[006] prince charming

                                                                         After the gala was over, Roman and Celia were preparing to leave and head back to their apartment. But of course, Roman couldn't stop thinking about what Celia had done with Jack. And once he had seen her scrolling through her phone in the car, it'd make Roman spiral all over again.

                                                                     "Are you gonna call him?" Roman asks, interrupting the silence that had filled the car.

                                                                     "What?" Celia frowns as she looks up at him.

                                                                     "Are you gonna call the waiter guy and hang out with him?" Roman questioned.

                                                                     "What if I did? What would you possibly do about it?" Celia taunted him, folding her arms across her chest. "Huh? I don't know why you're acting upset when you barely sleep with me anyway. Maybe I should call him up and bring him back to the house. You can watch me screw him and get off on it. You and I both know you're fucked up enough to like something like that."

                                                                     "Don't call him. Whatever you do, don't call him," Roman insisted.

                                                                       Celia wasn't going to call him anyway but she wasn't going to immediately tell him that. "Aw, are you actually upset? Are you worried I'd leave you for him?"

                                                                      "What? Of course not! He's some fucking loser whose only source of income comes from wine," Roman's quick to argue.

                                                                      "So what's the big deal then? You shouldn't be so insecure," Celia taunted.

                                                                      "I'm not insecure. If anyone's insecure, it's you. You're alays desperate to have every man in the world pay attention to you. It's honestly pathetic," Roman retorted, eager to try and land a blow of his own. And it works... a little.

                                                                      "Maybe I wouldn't have to if you weren't so fucking lousy in bed. What kind of man are you anyway that you can't even please your own wife? If anything sounds pathetic to me, it's that," Celia spat. Her verbal blows seemed to have more of an impact becasue Roman completely shuts down on her.

                                                                      "Get out," Roman demanded.

                                                                      "What?" Celia scoffs, almost wondering if he was joking or not.

                                                                        Roman reaches over, opening the car door for Celia. "Okay, get out. You can find your own way home."

                                                                       "Fine. Don't bother waiting up. I'll be fucking Jack anyway," Celia declared as she climbed out of the car in a hurry, shocking the driver still waiting in the front. Celia almost felt bad for 

                                                                       "His name's Jack?!"

                                                                         Celia stomps away, letting her anger guide her steps back to the ball. Truth be told, Celia had no fucking clue how she was going to be getting home. And she was not talking to Jack, not now that she had gotten what she needed out of him. Celia's best bet was probably catching a ride with Renee... that is, if she was even still here in the first place.

                                                                         But just then, her luck would finally look up when she managed to bump into Kendall just as she was approaching the entrance. She'd bump right into him but Kendall manages to catch her before she could fall, making her look up at him.

                                                                       "Sorry," Celia then says with a sheepish smile, reluctantly backing away from him a little so she could stand on her own. "I didn't really see where I was going."

                                                                       "That's fine. Uh, where's Rome?" Kendall asked, expecting to see his younger brother around the corner.

                                                                       "That's the last person I want to talk about right now," Celia answered as she wrapped her arms around her body.

                                                                       "Did you get into a fight or something?" Kendall asks. He knows that it wasn't his business but he couldn't help his curiosity.

                                                                         Celia only nods.

                                                                       "Did you want to leave with me instead? You could come back to my place and, uh, spend the night... But only if you want to," Kendall offered before he could stop himself. Obviously, it was a bad idea to even let Celia spend the night with him. But... he'd be a terrible brother-in-law to abandon Celia when Roman already did.

                                                                       "Please," Celia insisted.

                                                                         Kendall seems to think about it for a moment before he agrees, ignoring all of the blaring red flags. He was still pretty emotional after everything that had happened with his father tonight. And perhaps, he didn't really want to be alone either. Celia smiles and instantly latches onto Kendall's arm, allowing him to lead her over to his ride.

                                                                        For most of the drive, Celia happened to be looking out of the window and admiring the brightly lit city around her. Kendall snuck glances over at Celia, admiring the way the light hit her face in certain angles and making her glow like an angel. Celia would catch him staring a couple of times but chose to play dumb instead.

                                                                         And then they'd arrive at Kendall's house, Celia making herself right at home. She'd slip off her shoes, looking around the apartment which she had never been inside before. It was crazy, seeing as she had known him and been married to Roman for years. But the occasion to see Kendall's apartment had never come around until now. And now that she didn't really have to worry about running into Rava or their two children, Celia figured that this was even more perfect timing.

                                                                      "Thanks for letting me come over and spend the night. I owe you," Celia replies.

                                                                      "Don't worry about it. Um, I have a spare bedroom over here if you follow me and I'll bring you spare clothes since you probably wouldn't want to sleep in that... no offense, it's a really beautiful dress," Kendall assures her.

                                                                       "Thank you. Just a shame I'll only wear it once," Celia reasoned with a shrug. 

                                                                        Kendall leads her into the spare bedroom and as he goes to get her a change of clothes (it was a bit difficult figuring out exactly what to give Celia for obvious reasons), Celia decided to try and begin taking her dress off after she'd wipe off her makeup with a wipe. But that was much easier said than done when the zipper was already difficult. She had Roman to help her before but obviously, he wasn't here now. Just as Celia was able to grab hold of the zipper with her hand, that was when the door opened and Celia turned around to see a surprised Kendall now holding onto his clothes.

                                                                     "Oh. I, uh, I'm sorry. I should've knocked but -," Kendall begins to say.

                                                                     "No, it's fine. I actually need your help. I've been trying to get this zipper down but I can't seem to reach," Celia explains as she turns back around, motioning towards the zipper. "If you could help me pull it down, it'd be amazing."

                                                                      Kendall stands there for a moment, suddenly feeling a lot hotter than before. If Stewy was here, he'd undoubtedly come up with some stupid joke involving porn. But either way, Kendall knew he couldn't just stand there forever like an idiot.

                                                                      "Ken?" Celia turn around slightly to look at Kendall, a small yet innocent smile on her lips. "Are you still here?"

                                                                      "Y - yeah, I'll be right there," Kendall remarked.

                                                                       He makes his way right over to where Celia was and she moves her hair to the side, allowing him to keep going. His fingers hovering above the zipper for a moment before he pulls it down, seeing Celia's back now exposed as he pulls it all the way down. Now Kendall isn't exactly a virgin or a prude, he's seen women's backs before. But obviously, Kendall knew he shouldn't be seeing his brother's wife in this way.

                                                                     "Thanks, Ken," Celia responds as she turns around, now gingerl taking the clothes from Kendall. They were a little bigger than Celia expected but they were his kids so, of course, that was expected.

                                                                      "No problem," is all Kendall says, leaving the room in a hurry.

                                                                       Amused (and obviously thrilled) by Kendall's reaction, Celia got changed into Kendall's baggy t-shirt and sweatpants before she made her way back outside to see where Kendall was. And sure enough, he was in the living room and pouring himself a glass of whiskey. Upon hearing footsteps, he looked up to see Celia now wearing his clothes and he could feel his heart skip a beat. Although she was definitely beautiful, Kendall had never seen her look this... sweet and adorable before. It brings a small smile onto his face as Celia sits right next to him on the couch.

                                                                       "I didn't think much about my clothes before but you manage to make them look pretty good," Kendall teased with a chuckle. "How is that even possible?"

                                                                       "Magic, I suppose," Celia shrugged.

                                                                        Kendall shakes his head before holding out another empty glass, seemingly anticipating that Celia would want one. Of course, she takes it and Celia even takes the bottle of whiskey so she could pour some out for herself.

                                                                        "Are you doing okay?" Celia glances over at Kendall, her fingers curled around the small glass. "I mean, with your dad and all. I don't think anyone was expecting him to show up - let alone do all of that."

                                                                        "Yeah, no. That was crazy. I guess I shouldn't have expected things to fall into place so easily. But still, I was so fucking close," Kendall says with a shake of his head, finishing the rest of his drink before pouring out another drink for himself.

                                                                        "You're not gonna give up, are you?" Celia questioned.

                                                                        "No, of course not. I just need to figure out a way to get him out, that's all. You and I both know he's clearly not fit to take over. Did you see him during the speech? He was practically slurring his words by this point," Kendall answered.

                                                                         Celia sighs, holding onto Kendall's hand to try and comfort him. Kendall then looks down at their hands now touching before back up at Celia. "If you need my help or anything, I'd be more than happy to. I know a couple things from my dad. I'm not nearly as useless as everyone thinks I am. I'm a lot smarter than I look."

                                                                       "Yeah, I'll be sure to keep your offer in mind. I think it's important to figure out who my friends and enemies are," Kendall replied.

                                                                        "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right?" Celia remarked, causing Kendall to lightly chuckle at the remark. "Well, I'd like to think that we could be even closer than that."

                                                                       "What?" Kendall falters.

                                                                         Celia takes a large sip of her drink before she continues, saying, "I mean, we've been getting along so well lately and it's a shame we couldn't have gotten to do that sooner. But now that we have, it makes me realize that... I don't have nearly as many friends as I thought I did. I have no one that I can really talk to and feel comfortable with... except for you."

                                                                        "Not even Shiv? The two of you used to be so close," Kendall noted.

                                                                        "Used to be. Between her campaign and Tom, there just hasn't been enough time. And I'm not going to force Shiv to spend time with me either. I'd rather bother you instead," Celia says, nudging the older man beside her.

                                                                          Kendall lightly chuckles at that before he shakes his head."Although it's definitely a bad idea for us to spending so much time together... fuck it. Why not? I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. It's certainly not against the law either."

                                                                         "Exactly. And besides, it's like you said. It'll be our little secret," Celia encouraged with a smirk, one that Kendall mirrors before they clink glasses in celebration.

                                                                           They'd spend a little more time talking and drinking together before Celia felt tired first, excusing herself and going straight to bed. Kendall stayed up a little while longer, his thoughts clouded by Celia herself. Little by little, Kendall was finding it impossible to stay away from Celia and resist temptation.

                                                                           And maybe he didn't want to anymore.

( 💵💄👗)

word count: 2085
notes: ik i'm making kendall seem like such a good guy but dw his piece of shit tendencies will be revealed soon enough. celia just has rose colored glasses glued onto her eyes atm