AN: Hi everyone! This chapter is dedicated to mademoiselle_Eden She has amazing stories and is really awesome! Check her stuff out!! 

As always thanks for reading, voting and faning! Now...

On to the chapter!

~

"They are such little bitches," Lucas said before stuffing more bagel into his face.

William managed to keep a straight face.

"Mmhm."

Lucas swallowed, nearly choked and took a sip of water to push the food down without missing a beat.

"Seriously,  they're bullies. That kind of shit should not be tolerated."

"How old are they again?" William asked. He already knew the answer, but the way Lucas got so riled up about children... it was simultaneously hilarious, ridiculous and adorable.

His eyes darkened murderously.

"Three and six," he growled. "The worst ages in human history."

William couldn't help the small laugh that escaped.

Lucas' eyes widened at him incredulously.

"I don't think you understand," he said. "Max literally poured an entire glass of orange juice into his kraft dinner and then got sick everywhere and Tyler jumped up and down on my back for like an hour because I was stupid enough to pretend to be a dinosaur and then neither of them would go to bed. They would at first and then they'd sneak out and just be, like, sitting there in the living room like it was no big deal and I kept having to tuck them in over and over again."

Lucas actually looked drained just from telling the story.

"I told their mom that they would be asleep by eight and they were up until eleven."

"That does sound pretty bad," William admitted, although he was still smiling. The idea of Lucas stomping around like a dinosaur... He could just picture it so clearly.

Lucas leaned forward suddenly and clasped William's hand in his own. William nearly had a heart attack.

"Please," Lucas said, gazing up at him with his big brown eyes. "Can you please come help me tonight?"

Yes nearly burst from William's mouth without thought. It was hard for him to say no to Lucas for anything. That boy was hard to resist and he possibly had the best puppy eyes known to man, although William had a sneaky suspicion that the brunette didn't even know that he did it.

"You want me to come babysit with you?" he asked slowly. 

At Lucas' nod, William shook his head.

"I'm not good with kids," he said. "And why me? Ask one of your other friends."

Lucas pouted.

"You're my only responsible friend," he whined. "Please, I can't handle them on my own and this is my only source of income. If they die, I'll lose this job."

William shook his head.

"They're not going to die. You're hardly going to kill them."

Lucas finally dropped William's hand. William could breathe again.

"Maybe, maybe not," Lucas said, shrugging. "Next time, it might not be orange juice he pours into his dinner."

Lucas poked at his food sadly, not eating, which was alarming.

William sighed, watching him.

He was getting far too use to their little lunch dates. They always sat alone in what was now referred to as 'their clearing' and ate with the sun shining down on them and the creek babbling at their side. 

Today, as always, the sun shone down on Lucas' dark hair, lighting it yellow wherever it touched. Lucas was beautiful no matter what, but William preferred it when he smiled.

"I guess I could come for a bit," he said.

Lucas nearly levitated off his seat, eyes widening and excited grin lighting his face.

"Really?!"

William laughed.

"Oh thank god! Maybe you can teach me how to deal with them and I can keep this job longer!"

"What makes you think I know what to do?"

Lucas ignored that.

"I'm supposed to be there at six. We can walk down together, or you could come over and we could hang out for a bit?"

"...At your place?"

Why did that idea make him so nervous?

"Yeah, you wanna come straight over?"

"Uh, I have some stuff to do first."

William genuinely didn't mean to say that. The blatant lie just fell out of his mouth. 

"Okay, just come over around five."

William nodded and Lucas grinned at him. Normally that goofy smile made William's day. Their little lunch was enough for him. The pause from life in their clearing was like a little escape just for them and it kept William happy and looking forward to the next day. 

Taking their friendship outside of these hedges and outside of school all the way into the real world, where there was family and friends and strangers and people that didn't understand William the way that Lucas easily seemed to... it unnerved him.

Not to mention that William had tried at the start. He'd straight-up asked Lucas to brave all of those things with him. He'd invited Lucas to the restaurant, knowing full well that meant that his mom would know who it was that William was so excited to see everyday and Lucas had turned him down.

And then expected William to come over and meet his friends and go babysitting with him... It was a little infuriating. 

Why did Lucas only want to do things on his terms?

William suddenly regretted agreeing to the babysitting. 

At home, William walked straight into his bedroom, pretending he didn't hear his mom saying hello to him, and collapsed into bed.

A few minutes passed and then, a hand touched his shoulder.

William looked up at his mom, surprised that he hadn't heard her coming at all.

"You okay baby?" she asked. "You didn't say hi, or anything."

William sighed. He forgot that she would never let him get away with things like that.

"I'm fine," he said.

For a moment, she looked down at him, reading him.

"Did that girl not want to have lunch with you today?"

William was not at all in the mood to humour her today.

"It's not a girl," he said.

He waited for a response. When none came, William rolled over, afraid to see the look on her face.

"And we did eat together."

William felt the edge of the bed sink down with her weight. A hand rested on William's shoulder again.

"That's good then, isn't it?"

William shrugged.

"He wants me to come babysit with him tonight."

"Are you going?"

William nodded.

After a long moment, William finally turned to look at his mom. She was watching him with a sympathetic frown but she smiled when he looked at her.

"I guess I don't see what the problem is," she said.

William sighed. 

"I'm just confused, I guess," he said, trying to ignore the even bigger presence in the room; he was pretty sure he'd just come out to his mother and she was handling it shockingly well. 

He hadn't meant to do it. Dammit, Lucas' impulsiveness was really rubbing off on him.

"He just invites me to loads of stuff, but he said no when I invited him to the restaurant."

His mom's smile widened.

"Well that doesn't mean anything. Clearly he wants to spend time with you."

William hummed noncommittally.

"Have you asked him what he wants?" she asked.

William chuckled.

"We're just friends," he said.

She shrugged.

"You'll never know unless you ask."

William knew that she was just trying to help but she had never met Lucas. If she did, then she would understand. William would have to be beyond blunt to get the other boy to figure it out. And then, he would probably have a heart attack and die. Or shout obscenely.

The thought made him smile. That was definitely what Lucas' over dramatic reaction would be.

And if it wasn't, if he somehow felt the same way, then what? Then William would have to branch out. He'd have to meet all of the friends and he'd have to be social and uncomfortable. There would be no more hiding in their clearing, just the two of them.