Chapter Text
“So what are we going to break up over?”
“I dunno,” said Mako, tapping his fingers against Cass’s desk. He was sitting cross-legged on their desk chair, his head hanging over the chair’s back to look at Cass upside down.
Mako was going to have back problems at twenty-five with posture like that, and Cass fully intended to tell him so, but they were a little distracted by how incredibly unfair it was that Mako still looked good upside down.
It was even more unfair that he was still wearing the White Star sweater that he’d stolen from Cass a few weeks ago, the one that Cass had let him keep because it made them embarrassingly happy to see him in it. Mako wearing their clothes did nothing to dispel the rumor that they were secretly dating, but Cass didn’t really mind. They weren’t exactly opposed to that particular rumor, which made it even weirder that they were involved in a convoluted plan to dispel said rumor.
The whole thing had been Mako’s idea, of course. “We can let everyone think we’re together, and then we can ‘break up,’” he’d said. “Then no one will think we’re secretly dating. It’s foolproof.”
Cass had immediately vetoed the plan, but somehow Mako had managed to get them to concede. It was useless, really, for Cass to try to say no to him. When he pouted his lips and looked at them with those big, blue eyes, Cass lost all common sense.
Cass just couldn’t say no to Mako, and it was for precisely that reason that they found themself spending a perfectly good Sunday afternoon in their tiny dorm room, planning a fake breakup with a guy who didn’t like them back.
“Maybe we get in a big fight ‘cause you think I like someone else,” Mako suggested.
“Like who?” Cass asked.
“Jeez, I have to come up with everything,” Mako mumbled. “Okay, his name is Taylor, and he’s super tall, and he’s got, like, really cool purple hair. And he’s an exchange student. From Ziishe.”
I’m tall, thought some traitorous part of Cass’s brain. Maybe not super tall, but-
“We don’t have any exchange students from Ziishe,” Cass said, banishing all height-related thoughts from their mind.
“He goes to a different school.”
“There aren’t any other schools in the city.”
“It’s a long-distance thing.”
“Sure, fine,” said Cass. “So we’re just going to tell everyone-”
“Not yet,” said Mako. “It would seem weird if we just admitted it all of a sudden. We gotta ham it up a little first. It’ll be more real.”
“‘Ham it up?’”
“Yeah,” said Mako. “Y’know, hold hands and kiss and junk.”
The thought of kissing Mako sent Cass’s mind into overdrive. They could imagine it, almost feel it. He’d put his hands on their shoulders, and they’d lean over a little, and then they’d kiss him like it was the end of the world.
“That’s okay with you, right?” Mako asked. “Like, kissing and touching and stuff?”
Cass nodded, not trusting themself to speak.
“What about pet names?” Mako asked. “I could probably come up with some really good ones.”
“I’m not sure I want to know what you think good pet names are.”
“Well, there’s the classics,” Mako said. “Darling, sweetheart, baby, et cetera.”
“I can’t imagine using any of those,” Cass said. “It would sound so cheesy.”
“Depends on how you do it,” Mako said. “Like, if I just go-” he paused, leapt up from his chair, and sat down next to Cass on their bed, slinging an arm around their shoulders and continuing, “‘Hey, sweetheart, nice to see you,’ then that’s not too bad, right?”
“Uh, right,” Cass said, hoping they weren’t blushing.
“But if I say something like, ‘Good afternoon, my sweet little slice of pumpkin pie,’ then- actually, that one’s pretty good. You mind if I use that?”
“As long as you don’t mind getting kicked in the shins.”
“Okay, okay.” Mako pursed his lips. “What about sweet pea?”
Cass made a face. “Too cheesy.”
“Starfish?” Mako suggested.
“I’m not doing anything fish-related.”
“Honeybuns?”
“No.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It sounds like you’re talking about my ass.”
“So?” Mako said. “We’re dating, remember?”
“Fake dating,” Cass reminded him.
“So saying you have sweet buns is off-limits?”
“Very off-limits.” Cass bit the inside of their cheek. If they hadn’t been blushing before, they were now.
“Okay.” Mako thought for a moment. “What about babe? Is that fine?”
“That’s… not too bad.”
“Awesome,” said Mako. “I’ve always wanted to, like, roll up and be all like, ‘Hey, babe, how’s it going?’”
“‘Roll up?’”
“Yeah,” Mako said. “I’m wearing Heelys in this scenario.”
“If we were really dating, I would break up with you,” Cass said, like a liar.
“C’mon, babe,” Mako said. “I haven’t even gotten to kiss you yet. Oh, man, we haven’t kissed. Should we practice?”
Cass could feel their brain slowly turning into mush. “Um, yeah. We probably should. Just so we don’t mess up or anything.”
“Okay, yeah.” Mako turned so they were facing each other. “Should I just, like…”
Cass swallowed. “Sure.”
“Okay.” Mako leaned forward a little. “Okay, I’m just gonna do it.”
And, before Cass could even open their mouth to respond, Mako was kissing them.
The kiss was brief, but it was soft and warm, and, best of all, it was Mako.
“Was that okay?” Mako asked, biting his lip.
“Yeah,” Cass said quietly. “That was okay.”
It was the understatement of the century.
“I want a fry.”
“Then you should’ve bought fries,” said Cass.
“But I just want one fry,” Mako said. He gave Cass his best puppy dog eyes. “Please?”
“Fine.” Absently, Cass held out a french fry, which Mako immediately ate.
“Thanks, Cass,” Mako said, pressing up against them and leaning his head on their shoulder. “Also, I think I actually wanted two fries.”
“You’re such a pain,” Cass said, feeding him another fry.
“Are you two for real?” Aria said, raising an eyebrow.
“What’re you talking about?” Mako asked.
Aria looked pointedly at them. Mako shrugged.
Aria sighed. “This whole thing where you pretend you’re not dating. It’s getting old.”
“We’re not,” said Cass.
Aria rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said. “I’m going to go get a smoothie.”
As soon as Aria walked away, Mako tilted his head up to face Cass. “We should probably start pretending to be dating now.”
Cass swallowed. “Like, right now?”
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”
“Okay,” said Cass. “What should we do? Should I, uh…” Tentatively, Cass put their arm around him.
“Yeah, that’s good,” said Mako. “This is definitely how we’d sit if we were dating.”
“Uh, sure.”
“Man, I cant wait to see the look on Aria’s face,” Mako said, grinning. “She’ll be like, ‘You guys are totally acting like you’re dating!’ And then we’ll be like, ‘No, what? We’re totally not dating.’ And then she’ll be like, ‘But I think you are, actually,’ and then we’ll be like, ‘Okay, fine, you got us,’ and- Hey, I think she’s about to come over here. Be cool, but also act like we’re dating, okay?”
Cass had zoned out halfway through Mako’s imagined dialogue. They’d just been looking at him, his ridiculous gelled-up hair and the faint smattering of freckles across his nose and his smile, the smile that made Cass feel like they could see this planet’s sun through the heavy blanket of storm clouds.
“Cass?”
“Yeah,” said Cass. “I’m good.”
“Good.” Mako found Cass’s hand where it rested near his shoulder and took it in his own. “This is gonna be totally cool and chill.”
“Hey, you two,” Aria said as she sat back down in her seat across from Cass and Mako. “They were out of strawberry banana, so I got this weird orange mango thing.”
“We’ve shared one of those before,” said Mako. “It’s pretty good. Right, babe?” He winked very conspicuously.
“Yeah,” said Cass. “Great smoothie.” They actually had shared it, with two straws and everything. Cass could not for the life of them remember whether they’d liked it or not, because all they’d been able to think about at the time was Mako.
“Yeah, it’s okay. It’s no strawberry banana, but it works,” said Aria. “Hey, do you guys want to go to the aquarium with me and Jacqui on Friday? They’re doing this couple’s discount thing-”
“What does that have to do with us?” Mako asked, looking at her innocuously.
Aria sighed exaggeratedly. “I assumed that this-” she gestured at them- “was your weird way of finally admitting that you’re together.”
“What?” Mako said casually. “Why would you think that?”
“You’re holding hands, for one,” Aria said in a tone that clearly meant “I’m tired of your bullshit.” “And you called Cass ‘babe.’ This is where I draw the line, okay? Even if you don’t think so, you’re definitely dating.”
“Oh,” said Mako. “Well, uh…” He glanced at Cass for confirmation, and they nodded.
“Oh, darn,” said Mako. “Looks like you figured out our secret, which is that we’re dating.”
“I’ve known that for, like, two months,” Aria said, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “So do you want to go to the aquarium or not?”
“I want to go to the aquarium,” said Mako. “Cass, let’s go to the aquarium.”
“You’re just going to spend the whole time pointing at weird fish and saying they look like me,” Cass said.
Mako made a pouty face at Cass, and they sighed.
“Fine,” they said. “Aquarium. Why not?”
“I’ve always wanted to go on a double date!” Aria said cheerily, watching a school of brightly colored tropical fish dart around their tank. “And now we finally have couple friends!”
“Great,” said Jacqui.
“Don’t worry, J,” Mako said, pointing finger guns at her. “Cass and I have stuff to do, so we’ll give you guys some alone time.”
“What stuff?” Cass asked.
"You'll see." Mako grinned and tugged on Cass's arm. Cass sighed good-naturedly and followed him down the hall, leaving Jacqui and Aria to themselves.
"Here," Mako announced when they reached the next room. One wall was transparent, revealing the huge tank on the other side.
Cass glanced at the tank. "Sharks?"
"They're makos," Mako said proudly, sitting down and patting the empty seat next to him on the bench. "Now you can make fun of me too, so we're even."
Cass sat down and tried not to look touched. "It doesn't even look like you."
"It does! Look." Mako turned toward Cass, opened his eyes wide, and let his mouth hang open. "We're like twins."
Cass laughed despite themself. "You're ridiculous."
Mako smiled and leaned into Cass. "I happen to know that you like ridiculous."
Cass hummed in response, and Mako rested his head on their shoulder.
“Hey, Cass?”
“Yeah?”
Mako pointed at a fish near the bottom of the tank. “That fish looks like you.”
“So,” Maxine said, resting her elbows on the table, “I heard you and Mako finally admitted you’re dating.”
“What? Who told you that?”
“So it’s true.”
Cass sighed. “Yeah.”
“Well, I’m glad you two corn nuts finally got it together,” said Maxine.
“Corn nuts?”
“I was really getting sick of you pining after him all the time,” Maxine continued, ignoring Cass’s comment. “No offense.”
“Offense taken,” said Cass. “I was not pining after Mako.”
“You’re still not going to admit that you like him? You’re literally dating.”
“I’m not saying I don’t like him. Just that I didn’t pine after him.”
“You totally did, though,” said Maxine. “You were always like-” Maxine put her hand over her chest like a distressed Southern belle- “‘Oh, Maxine, did I tell you how Mako blew his nose today? He’s positively dreamy. I wish he would sweep me off my feet and hold me in his tiny noodle arms-‘“
“He does not have noodle arms,” Cass interrupted. “His arms are normal-sized.”
“And he has normal-sized arms! Oh, I’m swooning.”
“I don’t talk like that.”
“You do when you’re talking about your boyfriend,” said Maxine. “Hey, are you okay? Why are you making that face?”
“I just… my boyfriend,” Cass said. “I’m still not used to hearing that.”
Maxine rolled her eyes. “I almost prefer pining Cass to mushy, love-struck Cass.”
“I’m not mushy.”
“You’re so mushy,” said Maxine. “You look at him like he hung the moons. I can practically see the hearts in your eyes.”
“That’s not true.”
“It’s super true,” Maxine said. “You’ve got it bad. Own up to it.”
“There’s nothing to own up to,” Cass said. “Mako and I are…”
“Did someone say Mako?” Mako asked, sliding into the bench beside Cass. He took their hand in his and gave them a quick peck on the cheek. “Hey, babe. Hi, Maxine.”
“Mako,” Cass said, smiling despite themself. “Hi.”
“Well, it looks like my daily quota of love-struck nerds has been filled,” said Maxine. “I’ll see you around, hopefully not at the same time.”
Cass and Mako exchanged goodbyes with Maxine. Once she left, Mako turned to Cass.
“Hey.” Mako squeezed their hand. “Hope you didn’t miss me too much.”
“I saw you a few hours ago.”
“That’s a long time if you think about it,” said Mako. “Definitely long enough to miss someone.”
“Yeah,” said Cass. “I guess it is.”