a funny thing happened on the way to comic con

[sassyspock]

Getting your flight delayed at the last second was never fun. Getting your gate changed without your notice? Even more fun. Tucked up in first class, Zach was an old pro at airports, but normally things went without a hitch. Either he knew where he was going ahead of time, say, to Chris' apartment, or he was met with a car at the gate by someone

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[geekiwi]

Dinner with Mr. Shatner had been very nice. A bit like walking through a minefield of lolz at times -- as people on the internet, though never Karl, might say -- but he was really a funny, remarkably charismatic and interesting man, and Karl was more disappointed than ever that he hadn't been in the movie.

Maybe he'd e-mail JJ later.

Thankfully, the paparazzi seemed to have dispersed by the time they'd finished and said their goodbyes -- Mr. Shatner went his own way, and Karl and Zach managed to quickly hail a cab before anybody spotted them. It was a quick trip back, with Karl yawning from the food and the wine and the long day all the while.

[sassyspock]

"Don't be surprised if I end up asleep on you," Zach warned, eyes half closed as they drove back. "That was a really good dessert." He licked his lips, still tasting a little bit of white chocolate there.

He thought about it. "Do you have a panel tomorrow?" He couldn't remember the schedule exactly.

[geekiwi]

Karl had been angelically good and ordered raspberry sorbet. Not chocolate, probably 'girly', but still delicious.

"Yeah," he sighed. "It's not too early, though, thank God. What about you?"

[sassyspock]

"Sometime in the afternoon. Might go out for a swim if I can manage to get to the pool when its open and not completely filled with fans." He leaned back into the seat, wonder how far he had to go. The idea of his bed sounded nice, real nice tonight. He looked sideways to Karl, too many thoughts suddenly in his head and all wrong.

[geekiwi]

"Maybe you should go during the Marvel panel. Nobody'll be caring about swimming then." He slouched and yawned again. "Don't know if that's even tomorrow or not. The schedule's literally the size of a phone book."

[sassyspock]

"That's a good idea." Zach leaned, giving Karl a bit of shoulder to lean into. "I got in and not half an hour later, I was getting rushed off to a panel. I probably looked like hell, if the look Mike gave me was anything to go by."

[geekiwi]

Karl snorted. "At least you can get away with camouflaging yourself with a hat and glasses. Nothing out of the ordinary."

The sun was setting when they arrived back at their hotel shortly after, and they hustled inside past the people meandering around. Not that Karl didn't like interacting with fans, but he wasn't really up to signing things and getting into deep discussions about the history of Rohan at the moment, and he doubted Zach was, either.

[sassyspock]

He wasn't, not by a long shot. "You up for a night cap? Just want a real drink and a bed." Zach gave a smile to a fan who called his name, but just kept walking beside Karl.

[geekiwi]

"Yeah, man. Sounds good." Just enough to put him out like a light for the night, but not enough to cause a hangover. It was a delicate balance.

Karl stopped to buy a couple packets of chocolate-chip biscuits from a vending machine in the lobby -- sorbet, okay? -- and then they headed off to whoever's room was closer. His, as it turned out, by a mere ten or so seconds' elevator time but closer nonetheless.

[sassyspock]

Zach followed Karl to his follow and search for a moment before finding a list from the bar downstairs. Didn't take him long to pick out a drink before he offered the menu over. "Wish Pine could have been here tonight. He would have loved to sit down with the Shat."

[geekiwi]

Karl toed his shoes off, fluffed up a few pillows and leaned back against the headboard of his bed to scan the menu. He thumped his free hand against the other side of the mattress to indicate to Zach to kick back and relax. "He would've," he agreed. "But I think he might have been a little disappointed to hear that his eyebrows gave an excellent performance."

[sassyspock]

Zach snorted with laughter as he kicked off his shoes and flopped down beside Karl, stretching out. "You think Shatner was telling the truth about all that? Liking Pine's performance, even wanting to come see my play?" He yawned again, knowing even a whiskey sour was going to put him out.

[geekiwi]

"Yeah. I think so. He seems like a guy who says what he's thinking straight out." Karl gave a crooked smile. "Maybe not everything he's thinking, but some of it, at least. I don't think he'd lie."

[sassyspock]

"See, I think he'd be the type to pull the wool over your eyes," Zach said tiredly, pointing at the menu. "You wanna order or me? Room service, can't beat it. Plus a fresh made drink."

[geekiwi]

Karl shrugged. Maybe his brain was just choosing to give one of his childhood heroes (or the actor who'd played him, anyway) the benefit of the doubt.

He stretched over to reach the phone beside the bed. "I will. Want anything else to eat, Mr. Entree Salad?"

[sassyspock]

"Want a whiskey sour. And no, I'm good. Entree salad, it was bigger than my head, Mr. Sorbet." Zach smirked, closing his eyes as he folded his arms behind his head. "With big mushrooms."