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“So, what’s the problem?” Dean asks, confused about the whole situation. He’s out to lunch with his friend Seth, who’s been rambling on and on about his cousin’s wedding. “Just go to the wedding and enjoy yourself.”
“No, you don’t understand. I checked off plus one,” Seth says, insisting that that’s part of the problem.
“Ok?”
Seth shakes his head, annoyed that Dean can’t seem to grasp the issue. “My cousin is super anal about everything, and has turned into a massive Bridezilla. I checked off plus one thinking that I’d be on the rebound after my last breakup. Obviously, that hasn’t happened, now I have two tickets to Mexico and no one to go with, and my cousin will flip her shit if she has a place setting and no one sitting in that place.”
“That seems like it should be the least of her worries.”
“It’s not, I promise you.” He sips his water, then turns his best puppy dog eyes on Dean. “Do you wanna be my fake boyfriend for the weekend?”
“Nah, man. Look, I went to Mexico once, and I drank the water.” Dean physically shivers at the memory. “It was a bad scene, real bad, and I have no desire to go back there.”
Seth’s head drops back in frustration. “So what do I do? I can’t go alone. My ex is gonna be there, and I’m pretty sure I heard he’s got a new boyfriend. I can’t get shown up by him.”
“Ok, this is gonna sound crazy—”
“Coming from you, yeah, probably,” Seth cuts in.
Dean flips him off, then continues, “I have this coworker who’s pretty recently single, and I think he’s probably your type, I can ask him to go with you.”
“You want me to take a blind date to my cousin’s wedding in Mexico?!”
“Hey, no one would know you’d never met before this. Worst comes to worst, you two get drunk at the reception and don’t talk to each other, then you fly back and never see each other again. Best case scenario, you get drunk and the reception and get laid.”
“This is completely crazy.”
Dean smiles. “I’ll ask him tomorrow. He’s been talking about needing a vacation.”
~~~
Seth can hardly believe that he’s standing at the airport, waiting at his gate, with a sign for Reigns. He’s got a rolling suitcase next to him, his small carryon bag balancing on top, scanning for a guy he’s never met who’s supposed to be his boyfriend for the weekend. He can’t believe he agreed to this.
Finally, he sees a good looking man in a white button down catch a glimpse of the sign and head over towards it. As he gets closer, Seth starts to truly take in all the man’s features. He’s tall, he’s tan, he’s chiseled. All pluses in Seth’s book. Then he sees the guy’s hair is pulled back into a bun. He’s even got long hair. Damn, Dean had him pegged.
“You’re Seth?” he asks, hoping it’s Seth holding the sign for him.
“Yeah. You’re Roman, I take it?” He sets the sign down as they shake hands. He then chuckles as he notices how Roman’s hand just completely engulfs his own. “I can’t believe you actually agreed to this crazy idea.”
Roman chuckles, too. “Well, Dean really managed to sell me on the idea. He said free trip to Mexico. That was about all it took.”
Seth nods, “Yeah, I get it. That would probably sell me, too. The whole fake boyfriend thing didn’t put you off at all?”
“Nah. It’s still a free trip to Mexico. I figured I’d be able to play along when needed.”
“Ok. I’m giving you a heads up now, my ex is gonna be there, and I wanna make him real jealous.” Seth figures it really won’t take much to get him wound up, Roman already has his ex beat in the looks department. “So, when they start dancing at the reception, you’ve been warned, I’m gonna be dancing real close to you.”
“Like I said, I’m down for just about anything.” He smiles at Seth, and Seth feels little butterflies in his stomach.
Just then, the announcement is made that their flight is boarding, so as they line up, Seth tells Roman, “We’ll figure out our back story on the flight.”
“Back story?”
“You know, how we met, when we met, all that. We can’t say we met today, after all.”
Roman agrees, and the entire flight is spent, first, figuring out their fake dating story, second, getting to know one another.
They’re both shocked when the pilot announces that they’ll be landing soon. They had no idea they talked for so long, the time had passed so quickly, as they learned they really had quite a bit in common. They shared stories of their hobbies and pastimes, of work, of their exes.
Once they land, they impatiently wait around for their luggage to come around the corral. When it finally comes around, they head out and find a car waiting for them to take them right to the resort.
“Ok, so, you remember all our important dates, right?” Seth asks, to which Roman nods. “Also, I should probably warn you, my cousin’s been a bit of a Bridezilla lately, so just be wary of that. She might be crazy right now. I really don’t know.”
“Got it. My sister-in-law was the same way.”
They’re silent the rest of the drive there, grabbing their luggage and heading inside once they’re dropped off. They have a few hours before rehearsal dinner, so they head up to their room. Once in the room, however, Seth looks to Roman with a worried look on his face. “I think it’s because I checked off plus one,” he says as he looks at the one king sized bed in the center of the room.
“It’s ok, there’s plenty of room,” Roman assures him, setting his luggage on the right side of the bed. “Speaking of the bed, I could go for a nap right now.” He wastes no time kicking off his shoes and slipping under the covers.
‘Fuck it,’ Seth thinks to himself, climbing onto the left side of the bed, lying his head down on the soft pillow.
They wake up a couple hours later, a bit groggy, but that wears off soon enough. Both head to their suitcases and start rummaging through, looking for some casual clothes to wear to the dinner. When Seth looks up from his suitcase, he gets a good view of a shirtless Roman before he slips his arms through the sleeves of his button down, and the man has a physique that gods could only dream of having. And, damn, Dean hadn’t mentioned Roman also had tattoos, that bastard.
Roman glances up and notices Seth staring at him, and he smirks. “You ok over there?”
He shakes his head to bring him back to the present. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” He turns his head away once he realizes he’s still staring. “Just, ya know, getting dressed.”
“It’s not very believable, though, is it?” Roman asks, lining up the button holes at the bottom of his shirt before sliding the first button in.
“Huh?”
“I mean, you getting flustered just seeing me shirtless. We’re supposed to have been together for a few months now, at least, right? I’d think by this point we’d have seen each other shirtless.”
“That’s a fair point,” Seth agrees, clutching his shirt between his hands.
“Well?”
“What?”
Roman grins. “Don’t I get to see you shirtless now, too?”
“Oh? Oh. Yeah, uh, yeah.” Seth hates himself right now. He hates feeling so out of his element. He’s only just met Roman and the other man is making him flustered, which doesn’t happen to him. He wasn’t this nervous when he lost his virginity, so why now, when all he’s doing is looking at his fake boyfriend shirtless? He pulls his shirt over his head and drops it onto the bed. He manages to regain his composure as he stands there for a minute, allowing Roman to take his body in. “So?” he asks. He knows he looks good, knows his body is chiseled, but god he wants Roman’s approval.
Roman bites his lower lip as he looks Seth over. “You definitely won’t hear me complaining.”
Seth can feel his face heating up and knows he’s turned a slight pink. He’s blushing now, too? God, Roman really has reverted him to a teenager. Buttoning up his shirt quickly, Seth then suggests they head downstairs. “Ready to meet my family?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Midway through their elevator ride, Seth asks, “Do you think we should be holding hands?”
“You mean walking into the hall?”
“Yeah. Is that too much? Is that normal?”
Both of them think back to past relationships, how they’d act if they actually were dating someone and showed up to an event like this. Roman looks down when he feels Seth’s fingers lace through his own, and he smiles. Looks like they were both thinking the same thing.
They find seats at a table close to the buffet. Glancing around the room to try and spot his cousin, Seth ends up instead spotting his ex at the bar. “That’s my ex over there,” Seth says to Roman.
Trying to not be completely obvious, Roman turns his head towards the bar and sees the man in question. As Roman’s looking, Seth’s ex turns around and looks almost directly at their table. “Hey, Seth.”
“Yeah?” Seth asks, turning his head to look at Roman.
It’s then that Roman kisses him. It’s a quick peck on the lips, but it’s enough to get his point across.
Seth can feel himself blushing again. “What was that for?”
“Your ex was looking at us.” Roman places his hand on Seth’s knee. “I hope that wasn’t out of line? I just figured we’ve been together for a while, I would think we’d have kissed by now, right?”
“Yeah.” Seth can see out of the corner of his eye that his cousin is approaching. “It’s just that you’ve never been one for PDA before,” he says once she’s right next to them, knowing that wouldn’t blow their cover.
“Seth! It’s so good to see you here!” she says to him. “This must be your plus one?”
“Yeah. Jill, this is my boyfriend, Roman. Roman, this is my cousin, Jill.” The introduction goes smoothly. Calling Roman his boyfriend rolls so nicely off his tongue. And Roman is hamming it up, he stands to shake Jill’s hand and goes on about how wonderful it finally is to meet her, he’s heard so much about her, and congratulations on the wedding.
“She seems nice,” Roman says once he sits back down and she’s moved along to greet the next guests that walk in.
“I’m guessing she’s had a couple margaritas at this point. She’s been wound so tight these past few months, I swear.”
“Maybe now that she’s actually here she’s able to relax a little. I mean, that on top of the tequila, obviously. By the way, she said the buffet is all set if we wanna go eat,” Roman tells him, his stomach reminding him he hasn’t had anything for a few hours.
“Might as well.”
Seth’s parents walk in just as they’re sitting down with their plates, and join them for dinner. Again, the introductions go smoothly, and he does feel bad about lying to his parents, but it’s too late to turn back at this point.
After the rehearsal dinner, Seth and Roman are back in their hotel room, once again rummaging through their suitcases for pajamas. “You want the shower first?” Roman asks.
“Nah, you can go if you’re all set.”
“Ok.” He bunches up his flannel pants, about to start walking to the bathroom when he stops. “Did you think the kiss was out of line?”
Seth finds himself flushing again at the thought of that quick kiss from earlier. “What? No, no, not at all.”
“Are you sure? It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but I know we never actually discussed kissing.”
“Roman, it’s ok. I mean, it’s more than ok. If my ex is side-eyeing us at the reception, feel free to do it again.”
“Ok, good to know.” He walks to the bathroom, but just before he closes the door, he stops and turns, looking right at Seth. “Can I only do it if your ex is staring?”
Seth’s eyes go wide, mouth agape at Roman’s boldness. And then his jaw drops further when Roman as the audacity to shut the door before Seth can even give him an answer. What an asshole. What a gorgeous goddamn asshole.
~~~
The ceremony is beautiful. The groom looks dapper up at the altar and Seth’s cousin looks stunning as she walks down the aisle. Roman’s hand is resting lightly on Seth’s knee, and Seth places his hand on top, lightly rubbing his thumb over the back of Roman’s hand.
After the wedding, the small group of guests head to cocktail hour while the wedding party heads off to take pictures.
“Hey, Seth, I didn’t get the chance to talk to you yesterday.”
Seth and Roman were both at the bar getting drinks, backs to the crowd, so neither of them saw Seth’s ex come up behind them. “Oh, hey, Matt.” He slips his arm around Roman’s waist, pulling him close.
“How’s everything going?” he asks, trying as subtly as possible to eye up his ex’s new boyfriend.
“Things are great,” Seth answers, smiling up at Roman.
Roman turns his head and meets Seth’s eyes, and that smile on Seth’s face warms him up from the inside out. He knows he’s just supposed to be playing boyfriend, but he’s taken a fast liking to Seth, likes being around him, and maybe wouldn’t mind spending some more time with him.
“This is my boyfriend, Roman. How’s everything with you?”
“Good, real good. My boyfriend’s over there, I was just grabbing us some drinks,” Matt says.
“Well,” Seth says, pausing for a moment as a man with a tray of bacon wrapped scallops walks by, grabbing a couple, “it was nice seeing you again. I’m gonna go find some more hors d’oedurves.” With that, Seth steers Roman away from the bar, away from Matt, and towards the man with the scallop tray.
“You guys seemed civil enough.”
“He’s a dickhead,” Seth says. “But he’s been best friends with my cousin since before I even met him. Unfortunately he made the cut on getting an invite.” Seth grabs another scallop, then a lady with a tray of meatballs walks by and he takes one of those.
Roman grabs a meatball as well, and before he pops it into his mouth says, “You’re over him, though, right?”
“Yeah, he’s a dickhead, of course I’m over him.”
There’s a pause as Roman chews and swallows, and he then says, “I don’t mean like that. I mean… over him in the sense that you won’t let him ruin the rest of the night for you.”
“God no. I have way better company now, anyway.” When Roman leans down and presses a kiss to the top of his head, Seth swears his knees go weak.
“Good.”
It’s not much longer before they’re all ushered into the hall where the actual reception is taking place. Everyone finds their seat cards, Seth and Roman sitting with his and Jill’s one other mutual cousin and his wife. There are a few other people at the table, which Seth assumes must be Jill’s husband’s cousins.
Soon, the emcee is introducing the married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander and Jillian Payne, and the couple comes out to have their first dance together. Once the dance is done, the newlyweds make their way to their table and the food is served.
“Looking forward to getting you out on that dance floor,” Roman leans over to whisper into Seth’s ear.
“Oh, I can’t wait.” He turns his attention back to his steak and thinks about dancing with Roman. God, they’re going to look good out there.
The plates are cleared away and the emcee is encouraging Jill and her father up to the dance floor for the father daughter dance. As soon as their song finishes up, the music picks up and Roman glances over to Seth, jerking his head towards the floor. “Shall we?” he asks, extending his hand.
“I think we shall,” he replies, grabbing Roman’s hand, standing up.
They bump into his ex on the dance floor once and as soon as Roman notices Matt, he tilts Seth’s head up and kisses him. “You never did answer me last night,” Roman says once he pulls back.
“About what?” Seth asks as the song switches over to something far slower paced.
Roman’s hands slip to Seth’s waist and he pulls the slightly smaller man close. “If I could only kiss you when your ex was around, or if I could do it whenever the moment seemed right.”
“I thought you were just kidding about that,” Seth replies as he finds his head leaning on Roman’s shoulder.
“Mmm, nope. I mean, if I was your actual boyfriend I could kiss you whenever I felt like it and there wouldn’t be an issue, right?”
“Right,” Seth answers.
“And if we were actually dating and were slow dancing, and I wanted to lean down and kiss you, it’d be totally normal, right?”
“Right.”
“So?”
“You can definitely kiss me right now,” Seth tells him.
It’s exactly what Roman does. They keep swaying together as their lips meet, and this time, Roman touches his tongue to Seth’s lips. When they part for him, they all but melt together. It’s not until Jill comes by, dancing with her husband, and bumps Seth’s shoulder, laughing at them to “Get a room,” that they realize the songs have completely changed tempo.
“Guess we did get a little carried away there,” Seth say.
“Yeah,” Roman agrees, finding himself blushing a little. He manages to recover quickly, though, and leads the pace of their dancing to match the music. However, when the next song comes on, he mutters, “Oh hell no,” and attempts to walk off the dance floor.
“Uh-uh,” Seth tuts, “you’re staying out here, mister.” People start lining up next to them and he clutches Roman’s hand to keep him next to him.
Knowing he’s all but forced to acquiesce, he and the entire group begin moving to the left as the Cupid Shuffle starts. He claps and turns and moves to the right, telling Seth, “I’m not doing the YMCA.”
“Oh yes you are.”
The emcee rolls straight from the Cupid Shuffle into the YMCA, but even Seth draws the line when Cotton Eyed Joe is played next. After a quick trip to the bar, they take their seats, watching as people continue to dance. “You look like you had fun out there,” Roman says, looking at Seth’s flushed face.
“I did, yeah. And for someone who didn’t want to do it, you sure knew how to do the Cupid Shuffle pretty well,” Seth teases.
“What can I say? Hidden talent.”
Seth sips at his martini, not taking his eyes off Roman. “Could I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“After the wedding… I mean, once we’re done with all this,” he gestures between the two of them, “do you think maybe you’d wanna go on a second date?”
Roman grins. “I think I’d really like that.”
“You know, when Dean came up with this crazy idea, he told me that worst case scenario I’d at least be getting drunk at the reception, and, honestly, that’s all I ever pictured happening.”
“Really? What was best case scenario?”
“According to Dean, I get drunk at the reception and then get laid afterwards,” Seth tells him.
“Well, I’ll have you know, I don’t put out on the first date.”
Seth grins at him. “Personally, I think this played out way better than Dean’s best case scenario, anyway.”
“I think I agree with you.” Roman leans forward and presses another quick kiss to Seth’s lips. “Hey, that monstrosity of a song is over. May I have this dance?”
Seth rolls his eyes, but stands up to continue where they left off.
It feels like no time at all before the emcee is telling everyone to grab their husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, as it’s time for the last song of the evening. As ‘Save the Last Dance For Me’ comes on, Seth presses his body as close to Roman’s as he can as they sway to the beat. They’re both smiling ear to ear as they hold one another.
They head out hand in hand after giving Jill and Alex their well wishes. “I still can’t believe I didn’t even know you before this.”
“I definitely got more out of a free trip to Mexico than I ever thought I would,” Roman says.
“Wait, what did you just say?” they both hear from behind them. Matt and his boyfriend walked out at the same time as them, overhearing their conversation.
“Nothing,” Seth says.
“I swear you just said you don’t even know each other.”
Seth grins. “I think you had one too many drinks. I hope you have a great night, guys,” he adds as he heads towards the elevator, knowing for sure that once they’re back home, Matt is definitely a thing of the past, as he has bigger and better things on his horizon. He presses a kiss to Roman’s cheek and when the man turns and smiles at him, Seth can’t help but smile back. Yeah, much better.