RPS fic: Split
Jul. 29th, 2005 12:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenOkay, herein lies evil evil evil RPS fic which of course I don't write and you don't read because that would be wrong.
No, really, That Would Be Wrong.
But if I was inclined to write some RPS I might do a story that took place after the boys were done in Vegas. And said story might look a little something like this...
Split
By TBQ
Los Angeles can't come quickly enough. *Alexis* can't come quickly enough. His body quivers as they go from breakfast to shuttle to flight. He looks at David. He tries not to look at David. He's too loud, then too quiet, then everything in between.
Jerking off would have probably helped matters, but no spare moment suggests itself.
Once back in LA it's business. Their sleepy, hung-over group collects baggage, retrieves cars, shares rides, and flags down taxis. It's like another world.
Alexis goes through the motions of getting home. His exhausted mind is already prepared to write off the trip as a dream. Lord knows it's no different from the fantasies he's had lately.
Then David grabs Alexis's bag just as Alexis is reaching for it. Their hands touch. David holds Alexis's still beneath his warm palm. Their eyes meet. David winks.
And as quickly as that the moment is done.
Alexis can't wipe the smile off of his face for the rest of the day.
***
They don't wait long for sex. Next day, on the set, Alexis is early for a call, David's late - it would come off as preplanned except neither of them talked about it beforehand.
They find each other like homing pigeons. With twenty entire minutes to call their own they grapple in David's trailer. Clothes come off - Alexis's own, David's costume - mouths meet, bodies wrestle. There's friction and gasping and clinging and whispers that sound like "Fuck" and "David" and "Alex" and "Please."
Alexis gets too loud when he comes. He doesn't care. He wants this to be raw, and real, and tangible.
When David comes they kiss, and Alexis discovers that David likes having his cheeks touched when he's slowly sinking down off the post-orgasm high.
***
They can't stop touching each other. Alone, in front of others, it doesn't matter. They try to keep a semblance of decorum but Alexis is the one who finds himself forgetting. They'll be at a table read and his foot will meet David's beneath the privacy of their chairs. They'll be on set and their fingers will brush together, then entwine. It's gravity, it's magnetism. David smiles and Alexis is there.
They spend every possible moment together. Alexis would fear coming off like a pathetic stalker except that David shows up at his trailer as, if not more, often than Alexis shows up at his. Off-hours they're barely apart. Alexis would call *that* nothing more than a surge in hormones, except that oddly enough sex isn't always a part of it. They're just as likely to spend the night watching a movie or grabbing dinner together as they are to be locked in each other's arms.
David takes it in stride. He smiles big smiles at Alexis and calls it NRE: New Relationship Energy. Alexis feels a black pit in his stomach at that. Energy is undeniable. Relationship is a word with implications that he feels he can firmly disclaim. And yet being called new feels off-putting and insulting. He isn't new. He's been in David's life for years. Fucking is a continuation of their friendship. New is for flings. New is for groupies. Alexis doesn't want to be either one of those things.
One night, when they're driving around LA in David's car, Alexis is drunk enough off David's company that he makes fun of the 'new' label.
"What do you want to call it?" David asks. "Old energy?"
"I'm not *new*," Alexis says, dropping the word off his tongue like a sour candy.
David laughs. He lets go of the gear shift long enough to thread his fingers through Alexis's hand and draw it up for a kiss. "Old energy it is then."
The word *relationship* hangs rather pointedly in the air between them. Alexis lets it sit there. He's got too much to think about already.
***
The problem with Alyson turns out not to be a problem at all. Alexis's mind cheerfully disconnects and forms two lives for him. One: on the set, and dying with every second that he can't get his hands on his co-star. The other: at home with his fiancé and soul mate and somehow managing to discuss topics like pew bows without vomiting out a confession of guilt.
It helps that Alexis's brain is apparently very good at shelving things best left unspoken. It also helps that when Aly does things like sit cross-legged on their bed while wearing a cotton cami and a pair of boxer shorts, she dumps thick bridal magazines onto the bedspread and demands of the universe "What in the flaming heck *are* pew bows, anyway?"
"Do we need them?" Alexis asks her.
"Mom says yes," she replies. "Apparently no pew bows equal big wedding disaster."
"She's a big bow woman herself, is she?" Alexis asks.
"Huge," Aly demonstrates this by spreading her hands out in I-once-caught-a-fish-*this*-big style. "I had no idea. I hope you can marry me anyway, knowing that I might inflict this obsession with unbowed pews on our children. You never know. This could be in the genes."
And the thought of being with her for the rest of their lives, and the thought of *having* children - children with her wit, and patience, and chin - is something that he knows he can't possibly give up no matter what happens.
It wouldn't be a problem, except every time he sees David he knows that he'll be utterly miserable if they never kissed again.
So Alexis keeps seeing David, and keeps not telling Aly about it. He knows there's a timeline of some kind on this, some kind of countdown where the thing he doesn't talk about with David and the thing he doesn't talk about with Aly will both run out and explode into something horrible, quite possibly at the exact same moment. But denial works well to keep Alexis going, so he sticks with it for now.
***
A night of bowling is declared.
Jay has a friend in from the East Coast and wants to show him a good time. Invitations go out to everyone, but somehow it turns into a boys' night out. Alexis, David, and Vincent round out the list of usual suspects from Jay's work related life. Non-work friends of Jay's join in too. Then Chris is added as a last minute addition when an LA gig, downtime, and the desire to hang out coincide.
It's the first time Alexis and David have been out with the others since Vegas. Strangely, Alexis feels no nerves at this. He knows nights of bullshitting with the guys. He could engage in the banter in his sleep and never arouse suspicion.
Or maybe he just tells himself this because homoerotic jokes are the norm amongst them all - the blooper reels attest to that - and this get together provides him with yet another flimsy excuse to spend more time with David.
They lay siege to four lanes at Bowl Me Over. The work group automatically clusters together. David and Chris take one side, Vincent and Alexis take another. Jay bowls lane two, but floats amongst all the groups to make sure everyone's having a good time.
"Anybody here surprised this pussy has got his own shoes?" Chris asks. He gestures at David with his beer, spilling a few drops down to the floor.
"You're just jealous that I know how to handle my balls," David throws back, not even needing to think about it. He unzips a leather case that reveals a purple and blue swirled bowling ball. When Alexis squints he can see the name "HOMER" on it.
"Bought it with my first acting paycheck," David explains.
"Act like you know what the fuck you're doing and ram that thing down the lane," Chris tells him.
"Funny," David replies, "that's what your mom told me last night."
"Just for that I'm going to own your ass when this is over," Chris says.
Alexis picks up the volley easily. He grins at Vincent and says, "Funny, that's just what Chris said to *me* last night."
"Aw shit," Vincent makes a show of crumbling his face in disappointment. "You too?"
David punctuates the conversation by gracefully landing a strike. He does a football dance of victory, then takes a bow when he earns applause.
"Man's a god-damn golden boy," Chris says to nobody in particular.
Alexis can't take his eyes off David. His mind constructs elaborate fantasies that involve the various ways he could kiss and fuck David without David ever needing to take off his glasses. "He certainly is."
***
Games are played. Somehow scoring is muddled so that David and Chris are competing against one another instead of on the same team. Alexis is no expert, but holds his own enough to make some money on side bets.
"I'm going for food," Vincent announces at one point.
"Tell him I said hi," David says. It comes off as a non-sequitur until Alexis sees that Vincent had his cell phone out and ready to dial.
"Fuck you," Vincent replies. "You want anything?"
"More beer, more nachos," David pulls his wallet out. He hands a wad of bills to Vincent. It's a gesture that manages to be friendly and brotherly instead of presumptuous. "Here. Your folks'll beat the shit out of me if I don't make sure you get fed right."
"Great, now I've got cash for that crack I wanted to score," Vincent skillfully dives out of the way as David reaches to tickle him. "Beers for anybody else?"
Alexis finishes his off. "Please."
"Good kid," Chris observes once Vincent is gone.
"You should meet his family," David agrees.
***
Jay perches at the end of Alexis's bench. "Who's winning?"
"Me," David and Chris say at once.
"Beer, nachos," Vincent says, depositing the food onto their already crowded table.
"What in the caramel crunchy fuck do you have on your face?" Jay asks.
Vincent grins. He strikes a pose, highlighting the neon pink sunglasses he's wearing that are shaped like a hippo. "Aren't they the best?"
"Those are the coolest things *ever*," David sits forward. "Lemme try."
"Get your own," Vincent swats his hand away.
"Where'd you get 'em?" David asks.
"Arcade," Vincent thumbs out the direction. "You gotta play the third machine on the left. The one with the spirals."
Which proves that Vincent either doesn't know David very well at all, or he knows him expertly because you don't suggest things like that to David Boreanaz without expecting him to take you up on it.
"I'll be back," David stands up on his chair to swing over to the other side.
"We're still playing, asshole," Chris says.
"Just for that I'm not finding out if I can win you one shaped like a monkey," David says.
"I'll take next," Jay says.
"Aren't you already playing?" Alexis asks.
"And I will win both because I *am* the man," Jay replies.
When David returns he's sporting bright yellow sunglasses shaped like a bear, and some kind of blue glittery necklace that clashes with the tight olive-green shirt that he's wearing. He throws clear plastic balls at everyone with the expert hand of a baseball pitcher.
"Here," David says. "Fashion show."
Alexis catches his without dropping it. It turns out not to be a ball but a capsule out of a vending machine. There's a glittery necklace inside like David's.
"'Baby'," Chris reads his own. "Niiice. What's yours say?"
David climbs into his chair. He stands on top of it like he owns the world. "Diva."
"No, no," Vincent says. "You gotta do that with flair."
David immediately strikes another pose. One arm up, the other down, the hips go out to complete the Saturday Night Fever look. "*Diva*."
"Better," Vincent says.
"What'd you get, Alex?" Chris asks.
Alexis reads his necklace. "Star."
"Not bad," David says, with a wink that might imply the match up wasn't a coincidence. He gets down off his chair and sprawls out between Alexis and Vincent. "Need help putting yours on?"
Alexis is about to answer when he realizes David isn't talking to him.
"I got it," Vincent says. He puts his necklace on, which reads 'Doll.'
"Oh *this* is a Kodak moment," Jay says. He takes out his phone and flips it open to activate the camera. "Cheese."
David and Vincent fall onto each other so they can both get into frame. They smile brightly enough to match their new accessories.
"Got it," Jay says. "Hel-lo internet!"
"My publicist will be thrilled," David says. He sits back up. He snags a beer so deftly that it takes Alexis a moment to realize that David's right hand is now resting behind Alexis's shoulders. It feels as though the world should stop at that, but it doesn't.
"Doing okay?" David asks him.
"Great," Alexis says. From this close he can see that David has managed to put the child-sized sunglasses on over his own prescription lenses. Alexis wonders if Old Relationship Energy is the reason why he finds that incredibly sexy.
"Good," David says. His thumb begins to caress the back of Alexis's neck. Alexis leans into the touch. He'll happily forgo playing for the rest of the night if it means David won't stop.
Chris and Jay go head to head. Vincent takes another call, but their group is noisy enough that he doesn't need to go far to make sure no one overhears him. Alexis drinks his beer, eats cold nachos, and feels his heart thud heavily with every swipe of David's thumb against his skin.
"Dave," Chris's voice interrupts Alexis's reverie. The warning tone makes a jolt of fear go through Alexis's body, except Chris isn't looking in their direction. Instead he nods to indicate that David should look towards the entrance.
There's a clot of people by the register. Alexis can't make anyone out in particular.
Chris apparently sees a problem that he could solve. "You want me to - "
David cuts him off with a whistle and a wave. "Yo! Big D!"
Someone separates. At first it looks like Nicolas. Then Alexis realizes that it's not.
"Hey," Kelly comes over. He nods a greeting at everyone. "What's up?"
"Hanging out," Chris says. He's perched on the edge of his chair. He's clearly prepped for something, but Alexis doesn't know what. "You?"
"Meeting somebody," Kelly rolls his shoulder back towards the register. "Usual gotta met a guy about a thing."
"So not staying?" Vincent asks.
"Not long," Kelly says. He finally looks at David. "How's it going?"
"Couldn't be better," David's hand isn't on Alexis's neck anymore. He's got a big smile on, though. He's affable, friendly David. Anyone meeting him would think he was having a good time. "You? How's things in your neck of the woods?"
"Same old, same old," Kelly says, and this sounds like code of some kind. Like David knows what he's saying even if nobody else does. "You know how it is."
"Yeah, sure," David's smile doesn't waiver. He immediately goes into host mode. "You want in? We're just starting a new game. Plenty of room if you can find the shoes."
"Nah, I'm good," Kelly finally takes his hands out of his pockets to indicate how he's pressed for time. "Thanks. Just wanted to say hi. You know, since I saw you."
"Sure," David says.
"We should call," Kelly mimes holding a phone to his ear. "You, me. I got the new Playstation."
"Absolutely," David says. "Count on it."
"Great," Kelly gives a half-wave to the rest of them. "Nice seeing you."
"You too," Jay says.
Kelly dissolves back into the crowd.
"Let's play another game," Chris says at once.
"Anybody want more beer?" Vincent asks. "I can get more beer."
"I gotta hit the head," David announces, and leaves before anyone can ask.
There's a moment of quiet. Then there's noise and movement. Vincent and one of Jay's friends play a game. Jay excuses himself to return to the other groups. Chris drinks beer and tallies scores.
Alexis takes this all in.
It was a significant moment. Alexis can tell that much without help. What puzzles him are the facts he wouldn't have guessed without assistance: Chris knows what happened. *Vincent* knows what happened. Alexis knew that he and his co-workers didn't share everything, but this is the first time he's become keenly aware that there are parts to their lives that he's been in total ignorance of.
More importantly, parts to *David's* life that he knew nothing about.
Chris sits in silence but looks at Alexis every so often. It's a sly look. Subtle. No one would notice it if they hadn't been paranoid all night long about people's eyes being more perceptive than they needed to be. Alexis has a flash back to the rumors he's heard. David-and-Chris. If that was true, does Chris have the key to recognize when David's normal joking is a thin disguise over serious flirting? Did he notice them the entire night?
It's all guesswork with nothing to confirm it, but Alexis thinks that Chris does know. Moreover, he's watching to see what Alexis will do.
Watching, and also judging.
Alexis wants to claim innocence. Or at least ignorance of what's going on. He wants to ask Chris or Vincent to tell him the truth.
But he doesn't deserve the truth if he doesn't have special privilege. Jay clearly knew nothing. He was a friend, but not on the inner circle.
To get in, Alexis has to admit that he wants in.
Alexis realizes that Chris is not the man he needs to admit that to.
"I'll be back," Alexis says, and he goes to hunt down David.
***
David is past the arcade in the dark corridor that leads to rooms with locked doors and the faint smell of old disinfectant that seeps out from the bathrooms. He stands hunched against a wall, looking like a man who wishes he could smoke.
He lifts his head when Alexis approaches. The sunglasses are gone. The regular glasses remain, as does the necklace. His brown eyes are dark, and vulnerable, and with a flash of insight Alexis knows that David's guard will go up in a heartbeat if Alexis doesn't catch him first.
It's not the truth, but it's a path to it. It's a path to *David*, and Alexis realizes that matters.
"I want you," Alexis says. He puts a hand on David's chest. He pushes him against the wall. "I want to fuck you. Right now."
A jangling melody from the arcade provides a loud and too-fast soundtrack. "You sure about that?" David asks.
This is a time for playfulness. For reminding David that he isn't the only one who can find joy in down moments.
"I've never fucked you in a bowling alley," Alexis says. "I think we should scratch that off the list."
"There's a list?" David asks.
"A long one," Alexis says.
"Was bowling alley high?" David asks. "Like top ten?"
"I'm seizing a moment," Alexis says.
"What's number one?" David asks.
"The back seat of your car," Alexis replies. Then he kisses David before either of them can get distracted with the details.
They don't linger in the hallway. Instead they commandeer one of the bathrooms, which turns out to be a broken unisex handicap stall. Alexis feels guilty about this until he realizes that the toilet doesn't work and nobody could have used it anyway.
The room is dark, and rank, and wet in ways that don't suggest clean water. But David is strong and warm and looking like a youthful college professor who's just ripe for an eager student to stay with him during office hours for long, hard talks about... well, not that Alexis has fantasies.
Alexis tugs David's shirt up. He kisses and licks the exposed skin. He unsuccessfully tries to keep still as David grips and massages his ass. Their mouths meet. The kisses are greedy, and breathless. Alexis palms David's cock for a few strokes, then David lifts him bodily onto the sink. Alexis immediately wraps his legs around David and draws him closer.
They're both hard. They grind against each other. Alexis thinks it's stupid for them to do this when they could easily come and leave tell tale stains, but then David's hip inserts itself between his legs and suddenly Alexis can't talk or think.
He slips down off the sink enough to give David the same friction. He holds David close, cupping the back of his neck, and talks dirty to him whenever their lips part. He doesn't know what happened to send David running, but he wants to erase every memory of it. He wants to take it out, and fill David's mind with nothing but pornographic thoughts of him.
Alexis might have said some of this out loud. He's not certain. He knows that David groans, and grinds harder, and it's not long before Alexis's teeth are chattering and he starts to see white.
"Fuck me, c'mon, need you," Alexis chokes out.
"Alex," David says, and it's a groan and a sigh and a breath over his ear. "Yes..."
"Yes," Alexis agrees. He refuses to think about the unspoken question. "*Yes*."
Their movements get closer. Tighter. Alexis helps out by rubbing the heel of his hand against David's fly until finally David jerks and falls forward. A roll of David's hips and Alexis is hissing, and clutching David's shoulders tightly enough that he's certain he's stretched out the fabric of the shirt he's been ogling all night.
They stand, forehead to forehead, and breath each other's air for a while.
"Let's go," David says.
"Where?" Alexis asks.
"Anywhere," David says. "I need to be somewhere with you."
And Alexis knows that means the concept of *them*, of what they create alone together that doesn't happen when anyone else is around. And he has friends, and a fiancé, and a life this doesn't actually fit in to.
But he also has David in his arms, and things don't feel right without him.
"Yes," Alexis says. He kisses David on the cheek. "Yes."
No, really, That Would Be Wrong.
But if I was inclined to write some RPS I might do a story that took place after the boys were done in Vegas. And said story might look a little something like this...
Split
By TBQ
Los Angeles can't come quickly enough. *Alexis* can't come quickly enough. His body quivers as they go from breakfast to shuttle to flight. He looks at David. He tries not to look at David. He's too loud, then too quiet, then everything in between.
Jerking off would have probably helped matters, but no spare moment suggests itself.
Once back in LA it's business. Their sleepy, hung-over group collects baggage, retrieves cars, shares rides, and flags down taxis. It's like another world.
Alexis goes through the motions of getting home. His exhausted mind is already prepared to write off the trip as a dream. Lord knows it's no different from the fantasies he's had lately.
Then David grabs Alexis's bag just as Alexis is reaching for it. Their hands touch. David holds Alexis's still beneath his warm palm. Their eyes meet. David winks.
And as quickly as that the moment is done.
Alexis can't wipe the smile off of his face for the rest of the day.
***
They don't wait long for sex. Next day, on the set, Alexis is early for a call, David's late - it would come off as preplanned except neither of them talked about it beforehand.
They find each other like homing pigeons. With twenty entire minutes to call their own they grapple in David's trailer. Clothes come off - Alexis's own, David's costume - mouths meet, bodies wrestle. There's friction and gasping and clinging and whispers that sound like "Fuck" and "David" and "Alex" and "Please."
Alexis gets too loud when he comes. He doesn't care. He wants this to be raw, and real, and tangible.
When David comes they kiss, and Alexis discovers that David likes having his cheeks touched when he's slowly sinking down off the post-orgasm high.
***
They can't stop touching each other. Alone, in front of others, it doesn't matter. They try to keep a semblance of decorum but Alexis is the one who finds himself forgetting. They'll be at a table read and his foot will meet David's beneath the privacy of their chairs. They'll be on set and their fingers will brush together, then entwine. It's gravity, it's magnetism. David smiles and Alexis is there.
They spend every possible moment together. Alexis would fear coming off like a pathetic stalker except that David shows up at his trailer as, if not more, often than Alexis shows up at his. Off-hours they're barely apart. Alexis would call *that* nothing more than a surge in hormones, except that oddly enough sex isn't always a part of it. They're just as likely to spend the night watching a movie or grabbing dinner together as they are to be locked in each other's arms.
David takes it in stride. He smiles big smiles at Alexis and calls it NRE: New Relationship Energy. Alexis feels a black pit in his stomach at that. Energy is undeniable. Relationship is a word with implications that he feels he can firmly disclaim. And yet being called new feels off-putting and insulting. He isn't new. He's been in David's life for years. Fucking is a continuation of their friendship. New is for flings. New is for groupies. Alexis doesn't want to be either one of those things.
One night, when they're driving around LA in David's car, Alexis is drunk enough off David's company that he makes fun of the 'new' label.
"What do you want to call it?" David asks. "Old energy?"
"I'm not *new*," Alexis says, dropping the word off his tongue like a sour candy.
David laughs. He lets go of the gear shift long enough to thread his fingers through Alexis's hand and draw it up for a kiss. "Old energy it is then."
The word *relationship* hangs rather pointedly in the air between them. Alexis lets it sit there. He's got too much to think about already.
***
The problem with Alyson turns out not to be a problem at all. Alexis's mind cheerfully disconnects and forms two lives for him. One: on the set, and dying with every second that he can't get his hands on his co-star. The other: at home with his fiancé and soul mate and somehow managing to discuss topics like pew bows without vomiting out a confession of guilt.
It helps that Alexis's brain is apparently very good at shelving things best left unspoken. It also helps that when Aly does things like sit cross-legged on their bed while wearing a cotton cami and a pair of boxer shorts, she dumps thick bridal magazines onto the bedspread and demands of the universe "What in the flaming heck *are* pew bows, anyway?"
"Do we need them?" Alexis asks her.
"Mom says yes," she replies. "Apparently no pew bows equal big wedding disaster."
"She's a big bow woman herself, is she?" Alexis asks.
"Huge," Aly demonstrates this by spreading her hands out in I-once-caught-a-fish-*this*-big style. "I had no idea. I hope you can marry me anyway, knowing that I might inflict this obsession with unbowed pews on our children. You never know. This could be in the genes."
And the thought of being with her for the rest of their lives, and the thought of *having* children - children with her wit, and patience, and chin - is something that he knows he can't possibly give up no matter what happens.
It wouldn't be a problem, except every time he sees David he knows that he'll be utterly miserable if they never kissed again.
So Alexis keeps seeing David, and keeps not telling Aly about it. He knows there's a timeline of some kind on this, some kind of countdown where the thing he doesn't talk about with David and the thing he doesn't talk about with Aly will both run out and explode into something horrible, quite possibly at the exact same moment. But denial works well to keep Alexis going, so he sticks with it for now.
***
A night of bowling is declared.
Jay has a friend in from the East Coast and wants to show him a good time. Invitations go out to everyone, but somehow it turns into a boys' night out. Alexis, David, and Vincent round out the list of usual suspects from Jay's work related life. Non-work friends of Jay's join in too. Then Chris is added as a last minute addition when an LA gig, downtime, and the desire to hang out coincide.
It's the first time Alexis and David have been out with the others since Vegas. Strangely, Alexis feels no nerves at this. He knows nights of bullshitting with the guys. He could engage in the banter in his sleep and never arouse suspicion.
Or maybe he just tells himself this because homoerotic jokes are the norm amongst them all - the blooper reels attest to that - and this get together provides him with yet another flimsy excuse to spend more time with David.
They lay siege to four lanes at Bowl Me Over. The work group automatically clusters together. David and Chris take one side, Vincent and Alexis take another. Jay bowls lane two, but floats amongst all the groups to make sure everyone's having a good time.
"Anybody here surprised this pussy has got his own shoes?" Chris asks. He gestures at David with his beer, spilling a few drops down to the floor.
"You're just jealous that I know how to handle my balls," David throws back, not even needing to think about it. He unzips a leather case that reveals a purple and blue swirled bowling ball. When Alexis squints he can see the name "HOMER" on it.
"Bought it with my first acting paycheck," David explains.
"Act like you know what the fuck you're doing and ram that thing down the lane," Chris tells him.
"Funny," David replies, "that's what your mom told me last night."
"Just for that I'm going to own your ass when this is over," Chris says.
Alexis picks up the volley easily. He grins at Vincent and says, "Funny, that's just what Chris said to *me* last night."
"Aw shit," Vincent makes a show of crumbling his face in disappointment. "You too?"
David punctuates the conversation by gracefully landing a strike. He does a football dance of victory, then takes a bow when he earns applause.
"Man's a god-damn golden boy," Chris says to nobody in particular.
Alexis can't take his eyes off David. His mind constructs elaborate fantasies that involve the various ways he could kiss and fuck David without David ever needing to take off his glasses. "He certainly is."
***
Games are played. Somehow scoring is muddled so that David and Chris are competing against one another instead of on the same team. Alexis is no expert, but holds his own enough to make some money on side bets.
"I'm going for food," Vincent announces at one point.
"Tell him I said hi," David says. It comes off as a non-sequitur until Alexis sees that Vincent had his cell phone out and ready to dial.
"Fuck you," Vincent replies. "You want anything?"
"More beer, more nachos," David pulls his wallet out. He hands a wad of bills to Vincent. It's a gesture that manages to be friendly and brotherly instead of presumptuous. "Here. Your folks'll beat the shit out of me if I don't make sure you get fed right."
"Great, now I've got cash for that crack I wanted to score," Vincent skillfully dives out of the way as David reaches to tickle him. "Beers for anybody else?"
Alexis finishes his off. "Please."
"Good kid," Chris observes once Vincent is gone.
"You should meet his family," David agrees.
***
Jay perches at the end of Alexis's bench. "Who's winning?"
"Me," David and Chris say at once.
"Beer, nachos," Vincent says, depositing the food onto their already crowded table.
"What in the caramel crunchy fuck do you have on your face?" Jay asks.
Vincent grins. He strikes a pose, highlighting the neon pink sunglasses he's wearing that are shaped like a hippo. "Aren't they the best?"
"Those are the coolest things *ever*," David sits forward. "Lemme try."
"Get your own," Vincent swats his hand away.
"Where'd you get 'em?" David asks.
"Arcade," Vincent thumbs out the direction. "You gotta play the third machine on the left. The one with the spirals."
Which proves that Vincent either doesn't know David very well at all, or he knows him expertly because you don't suggest things like that to David Boreanaz without expecting him to take you up on it.
"I'll be back," David stands up on his chair to swing over to the other side.
"We're still playing, asshole," Chris says.
"Just for that I'm not finding out if I can win you one shaped like a monkey," David says.
"I'll take next," Jay says.
"Aren't you already playing?" Alexis asks.
"And I will win both because I *am* the man," Jay replies.
When David returns he's sporting bright yellow sunglasses shaped like a bear, and some kind of blue glittery necklace that clashes with the tight olive-green shirt that he's wearing. He throws clear plastic balls at everyone with the expert hand of a baseball pitcher.
"Here," David says. "Fashion show."
Alexis catches his without dropping it. It turns out not to be a ball but a capsule out of a vending machine. There's a glittery necklace inside like David's.
"'Baby'," Chris reads his own. "Niiice. What's yours say?"
David climbs into his chair. He stands on top of it like he owns the world. "Diva."
"No, no," Vincent says. "You gotta do that with flair."
David immediately strikes another pose. One arm up, the other down, the hips go out to complete the Saturday Night Fever look. "*Diva*."
"Better," Vincent says.
"What'd you get, Alex?" Chris asks.
Alexis reads his necklace. "Star."
"Not bad," David says, with a wink that might imply the match up wasn't a coincidence. He gets down off his chair and sprawls out between Alexis and Vincent. "Need help putting yours on?"
Alexis is about to answer when he realizes David isn't talking to him.
"I got it," Vincent says. He puts his necklace on, which reads 'Doll.'
"Oh *this* is a Kodak moment," Jay says. He takes out his phone and flips it open to activate the camera. "Cheese."
David and Vincent fall onto each other so they can both get into frame. They smile brightly enough to match their new accessories.
"Got it," Jay says. "Hel-lo internet!"
"My publicist will be thrilled," David says. He sits back up. He snags a beer so deftly that it takes Alexis a moment to realize that David's right hand is now resting behind Alexis's shoulders. It feels as though the world should stop at that, but it doesn't.
"Doing okay?" David asks him.
"Great," Alexis says. From this close he can see that David has managed to put the child-sized sunglasses on over his own prescription lenses. Alexis wonders if Old Relationship Energy is the reason why he finds that incredibly sexy.
"Good," David says. His thumb begins to caress the back of Alexis's neck. Alexis leans into the touch. He'll happily forgo playing for the rest of the night if it means David won't stop.
Chris and Jay go head to head. Vincent takes another call, but their group is noisy enough that he doesn't need to go far to make sure no one overhears him. Alexis drinks his beer, eats cold nachos, and feels his heart thud heavily with every swipe of David's thumb against his skin.
"Dave," Chris's voice interrupts Alexis's reverie. The warning tone makes a jolt of fear go through Alexis's body, except Chris isn't looking in their direction. Instead he nods to indicate that David should look towards the entrance.
There's a clot of people by the register. Alexis can't make anyone out in particular.
Chris apparently sees a problem that he could solve. "You want me to - "
David cuts him off with a whistle and a wave. "Yo! Big D!"
Someone separates. At first it looks like Nicolas. Then Alexis realizes that it's not.
"Hey," Kelly comes over. He nods a greeting at everyone. "What's up?"
"Hanging out," Chris says. He's perched on the edge of his chair. He's clearly prepped for something, but Alexis doesn't know what. "You?"
"Meeting somebody," Kelly rolls his shoulder back towards the register. "Usual gotta met a guy about a thing."
"So not staying?" Vincent asks.
"Not long," Kelly says. He finally looks at David. "How's it going?"
"Couldn't be better," David's hand isn't on Alexis's neck anymore. He's got a big smile on, though. He's affable, friendly David. Anyone meeting him would think he was having a good time. "You? How's things in your neck of the woods?"
"Same old, same old," Kelly says, and this sounds like code of some kind. Like David knows what he's saying even if nobody else does. "You know how it is."
"Yeah, sure," David's smile doesn't waiver. He immediately goes into host mode. "You want in? We're just starting a new game. Plenty of room if you can find the shoes."
"Nah, I'm good," Kelly finally takes his hands out of his pockets to indicate how he's pressed for time. "Thanks. Just wanted to say hi. You know, since I saw you."
"Sure," David says.
"We should call," Kelly mimes holding a phone to his ear. "You, me. I got the new Playstation."
"Absolutely," David says. "Count on it."
"Great," Kelly gives a half-wave to the rest of them. "Nice seeing you."
"You too," Jay says.
Kelly dissolves back into the crowd.
"Let's play another game," Chris says at once.
"Anybody want more beer?" Vincent asks. "I can get more beer."
"I gotta hit the head," David announces, and leaves before anyone can ask.
There's a moment of quiet. Then there's noise and movement. Vincent and one of Jay's friends play a game. Jay excuses himself to return to the other groups. Chris drinks beer and tallies scores.
Alexis takes this all in.
It was a significant moment. Alexis can tell that much without help. What puzzles him are the facts he wouldn't have guessed without assistance: Chris knows what happened. *Vincent* knows what happened. Alexis knew that he and his co-workers didn't share everything, but this is the first time he's become keenly aware that there are parts to their lives that he's been in total ignorance of.
More importantly, parts to *David's* life that he knew nothing about.
Chris sits in silence but looks at Alexis every so often. It's a sly look. Subtle. No one would notice it if they hadn't been paranoid all night long about people's eyes being more perceptive than they needed to be. Alexis has a flash back to the rumors he's heard. David-and-Chris. If that was true, does Chris have the key to recognize when David's normal joking is a thin disguise over serious flirting? Did he notice them the entire night?
It's all guesswork with nothing to confirm it, but Alexis thinks that Chris does know. Moreover, he's watching to see what Alexis will do.
Watching, and also judging.
Alexis wants to claim innocence. Or at least ignorance of what's going on. He wants to ask Chris or Vincent to tell him the truth.
But he doesn't deserve the truth if he doesn't have special privilege. Jay clearly knew nothing. He was a friend, but not on the inner circle.
To get in, Alexis has to admit that he wants in.
Alexis realizes that Chris is not the man he needs to admit that to.
"I'll be back," Alexis says, and he goes to hunt down David.
***
David is past the arcade in the dark corridor that leads to rooms with locked doors and the faint smell of old disinfectant that seeps out from the bathrooms. He stands hunched against a wall, looking like a man who wishes he could smoke.
He lifts his head when Alexis approaches. The sunglasses are gone. The regular glasses remain, as does the necklace. His brown eyes are dark, and vulnerable, and with a flash of insight Alexis knows that David's guard will go up in a heartbeat if Alexis doesn't catch him first.
It's not the truth, but it's a path to it. It's a path to *David*, and Alexis realizes that matters.
"I want you," Alexis says. He puts a hand on David's chest. He pushes him against the wall. "I want to fuck you. Right now."
A jangling melody from the arcade provides a loud and too-fast soundtrack. "You sure about that?" David asks.
This is a time for playfulness. For reminding David that he isn't the only one who can find joy in down moments.
"I've never fucked you in a bowling alley," Alexis says. "I think we should scratch that off the list."
"There's a list?" David asks.
"A long one," Alexis says.
"Was bowling alley high?" David asks. "Like top ten?"
"I'm seizing a moment," Alexis says.
"What's number one?" David asks.
"The back seat of your car," Alexis replies. Then he kisses David before either of them can get distracted with the details.
They don't linger in the hallway. Instead they commandeer one of the bathrooms, which turns out to be a broken unisex handicap stall. Alexis feels guilty about this until he realizes that the toilet doesn't work and nobody could have used it anyway.
The room is dark, and rank, and wet in ways that don't suggest clean water. But David is strong and warm and looking like a youthful college professor who's just ripe for an eager student to stay with him during office hours for long, hard talks about... well, not that Alexis has fantasies.
Alexis tugs David's shirt up. He kisses and licks the exposed skin. He unsuccessfully tries to keep still as David grips and massages his ass. Their mouths meet. The kisses are greedy, and breathless. Alexis palms David's cock for a few strokes, then David lifts him bodily onto the sink. Alexis immediately wraps his legs around David and draws him closer.
They're both hard. They grind against each other. Alexis thinks it's stupid for them to do this when they could easily come and leave tell tale stains, but then David's hip inserts itself between his legs and suddenly Alexis can't talk or think.
He slips down off the sink enough to give David the same friction. He holds David close, cupping the back of his neck, and talks dirty to him whenever their lips part. He doesn't know what happened to send David running, but he wants to erase every memory of it. He wants to take it out, and fill David's mind with nothing but pornographic thoughts of him.
Alexis might have said some of this out loud. He's not certain. He knows that David groans, and grinds harder, and it's not long before Alexis's teeth are chattering and he starts to see white.
"Fuck me, c'mon, need you," Alexis chokes out.
"Alex," David says, and it's a groan and a sigh and a breath over his ear. "Yes..."
"Yes," Alexis agrees. He refuses to think about the unspoken question. "*Yes*."
Their movements get closer. Tighter. Alexis helps out by rubbing the heel of his hand against David's fly until finally David jerks and falls forward. A roll of David's hips and Alexis is hissing, and clutching David's shoulders tightly enough that he's certain he's stretched out the fabric of the shirt he's been ogling all night.
They stand, forehead to forehead, and breath each other's air for a while.
"Let's go," David says.
"Where?" Alexis asks.
"Anywhere," David says. "I need to be somewhere with you."
And Alexis knows that means the concept of *them*, of what they create alone together that doesn't happen when anyone else is around. And he has friends, and a fiancé, and a life this doesn't actually fit in to.
But he also has David in his arms, and things don't feel right without him.
"Yes," Alexis says. He kisses David on the cheek. "Yes."
