Ah, this is a beautiful one and a return to form for chapter length. Sorry about the last few being a bit on the shorter end but it just felt like the right length for those chapters. I won't keep you though, please enjoy. Thanks as always for reading this far.
Song Suggestion: Welcome Home by SquigglyDigg & GabeCastro
Disclaimer: just like every other fan fiction writer and then some, I don't own the work I am writing about I'm borrowing it for fun. Plz don't hurt me CapCom.
The last few weeks of September fell back into the usual rhythm, Chris moved back into his newly renovated apartment, Emma would drop off lunches on Sundays, and they'd practice on Thursdays. Summer gave way to Fall as October began. Chris closed the door behind him as he made it home from work, kicking off his shoes to shuffle over to the couch and take a seat.
Well. Now what? he thought with a tired sigh as he stared at the wall across from him. He eventually shifted to get his phone out of his pocket.
[Chris] Hey, Are you busy?
...
[Bastion] Not really. What's up?
[Chris] Mind if I stop by for a bit? I think I need some help.
[Bastion] Well color me surprised. Sure.
Chris eventually got up; he looked at his shoes and shook his head before walking over to the other door across the hall from his to knock on it.
Bastion opened it and leans in the doorway. "I've been expecting you."
"Bastion," Chris said with an amused expression while raising an eyebrow to say 'seriously'.
"You're no fun," Bastion remarked with a defeated sigh while getting up and out of the way so Chris could walk into the very nicely decorated apartment. "It's early to be talking about Halloween costumes, but I can appreciate the initiative since you were late last year," he said as he closed the door behind the agent.
"Actually, it's not about that." Chris walked into the living room to take a seat.
"Oh?" Bastion asked, surprised. He took a seat in the chair next to the sofa. "Well, this really is a surprise then. What can I help you with?"
"You're more in-tune with your emotions and such," Chris began, earning an unamused stare from Bastion.
"Choose your next words carefully," the nail tech warned.
"...It's come to my attention that I might have developed feelings for Emma and I don't know what to do about that," Chris admitted, taking the warning seriously.
"Oh, that's where we're going with this? Thank the stars, you finally figured it out," Bastion replied, clearly relieved and not surprised in the slightest, which confused Chris.
"You knew?" he asked as his eyebrows knit together.
"I've known since Halloween," Bastion said as if this should be obvious.
"Since three weeks from now?" Chris pointed out, further confused. Halloween hadn't happened yet, and he had only just figured this out at the end of August.
"It's been a year, Chris. A. Year." Bastion gave a small clap between each of the last two words.
"Oh," Chris replied quietly, frowning. How?
"You definitely need more help than you can get from me if you're asking a gay man how to get a woman," Bastion pointed out before shifting to stand back up and head over to the kitchen. "This seems like it might take a while. Do you want some tea?"
"Coffee if you have it," Chris replied, still mulling this over.
"Fine." Bastion brewed the two drinks and eventually returned, offering a cup to Chris before taking his seat again. "Okay, so you've opened your metaphorical Pandora's box." He crossed his legs. "Now the question really is. What do you want to do about it?"
Chris sipped his drink, then put it down on the coffee table in front of him. "That's where I'm stuck at the moment," he hesitantly admitted. "I want to tell her but..."
"Then tell her," Bastion said, shaking his head before taking a sip of his tea.
"It's not that simple," Chris replied as he moved to his usual thinking stance, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his legs and hold his fist.
"It is though," Bastion replied with an amused yet befuddled expression.
"It's not for me," Chris countered, turning his head to frown at Bastion. "There's not much that scares me, but this does," he openly admitted, which caused Bastion to pause as a more sympathetic expression crossed his face.
"All right," Bastion said before getting up to sit next to Chris. Taking the conversation more seriously, he placed a gentle hand on Chris' back. "What's scaring you?" he asked, figuring that was the first thing they'd need to tackle.
Memories of each time he held a dead or dying partner came to mind in a mental collage. That was classified. "I'm afraid of losing her," he said, after thinking of a way to explain it without going into detail.
"Hm," Bastion nodded. It was a pretty normal fear. "So, you're worried if you tell her, then she might leave?" Bastion pressed to make sure he understood.
That wasn't exactly what he meant but, "That's part of it yeah," Chris admitted.
Once more the nail tech nodded before patting Chris and getting up again. "Okay well, Uncle Bastion is going to help you out. Luckily, I know a few dating tricks." He walked over to his fridge and took a flyer out from under a magnet, then walked back to take his seat. "You know the 90-10 rule, right?" Bastion asked, causing Chris to raise an eyebrow.
"Can't say I do," Chris admitted, confused.
Lord, he really does need help. "Okay. So, crash course. 90-10 rule is for if you want to kiss someone that you haven't before, so you don't want to force yourself on them," Bastion explained. "You lean in 90% of the way and if they are interested, they move the last 10%." With that, he handed Chris the flyer.
Haunted Fair Ground!
Open from Oct 15th to Nov 3rd
Enjoy our amazing, haunted attractions - Fit for the whole family.
For the brave of heart, check out our haunted house full of ghouls and frights.
No costumes, face paint, or masks allowed on the fairgrounds.
"So, here's what we're going to do. We are going to go over there and tell Emma that we're going to the fairgrounds and see if she wants to go with us on the 16th. Oh, what a miraculous turn of events, I already have a date that day to go to that exact place," Bastion explained with a slight smirk as he sat back down next to Chris. "You two split off. Have a good time, go through the haunted house, she screams and clings to your arm. It's cute, laugh about it. Get home then invite her over for coffee," he continued. Chris nodded as he looked at the flyer. "This is where the 90-10 comes in. Sit on the couch, lean over to go for the 90% and if she doesn't move, grab something from the table next to her and move on with the night."
That... was actually crazy enough that it just might work. "Huh... that could work," Chris admitted. He'd be able to see if she felt the same way, with a way to backpedal if she didn't.
"Thank you, thank you. I have my brilliant moments," Bastion said with a confident smile. "Now let's finish up our drinks and talk about something lighter in the meantime," he suggested. This wouldn't go well if Chris was nervous right off the bat.
'*'*'*'*'
Emma sat on her couch with her laptop on her crossed legs and Duke curled up next to her. She plugged in her earbuds and got to work. It was frustrating, but she was late to the game for this round of EP selections. The senior marketing managers usually got the first pick and had regular agreements to work with the chart-toppers. Mostly the pop and electronic/techno artists. After that, the scraps of newly picked up talent were left for the junior marketers to pick through to see which one they wanted to work with for the month. It wasn't the best way to do it, but it made sure that people were passionate about what they were working on, so Emma respected the chaos it brought all the same.
"Let's see what we have this month," she mumbled, then started opening sound files. She slowly bobbed her head to the sound before eventually shaking it. Nah, that one wasn't going to catch on. It was absolutely all over the place. She closed the file and started up another one.
Okay. Not bad, that has a good bass line to it— her expression switched to one of confusion. "Is that. Christian rock?" she asked herself with a confused expression. The melody and instrumental worked really well, but the lyrics were so niche that it would likely never make it in the mainstream. Dang, it all. If only she hadn't been late...
A tired grumble escaped her lips which Duke mimicked back causing her to laugh. "Are you talking to me, bud?" she asked with an amused smile before she went back to sorting through sound files. She gave each one a fair try. It had been about an hour, and she made it about halfway through the files. The options were starting to dwindle as others took on their projects for the month. She needed to pick and fast.
*Click.* She nodded along to the music. Okay. All right...Hey, hold on. She smiled widely as she put a leg down and tapped it to the drumbeat and made a drumming motion with her fingers. This is actually really good! Holy he—How did no one pick up this EP yet?
Emma quickly dragged the folder into her stash as she continued to listen to the other songs for the set of four. Mouthed a silent 'Yas,' she continued to smile and jam along to the music. It was more punk/alt-rock which wasn't what she usually worked with, but this… It was a sleeper track, and she was certain that it could make it on the charts if she tried hard enough. She had yet to pull that off, but if she ever was going to, then this was the track to do it.
'*'*'*'*'
Bastion collected the cups and glanced at Chris. "As much as I appreciate how comfortable you are in my home, you should probably head back to yours and put your shoes on before we head over to Emma's," the nail tech pointed out, causing Chris' shoulder to drop.
"Probably a good idea," he agreed, rising and heading over to the door, then making his way back to his apartment. As he put his shoes on, a shrill sound caught his attention. He looked over to the kitchen wall with a confused expression. That was definitely some sort of timer or ringtone going off at Emma's place. He gave it a while, but it wasn't turning off. Concern started to wash over him as he dug through his pockets to get his keys and walked over to her door. That concern only compounded when he knocked on the door and received no response.
He frowned at this and used his key to unlock the door. Upon entering, he found Emma sitting on her couch, drumming at the air while bobbing her head with a wide grin. Her earbuds were plugged in and her phone sat on the kitchen island. Whatever she was listening to, it was too loud for her to hear her phone going off. Chris let out a sigh of relief and walked over, figuring he should get her attention.
"Never seems to be enough for me. We're forever! You and me together," she happily sang along with the chorus only to feel a tap on her shoulder which caused her to yelp as she closed her laptop and held it to her chest, standing up. "Chris?" She spoke louder than intended because of the music in her ear and removed the earbuds before continuing to talk. "What the heck? You scared the crap out of m—" She stopped as she realized her phone was going off. "Oh my gosh, my alarm." She hurried over to it and turned it off. "I am so sorry that must have gotten pretty loud," she apologized as Chris laughed.
"What on earth were you listening to that made it, so you couldn't hear that?" he asked, amused. Emma smiled and put down the laptop on the counter.
"Okay, I'll show you, but you can't tell anyone that I did," she offered since she was excited about this. She pressed play and a loud guitar cried out along with the thumping beat of a drum.
"Is this punk rock?" he asked with a chuckle.
"It's good," she countered with a smile as she bobbed her head with the music again. "I'm going to get this one to the top of the chart even if it kills me."
"Emma," Chris replied with a disapproving tone.
"What? You joke about that all the time. Don't go all hypocritical on me," she declared as Bastion walked through the open door.
"Wow, you couldn't even wait for me?" he teased, giving Chris an amused smile before starting to bob his head as well. "Hold up, what's this?"
"Right?" Emma smiled at Bastion. "Keep an ear out for it, it's going to get on the radio if I have anything to say about it," she declared with excited determination.
Bastion nodded. "Anyway, Chris and I were just talking about something and wanted to see if you wanted in." He looked at Chris who was still holding the flyer.
"Yeah, Bastion found out about some Halloween set up," Chris mentioned and offered Emma the flyer, which she accepted.
"Oh, this looks fun," she said as she looked over the flyer. "When are you guys going?"
"The 16th," Bastion replied, feeling quite content that his plan was working.
"Yeah, I can make that," she said and offered the flyer back to Chris. "That sounds awesome. Are the Russo's going too?" she curiously asked, though it seemed unlikely.
"Pretty sure it opens after their bedtime," Bastion replied with a wink.
Emma chuckled. "Right fair enough. So, we're meeting in the hallway?" she asked to confirm the plan.
"6 pm so we can be there by 7," Bastion confirmed before patting Chris on the back. "See you guys then!"
"See you around then," she said with a wave as Chris and Bastion left.
'*'*'*'*'
The 16th eventually came along. Emma had been working her tail off the whole time, and she was excited about the break. "What do you mean the cover is blue?" she asked as she dug through her purse to make sure she had everything she needed. "No, I saw the proofs, they all looked soft and half-baked. Send them back to the graphics team. Please redo them. I want this next batch to have an edge to it, or I'm going down there and doing it myself," Emma grumbled, holding her phone to her ear with her shoulder, so her hands were free to finish putting on her coat. She usually tried not to be so harsh spoken with her coworkers, but it felt like no one else was taking this launch seriously.
"Okay, glad we're on the same page now. I look forward to having the results on my desk by the end of tomorrow. I need to get these printed. Okay. Okay bye." With that, she turned off the screen and put her phone in her purse. She looked over her outfit in the mirror one more time. I look cute, she thought with a nod before heading out to the hallway to find Chris… and no Bastion. She checked her clock. 6:01 pm.
"Hey, have you seen Bastion yet?" Emma asked as she locked up her apartment.
"He went ahead. Something about having a date waiting for him," Chris replied with a shrug, which mildly surprised Emma.
"Wha—? But he suggested the carpool." Emma frowned, shaking her head. "Oh well, good for him," she added and looked at Chris. "Rock, paper, scissors for who drives?"
"I'm driving," he countered and started walking down the stairs, causing Emma to give a short laugh.
"You are convinced that I'm a horrid driver, aren't you?" she teased.
Chris grinned. "The worst," he replied, earning a nudge.
All the same, Chris drove the two a good forty-five minutes out of town to the haunted fairground. The parking lot was packed, even for a Friday night. It took them a moment before they made it through the ticket booth. Eventually, they found Bastion talking to a cute young man and smiling. Upon spotting them, he gave them a thumbs up and walks off.
"Hm, well, I guess we're solo then," Emma said in an amused tone. It was good to see that the New Year's luck was at least working for him. She looked back to Chris. "So, what should we do first?"
Chris remembered the plan that Bastion mentioned. "Wanna try out the haunted house?" he suggested. The fairground did look pretty family-friendly, like the flyer said it would be. The haunted house couldn't be too bad.
The suggestion made Emma chuckle. "Fine, fine. We might as well get the bravery test out of the way," she agreed and walked with him to the line to get into the building. The 'house' was more of a mansion. It was huge! "Oh, wow they really went all out on this place." Emma was amazed as they walked past several signs. '18+ only,' 'be prepared to provide ID,' 'consent form required.'
Oh boy... Chris thought with an internal wince. Hopefully, this wouldn't scare her too badly.
A demented clown waited for them at a desk with clipboards and pens. "IDs," he asked as he handed them each a clipboard. Both handed over their driver's licenses, which the man shined a blue light at before handing them back. "Those are the consent forms for your safety and the safety of our actors. They may reach out and grab you, redirect you down secret passages, and so on. However, do not touch the actors, punch, kick, push, or shove them. No running in the halls. No pushing or shoving other guests outside of your own party. In the event of an injury while walking through, the staff will escort you out using an emergency exit. This haunted house takes about forty-five minutes to walk through."
Wow, that is a lot of information, Emma thought as she read over the form. "Good to know. The building is gorgeous, by the way. Are you guys renting it?" she asked, curious about the logistics of running this place, since her good old marketing brain was not completely shut off yet.
The clown gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I think the event planner rented it out from the state. It's some old asylum. Supposed to already be haunted too," he added with a smirk.
"That's a great selling point. They should have had that on the flyer," Emma declared in a surprised tone, while Chris frowned.
She didn't seem worried in the slightest. Maybe this is a bad idea, he thought. All the same, he handed back the filled-out consent form. The two were escorted into a dark, abandoned lobby. Chris looked around the poorly lit area. A cool breeze could be felt despite the place being locked up. He took a deep breath and walked with Emma down the hall. To Chris' horror, he watched as a zombie walked into view as they crossed the hallway. Flashbacks flooded his mind. Anxious, he walked alongside Emma.
Five minutes. For five minutes, actors dressed as zombies rattled barred doors and reached out to try to grab at them, causing Chris' breathing to quicken and eyes to dilate, but he pushed back his urge to run. One of the actors, who appeared to be another door shaker, opened the door and ran at the two, causing Chris to grab Emma by her waist with one arm and pull her back with him as the other clambered to grab a pistol that wasn't there. Emma gave a frightened yelp as she was pulled back. The 'zombie' reached the end of it chain leash as it reached out to try and grab the two. Emma eventually relaxed and started to laugh. This was fake after all.
It took her a moment, but she noticed the arm holding her was shaking. She looked up to find Chris staring at the zombie. That wasn't 'ha ha funny good times' fear, that was genuine terror... He wasn't having fun. There were another forty minutes of this, and they hadn't even gotten to the parts where the actors would grab them and try to separate them and send them down hidden pathways... Emma took his arm and made sure she was between him and the zombie. She wasn't sure what had set him off, but she needed to think of a plan to get them out.
Blood, gore, death, and memories of pain from being bitten and scratched at by the living dead flooded Chris' mind. How did he get out of here? He flinched slightly as he felt something take his hand, only to wake up from his thoughts as Emma led the way forward. Each sound he heard caused his eyes to dart in the direction it came from.
It took her a few minutes, but Emma eventually saw her opening. A wire ran across the hallway, and it hadn't been secured down properly. Bingo. She let go of Chris' hand for a second, so she wouldn't bring him down with her. She wasn't the best actress, but she caught her foot on the wire and 'fell' landing on her knee. The lights turned on as she held her knee.
"Emma?" Chris asked with a concerned expression. As he moved to help her get up again one of the zombie actors walked over to check on her. "Stay away," Chris ordered with a sneer, causing the actor to raise his hands to signal surrender as he walked back.
"Sorry, is it okay if we go? I don't think I can walk on this for another thirty-five minutes," Emma requested as she looks at the retreating actor, who nodded.
"Yeah, the emergency exit is that way," he explained, pointing his thumb over his back towards a brightly lit red sign that read 'Exit'. The behind-the-scenes set up looked like a more normal building.
"Thanks," she replied as she held onto Chris and walked with an exaggerated limp.
This didn't make sense; he'd seen her take much worse tumbles before. Did she hit her knee at a bad angle? Chris wondered while trying to fix his breathing with little success.
Emma waited until they were a good 30 feet away from the haunted house as she started to walk normally again. "There we go, much better," she said with a smile. "It's a miracle." She winked and chuckled as she shifted to stop clinging to him, taking his arm instead. "Let's find a place where we can sit. How are you holding up? That place was pretty intense," she asked with a concerned expression.
"Yeah," he muttered as he tried to shake the feeling of embarrassment that started to build as the adrenaline died down. She noticed.
That isn't an answer... Emma frowned slightly as her worrying compounded, but ultimately, they found a seating area surrounded by various 'spooky' themed food vendors. "Here we go, this looks like a good place to rest," she said, walking with him over to a table "I'm going to get water. Do you want anything?"
"I'm fine," he replied.
Well, that was better. He at least answered the question. Emma nodded. "Kay, I'll be right over there," she explained, pointing to the vendor she was going to.
It took her a good ten minutes because nothing could ever be set up efficiently, but she returned with two bottles of water. "Much better," she said as she took a seat next to Chris. She shifted to put one of the bottles into her purse for later, only to notice her phone going off.
[INCOMING CALL - WORK]
She stared at it for a second but dismissed the call before putting the bottle away. The two sat in silence as Emma took a drink from the bottle and offered it to Chris, who took a swig before giving the bottle back. It helped. It took a minute, but he finally spoke. "Well, that sucked. Sorry about that..." he apologized as he finally recovered from the adrenaline burst.
"No problem, I'm not sure what they were thinking putting that next to a family-friendly location," Emma said sympathetically. She hadn't found it scary at all, but maybe that was because she had a stronger grasp on the fact that what she was seeing was fake from being in the entertainment business.
"So, what should we do instead?" she asked, looking around for ideas. There was the usual assortment of carnival games. "Oh hey, I think they have darts." She smiled as she pointed out the booth.
Chris smiled back. "Sure, let's check that out," he agreed, pushing himself to get up.
The two played a few games and walked around the fair as they chatted about just about everything. Plans for Halloween, the best books and movies to enjoy during the spooky season, and favorite treats to eat. As the latter subject came up Emma could feel her stomach complaining.
"Actually, I think I could go for a bite to eat. Hmm let's see if we can find anything else ridiculous for you to put hot sauce on," she joked before noticing a stand selling fried Octopus tentacles on a stick. "Oh, there you go," she said, gesturing to it.
"Are you still on about that?" Chris asked with a laugh. Emma giggled and stuck her tongue out at him in response. To her dismay, he hooked her shoulder with his arm and started walking over to the stall. "Well, since you suggested it."
"Chris no, I was joking," she said with an expression of dismay and regret. "Okay. You win. I'll drop it," she added with a laugh, but they ended up staying in line. "Just don't make me eat that. It looks gross."
"I'm not going to make you. I'm curious though," he responded, which caused Emma to relax. Luckily, the stall sold normal food too. Emma got two chicken skewers, while Chris got two chicken and one octopus. The two eventually got back to a sitting area and Emma watched with concern as he actually picked it up and looked it over.
"You're not actually going to eat that, right?" she asked with a nervous expression. "I'm pretty sure I just saw it move," she added, which caused him to laugh.
"When in Rome," he stated with a shrug, taking a bite out of it. Emma looked away, sticking out her tongue even though she was still smiling.
"I don't think they ate fried octopus in Rome," she pointed out with a chuckle.
Chris chewed at it a moment and shrugged. "It's not bad," he admitted, taking another bite.
"Wait really?" Emma asked baffled.
"Really. It has an odd texture, but it's not bad," he said and finished it off.
"You're definitely better traveled than I am. I'll stick to chicken," she laughed as she picked up her own meal and took the bottle from her bag.
[INCOMING CALL - WORK]
Ignore.
The two finished up their meals and walked around the fair more, playing a few more games before heading back to the car and riding home. Forty-five minutes later, the two chuckled about a shared joke as they headed up the stairs at their building.
"That was fun," Emma said as she stopped by her door.
He knew what he was supposed to say, but he hesitated as he remembered his earlier episode at the haunted house. "Yeah, I had a good time," he said with a nod.
Do you want to come over for a cup of coffee? "Have a good night," he said instead, as he gave a short wave and went back to his door.
"Good night," Emma said with a small smile and went inside.
Progress kinda? boi knows what to do but the execution was a slight fail for his first attempt. hehe gosh this was fun! I'm excited for the next one too :) see you soon~!
Review Responses:
InkScribble - chap 17 was one heck of a chapter here's hoping this helps with a bit of fluff and emotional development uvu
getawaygirl - amg it makes my heart happy to hear that my story is binge worthy :) i hope this latest addition was worth the wait.
Guest 1995 - Heya~ just saw your review, sorry i missed it before :) here's hoping this is a nice amount of fluff there should be more for the next two chapters
