Another long day past wore on Sebastian's bones and the long day ahead wore on his patience. But the wavy grains of sunlight gracing his newly woken eyes refused to let him rest.
"Fine, if the sun's awake, then I guess I'm fucking awake."
Grumbled from the rising, tangled form that was more or less rolling out of bed, curses to the gods and the fool who invented mornings tumbling from numb lips.
Straightening out the kinks in his back, he began his morning routine. Starting off with the zombie shuffle to the bathroom, then shedding the layer of gross sleep sweat in the shower.
Sweatpants from the floor were deemed clean and odor free enough to be worn to the kitchen for breakfast.
Strong coffee and only semi burnt pancakes soon rode around the apartment, settling in Seb's stomach as he looked out the window from the table. A meeting at 9 with his agent about upcoming roles, interviews and photoshoots vowed to be longer than the one hour his agent promised it would be. So he had left a 2 hour window before lunch with Chris and Mackie.
The subway ride was only lightly pee scented that morning, but fully crowded with suits. Faster than trying to fight through the traffic above ground though.
As expected, the meeting with his agent went long, but not as long as Seb thought it would. He ended up getting out with an hour to spare, and so headed to the best nearby spot to waste an hour, Central Park.
The fall colors really accentuated the season. Crunchy cinnamon leaves peppered the sidewalks, breezes shuffling them up under shuffling feet, bringing a chill filled with scarves and thick coats. Kids being chased by parents who are ready to go back home, leaving the cold to the youngins and couples. Birds populated their homes, flying here and there to insulate it further against the encroaching cold.
The calm here had a light heaviness, sinking in, and to bones made featherweight. But nothing gold can stay, and his hour was up.
40 minutes later, and he was the butt of a joke Chris and Mackie had to have plotted out before hand.
"Yeah, yeah. Hilarious guys. SO original. 'I heard winter's coming early, guess they were right.' as I'm walking up. Fucking nailed that shit."
"Yeah, I'm pretty proud of that one." Chris had such a shit eating grin.
Smug as cats who knew exactly what they did, Chris and Mackie simply took their seats as Seb took his.
Sitting turned to ordering, to eating, to catching up, to plans that couldn't be rescheduled. Lunch was over and the three parted ways.
Late morn had passed to late afternoon. The calm was a little less settled now, as the chaos of night began creeping out from under bridges and shadows of lamp posts. The breeze had a little more bite to it, the leaves held more secrets under their cinnamon crunch. Birds wiser than humans started staying closer to home during their ventures outside of it. The parents had won, and were currently making hot cider for their kids while watching tv. Youngins and couples were still there, but bundled a little tighter now, cuddling closer now. It made the walk through the park nice, left Seb the opportunity to walk around, without being recognized. The quiet of the park let his mind wander to the beauty around him, punctuated with each step he took.
Seb noticed a double decker tourist trap, a bright red metal beetle, plastered with ads for the service. Head burrowed into the popped up collar of his coat and eyes focused on his phone, hoping the tour guide wouldn't spot him.
The scene was set for the perfect disaster.
*THUNK*
He hit something solid and went down.
"Ow. What the -"
Seb looked up to find what he had hit.
Oh no. She's cute.
"Holy shit. I am so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you alright? Here, let me help you up."
Seb extended his hand to her, getting a funny feeling bout her.
She reached her hand up and grabbed his. Mumbling 'thanks' as she got up. Her stuff was scattered everywhere. Seb started picking up papers and supplies that had settled within his reach and as they picked up all the loose pages, he was going through his mental notes. He got a better look at her as she stood up, flustered from the cold and tumble.
'Oh my god. It's her, the cute costume designer. FRuck.'
He stood, still as his mind as it processed something smooth to blurt out.
Her blush got redder as her eyes took in who he was. Shit, wait did she even remember him? It was a long time ago.
Let's start with giving her back her stuff.
"HeRe yOU go. Sorry about, again. I should've been more careful." Alright, gotta land now,.... or never, "Maybe I could take you to dinner, make it up to you, Y/N?"
nAILED IT.
She took her pages and pencils back, feeling colder than the breeze, without warning.
"Thank you, but I'm going to pass on that dinner. I don't go out with people I only just meet."
SHIT.
"Ahh. You're going to turn down this face." Seb turned that smile upside down, with as much drama as he could, and doing that thing with his eyebrows, making his best attempt at an adorable puppy dog face. Her face crumpled like snow under the sun, breaking out in the most dazzling laugh.
Yes! A laugh!
She regained her breath, "Cute. But it's going to take more than that."
His face changed to mock shock, complete with a very dramatic gasp. "How did you resist? I've been told I have the best puppy face in the world."
With a chuckle to her voice, "I've been told that I have a heart of ice."
"Maybe if you let me get you some hot chocolate, it may warm up that icy heart of yours."
He knew he had her on that one, as no one as sweet and cute as her could resist hot chocolate in this weather. She scrunched her mouth up to the left, looking up to the sky, as if it held the answer.
"Fiiiinnneeee." with a dramatic sigh at the end. "You can buy me a hot coco."
"Marvelous! There's this really great hot chocolate cart at the entrance of this path. Let's go!"
He looped his arm through hers and the hot coco journey began.
Passing other youngins and couples on their own way out, as the sun had begun its exeunt stage west, Seb had to stop himself from bouncing straight up and down. He was finally talking to the cute costume designer! She! was! right! there! On his arm, on his freaking arm! And they were getting drinks! AHHHHHH!
She ordered a peppermint with extra whipped cream, 'because one can never have too much whipped cream' she declared, while Seb ordered a French hot chocolate. Once they got their drinks, she thanked him and began walking away.
Past regrets kept him from just letting her walk away, leaving it at nothing once again.
"Where do you live? I can walk you there." Sebastian offered as he jogged a bit to catch up to her.
"Is that an offer that is exactly what it seems, or is it a thinly veiled excuse to get into my pants?"
Cute, sweet and witty, Seb really was rly fucked.
Drawing on his acting skills, Seb mocked gasped, "I wait until at least the second date to go past first base."
"A true gentleman."
He chuckled, liking the ease with which they chatted.
"Seriously though, I just want to make sure you get home safely and maybe get your number."
"Well, good to know. The extra muscle is appreciated. I live a few blocks from here."
He continued talking as she walked up the stairs to her apartment. She stopped at the door, fumbling with...something? A book? Paper? A ripped piece of paper was soon shoved in his hand, with numbers scrawled on it.
"Give me a call so I'll have yours." she grinned over her shoulder as she unlocked her door, "See you tomorrow?"
AHHHHHHH! HER HUMBER! YES! GOTTA PUT THAT SHIT IN NOW! NO LOSING IT LIKE LAST TIME!
"Sure. Definitely, yes. Can do! Will do that!"
"Bye!"
She opened her door and watched as Seb retreated down the stairs, going in only when he had disappeared.
Soon as she had disappeared inside her apartment, he was texting Chris and Mackie,
'You won't fucking believe who I just ran into.'
_______________
Authors Notes:
Firstly, so sorry this took forever to upload. Every time I had the time to work on this, I had no inspiration, and then when I did get inspiration, I had no time. Then I'd forget about it for awhile. Life's great.
But it's now here! And since it's been a few years since I last updated here, the writing style is really gonna be different, hopefully a much better different though. And for the next few chapters I'll be doing little shout outs down here to some readers that helped remind and motivate me to get moving on the update.
@paranoid-person IT'S FUKING DONE BOO, LOVE YA BOO <3