The start of a friendship

13. At ComicCon Rome

 The next morning, we met in Chris' room for breakfast. The easy energy of the last few days was gone, everyone seemed stressed for the tour, Elisabeth was the calmest of all, together with Sebastian. Mackie seemed very excited, Scarlett nervous but alright, but Chris was really out of it. I had heard that he had some anxiety problems on these tours with a lot of people but to see it happen right on front of me was almost painful.

"Good morning guys, are you ready for today?" I tried to be cheery, hoping to lift the spirits. Chris looked up to me eagerly "Hey Ava, nice to see you again, how did you sleep?" He got up and pulled me into a tight hug, seemingly glad to have someone to take his attention off of what was going to happen today.

"I slept better than I have for a long time, thank you. What about you? You're feeling alright?" He looked at me like a lost puppy, I took his head in my hands, making him look into my eyes; "Hey, Chris, are you okay?" He took me into the hall of his room. "I am... not really good. I err... I don't like crowds; my anxiety tends to flare up. Throughout the tour it will become better, after about a week I will even have fun, but the first few days are always bad."

His confession shocked me, it was such a personal, emotional think to share. "I'm so sorry Chris, is there anything I can do for you? Be there, not be there, bring you something, just tell me." He looked at me in surprise and I saw some of the stress disappear from his eyes. "just knowing someone is there for me will help."

His answer confused me a little, "Chris, there are people all around you that can help you through... what difference could I make?" He let his head down and let out a deep sigh, he let his back fall into the wall, causing an audible thunk. "Honestly, I don't know... you just feel so... familiar, I'm not sure how to explain it but you calm me down."

The look in his eyes was confusion mixed with hope and fear. "Ava, I'm not declaring my love for you" He laughed it off. I felt bad for him having to deal with this and that I, someone he just met, was the one he wanted around. "Chris, I'm here for you, whatever you need, but I'm not sure what I can do from backstage or in the hall. I will think about you, all of you, every moment, as I listen to your jokes, humour and new facts. It's going to be great! I know anxiety is not something you can just 'not feel' or get rid of easily, but I hope that someone can make you feel better under it. If you think I could be that person, I will be there for you."

I put my hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. The stress seemed to seep out of him, at least partially. "I hope it will help... At least I'm sure it won't get worse if you're there." Chris moved closer to me and encased me into another hug. I wrapped my hands around his back and over his shoulders and hugged him back, whispering into his ear "It'll be alright, you know it, and I know it. Try to have fun and find something to distract you." As he pulled back, he gave me his signature 'public appearance' smile and we made our way back to breakfast.

As more food and coffee disappeared from the tables, the energy in the room got better and better. Mackie's energy and joking around made everyone more positive and excited about starting the tour.

At 10, the beautiful, black Jaguars were ready for us again. They drove us to the ComicCon site just outside of the city. The ride was in comfortable silence and as we stepped out of the car, saw the view from the top of the mountain we were on, looking down on Rome, all of us took a big breath in, enjoying the moment in the sun, under the clear sky, looking over one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, if not in the world.

Robert was the one, of course, the break the silence "guys, this view asks for the best Marvel selfie ever, everyone stand together!" since I was not actually part of the MCU, I offered to take the picture but pretty much everyone insisted me being in the picture. "Alright then... but you really should take one without me as well, or there will be a lot of rumours about my new role in the new movies" They chuckled at that, realizing I was probably right.