Chapter Text
Four months later
“Do you want coffee?” Chris’s voice calls, loudly to be heard over the sound of the shower running.
Sebastian is in the stall, rinsing conditioner out of his hair. “Yes, please!” he calls back.
Chris doesn’t answer, but the door shuts behind him and Sebastian is alone again. He finishes up quickly, toweling himself off and pulling on a pair of sweatpants that he notices only after he’s tied the drawstring belong to Chris. Sebastian smiles to himself in the mirror. Chris really likes it when Sebastian wears his clothes. Sebastian grabs his moisturizer and spreads it in an even layer over his face. He’d never gone more than 24 hours without shave, since he was a teenager, because being styled and clean-cut was part of his professional appearance. Now, week-old scruff covers his cheeks and chin, and he doesn’t hate how it looks on him. He runs a bit of gel through his wet hair, just enough so that it won’t dry in wonky waves. His scalp is a little tender, as his fingers drag over it. That makes him smile again, flooded with the memories of Chris pulling on his hair last night, a little bit rough and just this side of painful, exactly how Sebastian likes it. If they didn’t have an appointment this morning, he’d drag Chris back into bed and beg him for a second round.
In the kitchen, Chris is bare except for tight black boxer-briefs, that hug his hips and thighs so snugly, outlining the gorgeous shape of him. His back is turned, so Sebastian gets a good look in the daylight of the scratch-marks he’d left there, along the tapered lines of Chris’s muscles.
Chris looks over his shoulder, smiling at Sebastian and offering him a mug, mixed with milk and sugar just how he likes it. Sebastian takes it and sips, sighing gratefully. When he reopens his eyes, Chris is grinning dopily at him. Sebastian loves that smile. He loves how sincere it is.
“What?” he asks, squirming a little under the attention.
“Nothing.” Chris takes the mug out of Sebastian’s hand and wraps his big arms around Sebastian’s waist. He kisses him, slow and soft. “Just really, really love you.”
“Love you, too,” Sebastian whispers. He tangles his fingers in Chris’s hair and gets lost for a few moments in another kiss.
Chris leads Sebastian to the couch with their coffee, sitting sideways on it and letting Sebastian snuggle into his arms. Outside the expansive windows, snow is falling gently, dusting the evergreen trees. It’s late for snow, already mid-April, but it gives Chris’s forest backyard a Christmassy feel that reminds Sebastian of the first time they’d sat together on this couch.
“It’s beautiful,” he says.
“You’re beautiful,” Chris responds, kissing his hair. It should be ridiculous, but instead it feels entirely genuine.
Sebastian has to hide his face in Chris’s neck. He’s never been loved like this. Never thought he would be, either. Chris loves like he does everything else – big and determined and all-consuming. Sometimes it’s overwhelming. Most times, it’s wonderful.
“Hey, what if… um.” He clears his throat, gearing up to say what he’s been cultivating the nerve to for a week. “What if I moved here?”
Chris stills. Sebastian can feel him breathing, but can’t see his face from this position. With his heart pounding against his ribcage, he waits. Slowly, Chris’s hand slides up over Sebastian’s chest, palm pressing right in the middle.
“You’re scared to ask me that?” Chris asks, feeling Sebastian’s racing heartbeat under his warm fingers. His voice sounds like the thought breaks his own heart.
“Not scared. A little nervous, maybe.”
“Seb. Sebastian.” Chris nudges his cheek with his nose, and Sebastian extracts his face from the safety of Chris’s neck and blinks up at him. Chris’s eyes are all watery again. “I’ve wanted you to move here since the night I met you, sweetheart. But I never wanted you to do it for me.”
“What if I’m doing it for us?” Sebastian reaches up to brush the backs of his knuckles along Chris’s cheek.
“What about your job?”
“There’s a firm here, that would take me on. I talked to the managing partner last week. It would still be family law, but none of those vicious big money cases. Just – helping real families through a tough time, you know? Maybe I could even start doing some pro bono work. I just wanna be doing something worthwhile, for a change.”
Chris looks stunned, and then a fear tears do spill over. “You planned this all out?”
Sebastian shifts, extracting himself from Chris’s arms just for the amount of time it takes to crawl into his lap so he can kiss the salt off Chris’s cheeks. “I love you,” he murmurs. “I wanna be here, with you. I don’t mean in this house, necessarily, I get it if you still want to have your space, but –”
“Of course you can move in here,” Chris interrupts. He laughs wetly, but then frowns again. “You won’t miss New York?”
“I don’t care about New York,” Sebastian says, honestly. “I never really did. It’s just the city I happen to live in. It’s not home. You’re home.”
“Seb,” Chris breathes. He tilts his chin up for a kiss, and emotion pours off every pass of his lips over Sebastian’s. They may have only known each other for a few months, but already Sebastian can tell practically everything that’s going through Chris’s mind at any time. Right now, his elation and happiness are palpable, and knowing that he’s responsible for that makes Sebastian so damn glad he took a leap of faith.
It’s so easy to get caught up in each other, forget everything around them, that if Sebastian’s watch hadn’t beeped to remind them that they should get going to their first appointment, he’s pretty sure they would’ve forgotten about it altogether.
“We gotta go, baby,” Sebastian murmurs against his lips before he pulls back. “Don’t wanna keep your Ma waiting.”
Chris groans. “Can we reschedule? It’s just my Ma, she won’t mind.”
“You mean, she’s your Ma so she knows the only reason why you’d pass up on this appointment is that you’re too busy getting laid?”
“Ugh,” Chris says wrinkling his nose. “You’re right. Goddammit.” He sighs, before standing up and holding out a hand for Sebastian to pull himself up off the couch. Sebastian deliberately overcompensates so he smacks right into Chris’s chest.
“Oooff.”
“Sorry,” Sebastian grins, not actually sorry at all. He wraps his arms around Chris’s torso and squeezes tightly, relishing the feeling of Chris’s arms winding around him as well as they stand there for a minute, gently swaying from side to side.
“I love you.” Chris whispers it into his hair again, and it doesn’t matter how many times Sebastian hears it, it will always, always make his heart swell in his chest and a warm, fuzzy feeling spread throughout his limbs.
He hums against Chris’s throat. “Love you. Now, let’s go.”
They wrap up warmly in snow boots and padded coats and gloves, and tell Dodger to stay, even though he’s making it very hard when he treats them to the saddest puppy eyes either of them have ever seen. Normally, they’d take him with them when they visit Chris’s family, but not today.
They set off on foot, since the Evans’ family house is only about a twenty minute walk from Chris’s place, holding hands as best as their gloves will allow.
“Hey,” Sebastian says as the house comes into view, squeezing Chris’s hand. “You’re sure about this?”
Chris smiles at him warmly. His cheeks are pink from the cold and he looks boyish and happy. “Yeah. I just really want to give something back to the community, you know?”
“Chris, you already give so much to this community. I could literally ask any passing stranger and they’d tell me how much they adore Christopher Robert Evans and how this town would be nothing without him.”
Sebastian can almost hear Chris’s eye roll. “What I mean is I want to give it something tangible, and you know it.”
“Well,” Sebastian says, giving Chris a mischievous grin. “It’s a lotta money, Christopher, and I feel like it is my duty as a lawyer to make sure that you’re absolutely certain you want to go through with it.”
“If I needed a lawyer I woulda hired one, Sebastian,” Chris counters, sticking out his tongue like an actual five year old. “You don’t have to worry about anything today, you can relax and just be my gorgeous, supportive boyfriend instead.”
“Fine,” Sebastian sighs, “I guess I can do that.” He leans in to peck Chris’s cheek, the soft skin cold under his lips.
Lisa answers the door dressed in a white, cashmere sweater. The Evanses really are fond of knitwear in wintertime, and it’s starting to rub off on Sebastian; he’s added at least five sweaters to his own wardrobe since he started dating Chris.
“Don’t let the cold in, boys,” Lisa says, gesturing for them to come in. They follow her into the living room, where she sits down on the couch and pulls Sebastian down beside her.
“You can get us some coffee, can’t you, love?” she says, addressing Chris.
Chris raises his eyebrows. “Oh, I see how it is. I’ve been replaced as the favorite son. That’s nice.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Chris,” Lisa frowns. After a beat, she adds, “Scott was always my favorite.”
Sebastian and Lisa giggle together as Chris stomps off to the kitchen, huffing in mock-indignation.
“So,” Lisa says when Chris has left the room. “How are things?”
“Things are good,” Sebastian says, feeling his face break out into a genuine smile. “They’re great, even.”
He hesitates for a moment, because he doesn’t want to speak out of turn, but then he remembers how open Chris has always been with his mother and realizes Chris would probably tell her the news soon anyway.
“We, um. I mean, I’m… moving here. We’re tired of long distance. Moving in, with Chris.” He feels a blush rise in his cheeks, and he glances at Lisa, only to find her looking at him with so much open affection that it almost takes his breath away. He sees where Chris gets it from.
“That’s wonderful, my love,” she says softly. “I’m so happy for you both.”
She leans in and Sebastian does the same, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly for a moment.
When she pulls back, Lisa says, “I’m sure we’ve made this clear enough by now, but just for the record; we all consider you part of the family, you know that, right? Chris has always been a happy kid, but these past few months he’s been happier than I’ve ever seen him, and that’s all down to you.” She smiles, sniffling a little. “So. Anything you need, you come to us, alright?”
Sebastian’s throat feels suspiciously tight all of a sudden, and he blinks rapidly a few times. “Thank you,” he says, squeezing Lisa’s hand. “I couldn’t have wished for a better family to be part of.”
That’s the moment Chris chooses to walk back into the room, carrying a tray laden with three mugs of coffee and a packet of chocolate chip cookies.
He stops in his tracks when he sees Sebastian and Lisa’s red-rimmed eyes and clasped hands. “Uh,” he says. “Did something… Should I...?”
“We’re fine, Chris,” Sebastian laughs. “Just having a little heart to heart. I told your Mom I’m moving to Concord.”
Instantly, Chris’s face lights up, like a kid’s on Christmas morning. “Isn’t it great, Ma?” he asks, smiling so wide it could light up the whole town.
“It is, baby,” Lisa tells him, with a matching smile of her own. “It’s the best.” Then, she pats the couch on her other side. “Now come sit down and let’s talk business.”
Sebastian sits back, content to watch Chris and Lisa talk everything through again. Last week, Chris had called him with the news that the local Youth Theater was in danger of permanent closure, mostly due to damage that the frost and snow had caused to the building over the past winter. It was an old building and there had been issues before, but usually they’d been able to fix whatever needed fixing without too much hassle. This time, however, the damage was structural, and it would require a significant financial injection to get everything repaired the degree that the building would be fit for purpose again. And since the Theater relied mostly on donations and volunteers, it was looking like the only realistic option was closure.
That’s where Chris comes in. He’d been a member of the Theater Club when he was younger, and even when he got too old for it, he’d seen every day how much the club meant to so many kids living in Concord. It was a place to play and let your hair down, to meet other kids and create fantasy worlds; pretend to be someone else for a while. The volunteers were incredible and the productions they put on every year were so full of genuine fun and enthusiasm that they blew the whole town away year after year.
The idea that all that would cease to exist was unthinkable to Chris, and so he had decided to make a one off, anonymous donation to the theatre that would cover the costs of all the repairs. Lisa, who volunteered as the Theater’s treasurer for the past few years, agreed to help him with the logistics of the donation and composing the statement that would be put before the Theater’s board. All anonymous, of course, although Sebastian suspects everyone will know who the generous benefactor is, anyway. Of course, despite what he’d said earlier, Sebastian supports Chris’s decision completely. He knows how important the community is to him, how eager he is to contribute to it in a meaningful way. Helping kids build their self-confidence and live out their wildest fantasies is just about the most Chris way Sebastian can think of to do that.
Once they’ve wrapped everything up, it’s almost time to head to their second appointment of the afternoon. They finish their second coffees, then say their goodbyes. Lisa makes them promise to come for dinner next weekend with Scott, Shanna, Carly and the kids. “I’m making that roast you loved so much last time, Sebastian,” she says as she hugs him, and he almost tears up again.
They walk to their destination in comfortable silence, just enjoying an afternoon walk together.
Sebastian still marvels sometimes at just how much he’s able to enjoy these simple pleasures these days. If someone had told him half a year ago that soon he’d be spending all his free time (of which he’s had more lately, after dropping a significant part of his case load) in a suburb of Boston, just strolling through the woods, going to local farmer’s markets and reading by the fire at night, Sebastian would have laughed in their face. And yet, here he is. He feels more at peace than he can ever remember feeling in New York. And what’s even more remarkable; he doesn’t even care what anybody back in New York thinks about his sudden change in lifestyle. He’d thought he’d be bothered by the rumors and the sly comments from his boss and co-workers, but he’s not. He’s finally found something he cares about not just with his rational mind, but with his heart and soul.
They walk up the drive of the little country-style cottage and ring the doorbell. As they wait for someone to come to the door, Chris squeezes his hand again. This time, Sebastian thinks he’s probably not even aware he’s doing it. He’s just genuinely a little nervous and excited, and it’s so unbearably cute that Sebastian has to do his best to refrain from tackling his boyfriend to the frozen ground right there and then. Public indecency on an old lady’s doorstep is probably still frowned upon, at least outside of New York.
The door opens, and a woman of around 40 appears, dressed in a white nurse’s uniform.
She smiles warmly at them. “You must be Chris and Sebastian.”
“That’s us,” Chris replies, giving her a little wave. The dork.
“Well, come in then,” the woman says. “Bettina and Daisy are ready for you. Oh, I’m Susan, by the way.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Susan,” Sebastian says, politely, following Chris inside.
There are moving boxes stacked up along the hallway, and the three of them navigate around them to reach the living room. “Please excuse the mess,” Susan says. “Bettina’s cousin Michael is coming by tomorrow morning to pick up what she isn’t taking with her, and then we should have her settled in the nursing home by tomorrow afternoon.”
“You don’t need to talk about me like I’m not here, Susan,” comes another voice from the couch in the living room. Despite her old age, Bettina’s eyes are twinkling as she greets them both. Daisy is curled up beside her on the couch, her head resting in Bettina’s lap. “I may be old but I can still speak for myself.”
“Don’t I know it,” Susan teases, winking at her.
“Oh, boys,” Bettina sighs. She looks serious now. “I really can’t tell you how grateful I am that you’re willing to take Daisy in.” She strokes an old, weathered hand over Daisy’s dark brown fur. “The idea that I was going to have to send her back to the shelter again was breaking my heart. It was bad enough I had to do it when I was in the hospital. I know you’re all so good to the animals in your care back at the shelter,” she says, addressing Chris, “but it’s just not the same as being part of a home, is it?”
“No, it’s not,” Chris agrees, sitting down on Bettina’s other side and taking her hand in his. “And there’s no need to thank us, Bettina. We’re over the moon to be able to offer Daisy a good home where she can enjoy her old age in peace.”
“We’ve got a cozy little corner set up for her already, near the fire place,” Sebastian chips in, giving her a reassuring smile.
Bettina nods, petting Daisy’s flank. “Well, then. I guess it’s time for us to say goodbye, isn’t it, my love?”
“Just goodbye for now,” Chris corrects gently. “We’ll be coming by with her to visit you so often you’ll get sick of us in no time.”
Bettina snorts. “Of two strapping young men coming to visit me with my sweet darling girl? I doubt it.”
Chris lets out a bark of laughter, throwing back his head and clutching his chest. Sebastian watches him with a soft feeling in his chest, not caring one bit that he’s probably got the dopiest smile on his face. The knowing look that Susan gives him when he finally tears his gaze away from Chris gently scratching Daisy behind the ears and meets her eyes confirms his suspicions. Ah, well. Let everyone know exactly how much he cares about his man.
“Right,” Susan says after a few more minutes of chit chat. “It was lovely to get to know you two, and a relief to know Daisy will be in such good hands, but I’m gonna need to give Bettina her medication before dinner.”
“Of course,” Sebastian nods. “We’ll get out of your hair.”
Chris gets up too, ruffling Daisy’s fur to wake her up enough to jump off the couch. “Right, beautiful. You ready to come with us? Dodger’s dying to meet his new roommate, you know.”
“We’ll stretch our legs for a bit and then you can sleep by the fire all night long, if you want,” Sebastian adds as he clicks on the leash that Susan handed him, then presses a kiss to Daisy’s forehead.
They say their goodbyes, promising Bettina to come by in a few days so they can check out her new lodgings, and then they’re back outside.
Sebastian takes Chris’s hand with his free hand, leaning in to kiss him briefly on the lips. “Happy?”
“Hmm,” Chris nods, eyes so bright they’re almost glowing. “Very happy.”
“Good,” Sebastian says, “me too. C’mon then, you two. Let’s get you home.”