Fated (A Chris Evans Series)

Reunited

Denise was excited, the day she'd been waiting for had finally arrived: Chris was returning home after nine long months of filming. They saw quite a bit of each other throughout the nine months but nothing compared to having their significant other living a fifty minute drive away. It was always a complex task to predict how much time they had together with Chris' jam-packed schedule, it was so fleeting she had to treasure every second she did have with him. Her plans began with a nice home cooked Italian meal at his house where she'd left Luca and Dodger to finish what she'd started so she could head to the airport to pick Chris up. She could barely keep herself from bouncing excitedly as she waited for Chris to emerge from the arrival hall.

"Chris!" Denise was so happy to see him she pushed through the crowd and pounced on him before he saw her. Her ambush didn't startle him because he knew from the feeling of home that the arms around him were the arms of his love. "It is so good to see you." She sighed with a deep satisfaction when he dropped his backpack on the ground and hugged her back, lifting her feet off the ground. "I've missed you so much," she told him, cupping his face in her hands as he lowered her back onto her feet.

"I've missed you too," he gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's all sucked without you." Her statement was one he easily agreed with. It had been done with great reluctance that they'd gone their separate ways during the holidays, Chris returned to Boston while Denise stayed in Los Angeles with her family. It felt like pure torture but neither could spare the little time they had to travel to each other so they painfully agreed to spend all three major holidays apart. They suffered regret almost immediately. Fifteen minutes into Thanksgiving they texted each other a simple "never again," all future holidays were to be spent alternately with each other's families like how Denise wrote in her stories. "All the time I was thinking, what is Chris doing right now?"

"Tell me about it, Scott kept showing me your Instagram posts and-" Chris abruptly stopped when Sebastian cleared his throat. He didn't mean to interrupt their reunion but he didn't want to stand there all day. "Right," Chris chuckled. "Sorry, Seb. Denise," he turned back to her, "Seb's going to be crashing for a few days. He's got a shoot and I told him he could stay with me, save him the hassle of a hotel."

"So you're going to have a roommate too?" She blurted out before she could stop herself. Her cheeks turned a deep shade of red when they laughed. They clearly got her drift; one she wished she'd kept to herself. "That's not what I meant!" She protested to no avail because they knew that was exactly what she meant.

"Man, I just thought of nine bad jokes that I can't say," Chris continued to laugh as he reached down to pick his backpack up. "Don't worry, sweetheart," he whispered into her ear as he slipped his hand into hers. "If the roommate situation gets too bad, I can always whisk you away to a hotel because I don't mind the hassle when there's a reward."

"That's not what I meant," she mumbled while attempting to hide her embarrassed smile. "It wasn't!" Chris and Sebastian just smirked at her, nodding mockingly at her protests. "Shut up, jerks. And you," she giggled, playfully slapping Chris' arm. "You're my fiancé, you're not meant to laugh at me."

"Oh, really?" Chris quizzed rhetorically with a raised brow and a smug smile. "'Cause I thought that was my main duty as your fiancé." She smiled then rolled her eyes and leaned into him when he put his arm around her instead. "I'm sorry, baby. I'll make it up to you later," he whispered into her ear and scoffed when Sebastian snickered. "You can go live with Luca if you're going to give us attitude, Sebastian Stan."

"If the two of you don't mind me crashing in Denise's bed then- hey, I'm more than happy to give you love birds some space." Chris and Denise smirked at Sebastian's response. "Oh, what?" He bit playfully, trying not to laugh because he already knew the answer.

Sebastian and Luca had a bit of a friendship brewing. It started at Salt Lake City when they'd FaceTimed through Denise's phone. Unbeknownst to the pair, the entire thing was a result of Denise's puppeteering. She'd started the call with the claim she wanted to check-in on Luca but after the first ring, she left her phone with Sebastian along with a "I'll be right back." She didn't come back, he answered the call, and everything played out the way Denise had imagined it would. The two exchanged contact details and hadn't stopped texting since. They had so much in common, it would've been impossible for them not to get along. Denise could tell it was only a matter a time until one caved and decided to be more than friends. She was excited for that, and though Sebastian and Luca were playing it cool- they were very excited for that too.

"Nothing," a simultaneous response accompanied with smug smirks. "We're having Italian tonight, just so the two of you know." Denise continued, tricking Sebastian into thinking they'd dropped the previous subject. "Home made, courtesy of two pretty up and coming chefs. Yes, Sebastian," she looked over at him with a grin, "you heard right. She cooks too, talk about a whole package, right?"

"Do you know how you started pushing us together quite subtly?" Sebastian began rhetorically. Denise feigned confusion with her adorably dramatic facials, drawing laughter from Chris. "Well," Sebastian involuntarily smiled as he continued, "it is becoming very obvious you are setting us up."

"But you're smiling about it," Denise quickly pointed out and Sebastian chuckled. "So clearly I'm on the right path." Sebastian neither agreed nor disagreed, he just smiled. With every interaction he had with Denise, he developed an even deeper understanding of why Chris loved her as much as he did. "I'm all for the two of you becoming something more, but I can only do so much." She reminded him. "If you want to be with her, you've got to make a move. Don't wait until it's too late," she advised and Chris nodded in agreement. "Take it from us, Sebastian, waiting will only end in unnecessary heartache."

"Mm hm," Chris nodded again. "Luca's a keeper, Seb. If you like her, keep her." Denise looked up at Chris then laughed when he asked, "what?" She shook her head, suppressing her loud laughter into soft giggles. "What?" He laughed and poked her side, watching her squirm with a smile.

"Nothing," Denise giggled, "that was just such a cheesy line. Sounds like you've been reading a little too much fan fiction by a certain Tumblr writer." Her giggles turned into hard laughter when he poked her side again. "I think you're going to have to purge some of my writing out of your system."

"I think not, they're like my daily how-to lessons. How to be more of a hopeless romantic, how to be cheesy, how to be a gentleman, and how to love my girl the way she deserves to be loved." He kissed her cheek and she smiled. "Just so you know," he whispered into her ear as he pulled away, "you're a straight up keeper too." He smiled when she wiggled her ring finger at him, letting the light hit her engagement ring.

"I believe that statement's already been affirmed."