Chapter Text
Out of all things Prokopenko expected to happen after moving to a small town and changing schools to some rich people’s private school, it wasn’t getting asked to fake date a guy for money.
“Wait, go back, you want me to do what because of...?” Proko interrupts his dormmate, Skov, during his dialogue.
Skov sighs, “I want you to go out with Joseph Kavinsky.”
Proko frowns, looking for something on Skov’s face to tell him it’s all a big joke. “And why do you need me to go out with Kavinsky?”
Skov struggles for a minute, “Because K deserves to have someone great for him,” he says, then wincing. “That sounded better in my head. But you get it, the point of it?”
“Why wouldn’t someone else just take him out if you think he deserves someone good?” Proko asks, puzzled. He can’t comprehend how he’s even considering it. It’s a sure way to make a fool of yourself and ruin the school year by trying to avoid a guy only because you tried to take him out for a date. A fake date.
Skov struggles again, “He has a bit of reputation, most think he’s cool, but at the same time, they’re terrified. And as you’re kinda new, you don’t know about the rumours and shit yet. Fresh start, yeah?”
“You’re not very convincing,” Proko says with a sigh. “What’s in it for me?”
Skov finally lightens up a little, like a puppy getting a new toy. “Some cash and fun, like 20 bucks?”
Proko gives him an unimpressed look and Skov shrugs, “Make it double.”
This was going to backfire horribly and that other end Proko would be explaining to his parents why he needs to change schools again. Against all his instincts, he was still considering this, which is telling him how stupid he’s being. He blames the cash.
“You seem responsible, maybe you could get some of that to K, too.” Skov continues, wiggling his eyebrows when Proko doesn’t say anything.
Proko sighs and considers for once more what is there in for him, a guy to fake date who is presumably an asshole like every other rich guy in Aglionby and some cash. But it’s easy cash, right? Have a date and get money from it? It was a little tempting.
“Make it double.” Prokopenko ends up agreeing and Skov squeals, jumping out of the bed and searching for his wallet, taking a 40 out and handing it to Proko.
“Deal.”
Prokopenko regrets this already.
Proko didn’t know what to expect of the guy that someone was desperate enough to pay you to date, but all that Proko was trying to keep in mind was the easy money.
Proko saw Kavinsky for the first time at the school parking lot, where Skov abandoned him to go to his friends, and Kavinsky. Proko didn’t mind the abandonment too much and it gave him a half-good excuse to stare for a bit.
Joseph Kavinsky wasn’t too bad looking, if it was up to Proko. For this far away, he couldn’t see much, not to even mention the white rimmed sunglasses that covered his eyes and half of his face, but okay anyways.
The bell rang and Proko glanced at the school before taking one last look at Kavinsky, who was looking exactly in his direction. Proko couldn’t be sure if he had been looking at Proko from behind those sunglasses.
Skov was talking animatedly about something and nudging Kavinsky to move along. Kavinsky turned his head away and Proko had a feeling that he had to figure out some other way to approach the guy than just straight up walking up to him.
The next time Proko saw him was during lunch. He was on his way to find a place to smoke without teachers coming from every direction to bash him about it and saw K at his car having a smoke himself. Kavinsky had the sunglasses off, but his eyes were closed as he lounged on the hood of his Mitsubishi, occasionally taking a glance around whenever he heard something.
Proko almost went to talk to him, but he hesitated and figured out he could catch him some other time. Proko was intrigued by him, yet at the same time, he was cautious for whatever reasons. Maybe it was Skov’s fault for mentioning the whatever rumours.
Proko did run into Kavinsky later that day. He also heard of the rumours. It seemed that Kavinsky was popular in a strange way like Skov has said.
There were many rumours, one of the most famous ones that Kavinsky had killed his father, a rumor that his mother had taken a little too much cocaine and the stunt had thrown her 6 feet under and a rumor that the last time someone had dared to challenge Kavisnky in a fight he got a roadtrip straight to the hospital with a concussion, 2 broken ribs and liver damage.
Rumor had it.
Proko ended up seeing Kavinsky in chem later that day. He had no idea that Kavinsky took any AP classes, or that he even actually studied, so he was a little surprised to meet him at AP Chemistry, mostly because he had never seen him in there before. Or maybe Proko hadn’t just paid enough attention.
Proko had made the mistake of hesitating for a beat too long at a couple of seat rows before Kavinsky’s seat, figuring out whether to say something or leave it for later and preferably after class, which would be the smarter choice.
Kavinsky must’ve felt him staring because he looked up at Proko over the lenses of his still-present, reflective sunglasses.
Kavinsky stared back at him without saying a word and Proko was the first one to look away. There was something a little uncomfortable in Kavinsky’s stare that put him off a little.
Proko accepted the defeat and claimed a seat a row before Kavinsky, as the back row was occupied already.
The class went without a problem and as soon as the bell rang to announce the class and the day over, Kavinsky had packed his stuff and exited the classroom. He hadn’t said a word during the class, but to be fair, the teacher was clearly avoiding picking him like a plague to answer any questions.
Proko gathered his stuff quickly to catch up to Kavinsky, who was already at the end of the corridor, lighting a cigarette when Proko got out of the classroom and survived through crowds of people.
Proko stalled for a minute before getting the courage to say something. He made his way up to Kavinsky and stopped a couple of feet away from him. When Kavinsky had lit up his cigarette and showed no sign of noticing Proko at all, he took a step closer.
It was finally enough to get Kavinsky to look at him, or Proko suspected that he was. Kavinsky raised an eyebrow when Proko didn’t say anything for a second. “What’s with the staring?” He asked flatly.
Well, might as well do what Proko came here to do, “Maybe I was trying to get you to notice me or maybe I was admiring the view.”
Kavinsky smiles but it’s not genuine at all. It felt like a threat and Proko wondered how Kavinsky got to be so menacing when he was this much shorter than Proko. “I didn’t know they offered sightseeing tours in Henrietta.”
“If you aren’t too fond of the mirror, you wouldn’t know. The only sight is you.” Proko is perfectly aware that it was overly sappy but maybe it’s the charm.
Kavinsky scoffs and continues walking, taking a drag of his cigarette. It wasn’t the charm. “Pick you up on Friday, then.” Proko continues, following and falling into step with him.
“Friday? Uh-huh.” Kavinsky snorts.
Proko smiles. This might be a bit harder than he thought. “Playing hard to get? I like that, makes you hotter.”
“Then I must be burning in flames already.”
Proko blinks, “Come with me, it would be fun.” They walk out of the building and Kavinsky heads straight to his car, turning at last when he reaches the door of it and looking at Proko, arms crossed. He takes one last drag of his cigarette before dropping it to the ground and stepping on it.
“Doubtful, very doubtful. Your view of 'fun' is a nice dinner at the local pizzeria and maybe even stargazing. Very not for me.” Kavinsky says and Proko curses those stupid sunglasses for covering half of Kavinsky’s whole face. How is he supposed to know what Kavinsky is actually looking at or even thinking about with those on?
With that, Kavinsky gets into his car and starts it up, leaving Proko standing at the parking lot after a cloud of exhaust fumes. Asshole.
He huffs and turns to walk over to his own car, silently cursing Skov for talking him into this.
---
Kavinsky finds Jiang in the living room with some TV show going on in the background, but Jiang isn’t paying attention to it, being too occupied with his phone to care.
“Who’s the new dormmate Skov got?” Kavinsky asks, pushing Jiang’s legs off the couch to have space to sit down to.
Jiang doesn’t bother acknowledging him but obediently moves his legs. “I don’t know. What about him?”
“The guy’s a freak.”
Jiang laughs and puts his phone down. “Why is that?” He asks amusedly.
K shrugs. “He kept staring at me the whole day and then ended up asking me out.” He says casually. Like people asking him out was a usual occurrence. It’s not that they didn’t ask him for a fuck but that’s a little different. People didn’t like him but the idea of him in their bed.
That gets Jiang’s interest. “He asked you out?”
Kavinsky frowns, “Did I stutter?”
Now it’s Jiang’s turn to shrug and shake his head, returning his attention to his phone. “No, I just didn’t think that I’d live to see the day someone was willing to take you out for a date.”
K glares but lets it slide. He has dated before. It’s just not what people expect from him.
While K’s in his thoughts, Jiang continues. “So, what did you say?”
Kavinsky gives him a dismissive look, “No. Obviously.”
Jiang raises his eyebrows. “Wow, there went your only chance to get a guy.”
Kavinsky very much reconsiders why he came to talk to Jiang in the first place, it’s not like he ever has anything nice to say anyway. And it’s not like K would’ve said yes even if he wanted to date someone. But he was perfectly happy by himself and would rather not ruin his peace with someone to take him out for coffee dates twice a week and then take up space in his bed.
“Where’s Skov anyway?” He asks as he gets up.
“He’s at the dorms, probably has plans with Swan,” Jiang says and there’s no need to elaborate on that.
Kavinsky takes it without an argument and exits the living room without another word.
---
“I hate you,” Proko says the second he walks in, tossing his bag to the floor and jumping to lie on his bed.
Skov tilts his head as he sits up, typing one last message to someone before putting his phone down and looking at very displeased Proko.
“Damn, what did I do to deserve such a sentence so early?”
Proko huffs and sits up, looking back at Skov. “How did I ever let you convince me that asking a guy out for a fake date was- “
“Wait, you asked him already?” Skov interrupts, his face lighting up.
Proko opens and closes his mouth, taking a second to get himself under control and nodding with his lips pressed together. “Yeah.”
Skov raises his brows and when Proko doesn’t immediately continue, he makes a hasty movement with his hands. “Well? What did he say?”
“No. Obviously.”
Skov hums as if he had already known the answer. Maybe he had.
Proko rolls his eyes, “Whatever, I’m ready to call it off already.”
That gets Skov out of his thoughts again, “Wait, what? Already? No, you haven’t even properly tried yet,” he insists.
Proko frowns, “I literally did just today.”
“Yeah, did you expect him to say yes immediately?”
“Well, I was hoping so. I thought it’d be a bit easier.”
Skov laughs as if something he said was the funniest thing ever. “It’s Kavinsky. Nothing’s easy with him.”
“Wow, thanks for the heads up.” Proko deadpans. Would’ve been great to know before agreeing to the shitshow.
Skov keeps smiling, “Well, you got it now. Don’t give up. What about another, uh, 10 added to it?”
Proko considers it for a minute. Well, to be fair, he already made a fool of himself, so it’d be free money for just trying again. There’s not much that can go wrong anymore, so what does he have to lose?
“Alright, a fucking deal.” He must be having an aneurysm.
---
Kavinsky got a hold of Skov soon enough the next day back at the shithole called Aglionby Academy and its parking lot. It didn’t take him long to regret opening his mouth about the guy, now that he knew he had a name: Prokopenko.
They were hanging out at their cars to avoid people until necessary, both leaning against their respective vehicles. He tried to mention Prokopenko to Skov very casually and assigned himself for an explosion of words and questions that K could’ve happily lived without.
“So, he asked you out? Why did you say no? Proko’s a nice guy.”
K huffs, “So if a guy is ‘nice’, I just immediately must go out with them?”
“You don’t go out with anyone, though.” Skov challenges.
“And I don’t intend to.” He doesn’t get why it’s such a big deal and why everyone makes it one. Is it so unbelievable that someone would ask him out? “Why do you give a shit, it’s not like they asked to date you and I said no.”
“That’s not the point- “
“What is the fucking point?” Kavinsky snaps, cutting Skov off mid-sentence and taking a step closer to him. Skov doesn’t move away or flinch but pulls his head back a bit.
Skov smartly stays quiet and K nods, “That’s what I fucking thought.” He says before walking around the evo to test the doors are locked and then leaving Skov standing there, making his way to the school itself.
When Kavinsky gets inside and goes for the longer route to the main parts of Welch Hall as an attempt to avoid Child because he’s unbearable and hates K as much as K hates him. He almost walks into some guy, cursing him over even before seeing who.
Kavinsky furrows his brows, taking a step back. “Are you following me?” He asks. It’s a stupid question but K’s irritated and already tired of the next 6 hours he has to spend here and seeing the newly introduced Prokopenko does nothing to help.
Prokopenko gives him a tight smile, looking like he’s about to say something and takes it back before answering. “No, but you never showed up on our date. It’s rude to keep a guy waiting, you know.”
“What a pity.”
Prokopenko tilts his head, stepping on his way again when Kavinsky tries to move and he’s just this close to punching Prokopenko’s face. “You’re quite reserved, aren’t you?”
K glares, “You wouldn’t know, would you? Maybe I just don’t have anything to say to you.”
Prokopenko nods slowly, then smiles, “Maybe not, but you surely have thought of me to form your opinion.”
Kavinsky rolls his eyes, waving it off. “Aw, you got me, I’ve been dreaming of you since we met. You’re so unforgettable, how could I not?” He deadpans, stepping to the side and this time Prokopenko lets him pass, turning to look after Kavinsky as he goes.
Proko spent the rest of the day half avoiding Kavinsky and half observing him. In the end, they shared surprisingly many classes together now that either Kavinsky cared to show up or Proko had his attention on him.
Proko of course didn’t stare but Kavinsky spent English class burning something onto his desk with a match, PE lesson smoking on the sidelines until he was sent to the principal’s office and Chemistry doing whatever he wanted in the lab while ignoring the teacher’s pitiful attempts to get his attention.
The problem was that wherever Proko seemed to go, Kavinsky was there, and he was everywhere. Proko didn’t want to see him again so soon after today’s morning second rejection.
During lunch, when Proko was heading to Borden House, which is located on the other side of the campus and the quickest way is through the green, Skov appeared with another boy, catching up to him.
“Hey, this is Swan. Swan, this is Proko.” Skov introduced them when they stopped walking, pointing as he talked.
“Oh hey, Skov has told a lot about you,” Proko said.
Swan rolls his eyes but smiles anyway, “Has he now?”
“How is it going with K?” Skov questioned before they could continue.
Proko glances between Skov and Swan, taking in the information that Swan doesn’t seem surprised, so Skov must have told him beforehand. “A lot better if he didn’t blow me off at every chance.”
“That’s just K style; we discussed it this morning and he wasn’t very happy about it,” Skov answered.
Proko gives them a tight-lipped smile, but Skov continues, “Anyway, that’s why we’re here. Want to ditch school and do a little tour through K’s room?”
So, they end up ditching school and going to Kavinsky’s.
Proko knew that Aglionby was full of awfully rich assholes, despite this he didn’t realise how rich they could be and how rich was Kavinsky himself.
They pulled up to a fanfuckingcy suburban mansion and Skov got out of the car as if he owned the place. Proko took a second and got out of the car after Swan. There aren’t any cars outside, but the driveway is big enough to fit at least 8. Skov leads them inside without a struggle because the door wasn’t locked.
Proko takes in as much as he can of the interior screaming wealth from every direction. Skov points and nods at rooms and places, giving him a quick tour as they stroll through the mansion.
The whole point, what Skov said for this to be, was for Proko to get some information out of K without having to ask and be too obvious about it.
They walk up the stairs and stop at the door of the 3rd room on the left of a long hallway. Swan walked a little behind Proko the whole way up and Proko felt like he was in jail or going to court rather than raiding someone’s room.
Skov opens the door to reveal a spacious and messy room. Clothes are lying around, covering the furniture and the floor, random everyday stuff at places and stuff he has never seen nor does know what they are at other. There’s an unmade king-sized bed connected to the right and back wall of the room and the window is open, making the room fucking freezing. The wall next to the bed is covered in posters of different cars.
“Here we are, don’t bother to fix stuff back to their original places, K won’t notice anything has changed,” Skov says, taking the first step into the room.
“What are we exactly looking for?” Proko questions.
“Anything that you think will make your job a little easier,” Skov answers.
“Right. Are you even sure he’s gay?” Proko asks, taking a slow walk around the room and taking a double glance at the familiar white sunglasses lying on top of the mountain of clothes. K had the exact same pair at school today. How many does he need?
Skov laughs, “Yeah, hundred. He can act as hetero as he likes but he’s gay. Actually, even dated this one guy like a year ago, but they fell off for some reason. I’m glad they did, K was nearly unbearable during the time.”
Proko turns to look at him, noticing that Swan’s gone from the door. Skov notices this and answers the unasked question, “He went back downstairs to make sure K won’t have the same idea of ditching school like we did.”
Proko nods, switching back topics and going through Kavinsky’s whatever stuff. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing. “So, K’s last date was bad, and he was unbearable, but you want him to date against his own will anyway?”
“Well, yeah, but the guy was the problem and as I said, K deserves someone nice.”
Proko hums, “Right, so he likes nice guys or something?”
Skov considers that, “...No? I don’t know. He likes cars and drinking and racing. Guys that are a little mean.”
Proko contemplates for a minute. “Right, no nice guys.”
Skov hums, watching him find nothing for a minute more before taking pity on him and going through K’s nightstand that Proko avoided. He takes out grumbled papers, naming them as he does absentmindedly. “Schedule, speeding tickets, CDs, condoms- he uses them?” The last part was probably for Skov only, but Proko heard it anyway.
Skov continues to go through it until he can’t find anything else important enough before pushing the items into Proko’s arms and listing off, “He likes some horrible music, like EDM, rap in English, and Bulgarian both and he’s a west side guy. Never east. Basic dates won’t work, however, racing him could.”
Proko takes it without a word, shortly going through the CDs before looking at Skov again, “So what I’m supposed to do is race him, offer him drinks and put some west side rap on?”
Skov huffs a laugh, “Yeah, pretty much. What there is, is that we’re going to a party on Friday. You could make an appearance.”
Proko grimaces, shaking his head, “I didn’t move here to exactly party.”
“That’s so boring, you seriously want to spend all your time studying?”
Proko doesn’t want to, but he likes to pass with good grades and not make stupid decisions; there’s a difference.
He takes long enough for Skov to decide for him, “Great! It’s said the party starts at 9 pm but we’re going a bit later. If you want to, you could come hang out with us and we’ll go together.”
Proko sighs, he’s already in this mess so why not make it worse. “Whatever, I’ll come.”