AN: I don't know where that little boy came from but OMFG. He kills me! *Dead*

~

William's head was reeling as they walked. 

He'd thought that Lucas was confusing from the get go, but now he was positive; Lucas liked him back. He did. He just maybe didn't know it. Or he did but wasn't sure about how William felt in return. Or maybe he didn't like him at all but he really did just get nervous whenever anyone new came over. But he'd said that it was because William was "so cool"... So maybe Lucas just admired him. But no one actually thought William was cool, how could they? So Lucas must like him as more than a friend. He just maybe--definitely--didn't know it.

Unless he was like this with all of his friends....

"Are you listening?"

William nodded at Lucas who was prattling on about someone named Blake.

"Okay, so that was when he said that I was a total loser and that I would never make it in life. So I threw my bag at him and my ipod must have flown out but I didn't realize it until later that day. So I've been music-less for like a month now which sucks balls because I have no internet or cable at home and no data on my phone plan so that was like the only thing I ever  had to do for fun."

He sighed heavily, not noticing William's shocked expression because now that he actually was  listening, he didn't like what he was hearing.

"Yeah, so now all I can do is like, stare at the walls all night."

Lucas laughed humorlessly and William had the horrifying realization that it was the truth. 

He opened his mouth to demand some sort of explanation but found he didn't know where to start. Lucas was living in the lap of luxury with no cable, internet, data or music. He hadn't really considered that the other boy might be going through hard times. He was too up beat to be affected by things like that... then again, he was a university student living on his own. That couldn't be easy. Then there was this Blake kid...

"Who's Blake again?" he asked.

"One of my friends," Lucas said absently. "He's in our program. Actually, he takes that class with us."

William frowned. 

"Red head?" he asked.

"That's the one."

William remembered the day he'd followed--not stalked--Lucas to their class. The way a boy with bright red, dyed hair had made Lucas' shoulders droop.

"He doesn't sound like much of a friend."

Lucas shrugged.

"He is and he isn't. We don't really get along at all. He likes to pester me and he's a total goody-two-shoes but we still hang out when everyone else is there."

William didn't get that. Then again, it had been a long time since he'd had a group of friends to hang out with. 

"You could be my buffer," Lucas said, looking up at William hopefully. "If you ever want to meet everyone..."

William bit his lip.

"They're seriously bothering me because they haven't met you yet. Seriously, Alex thinks we're dating."

Lucas laughed and William felt his heart sink a little bit.

"It would be nice if you were there to squash those rumours with me."

Okay, so maybe he didn't like William in that way.

They arrived at a large, generic house. It was two story with a small front yard and orange brown bricks.

Lucas knocked the door and after a moment, it flew open, revealing a pretty young woman with short auburn hair and a shocked, but pleased, smile.

"You're on time today!" she said happily.

Lucas laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah," he said. "Sorry about last time, it wont happen again."

She chuckled and moved to let them into the house.

"No worries, I told you to come a half hour early this time, just in case."

William trailed in behind his friend, eyes darting around the warm home. It was exactly like he expected it to be. Warm colours, white walls and hardwood floors. There were knickknacks on the shelves and toys on the floor and it was clear from a mile away that a happy family lived here.

"I'm  Jenn," she finally said, reaching out a hand.

"William," he said, shaking hers. 

"Are you friends with Grace too?"

"Uh, not yet," William said. 

Lucas snapped his gaze to William's excitedly at that.

"I'm just here to help Lucas today."

"Oh good," Jenn said, relieved. "You did a great job last time," Jenn said to Lucas reassuringly. "The kids are obsessed with you. Seriously though..." 

She leaned toward Lucas, lowering her voice and continuing to speak, but the words were all lost on William.

Instead, he watched Lucas flush red and look away.

"I had some trouble getting them to sleep," he admitted and William could guess that something about their bedtime had been addressed. Lucas sounded so bashful that William bet he wasn't far off shuffling his feet.

Jenn just smiled.

"They're a handful sometimes."

And then, her gentle demeanor vanished as he turned toward the stairs and bellowed. 

"MAX! TYLER! LUCAS IS HERE!"

There was a brief moment of silence and then a thunderous noise began. Tiny little feet thumping a million times on the ceiling above them, growing ever closer.

Suddenly, two tiny little creatures appeared at the top of the stairs.

"LUCAS!" they bellowed. 

William watched, growing more and more amused by the moment as the two young boys tackled Lucas' legs, still screaming his name.

"Okay guys, let him go," Jenn said. 

They didn't seem to hear her and she sighed.

"I'll just go get ready," she said. "You've got this?"

Lucas nodded weakly and then, when she disappeared upstairs, he looked at William helplessly.

William laughed and the kids dangling off of Lucas finally took notice of him.

The older one looked up at William with large, round brown eyes, suddenly acting shy.

"Who are you?" he asked.

William bent down to his level and smiled at the child.

"I'm William," he said. "What's your name?"

The boy shifted until he was hidden behind Lucas' leg.

He said something, muffling his voice in Lucas' leg.

"Tyler," Lucas said. William glanced up at him, warmth filling him at Lucas' intuition.

"Nice to meet you Tyler," William said kindly. "I'm Lucas' friend and I'll be helping him babysit today."

He looked at the other boy who barely stood past Lucas' knee. He looked a lot like his big brother only with a curly mop of hair on his head and even larger eyes.

"Can you tell me your name too?" he asked.

"Max," the boy said at once.

He looked up at Lucas and then back at William.

"Are you a dinosaur too?" he asked in his high voice.

William grinned and looked up at Lucas.

"No," he said. "Lucas is the only dinosaur here."

The boy's giggled.

An hour later, after Jenn and her husband left on their date, Lucas was sitting on the couch next to William, his wide eyes fixed on William with wonder.

William could feel himself blushing at the attention and finally looked at Lucas, who was blatantly staring.

"You're the child whisperer," he said in awe for the umpteenth time.

William chuckled and looked at the two children, quietly watching TV.

"I just put on the Avengers. Every little kid loves superhero cartoons, that's a fact."

"But how did you know?" Lucas asked. "I tried to get them to watch TV last week but they were running around and couldn't even hear me saying it."

William laughed at the image.

Eventually Lucas was drawn into the show, giving William's heart a break from pounding in his rib cage. The way that Lucas continued to stare at him all the time, it was no wonder that William got confused.

After a few minutes, Lucas slid off the couch and ended up sitting on the carpet with the boys, laughing at all the same jokes. He made both boys high five him as hard as they could when Bruce Banner hulked-out and both of the kids climbed happily onto his lap while the show continued.

It was ridiculously adorable to see and William couldn't resist snapping a picture on his phone before sliding quietly out of the room to make something for dinner.

Luckily there was left over lasagna in the fridge. William wasn't much of a chef, despite it running in the family so he popped it in the oven.

Just as dinner was ready, a loud shout filled the house. William ran into the living room and his jaw dropped. The show was paused and Lucas was laying flat on the floor on his stomach. Max sat on his shoulders while he flailed and Tyler attempted to pants him--which thankfully--wasn't working.

Shocked, William marched over to the kids, picking up Max first and carrying him to a corner. He planted him there on the floor.

"You keep that up and you're going to bed right now. If you behave we can eat and then watch more avengers."

Max visibly had to restrain himself, his whole body trembling to continue jumping up and down screaming. 

Tyler was next. He crossed his arms at William's speech but then remained silent, pouting.

Lucas rolled onto his back, looking up at William in awe again.

"You're a genius," he said.

William sighed.

"Why didn't you just stand up?" he asked. "They weigh like thirty pounds altogether."

Lucas sat up and shrugged.

"I didn't want to end up hurting them, they're small and delicate. And evil."

He pushed to his feet.

"Did you say something about eating?"

"Yeah," William said, distracted by the way Lucas' hair had turned into a birds nest atop his head from the wrestling.

Dinner and bed time was easy after that. 

The boys were still excited but they remained more controlled with the help of bedtime threats. When Jenn and her husband Allen arrived home, he and Lucas had just collapsed onto the couch in the living room.

"It's so quiet in here! I thought they'd still be up!" Allen said.

"Here." Jenn fished in her purse and pulled out a small wad of bills. "There should be $80 there," she said handing it to Lucas.

Lucas took it eagerly.

"Thank you!" he said, stuffing it in his pocket as though they would try to take it back.

"Do you want a ride home?" Allen asked but Lucas was already at the door. 

"No thanks!"

He reached out, grabbing William by the hand and pulled him out into the chilly night. William's heart raced against his ribs and Lucas looked back at him under the street lights, not letting go of his hand.

"Now I can finally go to your restaurant!" he said happily.

William's steps faltered. He had to force himself to keep walking.

"That's why you didn't want to come?" he asked. "Because you didn't have the money?"

Lucas nodded happily.

"But now I have it!"

William blinked at him.

"Lucas," he said slowly. "It's my families place, we wouldn't have to pay to eat there. I get everything for free."

This time Lucas slowed his steps.

"Even for me?" he asked uneasily.

William wanted to face-palm, smack Lucas and hug him all at the same time. Instead, he settled on letting out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head.

"Of course," he said. "I invited you."

"Cool! So I can pay my phone bill instead!"

He practically danced up the street and William watched him, feeling elated. He'd forgotten how straight up and direct Lucas was. If he said he wanted to spend time with William than chances were that he really did.

They reached his apartment quickly and again, William looked up at the modern, expensive looking building, impressed. At night time, the way the lights lit it made the place seem even more spectacular.

"Well, I guess I'll see you," he said as Lucas walked toward the entrance.

The brunette stopped dead in his tracks and swiveled around to look at William, panicked

"Oh," he said after a moment. "I thought you were going to sleep over..."

William flushed and had to shake his head. Mind out of the gutter! 

"I didn't bring anything to change into," he said as an excuse.

"I'll give you something!"

Oops. Lucas seemed to think that was the end of the battle, his only argument.

"Come on!" 

He grabbed William by the hand and pulled him forward and although it made his heart flutter, this was a really bad idea. He wouldn't sleep a wink.

"Lucas, I can't. My mom wants me home."

Lucas pouted. 

"Can't you call her and tell her that you're staying with me?"

William cringed at the very thought of that conversation.

"I don't think so..."

Lucas' soulful brown eyes dropped to their joined hands. He bit his lip before looking back up, puppy eyes in full force.

"Can't you just help me find my way around my apartment before you leave?"

William raised a brow and Lucas flushed.

"There's no power," he said quietly. "So it's dark and... well..."

William's gaze shot back up the apartment building, surprised. It was hard to think that someone would live somewhere like here and not have money for power. And then he remembered Lucas' speech from earlier. It's only a matter of time before you see what a disaster I am...

William schooled his shock as best he could and smiled at Lucas.

"I'll stay over," he said.

Lucas grinned.