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drabbles-mc · 2 years ago

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All For You

Juice Ortiz x OFC (Dakota Lowman)

Juice Ortiz & OFC (Diedra Lowman)

Inspired by the Week 1 Prompts for @the-slumberparty: bouquet of flowers & diamond necklace

Warnings: 18+, language, alcohol

Word Count: 3.7k

A/N: The way I want to build a whole universe just for Di, Kota, Juice, and Happy. I wish I had the time and the mental bandwidth. Little snippets will have to do! Enjoy this fun lil valentine's fic!

SOA Taglist: @espieviolet99 @littlekittymeow @chibsytelford @juicyortiz @anditsmywholeheart @i-just-read-stuff @garbinge @justreblogginfics @buckybarneshairpullingkink @paintballkid711 @jitterbugs927 @fanfic-n-tabulous @mijagif @frattsparty @winchestershiresauce @beardburnsupersoldiers @choochoo284 @artemiseamoon @nessamc @narcolini @darqchilddaydreamz (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

Juice carefully extracted himself from the bed. He managed to untangle himself from Dakota without waking her, although that wasn’t the most difficult thing to do since she was probably the heaviest sleeper that Juice had ever met. She let out a small grumble when he pulled his arms from around her, but she didn’t wake.

He gently shut the bedroom door behind him as he stepped out into the short hallway that separated the two bedrooms from the rest of the apartment. He tip-toed past the door to her sister’s bedroom, not wanting to be responsible for waking her up either. He let out a small sigh of relief when he stepped into the space where the living room and the kitchen met, the only semblance of a divider between the two sides of the apartment was the counter that more often than not served as their dinner table if they weren’t eating in front of the TV.

Turning, he looked up from the floor and into the kitchen. His eyes widened and he gasped quietly when he saw Diedra standing in the kitchen, her back to him as she set the coffee pot to brew. Even though she hadn’t turned around to look at him, she still shook her head. He couldn’t see it, but there was a bit of an amused smile on her face.

She glanced back over her shoulder. “Coffee?”

He nodded, sitting down at the counter rather than trying to linger in her space. “Yea, sure. Thanks.” He paused, offering her a lopsided grin when she turned around to fully face him. “Was worried I was gonna wake you up, but…”

Diedra chuckled and shook her head. “I wouldn’t worry about that.” She saw the apprehension on his face so she clarified, “Because I’m pretty much always gonna be up before you anyway.”

Juice relaxed a bit at that. “Right.”

“Good thing you’re dating the one Lowman who actually sleeps in.”

Juice laughed quietly as he watched Diedra grab two coffee mugs from the cupboard. “Yea, good thing, because sleeping habits were why Happy and I never worked out.”

Diedra laughed as she shook her head. “Sometimes I forget that you can be funny, Juicebox.”

He nodded in thanks as she slid his mug across the counter to him. “Shit, Di, that’s like one of the only things I still have going for me at this point. You can’t forget that.”

She leaned against the counter across from him, hands cupping her coffee mug. “My bad,” she said with a smile.

There were a few beats of silence between them, and Juice desperately wanted to feel at ease about it but he didn’t, not fully anyway. He struggled less now than he used to with the nagging belief that Dakota’s sister was constantly plotting his murder. They weren’t exactly friends, and Juice didn’t know if they ever would be, but Diedra didn’t seem to have a big problem with him. He would take that as a win.

But in moments like that, when it was just the two of them without the buffer of Dakota, or Happy, or the chaos of the clubhouse, Juice still felt like he was squirming in discomfort. And she wasn’t even trying to make him do that anymore.

“Big plans for next week?” Diedra asked. She hadn’t ever been a fan of the holiday, but she knew for a fact that her sister was.

The question caught Juice off-guard. He took another sip of his coffee. “Big plans?”

She cocked one eyebrow. “Valentine’s Day?”

“Right! Right.” Juice knew that. Really, he did, but he always felt like he was taking some sort of test when he was talking to Di, and he was terrible at tests. “Um, yea, yea kind of.”

“Was worried you forgot when Kota didn’t come home giggling and squealing about you asking her.” She said it with heavy sarcasm but gun to her head she couldn’t deny that it was nice to see her little sister in a happy, fairly stable and somewhat normal relationship.

“Asking her? Asking her what?”

She took a sip of her coffee. “You know, to be your valentine or whatever.”

“I have to ask? She’s…I’m…we’re dating.”

Diedra was on the brink of cackling with amusement. “Dude, have you met my sister? Of fucking course, you need to ask her.”

“But she’s my girlfriend!” He sounded genuinely bewildered.

Diedra shook her head as she tried not to keep laughing. “Doesn’t matter. Gotta ask.”

She watched as Juice dropped his face into his hands and shook his head. All of the overthinking that he’d been doing about the actual day, and he missed the memo about even asking. He felt like he had just gotten booted back to square one.

Di felt something that felt like pity for him. “Look, it’s not like my sister is all that high-maintenance. She’ll be stoked with whatever. You could get her one of those cheesy valentine’s cards they make for kids to hand out at school and she would be hyped. Just,” she finished her coffee and set the mug in the sink, “make sure you do it.” She walked around the counter to grab her bag and her keys. “I’m heading out. Kota say if she needed anything?”

Juice shook his head. “She’s all set.”

Diedra nodded before offering a quick goodbye and heading for the door. Juice sat at the counter, taking his time as he mulled over what Diedra had just said to him.

When he finished his coffee, Dakota still hadn’t woken up. Despite the urge that he had to just go and crawl back into bed with her, everything that Diedra said was still playing on repeat in his head. So, instead of taking the lazy route of going back to sleep, he got up from the stool that he had been sitting on and made his way over to the refrigerator.

He went back and forth between a few different ideas for a minute. Making breakfast was a simple enough task. He’d done it a million times for himself before. He and Kota had definitely cooked together too. But now he was doing it while also overthinking everything that was going to be happening over the next week.

He rifled through the cupboards and fridge as he went back and forth on what he wanted to make. After weighing more pros and cons than any sane person would, he finally settled on French toast. It was low risk, high reward, and that was something that he could get behind.

With minimal struggle and almost no mess, Juice got through almost all of the cooking before Dakota woke up. He hadn’t heard her footsteps when she left the room and walked towards the kitchen, but the yawn that she let out as she crossed the threshold gave her away.

She walked over, still not fully awake, and leaned against Juice’s back. She rested her forehead in the space between Juice’s shoulder blades as she wrapped her arms around his middle. She felt Juice’s laughter before she heard it.

“Morning,” she mumbled against the fabric of his t-shirt.

He chuckled, placing one hand over hers for a moment before shutting off the stove and taking the last of the food off the stove. “Good morning.”

He felt the kiss that she lazily pressed into his back before she pried herself away from him. Stepped so that she was standing next to him instead of behind him, she looked at all of the food in front of her. Reaching, she swiped a piece of bacon off the plate next to all the French toast.

“What’s all this?” she asked.

Juice looked at her and laughed as she popped the bacon into her mouth. “Looks like you already know.”

“Yea, but, like,” she walked to the other side of him to grab a coffee mug for herself, “what’s it all for?”

“For you,” he answered simply.

She laughed, but there was a soft, happy look in her eyes. “You’re a sap.”

He shrugged, grinning. “Maybe.”

They sat at the counter, enjoying their quiet morning and breakfast for two. It was far from the first time that the two of them got to simply just exist like that, but no matter how many times it happened, Juice still found himself a little bit in awe of it all. He had never really considered himself the type of person who was cut out for that kind of thing, who would be allowed to have it. And he certainly never thought that Dakota was the kind of girl who would be interested in being with him like that. But there they were. And it never got old.

Juice finished off the coffee that was in his mug before saying, “There was something that I wanted to ask you.”

Dakota’s eyes widened, clearly curious. “Okay?”

“Would you, um,” he didn’t know why he felt nervous asking—it wasn’t like it was a question that she was likely to say no to, “would you want to be my Valentine this year?”

A cheesy grin spread across her face as she nodded. Leaning over, she kissed him on the lips. “I would love that, Juan.”

He had the same starry look in his eyes as he did the first time Kota ever kissed him. He finally nodded, forcing himself to speak. “Alright, yea, cool.”

Dakota laughed as she hopped off her chair to get herself another cup of coffee. “Yea, very cool.” She poured coffee into her mug before scooping in an unreal amount of sugar. “What’s the plan, anyway? For Valentine’s Day?”

He shrugged nonchalantly but there was a tiny smirk pulling at his lips. “I had some ideas.”

“Keeping me in the dark?”

“Surprising you sounds a lot better.”

She laughed, nodding as she walked back over to him. “I guess it does.”

As the days went by after that, Kota felt like every time she came back to the apartment there was always something waiting for her. They were small things—a card, her favorite snack, t-shirts of Juice’s that she had been trying to steal from him for weeks but never successfully took from his house. She wondered how he was always managing to sneak in and out and leave things for her without being caught. Anytime she asked Di about it, she just shrugged it off and claimed that she didn’t know anything about it. Dakota wasn’t sure how true that was but she wasn’t upset about it.

The closer it got to Valentine’s Day, the more intricate the gifts became. One night when Kota got home from work, she walked into the apartment and the first thing she saw was a beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting on the counter in the kitchen.

She looked over to Diedra, who was sprawled out across the couch in the living room, laptop rested on her stomach. “When did these get here?”

Di lifted her eyes from the screen, glancing back and forth between her sister and the flowers. “Loverboy dropped those off a couple hours ago. I told him I was very upset that he hadn’t gotten anything for me this last week.”

Dakota laughed as she walked over to get a closer look at them. She dropped her bag on the chair before standing on her tiptoes and slowly turning the vase to be able to see all of the flowers. The sunflowers and roses looked so vibrant together. Dakota lightly traced her fingers along some of the petals.

It took a moment for her to realize that there was a holder and a small card sticking out of the flowers. Her smile grew as she carefully plucked it to read. She was on the brink of giggling as she read Juice's handwriting. It always seemed to toe the line between elegant and messy. He was a few scribbles away from doctor's handwriting territory.

“Pack a bag and a dress tonight. I’ll be over tomorrow after work for the next adventure. –Juan"

She read it over a few times, gnawing lightly at her bottom lip as she did. Finally, she looked back at her sister. “He say anything to you about this?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I also didn’t ask.”

Dakota chuckled. “Right.”

She stared at the flowers for another moment longer before grabbing her bag and heading towards her bedroom. She flipped the light on and tossed her bag over onto her mattress. Without even bothering to change or take her shoes off, she knelt and pulled her overnight bag out from underneath her mattress.

Picking that up and dropping it on top of her bed, she unzipped it so that she could start putting clothes inside. She paused, confusion flashing across her face when she saw the jewelry box sitting inside the bag.

Reaching down, she picked it up and shook it next to her ear. She finally popped it open, her eyes growing wide at what was inside. Dakota had never been a diamond necklace kind of girl, and Juice knew that. If she had any doubts about that before, the beautiful gold chain staring back at her definitely wiped away any concerns that he didn’t pay attention.

She also noticed another small card with the same unique handwriting. “Maybe something that goes with this?” She laughed as she took it out of the box and latched it on. It fell nicely over her collarbone, the metal smooth and cool to the touch for now. She decided to leave it on while she packed up her things for the mystery trip Juice had planned.

It was late when Diedra finally decided to start getting ready for bed. Rather than going right to her own room, she walked and lingered in the doorway of Dakota’s. She rapped her knuckles lightly against the doorframe, causing her sister to look up from her phone.

Diedra nodded towards the bags on the floor. “Running off on me?”

Dakota laughed, shaking her head. “No, no.” She set her phone to the side. “I guess, um, I guess Juan has a night away planned. Told me to pack a bag.”

“Bringing some sort of knife or something with you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Di.” She paused. “But, yea.”

They both laughed and Diedra nodded in approval. “Good.” She pushed herself off the doorframe. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Dakota nodded. “See ya.”

It was creeping later into the afternoon when Diedra rolled onto the compound. The trip to Happy’s house had been pointless since he wasn’t home, but when she saw all of the bikes parked outside, she also saw his. She swung the car door shut and started making her way across the lot to the clubhouse.

Just as she was walking into the building, all of the guys were walking out of the chapel. She quickly scanned the looks on each of their faces—it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that whatever had been discussed and decided during church wasn’t sitting right with anyone. She didn’t feel bad for them, never really did. They all signed on for this so her pity was basically non-existent.

She saw that Happy was still talking to Jax and Clay. While she was waiting, she flagged Juice down and waved him over. “What’s going on?”

He shook his head. “Club shit.”

She rolled her eyes, not only at the vagueness of the answer but at the repetitiveness of the situation. “Always is.” She paused, looking at Juice’s face a little closer. “Shouldn’t you be going to get my sister for your big vacation?”

He sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before shaking his head. “Can’t. We gotta—”

“What?” she cut him off.

The sharpness in her tone made him flinch. “I know, I know. I gotta call her. But they said—”

“Who’s they?”

“You know.”

She shook her head. “You can’t do that to her, Juice.”

“I don’t want to, but I can’t just—”

“Yes, you can.” She stepped in a little closer to him, her voice hushed but still cutting. “I don’t give a shit what these guys said they need you for. Club’s got a full roster, right? They can find someone else to do it.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“You guys all love sayin’ that shit but I think it really is that simple.” She saw the debate resting on the tip of his tongue and didn’t let him get started on it. “Listen, you’re like, the first person Kota has dated in a long time that’s not a complete fucking asshole. I’m not going to let Clay, or Jax, or whoever the fuck is calling the shots these days, turn you into one.”

He knew that he shouldn’t be as shaken as he was, but there was always something about Diedra that was inherently terrifying. She was scary when she was in a good mood, let alone in situations like this.

“Wh-what are you gonna do?”

She shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. You know me—I love any reason to have a fucking problem with Jax.” She saw the way that he was torn, almost stepping away to leave, almost stepping back towards church. She nodded in the direction of the door. “Go.”

“Right, right.” He mumbled out a quick thank you, although he wasn’t sure how thankful he was going to be about any of it when he got back. That was a problem for future him now, though. And also apparently a problem for Diedra.

Happy walked out of the chapel first, instantly clocking the way that Juice was scrambling towards the door. He walked over to Diedra, nodding at where Juice had just been. “Where’s he going?”

“He’s got some shit to do,” she answered nonchalantly.

Jax had been close enough to overhear their conversation. “He’s got shit to do for the club,” he interjected. “Fuck. He can’t just take off.”

“Well,” she shrugged, “he did. So, guess you can sort it out with him in a couple days.”

Jax narrowed his eyes at her. “What the hell did you say to him?”

“That if he had other shit to take care of, he should go do it, because you guys have enough people here to do whatever needs doing.”

“Di, are you fucking—” he stopped himself short, shaking his head. “Who’s gonna take care of it? You?” he said with a scoff.

She stepped closer to him. “Me? Sure. Or, maybe,” her eyes dropped down to the flash stitched into his kutte, “the fucking VP could handle shit for once. Just an idea.”

Jax shook his head. It was written all over his face that he was on the brink of combusting. Turning to Happy, he grit out, “Get this,” he gestured to Diedra, “under control.”

Happy’s expression didn’t really change much. He didn’t say anything to Jax, waiting until the man walked away before turning back to his daughter. “What’s going on?”

“What?”

“Juice. Where’d he go?”

“Didn’t you hear?” she asked sarcastically. “He took off.”

Happy knew that Juice wasn’t the type to just book it on the club. Either a sense of obligation or fear always kept him in line. “Why?”

“Kota.”

Happy’s brows drew together. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Diedra couldn’t help but to laugh. “It’s fucking, it’s Valentine’s Day, Dad.”

“Today?”

She laughed again. “Tomorrow.”

“Hmph.”

Diedra rolled her eyes, but she still had a smirk on her face because she knew what was going to happen. “Still wanna go get him?”

Happy sighed. “No.”

She clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s what I thought.” She walked around so that she was behind the bar, grabbing a bottle of beer for herself and holding one out to Happy. “Sit. Something I wanted to talk to you about.”

Back at the apartment, Juice felt like he had to catch his breath as he stood outside the door. He adjusted his kutte slightly before running his hands back over his head. After a few seconds, ones that seemed to stretch on longer than they should have, he reached forward and knocked.

In no time at all, he heard the clicking of the locks on the other side of the door. He didn’t know why he felt so jittery. The hardest parts were over—he had the girl, and he ditched the club. It should’ve been smooth sailing from here on out.

Dakota pulled the door open, looking as excited and as beautiful as Juice had ever seen her. Even though she was just in jeans and a t-shirt with her leather jacket, Juice could’ve sworn that he felt his knees start to buckle.

He finally forced himself to clear his throat as he leaned against the doorframe. “H-hey.”

“Ready to roll?” she asked with a smile.

He nodded. “Yea.” He watched as she reached out and tangled her hand with his own. “You?”

“Yea!” She tugged him into the apartment while she went and grabbed her bag. She lifted it up off the ground and slipped the strap over her shoulder. “Was starting to get nervous for a minute there,” she said with a laugh.

He shook his head, flashing a small smile as he reached and took her duffle bag from her. “C’mon, like I would ever leave you hanging.” He chuckled as she leaned in and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He could feel his face get hot as he busied himself adjusting the bag on his shoulder. “Nice necklace, by the way.”

She laughed, dragging her fingers along the gold chain of it. “Thanks. Got it from this pretty cool guy I know.” She followed him out the door, turning around and locking it behind them once they were out in the hall. Turning back to him, she asked, smile still bright, “So, do I get to know where we’re going now? Or is it still a surprise?”

Juice laughed, shaking his head as he gestured for her to walk down the stairs. “Oh, yea, no, it’s definitely still a surprise.”

She shook her head, laughing the entire way down, “Of course it is.”