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It all started because of some stupid Christmas party Jake begged him to go to. It was going to be all snooty writers and well-achieved actors that would thrive on ruining the entire season for him.
Chris dreaded going, he knew he’d hate every second of it. On top of everything, he had to bring food. Jake has told him to make cookies. Almost as if he was banking on Chris’s failure.
He was a good cook, if he did say so himself. But baking?
Yeah, he’d rather shove a pine tree up his ass then try to bake.
Yet here he was, trying his best to make some reasonable sugar cookies. You might be thinking, Chris! Baking is so easy! All you have to do is follow a recipe! Which is exactly what he was telling himself as he slowly mixed the dry ingredients. But it always seemed to go wrong, always something.
God forbid the world was on his side.
Honestly, he wouldn’t care too much about making good cookies if he was going to any other party. But these prissy assholes already talked enough shit about his “career,” he didn’t need them talking down on his baking too! So he followed the recipe to a T.
As well as he could, anyway. He didn’t exactly have a stand-mixer like the book suggests. Yeah. He went to the library and got a book for the first time since college. So what?
He did everything else like the book wanted, rolling the dough into walnut sized balls (though they were closer to golf balls) 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. He took a moment to admire his work. This might be the best batch he’ll ever make!
He put the large pans into the preheated oven and set the timer for ten minutes. Luckily he knew how to use an oven (a surprising amount of people his age didn’t??). He popped the cookies in and set the timer.
At first his plan was to just sit there and wait for them to be done, but after only a minute he was starting to get a little restless. Couldn’t they just cook faster? He tried to find a way to occupy himself and get his mind off his impending failure.
Maybe he should check the mail… that gift for his sister was supposed to come in today.
No! There’s a very low chance he’d make it back on time. Not to mention that he doesn’t know for sure if he even got mail. But he might forget to grab it if he doesn’t do it now… He spared one more look at the timer, it displayed 8 minutes and 58 seconds left.
…
Fuck it, he did track in Highschool for a reason! He grabbed the timer from the counter and ran right out the door. At least he’d know if he should bring a fire extinguisher on his way back up.He decided it’d be quicker to skip the elevator entirely, not like it ever worked anyway.
He made it to the lobby in record time, now 8 minutes left on the timer. He made his way to the front desk. He was still catching his breath when Barbara turned and smiled at him. She was the front desk lady, a super sweet woman. She also loved Chris. So that was a plus.
“Hello Honey, seems like you’re in a hurry!” She laughed, eyeing his wet-messy hair. He looked down at himself and smiled sheepishly. He was wearing a baggy white t-shirt and blue pajama pants. The pinnacle of pity.
“Y-Yeah. I've got cookies in the oven, I was just hoping to check my mail.”
“Okay Daredevil!“ she quickly spun around in her chair and checked his mailbox, grabbing a big cardboard box. “Looks like you made a smart move.” She smiled, handing it over. He muttered a quick ‘thank you’ and ran off, stacking the timer on top of the large box.
He made it up the stairs with only 5 minutes to spare! Which- you have to admit, that’s pretty impressive. He dropped the box to the ground with a sigh and went to get his keys out of his pockets. He patted around on both pockets, suddenly realizing the weight of the keys was not there.
Shit! God- he was such an idiot! How could he forget his own keys? And of-fucking-course they had to have those stupid automatic locks. He banged his fists against the door in a last minute effort, like someone would just magically open the door for him.
He slumped against the door, looking just as pathetic as he felt. He knew- realistically, he should go downstairs and try to get a replacement before he burns down the whole building. But god that would be so embarrassing! It’s not like many people were outside of their rooms at 10:27 at night. But just knowing that even a single person would see him like this? Yeah, no.
He almost laughed at himself, and how stupid he was. He decided against it when he heard the staircase door open. He immediately jumped up to his feet. He tried looking around for a good excuse as to why exactly he was sitting outside of his apartment with a large box and timer in his hands, which now read 3 minutes and 32 seconds.
He was fresh out of ideas, so he just turned to face the door. Maybe if he didn’t see whoever it was they wouldn’t see him. He heard footsteps come closer. And closer. They stopped one door down. Of course they just HAD to live next door. Chris could see out of the corner of his eye that they were holding a laundry basket.
They we’re both standing there silently for a second, the other guy pulling out his keys to unlock the door before he paused. The guy was looking at him. Like- Chris could physically feel him staring. Goddamnit.
“Is there a reason you’re staring at that door like it owes you money?” He laughed, turning to face Chris. And now Chris had to face him too.
When he turned he saw a bright blue shirt stretched over a broad chest, because this guy was huge. He looked up and he’ll swear to this day he saw butterflies. The man was striking blue eyes and long blonde hair that suited him so well. Chris had never made much of an effort to meet his neighbors. But if he knew they looked like this, he’d have been a little more adamant about meeting them.
The model of a man was staring down at him with an awkward smile, because now Chris was staring. He finally averted his eyes to look at the door again. “Yeah uh- I’m just waiting for my girlfriend to let me in.” He blurted, making a show of knocking on the door.
“I thought a guy lived there?” The man threw him a suspicious look. “Maybe you thought wrong.” Chris shrugged, still looking away. The man looked at him for a bit longer before shrugging and opening his door. Chris was about to let him go, he really was. But he’d never forgive himself for letting these cookies burn.
”Wait!” He yelped, grabbing the man’s arm. Which was unbelievably firm, by the way. The man made a move to block him, like he was some sort of MMA fighter. Honestly, that’s pretty believable.
Maybe Chris should get more into sports.
“I’m sorry- I lied. It’s my apartment and there is no girlfriend in there. I don’t even have a girlfriend-“ the guy chuckled, and Chris realized what he just spewed out. He decided not to dwell on it. “I kinda-sorta-maybe locked myself out and I have cookies in there that are definitely gonna burn. Do you think you could help?”
Chris didn’t know for sure how the guy could help him. Maybe he’d kick down the door or something?? He seemed like he could do that. But, enough muscle talk. He had a serious issue here!
Just as the man was about to answer, the shrill ring of the timer going off rang through both of their ears. Goddamn his comedic timing!
Chris moved as fast as he could to shut it off. His shaky hands made it a bit harder than he wanted it to be. He managed to shut it up on the froth ring, throwing it onto the floor with a sigh.
The blonde sighed out a laugh and smiled again. Chris would deny under threat of legal punishment that he melted a little. “Sure, I can pick locks. Just give me a second to go get some tools.” Chris nodded reverently and the guy was back in under a minute with a set of tools. Chris decided not to dwell on the fact that this man could break into his house literally whenever he wanted. Honestly it’d be good company.
“Thank you so much! I’m Chris, by the way.” Chris held out his hand to shake. “Scott, nice to meet you.” The man smiled, shaking his hand. Chris barely suppressed the shiver that wracked through his entire body when he realized just how big the guy's hands actually were.
Scott quickly stooped down to the ground and started inspecting the lock. After a few seconds he grabbed one of the shiny tools and started working away. He was moving it around in there before he paused and looked back at Chris, suspicious.
”How do I know you’re not trying to break in?” Chris decided not to correct him that technically he’d be breaking in. Instead he just laughed. “It's sweet that you think there’s anything in there worth stealing.” Scott raised a brow.
“If I was breaking in, why would I have an obnoxiously loud timer and huge box in my hands?” Scott seemed to consider, before shrugging half-heartedly. “Maybe you’re just good at your craft.”
“Says the guy currently picking my lock.”
“I need to know how to, for my job.” Scott defended, looking back at him again. “Yeah? And what are you- a secret agent or something?” Scott paused before rolling his eyes.
“I’ve seen this whole spiel before. Cute guy begging to be let in with high stakes? Then I let you in and you rob this poor guy blind.”
“First off- I’m not ‘a poor’ guy, thank you very much. Second… are you flirting with me?”
Chris doesn’t know where he pulled that confidence from, maybe from the very depths of hell his baking skills came from? But Scott looked away red-faced and continued back on the lock and he decided he didn’t want to know.
“Maybe, but I probably shouldn’t. You might rob me next.” He laughed, still looking at the door.
“I’m not- okay. How about, you let me in and I’ll show you the cookies. If there aren’t any then you can kick me right on out.” Scott seemed to consider for a second, before smiling up at him with a nod. Probably because he realized just how easy throwing him out would be.
“As long as you give me one, I’m starving.”
“I can, but I won’t promise they’ll be good. I’m a pretty shitty baker.” Chris shrugged, leaning on the wall. “I’m sure you’re not that bad.” Scott laughed. “Well. they’ve been in there,” Chris checked his watch, ”5 minutes longer than they should have been. So they're about to be bad no matter what.”
Just as he finished his sentence, he heard the click of the lock. Scott pumped his fist in the air and stood. “Time to check if you were lying to me.” Chris rolled his eyes and pushed the door open. Sure enough, there were some slightly too brown cookies baking in the oven.
He made a show of pulling them out and setting them on the counter in front of him. “I don’t wanna say I told you so, but I did.” Chris smiled. “Yeah Yeah.” Scott rolled his eyes.
The second the tray touched the countertop, Scott snatched one of the cookies and ate the whole thing in one bite. Chris gasped and watched as he chewed for a minute before swallowing the whole thing.
“…So?”
“Pretty good! A little hot though.” Scott laughed, blowing some steam out of his mouth. “Yeah… you’re kinda supposed to wait for them to cool down.”
“Really? Why didn’t you tell me?” Scott frowned. Chris handed him a cold glass of water, which he took gratefully . “Because it’s common sense.” Chris replied, laughing. Scott glared at him for a moment before laughing too.
“Well, thanks for the food.” Scott smiled, shaking his hand. “Thanks for helping me out with the lock. You’re a lifesaver, honestly.” Chris smiled back. He was a bit sad to say goodbye. They were getting along pretty well.
They both waved goodbye and Scott made his way to the door. He turned, facing Chris who was standing in the kitchenette. “What are you making those for anyway?” He asked. “Some stupid Christmas party that my friend is dragging me too. “ Chris shrugged, giving the man an odd look.
“Do you… do you need any help?” The blonde tried to look nonchalant. Chris smiled as he saw that Scott didn’t want to leave either.
“Yeah, actually. Some help would be nice.”
Scott ended up sleeping over that night. He also ended up being a plus one to that stupid Christmas party.