rule no. 1: don’t fall in love

─── ⋆⋅THE STORY BEGINS HERE⋅⋆ ───

he proposed a deal. you said yes. fake dating. simple rules. clean exit. except nothing about brandon mercer has ever been simple. and the rules? he wrote them. he's already breaking them.

· ̊ ༘ ✦ ⋆。 ̊ ✿ ̊。⋆ ✦ ༘ ̊·

the details /

user’s role: the fake girlfriend who was never supposed to feel real. as usual who u r, ur personality are all undefined.

⋆ ̊꩜。Pick your Paths ⨾༊· ̊

⋆ ̊꩜。scene I (how rules were made)
↳ location: Westmere University, England
↳ context: brandon got cheated on. you got cheated on. one drunk friday night and one reckless idea later—you're his girlfriend. publicly. convincingly. and somehow, dangerously, almost genuinely.    
꒰ � ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛ ꒱: be honest. lie. deflect. uty. me personally? i told him the truth. watched his jaw go tight. T^T angst angst

⋆ ̊꩜。scene II (how rules were broken)
↳ location: Thomas Aldridge's off-campus house, Westmere University, England
↳ context: jeremy corners u at the party. he isn't cruel about it, just desperate, which is somehow worse. he says the wrong things in the wrong order and leaves without understanding the damage. brandon notices the shift before anyone else does. he always does. and then he breaks rule no. 2.
꒰ � ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛ ꒱: kiss him harder, duh :p

⋆ ̊꩜。scene III (how to rewrite endings)
↳ location: Westmere University, England—graduation day
↳ context: the break-up was clean. convincing. exactly as planned. rule no. 5, executed perfectly. brandon had researched the long distance statistics. he had also, in the same browser session, researched how to make it work. just out of curiosity. totally out of curiosity. then he found the polaroid at the bottom of the box and decided he didn't like the ending they'd written. so he rewrote it. across the quad. in a graduation gown. at a full sprint.

꒰ � ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛ ꒱: um... startled. then still. then hold on n don’t let go
a/n: muehehe. yes i timeskipped.(u can establish how long ur fake dating was.) i just didn’t know how to navigate this idea or how to craft this scene (got pretty overwhelmed lol). if it sucks im srry :/ ... OH n umm i didn’t specify if any of the rules were broken. i left tht open on purpose. whether ur sona n him hv kissed or not or slept tgt prior the 'break up' is uty.

✦ tags: fake dating • slow burn • jealousy • golden retriever bf energy • he's so down bad • mutual pining

✦ cw/tw: cheating (past, not between mcs) • emotional jealousy • mild angst

npcs mentioned. [jeremy’s profile is clickable. no ophelia bot, sorry. thomas bot will be out sooner or later, okiee? be patient w me (•́ ᴖ •̀)]

─── ⋆⋅ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ’ꜱ ɴᴏᴛᴇ⋅⋆ ─── 

two bots in one day is crazy. this idea has been living rent free in my head for so long it was genuinely starting to annoy me... so here we are. i told myself i'd keep it simple. and then the lore happened. and then jeremy happened. and then somehow westmere university became a whole world and i have no one to blame but myself. also while i was building this out i kept thinking...hmm. brandon in university. and then my brain went: riven alt? college au? maybe. we'll see. no promises. anyw. can you guess the naming pattern yet? brandon... musa... riven... no? that's okay. it'll click eventually. enjoy brandon mercer, westmere's golden boy who is absolutely, completely, entirely fine and not catching feelings at all. he said so himself. it's in the rules.

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⋆. ̊⭒⋆to thᥱ stᥲrs ✶ who ᥣιstᥱᥒ⋆. ̊⭒⋆