Erin Ptah (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ptahrrific) wrote2009-07-01 10:11 pm
ptahrrific) wrote2009-07-01 10:11 pm
Fake News: Stay, part 4
Title: Stay (4/4)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Nothing that hasn't been in the story already.
Characters/pairings: Jon, "Stephen", Sam/Jason, Scarborough, Aasif
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Summary: Senateverse. Stephen comes home.
(See also the author's notes for research and commentary.)
Stay - Part IV
§
By the time Jon woke up and found the email waiting, Stephen's plane was already in the air. Between flight times, layovers, and the sheer effort of fighting against the rotation of the Earth, he would have more than thirty hours to make his decision.
He only needed one.
§
Stephen spent most of the three plane rides trying to figure out what he was going to say.
He had stammered through thanks and congratulations to various servicemembers in person, but now he had to make an actual Official Statement, and nothing he could come up with seemed adequate. (Okay, a few things did, but Jimmy, his communications director, had warned him against using those words where constituents could hear.)
His iPhone didn't get coverage in Austria, so during the layover at Vienna International he made a panicky call to his press secretary from the hotel phone. Normally Allison sounded kind of exasperated when Stephen panicked at her, but on this she was happy to help. She even thanked him for not calling at a bizarre hour.
Stephen, who had not bothered to check the time difference, took this as a sign that luck was on his side.
§
"CNN called while you were out," said Aasif as Jon returned from lunch. "That's the fourth press call today. I'm still giving them the same statement; are you sure you don't want to look it over?"
"I'll do you one better," Jon replied. "Get them on the line. I'll talk to them in person."
"What?"
"Oh, and call Brian Williams and have him invite me on the evening's broadcast, would you? Same for Anderson Cooper. In fact, while you're at it, see if The Huckabee Decree needs a second-act guest."
"Senator, are you sure you want to—?"
Jon shrugged. "Stephen's out of contact until tomorrow. Someone's got to keep feeding the news cycle."
§
After waving one last goodbye to the gathered reporters, Stephen jogged across the tarmac to the waiting motorcade, briefcase in hand. Other people would take care of the rest of his luggage; he was more concerned with making sure the cameras got the image of a vigorous and manly war zone returnee, who would have answered their questions right away if only he didn't have some vitally important place to be.
He slowed as he approached the limo. The tinted windows revealed nothing. For a moment, he wondered if it wouldn't be better for him to just turn around and face the press. Never mind that his brain thought it was around midnight.
Suck it up, Col-bert, he ordered, and squeezed his eyes shut.
Stephen knew the contours of a limo like the inside of his childhood home. It was easy to open the door without looking, easy to slide onto the plush leather and swing his suitcase onto the floor. He had was less certain about his ability to navigate the minibar blind, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.
As long as he couldn't actually see the facing seat, he had no way of knowing that Jon wasn't there.
"Stephen?"
He could even imagine that he heard the man's voice....
"Stephen, are you okay?"
Stephen opened his eyes.
All right, that was definitely the real Jon sitting across from him. If he had been a figment of Stephen's imagination, he wouldn't have been wearing a seatbelt.
"I'm fine, Jon," he said, almost dizzy with relief. "Everything's fine."
§
As the limo drove off, Stephen launched into a tirade about how much dust there had been in Iraq, how it had gotten into everything, but he had finally been starting to adjust when they had sent him back, and what nerve did his civilian clothes have, anyway, being so uncomfortably comfortable?
So glad was Jon to have the man back safely that he listened to every furious word.
Stephen must have been more worn out than he let on; he ran out of steam pretty quickly. Jon waited for his diatribe to taper off into silence before speaking up.
"You didn't have to do all that just to impress me, you know."
Stephen snorted. "As if I care what some liberal Democrat politician thinks about me. This was all about our troops!" He whipped off his camouflage hat, providing Jon with his first personal sight of the cut that had, appropriately enough, generated so much buzz. "Look at this! Would I have let someone perpetuate this horror on my beautiful hair for anyone less than our soldiers? Feel it, Jon!"
So saying, he leaned forward. When Jon hesitated, he pointed insistently to his scalp, until at last Jon put forth an obliging hand and rubbed the soft fuzz with his fingers.
The skin underneath was warm to the touch. Stephen let out a soft breath.
"Don't," he added, as Jon tried to remove the hand. "Leave it."
"Are you sure...?"
"Just do it, Stewart."
"All right, all right."
For a moment they sat in a strange sort of calm: Stephen with head bowed, while Jon's fingertips traced small circles on his crown.
"You know I have trouble with...things," murmured Stephen at last. "Balls that go behind couches, and so on."
Jon nodded, then caught himself. "I remember."
The head under his hand bobbed in acknowledgment. "Well, I don't want to have trouble with Iraq, Jon. Not with our soldiers. Not with the ordinary people, either. And this helps with that. Even when I'm not hearing about the war, or seeing it on the news, if I can see myself — or feel the breeze on my head, or — or anything else — it helps."
Shoulders still lowered, he twisted one arm around and groped for the handle of his briefcase.
"I've been drafting language for this bill," he explained, dragging it onto his lap and trying to open it while still hunched over. "To provide emergency funding to keep troops' homes from being foreclosed on. Because you tax-and-spenders are already bailing out every business that comes along asking for a handout, and these people have actually earned it."
Even though he couldn't see Stephen's eyebrows, Jon could almost hear their defiant arch in the words. "I agree," he said, without a moment's hesitation.
"Great!" exclaimed Stephen. "Because I'm going to need a co-sponsor...."
"I'm in," declared Jon. "Let's go find a quiet place where we can sit down and hash out the details."
§
"You live at a hotel?"
"A residence," corrected Jon. "It's basically an upscale condo."
"Which is run by the Ritz. That makes it a hotel."
Jon shrugged. "I like the room service."
§
After half an hour of research and debate, Jon left the room to grab a bottle of wine and returned to find Stephen's head lolled back on his chair, eyes closed.
He jolted awake when Jon called his name. "Huh? Wha? What's going on?"
"You're still jet-lagged," realized Jon. Of course he'd be nodding off. "What time do you think it is?"
"Um," said Stephen, squinting at his watch. "There's something weird about these numbers...."
"You've got it on upside-down," observed Jon, leaning over to check. Stephen had his watch set to D.C. time, but Jon had done the conversion more than enough in the past few days to work out Baghdad time in his head. "Past one in the morning. You should get some sleep. We've got enough to introduce on the floor now, and it'll probably get rewritten in committee anyhow."
"Right," agreed Stephen, slapping his cheeks lightly and blinking several times. "I'll get going. I know one of my houses is around here somewhere...of the ones that haven't been repossessed, anyway...."
"Do you want to stay?"
Jon didn't realize he was going to say it until too late: the words were out, and Stephen was glaring at him suspiciously. "If this is part of one of your agendas—"
"Stephen, don't be ridiculous. There are very nice guest rooms, and they all have full bathrooms. Think of it as a hotel, except that you don't have to pay for it. Besides, it's not like you haven't stayed with me before."
"Yeah, but that was planned," huffed Stephen, still looking cagey. "I didn't pack for this."
"You can borrow a robe or something. And I'm sure I have an extra toothbrush and razor around."
"Well...I guess I could survive without my exfoliating loofah for a night," admitted Stephen slowly. "Considering that I just spent several days being sandblasted."
§
As the roll call went around, Stephen chewed nervously on his pen.
Both of them knew Stephen had the more exciting stage presence, which was why he was going to handle the press conference afterwards. But he had insisted that Jon introduce the bill on the floor. Jon, of course, had been surprised. The man still didn't know about his something.
Well, Stephen knew. Hadn't been able to forget it, either — even half a world away.
"The gentleman from New York is recognized for three minutes."
Besides, a cause like this (still fresh in his mind, but he ran a hand over his shorn head, just in case) was too important to leave in Stephen's hands alone.
(Not that he would ever tell Jon that, of course. Couldn't let some liberal know there was that kind of weakness in the Senate's greatest pillar of conservatism — much less that he himself probably had the power to bring about socialized medicine, tax hikes, stem cell research, electric cars, and a profit margin to National Public Radio all at once if he so chose.)
"Madam Speaker, let me thank you for yielding time," began Jon.
The full attention of the Senate turned to him. And there it stayed.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Nothing that hasn't been in the story already.
Characters/pairings: Jon, "Stephen", Sam/Jason, Scarborough, Aasif
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Summary: Senateverse. Stephen comes home.
(See also the author's notes for research and commentary.)
Stay - Part IV
| From: Senator Stephen T. Colbert, R-SC <senator@colbert.senate.gov> To: Jon Stewart, D-NY <senator@stewart.senate.gov> Date: June 12, 3:12 AM Subject: WHEN I ARRIVE AT IAD I WILL GIVE A BRIEF STATEMENT TO REPORTERS, AND THEN STEP INTO A WAITING LIMOUSINE AND BE WHISKED AWAY. IF THERE HAPPENS TO BE ANOTHER PERSON ALREADY IN THE LIMOUSINE WHEN I STEP INTO IT, I MAY ALLOW HIM TO TALK TO ME. HE HAD BETTER BE THERE. |
By the time Jon woke up and found the email waiting, Stephen's plane was already in the air. Between flight times, layovers, and the sheer effort of fighting against the rotation of the Earth, he would have more than thirty hours to make his decision.
He only needed one.
Stephen spent most of the three plane rides trying to figure out what he was going to say.
He had stammered through thanks and congratulations to various servicemembers in person, but now he had to make an actual Official Statement, and nothing he could come up with seemed adequate. (Okay, a few things did, but Jimmy, his communications director, had warned him against using those words where constituents could hear.)
His iPhone didn't get coverage in Austria, so during the layover at Vienna International he made a panicky call to his press secretary from the hotel phone. Normally Allison sounded kind of exasperated when Stephen panicked at her, but on this she was happy to help. She even thanked him for not calling at a bizarre hour.
Stephen, who had not bothered to check the time difference, took this as a sign that luck was on his side.
"CNN called while you were out," said Aasif as Jon returned from lunch. "That's the fourth press call today. I'm still giving them the same statement; are you sure you don't want to look it over?"
"I'll do you one better," Jon replied. "Get them on the line. I'll talk to them in person."
"What?"
"Oh, and call Brian Williams and have him invite me on the evening's broadcast, would you? Same for Anderson Cooper. In fact, while you're at it, see if The Huckabee Decree needs a second-act guest."
"Senator, are you sure you want to—?"
Jon shrugged. "Stephen's out of contact until tomorrow. Someone's got to keep feeding the news cycle."
After waving one last goodbye to the gathered reporters, Stephen jogged across the tarmac to the waiting motorcade, briefcase in hand. Other people would take care of the rest of his luggage; he was more concerned with making sure the cameras got the image of a vigorous and manly war zone returnee, who would have answered their questions right away if only he didn't have some vitally important place to be.
He slowed as he approached the limo. The tinted windows revealed nothing. For a moment, he wondered if it wouldn't be better for him to just turn around and face the press. Never mind that his brain thought it was around midnight.
Suck it up, Col-bert, he ordered, and squeezed his eyes shut.
Stephen knew the contours of a limo like the inside of his childhood home. It was easy to open the door without looking, easy to slide onto the plush leather and swing his suitcase onto the floor. He had was less certain about his ability to navigate the minibar blind, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.
As long as he couldn't actually see the facing seat, he had no way of knowing that Jon wasn't there.
"Stephen?"
He could even imagine that he heard the man's voice....
"Stephen, are you okay?"
Stephen opened his eyes.
All right, that was definitely the real Jon sitting across from him. If he had been a figment of Stephen's imagination, he wouldn't have been wearing a seatbelt.
"I'm fine, Jon," he said, almost dizzy with relief. "Everything's fine."
As the limo drove off, Stephen launched into a tirade about how much dust there had been in Iraq, how it had gotten into everything, but he had finally been starting to adjust when they had sent him back, and what nerve did his civilian clothes have, anyway, being so uncomfortably comfortable?
So glad was Jon to have the man back safely that he listened to every furious word.
Stephen must have been more worn out than he let on; he ran out of steam pretty quickly. Jon waited for his diatribe to taper off into silence before speaking up.
"You didn't have to do all that just to impress me, you know."
Stephen snorted. "As if I care what some liberal Democrat politician thinks about me. This was all about our troops!" He whipped off his camouflage hat, providing Jon with his first personal sight of the cut that had, appropriately enough, generated so much buzz. "Look at this! Would I have let someone perpetuate this horror on my beautiful hair for anyone less than our soldiers? Feel it, Jon!"
So saying, he leaned forward. When Jon hesitated, he pointed insistently to his scalp, until at last Jon put forth an obliging hand and rubbed the soft fuzz with his fingers.
The skin underneath was warm to the touch. Stephen let out a soft breath.
"Don't," he added, as Jon tried to remove the hand. "Leave it."
"Are you sure...?"
"Just do it, Stewart."
"All right, all right."
For a moment they sat in a strange sort of calm: Stephen with head bowed, while Jon's fingertips traced small circles on his crown.
"You know I have trouble with...things," murmured Stephen at last. "Balls that go behind couches, and so on."
Jon nodded, then caught himself. "I remember."
The head under his hand bobbed in acknowledgment. "Well, I don't want to have trouble with Iraq, Jon. Not with our soldiers. Not with the ordinary people, either. And this helps with that. Even when I'm not hearing about the war, or seeing it on the news, if I can see myself — or feel the breeze on my head, or — or anything else — it helps."
Shoulders still lowered, he twisted one arm around and groped for the handle of his briefcase.
"I've been drafting language for this bill," he explained, dragging it onto his lap and trying to open it while still hunched over. "To provide emergency funding to keep troops' homes from being foreclosed on. Because you tax-and-spenders are already bailing out every business that comes along asking for a handout, and these people have actually earned it."
Even though he couldn't see Stephen's eyebrows, Jon could almost hear their defiant arch in the words. "I agree," he said, without a moment's hesitation.
"Great!" exclaimed Stephen. "Because I'm going to need a co-sponsor...."
"I'm in," declared Jon. "Let's go find a quiet place where we can sit down and hash out the details."
"You live at a hotel?"
"A residence," corrected Jon. "It's basically an upscale condo."
"Which is run by the Ritz. That makes it a hotel."
Jon shrugged. "I like the room service."
After half an hour of research and debate, Jon left the room to grab a bottle of wine and returned to find Stephen's head lolled back on his chair, eyes closed.
He jolted awake when Jon called his name. "Huh? Wha? What's going on?"
"You're still jet-lagged," realized Jon. Of course he'd be nodding off. "What time do you think it is?"
"Um," said Stephen, squinting at his watch. "There's something weird about these numbers...."
"You've got it on upside-down," observed Jon, leaning over to check. Stephen had his watch set to D.C. time, but Jon had done the conversion more than enough in the past few days to work out Baghdad time in his head. "Past one in the morning. You should get some sleep. We've got enough to introduce on the floor now, and it'll probably get rewritten in committee anyhow."
"Right," agreed Stephen, slapping his cheeks lightly and blinking several times. "I'll get going. I know one of my houses is around here somewhere...of the ones that haven't been repossessed, anyway...."
"Do you want to stay?"
Jon didn't realize he was going to say it until too late: the words were out, and Stephen was glaring at him suspiciously. "If this is part of one of your agendas—"
"Stephen, don't be ridiculous. There are very nice guest rooms, and they all have full bathrooms. Think of it as a hotel, except that you don't have to pay for it. Besides, it's not like you haven't stayed with me before."
"Yeah, but that was planned," huffed Stephen, still looking cagey. "I didn't pack for this."
"You can borrow a robe or something. And I'm sure I have an extra toothbrush and razor around."
"Well...I guess I could survive without my exfoliating loofah for a night," admitted Stephen slowly. "Considering that I just spent several days being sandblasted."
As the roll call went around, Stephen chewed nervously on his pen.
Both of them knew Stephen had the more exciting stage presence, which was why he was going to handle the press conference afterwards. But he had insisted that Jon introduce the bill on the floor. Jon, of course, had been surprised. The man still didn't know about his something.
Well, Stephen knew. Hadn't been able to forget it, either — even half a world away.
"The gentleman from New York is recognized for three minutes."
Besides, a cause like this (still fresh in his mind, but he ran a hand over his shorn head, just in case) was too important to leave in Stephen's hands alone.
(Not that he would ever tell Jon that, of course. Couldn't let some liberal know there was that kind of weakness in the Senate's greatest pillar of conservatism — much less that he himself probably had the power to bring about socialized medicine, tax hikes, stem cell research, electric cars, and a profit margin to National Public Radio all at once if he so chose.)
"Madam Speaker, let me thank you for yielding time," began Jon.
The full attention of the Senate turned to him. And there it stayed.
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That's our Stephen.
Stephen is definitely learning his lessons in bipartisanship and that even though he and Jon disagree on so many issues , there is also enough stuff they both care about.
I'm not sure I've commented on the Senateverse before (not on this story, anyway), so I just want to say that I love the way you make "Stephen" work in the real world and in the Senate no less.
I mean you obviously write about "Stephen" all the time, but he spends most of the time in the surreal little world he created around himself at the Colbert Report and as host of a cable opinion show that has not nearly the impact he believes it has, there is no reason the general public should take him serious (even when he is). In this verse however, he has to be taken serious.
I guess what I want to say is that it's fascinating (and a little frightening if you think too hard about the implications) how much sense this 'verse makes. I love how people now think he is not really that ignorant, but wants to make a clever statement, when in reality there are still those who don't get that it is a joke (and a clever statement).
I hope this epic tale of bipartisanship will continue. :) Especially now that Stephen starts to come around and Jon accepts his fate of being interviewed about the whacky exploits of Senator Colbert.
And by the way, I love Stephen and his weird loofah obsession.
His iPhone didn't get coverage in Austria, so during the layover at Vienna International he made a panicky call to his press secretary from the hotel phone.
Did the real Stephen have a layover in Austria, too? Because that would be really cool--then I would have been in the same city as Stephen o.o (maybe even twice?)
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The surreality of the past eight years helps a lot in making this work. I've heard a couple of people defend Dubya strategies with "he has a much smarter secret plan; he's just not telling us about it." So of course people are going to cut Stephen slack in similar ways, on top of the confusion over whether he's joking.
(I think this version of Stephen must manage to be a little more guarded. He probably hasn't shot anyone, for instance. Although it's not like Cheney didn't set a pretty low standard there...)
The epic tale of bipartisanship, and
falafelloofah obsessions, will indeed continue! Not that I know where it's going next, but TCR will provide more fodder sooner or later.I don't know what the journey of the TCR crew was like - there were enough people involved that they might have been able to just rent a private plane. But when I tried to find out how to get from the Baghdad airport to the one near Washington (the author's notes/link page has the various sites I used), the trip itineraries all involved overnight layovers at VIE. (Picky researching FTW!)
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Yes, that's probably the frightening part.
Well, I don't know, maybe Stephen does shoot somebody, for incredibly stupid or petty reasons (or by a really stupid accident that still is pretty much his fault), but somehow manages to pull a Cheney, anyway.
I guess there could be a story in there, but it would need another twist or it would just be the same as he and Cheney already did.
I guess then I'll just pretend that there is a very high probability that he was in a 50 km radius of me. (I wasn't even really aware that Vienna Airport was that international, with lots of better-known countries like Germany and France right next to us.)
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There could indeed be a story there. Coming up with crazy twists isn't exactly hard when it's Stephen involved...
(Maybe it's just the most convenient stop relative to Baghdad? Either way, pretend away =D)
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For some reason that made me go, Of course! As if any other possibility would just be silly. Oh, Stephen. Your "logic" is a tiny bit contagious.
I also continue to love Stephen's all-caps emails. So him. :D
This 'verse in general is win, though, and I love seeing a new way for Jon and "Stephen" to come together. MOAR PLZ. :DDDD
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More will be along just as soon as TCR and/or the actual news cycle provides fodder for it! (Or as soon as someone jumps into it for the sandbox challenge, whichever comes first...)
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Jon seems to be accepting his role as Stephen's bridge to reality, yes? IT'S MEANT TO BE, JON. DON'T FIGHT IT.
The hair-stroking was so poignant and sweet, and of course imaginary Jons don't wear seatbelts. Of course.
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Thanks!
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Love, love the Senateverse like nobody's business, and I really did appreciate reading this story, and this chapter is one of my favorites.
I try to take most everything Stephen does with a grain of salt but sometimes the inherent well-intentioned part of the idiot just gets to me, like his being personally touched enough to make sure that the soldiers get to keep their homes. I mean, some politicians can be incredibly stupid and sleazy and are well-intentioned at heart but maybe poor Stephen is just too close to mine.
Supporting the troops seems like a no-brainer, but this is Stephen we're talking about who puts aside his personal vanity, asks for a co-sponsor, and lets it be a notorious liberal like Jon. Okay, so he needs it to be, knows that Jon has a sort of charisma all his own, which was the very reason that Stephen sided with him on that project with the special needs schools, but still. I know Stephen couldn't be completely incompetent and unfeeling, being elected for a reason.
I just... love their unlikely dynamic. I love that Jon has to think for an hour whether or not he's going to answer a desperate man's plea to meet him in his limo. I don't care that on the one hand, it only took him an hour and on the other he didn't jump right to it.
I just like the gradual feel of these two guys' unlikely friendship. And Jon conceding to talk to Brian Williams and actually PR'ing for Stephen it seems, even if it might just be majorly because Stephen went out there to serve a good cause (even if Jon had sort of inadvertently made him feel guilty about the troops.)
And the Huckabee Decreee, nice! He's willing to go on the equivalent of the Report! And I know Jon's a good guy, but hey, that's three shows in a brief amount of time, picking up the slack for his friend.
And no matter that Stephen got himself into it, I can't help but feel for the man that he's willing to sit there with his eyes closed the entire limo ride back, no matter how childish it is, just so that he doesn't have to see that Jon isn't there.
And the funniest part of all... it's how good Stephen can be at his job. I swear, I saw it in that one chapter when Stephen was telling Jon what to do and what not to do in politics, that America was a nice lady that you had to woo and distract before you robbed her blind. Jon has the knowledge and is fine on his own, but Stephen seems to know how to play the Southern charm game, and it's freaking awesome. I like how he needs Jon's help, not just to co-sponsor but as a bit of moral-support to and because Jon has a "something" that Stephen can't even forget in Iraq, but there's no way in hell Stephen's going to tell him.
I swear, something about their dynamic is just attractive to both the reader and the characters, themselves, and it shows, especially in the last paragraph. I'm not sure if I'm reading the third to last sentence correctly, but... gah.
They just. work. together. well. And I think those two can do great things together and possibly even cover it as the spirit of bipartisanship.
And bonus fucking points for making mental snuggles (I don't care if it's only in my head,) while still having them wary of one another, i.e., Stephen looking "cagey" and Jon's ... being Jon.
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This version of Jon doesn't see himself as Stephen's Wellspring Of Emotional Support (and, indeed, he isn't -- yet), so he doesn't feel automatically responsible for answering Stephen's totally-not-pleas for company. On the other hand, he's coming around to the idea of being Stephen's friend, even though Stephen will deny it half the time.
His PRing is more for the troops than for Stephen himself. The whole impetus for Stephen's trip was because the war hasn't been in the news, so Jon kept that story afloat. Political instincts also played a role: the story had to stay fresh, so that the public would have it in mind and pressure their representatives in favor of the bill (even though Jon didn't explicitly know that Stephen was going to propose one).
Jon's charisma is almost entirely fact-based -- he so clearly Knows What He's Talking About that it's hard to imagine arguing against him. With Stephen, on the other hand, there's no substance at all, but pure unfiltered Southern charm goes a long way.
Dunno what you think you're reading in that third to last sentence, but it is all about Stephen gushing over Jon (and thinking that Nobody Must Know) =3
I admit, I'm worried this dynamic won't last. They have so many points of serious disagreement, and they're in positions of such power -- one day Jon is going to be instrumental in passing a bill that Stephen thinks is monstrous, or vice versa. They can do great things together, but their togetherness is so precarious.
So, yeah...wary, cautious, uncertain developing friendship with massive potential but equally massive risk. Good times!
Also: This comment was awesome -- thank you :D
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The skin underneath was warm to the touch. Stephen let out a soft breath.
"Don't," he added, as Jon tried to remove the hand. "Leave it."
"Are you sure...?"
"Just do it, Stewart."
"All right, all right."
For a moment they sat in a strange sort of calm: Stephen with head bowed, while Jon's fingertips traced small circles on his crown.
Best part of the entire story, right there. It's those quiet, comfortable moments that get to me more than any amount of pr0n. And Stephen's head acting as a reminder of the troops was just fantastic, nice throwback to his "if you can't see it, it doesn't exist" problem. And I agree with the comment above, your heart goes out to the man, willing to go the entire ride home blind rather than face the fact that Jon may not have come.
And Jon....<3 I love Jon.
This 'verse is fantastic, and I can't wait to see what happens to these two next.
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Then you've come to the right fic journal =P
I have no idea where this 'verse is going, but Stephen's problems are going to stick around (the actor referred to them specifically when talking about the thought process that went into the Iraq trip), as is Jon.
And thanks!
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:D Peeerfect.
Oooh, the thought process behind the trip sounds really interesting. Do you know where I can find it? And hey, as long as Jon sticks around, Stephen's problems don't stand a chance. ....After a while. And some angst. And fights. Because it's "Stephen".
(I wonder if the Tom Hanks outtake they showed last night could worm its way in there. It may not be Colbert pulling a Cheney, but if they were doing something similar to the care packages or whatever and Tom (because you can see Stephen going to shake Tom's hand and Tom pulls him in) gets carried away....then Stephen's freaking out because it's happened AGAIN to someone who's not JON, and why is it okay that JON knows, and why does he feel kinda guilty...? I dunno. ^^; Ignore me.)
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(Ooooh. That's a delicious idea, that is. I'm trying to avoid jumping straight into Burning Romantic Tension territory in the Senateverse, given that they only met six months ago, but non-AU-"Stephen" would definitely have that reaction...)
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This is such a beautiful moment. "Stephen's" dialogue is perfect and true. Thank you so much for another delightful read!
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