Laurent had been a nervous wreck for the entire drive, something Nicaise had anticipated. It was why he'd practically begged Jord to tag along. He didn't particularly trust his brother behind the wheel of a steel death-trap when he was like this, and Laurent had been too beside himself with worry to object to Jord's presence.

Nicaise had had the decency to run it by Damen first, at least. The more the merrier, Damen had said. Nicaise wasn't sure if he'd acquiesced so easily because he was just that desperate to see Laurent, or if it was simply his nature to be so easy-going. Either way, Jord had agreed to come, if only because he shared Nicaise's concern that a preoccupied Laurent might drive the car directly into a ravine. Or a tree. Or a building.

It'd taken roughly five hours to reach Damen's. They'd been sitting in his driveway for about twenty minutes. If he knew they were there, he hadn't come outside to greet them. It was for the best. Maybe he knew that – maybe he was just giving Laurent some space. "Are you alright?" Jord asked for the umpteenth time. "We can't just sit here forever."

"Give me a minute," said Laurent.

"That's what you said last time."

"And I need another minute," he retorted, but there was no bite in the words. Jord leaned back against the headrest and groaned. Nicaise was tempted to do the same, but antagonizing his brother wasn't the best course of action.

"It's going to be fine," he said, reaching over to wrap a hand around Laurent's. He gave it a squeeze. After a moment, Laurent squeezed back. That was a good sign. "He's really excited to see you. You know that. There's nothing to be worried about, alright?"

"I suppose so." He didn't sound completely sure, but it was the most optimistic thing he'd said thus far, so Nicaise was considering it a victory.

"Great," said Jord, trying his hardest not to look as irritated as he sounded. Jord not being the greatest actor, the effort failed. "Can we get out of the car now?"

"Why is he just sitting in your driveway?"

Damen shrugged. Knowing Laurent (and Damen felt that he did know him), he was just as nervous as he was. Maybe he was having second thoughts. Damen hoped that wasn't the case. If anything, he hoped that Laurent was just – trying to relax, trying to save face. He remembered what had happened the first time they'd video-called on Skype. If he just gave Laurent a bit of space, let him calm himself down… everything would be fine, wouldn't it?

He knew that Laurent wanted to spend the week with him. Nicaise had made that explicit. He sighed. The more he thought about all of this, the more anxious he became. He liked Laurent more than he probably should have, considering that they'd only been speaking for about a week, and this was the first time they'd be meeting in person.

He didn't think that anything could change the way he felt about Laurent. That didn't mean that Laurent would feel the same. There was every possibility that he'd decide that he didn't like Damen, after all. He'd leave early, he'd never speak to Damen again, and just like that – poof.

The dream would vanish.

"Are you sure about this?" Nikandros was saying, still peering out the window. "You just met him, Damen. You just met him, and you've invited him over. For a week. With his little brother and his best friend. This is just… It's rushing things, don't you think?"

A month ago, before he'd heard of Laurent de Vere, Damen would have agreed.

"If I wasn't sure," said Damen, "I wouldn't have done it. Besides, he's here. Even if I was having second thoughts, it's kind of late for that."

Nikandros sighed, but even he couldn't argue with that logic. A comfortable silence fell between them. Damen tried to distract himself by starting a game of Candy Crush.

"He's getting out of his car," Nikandros said suddenly.

By the time he'd turned to face Damen, his friend was already at the door.

Jord was Laurent's best friend by… default.

They'd never been particularly close, but then again, Laurent had never been particularly close to anybody who wasn't Auguste or Nicaise. He'd kept to himself, for the most part. Most of their classmates had kept their distance; there was no use trying to befriend someone who clearly wanted to be left alone.

Jord had been the exception.

It hadn't mattered to Jord that Laurent never wanted to meet up with him outside of school, or that he'd sometimes ignore him for weeks at a time. Jord had been something of a loner, himself. Usually, he was perfectly content spending time on his own. Still, he'd worried about Laurent. There was something – off. Something wrong. It wasn't that Laurent liked being alone, Jord had realized. It was that he was afraid of getting close to anyone.

He was afraid to trust anyone.

He'd never pried when Laurent arrived late to class, looking pale and tired. Instead, he'd offered him sympathetic smiles, or pats on the back, telling him wordlessly that if he wanted to tell him what was wrong, he could. Jord wouldn't judge him, or laugh, or repeat it to anyone else.

Once, Laurent had almost told him.

He'd found him after the final bell, Jord remembered. He'd never seen Laurent like that before – deathly pale, shaking like a leaf. When he'd spoken ("Jord… I don't – I don't know what to do…"), his voice had quivered, as though it was taking all of his self-control not to cry. The thought of Laurent crying had terrified him.

And then Aimeric was there, all smiles, and the moment was gone. Laurent had resumed his mask, forced himself to stop trembling. He'd made some excuse about having to speak to a teacher, and hurried away. Jord had almost followed, but Aimeric was suddenly in his arms, giggling into his chest, asking if he wanted to go out for ice cream – and Jord had forgotten, stupidly, all about Laurent.

And then, before the end of their senior year, Aimeric was gone.

That had been the day Laurent had finally told him everything. Jord remembered Laurent appearing on his doorstep, remembered seeing his own misery mirrored on Laurent's face. Jord hadn't wanted to talk to anyone, but Laurent had refused to leave until Jord heard him out.

The aftermath of that conversation – repeated that very night to Jord's father, a lawyer – had been the trial that sent Laurent's uncle to prison, and gave him custody of Nicaise. There was a loyalty between them, Laurent and Jord. A mutual trust, that couldn't be easily broken.

Nicaise knew his brother better than anyone. That wasn't up for debate. Jord, however, liked to think that he was the runner-up.

Maybe that was why, as he watched Damen encompass Laurent in a tight hug, Jord found himself completely dumbstruck. He winced, waiting for the inevitable – waiting for Laurent to wrench himself out of Damen's arms, for this to be his breaking point, for him to get right back into the car and demand they drive home. That wasn't what happened.

Laurent relaxed into the embrace as though he'd been hugging Damen Akielos for years.

"Do you have any Fruit Loops?"

"Yeah, I think so. Go wild, kid." Damen rolled his eyes. Nicaise was off like a shot; he hadn't eaten since they'd left the house that morning.

"If you're not careful," Laurent said to Damen, "he'll eat you out of house and home." Damen laughed.

"He can eat whatever he wants. I owe him." At Laurent's puzzled expression, he clarified: "You wouldn't be here if he hadn't emailed me."

"Hey, I helped," said Jord. He and Nikandros were commiserating together over a game of Mario Kart. They both felt like third wheels; Damen and Laurent had been making heart eyes at one another for the past two hours. "I had to hack him into Laurent's computer."

Laurent snorted. "It's not hacking if you know the password."

"Whatever, I still helped."

Nicaise returned from the kitchen with a bowl of Fruit Loops mixed with Captain Crunch. His brother peered into the bowl and grimaced. "You need to watch the sugar."

"Don't pretend that you wouldn't love to try this."

Laurent couldn't deny that, but he had to at least try to behave like a responsible adult. Nicaise plopped down onto the sofa between Laurent and Damen, leaning into his brother's side. "So, are you guys going to do a stream tonight?" Laurent shrugged.

"We could," Damen answered, "if you wanted to. Or we could just do some practice rounds, since you've never played." Laurent opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a string of curses issuing from in front of the television.

"This game is fucking rigged!" Nikandros spat, tossing his controller down. A blue shell had taken him out, helping Jord to victory at the last moment. "He doesn't need to practice. There's no skill involved in this game. It's fucking rigged."

"He doesn't need to practice," Nicaise corrected him, "because he's going to win, anyway. Damen always gets his ass kicked." I take it back, Nikandros would later say to Damen. The kid is alright.

"I do not," said Damen, pouting.

"Yes, you do," Laurent replied, a smile twitching on his lips. Damen didn't argue. For the first time, he was almost hopeful that he would lose a game of Mario Kart. He was willing to lose, if it meant seeing more of Laurent's smiles.

Laurent and Damen had banished the others from the room during their stream, so 8 p.m. found Nikandros, Jord, and Nicaise huddled around Nikandros' laptop in Damen's kitchen. "I bet ten bucks Laurent kicks his ass," said Nicaise.

"You don't even have ten bucks," Jord pointed out. Nicaise shrugged. It didn't matter – he was confident that Laurent was going to win.

"No use betting, kid," said Nikandros. "I think everyone here agrees that Laurent's going to kick his ass. Damen is a lot of things, but a Mario Kart master, he is not." Besides, he had a sneaking suspicion that if things turned sour for Laurent, Damen would throw the race. He'd never seen his best friend so besotted with anyone in all the time he'd known him.

Nicaise poured himself another bowl of his Fruit Loops and Captain Crunch concoction, despite Jord's protests. "I'm betting ten bucks that they end up making out on stream," said Nikandros. Nicaise and Jord exchanged looks, before bursting into laughter.

"You don't know my brother very well, do you? That's like… the least likely thing that could happen."

"How do you figure? At the rate this relationship is going, they'll be engaged by Tuesday."

Nicaise pulled a face. He was about to say that there was no way in hell that either of Nikandros' propositions were going to happen, but before he could, the stream began and the trio immediately quieted, their eyes glued to the screen.

[LIVE] MARIO KART 8 DELUXE W/ DAKIELOSGAMING FT. LAURENT DE VERE

No sooner had Damen introduced Laurent than a stream of comments flooded the chat: 'OMG THEY KNOW EACH OTHER!' 'Welp, I ship it.' 'I'll donate $50 if you make out.'

Nikandros heaved a sigh. "This is going to be a fun stream to moderate," he said, clicking through to remove some of the lewder comments.

"I offered to collab on Laurent's channel," Damen was saying, "but, I mean… I would have had to read a book."

"He had to assure me that he was, in fact, literate," said Laurent.

"We're getting a superchat," said Damen suddenly. Nikandros had noticed the message first, and was already groaning. "Thanks for the $25 donation." It wasn't uncommon for his subscribers to donate, but they usually waited until he'd actually – well, done something. They'd been live for less than two minutes. "You asked, uh…" His cheeks flushed. Laurent, when he glanced at the message, followed suit. "Are you two dating?"

It was obvious from the expressions on their faces that neither of them knew how to answer. Technically speaking, no. They were friends. That was the word they'd chosen to describe whatever this was between them, but they both knew that it wasn't an entirely accurate description.

It wasn't friendship that left Damen lying awake at night, thinking about the way Laurent played with his hair. It wasn't friendship that made Laurent blush every time he thought about the sweet things Damen had said to him over Skype, and it certainly wasn't friendship that had made Damen say those things in the first place.

The chat exploded.

'Is that a yes?!' 'That's definitely a yes, look at their faces!' 'How long have you been dating?' 'Laurent doesn't even follow him on Twitter, wtf?' 'KISS KISS KISS.' 'Well, Damen obviously has a type.' 'This is the greatest day of my life. Let it be known that I shipped Lamen before it was canon.'

Nicaise read the chat with growing disgust. "Fangirls are fucking weird."

"You said it, kid."

"How were people 'shipping' this before they even met? How does that even work?" asked Jord.

On stream, it was Laurent who stepped up to the plate to (attempt to) do damage control. "We aren't – really. I mean, not officially."

"Right," said Damen. "This is the first time we've met. I mean, I wouldn't… be against it, if he wanted to."

"Right," agreed Laurent, vehemently nodding. "If he wanted to, I'd – I'd be completely fine with that."

"Oh my God," said Nikandros.

"Did they just…?"

"The best part of this," said Nicaise, shaking his head, "is that neither of them realize what just happened." Sure enough, as the chat sped by with celebratory comments, Damen and Laurent didn't seem to notice. They were staunchly trying to ease the tension by beginning the race.

Laurent chose to race as Princess Peach, if only because she was blonde. Damen, as usual, played as Mario. Nicaise resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall. The comments were already flooding in: 'Awe, that's so cute, they're playing as Peach and Mario!' 'OTP goals.' 'Your OTP could never.'

"They're trending on Twitter," said Jord, holding up his phone. The fifth top trend in the USA was #Lamen.

"…incredible."

Jord and Nicaise were warier than Nikandros by far. There was no telling how Laurent was going to react to the night's events.

"Are you sure you've never played this?" Damen asked, frowning. Laurent had taken the lead with ease, just as Nicaise had expected. His brother may have been a Mario Kart virgin, but he'd watched enough of Damen's videos to gain a basic understanding of how to navigate each course. Not to mention his naturally competitive nature. If he wanted to win, he would find a way. "Are you hustling me?"

Laurent let out an undignified snort. "Cross my heart, this is my first time playing this game."

Nicaise and Jord were choosing to ignore the comments. Nikandros was having a field day with them. "'Their first lovers' spat!'" he read aloud dramatically. "Wow, can you believe that we were present for this momentous occasion? 'Is Nicaise there? Bring Nicaise in! He's the cutest!' You have fans, kiddo."

"Why do you sound so surprised?" said Nicaise, narrowing his eyes. "If I go in there, it'll only make things worse." He remembered that comment on Laurent's fairy tales review: 'Show of hands: who wants to see Laurent and Damen co-parent Nicaise?'

On stream, Damen was groaning. "I'm cursed. That's the only explanation for why I can't win a fucking Mario Kart race. I pissed off the gaming gods and now I'm doomed to lose until the end of time."

"Don't be dramatic," said Laurent, laughing. He leaned into Damen, nudging him affectionately with his elbow. "You can try to kick my ass in the next race. 'Try' being the key word, seeing as you're cursed and all."

Jord was open-mouthed. "You… weren't kidding," he said to Nicaise. "He's completely gone for Damen. I've never seen him act like this before. What the fuck? Are we in the Twilight Zone, or…?"

Nicaise rolled his eyes. "He made you sit in the driveway for twenty minutes because he was nervous. That didn't tip you off?"

"Throw me a bone here," said Damen. He looked visibly happier, now that Laurent was pressed against his side. At the rate things were going, Nicaise was starting to worry that he and Jord were going to end up owing Nikandros ten dollars. "Let me win one race. Just one. Let me have my dignity."

"You'll have lost your dignity if I just hand you the victory."

"Fair enough."

Nicaise was scrolling through the Twitter tag. "People are doing cap-by-cap analyses of the stream," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "The stream isn't even over yet, but – look." He held up his phone, letting the others see the post in question. "Apparently, the way Damen was looking at Laurent here indicates that – okay, never mind, I wish I hadn't read that. That mental image is going to be burned into my brain for eternity."

"Did you just hit me with a shell?" Laurent was saying. He sounded genuinely betrayed. "I didn't hit you with a shell. What the fuck?"

"All's fair in love and war," returned Damen, much to the delight of the chat. Nikandros had long since given up on trying to moderate. It was moving too fast for him to keep track of the comments. Laurent's cheeks were tinged pink; he didn't say anything else.

Looking utterly shell-shocked, Jord grabbed his wallet and passed Nikandros a ten. "They might not be making out," he said, "but this is way more than I was expecting." They'd started dating on stream (unknowingly, like morons), now they were flirting – Laurent de Vere was flirting – and at that point, Jord wouldn't be surprised if one of them got a kiss in before the night was out.

The second race ended, unsurprisingly, with another victory for Laurent.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What can I say? You're cursed."

Laurent was laughing again and, try as he might, in the face of Laurent's smile, Damen couldn't help but smile back.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! As always, a comment/fav is much appreciated! This story is also posted on Ao3. If you would like to support my writing with a donation, I have a Ko-Fi, which is pinned to my Twitter account, kath_lightfoot. You may also follow me on Tumblr at dreamimpcssiblethings.