#jamesr

“Okay, keep you away from Chastain,” James muttered under his breath, handing you a glass of champagne since you didn’t grab any food. “Just have this. And try to relax. It’s a party, not a red carpet. Be cool.”

“Cool, cool, cool,” You said, sipping at the champagne. “Yeah, I can be cool,” You said, your eyes flitting around. So many celebrities in one place, and all of them, every single one, was a gorgeous human being. “Do you mind if I just stay around you for a while? I’m still nervous.”

“I hope so, you’re my plus one. It would be rude if you just left me,” James laughed. You laughed along with him and for the hundredth time that day, you were glad that you knew someone as cool as him. He was a diamond in the rough, and a very good looking one if you did say so yourself. He was wearing a nice suit, but a casual shirt underneath it, not getting too dressed up. He looked as relaxed as you wanted to feel.

He introduced you to everyone, slowly. It wasn’t a big meet and greet, it went more organically than that. To both yours and James’ delight, you were able to keep yourself handled, even when you met Jessica Chastain. “So you’re the one that James has been talking about,” The beautiful redhead said, after you introduced yourself.

“Whatever he said, I didn’t do it. Unless it was really cool, then it was all me,” You joked, making her laugh. “No, but really, he goes on about how awesome you all are too, all the time.”

“And it’s always y/n this, and y/n that,” Jessica teased, nudging James, making him fall a little pink. You looked up at him with surprise. The fact that she remembered your name so quickly proved that she wasn’t just being polite. He really talked about you.

“Well, I’m the lucky one then, if the cast of the best movie of the year all know my name,” You said, trying to change the conversation around before you started to feel all warm and fluffy. James McAvoy joined the conversation, and then Bill Hader, and it became full of laughs. Very funny, all of them.

“I didn’t think you were real. I thought you were some sort of imaginary friend,” Bill Hader said to you, a serious expression on his face. “He made you sound too good to be true.”

“You know what’s funny?” You asked, finishing the last of your champagne. A caterer came around and took it for you, along with James’s empty plate. He was being rather quiet. “Before we left, he told me not to embarrass him. I’m starting to think that message was meant for you.”

Hader laughed pretty hard at that one, and eventually the conversation got off of you, and then back onto the movie. There was a newcomer to the conversation - Andy Bean, who only had a small role in the film but it was Stan so it was still a big character. He had moved in between you and Jessica, and you noticed that he was standing quite close. And you found yourself not really minding.

“So, did you like the movie?” Andy asked, and you found yourself in an almost one on one conversation with him. The other actors were drifting off, but James stayed by your side.

“Of course I did!” You said, surprised that he was even asking such a thing. “It was different from the book in a lot of ways, but it was really good. I mean, obviously I wish that you had more scenes but that’s more a problem with Stephen than with you. But there is one thing I wish that they hadn’t changed from the book...”

“And what’s that?” Andy asked.

You looked up at James and grinned. He groaned, figuring that something humiliating was coming his way. He was right, as per usual.

“Can you imagine Eddie wearing a little Chauffers hat? They should have stuck to the limo business, just for that alone.” You said, ruffling James’s short hair. He swatted but never actually came close to hitting you. You laughed and ducked, which only made you all the closer to Andy.

“I’m getting more food,” He grumbled and walked off, leaving just you and the other actor. He was smiling at you, and you smiled back.

“So you two seem very close,” Andy said, watching James leave to go back to where the buffet was.

“That’s what everyone keeps saying tonight,” You said, turning to look at Andy since you could see James’s back anytime you wanted, really. This was to meet new people, to have fun. “All I am going to say, before the gossip magazines start showing up, is that he is one of the best people that I know. And we’re going to leave it at that.”

“Okay, okay, defensive,” Andy said, raising an eyebrow. “He is a good guy though. I hope I get to work with him again. And the kids because they were actually really hard shoes to fill.”

“Oh my God, the kids,” You said, nodding in agreement. It turned out that you both had a lot of the same views on things, especially the movie. You wished again that he had gotten more screen time so that you could have seen him more. He was more of a stand-out guy than the movie had given him credit for.

“So yeah, I actually did do that bird jigsaw puzzle all by myself, and I’m proud of that,” Andy said, well into his third glass of champagne. You were as well, since every time Andy grabbed himself one, he’d get one for you. He was being a perfect gentlemen and you were growing impressed. It helped you to feel a lot more free, and a lot less nervous about making a good impression. It seems that James had done that for you.

“And how many pieces was that - fifty?” You teased, making him bark with laughter.

“A thousand, I’ll have you know. I worked on it when they were getting the rest of the scene ready!” He protested.

“Okay, I guess I’ll have to watch it again, just to admire your amazing puzzle skills.” You smiled. He grinned back at you, his smile rather lopsided. “

Two more drinks. The waitress just kept coming around with plates of it. Champagne was a celebration drink and there was a lot to celebrate tonight. You were getting pretty tipsy at this point, and you were so wrapped up in your conversation with Andy that you didn’t notice people were starting to leave. You were laughing at one of his on-set anecdotes when you felt a tap on your shoulder. You turned to see James standing there, hands in his pockets, face looking a little down.

“Cheer up buttercup!” You said, trying to give him your half-emptied glass. “Here, this is making me happy, so maybe it will do the same to you. You’re looking dour.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect to get lonely tonight,” James said, not sounding impressed at all. However, you were in too a good a mood to deal with his grumpiness. You wrapped your arm around his and laid your head upon his shoulder.

“There, you’re not lonely now,” You said, motioning Andy to come and join the hug. He did, chuckling the entire time, wrapping his arms around the both of you. James stiffened, you could feel that much, but you didn’t let go of him.

“I was thinking it’s about time that we head back to the hotel anyway,” James said, after Andy had let you two go.

“Oh, yeah, sure.” You said, excited at the prospect of the big hotel beds that were in your double room. “Andy, I must get your number.”

“I must give it to you!” He said, taking hold of a napkin and scrawled some numbers on there. You took it with a smile, folding it in your hand so the ink wouldn’t transfer onto your skin. “It was lovely to meet you, y/n. And always good to see you, James.”

“Yeah, you too,” James said, putting his hand lightly on your shoulder and lead you out of the party to where the car was waiting. You slipped inside first, getting yourself comfortable when James came in after you. He seemed to be in the most sullen mood. A little too-Eddie like, you noticed.

“Okay, come on buttercup,” You said, putting your hand on his knee and gave it a squeeze. “Fess up. There’s something on your mind and I want to know what it is.”

James sighed dramatically, looking out the window. I bent forward, trying to swerve under him to get him to look at me. “Quit it,” He said, but you noticed that his mouth went up a twitch. He couldn’t stay mad at you.

“Come on, please? It was a fun party, you shouldn’t be scowling.”

“You and Andy seemed to be getting along pretty well.”

“And that’s why you’re being a frowny face? I thought you wanted me to get along with your friends... Unless...” You gasped in surprise. Due to the drink, it came out more dramatic than intentioned. “Are you being jealous, Mr Ransome?”

“No,” He said, but he said it too quickly. “Why would I be jealous?”

“Well, there’s two possible reasons. One is that you don’t want me close to Andy because you wanted his attention all night or...” You blinked at him, realization coming across you. “Or the second is I’ve been a bad date because I spent almost the whole time talking to someone else. Gee, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” He said, grunting, still refusing to look over at you. “You were having fun-”

“But I was being rude.” You put your head on his shoulder, trying to entice him to look at you again. You even did your puppy dog pout, which finally made him catch your eye. You made sure to keep up the contact so that he wouldn’t be able to look away again. “James, I’m really sorry. I just got kind of carried away. It’s really nice to have someone else to talk to about you.”

“You were talking about me?” He asked, in a tone of disbelief.

“Quite a bit actually. What else do I have to talk about? You’re the person that I do everything with. And that I make all my plans with. I was telling him about the trip that we’re going to take to the beach in the Summer, just you and I. He said it sounded fun, but I think I got the point across that it’s just supposed to be the two of us.”

“Oh,” James said, having the good sense to feel a little embarrassed. “I didn’t know that you were talking about me.”

“Should have,” You said, noticing his fingers inching closer to your leg. “You’re my favorite person in the whole world. Am I your favorite?”

“You have to ask?” He questioned you, making you grin like you had the first time that you had met him and realized just how your life was going to be positively impacted.

“Yup,” You said, popping the P. You took hold of his hand, lifted it, and set it down upon your own thigh so he would have to feel the luxurious fabric of your outfit. He stiffened in his seat, but his fingers went a little further, squeezing your thigh. “I’m sorry I ruined our date. Can I make it up to you?”

“You’ve been drinking, y/n,” James said, sounding apprehensive.

“Liquid courage,” You said, leaning in. You leaned in to finally kiss those lips that you’ve been wanting for a while, but never had the bravery to go for. But he stopped you by turning his head, so you got his cheek. You pouted with disappointment, and he sighed, taking his hand back. What a drama queen, you thought.

“I can’t, not when you’ve been drinking. If you were sober maybe, but-”

“I only had a couple of drinks. I know what I’m doing. I’m still in control of myself. James. Just ... please?”

James looked worried, stressed and a little happy at the same time. It was a weird mix to see on his face, but you found it endearing. Even more so when you realized that he was rejecting you, not because he wanted to, but because he didn’t want to take advantage. “No,” He said again.

The car pulled in front of the hotel, and he got out quickly, but still stuck around to offer you his hand to get out onto the sidewalk.

“Okay. I’ll give up - for now. But don’t think that these are just tipsy thoughts,” You said, holding onto his side as you entered the hotel, making for the elevator so you could go to your room. “Because I’ve kinda loved you for a long time and I was just so happy that I could finally tell someone about it that I almost ruined it.”

“You didn’t ruin anything - hey, mind the buttons,” He said, as you nearly tumbled inside, your hip hitting a couple of buttons for floors that you weren’t going to. It was going to be a long ride up to your floor. You smiled at him teasingly and pressed a couple more, making him groan. “What are you doing?”

“Making the ride last longer, you said gleefully. “I know you don’t want me to kiss you but can I hug instead?”

“Yeah, I guess,” He said. You wrapped your arms around his neck and nuzzled your face against his shoulder, taking in the smell of the cologne that he was wearing that night. “It’s not that I don’t want to...” He said, as the doors opened and then closed on an empty floor.

“Do you love me too?” You asked, trying to feel his heartbeat through your own chest, but all that you could place was yours. It was going quickly.

“You know I do,” He said, more to himself than to you.

“So I can kiss you in the morning when I’m sober?”

“I.. I guess you could.”

“Is that rain?” You asked, on the third day of the adventure.

“Worried about a little bit of water?” James joked, though the skies ahead were starting to look ominous. You both were just now leaving New York City, having started off there by seeing the Lady Liberty herself, and taking in Times Square where James was able to remain anonymous. He let out a deep breath as you gave him a glare, and focused on making the correct turn to get to Connecticut. “Because we’re going to be there in just a couple of hours, and that’s if traffic is bad.”

You were tapping on your phone, looking at upcoming weather forecasts and winced at what you were seeing. James kept glancing over at you, growing worried since you weren’t saying anything in response. Nothing was coming out of your mouth except for little winces and then a groan, so he just turned up the radio which was playing an obnoxious pop song.

You finally turned it down after the commericals started. “James, I think we should stay in Connecticut instead of continuing onto Rhode Island today. What the weather apps are telling me is honestly pretty frightening. I’ve been searching up hotels too, and I found us a deal on a room in a bed and breakfast, is that okay?” As he was doing the majority of the driving on this trip, even though you had offered to do your fair share, you wanted to make sure this was alright with him before going ahead and booking it.

“Now that’s another day to add onto this trip,” James grumbled, but he instantly regretted it when he saw the look on your face. “Which is wonderful?” He added, but your look of disappointment didn’t change. “Sorry, you just know how I like to stick to my schedules.”

“You want to drive through a storm, that’s fine with me. For some reason, I thought being courteous here was the right thing to do,” You huffed, folding your arms in front of you. It was clear that being in the same car as James for so long was beginning to irritate you, and even more so was the fact that he didn’t seem to be bothered much at all.

During the drive though, the rain started to fall. It was in big fat drops at first, and you looked at James with an ‘I told you so’ expression. But James gave you the same smug look and pointed in the backseat of his car where, along with some trash from fast food places, souvenirs and your suitcases, there was an umbrella for the two of you to use while you looked around the city. You rolled your eyes and brought your phone out again, deciding at the very least you were going to book the bed and breakfast for you, since you weren’t crazy enough to go through a storm, even if you weren’t the one driving.

And, of course, the rain didn’t let up as you crossed state lines. “You’d better drop the bravado act, this is getting bad, James.” The fact that as soon as you said that, thunder rumbled throughout the sky and the rain started to fall harder and harder until it was getting tough to see, helped your cause. You weren’t setting out to piss off James, you just wanted the both of you to be safe, even if that meant going off schedule a little bit.

When you reached the city of Hartwood Connecticut, James finally gave in and asked you the directions to the bed and breakfast. “Y/N, you win, we’ll stay the night.” He sighed, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as he tried to make out the street signs. You read off the directions, refraining from saying anything that might bother him further. The trip into the city became more about safe driving than sightseeing. You managed to steer James in the right direction and the car pulled up to an old house, three stories high, that would look cheerful on a sunny day but looked drab in the gray.

You started to shuffle through your stuff in the back seat, looking for your overnight bag that you used the day before. Over your shoulder, you noticed that James had turned off the car and was preparing to run out. “Don’t forget the umbrella,” You said, grabbing it and handed it over. Once he had it, he was out of the car and into the rain, circling around the car instead of running straight up to the door like you had half-expected.

“It’s freezing!” James announced as he opened your door for you, shivering beneath the umbrella.

“Oh James, let’s hurry then. Here, take this.” He took his bag from your arms and awkwardly held it and the umbrella and tried to keep it over you as you got out with your own bag. You noticed that he hadn’t pulled the umbrella out quick enough when he stepped out of the car, and the top of his head was damp from the rain. You wanted to stop for a second and admire how adorable he looked with his short hair plastered to his forehead, but he was right - the weather put a chill up your spine.

As luck would have it, it was a slow season for the Bed and Breakfast, and they had your room available immediately. Essentially, you would have to be out very early in the morning, but that wasn’t a problem with how tight James wanted to stick to the schedule. He smiled at you as he was handed the room key, grateful for your insistence. You knew that he wasn’t the type to say anything such as how wrong he was and how right you were, but you could see it in his eyes that he felt that way.

“Don’t look at me like that,” He chuckled as you both went up the stairs to the third floor where your room was. Smiling, you pretended that you had no idea what he was talking about.

The room looked as cozy as a picture, with floral bedding, home-made looking furniture, prints of artwork that could probably be seen in every bed and breakfast around the world as if they had a store just for that, and a small TV mounted on the dresser. James put his damp bag on the circular rug that went part-way under the bed and headed to the window to look out at the car. When you came up behind him, you could smell the rain on his clothes, despite the fact that he had barely been caught in it. You put your arms around him from behind and pressed your head to the space between his shoulderblades.  

“Once we unpack a bit, I promise I’ll make it up to you,” You told him, nuzzling him gently.

“First thing in the morning, we’re out of here,” He said, offering that as a compromise to staying here for the night rather than the original hotel in the next city. You nodded and let go of him and took a couple of steps back.

“You’re right, we should go early,” You sighed, not looking forward to waking up at the crack of dawn. His smile was reflected in the windowpane so you could see it. James had a lovely smile, and you felt that you didn’t see it often enough. “So I’m going to go and take a shower now, rather than wait for later. Do you want to join?” You asked the last question with a cheeky wink as he turned around.

“How? If the bed is this tiny, I can’t imagine what the shared bathrooms are like.” He said, making you laugh. You shrugged at his question, rummaging through your bag for your pajamas since it seemed like you two would just be staying in for the rest of the day.

“I guess I’m just going to have to find out.” James gave a nod, and sat on the end of the bed, picking up the remote and turned on the small TV. The door closed behind you, but he didn’t get up to turn the lock. He just fell back onto the bed, his head landing on the pillow. Because of the force, he supposed, a couple of feathers came loose from the inside of the case and tickled at his ear. You usually enjoyed nice long showers, so he knew not to expect you back too soon. For a little while, he played with the feather, and thought about this road trip that you two had been having.

Honestly, he had been excited about it since you brought up the prospect when the both of you were younger, before his acting career, before you got busy with yours. He thought about it when he got his driver’s license in the hope that he would be driving the two of you around sooner rather than later. As he picked up the feather and let it free fall once more, he frowned, thinking about how he had acted earlier to you. You didn’t deserve it - you didn’t control the weather.

He snapped up into a sitting position and looked around to try to find something to woo you with. The TV was playing an old episode of Happy Days, and that was extremely far from romantic. There were no flowers, no little chocolates, not even a coffee pot in the room, it was as simple as he could imagine. Something Eddie might live in, though his room would have medication bottles on every surface, he thought. As he thought this, he smiled, thinking that he had been really lucky to land the role, and it had been thanks to you. You were the Stephen King fan, you had goaded him into reading the book, which made him want to try out for the role. You really were the biggest part of his life.

James wasn’t able to find anything that he could use to woo you, so he laid back on the bed, once again playing with the feather until you came back into the room, hair damp against your head, skin slightly red-tone from the warm water. As he watched you come in, he sat up slowly, the feather sticking to the side of his head without his realization. So when you looked back at him, you had to stifle your laughter, sticking to a grin instead.

“Do you forgive me for being a grumpy jackass?” He asked, a nervous smile playing at the corner of his lips. You, wearing your cutest pair of pajamas, climbed onto the bed beside him, and blew the feather out of his hair. It flew up, but then landed right down on his lap, as if it didn’t want to leave him, which was pretty amusing.