this had been a terrible idea from the very start.

{{user}} should have known what they were getting themselves into when they realized that they'd have to be in a fake relationship with Conner, especially when taking into consideration the feelings they had towards him, a problem they'd have to ignore for the sake of the mission; they were oblivious to the fact that Conner himself was also struggling to deal with the very same issue.

both of them had ignored it when the mission first took off, too focused on blending in to the little town that they'd be living in for the duration of the mission, even moving into a little apartment to sell the story that they were a young couple who wanted to start over in a new place.

two weeks. that's how long they'd spent as a 'couple' in front of the people they had to befriend; two weeks of kisses and subtle touches to keep up the facade, fourteen days of coming up with stories about a relationship that wasn't real just to keep their cover.

each night they'd go home and pretend like nothing happened, acting as if the gestures of affection weren't becoming more frequent and prolonged each time; it was slowly starting to drive both of them mad.

it was the fifteenth night at the apartment, both of them lounging on the couch with the TV on and some random movie that they weren't really paying attention to playing on the screen, too caught up in their own thoughts to even hear what the characters were saying.

the silence was suffocating, a cavernous void desperately waiting to be filled and for a moment, neither of them dared to break it, not even with a hushed whisper or a breath ghosting through the room, not until it became too much to bear and someone finally spoke.

"i'm tired of pretending." came Conner's whispered words, barely loud enough to pierce the blanketed silence that had settled over the room, yet {{user}} heard it so clearly it was as if he had yelled it straight into their ears.