The Day After Halloween
Title: The Day After Halloween
Author: islandblue
Characters: Milo/Zach, Kristen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,409
Warnings: Some bad language
Spoilers: None
Summary: Zach and Milo like each others costumes at a Halloween party.
Disclaimer: I don't know Zachary Quinto, Milo Ventimiglia or Kristen Bell. The following story, while loosely based on real people, is completely fictional.
Author's Note: A super huge thanks to midnightblue88 for editing this. She did it for me in two hours because she rocks. THANK YOU!
***
An impossibly loud alarm sounded, and Zachary rolled over in the bed to turn it off. He had been up for the past twenty minutes anyway. Nine hours of sleep and he still felt like roadkill. It’d be a while before he would touch alcohol again.
Rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, he sat up in bed. The events of the previous night abruptly came flooding in, turning his headache into a migraine. It was going to be a rough day. He got up and headed for the kitchen hoping he still had some Tylenol.
Last night was mostly all a blur except for the one part he would rather to forget.
***
Zach adjusted the tasteful fedora on his head for the third time. “Quit picking at it! It looks fine,” Kristen berated him again before the door swung open. Catwoman was standing in the threshold, and Zach tried very hard not to roll his eyes at the unoriginality of the costume.
“Omigod! Kristen! You look so gorgeous!” The girl in the cat costume exclaimed and Kristen struck a few poses for her.
He had to admit, she did pick out a perfect getup for herself. For both of them actually. She chose to be a flapper in a saucy dress with a flask of hooch strapped to her thigh, and he got be a 1920s gangster in a pinstripe suit.
“Thank you, thank you. So do you, by the way.” The two girls hugged, and Zach realized he had completely forgotten this girl’s name even though Kristen had told him several times.
“And this, of course, is Zachary.” Kristen turned to him. “Zach, this is Emma. Emma, Zach.”
Oh thank God, he thought. “Hi, Emma, glad to meet you. I like your tail.” He motioned at the appendage. Emma smiled and wriggled her rear, making the tail swing back and forth.
“Thanks!” she replied. “Not the most innovative costume, but all the other ones were really uncomfortable.” At least she had a reasonable excuse. “Well don’t just stand there! Come in, come in.”
They stepped into the large home, and Emma quickly led them through some hallways to a room which opened on a spacious backyard. Immediately, Zach’s eyes and ears were assaulted by incredibly loud music and black lights which seemed to be everywhere. “Masi, Adrian and the rest of them are already here!” Emma was yelling over the music to them. “I think they’re somewhere there!” She pointed loosely over the crowd of people dancing.
“Okay thanks!” Kristen turned to him as her friend disappeared to attend to her other guests. “Come on!” she said, yanking him along. “I can’t wait to see what everybody is wearing - I know Hayd said she was going to be Little Red Riding Hood.”
“How naughty,” he answered but didn’t think she heard him over the music. They wove through the crowd quickly, and he tried to simile politely at all the people who gave him greeting nods. Honestly though, he wasn’t feeling all that great. He couldn’t believe he had let Kristen talk him into taking all those shots of Doorly’s. Damn her and her 80 proof Barbados rum.
The backyard seemed to stretch on forever, and all Zach wanted to do was sit down for a few minutes until his head stopped spinning. Why the hell was Kristen leading them to where the music was the loudest? He grimaced slightly as they passed by a large speaker which had just started blaring out the Ghostbusters theme. The crowd cheered, and people who had been standing and chatting idly began heading for the dance area.
Dania, her presumed date, and Adrian bumped into the two of them. “Hey guys! Glad you could finally make it.” Adrian gave him a sloppy hug. Zach wasn’t sure what Adrian was supposed to be. He was wearing raggedy clothes and looked dirty. The green drink in his hand appeared to be smoldering. “I’m going to dance!” he said needlessly, pointing to the dance floor.
“Yes, you are,” Zach told him with laughter in his voice.
“Wow, Zach! You look so handsome!” Dania said, giving him a hug and quick peck on the cheek. He returned the favor. “Thanks, Cleopatra.”
“Do you like it?” She glanced down at herself. It was a nice costume and she definitely looked good in it. “Of course I like it! Your make-up is great, by the way. Really adds to the over-all effect.”
“Aww, thanks, hun,” she said, smushing his cheeks with one hand. “Your suit is very sharp. And stripes! Why am I not surprised?”
Zach sniggered. “The rest of them are over there,” Dania continued. “By the way, you owe me at least one dance before the night is through.” She winked at him and went after her date and Adrian.
Kristen had disappeared into the crowd, and Zach followed her.
When he came to where they were all crowded together, Zach had to grind his teeth to keep his jaw from dropping. As Kristen had predicted, Hayden was dressed as Little Red, Masi was a ninja, Greg looked to be dressed as a pilot and Milo . . . Milo was dressed up as a Roman general. He was wearing leather boots and wrist-guards, a tunic that hung just past his knees, and a chest plate. Zach wondered where the hell he got such an authentic-looking costume.
Milo’s face reflected the same amount of genuine interest. “Well, well, well, Zach. I have to say, that’s one hell of a suit,” he said, stepping across their little circle and squeezing himself between Zach and Masi.
“It should be for the price I paid.” Milo was too busy examining the garment to hear him. “Where’d you pick it up?” He was now scrutinizing the fedora.
“It’s a little store just down the street from that coffee place. You know the one?” Zach said, unconsciously adjusting the hat again. Milo glanced up at him, as if for the first time realizing there was a person in the suit. He gave him a typical elevator look which surprisingly made Zach’s stomach prickle.
“You look damn good in it, I’ll tell you that.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Zach saw Kristen covering her smile with the drink she was holding. He ignored her. Tell a girl which co-worker of the same sex you find attractive and she’ll never let you live it down.
“You look damn good yourself,” he told him. Milo took another sip of the drink he was holding. Like Adrian’s, his was also smoldering. “Yeah, unfortunately I’m not the only one who decided on the Romanesque solider.”
“True. But everyone else is cheaply imitating the guys from 300,” Zach said, viewing the crowd around them.
“Exactly,” Hayden piped up. “And all those other guys don’t even have bodies to pull it off.” She smiled at Milo, who gave her a lopsided grin in return.
“She’s right. You’re very muscular,” Zach said teasingly. Was that . . . was he flirting with Milo? Okay, no more alcohol for another thirty minutes.
Milo shrugged his shoulders in an ‘I guess so’ gesture then brought up his arm, flexing his left bicep while pointing. “The beach is that way, ladies.”
They all laughed, and Zach tried to not make it too obvious that he was staring at Milo’s flexed arm. When he trailed his eyes back to Milo’s face, Zach realized he had been caught. Milo nodded at him, grinning as if in approval of Zach’s interest. He winked faintly and prodded him in the ribs with his elbow. “You too, buddy. You too.”
Zach wanted to say something but saw that Kristen was practically beaming at their exchange. “I’m going to get a drink,” he said instead. Screw his 30 minute rule.
“Oh, get me one too!” Hayden told him before he disappeared into the crowd.
***
Exactly one hour later Zach found himself at the drinks table again. They were actually very addictive - and delicious. He wondered briefly what was in them to make them smolder like that, but was too drunk to care or put any serious thought into it. The party was great, and he was having a fun time despite being on the verge of nausea occasionally. Especially after the vigorous dance Hayden forced him into when Thriller came on.
Zach swiped three drinks off the table and headed back to the area where all of them had been standing. “There he is!” Milo announced. Zach passed the drinks off to Kristen and Adrian just in time to be pulled down in a one-armed, shoulder-to-shoulder hug from Milo.
They had been making eye contact an unusual amount of times throughout the night. Zach would be in conversation with someone and get that sixth sense feeling that he was being observed. Every time, he’d find Milo watching him. Sometimes Milo would wink and smile, sometimes he’d nod, and other times it was as if he only wanted Zach to know he was looking.
“Look at this guy!” Milo was talking to Adrian, who, Zach was told earlier, was dressed up as Mad Max. “Isn’t this the sickest suit you’ve ever seen?”
“It is,” Adrian agreed, raising his drink in a salute. “I still say you should’ve come in with a Tommy gun though. Then you really would’ve looked the part.” He downed the beverage in one gulp.
Milo dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. “Don’t listen to that drunk,” he said, leaning closer into Zach. “You look hot.” Zach could smell the blueberry schnapps on his breath.
Their faces were more than a little close, and Zach could tell some of the people standing near them were watching. Not that he cared. It wouldn’t be the first time that something salacious happened at a party; it was all in good fun. Except that if Milo . . . did anything it would probably take the cake for most scandalous incident between any of them. “I need to find the washroom,” Milo said at last.
“There’s one on the second floor to the left of the stairs.” Kristen informed him. “That one hasn’t been abused yet.”
Milo extracted himself from Zach, stumbled a little, then steadied his footing. “I’m okay,” he reassured them.
“Yeah, just don’t end up peeing in one of the bedrooms,” Kristen said. Milo rolled his eyes and staggered in the direction of the house.
A few minutes later Kristen turned to Zach, “Damn, now I have to go. Come with me?”
“Sure,” Zach said and bent his arm so she could put hers through it.
***
When they got upstairs, the door to the bathroom was locked. “Guess Milo’s still in there,” she said, shrugging.
A second later the door opened, and Milo popped out blinking rapidly. “Shit, it’s bright in there,” he said.
“Yeah, yeah, out of the way. Other people need to go too,” Kristen said, pulling him forward. “Hold my drink, babe.” She handed her glass to Zach before disappearing into the washroom.
“Pushy, isn’t she?” Milo said tightening the thick belt holding his costume together and looking up at Zach.
“I heard that!” came the muffled yell from inside the washroom. Zach laughed and leaned back against the opposite wall. Milo was watching him again. “You really do look fuckin’ amazing in that suit.” He raised his eyebrow suggestively and stepped closer to Zach.
“You’re drunk,” Zach said, smiling, and apprehensively took a sip of Kristen’s drink.
“You’re sexy,” Milo countered, smirking. The liquid went down the wrong way, and Zach sputtered, pulling the glass away from his mouth, laughing. He could feel some of it running annoyingly down his chin and he tongued his bottom lip to clean up the excess alcohol.
He was about to swipe at his chin when he noticed Milo was no longer smiling and was staring at his mouth. Zach’s heart began to beat a little faster. He unwittingly ran his tongue over his bottom lip again. That was the catalyst for what happened next.
Milo leaned in quickly. He lapped at the alcohol on Zach’s chin, licked a path straight up and pushed his tongue into Zach’s surprised mouth. Air escaped through Zach’s nose as he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
Milo’s tongue was insistent, wrapping around his own in a messy but very satisfying way. Zach tilted his head the other way, momentarily breaking the kiss but just as quickly going in for more. He pulled Milo’s lip into his mouth, sucking right at the spot that sometimes went crooked when Milo talked.
Milo growled and briskly pushed Zack into the wall. “Fuck, you taste good,” he whispered harshly as if it shouldn’t be feasible.
“Mmm-hmm,” Zach answered him, dipping down for another taste. Milo cupped the back of his head in both hands, pulling him further down until Zach’s nose was squashed painfully against his cheek. Their mouths clashed together unevenly, lips being accidentally nipped by sharp teeth. Zach didn’t care and only tried to not buck his hips into Milo’s, something he knew was a bad idea even in his alcohol-fueled mind.
The sound of the flush from inside the washroom broke them apart like nervous teenagers. They stared at each other in bewildered silence while the sound of running water came through the door. The heated moment was severed, leaving both of them confused.
Zach wanted to say something that would fix this, but the door swung open before he could utter a word. “That’s so much better!” Kristen exclaimed before stopping short at the sight of them. A mischievous smile grew on her face. “What were you guys doing?” she asked when all three of them knew the answer.
“We were talking,” Milo said shortly, still looking at Zach. They stood there awkwardly for a few more seconds.
Milo cleared his throat. “I’m, uh, going to get some more drinks. I’ll meet you two down there.” He moved passed them and sprinted down the stairs. Kristen opened her mouth but Zach cut her off.
“Don’t. Don’t even say it.”
She closed it again, looking disappointed. “Fine.” She shrugged, heading for the stairs. “But I will want the details eventually,” she said over her shoulder.
Zach sighed and followed her to re-join the party.