🍊 Chase Chihaya 🍊

“Sounds good,” he nodded, smoking through the night actually kinda sounded like the best idea ever.

Chase had a roommate? That was news to him. “Uh, sure. Hey, thinks for hanging out. We should do this again sometime…” He looked around and got low to whisper, “maybe when I’m less high next time.”

At least they had the same idea of a half-decent night. It would’ve been much worse if Sebastian were the type to demand they actually do something, but thankfully the guy’s just as antisocial and introverted as himself. No anxiety, just chain-smoking and trying out recipes, which Chase considered a relatively therapeutic time.

Nights had always been a favorite of Sabrina’s. It was the one time during the twenty-four hours that she was able to relax, breathe, and enjoy some of her other hobbies. A nice stroll, leisure reading, small crafting, and on occasion, baking - to name a few. Tonight was the night that she took a stroll in the park with a book in hand, just in case she found a nice place to sit.

Her eyes traced the sky, mapping out the different constellations she had read about. She even looked back on the ones that she made up as a child. It brought a smile to her face with a quiet chuckle under her breath. It made her miss home, her father, and the people she had grown to know there. She missed it all, but she was doing well for herself here, too. It was a part of her dream.

!!!

Sabrina gasped. Suddenly, during her walk, she came across a man lying on the ground. Still as a log.

“A-are you okay?”

The peace is a welcome change. Not many nights like these after moving in with Gray, there was plenty of sarcasm and banter to fill in the empty spaces where conversation should be-- and that’s what Chase was adjusting to the absence of, just as he heard someone gasp somewhere to the right of him.

Though his eyes flicker open when he hears a girl ask if someone’s okay, Chase almost doesn’t anticipate himself as the one she’s speaking to. It looks like she was out for a late night read, if that book in her hands says anything, and his lips are pursing in a straight line as he tries to think of how to phrase this without seeming weird.

“I’m fine.” It’s a short, terse reply, but he’s never been good at associating with strangers. Maybe they’ve met before, if she’s come around the restaurant in the past, but he normally spent his time behind the counter and that was how he liked it. “Just, um... enjoying the night air. Ha ha. It’s quiet out here. Good for reading.”

That was certainly not a good reaction. Harvey is quick to act, reaching to catch him before he hits the ground, and lays him down gently on his beck. No injuries, he was breathing, and those were all good signs for a situation like this.

However, if he didn’t wake up soon, it could be a much more dire situation, and Harvey had no idea of his medical history. Harvey’s eyes cast about and landed on a chair. He dragged it over and propped up the man’s feet, which would encourage blood flow to his head. He came back to sit at his side. “Can you hear me?” His heavy hand fell on the man’s shoulder and shook it. If he didn’t wake soon, he would be calling emergency services shortly.

Luckily for Harvey, and not-so-luckily for Chase, there isn’t a very large window of time where the blonde is out like a light. One moment he’s immersed in the nothing, and the next he’s feeling a warm hand on his shoulder, simultaneously far away and still moderately comforting given where he is. 

It’s that voice filtering into his mind that pulls him completely away from the matte dark, and after suddenly remembering the position he’s in, Chase’s eyes are flickering open only to find that Harvey’s propped up his feet on a chair and the chef has thoroughly gone and embarrassed himself. Blood flow must be returning to the rest of his body, but his heart is still fluttering away.

He tries to launch himself up into a sitting position, but he realizes he’s moving a little too fast for his limbs to keep up just a tad too late. Chase mutters a soft ‘fuck’ as his hands reach up to his own face, eyes cast toward the ceiling, sprawled out on his back in the hallway like a complete and total moron. In front of the same guy whose presence he’d genuinely enjoyed just a few nights before, no less.

Sebastian’s eyes lit up as if he was a kid seeing a puppy for the first time. In the span of five seconds Chase made himself look like a descendant from god to his baked brain. “Really?”

He was going to make him food? Not just any food, pumpkin flavored food? Ohh god his mouth was watering at the thought of a nice how bowl of pumpkin soup. And not only that, but the man just up and gave him his fries? Holy shit, why was he so nice?

“I’ll make sure I text you next time I’m sleepless and high…I mean hungry.”

That expression Sebastian wears after his little offer is another surprise, and it captures Chase’s gaze for a second, a few dozen thoughts perforating his brain and every single one left unspoken He feels just a little embarrassed now, that something so simple could make someone that happy, and he rubs the back of his neck out of humility as he turns his face to stare at the floor instead.

Then again, just as he does so, Sebastian lets slide a Freudian slip and he’s breathing soft laughter with another roll of his eyes. 

Harvey thought his day was over, but did it ever really end? It was more that he had brief respites from his work hours until he returned to see more patients. It could be both mentally and physically draining but he knew he was doing good work and putting his degree to excellent use.

However, he didn’t expect to find someone crouched out in the hallway, head between their legs. A few options ran through his mind, if the person was hurt, or if they could just be resting, and then a more distant thought that they were trying to block out the world. Mental illnesses weren’t his practice and for those he often referred patients to other doctors, several that took on low income patients. There was no use in guessing when he could simply ask and find out.

“Hey,” Harvey approached and crouched near him. “Are you alright?”

Just as he thinks his heart is going to run out of his chest, he can hear a familiar voice somewhere to the left of him-- but not familiar enough to recognize right away, just an inkling in the back of his mind that says I know you already.

That doesn’t seem to help, even if it’s good to know he’s not about to embarrass himself in front of a complete stranger. Just an acquaintance, or something. He’ll figure out the specifics later, when he’s not about to throw up all over his own clothes.

“I’m... fine. I’m-- having a panic attack, I think. The world feels kind of...”

Lifting his head up from between his knees was a bad idea. Just as he’s about to say the world feels far away, he meets the familiar brown-eyed gaze of the resident doctor crouching down beside him. All those memories from the party come flooding back in waves, the stumbling, the hug, the kiss, holding his hand and hoping he’d see him again before Gray whisked him off home without a chance to say goodbye.