Natsu placed a cold bottle of soda in front of Toji who was resting his head on his arms, folded on the table. He reached over and took it without moving.

“Thanks,” he said, his voice muffled.

“Anytime,” Natsu replied, rubbing his back as he dropped into the chair next to him. “How’d it go?”

Toji sat up with a loud groan, his head tilted back. “Can I just not be a grown up anymore?”

“You’re barely one now, shut up,” Ynda said, flipping through a magazine as she reclined on one of the sofas lining the side of the car.

“Eat me.”

She stuck out her tongue and tugged on her lower lid.

Natsu grinned, pinching Toji’s arm. The taller man leaned over, dropping his head on Natsu’s shoulder. Natsu chuckled, patting his cheek. “Was it really that bad?” he said gently.

“No, just tedious and exhausting,” Toji said, rolling his head. “If I bit my tongue any harder, it would have snapped in half.”

“Let me see.”

Toji stuck it out, grinning wide around it before laying his head back down. Natsu rested his head against Toji. He giggled. “Cute,” he said softly.

While not a lot of eyes were on them, there were enough brief glances for everyone to start grinning or whispering amongst themselves.

“No more work, though?” Natsu asked quietly.

“Mm-mm, I’m all done. Dad actually kept his promise this time. He said they were going to take over the investigation from there. I did my part, he said.” He swallowed. “He said he was proud of me and the way I handled it. He said to thank you for your help.”

“Why wouldn’t he be proud of you, you’re amazing,” Natsu said. “And I didn’t do it for him. Just you.” The last two words were in a whisper and Toji smiled.

“Thank you, baby,” he whispered back.

“Quit whispering, you’re being gross,” Lukas said, sitting down at their table, slapping a huge pan of pizza down on the table in front of them. Both Toji and Natsu sat up, their mouths filling with saliva as they tore into the pie. Ynda jumped up and joined them. 

“May I?” Ava asked.

“Sure,” Toji said, not looking up.

Ava grabbed two slices, handing one off to Finn and following him to another table nearby.

Peter arrived a moment later with another large pizza and he was instantly swarmed by everyone else. He tried to get them all to calm down but to no avail.

“Did you two have fun while we were gone?” Chloe asked Kayla and Peter as they dug into their lunch.

Peter shrugged. “It was okay,” he said. “We mostly just chilled out with the staff and talked. Nothing too crazy.”

“Aw, and here I thought you’d be pining away for me at the window, pawing at it like a pathetic puppy.”

“He did for the first five minutes,” Kayla teased, both girls laughing when Peter blushed.

“Lady, you go too far,” he said.

“Nay, I go not far enough!” Kayla retorted. She continued to tease and banter with Peter, Chloe throwing in a few jabs of her own. The twins and Havik talked animatedly about going to the beach, and Ynda had to join in on their enthusiasm. Lukas, Toji, and Natsu joked around, promising they would beat each other in a surfing contest and making bets on what the loser would have to do for the other two. 

Everyone was finally in a relaxed and jovial mood, with a few people teasing Toji and Natsu, which they both tried to deflect while still openly flirting. No one really noticed that Lukas wasn’t taking part in the teasing as much as everyone else was, but he did laugh when Chloe tried to get in between the two and plant huge, slobbery kisses on each of their cheeks, both of them swiping at their own, and each other’s faces, making sounds of disgust and annoyance.

“Did you guys bring your Switches?” Lukas asked. Toji and Natsu nodded and the three rushed back to their rooms to get them. On the way back, Toji held Natsu back for a quick second, kissing him soundly on the mouth after making sure they weren’t being watched.

“Had to,” he murmured as he pulled away, Natsu smiling as they dashed off to join Lukas, their fingers entwined behind Natsu’s back.

-*-

Lukas and Toji were lying in their respective beds later that night, still playing their games, Toji pausing every now and then to text Natsu. The duration between texts gradually lengthened until eventually Toji stopped all together.

“He asleep?” Lukas asked, not looking up from his game.

“Who?” Toji asked, playing dumb.

Lukas swiveled his head in Toji’s direction. “You know who.”

Toji kept his eyes on the game. “Maybe.”

Lukas turned back to his own game, shaking his head. “Why didn’t you get a room with him? I swear, he was damn near in your lap at dinner.”

“Because we’re not like that, bro. We like each other, we flirt, that’s it.”

“And you stay up late talking, and you disappear together all the time, and I’m sure I heard you call him ‘baby’ once or twice.”

Toji’s fingers halted briefly but he resumed before Lukas could catch it. “So?” he said. “I told you, we like each other. Big deal.”

Lukas was quiet for a few moments. “So just a summer fling, huh?”

“Mhm.”

Silence filled the room again, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. The two had known each other since they were infants, they didn’t need to talk all the time.

“Are you still a virgin?” Lukas asked out of the blue.

“Dude!” Toji tossed the Switch in the air, letting it land on the bed as he sat up on his elbows.

“What? I’m just asking!”

“Why does that even fucking matter?” Toji shot back. “Are you?”

“Maybe.”

“Okay then!” He leaned back against the pillow, folding his hands under his head. 

Lukas set his game face down on his stomach, tucking one hand under his own head, both of them staring at the ceiling, letting the motion of the train relax them.

“Dude, what is with you lately?” Toji asked softly after a moment of silence.

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. You’ve been off. Quieter, going off more with Finn or someone else, staring off into space more than usual.”

“I don’t stare off into space.”

“Bullshit.”

Lukas closed his eyes, sighing. “I don’t know, dude, why are you spending so much time with Natsu?”

“Because he’s my best friend and I missed him and I want to spend time with him. Is that a problem?”

“No, it’s not,” Lukas said, running a hand over his eyes. “I don’t know, man, I guess it’s just…well, you spent the last year miserable as hell, barely talking to anyone, making every escape attempt known to man—”

“And failing, no thanks to you and Dad.”

Lukas sighed. “You’ve done a complete one-eighty since we got here. Sure, you were doing better the last couple months, but the minute we got through that door, you were a completely different person. What am I supposed to think? It’s like you’d rather be with Natsu than with us, so yeah…I’m backing off. I’m still doing my job, but for the most part, I’m letting you do you.” He paused, trying to make his racing mind settle before the wrong words slipped out. “You’re happier here. With him. We can all see it, Neko.”

Toji swallowed, his eyes glued to the ceiling. Somehow, the nickname didn’t sound as good coming from him as it did from Natsu. Really, it didn’t sound the same, period. When Natsu said it, it was like a kiss, like he was cherishing the name and making it his. He closed his eyes, wanting to be with him, to touch him, to smell him and to hold him close. They didn’t even have to have sex; he just wanted to be with his Natsu. He glanced down their link, Natsu’s waves slow and rhythmic, confirming that he was asleep. He wished he were holding Natsu right then instead of having this conversation. He was going to have to admit things to Lukas he’d been denying for years and he knew it was going to hurt. Still…

“I am,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. 

Those two little words were like daggers going straight into Lukas’s heart. He hadn’t wanted to hear that. He wanted Toji to say he was happier in the Veil, with him, with his family. He knew, everyone knew, things were bad between Toji and Hero, but Lukas had always believed they could work it out. 

Lukas cleared his throat, trying to cover up the urge to cry. “Would you stay here? If you could?”

Toji said nothing.

Lukas turned his head, noting how Toji was doing his absolute best not to look in his direction. “Toji?”

Toji’s eyes closed and he sighed. “Yeah, Lukas. I would. I hate my life back in the Veil, you know that. Me and Dad are always fighting, I hate all the things I’m expected to do as a Prince, and don’t get me started on all the shit I’m supposed to do as a fucking god. Dad’s doing everything he can to groom me to be this perfect King and I don’t want it! He forces me into an engagement with a female, ignores everything I say when shit blows up, blames my best friend, my best human friend, and then leaves me to be a virtual prisoner in the Veil.”

Why else would he be so desperate to get here? You really think Hero kept him a virtual prisoner for no reason?

Finn’s words came back to Lukas like a wave. Toji really had fought hard to get back to Helman Hall and Lukas had played a role in keeping him from leaving. Some friend he was…if he really loved Toji like Finn believed he did, he wouldn’t have stopped him.

But…that’s why you did stop him from leaving…you knew what he was doing, where he was going and why…stop kidding yourself, Lukas Franks.

Toji put an arm over his eyes. “So yeah,” he said. “I’d rather be here where I’m useful, where what I do matters…where I’m happy.”

Where Natsu is.

Lukas opened his mouth, was ready to ask the question everyone else was asking…but he couldn’t do it. His lips came back together and he swallowed the lump back in his throat.

“I shouldn’t have stopped you,” he finally said, his voice low in his chest.

Toji didn’t even blink. “But you did. After you told me you’d help me get away if I asked.”

Lukas winced. He had promised that, not long after they had arrived back in the Veil, in fact.

“So why did you go back on your word?”

Lukas paused, not sure how exactly to answer. Should he say it was because he wanted Toji to stay with him? To stay away from Natsu because Lukas was jealous? He shook his head. No…the only other truthful answer was the one he had to give; the one that was the most painful, the one Toji was about to hate him for. He swallowed hard, clenching his fist over the knot that formed in the pit of his stomach.

“Your dad gave me no choice.”

“Fuck…” the word was soft but filled with a year’s worth of pain.

“It was either I kept you there, or I lost my position and got reassigned. I chose my own happiness over yours.” He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“You asshole.” Lukas heard the hitch in Toji’s voice, heard him sniff back the tears he couldn’t contain. Toji had been forced to suffer for over a year and not one person lifted a finger to help him, not even his sister. Worst of all, not even him, his best friend since birth. They kept him prisoner for their own selfish reasons and he had paid a heavy price for it.

He had been cut off from everything that made him happy, from the one person Lukas could honestly believe Toji loved. No matter how hard they tried to hide it, it was so plainly obvious. 

He beat his fist against his forehead. “Tell me the truth,” he said, his own voice cracking, hoping Toji would lie and make him feel better about the choice he had made. “Do you hate me now?”

“I really, really want to,” Toji said through his silent tears, his arm pressed into his eyes. “You…helped him…you helped keep us apart…you fucking asshole.”

And there it was. An admission. A confession. What Lukas didn’t want, what he had prayed never to hear. He could feel his heart shattering into a million pieces, his stomach twisting so badly he wanted to puke.

He sat up, resting his arms on his knees, his palms pressed into his eyes as his tears broke free. “I’m sorry, Neko,” he said. “I didn’t know…I didn’t want to believe it. I still don’t…”

“Believe it…” He couldn’t speak louder than a whisper, his tears strangling his vocal cords. When Lukas said nothing, he said, choking back a thick lump in his throat, “If you breathe…one word…about this…”

“I won’t,” Lukas said, turning to face his best friend. “Neko, I swear I won’t say anything.” 

Toji moved his arm from his eyes, more tears spilling out into his ears.

“And I won’t stop you. Not anymore.” He stood and went to the door.

“Lukas.”

He stopped, his hand on the knob. 

“Why is he so against us being together?”

“I don’t know. That’s something you’ll have to ask him.” He squeezed the handle. “But as for me? I’ve prevented you from being happy long enough. I’ll keep your secret. I’ll protect you both. I swear on my honor I will.” He gulped. “What little I have left.” With that, he opened the door, and silently walked out. 

Five minutes later, it reopened, clicking silently shut behind Natsu before he locked it. He crawled into bed with Toji, letting him wrap his arms around his waist, as he sobbed silently into Natsu’s lap.

-*-