Chapter 12: Whatever Happens

December 3, 2014

"Now what?"

"Whatever happens,"

Lukas woke up much earlier than usual. In fact, he woke up before Mathias usually did. He was fully awake, and as much as he wanted to go back to sleep, he decided it was time to get up. When he sat up, the events from the night before had come back to him.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted up a hand and set it on his chest. He felt so lightweight; he wouldn't have stopped and thought about how stressed he was about his feelings yesterday or the day before. He never seemed to learn; because every time he had opened up before and noticed how better he felt, he would continue to suppress emotions later on.

But a lot was at stake this time. He lay back down with his back on the pillow and his head inclined down.

I haven't even considered where we go from here. Mathias had told him "Whatever happens" when he had asked the night before. That didn't answer much, obviously.

Go with the flow, Lukas thought. I should be more concerned with how Mathias and I are. What does Mathias even like his partners to do? He's a PDA kinda guy but he's too shy to ask to try doing it right off the bat. I wonder if he still makes that same face he always made when he wanted to kiss someone back in high school. He'll probably want to take things slow, even though we already kissed. At least we know each other so he won't act so scared and shy like I've seen him do before.

Shit, what if he still does? Chill out Lukas, just explain to him that everything is okay and he's probably no more nervous than I am…

Clink, clink. Lukas sat up, barely catching sight of the light from the kitchen peering under from his door. Is Mathias up already? Lukas slipped his feet onto the floor and pulled himself out of bed. Peering out of the door, he saw Mathias at the counter. Still wearing pajamas and with his hair not fixed up, Mathias was distracted with moving things around.

"Why are you up so early?" Lukas spoke quietly, followed by Mathias losing control of his hands and dropping the pan he was holding. The pan fell to the floor, causing a racket equivalent to an alarm clock. After it had settled down, the anxious flapping of bird wings and groaning sounded from Emil's room.

"Uh, hi, Lukas." Mathias squeaked, getting quiet towards the end of Lukas' name. "Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry, it's just that I wanted to cook breakfast; I guess I should have prepared to do so last night but that probably wouldn't have made a difference."

"I can't hear you," Lukas looked at him confused. "Why are you talking so lowly? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, sorry." Mathias spoke just a little louder. "Just trying to not make any more noise than I already have." He peered down and frowned. "Sorry."

"That's fine." Lukas picked the pan up and set it back onto the counter. "If you were planning on cooking eggs, I don't think we have any left." When he had looked up from the counter, Mathias had quickly moved to the refrigerator.

"Oh no…" He groaned in distress

"Are we out?"

"There's only one left."

"That's okay, we can buy more after work." Mathias stayed at the fridge holding the carton of eggs. What's up with him? It's just eggs. We have plenty of muffins and cereal in the pantry. A sudden thought struck him. He was trying to surprise me with a nice breakfast and he's sad it didn't work out, huh?

Lukas felt he should have noticed that Mathias was obviously starting his nervous tendencies, even though they were far too used to each other for that to even make sense. He couldn't complete what he brought himself to want to do for him, and now he's probably even more anxious.

"I'm not that hungry, I'm sure one egg would be perfect anyway." Lukas looked around, thinking. "Uhh, thank you Mathias. How about some caramel coffee, too? That sounds nice."

Mathias perked up some. "Okay!"

Lukas got dressed and brushed his hair in the meantime while Mathias prepared breakfast. Mathias was almost done once he had sat down at the table. The door to Emil's room had softly opened and Emil carefully walked out and took the spot next to Lukas.

"Why are you guys up so early?" Emil groaned, attempting to shield his eyes from the kitchen light.

"Don't worry about it." Lukas replied.

"What? Now I have to worry about it." Mathias came over and set a plate with an egg, buttered toast, and a few pieces of bacon on it. Emil looked even more confused. "Mathias cooked eggs and bacon?"

"Don't worry about it." Lukas told him, shoving a piece of bacon into his mouth. Mathias came back to the table again with a plate of bacon and some muffins, pushing them over to Emil and sitting down.

"So Lukas is the only one that gets an egg?" Emil groaned. "You guys wake up early in the morning just to cook Lukas one egg and have a bacon party?" Lukas looked up from his food and sighed.

"Emil."

"Don't worry about it." Mathias spoke, in a serious tone.

"What are you guys hiding from me?"

"Don't worry about it." Both Lukas and Mathias told him.

"You know what? I don't want your suspicious bacon anyway." Emil stood up, grabbing a muffin from the table.

"How about some of our distrustful coffee?" Mathias asked.

"You're certainly interested in that cynical muffin." Lukas added. As they both laughed, Emil sat back down.

"Fine," Emil grumbled. "What time is it, anyway?"

Lukas sneered. "Don't worry about it."

Leaving Emil behind to get ready for school, Lukas left with Mathias to head to work earlier. Only rarely did Lukas come to work with him, that day being the third time he had decided to get up early enough to do so. The last two times were because Mathias asked for extra help in the store those days. This time, Lukas simply wanted to have a talk before they had to work.

Once Lukas had stepped outside with him, he suddenly had no idea how he would bring it up.

"So…" He started out, only to nervously drift off into silence. He could only bring himself to look over at Mathias, hoping he would understand.

"Sometimes I forget how dark it is at this time during winter." Mathias noted, keeping his head turned upwards and his eyes to the sky. "It makes me miss summertime."

"I always thought you were more of a winter person." Lukas told him.

"I am. During the summer, I start to miss walking to work in the dark."

"I see. Just like how we miss warm weather during cold weather and during warm weather, we miss the cold."

"Exactly." Mathias finally looked back at Lukas, flashing a smile. "But I do love winter the most."

"Hm."

They continued to walk down the sidewalk in silence. The closer they got to work, the more Lukas wanted to scream. How do bring it up? Why am I so scared to bring it up?

"Hey is something wrong?" Mathias asked. His voice was down to a whisper and he was pressing a little closer to Lukas.

"No sorry."

"Sorry? Why are you apologizing?" Mathias laughed. "Seriously though, you're thinking about something."

"No I'm not." Lukas sternly looked away from Mathias, wishing he would drop the matter.

"Yes you are."

"Don't worry about it." Mathias was silent for a moment until he slowly broke into a laugh. As the laugh got stronger, Lukas finally looked over at him. Mathias eyes squinted as he threw his hand over his mouth, but his laughing continued. He squatted to the ground and covered his eyes with his hand.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Mathias struggled to speak as he tried keeping his outburst under control. "That will never not be funny to me."

"It wasn't funny to begin with." Lukas told him. Mathias picked himself up off the ground, laughing only softly.

"Sure it was. It made me think of your game with Emil this morning."

"What's so funny about–" Lukas stopped. "Yeah that was pretty funny."

"See?" Mathias elbowed Lukas some. They were now approaching the front door of their building. "Now are you going to help me make coffee or what?" Mathias asked, opening the door for him.

"Well, you're the boss here, so there's no question." Lukas walked in and stopped to wait for Mathias.

"Yeah, but you could always clean or whatever you want. I'm usually in here by myself. Just me and the beans." Mathias closed the door and flipped on the light switches to lighten up the store. "That's really up to you."

"Just whatever needs to be done." Lukas bent over and looked under a table. "I could probably take care of any gum that might be stuck under the table, though."

Mathias made a face. "If you insist. But first–" Lukas froze in place as Mathias quickly took hold of him around his hips, lifted him up, and spun him around. His first instinct was to grab onto his shoulders but once he realized what was going on, he slipped his arms around Mathias' neck.

The spinning only last for a second before Mathias awkwardly stopped and looked up at Lukas. "Sorry I just wanted to do that."

"No it's fine, I uh…" Lukas shyly loosened up his hold on him.

"Yeah, I um…" Mathias quietly muttered in response, making an embarrassed expression.

"That was kinda fun…" Lukas bit his lip some.

"It was…"

Lukas narrowed his eyes, relaxing in his position. "Enough of this and kiss me already."

Mathias' expression slowly faded a more confident one. He carefully set Lukas onto his feet. "Sorry."

"It's okay." As the last word left Lukas, Mathias was already leaning into him. He pressed a small kiss carefully to Lukas' lips. Lukas tightened his hold onto Mathias just as he pulled away. Lukas pulled him again and glided his lips onto the corner of his mouth.

"Lukas," Lukas responded with another kiss.

"I know, you have to work." Mathias pulled him closer, holding very gently onto his shirt.

"I hate to leave you hanging."

Laughing some, Lukas pressed a kiss to his forehead. "We'll talk later."

"Lukas," Tino called, watching his friend stare blankly at the empty table standing a few feet away from the counter. "Lukas~." Tino called after him just a little louder after not receiving a response from him.

Lukas flinched, very subtly but enough for Tino to notice. "Sorry, yeah?" Lukas pinned his attention quickly from the table to Tino. "What is it?"

"Is there something special about that table?" Tino asks, covering his mouth to prevent a short laugh from coming out.

"What table?"

"The one you've been staring at for the past 10 minutes."

"Yeah right, I sold that girl two donuts just a couple of minutes ago."

"Okay but you've still been zoning out for a while now. What's been up?"

"Is that what you were really trying to get to? Why didn't you just –"

"Look Lukas, I was trying to be funny and you sunk my boat."

Lukas sighed. "Sorry Tino."

"I accept your apology." Tino stood up, picking up his stool with him and moving closer to Lukas. He glanced to Nathan, who sat nearby at the cash register. He was distracted with trying to wipe the dust from the hard to reach spaces around the keys. Even so, Tino knew he had to keep his voice down or else Nathan might catch part of their conversation. "Seriously, what's up?"

Lukas looked nervously around towards the customers, to Nathan, and scanned around for Berwald. "Where do I begin?" He whispered.

"Oh no, does this have to do with Mathias?"

"Yes."

"Just give me the main plot point here, Lukas."

"I…"

"You what?"

"Fuck, Tino. You didn't give me a second to continue chill." Lukas' cringed, looking away. "Mathias confessed."

"Ho shit." Tino covered his mouth, looking back at the customers who had heard him and looked up. "Now start from the beginning." He whispered.

"Okay, we had eaten dinner sometime after you and I got off the phone, then we all had decorated the Christmas tree. Emil had gone to sleep and I moved a few ornaments around. And I guess it just kinda happened."

"He just decided to confess to you? Just like that?"

"No actually he kissed me."

Tino leaned forward, shutting his mouth with his hand again. "Hoooooo shit."

"Well, we perhaps kissed each other."

"Ho shit." Tino's words were muffled and indistinct through his hands

"But before that when we got a little too close to each other I was thinking and wanting to tell him what I was feeling but the kiss just happened there. So there's that. Oh and he tries blaming it on a holly leaf. He thought it was mistletoe."

"He what?"

"Then he panicked; told me sorry and tried running off to his room so I stopped him."

"Are you telling me he–"

"And then we finally talked about it. Kinda, he told me he loved me for two years. Two years, Tino!"

"I see that but you also told me Mathias thought holly leaf was–"

"He confessed, crying. And then we both cried–"

"Holly leaf has red berries, Lukas."

"I know but this morning I woke up and didn't know how to act around him."

"Mistletoe has white ones."

"But then we got to work together and got a little romantic."

"Hold up Lukas! I'm still on the mistletoe thing!" Tino yelled, not noticing the whole store went quiet. "Are you telling me Mathias thought holly leaf was mistletoe or perhaps he could have tried getting away with that kiss hoping you couldn't tell the difference?"

"Tino, keep your voice down!" Lukas shot his hand to cover up Tino's mouth. He looked around, noticing all eyes were on him, including the customers', Nathan's, and Berwald's.

"Well it's a common misconception." Someone from the other half of the restaurant called.

"I didn't know till I was 27!" Yelled another.

"Is it that important?" Said someone among the ton of chatter that was sparked by the outburst.

"Knowing Mathias, he both didn't know and was panicked." Nathan muttered, trying to use his pinky to scrap a bit of dust off the side of a row of keys.

Lukas quietly got up from chair and sat on the floor, glaring angrily at the wall. Tino moved his stool away and sat down next to him, patting him on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Lukas."

"It's okay Tino, I guess I went into a rant and ignored your input."

"You didn't ask for my input."

Berwald made his way around the counter, crouching in front of them. "If it makes you feel better, many of our regulars here have been thinking you guys were already together months ago."

"Thanks Berwald."

"You're welcome, I think." He peered over the counter. "So does this mean you and Mathias made things official?"

"Whatever had happened, I guess it's safe to say yes… Mathias and I are together."

"Well great," Berwald stood up, holding his hands out to the other two. "I'm happy for you guys. I've honestly thought you guys would finally fess up much sooner."

"That's to be expected." Lukas responded, taking Berwald's hand. He and Tino were pulled back onto their feet.

"Hey, I'm happy for you, too!" Tino spoke up, clinging onto Lukas.

Smiling, Lukas hugged him back. Tino swung him around in a circle before setting him down and letting go.

"You know what this means now, Tino?" Lukas asked, nudging his shoulder.

Tino's smile distressed. "Yeah…"

Right after the 6 o'clock hourly tune rang from the clock, marking closing time, Lukas headed to the door to change the sign from 'open' to 'closed'. It then occurred to him that the 'No Alfred Jones' sign was still up. Might as well take this old thing down, Lukas thought, taking the sign in his hands and carefully removing it from the door. I do suppose we're over the whole issue. But still, who builds a coffee shop in front of another coffee shop? That's rather rude and useless. There are no set of words to describe how I fully feel about that. Lukas felt the need to put up the sign again, just for that thought.

As he turned around, the door to the backroom opened and Mathias stepped out, looking towards him. His tired eyes were suddenly more awake as he smiled over towards Lukas. Lukas walked to him as Mathias struggled to quickly take off his work apron.

"Need help?" He asked.

"No, no; I got it. But thanks." Mathias finally undid the knot he made, quickly taking off the apron and chunking it to the group. "You removed the Alfred Jones sign?"

"Yeah, I thought he would notice soon and break off those connections if we kept it up there." Lukas supposed, holding up the sign.

"I was thinking he had noticed and somehow it had twisted it in his head enough to think he was specifically wanted and welcomed in here. I don't know."

"You're probably right." Lukas laughed. "But just in case, it's got to go."

"You're right." Mathias took the sign from his hand. "I'll go do that." He picked up his apron and walked to the back room, closing the door behind him.

"Lukas." Emil whined from the supply closet as he shut off the light and walked towards him. "What are we going to eat? There's no food at the house. And don't give me that 'don't worry about it' shit because I'm not going to not worry about it."

"No, you really should worry about it." Lukas told him, grabbing his cheek softly. "Because we're stopping by the store tonight and grabbing tacos on the way home."

"Fair enough." Emil said, slapping his brother's hand away from his cheek. "But too bad I'm too tired to go. Can I wait home?"

"We need you there to get this done as soon as possible," Lukas grumbled. "It won't even take that long."

"But Luuukkkkaaassss…" Emil sobbed, tossing his head onto his shoulder and making loud grumbling noises. "I'm too tired!"

"Don't be a bike," Lukas snapped.

"Whadda 'bout a bike?" Mathias asked as soon as he opened the door.

"Don't worry about it," Emil mumbled, receiving a laugh from Mathias.

"Hey!" Tino spoke up, running to join the group. "I was just wondering when you guys will be able to come over Sunday also congrats."

"Congrats on what?" Mathias asked.

"On you and Lukas, of course! I was waiting for the day you two would finally confess to each other."

"Confess what?" Emil stood up, turning to Tino. "Wait, you mean–"

"Yeah," Lukas looked to the side, feeling his insides shake. "Mathias and I are kinda…"

"Me and your brother are together now." Mathias told him with a smile.

"You mean you two weren't a couple before?" Emil asked. "Want to know how many times I left the house assuming Lukas was in a pissed off mood because he wanted alone time with you?"

"That was probably him wanting alone time in general." Mathias shrugged.

"And all this time, I really thought you guys were modest."

"You better hope they actually are." Tino giggled.

"No worries, Emil. We won't be a problem." Mathias patted him on the shoulder, smiling largely.

"Great, great. Now can we get to the store so we can all go home and rest?" Lukas asked, reaching under the counter and grabbing his bag.

"Totally," Emil spoke up, throwing his hands up.

"Let me get my things," Mathias declared, entering the back room again.

"Alright," Lukas swung his back onto his shoulder, taking his brother's side again.

"Hey," Emil spoke, grabbing onto Lukas' arm.

"Hey," Lukas moved his eyes up to his brother's face. He was smiling at him. "What's up?"

"I'm really happy for you." Emil told him, his voice lowering. "Even though I had assumed you guys were together, it's great to hear confirm things."

"Oh, thanks." Lukas responded, moving his arm to his brother's back. "And I'm happy you're happy about it."

"I am. You also can throw me out anytime you want. Feliciano just got a ton of new PC games I've been dying to try out and he'll take pity on me when I tell him my brother wants alone time with his boyfriend."

Lukas sneered. "Is that the only reason why you're happy?"

"No, just don't worry about it."

Once the shopping and dinner was taken care of, Emil headed to his room to play video games, leaving Lukas and Mathias alone in the living room. Mathias had indulged himself into another series on Netflix while Lukas was mildly listening to it and staring up at the Christmas tree.

He couldn't place if the ornaments were making a symmetry effect or if maybe, just maybe, the Santa ornament on the right middle was off just a little bit. He kept telling himself not to be bothered by it, but it was bothering him.

"Lukas," Mathias called to him, his voice in a softer tone.

"Hm?" Lukas took his attention off the tree.

"I've been thinking." Mathias inched closely to him, turning off the TV. "We haven't talked much about all this, not as much as we kinda should be."

"I agree." Lukas replied, taking the couch pillow into his arms and hugging it. "Is there something you wanted to say now."

"Yeah, uh. I'm happy about this change. But I don't think I mentally prepared myself the indulge in this so suddenly."

"What are you saying?" Lukas asked, getting a little worried. Mathias' tone wasn't harsh or sounding like he was trying to say he didn't want to be Lukas. Nervousness had made its way into Lukas and still struck him with the idea.

"Let's take it in slowly. That's what I'm trying to say. Like, that whole kissing episode made me feel like everything is unreal." Mathias spoke, taking Lukas' hand. "I want to accept it and slowly build up this relationship with you… Lukas, I just…" Mathias looked up from their hands and to Lukas, the words nearly choked him. "I want to enjoy the slow build."

"I understand, Mathias." Lukas squeezed his hand. "I also feel like we hid part of each other from the other for a long time. I've known you forever and that's really never happened. I want to know that part of you that I was oblivious to."

Mathias lifted his hand up and moved Lukas' light blond hair aside to see both his eyes. "I want to share it all with you, Lukas. And I want to know what you have thought of me and kept secret, too."

"Then let's start there."

Author's Note: I hope everyone had a nice summer! I sure did, sorry it didn't involve as much writing as it should have. My motivation seems to leave me during that time, but it always returns when the cooler weather returns and the bugs go back to hell in which they came. Anyway, Tino's birthday chapter is next and I should be on it soon hopefully.