Take It Slow [Sebastian Stan - M/M]

The Red Carpet

If the teenage redhead on his left didn't stop screaming, James silently vowed to himself to commit murder that night.

They had fought tooth and nail to reach the front of the crowd at the red carpet, cameras at the ready to get the best possible photos of the attending celebrities, and he'd already promised himself to murder the majority of the other photographers and fans waiting alongside them.
James was a party-boy at heart, so he was always up for noise, music and shouting.
But when the noise was the harping of six teenage girls, all with the same hairstyle and so much makeup that they left a visible cloud of powder around them, he wasn't having a great time.

Warily eyeing the faint cloud of orange wafting ever closer, James leaned over to quietly ask when they could leave.
"I swear to god," Nate groused, glaring from the corner of his eye. "This is the fourth time, fourth time, you've asked and we've only been here for ten minutes. Get a hold of yourself!"

"Well you'd better get me a bloody gas-mask then, before that suffocating cloud of teenage insecurity kills me." James stated, jabbing a thumb at the cloud that he could've sworn had grown twice its original size.
Nate glanced over before doing an impressive double-take, having not noticed the orange fog until now.

"Sweet Jesus, they're gonna kill us all, I wish I'd brought my mini-electric fan now. Either way, try and bear with, the celebs are about to appear! Got your camera ready?"
James nodded, lifting the professional camera into position as the celebrities began to make their way down the red carpet.

----------

'Oh my god, as if this evening couldn't get worse.' James thought, as his discomfort was elevated yet again by the teenage girls he'd made a point to avoid suddenly pressing into his side, squishing themselves against him in an attempt to reach out to the celebrities.
One of them had even tried flirting with him, stating her name (Tiffany) and offering him 'the time of his life tonight'.

Needless to say, she quickly backed off after he explained that he was 'about as straight as her permed haircut'.

But his main issues currently were that A) he hadn't spotted Sebastian yet, and B) the monstrous cloud of teenage angst had engulfed him, leaving him with roughly the same amount of oxygen he'd find on Mars.
He coughed as his eyes darted about the red carpet, almost completely ignoring the other celebrities in search of his own friend.

He frowned as his eyes skimmed over the A-list personalities, barely glancing at Will Smith's calm smile, ignoring Chris Evan's friendly wave in his direction, bypassing Katy Perry's-

Wait.

CHRIS EVANS?

Sure enough, he glanced back and there was Chris Evans waving at him with a smile. Sebastian had been kind enough to introduce the two when he'd snuck James on set a few times, so they'd managed to form a fair friendship as well.

"Oi Cap, you 90 year old twat!" James called, the affection in his voice completely ruining the effect of the insult.
The teen girls crowded around him however, seemed to miss the joking tone.

"Did he just-"
"Oh my god, you can't just insult him!"
"Yeah, he's like, a god compared to you!"
"Don't be such a fucking hater-"

"Heyyy, well if it isn't the wannabe-Avenger! Not quite cool enough to be one though," Chris' laugh instantly silenced the squabbling teens as he strode over. "How's New York been treating you, man?"

James grinned in amusement. He and Chris had formed a bond after Chris had walked in on him trying on one of the Captain America costumes while he was on set.
Since then, they'd had a number of inside jokes about James the Not-Quite-Avenger, which even included Chris inviting James to the gym once to have a 'Cap-off Contest', which really turned out to be weight-lifting.
However, since neither of them had thought to get a referee, nobody actually knows who won; though they both insist it was themselves.

James smiled wide as he embraced his friend over the thick velvet rope separating them, Chris' hugs would definitely be missed once he returned to England.
"I've been fine man, kinda tired, never bored though. Have you seen Seb yet by any chance?"

"What? Am I not good enough company for you?" Chris smirked. "Nah, he was just coming up behind me a few minutes ago- In fact there he is now! HEY BOO-BEAR!"