After picking up his things from - now just Max's - apartment, Simon thought that was the last he'd heard of him. Oh, how wrong he'd been. Although Simon thought nothing could surprise him more than finding out about Max's infidelity, he was definitely taken aback when there was a knock on his door and, as he opened it, a bouquet of flowers was suddenly thrust in his face. At first he was confused, but it took exactly five seconds for his feelings to change and anger to bubble up inside him. 

"Max," he uttered his name bitterly. "What are you doing here?" A face he hoped he'd never see again appeared behind the flowers. Max looked good, too good for someone who should be mourning a broken heart, so it wasn't hard to see that his apologetic expression was fake. 

"I promised to leave you alone when you came for your things, and I've done that. That doesn't mean I've given up the fight for your forgiveness," he explained, and Simon frowned at his words. On the one hand, he knew that Max wouldn't give up easily, but on the other hand, the week of silence gave him hope that he wouldn't have to suffer because of him anymore. Not that his heart still ached for him, but if he kept having ideas like that, it would definitely give him a headache.

"How do you know where I live?" He ignored his words and asked the question instead. He was pretty sure that the only people who knew where he lived were his friends. Even Chase didn't know where his new flat was, he only knew that Simon had got a place to live. 

Max averted his eyes, looking almost guilty. "I followed you." 

Simon couldn't believe his ears. "You did what?!" He hadn't even realised he'd raised his voice. "Have you completely lost your mind?" 

"I know it was a desperate move on my part, but I had to do something," Max defended himself. His words only made things worse. "I asked your friends if you were staying with any of them, but no one would tell me anything, so I waited until you went home from school and followed you."

"So you're not just a cheater anymore, you're a stalker." Simon laughed bitterly and shook his head. Max was proving to him more and more that he couldn't even remember the reason he had once found him charming. 

"I'm a man who does desperate things for love," Max corrected him, and Simon raised an eyebrow at the irony. 

"The only thing desperate is you," Simon assured him, and then his eyes fell on the flowers in his ex-boyfriend's hands. "Did you really think you could bring me flowers and everything would be fine? That I would throw myself around your neck? That I'd compliment you and tell you how romantic you are?" He shifted so that Max had the smallest possible view of his apartment. 

"I'm not expecting anything." Max assured him, surprisingly not reacting sharply to any of Simon's accusations. "I just wanted to show you that I care about you-" he began, then corrected himself, "that I care about us. Simon, you're the love of my life and I regret nothing more than losing you. I don't care how long it takes for you to forgive me, but I'm prepared to do anything for you." 

"Anything?" He waited for him to nod. "Good, then get out." He nodded his head towards the stairs. 

"OK, I'll go. I just want you to know that I'm really sorry about all this. Hurting you is the worst mistake I've ever made in my life. If I could take it back, I would." Before he could say more, Simon cut him off. "You can't. Take care, Max. The next time I see you outside my door I'm calling the police," he assured him. 

Max nodded and thankfully understood that it was time to go. He handed the bouquet to Simon, who automatically accepted it, then turned on his heel and started to leave. As soon as Simon couldn't see him anymore, he closed the door and took a few steps before he realised what he was holding. Although the flowers in his hands weren't responsible for anything, Simon quickly decided what to do with them. Still perplexed by his unexpected visitor, he quickly moved to the window and waited for the bastard to walk out the door. Although Simon was no athlete, he proved to have good aim, as luck was on his side, and although the bouquet came apart in mid-air and some of the flowers flew off in different directions, most of them still ended up on Max's head. 

"And no more flowers!" Without waiting for an answer, he slammed the window shut and moved away so that Max couldn't see him. 

He was breathing fast, the adrenaline in his blood still high, and the moment he realised what he'd actually done, he burst out laughing. 

…

Two days passed and Simon was still thinking about Max's unexpected visit. Not that his presence had evoked any positive feelings, quite the opposite, and that was why he felt uneasy in his new apartment. He was practically waiting for another knock on his door. He'd solved that on the first day by inviting Asher and Parker to stay at his place, hoping that even if someone knocked it wouldn't be him opening the door, but he had no plans today. He didn't want to be a coward and bother his friends whenever he had problems with Max. He knew his friends wouldn't mind, but he knew they couldn't always hold his hand. 

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long for the distraction he was looking for. 

At first, he thought it was just a mistake and he accidentally dialled the number when he saw the caller's name on the screen, but when his phone kept ringing, he decided to answer it and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" He echoed, the confusion reflected in his voice. 

"I'm watching a movie, care to join me?" 

"You're not even going to introduce yourself? What if I don't have your number in my phone?" He asked a question of his own.

"You don't answer unknown numbers," Chase replied without hesitation. He seemed to remember another of Simon's unwritten rules. 

He sighed. "It still wouldn't kill you to say hello." 

"Hi, Simon," Chase responded immediately. "I'm watching a movie, wanna join me?" 

"What movie?" He decided to humour him. 

"That's a surprise." 

"I don't like surprises." For how well he knew him, he was forgetting one crucial fact. Although there had once been a time when Simon had looked forward to surprises, he'd now experienced too many negative ones to see any magic in them.

"I promise you'll like this one," Chase assured him. "Unless you have a better plan." Simon didn't really have a better plan, and in fact he could use the distraction. Chase had already shown him twice that he was the perfect source of distraction, but Simon was also aware that this would cross the imaginary threshold of the rule of three. Once was an accident, twice a coincidence, but the third time was a pattern. 

"If it's not a good movie, I'll be angry," he promised. Although the exclamation marks screamed in his head, reminding him that this wasn't a good idea, Simon had long since stopped acting rationally. Maybe it was the fact that he was single again, but any inhibitions about not doing crazy things seemed to have suddenly disappeared. 

"Have I ever broken a promise?" Simon was painfully aware that Chase had always been honest with him, and while that was a good thing, it was also a reminder that Simon was extremely sensitive to honesty at the moment. 

"I'll be there in ten." He didn't react to his words, instead announcing before hanging up. It wasn't a date, so he had no reason to put on more attractive clothes or do something with his hair. Hell, he didn't even take a shower, because even if something did happen, he already knew exactly how the shower worked at Chase's place. Before this thought could grow into something bigger, Simon quickly shooed it away, got up and grabbed everything he needed before leaving his apartment and hailing a taxi. 

He could have walked, but that would have given him plenty of time to make up his mind, and he certainly didn't want to do that. So he soon found himself in front of a familiar apartment building, and since he didn't have the keys to the front door, he rang the bell and waited for Chase to open it for him. 

Then, out of habit, he took the stairs instead of the lift, and when he ran up to the right floor, Chase was waiting for him in the doorway. 

"I'd bring champagne and roses, but since you've decided to be a dick, so have I," he said in lieu of a greeting, and Chase smiled at his words. 

"I got popcorn and soda. I'm sure that goes better with the movie," he replied, stepping aside so Simon could come in. 

The first thing Simon noticed when he walked into Chase's living room was that the movie on the TV was paused at the opening credits. For a movie he claimed to be watching, it looked like it had just started. 

"Didn't you say you were watching the movie?" He turned to the owner of the flat, who had already sat down on the couch. 

"I was, but I thought it would be rude not to let you see the beginning, so I decided to start again," he explained. "Am I still a dick?" 

"That depends," Simon replied vaguely and moved to the couch next to him. Instead of sitting right next to him like Chase had done earlier, though, he left a gap between them. 

"On what?" Chase asked, turning his head to face him as he put his arm on the back of the couch, creating a closeness between them. 

"What movie it is," he specified. Not that Simon was picky, but Chase had planned to watch this movie with him and for some reason he thought there was more to this decision. 

"Wait and see." Without another word he grabbed the remote and pressed play. His eyes moved to the screen and Simon decided to do the same. 

It didn't take long for Simon to realise what he was looking at. "Really? Little Miss Sunshine?" He turned to Chase in surprise, his eyebrows raised. 

"It's a good movie." He shrugged without turning to him and Simon narrowed his eyes. Little Miss Sunshine was one of his favourite movies, but he usually watched it alone or with his mum because his friends didn't want to watch it. Half of them claimed it was a movie for teenage girls, and the other half were bothered by the fact that it was supposedly an old film. Hell, even Max didn't want to watch it with him, claiming it was crap. 

"Chase," he addressed him, waiting for him to turn his face to him. 

"You told me it was a good movie once," Chase admitted after a moment of silence. His tone wasn't quite sure, as if he was hesitating to explain it to Simon. "I watched it and liked it, so I thought we could watch it again now." He shrugged again, as if it were nothing. 

Although he had turned his head back to the screen, Simon was still looking at him intently. Memories came to his mind that he had long forgotten, but now made sense. 

A few weeks after he'd started dating Max, he'd met Chase. Actually, not just Chase, but Chase had been the friend of Max's who had indirectly made sure that Simon would fit into their group. They spent hours talking about various topics, but mostly about movies. Simon had revealed a few of his favourites, but he hadn't thought much about it at the time. Few people his age had the same taste in movies as he did, and he assumed that Chase was only pretending to be interested to please him. 

"Are you watching?" Chase snapped him out of his trance, and Simon's eyes finally returned to the screen. 

"Of course I am," he confirmed, although it wasn't entirely true. "It's my favourite movie." 

Chase didn't answer anymore and Simon decided to turn his full attention to the television. After a few minutes of sitting stiffly on the couch, however, he decided to make himself more comfortable. 

Chase was sitting on the longer part of the couch, which allowed him to stretch out his legs, and it took Simon exactly three seconds to decide to press himself against his side so that he could stretch out as well. 

He felt Chase's eyes on him, but decided to ignore them and reached for the bowl of popcorn instead. 

If it bothered Chase that he was practically cuddling up to him, he didn't say anything. Quite the opposite, in fact. After a moment, his arm moved from the back of the couch to around Simon's shoulders, and Chase helped Simon move his head to his chest.

If Jess, or any of his friends for that matter, saw them now, they'd definitely scold him. Cuddling wasn't something one associated with friends with benefits, and certainly not with one night stands. His relationship with Chase was already complicated enough, but it looked like this was just the beginning. 

Especially when this meeting of theirs didn't end with sex and a sleepover like it usually did. No, instead they'd just exchanged a few kisses while watching the movie, and when it was over, Simon stood up and decided it was time to go home. 

Chase didn't protest, but decided to walk him to the door. 

"We should do this again sometime," he said as he stood in the doorway. 

At this point Simon was no longer surprised by his words, but rather amused. This whole situation between them was highly ironic and he decided he'd rather not think about it too much. 

"We should." Simon agreed. "Maybe we could watch Interstellar." While watching, he had plenty of time to remember more of the conversations between them from months ago, and among the things he remembered was the name of Chase's favourite movie. 

Although Simon had said it casually, as if it was no big deal, just like Chase had done before, the brunette didn't have as good a poker face as Simon. It was clear that he was surprised by Simon's words.

"Sounds good," he said in a soft voice. Simon wasn't sure how to interpret his look, but decided not to think too much about it. Instead, he leaned forward and planted a fleeting kiss on his cheek.

 "See you around." He said a quick goodbye, and before Chase could react in any way, he turned on his heel and headed for the stairs. 

"Bye, Simon." He heard behind him, but didn't look back. Instead, he sped up and once he was in front of Chase's apartment complex, he looked around anxiously. 

He wasn't ready to let Chase go, and if Max followed him again, he had no doubt that if he confronted Chase, he would choose his best friend over him. 

So much for the fact that this was supposed to be his payback.