#joestafa

(for @peppermintquartz, who still loves me, even though i disappeared for a hot minute.)

*

Mustafa stirs as Joe slips out of bed, cop instincts sharp, even as he sleeps. (They would never be enough to keep him alive against a man like Joe, but Joe is still impressed; the only other person who can so easily sense him, even in a dead sleep, is Finn.)

“Wha’ you doin’?” Mustafa slurs, his right arm reaching out, fingers curling inward as he whines a pouty, “‘s so early.”

Chuckling, Joe gives in and grasps Mustafa’s outstretched hand, leans down to press a firm kiss to his wrist, Mustafa’s pulse sleep-slow and even beneath his lips. “You’re usually up before the sun, baby,” he teases. “I’m the one who works nights. How is seven in the morning too early for you?”

A frown spreads, deepening the pout. “I’m up early when I have to work, you jerk.” Those gorgeous eyes remain closed, trying to keep the morning away with denial. (Joe finds it adorable.) “What’re you even doing?” he asks between a yawn.

Joe smooths a callus-rough fingertip over the soft skin on the back of Mustafa’s hand. “The girls ran the bar last night,” he tells the cop, “so that we could have another date night.” Here, Mustafa hums and stretches, lean body on display, the light bruises (claim, claim, mark, mine) the softest of contrasts against his skin. “Someone’s gotta go down and check to make sure it’s both still standing and mine in at least the name.” (Paige has gotten his signature down in the last few months; if he weren’t so certain of her loyalty to him and her love of the bar, he’d be concerned.) “Finn and Seth are stopping by later, too, before they fuck off to whichever overpriced brunch bar that idiot Irishman wants to show off to the kid.”

It’s difficult for Joe to imagine a more beautiful sight than Mustafa Ali waking up, eyes an unnatural molten gold as the morning sunbeams shine through the gaps in the curtains, lips wide around another yawn, muscles flexing beneath smooth skin.

“I think you should stay right here, with me,” Mustafa declares, his tone remarkably reminiscent of Tyler’s (albeit at his least bratty).

Joe cocks an eyebrow. “Is that right?”

Humming, Mustafa nods as he settles back against the pillows, sparkling eyes closing, though he does nothing to hide the mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “If you’d rather spend your morning with someone you aren’t sleeping with-” (a jolt of something like guilt stabs into Joe, though he’s made it a point not to touch since he's been with Mustafa, not beyond the punishment he’d delivered to Seth and the Princess the night they’d interrupted his and Mustafa’s first date) “then go right ahead…” Here, his eyes open, shining with humor and the last remaining tendrils of sleep, lips quirking. “Daddy.”

Minx, Joe thinks, chuckling, and moves to meet that sly smile with his own. “Don’t think that this is anything other than me letting you win, baby.”

(Finn will mock him for it later, whip imitation complete with sound effects, even as he hand feeds Seth a bowl of grapes, the young man comfortably resting his head on the older man’s thigh, as though he isn’t even further gone for Seth than Joe is for Mustafa.)

Mustafa laughs, soft and light, and Joe’s chest expands, his heart beating fast, the center of his chest burning with the intensity of it. “Of course not, Daddy.”

It’s a beautiful start to his morning.

Mmmmm y e s. This right here? 10/10 ask. The best ask. Fantastic. L o v e i t s i s. Never stop.

This one is for @welcometothemeatshack and my own humble addition to the Jostafa tag.

Mustafa Ali looked up from his parchment when he realized that quite a few of his fellow Lions were staring at him

"What?" he says putting down his quill

"Of all the boys you could date...you end up with Joe?" Curt Hawkins asks

"You two don't make any SENSE" his friend Cedric finally exclaims "Your so nice, and he is very much not."

"I'm not the only lion dating a snake in this room. I don't recall anyone else getting this... intervention?" He sighs "Seth didn't when he started dating Drew,"

"That's because Seth is the most snake like Gryffindor ever so one was surprised he ended up with one " Naomi yells out

"But your…you." on of the Uso twins spoke up "The most noble lion of us all. So it's a bit strange that you ended up with someone who hung his own housemate out over the lake for 2 hours."