First Days (Coffee Fix 'verse)
Title: First Days
Author: therumjournals
Fandom: Star Trek RPF
Pairing: Chris/Zach
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,212
Description: Three first days of school. ( Coffee Fix ‘verse)
A/N: I couldn’t figure out whether this was one ficlet or three. It’s kind of both.
Zach spotted Chris across the playground, sipping his coffee and squinting in the morning sun. The school bell rang as Zach jogged across the pavement, stopping short when he noticed Chris’s glare.
Zach glanced at his watch. “What? You said 8 o’clock. It’s 7:59!”
“I said they line up at 8 o’clock,” Chris said, gesturing toward where a mob of children was lining up dutifully at the doors to the school.
“What the hell, Chris, I asked you what time…ugh, you know what,” he muttered to himself as he yanked his phone out of his pocket. “Look-“ he showed the screen to Chris. His email on the bottom read what time for gav’s first day tomorrow? and Chris’s response above it said 8:00.
“I thought you meant what time does school start. I thought you could judge for yourself what time you wanted to get here.”
“I meant what time were you guys going to get here. Why the fuck would I ask you when they line up?”
“Hey, how about you stop picking fights with me and say hi to your son,” Chris said flatly, tipping his head toward the playground, where Gavin was running frantically toward them, his huge backpack flopping from side-to-side on his back.
Zach dropped to a squat and let Gavin crash into him so hard he had to put a hand back on the pavement to steady himself. “Hey, buddy!”
“Hi Dad!” Gavin grinned at him and pushed his baseball cap up, losing the battle quickly as it slid down again to rest on the tops of his ears.
“First day of kindergarten! You’re so grown up, Gavin! Are you excited?”
Gavin nodded, but his smile faltered and he looked between the two of them.
“You nervous? Don’t be nervous, okay? You’re going to have so much fun.”
“He’s not nervous,” Chris said. “Austin and Ryan are going to be there with you, right Gav?”
“Yeah. And we’re gonna play blocks!”
“Blocks, that’s awesome!” Zach said. He pulled Gavin in for another hug. “I love you, buddy. Will you promise to call me tonight and tell me all about your day?”
“Uh huh.”
“Good. You’d better get back there now, ‘cause I think your teacher is looking for you.”
“Mrs. Hoyes,” Chris offered. Zach tried not to roll his eyes.
“Mrs. Hoyes is looking for you. Go ahead, go line up with your class.”
Zach stood as he watched Gavin race back across the schoolyard. “Jesus Christ. I swear to god, he was an infant, like, five days ago. I really hope he’s okay.” Zach put a hand over his mouth and shook his head a little.
“He’ll be fine. Jesse was fine, Jesse loved kindergarten.”
“Yeah, but that’s Jesse. All kindergarten meant to him was a bigger audience.” Zach smiled to himself. “Gavin did seem pretty excited about the blocks, though.”
“Yeah. Look, I’m gonna run inside and make sure the nurse knows about Gavin’s allergies. I’ll see you around.”
“His allergies? He’s allergic to cats, Chris.”
“And dust!”
“Right. You know what, I should probably go with you and stop by the office to make sure they have my address and everything.”
“I’ll do it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. You don’t need to come in.”
Zach did roll his eyes then, and turned away, mumbling “fine, whatever.”
Chris headed toward the brick building and Zach made his way back to the parking lot, where he slumped in the driver’s seat and took a deep, shuddering breath. He closed his eyes and let his head drop back against the headrest. Fuck. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. How had they gotten to this point, what the fuck had happened? He tried to remember what it was like last year, when Jesse started first grade. They’d read a story to the class and Jesse had beamed with pride. He vaguely remembered being frustrated with Chris at some point, but so what? Other couples got frustrated and snappish sometimes, but they didn’t end up like this, separated and barely able to have a civil conversation one year later.
Zach shook his head and thought back another year, to Jesse’s first day of kindergarten. He remembered smiling and hugging Jesse, meeting Chris’s eye and feeling helpless and in love, and if their eyes had been a little moist then, it was for all the right reasons. Then the two of them had gone out for coffee and stayed there, talking excitedly for hours, reminiscing, planning. 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.
Zach squeezed the bridge of his nose, pressed his fingers to the corners of his eyes to keep the tears from falling. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting there, trying to center himself, before he was startled by a knock on the window. He looked up to see Chris, clutching his cup of coffee and looking at him from behind his sunglasses. Zach turned on the ignition to roll the window down halfway.
“What?”
“Don’t forget about Back-to-School Night on the 15th.”
Zach ran a hand over his face and groaned.
“You forgot, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t fucking forget,” Zach snapped. “What time?”
“You don’t need to go. Just one parent needs to be there.”
Zach glared at him through the open window. “What. Time.”
“6:30.”
“It starts at 6:30, or you want me to be there at 6:30?”
“Starts.”
“So what does that mean? 6:20, 6:15?” He couldn’t help the edge of sarcasm that crept into his voice.
Chris curled his lip a little. “Just get here at 6:20, okay?”
“Okay. You want me to call Joe to watch-“
“My mom’s watching them.”
Zach took a deep breath, grateful that his own sunglasses rendered eye contact unnecessary. “Joe wants to see them, you know.”
“Joe can see them whenever he wants. I just already told my mom that date.”
“Fine.” Zach ran a hand through his hair, looked up to say something like “see you then,” but Chris was already gone, striding across the parking lot, draining the last of the coffee from his cardboard cup.
**
Chris pulled into the parking lot and spotted Zach almost immediately, leaning against his car and sipping something from Starbucks. He parked and held the boys’ hands as they walked over.
“How long have you been here?”
“’Bout thirty minutes,” Zach said with a wry smile. Chris bit back a smile too, as Zach gave the boys’ hugs and let them chatter animatedly at him for a few minutes.
“You excited, Gavin?” Zach asked, when he could get a word in edgewise. “Going to first grade? Finally in school with your big brother?”
Gavin looked at Jesse with admiration written across his face. “I’m goin’ to third grade!” he announced proudly.
“No you’re not, dummy, you’re going to first grade, I’m going to third grade.”
“No, I AM!” Gavin said.
“Hey guys,” Chris interjected, since Zach apparently was planning to let them continue for a while as he looked on, amused. “Gavin, you don’t want to skip straight to third grade. Third graders have hours and hours of homework every night.”
Jesse looked scared, and Chris nodded at him. “It’s true. So I hope you’re ready. And don’t call your brother a dummy.”
The bell rang inside the school and 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.”
“Me, too,” added Zach. Jesse did, grudgingly, and Gavin wrapped himself around Chris’s leg enthusiastically. “Okay, little octopus, my turn,” Zach said, prying him off. He glanced apologetically at Chris as he pried Gavin’s arms off his leg, and he managed to get a quick hug from Gavin before Jesse pulled him away.
“Okay, boys,” Zach said, giving them a little salute. “Go to school. Become men. Learn big words.”
“Look both ways,” Chris said, and they did, before crossing the parking lot hand-in-hand - or more accurately, with Jesse pulling Gavin behind him by the wrist.
As they disappeared into the school, Zach cursed under his breath. Chris gave him a questioning look. “We forgot to tell them we love them,” Zach said, looking at him.
“I think they’ll remember.”
“Yeah? You don’t think we should go knock on the window of their classroom to let them know?” Zach asked. Chris smiled a little, but Zach had looked away, staring absently at the school.
They were quiet for a moment, and Zach shoved his hands in his pockets, toeing at the ground. “So…there’s something I should probably tell you…”
“Don’t bother.” Chris remembered now that the twisted-up feeling in his stomach had nothing to do with the first day of school.
Zach’s head whipped up to look at him, and Chris looked away.
“I saw the pictures.” It hadn’t even been pap pics. A premiere, a red carpet, some guy on Zach’s arm, some guy nowhere near as attractive as Zach. The picture of Zach stepping out of the limo had made Chris sweat, made him itch like his clothes were on too tight. Chris really didn’t want to think about it. Especially not today.
“It’s not serious,” Zach said softly, as though he wanted to reassure Chris, as though he could. “We’ve only been on a few dates.”
“Oh, please. You took him to a fucking premiere, Zach, I’m not stupid. And neither are you, so I’m pretty sure you weren’t exactly shocked to find cameras there.”
“I didn’t want to take him,” Zach said, and his voice was a little louder, a little more adamant, and Chris was secretly pleased to have put him in defensive mode. “He was…insistent.”
“Whatever, Zach. I don’t even care,” Chris said, suddenly exhausted. “Look, I’ll see you around.”
He’d only taken a few steps away when Zach said his name. He turned around. Zach stood behind the open car door, looking at him. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry about what?” Chris shot back. “Sorry you didn’t tell me before I saw the fucking pictures? Sorry you have to tell me at all? What are you sorry for, Zach?”
Zach looked down, swallowed, and looked up again to meet Chris’s eyes. “I’m just sorry.”
**
just landed. what time is the schoolbus?
7:30.
still on runway. fucking LAX.
ugh. fucking luggage.
fuck. gonna miss it. FUCKING traffic.
I’ll drive them. You can meet us at the school.
ok. thx.
“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!”
The cabbie slowed down and eased into the parking lot, and Zach was out of the backseat in a second, yanking his bags out of the trunk when Chris pulled in. He dropped his luggage on the sidewalk as Gavin and Jesse barreled toward him, slamming into him with eager boy-hugs.
“Hi, guys! Oh my god, I missed you so much!” Zach wrapped them in a hug and closed his eyes for a second, relishing the familiar comfort of their skinny arms around him.
Eventually, he extracted himself from their grasp and their questions and stories, and reminded them that they did actually have to go to school. He told them he would see them again soon, and yes, he would make them tacos, and he promised to go play mini-golf and fingerpaint and do everything else they’d dreamed up for him over the past few weeks. He shot Chris a grateful look over the tops of their heads as he gave them one last squeeze, murmured that he loved them, and sent them off across the playground to find their friends.
He watched them until Chris nudged his arm and handed him a cup of coffee.
“You’re a fucking lifesaver,” Zach said, and he took a sip and groaned appreciatively.
“How was Tuscany?” Chris asked, watching Zach as he closed his eyes and slurped through the lid of the travel mug.
Zach shrugged. “Nice, I guess. I missed them,” he said, nodding toward the school.
“They missed you, too.”
Zach took another sip. “You get the tickets to that children’s show I emailed you about?”
“Yeah.”
“Tomorrow night, right?”
“Yeah. You still want to go?”
“’Course.”
“Not tired?”
Zach smiled wryly. “Fucking exhausted, but…” He held up the mug of coffee.
“I thought you were on some kind of green tea kick,” Chris said.
“Yeah, well. I try, but coffee always lures me back in.”
“She’s a cruel mistress.”
“Indeed.”
“So…I shouldn’t have given you decaf then?”
Zach’s eyes widened and he looked frantically between the coffee and Chris before he noticed the twinkle in Chris’s eye. “Fucker,” he grumbled, but the corner of his mouth turned up as he took another sip.
(Continued...)
Author: therumjournals
Fandom: Star Trek RPF
Pairing: Chris/Zach
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,212
Description: Three first days of school. ( Coffee Fix ‘verse)
A/N: I couldn’t figure out whether this was one ficlet or three. It’s kind of both.
Zach spotted Chris across the playground, sipping his coffee and squinting in the morning sun. The school bell rang as Zach jogged across the pavement, stopping short when he noticed Chris’s glare.
Zach glanced at his watch. “What? You said 8 o’clock. It’s 7:59!”
“I said they line up at 8 o’clock,” Chris said, gesturing toward where a mob of children was lining up dutifully at the doors to the school.
“What the hell, Chris, I asked you what time…ugh, you know what,” he muttered to himself as he yanked his phone out of his pocket. “Look-“ he showed the screen to Chris. His email on the bottom read what time for gav’s first day tomorrow? and Chris’s response above it said 8:00.
“I thought you meant what time does school start. I thought you could judge for yourself what time you wanted to get here.”
“I meant what time were you guys going to get here. Why the fuck would I ask you when they line up?”
“Hey, how about you stop picking fights with me and say hi to your son,” Chris said flatly, tipping his head toward the playground, where Gavin was running frantically toward them, his huge backpack flopping from side-to-side on his back.
Zach dropped to a squat and let Gavin crash into him so hard he had to put a hand back on the pavement to steady himself. “Hey, buddy!”
“Hi Dad!” Gavin grinned at him and pushed his baseball cap up, losing the battle quickly as it slid down again to rest on the tops of his ears.
“First day of kindergarten! You’re so grown up, Gavin! Are you excited?”
Gavin nodded, but his smile faltered and he looked between the two of them.
“You nervous? Don’t be nervous, okay? You’re going to have so much fun.”
“He’s not nervous,” Chris said. “Austin and Ryan are going to be there with you, right Gav?”
“Yeah. And we’re gonna play blocks!”
“Blocks, that’s awesome!” Zach said. He pulled Gavin in for another hug. “I love you, buddy. Will you promise to call me tonight and tell me all about your day?”
“Uh huh.”
“Good. You’d better get back there now, ‘cause I think your teacher is looking for you.”
“Mrs. Hoyes,” Chris offered. Zach tried not to roll his eyes.
“Mrs. Hoyes is looking for you. Go ahead, go line up with your class.”
Zach stood as he watched Gavin race back across the schoolyard. “Jesus Christ. I swear to god, he was an infant, like, five days ago. I really hope he’s okay.” Zach put a hand over his mouth and shook his head a little.
“He’ll be fine. Jesse was fine, Jesse loved kindergarten.”
“Yeah, but that’s Jesse. All kindergarten meant to him was a bigger audience.” Zach smiled to himself. “Gavin did seem pretty excited about the blocks, though.”
“Yeah. Look, I’m gonna run inside and make sure the nurse knows about Gavin’s allergies. I’ll see you around.”
“His allergies? He’s allergic to cats, Chris.”
“And dust!”
“Right. You know what, I should probably go with you and stop by the office to make sure they have my address and everything.”
“I’ll do it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. You don’t need to come in.”
Zach did roll his eyes then, and turned away, mumbling “fine, whatever.”
Chris headed toward the brick building and Zach made his way back to the parking lot, where he slumped in the driver’s seat and took a deep, shuddering breath. He closed his eyes and let his head drop back against the headrest. Fuck. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. How had they gotten to this point, what the fuck had happened? He tried to remember what it was like last year, when Jesse started first grade. They’d read a story to the class and Jesse had beamed with pride. He vaguely remembered being frustrated with Chris at some point, but so what? Other couples got frustrated and snappish sometimes, but they didn’t end up like this, separated and barely able to have a civil conversation one year later.
Zach shook his head and thought back another year, to Jesse’s first day of kindergarten. He remembered smiling and hugging Jesse, meeting Chris’s eye and feeling helpless and in love, and if their eyes had been a little moist then, it was for all the right reasons. Then the two of them had gone out for coffee and stayed there, talking excitedly for hours, reminiscing, planning. 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.
Zach squeezed the bridge of his nose, pressed his fingers to the corners of his eyes to keep the tears from falling. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting there, trying to center himself, before he was startled by a knock on the window. He looked up to see Chris, clutching his cup of coffee and looking at him from behind his sunglasses. Zach turned on the ignition to roll the window down halfway.
“What?”
“Don’t forget about Back-to-School Night on the 15th.”
Zach ran a hand over his face and groaned.
“You forgot, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t fucking forget,” Zach snapped. “What time?”
“You don’t need to go. Just one parent needs to be there.”
Zach glared at him through the open window. “What. Time.”
“6:30.”
“It starts at 6:30, or you want me to be there at 6:30?”
“Starts.”
“So what does that mean? 6:20, 6:15?” He couldn’t help the edge of sarcasm that crept into his voice.
Chris curled his lip a little. “Just get here at 6:20, okay?”
“Okay. You want me to call Joe to watch-“
“My mom’s watching them.”
Zach took a deep breath, grateful that his own sunglasses rendered eye contact unnecessary. “Joe wants to see them, you know.”
“Joe can see them whenever he wants. I just already told my mom that date.”
“Fine.” Zach ran a hand through his hair, looked up to say something like “see you then,” but Chris was already gone, striding across the parking lot, draining the last of the coffee from his cardboard cup.
**
Chris pulled into the parking lot and spotted Zach almost immediately, leaning against his car and sipping something from Starbucks. He parked and held the boys’ hands as they walked over.
“How long have you been here?”
“’Bout thirty minutes,” Zach said with a wry smile. Chris bit back a smile too, as Zach gave the boys’ hugs and let them chatter animatedly at him for a few minutes.
“You excited, Gavin?” Zach asked, when he could get a word in edgewise. “Going to first grade? Finally in school with your big brother?”
Gavin looked at Jesse with admiration written across his face. “I’m goin’ to third grade!” he announced proudly.
“No you’re not, dummy, you’re going to first grade, I’m going to third grade.”
“No, I AM!” Gavin said.
“Hey guys,” Chris interjected, since Zach apparently was planning to let them continue for a while as he looked on, amused. “Gavin, you don’t want to skip straight to third grade. Third graders have hours and hours of homework every night.”
Jesse looked scared, and Chris nodded at him. “It’s true. So I hope you’re ready. And don’t call your brother a dummy.”
The bell rang inside the school and 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.”
“Me, too,” added Zach. Jesse did, grudgingly, and Gavin wrapped himself around Chris’s leg enthusiastically. “Okay, little octopus, my turn,” Zach said, prying him off. He glanced apologetically at Chris as he pried Gavin’s arms off his leg, and he managed to get a quick hug from Gavin before Jesse pulled him away.
“Okay, boys,” Zach said, giving them a little salute. “Go to school. Become men. Learn big words.”
“Look both ways,” Chris said, and they did, before crossing the parking lot hand-in-hand - or more accurately, with Jesse pulling Gavin behind him by the wrist.
As they disappeared into the school, Zach cursed under his breath. Chris gave him a questioning look. “We forgot to tell them we love them,” Zach said, looking at him.
“I think they’ll remember.”
“Yeah? You don’t think we should go knock on the window of their classroom to let them know?” Zach asked. Chris smiled a little, but Zach had looked away, staring absently at the school.
They were quiet for a moment, and Zach shoved his hands in his pockets, toeing at the ground. “So…there’s something I should probably tell you…”
“Don’t bother.” Chris remembered now that the twisted-up feeling in his stomach had nothing to do with the first day of school.
Zach’s head whipped up to look at him, and Chris looked away.
“I saw the pictures.” It hadn’t even been pap pics. A premiere, a red carpet, some guy on Zach’s arm, some guy nowhere near as attractive as Zach. The picture of Zach stepping out of the limo had made Chris sweat, made him itch like his clothes were on too tight. Chris really didn’t want to think about it. Especially not today.
“It’s not serious,” Zach said softly, as though he wanted to reassure Chris, as though he could. “We’ve only been on a few dates.”
“Oh, please. You took him to a fucking premiere, Zach, I’m not stupid. And neither are you, so I’m pretty sure you weren’t exactly shocked to find cameras there.”
“I didn’t want to take him,” Zach said, and his voice was a little louder, a little more adamant, and Chris was secretly pleased to have put him in defensive mode. “He was…insistent.”
“Whatever, Zach. I don’t even care,” Chris said, suddenly exhausted. “Look, I’ll see you around.”
He’d only taken a few steps away when Zach said his name. He turned around. Zach stood behind the open car door, looking at him. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry about what?” Chris shot back. “Sorry you didn’t tell me before I saw the fucking pictures? Sorry you have to tell me at all? What are you sorry for, Zach?”
Zach looked down, swallowed, and looked up again to meet Chris’s eyes. “I’m just sorry.”
**
just landed. what time is the schoolbus?
7:30.
still on runway. fucking LAX.
ugh. fucking luggage.
fuck. gonna miss it. FUCKING traffic.
I’ll drive them. You can meet us at the school.
ok. thx.
“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!”
The cabbie slowed down and eased into the parking lot, and Zach was out of the backseat in a second, yanking his bags out of the trunk when Chris pulled in. He dropped his luggage on the sidewalk as Gavin and Jesse barreled toward him, slamming into him with eager boy-hugs.
“Hi, guys! Oh my god, I missed you so much!” Zach wrapped them in a hug and closed his eyes for a second, relishing the familiar comfort of their skinny arms around him.
Eventually, he extracted himself from their grasp and their questions and stories, and reminded them that they did actually have to go to school. He told them he would see them again soon, and yes, he would make them tacos, and he promised to go play mini-golf and fingerpaint and do everything else they’d dreamed up for him over the past few weeks. He shot Chris a grateful look over the tops of their heads as he gave them one last squeeze, murmured that he loved them, and sent them off across the playground to find their friends.
He watched them until Chris nudged his arm and handed him a cup of coffee.
“You’re a fucking lifesaver,” Zach said, and he took a sip and groaned appreciatively.
“How was Tuscany?” Chris asked, watching Zach as he closed his eyes and slurped through the lid of the travel mug.
Zach shrugged. “Nice, I guess. I missed them,” he said, nodding toward the school.
“They missed you, too.”
Zach took another sip. “You get the tickets to that children’s show I emailed you about?”
“Yeah.”
“Tomorrow night, right?”
“Yeah. You still want to go?”
“’Course.”
“Not tired?”
Zach smiled wryly. “Fucking exhausted, but…” He held up the mug of coffee.
“I thought you were on some kind of green tea kick,” Chris said.
“Yeah, well. I try, but coffee always lures me back in.”
“She’s a cruel mistress.”
“Indeed.”
“So…I shouldn’t have given you decaf then?”
Zach’s eyes widened and he looked frantically between the coffee and Chris before he noticed the twinkle in Chris’s eye. “Fucker,” he grumbled, but the corner of his mouth turned up as he took another sip.
(Continued...)