Chapter Text
"Shut the door." Rafe yawned and started the engine. They'd just gotten back from their flight and were now leaving the airport. Sam stretched and heard the sound of his bones popping, still stiff from the flight back. It was nearly evening, but the banquet had gone on for so long, they didn't sleep 'till sunrise.
"Where to now, Samuel?" Rafe turned to Sam. The dark circles under his eyes hadn't gone unnoticed but Sam was too tired to make fun of them. "Nathan's house, I'm staying over for a couple of days before we have to attend- yet another- one of those parties again. Last night was delightful, by the way."
"Glad you think so, Samuel. There's gonna be a lot more after that. Now where is it?"
"Where's what?" Sam groaned.
"Your stupid brother's house?"
"Don't you know?"
"Oh, of course I know, I've been stalking him for the past decade, I know his height, his muscle mass, what he eats in a day-"
"Alright, alright, a simple 'no' would have worked. Hey, pull over I'll drive."
Rafe pulled over and got out, slamming the door before going to the other side of the car. "Someone's grumpy," Sam mumbled, though he couldn't blame him, he so badly wanted to go back to his crappy apartment and fall asleep on his crappy bed and never wake up. The only thing that kept him from that is getting to catch up with his brother, he hadn't seen him or Elena in months because he'd been too busy pretending to fuck Rafe. He couldn't wait to catch up with Nathan and embarrass him infront of his wife. He got in the driver's seat, adjusted the seating and began to drive. A ding came fron Sam's phone, he picked it up and slammed his foot on the brakes, "Ow- fuck- What the hell, Samuel?!"
Sam showed the phone screen to Rafe, a message from Nathan, 'Hey Sam, when are you gonna get here?'
'Oh, are you gonna bring Rafe? You're dating him right?'
He'd expected yelling or grabbing Sam's phone and throwing it out the window, but he just groaned loudly and slammed his head on the dashboard. "Christ, just tell him no. Tell him I died if that keeps me from going to your stupid brother's house." An understandable reaction.
"Can I tell him we're not actually together?" Rafe's glare said otherwise, "Alright, makes sense, considering how much you love being seen with me." Sam began typing and sent the reply, 'I'm on the way. Rafe has work and can't come.' Sam also sent multiple sad-crying faces to him.
He passed the phone over to Rafe, "If he responds just reply him for me." He began driving and immediately realised what a terrible idea it was. The last time he left his phone with Rafe, Nathan had texted him and Rafe had responded with a 'Fuck you, no one gives a shit, you're no brother of mine, diediedie.'
Sam had go explain why he responded to Nathan's 'im hungry' with such an aggressive response. 'A glitch' was the excuse he'd used.
Another ding came from the phone and from the sound of Rafe slamming his head on the window, he could tell it wasn't good. "What'd he say?" Rafe huffed and read out the message, in a monotonous tone, "'Really? Elena said that he's free till Friday.'"
"Damn, I should start dating a journalist, then I'll get all the information and be able to blackmail people for money."
For a moment, Rafe considered becoming a journalist, "Why? Just date me and and you'll get the money immediately." Sam nodded, "Ah, true, true. So note-to-self: date a journalist, or the son of a rich guy."
"Your bucket list sounds exciting."
He heard Rafe typing on his phone, and pressing send. "What'd you say?"
"'He doesn't want to come, piss off.'"
Sam groaned and snatched the phone back, he was about to delete the message when Nathan replied: 'It's fine, I'm sure you'll figure out how to annoy him into coming.' And he went offline.
Sam groaned again and leaned his forehead on the steering wheel. The week had been torturing enough to have to follow Rafe around, pretending to be his loving, doting boyfriend but now having to do it in front of his brother? Sure Sam was a good actor but Nathan would surely find out. "Looks like you have to come?"
Another slam on the window. "I hate you and your brother."
"That's not very nice, darling."
"Call me darling again and I'll run you over, you'll be crawling all the way to Nate's house."
"Well at least now I don't have to explain why a super expensive car dropped me off."
"Yes, because that's what I'm worried about."
When they arrived, Rafe looked as if he'd been to hell and back. Sam got out of the car, he was about to open the door for Rafe but he was stopped, "It's adorable that you're trying to be a gentleman, Samuel but I'll need a moment to collect myself before entering hell."
"Talk about dramatic."
"Shut up."
Sam walked up and knocked on their door. "Coming!" Elena yelled, and stomping was heard. The knob clicked and the door opened. Elena stood there for a brief moment before wrapping her arms around Sam.
"Sam! It's been so long, I missed you!" She unwrapped her arms from him and smiled. Her smile was beautiful, Nathan really chose the perfect girl. Sam hoped that he could find someone as perfect for him as Elena was for Nate. "Missed you too."
He heard the slamming of the car door, could Rafe at least try to pretend he wasn't tired as hell? He saw Rafe walk over and he noticed that the dark circles under Rafe's eyes were gone. Elena put her hand out, "Hey, you must be Rafe!"
He shook her hand and smiled, quite intimidating to see after witnessing his mood before, "Hey, yeah- Elena right? I've heard quite a bit about you from Sam."
"Oh yes- Oh! come inside! Come inside!"
When they entered Rafe immediately sat down on one of the armchairs. "Ah, sorry, he's really tired, we just got back from our flight." Sam apologised for his 'boyfriend'. "No it's fine, I get it, flights are so tiring." She turned to Rafe, "Are you thirsty? Do you want some water?"
"No, thanks." Rafe shrugged, throwing in his signature, smug smile.
"Where's Nathan?" Sam asked.
"Oh he's cooking dinner at the back, I wanted to do it but he said something about me 'burning the whole house down'," She turned to Sam, "Sam, you think my cooking's good don't you?"
Suddenly he felt his hairs raise, and a droplet of sweat drip down his neck, "I.." One wrong answer and he may never make it out alive, "Let's go see what Nathan's cooking."
Elena quirked a brow, "Alright let's go see what delicious rubbish Nate's cooking up."
Sam let out the breath he was holding and they headed to the kitchen. "Nathan!" Nathan was cutting up some veggies, and the kitchen smelt amazing- talk about husband material. "Sam!" he hugged Sam, "I missed you, God, it's been so long!"
"I'm touched you remember me baby brother, I thought after you got a wife you'd forget all about me."
"I should be the one saying that to you!" he looked at Elena and smirked, "So you and Rafe, huh?"
Hell, did he hate the fact that he couldn't tell them he wasn't actually dating Rafe. It wasn't lying that annoyed him, he could do that. It was the fact that he was a terrible actor. Despite the fact that he spent nearly his entire childhood scamming, stealing and deceiving people, he was not a good actor. Not like Rafe. But Rafe was born and raised to be an actor, he had a dozen different smiles for single events and he could act all pristine and polite when just a couple of moments ago he was insulting his brother and looking like hell. Sam could act, but it was normally used for distracting rich aristocrats so Nathan could steal their wallets. They were strangers, but this was his brother and his sister-in-law.
"Yeah," He rubbed his nape.
"So how long has it been?"
Nathan already knew how long it'd been, Elena probably told him. "A few months," They'd only been 'dating' for a month but it was the cover they'd gone over.
"So.. Rafe?" Nathan chuckled, "Is that why I received many... aggressive messages this month?"
Sam nodded. At least he wouldn't be accused of randomly cursing at his brother. "When'd it happen?" Elena seemed excited, she probably hadn't gotten much adventure ever since her and Nathan began D&F Fortunes. Nathan hadn't been going on that much treasure hunting because of that.
"And why Rafe out of everyone?"
Elena pinched Nathan, she'd never met Rafe so she didn't know how much of a royal asshole he was.
'Because he's loaded, and paid me to be his darling boyfriend' is what he wanted to say. But instead he glanced at Rafe, sitting on the armchair with his hands in his lap, polite as ever, "He hired me for a couple jobs, and after working together it kinda happened, y'know?"
Nathan smiled and looked at Elena. He definitely knew.
"Dinner's almost ready, you can get Rafe to the table." Nathan picked up the veggies and threw them into the wok. Sam headed to the living room and saw Rafe with his head leaned back and an arm thrown over his face.
Sam cleared his throat, and took Rafe's arm away from his face, "Babe? Hey, it's time for dinner."
He could feel Rafe tense and the name, "Yeah, okay." he said with less formality than he'd normally use at banquets and parties.
Sam slid an arm around Rafe's waist and led him to the kitchen. He saw Nathan bringing the food to the table and Elena serving out the utensils and plates. Rafe felt Sam's arm tense around him. Nathan had met most of his partners and he knew that Rafe wasn't particularly his type. Rafe probably knew exactly how to act, smile, speak and look but Sam felt like he'd collapse on the spot.
They sat down together. Soon Nathan and Elena came and sat opposite them, Elena sat opposite Rafe which was quite disappointing because Sam wanted to tell her more embarrassing stories about Nathan. Rafe's tired, pissed off look came undone as soon as Elena sat down. He smiled. That stupid smile that always made Sam feel weird inside.
They began eating. "So when'd you guys meet? Rafe, you knew Nate too right?" Elena smiled, she wanted to get all the details and definitely wanted to get to know Rafe. He couldn't blame her, when he'd first met Rafe and didn't see how much of an absolute prick he was, he was actually likeable. And he had a pretty face. Who doesn't want to get to know a pretty face?
"Yeah Sam and I actually worked a couple of jobs for Rafe a couple years ago." Nathan helped them reply which Elena didn't seem too pleased about. "How'd it happen?" She asked.
They hadn't gone over how they started dating because according to Rafe no one would care too much, so whenever people asked anything related to the topic he'd say they were friends who fell in love which was absolute bullshit and would not work in this situation. Nathan knew they weren't friends, him and Rafe never really got along which was why Nathan stopped doing jobs for him. He could tell Rafe was also racking his brain for an excuse.
"Well," Sam began. He saw Rafe glare at him with an 'if you fuck this up I'll fuck you up' look. "Rafe hired me for a job. We worked together for a bit, it was tiring and stressful and God there were so many times I'd wanted to jump off a balcony and escape," Sam thought of the time he met Rafe's parents, "But.. soon i started looking forward to working with him, and seeing his face and his stern gaze and smug smile. " He saw Rafe looking at him and noticed the flush on Rafe's pale face, "Oh and he paid me well so that's one of the reasons I put up with him." Rafe smacked him.
Elena smiled and Nathan raised a brow. She turned to Rafe, "What about you? Why'd you start liking Sam?" He'd expected Rafe to reply as how he always replied at those tiresome parties, with some cheesy romantic line that showed people they were absolute lovebirds. But as the formalities had been dropped, he stared them dead in the eye and replied with, "He's handsome enough, good in bed and if I had to choose from one of the Drake brothers there would be no way in hell of me picking Nate." Sam drank some water and cleared his throat. "And.. he's nice to me, despite his extraordinary talent of annoying the hell out of me. But, he makes me laugh."
Sam saw the flush increase on Rafe's face. Did he mean it? Or was just a really good actor? He settled on the latter. He grinned and put his arm around Rafe's shoulder, "It's so cute when he talks about how much he loves me."
Rafe shrugged his arm off, "Fuck off,"
"Annoying, isn't he." Elena pointed her fork at Sam.
"Terribly."
After a couple minutes passed and Rafe and Elena began talking about all sorts of things, it was exhilarating. Rafe rarely came out of his shell, and when he did- hell- Sam couldn't stop smiling. They talked about Nate and Sam and music and history and whatever they had in common. They talked about a rock band that Sam heard Rafe listen to before. He made a note to himself to listen to it so they'd have something to talk about. Elena stood up to go do the dishes and clean up. Rafe offered to help her which was unexpected, Sam couldn't help but feel jealous that Rafe willingly wanted to spend time with someone and that someone wasn't him.
"So you're actually into him? Into Rafe?" Nathan leaned across the table. Sam glanced at Rafe, laughing with Elena, "Yeah. I am."
"But Rafe of all people? Really?"
"Yes, really. Y'know when you actually spend some time with him, you'll learn to like him and realise he's not as big of a dick than he acts out to be."
"Maybe." Nathan shrugged.
Sam stood up and went out the back to get a smoke, Nathan followed. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.
Sam lit a cigarette in his mouth and took a puff, "I just didn't think to."
"That's hardly believable, you're always so excited to show off how many guys and girls you've been with and how there's a new one waiting for you at every corner."
"Rafe's just.. different." I actually like him. The thought came. I don't want to show him off everywhere, I don't even want people to look or touch or even catch a damn glimpse of him.
Sam took another puff and blew out the cloudy gas into the air, he didn't know whether he meant it or not.
"Look at them," Nate pointed at Rafe and Elena laughing through the window, "Probably whispering about us."
"Yeah," Sam smiled, at the sight of Rafe laughing and talking. It was beautiful. He was beautiful.
Sam stubbed his cigarette in an ashtray and went inside. When Rafe saw Sam come in he stood up and put a hand on Sam's shoulder, "Hey Elena, it's getting late I should head home," he turned to Sam, "I'm gonna go now, babe. Text me when you want me to pick you up."
Rafe turned to leave, when Sam grabbed his arm and spun him around. 'Stay' he wanted to tell him. But instead he said—"No kiss goodbye, darling?"
Rafe flushed again, kissed him on the cheek and whispered, "Don't test me, 'darling' or I will deduct your pay and find myself another sorry man who will be happy to replace you."
Rafe took his jacket that was draped upon the armchair and turned once again to leave. "Aren't you staying?" Elena asked, "What do you plan to do before Friday?"
Work, more banquets, cheating on Sam. Any excuse would do but none had come to mind. Elena and Nate knew that there were no parties or work on his schedule and it would have been suspicious to spend three days alone without work or Sam or any appointments. Damnit Sam. "Nothing. I..I guess I could stay." He was going to kill Sam.
Rafe was going to kill him, but it made him happy that Rafe was staying.
To his surprise- spending time with Rafe in the past month hadn't been too bad. It was fun and he liked it. But then he began liking it too much. Began wanting to see or talk to Rafe nearly always. When there weren't any public events to attend to, or going over their cover story- he wanted to see him. He loved his frown, he loved when he pouted and yelled and laughed. He loved his smile. His rare, real, beautiful smile. Not his arrogant, pretentious smile or the million other smiles he had stored for the public. He loved it. He loved him. He loved—Rafe.
Rafe? Did he really love Rafe?
He grinned, "I knew you couldn't stay away from me."
Rafe just frowned and turned to Elena "Do you have any wine? If I'm going to be cooped up in a house for 3 days with both the Drakes, I can't do it sober."
Elena smiled and took him by the arm, "Understandable, let's go." And they went.
Sam yawned and placed a hand on Nathan's shoulder, "Alright Nathan, I'm gonna go upstairs to take a shower." And he went too.
After his shower he entered the guest bedroom and collapsed on the bed. He was exhausted. He thought he could finally escape from having to pretend to be Rafe's darling boyfriend. But he felt happy. Despite the exhaustion and the fact that he was a terrible actor, he liked being Rafe's 'boyfriend' just a little longer. He loved being near Rafe and hearing him talk about complicated rich people problems that Sam couldn't ever fathom understanding. As he laid alone on the bed and its ruffled white bedsheets all he could think of was- Rafe. Rafe, Rafe, Rafe.
It used to be treasure and pirates, dates and hookups but all that clouded his mind was Rafe. Fucking Rafe.
His laugh, his hair and how he's constantly slicking it back when all Sam wanted was to see it messy and strands falling. His voice, his smile and how rare it was. His eyes, his clothes and how much he cares about what he wears. His lips, his ears and how there's a scar on the lobe. "What happened to it?" he asked once. They laid on their bed in a hotel after another exhausting banquet, "An old piercing."
Sam laughed and pushed himself up on his elbows, "Really? You? Piercings?"
"Yeah, well.." Rafe smiled, his genuine, rare, beautiful smile. He got up on an elbow too and reached to trace Sam's jaw, "Let's just say I have a scandalous past." The corner of his lip quirked up and he began to laugh a little. It was a sound he loved. A sound that if he could, he'd bottle it up and get drunk on it every night. Rafe dozed off not long afterwards. Sam remembered staring at his face, memorising the curve of his lips, the cut of his cheekbones, the darkness of his lashes and falling to a dreamless sleep.
He heard the door open and sat up. It was Rafe, he had a towel draped around his shoulders and his hair was wet and messy and how Sam liked it. He wore one of his many black shirts and loose sweatpants that hung perfectly off his waist.
"Had fun?" He laid back down, "You and Elena seem to be getting along well." Rafe collapsed on the bed, groaning into the pillow. He turned to Sam, half his face hidden by the sheets. The dark circles beneath his eyes returned, and his pale cheeks had been flushed with pink from the wine. "Yeah. Elena's nice, I like her. No idea how she ended up with Nate, she's great but her taste in men?" He clicked his tongue, "Not the best."
"Oh?" He got up on his elbows, "So, your taste is better?"
Rafe got up on an elbow, "Much better," his voice was tired and lazy- God did Sam love it. "What is your taste exactly?"
Rafe sat up, "Wouldn't you like to know?" Hell, he did. "Enlighten me."
Rafe got up, straddling Sam. He smirked. That annoying, terribly attractive smirk. Sam hated how much he loved it. He sat up as well and placed his hands on Rafe's waist. "Well.." Rafe traced Sam's jaw, an action he'd been doing a lot recently and it drove Sam mad. "Someone who isn't perfect, and rich and good. Someone who's messy, a thief and terribly handsome. Older, many people my age are quite immature, talking about your brother." Sam chuckled and bit his lip, "It's not like you want to date my brother."
"Well, I may have considered it once or twice."
"Oh, did you?" He laughed and flipped them, pushing Rafe onto his back. A lazy smile tugged at the corner of Rafe's lip as he snakes his arms around Sam's neck, "I did. But.." he leaned in closer, Sam could feel his breath. Warm and the scent of wine. Rafe licked his lips, "I like you more."
The words sent a weird feeling down the pit of Sam's stomach. A good feeling, he wanted to hear more of Rafe's sweet honey-coated words. They rolled so easily off of his tongue, Sam could replay it for days and never get bored. "Tell me more about.. your taste." Rafe traced Sam's lips, "He has to be tall, and strong enough to wreck me when I want him to.. "
"Tell me more." Rafe put a hand on his chest and pushed him off of him. He set Sam back in his original position and straddled him once more. He took Sam's calloused hand and placed it on his waist, "I want his hands to be large enough to hold me at the waist. Oh and.." He put a knuckle under Sam's chin and leaned in closer, "He has to be a good kisser," He got off Sam and sat back, "Which unfortunately you lack."
"Good kisser? Excuse me my kissing is amazing! Ask anyone I've ever kissed!" Rafe didn't really want to be thinking about Sam kissing other people. He put a hand on his cheek and turned his head to face him, "Let's put it to the test, shall we?" Sam grinned and climbed on top of Rafe.
Many bruises and bites later, they both lay on the bed panting and laughing. "Passable." Rafe smirked. Sam turned to his side and saw the bruises he'd left on Rafe's jaw and bites on his collarbone, "Excuse me?" Rafe laughed and turned to his side too and saw Sam's bruised lips and the absence of a shirt. "You heard me." Sam got up on an elbow, "You barely know what a real kiss feels like! I just did some charity work!" Rafe got up on his elbow as well, "Samuel, I've kissed plenty of men to know what 'passable' feels like."
"Fine, I guess I'll give your kisses to someone else then." Rafe really didn't want Sam to kiss other people. Really, Sam's kisses were amazing it was something to get drunk on every night and something he craved, "Don't worry Samuel, with more practice you're sure to get better," he pulled up the covers and turned off the lamp. "And really. I'm doing the charity work here, I've been giving you free kissing lessons all this while." Sam liked the idea of kissing lessons from Rafe. Maybe being a passable kisser wasn't so bad.
They'd turned off the lights, draped the blanket over themselves and gone to bed, their lips still bruised from the 'lessons'.
"Samuel?" Rafe called. Sam opened his eyes. He couldn't see Rafe in the darkness but he could feel his warmth, "Yeah?"
"What's yours?"
"Mine?"
"Your type."
"Oh." He didn't know what to say. He never really knew what his type was, he always just looked at their ass and made a move.
Being 'in love' had never really been a concept Sam was familiar with. He felt romantic attraction to many people but they were all people he knew he'd never be with in the future. But when he thought about Rafe he wanted to be with him. Not pretending to be his boyfriend but actually being it. He wanted to kiss and hold and touch Rafe not for show but because he wanted to. Rafe was his type. His taste, his favourite music, his favourite movie. But Rafe didn't feel the same. He was rich as hell and as soon as he found someone to play the part better, Sam would be gone and Rafe wouldn't even remember him. "Someone who would never be mine." He said finally, just the slightest bit of sorrow tainting his words.
There was silence in the darkness. Rafe swallowed, "Why?"
Sam paused, "I wish I knew." More silence.
"Goodnight, Samuel."
"Goodnight, Rafe."
"Samuel?"
"Hm?"
"I'm cutting your pay."
Sam smiled, "Whatever makes you happy."