Uncover | Sebastian Stan

2.0

Fabian easily uses his crutches to help him walk, keeping up with Scarlett without any trouble even though she has offered multiple times to slow down or stop for a moment if he needs to take a breather. She texted him earlier on in the morning to ask if he was free because she only had one scene to film today and then the rest of the day off.

"Tell me again why, out of all of your castmates, you chose to ask me to come with you?"

Scarlett pulls a face, "I can't really bring any of the guys with me and the girls are busy." She sighs, smoothing her coat. "You're also pretty wise about fashion trends and what looks good together."

Fabian smiles to himself, thanking her for opening the door of a store for him, and speaking once they're both inside and beginning to look around. "So you were just looking for company."

She sighs, nodding even though it wasn't a question.

"What about your husband or daughter? Aren't they good company?"

Scarlett waves him off, "I don't really want to talk about my husband right now. As for Rose, she's at the house with him."

Fabian nods, choosing to change the topic for now and, instead, get on with their shopping trip, not that he knows what she is looking for. They go to a few different stores, Scarlett buying a couple of things here and there but they mostly just look around, try on a few things and have a laugh. Eventually, they find their way to a café, buying some coffee and something small to eat before taking a seat towards the back of the place, away from the front window.

They're both quiet for a moment, Scarlett lost in her own thoughts and Fabian watching the world go by out of the window on the other side of the store after balancing his crutches somewhere he can reach them. He turns his attention back to his female counterpart when she speaks up unexpectedly.

"I was planning to come with my husband and daughter today, but then we had another disagreement." She sips at her coffee, not looking at him. "We've been going through a rough patch recently, and I think he's planning to leave Rose with me and go home."

"Oh," Fabian pauses, thinking about how to respond. "If my relationships have ever taught me anything, it's that putting distance between you isn't always the best."

Scarlett hums in acknowledgement, finally looking at him. "I like to think in some universe everything will work out no matter how much distance or how many words we put in between each other. But, maybe that's the dreamer in me."

Fabian gives her a wry smile before leaning forward against the table and changing the topic. "How about we let things play out as they will and talk about something more cheery? Tell me all the gossip from the set."

She chuckles, "I'm pretty sure you already know it all from Seb. What about the gossip that's going to be online later on?"

Fabian shrugs with a cheeky smile, "If people wanted to gossip about me then they had enough opportunities back in New York when I've been out and about with Sebastian."

"Hmm," Scarlett tips her head. "Talking about Sebastian, how long have you known him?"

Fabian grins, looking down and turning the cup in his hand. "Quite a few years; definitely over ten years now. We met each other at a gym funnily enough and just kept encountering each other for a while and just sort of became fast friends."

"Sounds like the introduction to a romance story," Scarlett comments, making him laugh.

"Maybe but it's less so when you realise that he was only at the gym because his trainer was injured so he had to go to that gym to train for a while. He was kind of lost on what routine to do so, once we started becoming friends, I helped him train." He finishes his coffee to wash down the last of his muffin. "That's basically how quite a few months of our friendship went on - training with him between his different roles and trips to LA."

Scarlett raises an eyebrow, "So how did you end up living together?"

Fabian smirks, "What makes you think we do?"

She gives him a look as if to say 'really?', before answering his question. "You two are way too comfortable around each other while living together here to not live together back in New York."

He raises his hands, "Fine, you got me. Yeah, we do live together back home." He smiles. "I think we just made the decision to move in together after a couple years just because he always asked me to house-sit for him when he was away, and I would always go to his place to hang out when he was actually back in the city, so I was barely home anyway. It was just easier, plus he had the space."

Scarlett makes a face of realisation, "Makes sense. Plus, you're like best friends anyway."

He laughs with a nod. "Basically."

With that subject coming to an end, Scarlett finishes her drink and gathers her bags as she mentions a couple more stores she wants to look around before they go back home to their places. Fabian agrees easily with the plan, asking Scarlett to wait by the door for him as he gets an idea, using his crutches carefully to cross the store and reach the counter. He buys some small cakes and pastries to take back to the house for both Sebastian and himself, smiling politely at the girl that rings up his purchases.

He hands over the money for everything, taking the bag from her and waiting for his change. When he is handed his change and the receipt, finally, he can't help but notice the scribbled note on the back of the paper, complete with a row of numbers. He gives one last polite smile as he puts the change away in his wallet, putting it and the receipt in his pocket, before turning and leaving with Scarlett.

"Did she just give you her phone number? Let me see what she wrote." Scarlett laughs.

Fabian huffs in amusement, moving out of the way of where the main stream of pedestrians are walking before stopping and pulling the folded receipt back out of his pocket, handing it to her.

"She did," Scarlett giggles, before reading him the note on the back. "'I don't usually do this but you're hot so I'm taking my chances. Call me. Xx' Are you going for it?"

Fabian gives her a weird look as he takes the receipt back and puts it back in his pocket. "No, I'm not going to call her." He shakes his head as they continue on their journey. "It wouldn't be the first time I've been given a phone number and never called or been asked for my number."

Scarlett laughs before motioning to the store she wants to go into, oblivious to Fabian's quiet sigh of relief, thankful that she didn't press the topic of why he never called any of the numbers.