50 Phone Calls

Notes: Done for 1sentence on LJ - 50 sequential sentences that tell a larger story. Since the world needs more Phonebooth, I thought I'd post it here. Also, I'm still calling The Caller John, because it's kinda hard to slash someone without a name. If Mr. Schumacher wants to call him something else, Mr. Schumacher can tell us what his name is supposed to be.

The Offer: Comment with your favorite and I will expand it into a drabble of at least 200 words (usually more)

Enjoy!
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50 Phone Calls


Forever
The only real contact he has with anyone are the people that he kills, which is entirely fine with him, entirely satisfactory until he sees the boy in the Italian suit and the big brown eyes, and with a wrench of dread in his stomach and an ache in his heart he realizes he was stupid to think himself immune from love forever.

Memory
When Stu sees the man at the back of the ambulance, touching his shoe with cloth to avoid fingerprints, he tries to memorize his face, to ingrain it on his mind so that someday he can bring the man to justice; months later he is thankful that he did, so that he can remember so clearly how handsome the man is who still calls him, still cares.

Dream
Two months later and his ordeal in the phone booth seems like a dream, a horrible nightmare that's left him fighting with Kelly almost every day, and when he hears that low, rich voice on the other end of the phone out of the blue, he's not sure whether to feel anger or relief.

Red
He sees red every time he sees them fight through the scope, hears them through the apartment bugs, and more than anything he just wants to shoot that bitch - any bitch that would hurt his Stu - but he doesn't, because he knows it will only hurt Stu more, and for the first time he realizes that he's learned things from Stu, too.

Body
He glances through the sniper's scope into Stu's living room window to see the man doing chin-ups on the door frame, shirtless, skin streaked with sweat, and he only manages to resist for 30 seconds before he picks up the phone and dials his number.

Fire
Stu is dead tired as he waits for the train on the crowded platform, only glancing up at the incoming train long enough to know that it's not his; the warmth of a tongue swiping against the back of his neck wakes him up immediately, nerves on fire, and even though he can't see him anywhere, he knows it couldn't have been anyone but him.

Fall
He's done the job for years, and done it very well, killing for pay, but after Stu the loneliness starts to get to him, until he can't hardly go a week without phoning the boy, and he both loves and hates that he's finally fallen so hard.

Drink
He drinks himself stupid every night for a week after Kelly leaves, not wanting to admit to himself that she really left because he hasn't touched her, hasn't wanted to touch her since the first time he had phone sex with the man who held him hostage, the man who has become the only one that makes him hard.

Midnight
He follows Stu home from the bar at a discreet distance, like he has every night since that bitch walked out on him; the city streets teem with lowlife scum who would take advantage of a sweet, drunk and heartbroken boy - the kind of scum that John is more than happy to dispatch with a small pistol with a silencer.

Cold
His bed is cold during the winter, colder without Kelly, and Stu hates himself when he slips the ring off his finger, when his hand creeps under the covers to his stroke his cock and think about the man on the phone.

Cover
In the darkness, no one sees him casually pick the lock to the building, no one cares when he lets himself into an apartment using the key he copied long ago, and there's no one in the apartment to see him when he sits quietly for hours, just taking in the scent and feel of the absent Stu.

Lies
Stop calling, he says, I hate you, you've ruined me; but both he and the man on the other end of the phone know he means exactly the opposite.

Silence
The silence that falls after Stu hangs up the phone in anger is deafening, and he immediately regrets that he's done it, but he can't call the man back, so instead he curls up on the couch with a blanket, buries his face in a pillow and quietly sobs.

Forgotten
When two weeks pass without a phone call, Stu begins to worry so much that he he forgets to eat, more frightened than he can ever admit that he's been forgotten.

Whisper
He hasn't called for almost two weeks, not since Stu yelled and hung up, but when he finally breaks down and calls, he hears the sweet voice whisper "I missed you," and he wishes he hadn't waited so long at all.

Eclipse
At times he curses himself and his weakness, that this boy with his sweet voice and his eyes and his pretty face has become his whole world, that he can't stop calling him, and he knows that this obsession will either prove his salvation or his undoing.

Gravity
Stu tries to tell himself that he could walk away, hang up the phone and ignore the calls at any time, but the truth of the matter is that he has nothing else left, and he wants nothing else, something that hangs over him and weighs him down with a heady mix of elation and terror.

Dance
Stu hates dance clubs, hates the sweaty press of too many bodies crammed into a tight space, the pound of music and the flashes of coloured light that make it impossible to see anyone around him, and the last thing he ever expected was the body suddenly pressed against him as he waited in line at the bar, the soft, familiar murmur of his name in his ear, the hand that cupped his ass - but when he turns, all he can see in the strobe is brief flashes of the smile and eyes he's dreamed about for months before they disappear into the crowd.

Fever
Stu's only been out of bed three times in the past 48 hours, only to stumble to the bathroom (rusty bathtubed and broken tiled) to pee, shivering hot and cold the entire time, so when the weight settles on his bed were there should be none, when the hand with the cool washcloth gently strokes his face, he doesn't care so much that the man has invaded his home without asking or speaking and will likely leave silently once his fever breaks.

Farewells
As Stu lays curled in bed, the cell phone off, laying on the pillow beside him, his stomach and fingers stained with the proof of his passion, he thinks that if the man on the phone asked him to pack up and leave that he'd do it in a heartbeat - there's no one to say goodbye to here, not anymore.

Temptation
He tells himself he won't give in again, that he'll hang up the phone next time, but truthfully he lives for these phone calls, for the moment the man murmurs huskily, "I want you to take off your clothes and touch yourself for me."

View
From two blocks away, his scope can still focus in on Stu's bedroom window, close enough to watch the man sprawl on his bed at John's command, close enough that he can see each gasp for breath as Stu strokes himself, his moans sweet and throaty through the phone.

Mask
The white mask covers almost his entire face as he watches Stu from across the room, but even so Stu has recognized him: drawn to him by the invisible thread that wrapped around his heart the first time he saw Stu's pretty brown eyes.

Music
The sound of the music covers the tiny splash as he drops the drug into Stu's wine, and for a moment he feels guilty about it, but he needs to find out for sure, and deep down he knows that if the man puts up any kind of a struggle at all, he'll leave him to sleep it off in the hotel room and quietly take care of himself without harming Stu at all.

Hope
After watching and planning for months, he finally sets things in motion, the game that will lead Stu to him, and hopes that the boy proves as worthy a companion as his heart wants him to be.

Strength
Despite how little Stu thinks of himself, John loves the strength he displays when he leaves everything behind to come meet him, and he knows that the risk he's taken with Stu, all the time he's invested - everything has paid off.

World
When he stepped into the phone booth, this man changed his entire world, and now he changes it again - but this time it's with love, with soft kisses and irresistible caresses and three simple words: I love you.

Wings
Stu always rolled his eyes at the saying about love making you fly, but as he got on an airplane for the first time, fake passport in his hand and John at his side, he can't help but laugh that it's literally proved true.

Journey
It seems a little ironic that after everything he'd learned in the phone booth Stu is back to expertly lying to everyone they meet as they travel the world, but it seems that as long as his heart is true, that's all that matters.

Run
Being on the run is nothing like Stu ever imagined, and he thinks he could get used to Italian beaches by day and passionate lovemaking by night.

Box
They travel light when they move, every few months - it's easier that way, just to start over - but the small box is always in John's suitcase, and when Stu opens it one day, he finds a single photo of himself in a phone booth taken through a telephoto lens along with a single cube of shattered tempered glass.

Overwhelmed
The little boy in him that thought he'd never leave the Bronx is awed by the pristine white beaches and lush vegetation of Hawaii, but it still doesn't hold a finger to the way he feels every time John kisses him.

Hurricane
Stu doesn't mind that they've ended up in Costa Rica during hurricane season - the little house has withstood thousands of storms, and the wind outside has nothing on the strength of their passion.

Talent
From how beautiful Stu's voice is, he really shouldn't be as surprised as he is that speaking isn't the only beautiful thing he can do with his mouth.

Ice
Sex with Kelly had been, on reflection, rather vanilla, because Stu just didn't think about those kind of games, but the first time John runs an ice cube slowly down the length of his erection, Stu begins to realize that there are a lot of very interesting flavours beyond vanilla, and he wants to try all of them.

Silk
Stu lets his lover tie the length of silk over his eyes, tie his wrists above his head to the ceiling beam, his ankles spread and tied to the legs of the bed - he lets him, because he knows that the words will come next, low and husky, telling him exactly what he's going to do to him until the barest touch on his aching erection makes him come.

Promise
The first time John gets called away to do a hit, Stu shuts down entirely, not ever having realized how afraid it would make him, and he doesn't speak again until John takes his face in his hands, voice low and warm, and promises that he'll always come back, no matter what.

Candle
The wax drips hot onto his bare skin and he strains against the silk around his wrists, gasping, moaning, knowing that the only thing better than the ages of sweet, aching torture he endures now will be the soothe of John's hands and mouth on sensitive skin afterwards before he finally, finally takes him, hard and deep and frantic until they both come to a climax that is far hotter than the candles.

Sacred
Absolutely no one touches the high-powered .30 calibre bolt action Remington 700 with a carbon one modification and a state of the art Henzholdt tactical sniperscope but him, apart from the night he points it at Venice and lets Stu watch the carinvale fireworks like they were right outside their door.

Hero
Stu watches from behind sunglasses as John sits down at the cafe table across the room next to Ramey, because John gets a kick out of fucking with people when they don't even know it; really, Stu's just happy that the hero finally got a vacation.

Laugh
His laugh is low and rich and throaty, and often Stu has to take a deep breath and think of winter to push back the rush of arousal it sends down his spine.

Talk
He still murmurs dirty things in Stu's ear when they make love, praising him, encouraging him, sometimes ordering him, because it's hard to break old habits, and because he knows that Stu still gets off to the sound of his voice and the words that he says as much as he does by being fucked.

Search
It takes a bit of searching, through specialty shops and jewelry stores and boutiques, but it pays off when he finally hands John the small silver keychain shaped like a phone booth and receives delighted laughter and unending kisses in return.

Highway
He'd thought that he'd miss New York, miss having a place to call home, but as they travelled from place to place, he came to realize that all he really needed to be home was to have John at his side.

Unknown
He was a little concerned, at first, that his desire was based on the unknown, the mystery of carrying on an affair with the nameless man over the phone, but six months later when the sex is only hotter every time they make love, he knows he never had anything to worry about at all.

Wait
The wait always kills him, the once or twice a year that John has no choice but to take a job, and Stu spends the week with his stomach in knots and the constant fear that something will happen to keep the man from coming back to him.

Lock
Stu hears the cuffs lock on his wrists, above his head, and on his ankes to lock him to the spreader bar, but he isn't afraid, not even when his lover whispers softly, "You aren't allowed to come until I give you permission."

Formal
John rents formal suits for them in Paris so they can dine in restaurants where the food probably costs what it would have to pay his rent in New York for a month, and somehow he isn't surprised that his paisley vest and matching tie are raspberry sorbet.

Ring
The diamond embedded band around his finger, produced from a box with John on one knee on the top of the Eiffel tower is one of the most beautiful memories he has, but the biggest sense of pride and belonging comes when Stu touches the soft leather collar that sits around his neck, invisible under his collared shirt.

Breathe
A year ago Stu would have thought himself crazy to even imagine this, but now, lying in his arms in the pre-dawn light with the faint sounds of waves crashing on the beach, he breathes in deeply of John's scent and thinks that there is no where in the world he would rather be than here.