Taking Accountability

Summary: Tag to the end of the movie. Tyler and Javi have a conversation about their history and Javi's previous actions
Warning(s): Spanking; spoilers for Twists; minor spoilers for the previous movie in the franchise; references to natural disasters and canon character death; AU
Pairing: Tyler/Javi
Author's Note: Taking a temporary break from Into The Dreaming to feed the new plot kitten. I hope you enjoy! Kudos and feedback aways appreciated

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"Attaboy," Javi muttered, unable to hide his grin, as Tyler planted his truck in the space and got out. Figuring the other man was about to head into the airport to follow Kate, he put his car into gear and prepared to drive away.

A knock on the driver's window had him rolling it down and raising his eyebrows at Tyler, who was standing just outside his car. "Can I help you?"

"Can I catch a ride with you?" Tyler asked.

Javi looked towards the truck, then focused his attention on Tyler. "What about your own ride?"

"I'll come and grab it later." Tyler slipped round to the passenger side and pulled the door open, getting into the seat and pulling his belt on. He then gave a cocky grin. "Where are we going?"

Shaking his head, unable to help feeling a trace of amusement, Javi began to drive away from the airport. As he cruised along the highway, he couldn't help glancing sideways at Tyler. The other man's presence was so large, he almost didn't seem to fit in Javi's small car.

After his second glance in Tyler's direction, Javi found the other man looking back at him. "What?" He couldn't help but feel like a child who'd got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he winced, glancing away and back out of the window.

"You're wondering why I didn't go after Kate."

"The thought did cross my mind," Javi admitted. He continued to drive, taking a few moments before he asked, "So why didn't you? Go after Kate, I mean?"

"Go after the girl. Get the girl. That's pretty much the way of things, isn't it?" Tyler was silent for a few moments before he said, "I was never interested in the girl."

"The girl? Or any girl?" Javi couldn't help asking.

"Any girl." Tyler shrugged. "I like Kate. She's a good person. And she's really good at chasing tornados. Wrangling them, too. But she's only a friend. Nothing more."

"Okay." Javi kept his eyes on the road ahead of them, taking a few moments before he finally spoke again. "So we established why you didn't go after Kate. That doesn't explain what you're doing in my car."

"You saved my life."

Javi's first instinct was to brush it off; to tell Tyler that it was nothing. But the other man was speaking seriously...and Javi couldn't help but respond in kind. "I'm just glad I was able to get there in time to help." He looked sideways at Tyler once more. "You're nothing like I thought you were."

"Back at you." Tyler's smile could be heard in his voice. "You did the right thing," he added. "And hey. Now there's a whole new way of wrangling tornados I can't wait to experiment with."

Javi snorted softly, amusing stabbing through him. "Didn't you do that already with Kate?" He was quiet for a few seconds before he said, quietly, "We could probably have used you before." He'd tried not to think about the past...about losing three of his best friends. That loss had changed everything, for both him and Kate.

Tyler didn't say anything, but he reached over and his hand rested on Javi's leg, gently squeezing.

The warmth of the touch shouldn't have felt as comforting as it did, but Javi found himself relaxing at the touch anyway. "Home." He finally answered Tyler's question. "I'm taking you home."

"Am I meeting your parents too?"

"No. It's just me." Most days, he was fine with that. Most days. Right now, after turning his back on what had been his life for five years, the last thing he wanted was to be on his own. He didn't know why Tyler had decided he needed company...but Javi couldn't say that he was wrong.

"There's something to be said for solitude. But just as much to be said about having company," Tyler observed. "Like the eye of the storm, where everything is calm and peaceful but all around you, there's chaos."

"Yeah. That's a good way of putting it." Javi found himself relaxing even more, Tyler's hand a warm, solid, comforting weight on his leg.

The drive to his apartment was made in silence, but it was a comfortable one. Javi supposed that shared trauma worked better than anything else to bring people closer together. Then again, it could also drive them apart, which had happened between him and Kate.

"You're thinking so loud, I can hear it from over here," Tyler observed, once Javi had parked outside the building. "Care to share?"

"Just thinking about how shared trauma can bring people together." Javi breathed in deeply and glanced down at Tyler's hand, still on his leg, the other man's touch warm and comforting in a way he thought he shouldn't feel. "I need to get out. Go and unlock the door. Can't sit out here all night." He forced a light-hearted note into his voice that he didn't really feel.

"Got it." Tyler moved his hand and undid his seatbelt, opening the door and getting out of the car.

Javi took another deep breath, surprised that he felt bereft of the touch. Pushing that feeling down, along with the confusion it brought with it, he got out of the car and walked towards the front entrance.

"Fancy place," Tyler commented, standing just behind his shoulder.

"Yeah. I might not be keeping it for long, considering the way I quit my job." He paused and then added, "So I'm going to make the most of it while I can." He swiped his key card along the pad, and when the lock clicked, he pushed the door open and stepped through, waving for Tyler to follow him before he closed the door behind them. He then headed to the elevator, pressing the button to call it to the ground floor. When the doors opened, he stepped inside and waited for Tyler to join him before pressing the button for his floor. "How's your leg doing?"

"Still a bit sore," Tyler admitted, shifting his weight slightly. "I was lucky that it wasn't broken. It could have been so much worse." Eyes scanning Javi's face, he added, "For a lot of people, it was so much worse."

It was Javi's turn to shift slightly in response to the words. They weren't accusatory; not really, anyway. But he couldn't help feeling a stab of guilt. "We never caused the tornados."

"Didn't stop you profiting from them, though."

Javi looked away, abruptly feeling like a child who was being scolded for being naughty. Those feelings were completely at odds with the emotions he'd experienced when Tyler had jumped into his car initially. "I needed to get funding from somewhere." The defence sounded weak, even to his own ears. As soon as he knew what Riggs was really up to, he should have quit long before he actually did. "I thought I could make a difference. I was trying to make a difference," he muttered.

Tyler didn't say anything to that, and Javi could feel the tension as the elevator reached his floor. When the doors opened, he prepared to step out into the hallway...then paused and glanced at Tyler. "Are you coming?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?"

Javi nodded and breathed in slowly as he began walking down the hallway to his apartment. He could feel Tyler's presence right behind him, at his shoulder: warm, solid, comforting. The feelings confused him, because in most circumstances...with someone like Tyler...he'd immediately be on edge and defensive. Not leading the other man to his apartment and allowing him to stand right in his personal space.

Javi unlocked the door and led the way into his apartment, closing the door once Tyler was inside as well. And then he stopped...hesitated...not sure where to go from here.

He didn't need to think for long. Tyler's hands gently grasped his waist, turning Javi to face him, and the next thing he knew, Tyler's lips were descending onto his.

The kiss was gentler than Javi had been expecting, but if he'd learned nothing else, it was that Tyler was full of surprises. He kissed back; a little hesitantly, but that was more because he wasn't used to it than because he didn't want it. His lips parted slightly and Tyler took advantage of that, plunging his tongue into Javi's mouth and beginning to explore inside.

When the kiss broke so that they could breathe, Javi found himself panting a little. His pants felt uncomfortable; a bit too tight. And his lips felt slightly swollen. He flicked his tongue out, tasting Tyler on his lips, and then finally focused on the other man. "That was unexpected."

"Really?" Tyler took a step closer to him. "You didn't think this was where we were building to, once I jumped into your car?"

Javi took a few moments to think about that before he shrugged. "Considering we were rivals at the very least...no. Not really." Rivals was probably too tame a word for what they'd been to each other. He just couldn't think of a better word that fit.

Tyler nodded slowly. "Yeah. You're right. We were rivals." He stepped closer to Javi, moving into his personal space once more, and reached out to close his fingers around Javi's wrist.

Surprised by the action, Javi didn't pull away...still confused and torn about the kiss. He found himself following Tyler over to his couch, feeling that same sense of being the naughty child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He just didn't understand why he was feeling that way...until Tyler was sitting on the couch and drawing him down into position across his lap.

A tiny whimper escaped Javi's lips and he felt his face warm at the sound he'd made. He hadn't been in this position since he was a child...and part of him thought he should protest, or argue, or even fight. But he had to admit, even if it was only to himself, that he'd messed up. He'd done stuff he shouldn't have done. Maybe he hadn't outright hurt anyone, but he certainly hadn't done anything to help them until he'd had the chance to see Kate in action. Until he'd seen Tyler in action.

The first smack landed heavily on Javi's right buttock and he couldn't help but draw his breath in sharply. It stung, even with two protective layers between his butt and Tyler's palm. He couldn't help whimpering softly when Tyler continued to deliver hard smacks, working over every inch until Javi's entire bottom, from the crest to mid-thigh, was stinging from the swats.

Tyler then paused, hand gently rubbing Javi's bottom, slightly soothing the sting he'd caused. "I know you didn't intend to do anything bad when all this started, but when you saw what Riggs was doing, how he was using the devastation from the tornadoes to benefit himself, you should have acted then. You shouldn't have waited until it was nearly too late." He raised his hand once more.

Javi's bottom tensed, but it still stung nearly unbearably when Tyler resumed spanking him. He shifted, a low whine starting in his throat, as he whimpered, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah. I really hope you are." Tyler shifted Javi forward slightly, exposing his sit spots, and began to focus more smacks there and to the tops of his thighs. "Taking advantage of people who have lost their homes, who have lost their livelihoods, is not okay."

The spanking hurt...stung nearly unbearably, especially when Tyler focused his attention to Javi's sit spots and the tops of his thighs. But the pain of the spanking paled in comparison to the pain in his heart that Tyler's words caused. "I'm sorry." He repeated the apology again, his vision beginning to blur with tears. "I didn't know...not at first...!" He didn't want to lie, didn't want to make excuses, but he had to make sure Tyler knew. He hadn't started out with the intention of hurting anyone. He hadn't known what Riggs' true motives were...until it was nearly too late.

"I believe you." Tyler paused, hand resting once more on Javi's bottom. "We're nearly finished." He rubbed for a few moments, then eased Javi's pants and underwear down, over his stinging, burning bottom.

Cool air wafted over his exposed skin and Javi shivered. He reached down and closed his fingers around Tyler's ankle, holding onto the other man so that he wouldn't throw his hand back to try and cover his sore backside.

Tyler might not have been using any more force when he resumed swatting Javi's bare bottom, but the previous warmup and the lack of any protection made it feel much harder and it didn't take long for Javi to begin squirming and twisting over Tyler's lap, unable to hold back his whimpers and cries.

By the time Tyler paused again, Javi couldn't hold back the tears. He was crying...sobbing, really...but there was still a tight pit of guilt in his chest. He'd made a lot of mistakes...let himself be used by a man who only cared about money and using other people's tragedy to his own benefit. He could argue that he didn't know until he had no breath left, but he also knew that as soon as he'd realised, he should have quit.

It shouldn't have taken so long for him to do the right thing.

As soon as that thought hit him, any resistance Javi had been feeling seeped out of him and he slumped over Tyler's lap, crying without pause. He couldn't even get out another apology, as much as he wanted to.

Tyler stopped the spanking, rubbing Javi's back for a few moments before he carefully pulled his clothing back into place. He then helped Javi up and settled him on his lap, wrapping his arms around Javi and holding him close and tight.

Swallowing hard and trying to stop himself crying, Javi wrapped his own arms around Tyler and hugged tightly, resting his head against the other man's shoulder.

"I've got you," Tyler whispered, stroking his fingers through Javi's hair and rubbing down his back.

It took a few minutes, but finally, the gentle affection calmed and settled Javi enough that he could stop crying. He didn't pull away from the touch, though. Instead, he leaned his head against Tyler's chest, listening to the slow, steady beat of the other man's heart. "I'm sorry," he whispered, voice rough with emotion.

"I know." Tyler brushed a kiss against his head. "I know you're sorry. You did the right thing, in the end. Even if you made mistakes at first, you still did the right thing when it counted."

"Forgive me?" It wasn't really Tyler's forgiveness he needed, but Tyler was the only one there he could ask it from. And Tyler was a good man. Better than Javi had assumed when they'd first met.

"Of course." Tyler touched Javi's cheek, stroking down to his chin and grasping it before tipping up and kissing Javi's lips.

Breathing out slowly, Javi relaxed into the kiss and returned it. Closing his eyes, he let himself relax into the much-needed peace.

The End