𝐯𝐢.

• • • •

Faith walked into work that day feeling like everyone's eyes were boring into the back of her head. She reached Cass' space only to see that her best friend wasn't there. Maybe she'd gone for her lunch break early? She didn't know, but figured either way it was inconsequential because she'd be back eventually.

As she headed to her desk and placed her belongings in their usual spot, Faith felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Turning around, she was face to face with the one coworker she couldn't particularly stand, Beth. She'd be an alright person, maybe, if she weren't still pressed about being passed over a promotion that Faith had ended up getting a few years ago.

"Can I help you?" She asked after she said nothing, lifting an eyebrow.

"Just had a question," Beth replied, something that looked like smugness appearing on her face.

Faith tapped a foot against the carpeting. "Well?"

Leaning forward a bit Beth chuckled, but it was the kind you gave when you knew something the other person didn't. "What's Captain America's dick taste like?"

The question made her freeze, like a wire had been cut in her brain. Faith stared open mouthed at him, taking a step back with what little room she possessed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Sounds like somebody hasn't read the tabloids this morning..." She said in a singsong voice, which almost made Faith wind up and slap her across the face. But, like so many black women were forced to do in the workplace, she quelled her anger. For now.

She folded her arms across her chest, mind still racing. "I don't know what you're talking about, Beth, but that's a disgusting thing to say. Do it again and I'm going straight to HR."

She rolled her eyes before raising her hands in mock surrender. The minute she turned her heel to walk away, someone grabbed Faith's arm and started to lead her down the corridor into the break room. Thankfully this time around it was the familiar face of her best friend.

"What the hell was that?" Faith blurted out hastily the second she and Cass were alone. "Besides Beth being her usual weird self, I mean."

Cass finally let go of her and then sighed. "Okay, don't panic, but–"

"That's not the best lead off sentence, Cassidy!"

"Okay, sorry. So, E News posted an article about you and Chris because apparently someone took pictures of you guys from the other night. And he may or may not be trending on Twitter because people keep wondering if you're dating or not."

Once the words finally registered, Faith let out a huge groan. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to calm down—and also recall if she could recall seeing anyone at the diner while she and Chris were there that looked like they could've been paparazzi.

But she found that her mind was too frazzled at the moment to even focus. Besides, one of the best things paparazzi were good at was being discreet, at least in places of business; even if she had been thinking to be on the lookout, she still probably wouldn't have realized it. Which was all the more frustrating.

"How did they even figure out who I am?" Faith asked as she pulled out her phone.

"Those freaks have their ways, believe me..."

Faith quickly scrolled through her notifications. There were a few messages from Hope she hadn't responded to yet, but nothing about the article. She hadn't talked to Chris in a couple of days, but she doubted that he hadn't at least gotten wind of the goings on yet. "And you said he's trending on Twitter?"

"Yeah, but it's mostly just the stan accounts freaking out or making jokes. Nothing to worry about."

Faith looked up. "Why'd you say it like that?"

"Like what?" Cass responded with a shrug that lacked subtlety.

"Like there's something you don't want me to see if I were to, oh I don't know, open up Twitter right now?"

"It's nothing you wanna see, babe. Knowing how you are, the last thing I need is you doomscrolling for fifteen minutes reading comments from strangers on the Internet."

Faith let out an exasperated sigh."You may as well just tell me. I can take a few fifteen year olds keyboard smashing and sending memes."

Cass looked uncomfortable, but acquiesced with a sigh after a few seconds passed. "Well, I wasn't on for a long time,  but I did see some people with some positive things. But then a good majority of it ended up being people slut shaming you or saying they don't believe you two are actually together."

Faith couldn't help but to cringe. Well, at least the last half of that was true: she and Chris weren't dating. And it stood to reason that her being the first woman the media sees him with after being in a longterm relationship would spark rumors. But that didn't make her feel any better. "Some day this is going to turn out to be..."

Cass squeezed her shoulders in an encouraging gesture. "What if you talk to him about it? I'm sure he already knows, but he could maybe pull some strings and get them to take the article down."

She'd been mulling it over the whole time, and figured there wouldn't be any harm in it. "Sure, yeah. I'll do it during my lunch break."

"Okay, great," Cass prepared to open the door and leave, then turned back around. "Promise me you're going to avoid Twitter until things die down?"

"Don't worry, I'm good. Go ahead and get back, I'm right behind you."

Of course, the moment her best friend left, Faith's curiosity got the better of her and she opened Twitter. Her notifications were somewhat clogged and her heart fluttered a bit with anxiety, wondering if it was a bunch of Chris' fans @'ing her—but was relieved to find it was just some residual retweets and likes from her article on Jasyon Tatum she'd posted the night before.

Everything in her brain was screaming at her not to go to the general trending page, but she did anyway—Chris was trending like Cass had said, and when she clicked it the most interacted with tweet was E! News posting about the article. She rolled her eyes, not even wanting to read what it said, at least not right now. But when she navigated to the replies, her eyes fell on the one with the most likes.

@cevansbae

literally who is this chick 💀 can chris just get back together w/ jenny at this point bc this ain't it 🧍🏻‍♀️

Faith closed out Twitter immediately and locked her phone. Two seconds in and that was already enough scrolling for the day.

• • • •

"I am so sorry, Faith. This is such BS," Chris said the moment he picked up the phone. "I really messed up."

Faith took a sip of her drink from Starbucks, an iced white chocolate mocha. "Hey, don't even go there. I promise this isn't your fault at all."

"No, it is. I shouldn't have taken you to the diner. The paps, they're always lurking around there because that's one of my favorite places. I should've thought of that. Please forgive me."

"I forgive you," She responded without hesitation, more so as not to make him feel any worse than she imagined he already did. "I'm fine, Chris, I promise. I'm just not used to any of this. The most publicity I got was when Bill Russell shouted me out on Twitter."

"I just don't want any of your private information leaked, you know? I mean, they mentioned your sister—and I have no idea if even she's comfortable with her name being out there like that. It's just invasive to the core."

By now Hope was aware of the article, but Faith hadn't really gotten a chance to speak in depth about it with her. "She's a model, so she's used to her face being everywhere. Mostly I'm just mad that they took a perfectly innocent moment into us being a couple."

"I know," Chris sighed, and she envisioned him running a hand across his face. "Did you get around to reading it?"

"I skimmed through," She answered, although it was somewhat of a half truth. In reality, the paragraph about them holding hands was practically burned into her brain. In the moment, she'd been nervous as hell, but once it finally happened there was an overwhelming sense of calm that had enveloped her, something unlike she'd ever felt before. "Are you going to see about it being taken down?"

"My agent is already on it. At the very least, my biggest priority is making sure your privacy is always protected. And I know you're a sportswriter and all that, but we all have our limits. I wouldn't want you to feel the pressure of being an A-lister. I feel like your name will be out there anyway because of the Oscars in a couple months."

"I appreciate that," With each passing day, Faith wondered how she would contend with being on national television. "I just wanted to call and rant about it with you."

"I'm glad you did. You can always talk to me."

Her heart skipped a beat, but she tried to ignore it. Maybe injecting some humor would brighten things up. "I know this isn't your first rodeo with dating rumors over any woman who breathes in your direction."

Chris chuckled, and she could practically feel the warmth reverberate through the phone. "Not at all. I've had a lotta of dating rumors tossed my way over the years."

"I can't even imagine. Do you just ignore it mostly?"

"It depends on what it is, but usually, yeah. I remember during the Ultron press tour, everyone thought Lizzie and I were dating just because we got paired up for a couple interviews. It's crazy how people will make up something out of thin air."

"God, you taking it all in stride is way better than me. I'd probably march down to the publication office and curse someone out."

"As you should," He responded. "Gotta say though, you being my rumored girlfriend? Not the worst thing in the world..."

Despite herself, a smile broke through. He was flirting, wasn't he?

Faith didn't have as enough time as she would've preferred to process that, because before she knew it, her lunch break was over and the call with Chris had ended. When she got back to her desk, she was feeling somewhat more at ease than earlier when Cass has first dropped the news on her.

It was somewhat of a scary thought, that Chris was starting to have an effect on her. Now that his almost angelic aura due to celebrity status had worn off, Faith felt like she was part of a very small demographic of people that knew what he was really like when the cameras weren't rolling. And that person was absolutely incredible, inside and out.

Her stomach did a backflip. She never wanted any of this to end, no matter what.

• • • •

• • • •

hi!! i kind of feel like this was a bit of a filler chapter, but i hope you guys enjoyed regardless. i know everyone's anxiously waiting for oscars night, but i have a plan in mind which includes chris and faith getting to know each other/catch feelings way before the date! so as we get further along i promise it'll be worth the wait :)

tysm for 3k+ reads!!