Take It Slow [Sebastian Stan - M/M]

Nice To Meet You, Not-Nathan

James' face was blank as he scrolled through his messages from last night once again. He was past the point of shame by now, he'd just moved straight onto accepting that he was an idiot.

It's not exactly unheard of for James to be a bit goofy while drunk, it's quite a common thing really.
Therefore with dancing on a bar table half-naked during a Christmas party on his list of past incidents, calling some American guy a sea sponge over the Internet wasn't quite on his Top 10 of embarrassing moments.

But what WAS a bit embarrassing, was seeing the reply he'd only gotten minutes ago.

•
11:42am

Unknown Number:
sooooo
How's the hangover?

Haha, don't be too embarrassed, I'm sure I've had worse
I actually drink a lot.. for a sea sponge 😂😂

James:
don't do this to me
Just let me wallow in my mistakes alone

SpongeBob:
but where's the fun in that?
Nah, I'm actually checking in on you, making sure you got home okay

•
James smiled wide.
What a sweetheart, you didn't see this kindness from strangers often, it was a pleasant change.

They continued to chat through the morning, getting to know each other a little more. James found out the stranger's name was Sebastian, he was 33 years old and really enjoyed Marvel movies.
Though he wasn't quite sure why he kept throwing winky face emojis when he talked about it.
Must be an American thing.

•
Sebastian hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time.
Here was a guy who wasn't a co-worker or relative, but was still happy to chat with him, without asking about 'who is he dating?', 'what's he doing with that girl?' and the ever tedious 'what happened to you and your ex?'. Although that was probably because he had no clue who he actually was, but he'd take what he could get.

No, here was James, a 26 year old kennel worker from Cambridge, who loved creating art, Monty Python movies and me-mes, whatever the hell those were.
But he was a nice guy, and he was relaxing to talk to, and Sebastian felt more calm and cheerful with his new-found friend than he had in months.

Now the only issue was when and how to tell James the truth of who he really was, and if his new friend would turn out like everyone else after all.