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The yells of a very upset Freddy Riley filled the halls of Oletus manor, followed quickly by the laughing and giggling of the two who caused such screaming. Luca Balsa and Norton Campbell were currently racing down the hall from a certain lawyer’s room, said lawyer close on their tail.
“I didn’t think he would get so upset over it!” Luca said with a laugh, looking behind him at their pursuer who was slowly giving up. “We didn’t do much, just a little bit of shenanigans, just to see if we c-”
Luca was cut off by Norton grabbing his arm to duck into an offshoot of the hallway, followed by him hushing the inventor, cutting off his protests. They waited in what was mostly silence, save for the giggling Luca was trying to muffle, as they listened to the lawyer sigh and give up on chasing the two. As soon as they heard the footsteps fade away, and the quiet shutting of a door, they exploded into giggling laughter.
“You see his face?” Norton asked with a grin, chuckling quietly. “You got him good, Balsa.” He placed a hand on the other’s shoulder, the warmth seeping through and causing Luca to smile even wider than before.
If Luca’s face flushed at that, well, that was his own business. He giggled, bouncing on his feet and shaking his hands excitedly. “Oh, you flatter me, Mister Campbell! It really wasn’t much… setting up a simple motion sensor to tell when Mister Riley entered his room causing it to trigger a simple series of events, that’s all it is!” He wasn’t lying- to him, it wasn’t that big of an accomplishment. It was simple to set it up, and it’s not that he wanted to anger Freddy, he just wanted to see Norton get excited over it.
Rolling his eyes, Norton moved the hand on Luca’s shoulder to ruffle his hair, smiling softly. “You know more about that stuff than I do, it’s impressive to me. And I don’t think Riley’ll be able to fix his room for weeks. Where’d you even get that much confetti?”
“Morton,” is all Luca said in response, trying to stop the smug expression threatening to come across his face. He started to say something else, but stopped, cut off by the sound of muffled yelling from the man they were both discussing. Eyes wide, they stared at each other, silently listening to the scream of distress and slamming of a door.
After another moment of silence, they once again burst into laughter. “Think he found the spider,” Norton said, smiling wide. “Was worried that was overkill, but I think it was a nice touch.”
Luca’s grin felt like it’s going to split his face as he laughed, clutching his gut. “My goodness!” Shaking, he held onto Norton for balance, the other man supporting him with a small smile as he wheezed, trying to spit out the words.
“I love you!”
Norton went quiet, smile falling as he stared at Luca with wide eyes. Luca, in turn, looked confused, tilting his head to the side before his brain finally caught up with the betrayal of his tongue.
He snatched his hand away from Norton, clutching it to his chest as if he’s been burned. His eyes searched for somewhere else to look, anywhere other than the man in front of him. The words echoed in his head, over and over, like a bell rung in an empty church, a plea to something unresponsive. His chest rises and falls rapidly, but he didn’t notice, trying to figure out what he said, why he said that, why would he say that. They were having fun, why did he ruin it? He could take it back- should take it back. Norton doesn’t deserve him, he doesn’t want to burden Norton with that.
“Norton, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to- pretend that didn’t happen, alright? You were talking about the spider. Let’s talk about the spider! We can-”
“Balsa.”
“-plan something else!” Luca fidgeted nervously, trying to stop the shaking in his hands. “We could… we could pull a little prank on, uhm… on Mister Valden! We wouldn’t do anything too, cruel, of course, but-”
“Balsa.”
“-perhaps we could hide his paintbrushes! That would be amusing, wouldn’t it?” Keep talking, that’s how you get your way out of situations like this, you keep talking, and they leave, or they listen, or they don’t. “We could ask Miss Reznik for help! I’m sure her robots would come in handy-”
“Balsa, listen to me-”
He couldn’t breathe. He pushed through. “Oh, if you don’t want to do shenanigans, you could come join me in my workshop again! It is always such a pleasure to have you there, Mister Campbell, even without conversation your presence is such a blessing, and- and-” Finally, he stopped to take a breath.
“Luca.” Norton grabbed the inventor’s hands with both his own. He didn’t even notice at first, feeling numb all over. “Luca, are you listening?”
He nodded, still not looking up at Norton, instead staring at the ground. Usually, he found how fast his mind went to be a blessing, but right now it felt like a curse. A thousand different possibilities raced through his head, most of them ending in him heartbroken and left alone. Alone and unwanted, again. He didn’t want that to happen again. Why couldn’t he have kept his mouth shut? Everyone always told him that was his main problem, that he never knew when to shut up. It got him into so much trouble already, you would think he’d already learned that lesson. Alas, here he was, preparing for the worst. Maybe Norton would go easy on him, let him down gentle- Norton was always so nice to him before, right? But what if Norton was disgusted by him? Luca wouldn’t blame him for getting upset.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by a head on top of his own, gasping as if he had been dunked into freezing water. He took a moment to come back to his surroundings, taking everything in. Norton had pulled him closer, and he could feel his thumbs rubbing circles into the top of his hands, gentle but just enough to ground him. Tears were welling up in his eyes, but he squeezed them shut, opting to burrow his face into Norton’s collarbone instead. He felt safe there, and he knew he shouldn’t, not with what was about to happen, but he did.
He should be happy, really. At least with rejection, he would know Norton was never trying to use him. Not like everyone else who struck up a romantic relationship with him. Maybe… maybe they could even stay friends. He liked his friendship with Norton. They took care of each other. Yes, that would be nice.
“Are you alright?” Norton’s voice was quiet, almost inaudible, and Luca thought he would’ve missed it were he not so close to the other. He liked Norton’s voice, and the way he talked, too. Others found him blunt, crass, rude, but Luca found him honest. He appreciated honesty, for someone to talk to him with their intentions set clearly out on the table, unobscured by formalities and flowery language. He liked listening to Norton, and likewise, Norton liked listening to him. It was a rare trait, for someone to like listening to him, and he still wasn’t used to it, in all honesty.
Taking a shaky breath, Luca nodded, and he could hear- no, feel, Norton let out an exhale. He pulled his hands slowly from Norton’s grasp, timidly wrapping them around the other. If he was about to get rejected, he could at least enjoy this for as long as it would last, right?
Norton wrapped his arms around Luca in turn, one hand on his back and the other on the back of his head, absentmindedly playing with the strands of hair he found there. “Good. Listen to me now, okay? Just me. I know that brain of yours goes miles a minute, but ignore it just for a little bit.”
Ignore it? That’s never been easy. How could he ignore it in a situation like this? There were so many variables to be considered here, how could he not analyze them all in hopes to get some semblance of an answer, some way to prepare himself for what was about to come? He felt a little ashamed that Norton could read him so easily- it never felt good to have someone know your weaknesses, especially when you tried so desperately to hide them, and especially when you’re about to most likely get rejected by them.
Once again, Luca was snapped out of his thoughts by a small tap on his head, earning a small offended noise. “I know you’re doing it right now, Balsa. I’m being serious. Just listen.”
Even with his words, Luca could hear the smile in his voice, which made him more perplexed than anything else. Instead of saying anything, he just nodded, and hoped for once he would be able to stay quiet.
“Okay, thank you,” Norton said. He took a deep breathe, waiting before he continued, leaving Luca in uneasy silence. “I care about you a lot, you know.”
Oh, here it came. The “but,” the “I’m sorry,” the rejection. The part where Norton said he never wanted to see Luca again.
“You mean… a lot to me. Didn’t think you’d end up this important, but, uh… here we are.” A quiet chuckle came from Norton, and Luca could feel it from where his head was laid on his chest.
That… wasn’t what Luca expected. Was Norton leading up to something? He wasn’t the type to play this game with him, right? Did he read him wrong? He wanted to tell him to get it over with, but he remembered Norton’s words, and he stayed silent.
“You… the thing is…” Norton cut himself off with a groan, and Luca could feel his chin lift off from the top of his head, throwing his head back in exasperation. “I’m sorry, you know I’m not good with words. I just…” Norton pulled back, and for the first time in this conversation, Luca met his eyes.
Luca liked Norton’s eyes. They were a dark brown, absolutely beautiful. He liked the rest of Norton’s face, too, even though he knew Norton himself didn’t share the sentiment. He stopped that train of thought in its tracks, though, he knew himself well enough to know he didn’t have time to get into everything he loved about Norton’s face. So he looked at Norton, at his eyes, and noticed he seemed… nervous. Why was he the one who was nervous? Was Luca not the one about to get rejected here?
“Norton..?” Luca questioned in a hushed tone. The quiet fell over them like a blanket, oppressive, yet… almost comforting, in a way. Luca was waiting to hear what Norton had to say, and Norton was waiting to be able to bring himself to say it.
Neither of them were good with this- with being close to people. Not anymore, at least. Their lives were filled with betrayal and heartbreak, and that is a hard thing to unlearn. A drowning man will try to take his savior down with him, so how were they to believe they were not the same? To be lost at sea for so long with not a piece of driftwood in sight, believing that you will never be rescued again… one may think the life raft you see is only an illusion.
Did that not make them perfect for each other, though? Two broken people could make a whole, and even if not, they could put the pieces together the best they can and fill in the gaps with the glue of their time together, of the holding hands under tables and the glances thrown in secret, of words holding so much more than their meaning on the surface.
Norton took his hands again.
“I love you.”
Luca’s heart stopped. He felt like he was repeating history, the words echoing again. The thought of Norton tricking him passed his mind, but he quickly shoved it aside. He knew Norton wouldn’t do that. If Norton wasn’t tricking him, though, then that meant he was being genuine. Norton was being genuine. Norton loved him. He loved Norton. That hit him, now. With his mind racing early he didn’t even have the time to realize that he really, truly, loved Norton. That it was more than a slip of the tongue, but a truth coming out from hiding.
A choked noise came from his throat, and immediately Norton looked at him with concern, about to ask what was wrong before Luca threw his arms around his neck, beaming with joy. Caught off guard, Norton gave a small smile in return, wrapping his arms around the other’s waist.
Norton coughed, being tugged down by Luca’s height and the arms around his neck. “Is… are you okay?” The prospector asked over Luca’s excited giggling. In response, he was met with rapid nodding, Luca bouncing on his feet once again.
Luca let him go, then, now waving his hands. “Oh, Norton, this is- wonderful! Absolutely, exquisitely wonderful! I was so sure you would reject me, ask me to leave you alone-” Norton furrowed his brows at the thought, looking at Luca with a worried expression that he simply waved off- “but this… this is so much better! Oh, I could just… how long?”
“What?” Norton responded bluntly.
Luca just giggled again, grabbing one of Norton’s hands with his own, even though his were still restlessly. “How long have you loved me? I’ve loved you for… well, I’m not exactly good at pin-pointing this kind of thing, you see, it’s more of a… Norton?”
Said prospector was looking away, face now heated up. “It’s, well… do you remember when you told me about quantum tunnelling?”
Tilting his head to the side in thought, Luca racked his brain to find the specific scenario. “Quantum tunneling? That was when…” His eyebrows shot up, a red hue now tinting his own face. “Was that not when we first met?”
Quietly, Norton nodded, still looking away from the inventor. “It… not sayin’ that was when I fell in love or anything, but that’s when I… first took a liking to you, I guess. It’s… it’s a little embarrassing, okay?”
Luca just stared at him for a moment, taken away, before a soft smile slowly spread across his face. He leaned up on the tip of his toes to press a small kiss to Norton’s cheek, getting a startled noise as a reward. He giggled, swinging his and Norton’s connected hands between them. “I think it’s rather sweet, personally. Nothing to be embarrassed of.”
Norton just chuckled, looking at Luca with what one could only describe as love filling his eyes. He glanced at where Luca swung their hands, a corner of his mouth quirking upward. “So, Balsa-”
“Luca. You should call me Luca now,” the inventor said with a slightly smug grin.
“...Right. Luca. Since we both… uh, would you like to… make it official?” the prospector offered, his free hand fidgeting nervously.
Luca hummed quietly, tapping his foot on the ground as if there was anything he needed to consider before answering. “Well, Mister Campbell-”
“Norton.”
He laughed. “Of course! Norton. I have considered your request, and have decided upon… yes. I would like that very much.”
Norton smiled, and Luca felt his heart flutter. He felt lightheaded, almost, still in disbelief that this turned out the way it did. How ever did he get so lucky? He worried for a moment, if this would fall apart like everything did before. Norton knew him better than anyone else in the manor already- except, maybe, for Tracy- but what if he found something to dislike? What if this ended in despair and disaster?
“Good,” Norton nodded, “I was hoping you’d say that.” He ran his thumb over Luca’s knuckles, getting another faint giggle from the man.
Maybe it didn’t matter if this ended poorly. Even if it did matter, Luca decided he didn’t want to think about it for once. He enjoyed what he had right here and now, and if his overactive mind had anything to say about it, maybe he just wouldn’t listen, and if he did, and if the thoughts dragged him down… well, Norton was right there to pull him back up.
“You know, we should probably get out of here before Mister Riley finds out what we did to his chair and decides to look for us again,” Luca suggested. They didn’t do anything too bad to it, of course, just… loosened the screws a little, perhaps. He wouldn’t get hurt, of course, just… a couple of bruises from the chair collapsing beneath him, maybe.
Norton pressed a small kiss to the top of Luca’s head before beginning to walk from the hallway, hand still in Luca’s. With that, they walked off, Luca with a skip in his step and now talking animatedly about what invention he could use Norton’s help with next.