trading heartbeats: prologue.
Martin couldn’t help sneaking a peek at Zack when he emerged from the bathroom freshly showered, wearing nothing but a towel. It was about the sexiest thing he had ever seen; the only thing better was when Zack caught him looking and smiled shyly, shifting his weight from foot to foot and blushing. They had been awkwardly skating around the issue of defining their relationship, instead opting to spend Zack’s good days with friends or hanging out around the apartment, jamming; the bad ones were usually spent in Zack’s bed, just cuddling and kissing. It was still weird whenever Rian came over - Martin wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to acknowledge that there was something more than friendship between him and Zack, or if he was supposed to ignore it out of respect for Rian. So that was definitely complicated, to say the least. Alex and Jack came over at least once a week, falling all over each other as newlyweds always do. All in all, things were going much better than they had been before the wedding.
“Martin, did you call in the refill for my Retrovir yet?”
He wrapped his arms around Zack’s waist, resting his chin on the younger man’s shoulder. “Of course I did,” he said. “Feeling okay, babe?” His lips grazed Zack’s jaw.
“I’m not wearing anything,” Zack protested, pushing Martin’s hands away playfully as they bracketed his hips. His hazel eyes were light, playful - he wasn’t really mad, more annoyed that his sort-of boyfriend was being a pervert. “Go start breakfast while I get dressed,” he demanded, planting a kiss on Martin’s lips softly. Well, Martin wasn’t about to protest. He’d already convinced Zack to stay in bed with him for longer than planned, and the only reason he’d let the younger man go willingly was because he needed to take his pills. This kind of teasing was sort of new; they’d made out a couple of times and there had been articles of clothing shed, but they hadn’t actually gone any farther than sort of grinding on each other once before Zack had gotten embarrassed.
Zack must have been having a good day that day, because it took him about an eternity to get dressed. Not that Martin really minded, considering he could look at Zack all day and never tire of it. By the time he was ready, the soy bacon was sizzling sadly in the frying pan, looking more like chewy brown lumps than something that was actually edible. They had settled into this comfortable routine, and it was nice. “Good morning, beautiful,” Martin purred, planting a kiss to the nape of Zack’s neck while he surveyed Martin’s attempt at cooking... Okay, so they were more like soy lumps than bacon, but it was Zack’s own fault for declaring his intentions as a vegetarian and therefore ending Martin’s love affair with Canadian bacon.
“I... I don’t think this is cooked, Martin. I don’t think it’s supposed to be this, ah, squishy,” Zack sighed. “You are really hopeless, you know that?” He prodded the fake meat sadly with a fork.
Martin pouted. “I give up eating meat for you, and all you do is criticize my cooking skills. Double standards, Zack Merrick. Double standards.” Zack sighed and leaned into Martin’s touch. “Hmmm,” he said, peering at the bacon suspiciously. “Maybe you should let me take you out like you’ve been promising me for weeks now. Considering I killed your questionable soy products and all...”
Zack laughed at him. “The point of eating soy is that nothing gets killed for your breakfast, actually,” he pointed out, reaching back for Martin’s hand and linking their fingers loosely.
“Wait, I’m sorry, was that a ‘Yes, Martin, my love, the light of my life, I’ll go out with you on a breakfast date and somehow I shall try to restrain myself from offering myself sexually to you in the middle of Dennys?’ or not?” They ended up kissing in the middle of the kitchen; somehow they ended up with Martin’s back pressed against the fridge door - not that he was complaining, at all - when the phone rang, interrupting what had potentially been their best make-out session to date. Zack sighed deeply and pulled away, rubbing his knuckles on the top of Martin’s head.
“Get the phone, I’m going to grab a hoodie and put my shoes on. And if you do anything embarrassing I’ll deny that you are my boyfriend and pretend not to know you.” It was a very short phone call, one that Martin had been dreading for a long time. He’d barely had time to process it - the phone call and the fact that they were boyfriends now, apparently - when Zack came back from the bedroom, wearing a hoodie that looked mysteriously similar to one of his own. “Who was on the phone, babe?” Zack asked.
Martin tried his best to shrug it off. He was upset, but he didn’t feel like talking about it so he simply said, “My mom, you know. I told her we were going for breakfast and that I’d call her later. No big deal.” Before Zack could question him any further about it, he leaned in for a quick kiss. They were going on a date. It was going to be wonderful. They were dating. He should’ve been happy, but all he could feel was anxious and scared. Luckily, Zack didn’t pick up on it. They held hands under the table and Zack didn’t even complain when he ordered bacon and ham. Afterward, they went for a short walk and acted like an obnoxious teenaged couple, pausing every few feet to kiss and grope each other. It wasn’t the best first date that had ever been had, but it was theirs, and that made it about as close to perfect as anything could be. Martin ignored the phone the next time it rang, and then he felt guilty for letting it and for not saying anything to Zack. Considering everything they’d been through just to get to this point, it was a dick move, but he wasn’t ready to talk about it. They could talk about it in the morning.
“Martin, did you call in the refill for my Retrovir yet?”
He wrapped his arms around Zack’s waist, resting his chin on the younger man’s shoulder. “Of course I did,” he said. “Feeling okay, babe?” His lips grazed Zack’s jaw.
“I’m not wearing anything,” Zack protested, pushing Martin’s hands away playfully as they bracketed his hips. His hazel eyes were light, playful - he wasn’t really mad, more annoyed that his sort-of boyfriend was being a pervert. “Go start breakfast while I get dressed,” he demanded, planting a kiss on Martin’s lips softly. Well, Martin wasn’t about to protest. He’d already convinced Zack to stay in bed with him for longer than planned, and the only reason he’d let the younger man go willingly was because he needed to take his pills. This kind of teasing was sort of new; they’d made out a couple of times and there had been articles of clothing shed, but they hadn’t actually gone any farther than sort of grinding on each other once before Zack had gotten embarrassed.
Zack must have been having a good day that day, because it took him about an eternity to get dressed. Not that Martin really minded, considering he could look at Zack all day and never tire of it. By the time he was ready, the soy bacon was sizzling sadly in the frying pan, looking more like chewy brown lumps than something that was actually edible. They had settled into this comfortable routine, and it was nice. “Good morning, beautiful,” Martin purred, planting a kiss to the nape of Zack’s neck while he surveyed Martin’s attempt at cooking... Okay, so they were more like soy lumps than bacon, but it was Zack’s own fault for declaring his intentions as a vegetarian and therefore ending Martin’s love affair with Canadian bacon.
“I... I don’t think this is cooked, Martin. I don’t think it’s supposed to be this, ah, squishy,” Zack sighed. “You are really hopeless, you know that?” He prodded the fake meat sadly with a fork.
Martin pouted. “I give up eating meat for you, and all you do is criticize my cooking skills. Double standards, Zack Merrick. Double standards.” Zack sighed and leaned into Martin’s touch. “Hmmm,” he said, peering at the bacon suspiciously. “Maybe you should let me take you out like you’ve been promising me for weeks now. Considering I killed your questionable soy products and all...”
Zack laughed at him. “The point of eating soy is that nothing gets killed for your breakfast, actually,” he pointed out, reaching back for Martin’s hand and linking their fingers loosely.
“Wait, I’m sorry, was that a ‘Yes, Martin, my love, the light of my life, I’ll go out with you on a breakfast date and somehow I shall try to restrain myself from offering myself sexually to you in the middle of Dennys?’ or not?” They ended up kissing in the middle of the kitchen; somehow they ended up with Martin’s back pressed against the fridge door - not that he was complaining, at all - when the phone rang, interrupting what had potentially been their best make-out session to date. Zack sighed deeply and pulled away, rubbing his knuckles on the top of Martin’s head.
“Get the phone, I’m going to grab a hoodie and put my shoes on. And if you do anything embarrassing I’ll deny that you are my boyfriend and pretend not to know you.” It was a very short phone call, one that Martin had been dreading for a long time. He’d barely had time to process it - the phone call and the fact that they were boyfriends now, apparently - when Zack came back from the bedroom, wearing a hoodie that looked mysteriously similar to one of his own. “Who was on the phone, babe?” Zack asked.
Martin tried his best to shrug it off. He was upset, but he didn’t feel like talking about it so he simply said, “My mom, you know. I told her we were going for breakfast and that I’d call her later. No big deal.” Before Zack could question him any further about it, he leaned in for a quick kiss. They were going on a date. It was going to be wonderful. They were dating. He should’ve been happy, but all he could feel was anxious and scared. Luckily, Zack didn’t pick up on it. They held hands under the table and Zack didn’t even complain when he ordered bacon and ham. Afterward, they went for a short walk and acted like an obnoxious teenaged couple, pausing every few feet to kiss and grope each other. It wasn’t the best first date that had ever been had, but it was theirs, and that made it about as close to perfect as anything could be. Martin ignored the phone the next time it rang, and then he felt guilty for letting it and for not saying anything to Zack. Considering everything they’d been through just to get to this point, it was a dick move, but he wasn’t ready to talk about it. They could talk about it in the morning.