Chapter Text
“Oooohh Nooooooox”
Nox glanced up from his phone. Clearly, his little blonde roommate wanted something, but Nox wasn’t exactly excited to find out what. The last time Chase said his name that way, he had wanted him to try something that he had cooked. Let’s just say there’s a reason that only one of them is allowed in the kitchen.
“What do you want, Chase?” he called back.
“Can you c’mere?” Nox suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
“Just tell me what you want, and I’ll do it”
“I want you to come here” Chase sounded vaguely annoyed at this point, but really, when you look like a golden retriever there is a limit to the negative emotions you can express.
“Alright, fine.” Nox, however, had mastered “annoyence”.
He walked towards Chase’s bedroom (where he assumed Chase would be) and eyed the kitchen as he passed by. It did not look like a bomb had gone off, so Chase hadn’t been cooking.
What on earth does he want me for?
He poked his head into his roommate's bedroom and found him sitting on the floor, wearing his teal jeans with the matching teal jacket and a plain shirt that Nox was fairly certain was his.
“What’s up? Nothing’s on fire. I thought for sure that was it,” he deadpanned.
Chase pouted. “Don’t be mean. I just need your help to practice a scene.”
Nox and Chase were both actors. Chase was doing some rom-com at the moment. Something about stars. It didn’t matter. Nox didn’t have anything going on at the moment, but he did have an audition for something in a couple of weeks.
“Well then, what do you need help with?”
“Well at some point my character gets pinned against the wall. I need you to do it so that I can practice… being pinned.”
For whatever reason, this suggestion filled Nox with some very strange feelings. He did not want them in his system.
“Chase, I will not pin you against the wall.”
Chase cocked an eyebrow at him. “Why not?”
There was a challenge in his voice, and it made Nox feel… Something. Frustration? Yes, that was probably it. Frustration that Chase was weirdly good at convincing him to do things he didn’t even want to do, with very few words. Just one look into those big brown eyes, and he would do whatever he was told. He sighed.
“Fine. But only once, and I’m telling you all the ways you could have done it better.”
“Three times, and I’ll do better each time!” Chase was grinning now.
“Stand up.”
“I know,” Chase said innocently, clearly with no regard for whatever was happening in Nox’s mind. Chase walked over to the wall and started speaking. It barely registered to Nox at first.
“So the scene starts with my co-start over there-” he pointed vaguely towards where Nox was “-And so you come in, and you put your hand above my head like this.” He turned around and demonstrated for Nox, although he hardly needed the explanation. He had played in rolls like this before. For some reason though, the prospect of taking this position above Chase terrified him. It was strange. Chase was not scary in the slightest. Chase was a bit like if someone tried to combine a puppy and a rabbit, and got a golden blob of cuteness.
“I get it Chase, I am a professional.”
“Okay then, c’mere and do it.”
Nox sighed and walked towards Chase. Chase inched backwards until his back was against the wall. Nox placed his hand above Chase’s head as they made eye contact. Chase’s eyes were brown like chocolate, with golden flakes sparkled through them, akin possibly, to what stars look like up close.
“Do I look shocked enough?” Chase whispered.
“Yes,” Nox didn’t know what was happening. He felt dizzy and hot and cold, but most of all he could feel that he was about to do something stupid. “You look perfect.” Chase’s face flushed bright red as Nox stared into his eyes. Chase took his wrist and guided Nox’s hand to his face where it was supposed to be. Nox didn’t take his eyes off of Chase’s.
The sound of their doorbell rang through the apartment, shocking the both of them. Nox stepped back quickly.
“Uhm. Are you expecting anyone? Vi and Sil aren't coming until later, uh-” He didn’t want to know what his face looked like right now.
“Nope.” Chase’s voice had gone up almost full octave. “I mean, no, but that’s probably a thing I ordered from amazon, um-”
“I’ll go get it.” Nox was eager to get out of this room, and all of the strange feelings that were in it.
“Thanks for your help with this. Uh. I’m hungry. Can you make me food?”
Nox sighed, but it was more of relief than anything else. Nothing had changed, although it certainly felt like something had. “Yes of course I can. But only because I don’t want you burning the building down.”
“Oh come on, that was one time!”
Nox, (who was most of the way to the door already,) called back, “It was one time too many!”
Chase took a deep breath. He really was hungry, but he also kind of wanted an excuse to not have to face Nox for the time being. It wasn’t that he’d lied about needing Nox to help him practice the scene; he really did have a scene like that. In four months. This was more that he had listened to Simon instead of his better judgment. He had suspected that his feelings towards his tall, dark-hairded, starry-eyed roommate weren’t entirely platonic for months, but this had confirmed it. Feelings were dumb. And confusing. Stupid feelings.
Chase got out his phone to text Simon. He was probably going to be really smug.