Lucas bounced to the door and whipped it open, revealing his stunning friend. William was in a fresh set of clothe;, fitted, dark jeans that made his long legs look even longer and a long sleeved shirt that was just the right shade to make the colour of his eyes pop. His hair was brushed out of his face and everything about him screamed neat and clean and put together.

"Whoa," Lucas said, looking him up and down. "Why do you look so good? We're just going babysitting."

William flushed bright red and looked at the floor.

"I don't know," he muttered.

He shifted awkwardly on the spot and then glanced up at Lucas.

"Aren't you going to let me in?" he asked.

"Right."

Lucas moved out of the way, holding the door open for William, eyes still raking him as he entered his apartment.

He looked down at himself, suddenly realizing that he'd been in the same outfit all day, running around under the sun, sweating. He probably stank.

"I should change too," he said self-consciously.

William shrugged, eyes scanning what he could see of the apartment.

"You don't have to," he said.

Lucas lead his friend passed the kitchen into the living room, aware of the way his eyes darted around in surprise. People were always surprised when they saw where Lucas lived. He didn't really match it, he knew.

"I didn't expect the doorman," William said.

Lucas shrugged.

"Yeah," he said. "They have pretty tight security in this place."

He could tell William was about to ask him more.

"I'll be right back," Lucas said, before he could. "Make yourself comfortable."

He took off to his room before William could say anything else.

Once there, Lucas shut the door and braced himself against it. He always got nervous when people came over for the first time, with William here though, it was like his nerves were increased tenfold. He just liked William so much. He was so nice and so cool and so smart and Lucas didn't want the other boy to judge him, or worse, pity him.

With a sigh, he went through his laundry basket, filled with clothes that he was probably never going to fold and put away and found a wrinkled shirt at the bottom. It smelled clean at least. 

He washed his face, put on a fresh layer of deodorant, pulled on the new shirt and then finally went back to face William.

William was sitting on the couch, eyes still scanning around curiously. 

Lucas sat down across from him.

"Do you want something to drink?" he asked.

"Sure," William said. "What do you have?"

"Uh." shit. "Water?"

William smiled.

"That's perfect," he said.

Lucas hurried to the kitchen, pulling out a glass for his friend. He had been so excited to hang out with William--right until the blond showed up at his doorstep. Why was he freaking out now?

Glass of water in hand, Lucas turned to leave the kitchen, nearly jumping out of his skin when he saw that William had followed him in.

Water sloshed over the sides of the glass, all over the floor.

"Sorry," William said. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

William knelt down, taking the towel off the oven handle to wipe up the mess .

"It's fine," Lucas said, dropping to his knees and trying to yank the towel from William's hand. William held it tightly and they ended up staring at each other, only a few inches separating them.

God, William had the bluest eyes.

Lucas was about to say just that but William spoke first, stopping him from word vomiting.

"You seem flustered," he said.

"Yeah," Lucas agreed. "Because you're in my house."

The glint in his eye told Lucas that William liked that answer, for some reason, and made it even harder to look at him. What was happening?!

"You're making me really nervous," Lucas said. 

So much for not word vomiting.

"Why would I make you nervous?" William asked, the gentle, prodding tone pulled Lucas' eyes right back to William's needling gaze.

"Because you're so cool and stuff. And you're in my house and its only a matter of time before you start to notice everything that's wrong in my life and what a mess I am."

Dammit.

Lucas looked down at the towel, unable to face William's surprised face any longer. After a moment, William let go of the towel.

"Why would I ever think you're a mess?" William asked. He chuckled a little like it was ridiculous and Lucas bit his lip, suddenly remembering why they were on the floor and starting to mop up the water.

When he stood, William followed him up, frowning.

"You know you don't have to impress me, right?" William asked.

Lucas swallowed. Sure he didn't have to impress William, but that didn't stop him from wanting to. He wanted the other boy to like him even half as much as Lucas did. If he managed that, he could be happy. Unfortunately, as everyone was always so apt to point out, Lucas actually had zero redeeming qualities. Every moment that the other boy agreed to hang out with him and be his friend kind of felt like winning the lottery.

"Seriously," William said, that shyness that was now so familiar, dropping right back over his friend. "I'm the lucky one. That you even want to spend time with me... It means a lot."

Lucas was a little stunned at that.

"Everyone would want to spend time with you if you'd let them. Seriously. There's no one who wouldn't like you."

William chuckled.

"You only see the good in people."

He gave Lucas a lingering look and then looked down, crossing his arms protectively over his chest.

"A lot of people haven't liked me."

"How is that even possible?" Lucas asked, bewildered.

William laughed again, a light musical sound that made Lucas wonder even harder who was stupid enough to not want William in their life.

"I'm rude sometimes," William admitted. "Without meaning to be. It just happens because I can't hear people and, well, they think I'm ignoring them. I can't exactly wear a sign saying I have bad hearing, can I?"

Lucas frowned, remembering what his friends had first said about William. Annoyance coursed through him at that. People could be so thoughtless.

"Well, can't you just tell people that?" Lucas asked. "Like right away so that no one thinks the wrong thing about you?"

William snorted.

"That would be the most awkward ice-breaker ever," he said.

Lucas frowned. How would that be less awkward than what William was already dealing with?

"Shouldn't we get going?" William finally asked.

Lucas glanced at the time.

"Shit," he muttered. "Yeah."

William glanced around curiously once more before they left, but miraculously, he didn't ask a thing, not even as Lucas locked up the door.

He didn't know whether the blond was just being shy, polite, respectful or sensitive, all Lucas knew, as usual, was that William was on the verge of being perfect.

AN: Thanks for reading! I'm having a lot of fun writing this story :D I hope that you are enjoying! <3 See you next Wednesday!