Title: Lunch Time
Pairing: Ulrich Stern/William Dunbar
Tags: Romance, Angst, Fluff, Lunch, light Dom/sub, Established Relationship, Episode: s05e117 Mutiny, Top!Ulrich, Dom!Ulrich, Bottom!William, sub!William,
Summary: Ulrich and William have lunch outside.
BETA: TheSupernova
Odd and Ulrich had decided to eat lunch at one of the outdoor tables, since the weather was so good. The afternoon was cloudless and blue, the sun shining brightly down upon them.
"So…" Odd began. "How often do you punish him?"
Ulrich gagged on his food, taking a large swig of water to prevent from choking.
"Please tell me where that came from, why you would want to know and—more importantly—why I should tell you?" Ulrich said, suspiciously.
"Well, I—"
"Think very carefully about what you say next." William said from behind Odd.
Odd gulped.
"Ah…. Then again, it's none of my business, is it? Of course not," he said. "Oh, will you look at the time. Apparently, I have somewhere to be now so…. Bye!"
William smiled, shaking his head as Odd scurried off. "He does have a point though."
"Odd?" Ulrich said, surprised. "About what? The supposed punishments I should be handing down to you?"
William sat across from Ulrich, set his tray of French fries down, and began poking at them with his fork. "I mean, we still fight and argue, right? And then that time with Laura…"
Ulrich stopped mid-bite.
"Okay, lets take those one at a time," he said calmly, putting his utensil down. Ulrich waited until he had William's full attention.
"One," Ulrich pointed at William, "if I wanted a submissive who is always subservient to me, I may as well have opted for a slave instead. We have the bare minimum of rules at school, and don't forget. I'm not just your Dominant. I'm dating you and I like you for you."
William nodded. "Two, then. Didn't I make a mistake when I followed Laura to Lyoko?"
Ulrich sat back.
"Well, yeah, there were many reasons why you shouldn't have done what you did," Ulrich said. "But you are part of our group. We shouldn't have acted the way to we did to you. Brushing you off like that, we were at fault too."
"But—"
"No." Ulrich said. "I know you. Despite your tough façade, Aelita had it right when she said you can be sensitive sometimes, and on edge."
"Mmm," William replied. He stabbed some fries and twirled them around in some ketchup before scarfing them down.
Coming from anyone else, Ulrich knew William might have taken offense to it, but Ulrich never teased William for his faults.
That's not to say he didn't tease William for almost everything else but he did keep himself in check when it came to that. After all, for William, prolonged teasing would do more harm than good. Things like that tended to take their toll—which is kind of what lead to William having gone off with Laura in the first place.
After a few minutes of silence, Ulrich nudged William with his foot.
"What's really bothering you?" he asked.
"I'm wondering why Aelita's not more upset that I was going to use the virus to destroy X.A.N.A. before the group came into full agreement," William admitted.
Ulrich sighed. William could be so melancholy on occasion, which Ulrich found adorable.
"Because," Ulrich said, "There's no use dwelling on what may have happened. The virus was never deployed, but that's not the lesson I took away from this experience."
"Oh?" William asked.
"I learned who my friends were. You never intended to hurt us—you apologized. Laura did not. She would betray us again if it furthered her ends. But more importantly, you learned that the Lyoko Warriors will always be there to save you. We are your true friends."
Ulrich's phone chirped. He flipped through his phone while William picked at the last of his fries.
"What is it?" William asked. "I thought you had the whole lunch period free."
Ulrich shook his head. "Don't sulk, it's just my alarm to remind me that I'm late for lunch with you."
"Well, that's fine then," William said, taking a sip of his water.
Ulrich shook his head and went back to eating.
No X.A.N.A., no distractions—just lunch, with the only person in the school that mattered—William.