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Lucas was living his best life. His friends were supportive as heck and they threw a ‘close friends only’ surprise 16th birthday party. This year he also had the chance to see one of his favourite bands live in concert. As well as that, he finally had a sort-of system going on with his father with money transfers (after years of Lucas being broke), and his roommates were good to him. He was still trying to save up for university but it was alright for now. Manon had moved in with her boyfriend again after getting back together with him so Lucas had his room back. His grades could’ve been better but they weren’t bad. He truly was good.
Of course, even though Lucas was more or less happy, nobody’s life is perfect. His was pretty close to perfect lately, but there was one problem. And that problem was Eliott Demaury.
Eliott had bullied Lucas for years as a child. Lucas remembers everything about it. It’s impossible to forget, when the person Lucas thought was the coolest, was actually the meanest human known to exist. It continues to be impossible to forget because Eliott was cool. He was undeniably good looking even as a child, and he was clever and charming. Under any other circumstance, Lucas's closeted ass probably would've crushed hard on him.
Unfortunately life had other plans because Eliott was only rude to Lucas. Apparently, (according to Lucas’s friend’s and Lucas's own mother at one point) Eliott was the friendliest . They told Lucas that he was sweet, and drew cute drawings in his spare time. Constant gushing about how all the girls loved him, and how they have no chance with any of the girls now. Lucas grew up with everyone telling him that Eliott was the best person.
That is, to everyone except Lucas. Lucas had to deal with Elliott's cold stares and his never-ending insults about Lucas's mother. Eliott would never let Lucas be on his team when they were younger and playing soccer. Lucas never understood it, and it slowly got on his nerves. Because Eliott would be happy and seemingly fun, but whenever Lucas was around, Eliott would stare at him so intensely that Lucas felt like a virus. In fact, Eliott even treated Lucas like a virus. If Lucas accidentally bumped into him, he would give him the death stare. Lucas vividly remembers one time they were playing blob tag and Lucas had to hold Elliott's hand. Eliott had gotten so tense and had flinched away from his touch. Lucas had never felt so revolting in his life.
It messed with his self-image. He started to think he wasn’t as cool as the other kids in his class. Why did Eliott hate him when nobody else seemed to bother him.
One day Lucas confided to Yann about his trust issues that slowly started showing up when his Dad left him and his mother to fend for themselves, and how the way Eliott excluded him in everything made him feel. Yann took Lucas’s side and began to see Eliott in a new light. Yann would pickup on the way Eliott would glare at Lucas and comment about it in the moment, until one day Eliott broke and his eyes started tearing up. Eliott ran away from school that day and didn’t show up for a whole two weeks. After that, Elliott's mean words became less and less and whenever Lucas would make eye contact with Eliott, Eliott would avoid his eye contact, but the previous disgust in his eyes didn’t remain. Sometimes he looked even guilty.
Which was good. He should be guilty. His words and actions towards Lucas had affected Lucas, causing him to have more shame in his mother’s mental illness than he should’ve and making Lucas feel worthless.
However, now that he was in his sophomore year of high school he wasn’t as insecure. He had a great friend group which consisted of Yann, a guy named Basile and one of Lucas’s best friends, Arthur. However, even though his life was great, he never could truly forgive Eliott. Eliott would attempt to be civil to him, but Lucas would continually end up being rude to Eliott. It almost made Lucas feel bad about how Eliott would look down in degradation whenever Lucas said something rude. But not quite. Eliott didn’t get to tyrannise him for years and then get to act as if nothing happened.
It was difficult to avoid Eliott altogether though. They were kind-of around the same group of people all the time. Although Arthur was on Lucas and Yann’s side about the whole Eliott situation, Basile liked being friends with Eliott and Lucas would inevitably see Eliott at parties and school. Lucas did his best to avoid Eliott at all costs though. He was pretty sure the feeling was mutual so it was alright for the most part. Until today.
“Lucas.” Elliott's unmistakable voice said from behind him after a particularly long school day full of English class.
Lucas was tired, to say the least. Too tired to deal with Eliott. English wasn’t his strongest subject, and the girl, he made out with at the most recent party was constantly trying to flirt with him the whole day. Chloe was her name, he believed.
“What do you want?” Lucas said harshly, his voice sounding sharper than usual, even to his own ears. Eliott flinched, and Lucas pretended not to notice. He wasn’t trying to be mean, Eliott just made him defensive. “Sorry… what do you want?” Lucas said again, his voice softer this time.
“H-hi-” Eliott said.
Lucas raised his eyebrows, in annoyance. “Hi. Do you need something, or are you just wasting my time because I have things to do.”
He didn’t actually. He was just planning to go home and finish season 3 of Queer Eye with Mika, but Eliott didn’t need to know that.
Eliott looked nervous. “Oh yeah. I do. Have something to say, that is…” Eliott said finally meeting Lucas’s eyes. Lucas used to think Eliott had the most magnetic eyes he’s ever seen, but not anymore, not after the way he treated Lucas. It brought back flashbacks of Eliott taunting him with words like “insane”, “mental” and “gay” on multiple occasions.
When Eliott trailed off, Lucas had to will himself to not roll his eyes in annoyance. “Then say it. I have things to get to.” Lucas repeated steadily.
“Willyoututormeinenglishclassithinkyoucouldhelpmealot,it’sdumbiknowbutireallyneedatutorandyouseemgoodinthisclass.” Eliott burst out, a light tint of pink painting his cheeks.
“Whoa, what slow down.”
Eliott took a deep breath before meeting Lucas’s eyes again nervously. “Can you tutor me in English class this weekend. You’re good at English, well good enough to teach me-”
“Absolutely not.” Lucas interrupted, appalled. Just imagining being in Elliott's presence for longer than necessary made his head hurt.
Eliott looked sad for a second so brief Lucas could’ve pretended he didn’t notice but he did.
“I’ll pay you $100 for each hour you spend tutoring me,” Eliott said, avoiding all eye contact now.
“You can’t buy me, Eliot,” Lucas said coldly, even though he could use the money. Nothing was worth hours of spending time with Eliott.
“I’ll double it.”
Lucas considered it. He really could use the money for university. Why was he considering this, he knew he shouldn’t be.
“Please Lucas,” Eliott said. “I’ll pay you triple if you need it.”
Lucas was so annoyed, how did Eliott think he could just buy Lucas like that.
“Okay, first of all, I’m not just someone who can be bought. I’m not going to fall for your stupid ‘kind pretty boy’ facade. You were a fucking dick to me when we were younger, constantly mentioning how insane my mother is when her mental illness does not define her. Belittling her to words like crazy, and making me feel ashamed of her when she is one of the strongest people I know.” Lucas took a deep breath, face burning in embarassment from his outburst. “Beside’s I suck at English. I don’t think you want a ‘gay’ guy like me to help you. Find someone else.” Lucas turned to walk away when Eliott grabbed his arm in one last desperate attempt.
“Please Lucas. I’m sorry, okay it was fucked up to mention the money. And for everything else I did. I just- I can’t find anyone else, everyone else left and it’s Friday and our test is on Monday. And you always seem to notice the important things about literature in English class I just thought you would be the best choice to help me even if you hate me. I get it. I’d hate me too.” Eliott said, eyes widening when he realized what he said in the last sentence. A silence followed for the words to sink in for both of them.
“Don’t say that Eliott,” Lucas said, without fully comprehending what he was saying. “Everyone makes mistakes, it's just...some hurt more than others. And for the record I don’t hate you, but please can you find someone else to tutor you?”
“I really can’t,” Eliott said helplessly, and Lucas almost felt bad for him for a second. Almost.
Lucas sighed. He couldn’t believe he was going to agree to this. Yann and Arthur were going to freak out. “You better pay me double.”
Elliott's face lit up and Lucas could see why girls and guys alike liked him so much for a second. “Really.”
Lucas didn’t answer, just pursed his lips and walked to the bus station to get home. He had a whole season of Queer eye to watch still. It had nothing to do with mentally preparing himself for what he just agreed to. Not at all.
“I’ll text you my address!” Eliott called out, obvious relief bleeding through his voice.
Lucas just nodded and got onto the upcoming bus to get home. It didn’t occur to him that Eliott had a way to contact him even though Lucas never specifically gave him any contact information.