Facets of Stone

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Understanding Scenes, Sequels, and Chapters

http://rubbishtopublish.com/writing-tools/general-writing-information/understanding-scenes-sequels-and-chapters/

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Hesitate

Very short Stone/Chris (duh) vignette

...

“I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t be home.”

I stood in the doorway, watching Chris warily for a few seconds without saying anything.  “Why’d you come here?” I asked quietly.

He didn’t speak right away either.  “I wanted to see you.”

I frowned and glanced behind him, looking for his car.  He must have walked.  “Are you drunk?”

He almost smiled, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, as if he knew what I was thinking.  He shook his head.

“Are you high?”  

This time he did smile - sadly, apologetically.  “Stone cold sober.”

My stomach started to knot.  “Do you want to come in?” I asked without moving.

“Yeah, but… maybe I shouldn’t.”

“You want a ride home?” I asked quickly.  “I could take you, or I could call Susan.”

“She’s in New York.”

The knot grew tighter.  “I could call Kim.  Matt?”  I was trying to make it easy for him.

He moved in closer.  “Can I come in?”  

I closed my eyes, trying to block him out, but that made it worse.  I smelled cigarettes and incense.  “You should go,” I managed to whisper.

“Do you want me to?”

The knot snapped.  I glared at him.  “That’s not fair.”

“I know,” he whispered.

I crossed my arms.  “You want me to call someone?”

He looked at me, surprise and hurt passing over his face, then shook his head.

I stood there and watched until he turned the corner.  Inside, I locked the door and leaned back against it.  With a frustrated grumble, I knocked the back of my head against the wood.

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BLESS YOU!!

Aw, thanks!

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Stop Me Before I Begin

Stone/Chris slashiness (PG/PG-13-ish?) I made this all up Inspired by this video

...

Stone sat on the curb outside the bus, finishing a cigarette and trying to decide if he wanted to go back in.  He heard the door open behind him but didn’t look up until a bottle appeared next to his face.

“You want another beer?” Chris asked as he sat down.

“I think I’m gonna head home.”

Chris set the beer down and lit up a cigarette.  “You upset, man?”

“Nah…” Stone shrugged and flicked his cigarette away.  He left the rest of his answer hanging like his smoky breath in the cold.

“Uncomfortable?”

Stone thought for a moment.  That wasn’t exactly right, but it was as good a term as any.  “Yeah, I guess.”

“Why?”

Stone picked up the beer and took a long drink.  He was pretty sure Chris already knew why, but he tried to sound like it wasn’t a big deal.  “I dunno, the jokes… about making babies or whatever.”

“Yeah, I know HOW it made you uncomfortable.  I wanna know WHY it made you uncomfortable.”

Stone made a face.  Chris wanted to argue semantics?  “Stop saying the word ‘uncomfortable’.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable when I say ‘uncomfortable’?” Chris joked.

Stone just rolled his eyes and took another drink.

“Okay, sorry.  But really, why did it bother you?”

“I don’t know,” Stone said.  He picked at the label on the bottle.  “It’s like you were making fun of me or something.”

“Nah, I didn’t mean it like that.”  Chris took a drag off his cigarette.  “I’ve heard you kind of joke around.  Like, even a little bit ago when you and Jason were talking about being on the road.  I guess I thought you’d be cool with it.”

Stone’s eyes got wide, but he kept staring at the beer bottle.  He didn’t know what to say.  His face grew warm despite the cold air.  “Cool with what?”

Chris didn’t answer right away, and Stone laced his fingers around the bottle, gripping it tightly.  He wondered how hard he would have to squeeze to break it and what kind of noise it would make.  Would the glass fracture and crumble in his hands, or would it explode, sending shards out into the street?

Chris finally said, “Is that why you were uncomfortable?  Because you didn’t know if I was joking or not?”

“Were you?”  Stone couldn’t hear himself over the blood pounding in his ears.  He wasn’t sure he had even said the words out loud until Chris spoke again.

“Did you want me to be?”

Stone slowly relaxed his grip and unlocked his fingers from around the bottle.  He raised his head and stared out at nothing in particular.  “I’m going home.”

************************************************************************************

Stone counted to himself, nodding, then started to play quietly.  He had brought an acoustic guitar up from the basement where Andy and Jeff were still sleeping.  He had tried to go back to sleep, but he’d woken up with a vague hook in his head that wouldn’t go away and was now sitting on the edge of Andy’s bed, trying to translate the notes from his mind to the strings.

After a while of playing it over and over, confident that he had committed the basic tune to memory, he tried it with a few variations.  One seemed to work particularly well, and he closed his eyes, playing the new melody over and over.

“Nice.”

Stone looked up to see Chris smiling in the doorway.

“I was looking for my acoustic.”

“Oh, sorry.  I found it in the basement.  I didn’t know it was yours.”

“Don’t apologize.  I think she likes you,” Chris joked.

Stone gave him a weak half-smile and looked down at the guitar.  He absently rubbed his fingertips over the strings.

“Actually,” Chris continued, “I want to apologize for the other night.  And I brought a peace offering.”

Stone looked up again, Chris was holding out a green glass pipe and a small baggie.

“Is that like the one you have?” Stone asked.

“Yeah.  I remembered you asking about it, so I had my buddy make one for you.”

“Wow,” Stone said, somewhat confused.  It was odd enough getting a gift from Chris, but as an apology?  Like when Jeff sends his woman flowers after he screws something up?  “Um, thanks man.”

“Consider it a late Christmas present,” Chris said with a smile and a shrug, as if he had read Stone’s mind.  “So… should we smoke the peace pipe?”

****************

Stone was floating, carried by music that slowly seeped into his awareness.

And no one called us to the land And no one knows the wheres or whys Something stirs and something tries Starts to climb toward the light

He didn’t just hear it, he felt it; David Gilmour’s voice wrapping around his arms and legs.  He could see it, like slow-bubbling psychedelic art projected behind his eyes.  He could smell it, weed and sweat and incense.  He tried to taste it.

A whisper tickled his neck.  “Stone?”

His whole body hummed an answer.

“Stone…”

The air moved as his name drifted over his ear.  He felt more movement near him, and he started to become aware of himself again.  He wasn’t floating... he was lying on a bed… Andy’s bed?  He smiled sleepily and slowly blinked his eyes open.

Chris was lying next to him, propped up on an elbow.  “Good shit, huh?”

Stone’s smile slowly dissolved.  Chris’s bed.  He closed his eyes again.  The scent… it was Chris... the scent that had infused the music and enveloped him.  His stomach tightened.

“Hey,” Chris said softly, “you okay?”

Stone nodded but kept his eyes closed.  The scent was so strong, wrapped around Chris’s words.

“Can you look at me?” Chris asked gently.

Stone shook his head.  If he looked at Chris, it would be too much.

“Can I kiss you?”

Stone’s eyes flew open involuntarily, and his stomach flipped.

Chris was smirking.  “I thought that might get your attention.”

A mix of annoyance and disappointment filled him.  “You’re a piece of shit,” he said, his voice resigned.

“What?”

Stone sat up, swaying a bit with dizziness.  “I give you the benefit of the doubt, then you start right back up again with the same jokes.”

Chris sat up as well and leaned in close, speaking softly next to Stone’s ear.  “I wasn’t joking.”

Stone pressed his eyes closed.  The muffled sound of his pulse pounded in his ears.  He turned toward Chris, but he couldn’t open his eyes.

He felt a finger press gently under his chin, and he raised his head.  Warm breath, then Chris’s lips faintly brushed his own.  Stone didn’t think Chris would take a joke this far.

Chris’s fingers trailed up his jawline.  “Look at me?” he whispered.

Stone shook his head again slowly.

Chris rested his forehead against Stone’s.  “Can I kiss you?”

Stone exhaled, “yeah,” and felt Chris’s soft lips on his mouth.  Chris edged his fingers into Stone’s hair, and Stone awkwardly reached up to touch Chris’s curls.  When Stone parted his lips, he heard and felt Chris hum in appreciation.  Stone’s response was more of a whimper as he felt the tip of Chris’s tongue move against his own.  With a quiet groan, Chris deepened the kiss, and Stone eagerly accepted it, sliding his fingers into Chris’s hair.  

He let Chris take the lead and was silently thankful when he felt Chris slow down and then pull back.  Stone tried to catch his breath as they sat forehead to forehead again, fingers still resting in each other’s hair.

The shrill telephone next to the bed startled them, and Stone shifted away from Chris to try and collect himself.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chris smooth his hair with one hand while rubbing the back of his neck with the other.

He made no move to answer the phone, and the machine clicked on.  “This is Chris… leave a message.”  Stone was struck by the thought that Chris’s voice sounded unnecessarily seductive for such a simple answering machine greeting.

<<Hey, it’s Susan.  I need you guys to be at the Moore by 5:30 tonight.  I want to take some pictures and maybe shoot some video.  I’ll call the other guys to let them know, just don’t be late.  Oh, and remember we’re going up to my parents’ tomorrow, so maybe try to do some laundry today?  Love you!>>

Stone glanced at Chris, who looked slightly annoyed.  “You’re dating Susan.”  It didn’t exactly sound like a question, but he was asking for confirmation.

“Yeah,” Chris replied as if he’d just been asked whether two plus two still equals four.  “You didn’t know that?”

Stone blinked at Chris a couple of times.  “Obviously not,” he answered in a similar tone of voice.  

Chris seemed to be waiting for something - a reaction, maybe - but Stone just kept looking at him with a somewhat blank expression.  He felt strangely calm, almost relieved in a way, or just slightly dazed.  A residual effect of the pot smoking, he assumed… pot and whatever else must have been in there.

“You really didn’t know?” Chris asked softly.

“I thought we already established that,” Stone replied blankly.  “If you’re dating Susan, why are you kissing me?”

Chris’s eventually said, “Because I can?”

Stone raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly without amusement. Well, that’s that, he thought as he stood up and walked out.

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Satan Claus

Slashy goofiness - Stone/Chris, Ed, Jeff, Mike

...

Early December 1990

Ed casually dropped a santa hat on Chris’s head.

One corner of Chris’s mouth turned up as he narrowed his eyes lasciviously and softly patted his thigh in an invitation.

Stone thought about saying something smartassed and laughing it off, but he detected something like a challenging gleam in Chris’s eyes, as if he didn’t believe Stone would actually do it.  Maybe he just wanted to see Stone squirm, but Stone was having none of that.  He made a show of depositing himself in Chris’s lap and smiled brilliantly at Ed, who snapped a Polaroid.

Chris did look somewhat surprised as he raised an eyebrow.  “Satan Claus only brings presents to naughty boys and girls,” he teased.  “Have you been a naughty boy?”

Stone felt his ears burning, but he refused to unlock his eyes from Chris’s.  “Very,” he said with a smirk.

“That’s what I like to hear,” Chris purred.  “What do you want for Christmas?”

“Um…”  Stone finally broke his gaze and looked up, tilting his head as though deep in thought.  “I want a case of beer that I don’t have to share with anyone else.”  He glared theatrically at Ed, who was staring at the odd scene with a strange half smile.

“And,” Stone continued, “a new pipe, ‘cause someone stole my good one.”  He shifted his glare to Jeff, who was looking slightly amused and more than slightly uncomfortable.

It seemed to take Jeff a couple of seconds to realize what Stone had said.  “I did not!”

“Anything else, naughty boy?”

Stone returned his attention to Chris.  He tapped his fingertips against his pursed lips, pretending to think.  “Just one more thing,” he said with a grin.  “Chris Cornell under the tree, wearing a little red bow.”

“Big red bow,” Chris said pointedly.  He didn’t seem affected at all, and Stone was vaguely disappointed but didn’t show it.

“Hey…”

Stone’s head snapped up to see Mike walking through the door, and he silently cursed himself for being jumpy.

“Have you guys seen m--” Mike blinked at Stone and Chris, then looked at Ed and then Jeff.  Without another word, he turned around and walked out.

“Ooh,” Stone said excitedly, turning back to Chris with a big grin, “do I get on the extra naughty list for scarring him for life?”

“I could be persuaded,” Chris replied, and Stone saw the challenging glint in his eyes again.

Ed cleared his throat. “Alright, you two…”

“Pretty sure I’m scarred for life, too,” Jeff grumbled.  Stone didn’t take his eyes off Chris, but he was certain Jeff had his face screwed up comically into a grimace.

Stone and Chris were locked in a staredown, and Stone wasn’t about to blink first.  Although they were grinning at each other and Stone was actually on the verge of laughter, the intensity was nearly palpable.

Eddie finally broke it up.  “Come on, little boy,” he said, wrapping an arm around Stone’s waist and pulling him off of Chris’s lap. “We have work to do.”

“Hmph,” Stone grunted at Ed with an exaggerated pout before stomping over to his guitar.

“And you,” Eddie said as he plucked the santa hat from Chris’s head, “are a distraction.  Out.”

“Fine, I’ll go.”  Chris stood and walked slowly to the door, glancing at his watch.  “But only because there are Catholic co-eds to corrupt down the road at Saint Mary’s.”

Jeff made a face.  “School girls, Chris?  Really?”

“Co-eds, Jeff.  It’s a college,” Chris replied.  He looked at Stone.  “I’m not a pervert,” he said with a wink.