Chapter 15 – To hookup, or not hookup?

The back of Tino's neck was starting to ache from craning up to kiss Berwald, and no doubt Berwald's shoulders were starting to cramp from stooping down to Tino's height for so long. Suddenly, their kiss was broken as Berwald slid his arms around Tino's waist and lifted him up, sitting him on the edge of his workbench.

"Ber, what are you doing!" Tino shrieked, though he was laughing, as Berwald nuzzled kisses against his neck and splayed his hands out across Tino's thighs as he sat in front of him.

This wasn't the first time that Tino had snuck into Berwald's workshop for a 'meeting' since they had kissed in the car two weeks ago. In fact, considering that Tino was the one who wanted to take things slowly, he'd probably need two hands to count how many times it had been. He just couldn't keep himself away.

"Love kissin' you." Berwald mumbled as Tino wrapped his arms around his shoulders to balance himself as he perched on the edge of the workbench and pulled him closer. Tino hummed and parted his lips a little wider as their kisses became messier. Berwald's hand was just beginning to inch up Tino's thigh when there was a loud knock on the door and the pair flung themselves apart, and Tino scrambled down from the workbench so quickly that he nearly fell over.

"Berwald? Do you have a minute?" It was Arthur, his voice unmistakable as he called from the other side of the door.

"Shit," Tino hissed as he flapped and clamped his hands against the side of his face in a moment of panic, throwing his gaze at Berwald, who muttered under his breath for him to hide. Getting down on all fours, Tino crawled under the workbench and Berwald tossed a dust sheet over it for good measure, making sure that Tino was hidden from sight underneath before he strode to the door.

Tino stayed as still as he could under the workbench as he heard Berwald open the door, trying to suppress his amusement while feeling somewhat like a giddy teenager.

"Arthur. What can I do for ya?" Berwald said.

"Oh… um, are you quite alright, Berwald? You're rather red in the face." Arthur asked, his voice laced with slight concern and Tino had to bite down on his tongue now to stop himself from laughing.

"Yeah, fine. Was just… lifting some things."

There was a pause, and Arthur obviously wasn't really buying Berwald's little white lie, but he just cleared his throat and carried on.

"Well, the reason I'm here is that we're organising the staffing schedule for Fall Fashion week, and Ludwig mentioned that you had the week of the 1st of September booked off as leave. I suppose what I'm trying to ask is if there is any chance we might be able to move that to the following week? We need you on the 4th to assist putting the runway together, you see."

Another pause, and Tino heard Berwald audibly sigh.

"Can do, but I still need the 2nd off." He said, finally, and Arthur must have been about to protest as Berwald firmly added, "It's my son's birthday."

The smirk that was currently on Tino's lips as he listened from under the workbench suddenly disappeared at the mention of Berwald's son. As much as he wanted to be okay with it, he was finding it difficult to get his head around that the person he liked had a child.

"Ah, I see." Arthur laughed a little awkwardly, "Well, I can't argue with that."

Berwald just hummed in response.

"Are you sure you're alright with that then? I'll tell Ludwig you're happy to only have the 2nd off for that week?"

"Suppose so." Was all Berwald said, and Tino could tell that he was a little irritated.

Arthur didn't stick around much longer after that, and Berwald closed the door again once he'd left.

"You can come out now." Berwald said as he took the sheet from the workbench and reached underneath, taking Tino's hand in his and gently helping him off the floor. Once he was up off the floor, Tino didn't let go of Berwald's hand and instead squeezed it in his grasp.

"Why didn't you say no?" he said, looking up at Berwald, "It's only April, surely they can make other plans before September!"

Berwald just shook his head and strained a smile, casting his gaze to his hand as Tino clasped it.

"Nah, no point kicking up a fuss."

Although Tino felt bad for Berwald, he couldn't help but agree. Sometimes it was easier to just go with the flow sometimes at ICON. There was always something going on, and plans changed like the wind, as Tino would know from experience as he constantly had to re-work Francis's schedule. Letting go of Berwald's hand, Tino busied himself with dusting off his trousers that had sawdust on them from kneeling on the floor.

"So, how old will he be then?" he asked as casually as he could.

"Who? Peter? He'll be 6." Berwald replied a little hesitantly, and Tino almost regretted asking. Tino was 6 years younger than Berwald, meaning that when Peter was born Tino would have only been 19. Although of course that didn't really matter too much as they had met now at 25 and 31, but something about the thought made Tino grow anxious.

He didn't really know what to say in response so he just smiled as he smoothed his hair.

"How nice. Well, I'd best be getting back to my desk..."

Tino said, and Berwald just nodded. He could have kicked himself for being so awkward and ruining the good feelings he felt only moments ago.

"See you later, Ber." He said as he stood up on his tiptoes to place a kiss on Berwald's cheek.

For the rest of the afternoon Tino focused on his work, trying not to think about Berwald at all. At lunch, he'd talked with Christina about the fact that Berwald had a son, and she'd simply told him that he was stupid for trying to ignore it and pretend that Peter didn't exist. In some ways Tino knew she was right, but two things were bothering him. If he were to end up in a relationship with Berwald, would Peter just be a constant reminder of Berwald's past regrets? And even more worrying, would Peter even like him?

He walked around the office deep in thought as he took the stack of mail to sort through from the inbox at reception, only really rousing from his thoughts when he was thumbing through the mail and noticed that one of them was addressed to someone he didn't recognise.

'Mr Jens Densen…' Tino mumbled to himself under his breath as he read over the name.

"Hey, Michelle?" he said, turning to look over his shoulder at her as she sat typing on her computer, "Do you know who Jens Densen is? There's a letter for them." He held it up and waved it at her in his hand.

Michelle shrugged, "No, never heard of them. Sorry!"

Tino nodded and said a quick thanks before making his way back to his desk. He put the wad of mail down, but still kept the letter with the unknown recipient in his hand. Glancing to Francis in his office, he saw that he was at his desk with his head lowered over some papers, pen in hand. It wasn't a matter of much importance, this letter, and it was probably just meant for someone on another floor, but Tino's curiosity got the better of him as he approached the office and knocked twice on the glass door before opening it, popping his head inside.

"Francis, sorry to bother, I just have a quick question."

Francis looked up from his desk and smiled at Tino, "Of course, what is it?"

Stepping further into the room, Tino held up the letter again,

"I was just going through the mail and this letter is in there addressed to a Jens Densen? I was just wondering if you knew who that was." He said, and Francis put his pen down.

"Ah, yes I do know who that is. Here, give it to me and I'll make sure it gets to them." Francis held out his hand and Tino crossed the room to give him the letter. "Thank you for bringing this to me, Tino." He said with another smile as he set the letter down then laced his fingers together, setting his hands on the desk.

"Oh, no problem! I thought you would know. I'm glad I asked!" Tino said, though slightly disappointed that he hadn't ended up getting to go on a wild goose chase to find the recipient to take his mind off Berwald. Some of the disappointment must have shown either in his words or his facial expression, because Francis's brows furrowed a little,

"Everything okay, Tino?"

"Yes! Everything is fine! I'm just thinking about stuff. Erm, I mean, stuff, as in my job! I love my job. Bye Francis!" Tino spluttered as he hurried for door leaving Francis blinking in confusion after him.

His face was bright red as he left Francis's office as he walked back to his desk. Christina had now arrived at her desk and was smirking at him.

"Tino, sweetheart, you gotta do something about this crush you have on our resident handsome set designer. And I don't mean continuing to sneak into his workshop for a quick hookup." She said as she rested her chin in her palm and her eyes slid over Tino as she watched him sit down.

"It's not a hookup!" Tino cried, then clamped a hand over his mouth as his voice came out louder than he would have liked.

"I just feel… weird, I don't know. I never felt this way about Marcus or any of my exes." He swivelled a little in his chair as he spoke.

"Now, I would normally tell you to not listen to me when it comes to relationship advice, but I think you're reading too much into it." Christina said, matter-of-fact.

"But aren't ya glad that you've found out about Peter now rather than later? At least you know what you're getting yourself into. Ox obviously likes you enough to trust telling you about his son, 'cause hell I've worked with the guy for years and none of us knew. Maybe you should trust him a little."

She finished with a shrug and turned her attention back to her computer. Tino stared at her for a moment before sighing and starting to sort through the rest of the mail. Deep down, Tino knew she was right. He was interested in Berwald, he knew that much, and he was quickly developing feelings for him too. How hard could it be to get used to a little 6 year old?

Later that evening, Tino was sat on the couch talking back and forth to Lukas as he clattered around in the kitchen, opening and closing cupboards as he made up a shopping list.
"Is there anything you want?" Lukas asked, walking out of the kitchen and passing the list and a pen to Tino over the back of the couch. Tino took it and scribbled a couple of items on the bottom, and Lukas laughed to himself when he read over Tino's requests as he handed him back the list.

"Candy and frozen pizza. I should have known." he said, and Tino winked at him.

Putting the list down on the coffee table for a moment, Lukas left the living room and went to his room, closing the door behind him. He picked his phone up from where it was charging on the nightstand and sat down on the bed to read the text message on the screen.

'I'll be there at 7 and grab a booth for us. See u soon! – M'

He let his eyes wander over the words on the screen for a moment before sighing and standing up again to open his wardrobe. He and Matthias had been texting back and forth for a couple of weeks now, and Lukas wasn't entirely sure how it had happened but Matthias had ended up convincing him to meet him for a couple of drinks. It wasn't a date, Lukas was sure of that, and he decided to do his grocery shopping today as an excuse not only not to drink alcohol as he was driving, but also as a reason to not stay too long.

There was something about Matthias that Lukas felt drawn to, however. He didn't really have any friends besides Tino, and although it was kind of odd how they had started talking, Lukas has gotten used to Matthias's texts now as part of his daily routine and would look forward to when his name would flash up on his phone screen. He had never really been one for actively seeking out friendships or relationships with people and preferred to meet others organically through work or college. But the fact that Lukas worked by himself and rarely interacted with anyone besides his brother and his best friend meant that these organic meetings didn't really happen anymore. Now that Tino had started working at ICON he'd made even more friends who he talked about often, Lukas had felt lonelier than ever.

He checked the time at the top of his phone screen, 6:52pm, before he opened the message and typed out a reply.

'I'll be 20 minutes.'

After he sent the message he tossed his phone onto the bed and stood up, opening up his wardrobe. What should he wear? He knew he was over thinking this, but he didn't want to appear either too over or under dressed. After a few minutes of picking out articles of clothing then putting them back again, in the end he went for a smart, black turtle neck sweater and his favourite jeans. Changing out of his t-shirt and slacks, he tucked his sweater into his jeans and finished with the nice designer belt that Tino had swiped for him recently that was left over from a fashion shoot at work. Standing in front of the full length mirror, Lukas was confident with his outfit and dusted a bit of lint from the front of his sweater.

Grabbing his phone off the bed and shoving it in his back pocket he stopped and hesitated in front of his dresser on the way out of his bedroom before spritzing a little of the expensive cologne that he liked to save for special occasions across his neck for good measure.

When he stepped out of his room and back into the living room to pick up the shopping list and grab his car keys, Emil had emerged from the bathroom, his hair wet from the shower, and was sat playing Sims with Tino. He took one look at Lukas and raised an eyebrow.

"Why have you changed into your best sweater and jeans just to go to the store?" Emil said, causing Tino to look up from the game and he too stared at Lukas.

Lukas sighed inwardly. His brother was too perceptive for his own good sometimes. Either that, or Lukas was too predictable.

"I spilt some coffee on my t-shirt and this was the first thing I pulled out of the wardrobe." He said, fiddling with his hairpin, debating whether or not to take it out.

"Right. So you just happened to pull your favourite outfit from the wardrobe and what, you just threw on your new designer belt for the fun of it? Lukas I'm not dumb. Where are you going?" Emil questioned, standing up and walking over to Lukas, an amused smirk on his face as he clearly enjoyed the sight of Lukas turning pink and fidgeting before him. But Lukas didn't give in.

"I just felt like wearin' it, okay? What are you, the fashion police?" Lukas huffed as he fiddled with his car keys.

"Well I think you look nice. As long as you come back with my candy and pizza I don't care where else you go." Tino said with a shrug as he returned his attention to the Sims game, putting the ladders back in the pool while Emil wasn't looking.

"Thank you Tino." Lukas looked at Emil and rolled his eyes, and Emil poked his tongue out at his brother before turning on his heel and flopping back down onto the couch.

Thankful that the attention was off him, Lukas walked to the door and put his shoes on. He took one last look at himself in the mirror in the hallway, then took his hairpin out and set it down on the side table by the shoe rack. Running a hand through his hair he played around with and fluffed up the loose curls for a moment. Although he liked wearing the pin to keep his hair somewhat out of his face, he felt more confident and attractive with it loose.

"I'm going now," Lukas said as he opened the front door, raising his voice a little to be heard from the living room.

"Have fun at the grocery store!" Emil called back, his words dripping with sarcasm, and Lukas smiled to himself and shook his head as left, closing the door gently behind him.

The music in the bar was a little louder than Lukas would've liked, and it was surprisingly busy for a Thursday night. He squeezed past a couple who stood talking in the doorway and looked around for an unmistakable mass of ginger hair. His palms were already becoming clammy as he pushed through the crowd at the bar and he was beginning to regret coming when finally he spotted Matthias in the far booth looking out of the window with a half empty beer as well as a full one on the table in front of him.
He stood up quickly when he spotted Lukas approaching with a stupid grin on his face, the untouched beer spilling over the side of the pint glass a little as he bumped the table in doing so.

"Wow, you look great. And you actually came." He said, eyes quickly running over Lukas, and Lukas raised an eyebrow as he slid into the booth opposite Matthias.

"You thought I wouldn't?"

Matthias laughed as he sat back down again and slid the beer across the table.

"I guess I kinda did, yeah." His grin turned sheepish, "Here. I got this for ya."

Lukas looked from the beer, to Matthias's face, and back to the beer again. He didn't have the heart to refuse the drink, though mentally scolded himself for it as he was driving and decided that he would only drink half. He took the beer in his hand and held it a couple of inches off the table and Matthias did the same as they clinked their glasses together.

"Well, cheers!" Matthias said before taking a large swig, and Lukas just sipped the foam from the top.

The two engaged in small talk for a while, Matthias asking Lukas about the bookshop and how it had been going since the signing, and then it was Lukas's turn to ask about Matthias and the café. As his pint glass began to empty past the halfway point, learned that Matthias had worked there a lot longer than he thought, and that he was normally kitchen staff rather than a waiter.

"You're gonna cringe at this, but I'm not actually a waiter at all. My buddy Louis owns the café and I'm just the cook," Matthias paused and downed the rest of his beer somewhat nervously, "and I've seen you come in a lot, always ordering the same thing. I mean I would know 'cause I make it every time. So the last time you came in, I wanted to talk to you, so I pretended to be the waiter." He finished with an awkward laugh and avoided Lukas's eye, instead staring into the dregs at the bottom of his now empty pint glass.

Lukas was stunned, and now he took a long sip from his glass, not really noticing that it was nearly empty. His heart was hammering in his chest and he couldn't quite believe what Matthias had said. After a couple more sips, he put the glass down and tucked his hair behind his ear and composed himself.

"I did wonder how my food arrived so quickly that day." He said with a small smirk, and Matthias turned beetroot red.

Before he knew it, Lukas's glass was empty and he had given Matthias a 10 from his wallet and sent him to get two more pints from the bar. While he was alone he sat and thought for a moment, staring absentmindedly at the people stood laughing together in the smoking area just outside the window. The whole time he and Matthias had been texting he hadn't really let on at all that he liked Lukas, as in like liked him, but Lukas wasn't stupid. The way he looked just then as he confessed that he'd noticed Lukas and waited for an opportunity just to talk to him was obvious enough. It was enough to send his stomach churning with anxiety, and yet he couldn't seem to bring himself to think about leaving or putting an end to Matthias's crush on him.

"Here we are!" Matthias announced as he returned to the table and set the drinks down and Lukas jumped a little as he was quickly removed from his thoughts. Dropping the change on the table, Matthias slid it across the table to Lukas along with the beer. As Lukas took the change from the table and went to put in his jean pocket he felt his phone vibrate against his hand. Pulling it out and swapping it for the change he held it low under the table and unlocked it.

'Lukas it's 8:30 and you've been gone over an hour and a half. Where are you? Text me back xx' It was Tino.

Glancing up at Matthias for a moment, Lukas looked at him through his bangs that had fell over his face before typing out a reply,

'I think I'm on a date. Have dinner without me, be home later. x'