It was the day after the VMAs, well, more likely the night. When Taylor arrived in Kansas City it was already midnight and she was almost sure that Travis had already gone to bed, especially since he had practise early in the morning. After saying good night to Drew and the rest of her security team that had accompanied her on her flight she got into the house and quietly took off her shoes. She then walked over into the kitchen. Everything was dark and silent, proving her right in her assumption that Travis was indeed asleep. She purred herself a glass of water and sat down in a chair at the kitchen table, taking a deep breath and leaning back. The past two days had been a lot. The VMAs especially had been a lot. She was so glad to be here again. In the beginning when Travis had first told her how safe Kansas City was and that she would never be followed around by paparazzi here, she hadn't believed him. But it was true. Not even once while she had been here had anyone managed to take a picture of her, around the house and even when they went out. In Kansas City they could go on a date literally anywhere without anyone following them around.
Therefore it felt incredibly relieving to be back here. After finishing her water and putting the glass into the dishwasher she slowly made her way upstairs, not even bothering taking her suitcase with her upstairs. She had most of her clothes here anywhere and she just had absolutely no strength left in her to carry it. Very, very quietly she opened the door to their bedroom. She couldn't help but smile slightly as she spotted him in their bed, fast asleep on his side, her side of the bed untouched and empty, waiting for her.
She snuck into the room, closing the door behind her without making a single sound and disappearing into the closet. But instead of walking into her side of the walk-in-closet she walked into his side, opening the drawer with his old, oversized shirts and picking out one of them, quickly changing into it before walking into the bathroom. After brushing her teeth and quickly doing a short version of her nighttime routine she walked back into the bedroom, carefully crawling into the bed next to her boyfriend and lying down on her side, facing him as she covered herself with the blanket. She just observed him for a while, feeling an almost overwhelming urge to just snuggle up in his arms and let him hold and protect her. Let him make her feel safe.
That had been one of the main reasons she had decided to move most of her stuff here. She loved this place. She loved how it made her feel. She loved the people here. She loved that Travis had bought this place just three months into their relationship, just so she would be safe from any kind of threat and danger. Nowadays she almost never felt safe anywhere. Excpet here, with Travis. And after everything that had happened this summer, she needed a safe place more than ever. This place, her new home, had become her hiding place. It had become a place that she could vent to, a place where she was actually safe, a place where she didn't have to fear anything. She was safe here, with Travis. She felt safe. So safe.
Tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't even know why she was so sensitive these days but with all the attention she always had on her, she felt overwhelmed a lot. Her anxiety, that she usually managed to control pretty well, was not making things any easier. Therefor she was incredible grateful for Travis. Her whole life she had tried to handle everything on her own, never letting anyone but Tree and her parents in because from experience, letting someone in usually ended in a heartbreak. But with Travis, it was different. He had showed her over the past year that she could trust him, that she could let him in. And she did. She trusted him with her life and she had started to let him in on her secret thoughts, her feelings and fears without thinking that what they had would be ripped out of her hands, without thinking that one day he might leave her. She knew that he was in for the long run, just like she was.
Not being able to hold herself off any longer she scooted closer to him, slowly wriggling herself into his arms. In his sleep he opened his arms and rolled onto his side, spooning her from behind, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her close, nuzzling his nose into her hair. "Hey baby girl." He whispered into the darkness. "Sorry I woke you up." She mumbled apologetically, feeling bad about waking him. "I wanted you to wake me sweetie. Wanted to tell you how proud I am of you. You are so incredible. And you looked so damn gorgeous last night." He mumbled, still half asleep but she knew he meant it. He had already told her over the phone the previous day how proud he was of her and how much it had meant to him that she had mentioned him in her acceptance speech.
She couldn't help but smile slightly while thinking back at that moment. She had taken her time in deciding when the right time to mention him publicly would be. And at the VMAs had just felt right. Because the past year, he had been the one encouraging her, always cheering on her, always being there for her when she felt like it was all getting too much, keeping her going, telling her that she was doing her best and that even if that wasn't much sometimes as she casually experienced bad days that left her unable to do as much as she would want to, it was enough. And she remembered it like it was yesterday when they shot the Fortnite music video, the day after Coachella, when her voice had been all scratchy and she had been so tired. He had been there with them the whole day, watching and asking questions curiously. Somehow it had been so much more fun with him there and with him watching she had been even more motivated to pure her whole heart and soul into every single detail of the video. And like this it had been the only logical thing to thank him publicly for that.
"Thank you." She whispered, closing her heavy eyelids. "I'm so glad you're back. I missed you. Even though it's barely been three days." He said, making her giggle quietly. "I missed you too. I missed how safe you make me feel." She replied, her tense body slowly relaxing into his strong, protective arms.
"The show was a lot wasn't it? I saw that they had a pov camera on you for a while." He said empathetically stroking her stomach with his thumb. "Yeah. I felt like a zoo animal. I was just trying to have a good time but people kept coming up to me and I noticed that they had the cams on me the whole time. That's- why I left for about an hour. I needed to get out of there. Tree covered for me, she said it was a security issue and that it wasn't safe for me at that moment, especially during commercial breaks. And that was not not true I really didn't feel safe. I felt watched and judged and just- like I couldn't be myself. I'm so glad she got me out of there for a while." She said softly, finally feeling brave enough to get this off of her chest. She knew he would understand and that he wouldn't judge her. He never did. He always listened to her, never making her feel small or as if her feelings weren't valid.
"You should have called me sweetie." He said, kissing the top of her head. "I didn't want to draw any more unnecessary attention on myself. I know they noticed for how long I was gone. If I had called you I think I would have just started crying." She said truthfully. He kissed her head again, staying silent. "I'm glad you're here now Tay. You're safe now, you know I'll keep you safe. I won't let anything happen to you." He said, tightening his grip on her ever so slightly to emphasize his words.
And that was all it took, those two sentences that he told her so often before she would go to sleep, those little promises that meant the world to her and that she clung to were all it took to get her to fall asleep. She believed him. He would keep her safe. He would never let anything happen to her.
As I read some of y'alls theories on instagram and twitter about why Taylor might have left for an hour during the VMAs yesterday I got inspired to wirte this one shot. It makes me sick to think about how she must have felt with that camera on her the whole time, capturing literally everything she did. No wonder Tree took her out of there for a while. But it made me so so happy hearing her talk about Travis publically for the first time and how giggly and happy she was =)
I hope you like this short story <3
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wonderstruck - tayvis oneshots
FanfictionThis is a little collection of tayvis one shots that I come up with. I don't know how regularily I'll be able to post but I still hope you'll enjoy reading =)
