𝐱𝐢𝐢𝐢.

"You know, I just had a thought," Chris said as he cleared off the coffee table, having just finished a late dinner of Chinese takeout with Faith. "We've known each other for almost six months, and I have no clue when your birthday is."

"Really?" She laughed, looking comfortable as ever in a pair of shorts and one of his Red Sox sweatshirts. "I could've sworn we covered that. It's March 19th."

"A Pisces, huh? That actually makes a ton of sense."

"How so?" She asked.

Chris strode over to the freezer and pulled out a pint of their favorite Ben and Jerrys flavor, Milk & Cookies. He then grabbed out an ice cream scooper from a nearby drawer and got to work as he answered the question. "You're a very emotionally intelligent person. I could tell from pretty much the first time we met."

"I don't think it has a ton to do with my sign, but I appreciate that. What else did you notice when we first met?"

Chris shut the freezer with bowls in hand, a warm smile on his lips as he made his way back over to the couch. "Well, when I first bumped into you, you looked pretty mad, and I totally thought you were going to cuss me out."

"Full stop, I was thinking about it. You better be glad I lowkey got starstruck, otherwise we probably wouldn't even be here right now."

"I now know what to thank God for every night before going to bed," He responded with a chuckle. After eating a couple spoonfuls of ice cream, he continued, "Once we got past the initial awkwardness, I thought you were super sweet and down to earth. Even though neither of us were expecting it, it was nice to talk with you outside of those exchanges on social media."

She seemed to agree with that assessment, if the pleasant expression on her face was any indication. "When I realized it was you, I was trying my best to keep it together. I didn't want to seem like a horny teenage fangirl at comic-con."

Chris snorted. "You wouldn't have."

"Yeah, sure. But once I calmed down and we started talking, it felt like we'd known each other for years."

It was funny because at the time, Chris had had the exact same line of thinking. Perhaps it was a testament as to how well they worked together. "I know. You had no problem teasing me about it being my first Celtics game if I remember correctly."

She giggled and poked his cheek. "Hey, don't act like you weren't doing your own flirting, sir."

"And don't act like you weren't enjoying it, ma'am," He shot back with a sly grin. Having finished their dessert, Faith stacked the bowls and put them on the coffee table. After Chris put his feet up on the ottoman, she did the same, resting her head against his chest. His arm snaked around her waist, pulling her closer as they searched for something good to watch on TV.

Whenever they weren't working, Chris and Faith often spent their weeknights like this, either at his place or hers—a good meal, some dessert and a movie that was either really bad or really good, all depending. Either way you sliced it, for him, the most important thing for Chris was them getting to spend time together despite the busyness of their schedules.

Lazily playing with her hair, Chris glanced down at Faith with a soft smile on his face. Her attention was focused on the movie she'd chosen, Empire Strikes Back, which she'd found after a long bit of searching. He still couldn't believe at times that they were together, that he could call her his girlfriend. Their first kiss now felt like it was ages ago—and they'd had many since then—but the transition between friendship and romance for them had been seamless. Chris was super grateful for that. It wouldn't be one hundred percent smooth sailing the entire time, but he liked their odds.

"See something you like?" She asked with a chuckle as she looked up at him, bringing Chris out of his thoughts.

He inclined his head, pressing his lips to her forehead. "Yeah, you."

• • • •

Faith was at her desk doing a write-up for the NBA playoff preview when her friend Mina stopped by on her way to the elevator. Mina was a senior journalist for ESPN, and before Faith had been hired, they'd connected a handful of times last year. "Can you please tell me how it feels to be God's favorite?"

Faith's fingers hovered over the keyboard, turning to look at Mina with eyebrows raised. "What are you talking about?"

Mina pulled up an empty chair, expression humorous. "You and Chris, duh! I had to find out from TMZ, who always somehow manages to know stuff even before the subjects of the article do."

Immediately, Faith's stomach clenched. She and Chris weren't online official yet, for a myriad of reasons, chief among them her lack of comfortability with the paparazzi. Providing their relationship continued as she hoped it would down the line, Faith knew she'd have to get accustomed to being photographed eventually. But in this particular situation, they were trying to lay low for the time being.

Which is why they'd only shared the change in their relationship status with only a select number of close friends and family. And as such, that could only mean someone had leaked that info to the press. "What exactly did they say?"

Mina pulled out her phone, tapped a few times, and then turned the screen towards Faith. She examined it carefully. Thankfully there weren't any new photos of them together within the past couple of weeks. Instead, it was their red carpet photo from the Oscars and a few things lifted from Instagram. But in TMZ fashion, she and Chris dating was an "exclusive" that no one else had uncovered yet.

Two sources close to the couple tell TMZ that their romance started not too long after their highly anticipated Oscars date last month. Beaumont and Evans are "very happy with each other" says our source...although they're wanting to keep things as low-key as possible for the time being.

Faith lightly scoffed at the irony of that last sentence. "Wow, okay."

Mina looked concerned. "I take it I wasn't supposed to know..."

"Yeah, it's complicated. But you didn't do anything wrong. Thanks for showing me."

"No problem," Mina stood, patting Faith's shoulder. "Hope it all works out."

Faith smiled as she left for the elevator. Sighing, she saved her progress in Word and then checked her watch. Lunch wasn't for another half hour, but this wasn't something that could wait. She needed to talk to Chris.

Ten minutes later, Faith sat in her car with Chris on Bluetooth. He was on set for another project, so he only had a short break before he had to get back. "Do you have any ideas as to who the leak could be?"

"No, but I'm already ruling out each of our siblings purely based on principle."

"Me too. Either way you slice it, though, someone we trust went to TMZ with it. I hate to even think about it, but we need to."

"I know. Once I'm done here, we can meet up and reach out to a couple of people. I'll see if my agent knows anything too."

Faith sighed deeply, leaning against the window. It was hard to enjoy the fact that she and Chris were finally together when the flip side of that meant potentially having your privacy violated almost every day.

"You okay?" He asked.

She let out a humorless laugh. "Nah, not really. It's just frustrating."

"I know, baby. I know. We'll figure it out, though. I promise."

Faith hoped that would be enough.

• • • •

some fluff and some drama, as is custom sdkjsdkjs hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

who do you think the leak is?

as always, comments are appreciated <3