Chapter Text
Chip’s face was starting to hurt from where it was shoved into the couch. One arm dangled uselessly over the side, while the other was curled up awkwardly underneath him. That was starting to hurt too. He groaned, completely at a loss on what to do.
Because of course Lizzie already had a plus one, and of course Jay “Chip’s only friend since the first grade” Ferin was an absolute traitor to both his honour and the James twins’ rivalry.
This is why best friends and sisters shouldn't be allowed to hook up, in Chip’s own opinion. Or be way too flirtatious. Or whatever the fuck was going on between the two of them. Listen, alright, Chip saw them get drunk at a party together one time and now all of the sudden, Jay is Lizzie’s plus one to this stupid gala thingy instead of Chip’s.
So much for the “if neither of us are married by the time we’re thirty, lets just marry each other,” proposition the two of them made in middle school. Chip’s idea, of course. Actually, thinking back on it, Chip can’t remember Jay ever actually agreeing to that. Something about him being stinky when clearly , she’s the stinkier of the two.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to think of literally any options.
Speaking of stink- surely it was the couch- actually… Maybe he did need a shower. Whatever, future Chip problem.
Part of him really just wanted to melt into the floor and stop existing, that way he didn’t have to deal with this issue at all. But alas, he can not.
Alright, let’s run through this one more time, really pin down the problem so that a solution is more obvious.
One: Arlin was invited to some fancy Gala thing, hosted by one of his old college friends. The guy was stinky rich, and was celebrating something or another. Chip only really paid attention to the fact that the James twins were invited as well, with a plus one for each.
Two: Lizzie, Chip’s lovely (read: awful) twin (by adoption, not blood, thank every god out there), piped up that she already had a plus one. Chip, ever the perfect brother, pointed out that he did as well. Because he couldn’t let her make him look underprepared.
Three: He did not, in fact, have a plus one. That’s alright, he’ll just ask his bestie friend of literal decades, Jay.
Four: It turns out that Jay is an absolute traitor and Chip will never speak to her again. Probably. See, cause here’s the thing, Lizzie and Jay have had this weird thing going on between them since junior year of high school that Chip has never wanted to know anything about because gross . But apparently, they got drunk together once, and the thing came to a head, and now Jay is Lizzie’s plus one.
Five: That leaves Chip, plus-one-less and miserable because his sister is going to have some disgustingly sweet romantic getaway with her highschool crush, while Chip sits in the background after making an utter buffoon of himself in front of both his sister and longtime best friend.
Pathetic.
Hence the reason he is face down on his shitty college dorm couch. He racked his brain for a single semblance of an idea and came up empty.
Chip didn’t really have other friends to ask. His entire social circle consisted of Jay and the freshman they ‘adopted’ when he asked them for directions to his next class. He wasn’t about to ask if Ollie wanted to come to a fancy gala, though. There’d probably be booze, and Ollie was like- 12 or some shit (not really, but he might as well be).
Who did that leave Chip with? No one. And you may be thinking, ‘ Hey, Chip, why not just go without a plus one and take the opportunity to just relax by yourself and get in some good me-time? ’ and while that’s a perfectly reasonable thought, there’s one flaw.
Lizzie is going with a potential romantic partner. Who happens to be Chip’s best friend.
And Chip is nothing if not a petty bastard. He needs to find a way to one up his sister. It’s tradition. And the added sting of Jay’s betrayal only serves to make revenge that much sweeter. Is revenge the right word for this situation? Absolutely not, but Chip’s a theatre major for a reason.
That being said, Chip had no solution.
Distantly, he recognized the sound of the dorm door opening, unique in its squeak. There were a few moments of someone shuffling, and then silence.
“Chip?”
His response was a groan.
Chip peeked towards the door where one Gillion Tidestrider stood, his silhouette haloed by the light in the hallway. He sat up suddenly. “Gillion, you’re a genius.” He scrambled off the couch, nearly falling in the process and ran up to his roomate.
They weren’t exactly friends, but they were friendly. It came with the territory of being roommates. They put up with each other’s strange habits and said only a few words to each other daily.
But that might have to change very suddenly.
Gillion was clearly very confused as he stood in the door, unsure what was happening. Chip grinned, clapping once and pointing towards his roommate. “You! You’re a little fishy genius, you know that? Anyone ever told you? Doesn’t matter, because they’re absolutely correct.”
Gilion’s expression only got somehow more befuddled. “Thank you?”
“You are absolutely welcome, my glorious friend.” Chip’s smile only grew. “Alright, here’s the deal. My best friend is a traitor and my sister cannot have this win, so I will be one upping her, as per the great James Twins’ war, and you are exactly what is going to give me this win, understand?” He nodded vigorously.
“I do not follow, no.” Gillion said slowly. “You speak very quickly.”
Chip let out a breath and took a few steps back in order to pace in front of Gillion. “Okay, okay. Here. My sister and I got invited to some fancy gathering. Rich host, fancy clothes, a free flight to a great vacation spot, right? “ He turns on his heel abruptly to punctuate the sentence and begins walking the other direction. “See, and my sister invited my best friend to be her plus one because they have this weird unspoken romantic tension between them. That being said, I need a date to this gala, in order to show up both my sister and traitor of a best friend.”
Gillion nodded slowly, shutting the door behind him. “Okay? I believe I am following. And how does this pertain to my apparent genius?”
Chip stopped his pacing and turned to Gillion with what he had been told was his award winning smile. “Because, you, my friend, are going to be my date to the gala.”
One of Gillion’s eyebrows rose. “You are asking me out? Chip, I had no idea that you had any interest-”
“What? No, no no no nono. In the most respectful way, no.” Chip cut him off, his smile dropping. “Well- I mean? Sort of? Not- Okay, here. You-” He points to Gill. “Come with me-” he points to himself. “-to this gala thing. We both get to dress up and eat fancy food and overall have a great time, while sticking it to my sister that I’m not complteley incompetent. But the issue is that she’s bringing a possible romantic partner. So, what I’m thinking is that we tell everyone that we’re dating. That way I don’t have to go alone and Lizzie doesn’t get to rub it in my face that she has a partner and that I don’t even have very many friends, let alone someone who is interested in me.”
Gillion was squinting now, his eyebrows furrowed. “So you want to lie to your sister and best friend?”
Chip is hit suddenly with the knowledge that there is nothing Gillion hates more than lying. And maybe generally evil people. It had been mentioned once when Chip lied about some small thing and Gillion had come back very upset. How he had forgotten this, he wasn’t sure.
“Well- not really lying? More like- pretending! Or acting. “ Chip nods.
“With the intent to deceive?”
Chip has really backed himself into a corner now, huh? Maybe this is the part where he actually goes through with that whole idea of sinking into the ground and ceasing to exist. “Not- I mean I guess it’s sort of like that, yeah. But it’s nothing that’ll hurt them, right? And they don’t even have to know that it was a lie. We can pretend to be in a relationship on the trip, and then when we get back, pretend to break up and everything can go back to the way it was before. Just- please. My sister and Jay are the only people- besides my dad- that have really been there and meant anything to me for basically my entire life, so the fact that they’re just off and doing stuff without me-”
“You feel left behind.” Gillion says, his expression suddenly very solemn.
“A little. But also I just really want to not look sad and alone in front of my sister because she will tease me relentlessly about it. The trip’s going to be miserable if I have to put up with her and Jay without anyone to back me up. Besides- free food, an excuse to dress up, and a break from college stuff for the time being? What’s not to love?” Chip said, diverting the conversation before it went down a path of his insecurity really fast. He really didn’t want to get into how he felt less than his sister basically his entire life. He also didn’t want to get into how tiny his social circle was.
His insecurities would remain buried next to his heart, and one day, he’d die.
Gillion left his bag by the door to move over to the couch. “So let me get this straight. You want to pretend to engage in a romantic relationship with me, in order to prove to your sister and friend that you can also find a date to this event.”
Chip nods. “Yes, exactly. You’ll pretend to be my boyfriend so that I don’t have to be alone and my sister won't be so insufferable.”
“Right. And then after this event, we will pretend to break up so that we only lie for a little while.” Gillion said.
Chip nodded again. “Yeah. Well, I just- I know you don’t like lying but I am begging you. It’s just for a little bit. If you want, we can even get in a pretend fight at the end of the trip over something, and you can totally slap me if that will make you feel better. And that can be what leads to our fake breakup.”
The triton sat back on the couch for a moment. “So, I would get a break from college, a free vacation, and permission to slap you, all in exchange for pretending to be your romantic partner for a few days?”
Chip nods. “Yep.” He pops the ‘p’ and smiles. “Obviously we’d go over boundaries and whatnot. We’ll pretend to be in a relationship, but if any physical affection makes you uncomfortable, then we’ll stay away from that. And it’s only 5 days.”
Gillion sighed. “Okay.”
Chip’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “Wait- really? You’ll actually- Cause I’m going to be honest, after I started explaining it, I was starting to expect a no.”
A slight frown appeared on Gillion’s face and he got somewhat of a distant look. “My reasons for accepting your proposition are my own. Even if I typically do not like to lie, I will do this for you.”
Chip’s curiosity piqued at Gillion’s sudden darkened mood, but he decided to leave it. He wouldn’t push, especially considering that this was already a huge favour. A spark of excitement turned into a rush of emotion as he realised that he’d navigated his way out of the issue with the finesse of a professional.
This was going to be wonderful.
—
This was going to be a disaster.
The plane ride alone was the most awkward few hours of Chip’s entire life. Lizzie had looked mildly surprised, which Chip took as a win. Jay looked completely bewildered, which was also a win. And Arlin had passed out almost immediately. How that man sleeps on a plane is a secret that Chip will never understand.
But it did leave the four of them to their own devices.
Jay put on headphones and worked on some essay for a good portion of the plane ride, only glancing at Chip a few times before a look of confusion and a bit of hurt came into her eyes and she looked away. Lizzie only asked a few questions, clearly just getting to know Gillion a bit, before she also ended up getting out her laptop.
Chip had also learned that Lizzie and Gill shared a friend, some guy named Caspian. That was sort of weird to hear about.
The awkwardness didn’t even come from any of the interactions. Truth be told, the plane ride was incredibly normal. The awkwardness mostly came from Chip himself.
He was being a little bit dramatic, yes, but he was nervous about having to actually pretend to be in a relationship, especially considering he’d never actually been in one before. They’d gone over boundaries, things like nicknames and physical affection, and it had actually been a relatively casual conversation.
Landing and going to the hotel would present the beginning of the awkwardness. Chip would have to start actually acting on the rules they set, like holding Gillion’s hand and calling him nicknames. Which was, like, totally strange.
The two of them had barely spoken before two days ago, and now they were holding hands and pretending to be in love. Totally, incredibly, unmeasurably strange.
Chip wasn’t the type of person to have a ton of friends to begin with, let alone going from being near strangers to pretending to be in a relationship. Maybe it was also the fact that he wasn’t very used to the idea of any physical affection. Sure, Arlin would ruffle his hair, and Lizzie would punch him in the arm, but that was just about it. Jay had never been very physically affectionate, something about being more of a gift giving and words of affirmation person.
When they actually got to the hotel and had stood in the lobby together while Arlin got the room keys, Jay and Lizzie had chatted together quietly, leaving the other two to just stand there awkwardly. It turned out that when GIllion was in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar people, he tended to cling to whatever familiarity there was. In this case, it happened to be Chip.
And also a small pink stuffed octopus that was named Pretzel. That was also new. Add it to the very small list of things Chip knew about Gillion. Which, if he’s thinking about it, should really be a lot more, considering that they’re supposed to be dating.
They got the keys to three separate rooms and headed up. The rooms were split up exactly how one would expect, leaving Chip to watch Jay and Lizzie’s door shut while he turned to his roommate.
He held up the key, Arlin having already disappeared into his room. “Shall we?” Gillion’s only response was to blink and nod, his expression clearing up to that of something braver. Chip quirked a small smile and opened their door.
Standard hotel room, Chip deduced. Maybe a little bit bigger than your average place. Nothing particularly special about it. Tan walls, a shuttered window, grey drapes and a plain white bedspread.
He always wondered why hotels had white bedspreads instead of literally any other colour. He’d seen red once, and maybe grey, but they tended to be white. Wouldn’t that just stain easier? He shivered, not wanting to think about hotel room stains.
Gillion hummed beside him, taking in the room for himself. “It seems there is only one bed.”
A million memes immediately crammed into his head, about cringey fanfictions and stupid coincidences. Come to think of it, fake dating was a fanfiction trope too, right? What had his life come to.
The singular bed did make sense, though. Jay and Lizzie probably got one bed too. “It's fine.” Chip dropped his things on the floor beside the bed. “It’s a big bed. We’ll both fit.” It won’t be weird at all, he reasoned, but didn’t say aloud.
Gillion gave him a look that said it very well could be weird, before clearing his expression and nodding. “If you are not uncomfortable, then neither am I.” He smiled at Chip, and he realised two things at once.
One: He hadn’t ever actually seen Gillion smile. Not because he didn’t smile often- well, Chip wouldn’t know- but because they just hadn't spent that much time together. He supposed that Gillion must have smiled at some point before, but he just hadn’t noticed. And why would he? They had an unspoken agreement to not pay that much attention to each other.
And two: He really wished that he had paid more attention to Gillion’s smile. And when he smiled, and why. He suddenly found himself wishing that this wasn’t the first time he’d properly seen this sight, as well as hoping that he’d see the smile more often. He even let himself hope that he would be the reason for more smiles.
Platonically, obviously. Gillion just had a nice smile, okay? As someone who is quite literally studying how to smile in a way that is seen as attractive- along with the many other things that acting entails- he can admit that Gillion’s smile is very nice.
Chip returned the smile, albeit a bit awkwardly. “You too, buddy.” He then turned to the bed, readying himself to do the one thing tradition asked of a new hotel room. He facepanted into the cold bedspread. The bed dipped next to him as Gillion sat. A quick peek told Chip that the other was looking at him, an eyebrow raised in amusement. And his little smile was still there.
Gillion pulled the little octopus plush a bit closer to him, seeming reluctant to set it down. “I have come to realise that we do not know that much about each other. Perhaps we should use this time to amend that?”
Chip sat up, a bit surprised that Gillion brought it up first. “Yeah, sure. How do you wanna do this? We could just tell each other our whole life story, or like- play a game?”
“A game?” Gillion asked, tilting his head. “What sort of game?”
“Like, uh-” Chip thought for a moment. “Like two truths and a lie, or 20 questions.”
Gillion glanced down at his plush again. “I have never heard of these games. Perhaps it is an Oversea thing?”
Chip shrugged. He had no idea what sort of cultural differences there were between the Oversea and Undersea, let alone what games were popular in the Undersea. Gillion must have grown up there, Chip realised. Obviously, it made sense, but it wasn’t ever something that he’d actively thought about or wondered. It was another one of those unspoken things between them. Of course, Chip knew that he was roommates with the only Triton on campus, but it just wasn’t something that you would typically bring up in casual conversation.
“That’s alright. I can teach you. Two truths and a lie is fairly simple-” He started explaining the rules of each game, while Gillion listened very intently. 20 Questions ended up being the choice, after a round of Two Truths had ended with GIllion struggling to lie at all. He would produce his truths easily, and then stutter and stumble over a lie, his ears fins pinning back and the ones on his arms spiking up.
Turns out that he really had a thing against lying, which made his accepting of the offer all that more intriguing. Chip said nothing of it, though. GIllion would tell him if it was deemed important.
The game started off with regular questions. Favourite colours, foods, and animals all shared. At some point, Chip pulled out his phone to come up with more questions. It turns out that there’s another version of 20 questions that Chip’s family had always just called the animal game. Something about picking an object (or animal, in the James’ case) and making everyone else ask yes or no questions until they got it. He’d only found that mildly interesting, before moving onto questions that were actually helpful in this situation.
“Alright, let’s see. Hmm. Oh, what’s your favourite memory?” Chip asked, completely laying on his back with his phone held up above him.
Gillion took a moment to think on it, emotions that Chip couldn’t name flashing before his eyes. He looked down at the octopus again, still sitting in his lap. “Getting Pretzel. My sister gave her to me when I was sent to- a private school of sorts. My family wouldn't be allowed to visit, and my sister did not want me to be lonely, so she made Pretzel for me.”
Chip didn’t know how exactly that could be classified as a happy memory, or why it was his favourite, but he didn’t pry. “Pretzel is really important to you, huh?” Gillion nodded, his eyes still far away, probably reliving the memory. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”
Gillion’s eyes cleared as he looked at where Chip’s head was, almost to the foot of the bed. “Yes. Her name is Edyn. She is very dear to me.”
“Older or younger?”
“Older.” GIllion said with a small nod. “A few years. She is not much like your sister, though.”
Chip laughed, his phone coming down to rest on his chest before he painfully dropped it on his face. “No, I couldn’t imagine anyone like Lizzie being your sister.” This earned him a small smile from Gill. “It's your turn.”
“Oh.” Gillion took a deep breath and then let himself fall onto the mattress next to Chip. “What is the weirdest nickname you’ve ever been given?” His voice was a bit quiet, fitting the overall vibe.
Chip started laughing, quieter this time, something closer to a giggle. “Chibo.”
Gillion turned to him, holding back a laugh and a question clearly in his eyes. “Chibo?” He asked, unbelieving.
Chip nodded, his hair flopping around and a smile completely taking over his face. “Technically, I came up with it, but it stuck because of Jay. In middle school, she had this weird little phase where she really wanted to learn how to play soccer, probably just to kick my ass in yet another thing, but the team she signed up for needed one more player. Being her best friend, she all but forced me to sign up. Here’s the thing, though: I am not actively inclined at all. I tried aerial silks one time and it was fun until I almost died. Anyway, as a little middle schooler, I figured that if I signed up as something that wasn’t my name, I wouldn’t have to play.”
Gillion smothered a laugh. “So, you signed up as Chibo?”
He nodded. “The worst part is that I still had to play, but the team all called me Chibo. Then it just stuck even after soccer, courtesy of one Jay Ferin.”
“Well then, it is nice to meet you, Chibo.” Gillion said, sticking out his hand for a handshake.
Chip groaned but shook his hand regardless. “Not you too.”
The game continued, and Chip began to build on his list of things he knew about his roommate turned fake boyfriend.
He hated lying and anyone who lies. Most of his expression came from his eyebrows and ear fins, but Chip had yet to figure out how to read the latter. Pretzel was his most prized possession. He had an older sister named Edyn. He grew up in the Undersea. He went to a private school for most of his life and the mention of it made him uncomfortable. He gets anxious in new places. His favourite colour is blue. His favourite food is some kind of sweet that was only a thing in the Undersea- Chip had never heard of it. His favourite season was fall. He liked to wear dresses but Oversea peoples’ reaction scared him out of it. He has one friend named Caspian and otherwise sticks to himself. He doesn’t mind physical affection, but was also unused to it. He loved to give gifts. His fins were sensitive to temperature and texture. When he was a kid, he wanted to be a knight. He studies politics now, but doesn’t seem all that invested. He took a stage combat class once and loved it more than any other class combined.
And he has one of the best smiles that Chip has ever seen.