𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐎𝐧𝐞-𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬/𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 ♡

𝖡𝖾𝖿𝗈𝗋𝖾 𝖡𝖾𝖽 - 𝖢𝗁𝗋𝗂𝗌

Feeling blah today, but motivated to write more. I give you this very short (compared to my others) one-shot of a needy Chris. Let me know your thoughts. 

Summary: Chris doesn't like the thought of spending the night away from Nick. 

Words: 1483

♡ Matt grabbed his phone from the cushion beside him, flipping it over to see the time. 11:25pm, the clock numbers glowed on his lock screen. The fact there was no text yet from Nick, crossed his mind as strange. He had figured his brother would've been home earlier considering he had been out of the house majority of the day. Or at least sent a text with an update of his plans. Most of the time, when one of the triplets was away from the other two, solo, they weren't gone for very long. Couple hours at best. Matt checked Nick's iPhone location out of curiosity, he was still at Madi's so Matt let go of his initial worry. He glanced over to his brother, Chris, who was sat opposite him on the other end of the couch. Matt sat on the left side, closest to the kitchen and Chris was near the window. He analyzed Chris' expression as he also looked down at his phone, presumably noticing the same thing Matt just had.

"Where's Nick?" Chris asked, confirming Matt's thought process.

"Madi's, but weird he's not back," Matt used a calm tone with his brother, picking up on the nervousness radiating from the youngest.

Matt unlocked his phone and scrolled to his recently called. He clicked on Nick's name, the oldest's name had a star beside it. After a few rings a familiar voice came through the line, "Hey," his brother spoke.

"Hey, are you coming home soon?" Matt asked, looking over at Chris to smile. The youngest was biting at his nails as he eavesropped on the conversation.

"Yeah, I was, sorry, Madi and I were doing face masks, it got late," Nick explained, "I may just stay here, I feel bad making Laura drive me this late."

"I could come get you if you wanted," Matt offered.

"No no, it's okay," Nick knew how much Matt disliked driving at night especially while it was raining. The two homes weren't far from each other but it would be far too much effort the oldest figured.

"Alright, can I come grab you tomorrow then?" Matt asked him.

"Yeah, that would actually be great, I'll take you and Chris, if he comes, for lunch okay?" Nick promised them not realizing Chris was listening in.

"Alright sounds good." Matt ended the call with saying he loved him and reiterated the information to Chris, even though the youngest had already heard.

+

Matt and Chris had continued their night by watching a movie, neither of them feeling remotely tired. Chris especially was no where near the possibility of falling asleep, he couldn't shake the strange feeling he had in response to Nick's absence. He attempted to focus his attention on the movie and then his phone as he scrolled through socials. He enviably ended up closer to Matt's side of the couch, leaning his head into his brother. Matt welcomed the embrace, taking the opportunity to nonchalantly dance his fingers through Chris' hair. By this point another hour had past and Matt was thinking of heading to his room.

"Are you sleeping with me tonight then?" the older looked down to make eye contact with Chris.

"I wanna sleep with Nick," Matt chuckled at Chris' response thinking he was just joking around about the situation, his thoughts interrupted when Chris added, "Matt can you please just go pick him up it's weird he isn't here," Chris continued.

Matt slightly sat up, repositioning as he registered the room's energy shift, "okay Chris but we are picking him up tomorrow, he wanted to stay there, it's late and rainy." He searched his brother's facial expression wondering where he was going with this and if he was serious.

"I know," Chris paused, "I know, but I just need him here," without hesitation he moved himself off of his brother and picked up his phone.

"What are you doing Chris?" Matt asked, still confused about the urgency. He just let his brother finish was he was doing, too tired to intervene. 

The youngest held the phone in front of his face as the ringing started, he put the call on speaker. Nick picked up with a sleepy voice, "yeah?" his syllables barely audible.

"I need you to come home," Chris' voice broke unexpectedly at the last word. 

Matt was sitting calming in his place on the couch, but his head turned quick to his brother when he heard his whimper, "Chris what's wrong?" Matt heard Nick say from the other end of the line.

"Kid you good?" Matt added to the conversation, moving closer to the youngest. 

"Please just come home, please," Chris was uncharacteristically whiny with his words, the emotion still very much clear.

"I'll see you in like 7 hours Chris, what is the rush?" Nick tone was pure confusion.

"No, now please," Chris hastily wiped at tear from his cheek.

"Alright, alright," Matt shuffled himself off the couch and stood up, he leaned over the mic of Chris' phone, "Nicky I'm coming to get you before we all get too worked up here, I'm tired and I don't want to drive any later than right now, so if we are doing this, we're doing it now." He kept his tone light, trying not to add any unnecessary drama to the situation.  

"Ughhh okay, how long?" Nick sounded annoyed, but Chris didn't care about his attitude as long as he would get to see him sooner than 7 hours.

"20 minutes depending on traffic, which at his hour I think we're good," Matt laughed out an exhale.

"Kay," Nick hung up the phone.

Chris didn't say a word, other than a small apology to Matt for having to drive them. The two of them loaded in the car, both moving sheepishly. Matt patted his cheeks a few times, knowing he had to be more alert if he was going to execute this trip safely. The mood of the vehicle matched the weather outside, there was fog shadowing over the roads and the gloom of the rain made for a darker sky than usual. The rain brought a bitter chill to the air so Matt turned on both his and Chris seat warmers. He noticed his brother didn't say a word since hanging up with Nick, so he just let him have his peace. Matt acted as normal as possible, still a bit confused by the entire situation. Chris didn't reach for the aux cord so Matt plugged his own phone in, playing his playlist on low volume. A couple minutes down the road they came to the intersection. The red light shined on them, lighting up Chris' face where Matt debated if the droplet on his cheek was rain or a tear.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked out right, still watching the traffic light. 

"I just want the three of us to be together okay? Why is that so hard to comprehend for the two of you." Chris had his head now leaned up against the passenger side window. 

"It's not, I get it," Matt interrupted him reassurance.

"I just want my brothers okay?" He watched the raindrops race across the glass.

"Okay. I'm not upset with that, I do too," Matt agreed with him.

Silence fell on the van once again, before they finally arrived at their destination and pulled through the gates to access Laura and Madi's driveway. Matt's face lit up as he held his phone in front of his face to text Nick that they were outside. The headlights of the van illuminated Nick's body as he came into view. Stands of his red hair blew around in the wind, he looked like he had rolled out of bed seconds before. As he opened the door to the van he peered in, "miss me?" he joked in a cheery tone before dropping his backpack off on the seat and climbing in.

"Yes," Chris' whined out.

"Oh my god Chris, come on, you really miss me that much huh?" Nick teased him as he shoved at his brother's shoulder.

"Making me drive in this rain is wild," Matt playfully added, "at 1am is crazy." Chris shot him a glare, not loving how Matt was playing off Nick's teasing. 

Regardless, Chris ignored the bantered harassment, nothing they said could ruin the contentment that finally washed over him the moment Nick stepped into the van. Even with Nick singing Doja Cat at the top of his lungs and Matt threatening him to shut up, Chris was happy. The youngest let his mind wander as he turned his head to the window. 

Perhaps a Part 2?