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Wylan was regretting his choices. When Nina had suggested they go out for a drink, he’d assumed they’d be heading to a pub. And so he had dressed for a pub. And now he was in Ketterdam’s premiere gay bar, in his long-sleeved shirt and fairisle vest, feeling warm, uncomfortable, and entirely out of place.
He sat on a barstool, and nursed his beer as he watched Nina dance very suggestively with a spikey haired blond girl who was wearing all black, and probably suffering with the heat as much as he was. She didn’t seem to care as much though. Why had he agreed to this? What am I doing here?
Because if you mope around the apartment all day, every day, the only thing you’re going to be blowing is your damn flute. Nina’s voice echoed in his ears, and he had to concede - she had a point. He hadn’t actually been out socialising in, well, weeks, and if it wasn’t for Nina’s good-natured bullying, it might have been months. He just, never really knew where to start. Hi, I’m Wylan Van Eck, yes, that Van Eck, no, actually he disowned me, yes, that is very depressing gosh, hasn’t the weather been nice lately... He had considered the idea of just lying, building a different, better life for himself in his mind, but he knew he didn’t have much of a poker face.
He was mulling over the disappointing state of his social life when his vision of the dancefloor was suddenly obscured by an incredible amount of sequins. He looked up to find a very tall man, wearing a sequin studded harlequin suit jacket over a neon pink mesh top that stood out luminous against his dark skin, and jeans so skinny it should probably have been illegal. And somehow, that outfit was not the most dazzling part of the ensemble - that would be the man’s face. Wylan wasn’t sure he’d ever seen eyes that incredible shade of grey before, and his lips… well, they should probably be illegal too.
“Hey- can I ask you for a favour?” When the man spoke, Wylan realised he’d been staring, and quickly looked down at his drink, before realising that he actually needed to answer the question.
“Um, sure?”
The man grinned, a wide, brilliant smile that lit up his whole face. “Pretend to be my boyfriend? Just for like, ten minutes?”
Wylan couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit disappointed. Of course, he was prime fake boyfriend material. He wasn’t surprised; he had that kind of face. People were always asking him for directions, to take their holiday photos, and look after their laptops in cafes whilst they visited the facilities. Once, someone had asked him to look after their baby, that had been a particularly memorable one. He considered, briefly, that the world was lucky he hadn’t decided to use that power to turn to a life of crime.
He didn’t really have an issue with being a fake boyfriend either. He’d done it for Alina a bunch of times, when Aleksander, her dickhead of an ex, really wouldn’t take no for an answer. Less depressingly, he’d done it for Nina too, when restaurants were holding Valentine’s day deals, and she’d wanted cheap food. He’d never had to do it for a guy, let alone a hot guy, before but hey, it wasn’t like he had anything else to do.
“Sure, I guess. Can I know the name of my fake date?”
The handsome man laughed, and God, what a beautiful laugh; rich and easy and fun.
“I’m Jesper,” he said, leaning forward even further, to whisper something into Wylan’s ear, and Wylan could already feel the blush rising to his cheeks as he felt Jesper’s hot breath against his cheek. “Act like i’ve just said something incredibly erotic.”
When Jesper leaned back, and saw the bright flush that Wylan knew damn well was covering his cheeks, his face split into a wide grin. “Damn! Are you really that easily flustered, or are you just an incredible actor?”
Wylan decided not to answer, for the sake of his remaining dignity, but if Jesper wanted to play this game, he sure as hell wasn’t going to back out. Trying to control his furious blush, he reached over to take the hand Jesper had rested on the bar, entwining their fingers. When was the last time he’d so much as held another man’s hand? Just his luck that this time didn’t even mean anything.
“I’m Wylan. Care to tell me why I’m your boyfriend this evening?”
Jesper shot him a dazzling grin. “Well, clearly we met when you came to get a drink at the pub I bartend for, I flirted with you, terribly unprofessional of me, but how could I resist such a pretty face? And then you...” he looked Wylan up and down appraisingly, “used your accounting skills? To help me with my terrible finances, and love blossomed!”
Wylan felt a grin spread across his face, unbidden. He wasn’t sure whether it was because Jesper was being ridiculous, or because he’d called him pretty. “I’m not an accountant - I’m a musician.”
“Oooh, my boyfriend is an artiste!” Jesper moved to tuck one of Wylan’s curls behind his ear, the image of a doting partner. Wylan tried not to enjoy it too much, tried not to take advantage of the situation; all he was doing was helping this guy get some creep off his back. That’s all. “What do you play, my little virtuoso?”
“Um, I play the flute.” Wylan swallowed, and before he could talk himself out of doing it, he added. “Can I buy you a drink? To um, to keep up the ruse, obviously…”
“Ohhh, and he’s charming too, I’m a lucky guy!” Jesper winked at him, and Wylan felt himself redden yet again. “I’ll have a gin and juice.” Jesper turned around and grabbed a barstool as Wylan signaled the bartender and made his order. It was… odd. Despite the absurdity of the situation, he was actually kind of having fun.
“So,” Wylan watched as Jesper took a sip from his drink, “how bad is the creep we’re saving you from, by the way? Am I going to have to throw a punch because, in that case, you picked the wrong guy, I’ve got seriously noodly arms.”
Jesper threw his head back and laughed. God, what a beautiful laugh. “No, no you don’t need to punch anyone, and he’s not a creep. No, I just…” Jesper took a deep breath. “Sorry. The image of you and Kuwei getting into a fight is too funny. No, I met this guy like, three weeks ago. He seemed nice, we made out, it was… meh? I thought I’d never see him again, so I lied, and said it was great. He’s here tonight. He asked if I wanted to carry on where we left off and… I panicked and said that I was here with someone?” Jesper gave an apologetic grimace, but honestly, he didn’t look that sorry. Wylan frowned.
“Seriously? I thought I was protecting you from a creepy guy, not… helping you lie your way out of trouble!”
“If it helps, it was a really bad kiss?” Jesper tried for a winning smile, it did nothing to placate Wylan’s annoyance.
“No, That doesn’t help!” Wylan was feeling less and less guilty about having enjoyed Jesper’s fakery now.
“Oh god. Wylan, he’s coming over.” Wylan followed Jesper’s gaze, to a skinny, smug looking guy, in a painfully orange shirt, who was heading their way. “Please, please go along with this, I am begging you.”
Wylan rolled his eyes at Jesper’s wide-eyed, pleading expression. There was something so stupidly charming about Jesper, Wylan suspected he was someone very few people were able to say no to, like a puppy begging for treats. “Fine,” he said, and then, because he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to get something out of this ridiculous situation, and Jesper was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen. “He’ll probably just walk away again if you kiss me.”
Jesper grinned again then, shark-like this time, and Wylan felt his stomach flip. Then, Jesper’s hand was on the back of his neck, and his lips were millimeters from Wylan’s. “You sure?” he whispered. His voice was like honey, and Wylan could feel Jesper’s breath on his lips. He gave a single nod, not trusting himself to speak, and then suddenly they were kissing, and the whole world melted away. It should have been a brief, staged kiss, enough to fool this Kuwei character, and nothing more. But Jesper’s lips were so, so soft, and he was kissing Wylan like he was the only thing in the universe that mattered, and without even thinking about it, Wylan was running a hand through Jesper’s hair, and tasting the gin on his lips, and, and…
Jesper broke away first, staring at Wylan, with a look that could only be described as awestruck. “Damn…” he whispered, his eyes drifting back down to Wylan’s lips. “I think… Kuwei might still be watching… we should do that again. For the ruse, obviously.”
Wylan decided not to mention that Jesper hadn’t even looked up to see if Kuwei was there. “For the ruse.” He agreed, before leaning in to kiss him again.
“Wylan! Are you going to introduce me to this beautiful piece of arm candy you’ve found?”
Wylan sighed, as he disentangled himself from Jesper’s arms and locked eyes with Nina, who looked like the cat with the proverbial cream.
“Well,” he said, with a grin to match hers, “This is Jesper, he’s my boyfriend. We met when I got a drink at his bar, and he started flirting with me… incredibly unprofessional of him…”