i already posted about a thangyu fake dating au but actually i have an idea for ANOTHER thangyu fake dating au where this time thanos is still his rapper self but ALSO namgyu is a famous actor...... a famous actor who recently came out as gay and had a not-so-great public reception. and namgyu was expecting that- he knew that not everyone was going to support him, he knew he was going to lose fans and gain haters, he knew he might possibly even be putting his career at risk, but he was tired of living as someone he wasn't.
what he wasn't expecting, though, was the amount of people who just...... pretended like it had never happened. reporters who still asked him about a "girlfriend" or "wife" during interviews, journalists who still referred to him as a "ladies-man" in articles, magazines that theorized that he wasn't even actually gay, his managers who still wanted him to take on roles in movies and shows where he'd have to act as a straight love interest when he'd made it clear that if he had to do any romance roles, he wanted to start doing gay ones (he knew what it meant to be an actor, that a role is just a role, but he'd been acting "straight" for his whole career, both of and off the screen; now that he was living as his true self in real life, he also wanted to represent that real self on the screen, as well).
but, of course, his wishes get ignored by his managers, directors, the media...... and namgyu has had enough. so, he starts to think that if people aren't going to respect him..... he'll just have to make it a little harder for people to ignore the fact that he's gay, by getting a boyfriend.
thanos is a famous rapper, though not as famous as he'd like to be. he's had a couple popular songs, but he's more of a "two-or-three-hit-wonder" rather than the legendary pop star he always dreamed about becoming. and when his latest release is another flop, he realizes that he needs to come up with a way to get the spotlight back on him, to get attention, to just get people talking about thanos...... when his friend minsu tells him about HIS friend semi who has a friend who is apparently looking for someone to pretend to be his boyfriend....... and when thanos finds out that minsu's friend semi's friend just so happens to be the famous actor namgyu, thanos starts hatching a plan, and asks minsu to help him get in touch with namgyu.
when namgyu told semi that he was thinking about pretending to be in a relationship with another man to finally get people off his back about doubting his sexuality, the rapper thanos was probably the last person he expected for her to suggest as his fake boyfriend. at first he thought she was joking, until she reassured him that no, she was being serious, and that her friend minsu- that weird loser she was always hanging out with- is friends with thanos, and that it was actually thanos himself who suggested the idea...... namgyu gives it some thought. thanos is not necessarily known for his stellar reputation- he has a few popular songs (none to namgyu's taste), but he's mostly known for his wild personality and his multiple scandals. definitely not the kind of boyfriend that his PR team would approve of..... but he is a man (a man who has been openly and unashamedly bisexual for most of his career), and getting into a relationship with him would definitely call for public attention, and most importantly, he's someone who's apparently willing to play along with namgyu's stupid plan. so, when semi asks if she can pass along namgyu's number to minsu who will pass it along to thanos...... namgyu agrees.
thanos has been through his fair share of scandals- he knows the drill. he knows that news of him being in a potential relationship will be enough to get his name circulating in the media again, which will lead to people talking about him again, which will lead to people remembering who he is and going to listen to his music again- he knows the drill. only this time, this dating scandal isn't like the others. because this time, it's not going to be all rumours about thanos being spotted entering a hotel with a random guy he met at a club; no, this time, people will be talking about how the legend thanos seems to be dating namgyu, the famous actor, and thanos is sure that this time, the attention will last for longer. besides, namgyu has a better reputation than he does, and a bigger fanbase- and who knows, maybe pretending to date namgyu will do some good for his own reputation as well, and maybe it'll get him some new fans of his own.
so, when thanos and namgyu agree to pretend to be in a relationship, it's purely for professional reasons, purely for each of their own benefits. that's it, nothing personal. that's what they agree on....... but when they start spending a lot of time together, when they start getting more involved in each other's lives, when they start learning more about each other and the people they are beyond the persona they put on for the public....... well maybe things do start to get personal, and maybe their "fake" relationship starts to slowly feel a little more... real.
