#yes I even typed these tags out for Eliott

[kaus-quietis]

Lav's All-smiles Problem-solving Roooooundtable ch108 edition!

Welcome, welcome! To Lav's BSD ch108 discussion! Delivered to you via my funky dove Eliott, acting as my mystic messenger. These are random thoughts I had after reading this brilliant chapter, which, writing-wise, made the best possible use of Fedya's character, expanding it even more without even betraying his backstory. Maybe a backstory isn't needed after all, just look at how much FUN he is right now. I am in BLISS

Putting aside the fact that he is literally carrying the plot at this point, come sit with me, I make you a delicious Chinese black tea with rose petals and casually share my thoughts. Hello there, dearest Kat, yes, "where is Lav when you need her?", I am here, I offer you a hug, and to all my friends here who share the sentiment, I hug you too.

A. Before you say ANYTHING about "oh but? maybe Fedya is telling the half-truth? or a half-lie? what if his ability really is the evil one?", my brothers and sisters in Christ, listen to yourself. This man functions almost on a meta-level of character consciousness: he changed his facial expression and aura so convincingly, his tone, his speech, his posture, even the shade of his eyes, fooling not only Sigma, but the readers as well. We are used to characters changing the shade of their eyes when they change mental states or have certain (new) decisions in mind, we as a community are so used to this, all it took was one panel from the Conjurer doing this trick for so many of us to actually believe him and start, yet again, to spiral down the "what if he is good but his ability is evil? what if he is two entities? what if?" rollercoaster. This is so amusing to me, and in a meta-sense must be amusing to Fedya too. While speculation can bloom again based on this, I wouldn't be putting too much effort into reading into his lines here. I take it as a trick. It worked splendidly, almost like it attacked the fandom's major concerns and theories about his character and weaponized them against everyone. That's a meta-kind of tomfoolery. Trolling, if you will. I LOVE that Asagiri made him bamboozle every reader like this. His character so far goes into the best direction, it cultivates and expands his traits and skills in the best way. But let's pretend Fedya really is telling a half-truth there, which is there being an opposition between him and his ability. I talked about this in my essay (see pinned post), there really seems to be a divergence at the core of his character, but it manifests subtly, not like what we saw in ch108. Then again, not even on that can we arrive at any conclusive statements, because if we remember that, of course, "crime and punishment are close friends", it could well be that he and his ability are partners, and you bet I imagine they would BOTH indulge in peak tomfoolery like this together, if that meant one of them switching in and the other out for a sec. Remember, dear souls: aside from his "higher mission", abstract as it still is lore-wise, Fedya's keyword is "fun" or "entertainment", repeatedly. And oh he himself is even more fun now~

B. if Fedya would have wanted to mortally wound Sigma, he'd have chosen a more suitable place to stab him; it looks like a abdominal, lower quadrant, lateral stab, a deliberate choice, I would say, that technically avoids critical, most vascular organs (kidney and spleen for example) and main veins/arteries. I am no doctor, but from what I gathered, Sigma won't bleed out fast at all, and if untreated might get a deadly infection in a longer time (not counting the possibility of septic shock if we assume the knife penetrated and heavily opened an intestine). Sigma needs a medic asap (our queen Yosano when?), but will likely be conscious and quite able to move around and whatnot. Like I argued in my essay, Fedya most likely does not want to kill Sigma, or anybody for that matter, because keeping everyone alive to fulfill various roles and see how their will tosses them in all kinds of directions is more fun for him, more entertaining, but also more useful. He is a long-term strategist, like Dazai. "Our beloved monsters" ❤

C. Fedya evidently exerts some serious mental torment on Sigma, by making him stand by his choices, his will, just like he always desired. The flip side is that Fedya takes his time, or should I say gifts Sigma his time, in which he teaches him the full lesson of what Sigma wants. The responsibility that comes with acting on your own, the terror of facing the consequences when choosing on your own: right now, to Sigma, this freedom is terror. But Fedya is never a one-dimensional character. It's most probable he calculated and devised strategies for both possibilities (a. Sigma with rekindled determination touches him; b. Sigma backpedals on what he decided and does not touch him). The irony is that both scenarios are an affirmation of Sigma's will, because, while the first decision can be seen like foolish bravery, the second one can also be seen as wise self-preservation, if the circumstances so demand it. BSD is not a black-and-white series, diving head-first into danger is not its definition of bravery or heroism. BSD was always about measured decisions, ones the characters take upon themselves willingly. It may be time Sigma does that too, in his own way, and Fedya wants to see that. Why? Well, my guess is because it's fascinating to watch humans grow, and Fedya lives for the entertainment that comes with it. It is actually more interesting if we remember his line from ch42 (“People can be so simple… They truly believe they are thinking for themselves. (…) They don’t want to think they’re being led by the nose”): the pattern is, Fedya puts others under harsh circumstances, and then, under pressure, lets go of them, waiting for their free decision, the true test and expression of their hearts, so to say (which could make a superb discussion if we make a parallel between Kunikida and Sigma, since essentially what happened to Kunikida is happening now to Sigma, except Kunikida did indeed break down, but thanks to healthy support from his comrades he slowly regained his sense of self, and stronger than ever at that time, however… Sigma is alone, isn't he? but what if he needs to be in order to finally get a hold of his own self?). Anyway, how much of that expression is free, or how much is guided or manipulated, is a debate in itself, since it implies relating the freedom to the individual vs relating the freedom to the external factors and possibilites.

D. I do need to underline, just like Fedya also underlined it: Sigma already made his decision, right there when he still tried to get the gun before getting kicked in the face. Fedya moved on to the next step: testing how strong Sigma's will is when an actual chance to act appears. Sigma already accepted the physical pain, but how will he face the mental anguish? That is more Fedya's territory, a "specialist" of breaking people by simply knowing them thoroughly and choosing the right words. But now we gained new info: even in close combat, apparently, Fedya is not to be underestimated. That was a rather strong kick, anyway. But more importantly, he completely turned the tables in a situation where he would be in a total disadvantage. * chef's kiss * that was very bungou stray dogs of him.

[maggielindemanns]

all mixed up - an elu social media au

summary: it’s simple really - eliott meets a guy at the bar, that guy gives him a fake number, and that fake number just so happens to belong to lucas. the rest is history.

[NINETEEN PART TWO]

[note: i’m putting my note here at the top this time but here is nineteen part two aka how the date went! i’m like . Scared to put my writing up but you know what, fear is my enemy and i’m posting to spite her so ! here is 3k words of elu date in the amu-verse i love you guys giving you all smooches on your foreheads <3 was gonna post this yesterday but i was attacked by the river i went tubing at so here she is rn instead <3]

    Thoughts of nerves and excitement were crashing into each other and around the walls of Eliott’s head space at a million miles a second as he made his way to Lucas’ dorm. His heart didn’t even feel like it was beating at this rate, more like slamming against his rib cage and rattling up the butterflies existing in his stomach. He made sure to send Lucas a warning text once he was down the hall — “countdown from 30 & i’ll be there”. Lucas, 'ever the charmer having such a way with words, simply loved the text in lieu of an actual response.

Once in front of Lucas’ door, he took a deep breath before knocking gently, stepping back after to await an answer. Every second felt like forever to him, especially when he could hear Lucas shuffling around on the other side of the door. He just couldn’t wait to do this, he couldn’t wait to actually have Lucas to himself for real.

Lucas opening the door suddenly pulled Eliott from his thoughts, overwriting the mess in his head with thoughts of Lucas instead. He looked at Eliott, seeming pleasantly surprised, and smiled brightly at him. Eliott wanted to give him the world and then some.

“Demaury,” he greeted, “hey.”

“Hey yourself. Ready to go?”

“Of course. You look so good, I’m kinda jealous. Am I under dressed?”

“No, you’re perfect.”

“Oh stop,” Lucas scoffed, starting to lead the way out already, “let’s go before you hit me with any more corny lines.”

Eliott just smiled, following Lucas close behind. He got the door for Lucas going out of his building, grabbing his hand before he could walk too far ahead. Lucas didn’t let go, though, actually giving his hand a squeeze and smiling at him. The silence as they walked to Eliott’s car hand in hand was comfortable and familiar, and Lucas loved it.

When they both got into the car, Eliott went to start it, but hummed as if remembering something. Lucas watched Eliott reach into the back seat as he put his seat belt on, his brows furrowed.

“What are you doing?” Lucas asked, and Eliott wordlessly presented a lavender rose, seeming proud of himself. He looked between the rose and Eliott a few times before dumbly asking, “Is that for me?” and Eliott nodded, handing it to him. He turned it over in his hands before looking at Eliott again, his chest tight with the slight urge to cry. Yes, he was emotional over a single flower, sue him.

“I didn’t take you as the type for grand gestures,” Eliott explained, “but... something small to remember tonight is nice, right? Even if everything goes to shit and you hate me after this, at least we started on the right foot.”

“I could never hate you, this is so sweet, Eliott. Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me. You deserve nice things. Always.”

Lucas just smiled slightly and watched Eliott start his car, starting to tell a story about a basil plant he accidentally killed. Lucas found himself oddly endeared by that, as well as his story about how he Jackson Pollock-ed his way through an entire semester. That led Lucas to tell him stories of how he tried multiple times to get out of gym back in high school with absurd ailments, one time even trying to use appendicitis as an excuse. That cracked Eliott right up, and Lucas was proud of that. He loved making Eliott laugh, it was his favorite thing.

They eventually were pulling into the parking lot of a very cozy looking building. “Len’s Den” was lit up brightly across the top of the building on a sign, and vased plants marked the entrance, along with a glowing, red open sign. Eliott shut the engine off after putting the car in park and looked at Lucas.

“I told him about you,” is what came out of Eliott’s mouth. Lucas must’ve made a face of confusion because Eliott laughed a bit before elaborating. “Len, I told Len.”

“Like...owner, Len?”

“Yeah. It sounds so random, but he’s been looking out for me since high school. I’ve done it all in here — cried, yelled, laughed, all three at the same time maybe?” Lucas chuckled at that, and Eliott smiled a little. “Point is, Len’s taken care of me in ways I don’t have words good enough to thank him for. He’s important to me, and so are you. I hope it was okay that I did.”

I told him about you. He’s important to me, and so are you. Those words were echoing in Lucas’ brain, doing a number on his emotions. It was heady to think that he was important to Eliott, so much so that he wanted to tell people about him.

“Yeah, that’s—I’m honored. That’s always okay, really.”

There was a beat of silence between them, the two of them just smiling and looking at each other for a moment. Eliott broke their gaze by starting to get out and Lucas followed suit, his nerves creeping back up on him suddenly.

How he was supposed to last an entire night of Eliott being Eliott was something he wasn’t sure of. Maybe if he didn’t think about it too much, the obvious would become clear - that being with each other was easy. They’ve done this before. Easy.

Upon entering, a few things caught Lucas’ eye - the photo booth in a far corner surrounded by countless strips of pictures, a piano set in the corner across, art littering the walls that resembled things he’s seen in Eliott’s apartment. Other pictures and band posters covered the walls, too, but nothing Lucas was familiar with. Eliott grabbing one of his hands and gently pulling him along shifted his focus back to him.

“You’ve got your thinky face on,” Eliott told him, “what’s on your mind?”

“Nothing, I just...like how you this place is.”

“Just screams art-kid-trying-to-find-a-place-in-the-world, huh?” he asked with a crinkle of his nose. Lucas smiled and nodded.

“Oh, a hundred percent, yes. Now let’s get some mac and cheese bites in our system, they are what brought us here after all.”

Eliott brought them over to the bar space where they sat close to each other, Eliott noting Lucas’ slight struggle to get onto the tall chair. He laughed a little on accident, and Lucas kicked his chair, mumbling for him to shut up.

Lucas let Eliott kind of take the lead here, ordering for the both of them with confidence that Lucas admired. Eliott in his element was always lovely to witness, no matter what. Conversation points never ran out as they sat and chatted (even when the heavenly bites did, Lucas ate two rounds of them), and Eliott even got him to take photo booth pictures with him at one point. Lucas being fussy about how the pictures were coming out made Eliott laugh so, so much. Lucas was shocked no one came over and was concerned with what was happening in this booth.

“To have not wanted to take these to begin with, you sure have a lot of opinions,” Eliott teased, and Lucas rolled his eyes, pushing his head gently and telling him to focus. Being in close proximity like this with a beautiful boy like Lucas was not helping him in the crush department, not by any means.

To only be date number one, Lucas felt like he had known Eliott forever, and the idea scared him a little bit. To know someone for only a handful of weeks and feel like everything is new and yet so familiar and safe between them already was a lot for him. He didn’t usually do this, he didn’t usually allow himself to get to this point. Infatuation with no return. But he kind of liked it. A lot.

Soon enough, it was just the two of them left as patrons, the only other person in the store being Len himself, waiting to lock up. He didn’t even make an attempt to kick them out, though, and Lucas had a feeling Eliott had something to do with that. Rather than dwell on that thought, however, Lucas found himself wandering over to the piano, Eliott following close behind.

“Piano’s lovely,” he commented, taking a seat. Lucas took note of all the etching done into the piano, making him wonder if one day he would get to add to them. There were people's initials inside hearts, stickers scattered on it, and messy scrawl in sharpie of people who came here before him. He pat the seat next to him to get Eliott to sit beside him and he did, their knees touching and arms brushing against each other.

“It’s old as shit, honestly. In tune, though. I tagged it somewhere way back when, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Somewhere here...” His voice trailed off as he scanned the surface of the piano with his eyes, eventually humming in recognition and pointing for Lucas to see. Lucas smiled, realizing it was a raccoon, and nudged his arm gently. “What?”

“You and these raccoons, Demaury.”

“Spirit animal, what can I say.”

“Oh man, you’re a trip,” he sighed, plucking a few random keys of the piano. Eliott started laughing and Lucas gave him a look. “What?”

“Nothing. Just wanna say Len’s got a triangle if you wanna mess with that instead.”

“Oh, shut up, as if you play.”

“I’ll have you know I can play the Star Wars theme,” he scoffed, starting to pluck out the first few keys. “Mmh, and I do a mean Für Elise cover.”

“Cover? What the hell?”

Eliott simply started playing the first few notes slowly but surely. It sounded familiar to Lucas’ ears, at least until Eliott started playing a bunch of meaningless mess. Lucas laughed at that genuinely, like, belly aching laughter. Eliott stopped playing and looked at him, something warm erupting in his chest resembling love, but not quite there yet. Adoration, maybe, but strong. So strong, Eliott had to refrain from just grabbing his face and kissing him right then and there. He almost couldn’t think of anything else as he sat there, smiling fondly at the boy beside him.

Lucas wiped at his eyes, calming down after a minute or so and looked at Eliott, clearly amused. He cleared his throat and tried to be serious, nodding once. Eliott tried to stop smiling too, but he knew he was failing greatly.

“Mister Demaury, I have to say,” Lucas spoke, “I think you have a fine career as a pianist in the near future.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Why thank you. Means a lot from you, you know, since you’re an expert and all.” Lucas got the sense that Eliott was teasing him a little, and he looked at him, squinting a bit. “What? I was being genuine.”

“No, you weren’t, you’re an asshole.”

“Well. Prove me wrong, c’mon.”

“Let me think,” Lucas told him, sitting up properly and getting his hands on the keys. He decided to play one of the only songs that came to mind right now, one of the first songs he ever learned - I Love You by RIOPY.

He plucked out the opening keys slowly, feeling Eliott’s eyes on him, watching intently. Once he got a good feel for the piano, he played with more confidence and ease, not missing a beat. He surprised himself, granted he hadn’t played much in a while with school and everything, but he was glad he still had it in him. As focused as he was, he felt Eliott’s eyes shift to his face, and that made him glance over at him mid-playing, taking note of the glint of wonder in his eyes. He looked away before he could start to think about it too much, but what he wasn’t aware of was how Eliott decided that in this moment, he liked surprising people. And Lucas was surprising.

When Lucas plucked out the final notes, he took his hands off and slowly looked at Eliott, who was smiling brightly. Lucas suddenly felt shy under his gaze - he’d never actually played anything for someone before, at least not a piece in seriousness like this. Silence hung between them for a moment before Eliott spoke.

“Way to show me up, Lallemant,” he said, and Lucas smiled back at him.

“It’s no Star Wars theme, but...” Lucas shrugged, non-verbally finishing the thought. Eliott kept looking at him and seemed to be thinking about what he was going to say next.

“Lucas, can I be honest with you?”

The question caught Lucas off guard, his heart hoping for the best but his brain thinking of worst case scenarios. He pushed those to the back of his mind, though, and nodded instead.

“I...am in so deep with you. The way I feel with you is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.”

“Eliott—“

“Forgive me if that’s super forward but...I have to tell you, I’d go nuts if I didn’t.”

“Can I be honest, too?”

“Sure.”

Lucas felt his heart beating in his ears, his nerves creeping up on him. Being with Eliott was the easy part. Having feelings for Eliott and sharing said feelings was the hard part.

“I really, really like you too,” he said finally, “more than anyone I’ve ever met. Ever.”

Several more beats passed between them, the silence becoming the loudest thing in the room. The tension was suddenly palpable, too, at least to Lucas, and every thought that passed through his brain became nothing but please kiss me, please kiss me, please kiss me.

As if able to hear Lucas’ thoughts, Eliott took hold of his face in his hands before leaning in, just close enough for Lucas to close his eyes for a moment. He opened them enough to look at him when nothing happened, and Eliott smiled just a little.

“Is it okay? To kiss you, is that okay?” he asked. Lucas scoffed, making Eliott laugh.

“Yes, obviously, please do,” he told him quietly, and in that moment, their lips met and Lucas felt whole.

It felt like Lucas had waited his whole life for this moment - the kiss that all the books he’s read and movies he’s seen in his life talked about. The kiss that had your skin thrumming with desire for more, that made life feel like a movie, like sparks were flying. That’s what it was like to kiss Eliott. It was better than he could ever imagine it being, and he wished he could bottle this feeling up and carry it with him everywhere at all times.

When Eliott pulled away, Lucas felt dizzy with it, slowly opening his eyes and his brain feeling like a bunch of exclamation points were going through it. Eliott started to smile, but Lucas leaned back in, kissing him one last time to make sure it was real.

“Fuck, I’m so in love with you,” Eliott whispered, and Lucas wanted to scream from the rooftops about this moment. He wanted to live in this moment and with this feeling for all time.

•••••••

Lucas woke up comfortably warm, almost too comfortably, swimming in clothes that were definitely not his own. The only sound in the room was the gentle hum of a fan and traffic passing outside, letting Lucas know he was not at his dorm. That, and the fact that the room was too big anyway. The bed was also dipping beside him and he turned his head to find a very sleep ridden Eliott laying beside him. Eliott looked like an angel, the sunlight hitting him in the most beautiful of ways. If Lucas was a photographer at all, he’d be trying to capture this moment.

“Time?” Lucas mumbled, and Eliott blindly grabbed his phone to look, squinting at how bright it was.

“9:17.”

“Jeez...”

“Good morning to you too,” Eliott laughed, and Lucas breathed deeply, snuggling closer to him. Eliott wrapped an arm around him and pressed a kiss to his forehead, not saying anything else.

“You’re thinking so loudly right now.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm. What?”

“Well...I’m lucky you’re here. Happy.”

“And?”

“I...have a proposition.”

“It’s 9:17 in the morning and you’re already using words like proposition? You’re unreal, Demaury.”

“Not the fact that I have one, just the word itself. You’re funny.”

“What’s your proposition?” he asked, looking up at him. Eliott continued to look up at his ceiling.

“My final. I want you in it. I want us to be in it.” Lucas made a curious noise, and Eliott continued. “I’ve struggled with a concept for months, like, since this course started, and I thought I had one. I really did. But I’m stuck with that and re-inspired, and...I want to do it on intimacy and human connection. I have to write a paper with it, so I wanna do that.”

Lucas sat up and looked at him, understanding what it had to do with him suddenly. Eliott looked at him, as if waiting for some kind of reaction.

“You hate it,” Eliott decided, and Lucas shook his head, running his hands through Eliott’s hair and smiling a little.

“No, just...intrigued, I guess. You’re makin’ a model out of me, Demaury, please just say you’re not putting us on a billboard.”

“No, no billboards,” he laughed, “just my professor. And the art panel at our school because they’re choosing one project to go in a gallery walk at the end of the semester.”

“Can we eat first? So I can think about it?”

“Of course. Please don’t be scared to tell me no, too, it’s okay,” Eliott insisted, grabbing one of his hands and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “It’s just a thought right now.”

“Okay.”

“Is now the time to tell you I’m the worst chef on planet Earth? Or should I have kept that in the vault?”

“In the vault, I’m out of here now,” he teased, and Eliott pulled the pillow from under his head and hit Lucas with it, making him laugh out loud.

taglist: @that-one-meh @a-french-disaster @fallout-of-my-chair @menamesniall @iamshannonmcfarland @yesyoutubeisruiningmylife @yackgrace @choupiauriant @xomywonderwallox @jacwena @awake-dreamer18 @noorakviigmohn @lost-inside-fantasy @myverybigmoodboard @ariavds @didntgowithgrace @laurenkmyers @sunshineyou27 @nanidice @orangefizz4 @blanxkey @bodizzy @q-branchminion-nr43 @nova-on-standbi @boysrunaway @anothergayhpblog @mlhalbertt @valenschmidt @skamchokehold @mostlysh1tposting @lucassdemaury @oceanicinception @yellowballoon @fallinglikeafoolforyou @bluronyourradar @painfully-oblivious @alwayskissmeatnight @katzen-kinder @howlingsaturn @luxandobscurus @anotherplaceintheuniverse @aly-kazam​ @quint-cssential

[archive link <3]

[PART ONE || TWENTY]

[ayellowcurtain]

that time travel AU!! I need more now 😩

This is a very angsty with a happy ending fic that I mostly started writing for myself, weeks and weeks ago, so again, it might not be for everyone. Also, a reminder that Lola is around the same age as the boys in this AU.

-

Loud music, flashing lights. Eliott can feel his body sweaty, his clothes sticking to his constantly moving body, dancing. He opens his eyes and meets someone he hasn’t seeing in a long time.

Lola is right there in front of him, so close, dancing with her eyes closed. Eliott remembers kissing her. Not now, not tonight, but he keeps remembering how it was, how it felt, how it tasted.

Eliott blinks a few times, wanting to get out of here, but he’s still in the club, looking around him, meeting the pair of angry blue eyes even in a crowded place.

Lucas keeps watching him dance with Lola from afar. He’s angry and so disappointed it’s hard to look at him, knowing Eliott is the cause for that look, but Lucas won’t stop staring, like he’s waiting for Eliott to break again and kiss the girl in front of him now that he has the option. Now that he and Lucas are no longer together. 

The thought that Lucas is just waiting for Eliott to break his heart again makes him move, desperately trying to pass by the dancing people to find his person. To tell Lucas he’s wrong, there’s nothing between him and Lola, but the people won’t move out of his way!

And when he manages to move, even if just a few steps, someone holds his hand.

“No, stay. You need to stay for me.”

She begs like she knows that’s the way to make him stay and Eliott pulls his hand away, turning back to go to Lucas, stumbling against some strangers, never able to get closer to Lucas.

.

The flat is still empty when he wakes up. Eliott opens his eyes and he’s wide awake instantly, not wanting to go back to his nightmare of always trying but never able to reach Lucas again because Lola is there.

Today is Daphné’s birthday. They’re all trying to make Eliott feel like a part of their group again since the New Years Eve and so he should go, but the thought of watching Lucas in pain to be there it’s too much to even think about.

He fucked up with all of them and especially with Lucas, just to make it even worst, and they’re still giving him another chance, but he doesn’t want to. Not like this, with Lola around Lucas. Lucas and their friends don’t deserve to constantly be worrying if he’ll have another fallout.

His phone keeps buzzing on the nighstand and Eliott streches his arm and grabs his phone, hoping it’s Lucas. They’re talking again, taking things very, very slowly. But it’s not him, or at least not just him. Lucas created a group chat with Eliott and all the boys again.

They used to have one before and Eliott got out of that one when Lucas broke up with him. He didn’t want to bother the boys by being around them when they were Lucas’ friends first.

ay ay ay, it’s party timeeee!

hey! stop that! Let’s just behave ourselves tonight!

we’re still cleaning the house and I don’t want you animals to come and ruin everything!

Baz...

We’re filthy animals, baby!!

Eliott keeps reading Baz’s name like he can hear Lucas saying it, finding some comfort in thinking about his voice.

He rolls around on his bed, hiding his face against a pillow, grunting. His phone goes off again with another wave of messages.

and baby Eli?

you’re going with us, right?

Eliott! Eliott! Eliott!

We need to watch our favorite couple be a couple again... ;)

ELU <3

Eluuuu <3

ELuuuuu <3

Stop...

are you coming with us?

Eliott sighs against the pillow, typing with one hand, making sure to tag Lucas on his message.

Do you want me to go?

He sees all the names popping, writing something and he smiles, he misses having his friends. People that he can rely on. The next wave is filled with all types of heart emojis, eggplants, heart eyes and Lucas properly answers at last, tagging him too.

If you want to, yeah.

It’s been a couple of days since they last saw each other and Eliott is missing Lucas like it’s been years. Looking back now, he can’t remember how he survived a whole year without him.

Then I’m going.

There’s no way Eliott can survive a night with Lucas without touching every inch of his body instantly, worshiping how much he loves that man and everything he is, so he goes for the second best option.

Eliott adjusts his pillow and lies on his back again, breathing in and out slowly, counting to four with every step of the way and it’s like falling asleep all over again, but Eliott can pick and choose where to go, where to stop and watch, needing to take the edge off of his feelings before the party.

-

It’s not a long enough walk from home to the bus stop. The boys really went to pick him up at his door, ringing the bell constantly until Eliott rushed downstairs to join them.

They all looked different, Eliott couldn’t remember the last time they were all together. And they were all acting like dumb teenagers when they left Lucas to be the last one to be greeted, diferently than the others, of course. Eliott couldn’t help but hug him tightly and for a very long time.

When they let go of each other, the boys were already walking away. They were all together, talking about the last couple of months of their lifes, moving to different cities and whatnot, but there was clearly this attempt to give Lucas and Eliott some space, privacy if they wanted to use it. But Lucas didn’t. He kept putting him and Eliott back on the boys’ conversation, never letting them walk too much in front of them where Eliott would be his only option of conversation.

After the bus, the three started walking a little faster, leaving Lucas and Eliott a couple of steps behind. It felt like they were kids all over again, hearing their friends teasing them to just kiss already, but they didn’t.

“Do they know we...hm, saw each other a few times?”

Lucas huffs his laughter, looking forward to the others.

“I mean, I left the New Years’ party almost crying, telling them all about how I was going to your place, so...I guess yes.”

They look at each other and laugh. Eliott loves Lucas’ laughter. It’s so engraved in his brain that it’s one of the few things Eliott can hear perfectly during his travels.

“Do they hate me? For breaking your heart...” Eliott looks from the corner of his eyes how Lucas’ smiles slowly disappears.

“I think you have to ask them that, not me.”

Eliott tries to quietly move to the side, walking just a little closer to Lucas.

“I had a dream last night...felt more like a nightmare actually. But you were there.”

Lucas smiles again, turning his body to look at Eliott. “That’s why it was a nightmare?”

Eliott takes advantage of finally having Lucas’ full attention on him and he looks back at him, noticing the small differences that no memory can replicate. His hair is a little shorter than what Lucas usually had, he looks a hint stronger, hotter. The blue jacket was replaced by a black jean jacket that Eliott notices it looks a lot like one he has that Lucas always wore.

“No, the bad part was that I couldn’t reach you. We were at a club and no matter how hard I pushed people away, I wasn’t really moving closer to you.”

Lucas nods his head, frowning, really trying to disect Eliott’s problems, even the small ones, always trying to help, to find a way out. “Maybe it’s a part of an old memory? You know things can get confusing if you go back and forward too much...”

“I know...and I did that, a lot of travels, but before the New Year’s Eve, not now. Lola was in the dream too...”

Lucas only nods his head this time, clearly not interested anymore so Eliott changes the subject back. This isn’t about Lola, Eliott just wants Lucas to know that he’s trying. 

“I went back to every night that we had together this year. Couldn’t sleep on my own so had to go back to you every night to be able to relax and fall asleep. Maybe that’s what caused the nightmare or the messy memories mixing together.”

Lucas looks down to his feet, clenching his jaw. “You know you shouldn’t be doing that. It’s not good for you.”

“I know, but I don’t care. And it was only for a few minutes, just to be able to relax enough.”

They stay in silence again, hearing the boys talking loudly in front of them.

“Why didn’t you change it?” Eliott frowns with the sudden question and Lucas looks at him like he haven’t done in a while. His blue eyes, furrowed brows, looking deep inside Eliott.

“Your hook up with Lola.”

It doesn’t go unnoticed how bitter Lucas sounds saying that again, even after more than a year. Maybe Eliott should go back in time and erase all of it, from start to finish so there’s no hint of where things started to go wrong with him and Lucas.

“Liking or not, it happened. And I was afraid to change that and then by accident change something in the future that we don’t even know yet. The damage was already done. If I changed it, maybe our future would be different and not in a good way”

They turn to go up Daphné’s street and Eliott keeps looking at Lucas, checking if he’s going to say something more or not.

“What’s the perfect future for you then?”

It’s an easy answer, Eliott wishes Lucas knew that enough not to need to ask.

“As long as we’re back together, that’s all I care about right now, nothing else.”

“I heard something similar before. I was the only one that mattered. That didn’t work for long.”

“I still mean those words. It didn’t change for me, you’re all I care about if not myself.”

Lucas stops a few meters down from the door where the boys are now standing, waiting for someone to open the door for them. 

“Do you care about yourself? Honestly? You say that but then you act like you don’t. You never put yourself first. You always find a way to hurt yourself, to make you go back all the way to the beginning.”

“I fuck up sometimes. I would like to think I’m getting better about it. Trust me, I don’t want to fuck up either.”

Eliott stops and stands right in front of Lucas, maybe a little too close, but definetely not close enough. Lucas looks away and Eliott follows his eyes, watching their friends getting inside, waving at them. 

When the metal door makes a loud noise when it closes, Eliott kisses Lucas. As careful as he can, holding Lucas’ face, looking at him for half a second. Lucas’ hands come to his sides and Eliott steps closer, kissing his almost-boyfriend until they’re out of breath. 

“Do you want to go somewhere else? I only came because I wanted to be close to you.”

Lucas sighs, bitting his own lip, looking down, putting his hands on top of Eliott’s. 

“No...It’s Daphné’s birthday. She and Baz will kill me if I don’t go there to congratulate her. And it’s been a year, like you said, what’s done it’s done, I can’t change the past.”

“Would you?”

Lucas looks up, his piercing eyes staring straight at Eliott’s, very confident in his words. “Probably. But because it was hard to know...that it happened. My decision is based on different things than your decision. I get it why you didn’t do it.”

Eliott sighs, gently touching Lucas’ cheeks with his thumbs, looking at his lips, at how beautiful Lucas is. “Now you’re making me want to go forward...know what happens from now on for us.”

“I would prefer if you don’t think about the future constantly. Just be present right now.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Lucas,” he admits, even though he’s sure Lucas knows all about that. Eliott can be very persistent and he knows he’s following Lucas like a puppy since that first time back together at New Year’s Eve. 

“You won’t.”

[sotorubio]

Hello. Why didn't you like all the skam fr pairings?

I mean ok Emma Yann were toxic.

Manon Charles are an abusive relationship.

I thought Elliott and Lucas were alright.

Imane and Sofiane had potential.

But I liked Maya and Lola. Like yes they could have handled it better, but they had chemistry I thought.

Would love to hear your opinion.

heyyy!

so for me it's both a subjective & an objective problem bc i'm not a very romantic person myself, i prefer domesticity & that type of private relationship n i can't stand public romantic gestures or love songs & flowers n that type of grandiose romance which is p much what france's romantic plots heavily rely on. which is fine! but it definitely has a negative effect on my personal enjoyment of the couples

the more objective reasoning is that the writing is often very shallow when it comes to the relationship or the relationship is compromised for the sake of drama w/o any proper resolution/communication which just kinda ruins the dynamic. it's usually stuff like - Couple in love -> conflict -> terrible communication -> let's have the couple make up w/o actually talking abt the roots of the original conflict - all that kinda makes the couples feel "empty" n just badly written. also often when the couple is in the background of a season they're Very diluted n the relationship AND the characters r kinda stripped down to fan service bc all we see is either pure lovey dovey happiness or dramatic conflict, there's no visible middle ground where the couple just exists as individuals who happen to be in a complex but loving relationship. sometimes they've managed that better for example w daphné who had much more to offer than her relationship w basile in s6.

but since u also listed some couples i can do a more specific reasoning for main couples!

emma & yann, agreed the joneva couple is a quite toxic one + i didn't rly get invested in the first season anyway bc it felt like a copy paste from the og so that kinda ruined the couple as well

manon & Charles yes agreed again it's just abusive

daphné & basile surprisingly objectively v well written but i just don't like basile i know he grew as a person but i just can't get behind the basile hype, personally slfjkd

eliott & lucas i just don't rly vibe with. they're the biggest victims of the above mentioned subjective & objective reasons.. i did find them good in the 3rd season n i definitely see why ppl like them but ever since they fell into the background it's "meh" at best n "why r they even together anymore" at worst for me... the writing was so attention grabbing (in s6) n fan servicy (in s4 & 5) in my opinion that it felt more like a fan fiction couple than a tv show couple. (not to mention eliott's almost nonexistent life outside his relationship) just my two cents tho!

sofimane i mentioned in the tags already they were rly nice but the writing of s4 just kinda made it a huge "Why?" for me. loved seeing them interact in s5 tho i don't think any (?) yousanas have gotten the chance to appear as an established couple before

i'll throw in alexia & arthur i just didn't like the kiss in s4 AT ALL bc i thought arthur was a rly bland character n i was so disappointed when i found out they were a thing in s5 i think we can all also agree that the cheating kiiiinda made it a Not Good relationship

for mayla i do love the idea of them n i think they did have chemistry but personally i found maya's character v flat she didn't have that much depth n didn't rly have a role outside of being the main's gf (all this is the writing's fault tho, not as much maya's character herself) so the relationship just felt v one dimensional n also the feelings moved super fast (insta love is a trope i can't stand) like they interacted v little n suddenly they were in love n kissing n went directly into a relationship then into a break up n again into a make up u know. i just felt like w everything going on in lola's season (it was A Lot) there wasn't that much room to develop a realistic & functional relationship + the handling of "love conquers all" mentality irt the mental health issues & addiction added to the damage n i just couldn't see it anymore 🤷‍♀️ i get the appeal tho they could've been a great couple if the writing was better for maya & the whole season rly!

sorry this is long but here r some thoughts thank u for asking i like answering this kinda stuff :) 💌

[choupichoups]

Press F (Instagram/College AU) Ch.2

Lucas swears he’s the absolute master of undetected stalking. Or: Eliott is instagram famous and Lucas is the disaster gay who accidentally likes his post.

Lucas feels attacked.

Ever since the great Instagram fiasco of last week, Eliott has been liking every single one of Lucas’ new posts. Every. Single. One.

So Lucas, confused and alarmed, could only retaliate by liking all of Eliott’s posts as well.

Their strange little game doesn’t go unnoticed, of course. The universe simply never spares Lucas from such situations. The boys tease him about it endlessly while Emma and Manon circle around the topic like the most unsubtle vultures in existence. Lucas brushes them off with responses so bullshit they drop the subject out of sheer exasperation.

Imane eventually asks as well, probably sick of seeing both sides suddenly liking each other’s posts out of nowhere.

“I didn’t know you and Eliott were close,” she says once they’re both settled at the back of the library and for once Lucas would actually prefer it if she focuses solely on their studying.

“Uh, no? Not really,” he fumbles, ever so eloquent.

“That’s a whole lot of likes for a not really.”

“I don’t— I mean— uh…” How does one go about explaining that they’ve literally only interacted for a whole ass week. “His posts are nice.”

“You mean his face is nice.” Imane quirks an eyebrow at him and Lucas rolls his eyes. He doesn’t bother to defend himself, pointedly flipping open his textbook so they can start their work.

But when he turns back to his laptop, Eliott’s newest post is still up on his screen. He’d clicked it open while waiting for Imane earlier, huffing out a fond sigh at the photo. Talk to me. How dare he put some obscure, nonsense caption and still look cool doing it? God, he’s whipped for a boy he’s never even properly met and he’s very much aware of how bad this could turn out for him. He likes the post absently, so used to doing it for the past week that it’s more a reflex by now, closing out of the tab before Imane catches sight of his screen.

He forgets about it for the rest of the day— or forget isn’t exactly the right word. More like he stops himself from checking in every other hour and it gets easier to tamper down the temptation once he’s helping Manon and Daphne set up for their sorority fundraiser. He’s turned off the notifications on his phone after every alert tone from Instagram has sent him panicking for no reason other than he’s a complete moron when it comes to Eliott.

The most infuriating thing about the Eliott situation is that Lucas knows they go to the same university. It’s in the description box for Polaris. That had been Eliott’s first year project for film studies. Lucas has seen a glimpse of him multiple times, always surrounded by a group of rowdy boys who look way too intimidating to approach. Not that Lucas would know what to say if he ever grows the balls to go up to him anyway.

“Can you move the pink ones to the far right, please? The colours have to balance.”

Lucas moves the cupcakes, allowing Daphne to maintain the illusion that colour arrangement would actually affect the end result. He checks the time on his phone, making sure he has enough spare time to make it to his part time job later. He has no class on Wednesdays and that’s usually when he covers most of his hours but Basile’s moving to a new place tomorrow and that guy needs all the help he can get.

There’s a small commotion across from them and they all look up to see a large group of girls cheering and clapping about something.

“Why are they set up there?” Daphne exclaims, sounding offended. Lucas turns to Manon for an explanation but she just shakes her head with a tiny smile.

“They came early too, it’s a good spot. It’s not like we can stop them.” Manon shrugs, placing the last plate of cakes on the table. Their entire area is covered with baked goods. He has to watch his steps so as to not stomp all over some backup muffins. Lucas just hopes the sales make enough of a dent so Daphne doesn’t end the day upset with herself, having spent an insane amount of time preparing for this event.

Lucas looks around their booth and then back up to where the other girls have set up what looks to be an imitation carnival game type of thing. He recognizes them as one of the more popular sororities on campus and immediately understands where Daphne’s stress is coming from.

Still, he thinks the girls’ cakes are pretty banging, not to mention they’ve gone above and beyond with the decor. They deserve the same amount of attention.

He gets distracted by another round of loud whoops, and looks over to see six boys crowding around the booth across, with one of them holding a plastic archery set and laughing with his friends when he misses the target. One lanky boy who has practically trademarked that black hoodie and tan jacket combination in Lucas’ eyes.

“Shit,” he mumbles, sliding behind Daphne’s giant signage so that he’s fully hidden from view. He doesn’t know if Eliott would recognize him just from his photos on Instagram alone but he doesn’t want to risk it. Lucas is too sleep deprived to deal with meeting him in person right now.

Alexia arrives shortly after and the girls get distracted enough with finishing up the finer details that Lucas is fortunately left to his own device.

But now that he’s just standing there staring at the trees, nothing stops him from fishing his phone out of his pockets to check on the holy app. He squints down at it, pausing when he sees that he’s got a new message.

srodulv So you’re finally gonna talk to me?

Lucas’ breath hitches. Eliott has no business sliding into his inbox like this. He fiddles with his phone for five agonizing minutes, not knowing how to respond. He doesn’t want to take too long, though, because what if Eliott thinks that Lucas is ignoring him?  

lucallemant Hm?

It’s the best he can come up with. He clutches his phone to his chest, peeking around the signage to see if Eliott looks at the message. He sees Eliott reaching for the phone in his back pocket, shuffling a little away from the ruckus at the other booth. Lucas can hear the pounding of his own heart getting louder and his hands start to sweat a little— which, what the fuck he didn’t even really say anything, he needs to calm down. 

srodulv Oh good you responded I was starting to think you’d leave me on read

Lucas twists back into hiding, unable to stop the big dumb smile on his face. 

lucallemant Maybe I should’ve

srodulv What, why? 

lucallemant I don’t even know you

srodulv I’m Eliott :)

lucallemant Wow ur so funny 

srodulv I know Comedy is my passion

Lucas snorts a little too loudly, which makes the girls look over at him in question. He shakes his head, pointing at a student wandering close by so they can sell their food and stop bringing attention to him.

lucallemant Haha

He gets an idea then, hesitating only a little before deciding, fuck it. It's a big campus and Lucas has practice with avoiding people if anything goes wrong.

lucallemant Now go back to your game The point is to hit the target you know

He crouches down and turns a little, watching Eliott's head snap up, bright blue eyes surveying the crowd closely.

srodulv Okay, stalker Where are you?

Lucas waits for Eliott to turn around, searching for Lucas in the wrong direction, before he grabs his bag and kisses the girls on the cheek goodbye.

"You're leaving us already?" Alexia asks, wrapping up a set of cookies her girlfriend wants reserved. 

"Yeah, picked up a shift this evening. See you later!" He jogs out of the crowded area, taking advantage of the traffic to cover him from Eliott's view. 

lucallemant My friends are selling cakes and stuff across from you Lot 3 You should check it out

srodulv Will I see you?

He hops on the bus, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning like a lunatic.

lucallemant Go and find out

srodulv  Hmmm The cakes are good But I don't see you

lucallemant Maybe if everything sells out you'll see me

srodulv Okay 

He stares at the response, unsure of what to say next so he lets the conversation go.

And then proceeds to spend his entire shift agonizing over what that okay means. Okay as in that's ridiculous, pal, it's not gonna happen? Okay as in I have nothing else to say so let's end the chat here? What kind of okay does Eliott use in everyday language? Is it positive? Negative? Neutral?

Lucas spills boiling hot water on his finger and gets sent to the back of the kitchen to get his shit together. 

It isn't until he’s headed home that Lucas finds out exactly what Eliott means by it.

His laughter comes out breathy, as if punched right out of his lungs. He’s not sure whether he’s laughing at how glaringly out of place the photo is in comparison to Eliott’s usual posts or if it’s the tingle of pleased disbelief at the thought of Eliott wanting to meet him so bad he takes Lucas’ dumb joke seriously. There’s just no way Eliott’s actually doing this for him. No way.

But then he notices that Eliott had tagged him on one of Daphne’s posts. Curiously, Lucas clicks on it, small chuckles turning into full blown laughter when he sees what it is.

Lucas has to physically stop moving, standing right before his own apartment door as he gapes down at the screen.

No. Fucking. Way.

srodulv  Thursday, B building at the bridge, 13h

lucallemant Holy fuck

srodulv So I’ll see you? 

And what’s he supposed to do? Say no?

lucallemant  Yes

[brieflygorgeouss]

31, 79 and 88 please 🙏🙏🙏

31. “calm down” & 79. “i don’t feel well” & 88. “look at me” 

The first time Lucas sees him, it’s at a party.

Lucas is too young to get into the club, and he looks it. But Yann knows someone who knows someone who knows the security here, so they get in, even though Basile is fidgeting suspiciously and Arthur keeps grinning like a lunatic. One second, Lucas is standing in the cold of the late night, and then he takes a couple of steps and finds himself suddenly surrounded by a mass of bodies, moving like a wave to whatever rhythm is pouring from the speakers and making the floor vibrate.

It quickly becomes too much. Lucas gets one drink, then the next, but they’re just as overpriced as they are over-sweetened. He’s been letting the crowd carry him all evening, and he feels as if the circle of it keeps tightening around him, will keep tightening until he suffocates. Maybe it’s the music, too loud and bordering on obnoxious. Maybe it’s the fact that the guys have gotten lost somewhere where Lucas can’t see them anymore.

Whatever it is, it pushes him out the back door the second he spots it, tucked into the corner of the club, as he leaves whatever’s left of his drink on the counter.

The door opens into a narrow back alley and a staircase leading into the next building. Lucas steps into the night again, and when the door closes behind him, cutting the pounding music and all the noise off, he realises he’s not the only person here.

There’s a guy, smoking, sitting on the stairs, sprawled comfortably like here’s where he belongs. 

Lucas nods at him in a greeting, and the stranger smiles around his cigarette. ”Hi.”

His voice is nice. Or maybe it’s just the pounding in Lucas’s head talking right now, turning everything that isn’t some kind of deafening noise into a near-blessing-like phenomenon. Lucas leans against the wall, feeling the chill of it start to seep in immediately where he’s wearing his too-thin jacket over just a t-shirt. But it’s fine. He closes his eyes where the sky he can see between the narrow passage of one roof and the next is dark and starless. If the surroundings spin a little, nobody has to know. 

”You okay?”

When he turns his head, the smoking guy is looking at him. The cigarette is dangling from his fingers as if it’s about to fall to the ground any second; the smoke from it is curling around the guy’s face in swirls.

”Yeah, I’m—” Lucas shakes his head a little. ”I don’t feel well, really, but it’ll pass. Thanks.”

A smirk. ”Drank too much?”

As Lucas looks at him, he can’t help but think that he doesn’t belong in the scene after all. He has a sharp jawline and messy hair and kind eyes. The smile curling at his lips seems just as elusive as the cigarette smoke curling up, up from his cigarette, but also just as warm as the heat of a lighter’s flame.

Lucas’s tipsy mind thinks, for no reason at all, easy to get burned by that.

”No, it’s the music,” he says a little belatedly, makes a vague gesture in the direction of the club entrance. ”Too loud in there. I just need a break.”

The guy’s smile turns sympathetic. ”Oh, I get that. They really like their bass loud, huh.”

Lucas snorts. ”Yeah.”

Silence falls over them after that. Lucas stands against the wall, breathing in and out, and as the minutes pass, he can feel the guy’s gaze flicker onto something else, then back to him, then away again, then back. It makes his skin tingle. The buzz in his ears fades, little by little but surely enough. He wonders if the boys noticed he slipped out. Then, he wonders if the smoking guy came here with someone as well, but that’s— just stupid. Irrelevant.

”I haven’t seen you here before.”

The boy has, when Lucas wasn’t paying attention, lit another cigarette. Lucas watches him take a drag, then blow the smoke out into the night. Then he watches him quirk an eyebrow when Lucas takes too long to answer, distracted by the sight in front of him. A flush starts to creep up Lucas’s neck; he hopes it’s too dark here, outside, to see it.

”I’m not much of a party person,” he admits. 

The guy grins at that. ”Ah. That’s okay.”

There’s a pull in his gut. A search-for-something feeling. Lucas lets his eyes roam over the stranger’s frame, loose and comfortable, and lets his eyes stumble on the way faint neon lights of the club sign reflect on the boy’s face, colouring it red and blue and purple.

He wants to ask if the guy is a party person or if he’s taking a time-out, too. He wants to ask for a cigarette, just to have an excuse to sit next to him on the stairs. He wants to say, I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Lucas. He wants to say, what about you?

But then there’s a commotion somewhere near that Lucas only hears a couple of shouts from. The guy’s eyes travel somewhere past Lucas and catch on something Lucas doesn’t see, even when he turns in the direction of it, curious.

The boy stands up, then, and it only takes him a couple of steps to sweep by Lucas, brushing past him so close that it makes his head spin just a little bit.

”Sorry, gotta help out a friend,” is everything he says, and then he’s gone.

Lucas goes back inside soon after, but the boy’s nowhere to be seen. 

That night, he gets home with his arms full of a drunk Yann and his head full of cigarette smoke.

*

The next party he goes to is hosted by Manon, full of cheap alcohol and people arguing over what music should be playing. Lucas is having a good time. At one point, Daphné presses a wine bottle into his hand and cheers him on as he drinks.

Here, they meet again.

Lucas steps onto the balcony in search of a chance to sober up a little and finds the smoking stranger from the last party instead, already here, leaning over the balustrade. He’s wearing all black, blending in with the night sky, and the rings on his fingers glimmer, a dull silver. His eyes shine, bright like the stars.

”Not a party person, you’ve said,” he says in place of a hello.

He’s not smoking this time, but it's no difference, with the way Lucas’s mind is hazy around the edges and soft. Lucas stalks closer, then leans against the railing right next to him. The alcohol makes him a little braver. The guy watches him with a smile, and Lucas thinks, a lighter’s flame.

He says, ”Is your friend okay?”

The boy blinks down at him. He is, Lucas notes, unfairly tall. Very pretty. ”Hm?”

”The one you had to help out,” Lucas provides, the words rounded around the edges with how much he’s drunk. Absently, he wonders if the boy can tell. ”Is he okay now?”

The boy waves a dismissive hand and his smile widens. Lucas keeps looking up, up at it, the curve of his lips intriguing like an art piece. 

”Yeah, Idriss is fine,” the boy laughs, and Lucas feels something tip over in his chest, shyly filling him up with warmth that he doesn’t quite recognise. ”We got beat up a little, but it’s all good,” and then some of Lucas’s surprise at the words must show on his face because the boy adds, eyes crinkling, ”Calm down, pretty boy, we’re fine. I promise I don’t usually get into fights.”

Pretty boy, echoes in Lucas’s head. He grips the railing tighter. ”You don’t look like the fighter type, anyway.”

The boy raises an eyebrow, challenging. He looks like he’s having fun. He looks like Lucas is gripping his attention by the throat. ”Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

Lucas thinks, yes, but doesn’t say it. ”The jury’s still out,” he replies instead, and when it earns him another smile, he smiles back.

Later, in Manon’s overcrowded apartment, after the night has grown heavy, Lucas spots him at the other end of the living room, holding a drink in his hand. Over the mass of people, their eyes meet. The boy lifts his glass in mock-cheers, then winks at Lucas, charmingly inept.

Lucas lifts his own glass to his mouth and doesn’t break the eye contact as he drinks, thinking, his heart pounding, look at me.

*

The third time, the boy seeks him out.

Lucas is in some college kid’s kitchen, drinking some kind of nasty whiskey and biting on limes to disperse the taste right after while also trying to stay moderately sober this time. He’s been to a few parties in the past weeks, tagging along with whoever else was going — much to Mika’s and Yann’s delight — hiding behind silly excuses and neglecting the piling up schoolwork and going out every weekend while hoping the beautiful strange boy would show up somewhere.

Today, he’s lucky. 

”I wouldn’t guess that you’re a whiskey fan,” he hears at one point, and then there he is — the stranger that seems less and less strange every time Lucas sees him, with his warm smile and silver rings and messy hair. His eyes are dark tonight. ”For someone who claims not to like parties, you’re at them remarkably often.”

It’s as teasing as it gets, really. Lucas turns around to face him, feels the edge of the kitchen counter dig into his lower back. 

He says, ”Maybe I’m at them because I’m looking for something.”

It comes out unexpectedly genuine. Lucas was planning to be just slightly flirty, maybe a little sly, was planning to play this game that the boy standing in front of him seems to be so good at playing, but he says what he says and it sounds like the truth. 

The boy quirks an eyebrow, then comes closer. Lucas watches him until he stops right next to where Lucas’s cup of nasty whiskey is standing. ”Something?”

”Someone.”

”Oh,” the boy says, then something glints in his eyes. He’s close enough for Lucas to see it, clear and quick. ”Have you found them yet?”

”I think so,” he says, then reaches for his whiskey again. ”Now, I have.”

He throws the whiskey back and it burns on his tongue, but the gaze of the boy next to him fixed on his face burns more. Then, he lowers the cup, and, feeling like this is where he should have started, says helplessly, ”I’m Lucas.”

The boy’s eyes flit all over his face as if he’s trying to memorise it now that he knows the name that matches it. Then, he smiles.

”Eliott Demaury,” he says, and Lucas is, again, suddenly thinking about the warmth of a flame, about pretty boy, about the feeling unfurling in his chest. Their eyes meet.

”Eliott Demaury,” he repeats, and then, feeling brave, says, ”How about you take me away from here?”

Eliott does.

[starryhedgehog]

my everything : an elu coffee shop au (pt.3)

part one ll part two ll part three ll part four ll part five ll part six ll part seven ll part eight

a/n : this is a series! each part will come out daily -> let me know if you want to be tagged in the comments or send me an ask xx

taglist : @iamshannonmcfarland ll @nidaslife ll @counting-mississippilessly ll @lululallement ll @spacekardemomme ll @desertwytch ll @vludors ll @kiwisfool ll @eluetmaxel ll @itsthelastquestion ll @apollodankaciyorum ll

(if u ever want to be removed from the taglist message me and no hard feelings i promise xx)

III.

When Lucas returns to the coffee shop the next day, he frantically looks around the counter.  He searches again, standing on his tiptoes behind the people in front of him to hopefully glimpse one inkling of messy brown hair and that gorgeous, gorgeous smile.  But he can’t find it.

And with a heavy heart, Lucas realizes that Eliott isn’t here.

He reaches the front of the line, glum and annoyed, and he grumbles, fiddling with his sleeves.  Imane raises an eyebrow at him expectantly. 

“One noisette?” She asks, face indistinguishable. 

And Lucas thinks, fuck it.  “Who made my order last time?”

Imane looks at him like he'd suddenly started speaking Gaelic.  “What?”  And then suspiciously, “why?”

Lucas stammers out some excuse that he doubts Imane believes.  “Because he’s not here?  And my coffee was really good?” 

Imane rolls her eyes, and Lucas thinks they might get stuck there.  “Okay, listen up.”  She leans forward.  “That’s Eliott Demaury.” And then, she adds, rather smugly, “works on Monday’s, Thursday’s, and Friday’s.  Sometimes Saturday’s.” 

Lucas blushes but gives Imane an unimpressed look.  “So … why’re you telling me this?”

And Imane matches him right back.  “Don’t play me, Lucas.”  And then, “are you buying coffee or not?” 

Lucas looks at her like she’s crazy.

“Then get out of line.” 

Lucas rolls his eyes.  “Imane,” he whines.  “So mean.”

Imane rolls her own and pushes him away.  “Bye, Lucas.  Come back Monday.”

IV.

On Monday morning, Lucas thinks he might go broke by his newest obsession with the coffee shop.  He hasn’t got a job, and at this rate, he’ll be broke by the end of summer.  At least then, school’ll start, and he doubts Eliott and Imane will still be working.  Then he’ll be able to take a break and beg his dad for more money, which he probably won’t receive. 

He walks up to the counter and smiles at Imane, placing a paper bag and pushing it towards her.  “Here.” 

Imane looks at the bag, eyebrows raised.  Lucas thinks proudly to himself that she looks really, really suspicious.  “What is it?”  She opens it, then smiles, and the same bell rings in Lucas’ head.  Five times.  “Lucas!”

Lucas shrugs.  “Apology for being grumpy.  It’s lunch.”

And it’s so out of character, so utterly unexpected, that Lucas freezes, jaw-dropped, as Imane reaches over to give him a hug.  “Coffee?” 

“Who are you?” Lucas manages, confused.

Imane rolls her eyes.  “Okay, enough.  Coffee or not?”

Lucas takes the time to look around and catches Eliott’s piercing gaze from across the counter.  He can’t help but smirk.  “No,” he says.  “But what about scones?” 

Imane punches in the order to the register, and looks up at him expectantly.  “Type?”

My type?  Tall, messy hair, works at a coffee shop and goes by the name Eliott.

When Lucas doesn’t say anything, still busy staring at Eliott, she reverts right back to her normal expression.   “Lucas.  What type of scones?” 

Lucas grins right at Eliott.  “Blueberry.  But with cinnamon, please.” 

Imane startles him back to attention as she places her hands on the counter and leans forward.  “What?”  The way she’s staring at him makes Lucas feel like he’s sprouted a pair of horns, or something.  “Okay, Lucas, you’ve been acting weird all day, but this is weird.  Like, really, really weird.”  She turns to see Eliott approaching, and raises an eyebrow.  “Can you believe this guy?” 

Idiot, she means. 

But then Eliott starts laughing, and Lucas stares at him, entranced.  Eliott laughs with his whole being, eyes scrunched up, beaming smile, stature lightly bent over.  And when he speaks, his eyes land on Lucas, and Lucas only.  “Sounds shady, no?”

Lucas thinks he’s going to die.

Imane looks at Lucas, then Eliott, then back at Lucas.  If Lucas had any qualms about whether Eliott was smirking or not, he is completely certain about Imane.  The expression across her face is clearly a smirk.  And a smug one. 

Imane gives one last look at Lucas, takes his money and pushes it in the register, then grabs the paper bag he’s given her and walks into the back room. 

Lucas takes his time to walk over to the other side of the counter, only to lean against it.  Eliott’s already spreading cinnamon icing atop one blueberry scone, perking up as Lucas saunters over.

“You’re here,” Eliott says, cheerfully.  He steps closer to Lucas, scones forgotten on the table.  “I was hoping I’d see you again.” 

Lucas laughs, and his grip against the counter tightens.  If Eliott keeps saying things like this, Lucas will go into cardiac arrest.  He also thinks if he lets go of the counter, he just might melt on the spot.  “I’m not here for you,” is what he ends up saying, and he smacks himself for it later.  “I’m here for the scones.”

“Oh,” Eliott says, raising a brow.  “Of course you are.”  He turns around to grab the scones, a devilish smirk on his face as he shoves them toward Lucas, winking.  “See you.”

And Lucas stands there with his scones, shock written all over his face.  He whirls around and heads back towards the same window seat, doing his best to focus on the arithmetic glaring up at him.

Hours later, and he’s slamming his head against his summer assignments when Eliott slides a coffee cup towards him.

“For you,” Eliott says, leaning against Lucas’ countertop table.  He’s still towering over Lucas, biting his lip as he looks at the papers Lucas has been trying so hard to make disappear over the past hour.  “You should take a break,” Eliott remarks.

Lucas only smiles, sighing.  “I wish.  But,” he motions to his assignments scattered across the table, “no luck.”

Eliott hums, then takes back the coffee cup he’d so graciously offered Lucas and wheels back to the counter.  Lucas stares after him, confused. 

“Wait,” Lucas calls, heartbroken because he wants that coffee, and did he say something wrong?  Instead of figuring out what’s going on, he flushes and keeps his head down, eyes burning holes into the math problems he just can’t seem to figure out. 

Minutes later there’s a tap on his shoulder, and Eliott is holding two paper cups of coffee, grinning.  He’s wearing a jacket and black hoodie this time, instead of the t-shirt and apron Lucas is so accustomed to seeing him wearing.  

“Don’t you dare take those back,” Lucas whispers.

“Come on,” Elliot’s fingers wrap around Lucas’ wrist and tugs him out of his chair.  “We’re going.”

Lucas can’t speak.  He can’t even bring himself to function because Eliott’s fingers are all over his wrist and he’s going into overdrive.  “Where,” he finally manages to breathe, staring up at Eliott with eyes that he hopes aren’t too blissful.

“Out.”  Elliott hands Lucas his coffee, and Lucas thinks quietly that the warmth of the coffee doesn’t feel as nice as the warmth that used to be around his wrist.  

Lucas feels his heart sink as he looks back at his stuff.  “I can’t just leave —“

And just when he needs her, Imane is there.  She smirks, setting down a reserved sign atop his table.  “Yes, you can.”

Lucas is beyond confused.  “What?” He says, voice weak.  And Lucas feels so weak because he’s overcome with all these feelings and nearly all of them are about Eliott, standing beside him.

Imane winks at Eliott, then finger salutes Lucas as she walks back to her post at the register.  “Thanks for the lunch, Lucas.”

Eliott is beaming beside him and he bounds toward the door, holding it open.  “Coming?” 

Lucas nods blindly and follows, grinning.  “If I have to.” 

I’d follow you anywhere.

They walk out the coffee shop and into the streets, and Lucas laughs as Eliott jumps up to the raised curb and swings himself around the turn in the sidewalk with his arm wrapped around the lamp posts.  Despite it being summer, it’s a rather cold day.

Lucas turns to look at Eliott.  “Where’re we going?” 

Eliott shrugs, eyes twinkling.  “I don’t know.  Wherever we want.”

Apparently, ‘wherever we want’ is wherever Eliott Demaury wants, because Lucas clearly suggested the ice cream parlor, and Eliott shook his head, grinning at Lucas with that stupid smile that he knows Lucas can’t resist.  And then he’d grabbed Lucas’ hand and pulled him across the street, running with the wind blowing through their hair and stinging their eyes.

When they enter the nearby park, they keep walking, side by side, until they reach a place where Eliott decides to stop.    

“We’re here?” Lucas crosses his arms.  He gazes up at Eliott with a grin.  “I still think we should’ve stopped for ice cream.  We’re in the middle of like, nowhere.”

Eliott snorts.  He points up, raising his eyebrows.  “Up there.”

And Lucas nearly dies.  “No.  No way.”

Eliott chuckles, nimbly hoisting himself up the tree.  Once he’s settled on the branch, he reaches a hand out to Lucas.  “Coming?” 

Lucas breathes in, then looks back up at Eliott.  He must look terrified, because Eliott softens, tilting his head while gazing at Lucas with that same unfamiliar expression.  But it feels nice.  It feels warm.

“I won’t let you fall,” Eliott says.

“I’m not worried about falling,” Lucas lies, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Eliott raises an eyebrow and Lucas sighs.  “Okay, okay, maybe a little.”

Eliott’s hand remains hanging in the air between them, and Lucas thinks of all the paths that’ve led up to this moment.  One Lucas’ for sure still sitting in the coffee shop, working on that god-awful arithmetic, and another Lucas’ probably sitting and playing video games at Yann’s.  And he’s sure there’s another Lucas out there, who’s refusing to step foot up the tree.  But dimly, Lucas hopes he’s the one who dares to climb up and reach for Eliott.

“Coming?”

Lucas nods, then reaches for Eliott’s hand, using his other hand to scramble up the trees, pushing himself up with his feet.  And when he sits next to Eliott on the branch, he feels Eliott’s hands steadying his shoulders.

“You okay?”

Lucas laughs.  “Never better.”  And it’s half true, as he doesn’t want Eliott’s hands to ever leave him.  He peeks a look down at the ground and covers his eyes.  “Ah, fuck.”

Eliott tilts up Lucas’ chin, then lets his hand fall back to his side.  “I find it better to not look back.”

Lucas furrows his eyebrows.  “Hm?”

“Don’t look down.”

“That makes me want to look down even more.”

“Well, don’t.”

“Why not?”

Eliott pouts.  “Well, don’t you want to look at me?”

And Lucas feels his stomach fluttering, and he nearly falls.  He latches his hands onto Eliott’s shoulder, steadying himself, and he blatantly realizes that he can feel Eliott’s chest shaking from laughing and he’s so warm, so warm.

Lucas can’t help his own laughter and everything feels so right, being up here with Eliott.  He tucks this memory away and fiercely thinks to himself that right now, he never wants to leave.

When Lucas sneaks a glance back at Eliott, Eliott’s eyes are closed, his head tilted up towards the sky.  Lucas looks at the way Eliott seems so serene, so peaceful, and he has to stop his heart from bursting as he looks at the hollow of his cheekbones and the way the sides of his lips are bunched up like he’s trying to suppress a smile.  And then those blue-gray eyes flash open, and Eliott’s smirking.  “Enjoying the view?”

Shit.

Lucas raises an eyebrow.  “I was, actually.”  Lucas feels a rush of pride at the way Eliott nearly blushes, obviously not expecting that.  “But there’s this big oaf who’s rudely blocking the Tour d’Eiffel —“

Eliott pokes him in the side, laughing.  “Fuck, you’re so mean!  You couldn’t let me have my moment?”

Lucas grins, staring up at Eliott like he’s his whole world.  And in a way, he is.  “Nope.”

Yes.

V.

When Lucas walks back to the coffee shop with Eliott to get his stuff, he says hello to Imane and smiles so brightly that Imane fixes him with the strangest look possible. 

“Oh, sorry,” Eliott says, “we’re closing up?”

Imane nods, tossing him the keys.  “You are.  I’m out of here.”

Lucas thinks to himself that he really, really owes Imane.  If this is what happens when he brings Imane lunch once, he’s going to bring her lunch again.  And again.

The doors of the coffee shop shut, and Eliott looks around.  “I guess it’s just us now.  I’ll just clean up real quick.”  He heads back behind the counter, out of sight.  “You can go if you want.”

Lucas shrugs, hopping up on the counter and swinging his legs.  He fiddles with the edge of his hoodie, shivering into it.  He’s not going to leave, not unless Eliott actually kicks him out. 

When Eliott finally emerges from the back room with a rag, his eyes widen as he sees Lucas.  “You’re still here?”

Lucas shrugs again.  “Don’t have anywhere else to go.”  He freezes, breath caught in his lungs.  “I mean, I meant, I don’t have anywhere else to be.  At the moment.”  

Eliott looks at Lucas for a while, running his fingers across his lips, contemplating.  And then he turns, wiping crumbs off the counter. 

“Need any help?” Lucas asks, anything to break the silence.  It’s unlike him to feel so nervous, and he doesn’t know why he keeps pulling at his fingers and his sleeves.

“No,” Eliott looks back up.  “Just sit there and look pretty.” 

“Shut up,” Lucas laughs, pulling out his phone.  He scrolls through the notifications, and dimly realizes that he doesn’t have Eliott’s phone number.  He looks up at Eliott, pondering.  And then he shakes his head, scrolling back through his phone. 

A notification unfolds from the top of the screen because Yann’s texted him, and he opens up his messages to see a string of chats between him and the rest of the boys. 

The message is clear.  All three are wondering why he’s been at the coffee shop the entire day instead of playing video games at home.  And all three think he’s hooked up with the mysterious, hot barista.

He sighs, typing out a message.

Lucas: I’m fine.  We’re just talking.

He shuts off his phone and slips it back into his pocket.  Lucas looks at the paintings hanging above the coffee shop, and he hums as Eliott stares momentarily at the one with the clouds and the sea. 

“What would it take for you to go to an art museum with me?” Eliott asks out of the blue, turning to look at Lucas.  He hums, thinking to himself.  “Actually,” he chuckles, “that wouldn’t work.” 

Lucas has a stroke of boldness, and he shakes his head.  “I’d go,” he says.  “But only if you promised to make out with me and hold my hand.”  

What.

He blinks.  He doesn’t know why he said that.

Fuck.  He needs to disappear.  Like now.

Eliott’s eyes widen, and he pauses, stunned.  Then he walks closer, smirk building at the corners of his lips.  He’s standing right in front of Lucas, hands falling to land on either side of the smaller boy.  “Hm.  As much as I’d love to, I told you it wouldn’t work.”  Eliott smiles sweetly.  “They said not to touch the masterpieces.  And you, baby, are definitely a masterpiece.”

Oh my god.  He didn’t.

Lucas squeaks.  Every ounce of him is on fire, burning with Eliott’s words and his gaze, and right now they’re so close that Lucas can see all the small flecks of blue in his beautiful eyes.  “You’re the masterpiece,” is all he can manage, looking down at his shoes.  He can’t look up at Eliott as he says it and thinks it’s strange that he’s speaking to the grubby tiles and his scuffed shoes. 

Eliott tilts Lucas’ head back up, gazing softly at him.  And Lucas is met again with those brilliant eyes.  “You’re adorable.  Did you know that?”   Eliott’s words wash over Lucas, and he’s about to actually melt until he registers exactly what’s been said.  

Oh, fuck no. 

And then he brings his knees up, blocking Eliott from moving forward.

“Adorable?  I’m a fucking masterpiece.”  Lucas glares, affronted.  “Don’t touch.”

It completely ruins the moment, and Eliott falls away from the counter, doubling over with laughter.  He’s smiling so hard it looks like he’s brimming with happiness, and he leans against one of the coffee tables, chuckling.  “Are you always so mean?”

Lucas sticks his chin up and stares up at Eliott, raising his eyebrows.  “Keep hanging out with me, and you’ll see.”

“Ah,” Eliott hums, reaching to mess with a strand of Lucas’ hair.  “I just might.”

“And,” Lucas adds, boldly, “don’t use cheesy pick-up lines.”

Eliott merely winks.

Lucas leaves the coffee shop that night with a promise of art museums and the lingering regret of an almost kiss.  If only he’d managed to keep his damn mouth shut.  But then he remembers the way Eliott messed with his hair, and he doesn’t really regret a thing.

part four

[sweetbitterpdf]

tag game: this or that & some faves 

i was tagged by @lepetitepeach​ !! the love of my life tagging me in cool things as per usual merci nat !! some other people may have tagged me too looking back through my activity page is a MESS

coffee or tea? coffee!! i do love a nice cup of tea, but i’m in the depths of an undergrad degree, coffee’s my lifeblood rn

early bird or night owl? this one’s gotten tougher over the summer, since i was up so early so regularly. before this summer i would have said night owl for sure, but now there’s just... something about the way everything looks when the sun is just about to rise, and about getting to spend some time to myself before the rest of the world wakes up...

early bird now i think!!

denim or leather? denim!! leather has a weird texture imo it makes me uncomfy

pearl or gemstone? ooh i love them both!! maybe gemstone, just because there’s so many different ones with so many different colours!!

barefoot or shoes? i like wearing shoes most of the time!! i only have a couple of pairs but i wear them super regularly!!

if we were talking about, like... a nice grassy field, or the beach or something though, i’d go without them!!

eye colour? i’m not sure if this is asking my eye colour or my favourite eye colour— my answer to the former is a fairly dark brown, and the latter is green!! i love green eyes so much!!!

bath or showers? i’d love to say baths but i’m 5′11″ with long legs so having baths just isn’t realistic for me most of the time because i don’t fit in tubs well :// so showers!!

favourite emojis? ✨💖👍🥰👀🤙 (not sure abt favourite ones, but these are the ones that i use the most!!)

night in or night out? night in!! i love a night out with some friends from time to time, but but most of the time i just want to curl up on the couch with my cat by the time my day is over lmao

secret garden or secret library? secret library!! i’ve always wanted to have my own library, and the concept of having a secret one?? yes please!!

tattoos or piercings? tattoos, definitely!! i don’t have any of either myself but i love tattoos so much and i have a few ideas about ones i’d like to get!!

freckles or dimples? oh my god, freckles, they make me melt 

eyes or lips? eyes!!

handwritten letters or texts/emails? there’s something so beautiful and personal about letters, especially in the electronic era when they’re a lot less frequent! i’d love to have someone i could send letters to, i’ve been sort of lowkey looking for a penpal? 

i also had a thing with a girl once where we were across the world from each other and we would send letters to each other lmao

favourite colour? i’m a notoriously indecisive person, and this shows when someone asks me about my favourite colour! i really love warm colours, soft yellows and oranges and pinks... i also really love green!! i can’t pick just one!!!

favourite flower? i’m not really a huge flower person tbh?? when i say that i mean that flowers are lovely but i’m not super informed on the different types!! daisies maybe? or buttercups?? roses????

favourite ships? elu (& all the other evaks obvs), but also alex/henry from red, white, and royal blue, monty/henry (different henry!! no relation!!) from a gentleman’s guide to vice & virtue.. there’s probably more, but those are the ones i came up with off the top of my head!!

favourite scent? there’s so many!! i love roses, my go-to scent is lush’s rose jam body spray, and i adore everything they release with that scent!

also vanilla, orange, peppermint— as for like... naturally occurring smells, i also love the smell of a good ‘ol campfire, as well as petrichor, and the smell of fall!!

last song? wait for me (reprise) from the broadway cast recording of hadestown !! i finally listened to it and the man who plays orpheus has??? the most beautiful voice?? how does he convey such a longing and an ache through sound alone???

AU where eliott is orpheus and lucas is eurydice anyone???

last movie or tv show? i watched a few episodes of SKAM the night before last!! it’s the only show i have downloaded on my laptop, and the power was out. i’m on season two now!!

favourite gifs? i don’t use gifs frequently at all, so i’m just going to search SKAM stuff and include some of my faves that i see!!

credit is included with the gifs!!

this one cause it’s a mood:

this one cause this whole scene makes me so fucking soft:

also this one bc i will never get over a) the way even’s eyes are fucking glowing and also the lilt to his voice that you can hear in the gif when he says ‘halla’ listen i am an even bech næsheim stan first and a human being second:

as for skam france, this one bc have u ever seen a boy so in love before?? yeah me neither:

this one bc it takes me back to the first time i saw this scene and it makes me remember holding my breath (maybe not literally, although i really don’t remember..?) for an entire fucking scene!! the pacing!!! the tension!!!!!:

and this one bc everything was okay again in this moment and it was just so tender it makes me soft whenever i think about it they love each other so much what the fuck:

i could link gifs all day but i’m not going to so instead i’m going to tag people!! i tag @lallemants, @oheliotts, @amorgignitamore, @loca-over-luca, and @lowquallife if u guys haven’t done this already!! if u have no worries!!

[thrashton]

Soaring light (chapter 1)

thank you for your lovely comments and messages for the prologue!! here’s the first chapter!

Name: Soaring Light

Fandom: Skam france

Pairing: Lucas Lallemant/Eliott Demaury

Tags: assassin!au, falling in love, angst, hurt/comfort

Summary: Do not get attached, do not waste time, do not engage in any physical contact… The list of rules were long, but Lucas had never been the one to follow orders. In fact, he might have broken all of them in just a week, all because of the piercing blue eyes staring at him from the assignment in his hands, and the charming, mysterious boy they belonged to.

Chapter summary: Lucas tries to be very subtle as he online-stalks Eliott. It doesn’t go too well.

——--

(prologue can be found at the soaring-light tag at my blog, just click on the tag on this post. tumblr don't wanna show my post in the search tag if I put in links... and on ao3 with the username thetimeisnow)

CHAPTER ONE Why were storms a thing? Who invited storms? Lucas was going to find out and kick his ass. It was stupid, the rain covering his sight was stupid. The way he can’t see in front of the road he’s driving on was stupid.

The whole day was stupid.

Lucas had spent five hours trying find Eliott Demoury, but there was no one at his apartment, no one at his registered working place and no one at his two favorite coffee shops. He had googled his name and regretted it in a second, because dousins - no, hundreds - of model photos of the perfectly sculptured face and the piercing deep blue eyes stared back at him and Lucas had let his laptop fall close with a groan.

He can’t be attracted to his assignment to kill. Well, technically, he could. It wasn’t in the rules. The contract just said he wasn’t allowed any physical contact with his targets, mostly to hide all traces of DNA. And to make sure he didn’t get attached, which was another rule. Well fuck him, just the picture of this man got his knees weak.

Lucas hesitated a moment, then sent a text.

-

To: Manon D.

Change?

-

Change of contract, that meant. Manon would know that. In their work of line you had to keep yourself short and never, absolutely never, give out any information over the phone. Especially not their private phone. Lucas knew he’d most likely get his brains blown out if he said too much and he would never risk one of his closest friends and colleagues life as well. His phone buzzed. Manon, quick with a response as always.

-

From: Manon D.

No thanks, got my dream man ;)

-

To: Manon D.

Ugh. Fine. Drinks tonight?

-

From: Manon D.

That’s a yes, thanks. I’ll tell Mika and Emma. See you at 8?

-

To: Manon D.

Lol, sure. Bringing the boys if they’re up. See you, sunshine.

-

From: Manon D.

Dickhead.

-

Lucas rolled his eyes. His ever the lovely friend and colleague, Manon. They had worked in the same business for two years before they realised they were both carrying the same burden. They had been on the same funeral, a funeral for an older man whose two sons were the target of Manon, and his new wife was assigned to Lucas. He remembered it like it was yesterday as they stood gaping, staring at each other in the church when the priest did his thing.

A smile appeared on his lips at the memory. Back then, it had been the shock of his life but now it was a fun thing to remind him how small the world was. They were going to meet at their usual bar, and Lucas had actually seen a few pictures of the blue eyed God in just that bar when he googled his name, so maybe his luck would turn tonight. He could use that as an excuse to get pissed drunk.

Perfect. Just what he needed.

He parked his car exceptionally well considering the storm raging outside. It was only 6pm, but the sky was pitched black. He gave the car window a good, long stare before he forced himself to get the door open. The few meters from the car to the door of the building he lived in felt like a mile and his clothes was drenched in rain as he stumbled inside, muttering angrily to himself.

Stupid ass weather. He was going to kick its ass.

His older neighbour greeted him from the stairs and Lucas threw up his hand in a reply, he didn’t really feel like speaking until he was in comfortable, warm, dry clothes. And a beer in his hand. Maybe a joint between his lips. Ah. Perfect.

Pulling on his sweatpants like his life depended on it, he hurried towards his bed. Where the magic happens, as his best friend Yann dramatically put it when he visited Lucas new apartment for the first time. Well, where his hand happened. Or, another correction, where his hand was supposed to happen. But how no matter how much he tried, what type of porn he put on, he couldn’t get those stupid fucking blue eyes out of his head long enough to concentrate on jerking off, and there was no way he was going to pleasure himself thinking of his next assignment to kill.

Fucking hell.

Eliott really got the best of him. He needed to get rid of this guy fast, so he could get back to his normal routines, so his body could see some hot, big tits chick on his phone screen and think that’s hot! and not but it’s not him. How was this even possible? He hadn’t even met the guy!

In conclusion, his visit to the bed was unsuccessful. Lucas groaned loudly, burying his face in his pillow. He couldn’t wait to get drunk. A week from now Eliott would be dead and Lucas would be rich and he’d get the fuck out of Paris. He’d bring Yann, Basile and Arthur and they’d go to Amsterdam, or something. Find a nice penthouse apartment where they could throw the best parties in Netherlands, bring the best people and smoke a ridiculous amount of weed.

Lucas phone rang. He glanced over at the screen the name of his best friend staring back at him. Yann would know if he ignored him, that guy could read him like a book.

“Yep”, he answered as he put the phone to his ear.

“We going out tonight?”

“Uh-uh. Manon, Mika and Emma too.”

Yann went quiet for a moment. “Emma?”

“Dude. It was years ago, pull it together.” He gave out a light chuckle.

“Fine”, Yann sighed loudly, “only so you get get your lonely ass out there.”

Lucas laughed at him and got up to a sitting position on his bed. “Do you know a Eliott Demuary?” he asked. That wouldn’t hurt, Yann didn’t know he did for a living. Lucas wanted to tell him badly, but he wasn’t going to risk his best friend’s life only to have someone to talk murder with, that would be dumb. Yann wasn’t stupid though, and Lucas suspected he had a slight suspicion of what he did during his days; not that he’d ever tell him, or that Yann would ever get it confirmed.

“Of course”, Yann replied and Lucas almost choked on his own spit.

Okay. That wasn’t the answer he expected at all. It took a few moment for him to pull himself back together and hide the sudden excitement in his voice as he tried to sound as carefree as possible. “Aha”, he said and shrugged, “how’s that?”

“Why are you asking?” Yann was hesitating.

Fuck. Maybe he didn’t sound as carefree as he thought. “You know, just saw a picture of him.”

“Yeah, he went to our school…”

Lucas frowned. “What? No?”

He imagined Yann nodding from the other line. “Yeah, he did. Literature, I think, not sure. Don’t you remember, everyone was talking about him?”

Lucas did definitely not remember, because there was no way he could forget a face like that. “Are you for real?”

“Yeah!” Yann exclaimed, “are you? Ladies were fighting to get into his pants.”

“Shit.” How did he manage to miss this? Lucas shook his head, no, it didn’t matter. Now he had a way in to complete his assignment and he should be very happy for that since Eliott apparently didn’t want to be found. “Cool. Awesome. Nice. I mean, have you met him recently?”

Yann was silent for a moment. “Are you crushing on Demuary?”

Lucas gasped. “Excuse me? I am not!”

“I don’t blame you. He’s hot and- Oh, sorry, forgot you’re still hiding in the closet.”

Lucas pouted and wished Yann was standing in front of him so he could shove a middle finger up his face. Yann knew he was - or maybe was? He wasn’t really sure himself - gay. A little gay. Just a tiny little bit. Like, dick is nice and all and titties isn’t as nice. Which, in conclusion meant; a little gay. “Unfair”, he told him, “was just asking.”

He could hear Yann moving around. “Well, haven’t met him in a while but I’ve seen him in town a few times. Seriously Lu-Lu, you didn’t know he went to our school?”

“I didn’t, I swear! I wouldn’t forget a face like that. I mean, Yann, have you seen him?”

His best friend laughed. “Yeah, I have. How about you spend some time crying over a picture of Eliott and I come over with some beer?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Great. I’ll be over in 45.”

Lucas ended the call without saying good bye. He had no time to waste when he only had 45 minutes to google some more information about this mysterious man, who apparently went to their school. Did that mean Eliott knew who he was? No, that would be impossible. If he hadn’t seen Eliott, Eliott hadn’t seen him.

He found an instagram account. With a stupid fucking riddle to solve. It took Lucas longer than he chose to admit to figure out the name of Eliott’s second account, but when he did; it was absolutely worth it. A majority of his posts were black and white art. It looked like doodles but there was real talent behind it.

Too bad he was going to kill the guy, he would really want to hear the stories about the numerous posts of raccoons. A short video caught his attention; Eliott in a black hoodie, staring into the camera with his lips pressed together and his hair in a soft mess on his head. He zoomed slowly until there was nothing else than his left eye covering the screen. Lucas found himself sighing, feeling like an absolute jerk about having to end this, clearly well liked and talented young man’s life.

Most of Lucas’ targets were old men. Rapists, embezzlement criminals or other scandals more often than not involving money. He’d never really felt bad about killing them, a lot of them deserved to die. Lucas never stayed to see if his job was finished after poisoning his targets; he learned early on that it was way easier to get caught that way. Instead, he showed up a few days later, or watched the news if his target was someone famous or well-known.

But Eliott. He couldn’t believe this man had done anything to deserve to die. 50k was a lot of money and the higher the prize, the worse the crime. That’s how it usually went, anyways.

And in that moment, trying to pause the video just when Eliott zoomed in on his eyes, Lucas fucked up. He liked the video. Panicking, he yelped, a high pitched noise he’d be embarrassed to even try to describe, and got up from his bed fast enough to make his vision blur. As a first reaction his brain thought of the brilliant idea to throw the phone away from him to keep him from making more mistakes, but then he realised that shit, he need to unlike the video before Eliott noticed. He stumbled after the phone, tripping over a shirt on the floor and hit his toe in the foot of the bed at the same time. Ignoring the pain radiating through his body, he reached over the bed in panic and clicked on the red heard so fast and intensely that he accidentally disliked and liked it again.

Lucas wanted to scream. With an surprisingly steady hand, he finally managed to to unlike the video and sank down on the floor with a loud groan of disappointment. Shit. What the hell. Being subtle wasn’t his best personality trait, obviously.

Eliott had a lot of followers, someone liking his video wouldn’t matter, right? That was, of course, if his theory that Eliott didn’t know who he was, was correct. Lucas considered blocking him but quickly threw that idea aside; the video was worth seeing a few more times.

The doorbell rang. Yann. Had it been 45 minutes already? Apparently it had, because Yann was standing with a big grin and beer in both hands as Lucas opened the door, still sweaty and his heart beating like crazy in his chest.

“You look like you just ran a marathon. Which I know you wouldn’t.”

“Fuck you”, Lucas smirked at him, giving him a helping hand with the beer. “I accidentally liked one of Eliott Demaury’s posts on instagram. It was stressful.”

Yann let out a snort. “When he sees it, he’ll show up with flowers and a ring and propose right here, I’m calling it.”

“I unliked it. And liked it again. And then unliked it again.”

“Even I am slightly embarrassed for you now”, Yann laughed, “let’s drink to forget about it.”

Lucas smirk grew, it sounded like a good plan. Little did he know, forget about  it was the least he would do that night.

[brightokyolights]

 rules:

always repost the rules

answer the questions given to you by the one who tagged you!

give 11 questions

tag 11 people

I was tagged by the lovely @davidfors5 thank you so much  😭 😭 😭

1. fave character from each remake and why?

Skam Austin: Poonam Para. I know that she’s a side character and honestly i was close to saying Jo, Kelsey or Shay but she’s my fav. I think i just see a lot of myself in her and i like how she’s a completely new and different character. She’s funny and upfront and unique and I feel extremely understood and I hope we get to see more of her.

Skam France: Imane Bakhellal. Again i was really close to saying Yann or Lucas but i think just purely because of how much i can relate to Imane and understand her she’s my fav.

Druck: David Schreibner. While i definitely relate to Matteo the most and love Amira to no end, David is hands down my favourite. He’s such an icon and he especially makes me love Druck so much. I can’t really explain why he’s my favourite so much, this one is really more of like i feel it in my soul that he’s my favourite and that’s why.

Skam España: Joana Bianchi. I... I wanted to say Amira or Lucas because i love them so freaking much and this one was honestly the hardest for me to decide but it is Joana. I don’t know what it is but i just deeply care for her so much.

Skam NL: Liv Reijners. Although i really do love like all the NL characters. Liv i decided to pick because she can sing and i love her style and she’s strong and independent and i feel like she’s a really unique noora and i just. love everything about her. I can’t find a single fault  🙈

2. fave musical moment?

Skam: håper du har plass playing when the girls go to get Sana, i think we all cry every time and i still listen to that song to this day

Skam Austin: honestly… cloutie 4 lyfe go listen to clout from grandma’s closet on soundcloud i stg their talent… is unparalleled (honorary mention, when Megan’s upset and crying and goes to see Marlon and they play the fricking meme song and stop it at “run.” i die every time)

Skam France: what else could i say other than when Lucas played ‘i love you’ on the piano like chills lich rally chills luv (honorary mention how the music goes all soft the first time Lucas sees Eliott, again iconic)

Druck: this is hard like i kind of just wanna say whenever they’ve ever used a song it’s been absolutely perfect, i think i’ll say during the first kiss clip though when they go to hold their breath and the music with the water sound effects like aaaa ded

Skam España: the last clip when they go to kiss and ‘I Follow Rivers’ starts playing like... it’s just perfect like everything comes full circle and im CRYING

Skam NL: another remake that always picks perfect music, i think my fav is whenever Liv goes to the mic to sing like i love her singing voice so much

3. if you could make your own season, who would it be about and what would happen?

I have thought about this so much it’s almost funny lmao. There’s just so much potential with Skam and then if you factor in the remakes like... absolutely spoilt for choice omfg. I’d love a Jonas season because he’s great but i really dont know what it’d even be about, Mahdi is another character i’ve always felt immensely interested in and i would love to know more about him. In the middle of typing this i’ve come to a decision actually lmao. Two words- BALLOON. SQUAD. They are literally my favourite thing about og ever seriously and Elias is my favourite Skam character. So idk maybe a season about them? and maybe about their friend group and how they’re all drifting apart or brotherhood or like healthy male friendships where they are there for each other and shit or about Even becoming friends with them again or IDK. but i know i’d have loved a season centered on them and if i had a greater mind i’d be able to come up with a good plot for them too lmao.

4. rank the sanas ( I’m evil I know )

This is literally the worst question I’ve ever seen and yes you are evil

Sana, Amira TM, Amira N, Imane, Zoya, Esra, Imaan.

BUT THEY ARE ALL EQUALLY MY FAVOURITE 

5. fave season from each remake and why?

Skam Austin: Unpopular Opinion but i really loved season 1, however, I think i have to say season 2 because of how fucking well they developed all the characters like giving the cast input into the story was the best decision Skam Austin could’ve ever made. Also, Clout From Grandma’s Closet? like need i say more

Skam France: I only watched 3 and 4 and my fav is 3. Very good homage to OG with the story telling and made me absolutely fall in love with Lucas and Eliott. Like I went through the same motions as i did when i watched OG and it was nice to be reminded of that. Also liked the small changes they made like the Polaris thing that was iconic

Druck: SEASON 3. what an emotional fucking roller coaster. They had me hooked every single minute of the day and still do now. I love Matteo and how they changed the story up like im still pissed about the pacing kind of but honestly i loved season 3 and still rewatch it. the music was perfect, development of the characters, the softness. everything was just so good

Skam NL: As much as i love Liv I have to say season 1. it was goregously done, i loved the aesthetic and Isa is such a realistic and relatable character. Also her moments with Kes and Lucas and the moments with the girl squad, like it was just a really iconic start to an awesome series.

Skam España: I’ve only watched season 2 but i know even if i watched season 1 i would still say season 2 lmao. Honestly there is not a SINGLE thing they did wrong. like the story was perfect, the honour they did to og, how they switched the relationships up. it genuinely was just fucking perfect (except the whole panphobia thing. if that comment wasn’t said spain would have the best remake)

6. What’s your opinion on s2? what do you like and dislike the most? which remake made the best s2? (españa doesn’t count)

I am going to be truthful here and say that when i was first watching OG and watched season 2 I did like it but after growing up a bit and reflecting I now honestly really dont. like i’ve tried to avoid that season in remakes as much as i can (i’ve failed and the only noorhell i’ve not seen is frances one). I think what got me at first was the whole like layers thing to William. how there was more to him and also like the typical fanfic tropey moments between them. what i like about season 2 is the SA storyline, like that is an extremely important topic that needs to be talked about more so i like how it brought light to that and also how they show Noora handling the situation and how the girl squad are and i <3. What i dislike is how William uses Vilde and is so manipulative and ANNOYING omfg. Like i can’t explain how much his entitled rich ass frustrates me and how broken down Noora is by him.

7. what representation would you like to see in Skam (other than more wlw)?

Honestly i’d like to see more ethnic minorities tbh, especially like maybe some east asian people? I want skam to be the type of thing that no matter who you are you can see yourself represented in it and while the remakes and og do an alright job of it, i’d love to see more. i’ll say this this til the day i die- REPRESENTATION IS IMPORTANT

8. what country would you like to see a remake and why?

My biased ass is screaming Skam Scotland because like i would be able to relate to it so much and I’d love it with my entire soul but also just somewhere where the majority of the population isnt white. would be lovely for it to be in like India or Pakistan maybe so that I could personally relate to it but honestly anywhere with POC would be an absolute WIN for me. i suggest Skam Scotland where the girl and boy squad are south asians/east asians + black with the good ol’ token white friend! Hire me

9. fave head canon?

Honestly any (head)canon that says anyone is not cishet is like 👌 

10. sort characters into Hogwarts houses

I was going to do the characters from all the remakes when i realised... they’re all essentially the same each time I- anyways lmao

Hufflepuff -  Magnus, Even, Chris, Vilde, Mikael, Yousef, Linn

Slytherin - Sana, Isak

Gryffindor - Mahdi, Elias, Eva, Adam, Mutasim, Eskild

Ravenclaw - Jonas, Noora

This is mostly based off pure gut instinct idk

11. tell me your best crossover idea

How all the remakes seem to have the girl squads going on summer roads trips I kinda had this thought that maybe like the groups in each of the different remakes and og decide to go on a big friends holiday and everyone ends up in the same place and they all meet. none of the isaks really get along with each other, all the evens of course become best friends on the spot etc etc. i just want everyone to automatically become best friends im not good at coming up with ideas for these sorts of things sorry lmao

~

For my 11 questions:

Which remake/og sqaud do you think you would personally fit into the most?

What is your favourite remake and why?

What is objectively the best remake and why?

Opinions on each of the girl squads?

Favourite hairstyle out of all the remakes? (this includes any hijab styles of the Sanas)

Who do you think from og/remakes would have a youtube channel and what would they post about? (not including hei briskeby or lucas rubio’s yt channel)

Pick someone you think is underappreciated from og/remakes and explain why you think they should be appreciated more

Favourite outfit/clothing item?

Which character do you think is most similar to you?

Do you like the Eva season (season 1)?

Insert your own question that you’d like to answer!

I will tag @thedavideffect @pansexualevenbech @2ndbest @joanascris @hufflepuff-ish @matteoluigiflorenzi @liveterna2 @bbibbicole @xxrps @happoa @eleaha but don’t do this if you don’t want to! and if you see this but i haven't please go for it i would’ve tagged everyone humanly possible but alas i had to pick 11 lmao but i love reading different peoples thoughts so yeah. pls do if you want to <3 

[dcmaurys]

i was tagged by @lepetitepeach, @oheliotts, @lumierelovers, and @blanxkey ! thank you so much for thinking of me heh 💘

your name: francesca, frankie

fandoms you write for: skam france! i’ve read a lot from multitudes of fandoms but it’s only when i got into skam france that i got the courage to actually like. post my stuff 🤧

where you post: ao3 & tumblr

most popular one-shot: i picture it, soft (and i ache), i think

most popular multi-chapter story: i’ll hold you like i do cos it’s the only thing i’ve written that isn’t a one shot 🥴

favourite story you’ve written: i haven’t written a lot, but out of all of em, maybe i’ll hold you like i do (even though i haven’t finished it yet jskdjds)

story you were nervous to post: gosh i dunno ALL OF EM

how do you choose titles: song lyrics! with the parentheses and everything! i’m as cliche as it gets

do you outline: i probably should but i just get so lazy. :( i picture it all in my head and try my best to follow that like ... general plan, but i always end up typing whatever comes to mind on word it’s a whole...Artistique Mess

how many of your stories are complete: two! (cos ive only posted 3 sjdhfsjdfhjdj)

how many of your stories are in progress: one :-)

coming soon: chapter 2 of i’ll hold you like i do prolly. im SUPER determined to finish it even though school has been kicking my ass (i just finished a single-spaced paper so my brain is fried)

do you accept prompts: yes!!! always!! i love when people send me stuff they want me to write it makes me happy heh

upcoming story you’re most excited to write: ooooooh i can’t stop thinking about fratboy!eliott right now so mayhaps...i’ll write something like that soon

i’m tagging anyone who wants to do this cos i love all of u 💘

[flying-elliska]

HS Reunion AU pt. 3/?

Heyyy I know we thrive on pain here ^^ but if you want a break maybe for a minute, here’s some more incredibly wish-fulfill-y fluff. They’re all thriving adults (for the most part), the reunion starts and Daphne has a surprise ! 

SAMEDI 17:44 

The day of the reunion dawns bright and sunny. They’ve just spent a lazy morning in bed, enjoying each other, only getting up after noon. Lucas promised his husband that this time would be for them, so he kept his itching fingers away from any keyboards or screens. Eliott made crepes with melted chocolate, deliciously decadent. They curled up together on their big couch, read, watched a weird documentary about deminer rats, and rearranged their utility closet. Lucas's still surprised about all the things they’d managed to lose in there, including four different brooms, one of Eliott’s best lenses hidden in an empty cereal box (why), a bag of onions that had taken on a life of their own, and an album of honeymoon photos they’d completely forgotten existed, maybe because it was the one where they both sported completely sunburnt noses after going off trail for a week in Nepal and looked like a pair of molting lobsters. 

The reunion is at 18. They will be having dinner in the old foyer, before going to party on a rented boat on the Seine. Lucas parks the car a few blocks away. He really wants them to have a little time to breathe and enjoy the sun before the madness starts.

It's a gorgeous early summer day, with a little breeze deflecting the heat and sunlight glittering on the water. It’s incredibly thrilling still for some reason, walking hand in hand with his husband along the Canal St Martin, this close to their old school.

Eliott can’t stop grinning at him either. He looks like a vision in his tight black turtleneck, camel longcoat swung over his shoulder, hair as wild as ever. His eyes are intense and full on mischievous, in a way that really does something to Lucas’ underbelly feelings. 

“Hey, so...things are heating up between you and that girl Chloe, huh ?” 

Lucas rolls his eyes. Of course he would go there, the asshole. 

“Yeah, she’s incredible. Woman of my life. Might ask her to marry me in the fall. I always wanted a honeymoon in Bali” 

“Bali, hm ? That’s cute. Are you sure she’s the one, though ?”

“Yes absolutely. She ticks all my boxes ! I mean, she’s such a ...female woman !  She even has breasts and everything ! I think. It’s amazing. Everything I need right there.” 

Eliott laughs out loud. Lucas loves that sound more than anything else in the world, and the fact that they can joke easy now about their earlier jealousies and mistakes feels very healing. 

“Love at first sight, then.” 

“Oh you know how it is, girl bumps into boy once, it must be true love.” 

“Stranger things have happened.”

“Are you talking about yourself now ?”

Eliott raises his eyebrows in a way that makes Lucas blush, then stops and pulls him closer, until their noses almost touch.

“I don’t know, do you have any boxes left for me to tick ? Or are you all ticked out ? Are you sure your boxes are being ticked appropriately ?” 

“Oh, okay, we’re playing it like that, dirty talk in the street ? I don’t remember that part.”

“Why don’t we make up for lost time ?”

“Wait, don’t you have an imaginary girlfriend, too ?”

“Nah. I’m not even playing at that.”

“Well then, you can tick my boxes anytime.”

Eliott smiles and wraps his arms around Lucas’ head, drawing him into a passionate kiss, unhurried and slow, that tastes like minty toothpaste and cigarettes. They have all the time in the world. Lucas thinks of his teenage self, who’d yearned for this so fervently even as the idea of holding another man’s hand in the street terrified him, and he kind of wants to do a victory dance on the spot. 

A few seconds or maybe minutes later, someone coughs loudly next to them. History repeats, apparently, but thankfully with better timing. 

“Well, I see you two are still as disgustingly in love as ever.” 

Emma is standing in front of them, an amused expression on her face. She looks good, if a little jet lagged - hair in a pixie cut, tanned, bag slung over her shoulder, looking as carefree and adventurous as ever. Lucas moves to hug her as if they’d last seen each other last week. 

“Glad to see you made it.”

“Daphne would have reached across two entire oceans to kick my ass if I didn’t. And you know, I figured my family might like to see me, accessorily. And you, still can’t get you past the Périphérique, I see ?” 

“That’s a gross overexaggeration. We toured half the world for our honeymoon.” 

“And let me guess, you’ve been shackled to your desks ever since ? Well, at least you’re rocking the “just rose from my coffin” look together.” 

“Oh, sorry, not all of us want to look like Australian beef jerky.”

They fall easily into bickering the rest of the way, insulting each other in a friendly manner. It really is like old times. The place hasn’t changed much, except for a lot more vegetation in the courtyard. Seeing it evokes a tangled knot of complicated feelings in him. They haven’t been back since graduation, really. When they’ve reached the gate, Eliott holds Lucas back for a moment, taking both his hands. Lucas can feel his husband is nervous. 

“You know, say the magic word and we’re out of there in a second, okay ?” 

Eliott leans forward muffles his laugh in Lucas’ collar. 

“How is this worse than Cannes, seriously ?"

"I almost wish there were paparazzi now, as distraction."

"Let's pretend there are and put our game faces on, then."

Eliott laughs again and ruffles through Lucas' hair, who protests but lets him do it. He always does.

From across the courtyard, he sees Manon come toward them. 

She looks better than the last time he saw her, when she was fresh from her breakup with some hotshot war reporter. He loves this woman, truly, that's his sister right there, but god he wishes for her own sake she’d grow out of her taste for passionate, moody assholes. And it's not the first time, nor the last, he feels he will have to help her pick up the pieces. But that's okay. She's always been there in his most difficult times.

And now she's there, standing tall, wrapped in a designer coat, rocking her signature red lipstick even though there are bags under her eyes and he knows this is the look she wears when she's pretending to be okay. He realizes then one of his goals tonight will be to make sure nobody bothers her about her love life. She's an amazingly accomplished woman. That's all anybody needs to know.

Eliott gives her an extra long hug. Those are the best thing in the world, and his husband has always been intuitive about these things. Good.

Together, they move towards the foyer.

Their old haunt is completely gone - the mural, their ratty old couch, all the things they'd painstakingly gathered together. The space has been merged with another room and is twice as large. Then again, it makes it possible to fit in enough tables, which might not have been possible back then. Their old beat down furniture has been cleared to make room for lush greenery and designer sofas, uncannily clean for a high school. It's been lavishly decorated too, with a banner, pastel streamers and golden balloons. In front of the window there is a buffet full of all sorts of drinks, salads and cakes. It's definitely too much for this type of occasion but then again. Daphne. 

When they enter the room, heads turn, and the gazes aimed their way are a bit too curious and insistent for his taste.  Well, they did end up being one of the most dramatic squads in their year, in the end, it was to be expected but...It’d better be admiration for his on-his-way to famous husband, and nothing else, because if he’s grown out of one thing, it’s suffering fools. He feels both Eliott and Manon’s grip on his arms tighten. 

A very enthusiastic Daphne appears out of thin air in front of them, as if on wheels. She looks like she stepped out of the pages of a magazine, baby blue dress, hair carefully plaited with little glass flowers, as peppy as ever. She welcomes them, kisses all of their cheeks and then directs them to their table, where they find little calligraphied tags to their names in the plates, before storming off again.

Their table is already half-full. Arthur is there, in a crisp suit, accompanied by a posh, bored looking brunette. He is pointedly not talking to Basile, sitting next to him. Lucas sighs internally. He'd really hoped that was over. Basile is accompanied by a vaguely bird-faced woman, who is wearing the exact same disastrous color scheme as him, brown and bright green and red. And then there's Imane, looking impeccable in her deep red scarf and elegant black dress, and her husband Yousef, in deep conversation. Finally, to round it off, there's two random people Lucas already feels sorry for.

They all greet each other. It's a little awkward. He's happy seeing Imane and Yousef though. It's been a while, what with their little daughter and Imane's company getting off the ground and his own crazy schedule.

Lucas gets a text from Yann saying he's going to be late. Basile launches into an explanation of his latest crowdfunding project, something about an app and cryptocurrency that barely registers. The room slowly fills up. Arthur talks about his family company's ventures into the South Asian market. Lucas slowly starts feeling like he wants to jump into the Seine. He didn't come here to witness how boring his friends have become and how adulthood is descending on them to make them into pre-mummified copies of their parents. He thinks he'd almost rather go back to hear college age Basile brag about all his conquests in graphic detail. Almost. And he can feel his husband tensing up next to him; he knows how much Eliott hates speaking about his work archievements, that it always feels like bragging to him, that he wants the work to talk for itself.

Thankfully, this is the moment Alexia chooses to make her entrance. Far from toning herself down, she's only become more colorful and boisterous over the years. Hair bubblegum pink, in a dress marked with a giant golden thunderbolt, she makes all heads turn in her direction. Lucas used to think she was a little obnoxious, to be honest, but she's like a breath of fresh air now. She plops into a chair at their table and immediately launches a debate about the worst part of the new foyer and if they could donate another paper toilet rolls sculpture. It's a relief from everyone posturing about their jobs. Although honestly, Alexia's probably the most successful of all of them. He can never wrap his head around what she does exactly, except that it involves millions of online followers, sponsorships in the US, dancing videos with cats and her own shoeline.

Eliott leaves and comes back with drinks for the both of them. They clink their craft beer bottles against each other and Eliott leans down to whisper in his ear :

"Too bad they took away our couch"

Lucas snorts.

"Fuck no, that thing was a health hazard when we were here already, can you imagine after ten years ?"

"I don't know, I mean. It could have been fun to recreate some memories after everyone leaves." Lucas chokes on his beer. If Eliott is trying to distract him, it's surely working.

Across the table he can see Arthur's date look at them with a contemptuous glance on her face. The woman exhudes as much fun as a bag of frozen broccoli. Petty, he plants a sloppy kiss on Eliott's cheek. If they've earned one thing, it's the right to not worry about what people think of their PDA, goddamn.

Daphne arrives at their table and sits down, slightly out of breath.

"Hey guys ! I'm so happy you are all here ! It's been a while, huh ? I have a surprise for everyone later, I hope you will all participate, I'm counting on you !"

For a moment Lucas is terrified she's going to quiz them on their lives or force them into some sort of weird bonding exercise. Then he sees the look on Basile's face and realizes they have worse issues to worry about. F*cking hell, they dated for a few months ten years ago, and he's still looking at her like she hung the moon, and right in front of his girlfriend too. It took him years to get over her, they were gross the first time, and if Basile does something stupid it's going to take the awkwardness levels from slightly unpleasant to excruciating for the rest of the evening.

Then a tall, beautiful woman with dark skin and long tresses comes toward their table, effortlessly elegant in a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She puts her hand on Daphne's shoulder.

"Hey babe, sound's all set up."

Daphne blushes up to her ears.

"Hey everyone, uh. This is Sam. She's my work partner and also. Uh. She's going to be my wife."

The table erupts into shouts of congratulations, surprise and joy. Manon hugs Daphne, Basile's expression falls to the floor, and Alexia claps her hands laughing. Lucas isn't surprised, but he is proud. For a long time, Daphne was even deeper in denial than he was. And Sam looks awesome.

Lucas exchanges a smile with his husband. Maybe coming to this reunion was worth it after all.

[pennewithmeatballs]

tag game: this or that ✨ and some faves 🌙

thank you so much @lepetitepeach for tagging me in this it was so fun!!!!

coffee or tea? coffee!!!!

early bird or night owl? night owl for sure

denim or leather? mmmmmm leather!!!!!

pearl or gemstone? gemstones i love colors!!!!

barefoot or shoes? barefoot inside at all points for sure but i do love shoes i have like 20 million pairs

eye colour? green!!!!

bath or showers? showers i feel like i should be relaxed in a bath which makes me NOT RELAXED AT ALL

favourite emojis? ✨💖🥰💕✌🏻💅🏻

night in or night out? night in im a tired bitch i dont want to stand

secret garden or secret library? secret library!!! both would be so peaceful though but i love reading!!!!!!

tattoos or piercings? tattoos!!! i have one but want a lot more! i love sleeves

freckles or dimples? freckles i think they look gorgeous on people!

eyes or lips? eyes!!!!!!!

handwritten letters or texts/emails? handwritten letters!!!!!! such a personal and fun way to receive correspondence!!!

favourite colour? pink!!!!!!

favourite flower? sunflowers they make me think of sunshine and happiness!!!

favourite ships? lucas x eliott (skam france) , santana x brittany (glee), isak x even (skam), and nomi x amanita (sense8) and kat x adena (the bold type) (((before they RUINED them i also have only seen the first season asdjfnsufn)))) are probs my all time favorite!!!!!

favourite scent? i love love love lavender and i also LOVE citrus smells like strawberries, melons, and i love a classic vanilla!!!!!!

last song? honky cat by elton john asdjfusifhs yes i am still obsessed with rocketman!!!

last movie or tv show? the last tv show i watched was untold stories of the ER saiudfhousdfh that show is so badly acted but i LOVE IT!!!!

favourite gifs? (ok none of these are mine but im going to put the credit under them!)

https://isakvaltrsen.tumblr.com/post/182800855031

@isakvaltrsen

https://alinok.tumblr.com/post/185316342317/the-softest-boy-%EF%BE%9F

@alinok (its not linking their blog but the above link should bring you there!

https://blanxkey.tumblr.com/post/186425867587/there-are-a-few-things-in-life-so-beautiful-they

@blanxkey

https://soulfulvirgo.tumblr.com/post/182503525371

@soulfulvirgo

(dahsfjbsdfh best reaction image)

i tag anyone who wants to do this its so fun!!!!! all my mutuals and followers!!!!!!!

[ayellowcurtain]

can you write one for elu where lucas sees some series of suspicious texts in eliott's phone and seriously thinks eliott is cheating on him (bc the texts are kinda obvious) which turns to him being kind of paranoid for a while (not long) and finding more "proofs" so finally he confronts eliott. crying and ofc eliott finds it ridiculous cause lucas is his everything.but it was actually idk just a classmate of eliott's texting their bf/gf from eliotts phone bc of some reason

can you write something april fools related? like prank goes wrong kinda thing? i mean i dont think any of them would make a break up prank but maybe they thought the other wouldnt take it seriously since its ridiculous for them to break up but then it gets a bit serious and sad but they're happy at the end ofc. 

Could you write something with maybe Lucas overhearing some girls saying how hot Eliott is and him getting all jealous and territorial

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Lucas loves Mika, but he doesn’t trust him completely. Sometimes he doesn’t think about consequences or doesn’t take things seriously. 

He needed some company to go out tonight. Apparently he had a bad couple of dates and needed to forget about it tonight, but everyone already had plans and Lucas and Eliott were his last hope. Lucas agreed to it last night when Mika texted him, but now he’s not in the mood, too tired after a long day. 

Eliott is excited to go out, so Lucas tells him to go with Mika and he will stay home, go to bed early if he can. 

Eliott checks with him a few times while getting ready to see if Lucas haven’t changed his mind. He gives Eliott a long, passionate kiss before he lets him go meet Mika. He smiles to Lucas and says he’ll be home soon. 

Lucas is relieved to be alone tonight. He woke up in a bad mood and had a stressful day at school, that’s probably why he and eliott were also in a weird funk, so it’s nice to he at the comfort of his house in complete silence. He takes a long shower, puts his and Eliott’s clothes to wash, etc.

While cooking something later, he puts some classical rock to listen to, looks around when he’s back to the bedroom, looking at their beautiful, comfortable, tiny oasis. Since he got his room back, he and Eliott redecorated (with Manon’s help) everything, bought some plants to hang on the ceiling next to the window, changed the beddings, donated some clothes so both their closets could fit into one. 

It feels cozy, warm, safe, a little bit like a jungle. 

Lucas already chose a movie to watch, crawling underneath the covers. Before he can press play, he decides to check his messages. Nothing yet. 

Don’t be a babysitter. He knows how to handle himself.

He presses play, adjusting his pillow. It’s not the best movie, but it’s not a waste of time either. He puts another one right after, an action movie to keep him awake. 4 a.m and the second one is over. Lucas had to fight to not fall asleep during this one, so he turns his notebook off, putting it on the table. 

Ok, his time alone could be over already if it was his choice, he misses Eliott and having his big, warm body to cuddle before falling asleep. But Lucas is happy that he’s out, having fun. He turns off his lamp, checking his phone and there’s some messages, all from Mika.

Mika sent him a bunch of photos. They’re apparently in a photo booth with a bunch of other guys and two girls. Eliott has his arm around some guy’s shoulders, seeming to fit it perfectly with the group, he’s really out going when he wants to so it’s not a surprise to Lucas how well he fits with Mika’s friends. The jealous side of Lucas doesn’t like how close the guy is to Eliott, but there’s nothing going on, it’s just him being possessive. And the other guy seems very young, younger than Lucas. 

The last picture ruins his entire night in a second, making him jolt on his bed, sitting and opening the picture, zooming in. His boyfriend with his wet, flat tongue out and the guy is really close, nearly sucking his boyfriend’s tongue. 

Mika posted something on instagram, tagging Lucas in it. He opens the notification and it takes him to the post. It’s a close up of that photo, only showing Eliott and that kid that he has his arm around, tagging Lucas and Eliott on Eliott’s tongue. 

As he freezes, looking at the photo again, he can see comments coming it, a bunch of guys and some girls asking who the guy in the picture is, someone already answering with Eliott’s instagram. Lucas’ vision is blurred, he’s trying hard not to cry or to freak out. 

This is what Lucille was talking about. 

He tries to racionalize but somedays it feels too much and he just needs to shove some sense into Eliott. Lucas types and sends his answer to all the thirsty people. 

He’s taken. 

A minute later Mika deletes the photo. Lucas suddenly feels sleepless. getting up from his bed and leaving his phone behind, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hands, cleaning his face with his shirt afterwards. 

Lucas was naive to think he would be enough for Eliott and that things would be different from what they were with Lucille. Maybe he got it all wrong and Eliott is happier when single or when he’s able to have whoever he wants, whenever he wants to. 

And Lucas can’t do that, he’s too jealous and too insecure to be in an open relationship. He can’t seem to stop crying, a blue light enlightens his room, Eliott is calling but Lucas doesn’t answer, too riled up, he would probably say things he would regret. 

He doesn’t know what to do, would much rather not have to see Eliott or Mika again any time soon, but it’s the middle of the night, he can’t just leave. Where he would go? Manon is not home, Yann is probably sleeping and he wouldn’t have the courage to bother anyone else with his relationship drama. 

So he lets his feelings take over again, sitting on the floor, hiding his face on his hands. He can feel his heart shattering and once he cried everything he could, his walls start to build around him again.

Lucas feels tired, his body aching from crying for way too long. It’s just a stupid picture! He gets up from the floor, hoping to throw himself in bed and fall asleep for days, lock himself from the outside world. 

But before he can reach his bed, he hears loud voices. Eliott and Mika are back. Mika is screaming his name and Lucas feels like punching him, not looking at his face ever again. They both barge in to the bedroom, Mika calling for Lucas again, almost running into him, standing in the middle of his room. 

“Lucas!! Hi, baby!” He tries to hug him, but Lucas steps back. Eliott looks wasted and full of guilt and Lucas feels like punching him too. 

“Can you leave me alone?” He has to gather all his strength to form a single question, Eliott takes a step forward, in front of Mika. 

“Lucas...”

“Can you leave me alone?” He raises his voice, stepping forward too, ready to throw both of them out of his bedroom. 

“It was a joke!! Nothing happened!” Mika explains loudly, laughing but he’s the only one. 

“I DON`T GIVE A SHIT, MIKA!” 

Eliott takes another step forward, putting a hand on Lucas’ chest, kind of trying to calm him down, kind of trying to stop him from getting closer to Mika. 

“Nothing happened, Lucas. I swear...” 

“It was more than fucking enough, Eliott!” He nearly screams again, looking at the boy in front of him, trying not to cry again. “You’re such a fucking idiot!” 

Lucas can feel Eliott’s hand shaking on his chest but he can’t bring himself to care now. 

“We are done, Eliott. I can’t do this.”

“No, no, no, we’re not done, Lucas.”

“Yes, we fucking are.” He means it, says every word looking into Eliott’s perfect eyes. 

“Baby, we were just kidding, trying to make my friends’ boyfriend jealous.” Mika doesn’t seem to realize the seriousness of the situation, Eliott ignores him completely, freaking out inside, thinking that he’ll loose the man of his life because of a stupid joke. 

“Yeah, it worked out perfectly, didn’t it?” Lucas looks at him and Eliott can’t have this anymore, he needs to talk to Lucas, so he turns around, trying to walk Mika out of the room. 

“Get out, Mika, now. We need to talk.” 

“We don’t have anything to talk about, Eliott.” Lucas answers, but he ignores, closing the door as soon as Mika is out, locking the door. 

“We do, I won’t let you break up with me over some shit like that.” 

“It’s not “some shit”. You kissed someone else, posted all over the fucking internet and expect me to be fine with it?” 

“I didn’t kiss him, Lucas!!! I swear! Nothing happened. It was a stupid photo and as soon as I saw it I asked Mika to delete it.” 

“So if Mika hadn’t posted it, I would have never known, even better.” 

“No, that’s not it! He sent all the pictures to you!” 

Lucas can’t hold back the tears, he’s so angry he can’t even think straight.

“I hate you so much right now, Eliott!” 

Eliott is holding back his tears, desperate, holding Lucas’ face and trying to kiss him, put some sense back into his head, show him what they have and how Lucas doesn’t hate him but he pushes Eliott’s hands off of his face. 

“Please, Lucas, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would get this upset.”

“I don’t care right now. I’m going to bed.” 

“Ok...” Eliott doesn’t seem to understand, going around the bed to his side. 

“No, you’re not sleeping here. Go cuddle Mika for all I care, I don’t want you here.” 

Lucas is a lot shorter, but he doesn’t act like it, pushing Eliott out of his room. The other one is still in shock (and too drunk) to fight back, when Lucas finally stops pushing him, he tries to turn around and stop him, but it’s too late, Lucas slammed the door on his face and he can hear him locking it from inside. 

[milliyum]

I was tagged by no one but im bored keeek

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people. (not doing that bucko)

THE LAST: 1. Drink: Black coffee with two sugars 2. Phone call: my mom yesterday 3. Text message: 4am to all my friends bc i’m boooored 4. Song you listened to: Carly Rae Jepsen - Cut to the feeling 5. Time you cried: idk? i forget

HAVE YOU: 6. Dated someone twice: i’ve only dated one person 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: never kissed anyone (if you meant by lips) 8. Been cheated on: i don’t think so? 9. Lost someone special: nah 10. Been depressed: tbh 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: i’ve gotten drunk but didn’t throw up

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14: currently: Yellow, Marine blue and burgendy red

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: yeah and tbh they’re amazing and supportive! 16. Fallen out of love: yup, again once. 17. Laughed until you cried: yupp 18. Found out someone was talking about you: positively and negatively ye 19. Met someone who changed you: a lot of my new friends have changed me for the better and i’m grateful tbh! 20. Found out who your friends are: well tbh it’s just correcting your mistakes and seeing who’s toxic and not? idk? 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: what?how?

GENERAL: 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: a lot bc i don’t just follow anyone? 23. Do you have any pets: a Jack Russel named Iggy ! 24. Do you want to change your name: yupp, my dead name is Léa (i’ve always hated it) but i’d want to be called Eliott! 25. What did you do for your last Birthday: idk, probably eat cake 26. What time did you wake up: 3 am (k i l l    m e) 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: sent my last message to my cousin before going to bed 28. Name something you can’t wait for: Daddy Simulator and the next Taz ep 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: now, we’re listening to Little Mix 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: be born a toll boy 31. What are you listening right now: Little Mix - Hair 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: no? idk? does Thomas count?? 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: fandoms 34. Most visited Website: Tumblr, Youtube and Tapas

LOST QUESTIONS. I JUST PUT IN RANDOM INFO ABOUT ME 35. Mole/s: i have a parallelogram on my left cheek lmao and i also have two lined up moles on my little toe and i love it 36. Mark/s: i have stretch marks on my hips and scars on my legs and a lump scar on my ring finger bc i don’t write correctly  37. Childhood dream: i always wanted to be a violinist?

38. Haircolor: my natural h/c is dark brown but rn it’s dark brown with a bleached denim ombre

39. Long or short hair: i have shoulder length hair, rn i’m growing it out 40. Do you have a crush on someone: fictional ye, irl? nah (i’ve only had 6 kek) 41. What do you like about yourself: the fact that i’m loyal and put others before myself 42. Piercings: 2 ear lobe and my left ear had a cartilage one! rn i’m thinking of having a lip one? 43. Bloodtype: idk? i think it’s AB? 44. Nickname: Lee, Father, Satan, Daddy, Nerd 45. Relationship status: Single and not seeking a relationship 46. Zodiac: Leooooooo 47. Pronouns: They/Them

48. Favorite TV Show: Mr.Robot, Bob’s burgers, Rick and Morty, Steven Universe 49. Tattoos: None but i have some in mind for my 25th 50. Right or left hand: right even tho i wish i was ambidextrous  51. Surgery: just had my foot surgery yesterday, aka my first 52. Hair dyed in different color: i dyed my hair 10+ different things and still going strong (not like my denim dye kek) 53. Sport: i used to do skiing but rn none 55. Vacation: dream vakay? Australia 56. Pair of trainers: i have black converse

MORE GENERAL: (( is this my favs?)) 57. Eating: MOCHI!!!! 58. Drinking: idk pepis? 59. I’m about to: P R E  DUDE 61. Waiting for: the grim reaper to take me away 62. Want: for my future to be good 63. Get married: maybe? if i find someone ofc! (keeping my surname tho) 64. Career: Animation maybe?

WHICH IS BETTER 65. Hugs or kisses: hugs, mostly if i’m comfortable with you, i like long hugs 66. Lips or eyes: eyes are the window to the soul tbh 67. Shorter or taller: idk i like both and have had both friends in my life?  68. Older or younger: same, i had to redo a year so i was mostly with younger ppl, now i have both older and younger friends 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: i think any body type is nice really? 71. Sensitive or loud: i’m a quiet person irl (mostly in groups) so the chattier the better (except when i’m emotionally drained) 72. Hook up or relationship: relationships, i personally think hook ups are bad? idk (i probs thin this bc im ace) 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: i’m a bit of both so both?

HAVE YOU EVER: 74. Kissed a stranger: nah (except on the cheek bc that’s how you say hi) 75. Drank hard liquor: ye 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: fuck dude i always loose my glasses 77. Turned someone down: turn down for what? (heh) 78. Sex in the first date: never had sex (*cough* ace *cough*) 79. Broken someone’s heart: maybe? idk? 80. Had your heart broken: ye tbh, but i’m a tough cookie now 81. Been arrested: YOU’LL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE

82. Cried when someone died: my grandpa 5 years ago 83. Fallen for a friend:  6 times i think (i’m probably demi-romantic tbh)

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 84. Yourself: HAHHAHA good joke 85. Miracles: like destiny ye (but not romantic) 86. Love at first sight: nah (demi-romantics exist byo) 87. Santa Claus: nah 88. Kiss in the first date: nah 89. Angels: no but i won’t shit on someone who does

OTHER: 90. Current best friends name: i don’t have one bc of trust issues (trauma) and i let the friend tell me we’re best friends 91. Eye color: brown 92. Favorite movie: Deadpool, Happy Feet + The Book Of Life

I’ll tag @nieloxychen @kittenbloodcoffee @lil-pizza-hoe @vega-and-altair @the-anaverse @transbian-ahsoka and others if you wanna (i’m curious)

[choupichoups]

Press F (Instagram/College AU) Ch.4

Lucas swears he’s the absolute master of undetected stalking. Or: Eliott is instagram famous and Lucas is the disaster gay who accidentally likes his post.

Lucas puts a hand over his mouth, doing a piss poor job of pretending that he isn’t laughing and making goo goo eyes at the screen. Seated across from him, Daphne notices, but he hardly cares at this point. In a surprising turn of events, she’s the last of his friends to hold back from asking anything— Daphne’s practically a walking fuse about to blow and Lucas would rather it happen sooner than later.

“So!” Ah, there it is. “I’ve been meaning to ask.” 

He blinks away from his laptop, smiling at her as she works out what she wants to say. Daphne’s always so entertaining to watch whenever she gets excited over something. And she gets excited about a lot of things. So basically it’s just entertainment all around. 

“When were you gonna tell me that you’re friends with Eliott Demaury?” She fires it off so fast, Lucas wouldn’t have understood if he hadn’t already been expecting it. 

“It’s a recent thing.” He shrugs, trying for a discreet glance at the time. The closer it gets to 13h, the worse his jitters get, the harder it is to concentrate on anything else. “We just follow each other on instagram.” He has to meet Yann outside in five minutes so they can make it to the B building a little earlier. Lucas needs some time to psych himself up. 

“I see that. I didn’t know you’re like… the tagging kind of mutuals.”

“The… tagging kind?”

“There are levels of social media friendship!” Daphne sits up straighter, eyes widened like she can’t believe Lucas doesn’t know about this. “Some just follow each other, occasionally like posts,” she pauses, staring at him for a bit before, “you and him like everything from each other.”

He sputters, feeling called out. “And so?”

“And he tagged you in my post the other day, why?”

“I don’t… know?” What’s he supposed to say to that? It’s too long of a story and he doesn’t feel like telling it. Not to mention he doesn’t have time to tell it.

“Lucas, he doesn’t even follow me back. Why did he care about the fundraiser? You know what, he doesn’t really follow anyone back— how did you do it?” 

He feels a tiny bit overwhelmed with the barrage of questions so seeing Yann approaching close through the window behind her head is a god sent excuse to leave. “I really don’t know, Daphy, but I gotta go okay? Message me if you have trouble in anything else on the worksheet.”

“Oh, okay. Later!” 

“Good to go?” Yann peers down at him once outside and Lucas can only guess how nervous he must look when Yann raises both eyebrows in amusement. “Hey, think of it this way. It’s just a guy okay? Just a guy, Lucas.”

Lucas responds with a garbled noise that barely sounds human. Eliott isn’t just anything. “Sure.” 

“Don’t pass out now, I wouldn’t know how to explain that to him.”

“Shut up.”

Just a guy. 

There are quite a lot of students milling around the bridge, which does nothing to alleviate Lucas’ anxiousness. They walk close to the side, sticking by the lockers at Lucas’ prompting— he knows it doesn’t help him much. Lucas alone with his stature can probably sneak around, yes, but once Eliott spots the giant tree that is his best friend, it’s over for them. 

Funnily enough, it’s Lucas who sees Eliott first. 

“He’s there.” He stops Yann with a hand on his arm, half hiding behind him as he watches Eliott in all his beautiful, smiling glory. He’s surrounded by a group of people, as always. But this time it’s not his usual crew, so Lucas thinks it should feel less intimidating if he walks over to approach Eliott later when it hits 13h exact. 

He turns around, leaning his back against Yann’s. 

“So, do I stay here until you’re done giving yourself a pep talk or?”

“Yes, please.” 

There’s a screenshot on his phone with Eliott’s Thursday, B building at the bridge, 13h and he pulls it up, triple checking that he’s got the time right. Not that he really needs the confirmation, he’s memorized the message within the first minute of receiving it, but having the written proof makes him feel better.

Lucas number twenty has already run off, buying some McDonalds to soothe himself after being an utter failure. Lucas number fifteen is already talking to Eliott number fifteen, waiting until 13h be damned. 

Lucas number one is rooted to his spot, eyes remaining on the ground as he fiddles with the straps on his bag. God, okay, time’s moving way too fucking slow. He won’t look that much more eager if he goes now right? Seven minutes earlier doesn’t make a difference, really. It’s practically nothing, it can’t even be truly recognized as being too early—

Yann’s clearing his throat. 

There’s a shadow forming over Lucas.

“Hi,” a sweet, sweet voice greets him from above and Lucas might have jumped a little, lifting his head so fast he’s surprised his vision doesn’t tilt sideways. 

“Hello.” He hopes he speaks loud enough to reach Eliott, but that’s about all the vocabulary his brain supplies him with at the moment so it’s not like it matters. The sturdy support of Yann behind him disappears and Lucas barely resists the urge grab him back. Eliott’s smile is knee buckling but remembering the early morning conversation they had has him keeping his hands to himself. 

“Whatever happened to sneaking up on me, hm?” Eliott asks, smile warm, eyes warm, everything about him is so warm. 

Lucas takes too much time just looking at him, letting the silence go on for so long it should have gotten awkward but, through sheer force of will maybe, they manage to not make it so. A slow smile pulls at the corner of his lips, feeling a little bit of the tension lift when Eliott quirks an eyebrow, still waiting for an answer. “I didn’t…” His eyes wander off Eliott’s face, scrambling for something to say. “…recognize you. You’re wearing a different jacket.”

Eliott snorts, looking to the ceiling and then back down at Lucas. When their eyes meet, it sets off his laughter— actually turning around to lean on his knees type of laughter. The white-knuckled grip Eliott had on his bag strap loosens and he has to readjust the bag over his shoulder when it threatens to fall off.

Lucas watches him and his heart does a thing.

They stand there staring at each other even after their laughter tapers off into fond smiles. Eliott tilts his head, breathing out a final chuckle. 

“What?” Lucas asks, almost a whisper. From his peripheral view, he knows people have their eyes on them, a side effect of Eliott’s fame, perhaps. But he doesn’t pay them any mind.

“Nothing,” Eliott says, passing a hand over his lips before directing his gaze to the floor. “You just...” He shakes his head, starting to walk backwards as he mumbles something Lucas doesn’t catch. 

“What?” Lucas asks again, this time louder to cover the distance. 

“Nothing.” Eliott keeps on walking. “You coming?”

That’s a stupid question, what else is he supposed to do?

“Where are we going?” 

Eliott shrugs, “Wherever. You hungry?” 

“Sure.” 

His phone pings with a multitude of alerts and he thinks he knows exactly which group chat those are coming from. Putting his phone on silent is the best course of action to take at this point. He’ll deal with all the explaining later. 

He checks on Eliott’s post, rolling his eyes when he sees the response. “Stop.”

Eliott laughs that lovely laugh of his. Lucas just wants to bottle the sound up and keep it for himself forever.

“What time do you finish work?” 

They unfortunately had to cut their afternoon short when Lucas got called in to cover for an emergency shift at the cafe. Eliott swears it’s fine but Lucas still feels guilty about it, and more than a little disappointed. 

“Around 22h.”

“That late?”

“It’s not too bad.”

Eliott hums, hands shoved deep in his jacket pockets. "Can I wait for you?”

“Huh?” They stop walking once they’re within a few steps from the cafe.

“The original plan was to walk you home after this,” Eliott huffs out. “But now that’s been thwarted.”

“So you’re making plans by yourself, huh?” Lucas knows he’s got another dumb smile on his face but he can’t be bothered to hide it. “I’m not gonna let you wait here for 5 hours, Eliott.” 

“What if I want to?” 

Lucas bites his lip, looking up at the other boy’s stupid, gorgeous face. “Stop that,” he says softly. 

“You know, you keep telling me to stop,” Eliott steps closer, Lucas has to tip his head against the wall behind him to maintain eye contact. “I’m gonna start thinking you don’t like me if you’re not careful.” 

“Oh sorry, didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“You don’t sound very sorry.”

“No, I am, I’ll make up for it.” 

“Oh yeah?”

“Mhm.” Lucas digs around in his pockets. 

“How?” Eliott takes another step forward, tilting his head in that infuriatingly endearing way he does. Lucas keeps his mind off the fact that their toes are practically touching, doesn’t think about the air around him starting to smell like Eliott’s cologne with how close they’re standing. 

He whips out the two chocolate bars from his pockets and places them in between their faces. “Apology candy. They’re really good.”

Lucas can pinpoint the exact moment Eliott’s brain short-circuits and he can’t help the little laugh that escapes him at the thought of himself being capable of that effect.

“Fuck,” Eliott mumbles, stepping back with a laugh of his own. He grabs the chocolate bars from Lucas’ hand, shaking his head as he looks at them. “Okay,” he sighs. “I’ll forgive you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but only if you promise to see me again.”

That’s easy. “Okay.”

Eliott grins, eyes disappearing into half moon slits. “Okay?”

“Okay.” And then they stand there without moving. Lucas throws his head to the side, laughing at how ridiculous they’re acting. “Go home, Eliott.” He’s going to be late for work at the rate they’re going.

Eliott throws his hands up in surrender. “Message me when you get home, yeah?”

“Okay.”

“Bye, little hedgehog.” Eliott jogs away from Lucas’ half-hearted kick.

“Bye, weirdo,” he calls out and Eliott turns around to give him a dorky salut. 

Lucas' coworkers are stunned when he doesn’t make a single grumpy comment for the entirety of his shift.