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lucas is buzzing. he’s well on his way to drunk, on just the right side of tipsy—the side that leaves him giggly and warm, the side that makes him want to dance. there isn’t anyone to dance with, so he’s kind of just bopping along to the music while he stands with his friends, but he’s content to do so. again, the right side of tipsy.
“lucas!” arthur laughs, as lucas strips off his jacket and throws it at the chair nearest him. “shit, bro, you’re gonna get cold!”
yann adds, “or you’re going to forget it and leave it there.” he picks up the jacket and drapes it over his own shoulders, and lucas is so suddenly overcome with love for yann that he pulls his best friend into a hug.
it makes yann and arthur laugh, but lucas isn’t listening. he just feels like he has so much love in his body, and yann picked up his jacket, and lucas doesn’t know what to do with all the love in his heart. hugging yann feels like the least he could do.
lucas murmurs, “i’m drunk.”
the boys laugh again, and yann just pats lucas’s back and suggests that they go outside for some fresh air. lucas would do absolutely anything that yann asked him to do right now, he’s still a bit emotional about the jacket thing, so he nods eagerly and lets yann and arthur lead him outside with a hand on his back.
once they get outside, yann asks arthur to watch lucas while he tries to find basile, who apparently had disappeared. he doesn’t leave without draping lucas’s jacket back around his shoulders, and lucas gives him a bright smile. seriously, yann is the best friend.
“you’re a cute drunk,” arthur muses, helping lucas sit down on the porch steps of whoever’s house this is. “i always knew you were a secret softie, underneath that bitchy attitude.”
lucas pouts, “i’m not bitchy.” and then he proceeds to ignore all of arthur’s apologies, because he’s laughing through them, and lucas just doesn’t think a real apology would be delivered with laughter.
he’s not sure how long they sit outside, but he does know that his fingers start to turn blue eventually, and he remembers—a bit more sober, now—that it’s december and definitely too cold to sit out here without the inebriation to keep him blissfully warm. he starts to tell arthur so, but they’re interrupted by a commotion at the driveway.
“eliott, can we please just talk?” a girl is begging, and it’s with a sinking feeling in his stomach that lucas realizes that her eliott is an eliott that lucas knows.
eliott is a new student at their school. he’s devastatingly handsome, which really just sucks for lucas, because eliott also happens to hate lucas’s guts. lucas isn’t sure why, they’ve hardly even had a proper conversation, but he’s pretty sure eliott genuinely does hate him. it’s annoying. not only because eliott is absolutely beautiful and lucas is so, so gay, but also because lucas can’t stand when someone doesn’t like him. especially if he doesn’t know why.
so he hates eliott back, just on principle. because it isn’t fair to be disliked for no reason. lucas figures that beauty and brains must be mutually exclusive, if someone can be so gorgeous and yet so judgmental as to hate someone they don’t even know.
it’s a tragedy, really. lucas wouldn’t mind climbing eliott like a tree, in other circumstances.
eliott is walking away from the girl lucas recognizes as lucille, eliott’s girlfriend, who’s begging him to talk. and he looks upset. lucas and arthur exchange a glance—silently saying what the fuck? to each other—before turning their attention back to the drama.
hey, if eliott and lucille wanted their business private, they’d fight in private. but as it is, they’re here at a party, fighting in front of everyone. lucas figures that means it’s fair game to eavesdrop.
“just leave me alone, lucille,” eliott says, and he doesn’t sound angry, he just sounds tired. “i’ve already told you that it’s over. a thousand times.”
lucille rushes to catch up to him. “come on, eliott. you know i wouldn’t be pushing this without reason. i’m just worried about you.”
arthur glances over at lucas, a shocked and nervous expression on his face. “i’m going to go find yann and baz,” he says quickly, his eyes darting between eliott and lucille, and then back to lucas. “i’ll be right back.” and then he disappears, leaving lucas alone.
eliott stops right at the bottom of the steps, so close to lucas now that there’s genuine concern that either one of them might drag him into the fight. “worried about me? because i can’t possibly make the decision to break up with you unless i’m not well? that’s exactly why i broke up with you.” he turns again, suddenly locking eyes with lucas.
lucas freezes and averts his eyes, embarrassed at being caught listening.
“besides,” eliott continues, “i’m already dating someone else.”
that shouldn’t sting lucas as much as it does. that beautiful boy doesn’t even like him, so it’s not like he’d have a chance even if he was single now. besides, lucas doesn’t even know if he likes boys.
“what?” lucille asks, clearly just as shocked as lucas is. “who?”
to the shock of absolutely everybody present, eliott marches up the steps and comes straight for lucas. lucas is frozen still, mouth gaping and eyes wide, as eliott strides right up to him.
eliott looks desperate, leaning in slightly as he whispers right into lucas’s ear, “please go with it.” and then he’s putting an arm around lucas’s shoulders, and staring lucille down. “lucas. he’s the person i told you that i was coming here to meet. see? i’m not lying, i’m not making shit up. you and i are over, and i’m with somebody else.”
lucille’s eyes flicker to lucas, clearly asking him to verify. and lucas should know better, should know not to get involved in other people’s shit, should know that this is only going to end badly for him. but he’s still tipsy and still very much shocked silly, so he ends up just wrapping his own arm around eliott’s waist.
“i’m sorry you had to find out this way,” lucas lies, as earnestly as his sobering mind can manage. he feels a little bit bad about lying to this girl he doesn’t even know, but also, he kind of doesn’t. he’s heard rumors about lucille, is the thing. he’s heard about how she treats eliott, and he knows their relationship isn’t good. and yeah, maybe he shouldn’t trust rumors, but this seems to be proof that the rumors held at least some weight. “we wanted to have a proper conversation about it with you, but…” he trails off, waiting for eliott to swoop in.
thankfully, eliott nods. “but you just keep pushing it, and you won’t listen to me when i’ve tried to tell you that it’s over. for good. we aren’t together, we haven’t been for a while, i’m totally fine, and i’m dating someone else.”
for a long few seconds, lucille just stands there, gaping at the two of them. lucas understands. he’d be pretty shocked, too, he thinks.
but before anybody can speak again, the door creaks open, and lucas watches in moderate horror as his friends file out. yann, arthur, and baz seem to be confused by the sight in front of them, and lucas wants nothing more than to explain it. he knows that they’d understand the situation—especially yann, who has pretended to be lucas’s boyfriend more than once just to get a creepy guy off of lucas’s back—but lucille is still standing there. and feud or not, lucas doesn’t want to do that to him.
besides, maybe this will give eliott a reason to realize that he doesn’t have to hate lucas. that lucas is a good guy, actually. that whatever his misconceptions were about lucas are totally and completely untrue.
so he holds strong, barely giving his friends a second glance as he slides his arm tighter around eliott’s waist. he watches lucille’s chin wobble a little bit, and offers her the most sympathetic look that he can manage.
“we really are sorry,” he urges, because if nothing else, he wants to try and keep things at least a little bit amicable between lucille and eliott. and eliott seems way too angry to do that himself. “if it’s any consolation, it’s very new. nobody knows about it, not even my friends. until now, i guess.” he finally turns to his friends, smiling a little bit and shrugging. “surprise?”
basile blinks, looking between the three of them. his face brightens instantly, a huge smile crossing his face. “wait, is he your boyfriend?” he asks excitedly, and lucas finds himself smiling along as he nods. “oh, my god! lulu! why didn’t you tell us?! you’ve had a crush on eliott since—”
instantly, lucas’s face heats up. he doesn’t get the chance to shut baz up before yann does, pushing on his chest to shove him away, shooting lucas an apologetic look on baz’s behalf.
lucas feels eliott laughing next to him, and he doesn’t even bother to look over at him, too humiliated to even breathe. but then lucille is clearing her throat, and the attention of all five boys is immediately drawn back to her. lucas had almost, almost forgotten that she was even there.
“well,” she says, hands on her hips and lips pursed uncomfortably, “i hope you two are very happy together. you deserve that, eliott.” she looks incredibly sad, and lucas can’t tell if the streetlights twinkling in her eyes are actually tears. “it was nice to meet you, lucas.”
and then she’s gone, off into the street like a dog with its tail between its legs, and eliott’s arm drops from around lucas’s waist. they take a step apart from each other, and despite the fact that there are three sets of eyes on them, neither of them really take any notice.
eliott gives him a small smile, almost embarrassed, and lucas can’t understand why. after basile’s stupid fucking blurted out admission, lucas should be the one embarrassed. in fact, if eliott hates him as much as he’s always seemed to, he should look disgusted. he should seem like he doesn’t even want to stand near lucas, god knows that’s how he’s always seemed before.
maybe lucas was right after all. maybe this has just made eliott realize that he’s been wrong about lucas this entire time.
“thank you for that,” eliott murmurs, and lucas panics, looking over eliott’s shoulder at all of his friends. now that they genuinely seem to think that lucas and eliott are dating, and now that they’re so excited, lucas doesn’t want to break the illusion.
so, hurriedly, lucas shrugs. “she had to find out eventually, right? i just wish it didn’t happen now, in front of everyone, and in such a bad context.” he gives eliott the most desperate and pleading look he can, and hopes that eliott picks up on it.
eliott nods, “she’ll be okay. like you said, she had to find out eventually. and, hey, now that your friends know too, we can stop being so secretive about it.” he grabs lucas’s hand, interlaces their fingers, and lucas feels the panic instantly bleed out of him.
it scares him a little bit. because up until now, eliott demaury has hated his guts, and yet lucas is letting this simple, fake physical contact soothe his nerves. he feels comfortable with it, and he definitely shouldn’t feel that way. he shouldn’t feel comfortable holding hands with a guy who not only spent the entire year so far avoiding lucas at all costs and whispering about him whenever he thought lucas wasn’t paying attention, but also the guy who just broke up with his girlfriend and may not even like boys.
he can’t help it, though. something about eliott’s presence is so soothing and warm, just feels like home. he just puts lucas at ease, even though he should probably make lucas feel like he’s walking on eggshells. it makes no sense.
but then again, nothing about this night has really made sense. not since eliott walked right up to him and so confidently pretended to be his boyfriend. not since lucas went along with it so easily, so willingly.
yann steps forward, clearly confused but still looking happy for lucas. it makes lucas feel just the slightest bit guilty, knowing all of this is a lie and he’s spoon-feeding it to his friends just so they won’t think he’s so horribly pathetic that he’d agree to pretend to be his crush/enemy’s boyfriend just to ward off his clingy ex.
“it’s nice to meet you, bro,” yann says, extending a hand to eliott. with the hand not clasped in lucas’s, eliott shakes it, smiling and introducing himself. “i’m happy for you two, but i’m not going to lie, i never thought i’d see the day this happened. especially without lucas telling us.”
lucas feels his cheeks heating up again. what is it with his friends and feeling the need to expose to eliott that he’s had a stupid crush on him this entire time, when eliott doesn’t even like him?
eliott cocks his head to the side. “oh yeah? why is that?” he looks over at lucas, gives him this smile that’s so sickeningly sweet that it’s obvious it’s forced. “lucas is beautiful, smart, funny. surely he could pull anybody.”
arthur shrugs, leaning forward to rest his chin on yann’s shoulder. “yeah, but we thought you hated each other.”
at that, eliott tenses a little bit, his head cocking even further to the side. lucas panics again, really not wanting his cover to be blown (because it would just be even more embarrassing now than if they’d come clean immediately), so he quickly jumps in before eliott can say what he so obviously wants to say.
“well, discretion is obviously part of keeping a relationship a secret. clearly, it worked,” he snaps dismissively, before he tugs on eliott’s hand. “can we go?”
eliott looks down at him, the surprise on his face this time because eliott wasn’t anticipating lucas to take it this far. and yeah, lucas gets that. he wasn’t expecting things to go this far either. hell, he wasn’t expecting any of this to happen at all. it all kind of feels like a fever dream.
but eliott doesn’t rat him out. he just nods, and drops a casual kiss to lucas’s temple—as if he has no idea that a simple touch like that rocks lucas’s entire world. they say goodbye to the boys, eliott promises that they’ll hang out and get to know each other soon, and then eliott and lucas both disappear the same way lucille went.
it’s a while before they talk, honestly. they drop their hands as soon as they’re out of sight of the boys, but they don’t actually speak to each other for a while.
it’s really awkward. they both jumped into this fake relationship without any thought for what to do afterward—obviously neither of them expected the boys to walk out, and eliott didn’t expect lucas to continue the lie in front of them, and now neither of them know what to do. do they come clean, do they fake date and fake breakup, do they just pretend it never happened? lucas isn’t sure he knows which is the best option.
he also doesn’t really know how to navigate talking about it with eliott. it wasn’t two weeks ago that lucas caught his eye in the cafeteria only to watch him immediately turn to his friends and start whispering and smiling, laughing at him, glancing back over at lucas because he didn’t even bother to be subtle about it. it wasn’t one month ago that lucas had to sit at the same table as eliott at an assembly only for eliott to move his entire body angled away from lucas, and then get up mere seconds later to go sit clear across the room. hell, just before christmas, lucas literally overhead eliott’s best friend talking about how eliott can’t even stand to be in the same room as lucas.
point being, he doesn’t know if eliott is going to treat him any differently now that they’re not under the eyes of lucille or lucas’s friends. they’re alone now, and there’s nobody here to judge or jump in if eliott starts to explain all the reasons why he hates lucas, or worse, starts to be passive aggressive.
once they’ve gotten all the way to the bus stop, lucas starts to think they’re just not going to talk at all. thinks that maybe they’re going to go separate ways here and lucas will have to make up lies about what happened to his friends (or just bite the bullet and tell them the truth), and then he’ll have to hear stupid whispers in the hall at school about how lucas has had a crush on him for so long. he’ll have to see eliott laugh at him, again.
but then eliott pauses, turns to lucas and gives him this musing smile. like he thinks lucas is cute, maybe. like he’s fond. it’s weird, considering he’s only ever seen eliott look at him with indifference or appraising eyes.
“so,” eliott grins, shoving his hands in his jean pockets and shrugging, “want to come to mine?”
at first lucas is taken aback, unclear on what exactly eliott is asking (he’s sober now, he thinks, but for some reason just being around eliott is making his head swim). but eliott seems to realize, and quickly he adds on,
“i figured we could talk about how we’re going to do this, now that your friends think we’re dating, too. plus, lucille is definitely going to ask around about us, so we have that to think about, too. if you want to continue, of course.” another smile, and then, “and i owe you one for saving my ass back there. i have beer?”
and, well. lucas has never claimed to have good self control when it comes to beer or cute boys.
//
lucas has been dating eliott for two weeks.
except that he hasn’t been. not really. but everyone else thinks that he has.
it’s been a really weird two weeks. after the party, they’d gone back to eliott’s and spent the entire night talking. they never even got around to the beer that eliott promised, they just sat on eliott’s fire escape, split a joint, and talked.
they didn’t even talk about the situation they’d gotten themselves into until the next morning. lucas crashed on eliott’s couch and woke up to the smell of omelets. when lucas started eating, eliott had blushed and stammered around half-explanations that he wasn’t the best cook, but lucas didn’t notice anything. he was way too nervous to be aware of a bad omelet. for all he knew, it was gourmet.
ultimately, once they did get around to talking about it, they decided to keep it up for a little bit. like eliott said the previous night after the party, lucille would be asking around about them. and it would benefit eliott to give her something to find out about. and for lucas, it saved him the embarrassment of having to explain to his friends that he wasn’t actually dating eliott, because he was sure that word had travelled all around to the girls, courtesy of baz and daphné.
they came to the agreement that they would pretend to date until lucas’s christmas party with his friends. they’d attend together, and then after that, lucas would plant little seeds of a fight, they’d ‘break up’, and then they would part ways.
and honestly, lucas isn’t as heartbroken about it as he’d thought he’d be. he thought he would be devastated that he’d only be able to fake date the boy he’s had a crush on, the boy he thought would hate him forever and thus the boy he would never speak to, but now he’s pretty sure they’ll stay friends. once the dust has settled from their fake breakup, lucas thinks they’ll hang out, and if nothing else, they’ll be good friends. and that’s enough, really, because if the past two weeks have taught him anything, it’s that eliott is a really good friend.
it wasn’t hard at all to pretend to date eliott. they go to the same school, but their paths don’t cross much throughout the day because they’re in different years. so eliott meets up with him after school to walk him home, and sometimes they end up actually hanging out but other times they part ways at the bus. when they do hang out, they post pictures of each other on social media with vague captions—but only on stories, never any actual posts. they mention each other to their friends casually, like ‘eliott and i watched that movie the other night’ or ‘lucas and i are going out tonight’, whether it’s true or not, and then they update each other one the lies they’ve told so that the other can keep up and not slip up.
it’s surprisingly easy, actually. almost natural. it’s easy to bring up eliott in conversation, to hang out with him when they have free time, to smile and kiss his cheek when they meet up after school. it’s easy in a way that should make lucas sad, because it isn’t real.
but lucas just chose not to think about it.
today, though, is the day of the christmas party. and despite not being as heartbroken as he thought, he is still disappointed that it’s over, because while he knows he’ll still have eliott’s friendship, he’ll miss the hugs and the handholding and the walking to the bus everyday. it’s nothing too hard to bear, but it is sad. lucas knows he’ll miss him. he knows it’ll probably hit harder once it’s actually over, and it sinks in that he’ll never have that again. not with eliott, anyway.
and he never even got to kiss him.
that’s a thought for later, though. for now, lucas just focuses on getting dressed. daphné had insisted on a formal party, and it’s being held in the ballroom of a hotel that baz’s family owns, so lucas is being forced (by eliott) to wear a tie. they’re both at lucas’s getting ready, and lucas is standing in the mirror, trying his damndest to die his fucking tie without revealing to eliott that he actually has no clue how to tie a tie.
on his fourth fuck up, he internally groans, untying the knot and pulling it back into place to try again. over his shoulder, reflected in the mirror, lucas can see eliott—tie perfectly and expertly tied, of course—tying his shoes. lucas quickly tries to tie it again, before eliott looks up and realizes just how badly lucas is failing.
“you know,” eliott is saying, “i don’t think i’ve ever been to a formal party thrown by my friends. that’s usually my mom’s thing.”
lucas snorts, “well, that’s daph for you. it isn’t the first time she’s had us get dressed up for her parties, although it is the first time i’ve had to wear a full suit.” lucas thinks he’s got it this time, pulling the tie up through like he’s supposed to, but the knot is lopsided when he pulls it tight. he groans again, completely untying it and turning to put on his own shoes.
for now, he just needs to take a break and come back to it, or else he might actually set that fucking tie on fire.
eliott laughs, sitting up and then reclining back on lucas’s bed. he looks devastatingly good in a suit, and it’s all lucas can do to keep his hands to himself and his tongue successfully bitten.
“well, she’s cool. i know that i’ve only really known her for two weeks, but i like her.”
lucas shrugs, “you don’t have to stop hanging out with her. after our ‘break up’, we just let the dust settle and then you can come back as her friend.” my friend, he wants to say, but he doesn’t.
“right, our breakup,” eliott hums. and he sounds so deep in thought about it that lucas actually pauses before putting on his other shoe, looking over at the bed where eliott is staring contemplatively at the ceiling.
“what?”
eliott shrugs, not tearing his eyes away from the ceiling. if lucas didn’t know any better, he’d think that eliott was nervous. “i just… kind of forgot that was happening,” he admits, and that surprises the hell out of lucas. he figured that eliott would be looking forward to it. counting down the days until he can go back to his other friends, and to enjoying his life being single now that he’s not with lucille. “are you sure your friends will still want to be my friends after we ‘break up’?”
“uh, yeah?” lucas responds, completely dumbfounded by the question. in the past two weeks, every single one of his friends (save maybe yann) has fallen head over heels for eliott. especially the girls. and lucas can’t even blame them, because he has, too. he’s always thought eliott was hot, but these last two weeks have shown him eliott the artist, eliott the empath, eliott the guy with dubstep on vinyl, eliott the raccoon, eliott the romantic, eliott the nicest guy lucas’s ever met. he wants more than just these two weeks to keep getting to know more of eliott, and to get to know the parts he’s already seen on a much deeper level. “why wouldn’t they?”
again, eliott shrugs. “i didn’t think you guys liked me all that much.”
and that takes lucas aback.
“what do you mean?”
“arthur said it at the party,” eliott explains, finally moving his gaze off of the ceiling and meeting lucas’s eyes. it’s then that lucas realizes that eliott is nervous. “he said that he thought you and i hated each other. i didn’t know that you hated me.” a small pause, and then a quiet, “hate is a very strong word,” is added.
lucas finds himself shocked beyond words. he doesn’t know why eliott ever thought that lucas disliked him, and more importantly, he doesn’t know why eliott cares. after all, lucas wasn’t the one acting like he hated eliott in school since day one. in fact, he’d tried to be eliott’s friend, and eliott didn’t seem to be having it.
he stares at eliott for a long time. so long that eliott has the time to push himself off of the bed and walk over to lucas, asking if he needs help with his tie. long enough for eliott to pull him to standing—he’s fairly certain he could be physically manipulated into doing anything, his limbs feel like jelly—and start to work on the tie, deft hands moving slowly and carefully, smoothing out all the wrinkles from lucas’s failed attempts.
they’re so close, so close, and lucas can smell the mint toothpaste on eliott’s breath and the tom ford tobacco vanille cologne that he wears everyday. it’s heady, and lucas wants to kiss him now more than he ever has.
“i didn’t hate you,” he croaks out, his voice cracking in the middle from nerves. eliott’s eyes snap up to his, hands freezing on lucas’s still untied tie. “i thought you hated me. and i didn’t know why.”
eliott raises his eyebrows. “what? that’s… lucas, i spent the first month at school trying to be your friend. trying to find ways to run into you, to talk to you. you just always seemed disinterested, so i stopped trying to force it. why did you think i hated you?”
“because!” lucas exclaims, flailing his arms in some aborted attempt at gesticulating. he’s suddenly overcome with this outburst of frustration, predominantly at the fact that eliott seems to have no clue about the impression he’s been giving lucas. “you went out of your way to avoid me, you couldn’t even sit next to me in an assembly, you avoided all of my friends, whenever i caught you looking at me you’d instantly start whispering and laughing with your friends… and not to mention i overheard your friend talking about how you couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as me. what was i supposed to think?!”
eliott is the one taken aback this time, eyes blown wide and mouth dropped open. his hands are still frozen on lucas’s tie, lucas can still smell his breath and his cologne, and he wonders if eliott can feel his pounding heart.
lucas is starting to feel stupid and embarrassed. clearly he’s misread everything—though he still has absolutely no idea how eliott’s behavior can be construed as anything other than what lucas perceived it to be—and now eliott seems offended. like it’s genuinely hurt his feelings to know that lucas thought that he didn’t like him.
but lucas stands his ground with this one. lucas only based his judgment on the behaviors he witnessed, and it wasn’t only him that thought it. every single one of his friends witnessed eliott’s behavior towards him and asked lucas what the hell he did to the new kid, only for lucas to vehemently protest that he’d done absolutely nothing, and that he’d barely ever even spoken to eliott.
the silence is broken by eliott laughing, and it makes lucas’s cheeks flame. “lucas,” eliott wheezes, his fingers tightening around lucas’s loose tie, “this is all a big misunderstanding. i didn’t act like that because i hated you.”
“yeah, i’ve put that much together,” lucas grumbles.
but eliott doesn’t seem phased by lucas’s grumpiness. he just smiles and finishes tying his tie, and of course, it looks perfect. eliott takes a step back, and lucas tries his hardest not to miss the warmth of his body and the smell of his cologne. lucas needs to buy that cologne, or find another boy who wears that. a boy who actually wants to date him for real.
they just stand there and stare at each other for a moment, eliott’s face all soft and warm, with lucas’s undoubtedly grumpy and pouty. and eliott looks like he wants to say more—god knows lucas wants him to say more, wants him to explain why the hell he acted like he hated lucas if he didn’t—but then the doorbell rings and breaks the entire moment.
it’s imane at the door, there to pick up manon so they could go to the party together. she’s wearing an absolutely gorgeous royal blue dress, which lucas, eliott, and manon shower her in compliments over. and then they decide to all split an uber, since they’re all going to the same place.
lucas is grateful for the lack of alone time with eliott, really, because his eagerness to know why eliott had been acting so weird has completely faded. he’s scared of the explanation, scared of hearing something that he doesn’t want to hear. something that’ll hurt his feelings, or disappoint him. so he dutifully sticks to eliott’s side, but he mentally checks out of the entire thing, and doesn’t speak for the entire ride there.
he figures it’s no big deal. after all, this could just be the first hint to all of lucas’s friends that they’re about to break up.
daphné’s party is in full swing when they arrive at the hotel. the ballroom is decked out in christmas decorations; there’s miles of colorful string lights draped around the room, there’s three fully decorated christmas trees, there’s tinsel and garland and candy canes and santa hats. eliott and lucas instantly move towards the back wall where the hot chocolate bar is, grabbing two cups before making their way to yann and the rest of the boys.
arthur notices them first, grinning when he sees them. “well, well, well, look who finally decided to join us,” he teases, pulling eliott and lucas into a double hug. “i think you went beyond fashionably late into just late. how much makeup did it take to cover the hickeys?”
lucas flushes, reaching out to punch arthur in the shoulder. “shut up.”
“you’re so boring,” arthur complains. “everybody shares details of our sex lives but you two! i’m tired of hearing about basile and daphné.”
lucas rolls his eyes, to which eliott laughs and drapes his arm around lucas’s shoulders. it takes everything in lucas’s power not to tense up and instead lean into the touch. “we haven’t been dating that long, you know,” eliott grins. “maybe we haven’t had sex yet.”
we haven’t even kissed yet, lucas thinks, as if that’s the most important thing, and not the fact that they’re not even actually dating.
yann snorts, “bullshit. with all the time you two spend together? i don’t believe it. plus, we don’t know how long you two were together before you decided to stop keeping it a secret.”
they’ve discussed this. they talked about how eliott had only broken up with lucille two weeks and three days before that party, though it had been over unofficially for about a month before that. so they decided to tell people, if asked, that they started dating a few days after he broke up with lucille, and to explain that the reason he made the breakup official was because he found lucas. because, during that unofficially broken up time, he’d met and fallen in love with lucas, and he needed to make things final with lucille. to make things clear, even though they weren’t together.
but neither of them bring it up then, because it doesn’t matter. this is the last night they’ll have to do this, and there’s no point in trying to remember all the details. so instead they just laugh and joke around with the boys, dancing around all of the questions about their nonexistent sex life, until lucas’s social battery drains out.
when that happens, he gets antsy and anxious, so he decides to nip that in the bud. he grabs eliott by the sleeve, throws a quick goodbye to the boys, and then drags eliott over to the bar. they do two shots together before making their way out into the dance floor—this way, lucas doesn’t have to be social, but he also isn’t being a drag or leaving the party early. he’s just dancing with his fake boyfriend, clearing his mind and mentally preparing for the shit storm that’s going to come later on.
they’ve planned every detail of their breakup. they’re going to spend the next three days telling their friends about a huge fight they had about their relationship. eliott will say that lucas was being too clingy, lucas will say that eliott was leading him on. they’ll agree, on the fifth day, that they’re better off apart, because lucas was eliott’s rebound and it wasn’t working out. they’ll tell their friends that. and then they’ll be broken up, left to deal with their own individual cleanup.
tonight, lucas thinks his behavior will hint to his friends that something’s wrong. yann had even asked a couple of times if lucas was feeling okay. and it sucks to lie to his friends, but it sucks even more to know that he is feeling shitty and he can’t even talk to anybody about why. he can’t tell anybody that his crush is breaking his fucking heart, because nobody knows except his crush.
and it’s nobody’s fault but his own.
they dance until lucas’s feet ache and his throat stings. they grab water and then a couple more shots, and then gravitate more to the outskirts of the party, mingling until they end up alone. and then it’s awkward again, neither of them knowing what to say to the other, or how to broach the subject.
but the night is winding down, and lucas wants to talk about this before it’s all over. so he clears his throat and turns his entire body to face eliott. “so,” he begins, watching as eliott turns to face him too, and softens his face so lucas knows he’s listening. “what did you mean? about how you didn’t act weird around me because you hated me? because it sure felt that way.”
“i know it did, and i’m sorry,” eliott acknowledges, and he does look genuinely remorseful. “i didn’t realize at the time that that’s how you were perceiving it, and i’m sorry for that. but i promise, none of that was because i hated you. quite the opposite, actually.”
eliott smiles again, leans across the table to rest his chin in his hand. lucas feels a little pathetic sitting there, slumped in his chair, arms and hands limp at his sides because he has no idea what to do with them. what do people normally do with their arms?
eliott continues, “the first time i saw you was on my first day of school. you were walking with your friends, and our shoulders bumped. you didn’t see me, but i saw you. you’re all i saw, actually.” he pauses, takes a deep breath (presumably to control the bright red flush that’s crawling up his neck), and then goes on. “like i said, i tried to get your attention for, like, a month. i thought that maybe you weren’t interested, but i’m realizing now that you probably didn’t even notice that i was trying. you’re a really oblivious person sometimes.”
lucas huffs indignantly. “you’ve only known me for two weeks, how could you possibly know my personality?”
“i just do. i can read a person really easily once i get close enough.” eliott smirks this time, that beautiful and bright smile sinking into a devious alternative, and it really shouldn’t be as hot as it is. but lucas finds his blood racing south as eliott’s face goes back to normal, as he laughs and continues on. “i’ve had a crush on you ever since, but i didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. every time i moved away from you, it’s because it was torture for me. every time you saw me whispering about you, it was me talking about how beautiful you were that day or how i couldn’t stop staring. sometimes, i wasn’t even talking or laughing about you, i was having whole conversations with my friends but i couldn’t stay focused because you were there and you’re all i could focus on.”
eliott reaches out, then, and tucks a lock of hair behind lucas’s ear.
“and what you overheard? that was my friend teasing me. they do that all the time, joke about how i can’t be in the same room without you without losing all my cool. hyperventilating, saying awkward stuff, doing stupid shit like asking you to pretend to be my boyfriend and then agreeing to be your fake boyfriend for a christmas party.” eliott leans in even closer. so close now that their noses could touch, if only lucas leaned in too. “i’ve been in love with you for at least a month, lucas. and i’d ask if you feel the same, but i’m pretty sure basile already told me.”
lucas groans, “fucking baz.”
“it’s okay, it’s cute,” eliott praises. but then his face is going more serious, and he trails his fingers from lucas’s sideburns to his cheeks. he dances his fingertips along lucas’s cheekbone, and smiles at the way lucas’s eyelashes flutter at the touch. “besides, i never would’ve gotten the balls to tell you how i feel about you if basile never told me that it was mutual. it is still mutual, right?”
lucas pushes at eliott’s jaw, shoving his head away until they both collapse into giggles. he doesn’t even bother to answer that question, because he knows that eliott knows the answer.
he really does feel stupid, for ever thinking this boy hated him, and for never just going to eliott directly to ask about the problem. he can’t help but feel like he missed out on months of friendship or more, hopefully more, please god more. lucas wants to hold his hand for real, go on real dates, be each other’s real boyfriend, have their real first kiss.
“here i thought we were mortal enemies,” lucas laughs, his smile going so wide it feels like it’s going to break his face when eliott starts laughing with him. “and the whole time you just had a huge, embarrassing crush on me.”
“it’s only embarrassing if i find it something to be embarrassed of. which i don’t, by the way. having a crush on you wasn’t embarrassing, and having it reciprocated definitely could never be.”
lucas smiles, “good to know. because i really want to kiss you right now, but i don’t want to embarrass you in front of everybody.”
eliott snorts, leaning in even closer. their noses are touching now, and lucas couldn’t fight the smile even if he wanted to. it’s starting to feel like his face might genuinely get stuck on that.
“i really am sorry that you thought i hated you,” eliott insists. “i’m just absolute shit at flirting.”
“it’s okay, i am, too. i don’t know a single gay person who actually is good at flirting.” they both laugh at the joke, but lucas still feels only half-there. still feels his body itching for something more.
eliott sighs dramatically, only offset by the stupid, bemused smirk on his face. “i guess you’re in luck today, though. usually i wait until the third date—third actual date—to kiss someone. but, uh…” eliott trails off, lifting his arm above his head. lucas follows the train of sight, and immediately laughs when he sees it.
it’s mistletoe. lucas doesn’t know where eliott swiped it from, and he finds that he doesn’t really care. instead, he just leans over the table and presses his lips to eliott, and listens to how angels sing inside of his head at the sensation.
he’s only know eliott for two weeks, hasn’t ever been on a real date with him, and yet lucas thinks he might be in love. the kiss is that fucking groundbreaking.
when they pull back, they both have dopey and lovesick smiles on their faces. “you’re right, today is my lucky day. a good christmas party, finding out the man i thought was my enemy just wanted to be my friend, kissing my crush… how could this day get any better?”
“we could change that upgrade from enemy to friend to enemy to boyfriend. if you wanted.”
and, again, lucas has never been good at denying cute boys.