A/n: I don't usually write AUs but this one might be fun. We're also gonna pretend that the Problem doesn't exist and it's genuinely just three teens, living a normal(ish) life. Which also means modern technology can and does exist. Also, they'd be about 16 or 17 years old in this because that's the legal age in England (and most places I think) to live on your own and guess what Lockwood is doing?

"Alright, groups of three for this project. I trust you can choose them yourselves," Mr. Barnes said. "Once you have a group, come and tell me so I can record it down," he finished, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the chatter that had erupted. He sat down at his desk and half of the people in the class got up, already knowing who they would want to be grouped with.

Lockwood stayed in his seat, watching his classmates mill around him. He didn't mind that no one asked him, not really. He knew most of the boys in the class were intimidated by him, and most of the girls had crushes on him which meant that even if any of them had asked him, they wouldn't have gotten any work done.

A few seats away from him, George was also huddled in his chair. He was smart, and definitely an asset for a school project but he was weird, and had way too many conspiracy theories so no one approached him.

"Um, sir, can we do this individually if we want?" he asked, but Mr. Randell shook his head.

"I said groups of three, George, I'm sorry. I'm sure you'll find someone to work with."

"Two someones makes it a bit harder," George muttered, and Lockwood perked up. He'd worked with George before on smaller assignments and projects and it hadn't gone terribly.

"George, right?" He called out from his seat, and George turned, surprised.

"Yeah."

"Do you have a group yet?"

"No."

"Good. All we have to do is find a third."

George opened his mouth to protest, then shut it after some consideration. "Alright." He looked around, then paused as he spotted someone hidden in the back row. "What about her?"

Lockwood followed his line of sight and saw the new redheaded girl, seated in the desk furthest in the back, watching everyone. He didn't know much about her - she was quiet and kept to herself, always sketching away at a notebook, but from what he could tell, she was pretty, or at least not terribly ugly, but then again he hadn't really gotten a good look at her yet.

What was her name? Mr. Barnes had said it when he'd introduced her a few days ago. Lily? Lucia? No, just…

"Lucy isn't it?"

Lockwood hadn't really realised he'd even gotten up until he was suddenly standing in front of the new girl's desk. George scrambled to join him.

"Yeah. And who are you?"

She had a thick Northern accent, and it made Lockwood smile. He held out a hand.

"I'm Lockwood, and this here is George," he added, nodding towards the other boy who gave a small wave.

Lucy shook his hand, eyebrow raised. "'Lockwood'? Either your parents really didn't like you or you think you're entitled enough to have a posh name."

Oh yes, we'll get along swimmingly.

"I'm afraid it's the second option," he grinned. "Well, George and I are in need of a third, and from what I can tell, you aren't in a group of your own yet so would you consider joining us?"

She thought about it, looking around the room again. "Don't see that I have much a choice, so alright."

"Brilliant. Come on then, let's let Mr. Barnes know."

They got up and joined the short lineup to tell the teacher their group members. Soon enough, the three of them were stood before Mr. Barnes and his laptop.

"Let's see. Lockwood & Co. Lockwood, George and Lucy," Mr. Barnes said as he wrote down their names. "All good. You can start brainstorming ideas now."

All three turned to go, but Mr. Barnes stopped Lockwood. "Mr. Lockwood? Take care of Miss Carlyle there, alright?"

Lockwood flashed his signature grin. "Of course, Mr. Barnes. She's part of Lockwood & Co. now, like you said. I'll keep her out of trouble," he winked.

Mr. Barnes sighed. "And here I was, thinking you'd drag her headfirst into it if she's with you."

"You think so little of me, Mr. Barnes," Lockwood called behind him as he headed back to his desk where the other two had gathered around. "Have a little faith."

"This house is so… empty," Lucy said, looking around 35 Portland Row. They'd decided that Lockwood's house was the best to meet up at to work on the project since both Lucy and George had full houses and Lockwood's was the only one that would have peace and quiet.

"Are your parents not home?"

Lockwood froze as he shut the door, but only for a moment. "Er, no. They… they're not here."

Lucy, thankfully, didn't see through his fake smile. "Must be nice, to have the house to yourself. I never have that. Six sisters doesn't exactly give you a lot of space in the house."

Lockwood led her into the living room, gesturing for her to sit down while he went to grab the tray of tea and biscuits he'd gotten ready in the kitchen.

"Six sisters? Are they younger or older?"

"They're all older than me."

"Youngest child, then? Me too." He didn't mean to let it slip out, but it was out there now and he had to pretend that it hadn't opened a wound in him he thought had finally scarred over.

"Oh? How many siblings do you have?"

He held out the plate of biscuits for Lucy, trying to keep his hand steady as he avoided her gaze. "Just a sister. She's gone to study at university." Only a half-lie. She was gone, but if she had been here, she'd be about the age to be in university.

Before Lucy could ask any more questions, there was a knock at the door.

"That must be George," Lockwood excused himself, trying not to let his relief show as he set down the biscuits and went to open the door.

"Sorry I'm late," George mumbled as he passed Lockwood, arms full of books and papers as he awkwardly slipped his shoes off in the hall. Lockwood closed the door.

"You're alright, Lucy only got here a few minutes ago too. What's all this?" He asked, leading George through to the living room.

"Hi, Lucy," George greeted the girl, as he carefully placed the content of his arm onto the table, almost knocking over the tea cups in the process but Lucy was quick to move things out of the way. "I thought I'd do a bit of research at the library beforehand and I lost track of time so I brought everything here," George explained, panting and grabbing a biscuit. "I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Lockwood said at the same time Lucy said, "George, that's brilliant."

After some snacks, they got to work, chatting in between when they needed a break.

"How come the teacher calls you Lockwood too?" Lucy asked. George had gone to the loo, so they'd decided to all take a short break.

"He calls most people by their last names unless it's too hard to pronounce."

"But everyone else calls you Lockwood too. What's so bad about your first name?"

It reminds me too much of who used to call me by it.

"Nothing. I just prefer Lockwood."

"What is your first name?"

George saved him once again, and came in, asking about all of the artefacts hung on the walls. Lockwood wasn't much happier with the new subject, but he welcomed it and they got back to work soon enough. Before they knew it, the sky had grown dark and Lucy and George were starting to pack up and leave.

"You really can just leave everything here, you know," Lockwood told George as he began gathering up the large pile of books and papers. "You're free to come back tomorrow morning if you want, though I'm sure you have better things to do on your Saturday than schoolwork."

George put some of the books back down and shrugged. "Not really. I was just going to look into the… actually you won't care."

"Of course we would," Lucy spoke up. "What were you going to do?"

George's eyes lit up, but he was still hesitant as he explained. "You'll just say it's a stupid conspiracy theory," he finished, "but - "

"Well I think it's quite interesting," Lucy quipped, smiling at him reassuringly.

George looked away shyly. "Thank you. Well, I should get going, I think my cab's here. I'll see you in the morning then, Lockwood? Lucy?"

"I suppose so," Lucy nodded.

Lockwood smiled, something inside him growing warm knowing that Lucy, that the both of them would be coming back just the next morning. "Sounds like a plan."

They bid George goodbye, Lucy politely refusing the offer of sharing the cab with George on the basis of her bus ticket back already being bought.

"When's the bus?" Lockwood asked her as he shut the door once more.

"Still fifteen minutes more. I could go now, but it's only a two minute walk and I don't quite feel like waiting for ten minutes out in the cold so I'll leave in a bit. If it's okay with you, I mean," she added hastily, pausing in the hallway instead of following Lockwood back to the living room.

"Of course it is," he smiled.

They sat down again, just chatting. Lucy helped him put away the snacks and empty teacups, stubbornly insisting on helping even though he protested against it. She tried to ask him about his family again, but he just changed the subject to learn more about her.

As it turned out, she'd moved here because her mother couldn't afford the house they'd been living in before anymore so they'd come to live with one of her sisters. Her father had died when she was young so everyone had to pitch in to help out. With her sisters moving out, she was looking for a job to help support her mom but hadn't found anything promising yet.

"There's a bakery down the street," Lockwood had told her. "Arif's. He's always looking for more people. I've known him since I was young, and he's a nice man."

Lucy had smiled. "Thank you, I'll look into it."

He almost hadn't heard her, too busy with the sudden thought that her smile might be one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen.

"Oh shit, the bus will be here any second," Lucy suddenly exclaimed, getting up quickly. "Sorry, Lockwood, I should go."

"I'll walk with you," he offered, and that made her pause. To be completely honest, the offer had shocked him a little too.

"You really don't have to."

"Nonsense," Lockwood smiled. "What sort of gentleman would I be if I didn't walk the lady to her bus stop?"

"Well, I'm not a lady so you'd still be fine," she smirked, getting on her shoes.

"You are, but still. It's not safe. And if you miss your bus, you won't be waiting alone in the cold and dark by yourself."

Lucy frowned. "You make me sound like a helpless maiden."

Lockwood's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to apologise but she laughed. "I'm going to miss it if we keep arguing. Just come if you're going to be so dramatic then."

Lockwood grinned. "After you then, milady," he said, bowing as he held the door open for her, earning him a whack on the arm.

"Ow."

"Oh don't be a baby, I barely touched you."

The walk was too short, and unfortunately, the bus was on time which meant they didn't get to talk more while they waited. As Lockwood stood and waved goodbye as the bus drove off, he paused.

He wanted to talk more with Lucy even after spending the past few hours with her, not including the day at school. Odd. He hadn't felt so… happy or social since… well, since he'd become the sole occupant of his house.

As he went to sleep, he found himself excited for the next day for once. For the chance to make the house feel not-so-empty again, to see Lucy again.

He'd almost been dreading finishing their project in a way, because then he wouldn't have any more excuses for meeting up with George and Lucy who he considered his first real friends in the past few years. Well, them and Flo, but Flo had moved away and he barely saw her anymore, crappy internet on her end making texts and calls rare too.

Now though, he had his own group for maybe the first time ever. Lockwood & Co. as they'd started to call themselves - much to the complaints from the other two until it'd eventually grown on them.

Even after the project was over, they'd kept growing closer, hanging out just because and Lockwood couldn't be happier.

George kept telling them about his newest conspiracy theories, Lucy always encouraging and Lockwood ready to challenge him until Lucy glared at him or whacked him and told him that was "enough out of you". Lucy herself got the job at Arif's, using her employee discount to supply donuts and other snacks for their hangouts, and giving Lockwood more chances to see her. Even the house had felt less empty since it was their primary hangout spot, some of their stuff ending up in his kitchen or left on the couch and it made him feel… warm. Especially if Lucy had been the one to accidentally leave her sweater on the couch because then it was an excuse for her to come and see him.

Eventually though, the topic of his parents always being absent became a problem and he finally had to tell them.

"Oh," was all George had said, patting him on the shoulder awkwardly. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," he'd smiled politely. "It was a while ago."

"How did it happen?" Lucy had asked, eyes sad and he hated that he'd made her sad.

"Car crash."

"What about your sister?"

Lockwood swallowed. That was a bit of a harder topic, but if all of his secrets were being revealed, he couldn't very well keep lying about one thing. "Um, she's… she's also…," he struggled to finish, but Lucy understood if her gasp was anything to go by.

"Oh, Lockwood. I'm so sorry," she'd whispered, hugging him. He'd stiffened for a moment, in shock, but then he melted into her, trying so hard not to cry. It'd been so long since anyone had hugged him, and it was almost too much.

"What was her name?" George asked quietly, awkwardly standing on the side.

Lucy had let go of him, and shot George a look she must have thought Lockwood hadn't seen. Mourning the loss of her warmth already, Lockwood had just smiled at George.

"It's okay. Her name was Jessica. Jessica Lockwood."

They didn't talk too much more about it just then, instead opting for a movie during which he was grateful that they'd turned the lights off to watch. Lucy had sat near him, and they'd let their hands rest on the couch between them, knuckles brushing but nothing more. He almost wished it was something more, but not then when he was still fighting back tears.

It'd taken a few more weeks, almost a few more months for him to be able to tell them everything else. How he still wasn't sure how Jessica had died, only that one minute she was fine then the next he'd walked into her room and she'd been dead on her bed. All he knew for sure was that it wasn't a suicide, and the authorities didn't think so either. How afterwards, he'd lived with his uncle until he too had died - from a heart attack - and then he'd bounced around in the foster system. Coincidentally, Mr. Barnes had known his parents - and taught his sister's class for a month when their teacher had maternity leave - and had checked on him a few times throughout it all. Once he'd reached the age of sixteen, he'd been allowed to live alone in his parent's house as long as a social worker checked up on him every few weeks or so.

He'd been worried that Lucy and George would have treated him differently after he'd told them everything, and while sometimes Lucy gave him looks filled with sadness, they mostly stayed the same. And if they didn't, it was just because they'd grown to be inseparable and almost lived with him at that point which did change a few things. They'd set up some honorary bedrooms for themselves, George's mainly for him to hoard his research materials that he didn't really trust to be safe at home with his brothers and for him to fall asleep in if he'd lost track of time and Lucy's for the growingly-more-frequent days where being home was too much for her to deal with without endless shouting matches with her mother or sisters that ended up in her either being kicked out or leaving of her own accord.

As much as Lockwood hated the reason behind her having to stay the night at his house, a small selfish part of him loved it. Having either of them there - George especially because it meant a free, delicious breakfast and Lucy especially because… well obviously - made his house feel like a true home again. It made the hole inside of him feel more full.

"You're asking me to the dance with you?"

Lockwood was about to burst from nervousness. Time had flown so quick, and while Lucy and Lockwood had grown so much closer, he wasn't sure if maybe this would ruin everything. Her expression gave nothing away as she slowly repeated his question.

"Luce…," he started when Lucy took just a second too long to give an answer.

She blinked. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, did I not say anything?"

Lockwood's eyebrows drew together, and he tried not to be disappointed when she still hadn't confirmed anything.

"Yes. I meant to say yes, Lockwood, I'll go to the dance with you."

He let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding ever since he'd met her, and he was surprised he didn't blind Lucy with the resulting smile, even though she was giving one of her own.

"Great. Er, yeah, um I didn't exactly plan this far, I don't know what to do now," he admitted, breathless.

"I do," Lucy smiled, and looked up at him.

He was going to burst, but from happiness this time. He brought his hand up to cup her face and leaned down at the same time Lucy tilted her head up. Their lips brushed and it felt like he'd been jolted with electricity.

"Oi, looks like Tony's got a girlfriend!" an infuriatingly familiar voice shouted. Lockwood sighed, leaning his forehead against Lucy's as she huffed out a laugh.

"I'm going to kill him," Lockwood muttered, pulling away from Lucy even as every muscle in his body screamed at him to just draw her closer.

"Jealous are you, Kipps?" Lucy shouted back at the older boy and Lockwood stood in shock for a moment before he grinned. God he loved this girl.

Kipps' crew stifled laughs as he frowned, stalking off.

"That," Lockwood said, pulling Lucy back into his arms, "only made me want to kiss you more."

"Kiss me then," Lucy challenged.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this," he whispered.

"I think I do," she whispered back.

They didn't dare wait a second more.

She'd come to Portland Row to change. He'd protested, saying that he was supposed to pick her up in a limo and everything, but she'd ignored him, saying that she wouldn't be able to get ready the way she wanted in a house over-full with a dozen women, all probably wanting to interfere or give their opinions or shove into her space.

"I won't look as pretty as I could look if I got ready at home."

"You're already the most beautiful person I've ever seen, Luce."

"Careful. You go around saying things like that, people might think you and I are ready to live together," she smirked, and he'd laughed, giving in.

God was it worth it when she came down the stairs in that dress. He didn't think she could be any prettier, but here she was, and it left him breathless.

"I um… I have something for you," he managed to get out, holding out a small box.

She reached the bottom the stairs, staying on the step that let her be just the slightest bit taller than him.

"Oh?" She took the box and opened it, gasping when she saw what was inside. "It's beautiful."

"It was my mother's," Lockwood said as she held up the delicate necklace. He hadn't planned it - since she'd refused to let him see her dress beforehand - but the necklace matched perfectly. "Will you wear it?"

"Of course I will, Lockwood."

He paused at that. "It's Anthony, actually."

She looked at him with wide eyes. She had to have known, what with Kipps calling him 'Tony' and his name on half the things in the house and on the class lists, but this was different. This was him telling her, giving her permission to call him by a name reserved for the ones he cared most about.

"Well then, Anthony Lockwood," she smiled, and he doesn't think he's liked his first name said by anyone else more than he liked hearing it from her lips. "Please do me the honours of putting your mother's necklace on me and take me to the school dance then on a moonlit stroll to kiss me by the lake."

He grinned. "I have to find a lake nearby to walk to now?"

She nodded solemnly. "Of course. What else are a fancily-dressed couple to do on a beautiful night like this?"

She turned around and held her hair to the side as he delicately placed the necklace around her neck. "Is that what we are?" he murmured. "Are we a couple, Lucy Carlyle?"

The necklace was clasped and she turned back to face him, their noses almost touching. The necklace looked beautiful on her, and he didn't think he could love anyone as much as he loved her in that moment.

"Anthony Lockwood and Lucy Carlyle. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" She breathed, brown meeting dark eyes.

"I do," he smiled, and thanks to the stairs, this time he didn't need to tilt his head down to kiss her.

Any hollowness left inside of him was filled almost to bursting, the second their lips touched. Nothing could ever be more perfect than this, than her.

And to think it had all started with a group project investigating the murder of an old actress.

A/n: I had to add that last line. Don't ask me what kind of school project involves investigating murders (psychology? World studies? Looking into how media plays a role in something?) but I like it. And I love these two. No matter the world, they are destined to be together.

Stay safe, be nice, and see ya soon!

- CrowofArcadiaOaks