Outer Banks One Shot - Tumblr Posts

love language

one shot

summary: how rafe uses the 5 love languages in your relationship

pairing: rafe cameron x reader

warning(s): soft!rafe, slight sexual content, tooth rotting fluff, cursing

word count: 3.1k

A/N: this is basically a headcannon in the form of a one shot (`twas waaaaay too long to make a headcannon out of hehe) also sorry if this is poorly written hehe. my requests are currently open so send them my way!

masterlist

prompt list

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words of affirmation

the first love language was words of affirmation. you knew that communication was key in a relationship, but rafe always went above and beyond to let you know how much he loved you, even if it wasn’t explicitly saying those three little words.

rafe always made sure that you were his first text in the morning and his last text at night, always adding a nickname (usually baby or angel or princess) and some kind of compliment. even if he hadn’t heard from you all day, he made sure that to text you, letting you know that he was still thinking about you. every time you heard your phone vibrate and saw his contact picture come up, your heart felt like it was going to pop right out of your chest, just knowing that the text was going to be something sweet. once you started spending the night at his place, he would compliment you every morning by saying something along the lines of “wow you look so beautiful this morning” or “I’m so fucking lucky to have you,” which gave you butterflies.

rafe was also all about posting you on social media and always giving you shoutouts whenever he got the chance. whenever you got some kind of award at school or work, he was always the first one to post about it on social media and letting everyone know how proud he was of his girlfriend. this wasn’t the only time he would post you though – whenever he took you out for dinner or the two finally took a nice picture together (which was NOT very often), he gladly posted it all over social media to let people know you were all his and that he loved you tremendously, usually posting with a caption along the lines of “date night with my pretty girl” or “I appreciate her so fucking much”.

once you moved into an apartment together, he upped his game. he would leave handwritten notes all over the apartment for you to find. most times, he would put them up before you woke up in the morning so he could try to make your day as much as possible. sometimes when you were taking a shower, you’d find one stuck to the window in the bathroom, or one stuck to your keys before you left for work (especially if you had an important meeting). the notes would vary, some of them might say “you look beautiful” or “I’m so proud of you” or even just a simple “I love you” … and you loved it. even if you were already gone before he had the chance to put some up, the apartment would be covered in them when you got home … okay maybe not COVERED in them but he would at least put a few up for you.

when you took the time to make dinner for him and the boys some nights, he always made sure to tell you something along the lines of “thank you for everything you do for us baby girl” which led to the boys calling his ‘pussy whipped’ and making fake gagging sounds, but you knew they were just teasing. it wasn’t only then that he would compliment you – if you did anything special for him (including making dinner for him and his friends or spending the entire day cleaning the house), he reminded you every day that he truly loved you, and one way he did this was with words of affirmation.

acts of service

the second love language was acts of service. although it was difficult for rafe to do this while you were still living at home, he still tried his best to do what he could to help you out a little bit since he knew one of the best ways to show you he loved you was through actions.

rafe loved to help you out with your car, no matter what it was. he knew you were stressed all the time since you were working and going to school, so he would casually fill up your gas tank and take your car for a car wash while simultaneously ‘forgetting to tell you’ he was doing it (even though you knew he did it on purpose). in addition, when you started to spend the night at his place, he would usually start your car for you in the winter and clean the snow off for you since he knew you HATED doing it. he also knew you tried to drive as little as possible due to your anxiety about it, so he always offered to drive you places/do the driving during date nights.

once you moved in together, it was so much easier for him to do this (as much as he could that is, he was also still a working man). he knew you HATED doing the laundry, so most of the time he would surprise you by doing it for you, folding it AND putting it away (even though most times you had to redo it because it sucked, all that matters is that he tried). he picked up on the fact that you hardly ate breakfast in the morning rather quickly because you either didn’t get out of bed on time, or you decided to fit in a morning workout before work and you didn’t have time to make yourself something. so, rafe took it upon himself to have breakfast and a coffee ready for you as soon as you got up to make sure that you ate, whether you ate at home or at work (you had to admit this made you fall in love with him even more, knowing that he cared about the little things like this).

rafe also knew you were completely forgetful, so he knew he had to take it upon himself to keep track of events, assignments, or gift-giving events. anytime you had some kind of event you needed to go to, regardless of the occasion, rafe took it upon himself to add it to your calendar to make sure you didn’t forget; he also used to do this with all your assignments for school, knowing that you would forget to do them if they weren’t in your calendar and all he wanted was for you to succeed (honestly, another thing you loved about him). on top of this, rafe was usually the one that was in charge of getting gifts you needed for any kind of events the two of you were attending – birthdays, weddings, graduations, ceremonies, etc. (you also loved this because your ass was SO forgetful).

you knew he had his own life to live and his own things to do, yet he always made sure he went above and beyond to show you how much he loved you, another way he did this was with acts of service.

receiving gifts

the third love language was receiving gifts. rafe wasn’t usually one to settle down with anyone, so when you came into his life, he knew he wanted to spoil you like there was no tomorrow – whether it was buying you expensive gifts or making you something special (something he LOVED doing).

rafe was an absolute sucker for making you personalized gifts, especially cute spotify playlists full of songs that reminded him of you. he loved sending you them in the middle of the day, followed by a text that said, ‘I sent you a new playlist of songs that remind me of you, let me know what you think angel!’, which usually gave you a ton of butterflies (you loved it). another thing rafe loved doing is making you personalized gifts and usually he took the time out of his day to do it himself. usually on your anniversaries, he would go all out with your gifts – cute memory jars, cute collages made up of some of his favourite pictures of the two of you, a picture of what the stars looked like the night you met, coupon books, a collection of memorable milestones (i.e. the movie ticket from your first date, the plane ticket from the first trip you took together, etc.). this usually lead the butterfly farm in your stomach to go crazy, knowing that he really did care about you as much as he said he did.

whenever he and his family took a trip, he always made sure to bring you back a souvenir, but not just any souvenir – one that meant something to the two of you. it could be a cheesy inside joke you guys had or something memorable from a certain date. he would tell the family that he refused to leave wherever they were until he found something to bring back for you, even if he had to change his return flight. he would enter every gift shop he came across, practically ripping the place apart until he found you the perfect souvenir, one that he KNEW would put a smile on your face. you couldn’t help but fall in love with him even more knowing that he went above and beyond to find you something you would love.

rafe wasn’t only about spending lots of money and time on getting you bigger gifts, sometimes small gestures were the move. sometimes when he would be driving home from work or from a full day of golfing, he would stop at your favourite bakery and buy you your favourite pastry or your favourite flowers from the local florist; sometimes even at the grocery store to get you your favourite ice cream that you had been craving all week, he just wanted to know that he cared about you and loved you even if he didn’t use those three little words. if you didn’t have time to grab a coffee on your way to work, he would surprise you with one early in the morning (and you knew damn well he got his ass out of bed at 8:30am to bring it to you, even though he wanted to sleep in). in the end, rafe cared about you tremendously and another way he showed this was by giving you gifts.

quality time

the fourth love language was quality time. rafe knew that you were busy being a boss babe and always working your ass off to provide for yourself and your family. when it came down to it, he knew that spending quality time with you would help you realize he was in it for the long haul.

his favourite form of quality time was a weekly date night and he made sure to plan each and every one of them meticulously, making sure every detail was perfect. he would always try and switch up the restaurants so you could try new things and places together, and he always made sure to plan them a little bit differently each time. sometimes it would be a fancy dinner in chapel hill followed by a night of dancing at one of your favourite club (this usually resulted in him having to carry you home and take care of your drunk ass), or sometimes it would be a homemade dinner prepared by the kook king himself followed by a movie night. sometimes it was even just eating dinner at the wreck and exploring the island, as much as he hated the Cut, he always wanted to see where you grew up. this also usually resulted in you spending the night at tanneyhill with him; that was another favourite time of quality time you spent together. you would usually lay on the roof with him and talk for hours while looking at the stars, before falling asleep in his arm; he knew he was so lucky to have you.

rafe also LOVED it when you ran errands with him. this was especially helpful when you both lived at home, he always picked you up and dragged you along with him so you two could spend time together. whether it was just running errands in figure eight or taking a ferry to chapel hill to do some shopping, he loved taking him with you so you could spend time with you. he also knew that you were usually couped up in your room studying or working, so he liked being able to take you out with him so you could get some fresh air and take some time for yourself. this, however, usually lead to you going to his place afterwards and crashing in his bed since you were tired from shopping all day (which was his plan all along, he loved spending the night with you).

he also made it a rule to put his phone away when he you were spending time together, especially before you moved in together. as soon as you walked through the door at tannyhill, his phone was put away and all his attention was on you, making sure you felt appreciated and making sure you knew that you were the only thing he had his attention on. usually this lead to kelce or topper showing up at the house trying to steal him for a ‘guys day’ since he wasn’t answering his phone but he shut them down right away, muttering something like ‘I’m spending time with my girl,’ which lead to them calling him pussy whipped and leaving. he reminded you every single day that he loved you, and one of these ways was by spending quality time with you.

physical touch

the final love language was physical touch. rafe knew that you had been deprived of physical touch your entire life due to your parents being assholes, so he tried his best to make sure this was the love language that outshined all the rest of them in your relationship to make it up to you.

kissing. rafe absolutely loved to kiss you whenever he got the chance, and he would kiss you everywhere he could think of. his favourite place was your lips, they were always so soft and moved perfectly in sync with his. he also really liked your neck. he would always nuzzle his head in the crook of your neck before he began to plant kisses all over, making sure he covered as much circumference as he could. the list could go on forever, but he really like kissing you everywhere – your cheeks because they were kind of chunky, so he liked squeezing and kissing them; your forehead, since he stood a good foot taller than you so it was easy for him to give them to you unnoticed; your hands, totally cliché but thy were so soft all the time and it was the easiest place to kiss when you guys were driving; your breasts when you were getting intimate, he would take them in his hands and kiss them while muttering a ‘holy shit baby’ (which you absolutely loved); and your stomach, especially when you guys were getting intimate since you had a massive insecurity about how it looked.

holding hands. rafe knew you liked showing him off and he had no problem with this. when you were walking through the island (especially around all the crazy kook girls who wanted him), he would intertwine your fingers as you passed by everyone to let them know that he was yours. his favourite was when you were at a party (either at someone’s house or the boneyard) and you grabbed his hand, dragging him to the dancefloor or to the kitchen to get a drink. the smile on your face when your fingers intertwined made his heart flutter, knowing that even a small action like that would make you happy. he also really liked it when you grabbed his hand during dinner with his family; you knew ward always put so much pressure on rafe, so when you went to have dinner at his place and you felt like rafe was getting nervous or anxious, you slowly slipped your hand onto his to try and calm him down. his breathing would immediately slow down, and he felt like in that moment he was invincible with you by his side.

cuddling. rafe didn’t want anyone to know, but he was such a big sucker for cuddles (if his friends found out it would be the DEATH of him). he never wanted to admit it, but he loved being the little spoon (even though half the time it never worked out since he was a good foot taller than him). he loved coming over to your place after a long day at work or golfing with the boys because he knew he would get some cuddles; you waited in your bed for him to come through the door and throw himself onto your bed, crawling towards you and placing his head in on your chest as you played with his hair. he also didn’t mind being the big spoon half the time either since he knew you stressed yourself out too much. he hated seeing you have anxiety attacks because of school, so he would engulf you in a hug and carefully bring you to the bed. he would wrap his arms around you (you had to admit his arms were HUGE and you felt so safe in them) and play with your hair, staying like that until you calmed down or fell asleep.

skin-to-skin touching. intimately or not, rafe was all for it and he knew that this made you the happiest. when the two of you were getting intimate, he always had to be touching you. whether it was grabbing your hips while you were riding him or caressing your cheek when he was on top, he always had to have a hand on you. he would constantly be moving his hands all over your body when you were having sex - he would move them from your hips, to your face, to your legs, to your ass, to your breasts (this literally made you so happy and you had absolutely no issues with it, like damn he loves seeing you happy). your favourite part was after having sex, when you laid on your stomach and rafe would trace shapes on your bare back with his fingertips. it was calming and soothing, and he knew this was something that helped you calm down. when you would finally sit up and kiss him, he would place his hand behind your neck and pull you closer to him. even when you weren’t getting intimate, he still knew how important skin to skin contact was to you - your favourite was when you were taking a shower and he would wrap his arms around you, swaying your bodies slowly and muttering a slight ‘I love you’ in your ear. whether he said it or not, you know rafe loved you tremendously, and the last way he showed you was through physical touch.

She's a mess in the morning. Hair tousled and t-shirt half hanging off her shoulders. It's a real fucking turn on. He's hard, and it's not even ten in the morning.

She grabs the carton of milk from the fridge and takes a swig.

"That's disgusting. How can you drink regular milk like that?"

"Says the guy who has a glass of orange juice with his bowl of Cheerios." She says, mouth full of milk. She hops up onto the counter. Her t-shirt - fuck, no, his t-shirt - rides up her thighs, exposing the black frilly lace of her panties.

He swallows.

"Only to wash down the nutty aftertaste."

It's not a good argument. He knows this.

"Whatever."

She says that a lot. He doesn't think she means it half the time.

"I'm going surfing this afternoon. Wanna come?" She says, crossing her legs. The fabric of her shirt bunches up around her crotch.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. His knee jerks and hits the underside of the kitchen table with a clatter.

"You good?"

"Mm." He nods.

No. He's not fucking okay.

"So?"

"So what?"

"You comin'?" She jumps off the counter and reaches for a bowl on the top shelf in the cabinet behind her.

Oh. That.

“Yeah. Yeah, sure. Okay. Yeah."

He nods a little too enthusiastically.

She turns around, brow raised. The corner of her lip is turned up ever so slightly.

"Cool?"

Not really.

"Yeah. Totally."

"Okay. Cool." She says, all smart and cool-like. "Meet me on the beach at two. But don't wear those loud palm tree shorts of yours. They’re embarrassing."

Yeah.

Okay.

Cool.

X

She's a natural when it comes to surfing. Like a thunderstorm in the middle of June.

He's usually good at surfing too, but when he's with her he's too busy watching her to actually pay attention to the waves. So, he just ends up wiping out and making a complete fool of himself.

She laughs. It's sweet like those candied hearts she used to give him back in grade school for Valentine's Day.

"You know you're supposed to ride the waves, not hug them, right?"

“Yeah? What can I say? I’m a hugger.”

She snorts and shakes her head. A salt-slick strand of hair falls directly over her brow. She doesn’t bother brushing it away.

“Whatever. See if you can catch this next one.”

She’s already paddling in the opposite direction, effortlessly catching said wave.

He's in awe, is fucking mesmerized by the way she glides across the surface of the water.

There's a thunderstorm in the forecast. The sky is turning gray.

She’s the current and he’s drowning.

X

Keggers on the beach are one of the best parts about summer.

Next to the tourons, of course.

Obviously.

The flames from the bonfire lick the ends of her hair. She digs her Solo cup into the sand by her feet. She stands then stretches, knocking over her cup and spilling its contents. She doesn't bother looking down. She can always get another.

And so she does.

"Hand me a beer."

"Didn't I just give you one?"

She shrugs, and swipes the bottle in his hand by the neck, downing the remaining contents. A single drop escapes the corner of her mouth. She catches it with her tongue.

"What? No 'please'?"

"Manners are for strangers. We're friends."

Just friends.

"We are friends, right?"

And the hesitation in her tone, it's something he's never heard in her voice before.

"Yeah, of course. Totally."

Just fucking friends.

"So, who's the lucky touron tonight?"

"Ah, I don't know. No one's really caught my eye."

Lies, lies, lies.

"So you mean to tell me," she points to a lanky girl standing beside a lopsided bamboo torch. She looks at him and flitters her fingers. "That perky blonde over there, or that foxy redhead next to her hasn't turned your head even the slightest bit?"

He shakes his head and juts out his lower lip.

"Nope." He says, popping the p.

"Bullshit." She reaches for one of the floating cans in the beat up red cooler. She pops the tab with a click and a hiss.

She almost takes a sip, but changes her mind the instant her lips touch the cool metal.

"Can I ask you something? And I need you to be, like, completely totally honest, okay?"

"Sure." He swallows, audibly.

She's really close to him now. Like, really fucking close. He can smell the sunscreen on her skin.

She stands on her toes and drags her fingers down the row of buttons on his shirt.

"Are you sure we're just friends?"

The ground feels like quicksand beneath his feet.

I mean, who even came up with the no pogue-on-pogue macking bullshit, anyway?

It was probably Kie.

Shit.

He's fucked.

Like, literally, one hundred and fifty percent fucked because he thinks he might just love this girl, and he thinks he's just high enough, and just buzzed enough that he might actually kiss this girl.

Her lips are so close to his, and his head begins to spin. He thinks he might fall over, or be sick, or quite possibly both.

She kisses him, and it's fucking fantastic. Her lips are kinda chapped, but also kinda perfect. They taste faintly of vanilla chapstick and Pabst Blue Ribbon. They're sweet, and sticky, and salty, and he's addicted to the taste.

She pulls away. His lips are wet. The air is cold. It's the middle of July.

“Just friends?” She says, smiles slyly.

“Yeah, right.” He says, kisses her again.