Chapter Text
“I don’t like this game!” Wonwoo moans as he attempts to complete his 20th push-up.
“Only five more, you can do it!” Soonyoung cheers him on.
Wonwoo groans as he finishes the last five pushups, then collapses on the ground.
“Soonyoung, truth or dare?” He asks through a strained breath.
“Dare!” Soonyoung challenges him.
“And make it more fun than push-ups!”
“Sorry, it was the first thing I could think of!” Jihoon admits.
“I dare you to…” Wonwoo wracks his brain, trying to come up with something. “Shout really loudly out the window!”
“Okay, what?” Soonyoung asks.
Wonwoo thinks, trying to come up with something embarrassing.
“How about you shout at everyone who walks past until someone waves or shouts back at you?” Jihoon suggests.
“Yeah, sounds good!” Wonwoo replies. “Go on then.”
Soonyoung reluctantly goes up to the window, and opens it wide. They’re only on the third floor, so it shouldn’t be too far up from the ground to catch someone’s attention.
“HEY!” Soonyoung loudly shouts out to the first person who passes. It’s a younger woman who looks very concerned and runs off.
“HEEYYY!” He repeats louder this time as a group of young boys pass. They all look up at him, confused, but the smallest one points and waves, so Soonyoung takes that as a win.
“Alright, Jun, you’ve been pretty quiet,” he starts. “Truth or dare?”
“Truth!” Jun smiles innocently. He definitely doesn’t want to be caught up in some sort of terrible dare.
“How many people have you kissed?” Soonyoung asks with a smirk.
Jun blushes, not exactly wanting to reveal his answer.
“Oh my god, it’s a lot isn’t it?” Jihoon claps. “I knew you were a player!”
Jun sighs and hides his face in his hands as he admits his true answer. “Zero.”
There’s awkward silence in the room. Jun doesn’t want to look at the judgemental faces of his friends so keeps his head buried in his palms.
“Not even like a little peck?” Soonyoung asks.
Jun shakes his head, still too embarrassed to look at them.
“That’s okay,” Wonwoo pats his back. “We all do things in our own time.” He gives the other two a look to say ‘back me up here’.
“Yeah, it’s cool if you’re not ready to kiss anyone,” Jihoon adds.
“It’s not that I don’t want to!” Jun groans. “It just… hasn’t happened yet?” He looks up to find three sympathetic faces staring right at him. “I’ve never dated anyone before, I was always too focused on school, I guess.”
“Well we’re at university now, you can go and do that stuff!” Soonyoung reassures him.
“Yeah!” Jihoon adds. “There’s tons of people for you to date here!”
“Pass me your phone.” Soonyoung holds his hand out, and Jun reluctantly hands it over.
“I’m making you a tinder profile.” He downloads the app and goes to create a profile for his friend.
“No!” Jun waves his arms around defiantly, but he is too late to stop them.
“I’m not getting involved in this.” Wonwoo announces, excusing himself to the bathroom while the others attempt to set up Jun.
“Ooh, yes use that picture.” Jihoon points at the phone over Soonyoung’s shoulder. “And that one where he’s playing the piano!”
“What are your interests…?” Soonyoung thinks out loud. “Or, what will interest other people?”
Jun crosses his arms, looking at his friends with annoyance.
“Likes music, food, going out into nature…” Jihoon suggests, and Soonyoung types.
“When have I ever enjoyed going out into nature?”
“It doesn’t matter if you actually like it,” Jihoon explains. “You just put things that lots of people like, so they’re more likely to match with you.”
“But isn’t that lying?” Jun seems genuinely concerned.
“No, it’s just a little enhancement to your profile.” Soonyoung adds.
“But what if they want to go on a nature walk with me?”
“Oh my god Jun, just say you’d rather go somewhere else, nobody is going hiking on the first date, stop worrying.” Soonyoung waves his arm out, effectively shutting Jun up.
“Okay I think we’re done!“ Soonyoung smiles, passing the phone back to Jun. “Now let’s see who is out there for you.”
Jun sighs, but decides that it can’t hurt to just look. “He’s too old,” he narrates as he swipes away the first profile that comes up. “Why does he have so many dogs?” He swipes again. “Ew, she’s in my class… His sweater is ugly… He needs to cut his hair… She has bad eyebrows…”
“Stop being so picky!” Jihoon tuts, giving his friend a nudge. “Surely there’s someone.”
The next guy looks alright, so Jun swipes ‘yes’ on him, mainly to please his friends. “Okay, can we go back to the game now?” He complains, putting his phone away.
“Fine.” Soonyoung agrees. “But you have to check back later.”
“Alright, but I choose what we’re ordering for dinner!”
-
It’s the next night, and Jun is lying in bed, bored, scrolling. He thinks about what his friends said, and decides he’s going to go on the tinder app again. Just to have a look, of course, he’s simply curious.
The first guy seems cute enough, so he swipes on ‘yes’, I mean, you can’t be too picky right. ‘IT'S A MATCH! ’ appears on the screen, although Jun isn’t quite brave enough to message him.
The next guy is shirtless in his pic, and to be fair, if Jun had muscles as big as those, he probably would be too, but not really his type, so a pass. The next girl is smoking in her pic, also a major turn off.
Jun is starting to think that dating apps just might not be for him, but then the next profile catches his eye.
It’s a very attractive guy, no doubt about it, but it’s the bio that piques his interest.
JOSHUA
looking for someone to be my pretend boyfriend
only match if serious
Jun is curious, so swipes to match with him. Why would a guy that hot be looking for a fake boyfriend, surely he could easily get a real one?
He’s surprised when the ‘ IT'S A MATCH!’ banner once again pops up on screen, and decides he’s brave enough this time to actually send a message. Well, it’s just someone looking for a fake boyfriend, it’s not like an actual guy he’s interested in dating, maybe he can just use this guy as a little bit of practice.
JUN
So, a pretend boyfriend?
He thinks that’s good enough, keeping it simple, getting right to the point. He’s surprised when he actually gets a response quite quickly.
JOSHUA
yeah, i just need someone to pretend to be my bf to get some ppl off my back
JUN
Get who off your back?
JOSHUA
basically a load of girls keep hitting on me, i try telling them i’m gay but they don’t seem to believe me
i just need them to see me hanging out with a guy so they’ll get it and leave me alone
Jun thinks, not quite sure what to reply. Yeah this guy is really handsome, of course he will have lots of girls hitting on him, but surely it can’t be that bad.
JUN
Don’t you have any friends that could help you?
JOSHUA
well people know my friends and know they’re my friends, so it wouldn’t be believable
actually one of my friends came up with the idea, said he saw it in a show or smth?
if you’re not actually serious about this i’ll just keep looking
JUN
No, I am interested, I just wanted to know more details
“What the hell did I just say that for?” Jun questions himself out loud. Is he actually interested? No, he’s just curious and wants to know a bit more, he had to reply with that so he could find out the story.
JOSHUA
it’s probably easier to discuss in person, r u free tomorrow?
JUN
Yeah, sure
JOSHUA
ok, meet me at the starbucks by the university at 3:30pm
JUN
I’ll be there
Jun just types on autopilot, he doesn’t know if he is actually going to meet with this guy, but he starts to think about it more, and maybe a fake boyfriend could be beneficial for him too. It would stop his friends nagging him about being single, and since he hasn’t exactly had a boyfriend before, he can get practice for the real thing when he does see a guy he really likes. And it will help him write better love songs too!
So he decides that tomorrow he will be at the Starbucks at 3:30pm to meet Joshua, just to hear what he has to say. It can’t hurt him to just meet up and hear the full story.
-
It’s 3pm, but Jun couldn’t stop himself from pacing, so just went to the Starbucks early. He ordered a herbal tea, deciding that a coffee would probably give him even more jitters.
He almost jumps out of his skin when his phone buzzes. But he lets out a sigh of relief that it’s just Jihoon in the group chat.
JI🍚
Wanna meet up for pizza tonight?
JUN
Can’t, about to meet someone from tinder
JI🍚
OMFG WHAT
AND YOU ARE ONLY JUST TELLING US!?
SOONIE🐯
JUN!??!!??!?
JI🍚
Tell us everything !!!!! What's his name ?!!! send pics !!!??
SOONIE🐯
JUN WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US WTF
JI🍚
Oh my god I can't believe Jun got a date from tinder in only 24 hours on the app !??!!
SOONIE🐯
KNEW I WAS RIGHT TO DOWNLOAD IT FOR YOU!!!!!
YOU CAN THANK ME WITH FOOD 😇
WOO🐱
How do I mute this chat again?
“Uh, Jun..?”
Jun immediately looks up, confused as to why an unfamiliar voice is saying his name. He nods in acknowledgment that yes, he is Jun.
“Joshua,” the man continues. And Jun remembers why he was here in the first place. And is glad his friends picked a photo that is apparently very recognisable as him.
“Ah, nice to meet you.” He holds out a hand for Joshua to shake. He’s surprised by how soft his hand is, yet his grip is strong. The man must be hiding some muscle. And also using a lot of moisturiser.
“If we’re gonna pretend to date, we’re gonna have to do more than shake hands.” Joshua laughs.
Now that he can see the man up close, Jun is a bit awestruck. He is so much more attractive than he looked in his picture. Black hair perfectly styled, tanned skin with not even a single blemish, and possibly the prettiest eyes Jun has ever looked at. It’s no wonder there’s so many people hitting on him.
“I see you already ordered,” Joshua comments, gesturing towards the cup Jun is drinking from. “I would have bought it for you.”
“It’s okay,” Jun replies. “I got here early, and thought it would look weird if I just sat here without a drink, so I got one for myself.”
“That’s cool,” Joshua shrugs. “I’m gonna order for myself then, if you can just wait a minute?”
“Of course,” Jun smiles as Joshua goes over to the counter.
Jun looks at the now 15 unread texts and puts his phone on silent. He can deal with his friends later, he doesn’t need to tell them everything right now. And he doesn’t need his phone to be constantly buzzing and distracting him from the conversation he’s about to have.
Joshua sits down across from Jun, a drink now in his hands.
“So, uh, you said you would explain the whole situation?” Jun prompts.
“Right, of course,” Joshua begins. “I play guitar in a band at the university, and I guess these girls all think I’m hot, or whatever, so they just like, follow me around and constantly hit on me?”
Jun nods, but surely it can’t be that bad. Wouldn’t someone be happy to be getting attention like that?
“Haven’t you just told them you’re not interested?”
“Ah yes, my first thought isn’t to just tell them no, it’s to desperately look online for a fake boyfriend.” Joshua deadpans. “Of course I have told them I’m not interested. I’m not even interested in women!”
Jun bites his lip, very effectively shut up by Joshua’s sarcasm.
“So if you can just like, meet me after class, and if we can take a few pics for insta?” Joshua lists off his fake boyfriend requirements as if it’s the most casual thing in the world.
“Okay.” Jun says quietly, not totally sure if this is something he should be thinking about more. And surprising himself by how willingly he is accepting this offer. Maybe because Joshua has such a calm and welcoming aura, it seems impossible to say no to him.
“Why exactly are you so easily agreeing to this?” Joshua asks, slightly suspicious. “I mean, what’s in it for you?”
“Well my friends have been bothering me about being single,” Jun shrugs. “So I guess having a fake boyfriend gets them off my back too.”
Joshua nods in understanding. Mainly just glad that someone has agreed to his plan, not wanting to question too much in case he changes his mind.
“So do we need, like, a backstory?”
“Shit, good point!” Joshua places his hand on his chin as he thinks. “We want it to be believable, but it still has to be cute and romantic.”
Jun blushes, he isn’t about to admit that he’s never exactly done anything romantic before. He wants Joshua to think that he’s an experienced boyfriend who knows exactly how to act as a fake boyfriend. Lying on the resume to get the job.
“Why don’t we just say we bumped into each other at this coffee shop, and it was love at first sight?”
Jun’s cheeks redden even more, he certainly doesn’t know much about love. Of course he’s watched dramas, and read books, a lot of them actually. He knows that love at first sight is a common trope, but does it really exist? If it does, Joshua definitely has the type of face people would fall in love with at first sight.
“Sure, sounds good.” He replies.
“Are you free tomorrow?” Joshua asks.
“Tomorrow?”
“Well we gotta get this started soon, I’m trying to get people off my back here.”
“Right, of course.” Jun agrees. “I mean I also have classes to go to tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah,” Joshua bites his lip, just then realising he hasn’t exactly asked Jun anything about himself. “Uh, we could meet in front of the university before class?”
“Sure,” Jun agrees.
Joshua takes out his phone, and hands it to Jun, the contact page open. Jun adds his number then passes the phone back.
“I’ll text you more details.” He smiles. “Okay, see you tomorrow, boyfriend!” He blows a kiss as he leaves.
Jun is left stunned, sitting at the table questioning if that just really happened.