Chase/Foreman, alphabetdrabble

[lovely_ambition]

Zeitgeist

“It’s just the time we live in,” Chase’s lame excuse resonates in Foreman’s ears, long after he’s said it. It’s why he didn’t take Foreman’s hand at the theater and why they didn’t kiss goodnight outside of the restaurant and Foreman is sick of it.

He’s a confident neurologist, for God’s sake, and he’s dealing with an insecure doctor too afraid of being outed – to who, even, Foreman wonders. But he doesn’t want out of the relationship with Chase, he just wants to be able to pretend that it exists instead of sweeping it under the carpet like yesterday’s dust.



Ersatz

Chase can’t ever get the suspicion out of his head that Foreman’s been using him while he waits for something better to come along; something more his style, something more female. He waits for the day for the ‘we have to talk’ to come over his answering machine, but it never does.

What’s worse, he wonders. Waiting for the inevitable end to peek around the corner, or knowing that this isn’t what Foreman wants, but is sticking with it because he might hurt Chase in his escape?

In the end, it’s Chase who goes and makes the call for Foreman.



Schadenfraude

Chase watches Foreman like he’s a skilled psychologist, but never says a word about anything he observes, until one day, he wants to know why Foreman is always so pleased when other people are failing around him, making mistakes. “You’re brightest when people are at their worst. That goes for me too. You delight in when I fuck up.”

Foreman has no answer for that, but he doesn’t think he has to account for himself.

Chase shakes his head. “For a smart guy, you’re really stupid about some things,” is all he says, storming off. Foreman just watches, faintly bemused.