I’ve made a lot of progress on the inexperienced!Zach fic in the past few days, and it’s been aaaages since I’ve shared anything, so have a snippet!
Zach doesn’t even find out Chris is back in LA until they run into each other out of the blue. It’s early morning, and Zach has made the stroll down the street to the the local coffee shop in hopes that some fresh air and caffeine will jump-start his energy level. He has just put out his hand to open the door when someone scoots around him and gets there first. Before he can work up a head of frustration, a familiar voice says, “Zach,” and Zach turns to find himself staring into familiar blue eyes.
Chris must have just finished up a run, because he’s sweaty and breathing hard, his t-shirt clinging to his chest. He reaches up to push his hair off his forehead, making it stick up in spikes, then motions for Zach to go ahead of him into the shop, obviously eager to get out of the heat and into the air-conditioning. Zach skitters past him inside, then lingers, trying to come up with something to say. They haven’t spoken in weeks—not really. Every now and then he would get a text from Chris, a polite How’s the show going? or some tidbit from Chris’s own filming adventures, but none of it really sparked much of a conversation. Zach couldn’t help but feel like it was just more pity, so he kept his answers short, not wanting to waste too much of Chris’s time. And Chris never pushed too hard, so it was easy for Zach to assume he was right.
Now, he is at a loss, but Chris doesn’t seem in a hurry to jump into small talk anyway—possibly in part because his chest is still heaving in attempt to catch his breath. He puts a friendly hand on Zach’s elbow, nudging him toward the line, and they head over in tandem. When Chris’s arm drops back to his side, Zach still feels the impression of his fingertips.
“I think there are probably better places to go for your post-run hydration,” Zach says at last, hoping he sounds quippy rather than overly eager to break the silence.
Chris scoffs, swiping his forearm across his forehead. “Nuh-uh. I’ve earned this. Gatorade is for the weak.” Zach laughs, and it makes him grin, like he’s proud of himself. “Do you come here a lot?”
“Yeah,” Zach says. “I live just around the corner.”
“Hey, me too.” Chris thumps him on the shoulder. Is he extra tactile right now, or is Zach just hyper-aware of him? “We must be neighbors.”
It’s a wonder they haven’t run into each other here before, Zach thinks. Or maybe they have, back before they knew each other. Maybe Chris would blend into the background if Zach didn’t already know how he lights up in the spotlight, or if he wasn’t intimately acquainted with the plushness of his mouth. Then again…Zach’s gaze catches on a bead of sweat as it rolls down his neck and disappears under the collar of his shirt, and Chris catches him staring and smiles, his eyes crinkling. Then again, Zach amends, maybe not.
Tag: snippet
Words
I am almost positive I had posted some variant of this like five years ago, but I can’t find it in my tags. From Rent Control, the one with all the tropes.
“So? It’s great, right?” he says with a stupid grin on the corner of the driveway.
“Oh yeah, it’s a dream,” Zach says sarcastically, “Except, you know, that extra special bit where you decided we were getting married? What the fuck was that?”
“What?” Chris opens his palms to the air in confusion, “It’s legal now, right?”
“Missing the point entirely, that’s great,” Zach throws his hands up. “Did you forget the part where I don’t even know your last name?”
“Pine,” Chris offers, “Like the tree. I mean I could take your name, if you want? Or maybe we hyphenate? What is yours?”
“Quinto. Just… Oh my god! Why did you do that? We can never go back in there!” Zach grabs the handle of his suitcase and stalks off down the sidewalk.
“What? Wait, why?” Chris follows, grabbing his arm, “Why not?”
“Engaged?” Zach pulls away and spins on him, “That’s your angle? Are you certifiable? Why did you tell her that?”
“I dunno, it seemed like a good idea?” Chris’ eyes are wide and earnest, “Come on, Zach, this place is amazing! I just thought… if they think we’re a couple, it’s not weird to have two dudes in one bed, right?”
“Of course, because we couldn’t just, like, tell them the truth?” Zach reels, “Now we have to pretend to play Happy House Husbands because you decided it was a good idea? Did you even think that through for half a second?”
Chris blinks, chewing his lip like an adorable five-year-old, “Wait… what about it isn’t good, though?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Chris,” Zach sighs heavily, “The whole part where one day soon, I’m going to want to get laid, and I assume you will too. I mean, I figured there’d be a whole sock-on-the-doorknob deal, like college.”
Chris thinks about this and shrugs, “So we’ll get laid elsewhere. It’s doable.”
“And what about convincing the pair of surf hippie biker daddies in there of our impending nuptials? The ones with the master bedroom we didn’t see but I’m relatively sure has a set or two of eyebolts in the walls, maybe a mirror above the bed?” Zach challenges. “You’re obviously new to the lifestyle, but us gay guys? We like to fuck. Daily. Twice on Sundays.” He continues off along the walk.
It’s a second before Chris is beside him again, “Okay, yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think it through. But I still think we could play it.”
Zach rolls his eyes and shakes his head, stopping on the corner of the sidewalk to face him, “I thought I was the actor here.”
Chris shrugs and smiles, “Everyone’s an actor here. It’s LA.” He huffs, taking Zach’s hand again. “Come on, please? It’s month-to-month, so If it doesn’t work out, at least we’ll both have some time to figure something else out, right? With a roof over our heads, and a real bed, in a clean, awesome, beautiful house with decent people. And a basketball hoop over the garage. And a jacuzzi. Dude, a jacuzzi! Please, give it a chance? Give me a chance?”
He has Zach’s hand sandwiched between both of his own, eyes doing this pleading puppy dog thing like he’s used this trick on grandmas and teachers and maybe police to get out of all sorts of pissing on the carpet, and if Zach was actually dating this adorable shithead, it might work on him too. Besides that, he has a point. Zach has nowhere else to go, and the place really is nice. He exhales, dropping his eyes to their combined grip and softly conceding, “Okay. We’ll try it.”
Then the asshole smiles enormously and raises Zach’s hand to press two kisses in quick succession to the heel of Zach’s thumb, making his heart do a little flip. Chris’ lips are as soft and pillowy as they look, shit. Zach raises an eyebrow as Chris nuzzles at his hand a little, flicking those pool blue eyes up at him and murmuring, “Shut up, I’m practicing.”
More Words Monday
In a fit of inspiration and work avoidance, I’ve written nearly 3k words in the last few days. I know, CRAZY. So you get a snippet on a non-snippet day. This is again from the new thing from the Jumping in the Middle ‘verse (a.k.a. Assumptions/Revelations) that I’ve been posting the last week. (It’s actually my Pinto Big Bang entry, shhhhh it’s a secret).
He moves sideways through a doorway, holding the drinks over his head so he can slip between two conversations, when a woman in a red wrap dress that leaves little to the imagination squeals his name. “It’s Sylvia!” she adds, pointing at her cleavage as Chris finally makes the connection.
“Of course,” he says, leaning down to give her the customary Hollywood kiss on the cheek. “Good to see you.” They are exchanging pleasantries and news, and Chris is trying hard to keep his gaze above her chin despite so many visual cues drawing it lower, when he is startled by the buzz of vibration deep in his ass. It spikes and then gradually slows to a low thrum that toys with his arousal. He turns just in time to see Zach across the room pulling his hand out of his jacket pocket, where the remote is currently resting on… the second setting, if Chris had to guess. Zach’s back is to him, but his head is turned just enough that Chris can see that his cheek is raised in an obvious smirk. Bastard. He’s having far too much fun with this.
“Excuse me,” he says when she finally draws a breath, “I need to get this drink to my boyfriend before all the ice melts.” And before you think this hard-on is for you. “Good luck with the Vampire Diaries thing, though.”
Her face falls a bit, but she rallies a smile as she waves “bye” and shifts to the next person. Chris turns to make his way across the room, but stops in his tracks a moment later. Because Zach is in the middle of what looks to be a friendly, somewhat intense conversation with Ian. And to his knowledge, the only thing those two have in common is that they’ve both fucked Chris.
Ato's Fandom Blog 