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Nick began calmly walking back and forth in his room with hands clasped behind his back, while Lucas sat on his bed watching him. "You're probably wondering why I've asked you here, so I'll get straight to the point. I have something important that I need help with."
"What's so important?" Lucas asked curiously, and Nick stopped walking to look at him.
"I've been thinking of doing some creative writing," Nick answered. "I have an idea for a short story, and I'm looking for advice about the romance aspect of it."
It was a reasonable and perfectly normal request, but Lucas wasn't so sure. "Are you sure? I mean, I'll help if you want, but wouldn't Jess be better if you're looking for romance advice?"
Nick gave a confident smile. "I'm sure. It has to come from you, you're the best person I could ask."
"Well, when you put it like that..." Lucas trailed off before shaking his head to clear all doubts. A second later, he held his head up high and returned Nick's confident smile. "Then I'll try my best. What have you got planned?"
Nick beamed at him. "Perfect! So it's about these two characters, Luke and Rick, and the story follows Rick, who has feelings for Luke and wants to confess to him. The problem is Luke is exceptionally oblivious, and although Ni-Rick is pretty sure Luke likes him back, he's worried in case he's wrong, so he decides to find a way to figure out Luke's feelings before telling him he likes him."
Maybe the names were a little on the nose — maybe too on the nose if his slip-up was of any indication — but Lucas didn't seem to question it nor notice his slip-up as he sat nodding his head in thought. "I see. I see."
"So what do you think of the premise?" Nick asked.
Lucas gave a reassuring smile. "I think it sounds pretty good so far. I didn't know you're in the creative writing club at school. I'm sure the other members will enjoy what you've written, too."
Nick sheepishly grinned. "I'm not. I'm just writing to... test the waters, if you will."
Lucas blinked. "Oh. Okay. Still," he added. "Even if it's not for the creative writing club, I'm happy you're exploring writing and you're comfortable sharing it with me. Do you have a draft of the story anywhere?"
"Not yet," Nick explained. "See, I want to figure out the story first before committing to writing anything down. I have the basic idea which you've heard, but I still need to work out the finer details of it as well as some major details."
Lucas hummed thoughtfully. "Makes sense. You're stuck with what to write, so you thought talking it through with someone else will help you figure it out. You mentioned about Rick needing to 'find a way to figure out Luke's feelings', is that one of the things you need to work out?"
"Actually, no," Nick replied. "That's one of the things I have already figured out. In order to figure out Luke's feelings, he decides to use a piece of writing to do so."
Lucas tilted his head curiously. "Like a letter?"
Nick shook his head. "Not quite. The piece of writing in question is a story about them that Rick is looking for advice about. Anyway," he quickly added before Lucas could think about the implications too much. "I'm not sure whether to have Luke return Rick's feelings after all once Rick tells him or if he should reject Rick because Rick misinterpreted him feeling the same, and if he does reject Rick, in what way does he do so? I need help figuring that part out, which is where you come in."
Lucas frowned. "I still think Jess would be better for this, but also, I don't even know who these characters are. I don't know anything about them or their personalities, so I can't say for sure whether Luke feels the same because I know nothing about them."
Nick hummed in a way that he hoped sounded nonchalant. "Oh, you know. Something like us."
He didn't know what Lucas's response was going to be, but what he desperately didn't want was for Lucas to mistakenly think Rick was like him instead of Rick being like Nick, otherwise he'd have to explain he was Rick and Lucas was Luke, and explaining why they were these specific characters would raise too many questions and give away his feelings before he had the chance to figure out Lucas's.
There was a 50/50 chance of Lucas going with the correct assumption of who had their personalities. The outcome was essentially dependent on a coin flip, and on closer inspection, maybe it was a good thing the names were on the nose, since Lucas might subconsciously associate Luke with being like him and Rick with being like Nick, and therefore leave him with no need to correct Lucas.
Lucas nodded seriously as he thought for a moment. "Well, if Luke is like me —" Nick mentally cheered that he won the coin flip "— then I think he should return Rick's feelings. You said they're already friends, so maybe Luke has been secretly in love with Rick the whole time and what Rick suspects turns out to be true. But why doesn't Rick just come out and say it instead of being vague with story advice?"
It was obvious that Lucas was frustrated with that particular plot point, so Nick took a deep breath to calm down his racing heart.
It was time to say something, and that something was the truth, even if Lucas didn't know it.
"Because Rick is scared of messing up the friendship between them if he's wrong," Nick admitted. "The idea is that if Luke says the characters in Rick's short story should get together and explains why they should, then it's a promising sign of the likelihood Luke returns his feelings."
Lucas nodded in understanding, still not noticing the implications. "That makes sense. I thought Rick was making things too complicated, but he only resorted to doing something like that because he doesn't want to misinterpret things between them as being something more when Luke could just be being friendly towards him. It's a safe way for Rick to figure out the feelings without actually telling Luke he likes him just yet, especially if Luke is as oblivious as you say."
Nick nodded back. "Exactly. And since you think Luke should feel the same about Rick, how long do you think Luke has liked him for?"
"That depends," Lucas answered calmly, and it felt like his gaze was boring into him. "How long has Rick had feelings for Luke? It'll be easier to figure out Luke's feelings from there."
"Rick has had feelings for their entire friendship," Nick began, trying not to squirm under Lucas's gaze. "But only realised the feelings recently because of an event that happened that I'll explain later."
"How long ago was this mysterious event?" Lucas asked.
Nick started counting his fingers, pretending to think. "If my calculations are correct, maybe two months ago?"
"In that case, Luke should have feelings for a while, too," Lucas replied. "But can I make a suggestion?"
Nick smiled. "Of course. I did ask for your advice, after all."
Lucas made his suggestion. "I was thinking Luke should know about his feelings longer than Rick had known about his, since although Luke may be oblivious when someone likes him, he may not be oblivious to his own feelings."
Nick looked at him in surprise. "You think so?"
"I know so," Lucas insisted with such certainty that what he was saying was correct, and that was an unexpected development.
If Lucas was so certain, then maybe Lucas was telling the truth about his own feelings and not just the character's, and if he was telling the truth, then did that mean what he suspected was true after all and Lucas did have feelings for him? And on top of that, had Lucas known about them for a while and not just recently?
The potential revelation from Lucas's answer made him smile, and although he couldn't celebrate just yet, he had an inkling he was right about Lucas reciprocating his feelings. He just had to keep the conversation on the right track by asking the right questions and talking about the right things to be sure. After all, he didn't want to end up being wrong because he decided to confess when he wasn't one hundred percent certain.
"What made Rick realise his feelings?" Lucas continued, oblivious to Nick's thoughts.
"Quicksand," Nick quickly replied. "Something I forgot to mention is that the two of them have superpowers, and during one of their missions, Luke saved him from some quicksand."
Understanding suddenly dawned on Lucas. "Wait, is this about us?"
This wasn't part of the plan, and Nick's eyes widened in panic. "I-I wasn't expecting you to figure it out so soon," he replied nervously. "I was going to tell you the short story is about us at the end once we talked about it for a bit longer and I was one hundred percent sure about your feelings, but now that you've figured it out, I don't know where to go from here because this was definitely not part of the plan."
"For starters, I do feel the same," Lucas immediately reassured. "You don't have anything to worry about when it comes to my feelings and us. Secondly," he added thoughtfully. "In the story, maybe Luke could figure out what Rick was implying with his short story, and after seeing Rick get so flustered at being caught, Luke could tell him he feels the same and that he doesn't have anything to worry about."
"Hearing Luke's reassurance calms Rick down," Nick continued, following Lucas's example. "And Rick decides to come clean about his brilliant plan to figure out Luke's feelings. It was a good idea on paper, but he overestimated how oblivious Luke is."
Lucas smiled knowingly. "Although Luke can be oblivious, sometimes he's able to figure things out like with the short story and his feelings for Rick that he knew about for a while, and he asks Rick if he still wants to know how the story should end."
"Rick says he does," Nick confirmed. "But that he first wants to include how Luke figured out his feelings before figuring out how the story should end, since Luke now knows about his feelings."
"One day, during one of their earlier missions," Lucas began. "Luke was attacking a fierce and fearsome dragon that sent him flying, and Rick caught him. He didn't realise his feelings for Rick had changed in that moment, and it took some time before he realised he had a crush on his friend. Over time, that crush kept growing and growing, and eventually he started to realise that Rick might like him back. In fact, he recalled thinking that Rick felt the same after the quicksand incident, including the one time Rick called him 'Lukie', which lines up with what Rick told him about realising his feelings. But he didn't know how to tell him, so he was happy to see where things went between them until one of them said something, but confessing through short story was not how he imagined things would go."
"Truthfully, Rick is surprised by how long Luke has had these feelings for," Nick revealed. "It was a lot longer than he expected, but he understands why Luke never said anything, and is just extremely happy his feelings are requited." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "That being said, he realised that maybe he should've came out and said his feelings from the beginning instead of relying on the short story method. Luke was right when he said it was too complicated, and he should've gone for the simpler approach."
"That's true," Lucas conceded. "But what's done is done, and all that matters is that they both know now the other person feels the same." He stood up and gave Nick an unreadable look. "Just then, Luke gives Rick a strange look before asking if he can come closer."
"Rick agrees," Nick continued, moving closer to Lucas. "Before taking a cautious step closer to Luke."
"Luke places a hand on Rick's cheek," Lucas said, doing exactly that. "And says that if Rick wants him to move, he will. The last thing he wants is to make Rick uncomfortable."
Nick swallowed thickly. "Rick enjoys the contact, so if Luke wants to kiss him, then... he'd like that."
Lucas kissed Nick, and it was the best thing ever. He'd be lying if he said he never daydreamed about scenarios where the two of them kissed, but experiencing the real thing was way better than what he could've possibly imagined, and he almost couldn't believe this was actually happening.
Almost.
It felt too real to be considered just a figment of his imagination.
Once they parted with matching grins, Lucas spoke again. "After their amazing first kiss, Luke wants to do that again, and asks Rick if this means they're together now."
"Rick thinks they are together if Luke wants them to be..." Nick said before kissing Lucas again. "And that Rick also wanted to do that again."
"Luke is glad," Lucas replied softly. "But Luke and Rick really should stop pretending to be characters in a story, and they should just be themselves."
"They should," Nick agreed. "And since the short story has been scrapped, do you want to do something else with me?"
Lucas beamed at him. "I thought you'd never ask. I wouldn't mind a hug right about now," he requested, holding out his arms.
Nick laughed before hugging him, with the two of them closing their eyes as they relished the contact. "I have to say, hugging each other now that we know for certain the other feels the same is the best feeling ever."
"I thought kissing me was the best feeling ever," Lucas teased.
"They're both exceptional," Nick clarified. "I just love being around you."
Lucas grinned. "I love being around myself, too."
Nick laughed. "You knew what I meant."
"I know," Lucas replied fondly. "That's why you called me 'Lukie' before, right? I know I already mentioned it happening after the quicksand incident, but I never told you I really did like how you called me that. I was disappointed when you didn't call me that again, but now that we've discussed our feelings..."
"You want me to call you that again, right?" Nick concluded before giving a teasing grin of his own. "But I'll only do it if you say you love being around me, since you never actually did."
Lucas pretended to think. "Such a hard decision..."
"Lucas!" Nick laughed.
Luccas grinned. "It's always nice hearing you laugh, especially when I'm the one who caused it. That's the second time during this hug alone. But seriously," he added, voice gentle. "I love being around you, too. It doesn't matter what we do as long as it's with each other."
"That wasn't so hard to admit, was it, Lukie?" Nick replied, voice equally as gentle, feeling Lucas practically melt because of the nickname and feeling giddy he caused that reaction. "And I feel the same. When I'm with you, that's all that matters."
"It wasn't hard to admit at all," Lucas confirmed fondly. "I could talk about how much I love being around you all day if I could, I was just teasing when I pretended I didn't wanna say it. And about the other thing you said, I'm glad we're on the same page about us. It may have taken a while to get there and to get our feelings out in the open, but we figured it out together. There's something kind of romantic about that."
Nick chuckled. "'A while' is an understatement. And you're right, it is kind of romantic. I should've come up with this idea sooner."
"It would've happened sooner if one of us said something sooner," Lucas agreed. "But I'm glad I helped you out, even if the short story was just an excuse to talk about us."
"Still think Jess would be the better person to ask for story advice?" Nick teased.
Lucas chuckled. "After what I know now? Not at all."
"Toby and Jess are still out, right?" Nick remembered. "Do you want to go downstairs and watch TV or play a video game or something until they come back?"
"I'd like that in a few minutes," Lucas spoke, holding Nick a bit tighter. "Because I'm comfortable exactly where we are."
Nick reciprocated the tighter hold. "That's good to know, because now that you mention it, I'm comfortable exactly where we are, too. We'll go downstairs when we're ready."
Too content in each other's arms to move, they never did go downstairs by the time Toby and Jessica came back, but neither of them minded.
After all, all that mattered was that they had each other, and that they cherished the time they spent together. They wouldn't have it any other way.