The Proper-False (Part two, PG-13, 1481 words)
Title: The Proper-False
Author: lilian_cho
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Original
Pairing: future Adrien/Nicholas
Wordcount: 1481
Warnings: Harlequinesque plot
A/N: Answers holidaysmut's Jerk week and Women's friendship challenges and writing_game's prompts: paranoid, charming smile & hop.
Unbeta-ed as of yet, please do point out jarring SpaG and/or continuity errors.
I've only visited New York (mostly the Chinatown) for a few days. Apologies in advance for non-East Coast-sounding speech patterns etc.
Also, Part Three won't be up tomorrow. Hopefully this weekend...
Part One
Adrien was looking at him with a gentle, almost-fond gaze.
Before he could get overly hopeful, Adrien abruptly said, “It’s good that we can get along. This week-long trip won’t be so horrible after all.”
“Wait, trip? Where? When? I have my summer job-”
“I will, of course, provide you with compensation for your time,” Adrien said, not answering his questions. “I trust three months’ wages should be enough?”
And just like that the jerk reappeared to the surface.
“Oh, I don’t know, I think you need to throw in a twenty percent tip,” Nicholas said glibly.
Adrien gave him just the barest nod before continuing in a business-like tone, “The plane tickets and all other expenses are paid for, of course. We’re leaving this Friday morning to New York.”
“This Friday? My manager’s going to kill me!” Nicholas couldn’t believe he was actually considering this. Thoughts came and went quickly in his head. If he spun this just right, he might be able to take a week off for a ‘family emergency’ and come back to work on Monday.
“We’ll use my family tailor. Bring a few semi-formal clothes with you,” Adrien instructed. “And by semi-formal I mean no T-shirts and jeans.”
“Alright, so sleeveless tops and cargo pants then,” Nicholas said cheerfully.
Adrien looked at him blandly, somehow managing to convey you’re not as funny as you think you are with a single eyebrow quirk.
Nicholas gave him his best angelic smile.
“So, out of curiosity, why not just tell your family the truth? That you’ve dumped your ex’s cheating, inconsiderate ass.” Nicholas propped his chin on a hand, leaning forward toward his Maybe-Employer.
“My younger brother recently got engaged, and everyone has been pestering me about my love life. I might have…slightly exaggerated the seriousness of our relationship,” Adrien hedged.
“Like, we live together serious, or we’re moving to New York, getting married and adopting two kids and a puppy serious?”
Adrien’s eyes narrowed.
He held his hands up. “Hey, 'sall in the interest of knowing more about the person I’m impersonating.”
“I said I didn't begrudge him the occasional fling,” Adrien said with deliberate slowness. “What do you think?”
Nicholas shrugged. “Your exaggerations, not mine. So, we’re supposedly living together then? I should probably visit your place before we leave on the trip.”
He had woken up this morning lamenting his dry spell, and here he was, inviting himself to a hunky stranger’s home. He should’ve stopped there, but of course he had to add, “It’d be weird if I don’t know what your bed looks like.”
His Most-Likely-Employer had a knowing smirk on his face. This was why Nicholas hated good-looking gay jerks. Possibly more than he hated good-looking straight jerks.
“I’ll pick you up after your shift ends Thursday afternoon.”
“My shift ends at nine on Thursday,” Nicholas interjected.
“Thursday at nine then. I’ll give you your half of the money then, and the other half when we board the plane back here Sunday morning. Ten grand, so that’d be two checks for five thousand dollars each.”
Nicholas’ eyes bugged out. “I don’t make that much money!” he blurted out, before realizing maybe he shouldn’t have said that.
Adrien looked amused. “Twenty percent tip, remember?”
“Jesus, is your family like, East Coast tycoons or something? Throwing that kind of money around should be illegal.”
“Something like that,” Adrien said cryptically.
Nicholas was no longer paying attention. “Even if my manager gets pissed and replaces me with someone else, I’m covered for next year’s tuition. Maybe I can study abroad for a year. Awesome!”
Adrien stood up and grabbed his jacket and coffee cup. “Here’s my business card. Call me if you have any questions.”
Nicholas nodded happily and shook his Newly-Acquired-Employer's hand. “See you Thursday. I’ll be the most awesome serious boyfriend you ever had, just you see!”
*******
After Googling Adrien Cartwright and discovering that he seemed legit, Nicholas called his manager and informed her about his ‘family emergency.’ Thankfully she was busy as always and agreed to him taking some days off without asking too many questions.
Then, with some trepidation, he called his mother. She dropped by his apartment with dinner once or twice a week, and if he went out of town for ten days without telling her, there would be hell to pay.
“Adrien has a family situation back in New York, and he needed some moral support,” Nicholas said.
“How come you never mentioned this Adrien before?” His mother asked.
“We didn’t really become close until recently.” Technically, he wasn’t lying.
“How bad is this situation that he needs you there to hold his hand?”
Nicholas almost choked.
“Uh, there has been some tension in his family lately, and he’d appreciate having a friendly face there.” He should’ve told her it was a funeral or sickness in the family, but his mother could always tell when he lied outright to her. He wouldn’t be surprised if she somehow found out he had taken the Lord’s name in vain earlier.
“I’m glad you’re being such a good friend, but don’t get dragged into unsavory situations, you hear me?” His mother warned.
“Yes, Ma, I won’t,” he said dutifully. Then, in a burst of inspiration, “I’m thinking of checking out their graduate schools while I’m over there.”
As expected, his mother was thrilled by this newfound interest in higher education. They spent the next ten minutes talking about prospective graduate schools and what his specialization might be.
“Tell your co-workers I said hi: Conner and that black girl-what’s her name again-Melissa?”
“Maureen,” Nicholas corrected her. “Melissa is Sam’s new girlfriend.”
“Right, Samuel. Your cousin changes girlfriends so often I wonder why he even bothers introducing them to the family,” his mother said disapprovingly. “Well, you take care, dear. Don’t forget to bring a jacket and a windbreaker.”
Nicholas laughed fondly. “It’s New York in the summer, Ma. It’s not Chicago. Uh-huh, I know. Love you too. Bye, Ma.”
*******
Soon enough, it was Thursday. Nicholas knew he couldn’t postpone this any longer. Someone should know the unfiltered truth in case your corpse ended up floating in the Atlantic Ocean, his brain pointed out. Also, Maureen would never let you hear the end of it if she heard about this after instead of before the trip, his self-preservation instincts chimed in.
The first break they had, he told Maureen about the situation.
“The hunk from Tuesday wants you to do what?”
No shouting. So far so good.
“I told you, his name’s Adrien Cartwright, and he’s paying me ten thousand dollars to pretend to be his ‘serious’ boyfriend in front of his family.” He couldn’t help making air quotes at the word ‘serious.’
Maureen’s scrunched up expression would be hilarious if she wasn’t so obviously concerned. “Why doesn’t he hire an amateur actor? Lord knows we never have a dearth of theater majors.”
“Apparently I’m a dead ringer of his ex? According to him, at any rate; personally, I think we could pass as half-brothers, not twins-not that I have any brothers, half or otherwise.”
“Nicholas,” she interrupted.
“Hm?”
“Focus.”
“Right, sorry.”
Maureen chewed her lower lip. “I don’t know, the whole thing sounds hinky; it’s like something right out of a Harlequin novel.”
“Don’t you mean Pretty Woman?” Nicholas suggested helpfully.
Maureen folded her arms. “So tell me, oh prostitute with a heart of gold, you said this guy has an Asian fetish?”
Ouch, Nicholas mouthed silently. “Possibly have an Asian fetish, considering he dated his ‘share of Asian guys.’”
“I’ve dated a few white guys who only wanted to tap a black booty. Definitely not something I’d recommend.”
“Sorry, men are bastards,” Nicholas said, wincing. “It’s different with Asians though. African Americans are highly sexualized; if anything, Asian men are de-sexualized. It’s not like there’s a Chinese gay kamasutra. I think.”
Maureen shook her head. “Whatever you do, don’t leave your drink alone and always have a point of exit. Do you want to borrow a Taser?”
He looked at her with fascination. “You actually carry one around with you?”
“Never mind, they probably won’t let you bring it on the plane. Keep your phone charged up and with you at all times. I’m just one speed-dial away; check in with me daily or I’ll assume the worst.”
“Yes, Mum.”
“I mean it, Nicholas Goh. If you don’t call me everyday by midnight, I’ll file a missing person report with the cops.”
“Please don’t.” Nicholas said weakly. “My parents would make missing person posters, hop on a plane to New York, find out I’m gay and have an aneurysm.”
“Daily check-in. By midnight,” Maureen enunciated.
He nodded vehemently.
“Conner’s giving us the stink eye. Back to work.” Maureen straightened her apron and walked over to her station.
Nicholas waved cheerfully at Conner. “My mom said hi!”
*******
Author: lilian_cho
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Original
Pairing: future Adrien/Nicholas
Wordcount: 1481
Warnings: Harlequinesque plot
A/N: Answers holidaysmut's Jerk week and Women's friendship challenges and writing_game's prompts: paranoid, charming smile & hop.
Unbeta-ed as of yet, please do point out jarring SpaG and/or continuity errors.
I've only visited New York (mostly the Chinatown) for a few days. Apologies in advance for non-East Coast-sounding speech patterns etc.
Also, Part Three won't be up tomorrow. Hopefully this weekend...
Part One
Adrien was looking at him with a gentle, almost-fond gaze.
Before he could get overly hopeful, Adrien abruptly said, “It’s good that we can get along. This week-long trip won’t be so horrible after all.”
“Wait, trip? Where? When? I have my summer job-”
“I will, of course, provide you with compensation for your time,” Adrien said, not answering his questions. “I trust three months’ wages should be enough?”
And just like that the jerk reappeared to the surface.
“Oh, I don’t know, I think you need to throw in a twenty percent tip,” Nicholas said glibly.
Adrien gave him just the barest nod before continuing in a business-like tone, “The plane tickets and all other expenses are paid for, of course. We’re leaving this Friday morning to New York.”
“This Friday? My manager’s going to kill me!” Nicholas couldn’t believe he was actually considering this. Thoughts came and went quickly in his head. If he spun this just right, he might be able to take a week off for a ‘family emergency’ and come back to work on Monday.
“We’ll use my family tailor. Bring a few semi-formal clothes with you,” Adrien instructed. “And by semi-formal I mean no T-shirts and jeans.”
“Alright, so sleeveless tops and cargo pants then,” Nicholas said cheerfully.
Adrien looked at him blandly, somehow managing to convey you’re not as funny as you think you are with a single eyebrow quirk.
Nicholas gave him his best angelic smile.
“So, out of curiosity, why not just tell your family the truth? That you’ve dumped your ex’s cheating, inconsiderate ass.” Nicholas propped his chin on a hand, leaning forward toward his Maybe-Employer.
“My younger brother recently got engaged, and everyone has been pestering me about my love life. I might have…slightly exaggerated the seriousness of our relationship,” Adrien hedged.
“Like, we live together serious, or we’re moving to New York, getting married and adopting two kids and a puppy serious?”
Adrien’s eyes narrowed.
He held his hands up. “Hey, 'sall in the interest of knowing more about the person I’m impersonating.”
“I said I didn't begrudge him the occasional fling,” Adrien said with deliberate slowness. “What do you think?”
Nicholas shrugged. “Your exaggerations, not mine. So, we’re supposedly living together then? I should probably visit your place before we leave on the trip.”
He had woken up this morning lamenting his dry spell, and here he was, inviting himself to a hunky stranger’s home. He should’ve stopped there, but of course he had to add, “It’d be weird if I don’t know what your bed looks like.”
His Most-Likely-Employer had a knowing smirk on his face. This was why Nicholas hated good-looking gay jerks. Possibly more than he hated good-looking straight jerks.
“I’ll pick you up after your shift ends Thursday afternoon.”
“My shift ends at nine on Thursday,” Nicholas interjected.
“Thursday at nine then. I’ll give you your half of the money then, and the other half when we board the plane back here Sunday morning. Ten grand, so that’d be two checks for five thousand dollars each.”
Nicholas’ eyes bugged out. “I don’t make that much money!” he blurted out, before realizing maybe he shouldn’t have said that.
Adrien looked amused. “Twenty percent tip, remember?”
“Jesus, is your family like, East Coast tycoons or something? Throwing that kind of money around should be illegal.”
“Something like that,” Adrien said cryptically.
Nicholas was no longer paying attention. “Even if my manager gets pissed and replaces me with someone else, I’m covered for next year’s tuition. Maybe I can study abroad for a year. Awesome!”
Adrien stood up and grabbed his jacket and coffee cup. “Here’s my business card. Call me if you have any questions.”
Nicholas nodded happily and shook his Newly-Acquired-Employer's hand. “See you Thursday. I’ll be the most awesome serious boyfriend you ever had, just you see!”
*******
After Googling Adrien Cartwright and discovering that he seemed legit, Nicholas called his manager and informed her about his ‘family emergency.’ Thankfully she was busy as always and agreed to him taking some days off without asking too many questions.
Then, with some trepidation, he called his mother. She dropped by his apartment with dinner once or twice a week, and if he went out of town for ten days without telling her, there would be hell to pay.
“Adrien has a family situation back in New York, and he needed some moral support,” Nicholas said.
“How come you never mentioned this Adrien before?” His mother asked.
“We didn’t really become close until recently.” Technically, he wasn’t lying.
“How bad is this situation that he needs you there to hold his hand?”
Nicholas almost choked.
“Uh, there has been some tension in his family lately, and he’d appreciate having a friendly face there.” He should’ve told her it was a funeral or sickness in the family, but his mother could always tell when he lied outright to her. He wouldn’t be surprised if she somehow found out he had taken the Lord’s name in vain earlier.
“I’m glad you’re being such a good friend, but don’t get dragged into unsavory situations, you hear me?” His mother warned.
“Yes, Ma, I won’t,” he said dutifully. Then, in a burst of inspiration, “I’m thinking of checking out their graduate schools while I’m over there.”
As expected, his mother was thrilled by this newfound interest in higher education. They spent the next ten minutes talking about prospective graduate schools and what his specialization might be.
“Tell your co-workers I said hi: Conner and that black girl-what’s her name again-Melissa?”
“Maureen,” Nicholas corrected her. “Melissa is Sam’s new girlfriend.”
“Right, Samuel. Your cousin changes girlfriends so often I wonder why he even bothers introducing them to the family,” his mother said disapprovingly. “Well, you take care, dear. Don’t forget to bring a jacket and a windbreaker.”
Nicholas laughed fondly. “It’s New York in the summer, Ma. It’s not Chicago. Uh-huh, I know. Love you too. Bye, Ma.”
*******
Soon enough, it was Thursday. Nicholas knew he couldn’t postpone this any longer. Someone should know the unfiltered truth in case your corpse ended up floating in the Atlantic Ocean, his brain pointed out. Also, Maureen would never let you hear the end of it if she heard about this after instead of before the trip, his self-preservation instincts chimed in.
The first break they had, he told Maureen about the situation.
“The hunk from Tuesday wants you to do what?”
No shouting. So far so good.
“I told you, his name’s Adrien Cartwright, and he’s paying me ten thousand dollars to pretend to be his ‘serious’ boyfriend in front of his family.” He couldn’t help making air quotes at the word ‘serious.’
Maureen’s scrunched up expression would be hilarious if she wasn’t so obviously concerned. “Why doesn’t he hire an amateur actor? Lord knows we never have a dearth of theater majors.”
“Apparently I’m a dead ringer of his ex? According to him, at any rate; personally, I think we could pass as half-brothers, not twins-not that I have any brothers, half or otherwise.”
“Nicholas,” she interrupted.
“Hm?”
“Focus.”
“Right, sorry.”
Maureen chewed her lower lip. “I don’t know, the whole thing sounds hinky; it’s like something right out of a Harlequin novel.”
“Don’t you mean Pretty Woman?” Nicholas suggested helpfully.
Maureen folded her arms. “So tell me, oh prostitute with a heart of gold, you said this guy has an Asian fetish?”
Ouch, Nicholas mouthed silently. “Possibly have an Asian fetish, considering he dated his ‘share of Asian guys.’”
“I’ve dated a few white guys who only wanted to tap a black booty. Definitely not something I’d recommend.”
“Sorry, men are bastards,” Nicholas said, wincing. “It’s different with Asians though. African Americans are highly sexualized; if anything, Asian men are de-sexualized. It’s not like there’s a Chinese gay kamasutra. I think.”
Maureen shook her head. “Whatever you do, don’t leave your drink alone and always have a point of exit. Do you want to borrow a Taser?”
He looked at her with fascination. “You actually carry one around with you?”
“Never mind, they probably won’t let you bring it on the plane. Keep your phone charged up and with you at all times. I’m just one speed-dial away; check in with me daily or I’ll assume the worst.”
“Yes, Mum.”
“I mean it, Nicholas Goh. If you don’t call me everyday by midnight, I’ll file a missing person report with the cops.”
“Please don’t.” Nicholas said weakly. “My parents would make missing person posters, hop on a plane to New York, find out I’m gay and have an aneurysm.”
“Daily check-in. By midnight,” Maureen enunciated.
He nodded vehemently.
“Conner’s giving us the stink eye. Back to work.” Maureen straightened her apron and walked over to her station.
Nicholas waved cheerfully at Conner. “My mom said hi!”
*******