro with such care in his eyes.
After all these years he still couldn’t quite belief that he had someone in his life, who looked at him like he was the most important thing in the world.
The love he felt for this man was overwhelming, threatening to consume him whole.
He swallowed against the lump in his throat and hummed his agreement, not trusting his voice just yet.
His husband gave him a warm smile. “Let’s go back to bed. You look tired mi amor.”
“I’m not sure I can go back to sleep,” Alejandro admitted as Rodolfo took his hand to lead him back toward their bedroom, the other’s hand a comforting weight in his own.
Too much was still going through his head, too many fears trying to push their way back to the surface.
As if he could hear his husband’s thoughts Rudy ran his thumb over Alejandro's knuckles as they walked down the hallway.
“You don’t have to sleep, if you feel you can’t or just aren’t ready yet. But you should at least rest.” Rudy closed the door behind them and sat Alejandro down on his side of the bed.
He cupped Alejandro face again, running his fingers along the others jawline. Stubble rough against his fingertips.
Alejandro closed his eyes leaning into the touch, placing his hand on top of Rudy’s and turning his head to place a kiss to his palm.
They stayed like this for a moment, his husbands thumb running along his cheek gently.
The moment was over way too quickly for his liking as Rudy passed over to his own side and climbed into bed, pulling the blankets over himself and holding up the corner facing Alejandro. With his free hand he patted the spot next to him, beckoning the other to join him.
Alejandro obliged getting under the blankets and laying down as well, turning his body towards Rudy and holding out his arms.
“Can I hold you please?” he asked, casting pleading eyes at him.
He didn’t need to ask twice as Rudy shifted over to him and curled himself into Alejandro's chest, every movement easy and familiar.
Any residue tension flowed out of him as he pulled Rudy tight, his body finally seeming to have realized that this was real. That they were okay and he would have many more nights with his love closely pulled to him.
Ear resting over his heart, like Rodolfo was watching over him just as much.
Rudy shifted against him slightly, to press a kiss right below his jaw. “Rest, mi amor. I’ll still be here tomorrow, that I can promise.”
Alejandro chuckled lightly, “I sure hope so;” he mumbled into the others hair.
It took a while for him to find sleep again, Rudy’s breathing having evened out ages ago, but when sleep finally caught up to him he slept peacefully throughout the rest of the night, knowing Rudy was safe in his arms.