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Lucas tugged at his tie. He felt like it was suffocating him. In fact, the whole suit was choking him, stiff and unfamiliar. He didn’t know why he’d agreed to wear it, hell, he didn’t even know why he’d agreed to come here in the first place. No, scratch that. He knew why he’d agreed to that. Because deep down inside he still wanted his father’s approval, even after all that he had put Lucas through. And so when his dad had told him about this huge celebration at the investment firm he worked for, and that the families of the employees were invited too, and whether Lucas would be willing to come along, he’d been suspicious, surprised, but also somehow pleased that his dad would want him there. And so he’d bought a suit, been polite and gracious all evening to Véronique, his dad’s new wife, and refrained from talking about anything that might upset his dad – which crossed his mom, his friends, his living situation and his sexuality off the list and left basically just his studies. His dad had wanted to know all about Lucas’ research into molecular genetics, so Lucas had tried to explain the intricacies of his lab tests and his thesis. But after the dinner was over and the people started socializing, his dad and Véronique had stood up and started to go greet his dad’s co-workers, and left Lucas all alone, not knowing anyone.
He’d been sitting at the far end of the bar for quite a while now, bored out of his skull. He’d had a whiskey already and really wanted another one, but he didn’t think getting too buzzed would be sitting very well with his dad. Maybe it had been a mistake, maybe he should finally give up on the dream of reaching some sort of actual bond with his father. He pulled at the knot in his tie again, pondering if he could get away with just taking it off. He sighed, draining the last bit of liquid from his glass. Maybe he should go find his dad, thank him for the evening, and find his own way back home.
Suddenly a shadow fell over him as somebody sat next to him.
“Want another one of those?’, a cheerful voice inquired.
Lucas sighed again before looking up, and then he wished he’d loosened his tie quite a bit further, because all of a sudden, his throat constricted and air did no longer reach his lungs. He gaped at the sight in front of him – messy honey-coloured hair, eyes the colour of a misty sky and a toothy grin that didn’t stop at his mouth, but crept all over his high cheekbones. For a moment he wondered if he had conjured up the stranger out of pure boredom.
“Another one?”, the man repeated, a laugh ringing through the words.
“Uh, I don’t, I mean, uh –”, he stuttered – fuck, way to go, Lallemant –, and took a deep breath, “I shouldn’t. I’m trying to keep my head clear. Thanks, though…”, he ended lamely.
The stranger laughed. Lucas’ eyes travelled over his lean body, his tall frame, his broad shoulders, his long limbs.
“Not a bad plan. I should adhere to that too, probably.”
Lucas nodded, and then slapped himself mentally for his stupidity. It wasn’t like he’d never seen an attractive man before – he didn’t have to behave like the fifteen-year-old inexperienced gay boy he used to be. Although, in his defense, attractive did not begin to describe the man currently looking at him with a curious expression. Lucas almost regretted not paying better attention in his literature classes in high school, for then he might find the perfect word to describe him – gorgeous, mesmerizing, breath-taking, stunning, enthralling – Lucas didn’t feel like any of these were satisfactory.
Belatedly he realized he was gaping. He shook his head and dropped his eyes to his lap, trying to regain some mental composure, desperately attempting to come up with some form of suitable reply.
“But then again, I’ve never been good at doing what’s expected of me. I’m gonna have another one,” the stranger proceeded, as if Lucas had not just stared at him open-mouthed for a minute straight. “It’d be rude to let me drink alone, though. Please, humour me, have another one.”
And who was Lucas to deny this god-like creature anything? He shrugged. “If you put it like that… Sure, then.”
“You always this hard to get?”
Lucas spluttered.
“Just joking! I am Eliott, by the way.”
“Lucas.”
Lucas held out his hand, and prepared for the impact when Eliott grabbed it and they shook. It still felt like his whole existence focused on where their skin touched, and Lucas hoped Eliott didn’t notice how his breath caught. Eliott signed to the bartender, who made quick work of two more whiskeys. They touched their glasses together in silence, and sipped. Lucas tried to guess what Eliott was doing here. Did he work for the same firm as his dad? God, he hoped Eliott was not an investment banker or some other financial genius, they’d never have anything to talk about. Eliott interrupted his thoughts.
“You work for the firm, Lucas?”
Lucas was about to answer, when his dad appeared out of nowhere.
“Lucas! I have been looking for you everywhere! I have been wanting to introduce you to a colleague of mine,” he said, pulling at Lucas’ arm.
Lucas was a bit perplexed by this, and turned politely to the man standing next to his father.
“Lucas, this is Michel Demaury. Michel, my son Lucas. As I told you, Lucas is a bit of a big upcoming name in his field. It’s all so very complicated, isn’t it, Lucas? He always was so remarkably good at science. He scored unusually high on the bac, too. Your son must have taken the bac about the same time as Lucas did, I believe. Oh, wait, no, how unthinking of me – I remember now, your son failed it, didn’t he? Lucas has gotten so many recommendations from his professors, and he is working at publicizing his research results, aren’t you, son? What did you say your son does again, Michel?”
Lucas felt like he was being shown off at a dog show, with the saccharine tone his father’s voice suddenly took on. He didn’t feel good being compared to somebody he didn’t even know. It was humiliating to both Lucas and this Mr. Demaury’s son. Why was his dad trying to get one up on his co-worker? Lucas almost expected to be patted on the head. He looked at Eliott and smiled apologetically.
Mr. Demaury, however, didn’t seem to mind. He looked over at Lucas, then at Lucas’ drinking buddy, and beamed. Oddly, that smile seemed somehow familiar to Lucas.
“Well, Serge, Eliott is an artist, as I’m sure you remember. He got into a very prestigious art school after he did in fact pass his bac, albeit a year late, I’m sure I must have told you.”
Eliott? Lucas looked over to his right, and indeed, there was that same smile. So not a banker, then, thank god. Lucas was intrigued. He almost forgot their fathers standing there. He wanted to ask Eliott about his art, but his father cut in smugly.
“Oh, yes, that is right. That must be a bit of a disappointment, right? An artist. How does your son expect to provide for himself by doodling, let alone for a family? Now Lucas here has got some great job offers lined up already, and he’s not even fully graduated yet. There’s lots of money in scientific research, right, Lucas? You’ll soon overtake your old father here, hahaha!”
Oh, fuck. His dad was just using Lucas to brag to Eliott’s father, and of course, he made it all about money. Lucas should have known his father would always only have one love, and it would never be his family.
“Actually, Serge,” Mr. Demaury piped up, “Eliott is doing quite well for himself. His work sells at some of the more renowned galleries in Paris, and he has so much demand for commissions he has to turn some of them down. But even if he wasn’t so successful and had to take a job in a factory to feed himself, I’d still be proud of him for following his passion.”
Lucas felt his cheeks burn. What kind of peculiar conversation was going on here? The situation embarrassed him highly, and he hardly dared look at Eliott. But the latter subtly touched his leg, and when their eyes met, Eliott was smiling even wider than before. Lucas lost himself for a moment in those cloudy eyes, and when he heard his father say his name, he had to concentrate hard on the question.
“And, Lucas, who is your friend here? Are you one of the junior bankers at the firm, young man?” His father slapped Eliott jovially on the shoulder.
“Uh, no, dad. This is Eliott… Demaury.”
For a split second, Lucas watched his father standing there speechlessly, but he quickly recovered.
“Ah, Eliott. The great artist himself!”, he laughed, somewhat strained. “So, you met Lucas. Impressive fellow, huh?”
Eliott moved delicately closer to Lucas.
“Very impressive. We were getting along rather well, weren’t we, Lucas?” His voice had dipped at least an octave, and the hand on his leg moved into a somewhat more visible position somewhat higher on his thigh. Lucas started blushing furiously.
At that, both their dads went silent.
“We had actually just decided we were going to leave to go somewhere more… private.”
He stood up, grabbed Lucas’ hand, and started walking determinedly to the exit. Lucas had no choice but to follow – not that he minded very much. He heard both his father and Mr. Demaury call after them, but neither he nor Eliott paid them much attention.
Eliott kept dragging Lucas along, all the way out and to the nearest bus station, where he finally sat down on the bench, laughing out loud. Lucas felt that laughter tingle all over his spine.
“Eliott! What was that about?”
Eliott laughed again.
“I didn’t know you where Lucas Lallemant.”
“How do you know my name?”
“Your father. As long as I remember, my dad has been complaining about one co-worker. They were hired in the same month, I believe, always vying for the same promotions and stuff. They’ve just been trying to upstage each other for the past twenty-five years, so when my dad showed up with a colleague and they started measuring dicks, or in this case sons, I just figured it had to be the infamous Serge Lallemant. There’s only one person who brings out that side in my dad. Come one, don’t tell me your dad hasn’t been nagging about mine at dinner!”
“Uh, well, my dad left us when I was pretty young, actually, and even before that we weren’t really the type of family who had nice dinners together, so…”
“Oh! Sorry, Lucas, I didn’t know…”
“That’s okay, don’t worry,” Lucas interrupted. “But if you knew your dad dislikes mine so much, why did you… imply… you know… uh… well, that we were…” Lucas once again couldn’t manage to get the words out and he felt the red creep up his cheeks once more. Fuck, he’d known Eliott for fifteen minutes and it felt like he’d been blushing for fourteen and a half of them.
Another one of those full-bodied laughs escaped Eliott, but something in Lucas’ face made him stop. He actually appeared a bit contrite, and started apologizing.
“Oh, fuck, I’m sorry! I mean, I just wanted to mess with my dad a bit, but I didn’t think about you! Shit, sorry! I can call your dad to tell him it was just a prank. Hope he won’t bring it up to your girlfriend or something…”
Eliott’s voice trailed off, and Lucas swallowed. Eliott suddenly stood, patted his pockets and started to light a cigarette.
Lucas studied him closely. He seemed a bit jumpy all of a sudden, and Lucas was wondering why that was.
“I haven’t had a girlfriend since I was sixteen and pretending not to be as gay as they come. If there’s one thing that pisses off my dad about his smart money-making scientist son, it’s that he fucks boys.”
Eliott turned back towards Lucas. His demeanour changed again, and his eyes travelled all the way over Lucas’ body.
“In that case…” He came closer, leaning into Lucas.
Lucas gave him the once-over, an eyebrow raised in anticipation.
“We were supposed to go somewhere private, weren’t we?”
Lucas pretended to hedge, think things over.
“That is what you told our fathers, in any case.”
“Mmmmmm,” Eliott agreed, nodding, his mouth centimeters from Lucas’. “And it would be really bad manners to lie to our fathers, wouldn’t it?”
He looked at Lucas with big puppy eyes and a wide grin, and Lucas couldn’t resist.
“I suppose it would. I’d better come with you then, save you from being punished for lying…”
“You’d better,” Eliott managed to mumble, his pupils blown wide as he came even closer.
“You’d better make it worth my time, though…”
Eliott cut off Lucas’ words with a kiss. It would have been brief and sweet, maybe, if Lucas hadn’t immediately opened up for Eliott and made it hot in a matter of seconds. So it was a while before Eliott stood, grabbing Lucas’ hand and dragging him with him.
“I think I will, Lucas, I think I will.”