* SHOOT ME IN THE FACE !

rachel grins at him when he forgives her. she doesn’t say anything when he moves to take the prosthetic eye from his socket even though she’s sure he probably shouldn’t do it with car grease residue on his fingers. for as long as they’d been together she still felt weird watching him do it, averting her gaze even just slightly before he’s putting his full attention back on her. she loves when he does that, keep his focus on her. her grin turns into a smirk despite the heat that was rising to her face.

“lunch break,“ she hums, “stopped at the store to grab some stuff for dinner, was gonna run it home but figured in the car i’d swing by really fast and see how my favorite man is doing.”

she takes a quick glance out the windows of the office, making sure that the shop was empty before dropping the bag of peas onto the desk. rachel climbs off of her boyfriends lap, quickly closing the door to the shop before slinking back over to him. she pushes forward, pressing ruby lips against his cheek again before adjusting herself so she was straddling his lap.  

“buuuut, now that i’m here, i’m thinking i don’t care about being late… or getting take out tonight,” she chuckles softly, using the back of her hand to gently rub against his other cheek. “it’s the least i can do after making you hit your head, never can seem to keep quiet.” 

“ohhh, right, a lunch break,” sean, despite the dull pounding in his skull, pulls full lips up into a smile. moving his hands to grip the small of rachel’s waist. he feels like a brand new man whenever rachel looks at him but that shy teenage boy she met in beaver creek still peeks through when she calls him her favorite man. it was a title that, at first, he didn’t feel worthy of carrying, but now sean could see himself bragging in few years time that he was the boyfriend of famous model rachel amber. 

he leans back into the metal chair when she peels herself out of his lap. fingers tangle in the rag he had used to wipe grease from his hands and it now moves to wipe the sweat off of his brow and the back of his neck. it was already hot in the garage - he hadn’t set up the air conditioning yet - but when his girlfriend moves to shut the garage door he almost complains. but, sean wises up. a dark eyebrow quirks upwards, and he chuckles low in his chest when she slinks right back onto him. his hands move to the small of her waist again.

“it seems like not too long ago i was mending this eye in a gas station bathroom,” rachel hums, her fingers gently pressing the bag of frozen peas to his head. her other hand is delicate as it cradles his jaw to make sure, despite his flinching, that she could apply the cold bad with pressure properly to help ease the swelling. her thoughts flitter around the events in question, finding him soaked in sweat and missing an eye. her sweet artist boy from beaver creek, hardened and inconceivably wiser. there’s a sadness that passes over her expression before placing herself in his lap.

she had stopped by on her lunch break, content with now sitting in her boyfriends lap in his office at the garage.

“you should be more careful of your head, then again, i probably shouldn’t have surprised you like that when you were working under the car,” she shrugs her shoulders before pressing her lips to his cheek, “forgive me?”

@racismlost​ ♥

rachel amber is loud. it’s something daniel had to get used to, for the first few days living in rachel’s tiny los angeles apartment. she’s loud in the morning, when nobody else is; she plays her music loud, whether she’s cleaning or smoking or showering; she’s loud in the bedroom too, which was probably the most awkward conversation sean had to have with his now-grown brother. two years with the girl, yet somehow the diaz wasn’t quite used to the way she’d call out his name.

it was just him in the garage after daniel left once sean’s lunch break was over. some radio station was low, humming through the shop, but the main garage door was open to circulate air in the shop so sean thought he’d get used to the people noise. the call of his name was enough to startle him, head shoving forward and dinging against the muffler of the car he was servicing. suddenly he’s regretting opening shop without those 6 foot tall car jacks every other garage had.

but, he’s okay with rachel slipping into his lap.

“of course i forgive you,” sean smiles, wiping his hands clean on a towel and moving to pick the prosthetic eye from the socket before the bruise began to swell and redden even more - he could hear his doctor screaming about cleanliness, but something else caught his attention. “where did you even get this bag of peas? did you take them to your shoot today?” he manages to keep eye contact with his girlfriend, despite feeling weirdly naked without his eye in. she’s the only one that wasn’t family who saw the eye open like this. 

laughing starters

sean’s taken back when he catches his first glimpse on finn sleeping in his hospital bed. for a second, memories of the love and the special, vulnerable connection they shared in humboldt county fly through him like a bullet. the memories soften his expression, make him press a hand against the window and wake the other man up. but then, sean remembers - finn is the reason he’s here in the first place. the other memories begin to filter in: finn sneaking daniel away to merrill’s house, finn speaking all cocky to merrill and big joe when faced with a couple of guns. the resentment fills sean’s chest. it feels like the new sean diaz is all anger, sharp teeth and biting words. 

he can’t hold them back when finn tries to apologize.

“ finn… it’s way too late for that. too easy. ‘oh, sorry friend you lost your eye, and your little brother.’ whatever. it’s over. i don’t need any sorry. ”

3: “learning to be a kid again” laugh.

what an odd group he’s found himself in. sean found himself cuddled up at night, in a messy sandwich between daniel, mushroom, and mitsuko. he wasn’t the most excited about their new addition. mitsuko definitely proved her use to the group multiple times but she’ll toss that one joke that strikes sean’s nerves and on a bad day, he has to stop himself from snapping back at her. 

but on the good days, sean catches mitsuko kicking dead branches across the snow and smiling - just ever so slightly - when mushroom pounces over powdered snow to bite at the wood. sean crosses his arms and sits, quietly, on the few concrete stairs outside of the home they’re squatting in. daniel is quick to sit next to him, opening his mouth to talk about mitsuko and mushroom but sean shoves an elbow into his younger brother’s side.

“ shhhhh! ”  sean whispers,  “ hey, do you want to play a prank? ”