#ship: zach/sendhil

[anoldwound]

Harmonium - Zach/Sendhil [RPS]

Title: Harmonium Characters/Pairings: Zach/Sendhil Rating: PG-13 Warnings: None Word Count: 1864 Summary:  It had been a little more than a year since he first realized that he harbored some weird kind of affection for Zach -- and not your typical friendly affection, the other kind, the dangerous kind -- and the feelings had evolved somewhat. Disclaimer: I am, of course, in no way insinuating that any of this is real. This is entirely fictional, and Zach and Sendhil are merely my puppets are being treated as fictional characters. Plz no sue kthnx. A/N: This is the final installment in my little Zach/Sendhil trilogy, the other two of which can be found here and here, although it's not necessary to have read those. This is also a charity fic for doctor_caduceus. Hope you like! Zach was… different. Something inside him had metamorphosed during the extended hiatus, while he was filming the Star Trek movie, as he began fully appreciating the celebrity that he had and would have even more of soon. He was still a nice guy, of course. He was just different now, somehow. Sendhil felt different himself. It had been a little more than a year since he first realized that he harbored some weird kind of affection for Zach -- and not your typical friendly affection, the other kind, the dangerous kind -- and the feelings had evolved somewhat. Instead of a chaotic panic, it was now more of a quiet thing, something that didn’t seem like such a big deal, even though it was.  He just liked to pretend it wasn’t. And, in his own private world, it wasn’t a problem, and he and Zach were able to frolic together through meadows while singing the score to The Sound of Music while Olga giggled at their homo antics. It was a nice little fantasy. Sendhil peered out of his trailer window and saw Zach laughing with Hayden over by the crafts table. He smirked slightly to himself. Milo then came over and gave Hayden a quick peck on the cheek, his hand on the small of her back, and Sendhil felt a flare of jealousy in his chest -- he wasn’t jealous of them, exactly, he just sort of wished it was him and Zach instead, and that thought sent up a wave of guilt. It was an annoying cycle that had become pretty routine by this point. He used to beat himself up over it at night, tossing and turning under the sheets in the bed he shared with Olga His Wife, the guilt eating away at his brain. He knew he shouldn’t feel so terrible -- it was perfectly normal and okay to get crushes on other people when you were married, so long as you never acted on it. Which he was not going to do. Not that it wouldn’t be easy enough… he was sure that if he just said the word, Zach would come running, and it was incredibly tempting, although he still never did it. But fuck if he didn’t really, really want to. He also knew, though, that he could never actually do it. Not only would it completely destroy his marriage, it would ruin the friendship he already had with Zach, he would possibly do damage to his career… and his family, he couldn’t just betray them because he was lusting after someone he worked with. And yeah, that was another thing, he worked with Zach. It would be completely inappropriate and… “Sendhil!” He blinked, startled; Zach was calling his name and waving to him from outside. He was wearing that ridiculous purple hoodie that made him more like a ‘mo than even Sendhil could have imagined. He opened his window. “Yeah, what, loser?” Sendhil called back. “You looked so wistful! It was really weird! Get out here!” Sendhil rolled his eyes good-naturedly and slammed the window shut. He was glad that he was able to keep things relatively normal with Zach, except for those times when they brushed against each other accidentally and Sendhil felt a chill go up his spine and he was certain you could see it in his eyes. “I need a ride to the grocery store,” Zach said as Sendhil came trotting outside. “My driver’s gone AWOL, so can you give me a lift?” “Sure,” said Sendhil, not even pausing to consider it. “You need to go right now?” “Yeah. I am in very desperate need of mac and cheese.” “You don’t have any in your trailer?” Milo asked, eyebrow raised. “I ate the last of it a couple minutes ago.” “Then why do you need more now?” “I just do, okay! Gosh, Mi,” Zach said, smiling. “Whatever. Have a great time, guys,” said Milo, when Hayden whispered something in his ear and he turned away from them. On the way to the car, Sendhil accidentally stepped in some sort of gooey substance that held him immobile for several moments, until he managed to yank himself out of it. --- “You know what’s really hilarious?” asked Zach as they crawled slowly down the street. Damn L.A. traffic. “What?” “I actually don’t have to go to the grocery store.” “Um.” He got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Okay. Why are we driving, then?” “I had ulterior motives. I needed to get you alone.” Zach adjusted the rearview mirror, angling it more towards himself. “‘Alone’?” Sendhil smirked jokingly. “Are you planning to rape me while I’m driving? That’s kind of dangerous, you know. You could get us killed.” He put the rearview mirror back in its original position. “Can we keep the mirror there? Thanks.” “Be serious. I needed to talk to you about something in private.” “Well, what’d you need to talk about?” Sendhil fiddled with the mirror nervously. “About…” Zach swallowed and looked out the window. “I mean. You must know.” “Know what?” Oh dear God. This conversation wasn’t happening. It wasn’t. “I’ve…” Zach looked down at his hands, then peered cautiously up at him. “I’ve, well, kind of had a crush on you for a while. Uh, sorry.” Sendhil didn’t say anything. His skin felt like ice, and he gripped the steering wheel tighter. Zach brought the mirror to himself again and flicked his hair out of his eyes, then adjusted it back to somewhere near its original position, but it wasn’t the same. “Sendhil?” “Yeah?” “Are you mad?” “Mad? No, I’m not mad!” He looked at him disbelievingly for a second, then quickly jerked his head back to the front, unable to look Zach in the eyes. “Of course I’m not mad.” “What are you, then?” “I just… I don’t understand why you’re telling me this.” “Because I’m tired of lying to you. Tired of lying to myself.” “But what was the point? Did you seriously think something was going to happen or what?” “Of course I didn’t -- I thought you said you weren’t mad!” “I’m not! I’m just --” He took a deep breath. Traffic inched forward a little. “I’m just confused. Really, really confused.” “There’s nothing to be confused about. It’s pretty simple, really,” said Zach, trying to lighten the mood, but the car now had a sinister black cloud above it, and not even Zach was going to be able to get rid of it now. “Is it?” Sendhil snapped, finally turning towards him. “Is it simple? Because I don’t think it is. I’ve been turning it over and over in my mind for months and I don’t see anything simple about it at all. Not one little speck of it is ‘simple’.” Zach’s brows furrowed. “Wait… what the hell are you talking about? How have you been turning it in your head for months? Turning what in your head?” Realizing he’d said too much, Sendhil faced the road again. “Nothing,” he mumbled, and turned the radio on. “You already knew that I --?” “Let’s just drop it, Zach, okay? Just… pretend this conversation never happened.” He turned up the volume, Michael Buble blasting through the speakers. “No!” Zach angrily turned the volume down. “We’re talking about this. I don’t want things to be weird between us.” “Well, you’re a bit late for that! Months and months too late! Actually, a whole year too late!” “Would you shut the hell up and tell me what the fuck you’re talking about already, for fuck’s sake?” “I think I do too, all right?” “Think you do what?” “That I have some kind of weird crush on you too, man!” There was a horrible silence in the car then, the kind of silence that made your ears ring. “What?” Zach asked quietly. “Don’t ask me. I don’t fucking know.” Sendhil turned the volume back up and slumped down in his seat, hand on his forehead. Zach stared at him for several seconds, then settled back in his seat, his arms crossed. He looked… amazed. “Seriously? You’re not just joking around?” “I wish I was.” More silence. Sendhil hated this stupid traffic. He just wanted to turn around and go back to the set and then everything would be back to normal, so long as he didn’t have to stay in this stupid car anymore. “So… what do we do now?” Zach asked. “Well, the fun answer is we make out.” Zach laughed, and the air didn’t seem as tense. “Seriously.” “I really have no idea. Honestly, though? I just want to forget any of this ever happened.” “Because you know nothing’s ever going to be the same again, right?” Sendhil nodded. “I think it’ll be okay. I don’t think it’s gonna be as weird you think.” “Really? What makes you say that?” “This kind of thing… it’s happened to me before. Several times, actually. Get a crush on a married guy…” He coughed. “Most of the time I never told them, though. And they usually never reciprocated. But one time, he did, and we started a relationship, and that’s actually when things got weird, because we had to keep it a secret, which was kinda fun at first, but then it was always with the wife and the guilt and knowing that we could never be in a real relationship… the times I told the guy and my feelings weren’t returned and we stayed friends weren’t anywhere near as weird as that. It was better that way, I think. Except for the lack of sex.” “Dude, you ramble like a champion.” “I do, don’t I? I practice in front of the mirror a lot.” They chuckled, and Zach shoved his shoulder playfully. “You see?” he said. “We can still be friends. It’ll be strange at first, but after a while… it won’t be.” Sendhil smiled, but he remained uneasy. He didn’t see how it could ever be normal between them again -- if things had ever been normal -- but he supposed they would have to fake it until they made it. He was not going to lose his friendship with Zach because of this. He didn’t want to lose that, ever. Finally, traffic eased up, and Sendhil was able to turn back around towards the set. He opened the windows and let the breeze come in. He felt the wind ripple through his hair, and leaned his neck back slightly, letting it waft over him. Zach was staring at him, an odd and indecipherable look in his eyes. “What?” Sendhil asked, tittering nervously. “You’re just so --” He started to say, then broke off suddenly. “Uh, nothing. Sorry.” He cast his eyes downward and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Sendhil looked over at him, and felt his heart expand in a very strange way. He kind of half-smiled, and rested his hand on Zach’s shoulder, then turned back to the road. He felt Zach’s hand rest on his, and they drove back the rest of the way just like that, sharing a harmony with each other. It wasn’t enough, but it would do.

[anoldwound]

The Sendhil Who Cried Wolf - Zach/Sendhil [RPS]

Title: The Sendhil Who Cried Wolf Characters/Pairings: Zach/Sendhil Rating: PG-13 Warnings: Slash. Mild sex stuff. Cursing. Word Count: 2803 Summary:  Sendhil pursed his lips to keep from smiling. How he enjoyed teasing the new people. Disclaimer: I am, of course, in no way insinuating that any of this is real. This is entirely fictional, and Zach and Sendhil are merely my puppets are being treated as fictional characters. Plz no sue kthnx. A/N: This is a companion fic to this, but it's not necessary to have read that to understand this one. ^_^ Enjoy! There was an unshakable feeling of camaraderie in the air, and Sendhil decided to brush flecks of dust off of Zach’s shirt. “You’re not very tidy, you know,” Sendhil informed him, and Zach gave a sarcastic smirk. “Says the guy who can’t get a plastic comb through his hair without breaking it,” he said, and Sendhil chuckled as he remembered. He patted his curls lovingly. “Don’t diss the locks, yo.” Zach winced and said, “Do me a favor, Sendhil. Never say the word ‘yo’ again.” “Or what?” Sendhil laughed and pulled on Zach’s shoulder. “You’ll come to my house and eat my braaaainnnnssss?” His eyes went wide and he laughed some more. “That’s exactly what I’ll do.” Zach’s eyes lit up and he delicately plucked a piece of lint out of Sendhil’s hair. “So much for you being neat and tidy.” He flicked the lint away and grinned. “Hey. Never said I was tidy. Just that you weren’t.” He hadn’t let go of Zach’s shoulder yet, and he felt the smooth material of the silk underneath the pads of his fingers. “Why are you feeling up my shirt?” He tittered uncomfortably and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Your shirt turns me on, man,” said Sendhil. “It has me thinking all kinds of nasty thoughts.” “W-what?” His face went white---whiter than it was---and the smile drooped off of his face. “Yeah…hey, take your shirt off, so I can go have wild sex with it in the closet.” His face relaxed and laughter broke out. “Are you serious?” Sendhil pursed his lips to keep from smiling. How he enjoyed teasing the new people. “No. I just want you to take your shirt off. Me and my tricks, you know.” A wink. Zach said nothing, just stared at him with a questioning, frightful gaze. “You’re still not serious.” “I am.” Sendhil breathed into Zach’s ear, “I want to fuck you. Right now.” Sendhil could feel him tense up, and Zach’s face was warm against his cheek. “I don’t---I mean---huh?” “Well? Do you want to or not?” Sendhil lazily tilted his head and pressed his fingers tightly on Zach’s shoulder. “B-but…you…I…uh…” He was so flustered, and Sendhil couldn’t keep it up any longer. “Just kidding,” he said, and his toes lowered him back onto the ground as Zach looked like he had just been hit by an 18-wheeler. “Kidding? You were just…oh, you bastard,” he laughed, and Sendhil clapped him on the back, glad that Zach was a good sport. *** There wasn’t a lot of time left before shooting started again, but Sendhil laid himself out on the couch and crunched his bag of potato chips. “Why are you destroying your snack?” Zach asked, sliding over in his Converses. “I like them broken.” His hands pressed against the plastic and felt the chips crack satisfyingly. “What’s up?” “You do realize we’ll be at it again in five minutes.” He peeled open the bag and stuffed the tiny pieces into his mouth. “And?” Zach shook his head, but he smiled. “Never mind. Clearly you cannot be stopped.” “Damn straight I can’t.” He chewed thoughtfully. “Or, you know. Not straight.” Zach’s thick brows furrowed. “What do you mean?” “Kinsey.” Sendhil swallowed and licked the grease from his fingers. “Kinsey said sexuality isn’t a static state.” “Yeah, so?” “So, it’s fluid and transitive. No one is one-hundred percent straight or one-hundred percent gay. We all go through different periods in our lives where we’re attracted to different kinds of people.” “I don’t get what this has to do with you eating chips three minutes before we get called for a scene.” “I have a point.” Sendhil looked at Zach sultrily and fought a smirk. “Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to have sex with a guy. You know?” Zach’s foot slipped. “R-really now.” He’d obviously forgotten last time. “Really. You’re gay, right, Zach?” “Y-yeah…” Sendhil could see the drip of sweat near his ear. “What’s it like? Can you tell me? Or…maybe you could show me.” He licked his fingers again, his eyes half-closed. He glanced up, and Zach looked mesmerized. “Are you serious?” he asked quietly, earnestly. “No.” And he grinned, swinging his legs over the couch. “I’m just kidding.” Zach blinked, then ran his hand down over his face. “You need to stop doing that, Sendhil,” he said, but he was amused. Sendhil could tell. They got called over for the scene and Sendhil straightened the collar underneath his bright orange sweater. *** “Don’t ever tell me about the ducks,” Zach said as Sendhil flounced his hair back and laughed. “I don’t want to know about the ducks.” “But Z, the Infamous Duck Story is too amazing not to be told,” Sendhil said imploringly, and reached across the dining table to wipe tomato sauce off of Zach’s face. “Everyone has to know it.” “Not me.” His face flickered oddly, and he pushed Sendhil’s hand away. “I can get it myself.” Sendhil plopped back down in his seat and rested his chin on his fists. God, he was drunk. “ ‘S a little lower.” “Ah.” He got it and tossed the napkin on the table carelessly. Sendhil scraped his nail against the scruff on his chin, his gaze flitting down towards Zach’s hands. They were feeling the smooth steel of the fork. “What?” Zach asked, and Sendhil didn’t see but he knew Zach was raising an eyebrow, because that was what he always did. “Nothing,” he had to save face somehow, “I was just staring at your penis.” Zach rolled his eyes and brought the fork to his mouth. “You can cut your crap now, you know. It’s not funny.” “Hmm.” He laid his head down on the table and closed his eyes. *** He was bored. “You bored?” he asked Zach, who was reading a magazine. Zach made a small noise of agreement, but didn’t look up. “I’m bored.” His fingers tapped against the back of his chair. He glanced over. “What’re you reading?” “Nothing.” “Looks like something. What is it?” Zach sighed heavily and flipped the glossy page. “None of your business.” “Ooh. Mister Temper.” He still wouldn’t look up. Sendhil slid down in his seat and rubbed his hands over his eyes. “Shame we’re not gonna be doing too many more scenes together. I like our riveting conversations.” That got his attention. “What?” “Yeah. Didn’t you hear? Sylar’s getting killed off next episode.” Zach was hesitant to believe him, but he still looked slightly alarmed. “How is he getting killed off?” “Mohinder kills him. Because he finds out ‘Zane’ is really Sylar.” “Are you serious?!” Zach shrieked, and slammed his magazine shut. “Why didn’t they tell me this? This doesn’t make any fucking sense whatsoever!” “Mohinder’s not bad-ass enough. People have been complaining. So they decided to change it. Sorry.” He shrugged and picked at the threads hanging off of his pants. “This is---this is bullshit! You’d think they’d at least have the decency to tell me that I’m dying in the next episode!” His face was flushed and his eyes were practically popping out of his head. Sendhil smiled. “There’s a perfectly good reason they didn’t tell you that,” he said. “Oh, yeah? Why?” “Because I made it up.” “Because---wait, what?” Sendhil chuckled. “I was kidding. Got you again!” “You---don’t scare me like that!” Zach cried, whapping Sendhil on the shoulder with his magazine. “That was just mean, Sendhil.” “I guess you’d prefer me hitting on you, then,” Sendhil said, a smirk sliding up his cheek. Zach’s eyes went like rocks. “Not really, no.” “Oh, c’mon. You know you love it,” he teased gently, shoving Zach’s shoulder with his finger. He turned a deeper shade of red. “I don’t.” “Your face looks good like that,” Sendhil said. “You should be embarrassed more often.” “I hate you, you know,” he said, and left, magazine rolled up and stuffed into his pocket. Sendhil frowned. The room that was bustling with people seemed a lot more empty. *** “You occupy my thoughts entirely too much,” Sendhil said a month later. “In what way?” Zach asked, reaching for a muffin. He shrugged and scratched his ear. “I dunno. Never mind.” “Okay.” Zach grabbed another muffin. “You want it?” “No thanks. I’m allergic to blueberries.” “Really?” “No.” He swiped it from Zach’s hand and took an obscenely large bite. “Why are you always lying about the dumbest things?” Zach asked jokingly, taking a (much smaller) bite of his own muffin. Sendhil grinned, food still in his mouth. “Ish fush.” “Sorry?” He swallowed. “It’s fun. I enjoy making people uncomfortable.” “Clearly,” Zach mumbled, almost too low for Sendhil to hear. Almost. He chose to ignore it, and also to ignore the crackling electricity he suddenly felt on the side facing Zach. “Did you hear about the strike at NBC?” “What strike?” “A bunch of the writers working for NBC are going on strike. Nobody on Heroes, though. Just the writers on The Office, My Name is Earl, a couple other shows. Can’t remember them.” He looked confused, and took another bite of his muffin. “Why would they do that?” He licked the crumbs underneath his mouth, and Sendhil didn’t know why he noticed this. “I dunno. Something to do with NBC cutting everyone’s budget in half.” “Are you serious?” “Yeah. They’re gonna have to fire some of the cast. So Milo’s gonna get kicked to the curb next week.” Zach’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t believe you.” “Fine. Don’t. But just watch. After Milo’s gone, it’s probably gonna be me.” He sighed sadly and bit off a blueberry. “Really? I mean, why would they do that? Mohinder’s an important character.” He said this urgently, pleadingly, with a desperate look in his eye. “And Peter isn’t?” Sendhil raised an eyebrow. “Nice that you’re more concerned about me leaving than Milo. I appreciate that.” “Are they seriously gonna start firing people?” “No. I was kidding. But I appreciate your support, Zach, I really do,” he said, patting him on the shoulder. “Jesus…” He ran a hand through his hair. “One of these days, I’m not gonna believe a single word that comes out of your mouth.” “I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already, to be honest,” Sendhil smiled cheekily. “Ha ha.” He turned on his heel and slapped hands with Greg, who was in full-on party mode, as per usual. Sendhil gazed after him, then glanced down at his muffin and remembered that, although he was not allergic to blueberries, he was allergic to peaches, and he could sense the faint taste of peach on his tongue…fuck. The muffins were peach-flavored. He threw the muffin into the trash and sprinted away to the bathroom. *** Sendhil’s heels scraped against the sidewalk, his fists stuffed into his jacket pockets. “It’s a nice night out.” “Yeah.” Zach looked up at the sky. “You can actually see a couple stars for once.” “Stars up there or down here?” Sendhil said slyly. Zach bumped his hip into his. “You know what I mean, idiot.” Sendhil chortled and stared at his feet, his breath lodged in his throat for some reason. “Hmmph.” They walked down the street, not saying anything, the night air hanging heavy between them. “You know what I’ve always wondered?” Zach said. “What?” “I’ve always kinda wondered what it’d be like to just…fly,” he said. “I mean, I know I always say during interviews that the superpower I’d want is invisibility, but part of me wonders what it’d be like to have your feet levitate off the ground a little bit…float there for a while…and then just soar off into the sky.” He paused and chuckled. “God, I’m horrible. That’s such a cliché.” “No. It’s nice.” Sendhil looked over at him. Zach’s profile swallowed his eyes. “I’ve always wanted to know, too. It seems like it’d be so freeing.” “Yeah.” Zach turned his head, and their eyes burned into each other. It didn’t seem like the rest of the world existed. “Um…” Sendhil coughed into his hand and turned away. “Guess what I heard the other day?” “What?” It was hard to miss the disappointment in his voice. “Adrian and Natalie are getting a divorce.” “WHAT?!” Zach came to a screeching stop. Sendhil could almost hear the brakes on his feet. “They’re getting a divorce?! No way!” “When he said he was growing a beard, that was the last straw. Natalie says she wants a divorce.” “This---it’s over a beard? It’s over a stupid, hypothetical beard?” His voice was so high-pitched that Sendhil had to fight the urge to insert his fingers into his ears. “Not just the beard. It’s other stuff, too. But the beard just drove Natalie over the edge. She said she can’t take it anymore.” “But---but---someone has to talk to her,” Zach said. “She can’t divorce him. Adrian’s crazy about her. And…I mean…you can’t possibly be serious about this! This is totally insane.” “You’re right. I’m not serious.” He tried to smirk proudly, but he couldn’t. Zach chewed on his lip. “Right. Of course you’re not.” And he shuffled ahead of him, back hunched. I like the way your pupils dilate when you look at me, Sendhil thought, but didn’t say. It was getting hard to distinguish the truth from the lies now. *** “I still can’t believe this is the last episode of the season,” Milo said, tucking his bangs behind his ear. “I know.” Sendhil smoothed down the creases in his pants. “It’s pretty surreal.” “Did you get one of Greg’s notes in your dressing room yet?” Greg had been leaving amusing little notes in people’s dressing rooms---Adrian had gotten one that said, “ADRIAN TOTALLY WANTS TO GET IT ON WITH GREG” and Milo had received one that read,  “MILO IS A CROSS-DRESSING FIEND.” “No, not yet. But it’s only a matter of time.” Coincidentally, Greg was walking up to them, a big grin on his face. “Hello, Sendhil,” he said mischievously, and continued on his way. Milo and Sendhil looked at each other. “You got one,” Milo said. “I got one.” “Let’s go see!” Milo sounded way too excited, and yanked Sendhil down the hall towards his dressing room. The door was open, and they could see the piece of notebook paper taped onto the mirror. It said, in blue capital letters: “ZACH LIKES WHEN SENDHIL IS NEKKID.” Milo burst out laughing while Sendhil just stood there stupidly. “Oh, man! That’s classic! HEY, ZACH! GET IN HERE!” “No---” Sendhil hissed, but it was too late; Zach had already sidled over. “What is…” His gaze locked on the note and a faint blush crept up his cheek. “What the hell?” “Greg strikes again!” Greg cackled as he ran past them. He waved his arms in the air. “NO ONE CAN STOP ME!” “Hey, Greg! I’ve got a good one you can put in Ali’s room!” Milo ran after him, laughing. Sendhil laughed too, uncomfortably, and rubbed his neck. “We sure are a crazy cast, huh?” “Heh. Yeah.” Zach grinned. “So, I’ll just…take this off for you…” His hand reached over to rip the note off the mirror. Sendhil’s fingers clenched onto his arm to stop him. Zach gave him a curious look. “What is it?” “Nah. Don’t take it off,” Sendhil said casually. “It gives me a warm, gooey feeling inside.” He looked over at it. It did. It actually did. And he didn’t want to think about what that meant. “Yeah. Right.” Zach chuckled good-naturedly and pulled his arm away from Sendhil’s grasp. “Okay. Leave it up if you want.” And he left, hands in his pockets. Sendhil stared after him. Zach had been acting---he wasn’t really amused. He could tell. He always knew when Zach was acting and when he wasn’t, just like he knew that Zach didn’t like sugar in his coffee and that he wrote his To-Do Lists on old postcards. That, in fact, he made lists out of everything, from grocery lists to favorite-restaurant lists to people-he-didn’t-like lists. And that he would always let Sendhil read them, even the really personal ones that he wouldn’t let anyone else see. He realized that he knew too many things about Zach, things that no ordinary person would notice or even care about knowing, and it scared him. It scared him how nice the note taped on his mirror made him feel. It scared him how wonderful he felt whenever Zach looked at him. But mostly, it was scaring him how badly and horribly he wanted to know what it would be like to kiss Zach and to hold him and to fuck him senseless in the back of a car or anywhere, really. He sat down at his dresser and gazed at the note. The one time he had been serious, and Zach hadn’t believed him. Karma. It was a bitch.

[anoldwound]

Zach Likes When Sendhil Is Nekkid - Zach/Sendhil [RPS]

Title: Zach Likes When Sendhil is Nekkid Characters/Pairings: Zach/Sendhil (one-sided) Rating: PG-13 Warnings: Slash. Mild sex stuff. Cursing. Word Count: 1229 Summary:  Things like this always seemed to happen to him...he would always fall for the married, straight guy. Disclaimer: I am, of course, in no way insinuating that any of this is real. This is entirely fictional, and Zach and Sendhil are merely my puppets are being treated as fictional characters. Plz no sue kthnx. A/N: I finally did it. I finally wrote this pairing. *headdesk* I am a terrible person...but the plot bunnies! They are merciless! The companion fic to this can be located here. Sendhil was walking poetry. It wasn’t the most original description—or the most poetic—but far be it from Zach to declare himself a master of words. Words, after all, didn’t really matter, and couldn’t describe Sendhil’s smile. A smile that he was now flashing at the group of photographers gathered near the set. His teeth caught in the sunlight, and a blinding whiteness shot into Zach’s eyes. He averted his gaze to a ragged, wild bush that had thorns sticking out dangerously on all of its branches. It made him feel oddly perturbed, so he looked up at the sky—free and open and a perfect blue. It was a great day for shooting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sendhil walking back into his trailer. The flimsy door slammed shut behind him, and the sound reverberated throughout the now silent woodland area. The photographers had left what seemed like a while ago, and Zach wondered exactly how long he had been standing there, staring at the sky. He knew it was going to be a while before they would be needed for the scene, so he sat down on a stump and rested his fist on his chin. He liked having these quiet moments alone—no reporters bothering him with questions he had been asked about a thousand times already, no publicists telling him how to dress, what to say, how to act...and there was a kind of peacefulness about the wilderness.  The air was heavy, but in a pleasant way, and there were no sounds except the twittering of birds in the distance and his own steady, rhythmic breathing. Zach looked through the window into Sendhil’s trailer and saw him flipping through a book—he couldn’t see the title from this far away—and tucking his curly locks behind his ear. His hair had grown back a little since the season had started, and Zach was glad. He much preferred it long. He liked the way it draped Sendhil’s face. It was wrong, thinking these things. He knew it was. It was wrong and it was pointless—Sendhil had to be one of the straightest guys on the planet, not to mention the fact that he was married and very much in love with his wife. Things like this always seemed to happen to him...he would always fall for the married, straight guy. The guy who had a family in the suburbs he’d go home to every night at precisely six o’ clock, who’d leave for his job at the office the next morning at exactly nine, and would leave work at five and go out drinking with his other very straight buddies—and Zach, the token gay guy. And Zach would keep all of his feelings bottled inside as he gazed with a burning longing at the laughing, smiling man that he knew he could never have, and shouldn’t have, because it was messed up and dirty. He was kind of masochistic that way. But this time, it had been an accident—he was watching the Heroes pilot one day with his friends, before he had signed up for the show, and he had said to one of them: “You know, that one guy is pretty hot.” “Which one?” “Well, all of them, really—but the guy who plays Mohinder. What’s his name?” “It’s Sendhil-something, I think.” “Well, he’s pretty fucking hot. I’d do him.” And he’d shoved the popcorn into his mouth and forgot about it. So, it really wasn’t fair that he wound up working with the man in the first place. He was already attracted to him, for God’s sake. How was he supposed to have known that he would end up on the show? And that the two of them would eventually be doing a bunch of scenes together? His crush had just gotten worse and worse as the days passed, until it had finally blown into...whatever the hell this was. He felt a shudder pass through him as Sendhil extended his slender neck to scratch at the hollow between his collarbone and his throat. He flicked his hair out of his eyes again. Zach had sniffed Sendhil’s hair once...it smelled like coconuts and something else that he couldn’t quite identify, but it had been pleasing and erotic and had practically given him an orgasm right then and there. He had felt ridiculous, but it hadn’t mattered, because nobody had noticed him. He kicked at the dirt beneath his shoes, and peered over his shoulder at the thorny bush. It seemed to be mocking him, somehow. He curled his mouth and looked back at Sendhil’s window. He wasn’t there anymore. Probably sitting in his chair, reading the book he had been flipping through a few moments ago. Seemed like eons had passed since then. He knew he should be heading back to his own trailer, but every time he tried to get up, he just...didn’t. His ass was firmly planted on that stump, as though it had taken root there, and his eyes would not tear away from Sendhil’s trailer. It was a dangerous obsession. He remembered a few months ago, when they had been wrapping up the first season, how Greg thought it would be funny to leave random notes in people’s dressing rooms. Stuff like “MILO IS A CROSS-DRESSING FIEND” and “ADRIAN TOTALLY WANTS TO GET IT ON WITH GREG”. Silly stuff that had everyone in stitches and that no one had taken seriously. But then Greg had left a note in Sendhil’s dressing room—one that he had taped onto the mirror and had written in capital letters with a blue Sharpie. “ZACH LIKES WHEN SENDHIL IS NEKKID.” Again, everyone had just laughed it off and didn’t think too much of it, but Zach, underneath his light-hearted chuckles, had been completely mortified and wanted to rip the note to shreds and throw it in the trash, because it was painfully true, even though Greg probably didn’t realize it. But Sendhil had insisted on leaving it up there, because “it gives me a warm, gooey feeling inside”, and Zach had grinned and let it go, while secretly wanting to slam Sendhil’s head against the wall for saying that, because it was just another one of his goddamn lies. He hated this. He really did. He hated feeling like he was chained down to this man—this beautiful, devastating man—and he hated the trapped feeling he had all the time, and...God, he just hated everything. But most of all, he hated standing so close to him and feeling so far away at the same time. He longed to be free of him, yet he longed to stay chained and alone and miserable. “Zach?” He blinked and turned. Sendhil was standing next to him. “Any particular reason you’re sitting here all by your lonesome?” Sendhil squatted down next to him. “No...no, I was just thinking.” “About what?” “Nothing, really.” “Sounds riveting.” A small smirk curled up his cheek, and Zach felt his heartbeat accelerate. “They’re gonna need us in wardrobe in a few minutes. Thought you should know.” “Thanks. I’ll be there in a little bit.” “Okay.” Sendhil stood up and strode away gracefully, and something in Zach withered and died and clung onto that thorny bush behind him. He looked up at the sky again, gave up, and followed Sendhil to wardrobe.