A Marvellous Christmas | mcu actors

December 7ᵗʰ

After Chris came back from his one-day trip to L.A., it became some kind of tradition for them to meet on the stairs, whenever Elizabeth would be able to crash there. They talked about their jobs, about their mothers, about Dodger who came back as quickly as he had gone before the trip and wouldn't stop jumping on Elizabeth whenever he'd see her on the stairs. Chris had even tested their bond by sharing something so riduculous that if she was in this for the scoops, it'd blow up in the press as quickly as he had said it but days after, Elizabeth had kept his words to herself and he admitted that it wasn't true. After that, Chris would sit peacefully with her for ten minutes or so, waiting for his taxi to arrive and then he'd go home, leaving her in the stairs with her nose deep into her books. Once, he just sat there, watching her read, because every time he would try to engage the conversation, she would hum in response, obviously too engrossed in her book to properly acknowledge his words. So he just shut his mouth, watched her read while hugging Dodger and when his car arrived, he quietly said bye and let her in peace. There were days where Elizabeth would just not engage with him. She'd politely say hi, ask how he was and then go back to her book. He quickly learned that on those days, she'd be better left alone. So he'd play on his phone quietly and try to catch some sentences on her book, in the corner of his eye, trying not to look like he was preying and spying on her. And then, there were some days when, in just ten minutes, they'd have more profund conversations than they'd have with anybody else. They'd talk about New York, they'd talk about how the society was getting more and more materialistic and how they wished sometimes they had lived in ancient times. Maybe the forties, just post-World War II, to see the country rejoice and unite, instead of being more divised than ever. They talked politics, agreeing on many points of views, they talked briefly about how they were both single before quickly changing the subject because both of them weren't feeling secure talking about it and they talked about Dodger some more. They bonded quickly, like they couldn't stop spending time together. They were each other's constant thing in their lives, the one thing that was there no matter what. Chris had some friends in NYC but Elizabeth was all alone, so Chris was a nice addition to a lonely life that she didn't seem to mind though. For Chris, the mystery of why Elizabeth would always wind back to these stairs was too big to let her go that easily. Sure he found her funny and interesting and they shared so many points of view but also, there was this magnetic attraction that brought him back to her, for he didn't understand some parts of her character and couldn't pinpoint some reasons of her behaviour. It's like she was a puzzle he couldn't quite figure out: the picture didn't even seem clear and he didn't know how to assemble the pieces. Thankfully, during their conversations, Dodger had finally seemed to know when to shut his big mouth up, letting the two talk without his constant barks that would sometimes make Chris so exasperated he would consider buying a muzzle.

All was great, all was good, no harm was done and everybody was happy. Chris would sometimes appear with two paper cups full of coffee that they would share sitting on the stairs or a couple of donuts he would have stolen from the snack table. They'd munch on them while talking, not caring one bit about how you're not supposed to talk with a full mouth and they'd laugh at they faces covered in powdered sugar. They'd let Dodger lick their fingers clean, giggling like a bunch of idiots. The days would pass by, the weather would get colder and colder. One day, Chris came out with a throwaway cover that he had found in a dollar store. It wasn't much but when he saw it, he instantly thought about Elizabeth, sitting on those stairs outside, probably freezing her ass off. He gave it to her on a particularly cold day, because the day after the one he had bought it was exceptionally warmer than the rest of the week and he didn't want to look like an idiot. She had welcomed the gift with great pleasure, as her fingers were turning dark pink and her lips were shivering.

"Why don't you bring gloves, you silly head?" Chris has laughed.

"Because then it's harder to turn the pages, duh", she has answered.