therumjournals: (Pinto make me smile)
[personal profile] therumjournals
Title: Hey, You / Asleep / Parenting Skillz
Author: [livejournal.com profile] therumjournals
Fandom: Star Trek RPF
Pairing: Chris/Zach
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,870
Description: Maybe they saw it coming. Scenes from the Coffee Fix ‘verse.
Warning: only a little angst this time



Hey, You

“Just dinner. That’s all I’m asking.”
“That’s all you were asking fourteen years ago, and I think we both know how that turned out.”


Zach stepped out of the bathroom in his trailer, lost in thought, and spent five minutes answering texts on his cell phone before he realized that Chris was standing in the doorway, watching him.

“Hey, stalker.”

Chris blushed and toed the ground. “Look, I...I wanted to apologize about last night. I was really drunk, and I think I might have been a little...overenthusiastic.”

“What’s that mean?” Zach asked, opening the mini-fridge and grabbing a couple bottles of water to toss into his gym bag. “You saying you didn’t actually mean it when you threw your arms around my neck and said you’d go anywhere with me, even, and I quote, ‘to Gaytown’?”

Chris winced. “I said that?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Sorry. Wow. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Drinking, you know. It lowers the inhibitions.” Zach shut the fridge door with his hip and leaned against it. “Makes people say what they’ve been thinking.” He looked at Chris with an eyebrow raised and Chris reddened a little under his scrutiny.

“Um. I wasn’t...it’s not like I’ve been...thinking that. About you. Or anything.”

“Right. So, you wanna go, or what?”

“Go where?”

“To Gaytown.” Zach said, smirking.

Chris laughed despite himself. “You’re taking my drunken declarations pretty seriously here, Quinto.”

“Yeah, you know, now that you mention it, I’m pretty sure I’m not the first guy you’ve said that to. Not sure it’s always accompanied by the sloppy humping though.” He straightened up, slung his bag over his shoulder. “But anyway, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

Chris bit his lip, and Zach wondered if maybe he should have assumed.

“Or, we could just go to dinner.”

“What, like a date?”

Zach shrugged. “If you want. Or just dinner.”

“We have dinner all the time.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“So it’s different this time?”

Zach smiled. “If you want it to be.”

*

“Thanks, man,” Chris said when they pulled up in front of his place. He put a hand on the door handle.

Zach raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s not usually how I end my dates, Chris.”

Chris looked back at him, swallowed nervously. “Oh. Uh...you wanna come inside? Play some Wii?”

“Play some Wii?” Now the eyebrow was accompanied by a smile twitching at Zach’s lips.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, okay, Chris. Let’s go inside. Let’s play some Wii.”

Chris felt relief wash over him, but it was immediately supplanted by a nervous fluttering in his stomach. He opened the car door.


Inside the apartment, Chris focused his sights on the Wii console next to the TV, made himself walk across the room. He stood in front of it for a second, listening as Zach took a few more steps and came to a stop behind him.

“What do you want to play?” he asked, painfully aware that his voice was shaking.

“Chris.” Zach’s voice was soft and magnetic and Chris turned toward him, and they moved to close the space between them, lips and bodies crashing against each other. Their eyes were closed and they clutched at each others’ shirts as they kissed, hot and messy and awkward, and Chris wondered why Zach was smiling, because it felt like this was the most serious thing that he had ever done in his life.

But Zach pulled back and he was cupping Chris’s face in his hands and kissing the corners of his lips and saying “God, Chris, thank god.”

Chris furrowed his brows and said, “Thank god what?” and Zach smiled and said “Thank god you’re kissing me right now.”

They went into the bedroom then, kissing unceasing little kisses across cheeks and necks and shoulders. And they were laughing, and later that’s what they would remember most, the giddy laughter, as Zach tripped Chris onto the bed, as Chris relaxed underneath him when Zach ran a palm across his stomach, tight with nerves. Chris lay back and let Zach lick deep into his mouth, and he moaned and touched Zach blindly, and he couldn’t help but clutch and squeeze at his arms and shoulders and around the back of his neck like he’d never been able to before. He felt Zach move, opened his eyes to see him sliding down, a hand working at his fly, and Zach licked his lips and smiled. Chris felt a flood of nerves again, heard himself say “Zach, I don’t know…” Zach pressed a kiss to his hipbone and looked up at him and said, “Hey. Hey, relax,” and his voice was soothing, and Chris took a deep breath.

“Hey, Zach?”

“Yeah?”

“Is this how you usually end your dates?”

Zach scrambled up over him and looked at him, and now he was serious as he kissed Chris, softly, for a long time, and when he pulled away it was only to whisper in his ear, “I don’t want this one to end.”



Asleep

Zach shut the door quietly behind him as he walked into the house. He followed the sound of the TV into the living room and paused in the doorway, a smile playing on his lips. Chris was sprawled across the length of the couch, fast asleep, with Gavin curled on top of him, as the credits of Land Before Time scrawled across the TV. Jesse was tangled in a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor, asleep with his hand in the half-empty bowl of popcorn next to him. Zach’s heart swelled a little with love at the sight, and he stepped inside, leaning over the couch to pick up the remote and switch off the TV.

His eyes darted up to Chris’s face, lingered there for a long moment until a wave of heartache crashed over him. For a second he’d almost been able to imagine that when Chris woke up, everything would stay like this – peaceful and calm and perfect. But he could already see the arguments spinning out before them, full of passive aggressive comments and snarled jabs and things that he didn’t want to say, that he regretted saying the moment they left his mouth and one hundred times more when he saw in Chris’s face that they had worked. But he still said them, and he’d say them again and he’d let Chris’s words get to him, and he’d let Chris’s silence and his pointed looks get to him, and he could see the set of his jaw and the accusing blue gaze even in Chris’s sleeping face, and he tore his eyes away.

Zach knelt to lift Jesse from his nest of blankets, trying not to wake him. Jesse grumbled and wrapped his arms around Zach’s neck, then he was asleep again, his chin digging into Zach’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Zach whispered, nudging at Chris’s arm with his knee. “I’m home. Wake up.”

Chris made an “mmff” sound and squinted up at him. “Hi.”

Zach shifted Jesse in his arms and nodded at Gavin, where he lay curled against Chris’s chest. “Let’s get these monkeys to bed.”

Chris nodded and sat up, taking Gavin in his arms, and together they headed up the stairs and down the hall to the boys’ room.

*

Chris was already in bed when Zach came back into the bedroom from brushing his teeth. Zach slipped under the covers on his stomach, reached over to turn out the light, and propped himself up on his elbows. He looked at Chris in the darkness.

“What?” Chris asked, not moving his head from the pillow.

Zach held his gaze for a second longer and leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the lips. “Night,” he said, turning away.

Chris closed his eyes against the sight of Zach’s back and the space between them. “Night.”



Parenting Skillz

“So, were you aware that Jesse has some sort of misguided idea that we’re going to let him audition for something this year?” Chris had an amused look on his face as he posed the question to Zach.

“That explains a lot,” Zach said, rolling his eyes.

“What?”

“I caught him yesterday with my phone, calling Rosalind. I asked him what the hell he thought he was doing and he said that he, and I quote, ‘needed representation’.”

Chris laughed. “Oh god. What are we going to do with him?”

“Well, we could let him-“

“Hell no. No, Zach. Are you kidding me? No.”

“So…that’s a no then?” Zach asked, his eyes twinkling. He put his hands on Chris’s hips and gave him a long kiss on the lips.

“What did you say to him, or should I be afraid to ask?” Chris grumbled, but he turned his head to the side to let Zach press kisses along his jaw and bite softly at his neck.

“No worries,” Zach said into his skin, smiling. “I just told him to ask you.”

“Oh, thanks a lot. Jerk.” He turned to meet Zach’s lips, opened his mouth to slide their tongues together and the kiss was calm and lazy and perfect. “I had an idea,” Chris said, pulling away.

“Brilliant,” Zach murmured, chasing Chris’s lips again.

“I haven’t even told you what it is yet,” Chris said, laughing and turning his head, so that Zach’s lips brushed against his cheek instead.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s brilliant.” Zach kissed him on the temple, kept his lips pressed there as Chris spoke.

“Why don’t you take Jess to the Ender’s Game premiere next week? Maybe we can use it as bribery so he gets some college applications done.”

“Mmmm,” Zach mused into Chris’s hair. “That actually is brilliant.” He pulled back a little so he could look at Chris. “You don’t want to go with me?”

“I mean, yeah, I would, you know I would, but I think he’d really enjoy it. You guys could have special bonding time or whatever. I’ll do something with Gavin, it’ll be nice.”

“JJ will miss you. He’ll make that face at me.”

“He’ll make that face at you because the appearance of Zachary Quinto and his devastatingly handsome son on the red carpet will take everyone’s attention off his little movie,” Chris said with a wink.

“Very true. Alright, well, I think it’s a good idea. Let’s do it.”

“Just…don’t let him make out with any starlets, okay? And no parties – I don’t need my son inheriting his father’s taste for cosmos.”

Zach rolled his eyes and shut Chris up with a kiss, hands creeping up to cup his face. The front door slammed open, and they heard Jesse say, “Ew, you guys. Not in front of the kids.”

Chris pulled away and looked at him with a smirk. “Aww, Jess, I thought you wanted us to kiss more!”

“But not TOO, too much,” Zach added, grinning.

“Oh my god, are you ever going to let me live that down?”

“Nope!” Chris said cheerfully, as Zach chuckled behind him.

“I have residual childhood trauma from that, I’ll have you know,” Jesse said, flouncing out of the room.

“Good,” Zach called at his back, “You can channel it into your portrayal of tragic characters!”

“Did our son just flounce?” Chris asked, shaking his head.

Zach laughed and pulled Chris in for a hug. “Maybe he will be inheriting my taste in cosmos after all.”

(Continued...)

Date: 2010-05-23 05:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] withthepilot.livejournal.com
Can I open up the chorus of "awwwwww"s? These are so lovely, as usual.

"Hey, You" is especially satisfying in that "omg eeeee" sexy and adorable way but also the "omg ahhhhh" heart-wrenching way.

What am I even talking about? I dunno. They're great, that's all. :D

Date: 2010-05-24 01:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
awww, thanks! i kinda know what you're talking about. or not. but either way, thanks! :-D

Date: 2010-05-23 06:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hilsongirl.livejournal.com
i love that we get to see how everything started :)

Date: 2010-05-24 01:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
i'm glad you liked that! i'm thinking about doing a few more from around that time period...
(deleted comment)

Date: 2010-05-24 01:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
ha ha, yay alcohol! brings everyone together! thanks :-D

Date: 2010-05-23 06:41 pm (UTC)
ext_397938: (Default)
From: [identity profile] ashleyj28.livejournal.com
Did I spot an Anchorman reference in there? I THINK I DID. I seriously fucking love those kids, they're such little teenage bad asses. And awwww the beginning, can I watch them 'play wii'? Pretty please!

Date: 2010-05-24 02:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
ha ha, for once any anchorman references were unintentional! yeah, i'd like to watch that too.... Thanks!!! :-)

Date: 2010-05-23 06:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] foom101.livejournal.com
OMG!!! H'AAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!!! *DYING* Love this stuff SO MUCH!!! <3

Date: 2010-05-24 02:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
awww, thanks bb :-D

Date: 2010-05-23 06:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] inpurity.livejournal.com
I feel like I keep repeating myself whenever I comment, but I do love this verse so very much and I cannot help but gushing about how good you are with this family.
I love the happy making parts, where we learn the habits and quirks of the kids and their parents.
I love the back story, where we see how everything started, how they fell in love, how they had no idea where they were going to end up.
But the part the I love the most, even if the one that hurts and it is hard to read, is the part when you show how hard it is to really build a family, how hard it is to realise that love alone, even as deep and strong like between Zach and Chris, is not enough.

Gorgeous job, as always.
Laila
x

Date: 2010-05-24 02:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
thanks so much, i love your comments! the feeling of writing each part is so different, which is why i love the format...i get to play with all of them. i think i'll try to keep doing so. it hurts to write the sad/angsty parts too, but i feel like it's important to really show how that whole thing happened and how they dealt with it and how it changed things. it's a challenge and very interesting to think about and write, so i'm glad you're enjoying it so much. thanks again!

Date: 2010-05-23 06:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tinocka.livejournal.com
ok, the fact of life: you are not allowed to stop writing for this verse. i´m seriously addicted to it.

anyway, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!
How do you do it? How do you make me squee and grin like a fool and all that? I love your writing, especially your dialogues. And I love the kids and the way Pinto got together and everything...

Date: 2010-05-24 02:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
ha ha, thanks so much for the encouragement! i don't have any more started right now, but just reading through these comments is inspiring me, and i've written down a few more ideas. in other words, hopefully i'll keep playing around in this 'verse as long as people keep enjoying it :-) so thanks!!!!

Date: 2010-05-23 07:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leopardchic79.livejournal.com
Awww! I don't know what's cuter...them as parents of young kids or of parents of teenagers. Either way, I love it! :)

Date: 2010-05-24 02:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
aww, thanks! i don't know which is cuter either! which means i'll probably write more of both :-)

Date: 2010-05-23 08:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozsangel.livejournal.com
i don't think i could ever get enough of these! thanks for continuing to write these! :)

Date: 2010-05-24 02:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
thanks so much for the encouragement! i hope to keep writing and i hope it stays good!

Date: 2010-05-23 08:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lavender-basil.livejournal.com
LOVE IT!

The second part was so great. Sometimes relationships can fall through your fingers like sand. You've really captured what that slow death feels like. The yearning to be better but the reality that things are just broken.

And, woah, C&Z as parents to teenagers? Um, I LOVE this. Like I could eat it with a spoon love it!

I think the reason why this 'verse is working so very well and not getting tired is because you post little (perfect) vignettes. At the end, we all want MORE!

Date: 2010-05-24 02:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
yaaaay :-D i'm glad you like the second part. a lot of the things i'm writing about, i haven't experienced, but i do know what it's like to fight in a relationship so i felt that part particularly hard.

i am surprised at how much i'm loving writing the teenage years too so i think i might do a few more in that time period.

THAAAAAANKS :-D

Date: 2010-05-24 02:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lavender-basil.livejournal.com
More? WOOT!

Date: 2010-05-23 08:50 pm (UTC)
ext_367923: (Chris and Zach)
From: [identity profile] easilymused1956.livejournal.com
There might be some hearts and roses, sometimes. And maybe a pair of rose-colored glasses -- or two.

But only until reality bites their asses and they become very real people. With real life experiences.

Love them, the kids, and everything you write about them.

Renee

Date: 2010-05-24 02:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
thanks so much. i'm really enjoying the ability to play around with their personalities and experiences at different times in their lives, so i'm glad you're enjoying the results.

Date: 2010-05-23 09:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zoetrope13.livejournal.com
I'm really enjoying reading this verse you have created with it's leaps in time. It's interesting to see how their relationship changed and developed. I hope you write more about the beginning of their relationship before the boys. Also, I know it's just a tiny detail in this fic but the idea of JJ Abrams directing an adaptation of Ender's Game is just, I have no other word for it than nerdgasm.

Date: 2010-05-24 02:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
thanks! thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed the first part - i may try to right a few more scenes from that period in time.

and yes, omg, i think jj would be perfect to direct Ender's Game! how awesome would that be? *dreams...*

Date: 2010-05-23 09:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] molleo.livejournal.com
Oh, just, oh. SO heartbreakingly sweet! You gave me a belated birthday gift...and something I actually wanted, at that! :) Thanks for making the beginning of 42 a good one! ((hugs))

Date: 2010-05-24 02:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
OOOOOOOOOOH, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! I'm so glad I inadvertently gave you a gift that you enjoyed :-D hope it bodes well for your year ahead! and thank YOU!

Date: 2010-05-23 10:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 1lostone.livejournal.com
can't.... stop.....reading...

MMMM this 'verse. LIKE CRACK DAMN YOU!

Also, <3.

Date: 2010-05-24 02:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
it's like crack to write, too. we will enable each other ;-)

thanks :-D

Date: 2010-05-23 10:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] team-allen.livejournal.com
ahhhhh! love.love.loved them!

Date: 2010-05-24 02:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
thanks so much!

Date: 2010-05-23 10:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] less-star.livejournal.com
OMG so sweet! And so heartachy, ow!

Date: 2010-05-24 02:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
thanks! the key is in the proportion of angst and fluff, i think ;-)

Date: 2010-05-23 10:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] running-hot.livejournal.com
JESSEEEEEEE

That is all.

(Also, this entire verse has a b'awwww factor of a billion and twelve and I love you.)

Date: 2010-05-24 02:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
ha ha, i love that you're such a Jesse fangirl :-) maybe i'll try to give you some more material ;-)

thanks for the love, bb :-)

Date: 2010-05-24 01:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] littlelightss.livejournal.com
Oh I am so happy right now! ♥ As always, the ficlets are perfect, and the characters are wonderful.

Date: 2010-05-24 02:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
thanks thanks thanks! :-) i'm glad it's still living up to expectations!

Date: 2010-05-24 02:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] the-deep-magic.livejournal.com
Ha ha, Jesse's first flounce! I love it. I also loved:

“Yeah, okay, Chris. Let’s go inside. Let’s play some Wii.”

Oh, Chris, you were on the express train to Gaytown this whole time!

Date: 2010-05-24 02:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
ha ha, yay! i'm so glad you enjoyed the flounce! and omg, your comment cracked me up. i'm just glad chris figured it out when he did (as is Zach) ;-) thanks :-)

Date: 2010-05-24 03:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snoewhite.livejournal.com
Okay, I want to marry this fic and live happily ever after.
Everytime I think of a son of Pinto I think of that pic someone made melding their faces into a devastatingly handsome young man. guhhhhhh

Date: 2010-05-24 11:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
awww, thanks :-D too bad their sons couldn't really be a combo of their DNA...i think they still end up pretty hot though ;-)

Date: 2010-05-24 04:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladyblahblah.livejournal.com
*flails about squeeing helplessly*

I just . . . this . . . it . . . no coherent words! ONLY MORE SQUEEING FLAILS!

*tackles you*

Date: 2010-05-24 11:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
woohoo! squeeing flail! flailing squee! it is my lifeblood! (thanks!)

Date: 2010-05-24 10:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] missestrella.livejournal.com
*FLAILS*

EVERY UPDATE MAKE ME GO LIKE THIS:
Image
and yeah, you're obviously the bunny!

NEVER STOP, BB ♥

Date: 2010-05-24 11:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
awwwwwww, thanks :-)

i'm feelin' the pressure now! but in the best way :-)

Date: 2010-05-24 01:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coeurdesoleil.livejournal.com
I WILL NEVER EVER GET ENOUGH OF THIS 'VERSE!! I JUST WANT TO SQUISH CHRIS AND ZACH AND GAVIN AND JESSE BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL SO CUTE AND ADORABLE!!!

NOW I'M GOING TO MISS MY BUS BECAUSE I READ THIS AND THEN I'LL HAVE TO WALK AND I'LL BE LATE FOR A MEETING, BUT I DON'T CARE BECAUSE THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY :DDD

Date: 2010-05-25 02:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
ha ha, oh no! i love your flailing capslock comment and i love your love of this little family, but i feel like you might need an intervention if it's making you late for work. oh what the hell am i talking about, YAAAAAY :-D

Date: 2010-05-25 04:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aliassmith.livejournal.com
Your nervous, clueless Chris in "Hey, You" is made of win. So, so adorable. Also, I think you deserve a cookie for “Did our son just flounce?” :)

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