When Fate Tries to Screw You Over

All week all I could think of was Lucas. I know it's weird, but I couldn't get him out of my head. His perfect blue eyes haunted my dreams.

So when I went into La Cucina on saturday night, all I wanted was one glimpse of his magical eyes. I didn't care whether he was gay or not. He was gorgeous.

"Great start Matt, you're early. Grab an apron, pad and pen and come back and I'll explain everything to you." I nod and go to where George was pointing to and grabbed what I needed. I turn around and bump into Lucas who stumbles back a bit, not looking at me.

"S-sorry" He mumbles quietly, moving out of my way.

"Hey, it's ok. How are you?" I ask, happy to see him.

"F-fine. I better get back to work." He stumbles over his words making me frown. This was a totally different Lucas to the one I met on wednesday.

"Are you ok Lucas?" He didn't say anything, his eyes never leaving the floor, "What's wrong?" I press, trying to get him to look at me.

"N-nothing" He glances at me very briefly, letting me catch a glimpse of a black eye he had.

"Who did that?!" I exclaim, grabbing his chin to get a better look at his injury surrounding one of his big blue eyes.

"No one. I've got to get back to work." He pulls away and walks off to get the meals required.

I figured I would talk to him after our shifts, so I went back to find George to start my first shift.

~*~

"You did great Matt. Well done. Your next shift is on monday, the day shift which is 9am till 7pm. You get two, half hour breaks and I'll have a roster up for you by then. You can sign off and go. Well done." George congratulates me after the shift ended at 11pm.

"Thanks, see you then." I leave after putting my apron, pad and pen back where it belonged and I walked out the front way, heading to the car.

That is until I get distracted by a group of guys who were surrounding a dark green, old car. It was obvious they were up to no good, so I calmly went to see what they were doing.

"Come on fag, get up! Can't you fight like a man?! Oh, i forgot, your not considered a man, faggot!" One of the boys was taunting someone on the ground beside the car. The minute the person got up again, two of the other boys grabbed him from behind and held him while the other guy punched him repeatedly in the stomach. It was too dark to see their faces.

"Hey! HEY! What's going on!!" I yell, coming up to them. This makes them let go of the boy, who collapses to the ground and they run off laughing.

"Hey, are you - Lucas?! Woah mate, it's alright." Lucas moans in pain, spitting blood out of his mouth as he tries to get up. I help him to his feet and put his arm around my neck to keep him upright. He leans heavily against me as I lead him to my car.

"It's alright mate. Let's get you to my apartment and cleaned up, ok?" He nods weakly and slumps into the passenger seat of my car before I get in and start it up.

"How are you feeling? You alive?" I joke nervously.

"I'm ok" He mumbles out, in obvious pain.

"Why'd they do that to you Lucas?" I ask worriedly.

"Cause I'm gay" He answers sumply, shrugging it off.

"What?! I'm gay too but.. but thats just wrong! I swear to god, if they come near you again, I will break their necks." I ramble on angrily.

"It's ok, really. I get it all the time. They just can't accept people like us that are different from them. They arn't worth getting angry over." Lucas says dismissively as we stop at my apartment. I help him out gently and he leans aganst me again and we make our way up to the front door of Brandon's and my apartment.

"Hold on, this door's a bitch" I let him go and he leans against the wall as I struggle to open it when I finally did, we found Brandon watching TV, eating chips and drinking beer.

"Hey Ma- Holy shit, what happened?!" Brandon leaps into action and helps Lucas to the couch while I get a packet of frozen peas, a wet washer and antiseptic cream.

"Some guys bashed Lucas here, because he is gay. Stupid fuckwits." I fumed, sitting on the coffee table and dabbing the blood off his face.

"That's not cool! Who were they? I want to kill them" Brandon says seriously, which Lucas figures out after chuckling slightly and we don't join him.

"This is my big brother, Brandon. Brandon, this is Lucas, he works with me." I introduce, placing the frozen peas over his eye; "Hold it there"

"Hey Brandon" Lucas mumbles, closing his eyes.

"Hi. Look, you want to stay here the night? You can call your parents from here and tell them if you like. Just so we can keep an eye on you with these injuries, you look terrible." Brandon offers, I nod in agreement.

"Thanks, that would be good. I don't want Mum fussing right now." Lucas says gratefully, wincing slightly. I grab the phone off it's hook and hand it to him.

"Hello Mum, it's me. Yeah...No...Look, I'm just going to stay at a friends house tonight, is that ok?... Yes, I know I have school tmorrow... No Mum, I'm not going to skip... yes, I understand that! Mum! Please! I'm not a bloody 8 year old!...Right... yep, bye Mum... Yeah, you too. Bye" Lucas rolls his eyes, hanging up. "Mothers…" He groans, sitting gently on the couch again. Brandon and I glance at each other awkwardly, thinking of our Mother.

"Do you wanna take a shower? Get the blood off properly?" I ask, he mumbles a 'yes please' and follows me to the bathroom.

"Here you go, you need to put the hot water on completely otherwise you get cold water from some reason, then you fiddle with the cold water tap." I hand him a towel and leave him to it.

"You like him" Brandon smirks the minute I flop onto the sofa. This startles me.

"What? No I don't" I stammer out, blushing.

"You so do. Look! Matty is blushy wushing!" He cooes, pinching my cheeks.

"Shove off, I don't" I push his hands away.

"Do"

"Not"

"Do"

"Not!"

"Do!"

"Not!!"

"You think he is sexy, ruggard-" At this, I sit on his chest, stopping him mid-sentence.

"Now, are you going to stop?" I ask smugly.

"Ummmm..." He struggles and pushes me off him and onto the floor, on my stomach. He jumps onto my back, twisting my arm around awkwardly.

"No, I am not!" He laughs triumphantly as I squirm underneath him.

"Get off Brandon!" I yell, trying to get my arm out of his grasp.

"Not until you say I'm right."

"Never!" I reply childishly.

"Alright. You know what I'm going to do now Matt?"

"Don't you dare." I warn, wriggling violently.

"Too late!" Suddenly a dugustingly smelly sock is shoved in my face, making me gag.

"That's disgusting Bran! What do you put your poor feet through!" I yell, trying to get it out of my face. "I'm gonna pass out!" He laughs evilly to this and practically shoves it up my nose.

"Now, am I right Matty poo?" He asks smugly.

"Okay! Okay! You're right!" I yell defeated.

"And I am the most amazing person in the entire universe." He resites.

"Don't push your luck" I growl.

"And...I...am...the...most...amaz-"
"Ahem..." We both look up from the floor and see Lucas standing uncomfortably in the doorway with just boxers on clinging to his hips.

"Brandon! Get off me!" I huff and he complies. I stand up quickly and kick him playfully in the shin. He mocks hurt but smirks anyway.

"Ummm... do you have a shirt I could borrow?" He asks shyly.

"Sure, come on" I lead him into my bedroom and rummage around to find a shirt, which I hand to him.

"Thanks"

"No problem. You look better now. Still, you got a huge bruise developing on your torso, do you want some ice for it?" I ask, sitting down on my bed.

"No, it's alright thanks" He sits down next to me cautiously.

"Night guys. I'm crashing." Brandon pops his head in the doorway, winking knowingly at me. I glare back and he smiles innocently and runs away.

"Right, well, you can sleep in here." I say, getting up.

"Wait, what about you?" He asks worriedly, grabbing my hand.

"The couch is good for me. Don't worry about it." I shrug, trying not to blush from the contact of his hand over mine.

"No! I'm not going to kick you out of your own bed. I'll sleep on the couch" He rush's, getting up also, not letting my hand go.

"No way. It's fine, really." I shake my head.

"No, I'd feel bad if I did that."

"Look, lets just share the bed. Would that be better?" I offer.

"O-okay" He stutters. This boy had some conidence issues, I observed.

"Great," I smily "That's settled then." I pull back the sheets and we both get in after I stripped to my boxers and put on a white shirt.

"Thanks for letting me stay for th night Matt" Lucas whispers through the darkness.

"It's no problem, any time seriously." I was met with content silence which I eventually fall asleep to.

~*~

In the early hours of the morning I get woken up by small sobs. I turn to face Lucas' back. I could tell he was trying to keep his tears quiet but it was futile. I click on the bedside lamp and turn back to see his shoulders were tense.

"What's wrong Lucas? Why are you crying sugar?" I ask groggily, my homosexuality shining brightly.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." He chokes out, not turning to face me.

"Don't be. What's wrong?" I asked again, pulling at his shoulder so he faced me with his tear -stained cheeks and bloodshot/bruised eyes. I wipe his tears from his cheeks but they get replaced by fresh ones immediately after.

"Nothing, d-don't worry." He stutters, wiping furiously at his tears. I look at him worriedly, my heart pulling. I grab his wrists gently and pull him to me, embracing him. He falls into my chest, gripping my thin cotton shirt as he buries his face into it, letting his tears flow freely. I hold him for a time, murmuring comfort words in his ear.

"Some things just get too much after a while, with those guys beating me up, the looks I get, the comments, I just wish it would all end sometimes. All of it, it's not worth the effort, is it." He concludes, after his tears were no longer sobs, but silent trickles. I push his chin up gently, stroking his cheek.

"It gets better." I state sincerely, the impact of my words evident on his face.
"Thank you" He whispers "Thank you" He leans forward and does something that surprised me greatly. He presses his lips against mine, kissing me so gently. I could feel his lip ring connect with mine and his split lip brush against my skin. I kiss him back, pulling him closer, not willing to let this moment I was having with this younger boy go. I didn't understand the attraction I had towards Lucas, I mean, I've only known him for a few days and we're already kissing.

He pulls back quickly, as if he only just realised what he was doing. He sits at the end of the bed, his hunched over back towards me.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I'm really -" He mumbles, but I cut him off by getting off the bed and standing in front of him and kissing him again, his hands tangled themselves in my dark hair and mine clutched his cheeks gently. He lays back, pulling me on top of him, stilling kissing deeply, our tongues dancing together. His hands removed themselves from my locks, gliding slowly down my back, I flip us over and pull him even closer by his ass. He moans gently, kissing me harder, lust and passion dripping off the kiss.
Eventually, we pull away, out of breath. Lucas rolls off gently, his small, short figure looking fragile compared to my taller, broader body. We lay there, feet still tangled, staring at each other, both pretty surprised by what just happened.

"R-right..." I breathe, his eyes fixed on mine.

"What-what just happened?" Lucas whispers.

"I..don't know..." We eventually fall alsleep together, still in each others arms.