Fake It — liner notes

[ceu]

This is probably my favorite thing that I've ever written so far—and in being so also means it's a labor of love not just by me, but by a small team of people who each in their own way helped polish this to be the story that it is today. So, a lot of love and thank yous to:

- B for alpha reading and copyediting (particularly my syntax and glaring rough writing concerns) despite not going here but becoming a quick writer- and editor-in-crime for another "rival" ship we share in the short few months we've known each other :)

- Ana static_abyss for alpha and beta reading and copyediting (particularly my run-on sentences and overuse of em dashes and semicolons), as always, and for being one of my most dedicated cheerleaders for over 12 years now

- Sani for watching me untangle this fic in our DMs to figure out what I wanted it to be and cheering me on the whole time (and helping me plan some sequels, perhaps)

- L who did not have time to beta read this for me as she usually does but allowed me to go insane in our DMs anyway with our discussions about storytelling, tropes, and romances

- JT bbs_hyperfixation for advanced/proof-reading as a Bad Buddy fanfiction aficionado

- Ling macaque/6480 for sensitivity reading

- My dog for putting up with me when I would swap between my living room and bedroom while writing this.

Shout outs also to triplelovescore, miscellar, vminmoon, uwibbit, and nong_d_nao, for everything from letting me stress about this fic, helping me promote it, talking about inspired spin-offs, and maybe even for some upcoming art. I love my little team of people who helped me make this fic into the story that it is today and I couldn't be happier about it. Thank you all for being part of the process with me ♥

And thank you as well to everyone on my bsky skyline and in other fannish Discord servers with me for putting up with my ongoing insanity while writing this fic and cheering me on anyway.

):)

Research Links:

- One Rep Max Calculator
- SIZZY X NANON - เปลี่ยนคะแนนเป็นแฟนได้ไหม (Love Score) Romanized Lyrics
- Oh, the humidity! How to protect your guitars from humidity damage and decay
- Renew an old guitar - GUITAR REPAIR
- Airports in Bangkok: Which Bangkok Airport is Better?
- Dumbbell Curl Standards
- A Beginner’s Guide to Weight Training
- 10 Departments in an Organization and Their Functions
- Reactions by Fabi Reacts and _uwuuuu_ on Youtube

Assorted searches:





I also searched this out of curiosity, because they don't even fuck in Hong Kong:



):)

This fic also contains references to my own fic, surprisingly enough. Some of it wasn't intentional and some of it was certainly inspirational, but mostly it's because the same things that are important to me for Pat/Pran are pretty similar across all fics. For documentation purposes I've listed the more specific references here:

- midday snack, which is just about felching and was my first Bad Buddy fic, is referenced by the first sex scene in this story being Pat rimming Pran

- a little bit closer, which is about Pat and Pran having sex in Pran's childhood bedroom, is referenced by a pivotal scene in chapter 5 (among many) of Pat and Pran having sex in Pran's childhood bedroom

- that body like it's mine, which is about Pat jerking off to fantasies of Pran, is subverted in this story by the beginning of chapter 3, when Pat tries to jerk off but can only think about Pran

- you can bend or you can break is one of the fics that's most obviously referenced, being an "office AU", though not literally as it's just a roleplay fantasy, but the idea is still there. Of course, this is referenced by Fake It being an actual office AU

- living love in slow motion is (unintentionally) referenced by mentioning that the Engineering boys always hold a Halloween costume contest, which is also implied in chapter 4

- Business Casual, much like ycboycb, is also very obviously referenced as being a business leads with benefits AU, which this fic also is

- castles, treasures, babies is referenced by also incorporated fake dating - I just took it and expanded on it here

- All the porn I've written is referenced by the amount of sex Pat and Pran have. Though not deliberately. I just like writing about them having sex.

):)

Here is approximately the playlist for this fic, though I'll eventually create a cover/proper post for it on my projects.

If you're interested in the playlist on Spotify, you can check it out here.

The playlist also kind of serves as a soundtrack to the fic, as I think of the fic itself being quite cinematic.

1. One Week by Barenaked Ladies
2. Spark! by Nanon
3. Tongue Tied by Grouplove
4. Love Scenario by iKON
5. Same Page? by Tilly Birds
6. So High School by Taylor Swift
7. Come Over by Carly Rae Jepsen
8. Highway to Heaven by NCT 127
9. Love Score by Sizzy ft. Nanon
10. Baby I Love You by Pentagon
11. Crush by David Archuleta
12. Just Friend? by Nanon
13. Kiss Me by Sixpence None The Richer
14 (credits). Gravity's Hold by Tim Be Told

Other songs that are not on this playlist but have some association with this fic are:

- Feel It in the Water by Dan Keyes - the lyrics kind of apply, but listening to this song mostly just helped me write
- I discovered Walk Like This by Flo shortly after writing this fic and I was like, that's just Pran in chapter 4.

):)

I commissioned fanart as a cover for this fic from Frog (who has drawn all of the other Bad Buddy fanart I show off) ♥