Wow. I am extremely unfaithful to my OTPs.
This is not a pairing I ever thought I'd like, much less write about but a plot made its way into my mind and now won't leave, and there's no other couple I actually see this working for.
A shoutout to Katya92 for all the help she gave me figuring out Tala and his mannerisms in the bar scene. I would have ripped my hair out if it wasn't for you.
Tala knew there was an affair.
He had known for quite some time now, but a night of Facebook sleuthing had confirmed his suspicions. He had always found it odd that someone as techno-savvy as Bryan would still keep his Facebook running in the age of Instagram and Snapchat, both of which were way better tools to self-promote his work as a personal trainer. Staring at his laptop screen now, he wondered if he was the fool for not keeping tabs on his activities?
No, he told himself. He wasn't responsible for the bastard's infidelity. He wasn't in the wrong for not keeping an eye on Bryan on all his social media. Tala had only trusted that his boyfriend of two years would know better than to treat him this way.
Going to log out of the fake ID he had created just for this purpose, he resisted the urge to check the messages he had exchanged with Bryan on the site. He was a pretty loyal cheater, for what it was worth. When Tala tried flirting with him under the alias of James Williamson, he had firmly informed James about his relationship with the other guy, this Ray Kon, and politely asked him to back off. It only twisted the proverbial knife deeper in Tala's gut to know Bryan probably wasn't a cheater, it was just Tala he had had no qualms being unfaithful to.
Sighing he clicked on the link to Kon's profile instead but the moment that happy looking cover picture of him and Bryan with Frost, their husky pup, assaulted his own teal eyes he jerked his face away and found the sleeping profile of his boyfriend. He held back the need to punch his beautiful face.
He guessed he should have known after all. Apart from the hundreds of Tumblr quotes informing him of the fact that if conversations with him were getting shorter, they were probably getting longer with someone else, there was also the fact that their relationship had lost all luster. Passwords of phones had been changed and conversation no longer happened, mere communication did. Their relationship was a dead shell of what it used to be, and neither were in love with each other anymore. Tala was glad for that, at least it meant he didn't feel any real hurt, just anger combined with humiliation, but he still wished Bryan had waited till they split before running to the Chinese mongrel.
Discovering new heights to his masochistic tendencies, Tala went through Kon's page again. It was exactly what his own would never look like, filled with shared memes which only served to annoy the redhead even more. Kon worked at an animal shelter and was a Sagittarius. He drew on the side and despite his anger, Tala was forced to admit, he was damn good at that. What irked him the most was all the pictures the asshole had with Bryan and all the bloody sappy comments the unfaithful bastard had left on them. He never shared comments like those on Tala's Instagram posts about the two of them. Hell, he never even said things remotely as sweet within the confines of their bedroom.
Growling, Tala zoomed into a picture of the Chinese bat posing naked against the backdrop of a clear creek set amidst lavish greens. Now, Tala couldn't be sure he was naked, but the camera panned low enough to show off his back, the top of his butt crack and love handles and he noted with fuming jealousy that the picture had been taken by Bryan himself. The comment section was filled with thirsty comments that made Tala blush, but the worst was by Bryan himself which simply said, "All these bitch-shits drooling got no idea you are mine." Complete with a gross heart emoji. Gross.
Tears formed in his eyes but he refused to admit a part of him was aching at this bone-deep betrayal. Bryan seemed so happy with Ray, happier than he had ever been with Tala himself despite all the efforts he had put in before he had inevitably given up on their collapsing relationship. That cut him, his own inadequacy.
Shutting down his laptop, he set it to the side before rolling on to his back and throwing an arm across his face, wondering if they were doomed to fail from the beginning. It had started as a one night stand, the sex had been great, just how Tala liked it, rough and dirty and when they had parted in the morning, it was in high spirits and a jocular mood as they had both told surprisingly similar jokes to diffuse usual after sex tensions. All in all, it all left a great impression on Tala who found himself wishing he could meet Bryan again.
Bryan, on the other hand, had been equally taken by the redhead's charm and wit. Plus, he had a face that would look bloody damn pleasing next to his own. Unattached to anyone, Bryan had asked Tala on a date three weeks after their one-night stand.
It had taken a good three months for Tala to actually say yes to Bryan. He never dated any of his sex partners on principle, and Bryan seemed like an incredibly pleasant memory he didn't want to allow to be tainted by the struggles of a relationship. The lavender-haired man just won't give up though and when Tala finally agreed to go to a date with him, it was more to shut him up than anything else.
That shouldn't be taken to mean he didn't feel butterflies in his stomach when Bryan picked him up from his doorstep with flowers and held the door open for him.
They had a lot of similarities, apart from being Russian and hating Putin. They both preferred whiskey over vodka, and loved dogs more than humans. For the entirety of the date, Tala didn't once lose interest in the conversation. To top it all off, Bryan was Tala's first love interest that Kai didn't reject after one look at him as an unfit match for Tala. Of course, Kai, as Tala's best friend was prone to bias, but he was as good a judge of character as any.
So Tala had agreed to another date, and another, and then one more, till they were seeing each other regularly and made it official. It was amazing for the first ten months or so but then like every flame that burned too bright, it flickered out all too fast and they lost all love for each other over the course of the next four months or so. They hadn't fallen out or had huge fights because they were so similar they couldn't find anything to argue about when they agreed on everything. They had just lost interest.
Their living arrangements were convenient though, they got regular sex that was still bloody amazing and neither wanted to give up on the totally to-die-for flat they shared. Since they weren't really interested in other people either (or so Tala thought) nobody brought up the inevitable break up.
Tala scoffed, it was good while it lasted so he didn't see why it had to end like this. Was Bryan trying to spare his feelings? Did he genuinely think this was the right way through, that this was somehow better?
He felt his boyfriend shift next to him and a pale, muscled arm wrapped around his own waist. Even their skin tones were the same. Stroking Bryan's arm idly, Tala didn't realize when he woke up.
"What's wrong, Tal?"
No, he'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt. He was used to Bryan, his presence comforted him, and he didn't even want to think about what life without him would be like.
"Nothing, Bry. Go to sleep, you have that early morning meeting with that actress tomorrow."
He didn't. He was going to take Kon out for breakfast and then a tour of the new art exhibition downtown. The asshole had posted about it.
"Are you sure you're okay? I could always postpone. Do you want us to go out together somewhere tomorrow?", Bryan questioned.
Bryan's comments on that post made it clear that he was really looking forward to the excursion, and it really wasn't for his love of art.
"No," Tala smiled. "I am fine. You do your best tomorrow. Get 'em, tiger." Except he had them, both of them and his grin made it obvious he wasn't bothered by it in the slightest.
…
Kai took a sip of his black coffee. Tala couldn't for the life of him understand why anybody would want to drink that vile, bitter thing but Kai claimed he couldn't function without it.
"So what are you going to do about it now?"
The slate-haired male leaned back in his chair, regarding Tala carefully. He had said nothing to give away his own thoughts on the matter so far, but years of being friends had taught Tala to read his body language well and it was clear he wasn't taking Bryan's infidelity well.
"I am going to confront him."
"And then? Throw a bitch fit? Slash his tires? Are you really that pathetic?" Tala could see it in Kai's eyes now. His rage had gotten the better of him. He sought to hurt Bryan now. Tala sighed. Despite how much he himself wanted to tear the bastard into two, he couldn't sic Kai on him. That would only result in death for both parties and eternal mourning for himself.
"No. I am really that mature. Part and parcel of being adults."
"It's not being mature, it's being spineless, Tala!" A balled fist met their table-top and Tala put his head in his hands. "He can't do this to you and get away with it!"
"He's not going to get away with it!"
"Yes, because whatever arguments and abuse you are going to hurl at him is going to be just as hurtful to him as it was for you to find out about him going and pissing all over your relationship!"
He grew silent at that.
"Look, you need to show him how it feels to be cheated on, and discarded like nothing. Can't you see it? He isn't sorry in the least! He is just stringing you along and is probably gonna keep doing it till that inbred Oriental slut asks him to move in or something!"
"Like he'd care if I was to cheat on him now!"
"No, but from the looks of it, he'd definitely care if that Asian freak did."
…
When he saw Ray Kon for the first time he was almost ready to forgive Bryan. That guy was a little too tempting. His pictures definitely didn't do any justice to him. He had high cheekbones, full lips, and a rich tan complexion. Long raven strands feel carelessly onto his shoulders in thick waves and his amber eyes set his face with a very elusive and mysterious aura.
That only made the Russian want to hurl.
He was at the bar and the Chinese man was sitting some distance away at a table with a group of friends around him. Tala knew all of them from his nights of stalking. Bryan had pictures with all of them. He was pretty tight with Ray's friends, whereas he never even bothered to meet Tala's. Kai was the only friend of his Bryan didn't mind but when it came to Mariah, Michael or Johnny, he seemed to loathe all three of them with a passion, for no reason whatsoever.
Forcing all thoughts of the bastard aside, Tala focussed on his prey for the night. A smirk made its way on to his lips. He felt like himself for the first time in two years. This was what he was like, what he liked doing. Charming his way into the lives of random strangers, gave him the euphoric sense of power little else could. He had always enjoyed this. Not that he was opposed to commitment, but he had sure missed the freedom being single gave one, especially after their relationship had started falling through the cracks and he still found himself shackled to it.
Sipping his drink, he waited for when it was the amber-eyed boy's turn to come and buy a round for the table. Just to make extra sure, he would bring out his best pick up line, and his most charming smile. Tala was assured in the fact that this wasn't his only chance to make the cunt sway though. They had more than a mutual. Mariah's brother Lee was apparently his friend from school, and the pink-haired girl herself had gone on a couple of dates with his friend's girl, Hillary. So, if this failed, Tala only hoped he didn't come across like a major creep so he could continue trying to woo Ray over strategically set 'chance meetings'.
Lost in thoughts like those, he didn't notice when the Chinese boy walked over to the bar. It was only when he called out for his order of a round of shots, that Tala was jolted out of his reverie.
He had a pleasant voice with a slight lisp, that made Tala lose his bearing momentarily so that whatever carefully constructed pick up line he was about to use, fled his memory. He found himself hard-pressed for time, as Kon turned to leave, so he blurted out the first thing he could think of.
"Hey, beautiful?"
He could have smacked himself upside his own head. Thank god, that you couldn't actually forget how to smile your most charming smile too.
Kon turned with a confused smile, "Do I know you?"
"I bet you want to."
The slightly confused smile dropped to give way to a despairing frown. "No! That's not gonna work."
It was Tala's turn to raise a brow in confusion.
"Nobody likes to hear something this presumptuous and cocky from someone trying to take them home. Try for a little more flattery."
Two seconds of stunned silence later, Tala's ego decided it wanted to get bruised. "Why don't you tell me your best line?!", he challenged.
Ray smiled with a shrug, before stepping closer to Tala, motioning for the waiter who had appeared with their shot glasses to proceed to their table. "Is there an airport close by, or is that the sound of my heart taking off?", he questioned while waggling his brows comically and baring his teeth in an ear-to-ear grin. To add effect, he bumped Tala's hip with his own.
The ridiculousness of the situation made the Russian chuckle. "That's just… not right."
Kon simply smiled. "It made you laugh and most people would rather bed a well-meaning idiot than a conceited asshole." He raised a brow. "Now I am taken by a dream of a man, but good luck with the next guy who catches your eye. If you feel the need for some company, you are welcome to join us." He jabbed a thumb behind his shoulder and then made to walk away.
It took Tala a minute to realize that Ray had not only called him a conceited asshole, and probably an unsatisfying lay, but also schooled him in the subject he mastered. The fact that his surprised nerves had actually opened the door for all that, had him frothing at the mouth.
He turned his back to the now-laughing asshole and bit down on his knuckle in frustration before quickly reminding himself of how imperative it was to fuck this bitch. Telling himself to calm the hell down, he decided to try again.
Opening up his Instagram and losing himself in memes for the next fifteen minutes, he looked up only when he felt sufficiently level-headed again. Quickly, he flagged down the bartender and asked him to whip up a cocktail, something not too fruity but still mild so he didn't feel like Tala was trying to make him get drunk and lower his defenses. Then, he requested a pen and paper, wrote up a little note and the drink was off to be delivered.
As suspected, Kon frowned upon receiving the drink, though his table burst in hoots and laughter, grinning and winking while Tala merely raised a glass to them. Now, he had bet on the Chinese finding it unacceptable to be misunderstood, and so in his note instead of apologizing for his conceited attempt, he had simply apologized for hitting on him altogether, hoping Ray would come up and tell him he got it wrong.
The man shook his head, smiled at the waiter, accepted the drink in a go and zeroed back in on his mates. As Tala clocked in on the erratic tapping his right foot had taken up, he smirked.
A good fifteen minutes later, he was approached by a visibly uncomfortable Ray. Smiling awkwardly, he stood next to Tala and ordered himself a tequila shot, before turning to face him.
"Thanks for the drink and I really wasn't mad at you for hitting on me."
"You're welcome. It was the least I could do and I know. You're mad at me for that weird-ass pick-up line. 'You want to.' Who says that? Definitely not me but believe me or not, I had like a well-rehearsed thing going, then you were just here all of a sudden and I just kind of, forgot?" Tala couldn't help his sheepish smile before realizing this was a good chance to butter him up. "Looking at those eyes up close," he threw a hand behind his head "Just made me lose myself."
As expected, a slight flush came over the tan cheeks and Tala bit back a cheer.
"I wrote that note specifically so you would come and clear it up and I could apologize to you face-to-face. Couldn't find the guts to approach you again."
"Oh, it's just…" Ray trailed off, clearly not used to this approach, before smiling embarrassedly himself. "I over-reacted too. I kinda wanted to hang out with just the gang today and my boyfriend was just being overly possessive. Fought with me for a whole two hours over a night out alone with the guys." Tala bit back a scoff at that. Cheater Bryan projecting his tendencies and insecurities on his poor, new catch? Classic. "Then there was you."
"In the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Yes, so I just sort of unloaded on you. I didn't mean to be that harsh."
"Could have fooled me because I was just left here like, 'did that just happen?'. All I wanted was to take you out on a date."
"On a date, you say. To your bed, you mean." Ray was smiling now, with a teasing note in his voice.
"Eventually, but I wanted to do it right. I wasn't looking for a one-night stand." Looking right into those amber eyes, he made his voice sound as sincere as possible and hoped the Chinese would believe him.
Said eyes drew away from his own, shyly and focussed on the shot glass in front of them. "Oh." That was all he said, but he did sound pleased.
"So, am I forgiven?"
Started, Ray looked up. "Oh, yes! There's nothing to forgive. We're good."
"Really?"
"Yes!"
"Prove it to me."
"… how?"
Tala smirked. "Dance with me." He paused to let Ray make a face before cutting him off. "Just, you know, a dance. I respect your boundaries. I really ain't gonna try any funny shit."
The weirdly holding amber eyes were skittish with hesitation for a second or two before they found his own and a soft smirk made its way on to Ray's face. "Alright then."
…
Strangely enough, waking up alone was easier when he knew exactly where Bryan was. It was even sort of satisfying, knowing his precious new flame was probably screaming at him for his weird, possessive behavior right about now as he tried to drag a hung-over Ray to breakfast since Tala, himself had a text from the bastard saying he was gonna have to catch break-fast with a client.
Tala sat back in bed with a glass of whiskey, scrolling Twitter for headlines. He had always been a heavy drinker, and he had the alcohol tolerance to back it up too. Always had a little too much, but not enough to develop a problem. It really wasn't his fault though, coffee just didn't wake him up like a shot of whiskey did.
Till Bryan came along and everything had to change because of his obsession with healthy lifestyles and all that.
Idly, he searched out Ray Kon on Twitter and was surprised to find a private handle. The man in his Facebook posts seemed to be quite the exhibitionist. He looked him up on Instagram and found another private account with a few followers above a thousand and some four hundred posts. Amused, he moved to hit follow before checking himself. Now that was stalkerish.
Now Tala had no qualms admitting the guy was cute but was he even slightly better than himself? No. So unless Bryan had actually fallen in love, he couldn't see any reasons for what had been done.
Good mood gone, he decided to never look the Chinese up on his social media again.
Stretching his arms above his head, he called Kai's number to see if he was free to do something around town. It was a Saturday and all that. They didn't have anything preplanned, which generally meant it would remain that way since Kai the bossman always had things to do on weekends too, but they all knew he would raise a brow and expressionlessly sulk if he wasn't asked first.
Predictably going to voicemail, Tala took it to mean Kai actually was busy and called up Mariah instead.
She picked up on the seventh or such ring and her shrill scream made it clear she was not happy to receive the call, nor would be willing to hang out. Oh well, plan B then.
"We were just gunning for round three so this better be fucking important Tala!"
"Round three? It's literally eight in the morning. What, you been up all night or what?"
"We're at my brother's."
"That doesn't help!"
"What do you want?!"
"When can we run into Ray Kon?"
A sigh. "What is your obsession with him?" The voice on the other end sounded serious now.
"Bryan is two-timing us, so I am going to sleep with him."
No response came through.
"Hello?"
"Give me a second here, that's a lot to process." She sighed again, and he could almost imagine her pinching her forehead. "Was this Kai's idea?"
"No."
"Uh-huh. Try again."
"How can you be so sure it was?"
"'Cause you on your worst are still not that emotionally stunted. Did you stop to think about the guy at all? Not only is he being cheated on right now, but is going to be used by you in this sick revenge plan of yours and neither of the things is any fault of his whatsoever."
Tala felt misgivings rise in the pit of his stomach at that because it was a fair point, which he squashed with the image of Ray's glowing visage when he called Bryan his dream of a man.
"None of my business."
"Kai lingo."
"What is your problem with him?!"
"This cavalier attitude he takes to everyone else's emotions!" There was an interruption in the background that kept Tala from responding to that. Mariah returned to the phone with understandable haste in her words. "Look Tal, we could talk about this all day but she looks so hot, with all that… naked skin. Can we talk later? Meet up for lunch, maybe?"
"Alright, I will let you go. Only if you promise me to not try to hamper this."
"I have a condition."
"Spit it."
"Not now. The Pizza Square at 1. Don't be late."
….
He wasn't late, she was, but she came in glowing and sporting an impressive network of hickeys on her collarbone so, like the proud friend he was, he let her off the hook.
"So… I thought you said girls like Queen weren't your type."
She sat down in the chair across him with an embarrassed huff. "Well, I was wrong. I can see why people fall for you now, cocky has appeal."
"Wish everybody thought so.", he muttered under his breath but nothing ever escaped Mariah Wong's keen ears, especially not if it was gossip about someone else.
"Do I sense a failed attempt at seduction here? When was it? Last night? I thought it weird you went out on your own." A smirk decorated her beige painted lips as she batted her eyelashes at him, exaggeratedly. He pushed her face away.
"He is just not the type who likes getting picked up in bars, and anyway, I quite appreciate a challenge now and then."
"Oh yeah? That's what they all say when they can't be childishly bitter over their failures." She raised a neatly pencilled brow and he rolled his eyes, almost pouting in indignation while simultaneously flagging down a waitress.
"Look, I will admit I didn't wanna spend so much time fretting about this like my revenge plan doesn't have to be a whole new headache, it's supposed to relieve my frustrations."
Though dancing with him last night had been quite fun. Ray was pretty funny and easy-going, and he was either a complete goof on the dance floor, or had been acting up to get rid of the awkwardness that had flown in between them the moment they found themselves facing each other amidst the throng of dancing bodies. For a second, everybody around them had felt so alive, and they themselves, their entire lives seemed so insignificant in the face of the vibe, that they just gazed unsurely at each other before Kon had grabbed on to his hand and did a weird combination of a pirouette, squat and leg-lift that Tala would laugh about to his dying day. The only thing that had saved him from landing on his butt was Tala holding on to him, for which he'd grinned at him gratefully and all stiffness had escaped the redhead's posture.
Also, it was fun knowing he was who Bryan was afraid of losing Ray to, in a sense. That he was a threat, even if nobody else saw it that way. Yet.
They had parted after the dance, Ray returned to his table and after fifteen minutes of hanging around and pretending to chat up a blonde in another corner, Tala had left. It was nice, all in all, if not exactly what he wanted it to be.
He wasn't going to tell Mariah that, though.
"Alright, so I will let you see Ray, on one condition." They resumed the conversation after ordering their choice of pizza, which they had bickered over for a full fifteen minutes.
"Which is?"
"He won't find out what you did. You won't tell him you used him and make him feel any worse than necessary when he inevitably finds out about the hoax his relationship has been. I don't know how you will handle Bryan, but Ray won't have to feel like a pawn in this weird game of yours."
Tala plastered his most sincere calculating look on his face, and he was a bloody good actor, as he pretended to think about it. Of course, he wasn't going to agree with her demand. It was imperative Bryan saw the pain he had caused Ray in those expressive amber eyes and mirror it right back. He wanted to leave the two in a mess where they won't know who to point fingers at and who to blame. Ray would have to find out once he himself cheated on Bryan with Tala, but Mariah didn't need to know that.
"Sounds fair."
Her face brightened and for a moment he felt bad.
Pulling out his phone, he nodded while texting Kai to not talk to Mariah at all till he had called him and explained the elaborate lie they would have to keep up.
"Why are you so possessive of him anyway?"
"He is a nice guy." She shrugged evasively and Tala narrowed his eyes.
"He is your straight crush?"
"I am not straight."
"Then?"
She sat back in her seat with a sigh and waited for the server to serve them their slices of pizza before continuing. "I lied. He and Lee weren't just friends."
"He's Lee's crush?"
"No, Tala. They used to date and remember how I once told you if I could help it I would never let anyone date Lee despite him being my brother?"
"Yeah?"
"So this was the reason. It was horrible and Lee hurt Ray a lot. I know how much strength it must have taken for him to give someone a chance again and I'd hate to see you shit on that."
"I am not shitting on anything! It's not…-"
"Your fault Bryan's a cheater? Exactly. Not his either but he has to get out of this and that's the only reason I am helping you here."
Oh man, he didn't need to feel guilty before he had done anything to feel guilty about.
Well, that's it for the first chapter. Review!