Chapter Text
“Hi, angel, I’m so sorry to ask this last minute, but would you be willing to hang out with Will tonight? I know you weren’t planning on coming over until late, but something at work came up. A really important client would like to have dinner and drinks and I don’t have to go, but-“
Luke smiled. “Lee, baby, take a breath. I’m actually not doing anything today, so of course I can watch Will. Drew and Julia canceled on me, so I’m free. It sounds like this client dinner is really important, so don’t worry about it. I’ll head over as soon as I finish cleaning up and packing, okay?”
Lee sighed on the other end of the phone. “Thank you so much. Will’s out of school early today if you want to pick him up? I’ve added you to his list of people allowed to pick him up, so they’ll let you. If that’s okay, I mean.”
“Of course it’s okay. I miss him anyway, so I’m kind of excited to see him. I have something for him, too. I had an idea to do a little self care night with him since he likes watching me do my skincare stuff. And before you start to worry about him using products, I got some kid safe stuff. It’s basically just very gentle moisturizer, and then a kid friendly sheet mask for his face that’s also just a gentle moisturizer. So he’s not using any of my expensive stuff and it’s all completely safe for kids, I read a lot of reviews online,” Luke assured.
“You are the best, do you know that?” You could practically hear Lee’s smile through the phone.
“Nah, I just love you and I love my little baby too. God, I know we haven’t been together quite a year yet, but the fact that he’s going to be nine makes me wish time were slower. I can’t imagine how you must feel!”
“God, don’t remind me. It means he’s one year closer to ten, which means he’s almost a teenager. And teenagers, as our lord and savior would say, scare the living shit out of me. But he’s a great kid, he’ll be okay. Right?” Lee sounded tired.
“Baby, he’s the best kid. He’s going to do great! Is there anything I can help with for tomorrow? It’ll just be the three of us, right?”
“Actually, Charlie texted me. He and his fiance, Silena, will be in town for a couple weeks to see her family and he asked if it was okay to stop by and drop off a gift and see how he’s doing. So they’ll be by for a little while. Otherwise it’ll just be the three of us. Them stopping in won’t interfere with the other plans. And I have a few things I still need to set up, but don’t worry about it. It can wait until I get home.”
Luke sighed. “You know you can ask for help, right? I want to make his birthday special too, and if there’s anything at all I can do to help take some of that weight off your shoulders, please let me. I love you.”
“I- I’ll try. I know I’m still not very good at asking for help, and I’m sorry. I know you want to help, and I’m trying really hard to remember to let you help me. Will and I love you so much, but I think we’re still both adjusting to having someone in our lives who wants to help, and who loves us back. So I’m sorry for not always being good at that. I love you.”
“I forgive you. You are getting better at it though. We’ve been together for what? Almost ten months? You both have gotten so good at coming to me for things! There will always be room for improvement, but I’m so proud of you both and I love being a part of your lives. You’re the best parts of mine. I’ll get Will to bed tonight and then you and I can work on the decorations and stuff together, okay?” Luke comforted his boyfriend.
“You are incredible, and I am so in love with you. You make my life so much better. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way home tonight, angel. Thank you again for being willing to come by early and hang out with Will. He’ll be so excited for you to pick him up from school.”
They said their goodbyes and Luke finished packing his bag. He was excited to surprise Will, not only by picking him up from school, but with a little bathrobe that matched his own. Will had been obsessed with the soft plushy fabric and sometimes cuddled up with him when he was wearing it just to feel it. So when Luke found the same exact one in Will’s size he immediately purchased it.
Luke checked the time and decided he had enough time to stop at Lee’s place to drop off his things, and then walk over to Will’s school. He double checked his bag, making sure he had his skincare and robe, Will’s child friendly skincare and robe, and his makeup kit, and then locked his bedroom door and headed for the subway. He was walking faster than normal, but he was just excited to see his Will.
An hour later, Luke was standing outside Will’s school with a couple nanny’s and parents also waiting for their kids. One woman was closer to his age, which was a little odd if she was waiting for someone in Will’s grade, but obviously not unheard of.
The woman had a deep skin tone and soft pink braids in her hair. She was stunning. He wondered if Lee ever noticed her when he picked up Will.
Finally, kids started pouring out the front door of the school and finding their parents. A very pale little boy with dark hair quietly approached the woman with pink hair and smiled up at her softly. She reached out for his hand and he hesitated before reaching out and taking it. A moment later, a girl with the woman’s same complexion appeared and took the woman’s other hand eagerly. Luke and the woman made eye contact for a moment and she winked at him as if she were letting him in on some secret.
He quickly forgot about the interaction when he spotted a head of blonde curls running toward him. Luke smiled wide and knelt down just as Will collided with him. He pulled his favorite boy into his arms and squeezed him tight. Will hugged back and bounced on his heels, unable to contain his excitement and joy.
“Hi, sweetheart! I missed you so much! I’m so happy to see you!” Luke ran fingers through Will’s soft hair and planted a kiss on his temple.
Will: I missed you too! Is Lee at work?
Luke: Yes, he is having dinner with a client. You and I get to have a fun night together! I have a surprise for you at home!
Will: What is it?
Luke: If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise!
Will giggled and gave Luke another quick hug before he took his hand and led him back home. Once there, Luke spent about half an hour helping Will with his homework and when they were finished, Luke decided it was time to give Will his gift.
“Are you ready to start our fun night?” Will nodded. “Okay, close your eyes!”
Will closed his eyes and kicked his legs in excitement. Luke got the robe from his bag and held it up.
“Open!”
Will opened his eyes and saw the robe and his eyes grew wide and sparkled. A smile stretched across his angelic face and he reached out for the garment.
“Mine?” Will asked.
“It’s for you! It’s the same as mine, so now we can match! Do you wanna go get showered and then put it on? I’ll go put mine on too.”
Will nodded and ran toward the bathroom to start cleaning up. Luke chuckled when he heard the shower start, and went to Will’s room to grab him a change of underwear and a pair of shorts. He knew Will would hate the feeling of not wearing shorts under his robe, so he made sure the boy had something to put on. Luke also grabbed one of Will’s towels from the hallway closet and snuck in to place the items on the bathroom counter.
While Will showered, Luke pushed the coffee table out a few inches and set up their little self care station. He set up Will’s little kid friendly products on one side and his own expensive products on the other. He placed his makeup kit at the end of the table, and got a couple bowls of water and some wash cloths from the hallway closet.
Once he heard the water shut off, Luke quickly changed into his robe. He elected to also wear shorts underneath, as he started doing regularly after one particular disaster that ended in Luke and Lee having a sit down conversation with Will about body parts that don’t match his, and what being transgender means. Unsurprisingly, Will took it all in very well and he was very understanding. He’s a very smart kid, and Luke loves him so much.
Will came out of the bathroom a moment later in his shorts, his hair dripping so much down his chest that the waistband of his shorts was visibly damp. He was again bouncing up and down in excitement.
“Oh, sweet baby, bring me your towel and get over here!” Luke fake scolded.
Will disappeared back into the bathroom and came back out with his towel, handing it over to Luke. Luke patted off Will’s chest, arms, and back, and then started in on his hair. He gently scrunched all the water out that he could and then finally let Will put his robe on. Lee didn’t really have a good hair care routine for Will prior to Luke coming into their lives, but no one expected Lee to just know how to take care of curly hair.
Will snuggled into his robe and sat on Luke’s lap while he added some additional products and set Will’s curls for him, making sure that everything would be nice and smooth once it dried. Luke showed Lee how to do it too, and now Will never had messy or frizzy hair.
“Do you want to see what else I have?” Luke asked once Will’s hair was done.
Will smiled and nodded.
“Okay, so I brought my makeup for us to play with. I think, if you want, we can play with makeup first. Then we can wash our faces and do skincare together? I got you some of your own so we can do it together instead, so you can do it with me instead of just watching while I do my own. Does that sound fun?” Will nodded, his eyes lighting up. “Good! And then we can paint our nails if you want? I have all of my nail polish with me, so we can do any color you want.”
Will was very excited. Luke smiled and grabbed his makeup kit, scooting it toward them to look inside. He let Will pick out everything. For himself, Will chose an orange eyeshadow and a matching orange lipstick. Luke dug to the bottom of the kit and pulled out his Trixie Cosmetics “Mod About You” blush palette. Will loved it.
For Luke, Will picked out a pink eyeshadow, a deep plum lip gloss, and the Trixie Cosmetics “Back to the Fuchsia” blush palette. Luke gently applied makeup to Will’s face first. They weren’t using foundation or anything, Will wouldn’t like it, but neither of them needed it if they were just doing this for fun.
Will loved orange. It’s his favorite color, and Luke doesn’t blame him. The kid does actually look really nice with the orange makeup on. His eyes sparkle and the orange blush looks really nice on his cheeks. Luke swiped the lipstick across his lips, and Will made a face and decided it was too sticky so they wiped it off.
Then he let Will put his makeup on. Will is so gentle in the way he softly swipes the brushes across the product. He’s even more gentle in the way he applies the makeup to Luke’s face. Luke trusts Will to not be rough. Lee did a very good job teaching Will to always be extra careful with things that don’t belong to him, but Will is also just a gentle person.
“All done.”
“Can I look?” Luke asked. Will nodded and handed him the small compact mirror from the table. “Wow! Honey, you did so good! I love it!” Will smiled. He wasn’t lying either, for a nine year old, his first time doing makeup was really good! The eyeshadow was a little uneven and the blush a bit heavy handed, but it was good!
They took a few selfies together, some smiling, some making silly faces. Then Will told him he wanted to wash his face, the makeup was starting to feel a little too much. And Luke had expected that, so he had Will’s face wash at the ready. He made Will remove the robe before washing his face first, or it would get wet and Will would be upset because his robe was wet.
Luke helped Will, dabbing a little cold cream on his face and melting the makeup away before wiping it off with a cloth. Since he was already helping, he just washed Will’s face for him. Will didn’t seem to mind, he even seemed to melt into the touch a little.
After he dabbed Will’s face dry, Luke washed his own face and dried it. They decided to start with face masks. Will really liked the cold of the mask against his face, even if it was a little slimy. He described it to Luke as a good slimy not a bad slimy, and the cold was just a nice feeling after the warm water from washing his face.
They turned on a movie and waited fifteen minutes before removing the mask and rubbing in the rest of the product like the instructions said. Then came the serums and creams, Luke had a few extra steps, but Will seemed happy to be doing it together instead of just watching. Of course he’d had to explain to Will beforehand that his products were special, and made for kids and people with extra sensitive skin. Will knew that Luke’s products were specifically to help Luke’s skin, but would probably be more harmful on someone Will’s age who doesn’t yet need specialized skincare.
Will understood, of course, and was very excited to get to have his own special skincare. Luke didn’t even have to instruct him on how much of each thing to use. He’d probably watched Luke do it so many times he already knew to not use too much . The only step Will didn’t want to do was the slugging. Luke didn’t care for it either, but the lower half of his face got really dry, and slathering on some Vaseline at the end of his routine was the only thing that seemed to really help. He used quite a bit less than he normally would, seeing as he was doing his nighttime routine earlier in the day than he normally would.
Their movie ended and they decided to order a pizza for dinner. Luke loved a pizza loaded with every topping he could think of, but Will was very particular about his, only liking a cheese or pepperoni pizza. And Luke was okay with that. When Lee was home they would order two pizzas so that everyone could have what they wanted, but Lee wasn’t home and it would be silly to order two separate pizzas. Besides, Luke was happy to have whatever Will was happy with.
Tonight in particular was a cheese only kind of night, with light sauce of course. Will didn’t like too much sauce on his pizza. So Luke put in the order for one large cheese pizza, and a two liter bottle of Coke Zero for them to share since they had forgotten to restock the fridge with it. Lee had promised he would just DoorDash it, but he was busy and had just forgotten.
While he was thinking about it, Luke just decided he’d order it. He added a few cases of Coke Zero, along with some Diet Mountain Dew, and one case of Cherry Dr. Pepper for himself. Lee and Will thought Dr. Pepper was an abomination, but Luke loved it. He added a few extra snacks that he knew Lee and Will liked to the order and checked out. The address was of course already set to Lee’s place. He ordered to Lee’s address so much more than he did his own place or work that it just changed the default address.
Luke made sure to tip quite a bit because he felt bad for ordering so many cases of soda. He usually tipped well anyway, he knew how shitty customer service could be. He knew how much it sucked to put in hard work and get tipped shit.
The pizza delivery guy showed up quickly, and Will wanted to go with Luke to the door to get it, so Luke handed Will a $20 bill to give to the driver. The man, who definitely should be retired, smiled down at Will with the kindness of a grandparent and accepted the tip, thanking Will like he was the adult.
“Your son is adorable, reminds me of my grandson. Anyway, you both have a wonderful night! God bless!”
“Thank you so much! Be safe!” Luke replied and locked the door.
After dinner and after the DoorDash delivery arrived, Luke painted Will’s nails. Will had picked out a pretty shade of orange for himself, and pink for Luke. He insisted that they each paint one nail the other person’s color though, and Luke tried not to cry at how sweet that was.
Will fell asleep sitting on Luke’s lap at the end of K-Pop Demon Hunters. Luke struggled to stand up, but managed to get up and carry Will to bed. He took the robe off and helped the sleeping boy into a sleep shirt. Luke sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, thinking about the comment the pizza guy made. He’d called Will his son. And Luke really liked the sound of that.
Lee came home about twenty minutes later, a little drunk. He swore he only had one cocktail and a beer, and Luke tried to hide his smile. Lee never drinks, so he forgets at these client dinners that he’s a lightweight. Fortunately Lee had the forethought to bring his car home right before the dinner and Uber there, just in case.
Luke loved Lee, and it was always a little funny to watch him when he came home a little buzzed. His movements were slow and he looked extra sleepy. Luke loved how much more affectionate Lee got, too. Lee has always been very affectionate with him, sweet little touches and hugs and kisses, wrapping an arm round him and holding him close when they sit together. But Lee seemed to have a need to glue himself to Luke’s back and hold him when he had a little alcohol in his system. Luke didn’t mind.
Lee brushed his teeth, scrubbing away any trace of alcohol smell, and quietly opened Will’s bedroom door. Luke watched him tiptoe to Will’s bed and kneel down beside the sleeping boy. Lee tucked a loose curl behind Will’s ear and swiped his thumb across Will’s cheek.
“I love you, my sweet boy,” Lee whispered.
Lee joined Luke in the hallway again and sighed. “I still have to decorate for him!”
“Well, lucky for you, I have already started. As soon as I put him to bed I grabbed all the stuff out of your closet and started putting it up. I figured you’d be tired and ready for bed by the time you got back, so I tried to get as much done as I could so we could finish and go to bed.”
Lee leaned in, a little clumsy, and kissed him. Luke smiled into the kiss and put one hand on the back of Lee’s head, tangling his fingers in soft blonde hair, and gently scraped his nails against Lee’s scalp. Lee shuddered and moaned softly against his lips.
They parted and Lee looked at him with an intensity he only had when they were alone and wanted some adult time. And as much as Luke loved and desired this absolute god of a man, he was also drunk and they also had a nine year old’s birthday to decorate for. Luke smiled and gave Lee a quick peck on the lips and patted his arm.
“As gorgeous as you look right now and as hot as that kiss was, we need to finish decorating so we can go to bed.”
Lee groaned. “Can we just go to bed?”
Luke grabbed Lee’s wrist and dragged him to the couch. “Here’s my proposal: you sit on the couch and keep me company while I finish the decorations. Then we’ll go to bed and you can spoon me until Will wakes us up in the morning.”
“But then I’m not being helpful. I’d feel bad that you’re doing all the work.”
“You would be keeping me company, that’s more than enough. Let me do this for you and for him, please. It’s the least I can do, really. And I want to. Please.”
Lee sighed and fell back onto the couch. Luke left him for a moment and brought back a glass of water, which Lee downed quickly. Fortunately there wasn’t a lot of decorating left to do. Luke hung up a “Happy Birthday” banner and blew up a few balloons. Lee had a couple helium balloons he’d gotten from a party store the day before, one in the shape of a 9 and the other a neon orange star. The table was covered with a table cloth and a little tabletop decoration that also read “Happy Birthday.”
Luke had also brought out the boxes and bags of gifts they’d gotten him, both together and separately. Luke may have gone a bit overboard but Lee wasn’t mad about it. Lee understood that Luke was just excited to celebrate Will.
By the time Luke was finished preparing everything for Will’s birthday, including pre-making the dry ingredients for pancakes, Luke had to gently shake Lee awake to take him to bed. Lee immediately fell against the mattress and drifted off while Luke took off his robe and opted to sleep in just his shorts. When he crawled into bed beside his boyfriend, Lee instantly reached out for him and they slotted together like two puzzle pieces.
~
After breakfast, Luke helped Will get dressed in his special birthday outfit. Luke had found a cute little orange sweater in a material he knew would be safe and comfortable for Will. He’d put it in a little pink gift bag and Lee let him open it so he could wear it today. Will likes it a lot and was excited to wear it with his favorite jeans- the kind that feel like sweatpants.
While they were getting changed, there was a knock at the door. Will and Luke made their way to the living room to see their guests. They rounded the corner into the living room and saw Lee standing with a tall, muscular man with dark skin and a tall woman with beautiful brown curls that fell perfectly over her shoulder.
Will squealed and ran toward the man, who quickly swatted down and caught the boy in a hug. The man picked Will up and squeezed him while Will giggled happily. Luke glanced over to Lee who was just smiling at Will, his eyes shining.
Lee noticed Luke and extended his hand toward him, motioning for him to join them. “Luke, this is Charlie and his fiance, Silena. Guys, this is my boyfriend, Luke.”
Charlie smiled wide and reached toward him to shake his hand. “Hey, Luke. It’s very nice to finally meet you! Will wrote about you a lot in his last couple emails!”
Will still held onto Charlie, laying against his chest quietly. Silena smiled lovingly at Will and Charlie, the same way Luke looked at Lee and Will. She looked at him and winked.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Charlie. Lee told me everything you’ve done for Will, and maybe it’s not really my place to say, but thank you. I’ve grown to love Will so very much this year, and I am so incredibly lucky to be a part of his life, and as much as I owe that to Lee for letting me in, I also feel like I owe you so much. Thank you for making it possible for me to have this family,” Luke’s voice wavered.
Charlie softened. “I would have done it for anyone, really. This kid is so special though, and I am so happy that he’s got such an incredible home and family. It’s good to know that both of these guys were able to let someone in the way they’ve let you in. From what I can tell, they both love you very much and you have only been a positive addition to their family. And from where I’m at, I am so very happy that they have such a great guy in their lives.”
Lee’s arm slipped around Luke’s waist and pulled him closer. “I am eternally grateful for both of you. Charlie, I wouldn’t have what I have now if it weren’t for you. And Luke, I… I love my life, and I love being Will’s parent, but life got so much easier with you in it.”
Luke reached up and wiped tears off of Lee’s cheeks. “You and Will have changed me so deeply, and so entirely. I truly love my life because you’re both in it. I’m not just existing anymore. I’m living. I’ve been changed for the better, because I know you.”
Silena let out a touched sound. “Ugh, I’m sorry, that’s just so sweet. I love love so much, and… Charlie and I met the year after he found Will outside the station. He’s a fireman, I knew from the moment I met him that he was a hero. But when his friends from the station told me about Will… I think I knew then that this was my person. He is so fiercely protective and loving. To know that the man I love is so very special to your family, and a part of what brought you all together, is so special to me. It’s a beautiful reminder that I am so lucky that I get to love this man. Even if he won’t let me quote Wicked anymore.”
“Whoa, hey! I didn’t say that! You’re just on a break from watching it, because twice a week was getting a little much,” Charlie joked.
“Well, Lee clearly lets Luke watch it. He just made a “For Good” reference!”
“To be fair, the three of us watched both movies back to back a couple weekends ago. Lee cried like a baby during “For Good” and wouldn’t let go of me or Will for a whole ten minutes,” Luke told her.
“Oh wow, we’re sharing so much!” Lee interrupted, his cheeks turning red.
Silena sniffled. “Jokes aside, I’m so glad that you’ve found each other. The last few times I’ve gotten to meet Lee and Will, I could tell how much they love each other. They’ve been a complete family of two since day one. But seeing you together now, I can tell that you belong here. Not in the way where people say that you’ve filled in a missing piece or whatever, because there wasn’t a missing piece. They were already a complete family. But like… like a DLC for a video game. You already have the video game and you’ve played it through and you love it! But maybe you decide one day that you’d like to check out the DLC and you play it through again with the extra content, and you’re like ‘Wow! This was amazing before but all this extra stuff just adds to the experience!’ If that makes sense? Sorry, I can talk way too much, so if I’m doing that, just tell me!”
Luke smiled, not expecting this woman to be such a secret video game nerd. “No, you’re not talking too much. I think that’s a really lovely way to describe it. The game isn’t incomplete just because you don’t have the DLC. You still have all the quests and bosses and the same end goal. It’s still a whole and complete game.”
“You’re our DLC,” Lee whispered and pressed his lips to Luke’s temple.
Will stayed cuddled up with Charlie for the rest of their visit. Charlie and Silena gave him a gift and he was so excited, he thanked them over and over. They couldn’t stay too long, they had plans to meet with Silena’s sisters. Charlie told Luke privately that he was surprising Silena with tickets to Wicked this evening, too.
The rest of the day was amazing. Luke and Lee took Will to the zoo, and he was so excited to see the lions. He kept pointing back and forth at Lee and the lion, then signing Lee’s ASL name (the letter “L” + lion). Lee smiled and hugged Will tight.
After they bought some far too expensive snacks from a food stand, they made their way through the rest of the zoo. The monkeys and tigers and zebras. Will liked them all, but he stopped at the brown bears for a long time. The plaque said that it was a mama bear who just had two cubs not long ago, and Will was watching them with an unusual intensity.
Finally Will looked up at Luke, and then back at the bears. He let go of Luke’s hand and Lee’s hand, and then pointed at the bears, then to Luke. Then while he was looking up at Luke, Will crossed his hands over his chest and made the “L” sign with both hands, making claw gestures with both hands. The sign for “bear” plus the letter “L.”
Will was giving him his own sign. Lee was Will’s lion. Luke was now his bear.
~
Lee held Luke while he cried in his arms. He’s managed to hold it together through the rest of the zoo, through dinner, the rest of Will’s presents, and tucking Will in for bed. The moment Will was asleep though… Luke started to sob.
“He gave me my own sign, Lee! He- he saw that mama bear with her babies and he thought of me and I’m so-“ he cut himself off, more sobs shaking through him.
Lee held him and let him cry. He remembered when Will gave him his own sign. Will thought Lee was his fierce protector, his guardian, his dad. And he also cried, so he definitely understands where Luke is at. Knowing that his baby boy loved and trusted Luke so much that he gave him his own sign made him emotional too.
“I know, angel. It’s a big step, and I am so happy for you. I love you so much.” Lee kept rubbing his back and peppering kisses across his forehead.
Luke eventually calmed down enough to help take down decorations and clean up. His chest felt tight and he had to wipe away a few tears every few minutes, but he managed to help Lee get everything cleaned and put away.
“Ugh, I can feel the layer of sweat on my skin from the zoo. We should probably shower before bed, yeah?” Lee asked.
“Oh, yeah. I guess I feel pretty gross from all the sweating and the crying. Do you want to go first?”
Lee slid up behind him, pressing his chest to Luke’s back, and slid his hands around Luke’s waist. “I could go first… or we could just shower together and save time.”
Luke’s breath caught in his throat as Lee pressed a hot kiss to his neck. “Y-yeah or we could definitely do that. That definitely sounds like the best option.”
Lee turned off the lights and pulled Luke toward the bedroom. The sound of the water and bathroom fan drowned out any other noises coming from the shower.
~
Monday night Luke had to pack up his things and go back to his apartment to get ready for work. Leaving Lee and Will to go back to his place of residence was more and more agonizing every time he had to do it. Tonight was especially hard after such a special weekend for him.
Will was having a hard time with Luke packing his things. He was sat on the bed next to Luke’s bag and kept picking at the fraying strap. Luke tried to cheer him up, but Will kept pouting.
It didn’t get any easier or any better when Lee got home. Lee changed clothes and then curled up around Will on the bed, sadly watching Luke fold his clothes and put them into his duffel. Luke kept reminding them he’d be back in a couple days, but two pairs of sad blue eyes looking back at him was his only response.
“Hey, baby, why don’t you give Luke and I a minute to talk?” Lee kissed Will’s forehead and patted him on the leg. Will nodded and hopped off the bed, closing the door behind him on his way out. Lee scooted to the edge of the bed and pulled Luke to him so Luke was standing between Lee’s thighs.
“Lee, I have to finish packing,” Luke complained.
“Don’t leave.”
“Lee, you know I have to work tonight. It’s too late to just not go to work.”
“No, I- I know you have to go tonight. I just mean… stay. Here.”
Luke scrunched his forehead, confusion written across his face. “Lee, baby, I need you to clarify a little better.”
“Stay here. Move in with us. We miss you too much when you’re gone.”
Tears stung Luke’s eyes. “You- you really want me to live here with you?”
“More than anything, angel. Watching you pack your things is agony every fucking time. I don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t wanna watch you leave anymore, Luke,” Lee’s voice broke.
“I don’t want to leave anymore either. You have no idea how lonely it is to be away from you both, Lee. I hate going back to my place. It’s not even a home! I have to lock my bedroom door when I leave to prevent people from stealing my things. Being here with you and Will… you’re the first real home I’ve had since before my dad left. When he was gone, my mom just shut down and I… I never really saw her again. She died when I was sixteen, but she was gone when I was twelve, and I haven’t had a home since. I love you so much, and Will… god I didn’t think I’d ever be a parent after what I went through as a teenager, but Will is the sweetest boy, and I absolutely adore him. I- I really do believe that you both have changed me for the better. I may be your DLC, but you’re my missing pieces. I love you so much, of course I want to live here with you. I never want to leave you.” Luke had tears streaming down his face now.
Lee pulled him in closer. The hug was awkward with Luke still standing between Lee’s legs. But Luke didn’t care, he cradled Lee’s head against his chest like he was the most precious thing in the entire world. And really, he was.
“So you’ll move in?” Lee pulled back and asked, his beautiful eyes full of hope and love. Luke kissed him and nodded. Lee huffed a wet laugh and yelled, “Will! Baby, you can come back! He said yes!”
The bedroom door flew open and Will collided with Luke’s legs. Luke let out a surprised laugh and turned so he could really hug Will. The younger boy wiped his eyes and Luke noticed he’d been crying.
“Oh, my sweet boy. Look at me, please?” Will looked at him, his big eyes red and wet. “I love you so much, Will, do you know that? I don’t ever want to ever leave you ever again. You and Lee are the most special and precious and wonderful people in the whole world. I’m not going anywhere, okay?”
Will nodded and hugged Luke tight. Lee slid off the bed and knelt on the floor next to them, wrapping his arms around Luke and Will. Luke didn’t know how long they sat there holding each other before they finally pulled apart.
“I do still have to go to the other apartment to get ready for work, okay? And I have to talk to my roommates to let them know I’m moving out. But I’ll come back, okay? I’ll always come back,” Luke promised.
“Promise?” Will whispered.
Luke lifted Will’s chin to look him in the eyes. “I will always come home to you.”