Fic: Starting Today (Chris/Aldis, 3300 words, FRM)

[rsadelle]

Title: Starting Today
Author: Ruth Sadelle Alderson
Pairing: Chris/Aldis
Rating: FRM
Word Count: 3300 words
Disclaimer: Made up.
Summary: On the seventh hole, Chris showed Aldis how to swing again because he somehow hadn't gotten it on the first six, and Chris was starting to lose his patience.
Notes, v. story origin: Way back in April, Jason Manns told a crowd at one of his shows that Jared and Jensen were golfing in Oregon that weekend, which was also just before Leverage's second season started filming. So of course I thought, "What if Chris invited them to go golfing and told them it was a romantic place so they both brought their girlfriends and then Chris brought Aldis?"
Notes, v. real places: Bandon Dunes is a real place. So are the Prehistoric Gardens. Everything I know about them I learned from the internet.
Notes, v. thanks: Thank you to schuyler for reading this over to make sure I didn't make any egregious golf errors. Any remaining errors are my own.


On the seventh hole, Chris showed Aldis how to swing again because he somehow hadn't gotten it on the first six, and Chris was starting to lose his patience.

"You're not even trying," he growled.

"I am," Aldis growled back.

"No, you're not," Chris insisted.

Aldis dropped the club right there on the green. "You should've just brought Tim."

Chris frowned. That made no kind of sense. "Why would I bring Tim?"

"I'm sure he knows how to golf."

Jared, Jensen, the girls, and their caddies were kind of edging away and not looking at them.

"Of course he knows how to golf. He shot two over par last time we went golfing."

Aldis glared at him. "Exactly," he said, and then he was stalking off across the green.

"Aldis!" Chris called.

Aldis ignored him.

"You're going to get hit by a golf ball!" You couldn't just go walking over the green like that.

Chris started swearing under his breath when it became clear that Aldis was not coming back.

"I'll go," Jared said, and he took off after him, loping to catch up with Aldis and then slowing to match his pace. The fucker was twelve over par already anyway.

Jensen sent their caddies back with a hefty tip, and Chris, Jensen, and the girls played the rest of the course. It was Chris's worst game of golf ever.

"Jared says they're in the bar," Jensen said when they got back, although, duh. Where else did you go after golfing?

Jared was turned sideways to the bar, watching Aldis chip off the label of a beer in a way that left what was there in some kind of carefully artistic shape.

Chris took the stool on the other side of Aldis and ordered three shots of tequila that he slammed back.

"You should've just brought Tim," Aldis told him again. The corners of his mouth were turned down exactly the way they should never be.

Something in Chris's chest burned, and it wasn't the tequila.

"I didn't want to bring Tim."

"You do everything with Tim."

Sure, he played poker with Tim. And, okay, he'd golfed with Tim and cooked for his birthday. But this was fucking Bandon Dunes, and someone had to teach Aldis how to golf. J was totally falling down in his Hollywood mentoring duties.

"I'm doing this with you," Chris grouched, and it didn't make anything better.

***

"I don't see why he has to be such a bitch about it." Chris had been pacing the carpet of Jensen and Danneel's room for the past half an hour. It wasn't helping.

Danneel finally sighed really heavily. "You know," she said, "we came because you said the golfing was good and it's a really romantic place."

Chris stopped pacing. "Yeah, so?"

"So get the fuck out of our room so we can enjoy the romance." Danneel could be a real bitch sometimes.

"Get drunk or go to the Practice Center," Jensen suggested. "Or go find Aldis." He was such a traitor.

Chris let the door of their room fall shut behind him and pulled out his phone.

Where are you? he texted Aldis.

Aldis didn't text him back. He wasn't in their room or any of the bars. Chris was pretty sure he wouldn't have gone back out to the links or to the Practice Center, and he wasn't in the fitness center.

Jesusfuck, what if he'd left?

Where are you? Chris texted again. He got a beer from one of the bars and took it back to their room. Aldis still wasn't in it, but his toothbrush still was, so at least he hadn't left permanently.

Chris turned on the TV and managed, by taking teeny tiny sips only at commercial breaks, to make his beer last until they were supposed to meet for dinner.

***

Jensen texted to let him know they already had a table. Chris was the last one there. The only open seat was across from Aldis, and between Jensen and Danneel. It didn't escape Chris's notice that Aldis was between Jared and Genevieve. Sure, it could just be so the girls could talk to each other, but it looked a lot like choosing sides to Chris. He wasn't even sure there were sides to choose.

Genevieve and Aldis spent half of dinner talking about Vancouver, which was just bullshit. Aldis had only done two fucking episodes of Jensen's show; what did he know about Vancouver?

Chris had heard that the place had fantastic desserts. The girls were splitting one they were each going to have two bites of and then pass off to Jared, but everyone else got their own. Chris ordered a slice of cheesecake that was unbelievably good - rich, creamy, with just the right amounts of caramel and chocolate sauce, and chopped pecans surrounding it on the plate. He caught Aldis looking at it a couple of times, and he knew exactly how Aldis would look tasting it.

The next time Aldis put down the spoon of his apple crisp that was so warm it was melting the scoop of ice cream on top, Chris reached across the table and switched their plates.

Aldis's mouth snapped shut on whatever it was he was saying to Jared about watch design. He looked uncertainly from the cheesecake to his apple crisp that was now in front of Chris.

"Go on," Chris said. He scooped up a spoonful of the apple crisp to show Aldis he was serious.

"Thanks," Aldis said with a kind of uncertain smile. But then he took a bite, and the look on his face was exactly what Chris knew it would be.

They all walked back to their building together, Jared and Genevieve and Jensen and Danneel holding hands and Chris and Aldis not talking to each other behind them.

Jensen and Danneel both glared at Chris before they went into their room, which was completely unfair. He hadn't done anything wrong.

Jared and Genevieve were a little farther down the hall, and Jared was still talking as their door closed behind them.

The resulting silence pressed in on Chris as he and Aldis kept going on to their room.

Aldis rummaged through his stuff, disappeared into the bathroom, and came back out in a t-shirt and pajama pants. They had sailboats on them, and Chris had teased him about them the night before.

"My mom bought me these," Aldis had said.

"Oh," Chris had said, "your mom."

And then Aldis's eyes had narrowed, and he'd pointed at Chris and said, "You would bring your mom everywhere if she'd let you," and Chris hadn't even been able to say anything because it was true.

Aldis grabbed the remote and threw himself down on his bed. "What do you think the chances are that they have one of the Lethal Weapons on pay-per-view here?"

Chris snorted without thinking. "Not very good." He brushed his teeth, stripped down to boxers and his t-shirt. He could just hear the uneven rhythm of different programs as Aldis changed channels on the other side of the bathroom door.

He stopped when Chris opened the door again, and they just kind of looked at each other for what seemed like a really long time.

"We have an early tee time tomorrow, huh?" Aldis finally said, and it was like the magic words releasing Chris from a spell.

"Yeah," he said, pushing things around in his suitcase and not looking at Aldis. "You don't have to come with us. If you don't want to. You don't have to golf. You can hang out or head back up to Portland."

"I want to." Aldis's voice sounded like it might snap if Chris pressed on it too hard. "I want you to teach me how."

Chris nodded and looked down at his hands, which were, for some reason, holding a shirt and one sock. "Okay," he said. He let everything drop back into his bag and turned around. Aldis's hands were moving restlessly across the comforter of his bed. Then Aldis looked up at him, and it made everything that had been tight in his chest loosen.

***

Chris's phone buzzed just as the hostess put menus down in front of them. He pulled it out and read the text. He immediately hit dial to call Jensen back. Danneel answered.

"We're sleeping in." She sounded awfully awake for someone who was supposedly sleeping late.

"You have all summer to get laid."

There was silence, and rustling, and then Jensen's voice saying, "I'm tired, and I'm going back to sleep," and then he hung up.

"Jensen and Danneel are sleeping in," Chris told Aldis.

Aldis was frowning at his phone too, and he silently held it out to Chris.

In town. Going down the cost later. Sory about golf. See you at dinner.

Chris didn't ask Aldis if he still wanted to golf if it was just the two of them because he didn't want to hear Aldis say no.

They were on a different course today. Chris's plan was for them to do two this weekend and come back some other weekend to do the other one.

Still, he tensed up when they got to the seventh hole. It messed up his swing, and he was going to be at least one over par.

Aldis watched him do it, and then set up his own tee.

Chris watched Aldis look from his tee over the fairway and back. And then Aldis twisted around and looked at Chris.

"You going to help me with this?"

"Yeah," Chris said. He eyed Aldis, eyed the fairway. "It's windy, so." He shrugged. "Turn this way." He put his hands on Aldis's hip and shoulder and used them to turn him a little so the wind wouldn't knock him completely off-course.

Aldis nodded, and lined himself up with the tee. "Like this?"

"More like." Chris stepped close against Aldis and put his hands over Aldis's. "This," he said. He stepped back and let Aldis take his swing.

They watched the ball sail out over the fairway.

Aldis was grinning when he turned back to Chris. Chris's heart beat faster. Just the effects of the wind.

"What?" he growled.

"Why do I always have to be the girl?" Aldis shoved his shoulder against Chris's as he went to put his club back in his bag. "I'm taller. You should totally be the girl."

Chris tried not to laugh. "You don't know how to golf."

Aldis pinned him with a stare. "Next time, we're totally doing something manly I know how to do and you don't."

Chris couldn't hold in his laughter anymore. "Like what? Drink real sugared soda?"

Aldis laughed too, and bumped against Chris's shoulder again as they started across the fairway. They laughed and teased their way through the other eleven holes, and Chris was feeling loose and relaxed by the time they finished the eighteenth hole.

"I'm starving," Aldis said. He pointed at the wooden building full of windows just past the eighteenth hole. "We haven't eaten here yet."

They changed their shoes and tipped the caddies and had them take their golf bags back for them. They went into the restaurant and got a table right by the window.

"Let's do that after lunch," Aldis said, pointing out the window.

"We just did that," Chris said without looking up.

"Nah, man." Aldis pointed out past the course they'd just played. "The beach."

Chris pointed at him with a fry. "You're totally the girl."

But after lunch they headed down to the beach. They walked for a while, turned, and walked back.

"I'm going wading," Aldis announced. He put his socks, watch, and phone in his shoes and left them above the waterline.

"You're going to freeze your ass off," Chris predicted.

Aldis just grinned at him and walked into the surf. The grin fell off his face so fast Chris started laughing.

"It's freezing!" Aldis called, and he started swearing. He was repeating things Chris had said in some of his angrier moments, which made Chris double over with laughter.

"Stop laughing and get in here," Aldis yelled at him.

"Uh-uh, no way." Chris held his hands up and took a couple of steps back.

"Not man enough for a little cold water?"

Chris knew he was being played, but he took off his shoes and rolled his jeans up anyway. He didn't have a watch, but he followed Aldis's example and left his phone with his shoes.

Chris started swearing the moment he stepped onto the wet sand. That made it Aldis's turn to laugh, which lasted only until Chris kicked water at him.

"Oh, it is on." Aldis bent down and swooped his arm through the surf.

"You did not." Chris lunged for Aldis. "I think you forgot who has fight training."

"Stage fight training." Aldis dodged to the left, taking himself a step deeper into the water.

Chris's eyes narrowed. He waited until Aldis took a cautious step forward before making his move. He couldn't move quite as fast as Eliot Spencer, but he moved fast enough to tip Aldis down into the water before he realized what was happening.

Aldis came up sputtering and gasping. "I can't believe you did that!"

Chris tried to avoid him, but Aldis had a longer stride and Chris was still trying not to get any wetter than he already was, and Aldis brough them both down into the water with a tackle.

"You forgot I was on a football show," Aldis crowed when they were both standing.

"Yeah, well, I used to play football."

Aldis had started moving while Chris was talking, which gave Chris an opportunity to practice his flying tackle.

They tumbled around in the surf for a while before Aldis dragged them out of the water to lie down on the wet sand where the waves crashed just over their toes.

It was fucking cold. The only remotely warm part of Chris's body was the length of his arm that pressed up against Aldis's arm.

"I'm freezing my ass off," Chris said, but he didn't try to move.

"All right," Aldis said after a wave had splashed over their feet and out again. "We'll go get you warmed up. Princess."

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that," Chris promised, but he picked up his shoes and they headed back inside.

They were still wet, barefoot, and covered in sand when they got there. The staff was too professional to react to it.

Chris insisted Aldis take the first shower: "You're the girl."

"You just want a longer shower." He wasn't wrong, but Chris didn't care because Aldis took the first shower anyway and the bathroom was toasty warm when Chris got his turn. He turned the water up as hot as it would go and stood under it for a long time.

When he got out, he dug through his bag. He found the sweatpants he was sure were in there crumpled up at the bottom. Before he got to them, he found socks, a thermal, and a t-shirt. After he found the sweats, he found a flannel shirt and his gloves. He wound a dry towel around his hair and turned around to find Aldis laughing at him, his hands over his mouth.

As soon as Chris looked at him, he started laughing out loud. "You're totally the girl."

"I can come let my hair drip all over you," Chris threatened.

Aldis held up his hands. "No, no. You just keep your hair all wrapped up." After a moment he added, half under his breath, "Princess."

Chris glared at him. "I think you should remember who dumped who in the ocean."

Aldis tilted his head. "You have your hair wrapped in a towel."

Chris folded his arms across his chest and put on his best Eliot Spencer's gonna kick some ass face. Aldis wasn't fooled, though, and he just laughed at Chris.

Aldis was still giggling intermittently when he said, "You can come cuddle with me if it'll make you feel better, princess."

"You gonna keep me warm, darlin'?" Chris smirked.

Aldis kept grinning at him. "Sure thing, princess." He was sitting back against the headboard, a pillow behind him, and he held up the covers at his side.

Chris called his bluff and climbed into bed. Aldis just let the covers drop down onto him and turned the volume up on the TV.

When Chris woke up later, the sound was down a little, and his forehead was pressed against Aldis's thigh. He was actually warm, too.

"Time?" he asked.

Aldis's hand moved away from where Chris hadn't even noticed it on his shoulder. "You got about half an hour."

Chris reached up to find that, yes, he'd slept with his hair still wrapped in a towel. "My hair's going to look like shit." He held up a warning finger. "Not a word."

***

At dinner, Jensen and Danneel looked smug and self-satisfied. Jared could barely wait for the hostess to seat them before he was pulling out his phone to show Aldis pictures of the place he and Genevieve had ended up going.

"Giant dinosaurs," Jared said. "Made out of cement."

Danneel looked skeptical. "Is it really a must-see?"

"They're brightly colored," Genevieve said. "But no."

Aldis tilted the phone toward Chris. It was showing Jared and Genevieve standing between the legs of a large green and orange Tyrannosaurus Rex. "We're going there next time."

It looked outrageously kitschy to Chris. If Chris's heart beat faster, it was only because of the prospect of golfing the other course.

"We can drive it," he suggested. "Down the coast. See what else there is to see."

Aldis's smile warmed him all the way through.

***

They had a couple of bottles of wine with dinner, and the cheesecake again, with Aldis wondering if he could get crafty to make him something even half as good.

So later, when Aldis spread his long fingers across Chris's cheek and kissed him, Chris could taste the sugar of the cheesecake and the slight tartness of the wine. After a while, though, it was just Aldis he was tasting.

Every moment of his skin touching Aldis's sent more and more warmth through him until Chris felt like he'd explode into flames.

Sometime early in the morning Aldis turned his head into Chris's arm. "Does this go back to Portland with us?" His lips brushed Chris's skin with every syllable.

"You're totally the girl," Chris said. And then, after a moment when Aldis didn't push, "Beth's going to take one look at you and know."

"Tim's going to take one look at you and know."

"You know," Chris said carefully, because Aldis was actually really, really young, even if he'd been in the business as long as Chris had, "that if you want a career-" It wasn't a sentence he wanted to actually finish.

Aldis's fingers tightened where they rested on the curve of Chris's side. "I know. That doesn't mean we can't."

"I'll make you dinner," Chris promised. "As soon as I find a place with a kitchen. I know you girls like that kind of thing."

"You'd better feed me if you want me to put out again," Aldis said, but he ruined the threat by laughing, and by putting out again almost immediately.

***

It wasn't much later in the morning that they had to get themselves dressed and into the lobby to meet everyone else for the drive up to the airport.

"Tell me again why we have to take the five a.m. flight." Jared was somewhat improbably holding himself up by leaning on Genevieve.

"Some of us have to actually work," Chris said.

"You don't even start shooting for another week," Danneel pointed out.

Chris shrugged. "New place, they have stuff we have to do." He nudged Aldis with an elbow. "Starting today."

Aldis grinned at him and nudged back. "Starting today," he repeated.

For all that Aldis was cheerfully awake all the way through boarding, he fell asleep on Chris's shoulder just before takeoff.

"What?" Chris growled, when he noticed Jensen looking at him from across the aisle.

Jensen just shook his head. "You always did like them young." Jensen had always been kind of a bitch.