Boy Meets Lion

Summary: They agreed to keep their private lives private. That was easier said than done, damn that little blonde lion...

A/N: I have so many Lucaya moments in my head I didn't even know where to begin... but this one in particular took hold of me and wouldn't let go. Once it popped into my head I couldn't get it out until I wrote it down. So I started outlining it on my phone while I was waiting for the bus and had it all mapped out before I got home...

It's cute, cliché and I was grinning so much while I was writing this (in the library, I had to keep myself from giggling in glee as I wrote it) that I'm pretty sure people thought I was mad. But I had lots of fun writing it and I hope you guys like it just as much.

I also hope you don't mind that it's not quite like the last two chapters, but with such a big cast list for this, it was torture trying to separate their voices. And, as it turn out, this is quite possibly the longest one shot I have ever written, so forgive the length, but I just couldn't help myself. Once the story started flowing, it was out of my hands.

So, yeah... Enjoy!

She instigated the game. But he didn't just followed her lead, sometimes he took a leap forward that had her vying to catch up. That was how they worked, a natural push and pull, a back and forth, a give and take. And they definitely gave as good as they got... in all aspects of their relationship.

So when one wanted things slow, they went slow. Sensual? Sure. Loving? Of course. Caring? You got it.

And when one (or both) needed something a little more, a way to release the stress and pressures of the day...

Well, the words "Animal Planet" came to mind.

Which is why he was stuck in this situation now.

Because someone liked to dig in their claws a little too deep (not that he necessarily minded) and he would rather keep their personal life, well, personal.

'Good luck with that', said the suspiciously smug voice that had taken up residence in his head.

He scowled.

Zay, who had been running his mouth about something or other, had slowed to a stop as they turned the corner of the hallway and turned to him.

"Hello? Earth to Lucas?"

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he refocused his attention on his friend.

"Sorry. What'd you say?"

Said friend sighed in dramatic exasperation and shook his head. "Never mind, it can wait..." He could see Zay studying him for a split second trying to find out why he'd zoned out in the first place, before giving up and deciding to head to class. "See you at lunch."

And that was when things started to go south.

Zay gave him a parting pat on the shoulder...

And he winced.

In an instant, he could see the concern on Zay's face. He knew what was coming. But that didn't stop him from hoping against hope that it wouldn't.

"You okay, man?"

And there it was.

He couldn't tell him the truth. He'd never let him live it down. He had to lie and he had to lie now.

And in the split second before Zay started to narrow his eyes in suspicion, his mind scrambled for a plausible explanation, any explanation really, just as long as it wasn't the truth...

"I went to the batting cages yesterday and got distracted... ball got me pretty good." His hand went up to rub at his injured shoulder to sell the story.

Now it was Zay's turn to wince, only his was out of sympathy. "Ouch. Sorry."

He turned the corners of his lips up into an understanding smile and gave a small shrug. "You didn't know. See you later?"

"Yeah." Zay paused for a second to look him over. "Y'sure you're all right?"

He tried to keep his voice and his poker face steady as he answered. "I'm sure."

Finally, Zay nodded. "Okay..." He turned around and left.

He waited until Zay was out of sight before he let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

And then he looked at the stats.

Convincing Zay was good. If he'd bought the story, then he'd pass it around to the others and he just might get out of this with his pride intact.

'Good luck keeping up your story in the locker room with Zay and Farkle.'

He was doomed.

The smug little voice was right. In a couple of periods he would have gym with the guys. And there was no way he could hide the truth from Farkle and Zay then.

He groaned and mentally cursed the original owner of the smug little voice that had created this mess (not that he had objected much, or at all, at the time) as he went off to class.

How the hell was he gonna get out of this?

Two periods of class later and he still didn't have an answer.

He trudged through the hallways towards the gym and the locker rooms, as if the extra few seconds would somehow yield a solution to the problem.

They didn't.

If he grabbed his clothes and changed in a bathroom stall, Zay would be suspicious. If he lagged behind until the locker room cleared out before changing, Zay and Farkle would just stay behind to wait for him.

And why did today, of all days, have to be the day his last period teacher didn't have time to answer questions and write out late passes as the class was leaving because he had a staff meeting to go to and didn't want to be late.

There was no way out…

He paused in front of the locker room doors, his hand on the handle. He would think of something. He would think of something…

He had to.

He took in a breath…

And opened the door.

He could've kissed Farkle. He really could have.

The genius had to go and ask his friends a question about one of their classes as he sat on the bench and retied his laces. Lucas let out a small breath of relief at his luck and quickly turned his back towards the lockers to answer his friend as he changed his shirt.

It wasn't nearly as foolproof as he'd like as Zay was standing on his other side (why, oh, why did he get the locker between them?) but if he angled it just right, he could use his casual countenance to lull them into believing that it was just a regular day and that nothing out of the ordinary was going on with him (or his back). And they wouldn't question it because—aside from the "batting cages incident"—there was no reason to suspect that everything wasn't normal or that something was amiss.

Still, he couldn't change fast enough.

Or, rather, he didn't.

He was reminded of a question Mr. Matthews once asked.

'How do you hide something in plain sight?'

Not very well apparently.

Because Farkle had tied his shoes faster than he changed his shirt and leapt up to close his locker faster than he had time to process that his plan was about to fall to pieces and to move...

"Whoa, what happened to your back?"

D-U-C-K. Spelled with a capital F.

"Batting accident." Zay answered on autopilot as he rifled through his locker.

Let it go, let it go, let it...

"What are you talking about? It looks like he got mauled by a lion."

Zay's head came up.

Oh, no...

This was just like the 'what?' moment back in Texas when Maya first heard Cletus say 'ha-hurr'. And just like then, nothing good could come of this moment.

There was no way out…

He didn't even protest when Farkle turned him around so that Zay could see the truth.

The most prominent mark was on his shoulder, the one Zay had clapped earlier, but there were similar marks, both fresh and still healing, all up and down his back.

He didn't have to see him to know that Zay's wheels were turning at lightning speed, quickly putting two and two together.

A pitcher wouldn't be in the batting cages.

And getting hit by a ball definitely wouldn't leave scratch marks…

No…

And considering that he had even bothered to lie about them in the first place led to only one conclusion.

One that Zay and his spreading grin had apparently come to.

"He did."

So much for keeping his private life private.

He could practically feel the smug little voice grinning with Zay...

And at Farkle's confused "I don't get it," the grins got bigger.

Zay went over to their perplexed friend, swinging an arm over his shoulder and whispering something in his ear.

He could see Farkle's eyes widen out of the corner of his eye while he finished changing and closed his locker. And as he made to leave the locker room he heard,

"Oh! I just got a mental picture... and there goes my innocence."

The smug little voice laughed.

It was inevitable of course that, after the initial awakening, his friends start to notice the signs more and more. And it didn't help that this kind of thing kept happening because a certain lioness was downright insatiable. So when a sore and exhausted Lucas showed up to lunch one day, a part of one of the "marks" peeking over the edge of his collar, Zay's response was also inevitable.

Waiting until the girls had finished grabbing their lunch and joined them, Zay casually asked with a Cheshire grin, "So, what happened this time?"

The entire table turned to look at him sans Farkle—because he already knew where this was going and was doing his best to look anywhere but at him.

The menace responsible for all of this in the first place even looked at him with concern.

Damn it all...

He gave up.

They were all bound to find out in one way or another so he might as well just accept it and move on.

There were no secrets amongst the group.

And so, in an overdramatic display he was sure Zay himself would be proud of, he hung his head in shame and sighed,

"I got mauled by a lion..."

Zay laughed at his answer, a grin the size of Texas on his face, while Farkle snorted and shook his head.

He rolled his eyes at his so-called friends and dared a peek at his own personal menace.

And she didn't look contrite one bit.

Instead, she simply raised an eyebrow at him, poker face perfectly in place until...

"I don't get it."

Riley, poor, dear, innocent Riley looked between her friends, confused.

And instead of looking even the least bit embarrassed at the fact that she would now have to explain exactly what that meant to Riley, he looked on with internal horror as a self-satisfied and positively sinful smirk spread across her face.

Oh, no...

He knew what that meant.

She wasn't just going to get him back.

She was going to make him pay her back.

'So much for catching up on your sleep tonight, Ranger Rick...' purred the voice.

He groaned internally.

His past in Texas must be catching up with him...

Because there was no rest for the wicked.

A/N: Hope you liked it.

So, how hard must they have been going at it for her short-as-not-to-get-paint-underneath nails to leave marks?

I regret nothing... ;)