Chapter Text
“Did you hear?” Connor’s agent asked him from the corner of the room, still looking at his phone.
“Hear what?” Connor asked, turning back from the chair he was sitting at which overlooked the window outside his hotel room.
“What Hudson’s been up to in Milan?” his agent’s voice sounded a bit more sceptical now.
Connor was fully attentive now if he wasn’t already before. Of course, he’d heard about Hudson going to Milan for the fashion show. Who hadn’t? He’d try to stay off the internet, however, for the past couple of hours because he knows he’d get sucked into the rabbit hole of unnecessary drama caused by drama queens all over the world – which was twitter. But now, he regrets not having been caught up on whatever news there is about Hudson at the moment. Based on the tone of his agent’s voice, it certainly did not just sound like anything usual, like another tabloid raving about how himself and Hudson are now experiencing celebrity popularity like no other recently because of their beloved show Heated Rivalry.
Connor stood up and went to where his agent was sitting and took a peek at his phone, which his agent had still not looked up at from.
Connor looked down to see a very clear picture of Hudson looking great in a suit with grey trousers, along with someone on his left, who Connor recognised to be Tom Blyth. Tom Blyth who had recently starred in the book adapted movie People We Meet on Vacation. That movie is the only piece of media people are fawning over right now, apart from Heated Rivalry. Looking at Tom, Connor himself could acknowledge how good looking that man is outside of the movie – maybe even more. And that concerned him.
“Huddy and Tom have been hanging out the whole time they’ve been in Milan apparently. Also, did you hear about what people have been saying about Tom in People We Meet on Vacation…” Connor let himself get zoned out from the voice of his agent because Connor started moving to go find his own phone and see the news himself.
He found his phone on the nightstand and immediately opened the app he hated the most – twitter (or X I guess). Connor made a new year’s resolution to himself that he would not open this app until it was absolutely necessary, and this is one of those times where it is absolutely necessary.
He waited for a second for his twitter page to refresh and reload, and the second it did, chaos. Hudson Williams was all over the screen, all at once, everywhere. Connor didn’t know where to look first. Each and every picture was a different picture of Hudson at the event, looking so … regal almost.
The more Connor scrolled down, the more pictures he saw of Hudson with Tom as well, along with some other Asian celebrity called Bible who he did not recognise. Connor didn’t like this. In fact, he hated it. Hudson looked so smiley and giggly in all these pictures with Tom and that pissed him off. No way Tom can be THAT funny right? Connor likes to think he makes Hudson laugh just as much when they’re together, if not more.
Connor continued scrolling, also opening the comments occasionally, but then immediately closing it when he saw some comments spreading rumours about a potential little something going on between Hudson and Tom. Absolutely not.
After a point, the photos turned from Hudson in the fashion event to him in some sort of party. A very rave-looking exclusive party with a lot of alcohol, smoking and attractive celebrities. He didn’t mind looking at these pictures of Hudson because he was usually alone or with someone else who wasn’t Tom, and that was enough to make Connor feel relieved. Until…
Until he stumbled upon a post with Hudson and Tom … leaving the party together? What the fuck? There’s just no way. Connor refused to believe it.
Connor couldn’t find a rational thought to be formed, he was thinking about the worst possibilities out there. Did they go back to Hudson’s hotel room? Where did they go? What were they even doing alone? More and more questions consumed Connor and that’s when he knew, he was jealous.
Jealous over his co-star hanging out with another uprising actor just like him. If that isn’t the most inconsiderate reason for anyone to get jealous over, Connor had no idea what was. He didn’t care if it was a stupid reason to get jealous over, he was jealous, period.
It had been a few days since Connor saw Hudson; let alone the mere texts they’ve exchanged. But even that has reduced considerable because Hudson is just so goddamn busy these days. So is Connor, but definitely not as much as Hudson.
Connor was, of course, so happy for Hudson for all the popularity he’s been getting. He deserves every single bit of it. Plus, he knows Hudson loves it as well. But Connor can’t help but reminisce back to the old days when he and Hudson would spend hours and hours texting each other every day, back when they were not this famous yet. Some part of Connor yearned for that time of their life back, no matter how much he still loves his current reality too.
Connor continued to look at different angles of the same picture of Hudson and Tom leaving the party. Each picture just fuelled Connor’s jealousy even more. But then, he stumbled upon a video that nearly made him drop his phone on the floor and swallow his tongue.
It was a video of two guys kissing, their faces not seen at all except one of the guys’ side profile and the other guys’ head from the back. The camera was shaky, but it was very clear to see that it was two guys making out in the middle of the party. Connor got particularly alarmed because of this video because the person who posted it captioned, “what the flying fuck the fuck”. It was obvious what they were saying the fuck to. Because Connor had the exact same reaction.
Surely, SURELY, it was not Tom and Hudson. Surely? Connor kept replaying the video to see if there was any indication as to it being Hudson. He came to the conclusion that it wasn’t Hudson. Purely because Connor knew Hudson intimately like no one else did. Based on the number of times they’ve kissed, all the moments they’ve filmed with each other exposed, and all the vulnerable moments that came along with it, he knew. Connor knew Hudson like no other and so he could confidently confirm that it was not Hudson making out in the video.
But that didn’t stop him from being jealous still because of how everyone seems to be freaking out about the couple in the video potentially being Hudson and Tom. What the fuck? Connor slowly starts to feel dizzy because of all that’s happening.
He feels fucking confused right now. Were people on the internet literally not shipping himself and Hudson like 2 weeks ago? And now suddenly Hudson and Tom too?
Part of him understood why. It’s because of Hudson’s flirty and playboy personality; people automatically assume that he wants to be with someone he’s literally just having a conversation with. But based on all the pictures Connor saw with Hudson and Tom together, he can’t help raising the same question. Did those two really have something going on?
Connor felt a sick sensation in his stomach the second that question popped into his head. He’s started thinking like those twitter freaks too and he hates himself for it. Yet he still can’t shake off the jealousy he’s feeling when looking at pictures of Hudson and Tom talking, smiling and laughing together. It makes it all even worse knowing how attractive Tom himself looks. Fuck.
Connor imagines how things could’ve been if he was in Tom’s shoes right now. There in Milan, with Hudson, laughing and smiling.
Not having seen Hudson in a few days already upset him as it is (for reasons unclear to him) and this just made all his frustration ten times worse.
Before Connor could think over what he’s doing or go back on it, he looked at his agent and said, “Book me a flight ticket to Milan as soon as possible.”
He was going to go see HIS man, Hudson Williams, in Milan though he wasn’t invited. Consequences be damned.