summary: when you and hailee are flown out on vacation to promote your growing 'relationship', you find out there's more than meets the eye when it comes to the actress...and your feelings for her.
warnings: enemies-to-lovers type vibe with a semi-happy ending; PR relationship + stunts; like two JA mentions; R being a jerk to hailee and vice versa; so many petty arguments and hidden feelings; R is technically also famous but it never gets expanded upon whoops; 110% got carried away because of lacy by olivia rodrigo
wordcount: 2.5k
a/n: this was a half-formed request from an anon on tumblr but i took their idea and RAN with it. i just needed someplace to put all the emotions hailee's been bringing out of me lately with the stupid JA situation so i can continue to write fics for her. that's why the NY stunt is still a thing that happens in this fic. hope you enjoy despite how scathing some of my comments can be in this <3
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Dating a famous celebrity is supposed to be fun. At least that's what you imagine things would be like if you were dating anyone but Hailee freaking Steinfeld.
Although, to be fair, the word dating technically doesn't apply to your situation.
Even calling it a PR relationship is incredibly generous. You're pretty much just damage control after whatever mess happened in New York with her and that quarterback.
Of course, it was a mess she created and once it blew up in her face she was forced to retreat and avoid looking like a bigger asshole...which is where you come in. You don't know how or why but somehow you got roped into things and now you're being forced to help the brunette clean up her image.
Maybe forced is being dramatic but your team didn't even let you attempt to talk them out of the idea and instead shoved you onto a private plane headed to Mexico City for a Fourth of July mini-vacation with the one and only Hailee Steinfeld.
Also known as the one person you'd never willingly go out with. Much less on a mini-vacation that only has one goal: get as many paparazzi as possible to take pictures of the two of you so speculation will run wild and distract Hailee's fans from the New York stunt.
You have no doubt the plan will work which just pisses you off even more.
You're not new to this life of hiding or the lies it comes with but there's something about the way the brunette handles things that just rubs you the wrong way. She straddles the border between genuine and fake so often that you're sure she doesn't even know who she is most days.
Hence her constant disappearances from the public eye nowadays. Disappearances that just make her stunts with the quarterback even more confusing.
You're not here to figure the actress out though, you just have to fake a few smiles, hold her hand, and pretend you actually like each other. The media and her fans will do the rest.
Whether the result of your stunt ends with people speculating you're in a relationship or just a public denunciation of her connection to said quarterback is ultimately up to her team so all you two really have to do is pretend.
Something that would be easy...if your distaste for each other wasn't so obvious.
"Did your lovely team forget the part where we're not actually a couple?" You question the second you arrive at your hotel room, only to find a single king-sized bed in the middle of the room.
"Why do you assume it was my team that messed up?" She fires back, eyebrow raised in defiance.
You roll your eyes as you finish wheeling your suitcase inside. You don't even bother to argue about who gets the bed and instead put your things down on the couch set up in the corner of the room. After all, you're still a gentleman. "Because this whole thing was their idea."
"They actually know how to do their job, unlike some people." Her verbal jab isn't lost on you and it quickly silences the small voice in your head that was urging you to try and get along with her.
"And what's my job? Pretending you're the center of the universe?"
"It'd be a nice start."
"Too bad I'm not the academy-award nominated actress here." Out of anyone else's mouth, it would be a compliment but you both know that's not the way you meant those words.
Hailee doesn't say anything in response. She just glares at you as if that'll make you disappear.
Unfortunately, it doesn't, which means you're still stuck in this same situation with the same pair of eyes that wish they could send you six feet underground...or, at the very least, six rooms away from her.
That glare is more than enough to draw the conversation to a close for the moment. The awkward silence that sticks around instead is just as bad though and you're actually glad when Hailee's phone goes off.
You watch, with a slightly amused smile, as the actress argues with one of the many poor souls from her PR team.
She's clearly not as amused as you are considering the string of curse words that reverberate around the small room. You pick up enough information to know there's already a plan and a schedule for the pap shots so the two of you have to be on top of your game sooner rather than later.
There's a split second during the phone call where your eyes meet hers and everything else seems to fade away for those few moments.
There's no badly suppressed annoyance in her eyes, no vacant look that represents the hundreds of walls she's put up to keep you locked out of her mind and heart. For the briefest of seconds, she seems...real. It's as if the mask she so easily wears to hide who she is slips and leaves behind the uncertainty she seems to detest so much.
Ironically, that uncertainty would make her a lot more bearable in your opinion.
The moment ends as quickly as it started and in no time at all, you're back to being passive-aggressive while pretending to like each other.
"So, what's the plan here?" You hate how much you care about not further ruining her life by messing up the pap shots. "Last time I checked, you weren't out of your glass closet yet."
"Are you saying you check up on me often?" She replies as she gets into the private pool next to you.
For some reason, her team had decided the two of you should kick things off with some pool pictures before going out to dinner tomorrow night. It's a pretty ridiculous idea but nothing screams summer romance like paparazzi pictures at the pool and/or the beach.
"Yeah, it's like watching a trainwreck. I can't look away no matter how hard I try."
"Funny."
She sits across from you and you do all you can to stop your eyes from wandering across her face. It's impossible to deny how attractive she is, no matter how long her list of contradicting personality traits is.
You assume she's forgotten about your question until she speaks up a few moments later. "There's no real plan. We don't have to actually kiss for people to think there's something going on."
"What a relief."
The brunette rolls her eyes at you but no snarky comeback escapes her lips. It might be too insignificant to call it progress but at least you're having a conversation that doesn't turn into an argument.
Nothing significant happens after that besides Hailee spotting the paparazzi and both of you pulling the most authentic smiles you can muster onto your faces. Turns out, the fake smiling is the easy part, finding something to talk about is the hard part.
You let her talk up and down about Hawkeye and Across the Spiderverse until you're finally able to go back to hiding inside the hotel room.
It pains you to admit it but she's not half bad when she's talking about her projects. Being alone certainly helps ease some of her anxieties and you're sure her people-pleasing tendencies have disappeared around you. (You're not sure if that's a compliment or not...not that you care either way.)
You push away your slightly conflicting, and borderline confusing, feelings as you make your way back into your room.
And maybe your eyes wander down to her abs a few times and maybe you catch her looking your way once or twice but that doesn't matter. Sharing one moment with her where she feels like an actual person instead of a walking brand deal isn't going to change your mind about her.
You make it back into the room and a few peaceful minutes go by until Hailee's phone goes off once again, her face twisting from annoyance to shock to genuine dread in the span of five seconds. You can't explain why but something inside you urges you to step out onto the balcony and leave her alone.
So you do just that.
Contrary to the way you act when you're around her, you do sort of care for her in ways you'd rather not think about. It's just hard to show that side of yourself when she does everything in her power to get under your skin. It might not be on purpose but that doesn't make it any less grating.
You rise to your feet and grab the towels you had left hanging on the back of a chair. You don't say a word as you slide the balcony door open but you swear you hear her mumble out a thank you before you slip outside.
Maybe things between you two aren't so hopeless after all.
It might be wishful thinking but things are surprisingly calm for the next few hours. It's not until you're getting ready to fall asleep and forget everything that's happened today that she speaks to you again.
"You don't have to sleep on the couch, y'know? The bed is big enough for both of us."
You turn to look at her, doing a terrible job of hiding the surprised look on your face. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."
"It's fine, y/n." She shrugs as if sharing a bed with her isn't a big deal. "Just don't snore or I'll kick you to the ground."
"Yes, ma'am," you reply sarcastically.
A tense silence fills the room after that and neither of you makes any attempts to break it. Hailee busies herself with double-checking that everything is locked while you climb into bed, turning onto your side and attempting to put as much space as possible between the two sides of the bed.
She turns the lights off, leaving you in the darkness with a rapidly beating heart. You're not sure why you're nervous but you have a feeling falling asleep is going to be almost impossible tonight.
You lay there for what feels like hours, doing your best not to think about how close your bodies are right now. You saw her in a bikini earlier today, why are you freaking out over sharing the same bed?
You're in the middle of mentally arguing with yourself when you hear Hailee let out a series of deep breaths. Anxiety isn't a stranger to you and you suddenly worry something might have triggered a panic attack.
"You okay?" You speak up despite yourself. "Did you finally realize you fucked over your queer fans with the QB stuff?"
You can't help but poke the bear even when you're supposed to be checking up on her.
She doesn't respond and a few seconds later, you hear her sniffle, the guilt immediately hitting you like a runaway train. "Hailee? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"Republic dropped me." Her voice is barely audible but there's no denying the pain it carries.
The urge to turn around and look at her is far too strong for you to ignore so you take a deep breath before giving in. You turn onto your other side so you're facing her, not wanting to ruin her moment of vulnerability by appearing uninterested.
Her eyes are trained on the ceiling above her but you can make out the glimmer of unshed tears in the warm pool of her eyes. She doesn't give you a chance to speak up, she just continues as if you're not looking at her with real empathy in your gaze for the first time since you met.
"I should've seen it coming, you know? With all the hesitation and the drawn-out meetings. Coast was supposed to be my chance to prove myself and it did nothing. I hoped rushing SunKissing would fix things but it just made everything worse."
"And then New York happened," you mumble.
"Yeah-" Her voice breaks and you hate the way your heart aches for her. "I should've just owned up to it but I couldn't. I didn't want to admit I was grasping at straws so when my team told me to bring you into this mess...I didn't know what else to do."
"Saying no would have been a good start."
"I'm sorry," she mumbles as she turns her head to the side, allowing your eyes to meet in the darkness. "You don't deserve any of this."
The sincerity in her words strikes you "Oh, come on, I'm no saint. I've been nothing but a pain in the ass since we got here."
"You're right. You're awful."
"Shut up, Steinfeld."
She laughs.
An actual laugh that makes the corners of her glossy eyes crinkle up in a way that makes your heart skip a couple of beats. You're sure you've never made her laugh like that in the time you've known each other.
And you hate the way you're already obsessed with the sound.
"We don't have to keep doing this," she says suddenly before fully turning her body toward you. "It was a stupid idea anyway, it's not going to change people's minds."
"Maybe you're the one who has to change her mind." You offer the only advice you can think of. "Pretending like everything's okay isn't doing you any favors, Lee."
The nickname slips out of your mouth without a second thought. You don't even realize you said it out loud until Hailee questions you about it. "Lee? Five hours ago you wanted me out of your life and now you're giving me a nickname?"
"Five hours ago I wasn't sure you even had feelings."
Your comment would have surely earned you a glare earlier but now you get a smile instead. "Point taken."
"I mean it, though. Stop doing what you think everyone else wants you to do and do what you want. You owe yourself that much."
"The things I want will just make things worse," she says, the smallest of frowns tugging at her lips.
"Maybe it's worth it."
You have no idea what her words truly mean until you catch her eyes drifting down to your lips.
Everything inside of you tells you to make a joke, or piss her off, or at the very least, turn around and pretend to go to sleep. Anything to stop both of you from making a huge mistake.
But then her hand reaches out to touch your waist and you find yourself leaning toward her without a second thought.
It's stupid and reckless and the last thing you should add to this already messy situation and yet it's the only thing you want to do. You don't want to argue with her anymore, you just want her. Even if it's only for the night.
"What are we doing?" You whisper, your lips barely inches away from hers.
"I don't know...do you want me to stop?"
You meet her eyes and reach your decision. "No."
It's all the encouragement she needs to close the gap between you, her lips claiming yours in a surprisingly soft kiss. You tangle your hand in her hair to pull her closer as a thought suddenly dawns on you.
There's no way to deny how attracted you are to her. No way to deny how drawn you are to her despite all the things that get under your skin about her.
No way to deny that you're actually falling for Hailee Steinfeld.
Shit.