Finally Got it Right: Collection of One Shots

scratch your head, you fall asleep

One time they find out head scratches put Travis to sleep, two times he asks for it, and three times Taylor uses it to her advantage.

1- They find out

Taylor's not used to this. This being seeing a loved one in pretty intense physical pain from their passion. She's used to witnessing her partners in emotional pain or physical from the odd bump, bruise, or illness, but this is different. This is her partner in pain that has him restless, constantly shifting his position, and withdrawn; a little grumpy if you will.

He'd been hit harder than normal in practice earlier that day and came home limping, favouring his right side. He'd shown her the damage almost immediately, the purple and blue hues covering his hip and butt cheek. While he'd gone about the rest of the day normally he'd been a bit short with her and turned in early saying he just needed to rest his hip and back. 

Travis hadn't been able to get comfortable though and they'd been in bed for what felt like an hour to no avail. Travis kept moving around, unintentionally jostling Taylor each time, keeping her awake. Not that she could sleep anyway with the knowledge that he's in pain.

Travis shifted again next to her in bed, a little whine, and probably unintentional whine, escaping his lips. A telltale sign he was hurting and that was the last straw.

"Baby?" she called and heard him suck air in again, this time not from pain but from knowing she was still awake and it was probably his fault.

"Go to sleep, love" he answered. She felt his hand land on her back, rubbing soothingly up and down. Like she's the one that needs comfort.

"What's wrong?" She completely ignored his previous statement and sat up so she could see him better. He was laying on his back stiffly, like his abdominal muscles were contracted to guard the injured area of his body.

"I'm ok, just can't get comfortable." His hand reached up to cup her cheek.

"You've been tossing and turning all night. I can tell you're hurting," she pressed. 

"My hip and back are just aching in like every single position I try. It's not the first time though, don't worry about me."

"Did you take anything for it?" She asked, immediately jumping into problem-solving mode. She's new to this whole world of sports induced injury but knows that regardless of the source of  Advil or Tylenol really help take the edge off. Travis had probably already thought of that though and definitely has access to better things than over-the-counter pain relievers. He didn't like the stronger medications though, he claimed they made him loopy, dizzy, and nauseous.

He nods- "yeah, before we got in bed. I just need to wait it out."

Taylor's concerned by this, she didn't like the idea of him hurting and simply "waiting it out". No one should have to suffer like that.

"I'm ok" he reassured her, picking up on her concern. "Really."

"I know" she said, lying back down. From here she could really see the pain written on his face. He looked tired too, bags starting to settle under his eyes, he needed to get to sleep.

Taylor brought her hand up to his neck and started to lightly massage it, incase he was sore there too.  When he didn't display any signs of discomfort, she worked her way up to the base of her head, her nails replacing the pads of her fingers. The second the massaging motion turned to scratching, his eyes flickered shut.

"-feels nice" he mumbled and the tension he was holding beginning to seep out of his muscles.

"I'm glad" she smiled and leveraged up so she could lay a kiss on his forehead. She kept scratching up to the crown of his head and around, sure if he were a cat, he'd be purring. Eventually his breathing started to change, shallow and more spread out. She kept scratching him for a bit, not wanting to stop and risk waking him up when being awake was uncomfortable right now.