A collection of one-shots featuring various Pedro Pascal characters. Including: Din Djarin, Javier Peña, Joel Miller, Marcus Acacius, Marcus Pike, Dave York, Javi Gutierrez, Oberyn Martell, Jack "Whiskey" Daniels, and Max Phillips. Most contain expl...
summary: You have an idea, not a sexy idea like Javier hoped, but it's still an idea he's very much into.
rating: Teen (This is fluff. No y/n, Soft Javier Peña, mentions of sex, Reader POV and Steve Murphy POV)
word count: 977
a/n: This can be read as a standalone or as part of the Learning to Live 'verse.
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December 1998
It was the beginning of December, and the yearly holiday cards were beginning to come in from friends and family, some making it onto the fridge, like the lovely festive holiday family portrait the Murphy's sent, others ending up in the trash, why did your dentist send you one? The cards causing an idea to sprout in your brain.
"Javi?"
He had the checkbook out across the dining room table from you, taking care of paying the bills while you went through the mail, passing him more bills, and making a pile of junk mail to discard, your dentist's card included.
"Yes, Cielito?" His eyes were stuck on the check he was writing, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
"I have an idea."
That got his attention, his head coming up to meet your gaze, seeing him visibly perk up, and it made you smile.
"Is it like the last idea you had?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, looking a little excited, the bills suddenly forgotten.
You snorted, your arms now resting on the tabletop.
"The one where I let you use handcuffs, gave you permission to do anything, and you fucking edged me for an hour? Is that what you're talking about, Javier?" you asked with a smirk.
His throat bobbed, a flush licking up his neck under his mostly unbuttoned dress shirt, his eyes darkening.
"Yeah," he rasped, nodding, "That one."
"That was a good idea—"
"It was," he interrupted. "A fucking fantastic idea."
A laugh bubbled up your throat.
"But," you continued, "this idea is not of the sexy variety. It's more wholesome."
His shoulders drooped, making you giggle, setting his pen down to scratch at his mustache.
"What's the idea?" he asked.
"We should have holiday cards made."
His eyebrows knit together, head tilting slightly.
"Holiday cards?"
"Yeah, you know, us as a couple wishing our friends and family happy holidays through the mail so we don't have to actually talk to them on the phone." You made a face thinking about having to listen to your aunt go on another political rant—a card could nip that in the bud.
Javi's eyes went a little rounder.
"You want me to be on them?"
"Yeah? Of course, silly! We're a couple, and I love you, plus they'd be so cute. I have another idea about them."
His face softened.
"Tell me."
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"Oh my god!" Connie exclaimed from the kitchen. "Steve, come here. Now!"
"Uh oh," Olivia said, glancing at him from her seat beside him at the dining room table, her pencil stopping in the middle of the homework problem they were working on. "You're in trouble, dad."
"Am I, squirt?" Steve asked, ruffling her hair and making her giggle. "I better go see what's got your mom all excited. I'll be back in a jiffy to finish helping. Why don't you try working it out on your own, 'kay kiddo?"
"'Kay, dad," she replied, her attention turning to the worksheet in front of her.
Steve got up from the table and quickly made his way to the kitchen, finding Connie holding something.
"What is it, honey?"
She looked at him with a bright smile, an expression of pure delight on her face.
"You're never going to believe what we just got in the mail," she said excitedly.
"A check for a million dollars?"
"No," she shook her head. "Something better."
His eyebrow quirked.
"What in the world could possibly be better than a million dollars, baby?" he asked as she handed him the card.
It took him a second to register what he was looking at because his brain was having trouble computing the image. He knew logically who that face belonged to, but it didn't look right. It looked... unnatural, his eyes squinting as he took it in.
"What in God's name..." he mumbled. "This cannot be Javi. He's smiling—Javi doesn't smile."
"That's him, Steve. That's Javier Peña with a megawatt smile, holding a pretty woman with two young cows wearing fake antlers. He looks so in love and happy! You have to call him!"
The picture had Javi and his girlfriend wearing red sweaters and jeans, him holding her from behind as they looked at the camera smiling, red and black cows on either side of them with fake antlers on their heads, standing in front of a barn, the words, "Happy holidays from us to you," typed in a fancy script at the bottom.
Steve knew the cows had to be from Javi's dad's ranch, knowing his friend had been living and working there for some time before getting a job with the local sheriff's office.
"I gotta call Javi," he said, meeting his wife's eyes. "I gotta make sure this is really him, and he hasn't been cloned or some shit."
"That's a bit much, but you should call him. Invite them to visit, I'm dying to meet the woman who makes Javi smile like that," she said, pointing at Javier's face.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. I wanna meet her, too." Steve chuckled, shaking his head. "Javier Peña domesticated. Baby, does it feel colder to you?" he asked.
"It was a little chilly today. Why?"
"I'm pretty sure hell froze over, which is the only explanation I can think of for this," he said, holding up the card.
Connie huffed out a breath.
"I'm really happy for him," she said. "With all he's been through, the man deserves a little happiness."
Steve looked at the picture again.
"Yeah, he does. It's kinda nice seeing that grumpy asshole smiling for a change. I'm gonna go call him, tell him to visit, that the kids miss him and wanna see their tío Javi."
"Using the kids as an excuse is playing dirty," she replied. "You know how much he loves them. He'll absolutely come—that's the perfect plan!" She grinned.
