loves-pie:

Last one, finally. (Again, I apologize for the delay. I’m full of fail these days.)

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“You’re wrong.”

“About what, exactly?” Zach asks with the
hint of a sigh. They’re sitting on the balcony of Chris’ hotel room, the
sparkling lights of Dubai spread before them and a sky full of stars above.
Chris is still cradling the mostly empty bottle of expensive champagne they’d
managed to sneak out of the party.

“You think I’ll be too busy to miss you…
but I will. I always do.”

Zach looks over at him, surprised by the
admission. It’s not like Chris to be so open, but then he’s been in an
unusually pensive mood since shooting wrapped earlier that day. The champagne
is obviously creating a few cracks in the walls he’s erected. 

“I’ll miss you, too,” Zach replies, and he will. They only get solid weeks together like this
every few years and he doesn’t take them for granted. Fortunately they still
have the press tour to look forward to, so it’ll only be a matter of months
before they’re together again—less if their schedules happen to align before
that.

Letting his head flop back against the
chair, Chris gazes up at the stars. “What if this is really it? For Trek?”

“Then we’ve had a great run,” Zach says
with a shrug. “It had to end at some point, and it’s not like we’re never going
to see each other.”

Chris lets out a huff. “Yeah, snatches here
and there.”

Zach bites back another sigh. This isn’t
the fun-filled end to the evening he’d envisaged. “What do you want me to say,
Chris?”

Meeting his eyes, Chris looks like he’s
about to answer, but then he lets out a deep sigh instead and attempts a shrug
that dies before it can reach both shoulders. “I don’t know… I guess that
things won’t change.”

It’s the first time Chris has admitted at
least a little of what Zach had suspected was bothering him. Truth be told, at
least on some level, it’s bothering him too. They’ve both signed on for another
movie, but everything is very much in limbo and will be for some time.

“Some things will always change,” he says
slowly. “But not everything.”

“Yeah,” Chris says softly, almost to
himself, and looks skyward again. “Yeah.”

Zach decides to call it a night at this point
before they can get any more maudlin. He shifts to get up. “We should both get
some sleep; it’s an early flight tomorrow.”

Chris follows him dutifully to the door, but his steps are heavy. When
Zach pulls it open a little and turns to say goodnight, his resolve weakens at
Chris’ vulnerable expression. “Come here,” he says, pulling Chris into a tight
hug. “I’m always going to be here for you, Pine. You can’t get rid of me that
easily.”

There’s a suspicious snuffling sound from
the vicinity of his shoulder. Zach turns his head towards it but can only see a
mess of tawny hair. “Oh my god, are you—“

“No!” Chris says quickly, although it ends
in a broken sob. “Fuck.”

Holding in a snort, Zach grips him tighter
and presses a kiss to his temple. He doesn’t even think about it or second-guess
it until Chris pulls back a little, eyes wide. There are unshed tears still
swimming in them, making the irises an even deeper blue. Zach is confused for a
moment until Chris’ eyes drop down to his mouth, tongue darting out to wet his
dry lips.

Zach knows that if he makes a joke now, the
moment will be broken; they’ll laugh it off and he’ll be able to retreat to his
room. But he doesn’t, because he can see something in Chris’ eyes that he’s
only caught glimpses of before and always put down to his imagination. As he
watches, daring to allow himself to believe, it slowly morphs into resolve.
He’s already tilting his head as Chris leans in, one hand pushing into Chris’
hair as the other firmly closes the door again behind him.