Chapter Text
It was a little bit strange that always when kids tired out Lucas so much there was just a small sparkle of life left in him, instead of rushing home to rest, he would come into Yuugo’s teashop to complain. Yuugo hoped he didn’t get Lucas that addicted to his tea but the chances were he really did. It was this or Lucas genuinely couldn’t rest without pouring his heart out to him first.
“I’m dead. I’m scared that if I go back home to sleep I won’t be able to wake up tomorrow,” Lucas said with his head on the bar table.
“You can sleep at my place, I’ll wake you up,” Yuugo suggested and kept on preparing a green tea for Lucas and himself.
Lucas sat up and looked deep into Yuugo’s eyes.
“What did I do to deserve someone like you in my life?”
“I don’t know about deserving but surely the reason is that you got stuck on a tree when we were six and needed my help to get down.”
“Oh, you call that help. You tried to help me and got stuck on that tree with me for hours. Hours, Yuugo,” Lucas reminded him.
“At least we got to know each other,” Yuugo shrugged it off and passed Lucas a steaming teacup. “So what killed you today?”
“We went to the forest for a field trip. Ray, Emma and Norman thought it would be funny to play hide and seek with teachers and somehow all the kids followed their lead. We were running around the forest for two hours like crazy trying to find them all. And then, we spent another hour looking only for Norman and Ray since they were the only ones left.”
“But you did find them, right?”
“Not really. They came out by themselves only because they got hungry. Turns out Emma had their lunches. But I think if they really wanted to hide longer, they could have just asked her to bring them food. I think they revealed themselves out of pity. They pity us, Yuugo.”
“But you caught Emma! That’s good!”
“We caught her because she was helping a crying kid. I felt so guilty when I found her. And then, after I ran for miles and I forgot the guilt, the only thing left in me was pain and maybe humiliation.”
“I will give you a good massage later,” Yuugo tried to make things better.
Lucas opened his mouth like he was about to say something but then changed his mind and averted his eyes.
“Thank you,” he said finally.
“Hey, Lucas,” Yuugo leaned over the counter. “You know you can tell me anything, Don’t hesitate.”
Lucas’s gaze was intense. He wasn’t looking away.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” Yuugo responded like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“I’m serious,” Lucas insisted.
“I know. Me too.”
He had been in love with Lucas for almost half of his life. He didn’t know what exactly Lucas meant right now but whatever it was, Yuugo was content. He drank a sip of his tea.
“You are drinking a tea when I’m confessing,” Lucas reproached.
Yuugo froze. He carefully placed the hot cup away. Then he finally understood. Lucas wasn’t talking about loving him as a friend. He was confessing. That sole thought made Yuugo’s heart beat faster than it was safe for a human body.
“You’re confessing. To me,” he repeated.
“Fine, I clearly made a mistake. Let’s pretend it never happened,” Lucas looked away, clearly disappointed. “God, today just can’t get worse.”
Yuugo couldn’t stop himself from smacking Lucas on the head. Lucas winced.
“Great, and now you’re hitting me. Splendid,” he complained.
“You’re such an idiot. We were friendzoning each other for so long you took me by surprise. I kindly accept your confession. Feel free to take me out on a date of your choice. Just nothing too fancy. It’s not fitting our style nor your salary.”
“Hey, Grace Field pays me good money,” Lucas argued.
“Your flat is shady.”
“Then maybe I should just move in with you.”
“You definitely should.”
“You’re so weird, Yuugo. I confessed less than five minutes ago and you already want us to live together.”
“You’re the one who asked me!” Yuugo rolled his eyes. “And you just could wait till we got home with that confessing thing? I can’t really kiss you or anything in front of my customers and you know. As the owner of the store I have to be decent at all time.”
“Like you are decent most of the time,” Lucas pointed out with a crooked smile. “But no, I couldn’t wait. I waited for years and suddenly I decided to take my chance so don’t complain,” Lucas smiled. “So what do we do for our first date?”
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Or later. We’re not in any rush.”
“I just don’t want this relationship to move towards as slowly as it did till now,” Lucas sighed.
“I ask you to move in, you say too fast, I want to have you well rested for our first date and you complain that I’m slow. I wished I knew it was this hard to satisfy you before I agreed to this whole dating thing,” Yuugo rolled his eyes in a dramatical gesture. He enjoyed playing a drama queen now. A lot.
Lucas looked in a strange way he used from time to time. Yuugo was starting to feel it was love. He smiled back at him.
“Also,” Yuugo continued. “You’ve been running with kids the whole day. Sorry to upset you but you stink. You need to take a shower at my place or I’m not touching you at all.”
Lucas gave his T-shirt a quick sniff and cringed.
“I’m so sorry. God, I confessed to you smelling like that… Kids would kill me if they knew.”
“Don’t worry,” Yuugo leaned in once again. “I love you no matter how badly you stink.”
Before any customer could notice, Lucas got even closer to Yuugo and stole a quick kiss from his lips.
They both grinned.
Nothing much has changed really. They talked for hours about nothing like they usually did until one of the Yuugo’s employees would come and take over. It was a huge relief for Yuugo, actually. He liked how they were. He liked that comfort and understanding that he had only ever experienced when he was with Lucas.
“By the way, Yuugo,” Lucas started when they were just waiting for Zack, the other part-timer to appear so they could leave. “I need to tell you something.”
“Oh, my, you sure have mood for confessions today,” Yuugo chuckled.
“Yeah... “ Lucas didn’t laugh. “Oliver ran away from home and he’s staying at my place. Sorry, I should have told you earlier.”
Yuugo froze.
“Lucas. This is serious. You're his teacher, he’s a minor, he’s dad is crazy and crazy rich. You can’t do something like that!”
“I know… but…”
Yuugo was already calling Oliver. Teenager picked up pretty quickly.
“Olie, Lucas just told me you’ve been crashing at his place. That shit is dangerous, you are not getting my boyfriend arrested because you’ve had a little spat with your father. Pack up asap if you don’t want to go home, feel free to stay at my place.”
“Did you just call, Lucas your boyfriend? Wow,” Oliver was impressed.
Yuugo had a feeling that even in the current situation, that brat was mocking him.
“Pack your bags and come over. That’s an order.”
“Nah. I’ll give you guys some space and come tomorrow. Have fun.”
Yuugo rolled his eyes.
“You are coming over tonight. Lucas and I are not sexually curious teenagers from your class we’re responsible adults who are saving your ass. You won’t be intruding, seriously.”
Suddenly Oliver’s voice got a little bit shy, embarrassed even.
“I really won’t? I don’t want to cause you more trouble than I’ve already had.”
“It’s fine, Oliver. We’ll be waiting for you.”
“Thanks... Just text me an address. I only know that you live close.”
“No problem, brat. Bye.”
“Bye.”
When Yuugo hung up, suddenly he had realised that he was facing Lucas’s bright smile. It was too wide. Especially today, it’s power had seemed lethal to him.
“What?”
“Thank you, Yuugo.”
“It’s fine. I know you care about that kid.”
“You care about him too. But still, it’s pretty huge.”
Yuugo darted his eyes away, embarrassed about the matter. Lucas was still grinning.
“Don’t mention it. So, should I ask what pushed the brat to run away or am I better not knowing?”
Lucas’s smile disappeared and his serious face took over. He opened his mouth to speak but then a customer appeared and asked for an Assam takeout. Yuugo quietly prepared the tea, trying not to look into Lucac’s secrecy. As soon as the customer was out of the earshot, Lucas finally elaborated.
“So… You know Oliver has his eighteen birthday in a week, right?”
“Yep.”
“Well, as soon as he’s going to be an adult on paper he plans on suing his father and taking over the company.”
Yuugo took a step back in shock and almost bumped into a shelf full of teapots.
“Whoa… That is dangerous. Is taking down someone like him even possible?”
“It won’t be easy especially taking Lord Bayon’s sleazy lawyers into account but the other kids, Emma, Ray, Norman, Violet and a few more got a hold of hard evidence against him. There is no way Oliver will not win and most probably his dad will end up in prison.”
“I was always right about those kids being dangerous,” Yuugo sighed. “But damn. Where will I find an employee like Oliver? He was the best I ever had…”
“Norman mentioned that his older friends are looking for a part-time job,” Lucas mentioned.
“Premium class again?” Yuugo groaned.
“Experimental lambda class.”
That was even worse. Who knew what kind of freaks those kids would turn out to be. But on the other hand, if Norman recommended them, they probably weren’t half bad.
“Fine, tell Norman to bring them. But I’m taking one. Just one.”
A few months later, he was employing not one but two kids from lambda class. Barbara was a bit crazy, pretty girl who brought in a lot of chaos but also entertainment to the shop. Zazie was quiet, rather shy, and extremely professional at making sandwiches.
Every time one of their friends would have a shift, lambda brats would come over and occupy one of the biggest tables. The shop got a little bit more lively thanks to them and thank god they didn’t scare the neighbourhood grandmas away. Quite the opposite, old ladies seemed to love the tall smart guy called Vincent for some reason and kept inviting him over to their tables.
They were great but Yuugo still wished that Oliver could stay. But, as he had feared, handling both school and the company had turned out quite hard for the boy. And also why would he keep working in a teashop when he was a CEO. Of course, the job was nice, the tea was good but still, it made no sense for him to stay.
However, Oliver would still drop whenever he was coming from school just to say hi and drink a cup. It was quite sweet. Yuugo never dreamt of charging him for the drinks but after each visit, he would find a huge bill in the tips jar. It seemed that Oliver was rather well off now and he certainly seemed happy and free. He smiled more.
Yuugo still couldn’t believe it when he found out that it was his favourite trio and Violet working together that brought him to this point. He was so proud of those kids.
Lucas had no real reason to come over to the shop since he had both Yuugo and tea at home but he would still come quite often. Sometimes, he and Oliver would just sit down in a corner and talk for hours. Sometimes, Yuugo would join. Sometimes, Ray, Emma and Norman would come too.
Yuugo wasn’t even complaining that much about the peace and quiet afternoons he has lost.