“Oh, my god.”

When George entered his apartment, he was in shock. People were already there and cleaning up, but it was easy to see the damage done. The accident had happened in the bathroom and the water had spread from there, through the hall and into his bedroom, since it was next door.

“What happened?” George asked the nearest maintenance worker.

“It looks like a pipe in the bathroom blew.”

It took every ounce of self-control George had not to lose it in that moment. He had told them time after time that there was a problem in the bathroom. He even just went to them about it again. He was seeing red and didn't realize he was grinding his teeth until Nick's hand touched his shoulder.

“Let's go get your stuff,” Nick murmured into his ear and tugged him away from the maintenance guy. “It doesn't look too bad...”

George appreciated that Nick was trying to find the silver lining. It was true. While there was wetness around the baseboards, which meant there was likely to be some water damage and the potential for mold, it didn't look like too many of his own possessions were damaged. George was a tidy person in general, so it wasn't like he had belongings strewn across the floor that got wet.

“Okay... This isn't so bad... My insurance will cover my stay elsewhere while this is fixed...” He wanted to grab some valuables and take them with him, though. He didn't want some of his most precious things to be left around when strangers came and went. His computer, some signed books, and his video games were not staying behind.

“You know... you could come stay with me while this gets fixed,” Nick offered. “I mean, we are getting married,” he added in a quieter voice.

A quiver raced through George. He'd been wanting to get out of the apartment for a while now, and moving in with Nick would look good for the whole fake marriage thing. Who knows, maybe being close together would turn the fake marriage into a real one?

Stop it. You really have to stop reading so many romances, George scolded himself as he tore his gaze from Nick and took in his place again. “I'll take you up on that offer,” he said with a nod. At least now he might be able to get out of his lease if he could prove negligence on management.

George grabbed some plastic bins from a closet that was untouched by the water. “Can you start packing my books? All of them, please?” Although he'd only plan to take the signed ones, the fear of any of them getting wet or moldy stressed him. “There's a shelf in my bedroom and in the living room.”

“Gotcha.” Nick took the bins and headed off.

“Please be careful with them!” George called after him, anxious about having someone else touch his books. He then cleared his throat and headed into the bedroom to gather clothes for his stay with Nick. After a moment of reflection, he also grabbed a family photo he had sitting on top of his dresser. He almost felt foolish doing so, but even if he was going to only be gone for a few days, he wanted that photo with him. It'd make Nick's place feel a bit more like home.

Working together, it wasn't long before they had three bins of books, a suitcase, and a laptop put into Nick's car. “Thank you for helping me out.”

“What are husbands for?” Nick said with a grin.

That's right. On top of dealing with his damaged apartment, he also had to start planning for the wedding! “How are we going to explain it to our families? They're going to know something is up.” He didn't talk to his own parents very often, but it was still going to be hard keeping a secret from them.

“I figure it's probably all right to tell our parents and anyone that is really close,” Nick said. “But no one else. I don't want to start too much drama.”

“No matter what we do, there's going to be drama,” George pointed out.

“I meant drama about the fake part of all this...”

George shifted in the seat. As adventurous as the thought of having a sham wedding was, his mind flashed back to the moment on the couch before they were interrupted by the call. Nick had admitted that he liked him and things were about to get hot and heavy.

Maybe—just maybe—this marriage might not end up as fake as they'd intended.

* * *

Once all the items were loaded into Nick's living room, George's head was clearer—if even only slightly. “Okay, so I guess I'll be crashing on the couch while I'm here. Do you have any extra blankets and pillows?”

“Nah, I have a spare bedroom. It's a bit cluttered since I use it as an office and storage, so we just have to clean it out,” Nick said, then cleared his throat. “Although, if we're going to keep up the pretense of being a married couple, we could always share my bedroom.”

George tensed at these words as the reality of what they were doing hit him again. He was going to be married to a man that didn't love him. While Nick admitted to liking him, there was still so much to work through for accepting that as well.

“I think it'd be better if we had our own rooms for now,” George admitted shyly.

“Ah, okay. That's cool,” Nick said, although it was clear that he was trying to save face. “I'll get started on cleaning it out.”

“I'll help.”

George tagged along after Nick, now getting a chance to really see the apartment. He hadn’t been able to take in much when he’d been there earlier because of all the chaos. It seemed to be a nice enough place. It was about the same size as George's own apartment, although the space seemed smaller because it had two small bedrooms, whereas George just had the one large bedroom.

It wasn't long before they both mostly cleared out the space, which was stacked with boxes and bins that now needed a new home elsewhere in the apartment. George was itching to help Nick get more organized because he'd have so much more space in general, but he resisted speaking up. It wasn’t his place. Not yet, anyway.

When Nick broke out the air mattress and set it up to the pump, he looked up apologetically to George. “Sorry about this.”

“Hey, it's no problem,” George said with a shrug. If this was a temporary situation, an air mattress was fine. “Thanks for letting me bunk here while the apartment gets sorted.”

“No problem. Man, what timing...”

The way Nick said it made it almost sound like what happened had been fate.

George excused himself to go find the blankets and pillows. He needed that escape to hide his red cheeks. Using the hand pump to blow up the mattress kept him distracted and also wore him out a little. After the bed was blown up and prepared, the drag from all the excitement also kicked in.

“I'm beat,” George said as they finished lugging in the bins and suitcase. “I think I’m going to call it a night.”

“All right. If you need anything, just let me know,” Nick offered.

He was standing a lot closer than George thought he was. That charge, the chemistry, stirred between them again as their eyes locked. George quickly broke the gaze and cleared his throat. “Will do,” he almost squeaked as he grabbed his suitcase to change for the night.

Nick laughed slightly, a surprised sound, then backed out of the room. “Good night.”

George breathed a sigh of relief when Nick left him to his own devices. As much as George wanted to throw himself at Nick and continue what they had going on the couch, he couldn't. There was way too much to think about right now. He needed a chance to think more clearly, and letting Nick into his pants again wasn't going to help.

Tomorrow was going to be a very trying day.