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You let yourself fall onto your bean bag chair with a thump and a sigh. You took a deep breath, blowing out of the side of your mouth in an attempt to get your hair out of your face. When it didn’t work for more than a few seconds a pout formed on your face and a slight groan sounded from you.
Sebastian did a half turn on the ladder he was standing on, hanging a few pictures on your wall. The frown on his face quickly turned into a cheeky grin when he saw you. You were adorable with the pout on your lips and strands of hair that had escaped your braid falling into your face.
“What’s with the long face Truska?” Sebastian teased, stepping off the ladder. He laughed as he just barely avoided the pillow you flung at him.
“Ass!” you tried to scold but weren’t able to keep the smile off your face as Sebastian put down the frame he had been hanging and walked over to you.
“Scoot,” Sebastian warned, before letting himself fall onto the bean bag next to you, shifting it so much you started sliding towards the floor.
“Hey!” You objected loudly, flailing and fighting to not land on the floor. Sebastian’s laughter roared through the room as his arm snaked around your waist, pulling you back flush against his side.
Your heart skipped a beat just as it always did when he was this close to you. You fought to keep the pout on your face and remember he was annoying, even if his laughter made it hard. When his lips pressed against your cheek, you lost the fight and a slight giggle escaped you before you let your hand fall flat against his stomach.
“Umpf,” Sebastian exaggerated, bending forward slightly making the bean bag chair shift beneath you.
“Careful! Dork!” You laughed, reaching for the bookcase next to you to keep from falling on the floor. This time you didn’t succeed in keeping balance and slid onto the floor.
Sebastian reached out for you, still laughing, trying to keep you on the chair. Instead, the chair tilted sideways, causing a laughing Sebastian to slide down next to you.
“You’re such an idiot,” you complained with a smile as you sat back up, only for Sebastian to wrap his arms around you and pull you to lie underneath him, tickling your sides.
“Seba. Stop. No,” you laughed wiggling underneath him to get loose, without really wanting too. You loved being this close to Sebastian. You were in love with him even if it was hard admitting it to yourself. There had been a definite connection between the two of you after the one night you had spent together a little under a year ago, and the past few months where you had been living in New York hadn’t lessened that connection. He had quickly become your best friend and easily the one person you spent the most time with just because you wanted too.
Sometimes you were sure Sebastian felt the same about you, while other times you were certain all he saw was a friend. Either way, you hadn’t pushed the relationship. There was a reason you had left LA. You needed to get away from a bad relationship and toxic circle you had gotten yourself into. A change of scenery had been what you needed and the opportunity to do “Once” on Broadway had come at just the right time.
You had never had a huge dream to live in New York. It had just been a place you found yourself, whereas Sebastian loved the city. He even referred to it as she and her, which caused you to mock him weekly. Nevertheless, it had been important to Sebastian for you to give the city a chance.
He wanted you to stay and as long as you lived in boxes and out of suitcases, he knew you wouldn’t start to feel at home. Which was the reason you were here, putting up shelves and pictures, hanging your clothes and trying to make a home out of the things you had, before Sebastian without a doubt dragged you out shopping to fill it even more.
“What did you call me? An idiot?” Sebastian grinned down at you, stilling his movements, but not moving his hands away from your sides.
“Yes cause you’re being one,” you sassed, wiggling your nose at him as you smiled sweetly.
Sadly your charm didn’t have the desired effect. Sebastian instantly dug his fingers into your sides once more, making you squeal and squirm underneath him yet again.
Sebastian loved seeing you happy and laughing, furthermore, he loved being the cause of it. Even if your squirming proved to make it slightly difficult to not reveal to you just how much he enjoyed your little moment together. It wasn’t about that anyway. His goal was to make you laugh, so he internally breathed a sigh of relief when you choked out your surrender in between fits of laughter.
“I give. I’m sorry. You’re smart, kind and the most amazing friend I have. Please stoooop.”
Sebastian ceased his attack and rolled onto his back with a chuckle. His heart skipped a beat when you followed him willingly, resting your head against his shoulder. He smiled and wrapped his arm around your waist, tugging you closer as you continued to grumble.
“You’re so mean. First, you force me to spend an entire beautiful summer day inside, hanging stuff and organizing and then you tickle attack me,” you stuck out your bottom lip and looked up into shimmering blue eyes that almost stopped your heart.
“It’s to help you. You’re never gonna know if you feel at home here if you don’t make an effort to settle in,” Sebastian reminded you, causing you to huff.
“You know I’m right,” Sebastian pushed with a smile as you rolled your eyes at him.
“Maybe,” you relented, pulling your phone from your pocket and rolling onto your back. Still with your head resting on his shoulder.
“What are you doing, crazy woman?” Sebastian asked, amusement clear in his voice.
“Taking a picture,” you deadpanned as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Sebastian laughed, as you stretch your arm above your head and as if on cue you both pulled a silly face at the camera in the moment you snapped the picture.
You both laughed at the coincidence before you gently elbowed him in the side.
“A real one now,” you ordered, causing Sebastian to laugh even harder.
“You did the same thing, you dork. You can’t scold me for something you did as well,” he tried to reason, with no luck whatsoever.
“And yet I just did,” you smirked, stretching out your arm again. “Ready?”
Sebastian playfully groaned but humored you, wrapping his arm around you a little tighter, looking up into your phone, right up until the last few seconds. He quickly turned his head, pressing a kiss to the side of yours, smiling against your hair as you giggled at his shenanigans.
“Sebaaa,” you whined, causing Sebastian to laugh at you before grabbing the phone from your hand.
“Come on, let’s look at them,” he chuckled, ignoring you grumbling about him being a thief.
“They’re good,” Sebastian smiled down at you, loving the happy look on your face as you looked at the phone.
“I’m gonna get a frame for them tomorrow when you force me to go shopping for all the stuff I need to fill this place,” you announced, grinning up at him when he laughed, shaking his head at you.
“How did you know I was gonna do that?”
“Cause I know you, Seba. You wanna fill my place with a lot of stuff I don’t really need because you’re sure it will make me fall in love with it and stay,” you explained and Sebastian’s face instantly fell.
“You hate it?” he asked, already fearing all his efforts were just going to put you off the place. He certainly didn’t want that. In just the few months you had been living in the City he had gotten used to you being around. You might not feel for him as he did for you, but you were still his best friend, how odd that might sound after such a short period of time. He didn’t want to lose you. You moving away might not mean you disappearing from his life completely but he would lose the ease and comfort of having you so close by. He wouldn’t be able to see you as often as he would like, especially not given the busy lives the two of you led.
“I didn’t say that. I like spending time with you,” you shrugged, “and maybe you’re right. Maybe I need to make the place my own to feel at home. To me, a home has just never been a place. It’s people,” you explained.
Sebastian nodded slowly, not feeling any better at all.
“And you don’t have anyone here,” he finished her sentence, frowning a bit when you smiled, tilting your head and pressing a tender kiss to his cheek.
“I wouldn’t exactly say that,” you smiled as their eyes met and Sebastian felt as if his heart jumped into his throat. He just stared at you dumbfounded for what felt like minutes before you suddenly jumped onto your feet, reaching down for his hand.
“Come on, let’s finish up and go out for pizza. I’m starving,” you sighed dramatically as Sebastian let you pull him back onto his feet. He laughed at you, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you in for a tight embrace.
“What about we call it a day, order in and watch a movie instead? Hanging out here might make it feel a bit more like home too,” Sebastian suggested, loving the smile that grew on your face as you took him up on his offer.
As the evening passed, laughter and food were shared as you sat close together on the couch, enjoying your favorite movies, Sebastian started to think you might be right. He loved New York, over any other place in the world he had been, but in that moment he wasn’t sure if it would ever truly feel like home again if it didn’t have you in it too.