Chapter Text
„That one.“
Thomas followed the lead of Teresa’s hand until he found the place she was pointing at. In the midst of dim lights and never-ending chatter she was showing him a group of several people, all drinking and laughing, sitting around a rather small table in deep cushions and chairs. It seemed like a secluded group, maybe even celebrating something, and he didn’t understand her aim at all.
Not that he understood the sole reason of being here, either. He never felt so out of place before in his whole life and that was saying something.
“Which one?” he gave the group a dubious look. Not only they all seemed paired up, but also kind of unapproachable. At least for him.
“The blond one,” she nudged him forward. “In the black jacket.”
He didn’t see him that clearly, but there was a blond man sitting at the edge of the group, clothed all in black, with leather jacket and skinny jeans, and Thomas wasn’t sure what she was expecting him to say for the offer she had for him.
“A guy?” he glanced at her with a frown and she smirked at him, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth. He suspected she enjoyed it a bit too much for the situation they were in and he definitely didn’t share her sense of humour in this case. “Really?”
“Well, didn’t you want to make a point? He’d make an excellent one for sure,” Teresa nodded resolutely and grabbed his hand, pulling him forward. “Come on.”
He didn’t even know why he let himself to be dragged, but at some point it was probably the reconciliation that flowed through him – or maybe anger that pushed him to go to the extreme, just to show his family they couldn’t control him anymore. When Teresa took the initiative it was a relief, really, but then again it was beneficial for her too, so he couldn’t blame her for being so active in the cause. Maybe if she didn’t, they would stay stuck at one place, with Thomas being thoroughly unhappy and his family winning over, like they always did.
Yeah, that’s the reason, I guess.
Finding him a guy was her small revenge though, he thought. A bad joke she was going to torture him with for a while, to probably show he should start participating more than with annoyed looks and brooding around. But she wasn’t stopping in her quest to the incriminated spot, and the a little too much, don’t you think thing that was slowly dawning on him the closer they got to the busy table in a loud casino. The whole place was darker and flashy, with everybody cheering or drinking or looking thoroughly enjoying themselves and Thomas felt out of place the moment he set a foot in here – gloomy and unhappy. No overwhelming atmosphere in Las Vegas could possibly reach him through the curtain of stress that engulfed him, and they were here for several hours already.
Maybe I’m immune to fun.
He wondered if Teresa picked this place in hope it would make him abandon the bad mood or because she simply wanted to see Las Vegas and spend some money for the good measure, but all he knew was the place was too loud and he had an imaginary black cloud above his head the whole time.
“Hey, sorry to bother you,” he heard her suddenly talking and he realized they already arrived to the group and they all grew quiet and gazed at them curiously. She waved at them like a school girl and then focused on the blond man (or boy? Damn, he looked so young Thomas suddenly wasn’t sure if he was legal to even be here) sitting at the arm rest with colourful drink in his hand. He was actually a stunning type, with tousled, sandy blond hair and captivating brown eyes, and you definitely would remember him if you saw him somewhere in a crowd. He looked lanky and tall and probably slightly curious, and was watching Teresa with a rather amused expression and Thomas wondered if he was already too drunk to comprehend what she was going to drop on him. He probably needed to be to withstand it, really, even as a joke.
“I have a proposition for you,” she started with a business-like tone and the rest of the group started to laugh. Thomas fidgeted, but her grip on his hand didn’t ease off. If it did, he would run away and she probably knew it.
Most like definitely knew.
“Gonna be a threesome,” one of them, a black haired young man said like he expected it. He seemed like a jock type, sort of, with casual clothes and cheeky smile. “Twenty bucks.”
“A lap dance, I say,” a blond girl opposed. “Ten bucks.”
“Shush,” the questioned man made a vague hand gesture towards them and returned his gaze to Teresa. He didn’t look interested, but he wasn’t dismissing her either and Thomas wasn’t sure what exactly he thought he was going to hear. “Sorry. They’re like that all the time. What’s the proposition?”
“I’m Teresa,” she introduced herself politely and pulled Thomas closer to her and pointed at him. He felt like a meat on a market and regretted his clothes choice for a moment, since he looked more like ready to funeral than for anything else, all in black. “This is Thomas. His family is a little pushy and they want us to marry, but we don’t really want to.”
“What a story,” the black haired man piped again, snickering in the background, and she frowned at him. He shut up and Thomas counted it as a win for her – her glares had such power.
“The point is,” she continued and finally let go of Thomas hand, so she could cross her arms on her chest in a defensive posture, and he quickly took a step back. “We want to make a point. If he married somebody else, they would shut up about it and would have to take the things as they are.”
“That’s a little extreme,” the blond man commented and his eyes skimmed to Thomas. He seemed to be analysing him before returning back to Teresa, and Thomas felt shiver running down his spine. Surely he didn’t think she was being serious, right? “So…?”
“A short version – are you single?” she blurted out and the man blinked in surprise while the rest of the group ooohed. Thomas considered reaching for her to stop taking the joke too far, but decided against it in another second. She’d be upset if he interrupted her punchline. “Because that’s a little crucial in this.”
“Yes,” the blond responded simply. “Single, but…”
“Would you mind marrying him?” another quick question and the group started to laugh like crazy. Thomas almost choked. Seriously why did he even think letting her handle this was a good idea? He was never going to live it down, he almost heard her teasing him with almost set you up with a guy! “It’s just a formal thing, it’s nothing kinky or… Just for a year. Or two.”
“A year or two!” the black haired man shrieked in a hysterical laughter. “Can you fucking believe that?”
“A year or two,” the blond repeated with furrowed brows and looked at Thomas as if he was asking him for an explanation. Thomas didn’t have any. Teresa just couldn’t be serious. It had to be a girl, not a guy, for fuck’s sake. “I think I’m a little lost? I mean, you don’t want to marry her, but you don’t mind having a random person married to you for two years?”
“It’s not an official marriage,” Teresa answered instead of him. He didn’t feel like he would be able to say anything, really. His voice, along with his brain, was probably broken.
“So why would yours need to be?” the blond opposed. “You can marry him and stay unofficial as well.”
“Dude, it’s against the wish of the parents,” another guy from the group pointed out. He was big and frowny and seemed like a street fighter who opened a beer bottle with his teeth. “If he married her, they would win, capisce?”
“Exactly,” Tesesa nodded in agreement, her posture loosening up again. “They are bit of a control freaks.”
Fuck, she is not joking at all. She’s setting me up with him.
“So what would happen if he married somebody else?” the blond girl next to dark haired guy asked. She was petite and cute in the face, almost like a doll. “Except of his rebellious soul being satisfied and them getting mad. Are they going to disinherit him?”
“Can easily happen,” Teresa shrugged. Thomas never really thought of it and the sudden mention of it seemed pretty much farfetched. “But that’s a risk we are willing to take.”
“You both? Isn’t this more about him?” the questioned blond man stared at her with unreadable expression. “Or are you his Siamese twin?”
“Of course not,” the defensive posture was back. “Of course it’s mainly about him. But it’s going to affect me as well.”
“Oh, yeah, definitely,” the blond hopped off the armrest. He was tall, probably the same height as Thomas if not slightly taller. “You get a pat on your back and several sorrys’ for him being such a douche and ditching you for a guy.”
“Look-,” she started with a sharper voice, but he raised his hand and walked towards Thomas.
“Fine, Thomas,” he looked up to him and Thomas felt his throat tighten. “Let’s do this. Marriage is one of the remaining things I haven’t tried, so let’s make the best of it.”
“Wait, for real?” Thomas finally realized the talk actually worked and suddenly there really was somebody willing to marry him for shits and giggles, and oh god, for real? A man on top of it. How was he supposed to deal with that? His family would never believe he would marry a guy. He wouldn’t believe it either. How could this even reach this point? They were supposed to find a girl!
“Oh, right,” the blond seemed thoughtful. “Kiss me first. If you’re a lousy kisser, it’s a no go.”
“I-,”
“The marriage is unofficial,” Teresa uttered coldly. “There really isn’t need for this.”
“I’m sorry,” the blond turned to her as if she bothered him immensely, and by his look she probably really did. Thomas felt the panic attack slowly building up in him. “But isn’t this about him?”
She wanted to answer with something, Thomas could see it on her, but then the group started to chant kiss, kiss, kiss and she just grudgingly shut up.
“Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” his soon-to-be husband smirked at him and Thomas gulped down heavily. This wasn’t real, was it? He fell asleep somewhere, drunk and pitiful, and this was just a dream he was having because Las Vegas was crazy enough for it.
“I’ve never kissed a guy,” he said lamely when the image didn’t disappear, his brain not working properly, and earned a genuine smile in return.
“That’s fine, I did,” the blond assured him and then there was a hand on the back of Thomas’ neck and he was dragging him forward, until their lips touched and the group exploded in a loud cheering and whistling. The kiss was surprisingly gentle and a little tentative, no tongue or forceful pressure, and Thomas could barely comprehend what the hell he got himself into, so he just stood there like a tit, motionless and stiff under the sound of clapping from their audience until the blond pulled away again.
“I’m Newt, just for the record,” a slight nudge from his soon-to-be husband returned him back to the reality. “The kiss was alright. Let’s do this then?”
Thomas wasn’t sure how exactly he reacted.
***
The gay chapel in Las Vegas was corny as hell and there were two pairs to wed before them – one young lesbian couple and one gay couple consisting of older men, probably around forty. It was bright and it made him cringe and he seriously reconsidered to run away about every five minutes, because this was not happening, was it? He thought marrying Teresa would be too weird, but this was much, much weirder, maybe on board of insane, and he didn’t understand how he could even consent to this? Or how Teresa could think it was fine and dandy? Because it was not, no matter from which angle he looked at it. Marriage alone was a huge deal, maybe even annoying one in his 21 years, and standing here, ready to marry a guy he just met seemed like the pettiest, the most unreasonable solution to his so-called problem ever.
Everything happened like in a single blink since Teresa asked this guy about the marriage. Suddenly he was just a step from the biggest mistake of his life, and the fact Newt’s friends were so pumped to attend the wedding should have probably told him how much of a red light it had been. Because why would anyone wanted to marry after few words and one stupid request? Anyone mentally sane, that was. If Thomas got asked in front of his friends, they would immediately tell him no and dropped about millions of reasons why it was a bad idea, and these guys were like yeah, do it, yolo! Thomas wasn’t sure if it had been because they were already too drunk to really comprehend the situation, or because they simply were the bunch of people he’d normally avoid if he met them somewhere else (he decided on the latter).
They got simple rings from the attendant and Thomas one of Newt’s buddies (Minho? He wasn’t paying as much of his attention as he should have to the introduction, but the guy was loud and drunk enough for Thomas to automatically ignore him) as a best man, because Newt insisted Teresa would be weird on that place when she should have been his bride, and they agreed it was probably true (she looked annoyed by it and Thomas slightly panicked, but if his family ever checked the wedding list, it would make them question it whole for sure. Not that they wouldn’t even without it).
They got married in casual clothes, with both of them wearing black and Newt looking a little like a rock star that decided to take a break from a concert. The priest in Elvis Presley costume didn’t even raise a brow with two men marrying each other and went through a ceremony with a monotonous voice. They exchanged rings, they kissed under another chanting and loud cheering, and Thomas thought his heart would probably jump out of his chest through all this for how wildly it was beating. He wasn’t even sure if it was all stress or a weird kind of dread of what was going to happen with his family, but he was kind of glad when it all was over and they left the chapel as a husband and husband, leaving bitterness in Thomas’ gut for some reason (well, he knew the reason, but he was still waiting for the reality to kick him in the shin once everything was going to dawn on him some time later).
He wanted to refuse the offer to spend more time with the loud group, but they insisted so they ended up in a bar again and Thomas decided he probably needed to get a little drunk to digest everything that happened in just few hours.
And just this morning when they landed in the LA he thought losing money would be the worst that could happen here.
“Here, drink this,” Newt handed him a shot with clear liquid. Their surroundings was getting slightly blurry and much more louder. “You look like you’re ready to faint, man.”
Thomas thought he was, but he took it anyway and gulped it down in one go, earning a laugh. Newt ordered two more and handed him another while leaning into him comfortably, and Thomas felt his body going rigid under the contact.
“Relax,” his husband told him with a smirk. “If you’re going to need to make your family believe you married me for more than making them mad, you need to get used to me touching you. And vice versa.”
“Are you a professional role player or what?” Thomas grumbled unhappily, but remained on spot. Newt’s presence was warm and seeping into him even through the layers of clothing and the more the night progressed, the more he felt like he made a cardinal mistake. It was uncomfortable and it made him terribly anxious.
Where was Teresa anyway?!
“Nah,” Newt shrugged, but stayed in his personal bubble like he didn’t care it made Thomas tense like a string. “But I work with people. I know how to act so they believe you anything.”
“Really now,” Thomas uttered, gulping down the second shot like it was water. It burned his throat unpleasantly, but his limbs became more relaxed at least. “So what do you do anyway?”
“Told you, I work with people,” Newt shrugged.
Vague.
“That could be anything,” Thomas uttered. “Even a prostitute works with people.”
His husband snorted and leaned back, so Thomas could finally breathe more freely. The rigidness stayed though, no matter how he tried to shake it off. Seriously, this was a crowned madness, marriage because he thought being a rebel was alright? And for such a stupid thing. There surely had to be a way how to tell his family no without drastic measures, right?
Too late now, I guess.
The ring on his finger felt like heated torture device. He wanted to tear it down and throw away, and then preferably wake up from this nightmare.
“You’d actually make a really good pair with the bitter girl you brought along,” Newt pointed out, and Thomas would have expected a little colder attitude, but the blond seemed unaffected, keeping the laidback posture easily. “She’s the same grumpy bear like you are.”
“I’m not a grumpy bear,” Thomas protested childishly, feeling a little stupid for it. “It just happened fast.”
“Well, you proposed it,” Newt pointed out and ordered one more shot from the bartender, this time only for him. Then he turned back to Thomas and his features hardened slightly, like he grew more serious. Thomas wasn’t sure what to expect, except of wanting to oppose it was Teresa who came with the idea, not him, but he kept his mouth shut.
“So let me tell you at least one thing, so it’s out of the way,” Newt watched him from half lidded eyes. “I’m no pushover and I’m not going to let anyone, you or Miss The-Marriage-Is-Unofficial, to give me shit for anything. Are we clear?”
Is he threatening me?
“Clear,” Thomas rolled his eyes and he probably shouldn’t have been so antagonistic, but there was so much alcohol in his system already he barely held himself from an anger fit. It was Teresa’s idea to find him somebody else, an unofficial marriage – just for the show. They were friends since they were 12, they basically grew up together, so his parents decided it was smart to pair them together for the future. Thomas didn’t agree at all – he liked Teresa, but the idea of being with her like a lover, a husband, made him rather unhappy. As a cliché went, he really had seen her like a sister and nothing more, so when he told her, she came up with the plan of him marrying somebody else for a year, to get his family off his back. He thought it would go through a long process of finding somebody suitable, not visiting Las Vegas and snatching the first single person – a guy in this case – to go with the plan without knowing anything about the man. Because really, he didn’t know who Newt was, he didn’t know how it was going to get down, where did he live or what his financial situation was. Not even his job after all, with the guy being vague and everything.
Working with people. That could have been a professional killer as well.
The sudden marriage, being bound together without even looking him up made Thomas quite pissy. He doubted the plan would work, and when it did, it was already too late. And Teresa seemed unhappy with it as well, even though it was her who initiated it, looking even gloomier than him at the wedding reception. She didn’t say anything – not a peep against it – but he knew her and her eyes told him everything he needed to know.
But if she was regretting it, what was he supposed to feel? He was the one marrying a complete stranger, for fuck’s sake.
“Good,” Newt interrupted his thoughts and smiled at him. It was strangely genuine for a person that didn’t know him at all. “So the wedding night is in order, right?”
“A wedding night?” Thomas froze, his eyes going wide, and Newt burst in laughter he almost toppled over how hard he was laughing. Thomas wanted to kick him to stop, but he was so mortified he just stood there like a tit and waited for him, gnawing on his lower lip.
“Chill,” his husband grinned at him and then extended his hand. “I won’t do anything you wouldn’t like.”
“Look-,” Thomas took a deep breath, his body rigid. He couldn’t possibly expect them to do anything, could he? That was insane. Thomas didn’t even swing that way!
Another laugh came his way before Newt waved his hand and then wiped away tears.
“I’m just joking, oh my god, you’re priceless,” he literally giggled, which made him even younger looking, but the offered hand stayed. “I mean we should probably talk about it. You know, families and stuff… I’m not going to ravish you or anything; you’re not even my type.”
“Good to know,” Thomas responded grudgingly, but refused to take his hand anyway. He was probably already too drunk to function after all.
Man, Las Vegas was a whack!