1sentence: set Alpha
Pairing: ZQ/SR
Rating: R
Summary: 50 sentences from 50 prompts, with no real connection to each other.
Note: I didn't claim this pairing, since I didn't want to post RPS to the 1sentence community. Prompts borrowed with credit and apologies.
Note 2: Now with outtakes!
01 Comfort He's like a kid afraid of getting lost, Sendhil thinks: it's as though he believes he'll disappear in the crowd of immaculate dresses and make-up and smiles, dissolve in the blinding flashes of the cameras, if he doesn't hold on, with a hand on a shoulder, or sleeve touching sleeve, or hip pressed to hip, as though all Zach needs to keep himself steady is the warmth of Sendhil's body.
02 Kiss Sendhil loves that moment when Zach begins to lean down, eyes cast down and neck bent a little awkwardly; the anticipation of the two and three-quarter of an inch closing in makes the first touch tingle just that much more.
03 Soft Zach is soft nowhere, and as he slides his own skin along hard muscles and sharp bone, Sendhil smiles realizing how much he missed this.
04 Pain Sendhil knows Zach doesn't enjoy inflicting pain on anyone even in circumstances like these, but the combination of the pure pleasure of it and the conflicted expression on Zach's face makes him push the paddle into Zach's hand again and again.
05 Potatoes Sendhil can't bring himself to mention that Zach forgot to put the nutmeg in the mashes potatoes he spent the last two hours and 46 minutes preparing, because he knows that Zach is far, far too meticulous for his own good and would throw away the entire meal if he so much as opened his mouth, so he just smiles and compliments, and admires Zach's face as a pink blush spreads across his cheeks at the praise, which adds a much richer taste to the dinner than any spice could, anyway.
06 Rain There's a crack of thunder and the lights go out just as Zach presses play on the remote, so they spend the evening sitting on the patio, with blankets, and watch the rain in silence together instead, until Olga comes home and startles them by turning on the lights again.
07 Chocolate "It's a Japanese thing," Masi explains on Valentine's Day, when Zach finds his trailer door literally blocked by a heap of chocolate boxes from practically all female cast and crew; "girls give boys chocolate, maybe just to thank for a good working relationship or friendship, or maybe to confess her love," and Zach nods and doesn't think much of it until later, when Sendhil brings him a cup of hot chocolate with that familiar amused light in his eyes.
08 Happiness In-between takes, waiting, because half of this job is waiting, for people and lights and the weather, lying down and covering his face with a book, and feeling Sendhil's fingers through his hair.
09 Telephone Suddenly Zach stops replying, even the small grunts fading away, and all Sendhil can hear is a faint even breathing; he considers for a while if he wants to yell that he isn't his mom and this wasn't a bedtime story, but whispers a "good night" with a chuckle instead, and hangs up.
10 Ears "You have the ears for it," is the first thing Sendhil says, and though Zach knew it was coming (from someone; if not Sendhil it'd have been Greg), he narrows his eyes and catches Sendhil in a loose neck lock while Sendhil laughs at his own joke; but then there's a whispered "congratulations" in his ear, and Zach is grinning like an idiot again.
11 Name "Zachary," and it's enough to bring him over.
12 Sensual Downcast eyes and one hand through unruly curls, as Sendhil takes one slow drag from the cigarette between Zach's fingers.
13 Death "There's a dead fly in my coffee," Zach says and holds the cup out for Sendhil to see, but Sendhil just picks the insect up with bare fingers and throws it in the trash with a shrug of the shoulders as thought it's nothing out of the ordinary: that's when Zach decides with a shudder that he needs to force this man to clean his trailer, whatever it may take, and that he needs to personally make sure he showers before they get naked together again -- god knows where those hands have been.
14 Sex "This was never part of any The Talk I had with my parents," Sendhil manages to say before he bites down on his quivering lips and lets his eyes roll back, and Zach chuckles and takes it as a compliment.
15 Touch As most other things it starts with a handshake, Sendhil's hand firm and warm and dry (one); their fingers clash reaching for the wine bottle (two); knees touch under the table (thee); dark hair falls against his shoulder as Sendhil throws his head back in laughter (four); a pat on the back for a particularly good joke (five); shoulders brush as they pass each other on the way to the bathroom (six); in the cab home Sendhil's hand sneaks inside his shirt (seven); Sendhil's lips cover his own, firm and warm and wet (and Zach stops counting the number of times they've touched).
16 Weakness One bite, just there below Sendhil's ear.
17 Tears Sendhil will laugh at anything, bad jokes and tasteless pranks and the compliments he constantly gets thrown his way, but Zach notices quickly that Sendhil's only ever truly amused when tears prickle his eyes, and feels ridiculously smug every time he gets Sendhil to lift his glasses and wipe those eyes.
18 Speed "Are you high?" Sendhil yells over the music, and Zach lets the alcohol take over his brain and yells back into Sendhil's ear, "High on you," and the line is so cheesy they both laugh like madmen, but Zach wonders if Sendhil knows he's being far more sincere than he likes to admit.
19 Wind Zach is usually bright and colorful and talks with an unexpectedly high-pitched voice, so on the rare occasion when he dons a black tie and solemnly answers questions from journalists with his deepest of voices, it completely knocks the wind out of Sendhil.
20 Freedom Sendhil has complete freedom to do this, he knows because she told him, but Zach still spends minutes letting his fingertips hover over that skin, every time, before he bites his lips and takes the dive.
21 Life They're adults, so it's not like either of them thought their lives would end when the show ended: time keeps moving as Sendhil knew it would, there's work and family and friends and new people and new countries, and he admits he scarcely thinks back on it, seldom misses it, but on the occasions that he does, which are few and far between, he always finds himself dialing that same number.
22 Jealousy Zach used to feel the pang of jealousy every time Sendhil answered his cell with a smile or walked out the door, but that was before he met the wife; now he's more jealous of Sendhil.
23 Hands Zach's hands are always tentative, wavering before touching, asking for permission in silence, and Sendhil revels in pretending not to notice that unspoken question.
24 Taste Sendhil honestly thinks Zach can be an eyesore and Zach thinks Sendhil is just boring, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter much what they think of each other's clothes, because they spend the weekend wrapped in sheets and sharing Sendhil's one blue pajamas.
25 Devotion Worship, adoration, blind devotion, Sendhil has had it all directed at him, for so many years and by so many people that he's long since lost count, that he should be bored by it, is bored by it, and he simply can't understand why he seems to crave it, revel in it even, when it just so happens to come from Zach.
26 Forever Zach loves and hates Sendhil at the same time for never letting him fuck him with the ring off, for never removing the bond that signifies forever, speaking so much clearer and truer than words that this is the only way Zach will ever have him, if he's willing to take it all.
27 Blood Sendhil claims he's just not a blusher, just won't bloom in the way Zach does so easily so Zach may as well give up trying, but Zach knows -- and doesn't tell anyone, not even Sendhil -- about that small patch of skin on Sendhil's nape, right at his hairline, that never fails to turn a beautiful crimson.
28 Sickness "It's like the sickness unto death," Zach says in an interview and hears crickets chirp, followed by a snicker from where Sendhil sits beside him, and Zach marvels not for the first time at how good Sendhil is at pretending not to be smart.
29 Melody Olga looks at him curiously, and he finally realizes he's been humming that same tune all the way home, the one Zach was humming along to his iPod all day.
30 Star "Did you see stars?" Sendhil asks with a grin, and it's such a stupid cliché and so typically silly of Sendhil that Zach can't help but burst out laughing with what little breath he has left in him.
31 Home He stumbles through the front door, pulling luggage behind him, and the first thing he sees is a postcard on the floor, the date stamp showing the day he left for Europe, with the simple message "Welcome Home" and signed "S".
32 Confusion It's been a while since Sendhil did this, and certainly it doesn't help that it's in the dark, in a house and then a bedroom and then a bed he doesn't know, the duvet too thick and the sheets too slippery and it's like there's hair everywhere, scraping against his cheeks and chest and legs as their limbs tangle and they bump into each other and he's afraid he'll be covered in bruises in the morning, and there's pushing and shoving and far too much strength in the arms that hold him, he's so confused and would do anything to pull himself away and home, but then, suddenly, with a twist of Zach's body the world around him seems to settle and it's simply perfect, just like that, everything reduced to warm flesh and hot breath and encompassing pleasure.
33 Fear Zach fears comparison more than anything, which is why he's as terrified as any audition when he's out for the first time with Sendhil and Joe.
34 Lightning/Thunder Sendhil's smile is like a flash of lightning, but his laugh like a roar of thunder: obnoxiously loud, annoying, and though Zach hates to admit it, as utterly fascinating and impossible to ignore as a natural phenomenon.
35 Bonds It happens on a whim, the cuffs falling out of Zach's closet as Sendhil rummages for a tee-shirt to borrow, and without a single word exchanged Zach is cuffed to the headboard and soon Sendhil stands before him, naked, Zach's eyes fixed on Sendhil's hands as they roam his own skin, titillating, out of reach, untouchable, fingers tracing neck and nipples and stomach and reaching between firm thighs, Zach's eyes always following, darkly intense and hardly blinking, and though Zach doesn't move a muscle, can hardly move an inch, Sendhil still feels as though he's captured and being eaten alive.
36 Market "Sorry," Sendhil says to the two women and points to his ring finger, with a sag of his shoulders like he really means it, and Zach doesn't know if he should laugh or roll his eyes, or maybe get one of those practical things of his own.
37 Technology "It's a good thing you're hot," Zach says to Sendhil the seventh time the man brings his broken laptop to Masi to fix, but Sendhil calmly glares at him and shoots back, "Says the guy who took forty-three minutes to figure out how to insert batteries into a vib--" before Zach can cover his mouth, so they agree never to mention each other's technological impairments ever again.
38 Gift Sendhil knows he might have it bad when he keeps wondering if Zach would like whatever item that catches his eyes in the store while he shops for a gift for Milo's birthday.
39 Smile "The more you lie, and the less earnest you're being, the more you smile," Zach says, and Sendhil answers with a smile, "No, I don't."
40 Innocence It's not the tongue or the suction or the throat that brings Sendhil to climax, it never is; it's the look in Zach's eyes as he gazes up at him, the boyish innocence that shouldn't exist in that same body that kneels so prettily.
41 Completion The wrap party is when it began, right at that last minute when Zach had convinced himself it was never going to, the press of Sendhil's lips against his own bringing such a sense of fulfillment he briefly forgets they're here to celebrate the completion of the show, not them.
42 Clouds Clouds pass outside the small window as the plane descends, and Sendhil idly wishes he were here.
43 Sky After Sendhil wins the first set the sky is the only thing Zach can see for minutes, lying flat on the gravel court with his racket clutched in his hand and yellow balls scattered around him, but when he finally gathers his breath and gets up Sendhil smirks at him and says, "Did I forget to mention I used to be in competitor league?" and Zach thinks maybe he should just stay down.
44 Heaven Zach stopped going to church when he moved to L.A., and he nods his agreement when Sendhil says that all he believes in is the here and now, but as he digs his nails into slick skin and moves his hips to meet that all-too willing and open body under him, the word that fills his mind and threatens to slip over his lips is still heaven.
45 Hell Hell is shooting scenes with Sendhil on a hot summer day, his skin covered in a golden sheen and the thick curls sticking to his nape and behind his ears and down his temple, and every time the director calls cut, Zach just wants to pull Sendhil to him and lick.
46 Sun Zach doesn't notice Sendhil's tattoo until the fourth time they have sex, the first time they have it in daylight, when he kisses his way up Sendhil's leg and finds a mark, no bigger than the width of a thumb, on the taut muscle of his inner thigh -- the sun.
47 Moon It's only when Zach reads a book on Asian mythology that he finds out Sendhil wasn't just babbling in drunken stupor about the rabbits living on the moon that one night they shared a cab home, when they lay on top each other in the back seat, staring out the narrow window at the red full moon hanging low in the sky, and Zach was as content as he ever remembered being, just listening to that voice.
48 Waves The cooling water ripples, the only evidence of what Zach is doing under the dissolving bubbles -- that, and Sendhil's ragged breathing echoing against the tiles.
49 Hair The first thing Zach says when he sees Sendhil after the hiatus with freshly-cut hair and shaved cheeks is "You look fifteen," and Sendhil can't help himself but answering with a smirk and a wink that he knows will kick-start Zach's over-active imagination, "My wife likes it like this -- really, really likes it."
50 Supernova "Betelgeuse might go supernova in a few millennia," Masi says, making everyone gaze up at the scarce stars in the night sky of Los Angeles, and Sendhil smiles as Zach's shaky hand touches his own in that small private moment offered.