I just found this little ficlet in my draft folder and wanted to share it with you guys. It’s set sometime last October when Chris had that black eye in some photos.
This is for @thatmysticbafflingwonder who wrote me such an adorable Poe/Finn/Rey ficlet a few days ago <33
“Shit. What happened to you?” Zach asks as he holds the door open and steps back into the trailer.
This is not what he’d been expecting when he asked Chris to come over after they’d finished shooting for the day. They have both been particularly aware of the fact that this might well be the last one, so making sure they hang out whenever they can during their busy schedule has become an unspoken agreement between them.
Chris walks past him, avoiding Zach’s gaze. In fact, he’s doing his best to hide his face from Zach as he moves towards the sofa.
“If I said nothing, would you just let it go?”
“Uh, no. Chris, you have a black eye, for fuck’s sake.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Chris says and sits down. Zach sighs and goes to sit next to him, waiting for an explanation.
“It happened on set,” Chris starts, and falls silent again.
“I figured as much. Unless you somehow managed to wander off set and have a heated argument with a paparazzi?”
Zach decides to count the slightly amused huff that follows as a win.
“I got distracted, and the stunt guy managed to hit me in the face.” Chris swallows before continuing, his gaze wandering around the trailer before settling on Zach again. “It was fucking embarrassing. I thought I’d learned my lesson after breaking my finger on the Jack Ryan set.”
“What distracted you?” It seems like a safe question, but the answer is apparently embarrassing enough that Chris stays silent, blushing and looking away again.
“Does it hurt?” Zach asks then, looking at the angry bruise forming under Chris’s right eye. He wants to put on more lights, to take a closer look, but he doubts Chris would let him do that.
“Yeah, it fucking hurt, what do you think?” Chris answers, glancing at Zach. The words are harsh, but Chris’s tone is resigned, his shoulders hunched forward, elbows resting on his thighs. He seems oddly vulnerable, and Zach feels that tight little feeling somewhere in his chest, unable to resist the temptation to reach out, to touch.
“Here, let me…” Zach starts, not really knowing what he’s going to say. He brushes Chris’s chin with gentle fingertips and tugs until Chris looks at him.
They stare at each other for a moment. Zach lifts his hand and carefully traces the skin just outside the bruise, watching as Chris’s eyes fall shut.
“How about this?” Zach whispers. He doesn’t remember making any conscious decision to lower his voice, but the moment feels too intimate, too quiet, for anything else.
“Not really. Just feels a bit… funny.”
Zach leans closer, letting his warm breath ghost over the bruised skin. Chris doesn’t flinch, just sits there, breathing deeply. Zach moves his head slightly until his lips are touching Chris’s skin. He keeps the touch light, and draws back after a few seconds. Chris is breathing faster now, but he hasn’t moved an inch. His eyes are still closed, his hands now resting on his thighs, the fingers digging into the worn denim. Zach brings his lips back to the skin, keeping them there for a moment longer and closing his eyes. His heart is beating so fast, so loud, he’s afraid Chris will hear it too.
When Zach finally draws back enough to see Chris’s entire face, he suddenly can’t stand the silence any longer. “Chris?”
Chris blinks until his eyes focus on Zach. Then he smiles, slowly, his eyes crinkling in the corners, until the movement makes him flinch. “Aw, fuck.”
Zach chuckles and touches Chris’s cheek, a brief, soothing caress. “Want me to kiss it better again?”
Chris answers by surging against him, fitting their lips together, before Zach has the chance to say anything else. Zach’s more than happy to stay silent though when he has Chris moaning into his mouth, their lips and bodies moving against each other.
When they part for a moment, Chris pants against his lips, “It was you.”
Zach moves back an inch, looking over Chris’s face carefully, not sure he heard right.
“Uh, what?”
Chris looks down at his hand resting against Zach’s chest, then moves it in a slow caress as he speaks.
“You asked me what got me so distracted that I forgot to, you know, not get punched in the face? Well, that was you. I was watching you joke around and laugh with Zoe and Karl, and I just found myself unable to look away.” Chris chuckles to himself. “Which apparently is not a good idea when a stunt man twice your size is about to land a punch.”
Zach moves his head forward until their foreheads are touching, unable to stop smiling.
“Want me to distract you some more?”
By the time their mouths meet again, they’re both grinning so much it’s more teeth than lips, but Zach can’t seem to mind.
A Gentle Distraction
Published
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