Word Count: 2881
Warnings: Cursing.
Prompt: For months, since Chris has met you he's been trying to ask you out. After meeting him you two become close friends, and soon enough Chris can't take it anymore- especially after a failed attempt for a date that turns out into friendship.
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Chris was going out of his mind, his plan had always been the same ever since he was 14. Go to school, become a doctor, train with NASA, go to space (represent the human race), come back and become a research scientist. His plan had been right on track, he even got onto the NASA space program, except then he met you.
❁ ❁
January
Chris was jogging around the camp as the sun rose above the trees, it had become a habit of his to do some extra training outside of the program to increase his levels of fitness and chances of getting chosen to be on an Ares mission. The program had begun merely two weeks and the training was already intense and gruelling, it was a mix of lectures, physical training and teamwork exercises.
So far he hadn't socialised much with the others which he knew wasn't good for his chances but the work had been so much that nobody had really had the time, he was planning on getting to know at least one of the others by the end of the week though.
He zoned out as he pushed himself forward, his legs beginning to burn a little, he didn't even notice someone in his direct path until it was too late. Chris crashed into the person sending him and them flying to the ground, "Oh my god, I am so, so sorry," he apologised quickly, jumping off the person and holding his hand out.
The person on the ground was a pretty shapeless figure that was drowned in a large jumper with the hood up and obscuring their face. They accepted his hand and he lifted them up, "I'm really sorry," he apologised again.
"It's fine," you gave him a tired smile, pulling your hood off your head.
Now that he could see you he spotted dark circles forming under your eyes and your hair was messy and falling over into your eyes. "Still, sorry. I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you on the program?"
You shook your head, covering your mouth as you yawned, "Nah. I work in satellites, I'm the newest so they keep giving me all the shifts nobody wants that's probably why you haven't seen me," you smiled tiredly.
Chris nodded, "Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Chris. Beck."
"Y/n Y/l/n. It's nice to meet you, too." You couldn't deny that this Chris guy was insanely attractive, in fact you were more than willing to stay and talk with him than drag your ass home and sleep for 12 hours, which was saying something. "So, why are you on the program?"
"It's been my plan since I was fourteen," he explained, "To be honest I never really thought that I'd make it this far, I thought that they wouldn't accept me."
"Well, they did," you smiled brightly, "Congratulations."
He blushed and ducked his head bashfully, "Thanks, but I don't think I'm gonna get put on an Ares mission."
You smirked knowingly, "I think you'll get on."
"Really?"
"Yeah, guy as hot as you going to Mars? NASA would stand to make millions," you grinned.
Chris laughed, "Thanks, but I don't think so."
You shook your head, "That's where you're wrong, Mr. Beck. NASA's all about image, they'd love to send a guy who looks like you up there," you teased.
"Hey, that's Dr. Beck to you," he said in a falsely stern voice.
It was as if your attraction towards him doubled.
You laughed, "Jokes aside though I'm sure you'll get in for your skills, not just your looks."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he smiled.
"No problem."
Chris smiled, courage came bubbling out of nowhere from inside him, "Would you want to go out sometime?" he asked. Before you could reply someone came up to the two of you, "Y/N what are you still doing here?"
You and Chris looked up to see your best friend Mindy coming over to you, "Mindy, hi," you smiled, "I got caught up. What are you doing here?" you asked.
"My shifts starting now," she told you.
You looked down at your watch and saw just how long you had spent with Chris, "Shit," you cursed softly. "I'm never going to catch up on my sleep before tonight. Chris it was great meeting you, Mindy, I'll see you later," you bid them both goodbye and hurried on to the car park.
Chris sighed, maybe he would see you again soon so he could try and ask you out again.
❁ ❁
March
You were lounging in one of the comfy bean bag chair in the break room, today was one of the rare days when your shift was during the day. It was nearing afternoon and you were halfway through your shift which meant it was time for a coffee break, you sipped happily on your coffee as you listened to the pleasant hum of your coworkers chatter around the small coffee room.
"Hi," you heard a soft voice in front of you and you looked up to see Chris standing over you.
"Oh hi," you greeted brightly, you gestured to the other bean bag chair and he sat down next to you, "How've you been?"
Since you had met Chris back in January the two of you had become good friends, you would often see him at the beginning or end of your shift and once or twice you had been invited along with him and a bunch of others from work to go to a bar. Of course you had been swept up by your own respective friends to spend more than a few minutes with each other when that happened. Still, you were confident to call Chris one of your friends.
Little did you know that Chris hadn't had the courage to try and ask you out again. He never saw you for a long amount of time and when he did see you there was no way to bring it up naturally, so he let it go and let the feelings within him build up. Chris hadn't expected to see you in the break room so he tried to subtly fix his messy hair as he listened to you talk about your new shift rota.
There was a small lull in the conversation and he knew that this was the only chance he was going to get, "So, I've been meaning to ask you this for a long time," he started.
"Chris, hey, can you go over the work we did on EVA's. I know you're a specialist," Mark came over suddenly and interrupted him. Mark then noticed that Chris was talking to you, "Hi, I'm Mark, Chris' friend," he held out a hand.
"Y/N, Chris' friend," you shook his hand, "Are you on the space program, too?"
Mark nodded, "Yeah, it's great. You're not though, right? I would have remembered you."
You blushed lightly and shook your head, "No, I work in satellites." Chris couldn't help the jealousy that was rising in him but he kept quiet. "What do you do though?"
"I'm a botanist and and engineer."
You perked up at that, "A botanist, really? I seriously need your help."
Mark smiled wide and nudged Chris, "See, I told you guys botany was a real science," Chris managed a false smile and nod that went undetected by you both, "So what's your issue?"
"So I've got some indoor cactus' and I was wondering how much I needed to water them. Especially now that the seasons are changing. I looked it up online but it wasn't all that helpful, I mean how much is a small amount - that's very subjective, you know? - what's a more exact measurement."
Mark began to explain how you should take care of your cactuses and that soon developed into a conversation about general gardening which took up the rest of your break time. "Sorry guys I gotta go, Mark it was lovely meeting you. See ya, Chris!" you called over your shoulder as you hurried back to mission control.
Chris sighed softly as he watched you go again, he knew he shouldn't be jealous of Mark but he couldn't stand the thought of you with Mark instead of him. It was silly, he knew, you only had one conversation with the guy but he had never felt so strongly about someone before.
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June
The work only got more intense for the both of you. Ares II was underway at the moment which meant your work in satellites increased, you were constantly scrutinising images of their base to make sure everything was intact and good to go and angling satellites to see if you could catch a glimpse of the Hermes. Chris' workload practically doubled and you saw even less of each other than before, only a few minutes every few weeks if you were lucky.
It had almost been a month since you had seen him, you were lounging out on one of the benches around the base. Summer was fully upon you and you couldn't stand being indoors if you didn't have to be, every so often you would hear the recruits jogging past you but you didn't open your eyes, you didn't need to go back inside for another half hour and you weren't moving unless you had to.
"Hey, stranger."
You peeled open your eyes and saw Chris as the foot of the bench, "Chris!" you yelled excitedly and sat up, "I haven't seen you in so long."
Chris sat down next to you and began chuckling after a few seconds. "What?" you asked.
He pointed at your face, "The glasses?"
You blushed lightly and straightened the glasses, "Yeah all this extra work on computers is killing my eyes. I need them if I don't want to go blind in the next five years."
Chris laughed, "Fair enough." He looked up at the sky and closed his eyes as he basked in the warm sunlight, you noticed how the sun hit his face in all the right places making him look like some kind of Greek God.
"How's the program going?"
"Good, good," Chris nodded, "They've put us in teams now. The others in my team are all some of the best, I actually think that we have a good chance of being put on the Ares III mission."
You grinned, "See! Didn't I tell you?"
"You did," he nodded in agreement and looked over at you.
❁ ❁
September
You couldn't deny it any longer. You had feelings for Chris Beck. It was crazy, you knew that, you had always admitted that he was attractive and that you were attracted to him but you had been pushing away your feelings for too long.
It had actually happened when you were out with Mindy on the first time you had both been free at the same time in months, you had gotten to a bar and you had gotten a little (a lot) drunk. During this time you spilled all your hidden thoughts about the handsome doctor and now those words had escaped your mouth there was no going back.
NASA would have a hissy fit if they ever found out. Fraternisation was forbidden between astronauts you knew, though technically you weren't an astronaut so did that count for you and Chris? Not that it mattered, he probably didn't like you anyway.
Yes, you remembered vaguely he had tried to ask you out when you first met but that was all the way back in January and he hadn't asked since. He probably didn't feel that way about you anymore, if he ever felt this deeply about you in the first place.
You were getting a cup of water when Chris sauntered up to you and leaned against the wall."Chris," you squeaked, instantly blushing when you heard how you sounded out loud.
Thankfully he didn't seem to notice. "What's up?" you asked him, glad that you had managed to get your voice under control.
Chris had determination written all across his face, "I've been meaning to say this for months now, believe me. So don't interrupt me. Are you free–"
"Chris oh my god thank god I found you," a feminine voice sounded next to you and a girl a similar height to you stood in between you and Chris and blocked your view of him. "I lost my course book, can I photocopy the pages out of yours?" she pleaded.
Chris nodded and gave her a soft smile, "Sure. Though, Beth, I was in the middle of something," he nodded behind her at you.
The girl spun around and noticed you had been there the whole time, "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry I didn't see you there. I'm Beth Johanssen it's nice to meet you," she said brightly.
"You, too," you nodded politely.
"I've seen you around, you work in satellites right?"
You perked up, it was rare that someone actually recognised who you were. "Yes! That's me!"
She smiled wide, "That's cool. I'm on the space program with Chris." When she mentioned Chris you noticed just how close she was standing next to him and neither of them seemed uncomfortable with the lack of personal space, in fact it seemed almost natural.
"Welp, I've gotta dash. Bye," she smiled at you then at Chris and went off.
You saw how he gave her a gentle sincere smile and watched her walk away, you had to push down the intense jealousy that rose within you. Of course he was probably dating her, and they would make a cute couple as well. "I've gotta go to," you faked an apologetic smile and walked away as fast as you could with tears burning behind your eyes. You left a stunned Chris behind who had no idea what had just happened.
❁ ❁
October
"We should go out sometime." A confident voice came from directly behind you.
You yelped in alarm at the sudden noise and jumped up to see that it was only Chris.
"God, don't do that," you slapped his arm lightly.
"Sorry. I mean it, we should go out. To a bar or something."
For a moment you got your hopes, then you remembered the nice pretty girl Beth and they were squashed again. "I don't know," you drawled out, he clearly didn't mean a date and you didn't want to third wheel with him and his girlfriend.
"C'mon," he insisted.
You sighed, "Okay, okay. Where shall we meet?"
"The bar on 7th?"
You nodded, "Sounds good. I'll bring Mindy, oh and you should bring Mark." If you were going to this then you were going to accumulate a group of other single people who you liked. "And I mean you can bring that Martinez guy if you want but he seems like the kind of guy who'd do karaoke when he's drunk and I'm not into that."
Chris could only nod and hum, he hadn't phrased it well enough. He was asking you to go as a date not as a friend but it was too late to correct you now, "Sounds like fun, I'll tell the others," he agreed in a strained voice.
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November
You shivered in the cold and wrapped your coat closer to your body, the evening was fully underway and the long stretch of paths to the car park seemed longer than even.
"Y/N, wait up!" Chris called and jogged up to meet you.
"Hi," you gave him a weak smile, exhaustion evident throughout your body.
"You look like shit," Chris commented.
You chuckled, "Thanks."
Soon enough the two of you reached the car park, "I'll walk you to your car."
"Thanks," you smiled at him. You reached your car and dug your keys out to unlock it, before you could open the door Chris caught you by the arm. Turning to face him you didn't have time to get a word out because his warm lips were pressing softly but urgently into yours.
It only took a few seconds for you to sink into the kiss, the your senses came back to you and you pushed him away, "Chris, no. What about your girlfriend?"
"My girlfriend?" Chris scrunched up his nose sounding confused.
"Beth."
Chris snorted, "She's not my girlfriend."
"Oh," you frowned, "I thought she was. You guys seemed close."
He shook his head, "Nah. She's more like my little sister."
You hummed in acknowledgement, "So you just kissed me," you commented.
Chris blushed heavily and nodded, "Yeah, I did."
"Why?"
"Because I've liked you since I met you back in January," he admitted.
"I've liked you since then, too."
"Typical," Chris laughed, "To think we could have been dating this entire time."
You laughed, "It's pretty ironic. Well better late than never, Chris, would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow."
Chris smiled wide, "I would like that very much."
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