#emma ... as much as she wants to kiss manon.... also wants to make sure that manon is Okay w it bc she doesn't want to hurt manon

[alterlovetm]

' kiss me again ' to EMMA

                         soft sentences  |  @morsurerouge

   there’s a million things happening around them, the vodka in her blood, the flashing light that mika had brought out of nowhere, the music, and she can’t seem to concentrate on just one thing. it is possible that vodka on a sunday night might not have been her best idea, but manon needed to let go a bit, and lucas needed to let go a bit, and well, she’s always down to drink.  but then manon had kissed her.  she doesn’t know if it means anything, real, and she certainly won’t do anything beyond kissing, she doesn’t have the dexterity to even attempt anything else right now, but kissing.   manon kissed her.   she thinks she stares at manon for a long time after they pull away, and mika is drunk and lucas is drunk and she doesn’t know if lisa drinks but lisa is probably drunk, and it’s all very – flashy.  manon looks beautiful, but then again, manon always looks beautiful.  

     ❝ – okay.❞  oh, she’s dumb sometimes, and she doesn’t want to stand anymore, she thinks she’ll fall over, and so there’s a bit of stumbling and moving around lucas, who doesn’t seem to be particularly concerned about if her and manon are kissing, so that’s nice. (why would he, she reminds herself, she can like girls, she can like manon, and he can have eliott, and they can all be happy.)   she’s pulling manon so she sits on the couch, too, by emma, and it’s nice to sit, she doesn’t like as much of the room is spinning, and she can let her hand rest against manon’s cheek and look at her and lean in and kiss her. it’s different than when she makes out with alex when she’s drunk. manon is different. manon’s lips are so soft against her’s and her skin is soft under her hand, and it’s just – it’s manon.  a hand moves to manon’s waist to keep her steady, so maybe they don’t push backwards and lean against lucas to kiss, because that, he might have an issue with.   when she pulls away this time, it’s not very far, she’s just making sure manon can hear when she asks, ❝ est-ce bien? tu vas bien?❞  as drunk as she might be, she still knows what happened the last time manon got drunk, and she doesn’t want manon to regret anything.  ❝ je – ❞ her words have disappeared, she doesn’t know what she was going to say. maybe something about manon’s lips or maybe her hair, or maybe – emma doesn’t know. she just feels a lot better, now, and hopes that manon feels better. (that lucas feels better, but her focus right now is manon, not lucas.) 

[flying-elliska]

thank you @sinterblackwell for tagging me in this bookish ask game! these questions were really interesting !

how many books are too many books in a series ? i'm honestly pretty tolerant for long book series, i love seeing a world develop over lots of books - started the bone season series recently which has 4 books so far and is slated to have seven, it's going to be a bitch waiting but at the same time there is something so thrilling about having this sort of returning event year after year (i grew up with the HP books so that really marked me i guess). that said i think that only really works when the authors have solid plans because when an author gets stuck and you have to wait ten years for the next one that really sucks (lol GoT). and i think beyond 7-8 it's definitely getting excessive.

how do you feel about cliffhangers ? hmmm...depends if they're well done or if they feel like shock value. i think every book needs to feel like a cohesive unit and some cliffhangers happen too soon, without enough resolution - that said, i love it when books open up a new (but related) mystery in the last few lines

hardback or paperback ? i used to buy paperbacks only but over time those really get damaged super easily (i've moved a lot) and it feels like a waste of space and paper. so now i'm doing this thing where i mostly buy ebooks and whenever i really like a book and want it in my permanent library - or when a new book is coming out that i know i am going to love - i buy hardbacks ; at least when the covers are aesthetically satisfying. i just really love the idea of starting to build my 'forever library'

least favorite book ? it's tied between Manon Lescaut, which i was forced to read in high school and is the most irritating story ever about an old timey dude falling in 'love' with a prostitute and blaming her for it and everything else that goes wrong in his life until she dies and he can 'be free' ; and The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi which made me so uncomfortable i had to stop like one third of the way in and is a torture p*rn, fetishistic, racist mess about a Japanese cyborg girl who gets exploited and abused by everyone she meets. It's possible that these two books were trying to make a point about how the things they're depicting were bad, but there is a level of misogyny and violence that feels too illustrative, exploitative and graphic to ever serve that purpose properly in my mind.

love triangles, yes or no ? i'm not against a love triangle when it's well done, i.e it has a real impact on the plot and is tied into the themes of the story. For example, I think the triangle in the Hunger Games is a good one, because Peeta represents (to simplify it massively) peace whereas Gale represents violence, the escalation of war and never ending conflict, so Katniss choosing between them is not just about moody teenager feelings. That said, the trope has definitely been overused in YA ; I really hate love triangles when it's just an excuse to stall the plot and throw in artificial delays because the characters are being wishy-washy and indecisive and non-communicative assholes. also i wish more of them got solved by polyamory or something.

the most recent book you just couldn't finish ? last year, If I loved you less by Tamsen Parker, a modern wlw retelling of Emma which I expected to love but the overly casual-quirky writing and the excessively immature MC just irritated the hell out of me

a book you're currently reading ? rereading The Raven Cycle right now, I'm on the Raven King and I'll reread Call Down the Hawk after, I want to get to Mister Impossible

last book you recommended to someone ? Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

oldest book you've read ? hmmmmmm not sure but the thing that comes to mind rn is the Tao Te Ching by Laozi, 6th century BC

newest book you've read ? ehhh probably Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

favorite author ? lol i absolutely cannot answer that question no matter what i say it feels like a betrayal

buying books or borrowing books ? buying, i'm a shitty borrower tbh because i like having books sit in my TBR pile and just randomly decide to read them out of the blue

a book you dislike that everyone else seems to love ? the night circus by erin morgenstern - it's so popular everywhere and I wasn't even able to finish it ; it's the epitome of style over substance for me ; sure the descriptions are beautiful but they feel so empty and void of any meaning or character development ; it drags for chapters and chapters and then boom ! instalove, which is when i dropped it because that's one of the things i hate the most. i checked the rest of the plot on wikipedia to be sure and yeah it annoyed me too so.

bookmarks or dog ears ? bookmarks. i only ever dog ear my study books

a book you can always reread ? letters to a young poet by rainer maria rilke

can you read while listening to music ? nooo it's way too much input when i get into a book it's Intense i can't deal with anything else

one pov or multiple povs ? i absolutely love a well done multiple POVs when the switching allows you to compare the perspective of different characters and how it shapes the narrative and how they think of each other and how it slowly all merges together ! Especially when it's dumbasses in love pining over each other !!! chef's kiss !!!

do you read a book in one sitting or over multiple days ? depends, i binge when i have the time and it's gripping but not always and that's fine

who do you tag ? @beeexx @all-the-wr0ng-places @smblmn @peoniesandsmiles @bremmommye @dorkdumplings @petitspaceling @hellswolfie @iamshannonmcfarland if you want to no pressure !!!

[carolbivers]

"I'm so fucking happy you're okay meuf!!" Jo says as she arrives with Max and Sekou at the hippodrome. She jumps up and hugs Lola, clinging on to her for way to long. For the past hour it was just lola, Elliot and the gang there, preparing everything for the movie showing, but now other people had started to show up, including the girl gang, some of elliot's college friends (Elliot actually had friends! Lola never doubted it. How could he not?) and, of course, lamif.

Lola was very happy to see the three of them and she couldn't stop smiling. After Jo finally let go she spotted Elliot and jumped on to him as well, as Max smiled at Lola shyly and gave her a warm hug. "It's so good to see you", he said. "I really hope you're doing better". Lola smiled and they let go and she gave him a smile as it was Sekou's turn for a hug. Jo let go of Elliot and started blabbing about him and his movie and that Friday and how excited she was to work with him, without noticing behind her that Arthur, Basile and Yann were staring at this weird girl that was obviously obsessed with Elliot, while Lucas was standing next to them laughing and exchanging looks with Elliot, who was laughing too.

"What the fuck is happening, man?" Yann asked Lucas and the other too looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"Elliot has a fan!" Lucas said happily. "She's a friend of Lola's. I think they met threw the urbex thing".

"Oh, that's right!" Bas said. "Daphne told me something about that too! So she's a friend of Maya as well?"

"Wait.. Who is Maya? What is the urbex thing?" Asked a very confused Arthur. "Gosh, I feel like I've missed everything because of the fucking bac!"

They laughed. "It's okay man! It's all over now and we get to chill." said Yann and put an arm around Lucas and Arthur that were sitting next to him on each side.

"Exactly! And now, that you're gonna be an amazing and brilliant graphic designer, everything will be amazing and we'll never miss a thing again!" Baz said and hugged Arthur.

Elliot walked towards the gang with Jo still babbling walking behind him and Max, Sekou and Lola, laughing while following them.

"So!" said Elliot, excited. "Max, Sekou, Jo, this is Yann, Arthur, Baz, and Lucas, my boyfriend. Guys, these are the kids that helped me with the filming-"

Elliot wasnt able to finish his sentence as Jo's screaming interrupted him.

"LUCAS!!" she screamed and jumped on him, hugging him very tight. "You have no idea how much I've heard about you!! You're, like, a legend! I was really jealous of you in the beginning, but after Elliott's stories I love you!" she said and continued talking while the rest of them laughed. Baz got up and looked at Sekou and Max, with his weird fake strict look.

" So, mecs! You are friends of Lola, right?" he said, as the other two nodded. "Well, you know who I am, right?" he asked, and they shook their heads. "What??" he said, disappointed. "Well, I'm like, Lola's official older brother. I'm dating her sister, you see. Ah, look there", he pointed, " the beautiful one with the long, blonde hair. So, if you ever mess with Lola.." he looked at them seriously, "I probably can't take you, let's be real, but look at my gang over here, we are ninjas and we'll find you!! Check de gang, mecs!" He said and the gang ignored him. Lola laughed and she though Basil's and Jo would be so much fun as friends. " Thanks, big bro" she said jokingly and Baz looked at her with so much love in his eyes that he immediately needed a hug, even though he waited for Lola to nod a yes. They hugged tightly, and when they let go Basile almost had literal tears in his eyes.

After that, Lola let the gang and la mif mix and walked towards her sister, who was chatting with her friends.

"Salut!" Lola said. "How are you girls?"

"oh, meuf, we were just talking about how Manon and Charles broke up!" Emma said.

"Emma! You can't tell this to everyone! It literally just happened!" Alexia said.

"it's okay, it's okay!" Manon interrupted. "It was a long time coming. Like, a long,long time. I tried to ignore all the shitty things that he said or did, because I was so in love with him. But in the end, it wasn't worth it. The love faded away and his true colours were just more and more obvious. And I completely lost sight of who I am all this time. He literally stands for everything I hate. I thought that I was in the wrong for so long, that I had my standards too high, but I just couldn't do it anymore. So I'm actually really relieved, and really happy". She smiled.

"that's great, Manon." Emma said. "I mean, sad, but great. You should just be happy.

"Yeah! And if he doesn't make you happy, then fuck him! I never liked him anyway", Imane said.

"Anyway, can we talk about you trip to Morocco?' said Manon to Imane. "Are you excited?"

"So excited! I can't wait" Imane said and smiled at Sofianne who was looking at her from a few meters away.

"Can we also talk about Alexia?" Daphne said. "Our brilliant, multi talented girl! Lola, did you know she is taking a gap year, travelling the world, because the girl is too good at too many things to decide right now what she wants to do?"

Alexia smiled and blushed a little. "Oh, stop it!"

"No, girl, that's really cool!" Lola said. "Are you traveling alone?"

"Yeah, mostly. I just really need to see other cultures and places, meet new people, you know? Get inspired. Emma, who is also kinda lost, though in a different way, is gonna come to a couple of places with me, and these other ones are gonna visit some times, and Arthur will probably come to a place or to at some point. He also wants to travel."

"oh, Arthur? Didn't you guys use to date?" Lola asked.

Alexia smiled. "Yes, and it ended in a disaster. Honestly, I'll always love him, you know? Even if it is just as a friend. But who knows? Maybe everyone deserves a second chance. But also, how cool would it be if I got myself an international girlfriend?" The girls laughed and Daphne pulled Lola aside to talk.

"How are you doing today?" she asked Lola.

"Better", she replied. "Taking it slow, you know? I actually cannot wait to meet my new therapist, which is weird for me. But I think I'm ready. Ready to talk. Ready to take all the help I can get."

Daphne smiled. "I'm really proud of you, Lola."

"that's bullshit. You have nothing to be proud. All I have done so far is create problems. With you, with Maya, with Lucas, with Elliot.. I literally run away, like, a few days ago".

"Yeah, but did you see anyone mad at you? Nobody is mad at you, Lola. Sure, you have done some things that weren't great. But youve apologised and we understand. It's okay. We're all here for you. You know I'm not perfect either. But as long as you're staying strong, I'll stay strong."

"You are the strongest person I've ever met".

"I'm not that strong. But having you helps a lot. And I also wanted to tell you something else. I finally went to the therapist."

"That's great! That's amazing! Daphne, I'm so happy for you."

"thanks. It was hard, I'm not going to lie. But I had to. I've been avoiding this for way too long. And just having Basile cook for me is not enough", she said and laughed. Lola looked at her lovingly and she hugged her tight. "I love you", she whispered.

"I love you too, Lola" Daphne whispered back.

That's when Daphne spotted Maya coming through in crowd and let go of Lola. Lola followed Daphne's eyes and she saw Maya. Her heart started beating a little faster and her face was covered in a smile she couldn't hide.

"Go to her", said Daphne.

Lola smiled at her sister and walked towards her girlfriend.

"Salut!" said Maya, smiling.

"Thanks for coming", said Lola, and she wrapped her hands behind Maya's neck, kissing her.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Maya said smiling, after they let go. "Your cinematic debut! You're gonna be a huge star one day!"

Lola laughed and kept looking at her.

"Listen, Maya. I know we didn't get to talk that much the other day because you were working, but I just want you to know that I don't want you to ever be with me because you feel sorry for me or whatever. And also I just want you to know that I know that I've hurt you, and I'm really, really sorry for everything. But I'm trying, and I'm gonna try even harder to be better, to do better. But I'm not always going to be perfect. There's probably gonna be times that I slip up, and that I fuck up, and I'm gonna be shit again and I could hurt you again. It's never my intention to do so, but I don't know if I can always control it. So I want to apologise in advance, and I just want to say that, if you can't stay with me during the bad times, it's totally understandable! But maybe we shouldn't do this at all, then".

Maya looked lovingly at Lola, the girl she had a crush on the fucking day she first met her. She smiled.

"You know, mon amour, I know some things about these stuff. I understand. And even if I don't understand everything, I would love for you to explain things for me, only if you want. And I've fucked up too, I shouldn't have ghosted you, I shouldn't have been with Char and I shouldn't have left that day you broke up with me since you clearly weren't okay. And I'm not with you because I feel sorry for you! I'm with you because I'm in love with you. Fuck, I'm crazy for you. I fell in love with you the second I saw you walking down those stairs that day we met, and I just kept falling more and more ever since. And I promise, I'm not gonna leave you when things go wrong. I swear. No matter how bad they get. Unless you,like, cheat on me or something". She laughed.

Lola laughed too. "You don't have to worry about that. I could never even look at anybody else when I'm with you".

They both smiled at each other.

"So we're good?"asked Maya.

"Yes. We're good" Lola said and Maya hugged her.

Elliot and Lucas where looking at the girls from a distance, smiling. Elliot was feeling so unbelievably proud.

"Did you do this? Did you get them back together?" Lucas asked.

"No! No no no" Elliot answered. "Okay, maybe I helped a little" he continued, smiling happily.

Lucas smiled and stepped on his tiptoes to wrap his arms around Elliots neck and kiss him on the cheek.

"You know, I'm really proud of you", he said.

Elliot blushed. "Oh, come on! What did I do?'

"Are you serious? You wrote a movie, you filmed it, you directed it, you star in it, you have your first ever official showing tonight! As if that's not enought for me to be proud of?"

"Okay, I guess that's true", he answered smiling. Then his smile got smaller. "But I disappointed you last week".

Lucas stopped smiling as well. "I'm not disappointed, my love. You could never disappoint me. I knew from the beginning that things like that could happen. And you didn't do anything that bad! I'm not disappointed in you. I'm not mad at you. I was just, really, really worried. And scared. But it turned out that you were okay, so I'm okay. Do I wish you wouldn't have gotten drunk? Of course. Do I wish you hadn't attack that security guy? Of course. Do I wish you would have called me before everything happened so I would at least have known about it? Also of course. But it happened. I was just mad at Lola, but I'm not anymore. She apologized and she knows she shouldn't have treated you that way. And she was in a really bad place. But she also can't be held responsible for your actions, only for hers. And you are the one that should or should not be mad at her."

Elliot sighed. "Well, I'm still sorry, Lucas. I hate worrying you, especially in the middle of your bac. And it's not all her fault. I was just insecure and she stepped on those insecurities. It just... sucks to be different sometimes, you know? It sucks to feel like people expect me to fuck up, all the time. It sucks to feel like I'm nothing more than my mental illness, you know?"

Lucas took his hand. "You know that I don't see you that way, right? You are not your mental illness to me, Elliot."

"I know, and I'm sorry that I doubted you in that moment. I'm really lucky that I have you in my life" he said and Lucas smiled and kissed him.

"I'm also and yet again really sorry that I didn't tell you about urbex earlier" Elliot mumbled after the kiss.

Lucas laughed. "Okay, I was mad about that. But Im over it know. Just, don't lie to me again, like, ever. Okay?"

"I promise", Elliot replied, and they kissed again.

Everyone was dancing and talking and laughing and Elliot was so happy when he saw Idriss and his friends walk in. They hugged and laughed and chatted. Everyone greeted them and Imane and Lucas found themselves alone together.

"So, is everything well?" Imane asked.

Lucas sighed. "Yes, now, everything is fine. Finally. Chill. No bac, no more angsty best friends losing their hearing and cheating on their girlfriends, no more boyfriend getting drunk with a 16 year old. Hopefully they learned their lesson and will both get better."

Imane smiled. Lucas turned to her.

"What about you, miss future-doctor? Going to fucking Morocco with your habibi, then what? You'll start med school, you'll get married? How is everything going for you?"

Imane laughed. "Well, I can't complain. The bac was very difficult, let's be real. But now I'm really excited", she said, while staring at Sofianne who was chatting with Idriss and Elliot.

Lucas looked at them too. Then he looked at imane. "Who would have thought, right? The gay guy and the Muslim girl, best friends, while dating a non Muslim guy and his best friend".

"We are not best friends!" Imane answered while laughing.

"Fuck that! You are definitely my number one girl best friend" Lucas said.

"Okay, okay. If it's like that, then you're my number one boy best friend too."

They smiled at each other and they heard Elliot yelling "Okay, everyone! Movie is starting! Take a seat!"

Everyone sat in front of the screen. Daphne next to basile, holding hands. Next to them was Sofianne with Imane, then Yann next to his girl best friend, Emma, then Alexia and Arthur, and then Mika and Camille who had also showed up for the film, next to them Noee with her new girlfriend. They were both friends with Arthur and Alexia. Lucas and Elliot where sitting next to the projector, Elliot being extremely nervous but Lucas holding his hand, trying to calm him down. The la mif guys were really excited to see what they had created, but they were also really excited to see Lola and Maya together for the first time. They were teasing them lovingly and they were all grinning. Lola had now rested her head on Maya's shoulder, while Maya was excited to watch her girlfriend in the big screen.

All of the grew were kind of sad and melancholic, thinking about this being one of the last times they'd all be together. But they were all really excited about the future and the new adventures it held for them.

[kissjane]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY ANGEL STELA @awake-dreamer18!

For your special day... here’s a surprise for you!

A small epilogue to your birthday fic Charity season...

Eliott doesn’t want to be here.

Oh, it’s not like last year at all – this time he’s sitting with a bunch of friends, Emma telling some outrageous story, Arthur sharing his cookie with Eliott, Eliott’s classmates Christian and Jocelyne being adopted into the group without a fuss, just like Eliott himself had been last year, Daphné and Imane going over the checklist together – but he’d still rather not be here.

He really wants to be with Lucas right now. Lucas’ mom is getting out of hospital today, and it’s a huge deal. But Daphné had already sent out word about the kick-off meeting for the fundraiser before the doctors confirmed the date, and of course Lucas and Eliott were going to volunteer, so they had decided Eliott would go to the meeting while Lucas went to spend the day with his mom.

Manon smiles indulgently at him.

“Missing your boy?”, she smirks. Eliott just nods. It’s not like it’s a secret – he misses Lucas whenever they are not together.

“I’m so glad his mom is finally doing so much better,” Yann adds. “Lucas must be so happy. One thing less to worry about.”

And for one horrible moment, Eliott feels guilt rise, threatening to overtake him. Because Lucas still has to worry about him, always will have to worry about him. As if it wasn’t enough for one person to have to deal with his mom needing extra help and support.

“Hey,” Yann mumbles, putting a hand on Eliott’s shoulder, “don’t go there. He loves you, just like he loves his mom.”

And Eliott takes a deep breath, refusing to give in to those feelings trying to tell him to run away, trying to make him believe he doesn’t deserve any of this – friends who care, and Lucas who loves him.

How a year can change things.

They have been basically joined at the hip, Lucas and he, after last year’s winter break, with the two of them on a basically deserted campus. Lucas’ friends did tease them for a while when they came back for the spring semester, especially Lucas, about his request to Daphné to be paired with Eliott.  Lucas, though, would blush deliciously, but other than that he shrugged it all off, saying it got him a boyfriend in the end, after all.

And Eliott has been so much better about reaching out. To Lucas, and to others. He’s made some friends of his own, and he’s working on his relationship with his family, and some of his high school friends.

He is so lost in thought, he misses the door opening and a latecomer slipping in, until he is almost tackled by a figure wrapped in hoodies and scarves, grabbing at him with enormous mittens.

“Hey, baby,” Lucas says, muffled by the amount of fabric covering his face. Eliott grins, and manages to free enough of Lucas’ face to press a chaste but lingering kiss on his lips.

“I didn’t expect you here.”

Lucas pouts.

“Well, I’m sorry to disturb your plans, I can go again…”

“No way!”, Eliott interrupts, tightening his hold around Lucas’ waist. “But what about your mom?”

“She was actually really tired and wanted to get an early night in. So I figured I might as well come bother my beautiful boyfriend.”

Eliott doesn’t care that everybody can see how soft his eyes go at that. It still makes butterflies erupt inside him to hear Lucas call him that, even after almost a year.

“Come here, then,” he whispers against Lucas’ jaw, and Lucas laughs in delight. He moves away from Eliott’s hold just enough to peel off some of his layers, and then unceremoniously situates himself on Eliott’s lap.

“I have also bought an anniversary present for you,” he then mumbles, his breath ghosting the shell of Eliott’s ear, so low the others don’t hear. A shiver runs over Eliott’ spine, at the feeling of Lucas so close, and the mentioning of their anniversary.

One year. It seems incredible, and yet, it also seems like it’s only just the beginning.

He has been working on a present for Lucas, too. He’s been sketching the two of them, during all the beautiful moments they have had this year, as a sort of photo album. And he’s put in one or two of the bad times, too – a drawing of the two of them, working in silence in the market stall, and a drawing of Eliott in bed, slapping away Lucas’ hand that tries to comfort him. They both hate it when they are out of sync, but together, they always come back from those times stronger than before.

Eliott tightens his embrace, pulls Lucas even closer, nuzzles his face in his boyfriend’s neck, and sends out a prayer of thanks to the universe, or whoever else might be listening.

Daphné starts speaking. She’s enthusiastically listing all the great ideas for this year, and how much fun they’ll all have, but Eliott isn’t paying attention. He’s sure nobody can blame him for being distracted, when he has such a pretty boy in his arms.

“Hey,” Lucas whispers. His cheeks are pink. Eliott wonders if it is still from the cold or if Lucas is blushing about something else. “You wanna know a secret?”

Eliott looks up, his eyes wide, and nods.

“I may or may not have asked Daphy to pair me up with the most gorgeous boy in the room.”

And well, Eliott’s helpless when it comes to Lucas, and he bows his head. It’s that kissing the blush off doesn’t really work – if anything, Lucas’ cheeks blossom even redder – but Eliott is nothing if not diligent in his attempts.

This Christmas season is going to the best ever. Yet.

PS Maybe... maybe... Santa will bring a teeny tiny little epilogue to the epilogue...

[ayellowcurtain]

could you maybe when you watched the final write an alternative ending?

could I maybe ask for some Alexia+Arthur I miss them terribly!

lola and baz hanging out, being friends, lola maybe mentioning maya

please tell us you have more ArthurxAlexia, spare some for the broken hearted that miss S5 with all their soul pls!

Arthur watches all his friends gathered around him, talking excitedly like this is not one of the last times they’ll all hang out together. Arthur would like to be more optimistic, but he’s struggles with that after this hell year.

Maybe he’s getting drunk, that’s it. When he gets drunk, he gets in the worst mood ever, remembering all the shit he did for the people he loves. And he shouldn’t be drinking this much tonight. Yann and Manon are moving across the country tomorrow, Emma is going away for her gap year and that feels like the start of the end.

Soon they’ll all leave, get their shit together and Arthur will still be stuck here, as lost as one can be.

“You okay, bro?” Baz squeezes his shoulder and Arthur looks at him, blinking a few times to be able to focus his hazy eyes and brain on his best friend right next to him, his hand still on Arthur’s shoulder.

“Fuck, yeah. Sorry, got distracted.” He smiles and hopes Baz buys it, lying his head against his best friend’s shoulder. From this new angle he can see under the long wood table, Alexia’s hands on her lap. Arthur looks around, nobody else is paying them much attention so he quietly holds her hand. Alexia looks down, at their hands now together and he looks at him.

Arthur misses her so much it’s almost disorienting.

“Stop being annoying! He’s just drunk and sad, he’s not dying.” Arthur hears Lola’s voice behind him and he looks at her direction, sitting next to Baz. He smiles at Arthur with that guilty and fond smile of his and Arthur pretends he’s too focused in other conversations to hear his with Lola.

“He’s too drunk, Lola! You’ll have to help me carry him home...”

“No way. I’m not doing that.”

“Lola!”

“No! He’s a grown ass man. If he can’t drink, I’m not the one that’ll carry him home.”

Arthur sighs, sitting up again, able to intertwine his fingers with Alexia’s now.

“I’m gonna get some water,” he thinks out loud, not sure if he’s telling that to Lola, Baz or Alexia.

This place that Eliott showed to them a few weeks back feels like a piece of them now. Le Gang, family size. The cooler with drinks is almost empty now, but Arthur manages to find a bottle of water, drinking half of it at once, hoping it’ll make him get sober quicker. It’s not how it works, but Arthur likes to pretend.

He walks around the abandoned building a little bit. It feels like the end of an era and Arthur doesn’t know how to feel about the future. Everything changed so quickly he’s still trying to make his brain stop spiraling. He loves his new place, loves being just him and his mom, redecorating his new bedroom.

If this is what he can have after everything, Arthur can also accept having Alexia just as a best friend, she’s a great (and free) interior designer. They’re still as close as they were when they were dating, they just don’t have sex or kiss. But he would be the luckiest man alive if she ever decided to give him a second chance.

“He’s here...” Lola’s voice makes him look back. She’s walking to his direction and Baz appears, smiling when he finds Arthur.

“I found you!” Baz rushes to him and hugs him from behind, resting his head against Arthur’s back. Lola walks slower and stops next to them, looking at the tall and broken building behind them.

“Alexia sent us here,” Lola says, looking at him from the corner of her eyes. Arthur feels stupid that even Daphné’s little sister can tell something is going on with him and Alexia.

“Yeah...”

“Hm...so! We’re leaving. Daphné is saying goodbye to Yann and Manon, are you coming with us?”

Arthur doesn’t want to go, he wants to hang out with everyone - and especially Alexia - a little more, but he knows he should go home. Baz probably thinks that too, his best friend wouldn’t worry if Arthur went with them. His raised eyebrows and expecting and weird smiles are there, staring at Arthur. So he nods his head and Baz laughs, clearly relieved. Lola rolls her eyes, texting someone.

“You’re going home? Is Maya going there? I need to know so I can make something special for us to eat and-”

“No, I’m going to her place. Don’t wanna be there with just you and Daphné.” 

-

The sun starts overheating his body and slowly waking him up. Arthur moves to lie on his back and there’s someone on the bed. He opens his eyes and blinks a few times, finding Alexia sitting next to him, busy with her computer, looking at him and smiling.

She waits as he streches his body, getting his glasses and hearind aids, putting everything on.

“Shit, I’m sorry for last night. I got fucking shitfaced.” Arthur breathes slowly to calm his stomach as he pushes himself to sit, leaning against the headboard, remembering he went to Alexia’s place instead of his. He covers his face with both hands, his mouth so dry and bitter, still tasting like what he ate and drank yesterday. Alexia laughs and holds him by his wrist.

“It’s okay. You were funny.” She turns to the other side, grabbing something on her nightstand, turning back to him to offer a bottle of water.

“How did you sleep? Did I snore much?”

He looks at her, frowning, watching as she stops smiling suddenly. “So loud, Arthur. You’re worst than my grandpa.”

Alexia laughs and he exhales, a little more relaxed that this wast a joke. “Shut up, you liar...”

“I slept well. I feel like you steal the blankets less now that we’re...best friends.” Alexia tries to act normally, but she does sound like this is the most weird thing, which probably is. Them sharing a bed again, a small bed like Alexia’s.  

Arthur looks at Alexia, his elbow on his naked thigh, noticing that he slept with just his underwear, no jeans, and he puts his face sideways against his palm, watching her.

“I wish I could steal your blankets then. I wish we were together. I miss you so much.”

“I’m right here...”

“You know what I mean, Alex.”

“I do.” She smiles fondly, resting against the headboard, looking relaxed, not really bothered by his presence, she looks down and back at him.“...And Noée?”

Whatever happened between him and Noée finished with that first and only kiss. There was never real romantic feelings from his side, he was just extremely dumb and confused and he noticed that when it was too late already, the damage was done. They still hang out every Saturday morning and sometimes they go out to eat or something, but they don’t talk about them. Because Arthur doesn’t think they have anything else to talk about.

“She’s just a friend. Whatever I thought I felt romantically for her wasn’t...real. She’s dating a girl now too. She seems very happy.”

Alexia raises her eyebrows, very surprised and Arthur was too when she told him over a month ago, but just because she never talked about the girl before, not because he was jealous. “Oh. I didn’t know.”

“Yeah...”

Arthur stares for another minute and Alex is looking back at him too. He moves to his knees and leans forward, kissing Alexia after what feels like a lifetime.

Her hands come to his cheeks, touching him so gently. Arthur tries to go slow, to keep his hands to himself. Alexia is the one to break the kiss, resting her forehead against his, sighing.

“Can we try again? I promise I’m better...I know I don’t deserve you, but please, let me try again.”

“I still like you...we can’t control with whom we fall in love with.”

He nods his head, letting himself get hopeful.

“No, we don’t.”

[floralelu]

Le Fleuriste Episode II:

WARNING: MENTIONS OF SEX

Word Count: 3,261

Summary: Lucas yearns to talk to Eliott. But who is he? Will he meet Lucas’ expectations? Or break his heart on the spot?

[A/N] Hello!! Welcome to chapter 2 of Le Fleuriste!! We are excited for you to read this, and please check out chapter one in our masterlist in our bio.

———————————————————————

Lucas lied in bed that night scouring Instagram for this boy he met. Eliott is all he could think about. He thought about the veins that were visible on his hands and the way that they snaked and traveled along his arms. He contemplated what Pantone color would match his crisp blue eyes. He couldn’t get over the way Eliott’s once white apron was stained with dirt and mud from taking care of the flowers in the shop and how his hair was the perfect tousled mess that rested on top of his head. Could he be in love with this boy?

Lucas kept typing Eliott’s name into the search bar in different ways. Elliot? Nothing. Elliott? Nothing. Eliot? Once again, nothing. How many ways could he spell this boy's name and not get a single matching result?

Lucas threw his phone on the sofa cushion next to him. Lucas stood up from the pull out sofa and walked to the balcony wearing nothing but some boxer shorts and a baggy t-shirt. The entrance leading to the balcony sat in front of Lucas’ bed, also known as the couch. Lucas spent his restless nights staring out beyond the balcony staring at Annecy’s skyline.

Annecy is known for being “the Venice of the Alps”. Annecy is surrounded by mountains that are, for most of the year, dusted with snow on their peaks. Lucas loved the colorful buildings of pinks and yellows, as well as the canals and waterways that run through the town. Bridges connected streets together as if they were holding hands. Lucas especially adored Annecy during this time of year because of the greenery. Barrels full of flowers lined the street would bloom and flower, and the bees adored the new floral-filled environment just as much as Lucas did. It was always the fresh start that Lucas needed every coming year.

Lucas stood out on the balcony, it was late, 23:37. The boys were already in bed, sleeping off the Sunday blues. Lucas knew he wouldn’t sleep tonight, not with this boy racing through his mind.

Lucas looked at the streets below him. He could see some stray people walking about, mostly on their phones. He could hear quiet Italian music playing softly from the Italian restaurant down the street. Even though it was early spring, it was quite warm. The breeze brushed Lucas’ face and hair.

If only Eliott were here.

Why was Lucas thinking that? He doesn’t even know if this boy is gay, or any sexuality that involved loving someone like Lucas. Eliott was probably some straight guy who played with feelings of women, or possibly men too, Lucas already knew Eliott was toying with his feelings.

Lucas had never had a boyfriend. He did have one or two girlfriends in high school, but they felt neglected, especially since Lucas never felt the same way about them. Chloe was the last girl he was with, and the one who made him realize he was in fact gay.

He remembered when he first realized it, it sickened him. It happened during one of Emma’s “my mom is out on business so let’s have party” bashes. Lucas and Chloe had snuck off into one of the bedrooms and despite all the alcohol Lucas had drunk, he felt sober at this moment.

Lucas thought nothing of it, maybe it’ll make the sex more enjoyable. Chloe had started taking off her clothes and soon was completely bare. She walked over to Lucas and started kissing and biting his neck, then kneeled before him and started unbuttoning his jeans.

“Lucas, you’re not hard. Am I doing something wrong?” Chloe asked, gazing up at him.

“No, no, I…” Lucas started. “I think I’m gay.”

Chloe was angry at first, she thought he had been using and experimenting with her, but that wasn’t the case. He just didn’t know what he wanted, and he had finally figured it out. They did makeup in the end, but Lucas knew he had put Chloe through hell and back.

Lucas took a deep breath, smelling the fresh bellflower scents that came from the mountainside. It was calming, and he needed to calm down. Lucas soon returned to the pullout bed, and after hours of lying awake, he drifted off to sleep.

———————————————————————

“Arthur! You’re using all of the eggs! If you’re gonna take them all, at least make me some.” Basile screamed at Arthur as he took away the egg carton.

“Basile, hush. Lucas and the whole world is sleeping, and I know no one who wants to be greeted by your horrid voice this early in the morning,” Arthur whispered, taking the eggs back. “And I’m already making you eggs, idiot.”

“I bet Daphne would love to wake up to my so-called ‘horrid’ voice. She’s in love with me and I’m in love with her, we are in love Arthur,” Basile swooned. Arthur rolled his eyes.

“God, you guys are so loud,” Lucas mumbled, covering his ears with his pillow.

“I’m sorry, Lu, but Arthur here won’t shut up! I’ve been telling him that people are sleeping and he just won’t listen.” Basile persisted.

“Basile, I swear…” Arthur muttered under his breath.

Basile walked over to the pullout and sat next to Lucas, who was turned over onto his stomach with the pillow still covering his ears.

“Come on, Lucas. Have breakfast with us.” Basile said while shaking Lucas awake.

“I might as well, I’m sure as hell awake now.”

“Arthur! Do you hear that? Our boy Lucas is gonna have breakfast with his two best mates before they go off to work!” Basile shouted, jumping up and dragging Lucas to the table.

“Three best mates,” Yann corrected as he came out of his room. “Do you have any idea how loud you’re being, mate?”

“My sincerest apologies, I’m just so excited!” Basile danced over to the table while Lucas and Yann trailed behind him sluggishly.

Arthur brought over the feast that was considered breakfast. It consisted of all of the favorites, sausage, pancakes with maple syrup, bacon, and eggs served in many ways, each to the boys’ liking. This feast was a once a week type thing, usually, Arthur would prepare it with Basile occasionally helping on the side, although he didn’t provide much help at all. Arthur would give Basile little tasks to occupy him such as setting and placing the food on the table. It was one day a week where the gang would catch up with another and talk about their events that happened during the week. Lucas was fond of it because he didn’t get out very much, he didn’t really have a lot of spending money to go out and do things, but that might change in the coming weeks with this new boy who has caught his eye.

“Lucas, are these flowers...yours?” Yann questioned as he grabbed the glass filled with water that contained the bunches of blooms that Eliott had given him.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Who’s the lucky lad?” Arthur asked, chewing on a sausage link.

“Oh, I don’t really know him besides his name. He gave it to my mom and me when we visited the flower shop and I bought her a bouquet.”

“So you received two bouquets?” Basile chimed in.

“Yeah.”

“Well, Lucas, I don’t know about you but that sounds like flirting to me!” Basile laughed.

“Maybe.”

“Is he hot?” Yann asked, cutting up his pancake into smaller bite-sized pieces.

“Well, I would show you a picture, but I can’t find any of his social media,” Lucas sighed. “I’ve looked everywhere!” Lucas rested his head in his hand and played with his food with the end of his fork.

“Well, what’s his name?” Arthur inquired. “This is at Barney’s, yes?”

“Yeah, his name is Eliott.”

“Well, I don’t know anyone who works at Barney’s named Eliott. Are you sure it wasn’t Idriss? He’s been working there since Barney before Barney passed away.” Yann mentioned.

“No, it wasn’t him.”

“This Eliott guy must be new to the shop, maybe you could ask the girls who he is?” Basile suggested.

“Yeah, you know what I think I will,” Lucas smiled to himself in anticipation of his new plans.

“Our Lucas is gonna get a boyfriend!” Yann yelled and patted Lucas on the back.

“Okay, okay, let’s not get carried away.”

———————————————————————

Lucas stepped onto the cobblestone street of King’s Grove. It wasn’t busy today, only a few people milled in the streets. It was Monday after all. Lucas wished more people could enjoy a day like today. Birds were singing in choirs, the sun illuminated everything beneath it, and the sky was bright blue.

Like Eliott’s eyes.

Lucas thought about going to Barney’s first, but he knew he would only embarrass himself, and he couldn’t even ponder how awkward it would be asking for Eliott’s number.

In addition to never having a boyfriend, Lucas had never flirted with a guy either. He remembers the blush that flooded his cheeks after leaving Barney’s with two bouquets in hand. How could he prevent that from happening? Was Lucas even capable of acting cool and casual? He figured he better stick to the people he knew, the girls.

The first stop was The Disco Danish Cafe, only because they were opened first. They always opened at 6 AM bright and early to serve their famous breakfast danishes.

“Lucas! Back again!” Alexia called out as she wiped down the counter.

“No way! You’re here two days in a row?” Manon asked as she came out of the double doors that led to the kitchen.

“I know, I get it, I don’t see you guys enough,” Lucas laughed and rolled his eyes.

“What’s up? Do you want a danish, it’s on the house,” Alexia gestured to the many different flavors of danishes lined up like soldiers in the display case before her.

“Well, I just ate.”

“Too bad! I’m giving you one anyway,” Alexia selected a cheese danish from the display case and wrapped it in parchment paper, then placed it neatly in a bag, sealing it with a sticker of the cafe’s logo. “Here you go, bestie!” Alexia handed the danish to him.

“Thank you so much, by the way, I have a question to ask both of you,” Lucas sat down on one of the pink stools at the bar where milkshakes and other desserts were served. “Could you tell me who all works at Barney’s as of right now?”

“Oh god, Lucas if this is about a boy we aren’t stalking him. It could ruin our business,” Manon said, shaking her head.

“I’ll stalk a boy for you, Lucas,” Alexia said as she rested her head on her hand, smiling. “Especially if he’s cute!”

“He is. His name is Eliott, do you guys know anything about him? Such as his last name?” Lucas questioned.

“Well, I’ve seen a new guy there recently. I mean, Lucas, you have to keep in mind we don’t know our other shopkeeper neighbors that well. We’ve only been here, what? Two years?” Manon looked at Alexia for confirmation. “Yeah, only about two years, Lu.”

“Are you talking about the boy with the gorgeous golden hair? Kinda tall with lanky limbs? Like a spider monkey?” Alexia asked.

“Um, I guess you could describe him that way?”

“Yeah, he’s new. He just started working there in February. He and Idriss seem like great friends for only working there a month or so,” Alexia commented.

“Lucas, this is silly! Why don’t you just go over there and ask for the boy’s number?” Manon tried reasoning with Lucas.

“Manon, I want to avoid embarrassment as much as possible.”

“Come on, Lu! You’re attractive and sweet as honey! He wouldn’t question as to why you were asking for his number, in fact, I think he’d be thrilled to have a number from a boy like you,” Alexia said as she patted Lucas’ head.

“But what if he’s not gay?” Lucas frowned.

“I didn’t even think of that,” Alexia realized, looking quite shocked as to how she didn’t think of that.

“Maybe you could ask Emmy and Kenzie? They’ve worked at their shop longer than we have. Maybe they know who this Eliott boy is,” Manon suggested.

“Brilliant, Manon! I should get on my way then. Lovely seeing you beauties.” Lucas winked and Alexia blushed.

“Bye, Lu!” Alexia smiled and waved after him. “Oh, Manon, just look at how excited he is about this boy.”

“I’m worried he’ll get his heartbroken. You know how clueless boys can be, what if Eliott is the same? And with Eliott potentially being Lucas’ first boyfriend? That’s terrifying,” Manon sighed and shook her head as she switched out the day-old tray of cookies with brand new ones.

“Give it a chance.”

———————————————————————

“Emmy! Kenzie!” Lucas shouted, knocking on The Book Nook’s door. “I know you’re in there just stalling on opening up the store because you want to keep reading your pleasure reads!”

Kenzie finally opened the door.

“No need to call us out like that, Lucas,” Kenzie said as she flipped the sign from “closed” to “open”.

“This is urgent! I have a boy on my mind and I need information on him immediately!” Lucas demanded.

“Oh, do tell!” Emmy enthused.

“He works at the flower shop across the street, he has beautiful golden hair, and the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen,” Lucas might have daydreamed about Eliott a little too much. “His name is Eliott.”

“Eliott Demaury?” Kenzie chimed in.

“Is that his last name?” Lucas perked up.

“Lu, that’s Barney’s grandson!” Emmy exclaimed.

“But, how come I’ve never seen him before?”

“Well, he only came back to work at Barney’s about a month or so ago. He used to work there all the time when he was younger, I’m not sure why he left,” Kenzie commented. “I heard he took his grandfather’s death pretty hard.”

Suddenly, it went quiet. Lucas frowned at that statement. He may not know a single thing about Eliott aside from his name, but he did know that he never wanted to see Eliott be depressed. If Lucas was going to try and be this man’s boyfriend, he wanted Eliott to be the happiest he’s ever been.

“D-Do you know if he’s gay?” Lucas stuttered out.

“Oh, Lu, I have no idea,” Kenzie frowned at Lucas and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. “I do have his Instagram though, in case you wanted to ‘slide into his DM’s’.”

Instantly, butterflies appeared and fluttered in Lucas’ stomach, he could finally talk to Eliott.

“Could you give it to me?” Lucas smiled in enthusiasm.

“Well, of course, my dear boy!” Kenzie and Emmy laughed.

Kenzie wrote down his Instagram username on a post-it note and handed it to Lucas.

“I owe you one,” Lucas clasped Kenzie’s hands and pulled her in for a hug. Lucas noticed the danish he had placed on the counter when he walked in and grabbed it. “Hey! Have this free danish!”

“No problem, Lucas,” Kenzie cracked the seal and opened the bag. “It smells divine! Alexia and Manon make the best danishes in the world, and that’s a fact.”

Lucas soon left the shop and started his walk back home. Lucas pulled the note out of his pocket. This was the key to the door of the unknown. He didn’t know what to expect. He avoided thinking of the possibility that Eliott was straight and had no interest in him, but that wouldn’t explain the extra bouquet he had received yesterday. Lucas folded the note and tucked it back into his pocket. As he walked, he looked ahead to admire the mountains and prayed that this boy would be the one to change his life.

———————————————————————

Lucas decided that going back home wouldn’t be the best option. The rest of the gang would already have already left for work so it would have been Lucas in an empty apartment. Instead, he headed for a park that was a few blocks from the gang’s building. The note with Eliott’s Instagram had been burning a hole in Lucas’s pocket the whole walk here. Now Lucas sat on a bench that overlooked a pond, the note waiting to be unfolded.

Kids laughed as their parents pushed them on the swings and birds whistled back and forth to one another, but Lucas wasn’t paying any attention to them. His focus was on the post-it note that now sat in his hands. Lucas wasn’t sure what to do. He could unfold the note, message Eliott, and everything could fall into place. Or, he could message him and Eliott could think he was a total weirdo and never speak to him again, leading Lucas to never show his face on King’s Grove to avoid a very awkward run-in.

It’s been less than 24 hours and you’re acting like a complete idiot. Pull it together, Luc. You never know unless you try.

Lucas took a deep breath, unfolded the note, and typed the username into the Instagram search bar.

plantjunkieeli

The loading circle just kept spinning and spinning. If this is some stupid sign, Lucas thought, I swear-

The profiles loaded. And there he was at the top.

Lucas scrolled through Eliott’s photos like he would any of his friends, but if he stared just a little longer at the ones that were just Eliott, no one had to know. Lucas went back to the top of Eliott’s profile, his finger hovering over the ‘message’ button.

Here goes nothing

Lucas hit the button and a new screen came up along with the keyboard. He wasn’t sure what to say, ‘Hey, thanks for the flowers, kiss me?’ Probably not. ‘Hi, I like you wanna go out?’ also a no. Lucas put his head into his hands, his phone twisting around as he did.

Why is this so hard? All I have to do is send a thank you, that’s it. Lucas took a deep breath before pulling his head back. He looked at his screen before his eyes went wide.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” he groaned. There in a little gray bubble sat a single ‘h’. That was it, absolutely nothing else. Lucas locked his phone and set it next to him on the bench, closing his eyes as he threw his head back. Lucas sat there for a few minutes, trying to figure out how he was going to fix this. What the hell is wrong with me-

Ping!

Lucas’ head shot up, eyes wide as he stared at his phone. His screen was facing down, making him unable to see the notification, but he had a feeling he knew what it was. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he picked up the phone and turned it over.

plantjunkieeli sent you a message!

Lucas slid his finger across the screen and unlocked his phone, opening up Instagram.

plantjunkieeli: h?

lucallemant: i meant to send hi but my fingers went a little too fast

lucallemant: but hi

plantjunkieeli: hi :)

Lucas’ hands were shaking. It didn’t seem like Eliott was completely weirded out by Lucas, that was a good sign, right?

lucallemant: thanks for the flowers, they’re beautiful

plantjunkieeli: no problem

Lucas sighed, not knowing how to carry on the conversation. He locked his phone and stuffed it in his pocket, standing up from the bench. He started walking in the direction of the apartment when his phone pinged again,

plantjunkieeli: beautiful people deserve beautiful flowers :)

[moonb-eam]

Ok I have a fic question if you’re willing to answer: what did Eliott say to Manon? I wanna know soooo bad!! (What Manon mentions in ch3 of sk8er boi 😅😅)

ahhhhhh omg this is so cute!! 🧡🧡 thank you for asking!!

okay, so i love this question so much that instead of just telling you, i wrote a little scene about it??? i hope it satisfies your curiosity!! 👀

(takes place ~ two weeks after ch. 3)

“Can I ask you something?”

Manon looks up at him from where she’s cutting Daphné’s birthday cake into perfect, even slices. She smiles. “Sure.”

“What did, uh…” Lucas runs a hand over the back of his neck, focusing his gaze on where the F in Bonne Fête has been sliced in half. “Remember when you told me you thought there was something going on between me and Eliott? Because of something he said?”

Manon pokes her tongue into her cheek. “Yeah, I remember.”

She looks like she’s trying not to laugh, and Lucas would normally rather chew tinfoil than give her the satisfaction of being right, but it’s something he’s been wondering about for weeks, and he’s desperate. He drops his head to the counter. “Ugh. Just, what did he say?”

Manon presses her knife back into the cake, cutting another even slice. “I don’t know, Lucas. Maybe it was said to me in confidence. Do you want to break your boyfriend’s trust?”

“Manon.”

She outright laughs now, reaching her free hand over to ruffle Lucas’s hair. “I’m just kidding. I’ll tell you. Although, I should warn you it’s not going to be nearly as juicy as you’re thinking.”

Lucas turns his head to the side, freeing one eye to peer up at her.

“So,” she starts. voice low and warm, “this is months before you two started dating, but it was the sort of thing that just…made me pay attention, you know?”

Months before. The back of Lucas’s neck feels hot. “Okay.”

“It was—well, do you remember that week of classes you missed?”

Lucas does. It was a week at the end of May, when Lucas’s mom had a bad episode, and his dad had called him from Monte Carlo, asking is Lucas could check in on her because he was too busy. Lucas had already been having a stressful month, too preoccupied with his assignments, with the stress of trying to pay rent, with whatever the fuck was going with his heart whenever Eliott Demuary was in the room. He’d become so anxious that he was barely sleeping, and when he went to go see his mom, and saw how poorly she was doing, he went pretty well over the edge. So, he took a week off. He slept for an entire day and spent hours with his mom at the clinic, and got his homework assignments from Yann. It had been a rough time for him, a breaking point from building stress, but it had also been, as the school counsellor says, an important step in him confronting stressors in his life, and healing.

All he says is, “Yeah, I remember.”

“Eliott asked me about it.”

Lucas snaps his head up. “What?”

“Yeah. I ran into him that day when I was leaving school. He was going to the skatepark or whatever, I don’t know.”

Lucas smiles without realizing it, fond.

“I go over to say hi to him, and we’re chatting about classes and whatnot when out of the blue, he asks me, ‘Where’s Lucas?’” She laughs, her imitation of Eliott’s voice exaggeratedly deep and seductive. “I was a bit confused, so I didn’t say anything, and he kept going. He said, ‘He just hasn’t been around this week, and I was wondering if he’s okay.’ And I think that’s nice, so I say, ‘He’s okay, he’s just dealing with some family stuff.’ That’s when he gets kind of shy, you know? And he says, ‘Does he need anything? Can I bring him something?’”

Lucas blinks at her.

“And I’m still kind of confused, but,” she raises an eyebrow at Lucas, “I think I’m starting to get it, so I tell him that he’s sweet, but he doesn’t have to do anything, that we’re all helping you. Because I think you would have lost your shit if I sent Eliott to go check on you.”

Lucas is sure he would have had a coronary, if in the middle of all of that, Eliott Demaury had shown up at his doorstep with a can of soup, or something.

“That was probably a good call,” he tells her.

Manon grins. “I thought so too.” She picks up a stack of paper plates and serves out slices of cake, passing them to Lucas to set aside on the table. “But this is the real thing that made me think. After I tell him that, he seems happy, but before I leave, he says, ‘It seems like Lucas is always taking care of others, doesn’t it? I want to know that someone is taking care of him.’”

And Lucas. He freezes, holding onto a paper plate with a Princess and the Frog design on it, pink icing smeared onto his thumb. “He—” He pauses, swallows. “He said that?”

“Mhm.” Manon takes the plate from him and walks it to the table. “It was the way he said it, too, like he never believed anything in his life more, but he was also so nervous. It was like, just speaking your name, that made him shy. Lucas, from that alone…” She shrugs, rips open a box of plastic forks. “I knew he liked you. Or more than that, I knew he cared about you. At first I thought it was more than you cared about him, but then I saw the way you looked at him. And Emma and Yann started a bet on how long it would take you to bring him up in conversation.”

Lucas makes an undignified sound, a hand coming up to his chest. “They what?”

“You’re not subtle, Lucas. But really, neither is Eliott. You two are made for each other.” Manon turns to face him, holding two plates in her hands. “So, there you go. Now you know what he said.”

Lucas nods. His face is burning, and he’s biting down on the inside of his cheek. “Yeah. Thank you.”

Manon nods, and swans out of the room.

Lucas stays in the kitchen for a while alone, leaning back against the kitchen counter and staring at the wall across the room. He thinks about that week back in May, when everything had been too much for him, and all he wanted was for someone to hold him and say, Lucas, it’s going to be okay.

He hadn’t known that Eliott wanted to be that person the entire time.

I want to know that someone is taking care of him.

He pushes away from the counter, wheeling out of the kitchen and into the throng of people in the hall, some dancing to a remix of a Dolly Parton song, some drinking on the sofa, some standing by the bar, but where is he, where is—

Eliott.

He’s near the stairs, talking to Arthur and drinking a can of Cherry Coke, listening to a story intently, one that involves a lot of hand gestures from Arthur, and is resulting in Eliott laughing so hard his eyes crinkle into little half-moons.

Lucas marches up behind him, making a face at Arthur when they lock eyes, but not stopping until he’s close enough to touch Eliott, close enough to wrap his arms around him from behind, burying his face between Eliott’s shoulder blades.

Eliott startles, then melts back against Lucas, running a hand over his arms. “Hi,” Eliott says, and his voice sounds like the most comfortable bed Lucas has ever slept in.

“Hi,” Lucas mumbles into his back. He kisses him though his t-shirt. “Hi.” He repeats, and kisses him again.

Eliott laughs, craning his neck back. “What’s going on?” When Lucas still doesn’t move, his voice becomes tinged with concern. “Are you okay?”

I want to know that someone is taking care of him.

“M’fine,” Lucas says, smushed into Eliott’s back. “I love you.”

Neither of them have said it yet, both tiptoeing across a tightrope wire of do you? i do for weeks. Or at least, Lucas has. He hopes Eliott has too, but even if he doesn’t. Lucas just wants him to know.

“Oh.” Eliott whispers, stilling.

Lucas peaks over his back and sees that Arthur has subtly ditched them for the dance floor, where he’s now grinding back against Yann to Jolene.

Then Eliott is turning in the circle of his arms, and Lucas’s vision is filled with nothing but Eliott: Eliott’s broad shoulders, his narrow waist, his green t-shirt, soft under Lucas’s hands, his beaming smile, his wide, grey eyes.

“Lucas,” Eliott says, and he’s leaning down, pulling Lucas into a searing kiss that makes Lucas’s head spin, makes his knees feel like the melted icing of Daphné’s cake. “Lucas,” Eliott repeats, pulling back. “I love you too, fuck, I love you. Oh my god.” They kiss again, but Eliott is babbling into it, and their teeth clack together. “Lucas, oh my god, I’ve wanted to say that for so long, but I wasn’t sure you did too, and I didn’t want to—”

“I know.” Lucas interrupts him, smiling so wide his face hurts. “I was scared to tell you too, but I...I love you. So much.”

Eliott laughs, pressing their foreheads together. “God. Why are we like this?”

“You know, Manon says we’re made for each other.”

“Does she?”

Lucas nods, tilting his head back so he can see Eliott’s eyes. “She told me something else, too.”

And it’s only a second, but he can see a tightening around Eliott’s eyes, like he’s nervous all over again. “What did she tell you?”

“Something you said, a while ago. It’s okay, I just…” Lucas holds Eliott’s face in his hands, stands on his tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”

Eliott exhales against him. “For what?”

“For taking care of me.”

[sweetbitterpdf]

63 & 15 💖💖 (also your writing is so good wow)

( angst/fluff prompt list !!! )

ahhh thank you so much anon!! i love writing, so it really means a lot that other people enjoy what i write too. 💖

i imagined this as taking place after their almost-kiss in episode three, but before their actual first kiss in episode four.

63. “I need a place to stay.” &  15. “You have no idea how much I want you right now.”

Eliott wasn’t the first person he thought of, admittedly.

However, Yann is away with family for the week, Arthur’s family is… invasively nice, and he really isn’t in the mood to deal with Basile right now— Daphné this, Daphné that— and so his best friends are eliminated as options. He briefly contemplates asking Chloé, but the thought of her trying anything with him while they’re alone makes him feel physically sick.

He could probably spend a night or two with one of the girls, he figures. On the other hand, though, he knows that telling one of them something means telling all of them something. He knows that if he complained about Manon to Imane or Emma or Alexia or especially Daphné, Manon would find out within hours— if not minutes. He’s not trying to start anything— with anyone— he’s looking for someone to vent to, and maybe a bed to sleep in, if he’s lucky. That’s all.

And only then does he think of Eliott.

Eliott, who added his number into Lucas’ contacts only a couple of days ago. Who gave him beer just because he could, who danced around to dubstep the first time they hung out like a maniac. 

Who— when Lucas played piano for him— looked at him like he was something special.

He takes a deep breath. Presses down on Eliott’s name.

And it rings.

And rings.

And then—

“Hello?”

“Hi, Eliott? It’s Lucas.”

“Lucas, I know. You put your number in my phone the other day, too, remember?” Eliott’s voice is muffled through the phone, but he can hear the teasing lilt to it. It makes him nervous, hearing Eliott’s voice without seeing his face.

“Oh, right, yeah.” His voice wavers as he speaks, threatening to crack with his nerves. “Listen, um… This might be a weird question— please don’t feel like you have to say yes!— but can I ask you for a favour?” And oh fuck, there isn’t any going back now, is there?

“What do you need?” Eliott asks, and he wants to curl up under the concern in Eliott’s tone, pull it up over him like a blanket.

“Well… You know that girl who, ah… interrupted us, the other night?” He’s run the moment he saw Manon a few nights ago through his head more than he’d like to admit. What had happened, and— more importantly— what hadn’t.

“I remember that, yeah.” Eliott chuckles, soft and light on the other end of the line.

“Well, she lived at my place before I did. She left— moved to London with her boyfriend— and I moved in, but now she’s back, and I don’t know for how long.” He tries his hardest to only tell Eliott the essentials, to resist dumping all of his emotional baggage about the situation onto him.

“Okay.” Lucas can hear the ‘… And?’ that is left unsaid.

“And my bedroom used to be hers, and she’s taken it back. I’ve been on the couch for the past couple of days. Basically, the apartment is too crowded now, and I’m just… Frustrated. With her, with my roommates.” I don’t have a place here, he almost says, but doesn’t.

“Mhm.”

“And I know we barely know each other. But I had a good time when we hung out last time, and I…” Lucas swallows, lets himself take a breath. “I trust you. Please don’t feel pressured, but I need a place to stay, and I was wondering if I could stay with you, for a night or two.” The line is silent, for a moment.

“Yeah, sure.” Eliott’s voice is clear on the other end of the line. Lucas can’t quite believe it.

“Yeah?”

“Of course. Come tonight if you want. Stay as long as you need to.” He pinches himself, to make sure that this isn’t a dream. Not only has he managed to build up the courage to ask Eliott— the new boy at school, the boy that makes his chest flutter like no one else has before— if he can stay with him.

Eliott said yes.

“Are you sure? You really don’t have to—”

“Lucas,” Eliott cuts him off before he can continue, “I wouldn’t have said yes if I wasn’t genuinely willing. You can stay with me.” If this were a face-to-face conversation, Lucas would have to turn away from the sincerity of Eliott’s tone. “Plus, We can have a do-over of the other night— remember? ‘Joints, beers, you choose the music’?” Lucas is grinning like an idiot now, grateful that Eliott can’t see him, that he can react however he wants as long as he does so silently.

“Okay.” He tries to hide his grin in his tone. Play it cool, Lallemant, “Is it okay if I come over around eight?”

“Sure, I’ll clean up a bit. We can order some food in once you get here, if you want?”

“That sounds nice.” He thinks of sitting and watching a movie with Eliott, stuffing their faces with pizza or Chinese food or whatever, and he realizes he’s never wanted anything more.

“I’ll see you at eight, then.” He can’t be sure, but it sounds like Eliott may be smiling, too.

“Hey Eliott?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“See you soon, Lucas.”

—

After far too long, Lucas manages to build up the courage to press the buzzer on the front door of Eliott’s building. The sound of Eliott’s voice, even through the intercom system, both tenses and relaxes him.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Lucas.”

“Oh, hey! Come on up!” The door buzzes and Lucas is knocking on the door a moment later. If hearing Eliott’s voice brought upon a wave of conflicting emotions, it didn’t even hold a candle to seeing him, smiling at him from the doorway— just as he had only a few nights ago.

“Hi.” Lucas says. Eliott’s entire demeanour is just so relaxed, so casual. Lucas tries to replicate it. You’re a friend meeting a friend, he tells himself, trying to sound convincing. Nothing more, and that’s okay, he lies.

“Hi.” Elliot’s tone is light and airy, perfectly matching his expression. Lucas tries not to react to the small smile on his face. “Come in.”

He can’t help but compare Eliott’s apartment to the evening that they spent together before. The light is low, just as it was before— dreamy, almost. He’s never been as aware of scents as he is now, stood in Eliott’s living room.

“So…” Eliott says, breaking the silence. “Pizza? There’s this place near me that’s really good.”

—

And so Lucas’ life shifts, if only for a few days. Eliott waits for him at the end of each school day, they bus to his place together, and they chill together. Eliott helps him with literature, and he helps Eliott with science. It’s quite the mutually beneficial development.

Which brings a host of new discoveries with it.

Like the fact that Eliott’s music taste overlaps with his quite a bit. His record collection is quite eclectic, and they settle on some laid back background music once they get home quickly.

Or the fact that he barely ever cooks. I’m not good at it, trust me, he said once, pulling a frozen pizza out of the freezer for the second day in a row.

Or the fact that his whole body relaxes when he’s in his own space. Everything loosens once he closes the door behind them. Lucas never noticed how stressed being at school makes Eliott until now.

Or— and he hasn’t realized this until just now— Eliott steals glances at him almost as frequently as he does with Eliott.

Lucas has been staying with Eliott for nearly a week. They’re watching a movie again— as has almost become routine for them, now— and every time Eliott looks over, Lucas swears he can feel it. He can see the subtle tilt of Eliott’s head away from the screen in his periphery.

“Eliott?” He says, looking over. Warmth rushes over his when their eyes meet. “I’ve been having a really nice time here.”

“Me too.” Why does everything seem so easy for you, he wants to ask. “I like spending time with you.” The thought that Eliott genuinely enjoys his company is one that he wants to hold on to forever— that he’s more than just someone to be tolerated.

“Thank you for letting me stay.” It’s the sort of thing that he would say on his way out, but he’s not planning on leaving tonight, not in the slightest. His mind wanders, then zeroes in.

“Do you remember when my roommate interrupted us, the other night?”

“Yeah.”

“If she hadn’t, what would have happened?” Lucas turns, then, to face Eliott fully. If not for the fact that they’re currently sat on Eliott’s couch, it’s a near-perfect mirror of that night. It’s not incomparable to when he asked Eliott how he would draw him, hypothetically speaking. He’s not sure where these fleeting bouts of courage come from, but he’s thankful for them nonetheless.

Eliott looks at him for a long time, his eyes steady. It makes Lucas feel naked, to be looked at like that; it makes his courage waver.

“Would it have gone differently?” Eliott’s quiet for several seconds. The silence stretches out, long and thick between them. Lucas almost regrets asking, but then—

“Yeah,” Eliott responds, “I think it would have.”

“Oh yeah? How?” He asks, and they’re so close now. He wonders when they started leaning in but he doesn’t care enough to ask. Part of him would be content to stay this close forever, but another part of him is chanting closer, closer. He doesn’t need Eliott to answer, not really, he knows the answer. He knows what he wanted to happen, and the way Eliott is looking over at him is hinting at the notion that he wanted the same thing.

“You have no idea how much I want you right now.” Eliott whispers. His voice sounds restrained, and Lucas wants to ask him how he wants him, why he wants him. But instead he just takes Eliott’s hand in his and says—

“Then have me.”

“But I don’t you to feel like I’m taking advantage of you.” Eliott’s gaze falls down to his lap. He’s fit to explode from the softness in his voice, from the fact that it’s directed at him. “You’re taking refuge from your roommates. You’re in a vulnerable state and—”

“And I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first time I saw you.” Lucas’ mouth is moving faster than his mouth now, but he’s far too desperate to care. Please, he wants to say, wants to pull him in without a word. “I appreciate your concern, I do. And I understand if you don’t want to kiss me— that’s fine, that’s good— but I want to kiss you so badly right now and—”

Eliott throws himself at him, closing the distance between them. His arms are around Lucas’ neck immediately, and after the initial shock wears off, he winds his arms around Eliott’s waist, his hands roaming his back, pulling him as close as he possibly can. They kiss and distant stars explode, they kiss and everything else falls away.

“Eliott,” Lucas breathes out when they part. The smile on Eliott’s face is completely and utterly new, unlike anything he’s ever seen before. He wonders how many smiles Eliott hasn’t shown him. He wonders how many he’ll get to see.

“Lucas.” Eliott responds, teasing and affectionate. Lucas can’t help but smile, too, his heart pounding away inside his chest, more lively than it’s ever been— and when Eliott pulls him down, he goes easily and willingly.

[andrcw-archive]

Bie! Rank the Vildes and Nooras by lesbianism pls?

OHOH anon this is gonna be fun lmao imma take them separately idk if this is what you wanted but we’ll work with that for now (if you meant them as like ?? possible couples pls lmk and imma do it again ig)

!!! fair warning i did NOT watch a full season of skam france so imma speak mostly from the gifs i’ve seen around, so take it with a grain of salt !!! also, i don’t really watch wtfock so i don’t think i should talk about it since i don’t know the facts™ (also ALSO my memory is WACK and i can’t remember shit about actual scenes so we’re gonna improvise a lil here bear with me)

from the get-go i wanna say that they’re all lesbians or AT LEAST bisexual and i don’t take criticism thanks ✌🏻

VILDEs 

7. silvia - i don’t remember much about her in season 1, but i’m pretty sure she threw some heart eyes in eva’s direction lmao. i feel like she’s more bi (and not just because i love her relationship with luca, they’re adorable and i want them to be happy) but idk she gives me the confused bisexual vibes.

6. kiki - do i like her and carlos? yes, a lot even. do i think she should ditch carlos and get with mia? also yes. i keep going back to that clip where she went to bring mia soup and she was so HURT by seeing alex there, but i just ?? i like to think she was also hurt bc mia had a thing for alex and not her yk there are other scenes that get me thinking, but i dont remember them enough to talk about it with certainty.

5. daphné - oh the poor skamfr fandom... they fought a lot for a lesbian daphy and it would’ve been cool for her to finally be, but... at least there’s lola? her relationship with basile is so so lovely (i love his character development a LOT), but she still gives off lesbian vibes idk

4. kelsey - something tells me she should’ve been on 6 and kiki here, but anyWAY. she’s a lil lesbian cheerleader i hope she watched dare me. she’s so sweet and clueless she must be a lesbian. im sorry but her being attracted to daniel? fake.

3. viri - i LOVE viri and hugo, he’s a sweetheart and she deserves the world, BUT i saw this gif set yesterday and i cannot stop thinking about it. i know skames does friendships between girls SO well, but their fight at viri’s home was incredibly emotional so i decided to assume they’re girlfriends and that was a break up.

2. engel - the only reason she’s on 2 and not 1 is bc vilde is the og. engel is a babie lesbian that’s the hill imma die on. there were too many heart eyes between her and liv; there’s no heterosexual explanation for this.

1. vilde - our og lesbian, the way we were ROBBED of her being actually wlw is truly infuriating i’ll never forgive miss julie. i remember the fics and the gif sets and all the love and all the headcanons and im getting emotional. 

NOORAs

7. manon - i don’t vibe with her. she’s still gay, they all are, but i needed someone for the last place. she might have to be higher cause i have a vivid memory of her and emma kissing??? but i have other lesbians to focus on.

6. eleonora - she’s a soft, plant loving lesbian. don’t remember much from the first seasons but what i DO remember is her being ready to throw massive hand to protect eva, a’ight.

5. grace - i don’t spend too much time thinking about skam austin even though i miss it sometimes, but whenever my mind goes there i can’t help thinking about the confrontation scene between grace and daniel and how HURT grace was by what he said about kelsey. it’s part of the reason i will never truly be able to get into graciel as a couple. she’s a fierce feminist lesbian and i love her for that.

4. nora - a smol bean, an angel, deserves the world and a loving girlfriend. i don’t even know if i ship her with eva or viri more tbh but it’s always one of them. 

3. noora - OG LESBIAN SHE SHOULD’VE BEEN A LESBIAN I DON’T FKN CARE! she’s gay and she’s dating eva in my personal skam universe. the level of heart eyes between nooreva... the level of queerbaiting... almost unmatched.

2. liv - see the gif set above... but honestly her scenes with engel and isa are so soft and just thinking about them makes me tear up a little. i love her from the bottom of my heart and she’s hella gay bc i said so.

1. mia - I MIGHT BE EXTREMELY WRONG here, but isn’t she the only one confirmed to be bi? we got the nooreva kiss with druck although i think it might’ve been a bit problematic but... you win some, you lose some. i don’t remember (i keep saying this huh) muCH BUT she threw hella heart eyes @ kiki, i know that.

okay this is IT! thank you for asking, anon, sorry for making zero sense lmao it was fun though and i got to go back and look at some stuff from each remake which was cool 👀

[jebentnietalleen]

ooh ooh ooooooh! how about 30 & 79 from the prompt list? thank you, love you, byeee 💖🌻💕

“that was unexpected” & “i don’t care what anyone else thinks” 

It’s been one hour and 17 minutes and Lucas honestly doesn’t know what to do with himself. Watching a movie has never been this exhausting. It’s not like he can concentrate on the plot of the thriller they are watching, like, at all. When Manon suggested a movie night instead of the usual party night out in the city, he didn’t expect it to be with everybody. Yet here they all are. He’s sitting on Yann’s couch, Basile is sitting next to him, totally engrossed in the film and not aware of the fact that Lucas is practically vibrating out of his own skin because he is wedged between Basile and Eliott, who is sitting very close to him. Close enough that Lucas can feel his breath ghosting over his face whenever Eliott turns his head to say something to him, causing goosebumps to appear on every inch of his body. Close enough to feel their thighs press together on the couch and feel Eliott’s every move whenever he shifts ever so slightly. 

He thought he was used to it by now: being close to Eliott without being able to do anything about it. He has had enough practice, after all. They’ve been friends for as long as he can remember, and they’ve always been tactile with each other. It’s weird, when he thinks back on how they first met when he was 10 and Eliott was 12, and how they interacted, he doesn’t think anything has changed since then, really. They are still just as gentle with each other as then, still tell each other everything, still like to sit close to each other and let their heads rest on the other’s shoulder whenever one of them needs comfort, or even just because they feel like it. Maybe that’s the problem: they are so open in their affection for each other, while his bond with the other boys has definitely evolved into something different over the years. His dad’s voice ghosts in his head: it’s not manly to cry together, or to talk about your feelings. But with Eliott, it’s different. He can be himself around Eliott, without any second thought. Well, almost no second thought.There is one thing he hasn’t dared to talk about with him yet, and that’s this. This not-so-new issue of Lucas having more than friendly feelings for his best friend, who has no idea about that fact. It’s been building up for a while now, and he feels like a total dumbass, because it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when you think of all the facts he just listed. And yet it did surprise him, it surprised him a lot. One day, they were all hanging out in the park. Yann and Basile were throwing a Frisbee around and him and Eliott were lying on a blanket. Eliott laughed out loud and it made Lucas open his eyes, he looked at Eliott, who was propping himself up on his elbows, and the sunlight made him look even more like an angel than usual and the only thing he could think was beautiful. It wasn’t a big shock that that thought came to him, it was more of a moment of realization. Oh, so this is how it is now. From that moment on, he continued to fall for him more and more every day. When he wakes up, the first thing he thinks about is Eliott, wondering what he is doing, and when he goes to bed it’s the same. Whenever he gets a text message from Eliott his heart starts beating faster and there is a smile plastered on his face that won’t come off. In other words: he’s doomed.The movie is coming to an end, and Lucas feels very relieved and disappointed at the same time. When it’s over, they will all probably get up and get something to drink and maybe do a game of cards or something. He knows that Daphne has been hinting about wanting to play a game afterwards, and honestly, she always gets her way.  As soon as the credits roll, Yann turns around from where he is sitting on the ground and asks what everybody wants to drink, dragging Arthur with him to the kitchen to get some supplies. When they come back with full hands, Basile gets up from the couch: ‘Guys, I know how to make the perfect cocktail, you won’t be let down!’ He crouches down in front of the coffee table and rubs his hands together with a look of determination on his face. Lucas can’t help but chuckle at the sight of his friend: the one time he looks like he is serious, and it’s to make them some drinks. Why is he not surprised? ‘Can you make me a strawberry daiquiri?’ Manon asks with a sly grin on her face whilst Daphne is nudging her and laughing along. ‘Oh, Basile, make me a mojito, please!’ Arthur chimes in, trying to keep a straight face while the rest of them are bursting into giggles‘No, no, no, you don’t understand, the one I’ll make will be so much better than those! Just wait’ All the commotion surrounding the drinks has let Lucas to be distracted enough to not notice the fact that Eliott and him are still sitting as close together as they did before, even though there is enough room now that Basile is no longer an issue. Lucas thinks he should get an award for the fact that he musters up the strength to move away from Eliott, when every part of his being is screaming at him to stay right there.Slowly, he slides a little bit more to his left, looking intently at Basile like he is doing the most interesting thing in the world, while in reality he is just struggling with cutting up some lemons.He doesn’t dare to let himself believe it, but it almost feels like Eliott is looking at him. Before he can dwell on that thought for too long, Basile is pressing a glass into his hands with some sort of brown liquid in it, and Daphne stands up to make an announcement, clasping her hands together. ‘Okay, everybody has got a drink, thank you Basile, so now let’s do something fun! How about… truth or dare?’ Yann groans a little bit but Arthur nods enthusiastically: ‘Could be fun!’  Lucas shrugs noncommittally, he doesn’t care what they do and honestly, he can use some distraction right now so he’ll take it. He takes a sip from his mystery drink and nearly spits it out.‘What the hell is in this shit?!’ he wipes his mouth with his sleeve and pushes the drink away as if it could attack him any minute now, and frankly he’s not convinced that it couldn’t. ‘It’s Sprite and Cognac with a hint of lemon! Come one, it’s good, no?!’ Lucas looks around the room and sees that he’s not the only one who is not into it. ‘Well, I mean, usually it’s made with slightly different ingredients, but I had to improvise a little bit’ Yann laughs and gets up: ‘Okay, more beer it is, then’  It’s not like they haven’t had enough to drink already, they’ve been hanging out since 19:00 and it’s nearing 22:00, everybody is getting to be pleasantly buzzed. ‘So,’ Lucas starts, gratefully accepting the two beers Yann gives him, one for Eliott, ‘truth or dare, right? Who starts?’ he hands the second beer to Eliott and their fingers brush, just for a second. He automatically glances up at him and is surprised to see him staring back with a look in his eyes that he can’t quite define. ‘I’ll start!’ Daphne’s voice shakes him out of his thoughts. ‘Manon, truth or dare?’ Manon looks like she is giving it a lot of thought, but Lucas isn’t buying it.‘Hmmmm. Let’s see… truth.’ ‘Very well, a slow start, I see. Okay. Last week I showed you a dress that I bought and you said it looked nice, did you really mean it?’ Suddenly, Lucas was very glad that he never had these kinds of conversations, because Daphne’s stare looked deadly. ‘What kind of question is that?’Poor Manon looked like a deer caught in headlights.‘Come on, Manon, you have to tell the truth!’ Emma teases, giving her a playful shove.‘Well, it might not be my favorite dress of yours…’ she starts carefully. ‘I knew it!’ Daphne looks partly triumphant and partly hurt, and Manon swiftly gives the spotlight away: ‘Uhm, Arthur, truth or dare?’ ‘Dare!’‘I dare you to drink that disgusting drink that Basile made, in one go’‘You can’t be serious’ ‘But I am’ ‘If I fall down, tell my moms that I love them’ The game goes on like this for a bit, and it’s fun. They joke around a lot and turn it into a drinking game. Every time someone has taken a turn, they have to take a shot of the cognac.

Soon enough, they are all a giggling mess, only taking dares instead of truths. First, Basile dares Arthur to kiss someone one the lips, and he goes for Alexia who is sitting next to him. Nobody is surprised. Then Alexia dares Basile to kiss Daphne for 5 whole seconds, because everybody knows he’s got a crush on her. Basile gets all flustered and does it. Daphne pretends to protest but Lucas thinks she secretly likes him back. ‘Daphy, your lipstick is a little smudged’ he jokes, looking at her with a grin on his face.Daphné smiles back but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes, instead she is looking mischievously, like she’s coming up with something Big. He feels something in the pit of his stomach. This can’t be good.‘Lucas,’ she pauses for dramatic effect, makes sure everybody is paying attention, ‘I dare you, to kiss on the lips, for 10 seconds, Eliott Demaury’He knows his face is burning up, just like he knows that Eliott is looking at him again, expectantly. One thing the booze managed to do for sure is make him question absolutely everything. For example: when did Eliott move this close to him again? And why is he not moving away?He turns around, feeling excited at the prospect of finally getting to feel Eliott’s lips against his own, but also a bit sad because it’s all a game. It’s not real. ‘We don’t have to’ Eliott whispers it so softly that Lucas almost thinks he is imagining it. ‘No, we do’ he manages to whisper back, before he puts an unsure hand on Eliott’s waist to keep himself steady. He licks his lips subconsciously and sees Eliott’s eyes fall down and follow his move, a small blush on his face. How is he going to do this without freaking them both out? Leaning in at a slow pace, he closes his eyes just before their lips meet, in a futile attempt to calm his nerves. If he didn’t know any better, he could swear he hears a soft sigh leave Eliott’s lips as soon as Lucas’ mouth brushes his. Eliott’s lips feel nothing like he imagined and yet so much better than he ever dreamed of. Lucas can’t help but think that a kiss has never felt that natural for him before, like they were meant to be doing this the whole time. Eliott’s right hand hovers in the air for just a second before Yann says: ‘…8, 9, 10. That’s it, guys. Good sports’ Yann is the only person who knows about Lucas’ crush on Eliott, and he shoots him a grateful half smile when he sees the look in Yann’s eyes, a look that says he doesn’t know whether stopping them was a good thing of not. Honestly, Lucas doesn’t know either. His hand falls from Eliott’s waist way too late, but luckily Eliott doesn’t seem to notice, or if he does, he doesn’t let it show. All of the sudden, the atmosphere has changed and the game is put on hold. A few people go for a smoke on the balcony, and the rest offers Yann to help clean the place up a bit. Before he knows what’s happening, Lucas and Eliott are alone in the living room. Even though he’s scared to look at him, he does it anyway. Eliott is playing with a loose thread or something in his lap and it’s making Lucas even more nervous than he already was, so he puts his hand on top of his to make him stop. Eliott stops moving and looks up at him, Lucas offers a wry smile:‘Sorry, your fidgeting was just a little bit too much to handle.’ He tries to pull his hand away again but Eliott captures his wrist. ‘I hope this didn’t make things weird or different between us now’‘No, don’t worry about it, Eliott. It was just a game’ As soon as the words fall out of his mouth, he knows that Eliott can tell he is lying.‘I mean. Do you wish I didn’t go through with it? Is that why you said we didn’t have to?’ he asks, just to have something to say and to hopefully distract Eliott enough to stop reading into things. Eliott shakes his head: ‘No, not at all. I do wish for something else, though’ Lucas waits for Eliott to continue talking, but Eliott stays quiet and lets his eyes wander over Lucas’ face, before they stop at his lips once more. This time, there is no mistaking it. Lucas takes a deep breath: ‘Oh yeah?’ he whispers, ‘what’s that?’ Eliott leans in and brushes a strand of hair out of Lucas’ face. The closer he gets, the faster Lucas’ heart starts beating in anticipation, like his body is aware of the fact that he is standing on a threshold and there is no turning back. This must be how people feel like when they are about to bungee jump, or skydive, or fall of a freaking cliff.Just before their lips meet, Eliott asks softly: ‘Is this okay?’ Lucas can’t answer fast enough: ‘Yes, please’ That’s all the encouragement Eliott seems to need, because Eliott is cupping his head and then they are kissing and it’s even better than before, Lucas’ arms have a mind of their own and have found their way back to Eliott’s waist. There’s more depth, like they are melting into each other, lips sliding to make room for one another, closer, closer, closer.When they finally break apart they both sound like they have run out of air. Lucas feels like he is dreaming.‘Well,’ he shakes his head, a small smile playing at his lips, ‘that was unexpected’ Eliott tips their foreheads together and laughs a little.‘It just didn’t feel right to only kiss you for 10 seconds.’ ‘I felt the same. I feel the same.’ Lucas doesn’t think he has ever felt this good before, this happy, and he leans again. ‘Wait,’ Eliott is looking at him with some concern: ‘Maybe this isn’t the smartest idea right now, I mean, they could come back any minute now’ He gestures vaguely with his head to the kitchen area, but Lucas just shakes his head: ‘So what. Let them. I just found out that my best friend wants to be kissing me just as much as I want to be kissing him, I don’t care what anyone else thinks.’ ‘Me neither. I’m still wrapping my own head around the fact that you like me back, though, I don’t know if I am ready to explain it just yet to anybody else.’ ‘Fair enough. I can’t believe it either’ ‘You want to get out of here soon? I think the party is pretty much over anyway’‘Sure, where do you want to go to?’Eliott raises his eyebrows and smiles at him:‘You’ll see’ And that’s fine by Lucas, because he thinks that he would follow Eliott to the end of the world and back, if he has to.

[if-you-built-yourself-a-myth]

Best Laid Plans

Eliott was the kind of boyfriend who remembered that he and Lucas were coming up on the nine-month anniversary of their first kiss. Also the kind that planned something for it. It was probably bad to admit, but when he’d gone home after kissing Lucas, he’d penciled in the milestone for each month and waited for the best time to spring the celebration. He couldn’t help it. Even then, something in him had known that Lucas was the last person with whom he’d ever fall in love. Now he could see the payoff in the not-so-distant future. Finally, he would get to give Lucas a small taste of the happiness that Lucas had given him in the Polaris tunnel so long ago. 

Yann and Basile told him they would be free to help that weekend. Arthur said something about a family dinner, and while Eliott didn’t believe a word of the excuse, he couldn’t help but smile when Arthur promised to come later and stay to clean up. Lucas had such great friends. Eliott’s uni friends actually took time out of their day to study on the weekends instead of hosting parties—the audacity! Yann chipped in beer money and Basile promised to get the girls in on the surprise.

Daphne, of course, couldn’t wait to plan something else. 

“He’s friends with Imane,” she ranted to Eliott over lunch at a café. “Imane could invite him out to study for something, and we could have the party then. He never questions Imane.”

“Where would she ask him to study?”

Daphne didn’t even flinch. “A restaurant. Somewhere nice but not fancy.” 

Eliott shrugged. “I kind of wanted to surprise him in the place where it happened.”

“Then you can take him there from the restaurant. After food.”

Eliott thought about the plan for a second. It seemed airtight. Now that he was on good terms with Idris, Sofiane, and the others, he’d had them over at his and Lucas’s apartment to hang out several times. They brought Imane with them, and she and Lucas would talk for hours. Lucas would follow Imane anywhere with no explanation. 

“What restaurant will he like?” he asked Daphne.

“That’s your job to decide,” she replied. “You’re his boyfriend.”

Even after almost nine months, hearing the word boyfriend in relation to Lucas and himself gave Eliott butterflies in his stomach. No one in the history of ever could be as lucky as he was. 

Pasta. Lucas was a pasta kind of guy. Imane would have to lead Lucas to a place that served pasta, and then everything from there on in would fall right into place. 

As Eliott and Daphne got up to leave the café, he pulled her into a hug. “Thank you for your help.”

Daphne made a pssh sound. “I live for this sort of thing,” she said. “If Basile had let me, I would have planned my own surprise party.” 

There was no doubt in Eliott’s mind she was speaking the truth.

-~-

“Any plans for Saturday?” Eliott tried to sound nonchalant as he stirred the eggs around in the pan. Lucas was probably too tired to pick up on any hints of what was to come, but he didn’t want to take any risks and ruin the surprise.

Lucas took another bite of his toast. “Going to study with Imane.”

“Here? Should I clean the living room?”

They both turned to look at their mess of a home. Eliott rented the apartment because it was close to his university campus, and it seemed fitting to ask Lucas to live with him. Manon needed her room to herself. Although several months had passed since the move, they had yet to remove all of Lucas’s odds and ends from cardboard boxes, which now littered the floor. It would be impossible to clear it all in a day or two.

“No.” Lucas shook his head. “Absolutely not here.”

“What’s so bad about here?”

“Nothing, but Imane spends enough time in this dump as is. Not here.”

Eliott removed the pan from the heat and scraped his culinary masterpiece onto two plates for Lucas and himself to enjoy. Without all the funky spices and desire to experiment, he really was a good cook. Also, Manon gave him lessons on how to make a few things before Lucas moved out. 

He handed a plate to Lucas. “I don’t know many places beyond here.”

“It’s some restaurant or something.”

Excellent, so the plan had fallen into place. Eliott didn’t need to know any more about the situation. As soon as he finished his eggs, he would text Daphne and thank her again for her planning skills. Then he’d text Imane and tell her he loved her for playing along. 

“I don’t know why it’s a restaurant,” Lucas continued. “We don’t go to restaurants normally.” He paused to grab a fork and swallow a bite of egg. “She’s using me as an excuse to eat pasta.” Even half asleep, he perked up in confidence at this theory. “She’s using me to eat pasta!”

“What an Imane thing to do.” 

“Yeah. Doesn’t matter though ‘cause Arthur and I are just gonna—” 

Eliott tuned out the next few words by accident. There were two days remaining. He had to focus too much on shooting a message to Yann, using only his left hand and making quite a few typos in the process. It was time to complete the itinerary.

-~-

goodgalimane: We’re on our way

goodgalimane: He’s making fun of me for wanting to go here

goodgalimane: @srodulv Come get your man

y4z4s: aww 

basile_simple: we’re set

daph.pink: ready when you are

thank you imane <3

Eliott waited at a booth near the back of the building. He’d thought about wearing a suit and tie for such an important event, except there would be booze and Lucas would most definitely be partaking. He didn’t want to get anything sloppy on a nice outfit. He wore his normal brown jacket, a t-shirt with a picture of Polaris’s constellation, cuffed blue jeans: nicer than usual, in a subtle way Lucas would love. The rest of his friends were dressed to the nines in a similar fashion. Each had put a lot of care into their outfit for the event. Basile wanted to go for the tux, and only Eliott’s veto had stopped him.

When Lucas arrived, Yann and Basile would join him and Imane at the table and claim to have been invited as well. They would chat for a little bit, order some food, and eat as per normal. After the meal, the boys would request dessert. Eliott would come over with the cake he’d baked with Manon that morning, and it would be party time. Everyone knew this portion of the master plan, even the waitstaff. They didn’t know about the box Eliott had in his hand. That part, he decided, would be better if it was a surprise for everyone involved. 

He turned the box over and over in his fingers. Feeling it made it real, and oh, how he loved that it was real. Nine months seemed about time for something like this, especially with Eliott and Lucas’s legendary chemistry. 

They would go to the Polaris tunnel after cake to continue the party with music and dancing. It was extra, Eliott knew it, but Lucas deserved something extra for all he had to put up with.

Eliott’s phone pinged again.

goodgalimane: guys, something’s up

Yann and Basile peaked around into Eliott’s booth, brandishing Yann’s phone between them as if Eliott could not see the message on his own. Eliott noted in passing that Yann still had a photo of Emma as his lock screen, even though they hadn’t even hooked up since July… to Eliott’s knowledge. He pushed their hands away.

manon.demissy: what did you do to him

goodgalimane: Nothing

goodgalimane: He’s out of it

So, tired, thought Eliott, even though he knew that couldn’t be the case. He’d talked to Lucas earlier, and the boy had been more awake than ever before. It was almost as if he’d had a newfound purpose in life. Eliott loved seeing Lucas smile like that. 

“Damnit, Lucas, let us plan one thing!” Basile faked a dramatic faint in his seat. “Give Daphne this one thing.”

“It’s really my thing,” said Eliott, not like it would change Basile’s sentiment on the subject. 

Yann leaned closer to Eliott. “He’s okay, isn’t he? She doesn’t mean he’s sick?”

“No, she doesn’t.” Eliott scrolled to refresh the chat for more messages. “I was with him this morning and he was fine. He told me he was going to do laundry, shower, and then see Arthur and chat about something.”

“He’s seeing Arthur today?”

“Yes, something important for school to talk about.” Eliott’s tone is brusque. “He took a few of our…” He trailed off.

Yann picked up on the realization. “Arthur knows about this, though, he wouldn’t…”

Basile sat back up in the chair. “He definitely would, if their talk was anything scientific.”

They all turned back to their screens as another message pinged through.

goodgalimane: ok it’s for sure. he’s drunk. 

-~-

Lucas teetered on his own feet as he entered the restaurant. While he didn’t have to lean on Imane for support, he looked like he should have a wristband as a fall risk. Every step brought a wobble. Even when Lucas was buzzed out of his mind, Eliott could appreciate the grace that seemed to carry him around; as unstable as they were, his movements melded together like fluid. 

His spiky hedgehog hair gave Eliott another idea for a drawing.

Imane did not look nearly as blissful as her charge. She walked in behind him and shot a death glare at Eliott.

“Did you know about this?”

Eliott pulled his hands back in surrender. “No!” Imane could be scary when she wished, though she probably was not as serious as she sounded. He loved her to death while never daring to cross her. 

“Someone had to have known. Look at him.”

The rest of the group abandoned their hiding places to see the cause of the commotion. Other patrons ducked down over their food and pretended not to listen in on the conversation. Lucas ran into a table.

Okay, maybe not much grace. 

Imane punched Eliott lightly on the shoulder. “You knew about this.” Her grimace turned into the hint of a smile.  “You son of a bitch.”

“I didn’t!”

The ambient noise in the restaurant settled into silence as the other customers became intrigued with whatever weird drama was unfolding around them. A woman at a table close to where Eliott had been sitting quit trying to hide that she was eavesdropping. She inclined her head towards Eliott. Lucas, meanwhile, remained oblivious to the fact his friends had been trying to surprise him. Eliott stood out of his sight line, and Lucas seemed to have dedicated most of his focus to an embroidered picture on the nearest tablecloth.

“Do you do these here?” he asked a waiter, speech so garbled he could be mistaken for a tourist rather than a native French speaker.

Eliott raised his voice a little so Imane could hear him better without having to get closer. “He went out with Arthur earlier, and they might have overdone it?” He could still save the surprise if he could keep out of sight long enough for Lucas to sit down and get something besides booze in his stomach. He wondered what stuff Arthur had to say that inspired something as celebratory as getting completely and totally hammered. 

“Overdone it?” Imane laughed, and forgot the surprise factor. Just as well; Lucas was a bit preoccupied and probably didn’t notice her walking over to Eliott. 

“Yeah, a little.”

“You should call Arthur and make sure he’s still alive. This is way overdone.”

Yes, Eliott would be calling Arthur as soon as they had Lucas sorted out. He was sure Arthur would have some logical explanation for Lucas’s condition, one that made such perfect sense that Eliott couldn’t even be mad about it. He’d still like to know. Arthur knew about the surprise tonight and the party afterwards. He should have picked a better morning to pump Lucas full of alcohol and send him away.

The plan should continue as established. “Let’s just keep with—” 

Lucas’s head shot up from where he’d been studying the tablecloth. His hair, almost gravity-defying, bounced as he did so. Fuck, he was so beautiful. Eliott didn’t realize he’d spoken the last sentence any louder than the previous ones.

“Eliott?” Lucas turned this way and that.

Yann and Basile looked over at Eliott eyes wide. This could have been a gesture of what-are-we-supposed-to-do, or one of how-does-he-know-you-by-a-four-word-unfinished-sentence, but either way the jig was up.

“What?” said Imane, spinning to face Lucas again.

“I heard Eliott.”

“Are you sure?”

“I know his voice. He talks a lot…” The last word of the sentence dragged like a pen rolling off a table. “So much. So much. Especially when we’re going ov—” He stopped short with a gag. The waitstaff stood helplessly at their positions, begging Eliott with their eyes to get his boyfriend out of here. They might have been in on the party in the beginning, before they saw Lucas. Now all bets were off. 

Split-second decisions must be made occasionally. Eliott made his way over to Lucas. He adored the way the smaller boy’s face broke into a grin when their eyes met. 

Lucas tried to pull him down into a kiss before losing his balance and nearly collapsing on the floor. “Baby, what are you doing here?”

Eliott caught him. “Out with your friends is all.”

“Were you following me?”

“They have good pasta here.”

This remark was funny, apparently. Lucas broke into a fit of hysterical laughter. A nearby customer signaled to a waiter. A complaint, no doubt. Eliott and Imane locked eyes, nodded at each other, and then Imane passed the command onto the others with a shake of her head in their direction. Lucas had to get back home. The party would have to wait for another day.

“We have to get you home,” Eliott said to Lucas. 

The other boy whined. “No, I just got here!”

“You’re in the West. C’mon, let’s go home. Bye, Imane.”

Eliott would have helped Lucas walk from the get-go, but his boyfriend waving him off like an annoying fly. “I can go by myself. I’ll go by myself, okay? Go by myself.” The statement inspired a new fit of giggling. 

He took two steps toward the exit, tripped over his own feet, and smacked into the glass door. Not hard enough to do any damage. At this point, the restaurant manager would be out to kick them from the premises at any minute, and no one would blame him. Eliott bent down, scooped up Lucas over his shoulder, and carried him outside. Even if he couldn’t have a huge dramatic party, at least he and his boy could make a huge dramatic exit.

-~-

Lucas splayed out on the bed like a starfish, eyes closed, back to the ceiling. The gentle rise and fall of his body let Eliott know he was still alive. Eliott stood outside the bedroom, looking in, and dialed Arthur’s number on his phone to get the full story. Daphne sent him a few messages he decided to ignore for the time being. The phone line rang once before Arthur answered. 

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Eliott said. “Did you see Lucas today?”

“Is he not with you guys?”

Something fell off the bed in the bedroom. Not Lucas, thank goodness, but the little crash was enough to make the sleeping boy shift around in the blankets.

“No, no, he’s here with me.”

“Oh, good.” Arthur paused. “Just you?”

“Yeah. He’s a bit out of it.”

Rustling on the other end. Perhaps Arthur was sitting up. He seemed to shush someone just far enough away that Eliott couldn’t hear who it was. Probably one of Arthur’s family members, from whatever event he’d said he needed to be at tonight instead of Lucas’s party. “Is he okay?”

“Just drunk.”

“Fuck, really drunk?”

Eliott shrugged, then remembered that Arthur couldn’t see him. “I don’t know,” he said into the receiver. “Drunk enough that we went home. I’m not upset, I just want to know if something was bothering him when he was with you, or if he was drinking too much. That sort of thing.”

“Oh, okay.” More rustling. This time, Eliott could make out the voice of a boy besides Arthur in the background, saying something about cooking dinner and getting a stain out of a sweatshirt. “He was fine when I saw him. Um. Nothing wrong. We may have had a few, but...”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eliott reassured him. From the anxiety on Arthur’s voice, he had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment than Lucas having a few too many. “Are you still planning on cleaning up tonight?” 

“He’ll be there!” called the male voice from the background. “He’ll—hey!” 

Arthur returned to the phone. “Yes, I’ll go. Lucas is a no-go, then, I take it?”

“We’ll see. Thank you.”

“Of course. Anything else I can do, just let me know.” He hung up the phone halfway through the last word. Eliott understood anyway, so no big deal.

 Eliott headed into the bedroom, moved Lucas’s body to one side of the bed, and lay down beside him. If he was angelic while awake, the effect doubled upon sleep. Lucas appeared to the world as an ethereal being from somewhere better and brighter than Earth, someone more beautiful than Eliott could ever imagine having wrapped up in the same comforter as himself. Nine months ago, his life had changed. He’d kissed the best person in the universe in the pouring rain.

“Baby?” Lucas mumbled, a sound that would never get old.

“I’m here,” he answered. 

“I love you.”

“Me too.” Eliott ran a hand through his boyfriend’s fluffy hair. “What did you talk about with Arthur?”

“I’m his guru.”

Eliott didn’t know what that was supposed to mean. No matter. He could ask at a later date, when Lucas was more awake than asleep and not riding the high of alcohol. “It’s a shame. You missed a very nice thing I had planned for today. A whole big party.”

“Party?”

“Yes, a party.” Eliott produced the box from his pocket again, holding it in between their faces on the pillow. “A party for a very special reason. Nine months, Lulu.”

Lucas scanned up and down the box in Eliott’s hands. “You were… proposing?”

“No,” Eliott whispered, half-laughing. He opened the box to a small picture of a Pomeranian puppy. “I was thinking we would get a dog. You and I, together, like you wanted.” Lucas barely reacted to the good news, his eyelids fluttering and fighting to shut. “But you’re not going to remember any of this, are you?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s fine. Means I can use it again.” He pressed a kiss to Lucas’s forehead, listening to his love’s soft breathes as he drifted off to sleep once more. Then Eliott turned back to his phone.

daph.pink: @srodulv can we still have the party?

daph.pink: i already invited people

basile_simple: it would be a shame not to have it now, wouldn’t it?

y4z4s: I already bought the booze

goodgalimane: It would make sense.

He laughed. Only Lucas’s squad would pull shit like this, celebrating the anniversary of a kiss without either of the people who kissed present. 

yeah, that’s fine. Have fun !

He closed out of the app and cuddled up against Lucas. This would be better than a party anyway.

[vexedtonightmares]

Hey! I love your writing and if you’re still taking prompts I would love a one shot about elu/le gang/the crew/idriss and sofiane all partying together!!! I loved seeing eliott happy to finally be with his best friend and I want to see how they all get along together!

Obliviously Idiotic  

Eliott and Lucas were the two biggest idiots Yann had ever seen. He meant that in a positive way, but it was true. Lucas had always been Yann’s number one idiot, but combined with Eliott their combined brain power fluctuated from fully intelligent to complete dumbassery within the span of a few seconds. It was sort of endearing, if he was being honest.

Every single party they went to Lucas and Eliott could be found out on the dance floor either making out or making everyone else die of secondhand embarrassment. Right now, it was the latter, though they were joined at the moment by Arthur and Basile, so the secondhand embarrassment wasn’t too bad. It was Emma’s birthday party, so he supposed their behavior wasn’t necessarily out of the norm, considering. Chloé sidled up beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder and following his gaze.

He never really knew how she would react to Lucas and Eliott being together, so he usually just avoided the topic at all costs, but they had all attended parties together many times. He looked down at her and saw her bite the corner of her lip. “What do you think about a double date?” she asked.

Yann narrowed his eyes. “What? With who?”

“Lucas and Eliott,” she answered as if it should have been obvious. Yann wasn’t sure if it was a trap or not, so he waited to respond. She laughed at his reaction, continuing, “He’s your best friend…”

“He’s also your ex-boyfriend,” Yann pointed out.

“Does that really count? It��s not like he had feelings for me,” she shrugged.

He paused. “This isn’t some roundabout way to get revenge or something, right? Because Lucas is my best friend.”

She laughed softly and nudged his shoulder. “Of course not! I’m way over that, I promise. They just look so happy together, and I figured it would make things less awkward between all of us in the future.”

Yann still wasn’t totally sure, but he relented, “I’ll ask Lucas.”

She grinned widely at him before pulling his face down into a small kiss. Yann glanced back at Eliott and Lucas when they broke apart. They really did look happy, and Yann was glad. Maybe a double date wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world, so long as Lucas could survive being in close proximity to her for hours on end.

The two boys were alone on the dance floor now, Basile talking to Daphné and Arthur looking horribly out of breath but smiling proudly. God, his friends really were massive idiots. Unfortunately for him or for them, he couldn’t help but love them.  

-----

Imane rolled her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day. She’d just wanted a chill, low key get together to celebrate Emma’s birthday, but it had turned into a full blown party. She was thankful Sofiane was there, otherwise she probably would have been stuck third wheeling the disaster that was Daphné and Basile. Maybe disaster was a little harsh, but their PDA deserved no other term.

The only couple whose PDA she could really tolerate was Lucas and Eliott, mostly because she had a soft spot for the both of them, but she would die before she told them that. They probably knew anyway given the fact she didn’t pretend to barf in her mouth every time they kissed for longer than the situation required. It was kind of cute, only because she then had a multitude of ways to blackmail Lucas if needed.

“Eliott and Lucas?” someone asked her, someone very familiar that was not Sofiane.

She turned to level Idriss with an amused stare. “What about them?”

“You were thinking about them, I could see it on your face.”

“If you haven’t noticed, they’re a little hard not to notice,” she said by way of explanation. He laughed loudly enough that Sofiane smirked a bit too himself. “That they are,” Idriss agreed solemnly.

“How have things been, with you and Eliott I mean?” Imane asked hesitantly. They hadn’t really talked about it much, though Eliott had shown up at her house a fair number of times and Idriss had disappeared to spend time with Sofiane and Eliott on multiple occasions.

“Trying to butt into my friendships now too?” Idriss joked.

Sofiane cut in, “I think she’s already done that.” He brushed the palm of his hand with his fingers to let her know he was joking. She could have figured that out without his gesture, but it was still sweet that he cared enough to do so.

Idriss raised his hands in surrender, sighing in exasperation. “She’s really rubbing off on you, huh? I mourn the boy I once knew, he was so kind…”

Sofiane laughed and nudged Idriss in jest, shrugging in a what can you do? kind of way. Imane cleared her throat, looking up at Idriss. He still hadn’t answered her. The Bakhellals were excellent at avoiding other people’s inquiries, but pit a Bakhellal against a Bakhellal and one would crumble.

“Things have been good, don’t worry,” he reassured her.

“I wasn’t worried, just curious,” she said defensively, “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m friends with Lucas, so if you and Eliott aren’t happy as clams, I have to hear about it.”

Idriss scoffed. “Oh, please, you’d love the opportunity to get dirt on me.”

She shook her head. “I’m not worried about you, dear brother. I have quite a soft spot for Eliott.”

Idriss couldn’t argue, and neither could Sofiane. “Don’t we all?” Idriss said.

“Lucas more than anyone,” Sofiane said with a smile, eyes back on the hot mess unfolding on the dance floor. Idriss shook his head at the two boys, sighing.

“I need a drink if I’m going to have to watch this all night,” he said, and Imane narrowed her eyes at him. He immediately backtracked. “Or soda? Soda sounds nice.”

“I don’t care what you do, Idriss, just don’t take it too far. I don’t need to worry about you passing out somewhere when I’m already worried about Lucas breaking his neck,” she told him seriously. He made a show of rolling his eyes before he walked off, but the smile that he gave her was reassuring. He listened to her, no matter how much he pretended otherwise.

“Have you seen Emma?” Alexia yelled to her suddenly, holding a giant drink in her hands.

Imane shook her head and turned to Sofiane, who did the same. Alexia sighed and set down the drink. “She’s probably off fucking Alex,” Alexia said in defeat, “Though she’ll later deny it.”

“Is something wrong?” Sofiane prompted and Alexia looked up in shock, as if she’d forgotten the two of them were standing right there.

She laughed and shook her head. “Oh, no, it’s just her birthday party and she is nowhere to be found, the ingrate.”

“At least we have Lucas and Eliott to soak up all the attention,” Imane reasoned and the three of them turned back to look at the couple on the dance floor. It looked like Lucas was attempting to… lift Eliott?

Sofiane leaned into Imane, whispering in her ear. “Do they know that this isn’t the Olympic Ice Dancing championship?”

She huffed out a small laugh, wincing as Lucas tried to flip Eliott over his back. “I’m not sure. Should we tell them?”

“Nah, let them do what they do,” Alexia interjected with grudging respect. “Honestly, props to them. No one else is even half as interesting, and here I thought we already had a couple with mad dance skills.” She looked between the two of them pointedly. Imane raised her eyebrows at Alexia with a smirk, but Sofiane immediately held out his hand to Imane.

“May I have this dance?” he asked, and who was she to deny the request? Plus, they could show Eliott and Lucas how dance was really meant to be done.

-----  

Manon couldn’t help but feel a surge of happiness whenever she saw Lucas and Eliott together. Granted, at the moment they were behaving like absolute idiots, but at least they were idiots in love. Over the last year she’d really begun to regard Lucas as family, and now Eliott was a part of that. It was hard not to love Eliott, really, and Lucas wholeheartedly agreed with her.

Watching him make a huge fool of himself on the dance floor, Manon was struck by how different Lucas was now to the boy she’d given her room because she and Mika had seen him struggling when no one else had. He hadn’t been Lucas before, not really, he’d just been a boy hiding inside of a boy waiting for Eliott to come and pull him out.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the appearance of Emma, who had disappeared from her own party for quite some time. “Guess where I just was?” Emma wiggled her eyebrows and Manon laughed quietly to herself, pretending to think it over.

“I don’t know where, exactly, but I’m sure Alex does,” Manon answered, nudging Emma playfully. Emma laughed and leaned her head on Manon’s shoulder.

“You might be right.”

Manon turned her head and looked down to meet Emma’s eyes. “I thought you two were over?”

Emma shrugged. “We decided to give it another chance. First he wasn’t all in, then I wasn’t, then we started hooking up again, so we just talked about it and here we are.”

“I’m happy for you?” Manon said hesitantly, raising one eyebrow. Emma laughed and checked her with her hip.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Manon just shrugged and gestured to the dance floor. “I mean, you’re no Lucas and Eliott, but Emma and Alex has promise.”

Emma took a sip of her drink, laughing. “Don’t remind me, Lucas only rubs it in my face every chance he gets. He says it’s payback for all the PDA he had to suffer when Yann and I dated.”

“Didn’t he—?” Manon started, thinking back to what Emma had confided in her one drunken night a while ago.

Emma was still watching Lucas and Eliott execute what they thought were dance moves. Oh dear God please tell me Lucas isn’t about to attempt to launch himself from Eliott’s shoulders. “Yeah. But I forgave him for that a long time ago. I mean, I did cheat on Yann, and I suppose I probably would have done the same if someone had cheated on you, or any of the crew. Maybe for different reasons, but Yann is still his best friend, and I know the lengths we go to for our best friends.”

Manon smiled to herself. She was always taken aback a bit, in a good way, when reminded of her close friendships with Emma and the rest of the girls. They had their ups and downs for sure, some of them that she herself had contributed to greatly and was still trying to make up for, but she loved them all like they were a part of her, and she was working on showing them that more effectively.

“But don’t go telling Lucas I’m over it,” Emma added, “I plan to milk favors out of him for as long as I can.”

Manon returned her attention to Emma, glancing back at Lucas briefly. Neither of them were dead, so that was promising. “You know what? I don’t think he’d do favors for you out of guilt anymore.” Emma raised her eyebrows, smile saying sure, Manon.

“I’m serious! I mean, I’m sure he still feels guilty for that whole situation, but he’s seen how much better you are without Yann, how much better Yann is without you— don’t give me that look, you know I’m right— and he’s become better himself. He’s happy, and I think he wants to share that happiness with as many people as he can.” Obviously, Manon didn’t live inside Lucas’ head, didn’t share his thoughts, but she knew him well enough to know that what she said was true. It was a beautiful thing, really. He deserved to be happy, and to share it wherever and whenever he could.

-----

“Why won’t Daphné dance with me like that?” Basile whined in Arthur’s ear. Daphné had gone to the bathroom five minutes ago and, though Arthur loved his friend, those minutes were beginning to eat into his sanity.

“Do you really want Daphné to dance with you like that?” Arthur tipped his head to the side, squinting his eyes. From the looks of it, the dancers in question, Lucas and Eliott, were doing some sort of Irish jig mixed with… a waltz? Ballet? If they weren’t so obliviously in love, Arthur might have called them on it, or at the very least made jokes at their expense.

That was a lie, he loved both Lucas and Eliott too much to even consider it. With Yann, Basile, and Lucas all in relationships he’d been relegated to seventh wheel and cheerleader, but if he was being honest, he didn’t mind it. How could he not love his friends in love?

“I miss Daphné so much,” Basile sighed to his right. Arthur snorted. Ok, maybe sometimes his friends were annoying when they were in love.

Yann, unsurprisingly, was the least annoying, though Lucas would probably argue that one. Yann and Chloé were a serious but casual couple, a dynamic that worked well for them. There was some sort of trust built in to their relationship that Arthur knew from Lucas hadn’t been there in Yann’s previous relationships. Arthur had always liked Chloé, so he didn’t mind spending extra time with her when she accompanied Yann places.

Basile was the most annoying, but such was his personality that it didn’t seem as annoying sometimes. Arthur had listened to Basile whine about loving Daphné for so long that, when they’d actually started dating, it was hard not to be happy for him.

Lucas, well, Lucas was a whole other story. He wasn’t annoying per se, though that might have had a lot to do with Arthur loving Eliott and the two of them together. If Lucas was like this with anyone other than Eliott, yeah, he’d win the most annoying award for sure. Instead, he was actually quite endearing.

That didn’t mean Arthur didn’t notice the fact that Lucas silently begged Eliott for kisses every two seconds or how a group outing with the five of them suddenly turned into a Lucas and Eliott couples photoshoot, quite the contrary. It just meant that when these things happened Arthur rolled his eyes out of love, not genuine annoyance. Plus, if anyone deserved to be obnoxiously out and proud and in love, it was Lucas.

“There you are!” Daphné exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Basile.

Basile furrowed his brows. “We’ve been standing here the whole time you’ve been gone.”

Arthur noticed that Daphné’s eyes were a little glassy, but not dull with the haze of alcohol. Whatever was occupying her mind definitely didn’t have to do with drinking a bit too much, which was good, but it still meant that there was something on her mind. He didn’t think it was his place to ask her about it right then, but he made a mental note to make sure everything was all right before the night was out.  

“Right, right,” Daphné said, laughing unconvincingly. She turned to Arthur. “Do you mind if I steal Basile for a dance?”

“He’s all yours,” Arthur said with a grin, watching as they walked away. Most everyone was dancing now, the song was slow and beautiful and required the type of love his friends were lucky to have in their lives.

He stood on the outskirts, watching it all but not necessarily wanting to participate. Truly, he was content being a seventh wheel.

-----

“You know they’re all watching us right?” Eliott said, breath tickling Lucas’ face.

“Who?” Lucas looked around, attention drawn back into his boyfriend when he heard Eliott’s soft laugh.

Eliott’s eyes were full of light and laughter. “Everyone.”

It was true, in his single glance around the room Lucas had met the slightly exasperated gazes of most of his friends. Sofiane and Imane were the only ones who seemed to be off in their own world, dancing slowly in tune with the rhythm of the music.

“I love this song,” Eliott sighed, pulling Lucas back in closer to him, one hand on his back, the other clasped and held aloft, like they were dancing at their wedding. Lucas blushed furiously to himself at the thought, turning his head and pressing it against Eliott’s chest so he couldn’t see.

Thoughts like these popped up randomly, and it was hard not to let them scare him sometimes. Did he think he was going to, someday, marry Eliott? Yes. One hundred percent. But he was still young, they both were, and they had their whole lives to think about getting married, being married, and whatever would come after.

Right now, they could just enjoy this song, sink into each other’s arms and pretend the rest of the world and what was supposed to come next didn’t exist. He had never heard this song before but, hearing Eliott sing along to it softly while they danced, it had the potential to be a favorite of his.

“Can this be our first dance song at our wedding?” Eliott asked casually, still swaying idly. Lucas looked up sharply, trying to ascertain whether Eliott was serious or not, or if he had been reading Lucas’ mind.

His eyes were full of love, or maybe Eliott just was love himself. Lucas found himself smiling earnestly. He could try, for a moment, not to let the future scare him, especially when Eliott wasn’t scared. “I thought it would be ‘I Love You’?”

Eliott considered this. “Second dance?”

“Is that a thing?” Lucas laughed.

Eliott shrugged and pulled Lucas back into his chest. “We can make it a thing. You know those fundraisers where you can’t stop dancing until you raise all the money?” Lucas tipped his head back up again and raised his eyebrows.

“No,” he said, “I don’t think that’s a thing either.”

“Shut up it totally is,” Eliott said through a bout of giggles. He continued. “My point is, that’s what we’ll do for our wedding. No one can stop dancing—”

“Until they shower us in money?” Lucas interjected.

“No. Though that’s not a bad idea…” he broke off and pressed his forehead into Lucas’ hair, the two of them unable to contain their hushed laughter. “I was just going to say no one can stop dancing until we tell them to stop.”

Lucas still wasn’t sure if he could drop casual references to things Eliott said while he was having an episode into conversations afterward, but he couldn’t stop himself from adding, “So, all our guests will have to eat is ham and crisps and then they’ll be forced to dance until we allow them to stop? This wedding will be one for the history books, that’s for sure.”

To his relief, Eliott laughed harder. “Or maybe I’ll surprise you and we’ll go to America and get married by Elvis in Las Vegas.”

Lucas shrugged, looping his arms around Eliott’s shoulders. “I don’t care what we do, as long as we do it together.”

“Ah, so the soundtrack can be exclusively dubstep, then?” Eliott grinned victoriously, and Lucas’ eyes widened immediately.

He shook his head fervently. “No, no, no, I promise we can do whatever you want as long as there’s no dubstep.”

Eliott pretended to pout before resting his forehead against Lucas’. “Fine, but only because you’re so cute when you go into defensive hedgehog mode.”

“Shut up!” Lucas leaned up to kiss the stupid grin off Eliott’s stupidly beautiful face. “I love you.”

They both pulled each other closer instinctively, breathing in each other’s scents that had somehow mingled to be lucasandeliott rather than Lucas and Eliott. “I love you, too,” Eliott answered without hesitation.

When they kissed, no matter how many of their friends were watching, it felt like they were the only two people in the world.

[raccoonwritings]

I’ve Booed You

Haunted House AU: Part 1 of 3

This is pure fluff and indulgence, I promise.

What happens when two pining idiots have to work together on a haunted house? Injuries, flirting, and wooing, apparently. Cue intervention by the girl squad. 

If anyone were to ask Lucas about who he blames for this, he’d say Daphy. Honestly, he’d probably also throw Manon in there too. If anyone were to ask Lucas’ friends who they blamed for this, they’d say him. Lucas just can’t win in this universe, can he?

To explain things a bit further, Lucas was roped in by his friends to help organize, design, and run a haunted house for their sorority’s fall fundraiser. How did they rope him in you ask? They blackmailed him by providing the information that they were not only friends with his crush on Facebook, but also talked to him multiple times a week. Lucas was pretending not care about it, even though his heart was pounding and he knows where the conversation is going. The bottom line was that either Lucas helps them with the haunted house or that they tell Eliott DeMaury that Lucas Lallemant has a big, fat crush on him. Lucas was not about have to that. He would much rather be embarrassed working at a haunted house on Halloween then letting the world’s cutest guy know he has a crush on him. He hasn’t even had a chance to talk to him one on one, the last thing he needs is for Eliott to completely disregard him before he can flirt or talk or stare.

So that’s how he ends up here, inside of a dramatically decorated fraternity house that the girls have managed to coerce frat guys into letting them use it. Lucas knows how good Imane is at scaring the shit out of guys, so it doesn’t surprise him that they caved easy. He appreciates Imane with every fiber of his being; she is a great friend and support system, but she, sometimes, scares the living shit out of him.

Daphy, on the other hand, is perky and ecstatic about the use of the house, as per usual, is oblivious to the advances the frat guys have made on her. She has a girlfriend though, so Lucas highly doubts that she cares. Maybe she’s purposefully ignoring them, but either way he admires her.

She’s the first one to greet him when he arrives, smiling and giving him a big hug and a kiss on each cheek, the same way she did when he came out. The respect he has for the girls is immense and he wouldn’t have been able to come out to the guys without the support all the girls gave him first. Even Emma, who discovered that he had wiggled his way in between her and Yann when they first met. He’d apologized profusely, stating how sorry he was for everything and that he didn’t want to hurt her at all, and she gave him a small hug and a pat on the back and told him it was water under the bridge. These girls are the best.

The haunted house actually looks rather impressive, Lucas thinks. The decorations that Alexia did are well done and the atmosphere gives an intense, spoopy vibe. He likes it. All the hard work that was put in over the past several months is falling into place. Now he can’t say that he has done much other than lift and carry things, but then again, he doesn’t think that the girls would want creative advice from him. He wasn’t the most artistic person, but he had muscle and could carry the heavy things the girls couldn’t. He likes to think that he’s contributed some of his primary assets to the creation of this fundraiser.

Tonight was the dress rehearsal, Lucas is told by some girl he doesn’t know, but apparently she’s a friend of Daphy’s. All the actors are coming in in full costume and they had a group of people waiting to be the test participants. In order to gain the most money possible, the girls had decided to make it as scary as possible, as well as interactive and different on each walk around. The instructions given to the actors were intense, Lucas hears, but luckily he’s not one of them, except he was informed that he will be a tour guide for groups when the house officially opens which he’s not particularly looking forward too. He truthfully just hopes that Eliott isn’t in any of the groups he leads because he knows he’ll get shell-shocked.

Manon guides him through the haunted house to the section he’s helping in for the rest of the night before having to be trained to be a tour guide. Apparently, he’s working in the ghost section and it’s not that he has a problem with that, it’s just that from what he overheard earlier, most of the ghosts are going to be guys in the fraternities on campus. Lucas tries his hardest not to stigmatize them, but considering the amount of gay jokes he’s heard from them, he’d rather be anywhere else than with them. Lucas checks his instructions and it says he’s been partnered with ghost #7 – ED. Alright, he just had to help one person with their makeup and costume fitting and give them feedback on their performance and tonight would be over. He takes a deep breath. Ed doesn’t sound like too dickish of a name, so maybe he’ll be alright.

Lucas checks his phone while he waits for the actor, Ed, to arrive. After mindlessly scrolling for what seems like ages – when in actuality it’s only a few minutes – he hears Manon’s voice direct someone towards his section. He looks up and freezes. Eliott Demaury is walking over towards him, holding what Lucas assumes is his costume, in his hands. From Lucas’ position, Eliott can’t see him and Lucas is rapidly debating whether or not he should make a run for it. He decides yes, he’s going to and there’s an exit right behind him. He turns and starts for the door when he hears Eliott call his name. His cheeks are red instantly and he wishes he could hear Eliott say his name all the time because his voice is deep and beautiful and Lucas needs to stop.

“Manon, I don’t think he’s back here. I don’t see him,” Eliott yells back to Manon, who comes rushing over.

“He was just hear a minute ago, I’m sure he’s arou-“ She stops herself mid thought. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He doesn’t know how, but she knows he’s attempted a breakout. He continues through as quickly and quietly as possible, except he’s not free from Manon’s wrath.

“LUCAS!” Fuck. “Are you serious right now? You’re actually trying to leave when you haven’t helped Eliott at all yet?” She pulls on his hood, so he has to stop moving.

“Manon, I can’t…”

“Yes you can, Lucas. He’s just a person. Yes, drunk you may have explained that you can’t because he’s and I quote ‘the prettiest person’ you’ve ever seen and you want to ‘kiss his face off’,” Lucas groans at his former self and mentally takes a note to go back in time and stop him from getting drunk around her, “but you are more than capable of fitting his costume and doing his rehearsal makeup, okay?” She doesn’t wait for an answer, she just starts walking back towards Eliott with her grip still snatched around his sweatshirt hood. He lets out an exaggerated sigh and reluctantly follows her back to where Eliott is stood, already having changed into his white flowing pants.

Lucas gulps, because the fabric shows everything, and he’s fairly certain that Eliott isn’t wearing any underwear. He’s also shirtless. Lucas’ crush is standing in front of him shirtless and commando underneath a flimsy piece of fabric and his mind is short circuiting, Eliott eventually notices him standing like an idiot and taking in the view.

“Lucas! Hey!” He smiles as he turns his whole body for Lucas to view. His muscle is on display and Lucas wants to be pinned up against the wall and held there by his arms. No! He has to shake himself out this stupor or else Eliott will think he’s a freak.

“Huh-hi!” He responses eloquently, adding a little awkward wave and already wanting to punch himself in the face. Smooth, Lallemant, smooth.

Eliott laughs to himself. Lucas really likes that laugh. “Can you help me with my costume? I don’t think it fits right.” He scratches the back of his head.

Oh, right, Lucas is supposed to be costume fitting him. He picks up his little kit and walks over to him, trying to avoid looking at his chest, which is wonderfully toned. Fuck, Eliott’s pretty. Drunk him is right.

“What do you, uh, need help with?” He asks, hoping Eliott doesn’t say his pants.

“My pants. I think they’re a little too big. The fabric is too long and I trip a bit over it. Could you pin it I guess?” He questions, meeting Lucas’ eyes.

Honestly, Lucas thinks the world has to be laughing at him. Not only is his crush standing here right in front of him, with nothing but a loose sheet separating Lucas from his dick, but Lucas has to make the sheet fit better? Come on. “Yeah, sure,” he gulps. He extracts a clothespin from his kit and decides to fix the length first, so he can steady his breathing. Taking two pins on each leg, Lucas gathers the fabric and adjusts it so Eliott can walk properly without tripping on it.

“Alright, all fixed! Ready to move on to makeup?” Lucas says, moving past the ‘my pants are too loose’ problem and hoping Eliott will forget about it as well. Lucas’ poor, fragile heart stutters when Eliott doesn’t.

“Um, actually, the pants are still a little bit too loose up top, around the waist.” He gestures to the waistband, which does look a little too big for Eliott’s slim waist and Lucas is trying to figure out what he can do to avoid having to touch the skin. He grabs a hold of another pin and begins to graze along the hem of the pants to gather the fabric together. After successfully doing one, he realizes the other side is too loose when Eliott points it out and he slowly adjusts the other side as well, trying not to notice how it made the front of his pants a little tighter around his crotch. He focuses incredibly hard on just getting through the next several seconds of his life when Eliott makes it much harder.

“You’re cute when you concentrate,” he smiles down at him, causing Lucas to blush and lose his focus and his grip on the pin. “Youch!” Eliott jumps up a bit.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Lucas apologizes. He’s so embarrassed, but also Eliott called him cute?

“Gosh, I compliment you and you stab me. Is that your way of flirting? If it is, let me tell you is isn’t very effective.” Wait, was Eliott flirting with him?

It takes a few seconds for Lucas to slow his mind down enough to realize that Eliott was beginning to bleed through his pants. He apologizes again before rushing over to Manon in need of first aid supplies and having to explain the entire situation – that he stabbed his crush in the leg with a clothespin because flirting was happening and now needed first aid supplies because said crush as now bleeding through his costume pants.

Manon flat out laughs. “Lucas, you are a disaster.” She hands him a mini first aid kit and boy doesn’t he know that information already. He walks back over to Eliott and goes to clean up the small puncture wound. It’s only then that he realizes he has to pull down the waist of the sheet pants to get to it.

“Um, I have to pull the waistband down a bit, is that alright?” He inquires tentatively.

“That’s alright.” Eliott smiles at him once again and Lucas nervously goes to clean the blood. Luckily, it isn’t to close to the dreaded area, so Lucas should be pretty safe. He gathers some gauze, disinfectant, and a band aid and takes the necessary steps until Eliott is all bandaged up. As Lucas is about to put on the band aid, he hears Eliott say something that halts his progress.

“You know, this wasn’t exactly how I anticipated you pulling down my pants.”

[kissjane]

OH NO THEY WERE ROOMMATES / Very much unshort fic

#14 from this prompt list (I had to scroll waaaay down to get this link...)

Listen, for some reason these last few prompts from the list don’t wanna play nice. I have no idea whether this is any good, but at least it’s finished. I’ll settle for it at this point. Five to go!

We’re roommates but we’re falling for each other

It had started as a quick white lie, to get the boys off his back. They kept pushing him to go talk to any boy who looked at him a bit too long, or to give his number to basically any barista or waiter ever, or to go on a blind date with Basile’s cousin.

So Lucas had told them he had a thing going with his roommate.

Which was definitely not true.

But not because Lucas didn’t want to.

He’d had a crush on the handsome boy since he met him when he first came to look at the apartment with Manon. It wasn’t the biggest one he’d seen, nor the cheapest, but it had, well, other advantages, so to speak, so Lucas had been quick to co-sign the lease. If Manon suspected his reasons, she hadn’t said anything – but she had smiled when Lucas had come up with his fib.

Sadly, his fantasies of cooking together with his roommate, watching movies cuddled up on the couch, and slowly falling in love, had turned out to be a pipe dream. Eliott was mostly in his room. On occasions, he liked to blast dubstep. Lucas had soon figured out that the dubstep meant that Eliott was, uh, entertaining. The number of girls Lucas had walked in on early in the morning, before his first coffee, was staggering, and had quickly led to him putting up all his vague romantic ideas of his roommate.

But by the time Lucas was forced to come to the sad conclusion that the cutest boys were always straight, he’d already kinda committed to the story he’d told his friends, and so now he was stuck with it.

So every time he fantasized about another domestic moment of fluff with Eliott, he told himself it was for a good purpose. The girls were always bugging him for details about what he and his roommate were up to. They had declared them to be made for each other, and the discussions about their ship name were still in full vigor with no hint of them losing interest any time soon.

So Lucas provided.

He and Eliott had cooked pizza from scratch together, getting covered in flour, and accidentally setting off the smoke alarm because they were too busy making out to pay attention to the oven. Lucas ignored Emma’s eager question as to whether they had showered together to get rid of the flour dust.

Another time, he and Eliott had gone grocery shopping together, and Eliott had spun the cart on which Lucas had been standing so fast Lucas had fallen off, luckily into a pile of cardboard boxes. He’d still made Eliott kiss it better on each and every faint bruise as soon as they’d gotten home.

Or the time when they had held a Star Wars marathon, arguing about who was sexier, the young Han Solo or Dameron Poe, when Eliott had turned off the tv and complained Lucas was forcing him to compare a bunch of actors, when Eliott clearly had the sexiest boy of all in his arms.

The girls cooed at every concoction he fed them. In all honesty, it became hard for Lucas to remember none of this had actually happened – until the next scantily clad girl tiptoed through the hall on the way to the bathroom, bleary faced from the lack of sleep.

So after a few months of happy bliss, Lucas felt he had no choice but to break things off with Eliott. It became pretty painful to come up with lovey-dovey tales, and his fantasies were more and more often getting into… less family-friendly territory, which he wasn’t about to share with everybody.

His friends were a bit astonished at the news, and Lucas supposed it was weird, since he never even hinted at any trouble in paradise, but he shrugged it off, saying it was amicable, a joint decision, and he wasn’t even going to move out.

The downside was obviously that, after a few wonderful weeks of peace and quiet when everybody was coming around to the end of Lucas’ first relationship, Basile’s cousin came back into the picture.

Lucas tried to hold off, but he had no excuses left. And anyway, Eliott was playing dubstep almost every night, although Lucas hadn’t really encountered any pretty girls lately, and it grated Lucas’ nerves. It was time to admit he would never have Eliott, all his beautiful daydreams notwithstanding, so he might as well give somebody else a chance.

So he went out with Marc a few times. He was kind, and he had grey eyes, which Lucas recently discovered he had a thing for, so that was a plus. He was also a bit boring, and he tutted at Lucas disapprovingly when the latter tried to ride the bus without validating his ticket, but other than that, he was pretty okay.

And that’s how he found himself on the couch in his flat one evening. Marc and he had watched a movie – Lucas had nixed Marc’s suggestion of Star Wars vehemently – to the soft background music of dubstep coming out of Eliott’s room. It had been weird at first, but it had grounded Lucas somehow �� Eliott was never going to be interested, and it was best if he remembered that and didn’t forget that Marc was here, and rather into him if the heated make-out session they were currently engaged in was to be believed.

Neither he nor Marc noticed the sudden appearance of Eliott in the living room, until the later coughed apologetically.

“Uh, sorry… I didn’t realize you had, uh, company, Lucas,” he stammered.

Lucas immediately let go of Marc, and blushed, then mentally berated himself. Eliott himself probably had a girl in his bed, so why would Lucas not be allowed to bring anybody over?

“Uh, y-yeah, no big deal,” he said, as soon as his vocal cords functioned again. “Uh, Marc, this is Eliott, my roommate. Eliott, this is Marc, my – uh…”

“Lucas’ boyfriend,” Marc cut in, a bit smugly. They’d never discussed their status, but Lucas supposed Marc had just made it clear where he was standing. He didn’t know how he felt about it.

Eliott stared at the two of them, his eyes wide. Lucas didn’t know what was going on.

“Uh, is this – is this a problem? We could go to my room, if you want…”

He hoped the problem wasn’t that he had brought home a boy. He realized he’d never talked with Eliott about his sexuality.

Eliott seemed to be slapped out of whatever daze he’d been in.

“Oh! Oh, no,” he quickly replied. “Please, it’s no problem at all. I’ll just… grab a drink and leave you guys, then… Bye, uh, Martin?”

“Marc,” Marc answered pleasantly, pulling Lucas close.

Lucas watched Eliott retreat into the kitchen – he whipped his eyes away as soon as he realized they were trained on the other boy’s ass in his tight jeans – and then returned his close-lipped smile when he passed them again on the way back to his room. The volume of the dubstep was turned on fractionally, and Marc wanted to continue the heavy petting, but somehow, Lucas wasn’t really into it, and though Marc clearly was angling for an invitation to spend the night, Lucas didn’t extend one.

He said goodnight to Marc, and went to his room. He sat still on his bed, his knees pulled up, his arms around himself, wondering how on earth he had gotten himself in this situation. Maybe he needed to move out anyway. It was clear his crush on Eliott, stupid and one-sided as it was, hadn’t died, and maybe it wouldn’t as long as he lived here.

A knock on the door brought him back into the here and now.

At his “Yes?”, the door opened, and Eliott stood right at the threshold, his hands wrung together.

“Uh, Lucas, I was wondering… Uhm, please don’t take this the wrong way, but, uh… I thought about earlier, and maybe, if it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle, I would indeed prefer it if you went to your room with your, uh, boyfriend in the future.”

The last words came out in a rush, and Lucas wondered if he heard them right.

“Excuse me?”, he uttered, painfully polite.

Eliott mumbled the same sentence as before, this time so low Lucas had to strain to hear it, but there was no doubt Eliott was actually saying what he thought he had been saying.

“Are you saying I can’t bring a guy over to my own flat, that I pay rent for, unless I go to my room with him? What the actual fuck?”

Eliott blushed.

“It’s just… You don’t have to, obviously, but maybe it would be easier for both of us…”

Lucas glared.

“Easier for both of us? How do you figure that, exactly?”

“I mean, you wouldn’t have to worry about me walking in on you…”

“I wouldn’t have to worry about that?” Lucas really was upset. Just because Eliott wasn’t interested in him, didn’t mean he had to be such a douchebag about other guys maybe being so. “Are you sure it’s not just about you? Your straight innocent eyes can’t handle two guys making out, is that it?”

A blush appeared on Eliott’s cheeks, and Lucas deflated. So Eliott was indeed uncomfortable with the idea. The moving out plan became more and more alluring by the minute.

It was silent for a long beat, and then Eliott spoke up, enunciating clearly.

“I’m not straight.”

“Huh? Don’t give me crap. I’ve seen most of your one-night stands. Very female, the lot of them.”

“Yeah, I know…” Eliott chuckled a bit self-deprecatingly. “I’m pan, though. I’ve been with guys too, just not…recently.”

In all honesty, the Lucas of a few months ago would have been elated to hear this. Right now, however, it was more a question of adding insult to injury. So Eliott was into other boys, just not into Lucas. It was this epiphany that drove him to bitterness.

“Yeah, well. At least girls have been doing it for you, then.”

“What? What do you mean?” Eliott sounded genuinely confused.

“All the dubstep. Have you even spent one night alone this month?”

When Eliott froze, Lucas almost wanted to take back his words. Eliott didn’t owe him any accountability.

“Uh, I’m sorry about the dubstep. I haven’t been seeing anybody for a while, but I… I kinda kept playing the music. I don’t know why.”

He was not looking at Lucas as he spoke, and he fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt.

“Oh. Well, it’s none of my business anyway, so, uh –”

“What if I wanted it to be?”

Silence.

“What?”

“What if I wanted it to be your business?”, Eliott repeated. He sounded unsure, but he stared straight at Lucas.

Lucas didn’t answer, sitting on his bed open-mouthed. What was Eliott trying to say? The other boy took a deep breath, and gingerly sat down next to Lucas, far enough not to touch him, but close enough to feel his warmth.

“I, uh, I brought over only girls recently because there was this one boy I was trying to get out of my head. And when that didn’t work, I didn’t want him to suspect anything so I kept playing music. It’s stupid, I know.”

Whoa. Lucas tried to unpack all of that in a logical manner, but he failed spectacularly.

“You played dubstep so I would think you had a girl over?”

Eliott nodded.

“And you brought only girls home because…”

“Because boys weren’t doing it for me, not when they weren’t you. Not that the girls were working out, either.”

There was honesty and vulnerability in his voice, and in his eyes.

“But why… why didn’t you just talk to me? You avoided me all the time… We hardly ever even spoke before now…”

“I know. I just, I crushed so hard on you, from the moment you came to see the flat. But I had no idea you were into guys… I thought the girl you were with was your girlfriend. You two seemed so affectionate.”

“Oh, uh, no, she’s one of my best friends, and an ex-roommate, actually. But I’m gay, so, uh…”

Eliott sighed.

“Yeah, I figured that out now. And it sucks, because maybe, if I had just made a move sooner… But it doesn’t matter. You have a boyfriend, and I’ll have to learn to live with that.”

Oh crap. Lucas had forgotten all about Marc.

“I wouldn’t call it that… We went out a couple of times… Mostly because it seems I was applying your tactic to try to get over a certain somebody I was crushing on… Somebody I too thought was straight, what with all the girls he was bringing home…”

He let his words die off, looking at Eliott.

It took him a few seconds, but then he turned towards Lucas, shifting slightly closer. Their legs touched, and it burned Lucas through Eliott’s jeans and his sweatpants.

“So, uh, if that guy promised not to bring over any girls anymore, could you be persuaded not to see Marc anymore?”

Lucas pretended to mull it over.

“Maybe if he also promised he won’t play dubstep if I ever end up in his bed, I think I could be, yes.”

Eliott laughed.

“I won’t have to play anything if we stay in your bed.”

And that sounded like a perfect compromise, so Lucas toppled Eliott and pressed their lips together.

[she-is-tim]

I love hating you | Elu enemies to lovers AU | Ch.9

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6.5, 7, 8

Lucas is an angry, closeted and frustrated gay teenager, while Eliott is the handsome, smart and popular guy in school. They hate each other… but not forever.

My life is better with you in it

Lucas came home from the grocery store with Manon, finding Eliott playing video games with Mika on the couch. He smiled and put down the bags in the kitchen for the girl to take care of it, joining them. Both guys were so into the game that they didn’t noticed him arriving. He just used his chance to just glance at them lovingly. Eliott seemed so carefree, playing around with his idiot flatmate. He even laughed, looking years younger than he actually was. Lucas leant against the wall, then he cleared his throat, bringing the boys attention to him. 

“Hey guys.” he said softly, looking at his boyfriend lovingly. 

Eliott immediately put down his controller, leaving the game to get up and walk to Lucas, bright smile appearing on his face. He totally ignored the whining Mika was doing because he just left him play alone. He was wearing a bordeaux shirt that belonged to Lucas and grey sweatpants. All that looked lovely on him and made Lucas feel like a beloved boyfriend.

“Hey” he said happily, standing just a feet apart from the other.

“I can see that you’re having fun.” the short boy said on a soft voice.

“Yes, but I still missed you.” Eliott said, putting his hands on Lucas’ face now, kissing him slowly. “How was the shopping?” 

“We got everything we needed.” he shrugged, shooting heart eyes towards his beloved tall boy. “She said we can use her room tonight, since she will be sleeping at Emma’s place.” he said smirking, Eliott’s face lit up in a second.

“Oh really?” he asked excitedly. 

“Yeah, but I had to promise that we will use my bedsheet and not hers.” Lucas chuckled and wrapped his arms around Eliott’s waist. 

“I can deal with that.” he said, rubbing his nose to Lucas’ happily. “Also Lucille will leave tomorrow afternoon, so we can finally go to my place to have more privacy.” he added smirking, licking the boy’s bottom lip seductively. Lucas made a squeaky noise and felt the heat crawling up on his face. 

“Oh, really?” 

“Jesus, guys. You’re making me so sick!” Mika said suddenly, bursting out their happy little bubble with his rudeness. “You two are the cheesiest, most disgustingly romantic couple I’ve ever seen.” he said, making a weird face which made Lucas roll his eyes at him. 

“Shut up, Mika. You are the one showing naked guys on Grindr to your flatmates every saturday.” he said with just a handfull of salt in his voice. 

“There’s no need to be so mean to each other.” Eliott said softly, looking at Mika and then at his boyfriend, caressing his cheeks with his thumbs. “We will take over Manon’s room once she left.” he looked into those bright blue eyes and smiled fondly. Lucas felt like he’s melting into Eliott’s arms, it was still so unbelieveable to have a boyfriend like him. 

“We could go out, it’s still early.” he suggested suddenly. “The boys just texted me that they are at the park, we could meet up with them.” 

“You want me to meet your friends?” Eliott raised his eyebrows in disbelief. Lucas sighed. It was already tuesday afternoon and so far he haven’t had the chance to get the boys and Eliott to meet. This was the last week before their spring break, so the teachers were extra pushy with tests, essays and other stuff. All of them were just busy studying all afternoon and in the small school breaks too. 

“Yeah, they have been begging to me to bring you there with me. I think it’s a great opportunity.” he explained. Not like his friends didn’t know Eliott, but this was still different. He needs to introduce him to his friends as his boyfriend, which was a bit scary, but also exciting. 

“If you really want that, then let’s go.” the tall boy said with a bright smile, kissing Lucas passionately, rubbing his thumbs on his soft cheeks. The short one chuckled between two kisses, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend happily.

The park was quiet, considering it was a weekday afternoon, but there were still some kids, couples and people with dogs around. The boys were chilling on a blanket close to the water, around them drinks and opened books. Lucas smiled softly when he saw them, keeping his arm around Eliott who now buried his face into Lucas’ hair. He had to giggle at his boyfriend’s shyness, it was so unusual, but really sweet of him. Since they were together, Lucas got to know the many layers of his personality. He wasn’t as perfect as he always tried to seem like, he could mess up things, say stupid stuff, be speechless and shy. It just made his feelings even stronger. 

When they got closer, Lucas cleared his throat, getting the attention of his friends. Basile looked at them surprised, while Arthur and Yann seemed to be excited to finally have them around. Lucas haven’t really met them since friday either, being too occupied with studying and spending time with Eliott. He smirked at his friends. 

“Hey guys!” he waved. “I guess you guys know Eliott.” he said nodding at the boy next to him. 

“Yeah, of course.” Arthur said, shaking himself out of the shock. 

“Well, Eliott, these are my friends. Arthur, Basile and Yann.” he introduced his friends proudly. “Boy, this is my boyfriend, Eliott.” he said with a wide, bright smirk on his face. 

The boys jumped up fast, surrounding them while laughing and clapping. Lucas blushed a little, enjoying the support of his awesome friends. He was a bit surprised when Yann pulled him out of Eliott’s hands into a bone-crashing hug. He squeaked and then started laughing, hugging his friend back happily. 

“I thought that you will never introduce him to us.” Basile said suddenly. “I mean... we were so damn curious. Did you guys bang in the common...” he started, but let out a groan as Arthur hit him in the stomach with his elbow. “What?” he pouted, wrapping his arms around himself.

“You are being inappropriate.” the blond boy said with a piercing look on his face. 

“Well, I have to disappoint you. We did not.” Eliott said with sudden confidence and a cheeky smile on his face. Lucas eyes shot wide, looking at him in disbelief.

“Are you serious?” he said still shocked and he leant back into Eliott’s arms from Yann’s. “You are unbelievable.” 

“I can’t be honest with your friends?” he asked smiling, kissing the boy on the cheeks. “We had a good time in the common room, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to get naked with all those paint...” he continued his embarrassing story, earning a slap on his mouth from Lucas, keeping his hand there. 

“I think you’ve said enough, Eliott.” he gasped, face red as a tomato. His friends laughed at that.

“I like your boyfriend, Lucas.” Basile said smiling. Lucas could feel Eliott’s cocky smile forming under his palm and jumped when he suddenly licked his hand. The boy pulled back his hand and wiped it in his jeans. 

“Oh, fuck you! Was that necessary?” He complained, looking at the tall boy, while his friends laughed even more.

“It was fairplay.” he winked and pulled him close to give him a kiss on his lips. Arthur smiled brightly, like a proud mother, Basile was obviously jealous, while Yann just seemed happy for his best friend. 

After talking to the boys for almost an hour, they decided to head back home and let them continue studying. On their way Eliott stopped by a bakery, buying croissants for both of them. Lucas smiled softly, enjoying the kindness of his handsome boyfriend. It was nice to have someone that cared for him so much, and he wanted to do the same for Eliott.

When they entered the flat, Manon was just about to go. She kissed the boys on the cheek and left with a bag in her hand. The boys smiled at each other, taking their shoes off and headed to the girl’s room now. Lucas was grateful when he saw that she already changed the sheets, so they could just lay down and enjoy each other’s company. 

The boys were making out for hours, slowly taking off their clothes in the process. First their pants landed on the room floor, then Eliott threw away first Lucas’ shirt and then his own. They were laying in each others arms now, exhausted, lips swollen and red from all the kissing, only wearing their underwears. Lucas rested his head on Eliott’s chest, fingers running up and down on the boy’s stomach. 

“You know what I was thinking?” he asked suddenly, looking up at his boyfriend.

“I can do a lot of things, but reading your mind is sadly not one of them.” he answered with a soft smile, stroking Lucas’ hair gently.

“You jerk.” the short boy chuckled and kissed his chest softly. “There is this thing... Whenever I make a choice I feel that another Lucas in another parallel universe made a different one, maybe the better choice. And there are infinite versions of me out there living different lifes, or even the same as mine just with a small difference.” he mumbled, tracing circles on Eliott’s chest. “There might be a Lucas who lives in a different country, being happy with his own Eliott and going to a fancy college. Maybe there is a Lucas that is still apart from his Eliott, turning to weed as a way of comfort...”

“That sounds a bit sad.” Eliott said, playing with his boyfriend’s hair. “So every Lucas has his own Eliott?” he asked, sounding really interested in the topic, which made Lucas really happy.

“Yeah, there is probably Lucas No.94 who is totally in love with is instagram famous Eliott No.94, or there’s a Lucas No.345 who grew up with his Eliott No.345 having the chance to slowly fall in love with him. Lucas No.265 got into an embarrassing situation which got him into a fake relationship with Eliott No.265 and so on.” he said in a dreamy voice, running his fingers up and down on the small tattoo above Eliott’s heart. 

“I’m sure every Eliott out there is the luckiest bastard for having their own Lucas.” he said smiling, giving a small kiss on Lucas’ head. “You are a real catch.” 

“I am not.” Lucas laughed. “You are just stupid enough to choose someone like me.” 

“Then I like being stupid.” Eliott replied and gave him another kiss on the head. “If that means I can be with your in every single universe.”

“Stop saying smooth things like that.” he mumbled, burying his face into his boyfriend’s neck now. Eliott chuckled, wrapping his arms around the boy, squeezing him gently.

“I can’t stop. I want you to know how I feel.” he whispered softly. 

“Can I ask something?”

“Go for it.” 

“Is there a story behind this tattoo?” he asked, stroking over the beautiful letters on Eliott’s chest. It catched his eyes before to, but he was too shy to ask about it back then. But now they were a couple and they were honest with each other, so he felt like he could ask about things like this.

“Oh yeah, the Life tattoo.” Eliott smiled softly, but there was a little sadness in his voice. “I got that one not much after my girlfriend left me.” he started which made Lucas to pull back a little and look at him, focusing his eyes on his boyfriend. “Her name was Sophie, we were together for almost three years. She was beautiful, kind and we loved each other so much... but things started to happen. Sometimes I got sad for no particular reason, sometimes I felt like a horny teenager from an american movie...” he sighed now, focusing his eyes on Lucas’ hair, running his fingers through it several times. “When I was 15 they diagnosed me with bipolarity... It was a huge shock, both for me and my family. I didn’t dare to tell anyone first, not knowing what to expect. Sofiane knew that something was wrong and he kept asking me until I told him. He and Idriss were really supportive and encouraged me to talk to Sophie. I felt like if they accepted me the way I am, then why would it be different with my beloved girlfriend.” his voice was really bitter now, letting the short boy know that things weren’t exactly smooth. “When I told her and explained what this all means... she yelled at me. She said that I was deceiving her, that she didn’t wanted to live her life with a crazy boyfriend that is depressed one day and excited the other day. She threw at me her necklance I gave her for our three year anniversary and left.”

“Okay, that is really rude.” Lucas said, because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “That girl clearly didn’t know what she missed out on.” he said with a soft smile, kissing Eliott’s nose, which finally made the boy smile.

“At least I got the opportunity to change schools and meet you.” he shrugged and placed his hand on Lucas’ cheek, caressing it softly. “I was depressed for weeks, not leaving my room, crying my eyes out. My parents, Lucille, Sofiane and Idriss were really worried. Then I got better all of the sudden, which made them suspicious. I could feel their eyes on me in every moment. My sister followed me basically everywhere. It was really annoying. I was feeling better, I decided to do something with my life and I started with designing this tattoo. I got some money after taking the necklance to a pawnshop and I sneaked out one night, going to this shady place downtown. They were asking a bit too much for such a small tattoo, but since it was late and I really wanted it, I agreed on the payment.” he explained with a little smirk. “My family was shocked when they saw it, my mom almost fainted, but I was proud of it.” 

“Does it symbolize something?” he asked curiously.

“It does.” Eliott nodded. “I means that Life is a lie. I feel like that is the truth, that lying is something that will always be part of our lifes, that sometimes we have to lie to live a good life... there’s a lot of meaning to it.” he explained and kissed Lucas on the lips slowly, but passionately. They broke apart after long minutes, the short boy looking at his boyfriend with a dumb smile on his face.

“I know it’s a stupid thing to say, but I am really glad that girl left you. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here, laying in each others arms, talking about our parallel selves.” he said softly, stroking his face before planing a kiss on his soft lips. Eliott chuckled and pulled him closer, kissing him deeply.

“I totally agree. My life is better with you in it.” he said smiling and kissed Lucas again, this time being a bit more demanding and wild than before. The boy wrapped his arms around Eliott happily, pressing their body together as he gave in to the kiss.

Wednesday was chaos, the girls hanging on Lucas all day, hoping to see him with Eliott, but the boy was really busy trying to catch up on all the classes he missed the last weeks. Then they just dragged him to the common room to play some stupid board game. He had no choice but agree on it. Of course they couldn’t stop asking questions about his relationship with Eliott, especially not after what he posted on instagram.

Daphné and Alexia went crazy, asking questions nonstop as they played, confusing everyone, because they had no idea who comes next or who is supposed to move their piece. After 30 minutes of suffering, Lucas got annoyed and got up from the table, walking to the couch and laying down on it. He looked for his phone, checking his messages. There was one from Eliott, some from the gang and one from Sofiane. 

srodulv I can’t walk you home today, cause I gotta go to the station with my sister, but see you tomorrow morning 

lucallemant Take care, and I hope your sister isn’t mad at me

srodulv She is always mad, don’t take it on yourself

lucallemant I gotta meet her at some point, though

srodulv Just let me take my time with it

lucallemant Sure thing 

He sighed, looking at the ceiling. He wouldn’t be seeing his boyfriend until tomorrow. It was already painful not spending time with him, but this just made him feel so damn miserable. It felt so wrong not being with Eliott, not hugging him or holding his hand. He shook his head and decided to check his other messages. The boys were just talking about studying and upcoming tests, so he ignored that.

sofalaoui How’s it going, Lucas? You wanna hang out with me and Idriss today? 

lucallemant Are you serious?

sofalaoui Yeah, why not?  Eliott will be busy studying and taking care of Lucille

lucallemant Okay, meet at the Youth Center? 

sofalaoui In an hour?

lucallemant You got it

He smiled just a little, at least he will have something to distract himself with. He already liked Eliott’s friends, but it made him extra happy that they actually wanted to hang out with him. And not just Sofiane, but Idriss too. He glanced at the girls who now tried to play some sort of card game, while Imane was reading a book quietly. His eyes wandered off to the new mural he and Eliott created. He couldn’t believe that they had something to remember them how much they mean to each other. Not just a message, a bracelet or a picture, but a whole fucking wall painted by them. Lucas could see the memories again as he stared at the mural. Eliott’s soft lips on his, their touches, the paint fight and just everything. They were standing there, being open with each other. 

His afternoon with the boys was a complete blast. He knew that Sofiane was a sunshine, but he had a lot of fun with Idriss. They were mostly teasing and roasting each other, making Sofiane turning into the serious mother sometimes. Of course the favorite joke was always Lucas’ height, which he felt was an unfair topic, considering that Idriss was basically a giant. Although he was acting grumpy and salty, he really had a lot of fun. They posted a shit ton of videos in their insta stories. Idriss recorded Lucas sitting on the swing, Sofiane pushing him laughing. Then Sofiane made a video of Lucas hanging on Idriss’ back, yelling “Go, my horse!” at least 10 times. Lucas mostly posted the two boys running around in the kids park, doing silly shit, while he laughed his ass off in the background. 

They also made selfies together. Lucas posted one with the boys, but he was covering Idriss’ face with his hands. He laughed when the boy saw it and started complaining, posting a selfie with him and Sofiane where only Lucas’ hair was visible. The boy got grumpy at that and started to argue with Idriss, but of course Sofiane, as the good mother he was calmed them down within moments. When it got later, they grabbed some food and Idriss took them home with his car. 

In the morning, he was packing stuff to his locker, getting ready for his classes when he suddenly felt long arms sliding around his torso and a warm body pressing to his back. He smiled happily, leaning to Eliott’s chest and glancing up at his beautiful boyfriend. He was ready for their usual morning kiss, but the tall boy seemed to be grumpy. Lucas turned around in his arms and put his hands on his face softly.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked worryingly.

“You were together with Sofiane and Idriss yesterday.” he said, eyes looking darker than ever. Lucas tilted his head, hand still resting on the other’s face.

“Yeah, what’s the problem with that?” he asked, not understanding Eliott’s grumpiness.

“I don’t like it.” he said seriously, which made Lucas feel a tiny bit angry, raising his eyebrows in question.

“You don’t like it that I hang out with your friends?” his tone was maybe a bit too salty, because Eliott’s face flinched, but he couldn’t let himself be treated like this. 

“I don’t like all that stuff you put up on instagram.” he said honestly, looking into the boy’s eyes. “You barely post anything about us, but you are okay to have videos where you ride Idriss’ back?” he asked, voice being sharp and angry. “But I guess you weren’t thinking about my feelings when you did all that.”

Lucas wanted to be mad and yell at Eliott that he didn’t belong to him, that he had all rights to post whatever and with whoever he wanted on his own instagram, but seeing his boyfriend’s upset face kept his mouth shut. He let out a deep sigh, pulling Eliott’s head down until their foreheads were touching, looking into those dark, stormy eyes.

“I am sorry, Eliott. I never meant to hurt your feelings. I just had a good time with the boys... I mean, have you seen my old posts on insta? I never think before putting something out there.” he said softly, even smiling a little, which seemed to calm down his boyfriend. Eliott closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and rubbed his nose to Lucas’. 

“I’m sorry too... I shouldn’t lash out on you like this...”

“Hey, it’s okay.” he said softly, giving him a gentle peck on the lips. “You are sweet when you’re jealous.” he said smirking.

“I don’t know why, but I get jealous easily when it comes to you...” he mumbled, looking into the other’s eyes. “I guess I’m too afraid to lose you.”

“You are not going to lose me, okay?” he said, rubbing his cheeks with his thumbs, smiling softly. “You are worrying too much.”

“Guess you had no idea what you’re getting yourself into when you agreed on being my boyfriend.” he said, a soft smile starting to form on his lips. Lucas chuckled and bit his bottom lip, then kissing him passionately, cupping his face in his hands still.

“I knew exactly what I have to deal with.” he said smirking when they broke apart. “And I regret nothing.” he added, stroking Eliott’s wet lips with his thumb. 

The tall boy seemed to be calmed down now, mouth slightly open, like he’s ready for the next kiss, eyes looking cloudy. Lucas had to admit that he was super hot when he got angry, but this soft, lovestruck expression on his face was just so soft and lovely, he felt extra lucky on this fine thrusday morning. Having a boyfriend like Eliott was a blessing. 

“You know, Idriss told me that there will be a party on this saturday... he said that Imane and the girls will be coming and he asked if me and the boys wanna join.” he said softly, studying the expressions on the boy’s face, but he seemed to be okay for now, he even smiled a little.

“You wanna go?” 

“I will be going if you come with me.” Lucas answered seriously.

“That is not answer to my question.” he raised his eyebrows. “Do you wanna go or not?” 

“I think it could be fun.” he shrugged and kissed the corner of Eliott’s mouth. “I wanna dance and drink with you. Showing everyone that I have a beautiful boyfriend.” his words seemed to cheer up Eliott completely, because now his eyes were sparkling, toothy smile appearing on his face.

“In that case we are going.” he said happily and pulled Lucas closer to kiss him wildly. They completely forget that they were on the school hallway, it was just the two of them in their happy little bubble, until the ringing of the bell pulled them back to reality. They broke apart, looking at each other sadly and grabbed their bags. Eliott walked Lucas to his classroom, giving him a few kisses before he went for his own class too.

The party was loud, crowded. This was a big party in an actual bar. The bey were really impressed as they entered the place, music thumping in their ears, drumming on their chests. Eliott pulled his boyfriend closer, making sure to protect him from all the people that were dancing around them. Yann, Basile and Arthur got excited, looking for some booze immediately. Lucas followed them, while still leaning into the protecting arms of his boyfriend. He liked and hated this at the same time. It was nice to finally go out and have some fun after this stressful week, but he hated that the bar was so damn full. 

When they got to order some drinks, the gang asked for beer, just like Lucas, while Eliott went for a zero coke. They talked about this before leaving, the tall boy wanted to let his sweet boyfriend to have a good night, so he agreed to stay sober, while Lucas can drink as much as he wanted. He was a bit surprised by the idea, but then realized that Eliott probably liked to avoid getting drunk because of his illness. 

After everyone had a bottle in hand they settled at a table in a quieter corner. Eliott sat down first, pulling Lucas on his lap, who gladly took his place, smirking proudly. He enjoyed his boyfriend’s arms wrapping around him, feeling his breath on the nape of his neck. His friends smirked at them, but had nothing to comment on it, they all just started drinking. Of course Basile couldn’t shut up for too long and he started to talk about how he’s definitely going to get a girl for himself tonight. Arthur, like the good friend he was obviously supported him, giving him some advice and saying positive stuff between two gulps of his beer. 

At some point Yann disappeared with a really pretty brunette girl, probably Chloé, the one he was dating with. Then Basile got some confidence from the three bottles of beer he chugged up and decided to get himself in action, Arthur following him like a mother chicken. There was just the two of us. Lucas felt a bit dizzy, considering he also drank a few bottles of alcohol by now. He turned aroun on Eliott’s lap to face his boyfriend, who seemed to really enjoy the situation. He still haven’t drink his first bottle of coke, because his hands were always occupied with touching Lucas. 

“You look beautiful today.” he whispered, filling the space between their faces with the smell of beer. Eliott smiled softly, keeping his hands on his waist, pulling him a little closer. Lucas already had his knees resting on the bench next to Eliott’s thighs, but now he got a little excited as their crotches got so close. He wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s neck. 

“You are beautiful too, my dear.” Eliott said softly, his thumbs slowly sliding under Lucas’ shirt to caress his bare skin under it. The short boy shivered and his face got a little red shade on it after that. 

“I just wanna go home with you and kiss all night.” he mumbled, leaning his forehead on Eliott’s shoulder, taking deep breaths.

“We can’t, you promised Idriss and Sofiane to come, and I want you to have fun with all of our friends.” the tall boy said softly, stroking his boyfriend’s back now, only one hand wandering under the soft material of the shirt. 

Lucas let out a disappointed sigh and started to shower Eliott’s neck with kisses. He had no shame thanks to the amount of alcohol in his body. His lips wandered up and down, licking his boyfriend’s earlobe, his jawline and even sucking soft mark on his skin. Eliott shivered, grabbing the boy’s waist tighter, fingers gripping into the warm skin under the shirt. He obviously enjoyed the attention of his tipsy boyfriend, but he gently pulled back Lucas’ head by grabbing his hair softly. The boy had a dazzled look on his face, eyes opened wide, pupils so big that his eyes almost looked black. Eliott couldn’t believe that such beauty could exist on this world, but it was right in front of his eyes.

“Stop this, before I do something we both regret later.” he mumbled, voice a bit deep thanks to all the tension he was feeling after those kisses. 

“Maybe we should just let it flow.” Lucas muttered, head still held back by Eliott, but he didn’t mind it. Even his hair pulling was as gentle as possible. “Let future Lucas and Eliott deal with the consequences.” he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows seductively. His boyfriend let out a soft giggle, stroking the back of his head now. 

“Don’t you think Lucas No.683 and Eliott No.837 are already making out shamelessly on this party?” he asked smirking. Lucas for some reason found it really pleasing how his boyfriend used his parallel universe theory so casualy. Like he already believed the same. 

“I think Lucas No.483 had already dragged his Eliott home and now they are probably laying in bed together... naked.” he whispered the last word, making the tall boy under him shiver. He smirked victoriously. 

“You clearly have no shame right now, huh?” Eliott laughed, playing with his boy’s hair. 

“Around you? Never.” he smirked and was ready to lean in for a kiss when Idriss and Sofiane appeared next to them.

“Look at this! The party barely started and they are almost having sex.” Idriss said smirking, poking Sofiane’s side with his elbow.

“You guys have no chill for sure.” the boy said smiling and hopped down across the couple, putting his glass of orange juice on the table. His friend joins him too, taking a sip of his beer. Lucas makes an unpleasant noise now, turning around in Eliott’s lap, not even planning to leave that comfortable place. His boyfriend smirks, wrapping his arms around him, fingers gently stroking his stomach through the thin shirt. 

“How are you guys?” Eliott asked casually, resting his head on his boy’s shoulder. 

“We are fine.” Idriss said. “Met the girls before coming here with them.” he smirked. “They are really cute.”

“Imane was actually asking about you two, and I told her that you will be here.” Sofiane added with his angelic smile. 

“Yeah, I still haven’t had time to introduce Eliott to the girls.” Lucas mumbled and let himself relaxed in his boyfriend’s arms. “I mean, they obviously know him, but...”

“You gotta introduce him as your boyfriend.” Sofiane nodded with a soft smile. “I get it. You guys like to rub it into others face, huh?” he said with a cheeky smile, earning a middle finger from Eliott.

“I deserve to show off. Have you seen this boy? He’s gorgeous.” he said proudly, kissing Lucas’ cheek happily, which made the boy let out a cute chuckle. 

“I am the lucky one here.” the short boy said, reaching for a full bottle of beer and taking a sip of it. 

“You sure that you wanna drink more?” Eliott asked concerned.

“Oh, come on, Eli! It’s saturday night and you are not his father.” Idriss said, smirking widely. “Let the boy have some fun tonight.” 

“He can have fun without getting wasted.” he shot back with a disapproving look on his face, tightening his hold around Lucas. The boy chuckled, planting a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

“Don’t fight with your friends. I’m a big boy, I know when to stop drinking.” he giggled and took another sip from his beer.

He clearly didn’t know when to stop. Hours went by and Lucas just kept drinking and drinking, until he was just a giggly mess. Eliott didn’t leave him alone all night, being afraid that either he trips in his own feet, getting himself hurt or that he will get into the arms of some perverted asshole, who would use this beautiful, drunk boy for his own pleasure. He couldn’t let that happen. They met a couple times with the boys again, Basile letting them know that he was hooking up with a girl, barely able to speak, since he was almost drunker than Lucas. Yann seemed to be just a bit tipsy, introducing his girlfriend, Chloé to the others. The girl was cute, pretty face, long brown hair and big eyes, she seemed to be happy with Yann, so Eliott obviously congratulated. Arthur seemed to be the most sober of the gang, holding a beer in his hand, but walking steadily, making sure that Basile doesn’t fall. 

Eliott had some troubles with his drunk boyfriend, considering that he kept falling into his arms, laughing and kissing his neck, trying to make him horny. Of course the tall boy felt shivers going through his body with every kiss he got, but his sober brain kept reminding him that he has the responsibility to take Lucas home safe and sound. Also the crowd, the mass of people and the loud music started to get on his nerves, so when he found Sofiane and Imane, he kindly asked them to look out for his boyfriend while he went to the bathroom. 

He washed his face, trying to normalize his breathing. Even if he wasn’t drinking or smoking, his head still felt dizzy. He haven’t took his meds since they got back together with Lucas, because he was feeling okay, but it was probably a stupid idea. He couldn’t help it, he hated that he had to live on meds to be like everyone else, to control his mental illness. It took him a few minutes to calm down. He splashed cold water on his face once again before walking back to the others, fairly remembering where he left his boyfriend. 

When he got there, he was shocked. Lucas was hanging on Sofiane, making smooch sounds with his lips, while Imane tried to pull him away. His friend seemed to feel really uncomfortable in the situation, especially when he saw that Eliott came back. His apologetic expression reassured the tall boy that all of this was because his stupid boyfriend was completely wasted. He walked to them, gently grabbing Lucas’ shoulder. The boy looked at him, his blue eyes cloudy, his pink lips slightly parted. 

“Maybe this was enough for tonight.” Eliott said calmly, trying to keep his jealous self back for now. Lucas eyes opened widely as he noticed who he was facing with and he shamelessly pressed his full body on Eliott’s.

“Eliott!” he screamed happily, wrapping his arms around his neck. “Where were you?!” he asked, pouting like an adorable puppy. Eliott couldn’t help, but smile softly, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist.

“I’m here now. Let’s go home.” he said softly, kissing the boy’s forehead gently. Lucas chuckled and buried his face into his neck.

“Okay, take me home, please.”

I think drunk Lucas is a good way to end this fanfiction. I kinda enjoy making some insta posts and put them into the fanfiction, not to steal ideas from our beloved choupi of course, but it’s easier to use them to end a chapter or just to put it in for fun. I hope you guys liked this fluffly, sexy chapter, enjoy it while you can, cause angst is in the air. *wink wink*

[flying-elliska]

VENDREDI 18 :44

Lucas looks over the water, buoyed by the sounds of partying and laughter in the background. He’s going to go back to his friends soon. But he needs a minute. 

He remembers last time he was here. It seems like a lifetime ago. Feeling like his life was slipping from his hands, out of control. In the hands of a Lucas that was not him, a fake sitting on the top of his brain and forcing him to smile and laugh  - directed not by what he really wanted  but by this plastic mask made of instinctive fragments of what he thought other people wanted to see in him. An exhausting game of mirrors he had to keep in place for his own survival, and tripping at any moment could mean the end. The lie like a constant wear on his nerves, gnawing at his brain. How much do you think these people really love you ? 

Now it’s all gone. Like a storm blowing through his life, taking it all apart. He thought it was going to take him apart, too, at some point. But no. 

He’s made it through. He feels really alive again, like he’s standing in the middle of his own life for the first time in ages. And the happiness he feels is so huge he’s afraid to unfold it all yet. It will, in time. He’s missing Eliott so much right now but they have time, they really do. Ever since he was carried away by that bus, he’s had this impression of Eliott superposed on his own awareness - what is he doing at this very minute ? Changing into fresh clothes that don’t chafe under the arms, probably. Telling his parents where he’s been. Sleeping in his own room undisturbed. Maybe he’s looking at his piano, remembering where Lucas’s fingers have been. It’s like a livewire, a part of Lucas’ soul walking outside of his own body. It’s frightening and thrilling all at once. 

He gets it now. Love. It’s not about measuring up or about expectations or keeping an illusion in place. It’s not about being always the same, being predictable or invulnerable, a smooth unpenetrable surface that can weather anything. Love is riddled with flaws and holes and marks. Love, their love, is too hungry and too kind and too sharp to not eat through lies. Love is something to build on. Love is about letting someone in through the ups and downs. And he knows this is something that he’s going to have to do with Eliott, because Eliott’s vulnerability is not a choice for him a lot of the time. So he’s going to have to meet him in kind. 

He feels up to the task. He feels everything has led him to his, everything he is. Because love, love is...

VENDREDI 18:45

Eliott makes his way through the party. He can’t lie, it’s hard. He’s not too fond of crowds on his best days unless the room is dark and faces are anonymous and music overpowers talk. Parties in bright sunlight are...something else. And he can’t help but wonder what all these people know about him. 

He’s got somewhere to be, though. He was sitting on his couch at home, while his parents were doing busywork around him, keeping an eye out. He’s got his phone timer still going in his pocket, every second feeling so idle. And suddenly it was like he could feel the ghost echo of music around him. Of course, it’s not like the triangle, but...

He’s weary of overpromising. He needs Lucas to know he can’t always be pushing beyond his own boundaries, even for love. But he’s never seen anyone get it faster than his new boyfriend, either. It broke his heart a little when Lucas was clinging to him at the bus stop, so open and needy, and it was beautiful because he can still remember Lucas’ face forcing itself to be unfeeling, a few weeks ago, and the difference is stunning. And then Lucas let him go and as Eliott turned around, watching him stand there, big blue eyes brimming with tears and yet so fierce. Like a faithful lighthouse ready to weather any storm. Eliott knew. 

He knew that this was not a love that would ever keep him grounded or make him smaller or leave him when he got small. This love is every shade of the sky possible, endless. Enough trust to fly. There will be grounded days, too. But it’s not enough to scare him anymore. They’ve got so much life ahead together, and he wants Lucas to know, this is the realest thing he’s ever known. He wants to soothe all of Lucas’ worries, even though he knows he can’t. 

He’s got only one thing to offer, and for the first time he trusts it to be enough. 

I love you, Lucas. 

It sounded like a promise, and a beginning. 

And then he was sitting on the couch, brain still heavy and bruised, but he saw a path, a ray of light, and he knew he had to go. He wants to follow love now, like a sundrunk funambulist, an escape artist hopping past the shadows, wherever it might lead him. 

He finds Lucas standing at the edge of the water. God, it feels like only yesterday when he was bumping into his shoulder that first day, first lightning bolt of an impression. Something undescribable. And he was right. God he was so right. That’s his person, standing there. 

Eliott reaches out. 

VENDREDI 19:56

It’s dark again, and the lanterns have been lit, colorful haloes of light all around them. Eliott’s arm is on Lucas’ shoulder where it belongs. 

Life is good. 

Lucas can’t help feeling a little delighted at seeing Yann talk to Chloé - they’re both good people, they deserve the best - but also worried over how awkward those potential double dates could be. Although nothing would ever top their first one for that. He can picture him and Chloé making fun of it, one day, though. He laughs at the idea and Eliott catches the end of it with his lips. 

...

Eliott sees Imane standing at the edge of the party, regal but withdrawn, and his heart goes out to her. He was there not too long ago, standing on the outside troubles unnoticed. He hasn’t really talked to her in quite a while, and he realizes he misses her, and her family. Maybe in the times to come he will feel strong enough to mend the wounds of the past. Now, he just hopes she will find someone to make her feel as welcome in the world as he feels now. It’s what she deserves. He tightens his arm around Lucas’ shoulder. 

...

Lucas feels both proud and a little bit disgusted by Basile and Daphné’s newfound enthusiasm for mashing their lips together. Arthur’s told him what he missed excitedly, and Lucas can’t help but wonder why none of them ever told Basile that being an overeager sleazy horndog was maybe not the best way to get to a girl’s heart - although he has to recognize, they’ve all been stupid in that department. And the overeager part does seem to work for him. 

...

Eliott feels warm and safe here at the edge of the water. He’s enjoying getting to know Lucas’ friends better, especially Yann, who is kind and thoughtful and a bit loopy at times, which is a plus in Eliott’s books. Arthur always seems so happy for other people’s happiness. Basile might be a bit more of an aquired taste, telling Eliott about his mom right away, obviously quite low on tact but earnest enough about wanting Eliott to feel accepted.  And there’s the girls, boisterous and happy for them and busy with their own intrigues. It feels like a family. But he’s also starting to wonder how soon he can reasonably tear Lucas away from all this and bring him back to their room, any secluded room really, and catch up on all those minutes they’ve missed. 

...

Lucas is using increasingly unsubtle pressure of his arm around Eliott’s waist to drag him away from the group so he can ask if he would like to go home. Finally they find themselves standing next to Manon and Emma, huddling. He can see the tear tracks on Manon’s cheeks and wishes he could fly to London in a second and punch Charles in the face. Emma changes the subject. 

‘So Yann and Chloé, huh ?’

Lucas laughs. 

“I won’t say anything if you won’t.”

He wonders if she’s going to bring up the past in front of Eliott - this is a conversation they need to have, but not right now - but she seems happy to let sleeping dogs lie. 

“I don’t think that’s useful, really. I mean look at us and our hot new boyfriends, huh ?” 

“It’s official then, you and Alex ? Congratulations ! I’m so sorry for telling him the school thought you were a couple.”

Emma frowns at him. 

“Eliott, your boy is a snake, I hope you know.”

Eliott laughs and kisses Lucas’ temple and says nothing. 

“I’m sorry, though” Lucas says, suddenly feeling the need to be serious. “I know I was a fake for a long time, I hurt people. I hope you all know that’s not who I want to be.”

“Everyone’s a fake sometimes” Manon cuts in. “Feelings are hard.”

“Yeah, putain.” Eliott adds, and he draws Lucas closer. 

“Cheers to that then” Emma says, raising her beer. “And don’t be too smug, boys, but it seems you’ve gotten the farthest so far to figuring it out.”

“I got tired of waiting, I guess. Life is now. I want to live it. The rest I’m sure we can sort out.”

Eliott kisses him in full then, and the rest of the world slowly fades out, unthreatening and kind. 

They’ve got time.