[Mathias' POV]
"So, what happened after the fight?" Tino asked me at lunch time the day after. Lukas was away, and I hoped he was okay. I was sitting with Tino and Yao, as I had been for a while. It looked a bit odd and got weird looks from people, but it was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Lukas and I were in the infirmary. The nurse was busy, so I tended to his wounds. The principal decided to give us detentions and Kevin is currently suspended." I replied, frowning a bit. I had potato cake for lunch.
"Wait, what? Why are you guys getting a detention?" Tino looked up from his fruit salad.
"Tino, Lukas is lucky he isn't suspended too." Yao added, looking concerned.
"That's true, I suppose." He sighed.
The lunch conversation continued onto regular subjects such as bands and music videos. It was rather boring without Lukas. Oh! But Yao and Tino gave me a ton of music, and that was really awesome. It was not a genre I would normally listen to, but new things were cool! About 20 minutes into lunch, Emil walked towards us from his table. It wasn't too far away, maybe only a few tables down.
"Hey, Emil." Tino greeted him with a smile.
"Hello." He waved at him and turned to me. "H-hey. Thanks for helping my brother out yesterday. He is at home today and probably forgot to say it yesterday… but thanks." He smiled a bit at me.
I grinned back. "No problem, Are you feeling better?" I asked.
He nodded, and sat down between Tino and I.
"Where is Lukas today?" Yao asked, a bit worried.
"He wasn't feeling well. He is working today though." Emil looked away.
"Aiya, work instead of school again?" This was very concerning.
"Is it an all-day shift?" Tino looked at Emil as he asked. Emil nodded.
"He prefers it to staying at home. He said he might come in for the last two sessions of the day and stay back in the library for a bit before his other shift."
"That's a lot of work for one day." I commented with surprise. I could barely get through with school without being exhausted afterwards. I didn't even have the energy to even get through to 4 pm without a nap. Seriously, Lukas must have been made of amazing and wonderful things to be able to keep up with all this work.
"He has been doing this for a long time." Emil seemed a bit proud of his brother, but at the same time, he looked really pained, like he didn't want Lukas to do this.
"How many hours did he sleep?" Tino asked.
Emil sank in his seat. "He came home at around midnight and I helped him get Dad to bed. He was vacuuming the living room by around 1 and then he was probably up in his room doing homework. I fell asleep late."
"Texting Leon?" Yao added. Emil went red and nodded.
"Aiya, teenagers." Yao shook his head whilst finishing off his lunch from home. It honestly smelled delicious.
"You guys need to sleep more." Tino patted Emil's head. I looked around a bit for the nearest bin and saw Berwald staring at our table. He noticed me and looked away. What was that about?
The bell rang, and we all said our goodbyes to Emil. He went off to where Leon was. I was walking with Tino, since Yao had class on the west side of the building.
"Hey, are you and Berwald friends by any chance?" I asked him. He looked at me for a second and then turned away with a small nervous smile.
"W-well.. I would like that. I mean he did get me out of detention and we sit together in class. He is very quiet, though." He looked a bit nervous and tense talking about Berwald. I didn't know what to think. I mean, I knew Berwald liked him... a lot. However, I wasn't sure if Tino was intimidated by him or had a crush on him. He was nervous and smiling so it could very well be either.
"Don't worry. He's always quiet. If he didn't like you, you would know by the way he glares at you." I imitated the glare he sometimes gave me and flattened down my spiky hair. Tino burst into fits of laugher.
" 'nd he t'lks l'k' th's" Ah, the many years of sitting with that guy in class helped me pick up his accent and imitate him. Tino looked like he was about to die. I chuckled too. It was pretty funny. Berwald would murder me if he saw it, but it was totally worth it.
"Oh, god. How did you even do that?" Tino asked, calming down from his laughing.
"I've known him for years. My father is friends with his and our mothers enjoy going shopping together so that left the two of us to play together when we were little." His dad was super nice. Berwald was so much like his dad, they even looked the same and had the same aura and faces. His mum was actually very quiet too, though she was very sweet and normally enjoyed crushing Berwald with bear hugs. Both of them were really strict. Oh, that reminded me that my parents would be there tomorrow! I hadn't seen them in a while. Since my birthday in June, if I was being exact. It was October.
"Oh! That's like Lukas and I. Our parents were friends in high school, and mine moved away so I only met him when I was about seven." That explained a lot. It certainly made me a bit more curious. Tino must know a lot about Lukas.
"Oh, that's a really cool coincidence." I didn't know if I should ask.
He chuckled and nodded. We got to class and sat in our different tables. Berwald, like always, was reading his textbook. The class was going to start fairly soon. I wondered if Lukas would get there on time. I had his homework from his other classes, so maybe I could stay back and help him out. The teacher walked in, and the lesson began.
"Today, we will be learning about Shakespeare..." I dazed off, barely hearing what the teacher was saying. Shakespeare was good. I knew Arthur would be hyped for this. I glanced outside the window. I wondered how long my parents would stay home this time. They usually made it to my birthdays and other holidays. The rest of the year they were overseas and working. I should be thankful. But I wonder if that meant I was spending Christmas alone.
My parents owned two companies each. Mum owned her own fashion label in Denmark and was a landlord of many big properties around the world. Dad had a toy company in Norway and a restaurant here. They spent a lot of time together and we had a lot of money. Money would never be the problem. I, however, was left alone for long periods of time. They were so far away and never really saw me. They were living their dreams though. I remember when I was little I would cry a lot when they left. I often tried to make some sort of excuse for them to stay. It was sad being alone, but I was used to it.
I heard books being dropped next to me, and I was snapped out of my train of thought. It made me jump a bit. I glanced over and saw Lukas. He looked pale and tired. The exhaustion must have been getting to him. I was glad he is there though. I grinned at him. He rolled his eyes and shook his head a little, with a smirk subtly stealing my breath away.
"What did I miss?" He glanced at the board and saw the teacher writing about Hamlet. Oh, that was a good play!
"We are on Shakespeare right now. I have your homework from the other classes too." I whispered back, taking out my book and notes.
"Great." He sounded done with school work.
I snorted and handed him his math, history and art theory notes. His face was a mixture of done and annoyed. "Want help?" I asked, trying to contain my nerves and dying a bit.
"Are you free after school?" he asked sarcastically. Little did he know that I really was free.
"Yep. I'm always free." I answered, looking at my books. I could feel his gaze on me. It made me really self-conscious and nervous.
"Well, maybe we can study in the library," he said, putting his head down on the table, and reading his book. He looked sleepy. It was curious to see how he refused to sleep even now.
"Really?" I grinned and asked excitedly.
He looked at me with a confused face and sighed. "Well, if you want to. I'm studying there after this and then going to work."
"Where do you work at?" My curiosity asked for me. I smiled apologetically because of how nosey I sounded.
"At the market." He responded vaguely. Wait, didn't he have two jobs?
"Oh~" I hummed. It was exciting to talk to him about stuff. I finally feeling like I was being heard and I didn't feel lonely when I was with him. Well, duh. You know, like when you're with a group of people or a couple of people and you feel like you're not really there. I don't know, maybe it was just me.
- after school -
"Hey, are you ready?" I asked Lukas, who was getting stuff from his locker. He nodded and shut his locker.
We were walking down the hallway. It wasn't December yet, so it was odd, but there were a lot of couples around. It was like everyone had arranged an exact day to ask each other out. OH! The winter dance. I had totally forgotten.
Lukas looked annoyed at the amount of people there. I didn't blame him. They were all walking slow, and obstructing the pathways. I could almost hear Arthur saying 'I told you so' to an annoyed Ludwig.
We spotted Leon and Emil at the doors. I had a feeling that they were either going out or really, really, really close friends. It wasn't just me who thought it. I knew Tino shipped it, and Yao was totally fine with it too. I didn't know what Lukas thought of the pair. I wasn't sure he trusted Leon enough to let him hang out with Emil. That is, if he was as overprotective as Alfred said he was— not that I doubted it.
"Oh, hello." He waved at me. I smiled back and waved. Lukas glanced at me for a second before looking back at Emil.
"I'm staying back at the library. I'm going to work straight afterwards. There's food in the fridge." He sounded like a concerned parent. It was adorable.
Emil nodded and looked a bit embarrassed. "What time are you getting home?" He asked, looking away.
"Around 11. Don't wait up again." He glanced at Leon when he said that. Wow, it was like he knew what was going on. It was kinda scary, but super cool. Leon nodded and glanced at Emil. Emil turned Leon around and started walking out.
"Okay, b-be safe." He was embarrassed and took off quick, holding Leon's hand. Leon waved bye at us. I waved bye back. Lukas had a small, satisfied smirk. I wondered what he was thinking.
"So, when did Emil start talking to you?" He asked with a slight glare, like I'd had bad intentions. Alfred hadn't been kidding.
"What? Oh, well, he sat with us at lunch today. He is really nice." I felt myself sweating a bit.
"Oh?" He began walking towards the library. I followed beside him.
"Yeah, he thanked me for yesterday, and then said you weren't here today."
Lukas looked away for a bit. "And?"
"He mentioned you had work today." I figured that I probably shouldn't mention the sleep part. I could feel that it wasn't a topic to discuss, and that was coming from a person who misses most social cues. Lukas grunted a bit at the mention of work.
"He seems really happy with Leon." I grinned a bit. He glanced at me and rolled his eyes.
"He is more than happy with Leon," he added. The reply held a mixture of emotions. I could clearly hear the ring of jealousy.
"They would make a cute couple. Like Tino and Berwald." Oh crap, that last one slipped. He turned to me with and questioning look. I simply grinned.
"Tino and that tall guy that you're friends with?"
"Yea, the one with the serious face and glasses." I said. Lukas nodded.
"Oh, I see it." He gazed out into the distance. He looked a little aloof, and adorable. I always thought he looked adorable though.
[Lukas' POV]
We settled in a nice corner, away from the front desk where the teachers were. We didn't want to be kicked out again. Kiku and Alfred were not too far away. They looked like they were doing math. They looked up a bit as we walked by, both looking at me, a bit confused. I guess it wasn't everyday that I stayed back, and even less with someone else. I sat down by the window and took out my books.
"So what do you need help with?" Mathias was opening his books up to the notes that he had taken in various classes. Notes that I should probably have been taking.
"Mainly art theory. That teacher gives us too much work." I mumbled that last part. I didn't particularly like to complain. Mathias grinned a bit at me. I was pouting slightly. It was like I was suddenly relaxing more in his presence. 'Note to self: don't be so obvious about how comfortable he makes you feel.'
"What part?" He just stared at me a bit more intently. It was something that I had been noticing lately, too. He stared and smiled a lot. My thoughts drifted a bit as I skimmed through all of his notes. I wondered if he was like this with everyone.
"There. I'm not sure what to write for inspiration and influences." It was the first thing on the page that stood out, and I was making him wait, so may as well have it explained, right?
"Ah, that's asking to write about what picture or artist inspires." I stared at him a bit blank when he said that and he was staring at me as he talked. All of his attention was on me. Did he always have that non-judgemental look? It made me want to just like him more. I could slap myself.
"Influences are things like the theme, colour, style, materials and technique would be mentioned." He glanced at his book and got out more notes for me to look at. "It's basically the part where you explain why it's inspiring."
"It can be anything as long as I can explain why, right?" I questioned.
He grinned and nodded. I could almost feel myself get a wave of warmth from it. Maybe I'm sitting too close. I'm thinking too much. "Yep. As for the influences, it is asking for stuff like cultural and historical influences. So, where the artist is from and what era the painting was set in." He turned his gaze from the books. Shit! Had I been staring at him this whole time? I turned to look at the book with the notes, embarrassed by my own actions. ((Well, you were talking to him, Lukas. It's fairly normal to make eye contact when conversing.))
"Oh, okay," I answered simply.
He kept blabbering. I thought asking for his help had been a bad choice. It wasn't him. He knew everything, and gave me an earful of it. No, it was me. I clearly couldn't concentrate with this doofus messing with me. My ears and cheeks were burning. I subtly covered my face with my hands.
"So uh... Lukas? D-Do you remember when you said that you would go to the arcade with me?"
I glanced his way. His face was turning red, and he was scratching the back of his head. Well, that was an interesting face. "What about it? Not up for it?"
His face changed to one of shock in seconds. "No no no!" And then back to that interesting face. "I was actually thinking... maybe we could go on Friday." It sounded like he was asking me out, to be honest. I smirked a bit at that thought. It would be odd. A nerd with a punk, it definitely would have been a weird combination. Still, if he ever did, I would give him points just for having the guts to do it.
"I'm working on Friday." I glanced away a bit. I did want to go. It sounded sort of fun. I had the shift at the supermarket that day and the restaurant the day after. He must have forgotten…
"I know, but on Fridays the arcade is open until later. So we could go after your shift." My eyes widened with shock. Okay, so maybe this chatterbox did pay attention. I didn't think he would care so much. Not many people thought about the others' availabilities, after all.
"It would be a fun way to wind down from working so hard."
I glanced back at him this time. As expected, his big smile was warm as ever. Warmth that was inviting and relaxing. Especially with the cold weather approaching so early.
I had to get a grip on myself.
Okay! So I have a bunch of thank-yous to make for the lovely reviewers
Koma and Vermillion Jay: Again, thanks for helping beta read this so quickly. Seriously amazing
Zeta: Yes this will be continuing~ I'm writing the next chapter already
Hypocritical Romantic: XDD I have been nagged by my a friend for not making them kiss. I think at this point everyone is cheering those two on.
CopperTeaLeaves: I'm very glad you're at peace when I update ^^. Said friend also wants to strangle kevin. His character will become important, I think. I'm working it out at the moment.
briana. schmidt1: There will be more DenNor~it is building up nicely I think
LITERAL YACHT: I'm glad you're enjoying the fanfiction and that the characterisation is spot on~ I will continue to write. Your review was honestly very helpful and I appreciated it heaps :3
Thank you for reading~
||Ame