Timeless // T.H

14// No Kid?

Ruben and Nana spent the following weekend with Roo's grandparents, on Kieran's side, giving Betty the breathing space to address the thing that had been on her mind all week. She hadn't heard from Tom once: not a facetime, not a text, nothing. Curiosity got the better of her and she found herself messaging Chris.

Betty:

Are you free today? I need to talk to someone about something

I feel as though you'll understand x

Capsicle [ice emoji]:

Sure, do you want to come to set, I'm not needed till this evening but

I'm feeling lazy rn x

Thanks mate; I'll be there as soon as x

She rushed to set, hoping no one would recognise her car parked up by between Chris' trailer and RDJ's village of trailers. She knocked sheepishly on the open door to Chris' trailer, greeted by him leaving his bathroom, shirtless- not that she could blame him, it was like 30 degrees out and she was dying from the heat.

"Hey, that was pretty fast," Chris chuckled when he saw her

"Yeah I live pretty local." She smiled, sort of averting her eyes from his specimen of a body whilst he pulled on a top, the hung loosely around his abdomen, but was stretched skin tight around his shoulders and biceps, reminding Betty exactly who these people were that she had befriended and the lifestyles they live.

"No kidding." He nodded, his eyes scanned around her general vicinity before he spoke again "No kid?" he repeated by as a question,

"No he's spending the weekend with his grandparents," she explained and he walked towards her, pressing a kiss to her temple as he greeted her with a side hug and moved towards the still open door. "Do you mind if we chat in here?" she cringed, not ready to bump into Tom just yet and she never knew when he could walk past.

"You're joking right?" he stared at her expecting her to throw in a punchline "It's practically 100 degrees out and you want to sit and stew in this sardine can?" she let out her laugh at his dramatic response and rolled her eyes a little.

"You're in England mate, it is 30 degrees,"

"Well I'm American,"

"Well it is not that bad and it is almost October- it couldn't possibly be that hot..." He could see through her excuses though and his expression softened

"If this is about Tom" he began, even though he knew that it absolutely was about Tom "He is filming all day; you can leave before you have the chance to bump into him."

She couldn't argue with that reasoning and found herself draped across garden furniture with her feet propped up across Chris' lap, letting the warm of the sun tint her skin brown. As the mother of a small boy she spent a lot of her time outside in the sun, so she wasn't pale, but there was very few opportunities for her relax in the sun like this- Roo always wanted to play games using lots of energy, like tag or something.

"Alright, enough relaxing," Chris interrupted the peace and quiet of their moment, moving only slightly so he could look in her direction "Start talking." He demanded and she sighed, sitting herself up for a second and thinking for a while before finally following the order.

"Tom and I kissed," she admitted and he nodded

"I know," she shot him a questioning look and "Tom told Seb, Seb told Haz and Mackie, Mackie told... Well Macie told everyone." She nodded, with a small laugh, "And the whole cast read yours and Tom's texts.

"What?" she gasped, cringing at the thought "Oh god, I must have looked like such a bitch." She complained, hiding her face in her hands.

"It wasn't great," Chris admitted with a shrug "But you're a 20 year old with a kid, no one was holding it against you. They just wanted to know what was wrong with Tom."

"So his Instagram post last weekend was directed at me?" Chris nodded and she groaned in embarrassment again.

"This is what I needed to talk about," she stated, figuring Chris already knew that if he'd seen the messages, "I didn't know what to do after the kiss."

"Was it a good kiss?" Chris asked

"It was a great kiss," she smiled fondly, but it faded as she dwelled on the thought of it "But what is one great kiss in the scheme of things?"

"I guess it depends on who it was that you kissed." She threw her head back in frustration

"That only furthers the problem, it was childhood crush- I've been waiting for that kiss since I was 13 years old."

"I'm struggling to see the issue here..." Chris replied honestly

"The issue is he's not just that 14 year old boy anymore, he has responsibilities to Marvel and his fans and his future; I have Ruben and a job, and a way of life that would be put at risk by just trying to see if we could be what we want to be. I'm not saying he couldn't be dependable or reliable, I just don't know if I could risk sacrificing the life I've created for myself and my son to find out."

"You don't have to tell everyone in the world if you don't want to." Chris pointed out and she choked out a laugh

"Yeah because keeping my relationship a secret worked out so well before. No, I've learnt from that mistake." Chris hid well the effect those words had on him, nodding along looking unfazed.

"Why haven't you talked to him about this then?" Chris asked after a minute of deeply thinking about himself.

"He stopped calling," she shrugged sadly "I figured he got bored and moved on."

"I suppose that means you're here to find out from me if any of this needs worrying about before you fall to far down this rabbit hole, right?" she nodded sheepishly. She truly looked her age like this: when Ruben was around she held an air about her that made her seem so much older. The same thing happened when she spoke, offering overly matured insights on most things; it was so easy to forget that even Tom had a good six months extra insight on the world than she did. However, sat here, looking over at Chris with wide, expectant eyes and a sheepish blush on her face, and waiting to find out whether the boy she liked felt the same way- she really showed her youth.

"Yeah, kinda..."

"He is trying to give you the thinking space he felt you needed." Chris replied, "He's waiting for you to take the next step because he doesn't want you to feel pressured or uncomfortable- but he is waiting."

She didn't know whether to be happy or sad to hear that Tom still liked her, on the one had it meant they still had a chance, but on the other, she had been partly hoping to be able to put the whole situation to bed and just be content being friends with him again- as it was she found herself in limbo again. She wasn't sure whether to run and find Tom and tell the truth or to disappear off into the comforts of her home and write pro/con lists until she found the answer. She was sure, however, that at that moment she just wanted to cry. She didn't cry though; instead the pair fell silent again and lay back in their chairs, basking in the sun again. The peacefulness didn't return as both brains were too busy second guessing themselves and thinking at a mile a minute.

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Betty is me overthinking all my life decisions lmao. I'm not even joking lols
Love E x