Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The worst part wasn’t the forced dating contract.

It was a fact that everyone in the agency thought that this was a solution.

Mydeimos Kremnos— also known as Mydei was an actor in agency Strife, his career started off in a fine line since he was a child till he reached adulthood that everything started crashing down.

Ever since a certain incident with another actor his career was in the dumps, and his almost non existent fan service was not helping his case. The allegations of him being a ruthless bastard behind the scenes was buzzing around like an annoying fly, no matter how many times he tried swatting it away it kept escaping before coming back.

Mydei’s agency had enough and started acting without his acknowledgment and somehow sought help from an outside force. It sounded suspicious and still sounds suspicious! He was completely against this, but with a look from the director, he could tell that this incident was not going to be easily solved with just a few tugs of a string.

Mydei sighed as he was ushered into a fancy high-tech-designed building early in the morning, he was dreading this so much. Ever since his manager, had arrived at his apartment early in the morning rushing him to get ready since he had an important meeting in his schedule.

He was greeted by a blonde haired woman with deep green eyes, her expression was blank and her demeanor relaxed. Her voice was soft but her words didn’t seem soft as her voice, as she guided Mydei to a private room on the top floor of the building. she kept the conversation to a minimum before they reached the top floor.

Mydei let out a sigh when the woman— whose name is Aglaea opened the door to a fancy modern looking office. Her expression remained control as she sat in front of Mydei taking a sip of her tea that she had poured out in hospitality.

“Mr. Mydeimos your agency has contacted us over the peculiar situation you’re in.” Her gaze moved from her tea cup to Mydeimos as if she were trying to read his thoughts. He only let out a grunt in response earning a glare from his manager.

Aglaea didn’t seem to mind, if she did her expression didn’t give her away whatsoever, her golden hair was in a tight bun soft strands framed her face making an air of authority halo form around her as she spoke.

“From what I can tell, you’re not very happy with the situation.”

Mydeimos raised a brow at Aglaea who picked up her tea cup again to take a sip, her form ever so elegant, “anyone in my position would have the same thoughts.”

Aglaea let out a hum as she placed her tea cup down and gave a soft yet professional looking smile, “no need to fret it’s only a contract that is going to occur, your company has agreed to join the Flame chasing long before your situation occurred. We’re just using this as an opportunity to finalize the finishing touches before strife is conjoined to the flame chasing.”

Mydei could see his manger stiffen at Aglaea’s words, but kept quiet if he reacted now it would seem that this woman was pressuring him. So as always he only remained quiet to see what else she’d say as he went over his options of responses that sounded appropriate.

Aglaea remained silent as well for a while before a knock at the door broke the silence. “Come in,”

Aglaea turned her attention to the door as it opened to reveal a young man with white hair and clear blue eyes, he was dressed in a peculiar fashion that he could see the ever so uptight Aglaea scrunch her nose slightly as she looked at the newcomer.

The man was tall and dressed in what he assumed was a jacket but with black and blue spots all around it, the hood was pushed back by the man but it had dog ears that matched the color of his hair. Mydei didn’t want to comment on the rest of the outfit so he decided to look at the coffee table instead of that monstrosity.

“Phainon, how nice of you to join us,”

Mydei could hear how Aglaea’s tone turned sharp, as the said man took a seat next to her causing the leather of the seat to creak slightly.

“Happy to be here Aglaea!”

The white-haired man replied chirpy, Mydei swept his gaze to him and could see the symbolism of a puppy in the man, especially his slightly rustled hair.

The man, who he assumed went by Phainon tilted his head slightly as he made eye contact with Mydei, making Mydei to look away feeling a bit awkward at being caught staring at someone he barely knew.

Aglaea was rubbing her temples before letting out a sigh, her lips quirked in a tight smile. “Phainon this is Mr. Mydeimos the one I told you about that will join the company and your partner for the contact.”

Mydei kept his gaze to the coffee table feeling it seem very interesting at that moment, he felt unpleasant about the whole dating contact he didn’t need it! His company just wasn’t proper enough to manage his PR like others do since they where too busy trying to rake in money!

Mydei clutched his fist in annoyance towards the situation not feeling the heavy stare that was on him.

“I see, nice to meet you Mydeimos I’m Phainon from the Chrysos Heirs.” The blue eyed man just smiled at Mydei and waved keeping his distance. Yet a lingering sensation bubbled underneath Mydei’s skin at his stare. It felt slightly off not that it was unpleasant, it was one of.. possession? Seizing the competition?

Mydei couldn’t really figure out what his intentions were since his manager nudged him to acknowledge the greeting and to reciprocate, “Yes.. I’ve seen many of your group performances at the awards ceremony, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

…

It had been a few days after that stress-inducing meeting when the reality finally hit Mydei: Strife had been fully absorbed into the Flame Chasing.

He woke up early to review the script for the advertisement he was scheduled to film, hoping to secure a room on the farthest end of the building—anything to avoid his manager, who had not stopped nagging him since the day they left the Flame Chasing headquarters.

But to his surprise, the building was filled with workers hauling boxes and luggage. Some were packing, others organizing piles of new equipment. In the center of the controlled chaos stood a familiar figure.

Aglaea.

She noticed him immediately and gave him a composed smile as she walked over.

“Mr. Mydeimos, it’s good to see you.”
Mydei felt his expression tighten as he returned the greeting. “Yes… I see you’ve come to organize the place.”

The blonde woman’s expression didn’t change. If anything, her eyes glimmered with faint amusement.

“Yes. A lot must be done in very little time, especially with the amount of work that will increase now that we have another situation at hand. “

He felt himself tense at her words seeing how she eyed him cautiously before resuming with her work not before leaving him with a cryptic message.

“I brought the puppy with me he should be in one of the training rooms, you should go talk to eachother.”

Mydei stood still for a moment, blinking as he processed the cryptic message she had just dropped on him as the sound of her heels clicked down the hall.

Puppy?

Mydei tilted his head in thought as to what she was referring to as puppy as he made way to the training rooms, not bothering the busy workers that walked past him hurriedly. They just glanced, recognizing him, and quickly turned away to the more urgent work.

Mydei didn’t take offense since Aglaea was wrapping a tight rope around the workers to finish in a short time frame.

As he walked, he passed by a few training rooms, some filled with trainees, some empty, some being emptied out.

Mydei felt himself swallow hard, being ‘conjoined’ sounded like being devoured. Surely it sounded like no big deal, but Mydei didn’t want to go through another ordeal with horrible management after the
previous scandal he had with a fellow actor and his PR team quickly threw the blame onto Mydei without him even knowing.

Making his way to the last training room, he noticed the door ajar and the light on, making him peek in to see who was in the room.

A familiar puff of white hair and blue eyes greeted Mydei, making him almost immediately turn around and walk away; this forced relationship contract was awkward enough, he didn’t want to add anymore interactions!

“Mydeimos, there you are! I was waiting!”
Phainon’s voice rang out immediately, making Mydei feel bad on wanting to ignore the guy when he looked so cheery just upon seeing him. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder to see Phainon staring directly at him, his face brightened, a bit too eager…

He was waiting?

For him?

Before Mydei could respond or even turn around, Phainon quickly approached him close enough that he could see the specks of gold in his eyes.

“You came,” Phainon said softly, his earlier cheer dipping into something quieter… almost pleased. “Aglaea said you might not.”

Something in his tone prickled strangely across Mydei’s skin. “I only came to practice my lines for an upcoming work… I didn’t expect you to be here.” Mydei muttered, keeping his voice flat.

Phainon didn’t budge at Mydei’s words; instead he tilted his head, “Let’s talk!”

He took another step forward,

Too close.

Mydei took a step back instinctively as he faced Phainon, making Phainon smile— a slow, knowing, amused smile that did not fit the puppy image he had been portraying previously.

“Mydeimos,” Phainon said, his voice dropping just enough to make the room feel smaller. “We’re supposed to pretend to be in love soon. Shouldn’t we get comfortable with each other first?”

Mydei felt his breath catch—

—and he suddenly wasn’t sure Aglaea calling him “the puppy” was accurate at all, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing!

Chapter Text

The Idol's gaze chilled Mydei's spine.

What did he just say?

“What–?”

Mydei blinked, completely caught off guard at Phainon's sudden suggestion, sure they were supposed to pretend to be in love, but this approach was way too forward. He didn't even get to process the words before the Idol’s expression fell immediately.

Phainon’s blue eyes downturned, as if Mydei’s hesitation had personally wounded him.

“I’m sorry.. I just wanted to get to know you better since I’ve admired your work for so long. I must have seemed too eager.” The ahonge on the top of his head drooped visibly. Mydei had to blink twice at the sudden absurdity that washed over him, he swore he imagined a dog tail tucked between the man’s legs.

“No—“ Mydei sighed, dragging a hand over his face before walking towards the center of the training room; he heard footsteps trailing behind him cautiously, forcing him to continue his excuse, “I was just caught off guard by your approach, I’m used to most people being reluctant to work with me most of the time.”

Phainon’s dejected expression made something in Mydei’s chest squeeze in guilt on being rude to someone who had been dragged into helping him, clearly the Idol had his fair share of work and built a good reputation just for it to be tainted by Mydeimos.

When Phainon didn’t respond, Mydei turned around expecting an expression of annoyance or sympathy. Instead, the Idol’s expression was unreadable– completely blank. Mydei felt heat creep up his neck in embarrassment.

Did he sound insincere? His career as an actor was heading to the dumps if he couldn't articulate his own thoughts. Great job, Mydeimos at crushing your already horrible reputation.

“Who?” Phainon asked, breaking the sudden silence that wrapped around them again.

“Huh?”

“Who’s reluctant to work with you?”

Phainon’s expression had shifted— anger? Annoyance? Mydei couldn’t really register since Phainon moved to stand right in front of him, close enough to make the blonde take a step back.

The atmosphere quickly tensed again, “Well most people see me as intimidating so I assumed—“
Phainon dragged a palm down his face as he staring at Mydei through his fingers, the glint in his eyes vanishing, replaced by something shaper— focused in a way that made Mydei’s skin prickle.

Why is he reacting like this? Mydei was just being honest with him. Wasn’t that what Phainon had wanted?

Phainon’s hand stayed over his face, his fingers parting just enough for Mydei to meet his eyes again. But this time— it was replaced by something Mydei almost missed:

Panic

Phainon blinked hard and quickly dropped his hand as if realizing that he was acting out of the norm of what he was supposed to act. His shoulders straightened as he took a few steps back, giving Mydei space. “S-Sorry,” He said quickly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I wasn’t.. I didn't want to sound so weird..”

Mydei didn’t know what to respond or how to react to that.

“..It’s fine..” Mydei replied automatically, even though he felt a bit weirded out by Phainon's sudden behavior but didn’t question it since the idol had previously ignored his rude actions. Phainon’s ahonge perked up at Mydei’s words before quickly drooping again, as if to hide its glee.

“I meant..” Phaninon started off slowly, as if testing the words in his tongue before saying them. “I meant to say that it surprised me to hear you say that people don’t want to work with you.”

Mydei felt like he had to avert his gaze from the Idol seeing how his voice had turned a bit strained most likely due to his own embarrassment. “It makes sense,” Mydei murmurs, “Given the scandals I've been said to be involved in..”

Phainon opened his mouth, then closed it. He moved his hands behind his back as he curled them into a loose fist away from Mydei’s eyes. A quiet, controlled breath left his lips as before he opened his mouth to say something.

Just as Phainon was about to speak his phone started buzzing, a soft melody leaving the phone's speaker making Mydei look for where the noise was coming from. Phainon's expression dropped into one of what Mydei could guess was one of frustration as he dug into his pocket to grab his phone that had interrupted his moment with Mydei.

The blonde only quirked an eyebrow seeing the white haired man give him an apologetic smile before turning to answer his phone. Phainon had turned around hiding whatever expression he had on his face as he replied in a low voice to who ever was on the other line.

…

Just a few seconds later he turned to face Mydei, eyebrows furrowed with a tight lipped smile that didn't reach his eyes plastered on, “I have to go, something suddenly occurred in my schedule.”

Mydei could hardly care. Phainon didn’t owe him his time—contract or not. The only reason they were speaking was because they were tied together by PR strings. “I see, no worries about that. A sudden change in schedule occurs often in our line of work.”

Phainon blinked slowly at him, as if weighing a response. His phone pinged again. Mydei raised an eyebrow at the insistent noise.For the briefest moment, he thought he saw something like a sneer cross Phainon’s usually bubbly face—gone as quickly as it appeared

“Thank you for understanding, I’ll take my leave sorry for the sudden visit.”

His smile this time reached his eyes as he gazed at Mydei, his blue eyes staring right into his own golden eyes; The golden rings seemed to simmer in those ocean like eyes the more he gazed towards Mydei, as if he wanted to make him drown in them. To make every gaze imprinted on his skin, it was a chilling sensation slithered down Mydei’s spine.

Phainon broke eye contact first oddly enough, since he’d been ogling Mydei the whole time they talked and being the first to always initiate eye contact with the actor. The Idol quickly turned to take his leave but paused before turning to look at Mydei for one last time.

“Next time I visit I'll make sure we have enough time to get to know each other more, Mydei.”
A sly glint shone in his eyes as the end of his lips quirked up into what Mydei could describe as a smirk.

Huh?

Before Mydei could question the implication of what he was conveying the man had left without another word.

“What the hell?”

…

Phainon had the urge to wrap his hand around someone's neck, claw onto their skin, to make them soothe this irritation he felt when he was cut short of his time with the person he looked so much to just be within feet of. Just thinking about having to leave his side made an almost deranged expression paint over Phainon's usually happy going smile.

Of course, he quickly pushed the urges away since he was supposed to be the sweetest, the dearest Phainon of the media. The Idol who sang about all that is love and hope, the one who danced and laughed with a carefree expression as if he didn’t feel himself slowly being consumed by his own dark desires.

Surely this had to be normal right?

Yes.

This had to be normal behavior.

Anyone would feel the same as having such a precious moment cut short. Having his gaze on Phainon for a few seconds, To have his name leave his lips in that smooth velvety voice that had left Phainon having an itch in his gums to have a taste of the man’s skin, to dip his nose into his honey blond locks that adorned his ethereal face; To have his name consume that precious person's mind, until he could only think of Phainon.

This was just regular admiration.

After closing the door of the training room, Phainon felt a warmth surging through his whole body that almost made him shiver, his heart was thumping against his chest erratically as if he had just finished dance practice. He slid his hand over his face feeling that it was warm from just talking to the man. Mydeimos.. Mydei..

Oh how he wanted his name to leave his lips!

Just imagining it made Phainon's breath hitch like a dog in heat.

No. No, not here. Mydei was still inside the room he couldn’t—

“Phainon what are you doing right now?” The soft yet monotone voice of Aglaea interrupted Phainon’s inner dialogue as her eyebrows furrowed as she stood a few feet from him. He could see her clear green eyes rake over his figure in slight concern etched over her usual calm face.

A soft hum left Phainon's lips as he quickly masked his expression, giving Aglaea his usual Idol persona smile to assure her that nothing was off with his behavior, knowing the woman was sharp. Her eyes squinted slightly before sighing, turning her heels and gesturing to Phainon to follow behind her. “Hurry, I don't want that deranged man to squabble about being late, how trivial!”

Phainon knew who Aglaea was referring to since he got dozen of messages from Anaxa who usually didn’t even text Phainon in the first place. He had even told Phainon to hurry up with Aglaea knowing that they both riled each other up..

“I see, are those journalists still swarming around the company’s entrance?” He didn't wait for Aglaea to reply, just seeing her eyebrows twitch in irritation was indication that they were still swarming around the front of the Flame Chasing building. Ever since Mydei had arrived a few days ago to sign the dating contract, Aglaea was quick to proceed with the bomb of a PR stunt that shook social media immediately.

Many journalists and zealous ‘fans’ had arrived to hear more of the news or to protest against Phainon dating Mydei. It was mostly under control until a famous problematic journalist that was known to destroy celebrities careers with one article, had stormed into the entertainment agency a few minutes ago demanding to see Phainon and would not leave.

“He’s tame at the moment since Anaxagoras is there to keep him in line,” Aglaea muttered, “but you know how that journalist twists every word with malicious intent.” Her tone changed from monotone to one of seething disgust as she walked ahead of Phainon leading the way through the Strife building that was still being remodeled.

“He’s the one who had published that troublesome article about Mr.Mydeimous, he must be elastic to destroy another career..” Algaea usually didn't take a liking to people so easily, but seeing how she was getting frustrated on Mydei's behalf means that she must have a good feeling about the actor.

Also,

He’s the one huh.

The one who made Mydei put his walls up against everyone that tried getting close to him.

Phainon had done a thorough investigation over Mydei since he had piqued his interest ever since he had laid eyes on him. His scandal had involved a very famous script writer and a few other actors but Mydei was the center of the scandal. Phainon hadn’t really read all of it to know that what he was reading was a lie. To scroll any further down that article made a disgusting taste form on his tongue.

“Don’t worry Aglaea,” An almost sinister expression formed on Phainon's face as he thought of what he would do once he saw the journalist,

“I will do my best to keep them under control.”