Why Don't We One Shots

Can We Just Talk? - Zorbyn

Corbyn's phone rings once. Twice. He puts down the book he's reading and sighs, sad that his blissful evening in another world has been shattered with a single sound. He didn't even notice that the sun had set long before, and that he sat in almost complete darkness.

"Hello?" Corbyn says, his eyes dancing over the clock on the oven. 11:06 PM.

"Corbs, baby!" Zach's voice comes crystal-clear through the phone. "I'm just getting home from my night out. What do you say you meet me at my place and spend the night?"

Corbyn sighs again. "Zach, we agreed that the thing we had going on was over. It was just supposed to be a once or twice and over kind of thing."

Zach chuckles a little, but Corbyn can't see why. Nothing about this situation was even close to funny. "I know, I know, but one more time can't hurt us right?" That's what he'd been saying for the past month.

Corbyn pinches the bridge of his nose. "I can't tonight." He promised himself after the last time he'd been with Zach that he wouldn't go back again. He couldn't. He was Zach's booty call - nothing more to it. They weren't together necessarily, but they also didn't see themselves or each other as available either. It was a tricky situation.

"Please?"

"Zach, no."

"I'll pick you up."

"Zach..."

"One last time, please? I promise, this is it." He'd said that last time.

Corbyn sighs for the third time in under three minutes, giving in. "Fine. I'll be over in ten."

He could practically hear Zach's smile through the phone. "Perfect."

When Corbyn rolls up to the house ten minutes later, as promised, the windows are all dark. He walks slowly up the steps and rings the doorbell, hoping that Zach had already fallen asleep and forgotten about the whole thing.

No such luck.

Not five seconds after Corbyn hears the bells chime inside the house, Zach flings open the door and pulls him in, kissing him feverishly against the wall.

"Zach!" Corbyn says in surprise. "What's gotten into you?"

"I just...missed you...so, so much," Zach says between kisses.

Corbyn pushes him off, and Zach stumbles back. This time, it's his turn to ask what's happening. "Woah! What's gotten into you?"

Corbyn runs his hands through his hair, reciting the same speech he'd thought up in the car on the way there. "Can we just talk?"

Zach looks at him in surprise. "What?"

"Can we just talk? Zach, we started off right. I could see it in your eyes, I could tell that you were wanting more. But now..." Corbyn shakes his head. "You only call me up when you want something from me. When you want me."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Zach!" Corbyn says, exasperated. "Of course it is! You don't deserve someone at their best if you don't love them at their worst. If you want me, you get all of me. Not just a few sides."

Zach lets the silence fill the room before Corbyn speaks again.

"We need to figure out where we're going before we get lost. We can't have what we want without knowing."

Sighing, Zach says, "I've never felt like this before. I apologize if I'm moving too far. Corbyn, I like you. A lot. And I'm sorry that I couldn't get that through my own head. I got scared. I pushed you away when all I wanted was for you to be closer. I started to lose you." He looks down, his words catching in his throat.

Corbyn reaches down and takes his hand. "You won't lose me. And no matter how far you push, I'll always come back. A part of me can never stay away from you."

Zach smiles and tightens his grip on Corbyn's hand. "Come on. We haven't had a proper date night in a while."

He drags Corbyn into the living room and puts in a movie, sliding next to the blonde on the couch as The Wizard of Oz begins to play. Zach wraps his arm around Corbyn, and Corbyn's head falls onto his shoulder. "I'm glad we decided to talk this out."

"Me too, my love." Zach and Corbyn fall asleep on the couch together as the credits roll, a perfect, cuddly mess.

~