fake it till you make it

tw: homophobia (no slurs), non-graphic violence, some insensitive dialogue, name calling.**

"I would like to buy this bouquet please", Kaz politely said.

He was going to a swimming competition from his little sister.

It was supposed to be a really big deal. Kasey had called him at least 5 times to tell him that this competition would either make or break her swimming career. Which Kaz thought was very dramatic for a high school kid.

Anyways he imagined buying flowers was a safe option. If Kasey won, it would be a nice celebration gesture. If she didn't win, it was a nice, comforting gesture.

Kaz was about to turn around and walk out of the store when he heard someone call his name.

“Kaz?” 

Kaz recognized that voice anywhere.

Oh no, he was not in the mood for her.

He turned around just to be faced with Heather, as expected.

The mean girl back in high school, who used his crush against him and had no respect for him whatsoever.

Kaz walked out of the store and she followed him.

“Hi, how are you?”

Kaz faked a smile. “Good, what about you?”

“Yeah me too, those are beautiful flowers. Are they for your invisible girlfriend?”

Kaz groaned.

Of course.

They'd been out of high school for many, many years, yet Heather's character apparently stayed there.

“You're quiet, upset I figured it out?” She joked.

That's it.

They were no longer in high school, therefor Kaz did not need to deal with this bullshit anymore.

Luckily, he is a great liar.

He might as well get something out of that useless fact.

“These are for my partner, who very much exists', he lied.

Heather rolled her eyes. “Right, I'm sure. You don't happen to have a picture of this partner, do you?”

No, Kaz did in fact not have a picture, why would he?

He was extremely single.

His dog got more attention from girls and guys than he did.

"I knew it, no pictures. You're lying', Heather said with an evil grin.

Kaz rolled his eyes, out of pure annoyance. “I'm not lying. My partner exists. In fact-”

Kaz stared at the bookshop across the street and got an idea.

A dumb idea that he was probably going to regret in the near future, but an idea nonetheless.

He cleared his throat.

“In fact my partner is in the bookshop across the street as we speak.”

Shit, what did he just say that for?

Great. Now he was going to have to convince someone to pretend to be dating him.

What was he?12?

Sure he could come clean, but to be honest, he'd rather die than do that.

“I can't wait to meet this partner”, Heather said, excited.

Me neither, Kaz thought to himself.

"I'll go get my partner then', he lied.

Heather nodded.

Kaz crossed the street and walked into the bookstore.

He was almost immediately met with the back of a toned dude from about his length. The guy had broad shoulders, muscular arms, brown hair in a neat haircut, he was wearing normal jeans and a bright blue polo with a neon yellow neckline and white Nikes with a dark blue logo matching his polo.

Kaz hadn't seen his face yet, but he was pretty sure this man was his type.

Here goes nothing, he thought to himself.

He tapped the shoulder of the mystery man and almost choked on air when the man turned around. 

Because he was faced with a dramatically handsome guy who looked about the same age as him.

The guy had a sweet smile, bright white teeth, magical-looking eyes, brown hair, and a sharp jawline.

He was literally so handsome, Kaz had to bite back a nervous chuckle.

This man looked like he'd been created in a lab.

Seriously, Kaz did not know they still made guys this cute.

"Hey, may I help you?” The man asked politely.

“God. Yes, be mine?”

Okay, that was a bit of a dramatic thought, but Kaz suddenly felt like he was incapable of thinking normal thoughts.

“Are you good?” The apparently nice guy asked.

Kaz cleared his throat.

Was he really going to do this?

This guy was going to think he was insane.

If he didn't go through with his plan, he might have an actual shot with Mr. perfect standing in front of him.

Oh, who was he kidding? Of course, a guy that beautiful was already taken. 

But he probably wouldn't mind helping Kaz fool Heather right?

Kaz would pay him for it, and he would only have to lie a bit, not kiss him or anything.

So, it's not like he would be cheating on whoever was lucky enough to call Mr. perfect their man.

Kaz cleared his throat again.

"Can I ask you a weird question?” He finally asked awkwardly while fixing his hair.

“Shoot”, the beautiful man replied, amused.

"Are you homophobic?" Kaz asked nervously.

“That would be hypocrite”, the guy answered casually.

Kaz felt his heart skip a beat. 

“You're gay?” He asked, secretly a little excited.

Mr. perfect chuckled. “I don't think I've ever seen someone that happy while asking that question, it's a nice change of paste from the usual disappointment in their faces.”

“Ugh, homophobes", Kaz groaned.

“I'm bisexual, by the way, and I know you didn't ask, but my name is Lee Moreno, nice to meet you', the man said while offering Kaz a hand.

Kaz mentally facepalmed.

Why didn't he start by asking his name?

Man, this was not going according to plan at all. Not that Kaz had a plan, but still.

He shook his hand regardless. “Kaz Queens.”

Lee smirked, “so Kaz, what is your actual weird question?”

Kaz laughed awkwardly. “Okay, so this is going to sound insane, but long story short; I kind of need someone to pretend to be my partner, to prove to this toxic girl I went to high school with back in the day, that I'm not going to die alone.”

Lee burst out in laughter. He completely understood that desperate need to prove to people you're capable of getting a romantic partner.

 “Of course I'd totally pay you-”

Lee cut him off. “No need, I'll do it for free.”

Kaz raised an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

Lee waved him off. “Yeah, you see my older sister is on a date right now, with a guy she met online, in the café next door. I'm standing here on by stand, in case he turns out to be a serial killer or something. But I've been here for a solid 30 minutes and I'm very bored. This at least sounds interesting.”

Kaz chuckled lightly.

“So you're in?”

Lee grinned. “I'm in, as long as I can still run in to that café right away if my sister sends me a text message saying she needs me.”

Kaz nodded. “No problem, the girl is standing in front of the flower shop across the street. And hey, I'll even help you beat up the potential serial killer if necessary.”

Lee laughed, “deal.”

Then Lee grabbed his hand, and Kaz could have sworn his heart skipped a beat.

Or three.

“Shall we do this?”

Kaz nodded, incapable of forming a sentence. 

As soon as they walked out of the store, holding hands, Heather came rushing towards them.

“Wow, he is so cute”, Heather acknowledged.

Lee got a dopey smile on his face.

He threw his arm around Kaz. “Kaz isn't so bad, either.”

He knew Lee was just playing along, but his heart skipped a beat regardless.

“So who are you?” Heather asked.

Lee shook her hand. “Lee Moreno, nice to meet you.”

“What do you do for a living?” Heather asked then.

Kaz felt kind of bad by the way she immediately acted like his worth was determined by his profession, but Lee didn't seem to mind.

“I'm a brain surgeon.”

Of course, he was.

Good looks, a sense of adventure and humor ,and a kind character weren't enough.

He was a brain surgeon too.

“Aren't you a surgeon too, Kaz?” Heather asked.

Okay, how did she know Kaz worked in a hospital? They hadn't seen each other since graduation.

Creepy stalker alert.

“No, I'm a nurse.”

Kaz feared for a second that Lee would now look down at him, but he just smiled at him.

“What kind of nurse?” Heather asked, sounding genuine.

“I am specialized in pediatrics.”

Lee smiled wider, which Kaz found comforting for some reason.

“You're really toned, so I'm assuming you work out a lot?” Heather then proceeded to ask Lee out of the blue.

Okay, that was highly inappropriate, but Lee again didn't seem to mind.

“I'm a martial artist, so yeah I work out sometimes”, Lee answered politely.

“Can you show us something?” Heather asked excitedly.

“Can I babe?” Lee asked Kaz.

Kaz swallowed at the sudden nickname and tried to ignore the fuzzy feeling the nickname came with. “Y-yeah, go ahead, d-dear.”

"Can I use you as a target, sweetheart?'

Kaz prayed Lee didn't hear his increasing heart rate.

“O-ofcourse.”

Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.

Lee tackled Kaz gracefully, but instead of letting him fall on the floor and crack his skull open on the pavement, he caught him on time and yanked him back up by his waist.

Kaz was practically making heart eyes at this point.

“Can you show us something else?” Heather asked.

Lee grabbed a thick wooden stick from the ground and broke it in two with the side of his hand.

“That was hot”, Kaz stated.

Lee smirked at him.

“What else can you do?” Kaz asked excitedly.

Heather looked at him weirdly.

Lee came to his rescue, bless him.

“Babe, I already told you, I'm not going to show off my other abilities in public.”

Kaz nodded, “right.”

“Are you sure you guys are dating? You're not being very touchy”, Heather asked as if that was an appropriate question to ask any couple.

Kaz hated her for that comment, but Lee seemed to have a solution for every problem.

“Can I kiss you?” He whispered.

“Please do”, Kaz whispered back.

Mentally facepalming for sounding so desperate, but Lee's smirk told him he didn't seem to mind.

Lee leaned in and he smelled amazing.

Of course, he did.

He gently grabbed Kaz's face, and Kaz could practically feel his heart beat out of his chest.

And then they were kissing and it was perfect.

Kaz wished he could stay in that moment forever.

His arms settled around Lee's shoulders and man he was muscular.

They pulled apart far too late for two dudes who were just convincing a bitchy blonde that they were dating.

Lee was blushing and he bit his lip while looking at Kaz.

Kaz briefly wished he could bite Lee's lip too.

Man, what was wrong with him?

Had he really just fallen in love with this stranger?

Oh, who was he kidding, this man was by far his dream man.

Kaz was about to say something when Heather yelled, “Kaz watch out.”

Before Kaz could even react, Lee shoved him aside to protect him.

Kaz didn't know from what, but then he realized it; some homophobic asshole had thrown a beer bottle in Kaz's direction.

Lee angrily made his way over to the much taller, red-haired guy.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” He shouted.

Kaz immediately went to stand behind Lee, just in case.

"Me? I'm not the one who was just kissing another dude”, the guy said.

“You got a problem with that?” Lee shouted.

The dude nodded. “Was that not obvious?”

Lee punched the guy square in the face. “I don't know, was this?”

Kaz's jaw practically dropped to the floor.

lee's action was not supposed to be hot, yet it was.

Lee just protected him from a homophobe and that was beyond sweet.

The guy got ready to throw a punch, but Lee easily grabbed his hand and twisted it.

The guy tried to kick him in the crotch but, then, some dude smacked him in the head from behind with a backpack.

The guy being a really tall, muscular ,and annoyingly handsome dude, who came up behind Lee and threw an arm around him.

“Beat it. No one messes with Lee, except for me”, the dude stated.

Kaz mentally cursed. Of course, Lee was taken. 

Kaz could never win from the lengthy god of a man who had shown up out of nowhere.

He was way out of Kaz' league.

Not as cute as Lee, but, he was still beyond cute.

He had black hair, was dramatically tall, like 6'5 tall, and muscular. He was wearing jeans, a black tank top that showed off his muscles ,and a black leather jacket.

“I'm okay, Adam”, Lee reassured the tall man.

“Okay good, nice punch by the way”, Adam said while patting his back.

Lee helped the homophobe up on his feet.

“Why?” Adam groaned.

“I felt kind of bad for punching him”, Lee mumbled.

“You shouldn't”, Heather stated.

Well, at least she wasn't homophobic.

The homophobic dude walked away, without ever apologizing for trying to throw glass at Kaz.

Adam turned to Lee.

“I thought you were supposed to be in the bookshop across the street? I called you like four times.”

Lee laughed. “I was busy, okay.”

Adam laughed too. “Yeah, I saw, who would have thought Lee over here would get some action today.”

Kaz looked at the lengthy dude weird. So, he's definitively not Lee's boyfriend, then?

Which made sense, why would Lee kiss Kaz if he was in a relationship?

The dude offered Kaz a hand.

“Adam Moreno.”

Kaz laughed. “Moreno? Please tell me you're not his husband”, he joked, having already figured out they were probably cousins or brothers.

“Ew god no”, Adam said disgusted.

Lee laughed. “We're brothers.”

Heather looked at them weird. “You don't know your boyfriend's brother?”

Adam gasped. “Boyfriend?!”

“It's still really new”, Kaz lied to Heather.

“Tell me about it, someone liking Lee, that's really new,” Adam joked.

Lee rolled his eyes at him.

Lee was about to say something when an insanely beautiful girl in a red dress with black curly hair, came running towards him.

“He was not a serial killer”, she yelled.

So, that was probably Adam and Lee's sister, huh? Men talk about good genes.

Adan grinned at her. “I'm glad, Ash."

“Who is that?” The girl asked, pointing at Kaz who was now holding Lee's hand. 

“Lee's boyfriend”, Adam explained with a grin.

“Shut up!” Ashley yelled.

Lee laughed awkwardly.

Ashley high-fived him, “good job Lee, he's cute.”

Lee laughed and then turned to Kaz. “Yeah, I agree.”

Kaz had to keep himself from not doing a victory pose.

Sure, the kissing kind of gave that away already, but it was still nice to hear.

Then Kaz's phone went off.

Shit, Kasey!

“Hi! Are you almost at the pool? It's about to start.”

“I'm almost there, Kase!”, he lied.

Then he hung up and cursed.

“I totally forgot about my little sister's swim competition, I have got to go now”, he explained.

Lee stopped him. 

He probably wanted to ask for his phone number, but how do you do that if you're supposed to already be dating?

Luckily, Lee really had a solution for everything.

“Can you type your Wi-Fi code in the notes on my phone? If I have to spend another afternoon in your home with no Wi-Fi, because you're not home and I don't know the code, I'm going to cry.”

Kaz laughed while taking Lee's phone and typing his phone number in the notes.

This man was brilliant.

Then he checked the time.

Shit.

“Bye!” He yelled while running to his car.

Heather looked at him confused.

“I thought he bought those flowers for you?" She asked Lee

Lee started laughing. “It's fine, I'm sure he'll give me flowers someday.”