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It was five in the afternoon when Adrian politely knocked on the door. Chris was enjoying a beer, listening to his favorite records with Eagly perched on the couch next to him. It was nice.
“Leota told me to come talk to you,” Adrian said as soon as he stepped through the door. He wasn’t dressed in his armor, just jeans and a pullover, which meant Leota didn’t send him to discuss a mission with him.
“Tell Leota that I’m fine and I don’t need her to keep sending people to check up on me,” He grumbled, watching Adrian fidget around his trailer, thumbing absentmindedly through papers on the counter and wipe at dust on the barstools.
“Oh, no, she didn’t send me to check on you, she said I should talk to you,” He said, like the difference was completely obvious.
“Okay, you’ve talked to me. Now fuck off, I’m trying to enjoy my night alone.” Something about Adrian always sent him into a little fit of rage, even when it wasn’t always well-deserved. Luckily for Adrian, he was very persistent and didn’t take Chris’ moods to heart.
“No!” He said in that giggly way of his, eternally convinced every conversation between them was banter. She sent me to talk to you about something specific.”
Chris huffed, finally sitting up on the couch to reach over and stop the record that was playing. Adrian waited patiently.
“Okay, go ahead, dipshit. Talk,” He grunted. Then, feeling a bit bad for being so sour, he scratched Eagly’s head and added, “Me and Eagly are all ears.”
“Oh.” Adrian stood up a little straighter. “Well, the thing Leota told me to talk to you about is that I’m in love with you. Just you, obviously. Sorry, Eagly.”
Eagly squawked gently, but Chris barely heard it as all the blood rushed to his head. Adrian just stared, face characteristically blank, offering no further explanation.
“You’re in love with me?” Chris repeated, insanely confused and very alarmed. Adrian nodded.
“Yes, that’s what Leota says. We had ‘girl talk’ together. She helped me name my feelings.” He was beaming, hands fluttering about aimlessly as he spoke. Chris was beginning to wonder if he had taken acid and forgotten about it. He patiently waited for Adrian’s skin to start melting or something.
“You’re in love with me?” Chris said, this time more demanding and louder, still completely dumbfounded. With the new tone, Adrian looked surprisingly offended, and flustered in the way he usually got when Chris raised his voice.
“Yeah, dude, is that so hard to believe?” He scoffed, looking flippantly around the room, rather than making eye contact. “God, I’m not, like, a liar or something.”
And, well, that made Chris flustered. He groaned in exasperation and mild embarrassment, anger rising. “Well, c’mon, give me a break. No one’s ever been in love with me before!” He shouted, and oh —
That caught Adrian’s attention. His head snapped up to look at Chris, eyes wide and laser-focused. Chris stupidly felt himself get misty-eyed as the realization really dawned on him, too. No one had ever been in love with him. He’d thought about it before but saying it out loud caused something in his chest to shatter. He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes in a way he hoped was subtle.
Chris blustered on, “Listen, I’ve had a lot of hot chicks— and dudes want a piece of this, okay? But— but… No, no one’s ever been in love with me. So.” Then, he paused. “You’re sure?”
Adrian fidgeted. Chris could tell he was getting burnt out on the conversation. Adrian wasn’t good at understanding emotions and Chris wasn’t good at communicating them. They would make a shit couple.
Adrian let out an exhale, “Uh, yeah, pretty sure. I talked with Leota about how I feel, and I’ve never liked anything as much as I like you, and I, uh. Well, I’d take a bullet for you, and I think that might be love. At least, I think that’s what love looks like for me. Like—” He splayed his fingers out at his sides. “I love you the way you love Eagly, you know?”
Chris’ face scrunched up. “You love me like a pet animal?”
Adrian giggled loudly, waving him off dramatically. “What? No! I love you like, like you’re my best friend and I spend all my time with you and stuff. And, like, I think you’re hot. Not that I think that you think Eagly is hot, I just mean—”
“Dude, you think I’m hot?” Chris interrupted, not pausing to consider that there were bigger, more important things at hand.
“Well, duh. I think everyone thinks you’re hot. You’re, like— hot. ” Adrian motioned up and down, as though the fact was very clear to everyone in the room. Chris wasn’t physically insecure, really, but the fact was he’d never stopped to consider that Gut Chase’s little brother of all people would think he was hot.
“Well I think you’re hot too,” He blurted, the words trying to make it out of his mouth before he could attempt to pull them back in.
“For real?” Adrian blinked owlishly, glasses resting more on the tip of his nose now that they had slid down a bit. He pushed them back up.
“Yeah, dude.” Chris shrugged, aiming for nonchalance.
“Sick,” Adrian responded, positively beaming. He even looked a little flushed, a bit sweaty from the warm air of the trailer and the intensity of the conversation. “So do you, like, love me too?”
Chris took the last swig of his beer and set the empty bottle on the coffee table. He’d get around to picking it up later.
Did he love Adrian? He knew Vigilante, and he knew Adrian, and he was still struggling pushing those two people together in his mind. He would be stupid to not realize he cared for him. Sure, he found him annoying and, at times, infuriating, but he’d absolutely fuck up anyone who hurt him— and yeah, he’d probably take a bullet for him, too. He was fond of him, had the best times of his life when he was by his side, and found himself thinking of him more often than not when he wasn’t around.
Chris stared, long and hard. Adrian unnervingly didn’t blink.
“Yeah, I think I do,” He answered, standing up from the couch.
Adrian smiled. “It’s okay if you’re not sure. Emotions are confusing for me, too.” Then, he hesitated for a second. “Does this mean, I can like— kiss you and stuff?”
Before Chris barely even had a chance to make an affirmative sound, Adrian pounced on him, kissing him in the most Adrian-like way possible. Both his palms collided with the sides of Chris’ face, sweaty and tacky, and he kissed like a twelve-year-old boy.
But he kissed earnestly, with his full body pressed against every inch of Chris, and he kissed like he’d wanted nothing more than this his entire life. And fuck, that felt good, to be something that someone had been waiting on. He should’ve recognized it for what it was when he’d listened to the 300th voicemail from Vigilante. Chris grabbed onto Adrian’s waist, palmed at his ass, and tried to return just as much want and passion as he was getting.
Adrian moaned, pressed his hips into Chris’, and the whole night was done for.
—
Later, however, when Adrian was laying next to him in bed, chattering a thousand miles a minute about what the butterfly goo must taste like, Chris couldn’t even attempt to listen. He couldn’t really do anything other than stare.
Adrian wasn’t even looking at him, he was staring up at the ceiling, arms crossed under his head with a dopey smile on his face. His bangs curled over his forehead, damp with sweat, and he shook his leg rhythmically as he talked, moving the whole bed in a way that would definitely annoy Peacemaker eventually.
But, staring at Adrian, Chris thought for one, long moment about how he felt. It turned out the answer came much easier than most things did to him—
He loved Adrian, too.
Adrian, not sensing the realization happening across the bed, prattled on, hardly taking a breath.
Chris would just let him know in the morning.