Pinto fic - Three Times Chris Pine Meets Zachary Quinto, and One Time He Gets To Know Him
Title: Three Times Chris Pine Meets Zachary Quinto, and One Time He Gets To Know Him, or A Path Towards Effortless Chemistry.
Author: kuteki
Pairing: Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto
Rating: R
Disclaimer: None of this happened, and I get no money from it.
Summary: Pretty much what it says on the tin
Note: I became a little obsessed with the different answers they gave to the question of how they met, so this is my attempt at making most of the different versions compatible and have fun with it. Both feedback and concrit very much welcome.
Word Count: 4300 words
one
"Chris and I have known each other actually before we did the movie. We have, overlapping social circles. We live in the same neighborhood in L.A"
Chris had just blown a possibly life changing audition and all he really wanted to do was get smashed and possibly fuck a stranger, so that tomorrow’s regrets would be more diffused. He was not a fan of the music, it really didn’t compliment his stress-induced headache, but Akbar was friendly, the drinks were cheap and he was nowhere near famous enough for people to care about taking his picture there, besides, on a Friday night it was his friends’ preferred hangout and he wasn’t in a drinking alone mood.
Sure enough, their usual table by the corner was filled with a bunch of laughing familiar faces as well as a few new ones, and before he’d even finished saying hello someone was handing him a shot, his friends were great like that. Chris downed it easily, with the firm resolution to have a good night. Fuck the audition, who needs a stupid sci-fi role anyway.
An inordinate amount of shots later, Chris was having a semi-coherent but very much in-depth discussion about the merits of caffeinated alcoholic beverages when he felt the urge to dance. The music was still not exactly to his taste, but the familiarity of the beat was somewhat appealing and more to the point, the guy he was talking to had rested a heavy hand inappropriately high on Chris’s thigh and seemed oblivious to the clear not-interested-in-the-least signals Chris was all but glaring at him. Whatever, he pretended he needed to piss and got lost in the crowd before he could be followed. He found himself a spot near the centre of the dance floor and closed his eyes trying to get lost in the music. He felt pretty good after a while, enjoying the press of gyrating bodies surrounding him, without aiming towards anyone in particular, when somebody bumped into him and hard. A hand gripped his shoulder for support and a dark haired guy with thick frames apologized too sincerely for the bump to have been pre-calculated.
“That’s okay,” Chris shrugged; he was too far gone to have even noticed if not for the apology, who the fuck apologizes on a dance floor.
The guy looked at him for a second, frowning, “Oh, you are Tim’s friend, right? I am Zach.” The guy did look vaguely familiar, though Chris could not quite place him, perhaps he was one of the people at their table he hadn’t yet spoken to. But Tim knew everybody, so he nodded. The guy smiled a little cautiously, his head down, and blinked up through his glasses, and Chris wouldn’t normally have looked at him twice, the bright stripes were painful to the eye, but there was something about him, something that made him smile back and place his hand on the guy’s waist. “Chris. Dance with me.” The guy agreeably moved alongside to the beat, but much to Chris’s chagrin didn’t shift much closer, so Chris was the one who leaned in, with the pretext to ask for his name, because he might have been told, but he couldn’t remember. The guy raised an unimpressed eyebrow in response but Chris was too busy staring at his mouth to hear the reply. Possibly Jack, but he couldn’t be sure.
Not that it mattered, he was way too drunk to care about names, the heat of the people surrounding him, the overly loud beat and the hesitant press of warm hands on his ass were enough for now.
A couple songs later, they were grinding more than dancing; Chris had his back against the guy’s chest, who had wrapped one arm around Chris’s body, while Chris loosely held his hips, and not so subtly used each beat to grind closer against an obvious hardness. The reaction he’d created made him feel so damn hot, and they hadn’t even kissed yet. Chris was about to remedy this, he leaned back and licked his lips in anticipation, but before he could fully appreciate the lips-parted-eyes-closed-fucking-hot view that greeted him, a tiny blonde girl was rudely pushing them apart.
“I am leaving now, and I am fulfilling my promise to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.” She was saying and Chris frowned at her, because he wasn’t stupid, but she didn’t once look his way.
The guy did not protest enough for Chris’s liking, only mouthed a wide eyed sorry and disappeared before Chris could even think about asking for his number. Fuck that, he suddenly felt exhausted, his mood had turned sour in the space of seconds and he ended up going home that night to an empty bed.
A couple of weeks later, Chris was sprawled on his couch, aimlessly clicking through the TV channels, when he came across something familiar, he could recognize those eyebrows anywhere, oh shit, turns out mysterious guy Jack whose sudden disappearance Chris was unable to get out of his head, was in fact Zach. Zachary Quinto, to be precise. Star of Heroes and if this news was to be believed, the new Spock.
Chris felt like he was playing a game he didn’t know the rules of but he kept on losing anyway, and it pissed him off to no end. He ignored Tim’s jeering the next day, wishing he hadn’t told him about ‘Jack’. And he certainly didn’t need to be set up with anyone, thank you very much, he was Chris Pine and he was awesome. Only apparently not as awesome as Zachary Quinto. After that he rented Heroes on DVD.
two
"Well, let's clarify this: We actually worked out in our trainer's kitchen," Pine laughed recently, revealing that they had met pre-"Trek" through a shared workout guru.
Simon was a good friend so when he’d told Chris, he was going to quit his day job and finally open that gym he’d been dreaming about for years, Chris had easily agreed to be one of his first ‘star’ clients. The business was small, but the fact that it existed out of the extension of Simon’s house did not stop it from flourishing. Simon was also a good personal trainer, and so when he’d suggested Chris move his workout to earlier in the morning Chris hadn’t questioned it.
On that first morning, he’d taken his customary coffee on the go and jogged all the way to Simon’s house. It wasn’t that far, however by the time he got there, he was a little out of breath and his t-shirt was sticking uncomfortably to his back, which was perfect really because Simon wasn’t alone. He had his front door open and was saying goodbye to what Chris guessed was another client.
The man was dressed in dark sweatpants and a loose blue tank top and Chris was checking out his ass even before he saw the face. When he did see the face, he was too busy freaking out to stop staring. It was Zach. Of course it was. Zach too had halted in his steps, but that wasn’t that strange, considering Chris was blocking his way out. Thankfully, just before the silence could turn to awkward, Simon saw him and waved, “Hey Chris, you are on time for once! This is Zach by the way; Zach Quinto, Chris Pine.”
He wasn’t sure if Zach had recognized him, and so he nodded stiffly, feeling like an ass, but really what was he supposed to say “Hey, remember that one time we almost made out in a club, that was fun, how about we try again, only more successfully.” Yeah, right.
Zach said hello and gave him a puzzled look as they shook hands, but he didn’t say anything more either and that was that.
Only, not quite, because his workouts continued to not quite overlap with Zach’s yoga sessions and every so often during the next month he would run into Zach, on his way in or out. Sometimes they would end up side by side, leaning against the kitchen counter and sipping energy drinks while Simon talked about breathing techniques or something, Chris wasn’t sure, when Zach was so close, his body radiating heat, Chris found it difficult to concentrate.
In these situations they would say hello and make polite, if stilted, small talk, so that an uneasy acquaintance formed. Chris was pretty sure Simon was trying to set them up, but he refused to be engaged in conversation about his blatant crush and took the baiting with stoic silence until Simon gave up. Yes, he wanted Zach, (the initial fascination had only been fuelled by the too short glimpses of Zach’s personality and body that he was occasionally privy to) but he wouldn’t be himself if he wasn’t stupidly stubborn about it.
three
“We met at a Rock the Vote party about three days before I went in for my audition and I asked him about the process.”
“I don’t know whose dick you’ve sucked for this, but you’ve got yourself a second Trek audition.” His agent was saying in her own special way. Chris had been asleep when his phone had rang, and he had a monster hangover, but that sentence was enough to not only wake him, but make him feel positively chipper, “Seriously? But I already had one. And blew it.” Was nevertheless all he could say.
There was an exasperated sigh on the other side of the line, which made him smile a little, his agent was pretty fantastic, she must be, to have pulled off a second audition. “Yeah. And now you have another one. Just make sure you don’t fuck it up again, you’ve got four days, I’ll fax you the script.”
His lines were fine, who was he kidding, much better than fine, the movie was going to be amazing, and Chris read them in front of his bathroom mirror and they came out all flat. The more he tried, the more awful it got, until he gave up and started watching TV, trying not to think about playing Kirk against Zach’s Spock.
Next morning Chris’s heart was racing before he even got to the Grammy from the mere possibility of running into Zach. He hadn’t seen him in over a week and hoped that talking to him would be helpful. Zach wasn’t there. The frustration from his failure to get the lines combined with the annoyance over Zach’s absence made him overdo the weight lifting just a little. Well, more than that.
“Chris? Chris, stop that! What are you trying to prove?” Simon had raised his voice, which his usually mild mannered trainer hardly ever did.
“Sorry.” Chris grinned sheepishly and shrugged, in an attempt to make Simon drop it. It didn’t work.
“Come here, sit for a while. Now. I am all for people working out through their problems with exercise, god knows it’s better that using booze or drugs.”
“Or sex” Chris quipped, but Simon appeared set on a lecture and that did little to stop him, “Right. But. Hurting yourself is not the answer. Now, you are going to tell me what’s up, and then we will do some meditation.”
Meditation worked a little, but it was the conversation that had been particularly useful. He’d found out Zach was going to be at the Declare Yourself party, which Chris remembered getting an invite for.
It was the sort of party he’d recently learned how to have fun at, a bit of who’s who in Hollywood, beautiful people badly feigning an interest in politics which was always hilarious, and most importantly an open bar. He’d had a few drinks by the time he’d spotted Zach, and observed him for a minute before making his way to the edge of the room, where Zach had leaned against the wall, animatedly talking to Hayden Panettiere, and laughing.
He wasn’t sure how to interrupt, and was saved from doing so by Hayden, who had noticed his loitering and waved him over, they weren’t friends, or even acquaintances, but knew each other enough to necessitate an obligatory greeting.
“Chris! How lovely to see you,” She smiled and even with her dangerously high heels, Chris had to bend down to kiss her cheek, which he
did, all the while carefully not looking at Zach. “Do you know each other?” She asked, but continued, gesturing between them, before either could answer, “Zach Quinto, Chris Pine.”
Chris couldn’t but laugh at yet another introduction, but played along for no reason other than it might make Zach smile, and so with a wry grin he offered his hand, finally letting himself look up at Zach’s face, who was looking back, and then down at Chris’s hand before shaking it firmly. It was a lovely, warm grip, which Chris held onto for a tad longer than was strictly appropriate.
“Chris? Hm, I think we might have met before. You are Tim’s friend, correct?” Zach cocked his head to one side, the corners of his mouth lifting into an almost-smirk, while Chris most certainly did not gape at him.
He felt really stupid and also a little elated. Zach remembered! Of course he did. And was laughing at him, and in front of Hayden too, wait, Hayden wasn’t there any longer, when did that happen. Never mind. Say something!
“Shit, you remember!” Chris began, feeling immediately foolish, but only for a second because Zach looked delighted with that response, which is when Chris came to two conclusions, the first that Zach was pretty drunk and the second that Zach had thought that he didn’t remember, which made him feel slightly guilty, but mostly fantastic.
With that major hurdle behind them, the conversation flew much more smoothly than ever before, they laughed about their shared stupidity, both wanting to say more than they actually did and then talked politics for a while before Chris felt he could tell him about the audition without feeling bad about doing so.
Zach made up for his lack of surprise with a genuine congratulation and then easily discussed the audition process. He elaborated on his unusual path toward the role which had become a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, generously praised both JJ and the script and offered plenty of useless advice. Chris felt a little harsh thinking so, but seriously: “Trust your instincts. Relax. Find that quintessentially Kirk aspect of yourself, and use it.” Shitty advice, but fun to listen to.
It felt like they’d only just truly met; Chris had allowed his crush to fester with his perceived rejection which as a result had put Zach on a semi-pedestal. This accounted for Chris’s uncharacteristic behaviour and now that was no longer an issue. Well his crush was, but in a truer way, he felt like the cardboard copy of Zach that lived in his head, had come alive. Chris really, really wanted to get to know him better, and yes, that meant sex, but also everything else. The guy was just so smart and opinionated and when Chris got through his initial defensive reserve he was met with a sharp, and surprisingly dirty sense of humour. People like that were a rare breed in his line of business, Chris would be stupid not to try anything.
“Dude, thanks, you were a tremendous resource, but you want to actually help me, you should come over, run lines with me.” Chris smiled widely, feeling pretty smooth there until he saw Zach shaking his head.
“I’m sorry man, I would love to, but I need to catch a flight in literally a few hours and I’ll be out of town for the next few days” He seemed to genuinely regret this, nevertheless, to say that this caused Chris disappointment would be a huge understatement.
Zach really had such a stupid effect on him, Chris felt like he was thirteen again, the precise moment after Maggie Neston had punched him on the nose for trying to kiss her. It hadn’t stopped him from trying again, rather successfully, a couple of years later though, which really said something profound about him, and not just that he liked it a little rough. But this time, well, he had no intention to wait that long.
“Fair enough, but I’ll need your number, just in case.” He paused dramatically, before grinning broadly. “I’ll need to pick your brains again.”
Zach’s eyebrows shot up at once. “Really, man, really? Next time you get the urge to be funny. Just. Don’t.” Zach shook his head in mock sadness, but Chris could see he was biting back a laugh and he did take out his blackberry.
The next day, the script felt familiar for the first time, he read his lines and felt damn great about his performance.
four
“When I auditioned for it, I was in the waiting room and obviously, nervous as anyone is before they go in to audition. And Zach happened to come in…seeing what a wonderful guy he was, I realized I was in great hands.”
Chris was sitting in the waiting room, trying not to fidget and failing miserably. The room had no natural light source, the gleaming leather sofas were uncomfortably hard and the air was stuffy. It didn’t help that there was no one else there, he was half an hour early and feeling a little sick, truth be told. He’d thought he’d gotten over audition jitters years back, but apparently not. Or at least not when the role could skyrocket his career, no pun intended. He tried to reassure himself of his own awesomeness, and periodically checked his watch (26 minutes to go) when the door behind him opened and Zach wondered in. Wait, what? But, it was most definitely Zach. He was wearing his unmistakable purple shirt with tight, tight jeans and was nose deep in what was probably the script. And walked right past Chris.
“Um, Zach?” Chris said and realized that Zach was only nose deep in the script to hide his hugely amused expression, when he did look at Chris his face was serious but his eyes were laughing. Tyra would be so proud came as an unbidden thought, which probably meant that it was time to stop watching those ANTM reruns.
“Dude, you should have seen your face, that was priceless.”
Chris didn’t feel like laughing, but the mere sound of Zach’s voice did wonders to soothe his nerves. “I fail to see what is so funny, Zachary, do you mind enlightening me?”
“Well, you looked like you’d seen a ghost. You feeling all right?” Zach asked and his tone was mocking but gentle as he sat down on the sofa next to Chris, immediately folding up his legs in that stupidly endearing yoga way of his. Chris shifted a little, but was unable to get any more comfortable, fucking sofa must be filled with nails or something.
“Easy for you to laugh Mr Spock, some of us haven’t got a job yet.”
“Well, no, but the operative word in this case happens to be yet, you will be fine, you know that.”
“And how exactly do you know that? Did you gauge my acting talent from my long repertoire of shitty movies?” Chris was aware he was snapping when Zach was only trying to be nice, but he was feeling nervous and Zach was sitting so close to him and smelled really good and he couldn’t do the audition while turned on, he really couldn’t.
“Repertoire, hm?” Zach lifted an eyebrow, impressed, and Chris wanted to feel insulted at that, he had an English degree, for fuck’s sake, but all he felt was pleased; he certainly did not want to examine the implications of that.
“Well, I do think the Princess Diaries 2 is a cinematic masterpiece,” Zach carried on, and now he was just being mean, but Chris was apparently unable to get mad at him, “But no, that is not why I know. I know because I spend two months obsessing over you and believing you did not remember me, as apparently did you, which let me remind you, I had absolutely no idea of, if that is not a testament of acting talent, I don’t know what is.”
Chris was aware that this compliment was both self serving and self assured, but he didn’t care, he laughed, feeling lightheaded and nervous, for reasons no longer connected to the audition. He didn’t know what to say and looked at Zach for guidance, but for once there was none, as incongruently to the words Zach had uttered, he looked visibly apprehensive, which was ridiculous, because surely he now knew Chris was literally stupid for him. Maybe he really was that good an actor.
He would always swear his next words were perfectly innocent.
“Thanks man, but surely there are better ways you can distract me from the audition…”
Chris licked his lips, a nervous gesture of his, and he noticed that Zach was looking at him, really looking, and damn it all to hell, he didn’t care if there were cameras in the waiting room or that anyone could walk in, because he had been denying himself this for way too long and he couldn’t take in any longer.
The next few moments were a blur of sensations, maybe they both reached for each other at once, maybe he was the one that made the first move, Chris honestly had no idea, but what was important was that they were kissing, finally, finally kissing. At that first, far from gentle touch of lips, Chris felt like a knot inside of him had loosened, something finally clicked into place and it didn’t matter that Zach’s knee was digging uncomfortably against Chris’s side, or that Zach was gripping his shoulder so firmly that it hurt, because his mouth was making Chris dizzy, and he held back with no less force, giddy with feeling.
They kissed furiously, like drunken teenagers until Zach softly pulled away, his lips wet with saliva and flushed red and Chris couldn’t tear his gaze away, “You’ve got to stop doing this to me. You are such a fucking tease.” He whispered, voice rough from want, but Zach heard, how could he not, when they were inches apart and smiled at him.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, but we should probably wait till after the audition.”
No, Chris was having none of that, he was so hard he could hardly be expected to perform his best under such circumstances, surely Zach understood that, but just for emphasis he pointed towards the prominent bulge in his trousers, “I can’t do this man, not like this, and I’ve got fifteen minutes, and the bathroom is right there.”
Zach’s eyes followed his hand and Jesus fuck he didn’t know he could get any harder but Zach’s gaze was heavy and his dick a fan of the attention.
“On the contrary” Zach said after what seemed a thoughtful pause. “I think it would add a certain je ne sais quoi to the role if you were to play it with a raging hard on.” He had his evil Sylar face on, which didn’t help Chris’s problem, not even a little. But he could see that Zach’s eyes were dark with lust and his playing it cool, was exactly that, an act. Chris longed to make Zach lose his cool, he wondered what it would take, but there would be time to find that out later, there was a more urgent matter at hand.
“Suit yourself, I am going to the bathroom, it’s up to if you want to land me a hand.” Chris called, what he hoped was his bluff, with a cocky grin, and was relieved when Zach followed him out of the waiting room.
The stall was fairly accommodating and they restarted their kissing without any nervous preambles, Chris allowed himself to be pushed against the door and used the hand, not buried in Zach’s hair, to unbutton his jeans, or tried to. Zach swatted it away, “I’ll be doing that” He breathed hotly against Chris’s ear, making him gasp. Zach had such great hands, he dealt deftly with the buttons and reached quickly inside Chris’s boxers, “I’m not a tease when it counts” He whispered against Chris’s mouth and Chris wanted to laugh and say he needs that on a t-shirt, but the sudden sensation of fingers wrapped around his aching cock made him buckle his hips and moan instead. Zach kissed him, silencing the moans, and touched him in tandem, founding a steady rhythm, which send bolts of pleasure through Chris’s entire body.
He wanted to reciprocate, he really did, but was unable to do much more than hold himself upright and place open mouthed sloppy kisses everywhere he could reach. It didn’t last very long, it wasn’t supposed to, he rested his head on Zach’s shoulder breathing heavily against his skin and came with a long gasp, biting him in an attempt to silence himself.
Zach held him through his orgasm and cleaned them both up, which felt oddly intimate, in a way public restroom sex had no right to be. Not that he had any past experience with good public sex, so perhaps that one had different rules. Chris could only watch as Zach looked them both over for any signs of their ordeal but they seemed to pass, because he unlocked the door and stepped out.
“Don’t you want me to?” Chris tried to stop him.
Zach shook his head “This was about your nerves, but don’t worry, you are so making it up to me later.”
Chris could live with that. “What are you doing here, anyway? You never said.”
“I will be reading with you.”
“Are you kidding me? Knowing that would have certainly helped my nerves!”
“Perhaps. But this way was a lot more fun, don’t you think?”
Chris couldn’t argue with that.
Author: kuteki
Pairing: Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto
Rating: R
Disclaimer: None of this happened, and I get no money from it.
Summary: Pretty much what it says on the tin
Note: I became a little obsessed with the different answers they gave to the question of how they met, so this is my attempt at making most of the different versions compatible and have fun with it. Both feedback and concrit very much welcome.
Word Count: 4300 words
one
"Chris and I have known each other actually before we did the movie. We have, overlapping social circles. We live in the same neighborhood in L.A"
Chris had just blown a possibly life changing audition and all he really wanted to do was get smashed and possibly fuck a stranger, so that tomorrow’s regrets would be more diffused. He was not a fan of the music, it really didn’t compliment his stress-induced headache, but Akbar was friendly, the drinks were cheap and he was nowhere near famous enough for people to care about taking his picture there, besides, on a Friday night it was his friends’ preferred hangout and he wasn’t in a drinking alone mood.
Sure enough, their usual table by the corner was filled with a bunch of laughing familiar faces as well as a few new ones, and before he’d even finished saying hello someone was handing him a shot, his friends were great like that. Chris downed it easily, with the firm resolution to have a good night. Fuck the audition, who needs a stupid sci-fi role anyway.
An inordinate amount of shots later, Chris was having a semi-coherent but very much in-depth discussion about the merits of caffeinated alcoholic beverages when he felt the urge to dance. The music was still not exactly to his taste, but the familiarity of the beat was somewhat appealing and more to the point, the guy he was talking to had rested a heavy hand inappropriately high on Chris’s thigh and seemed oblivious to the clear not-interested-in-the-least signals Chris was all but glaring at him. Whatever, he pretended he needed to piss and got lost in the crowd before he could be followed. He found himself a spot near the centre of the dance floor and closed his eyes trying to get lost in the music. He felt pretty good after a while, enjoying the press of gyrating bodies surrounding him, without aiming towards anyone in particular, when somebody bumped into him and hard. A hand gripped his shoulder for support and a dark haired guy with thick frames apologized too sincerely for the bump to have been pre-calculated.
“That’s okay,” Chris shrugged; he was too far gone to have even noticed if not for the apology, who the fuck apologizes on a dance floor.
The guy looked at him for a second, frowning, “Oh, you are Tim’s friend, right? I am Zach.” The guy did look vaguely familiar, though Chris could not quite place him, perhaps he was one of the people at their table he hadn’t yet spoken to. But Tim knew everybody, so he nodded. The guy smiled a little cautiously, his head down, and blinked up through his glasses, and Chris wouldn’t normally have looked at him twice, the bright stripes were painful to the eye, but there was something about him, something that made him smile back and place his hand on the guy’s waist. “Chris. Dance with me.” The guy agreeably moved alongside to the beat, but much to Chris’s chagrin didn’t shift much closer, so Chris was the one who leaned in, with the pretext to ask for his name, because he might have been told, but he couldn’t remember. The guy raised an unimpressed eyebrow in response but Chris was too busy staring at his mouth to hear the reply. Possibly Jack, but he couldn’t be sure.
Not that it mattered, he was way too drunk to care about names, the heat of the people surrounding him, the overly loud beat and the hesitant press of warm hands on his ass were enough for now.
A couple songs later, they were grinding more than dancing; Chris had his back against the guy’s chest, who had wrapped one arm around Chris’s body, while Chris loosely held his hips, and not so subtly used each beat to grind closer against an obvious hardness. The reaction he’d created made him feel so damn hot, and they hadn’t even kissed yet. Chris was about to remedy this, he leaned back and licked his lips in anticipation, but before he could fully appreciate the lips-parted-eyes-closed-fucking-hot view that greeted him, a tiny blonde girl was rudely pushing them apart.
“I am leaving now, and I am fulfilling my promise to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.” She was saying and Chris frowned at her, because he wasn’t stupid, but she didn’t once look his way.
The guy did not protest enough for Chris’s liking, only mouthed a wide eyed sorry and disappeared before Chris could even think about asking for his number. Fuck that, he suddenly felt exhausted, his mood had turned sour in the space of seconds and he ended up going home that night to an empty bed.
A couple of weeks later, Chris was sprawled on his couch, aimlessly clicking through the TV channels, when he came across something familiar, he could recognize those eyebrows anywhere, oh shit, turns out mysterious guy Jack whose sudden disappearance Chris was unable to get out of his head, was in fact Zach. Zachary Quinto, to be precise. Star of Heroes and if this news was to be believed, the new Spock.
Chris felt like he was playing a game he didn’t know the rules of but he kept on losing anyway, and it pissed him off to no end. He ignored Tim’s jeering the next day, wishing he hadn’t told him about ‘Jack’. And he certainly didn’t need to be set up with anyone, thank you very much, he was Chris Pine and he was awesome. Only apparently not as awesome as Zachary Quinto. After that he rented Heroes on DVD.
two
"Well, let's clarify this: We actually worked out in our trainer's kitchen," Pine laughed recently, revealing that they had met pre-"Trek" through a shared workout guru.
Simon was a good friend so when he’d told Chris, he was going to quit his day job and finally open that gym he’d been dreaming about for years, Chris had easily agreed to be one of his first ‘star’ clients. The business was small, but the fact that it existed out of the extension of Simon’s house did not stop it from flourishing. Simon was also a good personal trainer, and so when he’d suggested Chris move his workout to earlier in the morning Chris hadn’t questioned it.
On that first morning, he’d taken his customary coffee on the go and jogged all the way to Simon’s house. It wasn’t that far, however by the time he got there, he was a little out of breath and his t-shirt was sticking uncomfortably to his back, which was perfect really because Simon wasn’t alone. He had his front door open and was saying goodbye to what Chris guessed was another client.
The man was dressed in dark sweatpants and a loose blue tank top and Chris was checking out his ass even before he saw the face. When he did see the face, he was too busy freaking out to stop staring. It was Zach. Of course it was. Zach too had halted in his steps, but that wasn’t that strange, considering Chris was blocking his way out. Thankfully, just before the silence could turn to awkward, Simon saw him and waved, “Hey Chris, you are on time for once! This is Zach by the way; Zach Quinto, Chris Pine.”
He wasn’t sure if Zach had recognized him, and so he nodded stiffly, feeling like an ass, but really what was he supposed to say “Hey, remember that one time we almost made out in a club, that was fun, how about we try again, only more successfully.” Yeah, right.
Zach said hello and gave him a puzzled look as they shook hands, but he didn’t say anything more either and that was that.
Only, not quite, because his workouts continued to not quite overlap with Zach’s yoga sessions and every so often during the next month he would run into Zach, on his way in or out. Sometimes they would end up side by side, leaning against the kitchen counter and sipping energy drinks while Simon talked about breathing techniques or something, Chris wasn’t sure, when Zach was so close, his body radiating heat, Chris found it difficult to concentrate.
In these situations they would say hello and make polite, if stilted, small talk, so that an uneasy acquaintance formed. Chris was pretty sure Simon was trying to set them up, but he refused to be engaged in conversation about his blatant crush and took the baiting with stoic silence until Simon gave up. Yes, he wanted Zach, (the initial fascination had only been fuelled by the too short glimpses of Zach’s personality and body that he was occasionally privy to) but he wouldn’t be himself if he wasn’t stupidly stubborn about it.
three
“We met at a Rock the Vote party about three days before I went in for my audition and I asked him about the process.”
“I don’t know whose dick you’ve sucked for this, but you’ve got yourself a second Trek audition.” His agent was saying in her own special way. Chris had been asleep when his phone had rang, and he had a monster hangover, but that sentence was enough to not only wake him, but make him feel positively chipper, “Seriously? But I already had one. And blew it.” Was nevertheless all he could say.
There was an exasperated sigh on the other side of the line, which made him smile a little, his agent was pretty fantastic, she must be, to have pulled off a second audition. “Yeah. And now you have another one. Just make sure you don’t fuck it up again, you’ve got four days, I’ll fax you the script.”
His lines were fine, who was he kidding, much better than fine, the movie was going to be amazing, and Chris read them in front of his bathroom mirror and they came out all flat. The more he tried, the more awful it got, until he gave up and started watching TV, trying not to think about playing Kirk against Zach’s Spock.
Next morning Chris’s heart was racing before he even got to the Grammy from the mere possibility of running into Zach. He hadn’t seen him in over a week and hoped that talking to him would be helpful. Zach wasn’t there. The frustration from his failure to get the lines combined with the annoyance over Zach’s absence made him overdo the weight lifting just a little. Well, more than that.
“Chris? Chris, stop that! What are you trying to prove?” Simon had raised his voice, which his usually mild mannered trainer hardly ever did.
“Sorry.” Chris grinned sheepishly and shrugged, in an attempt to make Simon drop it. It didn’t work.
“Come here, sit for a while. Now. I am all for people working out through their problems with exercise, god knows it’s better that using booze or drugs.”
“Or sex” Chris quipped, but Simon appeared set on a lecture and that did little to stop him, “Right. But. Hurting yourself is not the answer. Now, you are going to tell me what’s up, and then we will do some meditation.”
Meditation worked a little, but it was the conversation that had been particularly useful. He’d found out Zach was going to be at the Declare Yourself party, which Chris remembered getting an invite for.
It was the sort of party he’d recently learned how to have fun at, a bit of who’s who in Hollywood, beautiful people badly feigning an interest in politics which was always hilarious, and most importantly an open bar. He’d had a few drinks by the time he’d spotted Zach, and observed him for a minute before making his way to the edge of the room, where Zach had leaned against the wall, animatedly talking to Hayden Panettiere, and laughing.
He wasn’t sure how to interrupt, and was saved from doing so by Hayden, who had noticed his loitering and waved him over, they weren’t friends, or even acquaintances, but knew each other enough to necessitate an obligatory greeting.
“Chris! How lovely to see you,” She smiled and even with her dangerously high heels, Chris had to bend down to kiss her cheek, which he
did, all the while carefully not looking at Zach. “Do you know each other?” She asked, but continued, gesturing between them, before either could answer, “Zach Quinto, Chris Pine.”
Chris couldn’t but laugh at yet another introduction, but played along for no reason other than it might make Zach smile, and so with a wry grin he offered his hand, finally letting himself look up at Zach’s face, who was looking back, and then down at Chris’s hand before shaking it firmly. It was a lovely, warm grip, which Chris held onto for a tad longer than was strictly appropriate.
“Chris? Hm, I think we might have met before. You are Tim’s friend, correct?” Zach cocked his head to one side, the corners of his mouth lifting into an almost-smirk, while Chris most certainly did not gape at him.
He felt really stupid and also a little elated. Zach remembered! Of course he did. And was laughing at him, and in front of Hayden too, wait, Hayden wasn’t there any longer, when did that happen. Never mind. Say something!
“Shit, you remember!” Chris began, feeling immediately foolish, but only for a second because Zach looked delighted with that response, which is when Chris came to two conclusions, the first that Zach was pretty drunk and the second that Zach had thought that he didn’t remember, which made him feel slightly guilty, but mostly fantastic.
With that major hurdle behind them, the conversation flew much more smoothly than ever before, they laughed about their shared stupidity, both wanting to say more than they actually did and then talked politics for a while before Chris felt he could tell him about the audition without feeling bad about doing so.
Zach made up for his lack of surprise with a genuine congratulation and then easily discussed the audition process. He elaborated on his unusual path toward the role which had become a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, generously praised both JJ and the script and offered plenty of useless advice. Chris felt a little harsh thinking so, but seriously: “Trust your instincts. Relax. Find that quintessentially Kirk aspect of yourself, and use it.” Shitty advice, but fun to listen to.
It felt like they’d only just truly met; Chris had allowed his crush to fester with his perceived rejection which as a result had put Zach on a semi-pedestal. This accounted for Chris’s uncharacteristic behaviour and now that was no longer an issue. Well his crush was, but in a truer way, he felt like the cardboard copy of Zach that lived in his head, had come alive. Chris really, really wanted to get to know him better, and yes, that meant sex, but also everything else. The guy was just so smart and opinionated and when Chris got through his initial defensive reserve he was met with a sharp, and surprisingly dirty sense of humour. People like that were a rare breed in his line of business, Chris would be stupid not to try anything.
“Dude, thanks, you were a tremendous resource, but you want to actually help me, you should come over, run lines with me.” Chris smiled widely, feeling pretty smooth there until he saw Zach shaking his head.
“I’m sorry man, I would love to, but I need to catch a flight in literally a few hours and I’ll be out of town for the next few days” He seemed to genuinely regret this, nevertheless, to say that this caused Chris disappointment would be a huge understatement.
Zach really had such a stupid effect on him, Chris felt like he was thirteen again, the precise moment after Maggie Neston had punched him on the nose for trying to kiss her. It hadn’t stopped him from trying again, rather successfully, a couple of years later though, which really said something profound about him, and not just that he liked it a little rough. But this time, well, he had no intention to wait that long.
“Fair enough, but I’ll need your number, just in case.” He paused dramatically, before grinning broadly. “I’ll need to pick your brains again.”
Zach’s eyebrows shot up at once. “Really, man, really? Next time you get the urge to be funny. Just. Don’t.” Zach shook his head in mock sadness, but Chris could see he was biting back a laugh and he did take out his blackberry.
The next day, the script felt familiar for the first time, he read his lines and felt damn great about his performance.
four
“When I auditioned for it, I was in the waiting room and obviously, nervous as anyone is before they go in to audition. And Zach happened to come in…seeing what a wonderful guy he was, I realized I was in great hands.”
Chris was sitting in the waiting room, trying not to fidget and failing miserably. The room had no natural light source, the gleaming leather sofas were uncomfortably hard and the air was stuffy. It didn’t help that there was no one else there, he was half an hour early and feeling a little sick, truth be told. He’d thought he’d gotten over audition jitters years back, but apparently not. Or at least not when the role could skyrocket his career, no pun intended. He tried to reassure himself of his own awesomeness, and periodically checked his watch (26 minutes to go) when the door behind him opened and Zach wondered in. Wait, what? But, it was most definitely Zach. He was wearing his unmistakable purple shirt with tight, tight jeans and was nose deep in what was probably the script. And walked right past Chris.
“Um, Zach?” Chris said and realized that Zach was only nose deep in the script to hide his hugely amused expression, when he did look at Chris his face was serious but his eyes were laughing. Tyra would be so proud came as an unbidden thought, which probably meant that it was time to stop watching those ANTM reruns.
“Dude, you should have seen your face, that was priceless.”
Chris didn’t feel like laughing, but the mere sound of Zach’s voice did wonders to soothe his nerves. “I fail to see what is so funny, Zachary, do you mind enlightening me?”
“Well, you looked like you’d seen a ghost. You feeling all right?” Zach asked and his tone was mocking but gentle as he sat down on the sofa next to Chris, immediately folding up his legs in that stupidly endearing yoga way of his. Chris shifted a little, but was unable to get any more comfortable, fucking sofa must be filled with nails or something.
“Easy for you to laugh Mr Spock, some of us haven’t got a job yet.”
“Well, no, but the operative word in this case happens to be yet, you will be fine, you know that.”
“And how exactly do you know that? Did you gauge my acting talent from my long repertoire of shitty movies?” Chris was aware he was snapping when Zach was only trying to be nice, but he was feeling nervous and Zach was sitting so close to him and smelled really good and he couldn’t do the audition while turned on, he really couldn’t.
“Repertoire, hm?” Zach lifted an eyebrow, impressed, and Chris wanted to feel insulted at that, he had an English degree, for fuck’s sake, but all he felt was pleased; he certainly did not want to examine the implications of that.
“Well, I do think the Princess Diaries 2 is a cinematic masterpiece,” Zach carried on, and now he was just being mean, but Chris was apparently unable to get mad at him, “But no, that is not why I know. I know because I spend two months obsessing over you and believing you did not remember me, as apparently did you, which let me remind you, I had absolutely no idea of, if that is not a testament of acting talent, I don’t know what is.”
Chris was aware that this compliment was both self serving and self assured, but he didn’t care, he laughed, feeling lightheaded and nervous, for reasons no longer connected to the audition. He didn’t know what to say and looked at Zach for guidance, but for once there was none, as incongruently to the words Zach had uttered, he looked visibly apprehensive, which was ridiculous, because surely he now knew Chris was literally stupid for him. Maybe he really was that good an actor.
He would always swear his next words were perfectly innocent.
“Thanks man, but surely there are better ways you can distract me from the audition…”
Chris licked his lips, a nervous gesture of his, and he noticed that Zach was looking at him, really looking, and damn it all to hell, he didn’t care if there were cameras in the waiting room or that anyone could walk in, because he had been denying himself this for way too long and he couldn’t take in any longer.
The next few moments were a blur of sensations, maybe they both reached for each other at once, maybe he was the one that made the first move, Chris honestly had no idea, but what was important was that they were kissing, finally, finally kissing. At that first, far from gentle touch of lips, Chris felt like a knot inside of him had loosened, something finally clicked into place and it didn’t matter that Zach’s knee was digging uncomfortably against Chris’s side, or that Zach was gripping his shoulder so firmly that it hurt, because his mouth was making Chris dizzy, and he held back with no less force, giddy with feeling.
They kissed furiously, like drunken teenagers until Zach softly pulled away, his lips wet with saliva and flushed red and Chris couldn’t tear his gaze away, “You’ve got to stop doing this to me. You are such a fucking tease.” He whispered, voice rough from want, but Zach heard, how could he not, when they were inches apart and smiled at him.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, but we should probably wait till after the audition.”
No, Chris was having none of that, he was so hard he could hardly be expected to perform his best under such circumstances, surely Zach understood that, but just for emphasis he pointed towards the prominent bulge in his trousers, “I can’t do this man, not like this, and I’ve got fifteen minutes, and the bathroom is right there.”
Zach’s eyes followed his hand and Jesus fuck he didn’t know he could get any harder but Zach’s gaze was heavy and his dick a fan of the attention.
“On the contrary” Zach said after what seemed a thoughtful pause. “I think it would add a certain je ne sais quoi to the role if you were to play it with a raging hard on.” He had his evil Sylar face on, which didn’t help Chris’s problem, not even a little. But he could see that Zach’s eyes were dark with lust and his playing it cool, was exactly that, an act. Chris longed to make Zach lose his cool, he wondered what it would take, but there would be time to find that out later, there was a more urgent matter at hand.
“Suit yourself, I am going to the bathroom, it’s up to if you want to land me a hand.” Chris called, what he hoped was his bluff, with a cocky grin, and was relieved when Zach followed him out of the waiting room.
The stall was fairly accommodating and they restarted their kissing without any nervous preambles, Chris allowed himself to be pushed against the door and used the hand, not buried in Zach’s hair, to unbutton his jeans, or tried to. Zach swatted it away, “I’ll be doing that” He breathed hotly against Chris’s ear, making him gasp. Zach had such great hands, he dealt deftly with the buttons and reached quickly inside Chris’s boxers, “I’m not a tease when it counts” He whispered against Chris’s mouth and Chris wanted to laugh and say he needs that on a t-shirt, but the sudden sensation of fingers wrapped around his aching cock made him buckle his hips and moan instead. Zach kissed him, silencing the moans, and touched him in tandem, founding a steady rhythm, which send bolts of pleasure through Chris’s entire body.
He wanted to reciprocate, he really did, but was unable to do much more than hold himself upright and place open mouthed sloppy kisses everywhere he could reach. It didn’t last very long, it wasn’t supposed to, he rested his head on Zach’s shoulder breathing heavily against his skin and came with a long gasp, biting him in an attempt to silence himself.
Zach held him through his orgasm and cleaned them both up, which felt oddly intimate, in a way public restroom sex had no right to be. Not that he had any past experience with good public sex, so perhaps that one had different rules. Chris could only watch as Zach looked them both over for any signs of their ordeal but they seemed to pass, because he unlocked the door and stepped out.
“Don’t you want me to?” Chris tried to stop him.
Zach shook his head “This was about your nerves, but don’t worry, you are so making it up to me later.”
Chris could live with that. “What are you doing here, anyway? You never said.”
“I will be reading with you.”
“Are you kidding me? Knowing that would have certainly helped my nerves!”
“Perhaps. But this way was a lot more fun, don’t you think?”
Chris couldn’t argue with that.