Chapter Text
Brian was sitting at his desk, scrolling through twitter, deciding on which of his clever tweets to post, when Arin plopped down in the empty chair next to him.
"Hey, Bri!" He said with obviously forced enthusiasm.
Raising an eyebrow, Brian glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, Arin. What do you need?" He asked in a knowing tone.
Arin laughed, grabbing Brian's shoulder and playfully shaking him. "What makes you think I want something?"
"Probably, the fact that it’s the only time you seek me out." Brian bitterly thought to himself.
Sitting up, he turned his chair, facing Arin and leaned back, fixing him with a steady stare. "Are you saying you don't want anything?" He asked in an even tone.
Arin swallowed, feeling himself shrink under the gaze of those piercing blue eyes. It always amazed him, how Brian could unnerve him with just a glance.
Looking away, Arin let out another laugh and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. You're right." He admitted. He then looked around the office, as if making sure no one was listening. Brian looked around too.
The office was pretty empty save for a few game developers scattered about. Mostly everyone had left for the day.
Brian knew Dan would be coming in later to record an all-nighter with Arin. He’d had a busy week with appointments and collaborations. Scheduling with Arin had fallen a bit on the wayside. Not something he let happen often.
"So, here's the deal," Arin began, leaning forward on his knees, his expression becoming serious, piquing Brian's interest. He knew that look.
Arin had an idea that could either be amazingly great or terribly bad.
"I want you to pretend to be my boyfriend."
Well. This time seemed to lean towards terribly bad.
"What?"
Arin picked at the fabric of his shorts, his cheeks reddening. "Just what I said, I want to have a fake relationship with you."
Brian let out a huff of annoyance. "I get that, what I mean is why?"
Keeping his eyes averted, Arin's voice lowered to an almost whisper. "I want...to make Dan jealous."
Brian's eyes widened. Make Dan jealous? For what? And how would pretending to date do that?
Suddenly it dawned on Brian.
"You...have feelings for him."
It wasn't a question but Arin nodded anyway, his face bright red. "Yeah. I do. I figured I could maybe test the waters and see how he reacts before telling him."
Brian kept his expression carefully blank. This really was a bad idea but he could see the determination in Arin's eyes, despite his blushing face. He really wanted to try this. And Brian would be lying if he said he wasn't curious.
"Alright. So let me see if I understand this right." Brian said. "You like Danny in a romantic sense and in order to find out if he's interested in you, you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend to see if he becomes jealous. Did I get all of that?"
Arin nodded, staring down at the floor. Brian ran a hand through his short hair, letting out a sigh.
In just a few minutes, Brian had found out that Arin was not straight, something he'd already figured out some time ago, and that he had a thing for Dan, which for Brian, was a disappointing revelation. Still not very surprising. They had grown extremely close over their friendship.
Brian had been carrying a hidden torch for Arin for a couple of years now. Maybe even longer.
The way Arin had taken control of his life and built a company from nothing was not only impressive but inspiring. He had already held Arin in high regards for giving Dan a chance. But then out of the blue, he had offered Brian a job with benefits, helping him and Dan reunite and really kick off their musical career that Arin had a hand in igniting in the first place.
Everything seemed to circle back to Arin. He had a habit of taking care of everyone he took under his wing. Providing a steady job while allowing other creative outlets to exist.
It wasn't all that shocking that Brian developed deeper than friendship feelings for him. He embodied everything Brian was attracted to.
But a fake relationship to get to Dan? Nearly every part of Brian cautioned that he shouldn't go through with this but a small part saw it as an opening and had him hesitating.
"So…if we do this, you'd have to come out, right?" Brian asked. Arin nodded.
"Yeah. I'm aware. I've thought it over and I'm ready for everyone to know."
Brian looked around before meeting Arin's eyes. "What if...I'm not ready?" He asked.
Arin stared at him for a few seconds before his eyes grew to an almost comical size. Brian couldn't help the bit of annoyance he felt that Arin didn't consider his feelings in all of this. One of his, very few, character flaws.
"B-brian…I-" He looked away, his face scrunching up. "I'm sorry. I didn't…I didn't mean to…" Arin let out a sigh and moved to get up. "Just forget it. It's a bad idea. I should've just listened to Suzy. Sorry I bothered you."
Brian didn't say anything, a bit surprised that Suzy hadn't been able to stop Arin. He watched as Arin walked away, heading towards his office. The door closing behind him.
Turning back towards his desk, Brian let out a sigh and leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. He thought back over the conversation and wondered at his urge to go through with it.
The feeling was growing stronger. He wanted to do it. Even if it wasn't real. It was better than nothing.
At least he would come out of the experience with some actual moments with Arin and not just fantasies he came up with whenever his loneliness reached it's peak.
Having made his decision, Brian grabbed a pen and notebook and headed towards Arin's office.
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Arin raised his head from his desk, hearing the knock on his door. He really didn't feel up to talking to anyone. Not after the way he had embarrassed himself in front of Brian.
He couldn't believe that he'd forgotten something so simple as how Brian would be affected by his plan. He wasn't even sure if Brian was into guys but figured it didn't matter since the relationship would be fake.
And now due to his carelessness, he'd found out that Brian may not be straight and he had just tried to force him to come out.
What a horrible thing to do. Especially to a friend.
Letting out a groan, Arin muttered a 'Come in.' for whoever was on the other side of his door. His eyes widened, seeing Brian walking in and shutting the door behind him.
“B-brian?”
Brian didn't respond as he approached Arin and sat down on the couch. Still without saying anything, he opened the notebook he was holding and held his pen over the paper, ready to write.
“Flowers or chocolate?” Brian asked.
Arin gave him a blank look. “Um, what?”
Brian looked up, meeting his eyes. “For gifts. Or do you not like receiving gifts from those you date?”
“Date?” Arin repeated with his eyebrows raised. What was Brian saying?
“Your plan to get Dan.” Brian clarified. “I'll help you...and pretend to be your boyfriend.”
Arin's eyes widened further. “Really? You'll do it?”
Brian nodded. Arin then frowned. “But what about coming out? Is that okay for you?” He said, asking the questions he should have asked himself before.
Brian shrugged. “I'm sure everyone has probably suspected, since I do joke around like you do.”
Arin looked down in thought. That was true. Joking about his sexuality had been a useful outlet for him. Revealing the truth but without the risk of being rejected. Not a particularly healthy thing for them to do. That was for sure.
But still...
“Dan jokes around too...” Arin murmured to himself. Brian frowned. He had a feeling that what Dan did was different from himself and Arin.
“So, why don't we get started?” Brian said, pulling Arin from his thoughts. “If we're going to do this, we should set some rules.”
“Rules?”
Brian nodded. “Yeah. A relationship, even a pretend one needs boundaries. Usually we'd learn those by spending time together but since that's not the point of this, we should be up front with each other now.”
“Is that why you asked about gifts?” Arin asked. Brian nodded.
“Yes. As long as I know what you like and don’t like, I can make this more believable.”
“Okay, that makes sense.” Arin agreed. He looked over at the clock on his desk. “Dan will be here in thirty minutes.”
“Alright. Let's start.”
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“Do you really think that's enough?” Arin asked, following Brian out of the office. Brian smiled at him, holding up the notebook.
“It's plenty. Leave the rest to me. All you need to do is act naturally and remember that we are now dating.”
“That should be easy enough.” Arin said, looking Brian up and down.
He couldn't deny that Brian was attractive and despite his need to annoy and tease others, he was a sweet and caring man.
Arin could see himself being into Brian if he didn't already have feelings for Dan.
“Arin? Brian?” A voice called out from around the corner.
Arin moved to turn towards the voice but Brian quickly reached out, grabbing him behind the neck and pulling him down, bringing their lips together. Arin's eyes widened as he heard a gasp behind him, before he remembered himself and closed his eyes, grabbing Brian by the shoulders and returning the kiss.
Brian pulled back, breaking the kiss and looked over to see Dan frozen in place, his eyes wide and mouth agape. Arin released Brian, knowing his face was bright red and turned around.
“Oh, hey Dan.” Arin managed. He could still feel Brian's lips against his and it had his body reacting in a odd way. The warmth spreading throughout him, mixing with the hope he could feel growing from within, seeing Dan's stunned expression.
It looked like their plan was already working.
“Um, hey Arin...Brian.” Dan said, looking between the two, as if trying to figure something out.
Brian gently rested a hand on Arin's back, grabbing his attention. “I'm going to head on home, Arin.”
Looking back at him, Arin gave him a warm smile and nodded. “Okay. Text me when you get there.”
Brian's eyes widened slightly at the sincere tone in Arin's request. He couldn't help but genuinely smile at him. “I will.”
He then nodded at Dan. “I replied to your lyrics email and added a few comments.” He said, walking over to his desk and grabbing his backpack.
“See you two later.”
Arin and Dan watched as he walked out.
The silence stretched between them.
“So,” Arin began. “You ready to record?”
Dan looked at him with an incredulous expression. “Yeah. Right after you tell me, what the hell was that all about?”
Arin smiled to himself.
Everything was going according to plan.
Perfect.