Based on the Prompt:
Imagine Person A of your OTP has an inferiority complex and is very forgetful, so they end up leaving insulting notes to themselves on post-it notes around their place to remember things jokingly. Imagine Person B coming over unexpectedly for some reason and seeing all these terrible notes.
Bonus: Person B assumes Person A is being abused by someone.
If there was one thing that was obvious about Tulio, it was that he wasn't the kindest to himself. Tulio had a bit of a rough start in life, he came from a wealthy family that didn't believe in positive reinforcement or any kind of affection. He was also forcefully isolated from any other children, with only his books and parents for company. Anytime he tried to impress his mother or father he would be met with harsh, even cruel criticism, it made him feel weak and pathetic and it messed with his self-confidence.
It was an incredibly toxic relationship between all three of them. One that Tulio had to, unfortunately, live with until his parents forced him to attend college at the age of 18, that was were he met Miguel. He was his roommate and he came from the complete opposite background to Tulio.
A big loving, slightly poor but happy family. Miguel was one of the youngest out of 5 and had managed to get an art scholarship while Tulio was forced to take business courses.
At first, their different personalities clashed and since Tulio had never gotten to interact with people his age, his social skills were severely lacking, so there first few weeks of knowing one another were tense and hostile. But over time the two grew on each other, but Tulio refused to talk too much about his past, which Miguel was understanding about and he never pushed him on the matter until Tulio felt comfortable enough to tell him all about it, that was an emotional night for both of them.
The two grew so close that Miguel was able to convince Tulio to get out of the emotionally abusive relationship with his parents, it took a lot of time and patience but Tulio finally worked up the courage to take all of his leftover allowances and move into a small apartment on the other side of the country and find work with a small business with Miguel, who became his best friend.
And unannounced to both of them, each other's crush.
But while Tulio had managed to get out of his toxic relationship with his parents, some habits die hard. Such as him leaving threatening notes to himself not to forget things. Tulio's anxious mind had been so overworked lately that he had recently been forgetting about small things, such as doing the dishes, taking his lunch and even do his paperwork. So to try and help himself remember, he tried the same tactic that his father had done for him when he was a kid, he put sticky notes all over the apartment with various threats and insults to do his job. The notes scared him so much as a child that he never forgot to do as he was told, as he knew the consequences.
He knew it wasn't healthy but he didn't care, it was working, wasn't it?
But there was one thing that he couldn't forget. He and Miguel were going to go out to there favourite Bar/Restaurant that night, 'El Dorado' it was called. A lovely small place that claimed that the furniture was made up of real gold, Tulio didn't believe that but of course, Miguel did, he never held it against him, he was always more open-minded and fun.
He was actually in the shower when he swore he heard his door, the apartment was small and his walls weren't extremely thick. "Hello?" He shouted out.
"It's just me Tulio, don't panic!" He heard a familiar call back to him, he rolled his eyes slightly. Miguel. Of course, it was Miguel, they weren't meant to go out for at least an hour but Miguel was always ready early so they could hang out. "I'll be ready in a few minutes Miguel! Make your self at home, but you probably have anyway!"
"Oh Ha Ha!" Miguel laughed back as he put his feet up against the footrest, he laughed but Tulio wasn't wrong, he rarely was.
Miguel looked around the small living room before getting an idea that he should get Tulio a drink for when he's finished in the shower. He stood up and quickly stepped into the kitchen, he opened the fridge and grabbed two beers, he then shut the door it but a note on the door caught his eye. What he read almost made him drop the drinks in his hands.
'Do the dishes, you worthless piece of shit!' It said.
Miguel was so shocked, what the hell was that note about? Who could have written it? He knows he couldn't have because A) He would never say something like that to Tulio and B) He hadn't even been at his best friends apartment in a week or two, their schedules had been crazy lately.
Had Tulio had someone else over? Had he made a new friend and that was just their Humor? He hoped so as he shook his head to clear his mind as he set the drinks on the counter. He then looked at the bread bin and saw another note, this one said:
'You need more bread, you stupid bitch!'
This time Miguel was more angry than shocked he ripped it off the bread bin and crumpled it in his grip, who was leaving these notes, this wasn't funny, these notes couldn't have been a joke.
It was then that he thought, was he being abused again? By a partner that Miguel didn't know about? No, no, Tulio knows better than to get involved with those kinds of people, his parents scared him enough...though he had heard of people going back into abusive or toxic relationships because it's the only thing they know and they think they deserve it but Tulio knows better than that, right?
He needed answers and he needed them now, he was not going to let Tulio get hurt…he loved him too much to see him get hurt like that again.
He left the kitchen as he marched over to Tulio's bedroom and low and behold, there was one last note stuck to the door.
This one made Miguel's blood run cold and hot at the same time:
'Don't forget the stupid Date or I'll fucking kill you.'
…So Tulio did have a new partner...one that was threatening to kill his best friend/crush...Ok, that was the official last straw. He practically kicked in Tulio's door and caught him half-naked as he was getting dressed for the evening.
"Miguel, what the fuck?! I'll be ready in a second Jesus!" Tulio cries out, desperately trying to cover himself with his unworn clothes.
But Miguel was in no mood to argue, "Tulio, what the hell are these?!" He said as he thrust the notes in his friends face. It took a second for Tulio to see what he was looking at, but when it clicked in his head, his face fell to a sombre one.
"Oh, you found those..."
"Yeah, that's one way of saying it."
"Miguel I'm sorry, I didn't want you to see them because I knew you'd react this way."
"How else am I going to react?! Am I supposed to say 'oh this is normal', well it's not!"
"I know it seems a little unhealthy, please let me explain, it works for me and I'm getting better now." Tulio tried to protest since they worked almost all the time.
"Oh my god, what have they drilled into you?! Tulio, this kind of behaviour is not ok, I mean there threatening to kill you if you don't go on a date with them! Tulio, please talk to me, I need you to help me, help you." Miguel then took Tulio's hand in both of his, as he gave a pleading look to his long-time love. "...Tulio, is someone hurting you, abusing you again? Please tell me, I can help you...please...I just don't want to see you get hurt again..."
"…What? Miguel, what are you going on about?" Tulio was completely confused. He thought Miguel had found his notes to himself and was unhappy that he had fallen into old habits...did he think someone else had written those to him?
"Tulio doesn't play dumb, it's ok. I can protect you, you don't have to be scared to tell me anything, I won't let anything happen to you." Miguel said as he tried to get through to Tulio, he needed him to understand.
"Wait, Miguel, I think you've got this all wrong let me explain-" Tulio tried to answer, but he was cut off mid-sentence.
"You don't have to explain anything to me just yet, just please tell me what's going on, I'm worried about you!" Miguel tried one last time, he was getting desperate.
"…Miguel, I wrote those..." Tulio said, somewhat deadpanned.
"Huh?" Miguel questioned.
"Here, let me explain the whole thing..."
~Le Time Skip cause I'm lazy~
"So let me get this straight? You write yourself threatening and insulting notes to help you remember things because when you were younger you father would do the same thing and it's scared you so much that you never forgot to do anything, is that what your telling me?" Miguel questioned as he and Tulio sat on the bed together.
"Well when you say it like that, it sounds bad." Tulio said, trying to make a joke of the situation. Even though he knew how bad it was.
"That's because it is bad Tulio. You must understand how unhealthy that is, come on your smarter than that. Also, why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you."
"I know, I know! It's just... I guess I did it because I just assumed that because it worked, that made it ok? I don't know..." Tulio said as he brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.
Miguel was so concerned, what was going on in his friends head? "Tulio, you don't believe the things that you write on the notes, do you? You know that your not stupid or worthless, right?"
Only the silence answered him, Tulio didn't even look him in the eye.
"Oh, Tulio..."
"I-I don't... I don't I swear it's just...what feels normal. I've tried hard to adjust to this new life but when you only know one way of life it's hard to get out of that cycle... I'm sorry I didn't come to you but it just felt normal to me." Tulio's voice broke at that last sentence as his eyes filled with salty tears.
That was all it took for Miguel to bring Tulio in for a hug, he held him tightly and ran his fingers through his friends still damp hair. "No, no, no. Don't be sorry, don't ever apologise for something like this. I'm sorry I haven't noticed that you're not adjusting as well as we'd hoped, I can be more attentive or we can get you some professional help; whatever you need I'll get it for you I promise!" Miguel reassured, and he wasn't lying, he'd do anything for Tulio, anything.
Tulio just silently hugged back loosely as the tears ran down his face. "...You...You're really nice to me..." Tulio said shakily, almost to quiet to hear him.
Miguel's eyes widened in shock at the bizarre statement. "Well of course I am. You're my best friend, I care about you a lot Tulio. We're partners, remember?" Miguel said comfortingly, rubbing Tulio's back gently before his friend pulled away.
Tulio kept his head down before he slowly slipped one of his hands into Miguel's and intertwined there fingers. Miguel felt his face grow hot but he tried to keep it from showing. "Tulio? Is everything ok?"
"I love you, Miguel..."
Miguel thought the whole world stopped, he could only hear his heartbeat and it was pounding in his ears.
"What?" There was no way he could have heard that right.
"I love you, I love you so much Miguel, I've loved you from the second you held me for the first time..." Oh yeah, Miguel remembered that. It was when Tulio's father had called the dorm for the first time out of the blue. Miguel had picked it up and the man demanded to speak his bastard of a son, Miguel was a bit surprised but he called Tulio over and unfortunately had to listen to Tulio's father berate, insult and even threaten his son for what had to be twenty minutes but it felt like it went on forever. By the end of the call, Tulio was in tears and was apologising profusely and Miguel couldn't figure out what for, and even Tulio admitted that he didn't know why his father called that day. After it was over Tulio started having a panic attack and while Miguel still didn't exactly like Tulio at that point, nobody deserved that, especially from their parents.
So he just held him, he held him for at least an hour until he had calmed down, he missed one of his classes but at that point, all he cared about was keeping Tulio in his sights. He'll never admit it but he was a little worried that Tulio would try and hurt himself or worse.
Tulio has fallen for him at that moment? When Miguel thought about it, it was probably the first time Tulio was ever shown any kind of human decency and care for his wellbeing.
It made Miguel so sad and angry at the same time but there was no time to focus on that now.
"Tulio. Tulio, please look at me." Miguel said as he cupped Tulio's cheek with his free hand and brought his face up to meet his eyes.
Tulio's face was just so full of sorrow, the dark circles under his eyes made him looks like a scared child.
It was utterly heartbreaking.
"Please...don't hate me. We can pretend this never happened if you want to..." Tulio said in a soft, timid voice as if he expected Miguel to completely abandon him.
"No! No, we are not doing that, please don't say that... Please, I want you to say it one more time, so I know this is real. Please." Miguel pleaded desperately.
Tulio's eyes widen in absolute shock, this is not what he had expected to happen at all. But there was no way that Miguel...
"I...I love you Miguel Eldora, more than anything in the world. You showed me that life wasn't some black empty hole that would eventually swallow me up. You helped me get away from the two people that had tortured me my whole life. And for that, I'll forever be in your debt. I love you, I truly truly do..." Tulio said, as confidential as he could, fighting the urge to run away.
There was only silence in the room for 2 whole minutes and both men process what had just been said. Before Tulio felt the hand on his cheek move down till it was slightly gripping his chin before it was lifted till he was inches away from Miguel's face, "...You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that..." Miguel whispered against Tulio's lips before closing that gap between them.
The kiss was slow, passionate and full of love from both sides.
And think, this all started with little notes full of hate.