Talk About This (Star Trek RPF Fanfic)
Feb. 21st, 2010 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
therumjournalsTitle: Talk About This
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
therumjournals
Fandom: Star Trek RPF
Pairing: Chris/Zach
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~3,900
Description: Chris and Zach have The Talk.
Part 4 in a series - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Master Post
Chris ejected the CD from his laptop, carefully labeled it with a black Sharpie, and set it on the desk next to his keys. He had thirty minutes until The Talk, and okay, maybe he’d built it up a little in his head, if that’s how he was thinking about it. Which was probably why he’d been up since 7:00 AM, filled with a restless energy that he couldn’t quite figure out how to shake. A jog had helped some, and he’d followed that with ten minutes in a lukewarm shower, rehearsing a few key phrases, trying out a couple different approaches, and willing his heart to stop pounding so hard. Then he’d given up, turned the water to hot, and jerked off thinking about Zach’s sinful lips wrapped around his cock.
Actually, that had helped.
He checked the clock – too early to leave, but he couldn’t sit still anymore. His best jeans were in a pile on the floor – he sniffed them, Febreezed them, and pulled them on, along with a (non-white) t-shirt and a pair of sunglasses. He picked up the CD from the desk, looked at it….and shoved it into the back of the drawer, blushing furiously at the thought that he had even considered giving that to Zach. “You are not a thirteen-year-old girl,” he told himself. It was a mantra he’d felt the need to repeat frequently over the past three weeks.
He got to the coffee shop fifteen minutes early and smiled – maybe Zach was feeling the same restlessness, the same nervous anticipation, because he was already there, sitting at a table in the back.
He broke into a broad grin when he saw Chris, and gestured him over.
“Sit,” he ordered, when Chris got to the table.
Chris pulled out the chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the table and looked at Zach - well, technically it would probably be described as gazing. It was a poor alternative to what he really wanted to do to Zach right then, but that really would have been wildly inappropriate in a public setting. And quite possibly in a private one.
Zach snapped his fingers in front of Chris.
“What?” Chris said, startling. He just really liked looking at Zach, okay?
“I’m assuming you still need caffeine? I’ll grab us some lattes.”
“Just a coffee,” said Chris. “I’m watching my figure.”
Zach ran his eyes down the length of Chris’s body. “So am I,” he said with a wink. He slid something across the table toward Chris as he stood up from his seat.
Chris waited until Zach was gone to pick it up. He laughed and shook his head as he realized what it was – a CD in a paper sleeve. He glanced over to where Zach stood waiting in line, hands in his pockets, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet. Zach caught Chris looking at him, and gave a small smile and a shrug. Chris looked back at the CD in his hand, sliding it out of the sleeve to see what Zach had scrawled in black Sharpie: “Man of Your Dreams: Chris Pine’s Narcoleptic Mix.” Chris managed to suppress the grin that threatened to take over his face, but he couldn’t help the warmth that he felt spreading across his cheeks. He shook his head and figured he might as well just get used to the blush. It seemed to be a permanent accessory whenever he was around Zach these days.
He was still staring at the CD, as if he could somehow see the music, when Zach sat down, setting coffees and a plate with two biscottis on the table. Zach seemed to be blushing a little, too, as he took a sip of his coffee and met Chris’ eyes.
“You made me a CD,” Chris stated. He was going for bemused disbelief, but he was pretty sure it came out sounding giddy. He stared at Zach across the table, gripping the CD with both hands.
“I was inspired,” Zach said casually, leaning back in his chair.
“Man of my dreams, huh?” Chris asked, raising an eyebrow, but his mouth was quirked up in smile and his eyes sparkled.
“It’s songs about sleeping.”
“Yeah, no, I get that,” Chris said, rolling his eyes. “Very clever. Still,” he added, tapping his finger on the title of the CD, “a bit presumptuous, don’t you think?”
Zach smirked at him. “Is it?”
Chris crossed his arms and didn’t look away.
“How hard are you trying not to jump me right now?” Zach asked.
Chris shook his head. “You have no fucking idea.”
“Yeah, I do,” Zach said, and they stared at each other for a long moment, the air sparking between then.
“So, I see why you wanted to do this in public,” Chris said, breaking the spell.
“You mean because we wouldn’t actually have made it to the talking part if we were in your apartment.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
A beat passed, and then Chris stood abruptly, pushing his chair back. “Fuck talking.”
Zach’s arm shot out and he grabbed Chris firmly by the wrist. “Not so fast, Pine. Sit.”
Chris sat, resigned. He supposed he’d brought this on himself.
“You brought this on yourself,” Zach confirmed. “So. Talk.”
“Okay. Um.” Chris chewed on a fingernail, as all the opening lines he’d thought up in the shower promptly vanished from his brain. “What’s going on? With us.”
Zach shrugged. “You tell me. You started it.”
Fair enough. Then again… “You never seemed very resistant to the idea.”
Zach raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Well, resistance has never been my strong point when it comes to my hot best friend putting his fucking gorgeous tongue all over my stomach.”
Chris smirked. “You think my tongue is gorgeous?”
“You would focus on that part.”
“So, you’re saying that if any hot best friend of yours licked your stomach, you’d have done the same thing?”
“Maybe.”
Chris picked at his napkin and kept his eyes on the table. “I guess I’m just trying to figure out, like…what this is to you. I mean, is it just like friends with really, really awesome benefits, or is it like…a thing?” He looked at Zach warily. Zach grinned.
“You’re cute when you completely cease to be eloquent.”
“Shut up.”
“Do you have a crush on me, Chris Pine?”
“I’m not a thirteen-year-old girl, Zach.” Chris tried to roll his eyes, but the effect was completely ruined by that damn blush.
“You do, you have a crush!” Zach leaned forward on the table with his chin in his hands. “Please tell me you wrote Mrs. Christopher Quinto all over your binder in purple pen.”
“Dude. You cannot talk. You made me a mixtape!”
Zach scoffed. “Whatever, everyone makes mixtapes.”
“Everyone at Berkeley makes mixtapes.” Chris thought of the CD waiting in the desk drawer in his apartment. Luckily, he’d perfected the art of ignoring his own hypocrisy.
“You’re never too old for mixtapes. So, wait, do you like me, or do you LIKE like me?”
“Right now, I hate you.”
For some reason, Chris had imagined this conversation being a little more serious. He’d obviously forgotten who he would be talking to. Maybe it was the mind-blowing sex that had made him forget that, until a few weeks ago, the bulk of his relationship with Zach rested on their ability to outdo each other in sarcastic banter and one-up mocking. How the fuck was he supposed to figure out how Zach actually felt? He reached across the table for Zach’s pen, and scribbled on the back of a napkin. Do you like me? Check Yes or No. He slid the napkin back across the table with a mischievous grin. Zach looked at it, tipped his head back, and laughed. Chris felt himself relaxing a little at the sound.
Zach’s laughter trailed off and he fixed Chris with a considering look.
“So, this is, like, a new thing for you, right?”
“Not really. I used to write girls notes all the time,” Chris said with a smirk.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Chris knew that. “You mean...the thing about how you’re a guy?” Chris asked, schooling his face into a more serious expression.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, it’s new, but…I don’t know, it’s kinda just you, I guess. Does it have to be some big deal?”
“Yeah, it kinda does. At least, the part about how it’s me does.”
“It just, it seems like you might be more nervous about this than I am.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. You always seem pretty eager to get out of my place the next morning.”
Zach chuckled. “Well, there is another man in my life.”
Chris felt a look of confused disappointment cross his face. “Oh…”
Zach rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “I’m talking about Noah, you idiot. He’s very multi-talented, but he can’t walk himself. Although, I’m sure he would prefer to. He really just tolerates me because I keep him in designer bandanas.”
Chris let Zach go off on his tangent as he took deep breath and let relief flow through him. Although, it couldn’t hurt to be sure… “So wait, is there another man in your life though? I mean, besides Noah. And Harold,” Chris added, before Zach could take that and run with it.
“No. And if there were, I think he might be slightly pissed that I’ve been spending every Saturday night for the past three weeks going through the gay sex primer with my best friend.”
Chris raised his eyebrows. “Is that what we’ve been doing?”
“Obviously. And we’re almost done, so you’d better hurry up and figure out a way to keep me around.”
“Is there a gay kama sutra?”
“Advanced maneuvers? Very ambitious.” Zach pointed at Chris with his biscotti. “I like that in a man. So, is there anyone else in your life?”
“Yeah. You’re competing with my right hand, a DVD of Heroes, and a bottle of strawberry lube.”
“So you’re saying I have no chance.”
“Ha.” Chris ran a hand over his face. “I’m really not sure what I’m saying. I’m kind of fucking this up, I think. This conversation went a lot differently in my head.”
“You had a script?”
“Yeah. Your character was a lot more charming, for one thing.”
Zach stuck his tongue out. “And your role is played by Dakota Fanning.”
Chris gave him the finger.
“Dakota! What would your mother say?!”
“I was considering casting Karl Urban for your part, actually. You know. For practice.”
“I hate that guy,” Zach said, narrowing his eyes.
Chris grinned and kicked Zach’s leg under the table.
“So, how was this talk supposed to go? Was I supposed to ask you to be my boyfriend?”
“Psh, hell no. I really just want to make sure that I’m going to continue to get some on a regular basis. From you,” he added , in case that wasn’t clear.
“Oh, so you just wanted to make a sex pact or something?’
“What the hell is a sex pact? Go write in your journal.”
“Shut up.”
“We’ve gone off script again.”
“I think we should move on to the next scene.”
“And what scene would that be?”
“The one that takes place in your apartment and involves a costume change.”
“And possibly a stunt man.”
“Oooh, kinky.”
“So, my place?”
“I gotta run a few errands…” Zach grinned at Chris’s pained expression. “Kidding. I’ll meet you there, okay?”
“Yeah. Now.”
“Go.”
“Going.”
***
Chris left the lights off in the apartment and found himself pacing the room, full of nervous energy again. He didn’t even miss the coffee he’d left half finished back at the café. Finally, he settled himself, leaning against the wall and staring at the doorway as if he could will Zach to show up faster. Seven agonizing minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and he was across the room in seconds, opening the door, wrapping a hand around the back of Zach’s neck, and pulling him inside, into a kiss that he’d been waiting for all morning. His whole body relaxed as he felt Zach surge to meet him, sliding his arms around Chris and melting into him with the same urgency and warmth that he felt flowing through his veins.
Chris was still unsure about the outcome of their little talk. It had been so them, and for that he couldn’t complain, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure if anything had been decided in the end. Had he even managed to tell Zach how he felt? He curled his tongue around Zach’s and tried to tell him without words.
Zach must have understood something of the meaning behind the way Chris captured his mouth, something behind the gentle, needy swipes of his tongue. He pulled back to look at Chris in the dim light. “Chris, I –“ Chris pressed a finger to his lips and shook his head.
“We’ve already talked too much today,” he said, his voice husky, and he replaced his finger with his lips again, closed this time, placing a trail of kisses along Zach’s jaw as he pressed him against the wall.
And maybe this was the talk that they were meant to have. Maybe when he let Zach suck and bite at his lower lip, he was saying I am yours and maybe when he raked his teeth over Zach’s jaw he was saying you are mine, and maybe he understood what Zach meant by the fingers tangled in his hair and the mark that he was sucking into Chris’ skin.
Chris skimmed his hands along Zach’s sides, up under his t-shirt, pulling at it to get at more of Zach’s skin. He let Zach pull it off all the way, and then he dipped down to swipe his tongue over a nipple. Zach gasped and tipped his head back against the wall as Chris pressed the words he hadn’t said into his chest with teeth and tongue. Then Chris was on his knees, his fingers gripping Zach’s waistband as he sucked at the smooth, hard planes of Zach’s stomach, teasing kisses around his belly button and then an even more teasing scrape of teeth against denim where Zach’s cock strained against his jeans. Zach growled and pulled him up by the t-shirt, firm hands gripping his hips and pulling him close. Chris went willingly, resting his weight against Zach as they pressed their mouths together for a series of lazy kisses.
This was so much better than talking, Chris mused, and he wondered if at the end of this Zach’s answer would be clear. But, then Zach groaned, and oh fuck, he wasn’t sure how anything could be clear when his mind was a haze of lust and all of his thoughts were focused on how to get Zach to make that sound again.
Zach tightened his grasp on Chris’s hips and shifted against him, and then Chris was the one moaning as he pressed back, rutting against Zach’s thigh. His kiss faltered as he focused his attention on the tantalizing friction against his aching cock, and he panted, mouth open wide against Zach’s shoulder. Zach stilled his hips and pushed away from the wall with a growl, fumbling with Chris’s fly as he pushed him across the living room.
Zach pressed him onto the couch and straddled him, legs tucked close in what had to be a ridiculously uncomfortable position for any normal human. But Zach’s straining erection was pressed up against his now-open fly, so Chris just tilted his head back and offered up a silent prayer of thanks for yoga. Zach sat up on his knees and took Chris’s face in his hands, leaning down to kiss him, deep and possessive. Chris ran his hands up the back of Zach’s thighs and over his ass, one minute thankful for tight jeans, the next cursing their existence as he fought with the zipper. He’d barely gotten the fly undone before Zach sank back down, and Chris gasped as their cocks rubbed against each other through the cotton of their boxers as they rocked their hips in tandem.
Chris ran through the gay sex primer in his mind, debating whether he wanted to suck Zach off first or to slide his own cock between Zach’s gorgeous lips. Then again, there was also plenty of lube left over… Fuck, it didn’t matter, because if Zach kept stroking him through his boxers like that, he was pretty sure he was going to come all over himself like a teenage boy before they even got close to any of those options.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” Zach said, then he buried his face in Chris’s neck and whispered “Sorry.” Chris wasn’t sure why, until he remembered the no talking rule he’d made earlier.
“’S’okay,” he said, breath hot against Zach’s jaw as he rode the rhythm of their hips. “If you’re gonna …fuck...if you’re gonna say shit like that, you can talk as much as you want,” he amended.
“Want you so fucking much, Chris.”
“Want this,” Chris breathed, sliding his fingers down Zach’s back.
“Want you,” Zach said, punctuating the statement with gentle bites at Chris’s skin. “God, I want you.”
Chris bit gently at Zach’s earlobe in response. “You got me,” he whispered. Zach moaned in response, and he hadn’t thought their bodies could get any closer, but then he felt a tug at his boxers and looked down to see that Zach was gripping both of their cocks in his hand, and fuck if that wasn’t the hottest thing he’d ever seen. He rested his forehead against Zach’s chest, watching, unable to tear his eyes away as Zach began to stroke them slowly, teasing with twists of his grip, flicking his thumb over Chris’ slit and around the head before picking up the pace.
“Is this,” Chris panted, “is this an advanced maneuver?” He was pretty sure he couldn’t have managed what Zach was doing, but he was sure as hell enjoying the tutorial. Zach’s laugh was a low rumble above him, and then he squeezed and his fist was flying faster over their slick cocks. Chris couldn’t help but thrust wildly into his hand and against Zach’s dick as he felt himself getting closer. Zach gripped his chin and pulled him up for a kiss, moaning into his mouth as Chris felt the hot splash of Zach’s come on his chest. He pulled away from the kiss to yell as he reached his own climax, and clamped down on Zach’s shoulder with his teeth, thrusting weakly as wave after wave of sensation washed over him.
Chris shifted on the couch to get more comfortable, just as Zach pulled back, and before they could stop themselves they’d tumbled ungracefully off the couch onto the floor. Zach was on his back with his eyes closed, looking so gloriously debauched that Chris couldn’t help himself. He leaned down to run his tongue over Zach’s toned stomach, tracing his fingers over a hipbone as he lapped at their mingled juices. Zach moaned and arched up and threaded his fingers in Chris’s hair. “That,” Zach breathed, “that is a fucking advanced maneuver,” and he yanked Chris up for a sloppy kiss.
Zach made Chris get up before he fell asleep on the floor. “It’s 1:30 in the afternoon.”
“So? Sex makes me sleepy.”
“Everything makes you sleepy,” said Zach, pulling on a t-shirt.
“Going somewhere?”
“Nope.”
“Got any plans for the afternoon?”
“Yeah, I got plans. I plan to do that-“ he gestured to the couch with his head, “two or three more times, interspersed with beer and pizza.”
“Jesus,” said Chris with a stunned look on his face. “You really are the man of my dreams.”
“You have very low standards.”
“Lucky for you.”
“I am lucky,” Zach said, catching his eye. It was a little too intense, and Chris looked away nervously, tried to think of something else to say.
“By the way, I, uh, dropped your suit off at the dry cleaners this morning. Hope that’s cool.”
Zach smiled and shook his head.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“What? What are you looking so smug about.”
“Don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t want me to say.”
“What? Tell me.”
“You’re adorable.”
“Argh!” Chris threw his hands up in frustration as Zach laughed and wrapped his arms around Chris’s waist. “Oh, actually, that reminds me. I have something for you.” He disentangled himself and led Zach by the hand into the bedroom. He opened the desk drawer half way and paused.
“Wait. First, promise you won’t say I’m adorable.”
Zach pouted a little. “Fine. But I don’t promise not to think it.”
Chris pulled the CD out and handed it to Zach without making eye contact. And there was that fucking blush again, as he watched Zach look at the CD, confused at first and then grinning as realization dawned on him.
“You made me a fucking mixtape.” Chris ran a hand over the back of his neck and nodded bashfully. Zach shook his head in disbelief and looked at the CD, his grin getting even bigger as he read the title that Chris had written on the disc – “Best I Ever Had”. Chris was focusing on calming his own pounding heart, so he was completely caught off guard when Zach tackled him onto the bed in a bear hug.
“Chris?”
“What?” Chris grunted.
“Will you be my boyfriend?” Zach asked in a sing-song voice.
Chris rolled his eyes. “You’re a fucker, you know that?”
“I do know,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “Now, answer the question. And keep in mind, there are some serious implications involved if you say yes.”
Chris was intrigued. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Like you have to come sleep at my place sometimes.”
“Deal. But I’m not sharing the bed with any animals.”
“Fine, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Ha.”
“And you have to drink red wine and watch indie movies with me.”
“Only if you drink beer and watch 90210 marathons with me.”
“Deal.”
“What else?”
“You let me give you fashion advice.”
“Dealbreaker.”
“Fine. It was worth a shot.”
“Zach?”
“Yeah?”
“I want to be your boyfriend.”
Zach looked into his eyes and traced a finger across his cheek and over his lips. “You’re too good to be true,” he said, seriously.
Chris pulled him down into a kiss, distracted him with seductive swipes of his tongue, and then flipped him onto his back and curled into his chest. He squeezed Zach tightly and took a deep breath. He wanted to make sure. “We’re doing this?”
He felt Zach nod, felt fingers tighten on his hip. “Let’s do this.”
***
Chris woke up with drool on his cheek and his face pressed into Zach's chest. "Fuck."
"What's wrong?" Zach asked, his voice heavy with sleep.
"Nothin'." His voice was muffled in Zach's t-shirt. "I just feel really manly right now."
"Yeah, well. You should. It takes a lot of balls to profess your love for another man."
Chris looked up at him groggily. "I did not profess my love to you."
"Didn't you?" Zach still had his eyes closed. "That must have been a dream I had, then."
Chris tightened his hold on Zach and snuggled closer. "Go back to sleep, Zachy. Maybe someday, all of your dreams will come true."
A/N:
The CD that Zach made for Chris is here: Man of Your Dreams - Chris Pine's Narcoleptic Mix
The CD that Chris made for Zach is here: Best I Ever Had
The story continues here: Dream About This
Author:
therumjournalsFandom: Star Trek RPF
Pairing: Chris/Zach
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~3,900
Description: Chris and Zach have The Talk.
Part 4 in a series - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Master Post
Chris ejected the CD from his laptop, carefully labeled it with a black Sharpie, and set it on the desk next to his keys. He had thirty minutes until The Talk, and okay, maybe he’d built it up a little in his head, if that’s how he was thinking about it. Which was probably why he’d been up since 7:00 AM, filled with a restless energy that he couldn’t quite figure out how to shake. A jog had helped some, and he’d followed that with ten minutes in a lukewarm shower, rehearsing a few key phrases, trying out a couple different approaches, and willing his heart to stop pounding so hard. Then he’d given up, turned the water to hot, and jerked off thinking about Zach’s sinful lips wrapped around his cock.
Actually, that had helped.
He checked the clock – too early to leave, but he couldn’t sit still anymore. His best jeans were in a pile on the floor – he sniffed them, Febreezed them, and pulled them on, along with a (non-white) t-shirt and a pair of sunglasses. He picked up the CD from the desk, looked at it….and shoved it into the back of the drawer, blushing furiously at the thought that he had even considered giving that to Zach. “You are not a thirteen-year-old girl,” he told himself. It was a mantra he’d felt the need to repeat frequently over the past three weeks.
He got to the coffee shop fifteen minutes early and smiled – maybe Zach was feeling the same restlessness, the same nervous anticipation, because he was already there, sitting at a table in the back.
He broke into a broad grin when he saw Chris, and gestured him over.
“Sit,” he ordered, when Chris got to the table.
Chris pulled out the chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the table and looked at Zach - well, technically it would probably be described as gazing. It was a poor alternative to what he really wanted to do to Zach right then, but that really would have been wildly inappropriate in a public setting. And quite possibly in a private one.
Zach snapped his fingers in front of Chris.
“What?” Chris said, startling. He just really liked looking at Zach, okay?
“I’m assuming you still need caffeine? I’ll grab us some lattes.”
“Just a coffee,” said Chris. “I’m watching my figure.”
Zach ran his eyes down the length of Chris’s body. “So am I,” he said with a wink. He slid something across the table toward Chris as he stood up from his seat.
Chris waited until Zach was gone to pick it up. He laughed and shook his head as he realized what it was – a CD in a paper sleeve. He glanced over to where Zach stood waiting in line, hands in his pockets, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet. Zach caught Chris looking at him, and gave a small smile and a shrug. Chris looked back at the CD in his hand, sliding it out of the sleeve to see what Zach had scrawled in black Sharpie: “Man of Your Dreams: Chris Pine’s Narcoleptic Mix.” Chris managed to suppress the grin that threatened to take over his face, but he couldn’t help the warmth that he felt spreading across his cheeks. He shook his head and figured he might as well just get used to the blush. It seemed to be a permanent accessory whenever he was around Zach these days.
He was still staring at the CD, as if he could somehow see the music, when Zach sat down, setting coffees and a plate with two biscottis on the table. Zach seemed to be blushing a little, too, as he took a sip of his coffee and met Chris’ eyes.
“You made me a CD,” Chris stated. He was going for bemused disbelief, but he was pretty sure it came out sounding giddy. He stared at Zach across the table, gripping the CD with both hands.
“I was inspired,” Zach said casually, leaning back in his chair.
“Man of my dreams, huh?” Chris asked, raising an eyebrow, but his mouth was quirked up in smile and his eyes sparkled.
“It’s songs about sleeping.”
“Yeah, no, I get that,” Chris said, rolling his eyes. “Very clever. Still,” he added, tapping his finger on the title of the CD, “a bit presumptuous, don’t you think?”
Zach smirked at him. “Is it?”
Chris crossed his arms and didn’t look away.
“How hard are you trying not to jump me right now?” Zach asked.
Chris shook his head. “You have no fucking idea.”
“Yeah, I do,” Zach said, and they stared at each other for a long moment, the air sparking between then.
“So, I see why you wanted to do this in public,” Chris said, breaking the spell.
“You mean because we wouldn’t actually have made it to the talking part if we were in your apartment.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
A beat passed, and then Chris stood abruptly, pushing his chair back. “Fuck talking.”
Zach’s arm shot out and he grabbed Chris firmly by the wrist. “Not so fast, Pine. Sit.”
Chris sat, resigned. He supposed he’d brought this on himself.
“You brought this on yourself,” Zach confirmed. “So. Talk.”
“Okay. Um.” Chris chewed on a fingernail, as all the opening lines he’d thought up in the shower promptly vanished from his brain. “What’s going on? With us.”
Zach shrugged. “You tell me. You started it.”
Fair enough. Then again… “You never seemed very resistant to the idea.”
Zach raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Well, resistance has never been my strong point when it comes to my hot best friend putting his fucking gorgeous tongue all over my stomach.”
Chris smirked. “You think my tongue is gorgeous?”
“You would focus on that part.”
“So, you’re saying that if any hot best friend of yours licked your stomach, you’d have done the same thing?”
“Maybe.”
Chris picked at his napkin and kept his eyes on the table. “I guess I’m just trying to figure out, like…what this is to you. I mean, is it just like friends with really, really awesome benefits, or is it like…a thing?” He looked at Zach warily. Zach grinned.
“You’re cute when you completely cease to be eloquent.”
“Shut up.”
“Do you have a crush on me, Chris Pine?”
“I’m not a thirteen-year-old girl, Zach.” Chris tried to roll his eyes, but the effect was completely ruined by that damn blush.
“You do, you have a crush!” Zach leaned forward on the table with his chin in his hands. “Please tell me you wrote Mrs. Christopher Quinto all over your binder in purple pen.”
“Dude. You cannot talk. You made me a mixtape!”
Zach scoffed. “Whatever, everyone makes mixtapes.”
“Everyone at Berkeley makes mixtapes.” Chris thought of the CD waiting in the desk drawer in his apartment. Luckily, he’d perfected the art of ignoring his own hypocrisy.
“You’re never too old for mixtapes. So, wait, do you like me, or do you LIKE like me?”
“Right now, I hate you.”
For some reason, Chris had imagined this conversation being a little more serious. He’d obviously forgotten who he would be talking to. Maybe it was the mind-blowing sex that had made him forget that, until a few weeks ago, the bulk of his relationship with Zach rested on their ability to outdo each other in sarcastic banter and one-up mocking. How the fuck was he supposed to figure out how Zach actually felt? He reached across the table for Zach’s pen, and scribbled on the back of a napkin. Do you like me? Check Yes or No. He slid the napkin back across the table with a mischievous grin. Zach looked at it, tipped his head back, and laughed. Chris felt himself relaxing a little at the sound.
Zach’s laughter trailed off and he fixed Chris with a considering look.
“So, this is, like, a new thing for you, right?”
“Not really. I used to write girls notes all the time,” Chris said with a smirk.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Chris knew that. “You mean...the thing about how you’re a guy?” Chris asked, schooling his face into a more serious expression.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, it’s new, but…I don’t know, it’s kinda just you, I guess. Does it have to be some big deal?”
“Yeah, it kinda does. At least, the part about how it’s me does.”
“It just, it seems like you might be more nervous about this than I am.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. You always seem pretty eager to get out of my place the next morning.”
Zach chuckled. “Well, there is another man in my life.”
Chris felt a look of confused disappointment cross his face. “Oh…”
Zach rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “I’m talking about Noah, you idiot. He’s very multi-talented, but he can’t walk himself. Although, I’m sure he would prefer to. He really just tolerates me because I keep him in designer bandanas.”
Chris let Zach go off on his tangent as he took deep breath and let relief flow through him. Although, it couldn’t hurt to be sure… “So wait, is there another man in your life though? I mean, besides Noah. And Harold,” Chris added, before Zach could take that and run with it.
“No. And if there were, I think he might be slightly pissed that I’ve been spending every Saturday night for the past three weeks going through the gay sex primer with my best friend.”
Chris raised his eyebrows. “Is that what we’ve been doing?”
“Obviously. And we’re almost done, so you’d better hurry up and figure out a way to keep me around.”
“Is there a gay kama sutra?”
“Advanced maneuvers? Very ambitious.” Zach pointed at Chris with his biscotti. “I like that in a man. So, is there anyone else in your life?”
“Yeah. You’re competing with my right hand, a DVD of Heroes, and a bottle of strawberry lube.”
“So you’re saying I have no chance.”
“Ha.” Chris ran a hand over his face. “I’m really not sure what I’m saying. I’m kind of fucking this up, I think. This conversation went a lot differently in my head.”
“You had a script?”
“Yeah. Your character was a lot more charming, for one thing.”
Zach stuck his tongue out. “And your role is played by Dakota Fanning.”
Chris gave him the finger.
“Dakota! What would your mother say?!”
“I was considering casting Karl Urban for your part, actually. You know. For practice.”
“I hate that guy,” Zach said, narrowing his eyes.
Chris grinned and kicked Zach’s leg under the table.
“So, how was this talk supposed to go? Was I supposed to ask you to be my boyfriend?”
“Psh, hell no. I really just want to make sure that I’m going to continue to get some on a regular basis. From you,” he added , in case that wasn’t clear.
“Oh, so you just wanted to make a sex pact or something?’
“What the hell is a sex pact? Go write in your journal.”
“Shut up.”
“We’ve gone off script again.”
“I think we should move on to the next scene.”
“And what scene would that be?”
“The one that takes place in your apartment and involves a costume change.”
“And possibly a stunt man.”
“Oooh, kinky.”
“So, my place?”
“I gotta run a few errands…” Zach grinned at Chris’s pained expression. “Kidding. I’ll meet you there, okay?”
“Yeah. Now.”
“Go.”
“Going.”
***
Chris left the lights off in the apartment and found himself pacing the room, full of nervous energy again. He didn’t even miss the coffee he’d left half finished back at the café. Finally, he settled himself, leaning against the wall and staring at the doorway as if he could will Zach to show up faster. Seven agonizing minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and he was across the room in seconds, opening the door, wrapping a hand around the back of Zach’s neck, and pulling him inside, into a kiss that he’d been waiting for all morning. His whole body relaxed as he felt Zach surge to meet him, sliding his arms around Chris and melting into him with the same urgency and warmth that he felt flowing through his veins.
Chris was still unsure about the outcome of their little talk. It had been so them, and for that he couldn’t complain, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure if anything had been decided in the end. Had he even managed to tell Zach how he felt? He curled his tongue around Zach’s and tried to tell him without words.
Zach must have understood something of the meaning behind the way Chris captured his mouth, something behind the gentle, needy swipes of his tongue. He pulled back to look at Chris in the dim light. “Chris, I –“ Chris pressed a finger to his lips and shook his head.
“We’ve already talked too much today,” he said, his voice husky, and he replaced his finger with his lips again, closed this time, placing a trail of kisses along Zach’s jaw as he pressed him against the wall.
And maybe this was the talk that they were meant to have. Maybe when he let Zach suck and bite at his lower lip, he was saying I am yours and maybe when he raked his teeth over Zach’s jaw he was saying you are mine, and maybe he understood what Zach meant by the fingers tangled in his hair and the mark that he was sucking into Chris’ skin.
Chris skimmed his hands along Zach’s sides, up under his t-shirt, pulling at it to get at more of Zach’s skin. He let Zach pull it off all the way, and then he dipped down to swipe his tongue over a nipple. Zach gasped and tipped his head back against the wall as Chris pressed the words he hadn’t said into his chest with teeth and tongue. Then Chris was on his knees, his fingers gripping Zach’s waistband as he sucked at the smooth, hard planes of Zach’s stomach, teasing kisses around his belly button and then an even more teasing scrape of teeth against denim where Zach’s cock strained against his jeans. Zach growled and pulled him up by the t-shirt, firm hands gripping his hips and pulling him close. Chris went willingly, resting his weight against Zach as they pressed their mouths together for a series of lazy kisses.
This was so much better than talking, Chris mused, and he wondered if at the end of this Zach’s answer would be clear. But, then Zach groaned, and oh fuck, he wasn’t sure how anything could be clear when his mind was a haze of lust and all of his thoughts were focused on how to get Zach to make that sound again.
Zach tightened his grasp on Chris’s hips and shifted against him, and then Chris was the one moaning as he pressed back, rutting against Zach’s thigh. His kiss faltered as he focused his attention on the tantalizing friction against his aching cock, and he panted, mouth open wide against Zach’s shoulder. Zach stilled his hips and pushed away from the wall with a growl, fumbling with Chris’s fly as he pushed him across the living room.
Zach pressed him onto the couch and straddled him, legs tucked close in what had to be a ridiculously uncomfortable position for any normal human. But Zach’s straining erection was pressed up against his now-open fly, so Chris just tilted his head back and offered up a silent prayer of thanks for yoga. Zach sat up on his knees and took Chris’s face in his hands, leaning down to kiss him, deep and possessive. Chris ran his hands up the back of Zach’s thighs and over his ass, one minute thankful for tight jeans, the next cursing their existence as he fought with the zipper. He’d barely gotten the fly undone before Zach sank back down, and Chris gasped as their cocks rubbed against each other through the cotton of their boxers as they rocked their hips in tandem.
Chris ran through the gay sex primer in his mind, debating whether he wanted to suck Zach off first or to slide his own cock between Zach’s gorgeous lips. Then again, there was also plenty of lube left over… Fuck, it didn’t matter, because if Zach kept stroking him through his boxers like that, he was pretty sure he was going to come all over himself like a teenage boy before they even got close to any of those options.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” Zach said, then he buried his face in Chris’s neck and whispered “Sorry.” Chris wasn’t sure why, until he remembered the no talking rule he’d made earlier.
“’S’okay,” he said, breath hot against Zach’s jaw as he rode the rhythm of their hips. “If you’re gonna …fuck...if you’re gonna say shit like that, you can talk as much as you want,” he amended.
“Want you so fucking much, Chris.”
“Want this,” Chris breathed, sliding his fingers down Zach’s back.
“Want you,” Zach said, punctuating the statement with gentle bites at Chris’s skin. “God, I want you.”
Chris bit gently at Zach’s earlobe in response. “You got me,” he whispered. Zach moaned in response, and he hadn’t thought their bodies could get any closer, but then he felt a tug at his boxers and looked down to see that Zach was gripping both of their cocks in his hand, and fuck if that wasn’t the hottest thing he’d ever seen. He rested his forehead against Zach’s chest, watching, unable to tear his eyes away as Zach began to stroke them slowly, teasing with twists of his grip, flicking his thumb over Chris’ slit and around the head before picking up the pace.
“Is this,” Chris panted, “is this an advanced maneuver?” He was pretty sure he couldn’t have managed what Zach was doing, but he was sure as hell enjoying the tutorial. Zach’s laugh was a low rumble above him, and then he squeezed and his fist was flying faster over their slick cocks. Chris couldn’t help but thrust wildly into his hand and against Zach’s dick as he felt himself getting closer. Zach gripped his chin and pulled him up for a kiss, moaning into his mouth as Chris felt the hot splash of Zach’s come on his chest. He pulled away from the kiss to yell as he reached his own climax, and clamped down on Zach’s shoulder with his teeth, thrusting weakly as wave after wave of sensation washed over him.
Chris shifted on the couch to get more comfortable, just as Zach pulled back, and before they could stop themselves they’d tumbled ungracefully off the couch onto the floor. Zach was on his back with his eyes closed, looking so gloriously debauched that Chris couldn’t help himself. He leaned down to run his tongue over Zach’s toned stomach, tracing his fingers over a hipbone as he lapped at their mingled juices. Zach moaned and arched up and threaded his fingers in Chris’s hair. “That,” Zach breathed, “that is a fucking advanced maneuver,” and he yanked Chris up for a sloppy kiss.
Zach made Chris get up before he fell asleep on the floor. “It’s 1:30 in the afternoon.”
“So? Sex makes me sleepy.”
“Everything makes you sleepy,” said Zach, pulling on a t-shirt.
“Going somewhere?”
“Nope.”
“Got any plans for the afternoon?”
“Yeah, I got plans. I plan to do that-“ he gestured to the couch with his head, “two or three more times, interspersed with beer and pizza.”
“Jesus,” said Chris with a stunned look on his face. “You really are the man of my dreams.”
“You have very low standards.”
“Lucky for you.”
“I am lucky,” Zach said, catching his eye. It was a little too intense, and Chris looked away nervously, tried to think of something else to say.
“By the way, I, uh, dropped your suit off at the dry cleaners this morning. Hope that’s cool.”
Zach smiled and shook his head.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“What? What are you looking so smug about.”
“Don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t want me to say.”
“What? Tell me.”
“You’re adorable.”
“Argh!” Chris threw his hands up in frustration as Zach laughed and wrapped his arms around Chris’s waist. “Oh, actually, that reminds me. I have something for you.” He disentangled himself and led Zach by the hand into the bedroom. He opened the desk drawer half way and paused.
“Wait. First, promise you won’t say I’m adorable.”
Zach pouted a little. “Fine. But I don’t promise not to think it.”
Chris pulled the CD out and handed it to Zach without making eye contact. And there was that fucking blush again, as he watched Zach look at the CD, confused at first and then grinning as realization dawned on him.
“You made me a fucking mixtape.” Chris ran a hand over the back of his neck and nodded bashfully. Zach shook his head in disbelief and looked at the CD, his grin getting even bigger as he read the title that Chris had written on the disc – “Best I Ever Had”. Chris was focusing on calming his own pounding heart, so he was completely caught off guard when Zach tackled him onto the bed in a bear hug.
“Chris?”
“What?” Chris grunted.
“Will you be my boyfriend?” Zach asked in a sing-song voice.
Chris rolled his eyes. “You’re a fucker, you know that?”
“I do know,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “Now, answer the question. And keep in mind, there are some serious implications involved if you say yes.”
Chris was intrigued. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Like you have to come sleep at my place sometimes.”
“Deal. But I’m not sharing the bed with any animals.”
“Fine, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Ha.”
“And you have to drink red wine and watch indie movies with me.”
“Only if you drink beer and watch 90210 marathons with me.”
“Deal.”
“What else?”
“You let me give you fashion advice.”
“Dealbreaker.”
“Fine. It was worth a shot.”
“Zach?”
“Yeah?”
“I want to be your boyfriend.”
Zach looked into his eyes and traced a finger across his cheek and over his lips. “You’re too good to be true,” he said, seriously.
Chris pulled him down into a kiss, distracted him with seductive swipes of his tongue, and then flipped him onto his back and curled into his chest. He squeezed Zach tightly and took a deep breath. He wanted to make sure. “We’re doing this?”
He felt Zach nod, felt fingers tighten on his hip. “Let’s do this.”
***
Chris woke up with drool on his cheek and his face pressed into Zach's chest. "Fuck."
"What's wrong?" Zach asked, his voice heavy with sleep.
"Nothin'." His voice was muffled in Zach's t-shirt. "I just feel really manly right now."
"Yeah, well. You should. It takes a lot of balls to profess your love for another man."
Chris looked up at him groggily. "I did not profess my love to you."
"Didn't you?" Zach still had his eyes closed. "That must have been a dream I had, then."
Chris tightened his hold on Zach and snuggled closer. "Go back to sleep, Zachy. Maybe someday, all of your dreams will come true."
A/N:
The CD that Zach made for Chris is here: Man of Your Dreams - Chris Pine's Narcoleptic Mix
The CD that Chris made for Zach is here: Best I Ever Had
The story continues here: Dream About This
