Tell Me It's Real

In the beginning of November, Vic asks his best friend, Kellin, to be his fake boyfriend.

“It’s for family,” he explains. “My cousins are all in relationships, my younger brother’s getting married soon, and I never bring anybody home to meet my parents. Ever. So I need a fake boyfriend to get them off my back, and you’re the only person I trust. Plus, they already know you, so my dad doesn’t have to go on his whole ‘protective dad with a shotgun’ speech.”

Kellin wishes he could say that this is the weirdest thing Vic’s ever asked him to do, but he’d be lying. Part of him isn’t even surprised; Vic’s been complaining lately about his parents constantly asking him when he’s going to get married, and now Thanksgiving is coming up, which means forced interaction with the entire extended family.

Kellin agrees to it—of course he does—but it’s not as casual as he wishes it were. He does it for Vic, obviously, but considering that for the past few months he’s been feeling something a bit different, something a bit not-so-platonic…well, put simply, he’d take any chance he can get to kiss Vic or hold his hands or say cheesy romantic things to him. Which is bad, because he’s fairly certain that these feelings are unrequited.

He tells himself that it’ll be good for him, though; perhaps it’ll even put these feelings to rest. He somehow manages to convince himself of this possibility, and, as usual, he’s wrong.

When Thanksgiving rolls around and Vic introduces Kellin to the family as his boyfriend, he feels his heart flutter annoyingly at any gesture of affection. When Vic links their fingers together, Kellin never wants him to let go (and simultaneously hopes that his palms aren’t sweaty). When Vic gives him a peck on the cheek for show, Kellin just wants to return the favor, but ten times better (and a lot less G-rated). It’s both wonderful and torturous; wonderful because now he finally gets to hold Vic’s hand and kiss him, even if it’s not in the way he expected, and torturous because he knows it’s all fake on Vic’s end—that’s all they ever intended for this to be. It’s all supposed to be fake.

What Kellin doesn’t realize is that it isn’t all fake on Vic’s end. In fact, Vic’s been feeling the same things that Kellin has. Every touch feels like electricity on his skin, and after every kiss, he just wants more. He’s not sure if this is the best idea he’s ever had, or if it’s the worst.

When the night is over and they hop into Vic’s car, finally alone, Vic quickly removes his hand from Kellin completely—it’d be weird to keep acting like they’re dating when there’s no one around, and he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. He has to push these feelings down.

The most obvious thing is that they’re both head over heels for each other. Neither of them seem to realize this, though, and thus, the hopeless pining continues.

—

When Christmas and New Year’s Eve roll around, Kellin almost wants to tell Vic that he’s sick and can’t visit his family again. He doesn’t, though, because he knows Vic needs him to be as fake romance-y as possible, and as much as he hates it, he also loves it. His emotions are all over the place, really.

The Christmas party is fun, he’ll admit—Vic’s family is actually mostly nice if you take away the fact that they keep pressuring Vic to get married—but once again, it’s torture at the same time. He wishes he could let Vic know that his affection is real, that he doesn’t want the relationship to be fake, but he’s not that stupid. He knows he has to keep his mouth shut to save their friendship, no matter how much it kills him.

Shit doesn’t truly hit the fan, though, until New Year’s Eve. Kellin’s family usually doesn’t do much for New Year’s, but Vic’s family does, so of course Kellin is once again dragged along to the party. He loves hanging out with Vic, obviously—they’re best friends, for God’s sake—but with everything that he’s been hiding lately, this fake relationship seems like it just brings it all out. Usually, Kellin can handle being thought of as a friend and not a lover, but when he’s so close to experiencing all of that, when it feels like it’s real even though he knows it’s not…well, it drives him a little bit out of his mind.

When Vic, also slightly out of his mind, decides that he can’t take it anymore, the time is exactly 11:52 (he knows because everyone is counting the minutes down to midnight). “Kellin,” he says as they’re sitting together on the couch with their thighs pressed up against each other, watching the New Year’s specials on TV with some other members of the family.

Kellin glances over at him, biting his lip (it’s a habit of his, and Vic thinks it’s adorable). “Yeah?”

Vic doesn’t respond and simply stands up, gesturing for Kellin to follow him down the hall, where it’s darker and there are no people. “Okay, so…” he starts, before realizing that he’s not sure how to go about this.

Kellin just kind of stares at him, terribly confused and kind of on edge. Does Vic know? Is he going to say that he doesn’t feel the same way? What’s with that look in his eyes?

Vic runs his fingers through his hair, visibly nervous. Then he blurts, with no warning, “Can I kiss you?”

Kellin narrows his eyes, wondering if he heard correctly. “Um…we’re not—nobody can see us here, Vic.”

“I know,” Vic says quickly, his gaze flitting all over the place, as if he’s trying to look anywhere but at Kellin. “I just—I just want to kiss you.”

Kellin wants to pinch himself to make sure he’s not dreaming. Instead, he takes a step forward so that they’re only mere inches away from each other, and then he presses his lips to Vic’s.

Vic kisses back immediately, and in that moment, it’s almost as if the two simultaneously realize that this is real on both ends, that Vic wants this and Kellin does, too, and it fuels them. Vic lightly pushes Kellin up against the nearby wall behind him, kissing him a bit harder, but they don’t have much time to get into it before they hear footsteps and a voice say, “Do you two do this often?”

They pull away from each other, both of them clearly embarrassed as Vic’s brother, Mike, stands in the hallway with an eyebrow raised and a grossed-out look on his face.

“Um, no, actually,” Kellin says, laughing a little. This is not what he expected to happen tonight, and it’s especially not what he imagined happening when he first agreed to be Vic’s “fake boyfriend.”

“This is a first,” Vic adds, glancing down at the floor. They’re probably going to be hearing about this for the rest of their lives.

Mike snorts. “Okay, well, there’s only, like, five minutes left until the ball drops, so you might wanna come back out here.”

As soon as he walks away, Kellin says, “Seriously, okay, can you be my actual boyfriend? Not fake or anything, but like…?”

Vic just nods in pleasant disbelief. “Thought you’d never ask.”

It’s a strange sort of way for them to come together, but it works for them. They’ve been best friends for years, so they understand each other and don’t really need to say anything more. They head back out into the living room and resume their places on the couch, fingers intertwined.

It’s always exciting to count down to the new year, and as the clock hits zero and the ball drops, Vic leans over and kisses Kellin on the lips. Kellin’s heart flutters once again, but this time, it’s because he knows that this kiss is real.