summer in the city 「 s.stan 」

DAY 27

— AUGUST 27TH —

"Seb, no way."

"But—"

"No."

With three more whole days to spend together, Sebastian had woken you up to randomly tell you that he'd booked, of all things, an escape room for you to try.

"It'll be fun!" he coaxed, grinning brightly. It took all of your strength not to give in straight away because he just looked too cute.

"If you want to be trapped inside a confined space for an hour, I can lock you in the bathroom," you argued.

"If you're in there with me, then fine," he bargained. "Shower sex is—"

"Don't finish that sentence."

"Y/N, c'mon. We can invite Allie and the others too, if you want. Please?"

Finally, you decided that Sebastian's puppy dog eyes were too persuasive; pinching the bridge of your nose in mock irritation, you nodded, trying not to giggle as his grin widened in response to your concession.

"I am inviting our friends, though," you sighed, lazily rolling off the side of the bed before standing up and grabbing your phone. "I don't think our IQs are high enough to figure it out by ourselves."

"Hey, speak for yourself," he joked, quickly kissing you on the cheek before disappearing into the bathroom.

It was small moments like those that you were really going to miss; they were just so natural, so comforting, that it was difficult for you to even comprehend that soon, all of it would be gone. You shook the thought away and quickly texted the group chat, regardless of the metaphorical grey cloud now forming over your head.

Of course, everyone agreed to the idea. By the time you were actually standing outside the escape room, you'd cheered up again – especially since, for some reason, Sebastian was being even more affectionate than usual, insisting on hugging you from behind the entire time the rules were being explained.

You suspected it was because Luca was there; you still hadn't forgotten the pool incident from several weeks ago, but even so, you weren't about to ruin things by bringing it up.

"...and you have one hour to escape the serial killer's lair. Good luck!"

"Wait, what?" you muttered, just as the doors clicked shut. "Seb, you didn't tell me that this is a horror escape room!"

"Scared?" Allie teased, immediately busying herself looking for clues. "Don't just stand there, c'mon! Unless you want chainsaw man to—"

"Okay, okay," you interrupted, playfully rolling your eyes and kneeling down to inspect a silver box in the corner of the small room. However, a tap on your shoulder startled you; thinking that somehow, the 'killer' had chosen to take you fifty-nine minutes early, you screamed and jumped up, head-butting someone in the process.

"Jesus– Y/N, it's just me!" Sebastian complained, sounding slightly offended as he clutched his head.

You couldn't help yourself; you began to laugh straight away, which in turn caused everyone else to dissolve into giggles too. You were beginning to think that, even between the five of you, you were all too stupid to win the escape room.

As it turned out, you were wrong – but only just. Sophia solved the final riddle with literally eight seconds to spare, and everyone rushed out of the door, cheering and jumping up and down like kids.

You squealed when, unexpectedly, Sebastian wrapped his arms around your waist and spun you around, clearly caught in the moment. You were a little dizzy, but the almost ecstatic grin on his face was enough for you to lean forward and kiss him, giddy and lovesick, everyone else momentarily forgotten.

"Wait, you're Sebastian Stan!"

The voice of an employee stunned you as you quickly pulled away, not sure if you were allowed to do that kind of thing in public with him yet.

"That's me," he confirmed, still smiling.

"New girlfriend?" the nosy employee asked cheekily, nodding towards you.

Sebastian glanced at you, before deciding to take your hand. You gawped at him for a second, before finally appreciating how much courage it must've taken to do that, knowing that there would likely be some form of online backlash if this got out.

He didn't care, because it was you.

"Yeah. This is my girlfriend, Y/N."