Chapter Text
“So the poor guy is just sitting there, looking around in shock, and Chris is the first one to run up to him and offer to help. All innocence and concern. It was priceless!” Karl’s laughter drifts into the kitchen and Chris feels the knot in his stomach loosen just a touch.
“I’m surprised you guys ever got the movie made. When did any work get done?” Bob asked the question in amusement as the pair came around the corner.
“We managed.” Karl responded as he glanced affectionately in Chris’s direction.
“Do I want to know what you’re talking about?” the blond asked.
“No, I don’t think you do.” Karl winked at him and gave a genuine smile. When Chris saw the dimples, he relaxed a bit more, and slid off of the bar stool he was sitting on.
“Bob, why don’t you help me take the plates and silverware to the other room.” Gwynne’s attempt to give the two younger men a bit of privacy was fairly obvious, but Chris didn’t mind. Karl took a step in his direction as the younger man came toward him.
“Is everything…” Chris faltered, and wanted to reach for Karl’s hand, but kept himself in check for the moment. He didn’t want to think about what it would feel like if Karl moved away from his touch.
“Everything’s good, yeah. Just a bit of a chat.” Karl’ accent seemed more pronounced all of a sudden, which Chris took as a sign that he was either nervous, upset, or tired. Maybe all three.
“Karl, I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to...I mean…” Chris floundered again before the dark-haired man put a hand on his arm, shaking his head.
“Not now. Let’s enjoy dinner with your mom and dad.” Chris let out a sigh of resignation and nodded, but when he turned away, Karl held on to his arm. “We’ll talk later, OK?”
Chris searched the handsome Kiwi’s face for a moment, and then spoke. “Ok.” He leaned in closer and brushed his lips tentatively against the corner of Karl’s mouth. “
“Love you.”
“Don’t you forget it.” Karl whispered back. He gave Chris’s arm one more squeeze and then moved over to the stove to grab what was left of the green bean casserole.
The dinner went much as Chris had hoped it would. Conversation was easy and light, and it was obvious that his parents enjoyed Karl’s company. The evening ended with the promise of another get together in the very near future.
“Maybe we should invite your aunt too, Chris.” Gwynne smiled and put an arm around her son.
“Huh?” Chris stared at his mom, not understanding the comment.
“She could bring the green bean casserole.”
Karl’s eyes lit up at the prospect, while Chris did an eyeroll that would have made any teenager proud.
“I’d take the recipe if that would be easier.” Karl offered.
Karl took over the driving duties for the car ride home, while Chris rested his head against the back of the seat, fidgeting with his seat belt buckle. About the tenth time that he unbuckled and rebuckled, Karl reached over to still his hand.
“Sorry.” Chris mumbled. Karl said nothing, concentrating on the dark winding route back home.
Chris’s stomach was in knots again. He knew that they had to talk about what had happened earlier in the evening, but dreaded it all the same. Still, when they had arrived home and Karl had set the tea kettle on the stove without a word, Chris couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Can we talk now?” he asked, his eyes showing the uneasiness that he felt. He hated conflict, especially with Karl, but there would be no way around this.
“I don’t understand Chris.” Karl turned to look at him and leaned against the countertop. “Why didn’t you just tell me that you…”
“I did tell you.” Chris interrupted, an edge already coming out in his voice. “I did. I told you that I could change plans on the last day, but as soon as you found out I was there with my dad you were already telling me that we didn’t need to see each other. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“So lying was the best option then?”
Chris was silent for a moment, trying to come up with a fancy way to say it. In the end he decided the simplest answer was the best. “Yes. If it meant I got to see you, then yes it was.”
Karl shook his head and turned back to the tea kettle, which was now giving off a shrill whistle. He remembered the conversation very well. He and Natalie had pretty much agreed that they were done, but there was still that last gasp of hope that maybe something could be salvaged, if only for the boys, or because of the fact that they truly did care about each other, even if Karl had questioned for a long time whether or nort he was truly in love with his wife.
He’d called Chris on a particularly bad day, just needing to hear the other man’s voice. He hadn’t seen Chris in person since the younger man had wrapped up filming of “Z is for Zachariah” eight weeks earlier. It was during filming of the movie that the two had finally admitted their feelings for each other, but out of respect for Karl’s marriage and the boys, they didn’t pursue their relationship. Karl took some time to to take stock of his situation, feeling Chris’s absence from his life almost like a physical pain. When the blond surprised him with the fact that he was actually in Auckland, Karl practically broke down on the phone.
Once he found out however,that Chris was in New Zealand to spend time with his father, Karl had insisted that he would not intrude on their time together. He supposed that when Chris contacted him again to say that his dad had returned early, he should have known that something was up, but, he was so happy at the prospect of being with Chris, even for a couple of days, that he didn’t question anything. He and Chris met at a secluded resort, and Karl revealed that he was going to ask Natalie for a legal separation. The pair had consummated their relationship, and the rest, as they say, was history.
“Are you going to tell me that you wish that weekend hadn’t happened?” Chris asked.
“Of course not.” Karl scoffed. “That time was...I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” The softness in his voice squeezed at Chris’s heart. “I just don’t like that it started with a lie is all.”
Chris ran a sweaty hand over his face and let out a breath that he’d been holding. “I’m sorry. I should have told you...I meant to, but once I got there and I saw you,” Chris put out his hands in supplication, needing Karl to understand. “I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. It was all so perfect and I knew if I said anything, that would ruin it.”
“Chris…”
“I spent five years loving you. Most of that time I didn’t even think there was a possibility that we could be...that you could love me too. Once I found out that you did, nothing else was that important.”
Karl sat down the mug of tea that he’d just poured and took two steps toward his partner, reaching out to take Chris’s hands and pull him even closer.
“No one has ever loved me like you do.” His voice was rough with unexpected emotion, and Chris felt his chest tighten at the sound. “No one ever will.” Karl brought Chris’s hands up to his lips and kissed his chapped knuckles.
“I’d do anything for you. You have to know that.”
“Even lie to your dad so you can spend forty-eight hours with me?”
“I’d have done it for one hour.” Chris whispered. At his admission, Karl made a sound that was something between and chuckle and a whimper. He wasn’t sure what had made him so emotional all of a sudden, but he felt like he was about to cry.
“I know how hard you’ve worked to be upfront with me about everything, and that means the world to me. I swear to you, I haven’t kept anything else from you, Karl. I swear.”
Karl nodded, knowing in his bones that Chris was telling the truth.
“I just, I missed you so much, and I didn’t know where we stood, if you were going to try to make a go of it for the kids or…”
Karl shook his head. “I knew what I wanted even before you wrapped up filming. Once you were gone, there was no question really. I just wanted to take some time to talk over things with Natalie. He looked at Chris, and seeing the understanding in his eyes, Karl took a deep breath. “I wanted you to be sure too.”
Chris smiled and pulled the other man close in an embrace. “I’ve been sure since that first night that we talked six years ago.” He kissed Karl’s temple and then nuzzled his warm neck. “I’m so glad I found you.”
Karl ran his hands down Chris’s back and moved to kiss him. Chris sighed when their lips met and parted, letting himself get lost in the magic that was Karl’s tongue. After a few blissful moments however, he pulled back.
“What?” Karl asked, already moving in for another kiss.
“There is one other thing…” Chris began hesitantly.
“What?” Karl said the word again, dreading what might be in store, because you could never be sure what Chris was up to.
“Do you really like that casserole?” Chris said the sentence with utter disdain, and it took a moment for Karl to think clearly.
“Casserole? Your aunt’s casserole?”
Chris nodded.
“How can you not like it?” Karl said incredulously. “It’s fucking ambrosia!”
“It’s grey-green pig slop! Those onions aren’t even real, they’re just…”
“Is this a deal breaker Pine?” Karl’s hazel eyes twinkled with amusement even as his eyebrows furrowed in mock annoyance.
“Not a deal breaker per se,” Chris shrugged. “I just...I don’t feel like I know you anymore.”
“Is that so?” Karl took a step away from the younger man, continuing to act shocked.
“Just being...honest.” Chris winked, wondering if he was pushing his luck with the joke given their previous conversation.
“You think you’re funny, don’t you?” Karl advanced on him and Chris backed away. He gasped
in surprise when Karl grabbed his wrist at the last second.
“If you feel like we’re strangers, maybe we ought to get reaquainted.” Karl let the phrase hang in the air while Chris’s blue eyes moved over him in obvious appraisal.
“What did you have in mind Mr. Urban?” Karl jerked him a little closer, drowning out Chris’s gasp with a rough kiss. “Come with me and you’ll find out.”
His heated whisper made Chris shiver with desire. “I’d follow you anywhere.” he smiled as he let Karl pull him out of the kitchen and toward their bedroom.