Déjà Vu

--bright lights

Summer nights were rather chilly in Boston, hence why Lukas was bundled up once more in Matthias' denim jacket. He kept having to roll the sleeves up past his wrists as he watched Matthias skipping along, gazing in awe at all the restaurants and stores as if he had never seen them before, as if he didn't live in the same town they were currently in. Then again, he should probably give Matthias a break; it wasn't often that they went downtown.

"Don't you just love city nights?" Matthias sighed out, finally slowing his pace, allowing Lukas to catch up.

"I guess so," Lukas mused, before tugging up the sleeves for the umpteenth time. "If you like loud and chilly things, of course." He paused, spotting a restaurant sign that caught his eye. "Hey, why don't we eat here tonight? I think you really liked this place."

Matthias started to smile at the prospect of eating there, but then his face dropped. "Ugh, no, Chad-Chuck works there."

Ugh, dangit Chad-Chuck. Lukas thankfully hadn't seen him since that day in Waldenbooks, but the guy was still a dick. And now, he'd indirectly ruined their dinner plans, too. "Well, there's plenty of other restaurants. I'm sure we'll find a good one."

"Nah, screw it, we can't let this guy ruin our fun!" Matthias clapped Lukas hard on the shoulder, then pushed him towards the restaurant door as Lukas peered through the windows, trying to see if Chad was in there. Sure enough, there he was, though he was thankfully without the stupid sweater tied around his shoulders.

"He's the fucking host, Mat," Lukas huffed, trying to escape, but Matthias was already shoving him through the door. Sighing heavily, he pasted on a smile and offered Chad a stiff, unenthusiastic wave. "Hi, Chad."

"Oh, it's F*ggot Bondevik and his boy toy," Chad hissed as soon as he saw them walking through the door. "You know Bondevik, you're fucking lucky I can't exactly get you back for what you did to me the other day." He snatched up two menus and stomped over to one of the empty tables, beckoning the pair to follow him before slapping the menus down on the table. He gave Lukas yet another pointed glare (which was met with a rather stony look) before resuming his post near the doorway.

Matthias blew a raspberry at Chad before turning back to Lukas. "Ja, don't worry about him- he can't do anything to you in here."

"I'm not worried," Lukas replied, rolling his eyes. "Like he could even hurt me." Despite the show he was currently putting on, he was well aware that he definitely wouldn't be able to beat Chad in a fistfight, but he definitely could beat him at a game of chess anytime. If only people were willing to settle conflicts over a chessboard.

"...Okayyyy, Mr. Tough Guy. You do realize you're a teensy little string bean compared to him, right?" Matthias pointed out, before opening his menu and peering at it. Noticing Lukas hadn't opened his up yet, he reached across the table and opened Lukas' menu as well. "Hey, come on. We came here for dinner. Don't let him ruin your night."

"I'm not," Lukas insisted, cheeks flushing pink as he buried his face in his menu. Oh, he was a mess. "Just...stop talking about him. We're here so we can hang out, stop dragging the conversation back to other people."

Matthias blinked slowly before rubbing the back of his neck. Lukas could already tell Matthias was about to say something he didn't want to hear. "Yeesh, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous of Chad-Chuck."

"As if," Lukas snorted, pinning his curls back out of his face. He caught Matthias staring with a displeased look on his face and glanced away. "Okay, fine. So what?"

"Why'd you be jealous of him, Lukas?"

"I'm not, he's an awful person. I just wish you'd stop talking about him so much."