Chapter 5: Lukas and Mathias

July 7th, 2014

Lukas sat at the dining table in his small apartment around 2 in the morning. The TV was on in the adjacent room, on low volume, airing a show that Lukas didn't know, but he merely listened in on it for the time being. Instead of staring at the screen, he stared at the wall; bored and tired.

He was waiting for a call, and he wasn't going to bed until he got it.

Adulthood was in the out-of-the-question future for 6 year old Lukas back when he was in the first grade, sitting in a class full of strangers on the first day of school. His only friend, Tino, was unfortunately put in a different class that year. How he was going to pull through that year without him was the only thing about the future that was on his mind at the time.

Then came Mathias Køhler, who was one of those kids Lukas would usually ignore. He was a pretty boy who most of the other students, even from other classes, knew. He was the son of the high school algebra teacher and a college physics teacher, and most of the teachers knew him already. Lukas had heard of him before, girls were talking about how cute he was, but he didn't acknowledge the name nor did he care to see the face.

During recess, Lukas sat alone and watched a couple of bees move from flower to flower in front of him. He didn't really care to watch them; he didn't have anything else to do. He dazed while someone moved up behind you.

"I can pick up one of those bees without it stinging me," Mathias was so close, Lukas didn't have to turn his head to see him. "Just watch,"

"I don't think that's a good idea," it was too late; Mathias was already reaching for one of the bees. In just a few seconds, he was stung on the arm.

"Ow!" Mathias shouted, swatting away the bee. He reached for his arm when Lukas grabbed his hand.

"Hold still, you have to scratch it off," Lukas took his arm and scraped the stinger off. "There."

"Wow, thanks! Why do you have to scratch it off?"

"You can't pinch it off, or else you squeeze more poison into your body." Mathias was now clutching his arm. "You're not allergic, are you?"

"I don't know, but it really hurts," He looked closely at the red mark on his arm. "Do I have to go to the nurse?"

"Yes,"

"I don't wanna!" Mathias whined, Lukas took his arm and dragged him to the nurse. Fortunately, Mathias wasn't allergic, but unfortunately Lukas managed to sign a contract he never knew he was signing that day; he had become Mathias Køhler's best friend.

But they did become close very quickly, as expected. They were opposites, and their different personalities seemed to just click.

Frankly, he would be lying if he said Mathias wasn't his best friend. He could go on and on how he and Tino got along much better, and how he could tolerate Nathan more than him, but he couldn't lie to himself. The large old pink bunny that rested against his pillows that had obviously been loved to death said otherwise.

It was a silly gift that Mathias had given him in middle school. It smelled like the massive amount of axe body spray he had drenched himself with every day when he first received it.

And now that he thinks about it, it still does.

But that's what he slept by every night.

What he tossed up into the air over and over on sleepless nights.

And, of course, what he cried on when life was just too much at that moment.

He would also be lying if he said it was just because it was the softest object on his bed, or any other excuse he could think of quickly. He cared about it, and he cared about Mathias.

And if he didn't care about Mathias, he wouldn't have asked what was wrong when he noticed his off mood that day.

It was break time, and Lukas had journeyed over Ivan and Matthew's bookstore to kill time and maybe find a good book to read when he had more free time. And, for some reason, the bookstore was cute. Lukas can't describe why to even himself, but he felt nostalgic when he was there.

He greeted Ivan when he came in and also said hello to his newly adopted baby Estelle, who was cutely sleeping snug in her father's arms. Matthew was at a shelf, restocking books. They exchanged a few words before Lukas began looking through the new release section, picking up the books that took his interested.

Mathias had wondered in, as he had rarely done in the past. Upon seeing him, it occurred to him that he hadn't heard him speak once that day.

Something was off. Lukas tapped his shoulder.

"Hey…" The word came out of softly and as if he was out of breath.

"What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something's wrong?" It was clearly an attempt to sound alright. Lukas brought his voice down to a whisper.

"You're moping, it's so obvious. You don't handle holding in emotions for too long, so please tell me." Harsh, that could have gone a little better. "Please,"

Mathias glanced around. "Gilbert is no longer staying with me,"

"Why not?" Lukas asked, confused.

"He decided running off with Roderich's wife was a much better idea than staying with me," Mathias sighed.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, a week ago, actually. He packed his bags, told me he was running away with Liz, and well, that's what he did. This doubles my rent, and as you know, business isn't the best during the summer. I don't know if I'm able to afford staying there without grabbing from my savings."

Lukas' mind was still set on Gilbert's situation. Did that kind of things happen in real life? Where is Roderich now? Is he okay? Lukas realized that wasn't important, at the moment at least, and Mathias was in a situation himself.

"Can't you ask your parents to maybe help you out?" he asked. He didn't know what else to tell him.

"They already helped me enough starting up my own business, it wouldn't set right." Mathias wiped the sweat from his forehead. "But I guess it's what I might have to do if it comes to it."

Lukas thought for a moment. He couldn't just let him off without offering him working advice or help. "I'll help you out if you're really that desperate."

"I couldn't ask you to do that,"

"No, you can. We both know that," Lukas looked him in the eyes. "I'm sure I could give you something,"

"I'll keep that in mind if I do need help. Thanks Lukas," Finally, a smile appeared on Mathias' face. "This is why you're my best friend."

That evening, after work, Lukas continued to think about Mathias' situation. He couldn't blame him for being upset; his roommate ditched him for a married woman, left him on his own while he wasn't doing well with his income, and he might have to depend even more on the people around him.

Lukas promised him he would help out, but what did he mean by that?

He had some extra money, but not much, considering that he had to pay his own rent.

He then remembered the empty room in his apartment. What an absurd thought; him and Mathias living together along with Emil? To him, that sounded like one of those weird plotlines for sitcoms.

But life was full of crazy plot twists. If his life was going to be a sitcom in order to help Mathias out, then so be it. He picked up his phone and dialed his number.

"Hey," Mathias said upon picking up.

"Hey," Lukas responded. "It's late but I think you need to start packing your bags."

"What? Why?"

"Because, if Gilbert abandoned you in your time-of-need, I can't just do the same. I have a perfectly good room right here. Call your landlord, make arrangements to leave, and get your ass over here."

There was a pause. "Huh?"

"You heard me."

Another pause. "I did, I just can't believe it. Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." No hesitation.

"How about Emil?"

"He'll be fine."

"Alright, why right now? Why tonight?"

"Because I don't want you to be on your own for another night." They both went quiet; Lukas could only hear Mathias' breathing from the other line.

"Let me get things arranged, and pack. It'll be awhile, but I'll come. Get some sleep, I'll call when I get near."

"That's fine,"

"Thank Lukas." Lukas heard him sniffle. Was he crying? "No, really, thank you. You're the greatest friend I've ever had and ever will have."

"No problem, Mathias,"

"I'll make it up to you someday."

"Hm, it's fine. Start packing, I'll be waiting." After that, they hung up. For such a rash action, Lukas didn't feel any sudden feelings of regrets that he was going through with this.

Lukas was dozing off when his phone went off. He took a second to come back into reality before he answered it.

"Hey, I'm almost there, you might as well come down," Mathias sounded even more tired than he was.

"Alright, how much stuff do you have?" He asked, exiting his apartment door.

"A lot, but it'll be okay if we carried only a few things in,"

"As long as your tooth brush is one of them," He saw Mathias pull up and he hung up his phone. He carefully went down the stairs and greeted Mathias as he got out of the car.

"Thank you, Lukas," He told him, his eyes drooping.

"It's no problem, Mathias," he yawned.

"Yes it is," Lukas pulled him into a much needed hug. After the other clung onto him for a minute, Lukas spoke up.

"Okay, let's get your stuff in and get to bed,"

"Of course," Lukas helped him carry a few bags into the untouched guest room. Mathias chose to go ahead and take in a couple of bags filled with his thrift shop clothes and a few boxes, mainly consisting of photo albums, books, and personal things like that.

Lukas began hanging up his clothes. He cringed while he took glances at his 'nonwork' clothes. They looked like Mathias made picked them from the 'free' pile at a garage sale or something. "I'm going to have to buy this guy new clothes." He muttered to himself before putting another musty flannel shirt onto a hanger and putting it with the others in the closet.

Mathias walked back into the room after putting up his things in the bathroom. "You don't need to put them up," he told him. "I have the things I need, so we can just call it a night." He jumped onto the bed and lay down. "And you didn't get any sleep before I called you back, didn't you?"

"I couldn't sleep," A simple white lie couldn't hurt, right? He didn't want Mathias to feel bad that he didn't listen to him and go to sleep.

"Right, it's not an issue, but you should get your sleep," he muttered back, stretching out across the bed. Lukas turned around to turn out the light and leave. He was in the doorway, his hand reaching up to the light switch.

"Night!" Mathias called from behind him.

"Mathias," Mathias opened his eyes and looked up at him. His hand slipped from the wall down to his side. He turned his head to glance at Mathias. "It might be weird adjusting, would you like to sleep with me tonight?" You look like you could use some company, too.

"Oh, uh, sure," he sat up, rubbing his eyes. "That sounds nice,"

They walked to Lukas' room and Lukas switched on the light. "Bon!" Mathias jumped onto the bed and picked up the old pink bunny. "It's always so great to see you!"

Lukas fought the smile. He knew seeing he still had Bon on his bed would cheer him up even more. "Don't you need to get dressed for bed?"

Mathias expertly undid his pants and tossed it aside while still holding onto Bon. "I'm dressed!"

"I didn't need to see that," Lukas muttered, turning out the light.

"Can you help me take off my socks?" Mathias asked.

"No," He kicked off his shoes before crawling into bed next to Mathias, facing away from him.

He felt him moving around behind him, slipping his socks off himself. He laid down behind him facing towards him. He pulled the covers over them.

"Good night, Mathias," Lukas spoke softly.

"Good night, Lukas," He whispered back, shifting around under the covers. "And thanks, I love you man."

"I love you, too."

Just a short chapter explaining a little backstory on Mathias and Lukas. That's all. Sorry for the long delay for just this.