Playdate with Fate (A Chris & Keith AU)

Making Up Lost Time

One day, a few weeks since learning that he was accepted in UCLA, Keith was sitting on his couch, watching TV.

Hell's Kitchen was airing at the time. All of a sudden, Keith's phone vibrated in his pocket as the show went on a commercial break. He thought to himself, "Who the hell could be hitting me up at this time of the day? This shit better be important."

Keith opened his phone shortly afterwards.

As he opened his phone, Keith received a message from one of his childhood friends named Eugene. Keith said to himself, "That's weird. Why would Eugene suddenly message me? I mean, miss thing and I haven't talked since elementary school."

Keith proceeded to tap on Eugene's chat head anyway.

In the message, Eugene said:

"hey, honey. it's been a while since we've talked, huh? saw your Facebook post a couple of days ago and heard you got accepted at UCLA. I'm actually in California rn, and do you mind if we hang out sometime if you're not too busy?"

Keith felt skeptical after receiving the message.

He thought to himself, "Eugene wants to hang out with me 'cause he's in California all of a sudden? That's quite some fishy shit." Keith shrugged his shoulders and went back to watching the episode of Hell's Kitchen that was airing earlier.

Keith cooked some lunch for himself and ate shortly after.

After eating, Keith sighed to himself and said, "Alright, fine. I'll answer this damn message from him. But only because Eugene's my dearest friend of all time." Keith grabbed his phone and started constructing a reply to Eugene's earlier message.

It took Keith a few minutes to send a reply.

He told Eugene:

"I'm available this weekend; where should we meet?"

Keith smiled to himself a few seconds later.

He said, "It's kinda exciting to reconnect with someone I haven't seen since I've been a child. I miss seeing familiar faces from my neighborhood." All of a sudden, Keith's smile died down after thinking, "Now I feel a little homesick. I miss Illinois."

On the day that Eugene and Keith agreed to meet, Eugene arrived at a Pizza Hut that was about a few blocks away from Keith's house.

When he found an empty table, Eugene sat at the area near the window so Keith could easily see where he was. Keith arrived a few minutes later, and he gave Eugene a quick hug after entering. Eugene smiled and asked, "How've you been, honey?"

Keith chuckled softly.

He responded, "I've been doing great lately. How are you? I haven't seen you since I moved out of Illinois." Eugene smiled and replied, "Well, on top of excelling in my studies, I found myself a boyfriend during middle school. He's literal eye candy."

Keith let out a soft 'ooh' shortly afterwards.

Keith then said, "Bitch, show me. If he isn't eye candy like you're saying he is, I swear to fucking God..." Eugene playfully rolled his eyes and showed a picture of his current boyfriend on his phone. He told Keith, "Here he is. His name's Matthew."

Keith's eyes widened when he saw a photo of Matthew.

He playfully slapped Eugene's arm and said, "Alright, miss girlina. I'll give it to you. You did bag yourself a feast to the eyes." Eugene and Keith laughed afterwards. As their laughter died down, Eugene proceeded to order pizza for both of them.

After paying for the order, Eugene went back to the table.

As he sat down, Keith suddenly asked, "So, why'd you wanna meet all of a sudden?" Eugene said, "...Right. About that, Keith, I'm... actually moving to California." Keith felt shocked and asked further, "What made you move here, then?"

Eugene didn't answer.

Keith rolled his eyes a few minutes of silence later and said, "Don't tease me like that, Eugene. Don't leave a bitch hanging like that." Eugene suddenly chuckled and replied, "I'm sorry, it's just really funny to me to hear you say shit like that."

Keith smiled softly afterwards.

As Eugene calmed down from chuckling, he finally said, "Well, the thing is, Keith... I'm also going to study at UCLA." Keith gasped in shock and replied, "That's so cool, sweetheart!" Eugene nodded and replied, "I know! It's gonna be awesome."

The pizza arrived to their table as soon as Eugene finished speaking.

Once Eugene and Keith grabbed a slice each, Keith asked Eugene, "What do you plan on taking at UCLA?" After Keith took a bite, Eugene responded, "I'm taking film directing there." Keith nodded as he swallowed and said, "That's nice to hear."

When Eugene and Keith finished a slice of pizza, Keith brought up Chris planning to study the same course that Eugene was about to take.

Keith showed a picture of Chris on his phone and told Eugene, "This is one of my best friends, Chris. I met him when I bumped onto him once at school. Trust me, he's a really nice person." Eugene smiled and replied, "I guess I'll see him there."

Eugene and Keith continued eating the pizza they ordered before leaving Pizza Hut.

To be continued in Part 9...