✧˚[ 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄 ]˚✧ ||| A Sebastian Stan short story

✧˚[ 7 - STOCKHOLM SYNDROM WITH A TWIST ]˚✧

Four months later, Sweden

Not a good day.

Slow it down. Someone please hit the brakes for me...

Sebastian patted the salt off his hands, washed down the crushed nuts with a Coke and hoped its sugar would do something about the bad mood and jet leg. Then he followed the festival staff member and entered the small stage moments later.

The host welcomed the three men to a warm round of applause. With his most convincing smile, Sebastian waved to the audience and sat down in a corner of the black leather couch. He was happy to spend some quality time with Miles and Paul and to report on this fun little project, which had found a surprising amount of interest in the Scandinavian countries. But secretly he wondered why he volunteered to fly across the world for the fifth time in a few months. Germany, followed by France twice, Greece and now Sweden. While he enjoyed a little breather for his birthday in Greece between all the filming, promo sessions, photo shoots and special movie events, he really believed that this little detour to the northern hemisphere of Europe wouldn't make much difference. Oh, how wrong he was.

Ugh...why did I actually ask Ems to fit this in? Sebastian thought tiredly and only managed to follow Miles half-heartedly as he answered a question from the host.

He felt truly sorry. He tried to pull himself together. Once the interview was over half an hour later and a few questions from the audience heralded the end of their little appearance, Sebastian reminded himself why he came here.

Two teenagers expressed their gratitude for how he and the roles he played helped them through a tough time. A young man talked about his drug addiction history and his dream of working at NASA one day when he got his physics degree. He asked Sebastian how it felt to talk to people flying weightlessly in space and whether he himself wanted to do it one day. Shortly after, a little girl in a princess dress bravely strutted towards the stage holding her father's hand and gave him a rose.

"Because princes love to get flowers too", the host translated her self-confident explanation, whereupon a cheerful murmur filled the hall. Ariel was her current favorite movie and that grim guy with the shiny metal arm on her dad's shelf looked a lot like Prince Eric.

Sebastian's bad mood now disappeared entirely. It was all these little moments, the stories and fates that touched him, fascinated him and made his heart melt. The ones in which he played a part, whether intentionally or unintentionally. He felt very grateful for that.

He blinked against the spotlights and glanced thoughtfully over the many people, while Paul answered another question from the audience.

If she's around?

Chances were high. After all, she was one of the many strangers whose life he affected in some way. Finding out how, suddenly seemed more than possible to him all over again. A name like hers was rare. But not here. Even if it was only an alias, Sebastian thought of it as small ray of hope that eased the torment of a busy schedule.

If only he knew what she looked like. He had a name, but no face. But suddenly, a familiar face appeared in front of him. And only now did he realize that he didn't know her name.

"Hi everyone. I, uhm, have a question for Sebastian."

"We're all ears", the host motivated the unassuming woman behind the stand-up microphone in the center aisle.

"But it has nothing to do with the movie."

"That's absolutely fine. Do you want to tell us your name first?"