Work Text:
"It's done."
There were about four thought processes Sebastian had to go through almost simultaneously the moment he picked up the call and heard those words:
ONE: Fucking finally.
TWO: It can make the target date of delivery if he sends it today.
THREE: He needs to make the dedication card, pronto.
FOUR: This filming has got to end within the next hour or he’s gonna lose his mind.
“Sebastian? Hello? Did you hear me?” Sebastian snaps out of his thought process at this point. He walks towards the catering table and opens himself a soda. This news update warrants a soda. Go away, Don.
“Yeah, ma, heard ya,” Seb nods even his mom can’t see him. It’s been a habit with her, always. “Is it good? Did they get the size right? Do you think they’ll like it?” He hears a rustle on the other end of the line.
“Of course! Everything is fine, dear. They will love it. It is very good, my friend who did it. You should let her do your wedding.” Seb felt the soda go in the wrong way as he sputtered before being able to reply.
“Wha-- Ma! What are you talking about? There’s-- psh, what wedding, there’s no wedding! Stop embarrassing me ohmygodmom, ” he feels, more than sees Anthony approaching, staring--no, glaring-- at the can of soda he’s still apparently holding. He puts the can down and walks the opposite of where Anthony’s coming from.
“Don’t be coy with me now boy. You won’t be making your mother do this if you don’t feel anything serious for that man.” Sebastian rolls his eyes as he maneuvers his way through the studio hallway and down the back alley.
“I don’t make you do anything, ma.”
“ANYWAY. What do you want me to do with this then? Should I send this to you?” Sebastian recalls his thought process number three.
“No, no, Ma. Just, I’m sending a card over. It’s faster to get to you-- it’s still early so it could probably arrive to you within the day.” He smothers his face, feeling the frustration of being so busy during the holidays and being able to spend it where he wants to.
“Just-- I don’t know-- wrap it up nicely and send it home.”
“To LA?” The question made him smile. Trust his mother to be very precise in everything.
“Boston.” He bites his lip as he remembers the picture sent to him the other night.
“Okay, I will call again if I have sent it. I love you.”
“I love you too. Thank you, ma. Really. For--- all of this.” He breathes in to keep his emotions at bay. The filming really needs to wrap up now, he thinks.
“Anything for you both, honey.”
The call ends and he walks back to the set. But first, the card.
It’s only been a few days and Sebastian hasn’t received any updates from his mom. He’s starting to hate Atlanta for the first time in a long while.
The screen showed a blurry face as he answers the call on the third ring.
“Hey, babe.” He smiles as he waited for about three more seconds for the screen to clear and show red-rimmed eyes and moist with tears.
“Chris? What’s wrong? Why are you--”
“Baby!!!” The eyes squinted, and he heard more than he saw Chris sniffle, until said man realized the phone’s too close to his face. He waits while Chris fixes this, worried of what caused the tears.
“Oops. There, better?” Chris smiled at him.
“What’s wrong, Chris? Are you crying?” Sebastian closes the door of his trailer, ready to wrap things up for the shoot lasted for more than a day.
Chris sniffled, “What? Oh, no no!” Then laughter, god he missed that laugh. “I just, I got-- Dodger got your gift. Jesus, baby, you never do things by halves, don’t you?”
Oh good. Sebastian felt relieved that the package was able to arrive, surprisingly on time, given the holiday season’s typical delay in deliveries.
“Does it-- is that okay? Does it fit? What’s it look like?”
Sebastian plops down the couch and thinks he sounds like a neurotic paranoid dance mom at this point. He hears Chris laugh on the other end.
"It’s great, fits perfectly. How did you even-- I’m just--” Chris pauses and takes a breath. “Thank you. For even thinking of this. It’s awesome and beautiful and he’s so cute!! I’ve taken pictures--profiled one too. I’ll send it later!”
A surge of excitement goes through Sebastian. “Where is he? Lemme see, lemme see!”
“Hold on-- Dodger!” Chris fumbles with the phone a bit and as it gets righted, a nifty looking Dodger wearing the white sweater Sebastian had made showed up on screen, kissing Chris for a greeting.
Sebastian will have to get his mom something pretty big this Christmas.
“Oh my god, that’s amazing! Hey Dodger, hi honey!” Sebastian tries to coo at the screen hoping his voice would at least call Dodger’s attention. Said dog barked in return, seemingly happy to hear his voice too.
“How did you even get this? Was this--”, Chris looks over at Dodger’s sweater again. “Seb, is this like... my sweater?” Chris questions. Seb snickers, of course it is.
“Of course it is. Ma was able to find someone who could tailor fit the smallest size available for Dodge, and I’m glad it’s actually a snug fit.”
Chris looks over at the sweater again, then at Dodger as the dog runs off to play around the house. A beat or two of silence falls between them, and surprising to most but not to them, it’s a comfortable one.
Then he gets that look from Chris again, the one only the closest to the guy sees: of vulnerability and so much emotion in his eyes that it has never failed to take his breath away.
“I love you, baby.” Chris smiled at him, seeing as much love from the man as he is feeling right now.
“I love you too, sweetheart," Seb replies. "I’m sorry I can’t be there right now.” He sees Chris shake his head even before he finished his sentence.
“No, don’t apologize for that, Seb. We both know before going into this relationship that time apart might be longer than otherwise but we said we’d make it work right?” Chris’s smile is hopeful, so positive that Seb couldn’t do anything but agree.
“And you doing this,” Chris continues, “this is what makes it work, makes us work. And you have no idea how much of what you’re doing is making me believe all the more that you? That us? We’re worth it, baby. Like, nobody’s done this-- no one. So you’re it for me, you know? You’re stuck with me now. And Dodger too.” They both laugh at this for a while, then Seb sobers.
“There’s no one for me but you.”
And although they both agreed to this setup, these are the moments when Sebastian just wish he’s with Chris right now. Just there to embrace the heck out of this crybaby who’s too sensitive and fragile and just downright sobbing now.
“Stop crying, why are you such a crybaby, Chris?!”
“Shut up, you’re crying too!”
“Why are we crying!?” The two of them laugh at how they were at the moment. When they both have calmed down, Chris’s face lights up with an idea.
“We can have a family portrait now! I’ll take it and have it printed and framed and I’ll put it up here and at home in LA and at home in SoHo too.” Sebastian laughs at this. It’s getting confusing even to their family where ‘home’ is as they both started to call each other’s place their ‘home’.
“And how do you suggest we do that? I’m miles away from you guys and I’m pretty sure Mackie’s gonna drag this shoot with the way he keeps on cutting that fucking check.” He tries to humor his frustration and doesn’t really want to bring down the mood.
Chris, God bless him, ignores the rant.
“Well, we can do it here. I’ll just take a screenshot. We’re good with grainy pictures anyway.” Chris looked so excited with the idea, Seb is powerless to say no. Probably since forever.
“Fine, but I don’t have the sweater here. I’ll call again later when I get back to the hotel. Now you make sure you guys are ready then, okay?” He stifles a laugh, knowing Chris would probably be changing into the sweater right after they ended this call.
“I will. How long til you get there?” Chris manages to lie down on the sofa while maneuvering the phone from one hand to the other.
Seb estimates, “about an hour or less. I’ll text when I’m about to reach the hotel.”
“Kay,” Chris breathes out. “I miss you.”
“I miss you more. What’s your evening looking like?” Sebastian stands up wrapping things up for the day.
“Mm, dinner with Scott and some of his newfound buddies.”
“Cancel it. Let’s dinner together.” Never let it be said that Sebastian is a selfless guy when it comes to quality time with his family.
Chris laughs at that but nods his head anyway.
“Sure. I'll let Scott kill you when you get here. Be careful on your way back.”
Seb ends the phone call after ten more minutes of both of them acting like teenagers not wanting to hang up.
Two days later, a photo stands on the bedside of their room in Boston with a grainy screenshot of Chris, Sebastian, and Dodger wearing the same white sweater and smiles of content and happiness. Behind the photo, the card reads:
Dodger, keep your dad warm for me. Love you guys. -Your other dad
It takes another week for another copy of the photo to arrive at the dresser of their room in SoHo and another three for it to appear in the walls of the second floor hallway in Laurel Canyon.