littledoglaughed (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
littledoglaughed) wrote2007-10-31 01:12 pm
littledoglaughed) wrote2007-10-31 01:12 pm
Bones fic: Blue
Written for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
karaokegal's Halloween "Come As You Aren't" Party.
Title: Blue
Show: Bones
Characters: Zach, Angela/Hodgins, Brennan
Rating: PG for snogging
Words: 1475
Summary: Zach sees one thing clearly at this year's Jeffersonian Christmas party.
Notes: Last night's episode, "The Mummy in the Maze," addressed a couple of the premises of this story, but it was a bit too late for me to rework it. This is unbeta'd, partly because I don't know anybody who writes in Bones, but mostly because I'm still working on my slight imposition phobia. If the story doesn't make sense, feel free to say so, it could help me!
Why it’s a costume: I've never written (or possibly read) any fanfic for non-sci fi/fantasy shows, so thinking this way about Bones was a stretch.
Zach walked down the long hallway slowly. The echo of his dress shoes on the marble floor reminded him, oddly, of his elementary school. He had been sent to the principal's office more often than any other second grader, always for correcting the teacher. Now, he felt a little like that again: he was being punished for doing something right. And it was a long walk.
He had hoped Dr. Brennan would be his ally, but she had quickly agreed with Booth, Angela and Hodgins. She had said she appreciated his especially hard work lately and didn't want to be responsible for holding back his social development because of it. Before leaving, Angela had tied his neck tie and Hodgins had made him wear some expensive cologne that was supposedly derived from a secret formula of behavior-influencing pheromones the CIA used during undercover operations. Angela and Hodgins in particular were determined that Zach would meet many women at the Jeffersonian Christmas party.
Finally he reached the arched entranceway to the main hall. He stopped, surveying the space. Normally he enjoyed coming here, sometimes for no other reason than to stand next to one of the largest complete mastodon skeletons in the world. Now it seemed like a different place, filled with gaily dressed people, trays of alcoholic drinks, and a selection of seasonal chamber music. He estimated that there were three hundred fifty people in the hall. Three hundred fifty-one, now. And one fossilized mammal.
Still standing under the arch, Zach ran a hand through his hair in a nervous gesture. It was growing back nicely, the hair, though it wasn't as long as it had been when he first came to the Jeffersonian.
There was a direct correlation between the length of Zach's hair and the amount of attention strange women paid to him. He had it graphed in a password-protected file back on his computer in the lab. He had once brought up the subject with Dr. Brennan; she had agreed with him that unkempt hair could contribute to what was called a "boyish" look. She had also said that females of a species frequently respond favorably to the young of any female, probably because of the maternal instinct, and she supposed that in modern humans the maternal instinct was sometimes linked with arousal.
Zach thought of this as he entered the room. It didn't make him feel much better. He was so much more comfortable in the lab. Especially lately.
It was a Christmas party, and he had observed that people with normally conservative standards of dress tended to branch out during the holiday season. Angela said it was "festive." He was aware that there was proportionately more red in the room than one would expect, but looking around, all his eyes seemed to see was beige, with legs. Beige, and the hivelike hum of 350 people in happy conversation.
He worked his way through the crowd, moving toward the base of the mastodon and around the side, near the main entrance where the crowd was thinner. He accepted a glass of champagne from a waiter with a tray and stood with his back to the bones, wondering if he should try to talk to someone, and if so, to whom.
Someone was already standing next to him, quite close, in fact. She was tall and had very straight, white teeth and a silk scarf. Zach wondered when she had detached herself from the beige crowd. He swallowed and said, "Did you know that cracks in this animal's left front femur indicate that it fell some distance, years before it died?"
*
At the side of the lobby, partially hidden from the room behind a column, Hodgins had begun to nuzzle Angela's neck with an appetite that meant they'd probably be moving to a coat closet or bathroom very soon. But Angela was distracted.
"Hey, check out Zach." She grinned, exhaled, and extricated her arms from his embrace enough to pull her body sideways around the column for a better view. Twenty-five yards away, Zach and a beautiful brunette woman were standing very close together. The woman's body language was as open and inviting as Zach's was tense.
"I wonder if we should go help him. He looks like he could use a little... nudge. We shouldn't have let him come alone," she said in her concerned voice.
Hodgins sighed and his head poked out behind Angela's. Peering between his fiancee's felt antlers, he watched for a few seconds until the woman with Zach turned so that her face was visible. Then he chuckled and moved back behind the column, facing Angela again.
"Ange, trust me on this, Zach is not going to need our help. I know that woman. I hit on her a few times—before you, of course. She wouldn't give me the time of day. But last week she saw me in a lab coat, realized I was a scientist? It was all I could *do* to escape. She's a major nerd-chaser. And I'm sure she didn't even need a lab coat to hone in on our Zach. Besides, his hair is growing out." His arm snuck around Angela's waist again and began to move south. Oh, that ass. He was a lucky, lucky man.
Angela raised her eyebrows and took another look at the woman, trying to ignore Hodgins' hand. "Well, that's probably just what Zach needs. But look at him, Jack, he's so uncomfortable!" Now she sounded like she was talking about a puppy out in the rain.
Hodgins tried being firm. "Tough love, Ange. Eventually you just have to let the baby bird stand on the edge of the nest and try his own wings, right?"
He stepped as close to her as her large felt hooves would allow and held both her hands, lifting their arms together. "You can't—" his face was buried in her neck again, "flap his—" he tasted her collarbone, "wings for him." Their arms were out straight, and then he pulled hers behind his neck, she melted into him, and finally they were both focused on the same subject again.
*
The woman hovering over Zach smiled more broadly than he had imagined possible, again showing her teeth, which were whiter than he had imagined possible without dropping the skull in a chemical bath. "You must be a scientist," she cooed.
"Actually," Zach began, brightening—and at that moment the large revolving doors nearby whooshed into motion, ejecting a laughing couple and along with them, a gust of air. Zach's gaze traveled back to the woman next to him as the breeze lifted her scarf and caused one end to brush her jawline. Zach suddenly noticed that it was blue.
He stared at the woman's neck for a second. Probably misinterpreting, she stooped to move her head even closer to his as if she were going to whisper in his ear. Zach dropped his champagne glass but didn't notice the shattering sound as he ducked away from the woman.
"I'm sorry ma'am, you're very beautiful, but I have to go," he said apologetically, pushing backwards through a group of people before turning around and heading back toward the comfort of the echoing hallway.
*
Dr. Brennan was still in the lab. She looked up in surprise when Zach appeared, standing a few feet from the lighted table where she was working. She had a lab coat over her formal dress.
"Zach! I thought you - "
"Doctor Brennan, I appreciate your efforts to improve my social life, but I really prefer to work," he said in a rush. When she was silent for a moment, he shifted on his feet uncomfortably.
She was looking at him for longer than she usually did. Finally she smiled gently. "I know, Zach," she said.
"It's better here," he tried to explain.
She nodded. "Well, Booth is coming in a little while, and he'll probably force me to make an appearance at the party, but I think we can get a lot done before then." She moved slightly aside from her place at the table, inviting him around. "What do you see in this sternum?"
Zach stepped forward, loosening his tie and smiling just a little.
karaokegal's Halloween "Come As You Aren't" Party.Title: Blue
Show: Bones
Characters: Zach, Angela/Hodgins, Brennan
Rating: PG for snogging
Words: 1475
Summary: Zach sees one thing clearly at this year's Jeffersonian Christmas party.
Notes: Last night's episode, "The Mummy in the Maze," addressed a couple of the premises of this story, but it was a bit too late for me to rework it. This is unbeta'd, partly because I don't know anybody who writes in Bones, but mostly because I'm still working on my slight imposition phobia. If the story doesn't make sense, feel free to say so, it could help me!
Why it’s a costume: I've never written (or possibly read) any fanfic for non-sci fi/fantasy shows, so thinking this way about Bones was a stretch.
Zach walked down the long hallway slowly. The echo of his dress shoes on the marble floor reminded him, oddly, of his elementary school. He had been sent to the principal's office more often than any other second grader, always for correcting the teacher. Now, he felt a little like that again: he was being punished for doing something right. And it was a long walk.
He had hoped Dr. Brennan would be his ally, but she had quickly agreed with Booth, Angela and Hodgins. She had said she appreciated his especially hard work lately and didn't want to be responsible for holding back his social development because of it. Before leaving, Angela had tied his neck tie and Hodgins had made him wear some expensive cologne that was supposedly derived from a secret formula of behavior-influencing pheromones the CIA used during undercover operations. Angela and Hodgins in particular were determined that Zach would meet many women at the Jeffersonian Christmas party.
Finally he reached the arched entranceway to the main hall. He stopped, surveying the space. Normally he enjoyed coming here, sometimes for no other reason than to stand next to one of the largest complete mastodon skeletons in the world. Now it seemed like a different place, filled with gaily dressed people, trays of alcoholic drinks, and a selection of seasonal chamber music. He estimated that there were three hundred fifty people in the hall. Three hundred fifty-one, now. And one fossilized mammal.
Still standing under the arch, Zach ran a hand through his hair in a nervous gesture. It was growing back nicely, the hair, though it wasn't as long as it had been when he first came to the Jeffersonian.
There was a direct correlation between the length of Zach's hair and the amount of attention strange women paid to him. He had it graphed in a password-protected file back on his computer in the lab. He had once brought up the subject with Dr. Brennan; she had agreed with him that unkempt hair could contribute to what was called a "boyish" look. She had also said that females of a species frequently respond favorably to the young of any female, probably because of the maternal instinct, and she supposed that in modern humans the maternal instinct was sometimes linked with arousal.
Zach thought of this as he entered the room. It didn't make him feel much better. He was so much more comfortable in the lab. Especially lately.
It was a Christmas party, and he had observed that people with normally conservative standards of dress tended to branch out during the holiday season. Angela said it was "festive." He was aware that there was proportionately more red in the room than one would expect, but looking around, all his eyes seemed to see was beige, with legs. Beige, and the hivelike hum of 350 people in happy conversation.
He worked his way through the crowd, moving toward the base of the mastodon and around the side, near the main entrance where the crowd was thinner. He accepted a glass of champagne from a waiter with a tray and stood with his back to the bones, wondering if he should try to talk to someone, and if so, to whom.
Someone was already standing next to him, quite close, in fact. She was tall and had very straight, white teeth and a silk scarf. Zach wondered when she had detached herself from the beige crowd. He swallowed and said, "Did you know that cracks in this animal's left front femur indicate that it fell some distance, years before it died?"
*
At the side of the lobby, partially hidden from the room behind a column, Hodgins had begun to nuzzle Angela's neck with an appetite that meant they'd probably be moving to a coat closet or bathroom very soon. But Angela was distracted.
"Hey, check out Zach." She grinned, exhaled, and extricated her arms from his embrace enough to pull her body sideways around the column for a better view. Twenty-five yards away, Zach and a beautiful brunette woman were standing very close together. The woman's body language was as open and inviting as Zach's was tense.
"I wonder if we should go help him. He looks like he could use a little... nudge. We shouldn't have let him come alone," she said in her concerned voice.
Hodgins sighed and his head poked out behind Angela's. Peering between his fiancee's felt antlers, he watched for a few seconds until the woman with Zach turned so that her face was visible. Then he chuckled and moved back behind the column, facing Angela again.
"Ange, trust me on this, Zach is not going to need our help. I know that woman. I hit on her a few times—before you, of course. She wouldn't give me the time of day. But last week she saw me in a lab coat, realized I was a scientist? It was all I could *do* to escape. She's a major nerd-chaser. And I'm sure she didn't even need a lab coat to hone in on our Zach. Besides, his hair is growing out." His arm snuck around Angela's waist again and began to move south. Oh, that ass. He was a lucky, lucky man.
Angela raised her eyebrows and took another look at the woman, trying to ignore Hodgins' hand. "Well, that's probably just what Zach needs. But look at him, Jack, he's so uncomfortable!" Now she sounded like she was talking about a puppy out in the rain.
Hodgins tried being firm. "Tough love, Ange. Eventually you just have to let the baby bird stand on the edge of the nest and try his own wings, right?"
He stepped as close to her as her large felt hooves would allow and held both her hands, lifting their arms together. "You can't—" his face was buried in her neck again, "flap his—" he tasted her collarbone, "wings for him." Their arms were out straight, and then he pulled hers behind his neck, she melted into him, and finally they were both focused on the same subject again.
*
The woman hovering over Zach smiled more broadly than he had imagined possible, again showing her teeth, which were whiter than he had imagined possible without dropping the skull in a chemical bath. "You must be a scientist," she cooed.
"Actually," Zach began, brightening—and at that moment the large revolving doors nearby whooshed into motion, ejecting a laughing couple and along with them, a gust of air. Zach's gaze traveled back to the woman next to him as the breeze lifted her scarf and caused one end to brush her jawline. Zach suddenly noticed that it was blue.
The landscape was brown and grey and white gold, and so still in the morning. Then the wind picked up, and a bit of blue cloth fluttered from the ground at the edge of the wadi where they would be working that day.
He stared at the woman's neck for a second. Probably misinterpreting, she stooped to move her head even closer to his as if she were going to whisper in his ear. Zach dropped his champagne glass but didn't notice the shattering sound as he ducked away from the woman.
"I'm sorry ma'am, you're very beautiful, but I have to go," he said apologetically, pushing backwards through a group of people before turning around and heading back toward the comfort of the echoing hallway.
*
Dr. Brennan was still in the lab. She looked up in surprise when Zach appeared, standing a few feet from the lighted table where she was working. She had a lab coat over her formal dress.
"Zach! I thought you - "
"Doctor Brennan, I appreciate your efforts to improve my social life, but I really prefer to work," he said in a rush. When she was silent for a moment, he shifted on his feet uncomfortably.
She was looking at him for longer than she usually did. Finally she smiled gently. "I know, Zach," she said.
"It's better here," he tried to explain.
She nodded. "Well, Booth is coming in a little while, and he'll probably force me to make an appearance at the party, but I think we can get a lot done before then." She moved slightly aside from her place at the table, inviting him around. "What do you see in this sternum?"
Zach stepped forward, loosening his tie and smiling just a little.
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If you aren't on 206_bones, you should join and post this, it's good!
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Poor Zach, I love that he gets love from his work and women scare him. I loved him so much in the moment, that he did not hear the glass break.
This was lovely, thanks for sharing.
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