Chris sputtered and stared as Paris stood and called him out on his wavering self-esteem. He wanted to snap back sarcastically and apologize for not meeting Paris’s expectations. He wasn’t always the confident guy everyone expected him to be on first glance. He thought he was pretty confident when it came down to it, but that wasn’t to say there weren’t points in which he didn’t second guess himself.

He didn’t quite know how serious Paris was at first, but as he watched his boyfriend(?) make his way over to the stairwell, he was fairly certain he wasn’t joking. Not this time.

Which had his mind turning to a week ago, and his impulsive decision to re-establish his relationship with Paris in a much more physical way. Now that they’d come to the decision to date again, he was growing a bit more cautious. He didn’t want anything to mess it up again. He could count the number of relationships he’d had on one hand—and some of his sexual encounters couldn’t even be considered that, though, to be honest, he hadn’t had very many of those. He wondered if it was pathetic for a guy his age to have so little experience. He knew what he was doing, but that didn’t mean he did it often.

Though that was only because he hadn’t really had the chance. He wasn’t going to go out and do it with just anyone.

But Paris wasn't just anyone, and as his boyfriend made his way upstairs, Chris continued to stare after him. This shouldn’t be so difficult. It wasn’t as if they were strangers. It wasn’t even as if Chris didn’t want him. He did. He didn’t even question it so much anymore, not as much as he thought he would have. Once he’d come to the decision, that was pretty much the end of that inner turmoil.

Making a face at his unnecessary hesitance and Paris’s ability to pick up on it, Chris pushed himself off of the couch and made his way toward the stairs as well.

He’d show him confidence.