Chapter Text
Fluixon had experienced multiple crazy things throughout his life. Being his father’s son, nothing really seemed too preposterous or shameless. But when he heard those words being uttered by his best friend. He almost passed out.
“I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend.”
Those words echoed in his mind. Yes, Saps and him had been friends for a long time. Ever since high school, they have had their ups and downs as any good friends would. But Flux would have never, and he meant it. Never thought that Saparata, brilliant Saparata would ever ask him to pretend to be his boyfriend.
He didn’t know why the word ‘pretend’ sent a pang through his chest. But he decided to ignore it for the benefit of helping his friend.
That was a lie. He knew all too well.
At the silence of the raven boy, Saparata panicked a little and very quickly tried to stammer a reasonable explanation. “Flux, I know this is very out of your comfort zone but I need this–”
“Okay.”
Saps mouth was agape, his mind clearly trying to understand how Flux had agreed so easily. The boy was awfully private, barely showing any vulnerability at all. He knew he would eventually cave. Either way, he expected a little more reluctancy, not that he was complaining of course.
“Okay? Just like that?”
“Yes, I know you won’t stop until I say yes, and I honestly feel pity for you.” Ouch. There it was.
Flux will always be Flux. His Flux
‘Maybe that’s why I always find myself coming back to you.’
“My best friend, ladies and gentlemen.” He spoke in mock offense while Flux snorted. It didn’t take long until the latter cleared his throat and started being well, Flux. He could tell how the gears in his head started turning as he stood up and grabbed a notepad from his desk. Flipping the pages until he found a blank one and started scribbling on it. Saparata was always annoyed at how neat and refined the boy’s handwriting was, even when not on a sturdy surface. If Saparata wanted to write half decently, he needed a very specific mechanical pencil, college rule paper and to tilt his notebook slightly to the left. And even then, most of the time, his handwriting was messy, to say the least. It didn’t matter though, it was still better than Schoopd’s and a win is a win.
He leaned closer to see what Flux was writing down, golden eyes scanning the pages while a grin spread across his face. ‘I knew I could count on you.’
“First and foremost, we need a believable story, how long ago did we supposedly start dating?”
Saparata thought for a moment. Saying a month ago felt too fake, none of his friends would believe him. To hide a secret of such magnitude, nope. Saparata didn’t want to die yet. But also saying that he just started dating Flux was way too suspicious as well, especially taking into consideration the recent conversation he had with Sharpness, it didn’t sit right. After some pondering, he decided. “I think 2 weeks ago is good, it’s not too long so people would be understanding if we wanted to keep a secret, but also not too soon so it’s easier to kind of brush under the rug.” Fluixon seemed satisfied with his answer because he went back to writing. Asking question after question to make sure the story was as believable as it could be.
Their ‘love story’ went as follows: Flux had confessed to Saps 2 weeks ago, during one of their hangouts at the former’s house. This made perfect sense. Lately Saps had been spending more time than usual with the boy. He had midterms okay, and Flux always kept him in check with his studies. Saps had of course reciprocated his feelings and they started dating since then. However, they had kept it private mainly because of Saps, he wanted to tell Micro first but the boy was on a trip. Flux had not said anything because he knew his friends and he also knew that they would slip up and mention it to someone, ruining the news for Micro. It was the perfect cover, no one would suspect a thing. Also, because he was pretty sure there were bets around campus regarding when the two of them would get together… People really can’t simply just be happy with two guys being friends.
“Flux, you are a genius!” Saparata exclaimed with a giddy face, high-fiving the other boy. “Dude you might have saved my face. Sharp would never guess it was just a slip up.” Fluixon shook his head while looking at the boy in front of him with fondness.
“There is one more thing though.” He spoke while Saps just looked at him with curiosity. “How far do we take this? I mean we must establish some boundaries, saying that we are dating won’t cut it for long, most people would get suspicious if they see a couple not acting coupley-like.”
The fact had completely escaped Saparata’s mind. His friend was right though. There was no way his friends would believe him if he weren’t to at the very least have physical contact with Flux. He wasn’t really against it, if there was someone he was comfortable with, it was Flux.
And if there was a person who Flux would start physical contact with without cringing it definitely was his best friend.
It always was Saps.
“Well, you are already helping me so I’ll let you decide how far we take it. I’d hate to make you uncomfortable.” Fluixon smiled at that, something warm blooming in his chest.
Saparata kept speaking. “But I think that normal stuff like hugging and holding hands is good, as well as sitting closer while we’re in front of other people.” It was reasonable.
At times Flux wondered if he and Saps were two pieces of the same board, it was odd how they complemented each other so well.
“Sounds good to me.”
The rest of the day was spent with them talking about everything and whatnot. Flux ranting about how one of his professors was an absolute idiot for assigning a whole model to be submitted in three days. Saps hyping him up and making questions about his plans. He was always curious and genuinely interested in the boy’s projects. The passion and drive behind everything he did regarding architecture was magnetic. That is how Saps found himself helping Flux cut cardstock while watching a zombie apocalypse series in the background. It was entertaining at some points but mainly served as background noise. He made a mental note to try and watch it later. It wasn’t until hours later when Saps had reached for his phone to order takeout that he saw his messages.
>> 17 Messages from ATP
>>Sharpie
Sapsy has a lover everyone!
>>Thai Chai
WHAT
HOW
WHAT
@Saps ANSWER RIGHT NOW
WHO IS IT
I NEED TO KNOW
>>Judy Hopps
Calm down Tai
There must be a reason why he didn’t say anything
Leave the guy alone
>>Sharpie
You can’t tell me you’re not curious
>>Judy Hopps
Oh I am
I just want to wait to interrogate him in person
>>Thai Chai
I just asked Jaden and Nufuli
They said they had no idea, even asked Wemm and the others
>>Judy Hopps
YOU DID WHAT
>>Sharpie
You’re a dead man Tai
Saparata groaned while dragging a hand down his face. When Flux turned around and asked him what happened, he just showed him his phone. The raven haired boy understood immediately.
“How can they be so stupid? Gosh, they really had to go and open their mouths! How fast can you let a secret slip? It hasn’t even been eight hours since I spoke with Sharp!” And while Saps pinched his nose out of exasperation, an old habit of his. Bigger problems approached.
“Saps?” Flux spoke, looking at his friend’s phone with a slight tint of worry in his expression. When he lifted his head and looked at his phone he was utterly horrified.
Magic was calling him. Face timing him to be exact.
Saparata wanted to cry.
“I can’t answer.”
“You have to, she won’t stop until you do.” The voice of reason, as always.
He weighed his choices. From one side he could ignore Magic and wait until she got tired of calling but then deal with the consequences when he inevitably finds her tomorrow for their economic class and face her wrath. Or he could answer right now, subject himself to a couple of yells and an interrogation, but being safe from any punches.
He hated how clear the correct option was.
Reluctantly he took the phone and tried to fix his appearance to the best of his abilities. When he finally pressed answer he closed his eyes bracing for impact.
“Theria Saparata! Want to tell me about your mysterious partner?” To his surprise it was not Magic screaming at him, but Cass. Which was arguably worse. “Hi Cass, nice talking to you, too.”
“Saps, please tell me that the text I received from Schpood saying: ‘our Saps finally got himself a lover’ is fake and I did not spend thirty minutes of my Sunday lecturing him not to trust in everything Magic tells him?” When Saps stayed quiet for a couple of seconds in obvious awkwardness Cass knew.
“No way…”
“Yeah… sorry for not telling you–”
Before he could continue, Magic joined the call, chirpy as ever. “Hi Saps! How are you doing?” He couldn’t even reply before Magic interrupted again. “Where are you? Is that Flux’s house?”
Cass seemed to put two and two together really fast.
“No.” A pause.
“Actually? Since when?”
“About two weeks ago.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I’m sorry, I wanted to tell Micro first, so I was waiting until he came back.” He explained while rubbing his neck. Cass seemed to believe him, however. She didn’t ask any more questions, in fact, she seemed quite happy even. Magic apparently hadn’t caught on to what was happening because she looked at the red haired with confusion painted all over her face. “Am I missing something?” She asked, oblivious.
“What happened Magic is, Flux and Saps are dating.”
Magic stayed silent for a moment, before standing up and jumping, exclaiming how happy she was. “Oh my gosh, I thought I’d never see this day! You two finally got it together!”
Saps started to feel bad, seeing his friends so happy for him while everything was just fake… But he couldn’t back down now. “Saps, I am so happy! Is Flux there?” The guy across the phone came back to reality and nodded before asking his ‘boyfriend’ to join him in the call. Once the two of them were in range of the camera, he waved and said hi to Magic.
“Oh my gosh Flux! Why didn’t you tell me? Congrats man, I am so happy for you. Look, even Blue is happy!” Fluixon smiled softly while Magic showed him how Blue, a dog he and Magic had once taken home to take care of jumped around and looked impossibly adorable.
“Thanks Magic, I apologize for not telling you, I feared someone spoiling the news and accidentally spilling everything to Micro before Saps had a chance to talk to him.”
“No problem man, I totally understand, actually really smart from your part! Honestly when Baablu told me that apparently Saps was taken, I couldn’t believe it. But of course it’s you Flux! How did I not think of that sooner?” The genuinity and the way Magic laughed and looked so happy sent a pang of guilt through the two fake lovers. But the show must go on.
They stayed on the phone talking for a few minutes, mainly all of them gushing over Blue, can you blame them? That dog was the cutest. Eventually everyone said their goodbyes and Saps remembered that he needed to text something in ATP.
Saps<<
You got me in trouble with Cass
Tai, count your days.
Saps went back to his original goal, which was ordering takeout. He finally decided on some KFC, their chicken nuggets were amazing, and he had been craving them for a while. Of course he could’ve asked Flux to tell his chef to make something. That would’ve been easier and faster, but there was something special about being in your best friend’s room, working on a project that isn’t even yours, just talking while eating junk food.
What followed afterwards was a very comfortable silence, forty minutes in, they realized the delivery person was nearby. So they decided to clear up the room and put all the cut cardstock away so they wouldn’t get ruined. Fluixon hated eating in his room but for Saparata he would make an exception. Once the delivery driver arrived, Flux went to get the food, not before asking Saparata to go ahead and bring some plates and cutlery from the kitchen. The Aculon household was huge, but he knew his way around it. After all, he had lived there for a short period of time.
They sat on the floor to eat while making casual conversation. Saps talking about his upcoming midterms in Strength, and how everything was piling up slowly. Flux, bless his soul, reassured him and offered help if needed. He didn’t know it, but little things like that are what takes weight off the golden-eyed boy’s shoulders.
“I feel bad lying to everyone you know? It seemed silly and a funny prank at first but seeing how happy Magic got, made feel… I don’t know.” Saps admitted.
“I get you, I also feel bad. But I think I’d feel worse if we were to tell them that it was all fake.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
The night dragged on, time waiting for no one. And neither of the boys talked about when they’d end this game, nor how.
It didn’t even cross their mind.
Saparata biked home that night, thinking about the day’s events and how everything had changed in just a few hours. He laughed at the absurdity of it all. And although the mess he had gotten himself into was deep. He was glad he was in it with Flux.
Once Saps had left. Fluixon was left alone with his thoughts. ‘What did I get myself into?’ He hated the fact that he was excited about the fact of pretending to be Saparata’s boyfriend. He wasn’t stupid, he had always known he thought of the angelic-looking boy as more than a friend. However, he never really thought that he would ever be reciprocated, Saps kept on giving him mixed signals to the point that he had decided that he wouldn’t try to make sense of them.
They were friends.
Best friends.
But that was it. There was nothing romantic in between, just a one-sided longing from his part. That’s alright though. He preferred to be his best friend than to be nothing. He had been nothing once and he despised it.
Fluixon was a greedy man, always trying to take more. It was his confidence and cunning character that gave him an advantage. And although he hated the idea of taking advantage of Saps, he knew that pretending to be his would be the closest to heaven he’d ever be. A mere mortal does not get the chance to have an angel by his side for long.
He didn’t know what he had done to deserve to have someone like Saparata. But he’d make the most out of it. Even if it is fleeting, even if it is fake, even if it’s just a prank for Saps. Fluixon would make the most out of it.
A treacherous thought invaded him right before sleep claimed him.
‘I just hope he doesn’t hate me for not pretending.’