From chezmoi_ou_cheztoi@msn.com Tue Dec 4 07:32:28 2007 Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 06:23:54 +0000 From: Chris Salter To: Nifty Archivist Subject: RE: How I Met Jake: Chapter 44 [ Part 1.1, Text/PLAIN (charset: ISO-8859-1 "Latin 1") 7 lines. ] [ Unable to print this part. ] [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } ________________________________________________________________________________ Check our comprehensive Salary Centre Overpaid or Underpaid? [ Part 2, Text/PLAIN 363 lines. ] [ Unable to print this part. ] If you're under the legal age, homosexuality offends, or viewing such acts is illegal in your area, leave now. Disclaimer: I don't know Jake Gyllenhaal, nor do I wish to claim to know his private life. This work is entirely fictional. Chapter 44: "Oh my god, it's perfect!" Chris exclaimed loudly before he heard his voice echoing through the vacant apartment. Finding Jake in what appeared to be the bedroom; he wrapped his arms around his man and pulled him close. "I think this is the one." Jake nodded and gently brushed his lips against Chris'. "I think so too." Grabbing Chris' hand, he dragged him to a space near the window. "Can you imagine, lying here on a winter morning, all warm in bed while I'm in the kitchen making you breakfast." The sunlight was still streaming in through the large windows, causing Chris to squint slightly. "I can't wait." Then, dragging Jake to the spot he wanted to show, he led him into the bathroom. "I like this idea better. You and me in a giant oversized tub right here." Skipping through the apartment back into the kitchen, he continued, "Or this one is the best. I'm thinking Thanksgiving dinner, your parents, Maggie, Peter and a few of my friends sitting here, while I'm in the kitchen helping you cook." "Yeah it sounds great." Jake whispered as he pulled Chris into a tight embrace. Sighing, he kissed him briefly before admitting, "Baby, I'm sorry, but I have to go." Chris shrugged his shoulders and let go of Jake, "Gotta get ready for an interview?" Jake nodded is head, he didn't want to leave Chris, especially when they were talking about setting up their home together. But alas, he did have to work. Kissing him again, he ran his hands down Chris' arms, "I will see you back at Maggie's, okay?" "Sure," Chris sighed as he watched Jake head out of the apartment. "Good luck tonight." "Love you!" Jake yelped as he headed to the door. As the apartment door closed, Chris leaned against the dirty wall and whispered to himself, "I love you too." Grabbing the set of keys off the old bench, he quickly toured around the apartment again, smiling as he pictured his life with Jake. However, something deep down made him slightly uneasy. It was a pretty big leap to make so early, especially with someone hiding his sexuality from the public. Heading out of the apartment, he relocked the doors and headed back to the realtors office to drop the keys back off. It was only a five minute walk from the apartment building, so it didn't take long before Chris was suddenly left with absolutely nothing to do. He still felt uneasy, his apartment had only been on the market for less than a week before it was already placed under offer. Soon he'd be out of his favorite place to hide, and jumping in the deep end with Jake. "So," The realtor asked as she took the keys off his hands. "What did you think?" Chris smiled, "Liked it a lot actually. I think we're going to put an offer on it, we just need to talk about it." The woman smiled at Chris, "Have a think about it, you have my number when you're both ready to make an offer." Shaking her hand, Chris said his goodbyes before heading out the door and down the street. As they were going to be moving there, he might as well scout around for the decent places to eat and shop. As far as his work was concerned, for the meantime, Chris had put in to transfer to the crime lab in New York, but he knew that was only a temporary measure while he searched for a better job. There was not point moving across the country to start anew, yet still stay in the same profession that he hated working in. Walking down the street, he passed several caf‚s when suddenly something caught he attention. Heading into the caf‚, he carefully walked up behind the seated figure and tapped their shoulder. "Hey you." "Oh my god." Danny squealed. Jumping up, he wrapped his arms around Chris and kissed his cheek, "What are you doing here?" He indicated for Chris to sit down at the table with him. Chris smiled, "I was in town checking out an apartment with Jake, it's just down the street actually." Taking a sip from his coffee, he smiled, "Really? That's pretty cool, we'll be neighbors." "Oh?" Chris asked. "So you live around here now?" Nodding eagerly, Danny explained, "I've just finished a complete renovation of an old building, I've been living in one of the vacant apartments for a while now. I actually like this area, so I'm just waiting for the right apartment to come up." "And how's the rest of your life going?" Chris enquired. Danny shrugged. "I've been on a few dates, all of them were disasters, especially the last one, it was so bad that I left him in the middle of the restaurant." Chris smiled innocently at Danny; he still loved him. He wanted to look out for him. He still felt slightly responsible for the way he was treated by Alex. If they had never broken up, Danny would never have been attacked. "Look," Danny whispered. "I'm done here. Why don't you come back to my place for a bit?" "Sure. I'd love to see your place." Chris replied as he stood up and followed Danny to the door. Pointing the direction, Danny led Chris along the street. "So, where's Jake?" Chris sighed and looked at Danny. "He's getting ready for an interview. Something to do with Rendition, I wasn't invited." "Really?" Danny asked. "How come?" "To be honest," Chris replied. "I don't know." He sighed again and followed Danny across the street. "He keeps promising to include me in things like this, but then at the last minute he changes his mind. It's beginning to fuck me over." Danny placed his arm around Chris' waist and walked with him down the sidewalk. "Have you told him this, or are you being your typical self and bottling it up?" Chris missed walking down the street without having to care so much about what others would think. "I've told him about it, multiple times actually." Reaching a building, Danny removed his hand from around his waist and fiddled with the handle. "Every time he promises next time I will be included with him in things. I just hope things change soon. I'm dropping my entire life for him and moving over here." "I hope they do too." Danny replied. "I don't know him as well as you do, but the time he dragged me to Boston, and then came out to look after you, I think that's the real Jake, maybe he's just worried about being outed right now." Holding the elevator door open for Chris, he pressed the right floor number before moving his hand away from the door. "He's under a lot of scrutiny and stress right now. Just give him a break, but don't ever think you're giving up your life just to be with him. If you didn't really want to move, you wouldn't have." Danny knew him too well. As usual, he was right about Jake. Chris could begin to understand the pressure Jake must be under at the moment, wherever he went to do promotion stuff with the rest of the cast, he was immediately tagged as being back together with Reese. "It just hurts at times, you know?" "I know." Danny whispered as he hugged Chris tightly. "Everything will work out okay, I'm sure of it. Just wait till the movie is out properly, it should be better then." He needed to change the subject. He didn't want to really dwell on it any longer as it was making him want to burst into tears, something he wasn't prepared to do in the elevator. Looking over at Danny, he smiled, "Did I tell you I sold our place?" Danny smiled, "That's pretty good. How long was it up for sale?" "Less than a week!" Chris scoffed. He couldn't actually believe there was a bidding war over his apartment in a market that was declining. "I actually got a little over the asking price too, it was shocking." Running his hand up Danny's back, he smiled. "I guess having a fucking amazing architect helps sell things quickly." "When do you move out?" Danny asked as the elevator door opened finally. "Well," Chris explained. "Officially I have to be out of there in five weeks, but I'm going to move my stuff into storage for a while, and then move into Jakes house. Then we're moving into a short rental place here for a while until we've finished renovating this place we're putting an offer on." Danny beamed. "I'm proud of you. You're actually doing this." Leading Chris down a sun-drenched hallway, he finally arrived at one of his trademark black doors. Just about every apartment complex he had built or renovated involved black doors somewhere. Pulling his keys out of his pocket again, he unlocked the door and pushed it open for Chris to enter. Entering the 2-story apartment, Chris looked around in awe. It was beautiful. Even if it were temporary accommodations, this was obviously the flagship apartment; it was decorated in a modern and sophisticated style. "I guess you didn't do the interior decoration?" He asked as he smirked at Danny. "You know me too well. Fluffy pillows and paintings were always your specialty, not mine." Danny conceded. "I've got an interior designer working for me full time now." Chris smiled and hugged him, "Now I'm proud of you!" Wandering towards the windows he saw how high up he actually was before noticing the spiral staircase leading up to the next floor. "What's up there?" "Bedrooms, bathroom, office, stuff like that." Danny replied. "Oh and the theatre." "Oh what?" Chris asked to himself as he bounded up the stairs, quickly followed by Danny. "I might get you to renovate our place." Turning around to see why Danny was being quiet, he continued, "That's if you want to." "I don't know." Danny replied shyly. "Wouldn't that be awkward?" Chris furrowed his eyebrows at him, "I don't think it would. You're an amazing architect and I love your work." Danny chuckled and wrapped his arms around Chris, "Okay, I'll do it. You better not be an asshole of a customer." "No more than usual." Chris joked. "Look Chris," Danny asked. "I know you probably already have plans, but would you like to stay for dinner tonight?" Smiling like an idiot at Danny again, Chris wrapped his arms around him tightly, "I'd love to. Jake won't be home until midnight or something like that. I was just going to crash on Maggie's couch for the night." "Great!" Danny exclaimed as he grabbed Chris' hand and led him back down the stairs. "I haven't got much here, but I'm sure I could make something respectable, or there's always the reliable Chinese menu." Following Danny back down to the main level, Chris squinted in the afternoon sun again, "I like the second option actually, means I get to spend more time with you." Continuing to lead Chris through the apartment, Danny led him into the kitchen and plucked the menu off the counter. "Have a look, might as well put the order in now, we can get it delivered whenever." "Sure." Chris replied as he quickly scanned through the various menu items. Finding a few things that appealed to him, he wrote them down on the list that Danny had already started to compile. He smiled when he noticed how different their handwriting was, he always loved Danny's handwriting, it was always so neat and tidy, compared to his own, which resembled a Jackson Pollock painting. Wandering away for a moment, Danny turned the sound system on in the apartment and turned the volume up slightly. Noticing it was Roger Cicero; Chris smiled and looked at Danny. "Have you got his new album yet?" "Didn't even know he had a new one!" Danny replied genuinely surprised. "What's it like?" "It's not bad actually." Chris continued, "I didn't know he had one out either, and then Jake surprised me with it a while ago. He personally signed it and everything." "Lucky." Danny grumbled. "So, what are we eating?" He asked as he flipped the pad around. "I hope you don't mind. I'm actually starving." Chris apologized. "And I can drop the album off tomorrow if you want to copy it to your iPod or something." Ruffling Chris' hair, Danny smiled warmly at him, "You're so sweet. If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to hear it." "Well," Chris explained, "We're going to be in the area anyway, I'm pretty sure. We will probably sign the papers tomorrow." "Exciting!" Danny replied with a cheeky smile, before picking up the sleek designer phone and keyed in the number of the restaurant. Waiting for Danny to finish with the order, Chris began looking further around the kitchen. It was very sleek and fit in with the high tech apartment; while this look was not really for him, he liked elements of it. After ending the call, Danny walked over to Chris and looked around the kitchen too. Although he was living there, he hadn't spent much time looking through the small areas where the interior designer had added extra finishing touches. "They should be here in about 20 minutes." "I thought you were going to wait?" Chris asked as he looked out the window; finally, it was beginning to get darker. Looking at his watch he gasped when he saw it was just after six. "Well," Danny whispered. "You said you were starving." Grabbing Chris' hand, he led him towards the sitting area and indicated for him to take a seat on the white couch. "So, what's happening with work?" Chris groaned. "I'm transferring for a while, but I'm also on a shortlist for a couple of openings." He sighed, "I've also been thinking about going into R and D." "What's that?" Danny asked. He thought he had an idea, but wanted to be sure. "Research and Development." Chris replied. "It could be interesting." "You'd specialize in what?" Danny asked, "Molecular Biology?" Chris nodded and shrugged at the same time. "I suppose so." Leaning over, he rested his head on Danny's shoulder. "It can't be anymore dangerous than what I do now. Remember I was asked to join that company when we first started dating?" "I thought you didn't want to align yourself with corporate giants anymore?" Danny enquired. "Things change I guess." Chris shrugged. "It wouldn't be the same type of thing; I had some government people sniffing me out a couple of months ago. I think it could be interesting, plus I'd have the funding behind things too." Suddenly there was a buzz on the intercom, causing Danny to jump up, "Hold that thought." "Sure thing." Chris replied as he watched Danny wander towards the door. Several minutes later, there was a knock. After accepting the delivery, Danny quickly walked back towards the couch and placed the bags on the coffee table. "Do you want something to drink?" Chris smiled and grabbed the bags, opening them and releasing the aromatic smells. "Whatever you're having is fine I guess." Returning to the coffee table with two glasses and a bottle of wine, Danny kicked off his shoes and took his seat next to Chris. "I hope you don't mind." "Nah that's fine." Chris replied as he handed him a set of chopsticks. Several hours later, Chris looked over at the window. It was dark outside. Leaning over, he kissed Danny on the cheek. "I'd better get home, Jake will be back soon." Danny sighed, "Okay, thanks for coming over." "Thank you for letting me stay." Chris whispered as he gently brushed his lips against Danny's. "I still love you." Smiling at Chris' statement, Danny began to stand to his feet, dragging Chris up with him. "Say hi to Jake for me." "I'll see you tomorrow." Chris whispered as he hugged Danny and opened the door. Heading down the hallway, he turned to wave at Danny before stepping into the elevator. Reaching the street level, he headed through the main door and onto the sidewalk. Walking along for a few moments, he spotted an empty taxi heading down the street. About an hour later, he finally arrived back outside Maggie's building. After paying his fare, he wandered towards the door and through to the elevator. Once at the right level, he stepped out and made his way to the door. Gently knocking on the door, he waited for someone to answer. "Who is it?" Peter asked in a muffled tone through the wooden door. Chris waved at the peephole and announced his presence. Peter opened the door and allowed Chris inside, "We were wondering where you had disappeared to...." "Oh, I probably should have called," Chris apologized. "After I dropped the keys off, I ran into Danny. Turns out he lives near our new apartment." "That's pretty cool." Maggie whispered as she crept her way closer to Chris. Obviously, her daughter had just gotten off to sleep, so everyone was being extra quiet. "So you two are actually signing the papers?" Chris nodded and whispered, "Seems like it. It's got great potential." Letting out a yawn, he looked at Maggie and Peter, "I think I'm going to go to bed, is that okay?" "That's fine." Peter whispered. "I'll let Jake know you're home." "He's still not back?" Chris asked. Looking at his watch, he was surprised; he should have been back a while ago. Maggie shook her head, "Something came up at the interview, that's all he said." Letting out a sigh, Chris hugged her again, "Okay, well, I will see you two tomorrow, and Jake I will see sometime in the next millennium." Turning towards the bedroom, he let his shoulders lower slightly before heading into the room. Carefully closing the door, Chris slipped off his shoes so he wouldn't wake Ramona up. Heading into the bathroom, he peeled his sweater off along with his jeans and socks, leaving him dressed in only a pair of shorts. After washing his face, he brushed his teeth and padded his way into the bedroom again. Pulling the covers back, he slipped onto Jakes side of the bed and tucked the pillow in close to his chest. As he was beginning to drift off to sleep, he was suddenly awoken by the bright light of the hallway. "Hey baby." Jake whispered as he glided his way over to the bed. Sitting down on the bed, he gently brushed Chris' hair and leaned in to kiss him. Chris smiled and opened his eyes, "Hey, you have fun?" Jake nodded, "It was great. How was your day?" "Well, I.." he was suddenly cut off by Jake. "Hold that thought baby, I'll get ready for bed." Jake whispered as he kissed Chris and bounced up towards the bathroom. Chris sighed, "Sure." After stripping and freshening up, Jake suddenly reappeared, and to Chris' surprise, slipped in behind him, they were on the opposite side of the bed to usual. "Sorry about that." "It's fine." Chris replied sleepily. He was exhausted. Wrapping his arm around Chris, Jake pulled him in close to his warm chest and kissed the back of his neck, "Now, what did you get up to today?" "Well," Chris replied, "I stayed at that apartment a bit longer, then I took the keys back. I told the realtor we were probably going to sign the papers." "I can't wait." Jake whispered eagerly. "What else? Apparently you just got home." Continuing his train of thought, Chris continued to mumble softly, "I ran into Danny. It was really surreal. He was just in the caf‚ down the street. He only lives a block away from our place." Jake smiled and gently stroked the hair on Chris' chest. "That's pretty cool." "Well, it's just temporary actually." Chris explained. "It was a building he completely renovated, so he's crashing in the display apartment until he can get his own place sold." "How is he?" Jake mumbled. He was obviously falling asleep. Chris smiled and surrendered to the sleep, "He's fine. I love you Jake." "Mmm." Jake moaned, "Love you too." -45 Soon- I hope you liked that. It's started to get a bit sad, but I do have a point where I'm going. So stay tuned for more developments. As for the developments, I've got exams coming up in the next few weeks, so I am having to slow down my listings until the 27th. But then I shall be back, and better than ever. Anyway, I love hearing from you all, I am still flabbergasted that I've got so many members on my group. I didn't realize me story was so addictive! You guys rock! Thanks for reading guys. I want to give you all a big hug right now! Chris.