therumjournals: (bb kirk/spock)
[personal profile] therumjournals
Title: Trouble / Our Boy / Action Shot
Author: [livejournal.com profile] therumjournals
Fandom: Star Trek RPF
Pairing: Chris/Zach
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,560
Description: Like fathers, like sons. (Coffee-Fix 'verse)
A/N: Answering the call for fluff!



Trouble

“Hey, where are you?” Chris asked when Zach picked up the phone.

“At home. Why?”

“Because I just got a call from Jesse’s principal. Apparently a bunch of theater kids interrupted a school-wide assembly today with an ‘impromptu musical’. Our dear son had the honorable distinction of distracting three secretaries and commandeering the intercom system in order to play the role of ‘Narrator’.”

Zach couldn't help but grin. “That’s fucking hilarious.”

“I know, right? Unfortunately, the principal doesn’t agree, and one of us has to go pick him up.”

“Alright, I’ll go get him. Want me to wait ‘til you get home to figure out some consequences?”

“Yeah, sure. Think there’s any way we can punish him while at the same time giving him props?”

**

“Jesse,” Zach said, when they were in the car on the way home from school, “what the hell were you thinking?”

“It was a senior prank, Dad!”

“You’re a sophomore!”

“I have friends that are seniors! They asked me to help!”

“How are you cool enough to have friends that are seniors?” Zach asked in mock disbelief. Jesse rolled his eyes and stared out the window.

“You know there are going to be consequences for this, right?”

Jesse sighed. “Whatever.”

Zach bit his lip and took on his most casual tone. “So...did anyone take a video?”

**

When Chris got home, they sat Jesse down on the couch for a serious conversation about the appropriate time and place for creative improvisational theater. Chris cracked his knuckles and adopted the fatherly tone that he broke out for periodic warnings and reprimands, and Zach schooled his expression into one of stern disapproval. Nevertheless, within ten minutes the conversation had devolved into a recounting of Zach’s most elaborate and hysterical on-set pranks, which had all of them stifling their giggles except for Gavin, who laughed so hard he got caught eavesdropping and was subsequently invited to join in the fun. Jesse reenacted the morning’s performance for posterity, and Zach actually had to leave the room to recover from a fit of laughter. When they finally settled down, Chris and Zach tried to regain some level of parental authority and told Jesse that as a result of his irresponsible and inappropriate actions, he wouldn’t be allowed to go to opening night of Alejandro, which he’d been looking forward to for weeks. Jesse pouted, and Gavin danced around the room gloating until they told him he couldn’t go either. The boys accused their fathers of manufacturing the punishment just so they could go to the show by themselves and make out in the back of the limo. Chris and Zach grinned smugly and didn’t deny it, and Jesse swore he’d never do anything bad ever, ever again.



Our Boy

“I’m going to cry.”

“I know.”

“I’m gonna sob like a motherfuckin’ baby.”

“Yeah, you are.”

“Shut up. Like you’re not going to. I saw that you already put a box of tissues in the car.”

“Those are for you.”

“Yeah, right.”

“We have to be cool, Chris. No one needs to see Kirk and Spock snotting all over themselves on the Quad.”

“So you admit that you’re going to want to cry.”

“Can we stop talking about this? I’m kind of tearing up a little here. And this entire conversation is going to be rendered moot if we never leave LA. JESSE! WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG?” he bellowed up the stairs.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Jesse thundered down the stairs and came to a halt in front of them, his arms full.

“What were you doing up there?”

“I was just grabbing some stuff. Can I take this?” He held out a framed picture of the four of them.

Zach took it out of his hands to get a closer look. “Wow. This picture…” Chris leaned in to look at it. “Takes you back, doesn’t it?” Zach asked.

The picture had been on a shelf in the hall forever, but it had been a while since they'd taken the time to really look at it, to remember how perfectly it had captured that moment in time. Chris and Zach, in jeans and t-shirts on the couch, the boys at ages two and four, every picture from those years an action shot. Chris was laughing, his mouth open and his eyes crinkled shut as he clung to Jesse, who had managed to flop backwards over his lap until his head almost touched the ground. Next to him, Zach held onto Gavin’s chubby little hands and gave the three of them a tolerant look that somehow managed to encompass all the love he had for their little family – all the love he had in the world.

Zach handed the photo to Chris and turned away, wiping tears from his eyes with the palm of his hand. He took a moment to compose himself, then looked back to find Chris and Jesse watching him. He smiled as tears slid down his cheeks and pulled them both in for a hug.

Jesse hugged them back, despite being 18. He patted Zach comfortingly on the shoulder and murmured, “There, there, Father.”

Zach laughed and kissed Jesse on the head and kind of couldn’t believe they’d all made it this far.
Finally, Jesse cleared throat and pulled away to give them both an expectant look.

“So...can I have the picture?”

**

“Where’s Gavin?” Jesse asked as they headed out the door.

“He’s been sitting in the car for half an hour. You’d think he was eager to get rid of you or something.”

“Whatever. He’ll be lost without me.”

“Oh yes. However will we all go on without your esteemed presence.” Chris intoned.

“Seriously! You guys need me around for entertainment. This place is going to be Dullsville once I’m gone.”

“Jesse, there’s something we’ve been meaning to tell you for some time now,” said Zach, putting a patronizing hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “We don’t actually find you amusing at all. We just laugh because the parental handbook says we’re supposed to.”

“Whatever, dude,” Jesse said, turning away so Zach wouldn’t see him smile.

“Don’t call your father dude,” Chris said.

“Why not? You call him dude all the time!”

“I also call him sweetcheeks, you gonna use that one too?”

“No, but I am going to throw up a little in my mouth.”

“Gross,” Zach said, making a face. “It’s okay, Jesse. You can call me dude.”

“What are you, trying to be like a cool dad now?” Chris asked. “Not gonna happen, Zach.”

Jesse clapped Zach on the arm as he walked past them to the car. “He’s right, dude.”



Action Shot

“Mr. Quinto, if you could just straighten your collar…”

Zach let go of Gavin to tug at his collar, which stayed straight for all of five seconds before Gavin stood up on his lap and pulled it into his mouth. Chris laughed, keeping one hand on Jesse as he reached over to pull Gavin away.

“Hey Gav, let’s not eat Daddy’s clothes, okay?”

Zach laughed and leaned down to bite at Gavin’s overall straps. “Mmf...how do you like it?” he mumbled through a mouthful of corduroy.

“Okay, if we could just get the boys to sit on your laps…” The frustrated photographer’s voice interrupted their antics, and they scooted together on the couch. Chris turned Jesse around on his lap and wrapped an arm around his waist in an attempt to keep him still. A failed attempt, as Jesse managed to twist around to tell him “I wan’ be a pirate, Papa!”

“I know, Jesse, you can be a pirate just as soon as the nice photographer man is done telling us what to do, okay?”

Zach smirked at Chris’s jab. He was beginning to feel the same way. Perhaps a family photo session hadn’t been his best idea ever.

They managed to hold the boys steady for about thirty seconds as the photographer set up the shot, then he stood up from his camera and walked over to fuss with Zach’s hair, at which point all hell broke loose. Gavin burst into frightened tears, Zach gave into his frustration and batted the photographer’s hand away, saying “take an effing picture already,” and Jesse squirmed from Chris’s grasp and ran headlong for the shiny camera...

**

“Remind me why the f- why the heck you didn’t call me first?” Joe asked, three hours, two cosmos, and $600 worth of expensive photography equipment later, as he set up his tripod across from the couch.

“I told Zach to call you.”

“I’m sure you did. Zachary?”

“I don’t know,” Zach admitted, shaking his head. “This guy came highly recommended!”

“By who?”

“By whom,” Chris and Zach both corrected him.

Joe looked between them with an eyebrow raised. “You guys are so perfect for each other, it disgusts me.”

They blushed and glanced at each other and Joe rolled his eyes as he peered through his camera to check the angle. “Anyway, I hope you learned your lesson. I am the only photographer you should hire from now on.”

“Wait, we’re hiring him,” Zach asked Chris in disbelief.

“And I’m worth every penny,” Joe responded with a smirk. “Now, is everyone ready? Jesse, are you going to wear the eyepatch and the cape?”

Jesse nodded enthusiastically.

“Alright, then. Let’s have some fun, guys.”

(Continued...)

Date: 2010-06-17 04:22 am (UTC)
ext_397938: (GQ)
From: [identity profile] ashleyj28.livejournal.com
Every snippet of their lives makes me WANT THEIR LIVES even more. I love their parenting!fail - but seriously, there are just some things not worth really disapproving of your kids for. When we were in high school, my best friend and I played smack-ass, and would run down a hallway and get as many people as we could. Then one day she accidentally got a teacher, who promptly FLIPPED THE FUCK OUT and crying to the principal that it was sexism and racism and she was out to get her and all this other shit. My friend ended up getting suspended for 3 days and when she called her dad to pick her up from school and told him why, he just laughed and laughed and laughed. Shit was hilarious!

I also love how Jesse is 18, which means they've been together for a long ass time, not counting the separation. I dunno, the thought of that is just so heartwarming and amazing and makes me happy :)

Date: 2010-06-18 01:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
oh man, that story about your friend is kinda hilarious (as is that game!) :-D anyway, i'm glad that just makes that scene all the more realistic! and yes, i love the thought of them being together for so long. they realized their mistake and once was enough, i think...

Date: 2010-06-17 04:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] the-deep-magic.livejournal.com
This exchange really made me laugh:

“It was a senior prank, Dad!”

“You’re a sophomore!”

“I have friends that are seniors! They asked me to help!”

“How are you cool enough to have friends that are seniors?”


And then the picture, and Zach chewing on Gavin's clothes... You do realize you have to keep writing these forever, right?

Date: 2010-06-18 01:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
You do realize you have to keep writing these forever, right?

So i've been told :-)

So glad you liked this one. Thanks :-D

Date: 2010-06-17 04:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hilsongirl.livejournal.com
omg i think this one is the best so far, but again i think that of every new snipet.

i love this:

“By whom,” Chris and Zach both corrected him.

Joe looked between them with an eyebrow raised. “You guys are so perfect for each other, it disgusts me.”

I think that's Pinto in a nutshell. Awesometastic work, bb.

Date: 2010-06-17 02:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aliassmith.livejournal.com
I, too, also second this comment. As well. :)
Translation: effing awesome.

Date: 2010-06-18 01:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
aww, thanks bb! and do i hear you have a birthday coming up.... :-)

Date: 2010-06-18 01:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
awww, thanks! i'm glad you liked this one so much! every one, i'm just not sure how it's going to come across, so i love hearing what people like :-) and yes, i agree - that is pinto in a nutshell!

Date: 2010-06-17 05:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] inpurity.livejournal.com
Whenever I wake up to some more of this verse I start the day with a smile (it's only 5.30am here). I love this family, the interaction, the banter, the way Jesse and Gavin are defintely Their kids, but also their own persons. I love the way it alternates between past and present, how it interweaves all their lives and histories to show us how they get to where they are.
Zach trying to be the cool dad was super sweet and the kids smashing the photographer's camera, and Joe!
So much love I could quote the whole series.

This family you created lives in your words, and somewhere, in some time, parallel universe, I hope they are seriously happy.

Thank you for this.
Laila

Date: 2010-06-18 01:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
thank you so much. have i mentioned that i love your comments? i love that this series has given people this little world to dream about - that's what it is for me, too. I love coming up with which scenes to show, and having the timeline mixed up allows me to do that so freely, which is awesome. thanks again :-D

Date: 2010-06-18 01:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
can't have. or can. depending on what you're talking about... :-D

Date: 2010-06-17 06:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] foom101.livejournal.com
I love you. I don't know what else to say. Oh...yeah...I want to be a part of that sandwich. I want to live in that world. <3

Date: 2010-06-18 01:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
aww, thanks! you can't live there, but you can keep visiting :-)

Date: 2010-06-17 07:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] medea-fic.livejournal.com
I am not usually a big fan of kid fics, but I do love your Coffee 'Verse. I finally got over myself and read through the whole thing, and yeah, you got me. :) I LOVE that they didn't call Joe first for the picture.

Date: 2010-06-18 01:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
wow, i can't believe you read this whole series! i'm so glad you liked it (despite the kid fic aspect)! thanks so much for reading and for the nice comment :-D

Date: 2010-06-17 07:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] team-allen.livejournal.com
This was such a good thing to wake up and read!

This bit:

"I also call him sweetcheeks, you gonna use that one too?”

“No, but I am going to throw up a little in my mouth."


Was my favourite! Just loved it!

Can't wait for more!

Date: 2010-06-18 01:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
ha ha, thanks :-) i love hearing peoples' favorite parts!

Date: 2010-06-17 11:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] molleo.livejournal.com
Oh good heavens, I don't know how you manage to find such perfect moments, but you do! This was just lovely, really. And I agree, I want THEIR lives, not mine. Right now, mine is full of the bad stuff, and I'd really like some good stuff....Guess I'll have to settle for your version of Z & C's life :)

Date: 2010-06-18 01:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
thanks so much, i'm glad you like the little moments and scenes that i choose :-) sorry to hear that there's bad stuff going on but i hope these little fics can help you escape :-)

Date: 2010-06-17 01:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leopardchic79.livejournal.com
Guh. I'm dead from how sweet this is. I love their family so, so much! And I love how you write all these snippets of their lives & it just forms this whole, wonderful picture.

*le sigh* :D

Date: 2010-06-18 02:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
don't be dead, bb! i shall have to write more to revive you! thanks so much :-)

Date: 2010-06-17 04:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lavender-basil.livejournal.com
Yay for fluff! And that last snippet was *great*. The boys are so cute as babies!

Date: 2010-06-18 02:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
aww, thanks, i'm so glad you liked this! yay babies! i want to write some more with them as babies and chris and zach has hot young dads... ;-)

Date: 2010-06-19 01:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lavender-basil.livejournal.com
Babies? That would be *amazing*! (Do it! Do it! Do it!)

Date: 2010-06-17 05:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coeurdesoleil.livejournal.com
These made me giggle so much!! I loved that not a single family member was able to talk about Jesse's prank with a straight face. Lol, of course Chris and Zach would take the opportunity to have the limo all to themselves...

This family is so adorable!!

Date: 2010-06-18 02:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
awww, thanks :-D i'm so happy you enjoyed this one so much!

Date: 2010-06-17 11:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] less-star.livejournal.com
Perfect! I love their family so much!

And Joe!!! Joe looked between them with an eyebrow raised. “You guys are so perfect for each other, it disgusts me.” Awesome!

Date: 2010-06-18 02:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
heehee, thanks :-) joe has been a really great character to have around in this series!

Date: 2010-06-17 11:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] centraslayer.livejournal.com
Every time you write more of this know that I am in the background, cackling at the fact that you will never escape this fic :D

Anyways, lovely as fucking always, this fic owns my soul.

Date: 2010-06-18 02:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
ha ha, well, that is true, but at least i don't mind the fact that I can't escape it...at least, not yet. (is it my fault new scenes keep invading my brain?! well, i guess it is, since it's my brain :-/)

but thanks :-) i'm glad you're still reading and liking :-)

Date: 2010-06-18 02:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] halfbreedchild.livejournal.com
I hope you don't mind that I'm reviewing these last two entries together, but I'm lazy and I only use one document at a time and like I said...I'm lazy.

Unfortunately, I have nothing new to add. These ficlets are breaking my heart and making me grin - sometimes at the same time.
I really didn't think that after you tried to end it that it would only get better - but it has. Every new chapter is more real, more crisp...as a read
I feel like the Coffee Fix 'Verse is definitely firming up. It's still Pinto (awesome dialouge, etc) but you've done something a bit different. I can't really explain it, but I think if one were to read these in one go, they would definitely feel the evolution.

Maybe it's because of PAINTO or because I've been submersing myself in a lot of D/s fic lately, or maybe because of the drama that has bleed into this fandom, but this fluff (and I hesitate to use that word because that is not a good description - at all - of what you have written) is exactly what I needed.

*whoosh*

Here we go!


Gavin was running frantically toward them, his huge backpack flopping from side-to-side on his back

The detail in this fic, whether it is the way they look at eachother, the way the boys wiggle around when they are toddlers or the way you have a little boy running to his father - all of it feels very solid. We have all seen little kids run and their backpacks really DO bounce back and forth like that.

Then they’d realized what time it was and decided to just stay out for the rest of the day until it was time to pick Jesse up from school. Jesse had come out to find them sitting on the hood of the car, eating ice cream, and they’d helped him scramble up next to them and handed him his own melting ice cream sandwich. And they’d watched Jesse get ice cream all over his face, and Chris had laughed so hard that he’d fallen sideways off the car. They’d all laughed so fucking hard. That was how it was supposed to be.

Oh god, not to be emo - but this was not my childhood at all - AT ALL but I totally wish it had been. Achingly sweet, darling.
Also, it made me wish I'd had two dads. Haha


Jesse tried to run, but Chris yanked him back by his backpack. “Hey. Don’t run across the parking lot. And give me a hug.”

You know, in a way, (and this is sort of rare for me) Chris is the wayyyy hotter dad if you ask me. He's definitely got the dad voice down and idk...I kind of want him to spank me think he's a DILF.


“Hey, slow down, you’re in a fucking school zone,” Zach snapped at the cabbie.
“Sorry, man, I thought you were in a rush!”
“I am, but it’s a school zone!”


Hmm. Remember what I said about Chris being the hotter dad? I might've been wrong. I love Zach. I love Zach in this so much. I think you authors are writing them more and more and MORE bitchy and it just makes for really cool dialouge. Like, OF COURSE fanon ZQ would say this to a cabby, whereas in real life he'd probably be texting and not even notice (though my ovaries would like to think that he would) a school zone, you know?


He watched them until Chris nudged his arm and handed him a cup of coffee.

Yeah, I'm never going to get tired of the symbolism.


“I thought you were on some kind of green tea kick,” Chris said.
“Yeah, well. I try, but coffee always lures me back in.”


I totally smiled when I read this. I CANT HELP BUT READ BETWEEN THE LINES.


Date: 2010-06-18 02:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] halfbreedchild.livejournal.com
Chris was laughing, his mouth open and his eyes crinkled shut as he clung to Jesse, who had managed to flop backwards over his lap until his head almost touched the ground. Next to him, Zach held onto Gavin’s chubby little hands and gave the three of them a tolerant look that somehow managed to encompass all the love he had for their little family – all the love he had in the world

I thought that this was a sweet photo - but then when I realized that it was the one that Joe took - omg I almost started crying. If you're trying to break my heart, well then well played, my friend, well played.

“What are you, trying to be like a cool dad now?” Chris asked. “Not gonna happen, Zach.”
Jesse clapped Zach on the arm as he walked past them to the car. “He’s right, dude.”


Haha loved that Chris and Jesse shut him down on the cool dad stuff. No one likes an overly cool parent - and LOL@ Zach because I can totally picture that.

he stood up from his camera and walked over to fuss with Zach’s hair, at which point all hell broke loose. Gavin burst into frightened tears, Zach gave into his frustration and batted the photographer’s hand away, saying “take an effing picture already,”

This is what happens when you mess with The Hair. Entire fics have been dedicated to that man's (body) hair. You do. Not. Mess. With. The. Hair.


“Anyway, I hope you learned your lesson. I am the only photographer you should hire from now on.”
“Wait, we’re hiring him,” Zach asked Chris in disbelief.
“And I’m worth every penny,” Joe responded with a smirk. “Now, is everyone ready? Jesse, are you going to wear the eyepatch and the cape?”
Jesse nodded enthusiastically.
“Alright, then. Let’s have some fun, guys.”


Joe is the best uncle ever. I want Joe to be my uncle. He sounds awesome.


Seriously, this fic is hurting my brain, that's how sweet and tender and perfect it has become.

Date: 2010-06-20 10:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
Dude. anything that makes you write me amazing long-ass comments like this one is FINE BY ME!!! :-D I am pleasantly surprised to hear that you think the series is getting better. i worry every time that i'm just being self indulgent or that i'm being cheesy or that i'm not keeping things consistent, so thanks for the reassurance! i hope i can keep it up (sheesh, no pressure...)

re: your thoughts on zach and chris as dads...this is the first time i'm putting these thoughts into words, but i think that the way i imagine it is that chris changed when he became a dad to become more...parental, i guess? whereas zach is very much still zach, and the way he is with the kids just comes naturally. and that is what caused some of their problems, i think.

some of the (happy) family stuff is based on my family a little, and some is definitely idealistic (but hopefully in a way that is still real). whereas, i'm very glad that the angst and fighting and separation has come across as real too, because that is something i never dealt with personally in that exact way, although there are some other types of experiences that i've drawn on to write the angst as well.

the coffee stuff in First Days was kind of inspired by something you said in a comment on a previous installment - so thanks, and i'm glad you enjoyed that aspect of it!

anyway, thaaaaanks so much for the awesome comment as always! now off to see what else i've got up my sleeve....

Date: 2010-06-18 12:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] audiograms.livejournal.com
I AM BACK HOME AND THIS AND YOU AND OMG, JUST THE THING FOR MY SICKIE PITY PARTY

Date: 2010-06-20 10:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
aww, thanks! hope you feel better! and let me know if you have any song recs for me, 'cause i'm hoping to put up a mix this week!

Date: 2010-06-21 04:23 pm (UTC)
ext_15510: (Default)
From: [identity profile] whochick.livejournal.com
This was quite literally laugh-out-loud funny in places and also very touching. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Date: 2010-06-22 02:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] therumjournals.livejournal.com
aww, thank you! i'm so happy you enjoyed it on multiple levels!

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