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Lukas climbs in through Philip’s window at some time way too early in the morning, and wakes him up immediately because Philip’s bed is right under the window for this exact purpose.
“Off,” Philip mumbles tiredly not having gone to sleep until like two hours ago, because of Lukas. “This is my side.”
“Philip,” Lukas says sounding distressed.
Philip wakes up a little more at that. He blinks his eyes and tries to see Lukas’ face in the dim lighting. When he can’t, he reaches out to turn on the lamp, but Lukas’ fingers wrap around his wrist arresting his movements.
Philip twists his hand and slides their fingers together.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
He sits up in bed, and Lukas is now more or less situated on his lap. He reaches out with his other hand and tries to put it on Lukas’ cheek.
Lukas flinches, moving back and away from Philip, and Philip reaches out and turns on the light.
He looks back at Lukas and gasps.
There is a bruise blooming all along the left corner of his face, his lip is split along the bottom, a bruise blooming across on his chin.
“Lukas,” Philip breathes. But Lukas shakes his head.
“He didn’t mean it,” he says, but he doesn’t sound sure. “He was drinking, and he found out about us.”
Philip reaches out more carefully and Lukas lets him place his hand on his cheek, leaning into the soft touch eagerly, and Philip feels as though his heart is breaking all over again.
“We’ve got to tell someone,” Philip says, and isn’t surprised when Lukas starts shaking his head again.
Lukas presses in closer, straddling Philip’s lap, and pressing their foreheads together, hands pressed on either side of Philip’s neck.
“He’s going to take me away far from here. He says that this is all your influence. We have a family house on the other end the country, and he wants us to leave in the morning.”
Philip starts shaking his head, “No, he can’t. We’ll tell Helen. She can do something.”
Lukas presses their foreheads together, “She can’t. It won’t be soon enough.”
There are tears in Philip’s eyes, and he moves his hands and wraps his arms around Lukas’ middle.
“You can’t leave me,” Philip says voice cracking.
Lukas doesn’t say anything, just presses their foreheads together harder and closes his eyes.
“We could always just get married.”
Philip pulls back eyes going wide. “What?” he asks disbelieving.
“You’re eighteen. I turned eighteen last week.” He looks at Philip straight in the eyes. “We could get married.”
“Are you proposing right now?” Philip asks a little breathlessly.
“I want to know if you want to marry me, right now.”
“Right now?” Philip’s eyes can’t go any wider.
“Yeah,” Lukas whispers and starts peppering kisses all over Philip’s face, fingers caressing against the back of his ears. “Don’t say no.”
Philip can feel his resolve melting like butter in the sun, but he still pulls away a little, giving himself some breathing room, eyes on Lukas’ face.
“Like you said, you’re eighteen. You can just stay here with us.”
Lukas is shaking his head. “He told me he’d call the cops on Helen and Gabe, and they’d have to arrest them for kidnapping, because I’m still in high school, and he’s still my dad.”
Philip shakes his head. “I'm not just gonna let him take you.”
“Then marry me,” Lukas whispers and presses a desperate kiss to Philip’s mouth.
“Marry me,” he mutters over and over between kisses.
Philip kisses him back eagerly, surrendering, and when Lukas pushes him back amongst the pillows he whispers, “Yes.”
*
Tony, being Philip’s only friend in Tivoli besides Lukas, and Lukas really doesn’t count, is not amused at being woken up at god knows what time to the frantic pounding at his front door.
Lukas is too much restless energy, and even though Philip had put Helen’s makeup on his face, hiding most of the bruises, he still keeps his face turned so that Tony can’t see it.
At first, Tony thinks that something is wrong with Helen and even gets most of his uniform on before Philip can tell him that no, it’s not Helen, this is a personal favor.
Tony looks from Philip to Lukas and then back again. He turns on the bright lights in his living room, and both Lukas and Philip flinch from it.
He looks at them some more, frowns at Lukas, and then gives Philip a concerned look.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Be our witness,” Philip starts slowly, taking a deep breath in the middle of the sentence to prepare himself for Tony’s reaction. “To our marriage.”
“You’re getting married?” Tony asks bright grin spreading across his face, but then he frowns. “Aren’t you still in high school?”
“That’s not the point,” Philip says, and he’s cut off by Lukas who hasn’t spoken since Philip put the makeup on his face.
“It doesn’t matter, we’re both eighteen. You can’t stop us.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Tony says holding his hands out, and trying to calm Lukas. He doesn’t miss the way that Lukas flinches from his hands, but he doesn’t comment on it. “I’m not trying to stop anything. I just, aren’t you a little young to be thinking about marriage? What about Helen and Gabe, and your dad Lukas, what do they have to say about this?”
Lukas turns away at the mention of his dad, and Philip really wants to reach out and comfort him, but he’s so wound up, Philip’s afraid he’ll shatter him.
“They don’t know,” Philip says turning back to Tony. “Helen and Gabe would want to talk this out with Bo, and we can’t talk to Bo for obvious reasons, one of which is that he’s planning on moving Lukas across the country, just so that he’ll be away from my bad influence, today.”
Tony uses those police skills he boasts about to put things together with the little bit of information that Philip has given him.
“So you need me to be your witness to your marriage that you’re having today?”
“As soon as possible,” Philip says, and he pulls out the papers he’d printed out after Lukas had stopped distracting him with kisses and Philip had gotten all the information he needed to make this marriage as legally binding as possible, and more important than something like Bo’s custody of Lukas.
“I’ve got all the information here, and I’ve already applied for a license from the state, which takes about a week, but all we need are the signed papers and Bo can’t take him anywhere without my consent.”
Tony looks over the papers that Philip hands him, and then looks back to Philip, and then to Lukas, and then rapidly back to Philip flushing a little as though Lukas is doing something sappy, like staring at Philip with his love struck eyes.
Philip can feel his stare, so he doesn’t have to turn around to confirm it.
He reaches out a hand, and Lukas latches on to it immediately, twining their fingers together, and leaning heavily on Philip.
Philip squeezes their fingers together and looks at Tony determined. “We have to do this. All we need is a witness, and while I’m pretty sure we can find one at the Chapel, I’d prefer it if it was someone who knew us both.”
Tony stands up a little straighter and then hands the paperwork back to Philip.
“Helen is going to kill me for this,” he sighs, turning to grab a jacket. “Come on, I’ll drive.”
*
Philip never really dreamt of getting married, or even thought about what such a ritual would entail. He’s gone to weddings before, but they were always this grand affair, with an open bar that didn’t card you if you flirted hard enough with the bartender.
It turns out to be more anti-climactic than he was expecting.
They’re not the only ones in the chapel.
There is a couple right before them, and one already in with the priest, or the person certified to marry people in the state.
They’d had to drive an hour to find the chapel that Philip had found online that also does same sex couples, and during that whole hour, they sat in the backseat holding hands.
Lukas almost cut off the circulation in his hand, and had asked Philip twice if this was what he really wanted, before he relaxed marginally.
Tony stayed quiet the entire drive over something Philip is grateful for.
Philip himself only relaxes when the chapel is in view, the sky lightening up as the sun starts to rise.
Tony is standing by the door, almost like a body guard, but reading one of the many Lifestyle magazines that are lying around.
They’d already confirmed their appointment, and the receptionist gives them a sweet look, and takes the paperwork that Philip had already filled out.
Lukas’ leg is bouncing, and Philip reaches out with one hand and presses hard on his knee.
Lukas stops moving, and wraps his hand around Philip’s tugging it from his knee and crushing his fingers against his lips.
“I love you,” he whispers, soundlessly, the words formed and breathed across Philip’s knuckles, but Philip can hear him perfectly.
He leans over and presses a kiss to Lukas’ jaw right below the worse bruise that can barely be seen, and whispers. “I love you.”
They wait thirty more minutes, where Lukas gets increasingly jittery as the sun comes up, and Tony is ignoring any calls coming to his cell.
Philip’s and Lukas’ phones had been left on top of Philip’s dresser, because Philip knows that Helen still tracks his phone.
“Philip Shea and Lukas Waldenbeck,” comes the call from the receptionist.
Lukas shoots out of his seat, dragging Philip along with him.
The receptionist gives them another sweet smile, and mouths, eager to Philip.
Philip just smiles back, nodding, and follows Lukas in through the door, Tony bringing up the rear.
The man standing in front of the altar, smiles at them even though he looks tired, and welcomes them.
From then out, it’s pretty standard.
The priest says a couple of lovely words, and they say I do.
Lukas’ eyes don’t leave Philip’s and Philip can barely look away to do anything but sign his name.
Once Tony and the receptionist sign as witnesses, the priest pronounces them married, and smiling indulgently says, “You may kiss your husband.”
Lukas tugs Philip in by their joined hands, and he’s smiling when he presses his mouth to Philip’s.
They part, and Lukas presses their foreheads together, eyes closed.
The receptionist offers them one of the honeymoon suites, and Lukas flushes horribly red, and so does Tony which makes Philip giggle, actually giggle.
He declines the offer with a smile, and starts laughing, punch drunk, once they’re outside in the morning sunlight.
Lukas grabs on to him, and spins him around in a weird waltz with no music, and dips him before gathering him securely against his chest and saying.
“We did it,” he says, and his smile is almost as bright as the sun, and he finally looks relaxed and happy.
Philip feels all of that and more bubbling and bursting in his stomach like champagne bubbles.
He kisses Lukas hard, pressing their mouths together, and winding his arms around Lukas’ neck.
Lukas kisses him back desperately, hands sliding up the back of Philip’s shirt, and tugging him in impossibly closer.
Philip makes a noise in the back of his throat, and presses closer, because they are married, and nothing can tear them apart ever again.
“Okay that’s enough,” comes Tony’s voice, and Philip pulls away from Lukas with a laugh.
He’d almost forgotten Tony was there.
“Come on,” he says to Lukas smiling and wrapping their hands together before tugging him to the car.
*
The drive back is littered with Lukas pressing kisses to any part of Philip he could reach, and Tony yelling at them to keep it PG back there, that he doesn’t have a partition and that this is not a cab.
Philip just laughs, and pulls away from Lukas, only to be pulled back in by his eyes.
There’s just something different about the way every touch and kiss feels now.
Philip doesn’t know what it is, but he does know that it’s making him incredibly happy, and maybe a little out of it, which can be explained away by the fact that he had a total of two hours of sleep last night.
The happy balloon in his chest bursts suddenly, making him flinch when Lukas sits upright and tense in his seat.
Tony is driving them to Philip’s house, and Philip looks out to see that Bo’s truck, packed with stuff, is sitting on the driveway.
Philip tangles his fingers with Lukas’ and Lukas squeezes his hands tightly.
They slow to a stop, and Philip watches as Bo charges towards the car, Helen and Gabe running after him.
Lukas doesn’t seem like he’s getting out of the car any time soon. Tony is already outside, and Philip can hear snatches of the conversation through the open door.
“We have to give them a chance to explain themselves,” Gabe is saying.
Bo just looks furious. “No, I told Lukas about this trip, and that kid did this on purpose.”
Tony hasn’t said anything, but is standing in front of the door where Lukas is sitting as though daring Bo to come and drag Lukas out of the car.
“We don’t know that,” Helen says, trying to diffuse the situation. “They could’ve just lost track of time. You know how it is when you’re not going to see a loved one for a long time.”
Bo looks even more furious at that, at the implication that Helen knows about their relationship.
“Lukas get out of the car,” Bo says instead, and his voice brooks no argument.
Philip squeezes Lukas’ hands, until Lukas’ eyes are on him instead of his father.
“We don’t have to go out there if you don’t want to.”
Lukas looks into Philip’s eyes, and then leans in pressing their foreheads together. “I don’t want to, but we have to. We did it. He can’t do anything about that now.”
Philip nods his head, and tucks the paperwork that had been splayed out between them into his jacket pocket before opening his door.
He gets out, and Lukas gets out with him, hands joined together.
Bo looks even more furious, and Philip would worry about his blood pressure if it wasn’t for the gasp that Helen gives when she takes a good look at Lukas’ face.
The makeup has been mostly brushed away by Philip’s hands on his face, and the bruises look even worse in the daylight.
“Lukas get in the truck,” Bo says, and Philip feels it when Lukas’ muscles tense almost immediately following his order, until Philip’s hand in his tugs him to a halt.
“He’s not going anywhere,” Philip says, and moves so that he’s standing slightly in front of Lukas, their hands still entwined.
Bo just glares as though that’s going to be enough to separate Philip from Lukas.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but Lukas is my son, and he’s coming with me, and away from your negative influence.”
“I didn’t influence anything,” Philip says in a matter of fact tone. “Lukas sought me out. He made all of the first moves. If anything, the only influence I have on him is a positive one because he finally can be himself.”
“That’s not for you to decide,” Bo starts stepping in closer. “Lukas is my son, whatever influence I say you have on him, you have on him. It’s negative and filthy and I won’t have it.”
“You’re not getting him either,” Philip states calmly. He can feel Lukas’ pulse beating fast against his wrist, and he squeezes their fingers tightly.
“You can’t stop me,” Bo says reaching towards them.
Philip steps back into Lukas, and Lukas wraps his arms around Philip almost automatically.
“Actually, I can,” Philip says leaning harder against Lukas before pulling out the paperwork. “This gives me the right to stop you from taking him away from me, because legally, he’s mine now.”
Bo snatches the papers from his hands, and throws them aside where Philip can see Gabe and Helen scrambling for them out of the corner of his eye.
“I don’t care what you think you did. Lukas is still in high school. He may be eighteen, but he’s still considered a minor. So it doesn’t matter.”
“Actually it does matter,” Helen speaks up from where she’s been reading through the paperwork. “This is a marriage certificate for Philip and Lukas Shea.”
“Marriage?!” Bo practically screams whirling to look at Helen.
Philip takes a moment to look up at Lukas, who is looking at his dad with these sad eyes. Philip raises a hand to his cheek, and Lukas leans into it, eyes shutting.
“We’ll be getting our license in a week,” Philip states looking back over to everyone else.
Gabe’s eyes are on Lukas’ face. Helen is looking from the papers to Tony, and Bo just looks pissed to still see Philip in Lukas’ arms.
“Lukas,” he says. Lukas tenses. “Let him go, and get in the car.”
Philip opens his mouth to tell him that Lukas isn’t going anywhere, but Lukas beats him to it.
“No,” he says, and his arms tighten around Philip, hands clenched tightly around Philip’s elbows. “I’m not going anywhere without my husband.”
The word ‘husband’ sends a flurry of butterflies through Philip’s stomach, and he can’t seem to contain the smile on his face.
Bo’s jaw clenches, but Lukas keeps talking.
“You drove me to this,” he tells his dad. “I told you that he was important to me, and all you cared about was that it was a ‘he’. So I did the only thing I could think of to stay with him, because Philip is the most important thing in my life, don’t you get that?”
Bo doesn’t say anything. He looks ready to punch something, which is when Helen, Gabe and Tony move in to step between him and them.
“I was ready to not let him go once I saw his face,” Gabe says in a calm angry tone. “But now that he’s legally my son as well, he’s not going anywhere with you.”
Bo looks away from Gabe and back to Lukas, but Lukas has hidden his face on Philip’s shoulder, and Philip can feel him shaking.
Philip lifts his head and tries to look as imposing as possible.
Bo’s eyes go sad, but it’s quickly masked by anger as he turns his gaze back to Gabe.
“This isn’t over.”
He turns and heads to his truck and leaves, tires kicking up dust everywhere, making everyone cough.
Helen waits until everyone’s under control before turning to Philip, “We’ll be talking about this later.”
Philip nods quickly, and then she turns swiftly towards Tony and smacks him in the back of the head.
“Ow,” he says rubbing the spot. “What was that for?”
“You took them to get married, and were their witness!” She starts yelling. “What were you thinking?!”
She keeps yelling, and Gabe gently tugs both Lukas and Philip towards the front porch.
He gives Philip a look that also says, we’ll be talking about this later.
“How about some celebratory pancakes?” Gabe says instead.
Lukas’ stomach rumbles loudly at the mention of food, and he flushes bright red, disentangling himself from Philip.
Philip catches his hand in his and gives him a reassuring smile.
“Pancakes sound great,” Philip answers walking behind him. “As long as you’re the one making them.”
Gabe laughs and enters the house.
Lukas tugs them to a standstill at the threshold.
“Are you sure about this?” Lukas asks holding both of Philip’s hands in his.
“Surer than I’ve been of anything, why?” He leans in close, “Are you having second thoughts?”
“No,” Lukas says immediately. “Just,” he looks around them to make sure that no one is looking or listening to them, and leans in closer. “You’re my husband now.”
He also smiles like he can’t help it when he says or hears the word as well.
Philip smiles back, “And you’re mine, too.”
He presses their smiles together before leaning back a little to whisper. “And I’ll show you just how much when everyone goes off to work.”
Lukas kisses him, a bit desperately, but they pull apart smiling.
“You know it’s tradition to carry the bride over the threshold,” Lukas says conversationally.
Philip is about to protest that he’s no one’s bride, but Lukas just picks him up and throws him over his shoulder.
“Hey!” Philip complains laughing. “Let me down!”
Lukas ignores him and just hums here comes the bride, while crossing the threshold. He doesn’t let Philip down until they’re in the kitchen, and Philip hits him in the stomach.
“Ow,” Lukas says pointedly, but he’s smiling.
Philip smiles back and leads them to the dining room table, where they can see Gabe humming while making pancakes.
Lukas grabs his left hand, and presses a kiss on his ring finger, fingers smoothing over the spot almost obsessively.
They don’t have the rings yet, but Philip doesn’t doubt that that will happen soon.
He smiles while Lukas starts talking to Gabe about some water type sport that Philip has no interest in.
He watches as Lukas laughs at whatever Gabe just said.
Helen walks in and rolls her eyes at them fondly before going upstairs to get ready for work.
Philip leans his head on his hand, and lets Lukas keep playing with the fingers of his left hand.
He doesn’t know what the future holds, but if it’s more of this, then Philip can’t find it in him to complain about anything.
the end.