summary: When Chuck and Sarah are out shopping together to keep their cover for Ellie, their guards fall for just a second and Chuck does something he's not quite supposed to. One shot, set in between Season 1 and 2.
note: I expected this less than y'all, I assure you. Anyway, uh, hi, I'm still, like, existing, in the world. I'm back from LA which was great but zapped all my writing ability until... right now, tbh. Thank you for your various messages and reviews etc in the past year, I know I've replied to so few of them, I've just been an overwhelmed trash human that's my only excuse, lol, sorry. While I am back for this fic, I can't promise I'll be back any quicker next time round; in literally three days I'm back at Uni and I have an honours dissertation to get started on, so I really shouldn't be writing fic in this next year lmao. I have to say it feels typical that the first Chuck inspiration I've had in over a year is just before I get a buttload of responsibility again. So, anyway, the fic: this is David Carner's fault (is that the Chuck FFN community motto now? probably lmao) because he replied to my tweet about a favourite fic trope of mine and then him and PeterOInNYC started chatting about it and I got more ideas and bam here we are. JWatkins encouraged, too, so blame also goes to him. Note how I'm not taking responsibility. This story is short, for me, which is mildly refreshing lmao. And, as the summary says, it's set between Season 1 and 2, because I figured that was the earliest this moment could Mean More but also it's not so late it would almost felt pretty casual, like maybe at the end of season 2. Plus that gap is so huge, and I always feel there's such a difference between 1x13 Chuck and Sarah and 2x01 Chuck and Sarah, in their actions, their relationship. Maybe this could explain that change, idk. I'm feeling mighty rusty with these two and y'know, writing in general, and pretty hesitant at just putting this out there but it's better than it languishing away to nothing on my computer, so I'm posting it. A reminder, though: fanfiction is fun! And free! this is just fun silliness of my two favourite idiots being very idiot-y. Please don't take it too seriously; the world is on fire, there are bigger problems. if you like it, please leave a review! ta! bye for another year probably!
disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, blue dresses, or pizza. boop.
He sighs as they step into the next clothing store. It's not that he minds shopping, really. He's definitely not one of those guys who insists on standing at the front of a store and letting the women get down to the shopping, and he went along with Ellie plenty when they were younger and he'd grown out of old t-shirts; she'd judge all the slogan tees he chose until they could decide on the best ones. He also knows that Sarah needs his opinion, today, and in general he's hardly having a bad time, but he thinks any sane person would tire as he is after the tenth store in a row. He swears he's seen so many nice but not-quite-right sundresses today they're all starting to blur together.
It doesn't help that he's a little bit hungry to boot. Since his sister had thought that his trip with Sarah today was solely for lunch, he couldn't grab anything before he left, and though he'd hoped to grab something with Sarah, he'd discovered when he picked her up that she'd already eaten. He'd almost suggested they swing by the Wienerlicious on their way to the mall, but then he'd remembered that the CIA tore it down last week and though their builders move fast, they're not that fast, and whatever Sarah's new cover employment will be, it doesn't exist yet.
And so, here he finds himself, increasingly hungry and a little bit crazy, trailing around the mall with his cover girlfriend in order to find a very specific dress.
Sarah heads to the dresses, walking past a rack of cute looking coats that would definitely be far too warm for the current LA summer, but he catches her glancing at her watch as she goes.
"When did Ellie say you're supposed to take me back?"
"It starts at 4pm," he sighs, poking at a rack of leather jackets.
"And you promise it's not gonna be a big thing?" Sarah asks, slowing in front of several brightly colored dresses.
He chuckles, even though he supposes she does have reason to worry. His sister is quite the party planner when she wants to be, and nobody would be shocked if Ellie had decided to pull out all the stops for her brother's girlfriend's surprise party, especially when said brother hasn't had a girlfriend this long since nearer the turn of the millennium, and, since Sarah's whole life here is a cover, she didn't have any family to celebrate with. But, Chuck had managed to put a stop to all the stops before Ellie could get a hand on them; after all, it's kind of his fault that Sarah's birthday is even being celebrated. Not that he wishes it weren't, he's sure it'll be a nice time and he's glad Sarah gets a chance to celebrate with his family, but he knows it's not her birthday at all. Because when, a month ago, Ellie had curiously asked when Sarah's birthday was, since they'd known her almost a year and the topic had yet to come up, Chuck had blurted out the first thing that came into his head: "Actually, this time next month, could you pass the peanut butter?"
Instead, then, his sister is throwing a surprise little get together, with a few of the former-Wienerlicious girls, a few of Ellie's friends, as well as their usual crew with Awesome, Morgan, and Anna. It will be a music playing, tiny food eating kind of night, rather than any grand Ellie Bartowski special. Ellie's instructions for this afternoon were clear: keep Sarah distracted and out of the way of their apartment complex until 4pm, when the party will start. Ellie had suggested Chuck take his girlfriend for a nice birthday lunch, which he'd pretended to do. They'd compromised by going shopping.
Chuck watches as Sarah picks out another dress, then frowns and put it back. Soon, she's going to have to act surprised by Ellie's efforts, since, of course, the moment his sister told him, Chuck told Sarah. His main motive in sharing was so that Sarah wouldn't start throwing knives around the moment everyone jumps out- better to have a party without any maiming-, but he also figured she should at least know when her pretend birthday is so she's not doubly confused.
"What do you think of this?" Sarah asks, pulling him out of his thoughts as she lifts up a nice blue sundress. He swallows his first thought, that holy crap her eyes are so pretty with that, and nods a little. She's always pretty anyway.
"For the party? It's nice."
Sarah frowns a little, but her lips turn up in a smirk he's seen a lot today.
"But does it let Ellie think we were out for lunch, and not that I got dressed up for a party I'm not supposed to know was happening?"
"That's a niche clothing category, I don't know, maybe we should get one of the store people over here-" She smacks him in the shoulder, and he chuckles. "Yeah, I think it works."
She brightens, almost beaming, and he can't help but beam in reply. It fades a little, though, when his stomach growls loudly enough for them both- and everyone else in the store, probably- to hear.
"Wow. That sounded like that Chewbacca guy, Chuck." Too proud of her making such a reference to even feel embarrassed-he made her watch the original trilogy a few months ago during a lull in missions, and though he knows she didn't totally love it, she stuck with them, for him- he just grins, and she chuckles and shakes her head. "Okay, I'm gonna try this on, but how about you go to the food court and get some lunch?"
"I'm trying to keep enough room for Casey's many mini quiches," he jokes with a pat to his tummy, but Sarah rolls her eyes.
"Go, or I'll be forced to make you." He just blinks innocently and her cute expression turns into a glare. "Chuck Bartowski..."
"Okay, okay, jeez, enough with the superspy stuff, I know you could kill me, I'm going," he gives in, but makes no move to leave when she just laughs at his silliness. She steps closer, into him, and he looks down at her with a smile. Sometimes things with her feel so easy, simple, and he loves times like this. When it's just them, no crazy spy stuff, all normal.
"If I'm not there when you're done, I'll be in another store, text me." She squeezes his arm a little, smiling up at him all soft. She leans in a little, rising up on her toes and looking so remarkably cute he finds himself giggling a little.
"Okay, I'll see ya in a bit,"
With that, he grins, presses a sweet kiss to Sarah's lips, and heads to the food court.
He's in line for a slice of pizza when he realizes just what he's done.
He kissed Sarah, his very much just a cover girlfriend, in the middle of the mall, in front of absolutely nobody they know, and no cover reason to do it at all. It was brief, yes, barely enough time for her to kiss him back and- wait. She did. Just the tiniest bit before he pulled away, but he knows, she kissed him back. He has no idea what to make of that, of this kiss. Sure, he's kissed her in such a way before, quite a few times really, just quick cover kisses to sell things to Ellie or Morgan or whatever other reason. But this, this was under no pretence, no cover. Just him, an asset, casually kissing his CIA handler like it's something he's okay to do. And it's not, it's really not. He knows he and Sarah aren't exactly what he presumes a typical cover couple are- completely cold, not even friends, purely acting constantly- but they're not... that. They're not real. Chuck's pretty sure that's impossible, and he's similarly unsure if Sarah would even want that. They've had moments when he's doubted it, a certain not-a-bomb and a rooftop for some, but he knows Sarah's doing her job, and when the job ends, she'll probably want to move on, she'll probably have to, it's her job. She can't stay with him, in Burbank, be part of a normal couple.
Gulping, and suddenly not that hungry at all, he gets his slice and sits down at a spare table, slowly eating and wondering how on earth he's gonna deal with facing Sarah again after... this. He knows it's not that bad, it was hardly a confession of his undying love or a giant makeout session, but he gave her no warning, just planted that kiss right on her, and he's sure if she doesn't want to talk about that itself, she'll at least want to address his blurring of the cover and real life, which is already something he's done with her. He's even mentioned it to her, openly, a couple times, how hard it can be, how real things can feel. And each time she's told him, it's normal, common, but nothing can happen. And he knows that, he does, but it's still too easy to look at her grinning up at him all soft and lovely and think, damn, doesn't he just love her.
And she kissed him back.
He's just finishing the last bite of pepperoni when someone slides into the seat across from him, a vision in blue. Surprised by, well, everything, he chokes. Literally. Sarah just laughs all cutely while thwacking him on the back a few times and he swears he falls for her even more right then.
"Easy, Chuck, I'd like you alive for my party, real birthday or not."
Spluttering a few more times before he manages to gulp down the bits of pizza that just tried to murder him, he looks at her with wide eyes.
"You surprised me. You're in the dress."
She grins.
"Yup. It fit, so I got it, and this way it'll be a little worn, like I've been wearing it all day and not just for the party." It's smart. Of course it's smart; it's Sarah, she's the smartest person he knows. "Do you like it?"
It's kind of a stupid question. As ever, she is literally the most beautiful person he's ever seen. Sitting here across from him in a not particularly clean mall food court, the table between them sticky with unspecified liquids and a rogue blob of ketchup, Sarah, in a blue sundress, is just stunning.
"Yeah," he tries, but his voice is a little rough, which he'll blame on the choking and the pizza and not other things. He clears his throat, smiles. "It looks great. Did you leave your other clothes?"
She gestures to the printed paper bag from the clothing store, and he sees the denim of her previous shorts on top.
"I'll leave it in the car during the party," she says, but then she fixes him with a look, one he knows means a certain conversation is coming. "Chuck, we should-"
"I know, I know." He runs a hand through his hair, not really registering the way her eyes soften as she follows the movement. "I don't know why I did that, I was just on autopilot, I guess, I-"
"Hey," she interrupts, reaching out and tugging on his arm. "It's okay."
He pauses, looks at her, sees the flush to her cheeks, the warmth in her gaze. She kissed him back.
"I... I don't-"
"If that's your autopilot, Chuck, then it's good."
"What?" He can't help but frown, even as a soft smile tugs at her lips.
"Okay, there was no reason to keep up the cover, but if there were, if we were in front of someone we knew, you should've done that. Think about it, Chuck, you wouldn't even kiss me on the cheek in the middle of the Buy More when we met, now... now, you do that without even trying. It's okay."
"But..." He trails off, thoroughly confused. He gets her point and he doesn't mind the praise, but they've been at that stage of the cover for a while, now, where he knows to kiss her when she heads home, or hold her hand as he walks her to her car, give her a hug when he greets her in the mornings outside the Buy More. This, kissing her for no reason, that's a new development, and he didn't think it would all be this... cool. He swallows his pride, looks her in the eyes. "Okay, that's not why I did it, autopilot isn't the reason."
"Chuck-"
Sighing, he shifts in his seat, and a voice in his head points out he can kiss her just fine but neither of them are actually able to call it that when talking about it. He shakes his head.
"No, I, I kinda forgot, again, it felt real, again, and I just surprised you with it-"
"I wasn't surprised." she says, suddenly, and he blinks again, stopping mid-ramble. Maybe it's because of the circumstances, the awkwardness right now, maybe it's the place, far from surveillance and watching eyes, but she's being so honest with him he's almost stunned. She clears her throat, looks him straight-on, steeling her gaze and widening her eyes as if to say: I get it. "Look, Chuck, it wasn't just you, in there, who- who forgot. For a second everything felt so... so normal. If you hadn't, done that, I was almost about to."
Wait, what?
He blinks, thinks back to the moment he's been trying to avoid thinking of but somehow only thinking of, and suddenly he sees Sarah in front of him, smiling up at him all soft as he says his goodbye, leaning in closer and rising up like she was about to... kiss him? He supposes. And she kissed him back. Because she was already prepared for it. He didn't take her by surprise, didn't force that on her before she could realize. She got lost it in too.
"Oh."
"I-"
"Hey, hey," he says, cutting her off and poking her in the arm. He's not gonna let her go through whatever kinda explanation he was just trying to offer, since that was awkward enough, so he brings up a grin and looks at her goofily. "We don't need to do this, it's your fake-birthday."
She looks at him curiously before she laughs briefly, softly.
"And, on fake-birthdays, important cover talk..."
He drums his fingers on the space between them.
"Gets tabled."
There's two beats before the joke lands, when her eyes flick from him to the table and back, and he watches as her face crumples into fake-disgust.
"Oh, that was bad."
"I know."
"Really bad, god."
Laughing at her sheer outrage at his terrible pun, he glances at his watch and grins when he sees the time. Another reason to get them off this topic and back to safer ground. Safer ground when he can stop thinking that, oh god, he kissed Sarah and she kissed him back and it was the tiniest thing but they both forgot about the cover for just a second, and that was enough.
"Hey, birthday girl, we better get going, it'll be four by the time we get through traffic."
She checks her own watch, eyebrows rising a little, but stands up regardless, and he tries not to stare at her too much as he sees her in the full dress she'd chosen. It's pretty simple, but the shade of blue makes her so breathtaking he feels he could just sit here and melt away. Thankfully, she reaches for his hand and tugs him up, scooping up the bag with her clothes as they go.
"So, c'mon, practice your surprised face again."
And, as they make their way to the parking lot, Sarah periodically dropping her jaw and gasping and going "Whaaaat?!" more and more ridiculously every time (he knows she does it with increasing dorkiness just to make him laugh more), Chuck puts the thoughts of their kiss and his actions, her actions, to the back of his mind. Because who knows how long he'll be stuck with the Intersect, who knows how long this cover will have to go, who knows how many more times they'll blur the lines? But, for today, for Sarah's fake-birthday, that doesn't matter. All that matters, is her.