"Are you sure that you do not mind coming with me, ma petite?" Chris asked for the millionth time as Phichit walked into the mall with Chris.

"No, it should be fun. I don't know your brother all that well and I am curious as to how good of a shopper the great Christophe Giacommetti is when he is shopping for someone else," Phichit laughed.

"Non, liebling, Michael is easy to shop for. He loves his video games, and his mic just broke so he hasn't been able to talk to his friends and it is driving him crazy," Chris explained.

The two wove their way through the mall, stopping every occasionally, when something caught their eye – either out of interest or the fact that the item looked ridiculous. They eventually made their way to the GameStop.

The pair made their way around the store ogling at the odd trinkets that the store carried. Collectables seemed to have taken over the store, pushing the actual games onto a single wall. Just as they were about to turn and look at games for Chris' brother, Chris tensed up.

Phichit looked at his friend with concern. He had never seen Chris get mad before. Chris was one of the most fun-loving people that Phichit had ever met, but this, this was a different Chris all together. His jaw was set, and a scowl clouded every soft feature that you could say that Chris had. There was a dark aura coming off Chris that was almost tangible.

Just as Phichit was about to ask if his companion was alright, the aura seemed to shrink back into Chris, and a pinched smile appeared on the taller man's face.

"I will be right back ma petite," Chris said as he sauntered over to the counter where a customer was yelling at the poor girl behind the counter.

Phichit couldn't understand what was being said, but the customer was clearly angry, and the girl behind the counter looked close to tears. Then there was a little detail about the customer that caught Phichit's eye – she had a Christophe Giacometti dangle on her bag. This girl was a fan of Chris, and he was walking right over there looking like he was going to murder the girl.

Phichit watched with Sick fascination as Chris somehow managed to make the girl behind the counter laugh and blush. He made his way behind the counter and gave the girl a kiss on the cheek. He gave the customer a snarl and asked a pointed question to her. Chris handed the girl behind the counter a slip of paper and sauntered back to Phichit.

"What the fuck just happened?" Phichit demanded as he followed Chris out of the store. The aura around Chris had dispersed a little, though the tension was still evident in his shoulders.

"No one ever has reason to speak to anyone that way," Chris stated as he kept marching forward.

"So, you fixed things by flirting with the cashier?" Phichit asked skeptically.

Chris finally stopped in a line at a Starbucks and turned to look at Phichit. There was something off about Chris yet, but he seemed to be calming down.

"The cunt of a customer was yelling at the cashier about some bullshit. She ended up calling the cashier a bitch and threw the video game behind the counter – I don't know if you saw that, but I did. Anyhow, the cashier was trying to explain that since the disk was damaged, and the girl hadn't purchased the protection on the product, that she couldn't do a return without manager approval and that there wasn't a manager on staff at the moment. The cunt was going into a full-blown bitch-fit when I got to the counter. And well, then she started fangirling over me. How pathetic…"

Chris continued to go on about what had happened in the store. Chris had apparently not noticed the dangle on the girl's bag and hadn't known that the girl was a fan of his until she had expressed as much. Anyhow, the story ended with Christophe calling the customer a cunt and giving the cashier his email address in case she faced any repercussions.

This left Phichit in awe for two reasons: that meant that Chris just went to the rescue of random retail workers from nightmare customers just because he could; and two, because that meant that Chris could look right into the eyes of someone who adored him and could, not only shut them down, but also call them a cunt. That combination in a person scared Phichit for multiple reasons and not all were bad, but not all were good.

Phichit decided that he would need further explanation once they were in a more private place.

They wandered around the mall for a little while longer. The sugar filled drinks that Chris had got them from Starbucks seemed to have calmed Chris down, and all tension between the two of them soon faded. They both ended up buying something. About an hour later Chris went back to the GameStop so that he could buy the headset and make sure that the employee had fully recovered from the encounter.

Phichit was in awe of the man, and how tenderly he handled the stranger. It wasn't the way he handled fans with a forced smile, or the way that he handled conquests with a set jaw and flutter eyes, but more the way that he interacted with Phichit – genuinely.

…

They went home and put in a movie while eating take out pizza. They got about half way through the movie before Phichit decided that he was going to die without answers. He was scared of how Chris would react to the question, but what kind of friendship would they have if it weren't interrupted at least once by Phichit's dire need to know everything.

So Phichit grabbed the remote, paused the movie, and took a bite out of his slice of pizza.

'Is this your attempt to seduce me ma petite?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow as grease and cheese dribbled down Phichit's lip and onto his lap.

Phichit gave Chris his best smolder before swallowing and getting serious.

"No, sadly not, though you won't have to ask when I do," Phichit responded. "I have been curious about the mall incident today."

Phichit stated it as casually as he could though something switched in Chris' eyes that reassured Phichit that he shouldn't have been nervous. The look in Chris' eyes softened – almost like Chris was becoming a small child again.

"I don't like it when people treat retail workers that way. They're just as disappointed in the quality of their product as the customers are, and they want to do anything in their power to help you, sadly retail workers have about as much power as a blueberry rolling down a hill," Chris started to explain.

"Yeah, I understand that," Phichit said. "And I hate it when people act like assholes too, but you got…"

Phichit paused to think of the most appropriate word to describe what had happened to his friend at GameStop, when Chris jumped in.

"Scary?" Chris offered.

"Kinda," Phichit replied shyly.

"I'm sorry I scared you, liebling," Chris cooed as he pulled Phichit into his chest. "I know that I take it way too seriously and I need to let it go, but I can't."

Phichit settled himself against Chris' chest and felt the sincerity of his words bubble through his chest.

"Why?"

Chris started to stroke Phichit's hair as he paused to think about how he should answer. Phichit waited for Chris to get his thoughts together patiently.

"My mother worked retail my entire life. When I was little she worked a few jobs at a time. I always told her that she didn't have to, but she did. She would come home tired and worn out, but she kept at it. I know she would hate herself if she knew that I knew, but I know that sometimes when she was between jobs, she would go – the extra mile – to make money. The men were never nice to her, and sometimes she would come home bruised up. That was until she met my step-dad, then she only worked real jobs. They met at a Hep-B support group, which was the final nail that sealed down my knowledge of how she had been paying for all my lessons. Anyhow, she always told me that she worked so hard so that she could give me a life where I could call a client a cunt without being slapped or fired."

Phichit sat in Chris' arms, and he felt a wet drop hit the top of his head. He looked up to see that Chris was crying. Phichit reached up and wiped a tear from Chris' face. He settled back into Chris' arms to act as support if his friend wished to continue.

"She worked her ass off to put me through school and to pay for my coaches until I was winning enough to pay for them on my own. She didn't live long enough to see me get my gold in juniors, but her savings put me through school. I have a bio-chem degree and my certificate to be an x-ray technician."

Phichit rubbed the back of Chris' hand to give the man the knowledge that he was supported and that Phichit was willing to wait for him to continue.

"She worked day and night so that I could be successful, and I will never be able to pay her back for all of the hours she spent getting sexually harassed by co-workers and customers and being screamed at by the likes of them. She sat there and took it, and I have taken it as the only way that I can pay her back is by doing my best to defend those in her situation."

Phichit felt Chris' chest start to heave as he started to sob. The Thailander adjusted their position so that he was holding Chris and stroking his hair. Phichit hadn't known how much Chris had gone through. Phichit knew that both of Chris' parents were dead, and that his brother meant the world to him. Phichit also knew that Chris had an extreme respect for people – he just hadn't known where it had all stemmed from.

As Phichit sat stroking Chris' hair while cooing, he wondered if Chris had spoken to anyone else about all of this. Surely Viktor had known, but who else? Who else stopped to see past Chris' charm to see the momma's boy who was missing his momma?

Thank you for reading. I have been thinking about writing a whole story in this verse. Tell me what you think about dear Christophe's back story. I honestly love hearing people's interpretation of the creation of Chris.

Let me know what you think and leave a comment if you like.

Donny.