Chapter Text
“You want to be my boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
Felix was starting to get nervous. The pair had been frozen, half wrapped in each other’s arms in the middle of the living room, for what felt like an eternity. It had only been a few seconds, but every one spent without an answer from his girl felt interminable.
In the dim light of the space, Felix could just barely make out the shape of Christines’ face. Her eyes were shining and her mouth hung slightly open, like she was having trouble believing him. He supposed that wasn't entirely unwarranted, and it definitely wasn't undeserved. But Felix still felt a twisting in his stomach as the seconds ticked by. Christine opened and closed her mouth, like she had words stuffed in them and she couldn't use her tongue properly to vocalize them.
“Fe—Felix,” she finally mumbled.
At the hesitation, the stammer in her voice, something in Felix broke down. He turned his face away from hers, staring with empty eyes at the couch where just moments before, they had been snuggled together. As gently as possible, he placed his hands on Christines’ shoulders and pushed her away from him. She stumbled back a step, and for an agonizing second, Pomni was in front of him, a revolver in her hand, looking confused as to why Jax had broken their hug.
“I get it,” said Felix, trying in vain to keep the bitterness out of his voice. “I–I’m sorry for saying that. I shouldn't have, I made it, made this awkward, and if you want me to move out, I can be gone tonight. I just, God, Christine, I really like you, more than just like you're my good friend, and I thought maybe there was a chance you felt the same, but I didn't want to lose you again, and what if I have, and—”
“Felix. Look at me.” Huh?
Very slowly, Felix turned his head. Christine was standing directly in front of him, her face downturned so that it was obscured by her bangs. He couldn't make out her expression.
“Yeah?”
“Sit down.” An arm extended, Christine pointing back at the couch. Now thoroughly confused, Felix didn't argue, just sitting down and resting his palms on his knees. He pressed down slightly on the right one, his foot aching to begin tapping incessantly on the floor. He watched, anticipation creeping up his legs and through his whole body, and Christine turned and, slowly, walked to stand right in front of him again. Felix sucked in a breath when she stepped forward. Still saying nothing, she pushed his knees a little further apart, then stood directly between them.
Holy shit, that was hot.
“Christine, what are you–” Felix finally found the courage to ask, but he didn't get a chance to finish his question. Before he could, Christine suddenly grabbed his face with her hands, cupping his jaw, her palms unimaginably soft. She leaned forward. And then she kissed him.
Felixs’ brain short circuited, every thought blanking out except for the feeling of Christines’ lips against his. They'd kissed before, when he'd walked her home from their date, but that had been a quick peck, a spur of the moment thing. He’d liked it, but it had been over as soon as he'd pressed his lips to hers.
This time, it was not that. As soon as their mouths met, Felix felt Christine sigh against him, as if she was exhausted and kissing him was allowing her to finally rest. Before he could think about it, Felix was kissing her back, as hard as he could. His arms immediately encircled her waist, pulling her into him. When she pulled away for a moment, panting, and lifted a knee, Felix didn't hesitate before hooking a hand under her leg and pulling her up on top of him. Now astride his lap, Christine just gave Felix a small smile before continuing to kiss him. She groaned a little but didn't pull away when Felix pressed his tongue against her lips. With barely any resistance, Christine craned her neck and Felix slid his tongue into her mouth, swiping across her palette and sending shivers across her body. His head spinning, Felix leaned forward, deepening the kiss, before pulling back just enough that he could see Christines’ face. She was bright red, her eyes sparkling even in the small amount of light that filtered through her curtains. Her bangs had been mussed, and her mouth hung open slightly, like she was still gasping for breath. Felix was sure he didn't look much different, as he could literally feel his pulse in his throat, but he didn't care. The only thing that mattered to him in the world at that moment was Christine.
“So,” he said, a devilish smile playing onto his lips as he looked down at her, “Can I take this as a yes?”
“You idiot!” Christine giggled, leaning forward and kissing his cheek. Felix grinned when she scooted even closer to him, sucking in a breath as she (unintentionally) slid forward and rested right on his already half-hard dick, her knees squeezing against his thighs. Bringing her hands up and twining them through the hair at the back of his head, Christine rested her forehead against his.
“Yes,” she clarified. “You can be my boyfriend.” Before she could stop him, Felix jerked his face up and put a kiss on her nose. She giggled again, then leaned her face back down to his, lips parting slightly.
“Now keep kissing me, please.”
Smiling against her and splaying his hands across her back, Felix was all too happy to oblige.
*
Christines’ alarm started blaring at seven am, the notification vibrating the phone against the coffee table.
On the couch, Christine groaned and rolled over, fumbling around until she got the phone in her hand and could turn off the alarm. She rubbed a hand over her eyes, then suddenly froze. Her other arm stayed extended over the coffee table as she realized she was still on the couch.
Which meant…
Beneath her, Felix snored loudly, before lapsing back into dreamland. He was still asleep, and Christine realized they’d spent the whole night on the couch. She’s napped on his chest, his arms curled around her and her knees splayed over his thighs, the entire night.
She was very glad he remained asleep and thus a nonwitness to the freak out she quickly stifled.
When she was able to get over the panic of realization, Christine very gently, careful not to wake Felix, picked herself up from the couch. Picking up her phone and slipping it into her PJ pant pocket, she stretched, heading into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. As she walked back across the room, heading to wash her face and get dressed for her first day at Hamburg, she spared another glance at the still sleeping Felix.
He was so much handsomer than that fuckass purple rabbit, she couldn’t help but comment to herself.
By the time Christine had gotten dressed, her coffee was done. She reentered the kitchen to pour herself a cup, dressed in pigeon gray slacks and a pale blue button—up, a dark blue sweater vest pulled over it. She yawned again, pouring herself coffee and picking a banana from her fruit bowl. She had to laugh to herself; barely a weekends’ worth of Felix’s cooking and she was already feeling spoiled. Christine Breakfast consisted of drip coffee and a banana; Felix could have probably made them both an omelette.
Thinking about the things that Felix could do, Christine gave a stupid giggle, then stifled a hand over her mouth. Thankfully, the sound still hadn’t woken Felix up. She cursed herself in her head as she finished her banana, thinking back to the night before and her present, childish reaction. They hadn’t even done anything, not really. They’d just kissed. And kissed. And kissed…
Her phone read 07:44, which meant she’d have to leave in about right now if she wanted to be on time. Her new supervisor had sent her an email saying her first day would start at eight. Which meant, Christine thought sadly to herself as she brushed her teeth and pulled her hair back into a bun, she’d be gone when Felix woke up.
As Christine reentered the living area, she shot one more glance at her sleeping boyfriend. A thought crossed her mind and, gently tearing the bottom of their finished grocery list from the notepad, she wrote a quick note for Felix to read when he finally got up. Satisfied at the two lines, she went to sign it -C, like she typically did when leaving notes for other people (typically her parents), then paused. Thinking for a minute, she quickly scribbled kisses, chrissy <3, abandoned her pencil, grabbed her purse and car keys, and left the apartment. She laughed at herself in the elevator. From anyone else, the nickname ‘Chrissy’ would have felt so…demeaning. Childish. But the way Felix said it made her feel happy. Hell, he’d somehow gotten her to start using it, in reference to herself. She wondered how her parents would react to that little tidbit.
Christine hummed to herself as she pulled out of the parking lot; she’d flicked through her music library and chosen an album to shuffle at random. The one she’d landed on today was AM from the Arctic Monkeys. It was one she’d downloaded back when she was a teenager, and she smiled to hear the nostalgic opening notes of Snap Out Of It. Even as she sang along to the familiar words, a disturbingly present thought orbited her skull. That being, she actually didn’t want to snap out of it. If ‘it’ was whatever relationship she’d gotten herself into with Felix. She still almost couldn’t believe it.
She arrived at Hamburg right on time, having woven only a bit dangerously through the suburban traffic. She locked her car and greeted the secretary with a polite wave. The lady glanced up and peered at Christine over her glasses.
“You’re the new accountant?” she asked. Christine nodded, and the lady motioned with her hand to the same door Christine had entered the day of her interview.
“Head on back through there, and find your supervisor.”
“Will do, thanks,” said Christine. The secretary just gave an unenthused wave, returning her attention to whatever she’d been doing on her computer.
Christine walked down the short hallway, humming to herself as she passed a few rows of cubicles, before knocking on the glass door to the office at the end of it. There, the same lady who’d conducted her interview was busy clicking at something. She started, then quickly regained her composure, when Christine knocked gently on the glass.
“Ah, Chrissy! Come in, come in,” she said. Christine did so, then was almost immediately shooed back out of the office. “Good morning! I hope the drive wasn’t too bad. Let’s get you over to your cubicle, yes, right over here…I just want to get you acquainted with the company spreadsheets…”
Christine passed the next two hours (approximately) getting a crash course in all things Hamburg Accounting. By the time it was close to ten, her supervisor finally knocked her knuckles on Christines’ desk and announced, “Right! I think that about does it. If you need anything else, your office neighbors are here to help!” She gave a cheerful wink, then stood to leave the cubicle. “We’ll use today and tomorrow as a bit of a trial run, then if all goes well, on Wednesday we can get you fully signed on. Get employee benefits squared away. All that good stuff. And, that’ll be a half day for you, since it’s all more internal paperwork.”
“Great, thanks,” said Christine, shooting the retreating lady a tired smile. “Do you mind if I run to the break room to make a call?”
“Oh, sure. No problem; but do be aware, we’re pretty strict on being on your phone during work hours. Please try your best to restrict usage of your personal phone exclusively during lunch and breaks.”
“Oh course,” Christine affirmed. “Thanks again.”
As soon as she was safely in the confines of the employee break area, noticeably larger than the veritable hole behind the kitchen of the Coffee Loft, Chrisitne pulled out her phone and dialed Randy's number. He picked up on the third ring. “Hey, Christine! We’re sort of busy here; what can I do for you? Is everything alright?” Christine sort of cringed to herself, knowing he was referring to her episode at the café that past Friday, and that she hadn’t so much as texted him since then.
“Hi, Randy. Yes, everything’s fine; I’m actually calling to tell you I got another accounting job! It’s mostly full time, so I can’t come back to the Coffee Loft until Wednesday evening. Is there any chance you can pencil me in for then?”
“Oh, that’s great to hear, Christine! Yes, perfect, I think that’ll work out fine. I had taken the liberty of taking you off the schedule for this week and giving you some emergency sick leave.” There was shuffling at the other end of the line, before Randy continued in a much calmer voice, “And also, Christine, I hope this doesn’t come across as weird, but if you want to quit working here, you can. I know we’re not exactly a dream job for you, heh. And while it’s been great to have you on the team for the past few years, there’s no hard feelings if you want to actually, you know, commit to this new accounting thing full time.”
“Are you sure? You’ll be okay with just the four of you?”
”Well, we might have to find a replacement soon,” Randy laughed, “But yes. We’re sure. Considering the…gap in your employment history, I understand if you’re finally ready to move up that corporate ladder. And besides, I’d have to give my most valuable employee a glowing cover letter to send to that fancy accounting firm.”
Christine found her throat unexpectedly closing up at the kindness in his tone. Randy hadn’t always been the most attentive supervisor, but especially in those early months when her parents had insisted she’d find a second job before she went back to accounting, he’d been a lifesaver. And in the years since then, he’d been almost like a rock. An overly chill, forgot to lock the front most nights rock, but it’s not like Christine had had many other constants in her life. If she’d ever had an older brother, she sort of imagined he’d have been like Randy.
“Thank you, Randy. Seriously,” she said, when she finally found her voice again. “That means a lot.”
“I’ll probably still ask if you can come back to train whoever we find as your replacement,” he said, “But other than that, we’ll make sure you have full severance and a great letter to send to your new employer.”
Christine smiled at the news, thanked Randy and chatted with him a bit longer, then hung up the phone and returned to her cubicle. She spent the next few hours getting her account set up, scrolling through the various companies her accounting firm was working with. She gave a snort of surprise to see, under the ‘C’ section of the list, Coffee Loft Ltd. Guess she’d be seeing more of Randy after all. Scrolling through it a bit more, her stomach threatened to do a barrel roll at one of the entries. She blinked. Surely it couldn’t be—
It wasn’t. It didn’t say ‘C&A Tech’, it said ‘O&A Tech.’
Still, a shudder ran through her body, the memories of her foray into the fake exit room bleeding into her consciousness. In miscellaneous adventures, the ominous logo C&A haunted her. It was just one of Caines’ tricks, she reminded herself. Some stupid AI—generated watermark. She blew out a long breath through her nose and decided to look at something else, trying to staunch the terrifying flow of memories that now pervaded her mind.
At close to one in the afternoon, Christines' stomach rumbled rather loudly, and it was at that moment that she realized she’d forgotten to pack herself a lunch. Muttering to herself and putting her computer to sleep, she stood and gave her shoulders a roll, then picked up her purse from the back of her chair. As she headed to find a nearby sandwich shop, she knocked on her supervisors’ door.
“Hey, is it alright if I leave the building to go and get lunch?”
”Oh, sure! Forgot to tell you, company policy gives all employees a forty minute lunch break. Just make sure you’re back in that amount of time. Enjoy!”
*
Felix snorted awake, fumbling for a moment before his head lolled off the side of the couch. An arm shot out, grounding him against the armrest of the setan, before he could roll off. He scrubbed a hand over his face and sat up, moving to rub his back. His entire spine ached, like he’d been trapped under a weighted blanket for the last nine hours. But why would he have had a weight blanket?
Oh. Shit.
Despite himself, Felix let out a whoop of excitement at the realization that he’d actually spent the whole night with Christine slumped over on top of him. A quick few turns of his head confirmed that she’d left the apartment, and as his brain woke up a bit more, he quickly slid across the couch to grab his phone off the coffee table and check the time.
11:34
Shit.
Felix kept from the couch and ran to grab a collared shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, tugging them on and cursing under his breath. As one of his Calendar apps had reminded him, he was set to be at a house halfway across town at noon, and he had about five other chores scheduled throughout the day. As he hopped into the kitchen, hoping to find a half a sandwich or something to stuff down his gullet before he had to be on the road, his attention snagged on a slip of paper on the kitchen table. At first, he thought it was the remains of his grocery list, but he realized that the handwriting wasn’t his own. Picking up the note, his eyes scanned the lines quickly, and a dopey grin appeared on his face.
good morning Felix i hope you slept well :) i have to head out to work but i’ll come straight home after. maybe we can have a first day of work celebration dinner? text me once ur awake. kisses, chrissy <3
His eyes retraced those last letters: kisses, chrissy <3. He couldn’t believe that Christine, that his Chrissy, had written this, and left it, just for him. He inspected the kitchen, and saw that there were no dirty pots or pans. Taking stock of this, as well as the half full pot of drip coffee, Felix came to the conclusion that Christine hadn’t had breakfast this morning. Something about this realization made him angry. He’d kissed her last night and couldn’t find it in himself to make her breakfast the next morning? He was pretty sure that was asshole behaviour. He promised himself he’d get up early every day for the rest of his life if that’s what Christine needed.
Humming to himself as he reheated the leftover coffee, he folded Christines’ note and tucked it into his breast pocket, before grabbing his phone and messaging Chrissy. This accomplished, he downed the coffee, made himself some toast, and wrapped it in a paper towel to eat one—handed as he drove to his first handyman gig. Once he was done at the first locale, Felix barely had time to send a photo of the completed job to his client before he was off again.
He’d repaired the engine of a truly beaten down Subaru, and it’d been a commission he wasn’t entirely sure if he should take on. The owner, an anonymous woman from Craigslist, had said she was a wheelchair user and would be gone all day on the day her car needed to be serviced, at some lengthily doctors’ appointment, and had asked Felix if he could make an exception to his cash—only listing and take a bank transfer. He’d been hesitant, but he was also no stranger to crazy hospital visits, so he’d agreed. If she never paid him, it would suck, but he’d at least be able to count it as his good deed for the week.
And, since he was now living with Christine, it’s not like he was as strained for gas money. Or his phone bill, considering he now could actually use the free WiFi in Willsboro Apartments. No more burning off his hotspot for him.
By the time he was nearly done with his second commission, a lengthy pipe replacement in a house several blocks away, it was well past noon. As he was taking a break from cramming his tall frame beneath the family's sink, his phone buzzed. He tapped on his screen and felt a rush of serotonin to see a new message from Chrissy 💜.
*
Sitting down at the sandwich shop (Soooubway, decorated with weird, seemingly hand drawn posters and smelling vaguely of colours) to wait for her hoagie, Christine opened her messages and smiled to finally read the messages Felix had texted her earlier that day.
hey chrissy thx u for the note ur so sweet :)
got a lot of fix jobs today and im back on rotation at the scarlet tomorrow so i’ll let you know when i’m coming home. let me know when ur otw too pls. hope ur having a good first day
She paused in her typing a response to thank the guy who brought her her sandwich, spreading her napkin in her lap before hitting send.
will do fe :) the day has been pretty good so far just a loooot of training haha. i should be home around 530. can we talk when i get back?
ok 530 sounds good. also should i be worried abt the talking
umm i don’t think so.
ur not getting second thoughts r u
OMG no ofc not
Felix went offline briefly, and Christine managed to swallow about half of her sandwich before her phone buzzed with his follow up.
im definetly 💯not. i acc wanted to ask is it okay if i update ur name. ik u said yea but is it weird to ask if i can make u my gf in my phone. all official and stuff
Christines’ heart started playing hopscotch at the thoughtfulness, and as she wiped her hand on her napkin so she could take a quick screenshot, she remembered the decidedly different, callous way Jax would so often treat her and the others in the Circus. Felix was Jax, sure, but there was much of Jax that was in no way part of Felix, she decided.
Christine tapped Send, the screenshot leaving her phones’ code with a whoosh. Felix hearted the photo, which displayed his new contact name at the top of their conversation: Fefe 💜🐰. She stil didn’t have a contact phot for him, somehow, so she decided this would be another number one priority.
A typing bubble quickly appeared:
omgomgomg is there a jester emoji
UGH NO just that stupid clown emoji
ur not a clown
and i’m NOT using the circus emoji hell no
okay how about this
chrissy (MY GFFF) ❤️💙
Christine felt her stomach and chest literally melting. Crayons left in the boot of a summertime car, butter on toast, frosting piped onto a still warm cake. When had she been this susceptible to stupid, gooey, childish flirty stuff like this? What was Felix doing to her? This was cheesy, objectively so. In the past, every guy that had done the cheesy shit like this had turned her off and scared her gone within the week. And yet. Somehow, just like touch, when it came from Felix it made her feel warm and happy, rather than gross and disgusted.
Christine finished her sandwich and hearted the message, then sent one last text.
thats so cute i luv it. i have to go back to work now grr so ill lyk when i get off. see u later fe 😘
Having just finished tightening the new pipe, Felix was busy loading up his tool chest when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and read Christines’ goodbye-for-now message, punctuated with a kissy face. Believing himself to be alone, he momentarily squeezed his eyes shut and shouted “Yes!”
When he opened his eyes, however, three of the kids of the house were staring at him through the doorframe of the bathroom. Felix quickly wished the floor could swallow him, and he chuckled nervously, picking up his tools and going to get his payment from their parents and then leave.
“Did you get good news, mister?” asked one of them, a young girl with bright pink glasses. As he headed down the stairs, Felix turned over his shoulder and winked at the kid.
“Sure did. The best news ever.”