Trouble Is You
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#2 : A Little Personal Space Invasion Ain’t so Bad
#3
Time passed very quickly despite the very chilled nature of coastal living in Los Angeles. One week became two months before the day came for Chris Evans to celebrate his long-awaited success.
Like, finally!
It was midday, the start of a busy week at work and Chris knew that he should really downplay his excitement by a Hell lot. After all, he was going to step into an important meeting with some members of the senior management at his Haven in the next half hour. He needed to bring some serious, professional A-game. There was no room for jest and joy.
That went to Hell when his cell phone went off. The CEO was so giddy, he practically lunged for it to answer the incoming call.
“Sebby!”
Sebastian was outdoors, heading to somewhere. Vehicles passed in the background, also voices of people talking around him.
“Yeah, I’m here! What’s up? What’s the emergency?”
“Twelve percent.”
“What?”
“My body fat percentage! It finally dropped to twelve freaking percent. I can see my abs from space now.”
On the other end of the line, Sebastian Stan didn’t sound like he was going to jump for joy.
In fact, he deadpanned - hard. “You called me seven freaking times.”
“Did you get the picture I sent you?”
“No. I haven’t had the chance to. Wanna know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I busy! I was in the middle of a shoot and left a very good shot because you wouldn’t stop calling me.”
Bad timing. “Oh, jeez. Sorry, man.”
“I thought something terrible happened, Chris!”
Chris’ spirit dropped at the less-than-stellar response from the other man. “I got a little over excited when I saw the latest readings. I’ll talk to you later, then.”
Sebastian gave that a loud sigh before going, “Hey, wait. Gimme a sec.”
The noise from the photographer’s side began to fade and then went quiet after Chris heard a door slam behind him. Sebastian was back inside wherever he was, he guessed.
“You were saying that you got it down to twelve percent? For real?”
“Yes!” Chris went, perking up again when the other man’s interest peaked at what he was informed with.
“And you started out at eighteen, right?”
“Yup!” The blonde was practically squealing but what the Hell, really. “Crazy, right?”
“No, Chris - it’s awesome! I mean you’re already a natural yet unsung athlete so this was expected,” the brown-haired man said, know-it-all as Hell.
“But it’s still so great! When did you get the results?”
Natural yet unsung athlete. Sebastian had the quirkiest way of saying things sometimes.
“You know the Tanita machine we saw at the Expo the other day? I got that. It came just an hour ago and I got it to work so I took my readings.”
According to Sebastian, it would take 12 weeks for a person to see such changes happen to his body.
(Thankfully) That wasn’t the case with Chris.
He was genetically blessed in the first place, so he didn’t really have to put in crazy hard work on his meat vessel - his real battle was his mental strength: giving up junk and alcohol for the first seven days was the real killer.
Initially, Chris believed that letting his housemate pull all the stops on him wasn’t going to work at all. He loved takeouts way too much, lived for a pint or two as and when he liked it. Hitting the gym twice a week under an hour each was as good as serious fitness regime.
“Jesus, you actually bought that thing.”
“Damn right I did. I’m gonna bring it back home and put it in the balcony so we can continue to keep track of things.”
Sebastian however, had a certain way of psycho-ing the CEO into trusting him and following through with the process. For one, the guy wasn’t a complete fitness nazi but he was a commitment nazi - the photographer was a solid 1000 percent in this program he just dragged the blonde into, it was both immensely irritating yet inspiring at the same time.
And so by the third week, Chris clocked his first ever 5 mile run one morning (Since when? College?) without seeing death flashing before his eyes. His tolerance for stress increased drastically. Most importantly, he hadn’t woken up from a sleep feeling like he was hit by a bus lately. He felt younger at 35-years-old. His performance at work was better, he wasn’t easily tired after a hard day’s grind.
And the ladies at his workplace were absolutely lovin’ it. Oh, he knew. They were hardly subtle with the behind-his-back giggling whenever he walked past them, anyway.
So it was safe to say that all those occasional manslaughter tendencies he developed for the photographer during the initial process of his lifestyle overhaul was officially, no more.
“I promise that you’ll thank me.”
Chris smirked. “Thanks for everything, Seb.”
The CEO of Christopher's Haven could see the width of the beaming grin on the man’s face in his mind.
“I appreciate the love but the way I see it, all credits should go to you, man. You earned the new you.”
Although that totally reeked of ‘told you so’, but hey, he was genuinely happy and proud for him. Chris didn’t think he could’ve done it all on his own even if he paid himself to, that was for sure.
And then he went, “well…Is that all? I really gotta go.”
“Oh! Right. I need to tell you something else.”
He turned to his laptop. Clackety clack clack.
“Don’t bother cooking anything if you’re planning to because I’m gonna order lots and lots of pizza and you don’t get to have a say in it. Dinner’s on me, buddy.”
“Oh no. Already?” Sebastian laughed. “Typical!”
“Yes. What time are you reaching home later?”
“Tonight’s the Patriot’s first game of the season - of course I’m going to be home by six.”
“Yes, damn right you will!” Chris sang, pumped to Hell at the mention of his most favorite team. He wasn’t really a huge NFL fan (he preferred baseball) but when it came to football, Sebastian supported the New England Patriots - which, according to the blonde, was one of life’s smartest decisions to live by.
“And you know what that means? I already got the food.”
Sebastian didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know what Chris wanted.
“Fine. You deserve it anyway - I’ll get the Heineken.”
Bless his soul. “Oh goodie! You know my favorite.”
“It’s practically your middle name, Chris.”
The photographer’s snarky as Hell remark moved no mountains, though. Christopher Heineken Evans actually sounded so goddamn beautiful, the CEO could just cry himself a river - everyone was welcomed to join him.
“Muchos gracias, amigo!”
Usually, a person of his position and power would have preferred the shortest route out of the office after a hard day’s work.
Chris however, preferred the long walk down the twisted hallways of his Haven to get to his car. This was because he could stop to poke his head into the wards and see his patients’ faces light up when he shared some fun facts or pun-ny jokes with them.
So what shape in Mathematics is also a magician?
Drum roll, please….
Answer : Octa-gone.
Badum-tusss!
The smiles, laughter and eyerolls he received made his entire evening already. Chris was in his happiest mood by the time he reached the carpark. Other than looking forward to the first Patriots’ game of the season, Sebastian just sent a picture of the bottom half of their fridge which was fully stocked. The pizzas were already on their way. He was gonna eat and drink a Hell lot and not feel any regret at all because yay for new metabolism!
He was about to get into his Audi when someone called out his name - and that was when the entire Universe came to a complete standstill.
Chris couldn’t believe it. Standing in front of his sportscar was someone who came back from the dead. He blinked a couple of times in his shock, finding the name of this person stuck at the base of his throat the more he tried to say it.
Her widening smile finally shattered his wordless gawk.
“Jenny.”
Snapping out of his awe, Chris stepped away from his car and took a step towards the petite woman.
Her smile widened. She too, moved for him.
“Hello, Christopher.”
His feet froze, preventing Chris from advancing any further. A nicer response for that never came to him, so what spilled out of his mouth instead was a less-than-friendly, “what are you doing here?”
Her big brown eyes turned glassy when they stared deeper into Chris’, while the rest of her words fell back into a nervous sigh. The blonde waited, despite feeling a sledgehammer hitting him square in the chest, rattling the nerves underneath his skin.
Perhaps I should rephrase my question. “Why are you here, Jenny?”
Again, the woman failed to answer him.
It didn’t take long for Chris to decide that she didn’t have anything that was worth his attention and turned away from her to go back to his car. “I have to go.”
“You.”
That struck the back of his head, hard. “Excuse me?”
“I’m here to see you.”
Something inside him recoiled. He wasn’t expecting her to appear again in his life, out of the blue. He wasn’t prepared for anything, it turned him numb. The unpleasant scratching at the walls of his heart that came after that made it even worse.
The CEO was staring hard at her again. “What for?”
“To tell you that I’m back and that I’m happy to see you again.”
The air he was breathing was filled with needles, filling the tightness of chest with the single most familiar emotion he hated to have : pain.
Fucking kidding me. “You’re happy to see me.”
“Yes. Very,”
Only now? “What do you want?”
“I was hoping we could talk.”
“About what?”
“About everything. Us, especially.”
Us. That was a good one. He gave that a mighty, majestic scoff and without another word, stalked back to his car.
“Chris! Wait. Please, I just want to-“
Jenny didn’t move from where she stood, but her mouth continued to mouth words the man didn’t bother to want to hear. He got into his vehicle, brought it to life. A song from Guns N Roses that automatically blasted itself from his stereo drowned out the rest of the outside noise.
He was about to reverse out of the lot when her fist came knocking at his window, seemingly bent in getting his attention.
Chris paid none and was soon speeding his way home. He had much, much better plans, anyway.
“Have a nice life.”
Die hard fan was not quite the right word to describe the guy, to be honest. After living with Chris Evans for almost half a year, Sebastian Stan came to understand that New England Patriots was everything to the young CEO.
Especially when it came to a certain quarterback by the name of Tom Brady, AKA, his idol forever. Chris would turn into a shameless fanboy for the star in a snap, no doubt about that. The CEO ever told the photographer how he completely froze when he got to meet the guy in the locker room once. He could only remember asking the player to sign his football which of course, ended up in a glass case on a shelf in his room. The rest of the experience was pretty much a bright blur. Still, it was the best night ever.
So when Chris missed the first half hour of Tom Brady’s first game of the new season, Sebastian had the right to be ultra suspicious of the man who just walked into the door of their apartment.
“Stop.”
Chris stopped dead in his tracks.
“What’s the name of that plant over there?”
“Huh?” The CEO’s face scrunched in confusion but followed the photographer’s pointed finger anyway.
“That one? Dexter.”
“Dexter what?”
“Dexter Kayden Grimwald,” Chris replied, his face straight as the wall he just hung his jacket on.
Sebastian’s precious as Hell potted succulent would have a social security number if the photographer was anymore emotionally attached to it.
“Okay, you’re the real Chris. You may come in.”
Chris was humored. “What’s going on?”
“Where the Hell were you? I called you and your office like a billion times.”
Shit. Where’s my phone? “Oh, Did you?”
“Yes! You missing the entire first half of Tom Brady?”
“Oh, did I?”
Boy. The look on Sebastian’s face was epic. He was so baffled by Chris’ response, he fell into a speechless, horrified gawk. Literally. Dropped jaws and rounded eyes and all.
Mindfucked, he was. “Should I panic?”
“No! I…” Chris gave the back of his neck a quick massage. “...I got held up in traffic.”
That was a horrible lie. He lived twenty minutes from his workplace and traffic jams did not exist in Venice for almost all the days in a year. Chris could tell his housemate goddamn knew he was throwing a floozy curveball from the way his crazy blue eyes were reading him.
He turned to the TV screen to see that they were still running the adverts for half-time. Deciding not to ruin the rest of the night, Chris gave Sebastian a dry smile before moving past him for their living room.
Sebastian’s tone changed. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah. I’m good. Roadside tree-pruning, Seb. Worst time of the day to do it.”
The photographer’s brow rose. “Tree-pruning.”
“Yep. Had to take a longer detour.”
Thankfully, Sebastian could sense that Chris wasn’t too hot to talk about whatever and dialed his curiosity all the way down.
“Right. That sucks. Okay.”
He motioned for the boxes stacked on the kitchen counter. “I haven’t touched the pizza by the way. They turned cold already. I’m gonna heat them up before the next half starts.”
Chris was glad he changed the topic. “You actually waited for me. Why didn’t you just eat some?”
“Oh, I mastered the art of delayed gratification.”
The (slightly) taller one burst into laughter before dropping his bags into the reading chair next to him.
What a joker. “It’s just pizza, Seb. Chill, will ya?”
“Actually, I was gonna let you take the first celebratory bite for your twelve percent achievement so it’s only right to wait for the Guest of Honor. Tonight is your night after all.”
Chris was touched. “Ah! Thanks for thinking about my greatest moment. Hey, I wouldn’t have done it without you, man. You’re the main Honoree here.”
Sebastian gave that a small bow. “I shall humbly accept your eternal gratitude as my reward, then.”
Look at that smug look on his face. Didn’t even attempt to even hide it. Humble, my ass!
He stuck his head into the fridge next and exhaled his happiness, slowly. “Hello there, beautiful!”
The sight of nicely arranged green glass bottles made Chris grin like an idiot. He pulled one out, popped the cap off with an opener and took a long, long swig of his Heineken.
“Ahhh! God, I’ve missed you so, so much.”
He closed his eyes and opened it with renewed spirit - the all-too familiar taste of his favorite brand of alcohol in his throat was, as expected, beyond heavenly. It cooled the raging fire within his soul, the restlessness in his system. Couple that with the delicious smell of pepperoni and cheese coming from the microwave and football on TV and he was back to good. He was calm again.
On the other side of things, Sebastian saw all of this in a very dramatic setting, judging from the what in Hell is up with you right now way of staring at him.
And Chris would have totally told him what really happened earlier that caused him to miss his precious Tom Brady in action but nah, not now.
Maybe not ever.
What was most important was the present moment right then - the second half of the match needed his absolute and undivided fanboy attention.
The past will remain as it is.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
First and foremost, the Patriots won their first game of the season by a landslide victory and that was because Tom Brady was the bestest, ever.
Secondly, pizza with cold beer after a two months plus of gastronomical abstinence was definitely the next highlight of his night. Best of all and amazingly, he didn’t overdo it with the alcohol this time. He was a little tipsy but at least he wouldn’t wake up the next day wanting to shoot the sun down for rising.
The chill of the night bit into him when Chris went to throw out the trash and then to his car to get his phone after the match-slash-‘party’ ended. Swearing that if he ever turned off his mobile the world would literally stop working altogether, the CEO shook his head at the sight of the dozens of unread messages that came in during the game.
Nothing urgent so far. Good.
It was only when he was back inside his apartment when a call came in.
Private number.
Chris took a glance at the time to see that it was a quarter after eleven. Something told him this wasn’t work-related or anything that was life-and-death.
For that reason, Chris didn’t pick it up. Instead, he turned his phone into silent mode and let it buzz on the counter until it stopped. It rang three times in total before a text message came in.
I know you’re there. Please pick up the phone, Chris.
Chris stared at the message until his head began to spin a little. Took a deep breath only to let out his fourth groan. He was overwhelmed by the return of the emotional chaos in him but he couldn’t help feeling a little excited that Jenny was at the end of the other line, waiting for him to respond.
Oh, it was a bad, bad, very bad idea and he goddamn knew that but he started to write his reply anyway.
‘Hey, sorry about earlier at the Haven…’
*Backspace*
‘Okay. You want to talk? Fine. What do you’…
*Backspace*
‘Okay. Meet me at…’
*Backspace*
“So...who is she?”
He must have been so deep inside his own bubble that Chris didn’t realize Sebastian had reappeared in the kitchen, grabbing an Evian from the fridge. The photographer’s prompt was gentle but it caused him to jump a little in his seat.
Chris quickly flipped his phone over. “No one.”
“Okay.” The brown-haired man drawled. “Must have been a lot of trees, huh?”
“Huh?” The CEO was so lost all of a sudden. “What trees?”
Sebastian smirked like he totally figured something out and was simply dying to share his discovery but was just going to wait for it.
“Oh!”
The horrible lie he told to throw off the other man’s curiosity earlier. Tree-pruning, what the flying fuck.
“Yeah. Lots of old branches to saw off. Don’t wanna have one landing on your car while you’re driving.”
God that sounded even stupider when in detail.
The other man agreed. “Very hazardous.”
But Sebastian’s eyes, they bore into him the more Chris tried to build a wall around himself when in defense mode. Truthfully, his heart never felt this heavy in a long, long time - it was as if it was tied to a bag of bricks and then thrown to sink to the bottom of a lake. Jenny was responsible for it.
Cornered but still unrelenting, he decided to drop his head and break his housemate’s prying stare before offering Sebastian a flat, “she was no one, Seb. It’s none of your concern.”
“Alright, then,” the photographer went, letting it go when the blonde topped that with a forced smile.
“Don’t sleep too late. Nighty-night, Chris.”
Such a mom. “Good night, Sebastian.”
It was difficult to sleep with all the static noise in his head, though.
And that was how, minutes later, Chris was standing outside of Sebastian’s room. His fist landed on the cool of the door to give it a few knocks and the second his housemate swung it open, the blonde decided that this guy was his going to be his outlet.
“We used to live together.”
It was almost midnight and Sebastian was caught off guard by what Chris just blurted his in face. “What?”
“Her name was Jenny.” He continued. “And we used to live together. Here. This was our home. Supposed to be, I mean.”
“Oh. Okay. You sure you wanna talk about it?”
Wait, wait. He doesn’t need to know. Besides, what good will come out from telling him anyway? You should be talking to Jenny. It’s been so long anyway, doesn’t hurt to know more, right?
One cup of coffee and that’s it. That was your plan, Chris. You got this!
“You know what? It’s nothing,” Chris suddenly said, quick to pull back on everything else that was ready to exit out him.
“I’m sorry. It’s already so late. Never mind me.”
Sebastian’s brows rose. “How do you sleep later?”
Chris fell silent. “...”
The photographer stepped aside. “Come in.”
“I don’t want to trouble you with my emo shit.”
“Kinda too late for that, Evans.”
He’d always liked what his housemate had done with his sleeping space - he made full use of the neutral paint tone on the wall to give an excellent balance for the rest of the cooler greys and reds that were on his furniture and such. The warm lights by the sides of his bed were turned down low and the smell of Lavender coming from a diffuser nearby was calming to his senses.
No wonder he sleeps like he’s dead sometimes.
Chris sat down at the edge of the bed, giving his housemate an appreciative smile. “Thanks, Seb.”
“No problem.” The other man dropped himself next to the blonde. “Just don’t give me tree-pruning next time. You’re so smart but i can tell that telling lies is not your forte.”
“Duly noted.” Chris chuckled, embarrassed. “And yes, never been great with fibbing.”
“Start talking.”
Something snapped within him. Next thing Chris knew, his agitation came spilling out like waterfall.
“Jenny’s in town. Showed up at the Haven, earlier - totally out of the blue. I must have looked like I saw a ghost. Jesus Christ, really.”
“How long has it been?”
“Years, Seb. Four whole years to be exact! I thought I’d never hear from her again. Long story short: Now she’s back and she says it’s because of me. She’s happy to see me and wants to fucking talk.”
“About?”
“Us.”
Sebastian tilted his head, curious. “How bad was it?”
“Catastrophic.”
“That sounds a bit much.”
“Let’s see. Long story short: Cheated on me the first time. I took her back because I was so stupidly in love and she promised to not do it again. How naive was I? Very,” Chris replied, seething at the memory of it all.
“Because after that she left me again and this time, went off to marry someone whom I’d never heard of and subsequently moved to Atlanta.”
“Wow.” Sebastian’s eyes rounded. “Damn.”
“Didn’t see that one coming, huh? I didn’t.”
“I have to ask: Did you do anything to make her leave you?”
“Whatever it was and even if I did contribute to our break up, there’s absolutely no good reason for anyone to justify why he or she cheats, you know?“
His chest tightened. “Ultimately, cheating is a mistake one chooses to make. And when the same mistake repeats itself…”
“Was Jenny your first love?”
Chris nodded. “Hell, I couldn’t live without her.”
“I see,” Sebastian said. “Then it’s understandable that you gave her many chances to redeem herself. So just now. Were you gonna give her the benefit of a doubt? Meet her and hear what she has to say to you this time?”
“Yes.” Chris had to admit it. “And I know I shouldn’t!”
“You can’t help it, Chris. It’s Jenny.”
He sighed, lost. “Guess she knows that I’ll always have a weakness for her.”
“Well, your first love is always the hardest to forget.”
The blonde was amazed and thought it was great that Sebastian was thinking the exact same way he was. He empathized without question. Chris felt the weight on his shoulders begin to lighten, the mania in his emotions starting to settle down. It was the right decision to go to the guy and let it out after all.
And then Sebastian said, “so that’s where your problem is.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s you, Chris. You’re your own problem.”
The young CEO didn’t like how Sebastian just turned and then zeroed in on him like he was the evil guy in the tragic love scenario all of a sudden.
“Me? I didn’t cause any of this!”
Chris felt like someone just smacked him across the face with a baseball bat. “She was the one who broke my heart into pieces, Sebastian. Numerous times. I thought you were listening?”
“I was,” Sebastian assured, as-a-matter-of-factly and all up in his face with it.
“I was also listening to a man who loved someone so deeply, so fiercely and so wholesomely that he allowed his feelings to turn him into an overly dramatic, ultra emotional sap of an idiot.”
Chris’ jaw dropped at the insult. “Huh!”
“After what you’ve told me, which I believe is entirely true because you’re a horrible liar and all but I think you’re pathetic, Chris. You need to wake up.”
Pathetic?! “The Hell’s gotten into you, Seb?”
Chris snapped, appalled that Sebastian’s would come at him like that from seemingly out of nowhere. A second ago he was team bro and now?!
“You know what? I knew it - this was a bad idea.”
“Yes.” Sebastian snorted. “Giving Jenny one more chance is a bad idea. You need to see that.”
“I’m not talking about Jenny! I’m talking about you.”
His blood was boiling over. How dare this person dictate him like he knew his entire history, knew him inside out.
“Look, if you don’t want to care about what I’m going through then you should’ve told me earlier so that I didn’t just waste my fucking time telling you about it!”
He started out, fuming. Chris was almost out the door when Sebastian went, “are you days still cold without her, Chris?”
“Of course not!” He huffed. “I told you - I got over it.”
“Then you shouldn’t see or talk to her again. You shouldn’t let her have that control over you.”
Perhaps it was done on purpose and timed really well - Sebastian Stan building up tension only to pick the perfect time to fire a live one straight into his heart.
Well, it fucking worked because Chris Evans choked in his attempt to respond in his defense.
Sensing that he had him right where he wanted, the photographer continued to light him up with, “if you chose to not want to associate yourself with her a long time ago, then stand your fucking ground.”
The blonde took a second to wonder if Sebastian had some vulgar, mean girl alter-ego in him because this whole quick-shift-to-the-next-God-knows-what-persona was rather fascinating. Strange, but fascinating.
Whatever he was saying, though. He was striking chord after chord - Sebastian Stan seemed to know the tunes to this sad song as if by heart and soul.
“Chris, it’s been four years since she left you in the ditch - not caring that you were hurting and suffering at all. Do you honestly think she has anything new to offer?”
Right. Okay….Good point.
“Especially now that she’s already married - well, supposedly. There shouldn’t be an ‘us’ anymore, should it?”
Sebastian spared so little. Kept firing at Chris, point blank like bang, bang!
“I’d like to believe that you’ve learnt your lesson by now, man - It should be so simple to handle Jenny.”
Bang, bang, bang!
“The only reason why she’s like your Kryptonite is because you let her become one.”
Bangbangbangbang!
By the time he was done, Chris was left staring at Sebastian for the longest of time, struck dumb by the epic smackdown on his common sense. It definitely wasn’t working until the guy shredded him to smithereens.
And just like that, the skies opened. Everything began to look crystal clear: memories of his past dealings with his ex with all its beauty, angst, remorse and regret that conned his judgement...
Now how in the flying fuck did I not see that?!
“Oh my God? Oh, my God!”
Chris was burying his face deep into the palms of his hands next. He wanted to scream into them in his frustration but ended up releasing a very long, very defeated groan instead.
“I. Am. A stupid fuck, Seb.”
“You’re not a stupid fuck, Chris.”
“Oh, but I am.”
The band aid he offered wasn’t going to cover any of the goddamn bullet holes he just riddled the blonde with. “It makes sense. What the Hell was I thinking?! I knew I shouldn’t. But I...Jesus Christ.”
Sebastian tried so hard to shut his face up but he totally looked like ‘told you so’.
“There, there. All you needed was a fresh opinion from a total outsider, Chris. Believe me, this kind of drama pretty much has a predictable ending.”
Inside his head, the blonde was punching himself for failing so hard when it came to Jenny. He only stopped when Sebastian’s hand landed on his knee to give it a soft, comforting squeeze.
“I don’t blame you for realizing that now, Chris. The two of you had a really solid history together.”
Once more, Sebastian just switched back to the gentle-spoken man Chris knew him for. It was seriously amazing.
“She was someone you’d gladly and literally give your everything to - getting over a heartbreak from that level of commitment ain’t going to be a walk in the park. You gotta get lost in it before you find a way out.”
His eyes, they were suddenly so kind. The fire in those baby blues that Chris witnessed earlier when he unleashed his savagery on him was gone.
“Being in love is all so beautiful until you get yourself thrown off the ride for being the hopeless romantic one in the relationship.”
“Yeah, man. Sounds about goddamn right,” Chris chuckled, still feeling sad and stupid.
“So you’ve been this crazy in love too, huh? That’s why you seem to be on point with things.”
Sebastian’s eyes fluttered at that question. The way Chris put it across to him was meant to be light and casual but it seemed like the other man was caught off guard by it. His face was turning pink real fast.
And then the tables, they were turning. Chris cocked a brow at the other man, his curiosity only growing at the sight of his jaws moving around in rising discomfort.
It prompted him to go, “what’s your story, Seb?”
That hit something. Sebastian’s answer was dry and curt. “Don’t have to make this about me, Chris.”
Another attitude switch? “I’m not! It’s just that I’m totally damn done with mine and you have no idea how relieved and empowered I feel - it’s all thanks to you.”
Chris continued, “I’m all ears if you wanna share-“
“No.” Sebastian was quick cut in. He seemed agitated all of a sudden. “I, uh, I can’t talk about it, actually. I swear.”
That’s a weird way to put it. “What do you mean you can’t talk about it? Is it recent? Were you seeing someone before you came here-“
“I’m not supposed to - that’s what I mean, Chris,” the brown-haired man went, interrupting him again. He was obviously annoyed that Chris was still all up in his face in his persistency.
“And I really, really don’t want to think about it in the first place so let alone tell you anything, okay?”
Next, he was motioning Chris to leave his room.
“I’m happy that I could help you with your issue. Now since we’re done, do you mind?”
Shit, he’s actually getting mad. Chris was holding up his hands like he was surrendering himself next - while walking on landmines.
Maybe his was worse than my case. “Alright, I’ll go.”
“Thanks.”
He was almost out the door when he turned back to the other man, feeling terrible for behaving the way he just did.
Sebastian frowned. “Chris. I need my sleep. I’ve a long day tomorrow.”
“Okay.” The blonde nodded, acknowledging that he was being kicked out in a nice way.
“Thank you so damn much for listening and sorting my mess out - you literally got my head out of my ass and I owe you - again and big time. I’m dead serious about this.”
“You’re welcome.”
He wasn’t done, still. “And I’m really sorry if I disrespected your need to keep your matter private. I don’t know what came over me but I want you to know that I can be supportive of you too. For anything. We may not know each other for a really long time but you’re not an outsider to me. You literally changed me - I really like having you around. I hope we can be more open to each other.”
“That’s nice to know.”
His lips then twitched to a tiny smile. “And okay, fine. Apology accepted. I hope you can rest well now, Chris.”
“I hope you can too, Seb. Night.”
He was still wondering how fucked up could Sebastian’s previous relationship be after the latter closed the door behind him once he was out of his room.
Maybe he heard it. Chris was not even halfway across for his when Sebastian suddenly opened his door again and then went, “State politician.”
The blonde turned back to the other man. Sebastian sighed, leaning against the pillar and running a hand through his hair. His eyes were dark. He looked beaten to the ground.
“He was a state politician and I never knew what love was until I met him.”
Chris was surprised at first before he was impressed. That was a big ass fish caught! “You were involved with someone in politics?”
“Yeah. He still is, actually so I can’t give you any names. The reason why I can’t talk about it is legit - he has me under this insane, iron-clad gag order.”
“A gag order!” Chris blinked. Boy, That came out of nowhere. And he thought he had issues. “For real?”
“Yup. I find it ruthless to be honest but I guess it’s necessary. I had no choice but to agree to it.”
The blonde was in utter disbelief. “Why?”
“Things got really complicated so I gave him what he wanted.”
”A lawsuit.”
”I made him happy.”
“Jesus.”
Sebastian was rather amused at the fact that Chris was obviously struggling to process the drop on his head. He was still a good sport, though and gave the blonde a challenging smirk.
“So how’s that to rival your crazy ex girlfriend drama, huh?”
What a time to goddamn joke, seriously!
Chris wished he had something really good or comforting to say but for the second time in the same night, he was struck completely dumb. It didn’t take a law graduate to know that slapping a freaking gag order on someone meant that the defendant had done something of civil wrong, perhaps a breach of contract or trust of some sort, on a grave scale. Such order would mean that Sebastian would be taking all the secrets to his grave.
The young CEO thought it must have been so depressing for the guy, until he realized something else.
“Wait. You were in a relationship with a man?”
Hope you liked it!
xoxo
WIP - #4 : Chace Crawford