Look Out For Me (ManXMan)

Chapter Twelve

Matt felt like he was constantly living in a dream world. It felt too good to be true. Matt went to bed that night alone, but not quite alone. "Only under one condition," Matt said to himself in the mirror after his morning run, "I still get to have my Halloween fun after 2 PM."

He tried to imagine the look on Mel's face, what it would look like when he'd hear that. He assumed they'd reach a compromise. As silly as it might seem, Matt wished he said those words before their kiss. Halloween wasn't particularly a life or death situation, but hey, it would be fun to see the look on the man's face.

Matt had the day off. It was Sunday, which meant he would spend half the day cleaning up. Matt bulldozed through his chore, and it was suddenly after 12. Lucas naturally let himself in, but something felt... different.

"Hi Lucas." Matt thought he sounded eerily cheerful, but it was too hard to contain.

"Hey." Lucas's tone hadn't quite matched Matt's.

Matt felt his good mood drop a fraction. "Something going on?"

Lucas walked a little slowly over towards the couch, and Matt went to join him. Lucas replied just as Matt made it. "Yeah my dad called."

Matt fell the rest of the way on the couch. He could only stare, and he was sure the blood drained from his face as he looked at his only friend. Matt did the only thing he could, he placed his hand over Lucas's shoulder. Lucas was not what you'd say was on good terms with his parents. Matt could only feel thankful they didn't have another child to suffer along.

Lucas's father, Matt remembered him. The man used to scare the hell out of him.

"What did they want?"

Lucas laughed without humor. He also still wouldn't look at Matt. "What else? Money, and asked if I was still hanging around you." Matt knew well enough Lucas was editing the words. "It's amazing how much my mother doesn't agree with everything that man says, but can still be so toxic."

Lucas meant that his mother was not the homophobic type, but Matt remembered she was really weird. Not even Matt's parents would dare spend more than 5 minutes with Lucas's parents.

Lucas continued. "I've actually meant to tell you this for awhile, but you had enough going on in your life." Matt gave him a really-you-should-know-better look. It was to no avail. Lucas was too stubborn.

"How long has this been going on?"

Lucas at least looked guilty. "Uh a while?"

Matt wanted to show how displeased he was about learning this, but instead he kept it together so Lucas could finish.

"It's just that, I already burdened you with enough of my sometimes miserable life. First you meet that guy Mel. Then Alyssa drops the moving bomb on me, and then there's work. That prick, I forget his name, has been stealing from the store. Jans House is in trouble. I don't want to lose my job. I like all the people I get to work with. I love that place!"

But there was still more, Matt felt like they were getting closer to the heart of the manner. "I got a little self destructive. I'm sorry." He bowed his head and his shoulders sagged.

"You have nothing to apologize for, none of this was your fault." Matt's arm started to snake around Lucas's shoulders. He wanted to comfort him as much as possible, but it was hard not to feel the prick of hurt. Watching Lucas suffer, made him suffer too. It always seemed to work the other way around too.

"Goddammit that's not everything!" Lucas burst from the couch into the air. Matt could only watch helplessly. "I suddenly feel like everything I've known and had is all falling apart around me!"