Meanwhile, in blasts from the past...
Nov. 23rd, 2010 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emerald_skiesSo I heard that Mark Zuckerberg successfully trademarked the word "face".
Yes, seriously.
Granted, it's in a telecommunications capacity (no FaceSpace chatrooms or anything like that), but still. Really, USPO? Was it that slow of a day at the office? I can't even-- just no. Bad USPO, no biscuit.
In the mean time, does anyone (of the...like...five people that were probably following it) remember a certain Starsgard fic that has been comatose for quite sometime (including a Batfic-induced hiatus)?
Well,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mcl4r3n sort of kicked my ass into finally writing some more.
Title: Picking Up The Pieces (Part 8)
Author:emerald_skies
Summary: In which Stark realizes he's quite out of his depth, which leads to consulting an old friend for help.
Usual disclaimer/boilerplate that I keep forgetting: This is all a work of fiction that never happened. It's the product of my overactive imagination, please don't sue, etc. etc. etc.
Part 7
The question of what Stark is supposed to do now turns out to be an extremely good one. Some irrational part of his mind had been sure that things would be hunky-dory once Alex opened up and told him what was wrong, but that concept turns out to be so far off from reality that it'd almost be funny if it weren't so sad. Alex talks even less and spends even more time in Stark's room now, and Stark has no idea what to say to help – or if he should say anything at all.
After the fourth solid day of this, Stark concedes he's well and truly out of his depth. He has limited experience with situations that are this level of fucked up, and so he decides to get advice from the one person he knows with experience in supremely fucked up situations.
Which is what brings him to meet up with PJ at a Starbucks in Brooklyn one afternoon. He doesn’t spot PJ immediately -- actually, he doesn’t until he sees PJ waving exaggeratedly from a back table with both hands. As Stark makes his way back to PJ’s table, he almost directly collides with a flustered looking girl in “vintage” clothes who, in spite of the close call, barely notices Stark. Huh, that’s a first.
The first thing Stark notices about PJ is that he has that look on his face that usually precedes a lengthy rant or a wildly inappropriate joke. PJ is actually smiling, so Stark braces himself for the joke.
"Dude, that girl who almost ran you over on her way out of here? She recognized me from The Wire and asked for my autograph."
"That sort of comes with the job, PJ."
"Well of course it does for you! You’ve got that whole choirboy fucking Boy Scout vibe going that makes me wonder why you haven’t turned up in an issue of Cosmo yet." At least he didn’t call me a Backstreet boy. "You and Alex, man, you get fans left, right, and center. Half the people who recognize me from Generation Kill always wind up wanting to stalk you two vicariously through me. Fuck, don’t even get me started on the goddamn crazy True Blood fans who remember that I was in something with Alex."
Stark raises his eyebrows, "Focus, PJ, I know there’s a point hiding in here somewhere."
PJ trails off for a second, blinks, then shakes his head to clear it, "Right! So this girl who actually wanted to talk to me." PJ grins, "You wouldn’t fucking believe it, she held out a Sharpie but nothing to sign, right?"
Stark suddenly realizes where this is probably going.
"She had me sign her chest, dude!"
Stark just stares at PJ, waiting for him to burst out laughing. When PJ doesn’t laugh, Stark rolls his eyes, "Yeah right. Pull the other one, it has bells on it."
"I’m telling you, if you had gotten here five minutes earlier then you could have seen for yourself. And what a sight it was," PJ adds, waggling his eyebrows. "Oh! Speaking of you coming here; I’m not gonna lie, that voicemail was pretty fucking cryptic, especially when you got to why you wanted to meet up."
"You wouldn’t have believed me if I’d explained over the phone. Are you denying that you have experience in dealing with fucked up situations?"
PJ snorts, "Fair point. All right, lay it on me. Although," he holds up a hand to stop Stark right when he starts to speak, "With all this buildup, I’m expecting some straight-up Jerry Springer type shit now." Stark presses his lips into a tight line and raises both eyebrows. PJ holds up both hands in a pacifying gesture, "I’m just sayin’, I’m gonna be disappointed if someone doesn’t have a bastard lovechild. Now go on." He makes an exaggerated show of leaning his chin into his hand.
Stark takes a deep breath, then launches into everything that’s transpired since Alex disappeared. When Stark mentions that Alex is currently staying in his apartment, PJ’s eyebrows shoot up high enough that Stark has a brief, bizarre mental image of them disappearing into his hairline. The expression softens into one of sympathy at the mention of Alex’s mother. When Stark finally finishes the story, PJ doesn’t say anything for an impressively long time (well, for PJ anyway).
"Now, let me get this straight," PJ says slowly, "You found Alex getting in touch with his inner hobo in some random alley, and decided to adopt him rather than, say, calling his family and telling them he’s not a grease spot on a highway somewhere? Or calling the police so they stop looking for him?"
Stark opens his mouth to defend his actions, but stops when he realizes that PJ actually has a point. Instead, he sighs and rubs his eyes, "I was just focused on getting him off the street so he didn’t get mugged or worse. Things sort of spun out of control from there."
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Look, PJ," Stark feels his frustration building, "I’m pretty much making this up as I go. This whole thing just fell into my lap!"
"To be honest, I always had the impression that you wanted Alex to fall into your lap." PJ waggles his eyebrows again. Stark feels himself blushing, which just makes PJ’s smirk grow even bigger. "For the record," PJ adds in a kinder tone, "I don’t think he’d exactly mind."
Stark’s pretty sure his face will burst into flames if he blushes any harder. "You are so full of crap, PJ." He’s not sure if he’s talking about PJ’s assertion that he might possibly have a chance with Alex, or the mortifying fact that PJ noticed how he wants a chance with Alex.
PJ snorts derisively, "Oh please, I’m not fucking blind. First of all, anyone with functioning eyes would say the same after eight months of watching you two eyefuck each other across Africa. Second of all, you get this look on your face when you talk about him. My brother gets that same look on his face when he talks about his wife."
Stark stares down at his hands for a moment, fighting to keep his emotions in check. "Just leave it be, PJ," he says with a heavy sigh, "It’s not going to happen." He swallows down the lump that forms in his throat at that, then presses on. "Even if we suddenly found ourselves in some sort of parallel universe where he was interested, doing anything about it at this juncture would be taking advantage of him. That’s not what he needs right now."
For the longest time, PJ just looks at Stark, his head tilted a little. After some time passes, he looks almost...surprised. "Holy shit," PJ whispers, smiling a little.
"What?"
"You actually care about him."
"I thought that’s what was so immediately obvious to everyone who isn’t me."
PJ shakes his head, "No no, what was immediately obvious to everyone who isn’t you is that you want to fuck Alex’s brains out and that he wants to let you. Seriously, the chemistry you guys have could blow up a building. What I didn’t realize until just now," PJ grins, "is that you’d still respect him in the morning."
Stark leans forward and puts his head in his hands. "PJ," he mutters, "You are such a horrible person."
PJ beams back at him, "And yet you love me anyway. What does that say about you?"
"That I’m a huge masochist who needs to reconsider his taste in friends?"
PJ laughs outright at this. "I’ll leave that conundrum for the therapy you’re definitely going to need after all this shit is over. Which reminds me," his expression turns serious again, "you ought to consider trying to get Alex to see a therapist, either here or in California. Best to leave this shit to the professionals, y’know?"
"I would, but I can’t even get him to talk to his own family right now. Christ, he barely even talks to me anymore after he told me what was going on. What d’you suppose that’s about?"
"I’m guessing this is all uncharted territory for him too. Poor bastard’s probably still feeling his way along, just like you. Plus, I mean, you and I both are used to him being all Iceman all the time -- talk about typecasting -- so maybe he’s worried about what you think of him for being so...vulnerable? Human? Whatever, some Oprah shit like that."
Stark nods thoughtfully. "I think I see what you’re getting at."
"But the most important thing about all this? Take it easy on him, man. Alex’ll get better ‘cause he’s tough like that, but it’s not gonna happen over night. Help him along without pushing, y’know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I think I do." Stark smiles and claps PJ on the shoulder, "See? This is why I wanted to talk to you."
"Because I’m a fucking genius?"
"No, because you’re so delightfully fucked up."
PJ rolls his eyes, "I’m going to choose to take that as a compliment since I’m a saint like that and you totally owe me."
"Knowing you, I’m probably going to wind up bailing you out of jail to settle the debt, but I’ll keep that in mind." Stark glances at his watch, "I should get back. Any other pearls of wisdom before I go?"
"Make it clear to Alex that you’re not secretly holding all this against him. It’s gonna involve talking to him, which might get kind of intense from what you tell me, but it needs to be said. Then just let him come to you, the rest will follow as he gets more comfortable."
As Stark gets up and turns to walk out, PJ suddenly grabs his arm. "Call and let me know how he’s doing, okay? You’re not the only one who was worried about that overgrown Viking motherfucker." Stark can’t help but smile at the sincerity in PJ’s expression.
"Sure thing. Thanks, PJ."
"Don’t mention it. No, seriously," PJ calls after Stark, "I have a reputation to maintain."
Stark stops briefly and turns to grin at PJ over his shoulder. "As what? A sarcastic bastard with a foul mouth and a raging case of A.D.D.?"
"Exactly!"
[to be continued...]
It's been so long since I posted anything for this that I recommend any interested parties go back and at least read the previous part as a refresher. As for this? Enjoy, and feel free to comment/flail as usual.
---
"Have a vision. Be demanding..." -- Colin Powell
---
Cheers.
ETA: Just dropping back in to post this
Yes, seriously.
Granted, it's in a telecommunications capacity (no FaceSpace chatrooms or anything like that), but still. Really, USPO? Was it that slow of a day at the office? I can't even-- just no. Bad USPO, no biscuit.
In the mean time, does anyone (of the...like...five people that were probably following it) remember a certain Starsgard fic that has been comatose for quite sometime (including a Batfic-induced hiatus)?
Well,
mcl4r3n sort of kicked my ass into finally writing some more.Title: Picking Up The Pieces (Part 8)
Author:
emerald_skiesSummary: In which Stark realizes he's quite out of his depth, which leads to consulting an old friend for help.
Usual disclaimer/boilerplate that I keep forgetting: This is all a work of fiction that never happened. It's the product of my overactive imagination, please don't sue, etc. etc. etc.
Part 7
The question of what Stark is supposed to do now turns out to be an extremely good one. Some irrational part of his mind had been sure that things would be hunky-dory once Alex opened up and told him what was wrong, but that concept turns out to be so far off from reality that it'd almost be funny if it weren't so sad. Alex talks even less and spends even more time in Stark's room now, and Stark has no idea what to say to help – or if he should say anything at all.
After the fourth solid day of this, Stark concedes he's well and truly out of his depth. He has limited experience with situations that are this level of fucked up, and so he decides to get advice from the one person he knows with experience in supremely fucked up situations.
Which is what brings him to meet up with PJ at a Starbucks in Brooklyn one afternoon. He doesn’t spot PJ immediately -- actually, he doesn’t until he sees PJ waving exaggeratedly from a back table with both hands. As Stark makes his way back to PJ’s table, he almost directly collides with a flustered looking girl in “vintage” clothes who, in spite of the close call, barely notices Stark. Huh, that’s a first.
The first thing Stark notices about PJ is that he has that look on his face that usually precedes a lengthy rant or a wildly inappropriate joke. PJ is actually smiling, so Stark braces himself for the joke.
"Dude, that girl who almost ran you over on her way out of here? She recognized me from The Wire and asked for my autograph."
"That sort of comes with the job, PJ."
"Well of course it does for you! You’ve got that whole choirboy fucking Boy Scout vibe going that makes me wonder why you haven’t turned up in an issue of Cosmo yet." At least he didn’t call me a Backstreet boy. "You and Alex, man, you get fans left, right, and center. Half the people who recognize me from Generation Kill always wind up wanting to stalk you two vicariously through me. Fuck, don’t even get me started on the goddamn crazy True Blood fans who remember that I was in something with Alex."
Stark raises his eyebrows, "Focus, PJ, I know there’s a point hiding in here somewhere."
PJ trails off for a second, blinks, then shakes his head to clear it, "Right! So this girl who actually wanted to talk to me." PJ grins, "You wouldn’t fucking believe it, she held out a Sharpie but nothing to sign, right?"
Stark suddenly realizes where this is probably going.
"She had me sign her chest, dude!"
Stark just stares at PJ, waiting for him to burst out laughing. When PJ doesn’t laugh, Stark rolls his eyes, "Yeah right. Pull the other one, it has bells on it."
"I’m telling you, if you had gotten here five minutes earlier then you could have seen for yourself. And what a sight it was," PJ adds, waggling his eyebrows. "Oh! Speaking of you coming here; I’m not gonna lie, that voicemail was pretty fucking cryptic, especially when you got to why you wanted to meet up."
"You wouldn’t have believed me if I’d explained over the phone. Are you denying that you have experience in dealing with fucked up situations?"
PJ snorts, "Fair point. All right, lay it on me. Although," he holds up a hand to stop Stark right when he starts to speak, "With all this buildup, I’m expecting some straight-up Jerry Springer type shit now." Stark presses his lips into a tight line and raises both eyebrows. PJ holds up both hands in a pacifying gesture, "I’m just sayin’, I’m gonna be disappointed if someone doesn’t have a bastard lovechild. Now go on." He makes an exaggerated show of leaning his chin into his hand.
Stark takes a deep breath, then launches into everything that’s transpired since Alex disappeared. When Stark mentions that Alex is currently staying in his apartment, PJ’s eyebrows shoot up high enough that Stark has a brief, bizarre mental image of them disappearing into his hairline. The expression softens into one of sympathy at the mention of Alex’s mother. When Stark finally finishes the story, PJ doesn’t say anything for an impressively long time (well, for PJ anyway).
"Now, let me get this straight," PJ says slowly, "You found Alex getting in touch with his inner hobo in some random alley, and decided to adopt him rather than, say, calling his family and telling them he’s not a grease spot on a highway somewhere? Or calling the police so they stop looking for him?"
Stark opens his mouth to defend his actions, but stops when he realizes that PJ actually has a point. Instead, he sighs and rubs his eyes, "I was just focused on getting him off the street so he didn’t get mugged or worse. Things sort of spun out of control from there."
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Look, PJ," Stark feels his frustration building, "I’m pretty much making this up as I go. This whole thing just fell into my lap!"
"To be honest, I always had the impression that you wanted Alex to fall into your lap." PJ waggles his eyebrows again. Stark feels himself blushing, which just makes PJ’s smirk grow even bigger. "For the record," PJ adds in a kinder tone, "I don’t think he’d exactly mind."
Stark’s pretty sure his face will burst into flames if he blushes any harder. "You are so full of crap, PJ." He’s not sure if he’s talking about PJ’s assertion that he might possibly have a chance with Alex, or the mortifying fact that PJ noticed how he wants a chance with Alex.
PJ snorts derisively, "Oh please, I’m not fucking blind. First of all, anyone with functioning eyes would say the same after eight months of watching you two eyefuck each other across Africa. Second of all, you get this look on your face when you talk about him. My brother gets that same look on his face when he talks about his wife."
Stark stares down at his hands for a moment, fighting to keep his emotions in check. "Just leave it be, PJ," he says with a heavy sigh, "It’s not going to happen." He swallows down the lump that forms in his throat at that, then presses on. "Even if we suddenly found ourselves in some sort of parallel universe where he was interested, doing anything about it at this juncture would be taking advantage of him. That’s not what he needs right now."
For the longest time, PJ just looks at Stark, his head tilted a little. After some time passes, he looks almost...surprised. "Holy shit," PJ whispers, smiling a little.
"What?"
"You actually care about him."
"I thought that’s what was so immediately obvious to everyone who isn’t me."
PJ shakes his head, "No no, what was immediately obvious to everyone who isn’t you is that you want to fuck Alex’s brains out and that he wants to let you. Seriously, the chemistry you guys have could blow up a building. What I didn’t realize until just now," PJ grins, "is that you’d still respect him in the morning."
Stark leans forward and puts his head in his hands. "PJ," he mutters, "You are such a horrible person."
PJ beams back at him, "And yet you love me anyway. What does that say about you?"
"That I’m a huge masochist who needs to reconsider his taste in friends?"
PJ laughs outright at this. "I’ll leave that conundrum for the therapy you’re definitely going to need after all this shit is over. Which reminds me," his expression turns serious again, "you ought to consider trying to get Alex to see a therapist, either here or in California. Best to leave this shit to the professionals, y’know?"
"I would, but I can’t even get him to talk to his own family right now. Christ, he barely even talks to me anymore after he told me what was going on. What d’you suppose that’s about?"
"I’m guessing this is all uncharted territory for him too. Poor bastard’s probably still feeling his way along, just like you. Plus, I mean, you and I both are used to him being all Iceman all the time -- talk about typecasting -- so maybe he’s worried about what you think of him for being so...vulnerable? Human? Whatever, some Oprah shit like that."
Stark nods thoughtfully. "I think I see what you’re getting at."
"But the most important thing about all this? Take it easy on him, man. Alex’ll get better ‘cause he’s tough like that, but it’s not gonna happen over night. Help him along without pushing, y’know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I think I do." Stark smiles and claps PJ on the shoulder, "See? This is why I wanted to talk to you."
"Because I’m a fucking genius?"
"No, because you’re so delightfully fucked up."
PJ rolls his eyes, "I’m going to choose to take that as a compliment since I’m a saint like that and you totally owe me."
"Knowing you, I’m probably going to wind up bailing you out of jail to settle the debt, but I’ll keep that in mind." Stark glances at his watch, "I should get back. Any other pearls of wisdom before I go?"
"Make it clear to Alex that you’re not secretly holding all this against him. It’s gonna involve talking to him, which might get kind of intense from what you tell me, but it needs to be said. Then just let him come to you, the rest will follow as he gets more comfortable."
As Stark gets up and turns to walk out, PJ suddenly grabs his arm. "Call and let me know how he’s doing, okay? You’re not the only one who was worried about that overgrown Viking motherfucker." Stark can’t help but smile at the sincerity in PJ’s expression.
"Sure thing. Thanks, PJ."
"Don’t mention it. No, seriously," PJ calls after Stark, "I have a reputation to maintain."
Stark stops briefly and turns to grin at PJ over his shoulder. "As what? A sarcastic bastard with a foul mouth and a raging case of A.D.D.?"
"Exactly!"
[to be continued...]
It's been so long since I posted anything for this that I recommend any interested parties go back and at least read the previous part as a refresher. As for this? Enjoy, and feel free to comment/flail as usual.
---
"Have a vision. Be demanding..." -- Colin Powell
---
Cheers.
ETA: Just dropping back in to post this
Tags:
- are you kidding me?,
- crazy is as crazy does,
- death before unconsciousness,
- exercises in boredom,
- fanfic,
- fic: picking up the pieces,
- generation kill,
- gifs speak louder than words,
- holy shit,
- i love you flist,
- i need a hobby,
- interpretive gifs express my feelings,
- it's raining tags (hallelujah),
- mcl4r3n is pretty much amazing,
- only funny if you're me,
- starsgard,
- what is this i don't even,
- what is this sleep you speak of?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-11-24 11:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-24 09:13 pm (UTC)Thanks for reading (still!) and commenting <3
no subject
Date: 2010-11-25 12:49 am (UTC)Not even a little, I promise!
no subject
Date: 2010-11-24 09:00 pm (UTC)This was PERFECT. PJ was just what I expected him to be: crazy ADD on one side and actually helpful advice on the other. And of course overtly shipping Stark with Alex - this conversation was absolutely perfect.
Now I can't wait to see how Stark will handle the situation.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-24 09:11 pm (UTC)Of course I am! I've had enough experience finding awesome stories that never got finished (and dealing with the ensuing frustration) that I resolved to try my best never to do that. Plus, I love this little story and it comes from a personal place, so you best believe I'm seeing it through to the end :)
And honestly, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that I got PJ right. Since I only have his (now dead) Twitter, like two articles, and the GK commentary to go on, my grasp of his personality was really loose. Basically, I extrapolated that he's pretty close to real!Ray except with slightly less bad language.
But I got it right! Yay! \o/
And of course overtly shipping Stark with Alex - this conversation was absolutely perfect.
Y'know, I never thought of it that way but I guess you're right, he does ship it. That just makes this part that much better *g*
Thanks for reading (even after all this time) and the lovely comment <3
no subject
Date: 2010-11-24 09:21 pm (UTC)As far as PJs personality is concerned, I don't have anything more to go by either, but in my mind he's exactly like this. Like Ray, but less swearing. Talk about typecasting, huh? ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-11-25 02:06 am (UTC)Bahahahaha!
I'm glad it's not just me who loves your PJ -- besides you receiving well-earned praise, it's good to know I wasn't leading you astray ;D
♥