The Boy is Mine
Summary: Betty's hot cousin, Giancarlo, visits Mode for a photo shoot and unknowingly starts a little competition between Marc and Amanda. One-shot, OC.
Rating: Teen for mild language
Timeline: Sometime in Season 2, I guess? Henry's in Arizona (i.e. not in this story, as much as I love him), Daniel and Alexis both survived and have fully recovered. Did anyone think it was weird that neither one of them was bleeding after the car crash?
A/N: I am really, REALLY not a fan of OC fics -- just seeing the term "OC" in a summary turns me off -- but I was inspired to write this after suggesting on the Television Without Pity forums that they have the uber-sexy Santiago Cabrera (Isaac Mendez on Heroes) guest-star as Betty's hot cousin on Ugly Betty. I had originally written this in television script format on Final Draft (which I LOVE, by the way), but I adapted it to short story format for this site. If you're like me and you like to picture the characters as you read, imagine that Johnny is played by Santiago Cabrera. It helps if you know what Santiago's real-life accent sounds like -- it's gorgeous!
Enjoy!
Marc is completely oblivious to the fact that he has a huge, almost maniacal grin on his face; he's too busy drooling over the stunning male model only a few meters away from him, decked in stylish men's wear and posing for the cameras as Wilhelmina barks out orders like "Smile!" and "Sell that suit!"
He was six feet of stunning, Latin-American hunk, with long, wavy chestnut-brown locks, mysterious dark eyes, a killer smile, and a body that was juuust the right amount of ripped. Marc fantasizes about ripping his clothes off and violating him. He couldn't help it. Until his re-subscription to Dude Cruise was approved, he had to make do with ogling the male models. Which honestly wasn't that bad in comparison.
"So, what's his story?" purrs a female voice from beside him.
Marc blinks twice and only now notices Amanda standing there. "Who?"
"Well, who else? Hottie McHotterson, duh," she sniffs, motioning towards the model.
He ticks off the statistics one by one. "Johnny Rodriguez, Image Models' tastiest commodity. Hot import from Britain, originally from Mexico, and very, very single."
"Yummy. Does he swing your way, or mine?"
"I've been pestering Wili about it since this morning, but she doesn't have a clue. Apparently, our hot little tamale likes to keep it a mystery."
"Oh, really? I got dibs."
He shoves her with his hip. "No fair! I saw him first!"
They both hear Wilhelmina yell "And that's a wrap!" as everyone takes five. Johnny looks their way and gives a dazzling smile. Marc and Amanda both grin back.
"Oh my God, he just cruised me!" Marc proclaims giddily.
"You idiot, he was looking at me!"
"Shh! He's coming this way."
"Hey, you," he says in his soothing baritone, with a surpisingly British accent. "Haven't we met?"
"You tell me!" comes a voice from behind them. Marc and Amanda whip around and are dismayed to see the familiar, brace-face grin.
Betty runs forward into Johnny's open arms, and he spins her around as Marc and Amanda look on, shell-shocked. "I swear to God," Marc hisses in Amanda's ear, "if she's his ex, I will drown myself in dowdy clothes and bad hair and hope to score a hot Latin lover of my own!"
"Giancarlo!" Betty squeals as Johnny puts her down. "It's so good to see you!"
"It's 'Johnny' now," he laughs. "My agent said it would be easier to pronounce."
"Yeah, I bet everything's all fancy-shmancy in London. You've even got the accent!" she notes with amusement.
"I'll admit, I do miss Guadalajara sometimes, but I'm absolutely in love with London. But look at you! You're a Mode girl now!"
"Oh, I'm just an assistant," she gushes.
"No, I think it's great! So how's Mode treating my favorite cousin?"
From a short distance behind them, Marc and Amanda turn to each other, jaws hanging open. "Cousin?" they both marvel.
The two cousins continue talking as Marc and Amanda sidle up to Betty, acting all buddy-buddy with her. "Betty, my little chimichanga!" Marc sing-songs. "Why don't you introduce us?"
Betty readjusts her glasses and regards them with mild surprise. "Um, okay? Giancarlo, these are my coworkers, Marc St. James and Amanda Tanen."
"We're Betty's best-est friends here at Mode!" Amanda chirps with fake enthusiasm.
"Since when?" Betty wonders out loud, causing Marc to elbow her ribcage.
"Well, duh! Since you got started here, of course!" He turns to Johnny. "We taught her everything she knows."
"It's nice to meet you," Johnny finally says before he's interrupted by Wilhelmina's bellow.
"Johnny!"
He turns and sees Wilhelmina and the photographer, while Alexis sits in the corner watching the set as it's being taken down. "Gotta go. Schmoozing with the editors, that sort of thing, you know the drill. I'll see you at lunch, Betty, maybe you can show me around?"
"Yeah, sure!" Betty replies with her usual brand of cheeriness. They leave in separate directions; Johnny towards the editors and Betty towards the exit. Marc and Amanda follow her.
The bitchiness is back in Amanda's voice once Johnny is out of earshot. "So, Betty, did you conveniently forget to tell us that you have a hot cousin?"
"And with such a lovely British accent, too? My God, he's like Hugh Grant and Benicio del Toro, rolled up into one very nice package. Me likey!"
"I guess it...never came up? It's not like you guys actually talk to me to begin with."
"Oh, nonsense," Marc pshaws, "we love you! And Johnny too, of course."
"What team does he play for?" Amanda asks, cutting straight to the chase.
"Excuse me?"
"Which way does he swing?" Marc says helpfully, though Betty is still clueless.
"What?"
"Does he like girls? Boys? Is he equal-opportunity?"
"I don't know!" Betty yells, frustrated. "It's not like I asked!"
"Please, you two are obviously close! Haven't you ever seen him with a boyfriend or girlfriend?"
"Come to think of it, there was this one girl. Sabrina Wainwright. She was really pretty."
Upon hearing this, Marc is crestfallen while Amanda looks triumphant.
"From what I'd seen in the picture he showed me, anyway," Betty continues. "She lived in Canada."
Marc sticks his tongue out at a disgruntled Amanda.
"Wait," Amanda says, "until we know this Sabrina really existed, Johnny's fair game."
"You'll find out for us, won't you, Betty? Pretty please?"
"And put in a good word for us!"
"You want me to pimp my cousin out to you guys?" Betty gasps disbelievingly. "But he's too...nice! You wouldn't like him."
"Oh, we can make do with 'nice,'" Marc assures her.
"Especially when 'nice' looks like that."
"You look sad."
Alexis looks up to see who spoke. "Johnny. Hi."
"It's not a very editor-in-chief thing to do, sitting quietly in one corner of the room while everybody else is either kissing arse or having their arses kissed."
She smiles sadly. "I guess I'm just not much of a people person. Anymore."
"It's okay," Johnny says, sitting down beside her. "Neither am I."
Bad experiences in the past have served to make Alexis uncomfortable when men -- particularly good-looking, single ones -- were in proximity, and Johnny was no different. So, rather than getting her hopes up, she excused herself, mumbling something about a meeting, and all but ran out the door. Once at a safe distance, she looked back to see that a thinner, prettier model (a real woman) approached and sat in Alexis' place.
In line at the Mode cafeteria, Betty notes that Johnny only has a salad and water on his tray. "That's all you're having? I remember when you used to come over to our house, you'd eat up all our flan!"
"My agent says I needs to lose ten pounds," Johnny admits with a tinge of regret.
Betty is a little puzzled by this; if anything, Johnny was too thin. "But you're happy with this lifestyle, right?"
"Well, sure. The other male models are catty like you wouldn't believe, but some of them are nice."
"Really? That's what it's like here at Mode, too! I'm really good friends with Christina, our seamstress, but the other employees..."
Johnny gets a knowing look on his face. "Like Marc and Amanda?"
"How could you tell?"
"They remind me of some of the guys at Image Models. Something about them, you know? They come off as being really --"
"Bitchy?" Betty suggests, slightly surprised at her own use of a curse word.
"Yeah, that," he laughs.
From behind Johnny, Betty can see Marc and Amanda watching her expectantly. She rolls her eyes at them and looks back at Johnny. "Hey, um, I was wondering about Sabrina."
"My ex? That was so long ago, I can't believe you even remember."
"Yeah, well..." She hems and haws before finally spitting it out. "Was she a real person?"
"Of course she was! We met at summer camp. Why are you asking me this?"
"Um, Marc and Amanda kinda want to know if you're, um. You know."
"Oh."
"They're not so bad, really," she says. "They're nice to me. On rare occasions."
"Okay. You remember my roommate, Nathan?"
"The tall, cute one?" she recalls, getting a dreamy gaze in her eyes. "Yeah."
"Not really my roommate."
"Ah, so you're --"
"No, not exactly. I told you, Sabrina was a real person." His expression turns sour. "Until she cheated on me with her art teacher, at which point she became a real bitch."
Amanda and Marc are chatting idly by his desk when they spot Betty on her way to Daniel's office. They scramble to block her way. "Well?" Marc demands.
"He's bi," Betty relents. "I don't have the time to play matchmaker, so leave me out of your evil plans."
"Gladly."
Once Betty is out of earshot, the two argue amongst themselves. "He's mine."
"Nuh-uh!" Marc protests. "You had the last one, remember? Vincent, the hot Asian guy?"
"I want this one, too."
"I'm not giving him up without a fight!"
"You are so on," Amanda snarls. They go their separate ways, determined to win over the model du jour.
While washing his hands, Johnny gets ambushed by Marc, who, despite his diminutive frame, manages to pin Johnny against the wall.
"Uh, hi. Marc, right?"
"Got ten minutes?" he breathes.
"Sure."
"You. Me. Corner stall. Now."
Marc tilts his head back to kiss Johnny, and Johnny seems surprisingly receptive, until --
"Marc St. James!" comes Amanda's trill from the restroom doorway.
"What?"
"Wilhelmina wants to see you in her office now, and she doesn't look happy at all."
Marc squeaks and reaches for his sparkly inhaler. "I'll see you later," he rasps to Johnny before running to Wilhelmina's office. Amanda gives Johnny a big grin before heading back to her desk to continue filing her nails.
Moments later, Marc comes running back out. "She wasn't even there, Amanda!"
"I know. She's actually having a late lunch with Bradford."
The intensity of his glare could burn holes through her skull. "Bitch move, Amanda. Bitch move."
It's 3:30 pm. Johnny spent the last couple of hours being given a tour of the Mode offices by Betty and talking to her about his mother, Mirta, and now-pregnant sister, Clara. He was now spending his time flirting with Amanda while waiting for Betty to come back from a meeting with Daniel and some actress they want for next month's cover.
"How long are you staying here?"
"Six months to a year, maybe. I just do whatever my agent tells me to."
Marc spots them making small talk, and is incensed when he notices that Amanda has an extra button open. That usually meant business. He skitters across the lounge and slings an arm around Johnny's waist. Amanda scowls at Marc when Johnny isn't looking. "Johnny, baby!"
"Hey, uh, Marc."
"So, anyone at Mode strike your fancy?"
"Everyone's been surprisingly nice to me here," Johnny replies, looking pointedly at the both of them.
"Of course! Mode is positively brimming with...nice people." She says the last part a little less enthusiastically.
"But there is this one person I'm planning to ask out to dinner at the end of the day."
They both perk up. "Really?"
"Tell us!"
When Johnny leans in, they do the same. He looks around to make sure everyone else is out of earshot, and whispers:
"I don't want to jinx it."
Alexis has spent most of her time at her office lately, in order to lessen the interaction with other people. As she typed away on her laptop, penning her latest Letter from the Editor, she considered her current situation. Poor Alexis was going insane with all the things she had to deal with: a drug- and sex-addicted brother, a mother who is on the run, and Wilhelmina possibly becoming her mother-in-law. Then there was Rodrigo, and that jerk from the bar who made her feel like a freak. Add to that the fact that she was just plain lonely, and it all did quite a number on her confidence.
Which is why when she heard someone knock on the doorway, she nearly shot ten feet into the air.
"Johnny, hi," she greets, her voice a little shaky.
"Hey."
"What are you still doing here?" Alexis hoped that didn't come out ruder than she'd intended.
He nervously shoves his hands in his pockets and shuffles his feet. "I...kind of wanted to ask you something. I'm sure a lot of guys have asked you this before, but --"
"Yes, I used to be a man," is her automatic response. "And they don't keep 'it' in a jar."
"Um, no," Johnny laughs, and beautiful as he was, he was much more winsome when he laughed. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me sometime. Hopefully, dinner. Tonight."
She blinks at him in disbelief. "You mean that? Seriously?"
"Yes. Why, did it sound too rehearsed? I did think my speech over before I got here, and I may have seen one or two chick flicks this past week. They probably rubbed off on me," he admits with a dorky grin.
"No, you're great, it's just...guys don't usually pursue anything with me without some ulterior motive." Alexis smiles sadly. "I'm unlucky that way."
"No ulterior motives here. I'm just a guy from London, who sees the one real person in a room full of plastics."
They smile at each other.
"And I swear, I didn't steal that line from any chick flick," he adds, eliciting a laugh from her. Which was nice, because Alexis didn't laugh very often.
By the receptionist's desk, Marc and Amanda stare at the clock. As they catch the blinding flash of colors pass by their peripheral vision, they simultaneously greet, "Bye, Grandma!" and Betty good-naturedly greets them back. The clock strikes 6pm.
"Okay," Marc announces to no one in particular, "work day is officially over."
"It's decision-making time."
Marc takes her hand. "Sweetie, I want you to know that whoever our saucy little jalapeno chooses, you'll always be my Mandy-pants."
"And you'll always be my Marky-poo."
Upon spotting that familiar mane of glorious brown hair, Marc straightens up. "Here he comes!"
They quiet down and look in that direction, only to see Johnny walking hand-in-hand with Alexis. They're talking and laughing as they head for the elevator together, leaving Marc and Amanda stunned. As the elevator doors close, Johnny cups her face in his hands, and they kiss.
"Figures," Marc huffs. "He doesn't want the boy or the girl -- he wants both!"
Amanda turns to him. "Marky-poo, wanna go to a seedy club, get hammered and have random sex with anonymous people?"
"Why, I would love to, Mandy-pants!"
He offers his arm, she takes it, and they skip out of the office together, arm-in-arm.
FIN.