Chapter Text
When the door to the lobby bathroom finally slipped open, the man who walked out looked so distinctly different that at first, Zach did not recognize him.
But the man started walking straight towards him, and when Zach took a closer look, he did a double take.
In the twenty or so years he had known the zoologist, he couldn’t really think of a time when he had seen Chris wear blue.
Which was a shame, because the colour suited him EXTREMELY WELL. No wonder Josef charged so much.
Dressed only in dark colours, Chris’s warm tan skin appeared lighter, although only his face, neck, and hands were exposed.
In contrast, his deep brown eyes looked darker, even as they darted nervously about the lobby, as though wondering why people were staring at him.
He probably didn’t even know how gorgeous he looked. The Wild Rats were always oblivious to things like that, even when people (Donita, usually) were blatantly checking them out.
Well, the other hotel patrons could look all they wanted, but the only person Chris was going home with that night was him…not that he really had a choice.
When Chris reached him, the inventor had to restrain himself from reaching out to touch his hand or back.
“You look-“ he began, but Chris’s pretty face immediately dropped and his eyes looked sad.
Even with his inexperience with emotional relationships, Zach knew what that look meant.
“…Nevermind. Let’s go.”
A slightly bewildered Chris followed him into the elevator, into the restaurant, and straight to a table marked as ‘Reserved’.
Zach hardly needed to look at the menu, having been to the establishment many times before, but a thought occurred to him as he glanced at Chris.
“Are you vegan or vegetarian?”
Chris looked surprised at the question. “Vegetarian. Koki’s a vegan.”
“What’s the difference?”
“The only things I don’t eat are meat, fish, and seafoods. Vegans don’t eat anything that includes animals products like eggs, cheese, or gelatin. They also don’t use any products that harm or use animals in any way, like leather, but none of us do that.”
To Chris’s increased surprise, Zach pondered this explanation with visible effort.
“So, will it bother you if I eat meat?” The CEO asked.
“I, um, no, it’s fine if you do. Martin, Aviva, and Jimmy all eat meat around me.”
“Alright.”
They were interrupted by a waiter, whom Zach vaguely recognized. He spoke to Zach first, possibly out of recognition but more likely because he knew that Zach was paying. Service workers could smell money.
Without even thinking, Zach ordered the Dover Sole Fillet; it was his typical order and he had no interest in trying something he might not like.
To drink, he ordered a Chehalem Mountains Chardonnay. It wasn’t the most expensive of the Oregan white wines, but Chris wouldn’t know the difference between the $200 bottle and a $490 one, and Zach honestly preferred the cheaper wine, sue him.
When the waiter turned to him, Chris ordered the mushroom risotto, which to Zach’s impressed surprise, he pronounced correctly.
When asked what he wanted to drink, the zoologist replied: “Oh, no thank you, I don’t usually drink.”
The waiter countered: “We have non-alcoholic beverages as well, sir.”
Chris smiled at him. Since it was Chris, and Chris never faked his expressions, that meant the damned waiter was getting one of the zoologist’s beautiful smiles before he was.
Sure, Chris smiled at basically everyone he met, but still. It was irritating.
Chris turned down the waiter’s offer of a non-alcoholic drink, and as soon as the man walked away, turned to Zach with a puzzled expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Crap. Telling Chris he had been jealous over the small interaction would probably be the worst choice he could make, especially when the brunette was already skittish.
Besides, he already knew that Chris would defend himself and say it was all innocent, just like Zach knew that it had been.
So he panicked and said: “Uh… because you’re beautiful?”
Chris’s face immediately looked devastatingly tired. “Zach, you’ve got to stop saying things like that.”
“Why?” The CEO asked, defensively.
“It’s not…it’s not the way to get me to like you.” Chris looked sad now, but Zach heard the implication behind his words: there was a way, he was just going about it wrong.
“Why not? Do you think I’m making it up to flatter you? Because I’m not, I’ve meant everything that I’ve said about you!”
Zach cut himself off quickly since his voice was starting to rise. This was not a good place to go into a rant…and that would probably scare Chris off for good.
“I know you do, but…” Chris stopped, looking down at the tablecloth. Zach mentally willed him to keep talking. As much as he didn’t like criticism, if it would help change things between himself and Chris, he was willing to hear it.
After a moment of thought, Chris said: “Every nice thing you’ve said since I…started staying with you has been about my looks. And it’s not that it isn’t nice of you, but…is that really the only nice thing you can say about me? That you think I’m beautiful?”
“I-“ Zach opened his mouth to speak, only to promptly shut in when Chris started speaking again.
“I mean, some people say that Martin and I are only popular in zoology because we’re attractive, and that will change when we get older. And that just makes me feel like people don’t actually care about us or the work that we do because all they see is our looks. And those are just strangers, we’ve known each for twenty years!”
If this was turning into a therapy session, Zach was woefully unprepared. Thankfully, Chris stopped ranting after saying: “Is the way I look seriously the only thing that you like about me?”
Zach exhaled through his nose. He hated talking about feelings on a good day, and this day had been a long and tiring one.
But Chris looked so unhappy, and had clearly been holding much of what he had said in for a while, so he owed it to him to respond.
“Chris-god-do you want a list?”
Two big brown eyes blinked at him, and Chris went to open his mouth, but Zach interrupted.
“No, you asked for this, you’re going to listen. Yes, I do think you’re beautiful and I’m not changing my mind on that, BUT there are a lot of reasons I find you attractive. You’re intelligent, organized, compassionate, probably the nicest person I’ve ever met-except maybe Martin, but I swear he eats sunbeams when you’re not looking-“
This got a laugh out of Chris. Not just a snort, either, a genuine, happy laugh.
Encouraged, the inventor kept going.
“-you’re honest, loyal, selfless, you stand up for what you believe in-“ he paused and looked at Chris, who was now very red in the face. “Do you want specific examples of all of those things? Because I can give them.”
“No, no, I believe you, I-wow. I was not expecting that.”
“Easily embarrassed, too…okay, I can work with that.” Zach noted.
Chris, taking it as a joke, laughed again. “Okay, but seriously, can we stop talking about me, please?”
Zach would have talked about animal scat if Chris would keep smiling, but he played it cool.
“If you insist…what do you want to talk about?”
Chris’s expression changed to what Zach could only describe as cunning. Right, he’d forgotten to list that one. Granted, it wasn’t quite as attractive when Chris decided to turn his cleverness on him.
“Let’s talk about you.”
The smile slipped off of Zach’s face. “Oh, you…don’t want to know about me.”
“Sure, I do!” That damned clever smile stayed in place. “I don’t think I actually know THAT much about you other than you’re a smart inventor, your favourite colour is black-“
“Already wrong!” Zach interrupted triumphantly, before registering the pleased look on Chris’s face.
Damn it. He’d appealed to Zach’s competitive nature, and now the only way for him to win was to correct Chris, and by extension, talk about himself.
But it would make Chris happy…
“My favourite colour isn’t black.” He elaborated.
“Red, then?” Chris seemed confident in this answer.
“Nope. Green.”
He reveled in the startled confusion on Chris’s face before the zoologist answered:
“It is not! Nothing you own is green!”
“That you know of!” Zach countered. “And it IS green, chartreuse to be exact.”
“Then why all of the red and black?” Chris looked genuinely curious.
“They were already the company colours, so branding and all that. Also red and black are a lot more villainous than green. I don’t know what Donita was thinking with a pink jet, but it’s not intimidating AT ALL!”
“…it’s really not.” Chris conceded. “But to be fair, I’m not really scared of you, either.”
Zach frowned. “…I’m not sure how I feel about that…”
Chris laughed again, this time a little more nervously. “Do you WANT me to be scared of you?”
“Of course not!” The villain was quick to answer. “But you know, a little intimidation would be nice…”
“Oh, you’re very intimidating!”
Zach gave him an exacting look. “You’re just saying that.”
“I’m not!” Chris insisted. “There have been times when I actually thought you might hurt me or Martin.”
“I have never wanted to hurt you, Chris. Not even before I realized that I liked you.”
“Then, why this?” The brunette Kratt gestured to his neck. “If you think I’m honest, then you know that I won’t go back on my word and just run away.”
“Exactly.”
Chris looked puzzled at Zach’s reply.
“I do trust you, Chris, so the chances of you doing something stupid and getting shocked are very low. Your friends, however…” A bitter look crossed Zach’s face. “You and the sunshine eater might always keep your word, but Aviva does not. This way, they’ll be deterred from attempting to interfere because they don’t want you to get hurt, either.”
Chris’s forehead creased. “Why do you hate her so much?”
“I know she’s dating your brother, but she’s not as great as she seems.” Was all the response Zach gave.
“But what happened? She won’t talk about it, and you won’t talk about it, so how are you going to fix it?”
Zach was indignant. “Have you considered that-“
He was interrupted by the waiter, who looked a little uncomfortable to be approaching the couple who had basically been arguing the entire time they had been in the restaurant.
However, he still approached them, clearing his throat tactfully.
“Excuse me, sirs, but I neglected to tell you that one of our specials this evening is fresh lobster. Since you-“ he indicated Chris “-only ordered a starter, management thought you might be interested. You choose your lobster from our tank over there-“
“No!” Zach cut in, loudly, but it was too late.
As a child, Chris had been the kid who had tried to rescue lobsters and crabs from the tanks in the supermarket, and cried when he was told no.
As an adult, he recognized that people were allowed to choose what they wanted to eat, and many lobsters were raised to be food rather than being taken directly from the wild, but that still didn’t mean he liked the idea of choosing which lobster would be killed.
But however upset the suggestion made him, Zach it seemed, was even more so.
“What is wrong with you?” He snapped at the waiter, who now looked terrified, completely unaware of the bomb he had stepped on. “What part of ‘He is Vegetarian’ do you not understand?”
Though he was correct, Chris felt bad for the young waiter, so in a quieter tone, he said: “Zach, it’s not his fault, I didn’t tell him-“
“I DID!” Zach seemed to have lost any attempt at being quiet now, despite people openly staring. “When I reserved the table, I told you he was either vegetarian or vegan, and you decide to offer him a LIVE ANIMAL to eat?”
The CEO paused for a moment, in which the entire restaurant remained silent, craning to hear what he would say next.
Zach reached into his pocket, and then shoved a wad of money into the waiter’s hands. In a quieter but no less angry tone, he said: “Here. Now you can’t tell anyone I didn’t pay you. Chris, come on, we’re leaving.”
Deciding the inventor was not in any mood to be contradicted, and because he didn’t really want to stay now that everyone was staring, Chris quietly followed him.
The waiter, and a woman whom Chris assumed was the manager followed as well, both trying in vain to apologize, but Zach was having none of it.
All he did was reiterate their mistake and inform them that he would NOT be coming back, and both backed off, sufficiently cowed.
It was a side of Zach that Chris hadn’t seen, though that may have been because he didn’t usually see the CEO interact with people he had power over. But he also couldn’t recall seeing such a protective display of emotion from Zach in the time that he had known him, at least not protective over another person.
As soon as they were back in the limo, the inventor turned to him.
“I’m sorry.”
Chris blinked at him. ‘Now he’s apologizing? What is going on?’
Out loud he said: “It’s okay.”
“I had nothing to do with that, you know that, right?” Zach sounded so genuinely concerned that Chris turned to look at him.
“What do you mean? It sounds like you did tell them I was a vegetarian, it’s not your fault they forgot.”
“Yes, but, you know I didn’t pay them to say that to you, right? I know you and Gourmand had a whole thing where he was trying to cook lobsters, but I did NOT pay those people to offer to kill a lobster and cook it for you!”
The zoologist was bewildered. “Of course you didn’t, why would I think that?”
“You’ve been off and uncomfortable all day, even though I haven’t been doing anything to purposely upset you. I was starting to worry you might think I actually was trying to.”
“I didn’t think that.” And it was true. Even though Zach still seemed to be learning his boundaries, the younger Kratt did believe that he wasn’t actively trying to be creepy. It was usually pretty obvious when Zach intended to be unkind. “I’m just not used to people buying me so much stuff.”
Zach paused, considering this. “Well, if it makes you THAT uncomfortable, I won’t do it again, but I’m sorry, I just couldn’t watch you walk around in the same clothes every day. And the shorts? Who wears shorts in November?”
“Oh, that reminds me, Josef wanted me to talk to you about the colours you wear-“
“Oh, don’t tell me he brought you into this…” The inventor looked ready to jump out of the limo window.
“But if black’s not your favourite colour, why not try something else? Like pink?”
Green eyes glared at him. “Okay, that’s it, I don’t care how hot he made you look, you two are never allowed in the same room again!”
“I don’t know, I think we could be good friends…between the two of us we could probably convince you to wear some yellow!” Chris hopped out of the limo as soon as it stopped before Zach could scold him.
When they entered the penthouse, it’s owner turned to Chris, pulling out his phone.
“We bought some casual clothes if you want to take that stuff off, I see you messing with the shirt. Are you still hungry?”
“Um…yes.” Chris didn’t want to be a bother, but neither him nor Zach had eaten, so he figured it was fine to be honest.
“I’m going to order something, what do you want?” Zach was already typing something into his phone.
“Chinese?” Chris started to drift down the hall after taking one of the bags from a Zachbot.
“Chinese what?” Zach followed him, eyes on his screen.
“I don’t know, something vegetarian?” The zoologist went into his room, closing the door.
Zach didn’t go away, instead he called through the door: “I know that! But what?”
“Anything vegetarian is fine!” Chris’s voice was muffled as he travelled further into the room, probably into the bathroom.
“But what if you don’t like it?”
“I will!”
“You can’t know that!”
There was a moment’s pause, a gradually increasing shuffling noise, and suddenly the door in front of him was open again. Chris poked his head out.
“Zach. You’re overthinking it. I’m too tired to listen to you read the entire menu to me, so please don’t try to. Just pick something.”
Zach, who was having a hard time thinking about anything except the fact that more of the buttons on Chris’s shirt were undone than before, just nodded.
Thankfully, Chris seemed to have missed this because he gave a little smile, and closed the door without saying anything further.
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Twenty minutes later, Zach’s body finally relaxed upon confirmation that Chris did, in fact, like what Zach had ordered for him.
At least, from the rapid pace that the zoologist was eating the food, he assumed that he liked it. Zach wasn’t one hundred percent sure that Chris wouldn’t fake liking something to make him happy. It would certainly be in his nature.
Eventually, he couldn’t stand the unknown any longer, and asked: “You’d tell me if you didn’t like that, right?”
Chris, who had a mouthful of the food he was being accused of not enjoying, gave him a glare with no heat behind it. Once he swallowed, he said: “I do like it, Zach, I told you I would.”
“Yes, but how do I know you’re not just pretending to?”
“Why would I do that?” Chris frowned at him.
“The same reason you always do: to make people happy.”
Chris, who was now wearing black sweatpants and a soft green turtleneck, turned in his chair to fully face Zach.
“Zach, seriously, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
His gaze was so confused, but also intensely questioning, that the CEO found himself avoiding it.
“Nevermind, then.”
“No.” Chris stuck his foot into the foot rest of Zach’s chair and twisted, forcing the chair, and Zach, to turn towards him. “I want to know what you meant.”
Damn those curious, expressive brown eyes. He would do anything for those eyes, and he was in real trouble if Chris ever figured that out.
“Okay, fine. When you watch people all the time, you learn things. And what I learned about you is that you are always willing to put yourself out for the sake of others, even people you aren’t close to. Even if it means you not getting what you want, or having to take on extra work, you do it anyways to make other people happy.”
He finished hesitantly, waiting for the brunette Kratt to frown or look offended, but he continued to look confused.
“I don’t do that…”
Zach snorted. “Really? So when the redhead lost his hat in the woods and only remembered at midnight, what did you do?”
“I went and looked for it.” Chris said, like it was obvious. “But he loves that beanie it-”
“-Could have waited until morning.” Zach interrupted. “It was safe where you found it, and you were exhausted the next day because you were up so late.”
“How often do you watch us?” Chris asked.
“Enough about me! When Aviva bought way too much technology to carry back to your turtle ship, what did you do?”
“Well, I helped her, but-”
“-BUT that meant that you couldn’t go with Koki to see that…it was a park, right? And you said it was fine…but was it?”
Now Chris was the one avoiding the other’s gaze. “It WAS fine! She needed help and I helped her! She’s my friend!”
“She’s your BROTHER’S girlfriend, where was he? Underwater? Actually, don’t answer that, he probably was.”
The younger Kratt had stopped eating entirely now. “I’m not going to let you make me feel bad for helping people…” He started to turn his chair away, but Zach stuck out a foot to stop him.
“I’m not trying to! Like I said, I LIKE that you’re compassionate. All I’m saying is, it wouldn’t kill you to say ‘no’ sometimes if saying ‘yes’ will impact you.”
“I do! Sometimes…”
Zach regarded him with interest. “Really? You say no to people who ask for your help?”
“...yes?” Chris wasn’t sure he liked the mischievous look in Zach’s eyes.
“Alright, prove it.”
“How-”
“You see that table over there?” Zach interrupted. “I can’t lift it, but I think you probably could. Do you mind moving it over there?” He gestured to a spot not far from the table’s original position.
Chris regarded the table in question. It was round, a shiny black colour, and would probably reach his hip if he was standing. It probably wouldn’t be much trouble to move at all, but he wasn’t about to prove Zach’s point.
In a firm, but still mild voice, he said: “No.”
“Please, Chris? It’ll just take a minute, I really need your help with this!”
“No.” Chris repeated, smiling a little.
“Oh, come on! I said ‘please’!”
“Can’t one of the Zachbots do it?” The zoologist teased.
Zach waved a hand towards the rest of the penthouse. “They’re doing…other stuff right now. But you’re here, can’t you help me?”
“Sorry, no.” Chris gave a playful shrug.
The inventor rolled his eyes, but he smiled a little, too. “Alright, not too bad, Nature Boy.”
His eyes travelled to Chris’s abandoned food. “Can I have the rest of that?”
“Sure-wait-no!”
But it was too late. Zach took possession of the food, cackling gleefully. “Got you!”
“Nooo!” Chris covered his face with his hands. “How did I fall for that?”
“Because you’re too nice, Chris.” Zach appeared to take pity on him, sliding the food back across the table. “Helping other people is fine, but you should try being a little selfish sometimes. It might be good for you.”
“Ugh, fine, I’ll think about it…” The brunette Kratt rolled his eyes, a soft smile on his face. “I like this.”
“What?” Zach occupied himself with finishing the last bits of rice in his container.
Chris gestured between them, sitting less than three feet apart. “This! Us just…talking, without all of the hostility and threats to animals. When you’re not cackling like a cartoon villain, you’re not so bad.”
“Wow, thanks.”
“I mean it!” Chris’s face did look genuine as he looked straight into Zach’s eyes. “I always wondered if we’d get along, but I didn’t really think it’d actually happen. But I like talking to you.”
A hopeful spark began to light in Zach’s chest. What was he saying?
Was it possible for his perspective on Zach to have changed in the course of one day?
Figuring he should say SOMETHING, the inventor responded: “You’re not so bad, either.”
Chris snorted. “Thanks. What we were talking about earlier, before we got interrupted by, you know?”
Zach hesitated. He wasn’t fool enough to remind Chris that the last thing they had been discussing was the shock collar and the fact that its existence conflicted with Zach’s statement that he didn’t-really, he didn’t-want to hurt Chris.
Before he could weigh the options of whether it was safer to lie and name something else they had discussed, or simply stay silent, Chris perked up.
“Oh, yeah! We were talking about YOU!”
God damn it. Like a cheetah chasing after a gazelle, Chris clearly wasn’t going to give up.
That being said, maybe giving in and ‘opening up’ a little would build some trust to strengthen the shaky friendliness they had established.
Making a big show of sighing, he rolled his eyes at Chris. “Fine. If I tell you what you want to know, will you stop asking about me?”
Chris just grinned. “Maybe.”
“Can we move, though?” Zach stood without waiting for an answer. “My back hurts.”
“Sure.” Chris readily followed him to the couch, sitting down normally while Zach flopped his entire body onto the other end.
When he noticed Chris trying not to smile, he snapped with playful indignance: “What? It’s my couch, I can do what I want! So what do you want to know? I’m not guaranteeing I’ll answer.”
There was a long, nearly uncomfortably long pause, before Chris asked: “Are you…gay?”
He looked so nervous asking this question that Zach laughed. “Did the fact that I have a personal tailor, a hot tub, a luxury shower and bathtub, and that I’m, you know, attracted to YOU not give it away?”
“Well, I didn’t want to assume…”
“Oh, I know you didn’t, you’re the ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ type…but I’m not. And if I had to guess, you’re bisexual, or pansexual, or something, but you’re not just into women…right?”
The zoologist continued to look shyly down at his hands. “Yeah, I-I’m bi, but how did you know that?”
The CEO shrugged. “Just watching who you checked out, mostly.”
When Chris gave him an annoyed look, he added: “What? I wasn’t going to hit on you if you were straight, so I needed to know!”
“You could have just asked…” Chris muttered, before pausing to consider how that conversation may have gone. “I guess that might have come off weird if you just showed up and asked me, though.”
“Exactly.” Zach reclined further into the couch, hands behind his head, but it appeared Chris wasn’t done.
“How did you…know you were gay?”
Even though Chris couldn’t see his face, the inventor smirked a little. “The same way you figured out you were bi: sleeping with women AND men. I only liked sleeping with men, but I guess you liked both, right?”
Chris didn’t need to know that both of Zach’s sexuality defining encounters, okay, ALL of Zach’s sexual encounters had been with paid escorts. It wasn’t like he did it often, it wasn’t exactly an action he wanted his shareholders to find out about, but everyone had urges once in a while, didn’t they?
He had never taken the step of hiring an escort with brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin, though, it just felt…wrong.
Even if he was never going to have the real thing, pretending someone else was Chris made him feel disgusted. No one else would ever be Chris, there was no point.
Speaking of the zoologist, he hadn’t said anything for what felt like nearly a minute. Just as Zach was debating sitting up to see if Chris was still there, a hesitant voice said:
“Actually…I don’t know.”
“Oh, you haven’t slept with a guy yet? Kind of surprising, to be honest with you.”
“Not just guys, not…anyone.”
“Wait, what?” Zach sat bolt upright, certain he’d heard the other man wrong. “YOU haven’t been with ANYONE?”
Chris wouldn’t look at him. “...I don’t know why I just told you that.”
“I don’t know either, but seriously, NO ONE’S tried to get you in bed? Are people BLIND?”
The zoologist looked a little startled by Zach’s disbelief. “No, people have asked, I just…it didn’t feel right, I don’t know.”
“Why not?” Zach had to know.
“I was way too busy in university to think about sex or dating, and Martin and I started to get well known right after graduation. After that, it always felt like people were only interested in me because of the fame. The only people other than Martin who really know me are Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy, and I didn’t want anything romantic with them.”
There was another awkward pause as Zach digested this information, Chris’s gaze fixated on the red carpet under his feet.
Finally, matter-a-factly, Zach said: “I’ve never liked you for your fame.”
“…I know.” Chris said, almost contemplatively. Zach had always disliked the attention he and Martin got from the media, although he’d always chalked that up to jealousy.
“And I think I know you pretty well, I mean, I knew you way before you were well-known.”
“I guess…” That too, was true: it had been twenty years since he’d first met Zach in school, and the inventor had basically always been a part of his life, except for when they were both attending different universities.
“And I don’t think you’re some perfect person to idolize, you’ve been an annoyance and a distraction for as long as I can remember, but I still want you!”
Chris was a little offended at being called ‘an annoyance’, but he remained focused on the statements Zach was presenting him with.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying-“ Zach abruptly moved much closer to the brunette Kratt, not uncomfortably close, but definitely within touching distance. “-I fit your description.”
“I-” Chris turned over his previous words in his mind. He couldn’t deny that Zach had made logical points, but he had never considered the CEO as a sexual partner before.
Zach had never behaved like some of the sycophantic fans who single-mindedly pursued him-and his virginity. In fact, until he had taken Martin’s place, Chris had had no idea that the CEO was interested in him at all.
Additionally, Zach hadn’t exactly ever been nice to him, and the zoologist had always considered someone kind, who cared about him, to be the absolute bare minimum for a sexual partner.
But underneath the taunts and petty insults, Chris had to admit to himself that the way Zach had always interacted with him showed that he DID know Chris.
He knew his organizational habits, such as alphabetizing his Creature Power Disks, he knew which creatures would be more likely to catch Chris’s attention over Martin’s, and he knew how Chris interacted with others and valued those relationships.
He had always treated Chris like a person, equal to him. An enemy person, maybe, but a person nonetheless.
But were those reasons enough to forgive Zach for all the harm he’d done and attempted to do to animals? And even if they were, would they be enough to justify letting the other man touch him…assuming that was what Zach was proposing?
Half of his mind was running in circles, banging pots and pans and telling him to get away from the man whom, hours earlier, he’d been uncomfortable being half-naked in front of.
The other half, the half that remembered the way his body had burned with anticipation when Zach looked at him in the dressing room that afternoon, stubbornly stayed put. It wanted to see what would happen if he gave in, just a little, just so he would know how it felt to be touched by Zach.
Maybe he would hate it, thereby ridding him of this heated curiosity for good. But if he didn’t…
This internal battle left Chris rooted to the spot, watching with curiosity as Zach moved an inch closer, but still didn’t try to touch him.
“I’m not saying you should let me fuck you right now, I know you’ll want to think over what I’ve said before you decide. I’m not forcing you to do anything, either, okay? But would you…give me a chance?”
Chris turned to look at Zach, only to immediately realize it had been a mistake. The look of hungry need was back in those green eyes, but now it was accompanied by a look of pleading hopefulness.
“Zach…I don’t know. You’ve done a lot to hurt me and my friends, how can I trust you not to do it again?”
“I don’t know, but I know that you’re a good person who believes in second chances. Or third, or forth, or whatever. If you give me this, I won’t hurt any of you again, I promise.”
Chris couldn’t pull his gaze away from the inventor. “I want to believe you…”
“Trust me, I-” Zach stopped talking, and inhaled deeply. “God, Chris, you smell like…”
“Like what?” The younger Kratt asked, a little defensively. This topic seemed like a weird deviation from the sexual tension boiling between them, but the want hadn’t faded from Zach’s face at all.
“Like pine trees.” The CEO sounded almost awed. “I thought it was from all the time you spend outside, but you still smell like it after living with me…”
All of a sudden, his hands were holding Chris’s, the look on his face sincere, if not a little desperate.
“You don’t know what it’s been like, smelling that scent for YEARS, thinking only about you every time I was near a forest or a fucking Christmas tree. Chris, please, I want to kiss you, will you let me? Just one kiss, that’s all I want.”
Chris could barely hear the last few words through his pulse thudding in his ears. But it wasn’t fear causing his heart to race, he could intrinsically tell that Zach wouldn’t move his face closer to his until he said yes.
And it would be so easy to say yes…
He had kissed other people before, so kissing Zach once wouldn’t hurt. No one else would know.
But when he finally went home, whether through rescue, escape, or Zach letting him go, Chris would know.
He would have to look Martin in the eyes and know that he had kissed the man that had kidnapped his brother and fully intended to keep him in a cage.
Zach hadn’t apologized for that, nor had he shown any intention of setting Chris free.
The inventor had been kind, friendly, and thoughtful in the last few hours, but hadn’t shown any real interest in improving anything except his relationship with Chris. There were no guarantees that he wouldn’t continue on the exact same path he had been on for the past twenty years.
Chris turned his head away, guilt clutching at his throat.
It just wasn’t enough.
“No…I’m sorry.”
Zach didn’t say anything, but his hands released Chris’s and the zoologist could feel his body heat shift away. It wasn’t until he heard the couch expand that he realized Zach was getting up to leave.
“Zach, wait!”
The inventor stopped to look down on him. His face looked hurt, barely covered by a slim mask of annoyance.
“What?”
“I’m sorry.” Chris repeated. “I’m not trying to make you upset, it’s just-”
“It’s fine, I get it.” Zach interrupted. “You’ll never see me as anything more than a villain, and it’s my own damn fault.”
“That’s not true! I want to be your friend!”
“Friend?” Zach repeated, as though the word was foreign to him.
Chris nodded emphatically. “Yes! It’s too soon for…anything else, but I really did enjoy talking to you, and I think we could be friends. What do you think?”
“Um…yes?” The CEO looked so unsure of how to respond, the zoologist had to chuckle.
“Okay, good! So tomorrow morning, instead of just drinking coffee and staring, how about you talk to me?”
“I don’t talk until I’ve had my coffee, Nature Boy, you know that.”
Chris rolled his eyes with an: “Uh huh…”
“Anyways, I’m up so I’m going to bed, but you can do what you want.”
“Okay, goodnight!”
Chris waited until Zach was out of sight before letting out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.
He sat there for several minutes, staring at the spot where Zach had been sitting.
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“I was THIS CLOSE!” Zach ranted to his screen, where Donita, Gourmand, and Paisley were listening with varying levels of interest. “I buy him expensive things, I tell him personal details about myself, I tell him he is the most beautiful creature on the planet repeatedly-but I get NOTHING!”
“Darling, don’t shout!” Donita was reclining on one of her many chaise lounge chairs, cucumber slices over her eyes.
“Yes, if he hears you whining, I doubt he’ll be interested in you.” Paisley agreed, scribbling on what looked like legal papers in front of her.
“No, no, he’s just giving me a headache.” Donita said, dramatically placing one hand against her forehead.
Zach prepared to show her what a REAL headache felt like, but Gourmand had to add his two cents:
“Why are you getting so worked up over Green Grape liking you? Ain’t you just going to let ‘im go as soon as the others hand over the tech suit?”
“I’m starting to think they’re not going to.” Zach lowered his voice, just in case Chris really was listening in. “It’s been basically a week, and there’s been NO contact from the Wild Rats. No threats, no rescue attempts, no begging, nothing. I’m starting to think they might just cut their losses knowing that I’m not going to seriously hurt Chris.”
“No!” Donita perked up now, removing the vegetables from her eyes. The woman lived for drama.
“Yes! And if they never give me the Creature Power Suit, I can’t just let him go or they’ll never take me seriously again. So if I’m going to keep him, why would I not make him fall in love with me?”
“Wait, what?” Paisley’s pen stopped scratching. “When did LOVE enter this equation?”
Donita burst into high-pitched cackling. “Zachie, this will never work! He hates you!”
“He does NOT!” Zach retorted. “We talked for hours tonight, he let me get VERY close to him, AND he said he wants to be friends! That doesn’t sound like hate to me!”
“Yes, but considering what you’ve done to him and to animals, I don’t see how you’re going to convince him to develop romantic feelings for you.” Paisley stated.
Zach pinched the bridge of his nose. “Listen, Chris is one of the most open, forgiving, and naive people we know, RIGHT? At Christmas, when we pretended to change our minds about the baby animals literally seconds after having them imprisoned, he bought it all along with the rest of those saps!”
Donita and Gourmand both smiled mirthfully at the memory.
“I’m still surprised they ALL fell for that act!” Gourmand snorted as he sharpened a knife. “One or two of them, sure, but ALL FIVE?”
“ANYWAYS-“ Zach diverted the topic. “-it’ll take another week at most before he realizes that no one’s coming to save him, and then who will be there to help pick up the pieces? Me. After that, it’s only a matter of time.”
“And you’re telling us all this because?” Paisley looked bored. “It makes no difference to me whether he’s your prisoner or your boyfriend.”
“Oh, but it does!” Zach grinned. “He knows everything about the Wild Rats, right? But after they’ve abandoned him, his loyalty will shift to ME, and he can tell us things we can use against the rest of those tree huggers. I doubt he’ll actively help us, but he also won’t be willing to help them because he won’t want to hurt me.”
“That seems like a stretch, darling.” Donita said, thoughtfully. “Do you really think that little angel of an animal lover will choose YOU over his brother?”
“And how are you going to stand be in’ all lovey-dovey with GREEN GRAPE?” Gourmand sounded disgusted at the very thought.
“Hey!” Zach snapped. “I do want to be with him, that’s why this is going to work! He won’t suspect that I’m lying, because I won’t be! About wanting him, anyways. Other than that, all I have to do is make sure that if the Wild Rats DO try to get him back, he NEVER finds out!”
Gourmand snorted: “Lots of luck with that.”
“Shut up!” Zach crossed his arms. “He’s so sweet and trusting, he’ll accept me in no time. The Wild Rats will be fractured forever, and Chris will be mine!”
He laughed victoriously.
“You really should tone that down, he might hear…” Rex poked his head into Paisley’s frame.
Zach jumped. “How long have you been-how long has he been there?”
“I’m always here!” The assistant said, cheerfully.
Zach shuddered. This was why he never allowed employees into his home. Or office. Or anywhere near him.
“Anyways, he won’t hear me, he’s in his room-“
Zach stopped speaking abruptly. He had impulsively switched his camera feed to that of Chris’s room, sharing the view with his associates.
However, instead of being in bed, like he was expecting, Chris was standing in front of the mirror, brushing his hair.
And wearing nothing but the black briefs Zach had bought him that morning.
All of Zach’s blood immediately began racing south.
Despite already seeing the delicious view earlier that day, Zach had had no relief, so his body had been riding the line of painful arousal for hours. If this kept up much longer, he was going to end up in the hospital.
Donita, too, seemed to appreciate the view. “Well this is interesting…”
“Back off, Donita, he’s mine!” The inventor frantically punched buttons until Chris disappeared from the screen.
The Italian just laughed. “Oh relax, darling, we both know I’d much rather have his brother…”
A far off look came into her eyes, likely imagining the older Kratt brother in a similar state of undress.
“Right, I’m going to leave before I get infected with this Wild Kratts fever and start wanting one of them girls!” With that, Gourmand disappeared.
“I have other business to attend to as well.” Paisley signed off.
“Good luck with Christiano, Zachie!” Donita waved distractedly as she poked at the screen, trying to end the call.
When his screens finally went back, Zach hesitated, hand wavering over his keyboard. After a moment’s hesitation, he pressed down.
The feed of Chris’s room popped back up on the screen.
In the time he had spent yelling at Donita, Chris appeared to have finished his night routine, and was now lying in bed, eyes closed.
He knew that the designer had meant to be mocking, but Zach thought that her description was accurate: with his peaceful, open face, Chris really did look like an angel.
Men like him never got to have angels, not with the life he had led. But Chris was so forgiving, so good, that maybe, just maybe, he could fall in love with Zach.
It was funny, the CEO thought as he turned off his screens entirely, how deep down, he and Chris wanted the same thing: someone who knew them for the flawed, authentic person they were, but loved and wanted them anyways.
Admittedly, he was much more flawed than Chris, but Zach was also one other thing:
Used to getting what he wanted.