A/N: What if Scott and Mitch, two broke college students, got married for a week as a scientific experiment?
_
"Are you really willing to do this?"
The man looked at us, glancing above his glasses that were resting on the tip of his nose.
"Yes. Absolutely."
"By the power vested in me by the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and husband."
Without any further words, he stood up and while I was expecting him to leave the tiny white room that was poorly decorated with a single sad rose in an empty vase on the table, he hesitated and turned back around to face us one more time.
"Try to make it as real as possible. You're married now. Good luck."
And with that, he finally left the room. I turned to Scott.
"So... Your dream finally came true."
It was a poor attempt at making a joke and since we'd always joked about how he was in love with me I thought it was appropriate, but Scott didn't laugh. Instead, he just wordlessly grabbed the paper in front of us and stood up, walking towards the door. I decided to just leave it and follow shut.
"I'm sorry, it's just really sinking in now," he finally said after a few minutes of just walking down the street in complete silence. "We're married. By law."
"Just for a week," I pointed out, hoping it would ease the tension at least just a little. When I noticed it didn't do anything I sighed. "Look, Scotty, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have joked about it. I know marriage isn't something to joke about. But we need the money, and this experiment was... Just perfect. I mean, we already live together, how challenging could that be? We don't have to, like.. You know..."
"Yes," he said quickly. "But... We're moving in dangerous grounds. You know they're not just making people get married to each other for fun. They asked best friends specifically, and they're trying to find out... If, under the right circumstances, people can fall in love with each other. I'm just..." He fidgeted with his sleeve. "Scared. I don't wanna ruin us. We just need the money, as you said."
"Yes, and we're gonna do it, and we're not gonna fall in love. Alright? You're not my type, I'm not your type. We've got this. We don't even have to do this the right way, let's just carry on with our lives as if nothing happened. Best friends. We just happen to be... Married."
"Married..." Scott huffed. "I'm married to my best friend."
It was later that night when I noticed Scott was acting differently. He probably didn't even notice he was doing it, it was a subconscious thing, but I couldn't help but pick up the little things he said, or how he looked at me as if he didn't quite know where to place me, and how he acted around me in general.
"Hey there, I made us popcorn for movies night," Scott said before he plopped down on the couch next to me and turned on the TV. I raised my eyebrows but he didn't notice. Usually, it would've been an 'I got popcorn, want some? What a shame, we're out' kinda phrase, so this was new. His hey there was also new territory for me. He usually called me either a slur like bitch or some random female name like Stephanie, but his soft hey there made me alert and pay closer attention to his behavior.
"What are we gonna watch?" I asked, purposefully not pointing out that he was acting weirdly.
"Pick a movie. I always pick."
Now I frowned. Scott was always so obsessed with picking out a movie, the only times he ever let me pick was either when we'd just had a fight and he felt sorry or when I was sick. And it was almost a little too obvious not to point it out now. Almost as if he wanted me to say something. So I finally decided to speak up.
