Work Text:
“What’s wrong?”
Maya’s hand stills in his hair, her fingers suddenly stiffening. It’s silent in her room for a moment and Lucas slowly opens his eyes, blinking up at Maya even as he squints at the dim lights overhead. Her brows are furrowed, her blonde hair surrounding her head in a gentle (and ironic) halo.
“I thought you were asleep?” Maya asks in confusion and Lucas shrugs. He finds no need to explain the dozens of times her pretended to fall asleep in Maya’s bed in attempts to get her attention, feels no needs to get into the warmth he feels in his stomach whenever Maya pulls a blanket higher around his shoulders, or gently brushes hair off his forehead, or simply mutters beside him, speaking to him even though she doesn’t think he can hear her, simply wishes for his company.
He doesn’t know quite how to explain that while simultaneously avoiding the ever present ‘why’ within those statement. Mostly because he doesn’t know.
But also kind of because he does.
It’s complicated.
Maya pulls her hand from his hair to tucks a curl of her own behind her ear. Lucas pushes himself up with his elbows and tries to swallow down his disappointment at the loss of touch with a hard gulp from the glass of water on the night side table. After drinking he places the water back on the nightstand carefully, trying not to spill any of the water on the Harts hardwood floor, knowing how much it could damage the floors from his Mama’s rants.
He rolls over onto his stomach then, and thus closer to Maya. The side of his stomach rests against her knee, the warmth of her body heat seeping through his clothes like a furnace. Maya always did run hot, something that Lucas both appreciated and dreaded. After all, it was because of this high body heat that Maya was sat cross legged on her bed in nothing but a Led Zeppelin tank top and stripped boy shorts, hair piled on top of her head in a mess of curls, looking prettier than Lucas really knew how to deal with, while simultaneously seeming not to know it.
It was complicated.
“So what’s wrong?” Lucas asks once again.
“Don’t worry about it Sundance. Nothing important.” Maya shrugs without looking up from her laptop screen (a gift from Shawn for her seventeenth birthday) trying for nonchalance. And she would pull it off to be honest if her muttered curses hadn’t cut through Lucas’ sleep filled daze earlier. They were what jolted him out of his lazy revery after all, and while he did dream about Maya an embarrassing amount, majority of the time it wasn’t of her cursing like a sailor without context.
“Maya.” Lucas tries again, frowning, voice firm and unyielding and Maya huffs, rolling her eyes heavenward and shaking her heard. “Maya what is it?”
“Nothing!” Maya snaps, suddenly irritable and Lucas’ nose wrinkles in confusion. “Goddammit Huckleberry, let it go .”
Yeah that was not happening. If he learned one thing from knowing Maya Hart for the past five years it was it was never nothing with Maya. Never. As irrational as her anger or irritation might seem, there was always a reason for it, a reason that Lucas was about to drag out her whether she wanted him to or not. After all it was his responsibility for the summer, what with Riley (still the only person who could get Maya Hart to speak her mind without the process being comparable to pulling teeth) in France with Farkle and Zay. That left Maya and her emotions (and company, and attention, and time) completely to him. Which he wasn’t complaining about to be honest. He always enjoyed having Maya around more than he should, even when he was dating Riley (something that still made guilt rise up in his stomach like nothing else, still made him wince and want to be extra nice to the Mathew’s girl in repentance)
For his part Lucas huffs, “You don’t just curse for nothin-”
“Oh, what? So we spend half a summer together and suddenly you;re the authority on what I do or do not curse for?” Maya asks with a snort and Lucas sighs, pursing his lips firmly as he shakes his head.
“No actually, knowing you for half a decade, spending almost every day with you and dating your best friend, who never stops talking about you ever by the way, gives me some authority on when you swear? Plus this half summer, but that’s about it really.” Lucas says sarcastically, shrugging slightly from his place on the bed. He can practically feel Maya glaring at him from overhead but he ignores it. “It’s not like we’re friends or anything. Noooooo that certainty couldn’t be it-”
“Damn Huckleberry, okay, I get it, enough.” Maya grumbles with a huff, rolling her eyes. She shoves her laptop off her lap her suddenly, pushing it to the side of her just as she flops down beside him, legs still crossed as she lies flat on her back. She doesn’t turn to face him, instead staring up at the ceiling as she speaks, giving Lucas a completely unfair view of her profile. She licks too pink lips before speaking and Lucas is so distracted by it that he almost misses her words. “Sorry to hurt your southern sensibilities.”
Lucas snorts a laugh and rolls his eyes. “Wanna stop being a dick long enough to tell me what’s wrong?”
“No.” Maya answers instantly and Lucas rolls his eyes again. "But speaking of dicks…“
"I’m still not gay.” Lucas deadpans and that’s when Maya turns to him, squints at him in confusion.
“You sure?” Maya asks and Lucas swallows hard, tries desperately not to let his eyes dip to her lips, and instead focuses and too blue eyes and long lashes and fine bone structure - which really isn’t helping.
“Definitely.” Lucas chokes out.
“I mean it’s okay if you are. And you pay a lot of attention to Zay’s butt -” Maya observes and Lucas grimaces.
“I’ve known him all my life, I’ve seen him naked-”
“This is supposed to convince me that you’re not gay right-”
“I’ve gone jean shopping with him, heard him complain whenever he sat down-”
“You broke up with Riley.” Maya points out and Lucas’ brow furrows.
“Yeah, like two years ago. Are you still mad at me about that?”
Maya raises an eyebrow. “Would you be here, on this bed if I was?”
Lucas paused. “By that are you questioning whether I’d be in your room or whether I’d be alive?”
Maya laughs, bright and happy and unfiltered as always and even as Lucas’ lips twitch into a smile at the sight of Maya’s scrunched nose, he clenches this hands into painful fist to keep from -
Well he doesn’t know what exactly.
He clears his throat, watching the happiness in Maya’s eyes linger even as her laughter dies.
“And just because I broke up with Riley doesn’t mean that I’m gay-”
“We are not talking about you breaking up with Riley.” Maya says firmly, waving him off with a lazy hand. Lucas blinks. “Trust me, I’ve talked about you breaking up with Riley enough to last me two life times.”
Lucas winces. “Sorry.”
Maya shrugs. “S'alright. I’m not going to tell you it’s not your fault, because it is,” Maya says lightly, but her eyes twinkle with mischief so Lucas merely rolls his eyes. “But I forgive you Sundance. After all, I can’t really afford to be mad at you right now. Riley and Farkle don’t get back for another three weeks and I really don’t want to see Josh any time soon, so.”
Lucas is about to deliver a sarcastic ‘thanks’ when that comment sinks in. His turns his head quickly in Maya direction just in time to see Maya grimace in regret of her statement.
(because she knows he caught it, because he will always catch it whenever Josh has done something less than perfect. Sure he’s critical of the guy but it’s because he sees Maya as a sister. He might want to punch him in the face every time he kisses Maya, or puts his arm around her waist, or makes her smiles but it’s brotherly.
So, so brotherly.)
“What did he do?” Lucas asks sharply and Maya rolls her eyes.
“Ranger -”
“No, Maya, what did he do this time? What is it?” Lucas asks and Maya’s wince grows more pronounced.
“It’s nothing!” Maya says grouchily. Lucas shoots her a disbelieving look, studying her until Maya throws her hands up in defeat. “He cancelled on me okay.”
“Cancelled on you?” Lucas says slowly. Maya nods, raising a brow in challenge.
Lucas’s eyes narrow. “Like on a date?”
“Yeah.” Maya answers quickly. Too quickly. Lucas’ eyes narrow further and she rolls her eyes spectacularly. “He was supposed to go with me on this stupid cruise thing with my dad and-”
“Wait.” Lucas says in confusion.
“-he had to cancel all of the sudden because is something that came up with school or some shit -”
“ your dad?” Lucas repeats in bewilderment but Maya barrels on.
“- and I understand that obviously schools important but I told him a month in advance just to avoid this-”
“As in Shawn?” Lucas has to ask, because Shawn and Katy have been dating for long enough for it to resemble a marriage, and Maya’s close with him even though Lucas has never heard her use the exact word Dad to refer to him.
Maya looks at him like he’s knocked his head.
“No, Huckleberry, my father. Like biologically.” Maya says calmly and Lucas gapes.
“When… Since when have you been talkin’ to him?” Lucas asks in confusion and Maya shrugs.
“A bit. Just emails and stuff mostly. Sometimes we text. He called on my birthday.” Maya says easily, like this is no big deal, like this is nothing.
“You didn’t tell me.” Lucas says softly, and its not a question. The hurt spreads through his chest like something fierce and it doesn’t dull as Maya drops her gaze.
“Didn’t tell Farkle either. Or Zay. Almost didn’t tell Josh. The only one who really knew was Riley, my mom, and Shawn. The Mathews.” Maya lists gently, and Lucas tries desperately to swallow his pain.
“So only family then.” Lucas says with a nod, but Maya is still studying the pattern of his plaid shirt, studying the flannel like it’s not the same one he’s worn the past two years since he got it. Lucas taps his fingers softly (and platonically) under her chin, gets her to look up at him. “Hey, kid. I’m not mad or anything. Just…”
Wish I made the cut.
Lucas lets the sentence hang empty. But Maya seems to understand well enough because she grimaces, and unravels her legs, kicking him gently in the ankle.
“Next time something even slightly life changing happens I’ll send you a memo Sundance. By chicken and everything. Just like back home.” Maya teases halfheartedly and Lucas’ lips twist up into a smile. He nods, wiggling onto his side as he runs the conversation through his head. His eyes widen.
“Wait, are you telling me that your biological father invited you on a cruise and Josh ditched you?” Lucas asks, startled and Maya winces.
“He didn’t ditch me.” Maya says insistently. “He has school.”
Lucas guffawed. He honestly and truly did.
He likes Josh. He does. But more and more often he finds that he wants to punch him full in the mouth.
Who knew that such a nice guy could be such a lousy boyfriend.
“Maya it’s summer. What school does Josh have to do?” Lucas asks with a raised brow and Maya glares at him fiercely.
“He has some stuff to do before the year starts, something about evaluation examinations or whatever.” Maya says firmly. Lucas purses his lips and Maya’s eyes narrow. “He’s not lying.”
“Never said he was.”
“You didn’t have to.” Maya says sharply, her blue eyes heated and irritated unsettled and Lucas instantly feels bad. Just because the thought of Josh sometimes makes him want to punch a wall doesn’t mean that he should worry Maya with unfounded suspicions of her boyfriend.
“Sorry.” Lucas says instantly and Maya continues to glare at him. He rolls onto his back and sits up just to raise his hands innocently. “ I’m sorry okay? I didn’t mean it.”
“Don’t patronize me Ranger.” Maya grumbles without heat, slipping up into sitting position as smooth as a cat. She nudges Lucas’s knee with her knuckles as a sign that she forgives him and Lucas’ lips twitch upwards at the small contact.
“I wouldn’t dare, ma'am.” Lucas says with a wink and Maya huffs out a laugh. Lucas scoots back to lean his back against Maya’s room wall and is satisfied I see Maya do the same. “So is that why you were cursing up a storm? Josh told you he couldn’t go?”
Maya nods. “Mostly.” She says nothing else until Lucas nudges her with his elbow. She rolls her eyes. “Originally I was going to take Riley but I kinda forgot to tell her that. I just assumed she’d be free you know? It’s the summer before eleventh grade, we’re going to be juniors or whatever and I figured we spend the summer watching netflix and planning next years outfits. But by the time I remembered to actually invite her she’d already signed up for the euro trip with Farkle. I mean I knew she was going and I knew she’d signed up but I guess I didn’t really put it all together."
Maya shrugged, and huffed lightly, her soft breath spinning the blonde hairs around her face briefly. "So then obviously I couldn’t bring Riley, even though my dad was super hyped to see her after all the stories that me and my mom told him and stuff. I had to tell my dad that no, I wasn’t bringing my best friend and he was super disappointed so I told him that i was bringing my boyfriend instead, and jeez he made such big deal of it. Saying how happy he was that I trusted him with this and wanted him to meet someone so significant in my life after everything.
“And so he told everybody because he was so proud. So now the whole Hart Clan knows about it, including the step-monster! Gosh the step-monster made such a huge stink about it, all ‘Maya has a boyfriend, who’da known!’ and ‘wow, someone is dating that’!” Maya grumbles and Lucas grimaces.
“I’m sure that’s not what she said…” Lucas says gently, well-versed in Maya’s hate for her stepmother. From the stories that she’s told him, her hate is not completely unfounded, and even Mrs. Hart who is sweeter than anything, doesn’t like the woman, and that’s saying something.
“She might as well!” Maya exclaims as she glares at him. “She thinks that it’s a miracle that anyone would want to date me, but she bought Josh a ticket anyways. And Liz, is bringing Mr. Best Boyfriend Ever from what Mac and Jack tell me…” Maya sighed, rolling her eyes but there’s a touch of fondness to it. “Honestly it’s a constant surprise to me that those small children came out of the step-monster womb. And speaking of those two, they were so excited to meet Josh. Oh shit. They haven’t talked about anything else since I mentioned him, oh my god it’s going to crush their tiny six year old hearts…don’t ask me why they’re so invested in my love life though, I honestly don’t know…”
Maya’s brow is scrunched slightly, her nose wrinkled in that way she does when she doesn’t quite understand something. Lucas wants nothing more than to press his thumb gently to the space between her brows, to rub the furrow away with gently with slow circles.
He may need professional help.
"Anyways, now I have to tell my dad that neither are coming and he’s either going to think I’m a freak who makes up shit for attention or that I’m a loser with no friends. Or that I hate him and don’t want him to meet anyone associated with me. And then step-monster is going to be proved right that I am unlovable and Liz and her perfect boyfriend are just going to be a reminder of that. Oh, and the twins will cry. Great.” Maya groaned, looking up at the ceiling for help. Her blonde hair follows the laws of gravity around her ears as she tips her head back, and Lucas is momentarily mesmerized by the line of her throat. He feels his stomach tighten bizarrely before he hears her words. “Somehow i ended up promising them all the opportunity to see someone significant in my life and I’m just going to turn up alone.”
“Okay, first of all,"Lucas starts, and he sees Maya lips twitch slightly at his scolding tone, watches as she juts out her chin in that way she does whenever she’s preparing to completely ignore whatever someone’s saying. He says it anyways. She’s needs to hear it. ”You are enough. Or you should be. And if your father has half a brain and functioning eyes and ears he’ll know that. And he’ll appreciate you, no matter if you’re alone. And second of all, “
The thing that scares him most later is that Lucas didn’t even think about it. Like at all. Honestly just one glance at Maya’s all-suffering expression face and he’s caving like a house of cards, words are falling out of his mouth like nothing.
"If you’re that worried about that rest of them, just bring me. I’ll be your boyfriend."