Vijay and Kiara being the cutest besties above.

toska

(n.) a dull ache of the soul

Having to reschedule their weekly movie night for the third time this week, Vijay was done with tiptoeing around Kiara and complying to the professional attitude she imposed with him on set. He barged into her house fully intent on demanding answers but stopped abruptly the minute he saw her curled up form wallowing in her own misery, eyes puffy and red-rimmed from crying.

Slowly walking towards her, he knelt in front of her and gently cupped her face, "Hey, hey, hey. What's wrong?"

She stammered, "I-It's my own fault."

"What is, sweetheart? I'm gonna need you to be a little more specific."

"I made him feel small and unimportant."

Taking a deep breath, he asked, "Why did you do that?"

"B-because he shouldn't l-love me."

Biting back the rage-fuelled words on the tip of his tongue, he sighed, "Says who?"

"Jay."

"Kiara," he parroted, equally sternly.

Practically blowing steam from her ears as the wheels in her head turned, Kiara looked away to avoid making eye-contact with Vijay.

After a long pause, she faced him again, "He deserves more than me."

He gaped at his best friend, gobsmacked as to how she could ever even consider the possibility of being less than perfect, "Sweetheart, you are more than enough and if Chris doesn't realise tha–"

"He does. It's me that doesn't want a relationship."

"Let me guess, you think the enemies you've made might affect him and you can't figure out why he'd stick around? I'm hurt you don't care that much for me!"

"Jay, you and me? We're connected for life while my dad and Karan have no choice in the matter. Everyone in my life is associated with me by necessity. Not him."

"Kiara, sweetheart, necessity is only a minor fraction of the reason. We're associated with you because we love you."

Taking a steadying breath, Kiara wiped away the tears drying on her cheeks and leaned over to hug Vijay tightly.

He laughed and choked out a joke, "Plus if he has a functioning brain and dick, he loves you too."

With that comment, she quickly released him and glared, "Not funny."

"Kinda is. Telling a commitment-phobe that the guy she's sort-of dating might love her? Oh yeah, hilarious."

They spent the remainder of the afternoon watching rom-coms and eating ice-cream as Vijay accompanied Kiara in her pity-fest. One pint of blueberry cheesecake ice-cream and two pints of Belgian chocolate ice-cream later, he found himself utterly confused while she was blubbering as Ryan Reynolds panted out his romantic speech to Sandra Bullock.

As the end-credits panned on-screen, he wondered, "Tell me you don't actually believe guys like that exist outside the fictional world of movies?"

She slapped his arm, "A girl can dream!"

"Dream? Sure. So long as you don't impose those expectations upon the rest of us men."

"Just because Ryan Reynolds is hot, emotionally in tune, funny and the perfect gentleman, doesn't mean you have to get all insecure."

"I'm not insecure!"

"Ooh skipping past defensive straight to angry. Definitely insecure."

Huffing, Vijay smiled defeatedly at Kiara before pinching her cheek and swiping her chin as he stood to clear away their bowls and the ice-cream cartons. By the time he returned, she was already snuggled under the comforter and fast asleep. He chuckled under his breath and carefully picked her up to tuck her into her bed. Running his gaze over her one last time, he pecked her forehead and turned off the lights before returning home.

Kiara woke up the next morning with a horrible stomach ache, most likely from all the ice-cream she consumed yesterday, but knew she had to fight the temptation to lie in bed all day so forced herself get ready for work.

Playfully ruffling Jeffrey's hair after they filmed the last scene before break time, Kiara moved with him towards the lounge area as the rest of the cast and crew joined for lunch. She looked around as Emilia and Milo sat at the table, wondering where Vijay was.

Milo snorted as he dug into his sandwich, "He stepped outside with some guy."

She raised a quizzical brow, "What guy?"

"I don't know. Floppy dark brown hair, lean, well-dressed. He looked familiar but I'm not sure from where."

Squeezing his shoulder to convey her gratitude, she stood to check outside, "Thank you!"

The sounds of arguing grew louder as Kiara walked closer to where Vijay was stood, muscles taut with barely restrained rage as he spoke to the man before him. As she moved closer, the man's face became clearer as she identified Sebastian.

Vijay growled, "I don't fucking care if it's rude, he isn't coming near her."

"Why are you making this such a big deal?," Sebastian muttered.

She folded her arms and interrupted, "I think she can probably speak for herself."

Both men froze, turning to face her with guilty looks as Kiara glared at them with her hands on her hips and foot tapping rapidly.

Sebastian awkwardly waved, "Hey, Kiara."

Smiling politely and waving back, she turned her attention back to Vijay, "Care to explain?"

Flustered, he tried to guide her away, "Don't worry about it, just go back in."

"What? Why?"

From behind them, she heard Jeremy's voice, "What do you think you're doing taking the only interesting person away?"

She excitedly squealed, shaking off Vijay's grip to run over and hug Jeremy, "Nonsense, you think someone could make me do anything I don't want to do?"

"I doubt anyone could make you to do anything but maybe if they begged..."

The two friends broke apart as Scarlett, Tom, Robert and Elizabeth stepped out of the car. Kiara rushed to greet them all, shooting Vijay an irritated look when he remained in place without acknowledging them. She led the group into the lounge area to meet the others as he grumbled but obediently followed her. Just as she was sending puzzled looks at him, Chris walked in looking as uncomfortable as he probably felt. Her mind went blank as she watched the beautiful angular planes of his face tense upon noticing her. Vijay quickly scrambled away from his position beside Chris, moving to stand behind her as if trying to eliminate any slight doubt about 'who's side he was on'. 

Most people barely noticed but their friends felt the overwrought energy surrounding the two as they simply stared at each other. It had been weeks since Kiara last saw Chris and she had forgotten just how handsome he was. As if karma enjoyed teasing her, his familiar cinnamon scent encroached her space as he looked away and plastered on a false smile to talk to his friends. Vijay said nothing but placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before sliding in to sit beside her as Chris sat opposite them.

Eventually the rest of the cast excused themselves as they needed to film their scenes. Kiara couldn't help but remain hypervigilant as she tried to limit her flirty interactions with Vijay while Chris was present and watching. Unfortunately, he didn't get the memo and continued with his cheesy pickup lines and sensuous touches.

When he leaned in dangerously close to tease her as he played with her hair, Chris' patience finally snapped, "Bro, you're making her uncomfortable."

She sniffed, "Thank you for looking out for me but I can guarantee Jay would never do anything to make me uncomfortable."

He huffed a laugh, "Got a lot of faith in him, huh?"

"With good reason."

"So you say."

They stared each other down, neither one willing to break eye-contact first as Chris realised that for the first time, he was jealous and didn't know how to react to this discovery. Never truly having to compete for a woman's attention, he wasn't used to being rejected so easily and while he was usually a gracious and understanding man, heartbreak brought out a much harsher side to him. 

Excusing himself to take a call, Vijay walked a small distance away and spoke in hushed tones as Kiara watched him wearily. Hunched shoulders and angry eyes, something about his demeanour sent her alarm bells ringing. She pretended to listen to the group's conversation, contributing half-hearted responses whenever possible so no one would notice her eavesdropping, but the muted conversation remained indecipherable even as she strained to hear what was being said.

Returning to their table, Vijay read the concern in Kiara's eyes as she glanced at him and affectionately stroked her hair before sliding back into the space beside her. He could still feel the heat of her gaze on him so gave an imperceptible nod, silently telling her he would explain later, but the anxiety never left her body so he brought the back of her hand up to his lips and kissed it, loosening some of the tension in her shoulders.

Looking between the two best friends, Jeremy smirked and prodded, "You know, I see why everyone thought you guys were dating. The flirting, touching and eye-fucking doesn't help your case by the way."

Robert frantically signalled at Jeremy to shut up behind Chris' back as Vijay smirked, "You like that chiselled jaw of yours?"

"As much as the women," Jeremy responded with his own roguish smile, disregarding Robert's warning.

"Then stay out of our business before I break it for you."

Holding up his hands in surrender, Jeremy moved on as Vijay nodded in satisfaction before changing the topic. Kiara could practically feel the aggression radiating towards him from Chris as Tom's wide-eyed gaze worriedly pinged between the two muscled men as if waiting for a fight to break out.

The poor boy's voice broke as he attempted to break the tension by proposing, "You guys should really come tonight for the Avengers Endgame premier!"

She remained silent, considering her answer carefully before deciding to stop overthinking, "That actually sounds amazing. Jay, you up for a fancier movie night?"

Vijay faced her with a matching smile, "With you, sweetheart? Anything."

Saying their goodbyes, the group eventually left as Kiara and Vijay were called back to shoot a few more scenes. She excitedly planned ahead for their eventful evening, unable to control the pride she felt for Chris' achievements regardless of the state of their current relationship.

He frowned as the wrinkle appeared between her brows, indicating her apprehension, "Alright out with it, sweetheart."

"Stop that," she cautiously warned.

Realising she was uneasy with the perceptions Chris' friends had of their friendship, he stopped and turned her body to face him, "I'm not going to change the dynamics of our friendship because some Nathan Fillion-looking basic bitch doesn't get the joke."

Bringing her hand up to brush a floppy strand of hair out of his face, she huffed, "We've never let someone dictate our actions before. Why start now?"

"Woman," unsure of what to do with himself, he excitedly kissed her forehead; "I nearly shit a brick thinking you were breaking up with me."

She gasped in mock-shock, "Me?," leaning in to whisper in his ear; "Baby, you and I are stuck for life."

It was getting late as Kiara subtly adjusted the straps on her silver stilettos, taking one last deep breath to calm her racing heart before stepping out of the limo onto the red carpet for the Avengers Endgame movie premier. Her outfit of sequinned nude plunging neckline top with extended cape sleeves and matching wide pants created an almost ethereal look as photographers drove into a frenzy to capture shots of her while fans were practically foaming at the mouth as they crazily jumped over one another just for a glimpse of her. She made her rounds along the red carpet, giving interviews wherever necessary and speaking to fellow actors as Vijay was somewhere not too far behind her doing his own interviews.

Chris tightened his jaw, observing Kiara giggling at Anthony as he spiritedly narrated an incident from years ago. His hands tightened into fists as he watched Anthony stare at her as if it were his job. Chris saw her give him a smile as he leaned in to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. He released a sigh of relief upon realising she hadn't given Anthony her real smile– the genuine kind she reserved only for those closest to her. A wave of awareness ran down his spine when her gaze settled on him from across the room.

Deciding to end his misery, he pretended to casually bump into them, "Mackie! What's up?"

She pulled away as Anthony faced him, looking slightly peeved, and joked, "Hey, man. I was just telling Kiara about my amazing thighs."

She laughed, agreeing, "You do have great thighs."

Chris crossed his arms as he questioned, "Do you guys know each other?"

Anthony smiled at her, "We just met. Can't believe you didn't introduce us before, man."

She impishly simpered, "Is that enough for you, officer, or should I give you my ID too?"

He chuckled as Chris exhaled heavily through his nose, smiling sarcastically, "Very funny."

"I try."

Facing Anthony, Chris gestured behind him with his thumb, "I think Downey was looking for you."

Anthony furrowed his brows, "Oh, you know why?"

"Not really but you should probably check it out."

Turning to face her, Anthony kissed the back of her hand, "I guess I gotta bounce but it was great meeting you."

Shoving his fists into his pocket, Chris restrained himself from pulling their hands apart as she responded, "And you, Andrew."

"Anthony. Or Mackie for those who fancy themselves some brown sugar."

She smiled politely as she corrected herself, gently declining the unspoken offer, "Anthony, it is."

Anthony re-buttoned his suit jacket and patted Chris' shoulder as he walked away. He raised a brow at Kiara, sighing in disappointment.

She pouted at him, "Why'd you do that? Maybe I just met the love of my life."

He deadpanned, "You didn't even know his name."

"Can't I fall in love with a person whose name I don't know?"

"You can't."

She huffed and tossed her hair over her shoulder, "You channelling your inner Joe Goldberg now?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"How about I get you some binoculars to complete the vibe."

"That'd be nice, actually."

"You know, you can be so infuriating sometimes."

"And you can be stubborn."

"It's called having conviction."

"I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong."

Anger simmered in her veins, "There you go being annoying again."

"I think you mean endearing."

"Says who?"

"Clearly anyone but you!"

They glared at each other intensely, chests rising and falling with rapid breaths as Anthony returned and hit him on the back, "Downey wasn't asking for me. You must've heard wrong, man."

Chris shrugged, still holding eye-contact with her as he offhandedly retorted, "It's the old age. My hearing's going bad too."

Anthony laughed, unaware of the verbal sparring match between Chris and Kiara but able to feel the tension in the environment around them. He quickly excused himself, realising she wasn't interested in him, and left to greet another friend.

Just finished my twenty second chapter! Hope you guys like this one and as always, don't forget to comment and vote!