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The wagon creaked along the dirt road, piled high with baskets, fishing rods, and far too many loud voices for the countryside’s peace.
“Eli, if you keep leaning out like that, you’re going to fall,” Lukas said without looking up from the small book on his lap.
“I won’t fall,” Elias said cheerfully, right before the wheel hit a rock and nearly sent him flying. He burst out laughing anyway, hanging on to the side. “See! I didn't fall.”
Leonard sighed exhaustedly. “Maybe you could stay inside the wagon for at least five minutes without asking for trouble?”
“Facing trouble is my hobby.” Elias grinned, dropping back down beside Lukas. His head immediately landed on Lukas’s shoulder. “And Luka is there to save me anyway. Right, Luka!”
Lukas didn’t reply, only turned a page. Elias took that as an agreement.
“See? He says he will.”
“He didn't say anything,” Leonard murmured, “He is trying to find peace. Maybe you should too.”
That earned a snicker from Narke. “That’s impossible. Elias and peace can’t exist in the same sentence.”
“Ha! I can be peaceful,” Elias protested, hands on his hips. “Watch me.”
One second passed.
Three seconds passed.
Seven seconds passed.
Julia started counting under his breath. “One… two… and three.”
Elias suddenly shouted and panted as if he was suffocating. “Unfair!” he said, pointing accusingly at Julia. “You were distracting me with your voice!”
“He was just counting.”
“That's a distraction!”
Leonard pinched the bridge of his nose. “We haven’t even reached the lake yet.”
By the time they finally reached the lake, Leonard was too tired to even scold Elias anymore.
Said person immediately ran near the water like an excited puppy.
“Come on, Luka! The fish are waiting!”
“They’ve been waiting a hundred years,” Lukas said, kneeling to take the fishing rods, both for him and Elias. “They can wait five more minutes.”
Julia, already rolling up his sleeves, joined Elias. “Let’s see who catches more. The winner gets Luka’s share of dessert.”
Elias grinned. “Deal.”
Lukas looked up with a deadpan expression. “I never agreed to that.”
---
The morning air was clear and fresh, the lake lying still like glass under the pale sky. Ripples spread every so often where the line hit the water, breaking the reflection of the clouds.
Everything was quiet and peaceful. Or rather, it would’ve been if Elias hadn’t been talking.
He was half sitting, half leaning against Lukas’s back, chin resting on his shoulder.
“Luka,” he said for the fifth time in a minute, “why do the fish never bite my rod?”
“Because you keep moving and talking,” Lukas answered calmly, eyes fixed on the float bobbing in the water.
Elias hummed. “So they don’t like conversation?”
“They prefer peace.”
“That’s sad,” Elias muttered. “They’d hate me, then.”
“They already do,” Leonard called from a few steps away, without looking up from his own rod.
Elias stuck his tongue out in Leonard’s direction and went back to leaning on Lukas. Lukas didn’t complain, simply adjusted his line.
Five minutes passed. Not a single fish.
Elias started to groan softly. “Luka~ nothing’s happening!”
“Wait a little more.”
“I’ve been waiting for yyyyyears.”
“It’s been only five minutes.”
Elias scowled at Lukas, then turned that same look on the water. After a beat, he leaned forward and bit Lukas’s shoulder lightly.
Lukas exhaled with resignation. “That’s not going to help either.”
“Helps with frustration,” Elias mumbled.
Before Lukas could answer, Leonard’s voice rose again. “Elias! Stop moving around and making noise. The fish will run away.”
“They can’t run, Leo,” Elias shot back instantly, turning around with a cheeky grin. “They swim.”
Leonard shot him a menacing look. “Don’t try to act smart with me.”
Elias gulped nervously and turned away. Fully knowing he had pushed Leo’s button too much for today.
At that exact moment, Lukas’s rod twitched. He pulled it firmly, and a large fish burst through the surface, glittering in the sunlight.
“Whoa!” Ulrike jumped up in excitement.
Julia whistled. “That’s a big one.”
Elias stared at the fish, then at Lukas. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” He looked both impressed and betrayed. “How did you…? We were sitting together!”
Then, in a sudden burst of movement, he stood up, tossed his rod aside, and rolled up his sleeves.
“Elias,” Leonard warned.
“If they won’t come to me,” he declared, “then I’ll go to them!”
Before anyone could stop him, he jumped into the lake with a loud splash that drenched half the group. Narke already stepped aside a little, knowing that was going to happen.
The water rippled in all directions, and the few fish near the surface darted away. Leonard stood up instantly. “You idiot! You scared them all off!”
Narke smiled amusedly. “Seems fun,”
Ulrike was laughing so hard he nearly dropped his own rod. “Go, Elias! Show them who’s boss!”
Leonard gave them both a look that could kill, but before he could launch into another scolding, Elias surfaced looking like a wet cat. But he was grinning as he raised his hands, a flapping fish clenched between them.
“Got one!” he shouted.
The group went silent for a second. Then Ulrike doubled over laughing again, even Heike’s mouth was turned upward a little.
Leonard just covered his face with one hand, looking like a tired parent. “…Elias, just get out before I drag you myself.”
“No," Elias replied like a naughty kid, already forgetting his own bow to not push Leonard anymore for the day.
Lukas sighed and set his rod down. “Eli, come back.”
Elias waded back to shore, dripping everywhere. Lukas was already waiting with a towel. He tip-toyed slightly and started drying Elias’s hair.
“You’ll catch a cold,” he said.
Elias leaned into the touch, eyes half-lidded. “You sound like an old man, Luka.”
Lukas didn’t answer, just kept drying.
“Don’t worry,” Elias said, grinning up at him. “If I get sick, you can take care of me and make me better~!”
Lukas sighed softly but kept drying his hair anyway. Elias laughed softly, then suddenly hugged him tight. He rubbed both of their heads together, soaking Lukas through.
“Eli—”
“Now you're wet too,” Elias said cheerfully, voice muffled against Lukas’s hair. “We will both get sick together and take care of each other."
Lukas sighed, long and quiet, but didn’t push him away.
Across from them, Leonard muttered something under his breath about “idiots” and turned away to wring out his sleeves.
A few steps away, Julia, who’d been watching their interaction with amusement, walked over. He pulled a towel from his bag and held it out. “Here, Lukas. You might as well dry yourself before you catch something.”
Lukas turned slightly, reaching out to take it. But before he could, Leonard stepped in, snatched the towel from Julia without a word, and started drying Lukas’s hair himself. A little too roughly.
“Hey! Be gentle,” Lukas said quietly.
“I am being gentle,” Leonard muttered, glaring at Julia over Lukas’s shoulder.
Julia raised a brow as he watched them. “You’re going to rub his scalp off at that rate.”
Leonard didn't pay attention and kept doing what he was doing.
Ulrike, watching from the side, frowned slightly. He didn't like how Leonard was bullying Lukas again. When Leonard finally stepped back, Ulrike went over to Lukas and whispered.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly.
Lukas glanced up with a puzzled look. “Yes. Why do you ask?”
“He was… kind of rough.”
Lukas shrugged his shoulders. “He has been more rough on me in the past,” he said while thinking about all the times Leo almost beat him to death at the name of training. “I’m used to it.”
Ulrike’s eyes widened with concern. Lukas understood he misunderstood. But before he could explain anything, Heike, who’d been silent all morning, called out to everyone.
“I got one,” Heike said calmly.
As he lifted his rod. A fish dangled from the hook. But attached to its tail was another smaller fish, clinging stubbornly, as if trying to pull it back into the lake.
For a moment, the entire group stared.
Ulrike blinked stupidly. “It’s… saving its friend.”
Julia leaned closer. “That’s kind of adorable.”
Elias, now sitting in the grass, pointed at them excitedly. “Look at that! That's what we call true love~.”
Leonard sighed. “They’re fish, Elias.”
“So? Can't fishes have feelings? And wouldn’t you do that for me too?”
“I’d let you go, see you get fried, and even join at the dinner table,” Leonard said flatly.
Heike looked at the two fish for another second, then at Lukas. “What do I do with it?”
“Let them go,” Lukas said without much thought.
Heike nodded, unhooked the line, and released them. The two fish disappeared under the ripples together.
Elias smiled and looked at Lukas. “Our Luka is so soft. He understood those lovers' pain despite being a machine himself.”
Lukas frowned at being called “machine" for the nth time but didn't argue back.
Then Narke stood and stretched lazily. “Alright,” a quiet hum in his throat. “I think that's enough.”
Leonard frowned. “We barely caught anything.”
Narke grinned and lifted a small bucket sitting beside him. Inside, five fresh fish gleamed in the light.
“When did you…” Leonard started.
“When you were all watching Elias swim with the fishes,” Narke said in a teasing tone.
Lukas looked around. “Seven fish for seven people. That’s enough.”
“Then we won't fish anymore?" Heike asked suddenly with a sad expression, though outsiders won't notice it.
Lukas patted his shoulder and comforted him saying they will do it again sometime later.
Narke went to them and asked for his prize for the win. “As we decided earlier, I will have Luka's share of dessert. But don't worry, I will give you some too."
Lukas could only sign and let them do whatever they want.
As they prepared for the BBQ, the wind moved softly through the grass, carrying their quiet laughter across the air.