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Lucas sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he leaned up against the side of the prayer sanctuary. He could feel the jagged rocks digging into his back, it was uncomfortable, but at least it distracted him from the sinking feeling in his stomach. He tentatively tapped his fingers against the wall behind him, clearly impatient. He’d sent a letter to Fuel what felt like ages ago, instructing him to meet Lucas here. The bird who delivered it even swore to Lucas it would get to him on time. But maybe it wasn't the birds fault, Fuel always had a way of being late. He should be here soon, Lucas swore to himself, but even the thought of having to face Fuel made him sick to his stomach. The idea of having to talk to him about how he felt made it even worse. How was he supposed to explain how his head got all fuzzy around Fuel, how he would get all red-faced and hot, how he hung onto all of Fuel's words, no matter how dumb they were. At first he didn't understand it, he’d never had these feelings before. He brought them up to his dad and sister, but they just looked at each other knowingly and smiled.
“You should talk to Fuel about it,” Claus had said as she chopped up vegetables, Flint nodded.
Lucas just groaned, putting his head down on the kitchen table, “I don't even know what this feeling is.”
“It sounds like you love him,” Flint spoke, taking what Claus had cut up and putting it on a small pan, “I remember feeling the same way about your mother,”
Lucas brought his head up from the table, looking at his hands. He decided not to dwell on the fact that those memories his father had may or may not be completely fictionalized. Instead, he had much bigger things to dwell on.
“I guess… yeah…” Lucas mumbled, his hands fidgeting anxiously. Was it love? Lucas supposed so. He remembered the stories his mother read to him, years ago. They always described love like a feeling that made you happy, not sick. But it did make him happy, Fuel made him happy. Lucas brought a hand up to his cheek. Oh god… he loved Fuel.
“Then tell him!” Claus grinned, helping a clearly inexperienced Flint sear the chopped vegetables, “send a letter to him, tell him to meet you somewhere, then just tell him everything!”
“But what if he doesn't like me back?” Lucas asked, and Claus rolled her eyes.
“Well, it's better to tell them than to pretend everything is normal, and what if he does like you. If you never tell him then he'll never know.”
“You know,” Flint added, “When your mother first told me how she felt, she went on a whole rant about how she ‘appreciated our friendship' and how she ‘still wanted to be friends’. Maybe you should tell him that you still want to be friends with him even if he says no.”
“Wait, mom confessed to you first?” Claus asked, using a spatula to move around the ingredients in the pan.
Flint just shrugged, “I was shy when I was your age.”
“Woah, you guys got together when you were our age? You guys were together for like forty years!”
Flint shot Claus a knowing glare, who just grinned back in response.
“Anyway…” Flint said, directing his attention back to Lucas, who looked up from his hands, having not paid attention to the preceding conversation, “It’s easier to talk to him about it than to pretend everything's normal.”
Lucas nodded, “alright…”
Lucas pursed his lips, the memory of what his family had said making the pit in his stomach go away ever so slightly. Maybe Fuel wouldn't show up, or he would be so late Lucas could say dinner was getting cold and he could go home. Lucas was content with that, maybe he could go home right now and tell everyone that Fuel never showed up. But a crunch of a stick breaking from the forest immediately set Lucas's dreams on fire.
Fuel emerged from the forest, immediately running over to Lucas as soon as he saw him. Lucas smiled, though the sickness in his stomach became worse than how he felt after Tanetane.
“Lucas!” Fuel smiled as he leaned on the wall right next to him, “sorry I was late, I was chopping wood and the bird you sent scared me and I ended up kinda cutting my leg with the axe…”
“Are you ok?!” Lucas burst out, pushing himself off of the wall and standing in front of him, scanning over Fuel for any injuries.
“I'm ok!” Fuel said, putting his hands up in front of him to try and ease Lucas's anxiety, “It barely bled!”
Lucas sighed, why did Fuel have to be the most clumsy person on the Nowhere Islands? He always had some sort of injury, a cut or a bruise. Lucas was surprised he hadn't lost a limb yet. It made Lucas rather anxious, but he found it endearing.
“Anyway,” Fuel began again, “what did you want to talk about?”
Lucas sucked in a breath, right, that's what he was here for. What did his dad say again? Right, tell him he appreciates his friendship… or something. Lucas couldn't quite remember.
“So… you're my best friend, right?” Lucas spoke apprehensively, standing in front of Fuel and fidgeting with his hands.
“I mean I'd hope…” Fuel's smile faded into a more concerned expression, “is everything alright, Lucas?”
Lucas just nodded, “and we'll always be friends, no matter what, right?”
Fuel furrowed his brow, looking back at Lucas with an almost scared look in his eyes. He nodded, afraid of what Lucas was going to say next.
“Well… uhm…” Lucas stuttered, before taking a deep breath. Tell him how you feel, that's what they said. “Just… promise we'll still be friends, yeah?”
“Lucas…” Fuel frowned, before nodding.
Lucas took another deep breath in, trying to calm the butterflies in his stomach before he spoke again
“Fuel I-”
“You're leaving again.”
Lucas froze, looking at Fuel. His expression made Lucas’ heart ache. He looked so hurt, worse than all the times he'd accidentally cut or bruised himself. Lucas didn't respond, he didn't know what to say.
“You're going on another adventure, aren't you?” Fuel spoke quietly, Lucas could barely hear him over the sounds of the forest around them.
“Fuel…” Lucas muttered, before grabbing Fuel's hands, holding them in his own, and looking straight into his eyes, “I'm not leaving! Never again! I swore to you and everybody else I'd never leave! You mean so much to me, everyone in Tazmily does! I can't leave them, I can't leave you , Fuel because I…” Lucas paused, a shaky breath escaping his lips, “I love you, Fuel. I love the way you talk and how clumsy you are, how compassionate you are, how much you care about everyone around you. I'm in love with you, Fuel.”
Lucas looked into Fuel’s eyes, almost seeing his words compute in Fuel’s mind in real time.
“So… you're not leaving?” Fuel muttered, staring at Lucas's hands which were still holding Fuels’.
Lucas just blinked. Maybe he didn't understand his confession, was Lucas too indirect? No, he didn't think so. Maybe Fuel was letting him keep his dignity and just ignoring his confession all together. Lucas thought that would be nice. Maybe they could just forget all this.
Lucas was about to speak until he saw Fuel’s eyes go wide.
“Wait, you love me?!” Fuel cried, his grin coming back.
Lucas smiled, “Well…. Yeah.”
Fuel pulled his hands away from Lucas, and just for a moment Lucas had the smallest feeling Fuel was angry. But that feeling quickly subsided as Fuel pulled him into a hug.
“I love you so much!” Fuel squeezed Lucas so hard he felt like he would suffocate at any moment, “Lucas I love you so so so so much!!”
“Wait, really?” Lucas said cautiously, his air supply almost dangerously low.
Fuel pulled away from the hug, holding Lucas by his shoulders, “Well duh, I- oh!! This was to tell me that you- I can't believe I thought you were leaving!”
Lucas giggled and Fuel took his hands off of his shoulders, instead intertwining one of his hands with Lucas'. The two eventually went quiet as they stared at their intertwined hands
“So… does this mean we're dating?” Fuel asked.
“I mean, is that what you want to call it?” Lucas looked back at Fuel.
“Well, yeah, of course…” Fuel fidgeted anxiously, before saying something else, much quieter than his other words, “does that mean… uh… we kiss?”
Lucas immediately went a shade of red, “If you want to…”
“Do you want to?” Fuel asked, looking into Lucas's eyes.
“I mean, yeah, but only if you want too-”
“Yeah.” Fuel interrupted and Lucas nodded.
Lucas hesitantly brought his free hand up to Fuel’s cheek. Most likely sensing how anxious Lucas was, Fuel gave him a soft smile and placed his free hand on Lucas's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. Lucas sucked a breath in before leaning in. It wasn't close enough for their lips to touch, instead they just stood there. Fuel's back against the wall of the prayer sanctuary, Lucas's hand on Fuel's cheek and Fuel’s hand on Lucas's shoulder, their other hands intertwined, and their lips so close they could feel each other's breath.
Lucas smiled ever so softly before leaning in and kissing Fuel. His lips were chapped, but to Lucas it didn't matter. Fuel was perfect, he was beautiful. His heart fluttered as he felt Fuel's hand moving from his shoulder to his head, his hands tangled in the back of Lucas’ hair. Neither of them knew how long they kissed, and neither of them knew who pulled away first. But they do know that when it did end they were left flustered messes.
“I should really get going,” Fuel stuttered, moving his hand from Lucas's shoulder to his own side, but not yet letting go of their intertwined hands.
“Yeah, dinner's probably ready…” Lucas mumbled, moving his hand from Fuel's cheek.
The two stood there in silence for a long moment, unsure of how to say goodbye.
“Well…” Lucas started, “I'll see you tomorrow?”
Fuel grinned, “Yeah!”
Lucas nodded, letting go of Fuel's hand and beginning to walk in the direction of his home. He paused after a couple steps turning back around and looking at Fuel.
“Goodbye… I love you.”
Fuel brought a hand up in a wave, “I love you more! And get home safe, alright?”
Lucas smiled, bringing a hand up to his own cheek as he turned away and continued walking.
—-
Lucas threw open the door to his house much more aggressively than he meant too, creating a loud crash and drawing the attention of the rest of his family.
“Oh- whoops!” Lucas apologized, checking to see if he had broken anything, before he turned to face everyone else. They both were seemingly having a calm conversation before Lucas decided to intrude, half eaten plates of food in front of them and an extra plate for Lucas next to them.
Claus paused, before smiling, “well, how'd it go?”
Lucas grinned, quickly taking his seat next to his sister, “I told him everything! Well all I could. At first he thought I was leaving but then I explained to him ‘no I'm not leaving!’ and then I was like ‘and I love you!’ and it took him like thirty seconds to understand it but he said he loved me back and we're dating now and we kissed!” Lucas explained the whole thing in a single breath.
Claus smiled and pulled her brother into a half hug, “See! You did it! And wasn't it easy?”
“Not at all!” Lucas smiled and playfully pushed Claus off of him.
“Hey…” Flint spoke quietly, causing both twins to settle down, “I'm proud of you, Lucas.”
Lucas smiled softly, “I love you guys… And thank you for all you've done for me.”
“Hey, we're here for you, that's what we do.” Claus smiled and softly elbowed her brother.
“How about we make some shaved ice after dinner? I think I remember how to make it…” Flint offered, and Lucas nodded.
“Oh gosh, don't let Dad make it, he'll mess it up!” Claus rolled her eyes, and Lucas giggled.
The pit in Lucas's stomach was gone, instead replaced with love and badly made shaved ice. Maybe getting it over with was the best idea, he supposed. Even so, he had people that loved him, and that's all he needed.