Cinq!
Still working hard... :)
Title: Things We Said Today (Pt. 5)
Pairing: C/Z
Rating: R for language
Synopsis: There's more than one fire in NYC tonight.
Zeke awoke the day of the tournament with a headache, just what he needed. He lay about in bed for quite a while, not willing to face the world yet. He knew it was going to be a problem in the morning after drinking without having anything in his stomach. It wasn’t his fault if the bar’s new grill was on the fritz, but he COULD have went out for munchies next door, or eaten loads of pretzels.
‘It was fucking worth it though,’ he thought, smiling a bit. Dustin, Mike, and the rest of the guys on their team were there, Zeke getting to meet them all. Mike blabbed on and on about how the other team, their most hated (not really…) rivals were ‘gonna go DOWN!!’ now that they had Zeke on their side. Their enthusiasm was infectious as they all played pool together, causing Zeke to buy round after round. One of the guys, Dave, had to step in and stop Zeke from going into his wallet for the fourth time in a row. “Never said no to a free drink friend, but you’ve had one too many!” he’d said. Zeke never laughed so much in his life, feeling the drunken euphoria wash over him. He was never like that, and needed to be- every once in a while.
This headache, debilitating as it was, was definitely worth it.
Soon after lifting his head from the pillow, Zeke was busy making a nice large pot of coffee for himself, grumbling under his breath in wordless mutters. He grabbed a bottle of aspirin from the cupboard above the sink, readying four to swallow when the coffee was done. He nearly jumped into the ceiling, hearing his phone ringing. Wishing he’d never had the damned thing hooked up he grabbed it up and pressed talk.
“Ya?” he mumbled.
“Well- good morning to YOU, sunshine,”
Zeke rolled his eyes and leaned on the counter close to the brewing coffee. “What’s up, Stan?”
“Wondering how the start of July looks to ya,”
“Looks to me wha?”
“Jesus… for me and Stokes to visit,”
“OH…” Zeke blurted, standing up. “Sorry, it’s a… morning right now,”
“I hear your coffee pot. Have an interesting night?”
“Of course. So you guys wanna take a trip out here, huh?” Zeke said, smiling a little.
“Fuck yea, we need a change of scenery. My fam gave me a lot of money for graduating, and I figure it’d be best to blow it in the city,”
Zeke chuckled. “Ah, without paying for room and board, huh?”
“You betcha. Up for having visitors?”
“Sure, when are you guys coming out here?”
“A few weeks, if that’s cool. I dunno, do you have lots of school stuff you gotta prepare for?”
“Naw, nothing I can’t hold off.” Zeke told him. The coffee finished brewing, Zeke balancing the phone on his shoulder to keep talking as he got out the sugar. After a good long time talking about what they could do (“Stokes isn’t going if we don’t go to some place… some ‘Jekyll and Hyde Club’ place she heard about…”), Zeke said his goodbyes and settled into the couch with his coffee, smiling. It soon faded however.
All the good people in Ohio were coming, minus one former Midwestern resident.
He’d heard plenty of sirens, just on his first day here; they attacked Zeke now however as he turned the corner, his pool stick slung over his shoulder in it’s carrying case. He wasn’t going to be using it tonight, however.
“The hell…?” he muttered under his breath, seeing the roaring fire ahead. Countless police cars, fire engines and people behind long boundaries of police tape surrounded the blazing building; it took Zeke a few seconds to realize which building it actually was. “Aw FUCK,” he said aloud, walking over in long, fast strides.
He searched through the crowds for familiar faces, finally seeing Mike’s near the front by the yellow tape. “Mike!!” Zeke called, going unheard. He grumbled angrily under his breath, working his way past people to approach him. “Mike!” he said again; Mike turned around and spotted Zeke.
“Hey!” he yelled; Zeke finally got over to him, wearing an angry frown.
“What the fuck HAPPENED?”
“I dunno, man. I dunno,” Mike said, sounding just as angry as Zeke felt. “Started in the kitchen, as far as they can tell. Probably something to do with the fucked up grill from last night,”
“Fuck,” Zeke exclaimed, shaking his head and looking towards the fire. Three firefighters stood at the front holding a long hose, blasting water into a broken window. “Was anyone IN there?”
“No, thank God. The place just blew up; gas leak, somethin’,” Mike said, biting his lip. Zeke glanced to him, seeing Mike’s stick carrying case on the same shoulder as Zeke’s.
“Where are the rest of the guys?”
“I called ‘em. They ain’t coming out. Dave drives far as it is, and Harry was really upset about it. He’s been hangin’ out here since he turned twenty-one,” Mike explained. Zeke shook his head.
“Fuck’s sake.” He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. He’d already gotten very fond of this place; he could only imagine how Harry must’ve felt. Mike sighed loudly, looking to Zeke.
“Ya wanna get outta here? I’m too depressed to keep watching this,” he said, just as two firefighters went inside.
“Yea. Let’s go,” Zeke said, turning to walk back through the crowds of people. Through the calamity he heard a buzzing from his shirt pocket. “Shit, hold on,” he said, grabbing up his phone. The caller ID showed Stan’s number; he flipped it open and yelled “HELLO?”
There was a mumbling, but nothing could be heard over the yelling crowds, smashing glass and collapsing building. Zeke grew more and more annoyed, trying to block his other ear. It was a futile move; “STAN!! Lemmee call you back later, I’m okay… OKAY, okay?? Just let me call you back later!!” Zeke tried yelling. Hoping Stan heard him all right he flipped the phone closed and put it back in his pocket. “C’mon, let’s get a slice. I’m buying,”
Mike chuckled lightly as they moved out of the crowds’ range. “Are you some crazy millionaire or something? Buying rounds, pizza…?”
“Sorta,” Zeke said, chuckling a bit as well. They began heading away from the main cell of chaos, shuffling their way to Zeke’s block.
“So you live down this way, huh? The Village… very nice,” Mike said, looking around as they turned the corner.
“Yea, I like it. Being so close to the fucking pizza shop is gonna make me obese, though,” Zeke scoffed, kicking a stray pebble out of his path. “It’s just a bit addicting,”
“Nothing like New York pizza, man. Why do you think I bike?” Mike joked, causing Zeke to chuckle.
“Might be at your shop soon,”
The two of them reached the shop and got inside, meeting the smells of pizza, bread and whatever else Zeke had become addicted to in the last few weeks. Zeke stuck to his original plan of treating Mike, who laughed it off and said “fine, last time, bud. Then it’s MY turn,” Zeke handed over the cash and walked over to one of the small tables to wait, Mike following.
“I’ve never bothered with many bars around the city. It’s gonna suck trying to find a new watering hole,” Mike said, slinging his bag over the chair and sitting down. Zeke shrugged.
“Hadn’t even been around there for more than a week. Sucks on my end too,” he admitted. Looking out the window, the orange glow was clear in the sky above his apartment building. “I must have been in the shower when it all went down. I don’t even remember hearing anything.”
“I didn’t either, and I was outside, ‘bout two blocks away. It was probably more inside the place, slowly letting out a leak and stuff…”
Mike was speaking, but Zeke was hypnotized by the glow in the sky, overtaking the usual glare of city lights that pressed so harshly on the stars. That WAS one thing he missed; he could see the sky on a clear summer night, perfect and clear. In the city, you were lucky to see the moon. Mike had to nudge his arm to take him out of it.
Their meals came a bit later, both of them eating slowly without conversation. Zeke felt bad for Mike, just as he did the rest of the guys. Perhaps they could go looking for more places, maybe even find a pool tournament. Zeke had the feeling that the familiar comforts of being somewhere you didn’t know would come into play, and decided against suggesting it for now. Instead he sighed and sat back, looking at his empty plate.
“Let’s get some beer and cross the street to my place,”
“Sure. I’m buying!” Mike interjected quickly. Zeke laughed as they took up their cues, cleared their table and headed outside. A small liquor store was only two stores down; “I’ll be right back. What kind do you drink?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Zeke replied. Mike nodded and walked into the store, leaving Zeke to light up a cigarette and lean against the wall, sighing and staring at the sky. In this one small spot, he could actually see a few stars poking their way past the glare. He gazed at them a moment, seeing their tiny shining points; he was tempted for a tiny moment to go back to childhood and make a wish. He chuckled to himself, looking back down, glancing over to his building. “Nothing to wish for, really…” he muttered; his eyes stopped roving around and stopped abruptly, staring across the street at his building.
“Hey, I got Heineken, hope that’s all right,”
Zeke stood straight, his jaw dropping slightly. No, his eyes must have been fucking with him. He was NOT, SURELY not seeing Casey fucking Connor. It was a mind game. He turned his head to Mike, blinking. “Wha…?”
“Heineken; is that all right?” Mike repeated, holding up the bag. Zeke didn’t answer; now that he’d focused on something he KNEW was there, Mike and beer, Casey would NOT be milling around in front of his apartment building. He turned back around, expecting to sigh deeply and continue on with beer drinking in front of the TV.
“Zeke?”
It was… fuck it was. At that moment his phone began ringing; Zeke took it up quickly, ignoring Mike’s odd look of question. Fuck- Stan.
“Yea??” Zeke yelled into the phone.
“Zeke!! What the fuck was happening when I’d called-“
“Did Casey call you??” Zeke said, starting to walk away from the spot. He heard Mike following him as he went; fuck it was Casey, it really fucking was…
“Yea, that’s why I fucking called! I couldn’t find where I’d written your cell number, so I couldn’t give him that. Remembered Waverly though-“
Zeke was now in a full run, looking quick at the oncoming traffic. “ZEKE! Hey, what’s going on??” Mike called from behind. Zeke made a generic ‘follow me’ gesture with his hand behind him towards Mike, not caring if he understood or not. He jumped around the bumper of a car, its tires screeching as it stopped for him. Someone was yelling curses at him but fuck all if he cared. Mike yelled a “sorry!” in a nervous voice, right on Zeke’s heels as they reached Zeke’s side of the street.
It couldn’t be him. The hair, it was longer- Casey was addicted to his haircuts back home. He wouldn’t let his hair grow out past his ears like that. The clothes, would he wear that? He was hunching over a bit, just like he used to before the invasion- he hadn’t done that SINCE then, but…
Fuck. Those unmistakable eyes as he turned around, arms crossed over his chest and eyes shifting from side to side, looking at people passing by. Zeke didn’t even realize he was so close until he nearly crashed into him, having to stop before he toppled the kid… fuck he was… smaller?
“Casey!!” he said urgently, leaning forward and coughing a bit from his run. Casey stepped back one moment, looking unsure. Zeke looked back up, huffing and puffing and trying to smile. “He… Hey…” he stammered; Casey’s lips twitched.
“Hey…” he said, taking a small step forward.
“Zeke, what the fuck were you DOING back there?”
Zeke glanced behind him, seeing Mike standing directly behind him, breathing hard as well. “This… he’s been…” Zeke started, looking back over at Casey; he was surprised to see that he’d moved back a handful of paces, watching both Zeke and mike warily. “Hey… Case… this is my friend, Mike,”
Casey’s brow furrowed slightly, his arms looking tense and tighter at his chest. “Oh.”
“Oh… is this the kid you said you were looking for?” Mike asked. Zeke nodded and turned to Casey.
“Hey Case,” he said, smiling fully now. “I’ve… been looking for you,”
Casey’s lips shuddered, finally forming a smile. “Yea,” he replied softly. Zeke stood up straight, just in time for Casey to rush to him with a crushing hug. Taken aback a moment Zeke chuckled nervously, putting an arm over Casey’s shoulders.
Fuck. He was smaller.
Title: Things We Said Today (Pt. 5)
Pairing: C/Z
Rating: R for language
Synopsis: There's more than one fire in NYC tonight.
Zeke awoke the day of the tournament with a headache, just what he needed. He lay about in bed for quite a while, not willing to face the world yet. He knew it was going to be a problem in the morning after drinking without having anything in his stomach. It wasn’t his fault if the bar’s new grill was on the fritz, but he COULD have went out for munchies next door, or eaten loads of pretzels.
‘It was fucking worth it though,’ he thought, smiling a bit. Dustin, Mike, and the rest of the guys on their team were there, Zeke getting to meet them all. Mike blabbed on and on about how the other team, their most hated (not really…) rivals were ‘gonna go DOWN!!’ now that they had Zeke on their side. Their enthusiasm was infectious as they all played pool together, causing Zeke to buy round after round. One of the guys, Dave, had to step in and stop Zeke from going into his wallet for the fourth time in a row. “Never said no to a free drink friend, but you’ve had one too many!” he’d said. Zeke never laughed so much in his life, feeling the drunken euphoria wash over him. He was never like that, and needed to be- every once in a while.
This headache, debilitating as it was, was definitely worth it.
Soon after lifting his head from the pillow, Zeke was busy making a nice large pot of coffee for himself, grumbling under his breath in wordless mutters. He grabbed a bottle of aspirin from the cupboard above the sink, readying four to swallow when the coffee was done. He nearly jumped into the ceiling, hearing his phone ringing. Wishing he’d never had the damned thing hooked up he grabbed it up and pressed talk.
“Ya?” he mumbled.
“Well- good morning to YOU, sunshine,”
Zeke rolled his eyes and leaned on the counter close to the brewing coffee. “What’s up, Stan?”
“Wondering how the start of July looks to ya,”
“Looks to me wha?”
“Jesus… for me and Stokes to visit,”
“OH…” Zeke blurted, standing up. “Sorry, it’s a… morning right now,”
“I hear your coffee pot. Have an interesting night?”
“Of course. So you guys wanna take a trip out here, huh?” Zeke said, smiling a little.
“Fuck yea, we need a change of scenery. My fam gave me a lot of money for graduating, and I figure it’d be best to blow it in the city,”
Zeke chuckled. “Ah, without paying for room and board, huh?”
“You betcha. Up for having visitors?”
“Sure, when are you guys coming out here?”
“A few weeks, if that’s cool. I dunno, do you have lots of school stuff you gotta prepare for?”
“Naw, nothing I can’t hold off.” Zeke told him. The coffee finished brewing, Zeke balancing the phone on his shoulder to keep talking as he got out the sugar. After a good long time talking about what they could do (“Stokes isn’t going if we don’t go to some place… some ‘Jekyll and Hyde Club’ place she heard about…”), Zeke said his goodbyes and settled into the couch with his coffee, smiling. It soon faded however.
All the good people in Ohio were coming, minus one former Midwestern resident.
He’d heard plenty of sirens, just on his first day here; they attacked Zeke now however as he turned the corner, his pool stick slung over his shoulder in it’s carrying case. He wasn’t going to be using it tonight, however.
“The hell…?” he muttered under his breath, seeing the roaring fire ahead. Countless police cars, fire engines and people behind long boundaries of police tape surrounded the blazing building; it took Zeke a few seconds to realize which building it actually was. “Aw FUCK,” he said aloud, walking over in long, fast strides.
He searched through the crowds for familiar faces, finally seeing Mike’s near the front by the yellow tape. “Mike!!” Zeke called, going unheard. He grumbled angrily under his breath, working his way past people to approach him. “Mike!” he said again; Mike turned around and spotted Zeke.
“Hey!” he yelled; Zeke finally got over to him, wearing an angry frown.
“What the fuck HAPPENED?”
“I dunno, man. I dunno,” Mike said, sounding just as angry as Zeke felt. “Started in the kitchen, as far as they can tell. Probably something to do with the fucked up grill from last night,”
“Fuck,” Zeke exclaimed, shaking his head and looking towards the fire. Three firefighters stood at the front holding a long hose, blasting water into a broken window. “Was anyone IN there?”
“No, thank God. The place just blew up; gas leak, somethin’,” Mike said, biting his lip. Zeke glanced to him, seeing Mike’s stick carrying case on the same shoulder as Zeke’s.
“Where are the rest of the guys?”
“I called ‘em. They ain’t coming out. Dave drives far as it is, and Harry was really upset about it. He’s been hangin’ out here since he turned twenty-one,” Mike explained. Zeke shook his head.
“Fuck’s sake.” He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. He’d already gotten very fond of this place; he could only imagine how Harry must’ve felt. Mike sighed loudly, looking to Zeke.
“Ya wanna get outta here? I’m too depressed to keep watching this,” he said, just as two firefighters went inside.
“Yea. Let’s go,” Zeke said, turning to walk back through the crowds of people. Through the calamity he heard a buzzing from his shirt pocket. “Shit, hold on,” he said, grabbing up his phone. The caller ID showed Stan’s number; he flipped it open and yelled “HELLO?”
There was a mumbling, but nothing could be heard over the yelling crowds, smashing glass and collapsing building. Zeke grew more and more annoyed, trying to block his other ear. It was a futile move; “STAN!! Lemmee call you back later, I’m okay… OKAY, okay?? Just let me call you back later!!” Zeke tried yelling. Hoping Stan heard him all right he flipped the phone closed and put it back in his pocket. “C’mon, let’s get a slice. I’m buying,”
Mike chuckled lightly as they moved out of the crowds’ range. “Are you some crazy millionaire or something? Buying rounds, pizza…?”
“Sorta,” Zeke said, chuckling a bit as well. They began heading away from the main cell of chaos, shuffling their way to Zeke’s block.
“So you live down this way, huh? The Village… very nice,” Mike said, looking around as they turned the corner.
“Yea, I like it. Being so close to the fucking pizza shop is gonna make me obese, though,” Zeke scoffed, kicking a stray pebble out of his path. “It’s just a bit addicting,”
“Nothing like New York pizza, man. Why do you think I bike?” Mike joked, causing Zeke to chuckle.
“Might be at your shop soon,”
The two of them reached the shop and got inside, meeting the smells of pizza, bread and whatever else Zeke had become addicted to in the last few weeks. Zeke stuck to his original plan of treating Mike, who laughed it off and said “fine, last time, bud. Then it’s MY turn,” Zeke handed over the cash and walked over to one of the small tables to wait, Mike following.
“I’ve never bothered with many bars around the city. It’s gonna suck trying to find a new watering hole,” Mike said, slinging his bag over the chair and sitting down. Zeke shrugged.
“Hadn’t even been around there for more than a week. Sucks on my end too,” he admitted. Looking out the window, the orange glow was clear in the sky above his apartment building. “I must have been in the shower when it all went down. I don’t even remember hearing anything.”
“I didn’t either, and I was outside, ‘bout two blocks away. It was probably more inside the place, slowly letting out a leak and stuff…”
Mike was speaking, but Zeke was hypnotized by the glow in the sky, overtaking the usual glare of city lights that pressed so harshly on the stars. That WAS one thing he missed; he could see the sky on a clear summer night, perfect and clear. In the city, you were lucky to see the moon. Mike had to nudge his arm to take him out of it.
Their meals came a bit later, both of them eating slowly without conversation. Zeke felt bad for Mike, just as he did the rest of the guys. Perhaps they could go looking for more places, maybe even find a pool tournament. Zeke had the feeling that the familiar comforts of being somewhere you didn’t know would come into play, and decided against suggesting it for now. Instead he sighed and sat back, looking at his empty plate.
“Let’s get some beer and cross the street to my place,”
“Sure. I’m buying!” Mike interjected quickly. Zeke laughed as they took up their cues, cleared their table and headed outside. A small liquor store was only two stores down; “I’ll be right back. What kind do you drink?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Zeke replied. Mike nodded and walked into the store, leaving Zeke to light up a cigarette and lean against the wall, sighing and staring at the sky. In this one small spot, he could actually see a few stars poking their way past the glare. He gazed at them a moment, seeing their tiny shining points; he was tempted for a tiny moment to go back to childhood and make a wish. He chuckled to himself, looking back down, glancing over to his building. “Nothing to wish for, really…” he muttered; his eyes stopped roving around and stopped abruptly, staring across the street at his building.
“Hey, I got Heineken, hope that’s all right,”
Zeke stood straight, his jaw dropping slightly. No, his eyes must have been fucking with him. He was NOT, SURELY not seeing Casey fucking Connor. It was a mind game. He turned his head to Mike, blinking. “Wha…?”
“Heineken; is that all right?” Mike repeated, holding up the bag. Zeke didn’t answer; now that he’d focused on something he KNEW was there, Mike and beer, Casey would NOT be milling around in front of his apartment building. He turned back around, expecting to sigh deeply and continue on with beer drinking in front of the TV.
“Zeke?”
It was… fuck it was. At that moment his phone began ringing; Zeke took it up quickly, ignoring Mike’s odd look of question. Fuck- Stan.
“Yea??” Zeke yelled into the phone.
“Zeke!! What the fuck was happening when I’d called-“
“Did Casey call you??” Zeke said, starting to walk away from the spot. He heard Mike following him as he went; fuck it was Casey, it really fucking was…
“Yea, that’s why I fucking called! I couldn’t find where I’d written your cell number, so I couldn’t give him that. Remembered Waverly though-“
Zeke was now in a full run, looking quick at the oncoming traffic. “ZEKE! Hey, what’s going on??” Mike called from behind. Zeke made a generic ‘follow me’ gesture with his hand behind him towards Mike, not caring if he understood or not. He jumped around the bumper of a car, its tires screeching as it stopped for him. Someone was yelling curses at him but fuck all if he cared. Mike yelled a “sorry!” in a nervous voice, right on Zeke’s heels as they reached Zeke’s side of the street.
It couldn’t be him. The hair, it was longer- Casey was addicted to his haircuts back home. He wouldn’t let his hair grow out past his ears like that. The clothes, would he wear that? He was hunching over a bit, just like he used to before the invasion- he hadn’t done that SINCE then, but…
Fuck. Those unmistakable eyes as he turned around, arms crossed over his chest and eyes shifting from side to side, looking at people passing by. Zeke didn’t even realize he was so close until he nearly crashed into him, having to stop before he toppled the kid… fuck he was… smaller?
“Casey!!” he said urgently, leaning forward and coughing a bit from his run. Casey stepped back one moment, looking unsure. Zeke looked back up, huffing and puffing and trying to smile. “He… Hey…” he stammered; Casey’s lips twitched.
“Hey…” he said, taking a small step forward.
“Zeke, what the fuck were you DOING back there?”
Zeke glanced behind him, seeing Mike standing directly behind him, breathing hard as well. “This… he’s been…” Zeke started, looking back over at Casey; he was surprised to see that he’d moved back a handful of paces, watching both Zeke and mike warily. “Hey… Case… this is my friend, Mike,”
Casey’s brow furrowed slightly, his arms looking tense and tighter at his chest. “Oh.”
“Oh… is this the kid you said you were looking for?” Mike asked. Zeke nodded and turned to Casey.
“Hey Case,” he said, smiling fully now. “I’ve… been looking for you,”
Casey’s lips shuddered, finally forming a smile. “Yea,” he replied softly. Zeke stood up straight, just in time for Casey to rush to him with a crushing hug. Taken aback a moment Zeke chuckled nervously, putting an arm over Casey’s shoulders.
Fuck. He was smaller.