Like The Back Of My Hand.

Like The Back of My Hand.

a vds one shot. you can find more on my ao3.

( @ apolloswords )

feel free to comment/message me any suggestions for one shot ideas!

Jens visits Lucas and his newly broken hand, even if it means playing a game of risks and rewards.

When Jens had finally climbed through the window of Lucas’ bedroom, he tried his best to stifle his laugh. But even as hard as he bit his lip, his face broke into a smile and Lucas stayed there, sat on his bed as he looked at him- clearly very unamused.

“Don’t laugh.” He frowned, which only made Jens let out a little chuckle.

Walking over to his bed, he threw his body down on it and greeted his friend with a bright smile. Lucas only wrinkled his nose and furrowed his brows at him, knowing Jens was very intrigued by the entire situation.

“I’m not laughing.” He finally said, even though a little chuckle did escape him.

“Yes you are.” Lucas pouted before flopping his back down on his pillows.

Leaning up a bit, Jens poked at the cast on Lucas’ arm teasingly. “I’m not laughing.” He said again, even though his lips were turned up into a wide smirk.

“Yes you are.” Lucas groaned as he dramatically covered his face with a pillow. “You like seeing me in pain.”

“I thought you weren’t in pain anymore? That’s why they released you from the hospital.”

He shook his head. “There’s still some pain. More than last time I broke it.”

Getting up from his bed, Jens gestured around his room. “Where’s your pain medications?”

“The only drug I need is you baby.” Lucas replied with a weary smile on his face and Jens felt his heart skip a beat. He didn’t need his best friend to suspect his rather unrequited crush.

Trying to ignore the way his body warmed up to the term, “baby”, Jens hoped the warm flush on his face from a slight blush wouldn’t give him away. Putting a hand to his heart as he tilted his head back, he sighed dramatically. “That’s sweet of you. But where are your medications?”

“Top row of my bookshelf.” He heard Lucas mumble.

Without even needing to tiptoe, Jens grabbed the small bottle of pills and tossed it to him. He should’ve thought it through first, since Lucas only really had one working hand. Instead of catching it like he had intended, it fell on Lucas’ lap. Staring blankly at Jens, he realized there was a low chance he could open up the bottle with only one hand.

Trying not to think about his hand brushing against Lucas’ thigh, Jens diverted eye contact as he tried to quickly pick up the bottle from his lap. He didn’t think Lucas felt rather awkward with the whole thing, since they were just friends.

Popping the cap open, Jens gave Lucas a small pill and he popped it in his mouth before leaning over on his desk to take a sip of water. Jens gently flopped down on the bed again, this time, beside Lucas as he made himself comfortable against the abundance of pillows.

“How’d you break your hand anyway?” He asked. “What’s your excuse this time?”

Laughing, he shook his head, recalling the incident. “Something stupid.” Lucas shrugged as he let out a light chuckle. “Same thing as last time. Got on a skateboard and tried to do a trick under Jayden’s supervision.”

Snorting, Jens shook his head. “Well that’s the last time you do anything under Jayden’s supervision.”

“Yep, at least for a long time.” Looking at Jens, he raised a brow. “You want to do me a favour?”

“Sure. Anything.”

“Would you paint my nails for me?”

Smiling at Lucas’ shyness, he rolled his eyes playfully. “You know I can barley even write my name neatly.”

“Please?” Lucas sweetly asked, even pouting his lip for dramatics.

After all, it wasn’t like he could do much with a broken hand.

Rolling his eyes again, Jens sighed but couldn’t cover the smile growing on his face. “Okay fine,” He said, giving in. “What colour would you like?”

-

Biting his tongue, Jens tried his hardest to paint the last coat on Lucas’ nails. He had switched positions now, moving away from his stretched out position on the pillows beside Lucas to sitting with his legs crossed in front of him. The bright pink polish on his nails seemed to liven up the room against the darkness of the rain from outside, gently tapping on the windowsill. It was a good thing he had came earlier, or else climbing though the window on the slippery rooftop would probably result in him breaking his own arm.

Lucas’ hand, the one without a cast, was delicate in his. Long slender fingers decorated with rings, sometimes very detailed extravagant ones or a simple silver band that he liked to twist and play with when he felt fidgety. Lucas always had pretty hands, Jens realized. And when he started wearing nail polish on them, he realized they were even prettier.

Even though it wasn’t like he was actually holding Lucas hand, Jens thought about the way it felt against his own. Soft, smooth and dainty, like they were paintbrushes that sat in the sun, waiting to be picked up to create art. Jens’ fingers were mostly calloused after long hours on the guitar. He sometimes wondered if Lucas ever felt the details of his hand against his own, wondering how it felt to just freely place his hand in his whenever he wanted. Jens would like that. Seeing his fingers intertwined with rings and nail polish, it was like holding a piece of art in the palm of his hand.

“What were you doing yesterday?” Lucas asked, as Jens capped the bottle of polish, pushing away his thoughts towards the back of his head.

Pretending to act dumb, Jens shrugged. “Nothing. What do you mean?”

“Well you avoided coming to the skatepark with me and Jayden in the first place. And then you didn’t answer the phone the entire time I was in the emergency room.” He explained, studying the way he seemed so hesitant to answer. “So where were you?”

Looking away, Jens let out a puff of air to buy him some time. He wasn’t a bad liar by any means, but it was always much harder for him to lie to Lucas. Sometimes he thought that Lucas knew him better than he did, which is why he was so paranoid his feelings for him would eventually be exposed. Lucas knew him like he was the back of his hand.

Still not taking his eyes off of him, Jens huffed. “Fine, you win. I had a date.”

“You had a date?” Lucas exclaimed. He couldn’t mistake the way his heart panged. The rather excited reaction he got definitely confirmed Lucas could care less about who Jens got involved with, meaning he most likely, most definitely did not have feelings for him.

“Yeah, I had a date.” He repeated. Playing with the bottle of polish in his hands, he avoided Lucas’ curious eyes. “We were just at some cafe.”

“Oh really? Well how’d it go?”

“Okay I guess.” Shrugging, he lifted his head up. “I mean it wasn’t the worst date.”

“But?” Lucas moved his arms a bit, gesturing for Jens to continue.

“It was really fucking boring.” He admitted. “Like, not because I was the only one making conversation but everything I had to listen to was just dreadful and I just didn’t care for.”

“Maybe you’re just a really bad date.”

Laughing, Jens teased him back. “Well you wouldn’t really know. You haven’t went on a date with me.”

Lucas smiled at himself while he didn’t give Jens a response. There was a hint of hope in his chest, something that made him think that maybe Lucas did have reciprocated feelings. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he hoped the little smile on his face held the same secret the small smile on his own face held.

“So who was it?” Lucas finally asked, looking at Jens curiously.

He tried to search his eyes, for maybe just a glimpse of hurt of envy within their beautiful blue colour. It was the first thing he had noticed about Lucas upon meeting him as the new kid a few years ago, and it was the last thing he always made sure to look at before they ever parted ways.

“Jana had this friend who she wanted to set me up with.” He finally said. “Her name was like Maya or something.”

Snorting, Lucas looked at him teasingly. “Another friend of an ex? What? Is your type best friends or something?”

If only you knew. Jens thought to himself.

Clearing his throat, Jens scratched his jaw as he tried to think of some sort of response. Lucas squinted his eyes a bit, watching Jens suspiciously. He wasn’t sure why he was being looked at like this, like he was being studied, but rising up more questions might only make it more obvious that he was hiding something.

Before he could be the one to make a reply, Lucas brought his hands, well, hand and cast, up to his face. Jens knew this look. It was the look that signalled Lucas had an idea that just had to be executed. This idea could easily go i two ways.

One, a success. As crazy as the idea was, it would wound up actually working even at the very last second. Trusting the process was key here.

Or two, a horrible fail. Probably even worse than just a fail. There would be no coming back from this. It would probably only create a deeper hole than the one they started with and having to crawl out of it would be their own mission impossible.

Deciding just to bite the bullet and give in, Jens sighed. “What is it?”

“We make you an online dating profile.”

“We make me an online dating profile?” Jens gawked in disbelief.

“We make you an online dating profile.” Lucas repeated, the corners of his mouth lifting up into a mischievous grin.

“Why would I need one of those?”

“Well, there’s many dating apps and sites you could easily go on.” Lucas explained, making gestures with his hands. While it was a very Lucas trait, it did look kind of funny with the thick blue cast on his arm. “And then you could meet a bunch of people, talk to them and then set up some dates! They would be people you don’t know yet.”

But that was the thing. Jens didn’t need someone he didn’t know yet. The someone he wanted he already knew, like the back of his hand. And he was right in front of him, broken arm and all. He wished he could just risk it all. To admit to Lucas’ face that he was in love with him.

He knew he couldn’t. If he did, he knew an even bigger risk would follow. And that was loosing Lucas entirely. Jens would rather have Lucas for what they were now instead of having no Lucas at all.

“I don’t know.” He said, scratching the back of his neck as he hesitated. “That doesn’t really align with my morals.

“What morals?”

“Fair point.”

Rolling his eyes, Lucas placed a hand on top of Jens’, as he tried not to freeze up at the touch.

“Look,” He said softly. “I know people think dating apps mean you’ve hit a level of desperate, but that’s not true. A lot of people use dating apps.”

“Have you?”

“I have.” He admitted. “A long time ago, like when I was still in the closet and stuff.”

“How did it go?”

“Well I met some new people. People with the same hesitations and speculations I had. And some who felt like they would never make a connection finally did.”

“And what happened with all of that?”

He shrugged. “Not much. I only really used it because like I said, I was closeted. But then after I accepted who I was, I kind of deleted all of them.”

“Well then why should I get it?”

“To maybe broaden your horizons? So you don’t keep up with your track record of dating the best friend?” Lucas replied, in a matter-of-factly tone.

“You have a point.” He mumbled under his breath, not looking at Lucas. He didn’t need to see the smug look on his face, knowing he had won.

Digging into his back pocket, Jens pulled out his phone and handed it to Lucas. If it was any other time where Jens didn’t pity to boy and his cast, he would’ve tossed the phone and just pray Lucas had some athleticism to catch it.

Taking the phone form Jens, Lucas expertly unlocked it and began messing around on it. Jens wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing, but he could only guess he was downloading an abundance of dating apps and beginning to create profiles on them. He had to trust Lucas wouldn’t make a joke out of him and choose rather horrendous photos of him for the whole city to see.

But it didn’t really matter if he did. Jens didn’t have much interest or care to appeal to anyone else. He probably wouldn’t even open any of the apps unless he found himself awake at night hand procrastinating sleep. It wasn’t that he felt like he was above or better than online dating, he just had no desire to really commit to the whole bit. Lucas was probably just bored and needed some entertainment.

There was only so much he could do with a broken hand.

After a few more minutes, Lucas proudly held the phone up and waved it in Jens’ face.

“Check it out, I got it all set up for you.”

Taking the phone, Jens scrolled through the profile. Some of the photos were random selfies, while others were candid photos of him. It took him a bit, but he realized something similar within all the candid shots. They had been taken whenever he was with Lucas, even when Lucas wasn’t in the frame. There was one of him taken on a swing set, when Lucas had cracked up a joke and another take at the skatepark, when Jens had watched Lucas and Jayden try to pull off a competition. One photo even had Jens looking off towards someone beside him, as though he was listening intently to what they were saying. And he was. It was when their friend group had went out for breakfast and Lucas was rambling on about the night before.

He realized that the photos Lucas thought he looked best in, were all reactions and expressions he found himself doing whenever he was around. Jens wondered if Lucas had done this on purpose, or was simply clueless at the coincidence. It wasn’t like any of the photos had any evidence of Lucas being around anyway. Jens only knew they did because he held onto those fond memories.

“Jens? Are you okay?” Lucas asked, his voice soft and gentle.

Shaking his head, he scratched his chin as he thought up another excuse. Luckily, there seemed to be a notification right beside to messaging icon. He figured that would probably peak Lucas’ interest.

“Nothing.” He lied, before flipping the phone screen around to show Lucas. “I just got a message.”

“Oh my god let me see!” He exclaimed as he quickly grabbed the phone from Jens’ hand.

Panicking that Lucas was going to message the person back, Jens had to stop him before all hell broke loose. Without really thinking it through, he pushed his body forward and lunged forward to grab the phone.

Instead of successfully taking the phone back, Lucas had raised his hand up just as Jens thought he had it in his grasp. Due to the rather quick reflex, that Jens didn’t even know Lucas had, he felt himself fall and land on his chest.

Only, he didn’t just land on his own chest.

Right beneath him was Lucas’.

Luckily, not on the broken hand.

Their faces were dangerously close, only inches apart. Jens could make out the way Lucas’ eyes were becoming a mess of blue shades, some dark while others were bright. He didn’t look alarmed, but rather surprised at the sudden action Jens had taken. He gulped as Jens noticed how close their lips were. He could feel his mouth slightly open, lightly panting as he tried to catch his breath and calm down the adrenaline in his body and racing of his heart. Jens tried to focus on Lucas’s body, the way his chest tighten from underneath him, as if he was holding his breath.

Waiting.

Jens figured the idea in his head could go in two ways.

One, a success. As crazy as the idea was, it would wound up actually working even at the very last second. Trusting the process was key here.

Or two, a horrible fail. Probably even worse than just a fail. There would be no coming back from this. It would probably only create a deeper hole than the one they started with and having to crawl out of it would be their own mission impossible.

But he also figured, he was willing to take the risk.

Without trying to pay attention to the second thoughts racking through his brain, Jens pushed himself further and placed his hands on the side of Lucas’ face before pulling him in closer. Soon enough, their lips had connected and they were kissing each other.

He was finally kissing Lucas.

Jens felt his phone drop onto the pillows beside him, feeling it slide down somewhere on the bed. Lucas wrapped his arms, well, arm and cast, around his neck and pulled him in a little closer to deepen the kiss. Jens felt a smile against his lips, and at this point, he wasn’t sure which one of them it was coming from.

But he didn’t need to look at Lucas to know there was most definitely a smile on his face.

Because Jens knew him like he was the back of his hand.

When the pulled apart, lips red and swollen from the kissing, they both had hitched breathing and tried to force it to come to a slow. Jens searched Lucas’ eyes, trying to find a hint of doubt or regret.

They were only brighter than ever.

“I’m sorry.” He suddenly apologized, quickly getting off of him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to kiss you. I, I can go.”

He quickly got up, about to head out the window when he felt a hand reach out for his and pull him back.

“No.” Lucas said in a small voice. “Don’t go. Don’t be sorry.”

“I don’t want to ruin anything. We can pretend it never happened.”

A small smile formed on Lucas lips, the ones Jens had just kissed a minute ago. “But then I would have to keep waiting for you to finally kiss me.”

“You wanted me to kiss you?” Jens asked in disbelief, sitting back down. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for so long.”

“And I’ve been wanting to be kissed by you for so long.” Lucas lightly laughed, placing the hand with the cast on his shoulder, pulling him in closer. The material of the cast was scratchy against his cheek, but Jens found himself smiling widely at the situation.

“Well I guess those dating apps didn’t really broaden my horizons.” He teased, snuggling in closer to him.

Lucas snorted. “Thanks for letting me waste minutes of my life I’ll never get back.”

“Oh it’s okay.” Jens said, patting his thigh assuringly. “I think you’ll have more fun deleting some those profiles and apps now.”

“You have a point.” He giggled. “You know, I knew you as a crush on me for awhile.”

“What?” He asked in shock, almost pulling away from him until Lucas tugged on his shirt to pull him back. “How did you know that?”

“You have a tell.” Lucas explained. “You scratch your chin whenever you want to hide the fact you have a crush on someone. And you’ve been doing it lately around our friends and then a little bit more with me. I thought I was just hoping your crush was on me. And then today finally confirmed that.”

“Oh man,” Jens chuckled as he took Lucas’ non-broken hand and brought it up to his lips. He kissed his knuckles gently, as he watched Lucas’ face turn a bright shade of blush. “You know me way too well.”

“Almost like the back of your hand.” Lucas said with a smile, before leaning in closer to fill the space between them.

“Like the back of my hand.” He whispered back, repeating the words as his lips brushed against Lucas’, before they closed the last few centimetres between them for another kiss.

americans what’s the state that doesn’t feel real to you. for me it’s montana. i cannot even conceptualize montana

not sure if anyone will see this lol

new fic update :)

when i say i miss old tumblr i mean i miss the neighbourhood, i miss ripped black tights and blue denim, i mean i miss artic monkeys and tattoo chokers, fairy lights and record players, dyed grey hair and doc martins over fishnets. i do NOT miss the fatphobia, pro ana, the self harm glorification, the drug use and the grooming. 

we can bring back an aesthetic without bringing with it the horrific things

Will I Be Here Next Year?

a vds one shot. you can find more on my ao3.

( @ apolloswords )

feel free to comment/message me any suggestions for one shot ideas!

A magical Christmas night featuring Van Der Stoffels.

The snow fell softly on him and Jens as they made their way towards the Stoffels family home. Jens had a little bounce in his step, excited to see his family after a year of living in Utrecht. But Lucas was quite the opposite, his walk was more slow, at a distant pace as though he was taking his sweet time to get there.

It had been six months of their blossoming relationship, after an additional six months of what Lucas thought was an unrequited crush. But eventually, after much procrastination, they had started to accept falling in love together and were clearly happier than ever.

So happy, that Jens had excitedly brought up the idea of being Lucas home for Christmas. Lucas of course said yes, feeling so lucky that his boyfriend thought he was of great importance enough to bring him home to meet the family. And not just Jens’ parents and sisters, but also his aunts, uncles, relatives and grandparents.

The days leading up to Christmas was just as busy as ever, especially since Lucas had much more gifts to buy this year than in the previous. While he did do his usual rounds of buying gifts for Kes, Jayden, Isa and his mom, he was starting to enjoy buying stuff for Jens’ family as well. Especially for his sisters, Lies, a similar budding artist and Lotte, some of his more memorable childhood toys.

But now he was worried. Lucas had never spent Christmas with a large amount of people, let alone a family. Growing up as an only child with cousins who lived much further away didn’t exactly capture the large goldfish gatherings. He did have some experience in his later years, when his dad ditched and his mom had been admitted and Christmas then meant spending time with Kes’ family or the found family of his friends.

It never once meant spending time with his boyfriend’s family.

“Something wrong?” Jens asked, looking at Lucas worriedly.

He quickly shook his head, not wanting his boyfriend to worry. “I’m okay, it’s fine.”

“We don’t have to do this you know. If you want, we can just celebrate by ourselves.”

Frowning, he shook his head again. “Jens we can’t do that, they’re your family! You haven’t seen them in forever. Yes, I’m a little nervous, but I’ll get over it.” Lucas held up the bags of gifts in his hands and gestured to the bags Jens was holding as well. “Besides, we can’t have all these gifts.”

Smirking, Jens inched a little closer to give the top of Lucas’ head a kiss. Even though it was covered by a knitted hat, he could feel the softness of his lips and a good vibration shook through him.

“Thank you.” Jens said softly. “I was a little worried that maybe you would think this was all a little too fast. Meeting my family only after a few months of dating. But they’re so excited to meet you, I promise.”

He beamed, a little of the nervous weight being lifted off his shoulders. “I’m excited to meet them. Hopefully I’ll still be around next Christmas.”

Jens scuffed a laugh. “I’ll personally make sure of it.”

Before they knew it, they were standing in front of a large house decorated with lights and wreaths on the windows. Even without looking inside, there was a soft glow that emitted through and the faint sound of laughter, cheer and holiday music could be heard from outside. Taking a quick glance at Jens, he noticed the way he looked admiringly at the house, like he didn’t think he would ever see it again. Lucas smiled as he felt his own heart melt. It must’ve been tough for Jens to have moved at the start of the year, and nothing could ever compare to the way a home made you feel.

This confirmed that they were definitely at the right house. Lucas gulped down the rest of his nerves as they walked up the steps, Jens reaching out to ring the doorbell.

Just as his finger was about to press it, the door whipped open to a young teenage girl with the same raven hair he knew so well. But her eyes were much brighter, like a light hazel.

“Jens!” She cheered out, before yelling over her shoulder. “Jens is here! He brought his boyfriend!”

“Hello to you too Lies.” Jens laughed as she lunged forward to hug him. It was a little tricky, since Jens’ hands were full but he managed to wrap his long arms around her anyway.

Another girl emerged, charging towards Jens. She was much smaller, just barely a teenager but her hair and eyes was another light contrast in comparison to her brother’s. The only reason Lucas figured they were related was through their similar smirk, the corners of their lips lifting upwards as their eyes narrowed down softly.

“Hello to you too Lotte.” Jens laughed again, looking down at the smaller girl who had managed to squeeze his side.

“Jens! Lucas! Come in!” A women with dark hair and eyes called out warmly. She ushered the girls off their brother quickly, so the cold air wouldn’t come into the house and they could greet each other in the more preferable warmth of the house.

“Jens, I’ve missed you so much.” His mother greeted, wrapping her arms him. A man with light hair and eyes arrived behind her.

“Jens! It’s good to have you back.” He said, and Lucas quickly figured that must be his father.

As they continued to greet each other, Jens’ mother turned and opened her arms up to him. “Lucas, how nice to meet you.” She said warmly before she hugged him. Taking a closer look at him, she grinned and tilted her head to Jens. “He’s a pretty one, you got lucky with this one.”

“That I did.” Jens winked and Lucas felt his cheeks go pink.

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Stoffels.” Lucas said politely.

“Oh no need for formalities, just call us Leona and Jacob.” Leona said, leading Lucas towards the living room. The amount of people glancing at him caused his nerves to come back again, but Leona gently squeezed his shoulder. “You can place all your gifts under the tree. I didn’t expect so many!”

“It’s my first Christmas with a big family.” Lucas explained. “Usually it’s always just been me and my parents and in more recent years my friends.”

“Oh well I hope we show you a great time. Dinner will be out in a bit but there’s something yea and hot chocolate if you’d like to warm up with.”

-

The room was a bustle of joy after dinner, when dessert was being served. Lucas was sitting at the table with Lotte, Lies and Jens. The two girls were excitedly sitting beside Lucas as they showed him all the candy they had brought out for a gingerbread house.

“Have you ever decorated a gingerbread house?” Lotte asked Lucas, as he started assembling the gingerbread cookies together.

“Nope.” He said, trying to keep his voice cheery but there was an empty feeling sinking in him when he realized he’d never done this before.

“Really? Jens and Lies and me always compete who can make the best ones.” Lotte explained.

“Jens’ suck!” Lies teased before Jens began tickling her stomach.

“They won’t this year because I’ll have Lucas on my team.” Jens defended back, before leaning over the chair Lucas was sitting on to give him a flirty kiss on the cheek.

“How can that work? Lucas doesn’t know how to make a gingerbread house. He’s never made one before.” Lies asked.

“Well, aside from being a really good artist who’s very skilled with his hands, Lucas is an extremely good baker.” Jens said with a smirk. “He bakes for me all the time and even decorates all the cookies with icing and candy. I think I have a professional with me.”

Reaching over and pinching his cheek, Lucas smirked back. “Who says I’m even on your team?”

“I want Lucas!” Lotte cried. “It’s not fair I lose every year ‘cause I’m the youngest!”

“Traitor.” Jens pouted as Lotte rolled her eyes before making her way over beside him. Taking some icing on his hand, Jens swiped it on Lucas’ cheek, still pretending to be annoyed at him.

Lucas took the icing off his cheek and licked it, giving Jens a wink. Now Jens just rolled his eyes.

“I’ll have you know I crush the competition every year.” He mumbled.

“Except for this year!” Lotte exclaimed excitedly.

-

Lucas was curled up against Jens with a mug of hot chocolate in his hands as he watched people around him open up their gifts. Wrapping paper was everywhere and Lucas even had a stack of his own gifts laying on the couch’s armrest. He felt so warm and appreciated, the worries of feeling out of place completely out of his mind. Jens had his arm around him, gently picking and playing at the loose threads from his knitted sweater.

Leaning his head on Jens’ shoulder, he could feel the equal warmth coming from his boyfriend. Jens smiled at feeling Lucas against him and laid a kiss on his head.

“You know,” Leona smiled from across the room. “I don’t think Jens and Lucas have realized they’ve been under the mistletoe this entire night. Unless they do, and that’s why Jens keeps sneaking in small kisses.”

They looked up and realized she was right. There was some mistletoe hanging directly over their heads and they both scoffed at the irony. Lucas hadn’t noticed it when he first sat down, but the twinkle in Jens’ eyes told him that he knew otherwise. That was probably why Jens had motioned him to come sit down in the first place.

Catching one of his smirks, Jens leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the lips, which Lucas instantly found himself giggling at. The family around him cheered as Jens pressed in a little closer and Lucas could feel a smile spread on his lips.

When they pulled apart, there were still some cheering and Lucas noted the smile that still stayed on Jens’ face. He watched as Jens stuck his tongue out slightly, wiping it across his bottom lip.

“Tastes like hot chocolate.” He teased.

Rolling his eyes, Lucas downed the rest of his drink and placed his mug down on the side table. Lunging a little forward, he grabbed Jens’ face and peppered soft kisses all over it. Jens yelped a out at the sudden course of action and tried to pry Lucas off, but Lucas had leverage since half of his body was practically on top of his. As he continued to cover Jens’ face with the hot chocolate from his lips, the cheers turned into laughter.

And as much as Jens was protesting, he knew deep down how much Jens was secretly enjoying the attack of hot chocolate kisses.

-

By the time most people had left, it was already close to midnight. The two younger girls were yawning and eager to go to bed. Santa was still to come in the morning, adding more to the gifts that were saved until the morning. Jens and Lucas were helping Leona and Jacob clean up for the night. Lucas busying himself in the kitchen, drying up dishes as Jens was outside helping his dad bring in extra gifts that had been hidden in the car.

“Jens is lucky to have you.” Leona said as she passed Lucas a plate.

“I’m lucky to have him.” He responded with a shy smile. “I haven’t met anyone like him.”

“Well I’ve never seen him smile so much. He looks so in love and I’m happy it’s with somebody like you.” She grinned and leaned in closer to whisper in his ear. “Don’t tell him this, but he did tell me about you a few months ago. He was more than excited to finally be dating you. I cant imagine what he feels now that you guys are so clearly in love.”

He felt a warm blush hit his face and he tried to hide it by shaking his head. Leona only laughed, indicating that his attempt at hiding his reaction had failed.

Before either of them could say anything else, Jens popped his head into the kitchen. He was still dressed in his outdoor clothes and his cheeks were tinged red from the coldness outside.

“Lucas! It’s snowing outside!” He exclaimed excitedly. “Mom? Would it be okay if I borrow Lucas for a bit?”

“He‘s all yours.” She replied with a gleam. “We’re finished here anyway so when you boys come back inside we’ll probably be in bed. Jens, your room is pretty much exactly how you left it but I did wash your sheets.”

“Alright, thanks Mom.” He replied, walking over to them as he gently tugged on Lucas. “Good night.”

“Thank you, sleep well.” Lucas added, grinning at the way Jens was eagerly pulling him away.

After they had said goodnight to Jacob and Lucas put on his outer clothes, Jens lead them outside. Lucas hadn’t noticed it before, but Jens’ house wasn’t the only one decorated with Christmas lights. In fact, almost every house was. The lights were brightly lit up against the night sky, sending out their Christmas magic into the air.

And of course, a soft snowfall was gently falling down on them. Snowflakes fell down from the sky, landing on the ground and even their faces. Lucas giggled as he watched some of them fall into Jens’s face, in turn, making his face sparkle.

“The snowflakes are all over your freckles.” Jens pointed out, taking a finger and gently dotting at them. “They’re kinda like your new freckles.”

“You have snowflakes for eyelashes now.” Lucas giggled. “I’ve always loved the snow.”

“Really? I thought you didn’t like to be cold.”

“I don’t. But snow always looks so magical and during the holidays, they’re always a new feeling in the air.”

“I can see why you collect snow globes now.”

Lucas grinned, recalling his abundance collection at him. Some were gifts given to him during past Christmas’, others were once he had found on trips or in little vintage shops. During the holidays, he loved to set them out on display, almost as if it were a little village. Not all of them were super festive, but all of them did seem to hold a homage to his found memories. He had a globe from Isa with a swing set, a globe from his parents when he had started his love for art, and a globe of a rainbow flag he had bought for himself after coming out.

“Oh hey, speaking of snow globes, I have a little gift for you. It’s upstairs in my room.” Jens winked as he held out for Lucas’ hand. “Wanna go see it?”

Nodding excitedly, Lucas squeezed his hand. “I thought you already got me my gifts?” He asked as he followed Jens’ lead back inside.

“I did.” Jens shrugged. “But this was kind of planned way before the holidays and it arrived just before so I decided to give it to you now. I got my Mom to bring it up earlier.”

“You’re so sneaky.” Lucas teased as they took off their winter clothes.

They headed up the stairs and into the hallway, turning towards the left bedroom. As they entered, Lucas took a look around while Jens shut the door behind him. Their overnight bags were in a corner, brought in earlier by Jens and Jacob. It looks like an average teenage boy’s room, comic books sprawled on the floor, posters of Star Wars on the wall, a keyboard in the corner and a small bed pushed up against the wall. Lucas grinned, thinking how it would be a tight cuddle with Jens tonight so they would both fit in his bed.

Not that he was complaining.

“You really do like Star Wars huh?” Lucas teased.

“Yeah, and you liked me enough to binge all the movies with me.” Jens teased back as he headed over to the small night table and opened up the drawer.

“To be honest, it did have a good trade off of being able to cuddle with you.”

“And sleep on me. I’m pretty sure you didn’t even get through one force of the movie. Get it? One force? One fourth?” Jens joked after pulling out an item wrapped up in tissue paper and headed back towards Lucas.

“Open your palms out but hold it very gently.” He instructed. “I’m sure you know why but just be very careful.”

Excitedly, Lucas shut his eyes and put out his palms. After a few seconds, he felt a heavy weight be placed on them. Thinking that it was okay to open his eyes again, he looked at the tissue paper. They had little snowflakes on them, decorated as if they were falling down from the snow.

Ever so gently, Lucas pulled apart the tissue paper. When he had finally unravelled the gift, he gasped and felt his heart flutter.

It was a snow globe, similar in size to the ones he had at home. But inside the globe was a statue of a skatepark, with two boys sitting on the ramp. One with dark raven hair and a red hoodie and the other with light brown curls and a blue denim jacket. When Lucas took a closer look, he realized that the two figures were even holding hands.

“Do you like it?” Jens whispered shyly as Lucas still gazed at it in awe.

“I love it.” He breathed out. “Jens, this is so beautiful. Where did you get it?”

“I found a place where you could customize one and with the help of Sander, he drew the design i wanted and I sent it in to get made.” He explained. “I know you usually like the snow globes with memories of what happened this year, so I even put something underneath.”

Gently flipping it over, Lucas noticed the engraving underneath in swirly cursive letters.

“Dear Luc. I’ll love you for more years after this. Love, Jens.” He read out loud, his voice still in complete awe.

“I thought for me at least, one of my biggest things this year was meeting you. And getting to be with you. So in a way, it’s also like the start of my little snow globe collection.” Jens whispered.

Still grinning as hard as ever, Lucas gently placed the globe down on the nearby bookshelf and threw his arms around Jens. Jens lost his balance for a second but laughed as he hugged Lucas back. He dipped his face into the crook of Lucas’ neck, a perk for him since he was taller. Lucas had to tiptoe a bit to place his chin onto his shoulder, but the wide grin still spread on his face as he closed his eyes to take in the moment.

“I love you so much.” He whispered.

He didn’t have to see Jens’ face to know he was smiling. He knew by the way Jens rubbed a hand up and down his back and hugged him tighter that he was feeling just as happy.

“I love you so much too.” Jens replied back, as they pulled away to face each other. Lucas still kept his arms around his neck as Jens placed his hands on his waist. “Thanks for spending Christmas with my family. They really love and adore you and are ready to have you come by again next year.”

“Will I be here next year?” Lucas teased, smiling as he gently bit down the tip of his tongue.

Laughing, Jens put a hand to the back of his head and pushed him in. Lucas could feel his lips kiss him on his forehead, and a rush of warmth shot through him. He giggled as he realized how lucky he was this year.

“That’s something I’ll always make sure of.” Jens assured. “For this year, the next, and the many years that come after that.”

“Merry Christmas Jens.”

“Merry Christmas Luc.”

❣️🍒 i wish everyone that sees this a very sweet february 🍒❣️