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Jens is unbelievably happy that Lucas is officially qualified to drive.
It means they were able to visit Lucas’s mother for her birthday yesterday and still don’t miss out on the return holiday to the beach house they’d planned with their friends. Moyo had been the one to suggest it and wiggle the details out of Amber, with the help of Aaron. The Broerrrs would have been unable to pay for it alone, leading Jens to suggest extending their invitation to Lucas’s friends. Kes and Jayden had been more than enthusiastic in accepting, even when Lucas told them he may not be able to join. With some begging from them, and Jens and Sander, Lucas had put some energy into coming up with a back up plan. Their friends would go down on Friday as planned. Lucas and Jens would stick around for his mother’s birthday on Saturday and then join them at the beach on Sunday.
Kes and Sander have been their usual designated drivers, but none of them wanted to wait around for the weekend. So without Lucas recently acquiring his license, Jens is pretty sure they would’ve been stuck.
“Jens, there’s another junction coming up and I have no idea where I’m going.”
Jens straightens up in the passenger seat and blinks down at his phone. “Oh, shit, sorry. Uhm, left. And then straight ahead for another indefinite amount of time.”
Lucas sighs. “Yay.”
Jens looks over at him, the clench of his hands around the wheel and the tense set of his shoulders, and frowns. “We could find somewhere to stop for a bit, if you’re tired. I’m sure there has to be a filling station around here somewhere, at least.”
“How far away are we?” Lucas asks as he turns onto the next street, relaxing minimally as they make it onto the wider road.
“About twenty-seven minutes, it’s telling me.”
Lucas lets out another sigh. “Okay.”
“Okay, we’re looking for somewhere to stop? Or okay, that’s manageable?”
“I’ll manage. We’re already late enough as it is.”
Jens releases a sigh of his own and stretches his legs out as much as he can in the cramped space. “You know,” he says, “we could just pick one of these many fields and camp out ourselves for the night.”
Lucas shoots a quick glance over at him, lips quirking in a smile. “You have a tent in your bag you didn’t tell me about?”
“You can camp without a tent,” Jens rolls his eyes. “We could lie out on the hood of the car. Watch the stars.”
“Or we can watch them from the beach.”
“But I won’t have you all to myself at the beach.”
Lucas’s smile widens. “Ahh. Now I see.”
“Even when I had you to myself this weekend, your mom was still down the hall. What’d be wrong with a little tiny holiday for just the two of us?”
“What would be wrong is defiling my new car.”
“Luc, this car is over a decade old. It’s basically vintage.”
“Yes, which makes it my super cool new car.”
“If it’s so cool, why can’t we sleep in it?”
Lucas laughs and gives a tiny shake of his head, not saying any more even as Jens continues to stare at him. Eventually, Jens huffs and slumps down in his seat, staring at their slow progress on his phone screen. He’s happy enough, spending time with Lucas on any occasion. He knows it’ll be nice to have this time with all of their friends. He thinks Lucas certainly needs it. It’s unfair of him to want to keep the boy to himself, when he knows Lucas has been silently looking forward to this more than any of the rest of them.
The end of their college semester had brought about a lot of stress for all of them, but Jens had ached most watching Lucas struggle. A number of problems had arisen for him in the few short months, the personal bleeding into the educational and leaving him sinking and scrabbling at the end. He wants this trip for Lucas as much as Lucas himself does. Jens understands that he needs time to unwind.
But that’s also the very reason he wants Lucas to himself.
He’s sure he could provide a sufficient enough distraction, a pleasant enough reprieve. There are months of lacking intimacy to make up for, after all, that cuddling hasn’t quite paid off. And there has been a lot of cuddling.
They’d probably be cuddling right now, if it wouldn’t be potentially life-threatening, Jens thinks. It makes him a little more eager to actually reach their destination.
Their friends are just going to have to deal with their extra sappy amounts of affection for the week. Jens isn’t going to hold back on their account. After all, this week is a week of giving Lucas everything that he wants. As long as he’s happy, so is Jens. And Jens knows a few ways to make him happy.
“I’m sure the beach will be big enough for us to sneak off somewhere to watch the stars on our own. There’s nothing to say we can’t even come lie out on the hood,” Lucas points out, flicking his brows up at Jens in another quick glance.
Jens sighs. “Yeah, yeah, you’re always right and you know it, very good Mr Van der Heijden.”
“Shut up,” Lucas grins. “Fine. If you don’t want to, I’m sure I can convince Kes to join me.”
“When did I say I didn’t want to?” Jens demands, heart fluttering as Lucas laughs quietly at him. “I’m not worried about the stars. I’m worried about Sander and Robbe keeping that double room under lock.”
Lucas frowns and shoots him another glance. “No way. They’ve already had it for the weekend and they have their own apartment. That’s beyond unfair.”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about! See how hateful this trip is going to be to our privacy?”
“Fuck,” Lucas says simply. “No. I’m not having that. If they don’t give us the room, we’re taking it by force.”
Jens snorts, but gazes at his boyfriend with something akin to awe. “You’re gonna fight your new bestie for it?”
Lucas shrugs. “I feel like it works in our favour that Sander can’t resist me and Robbe can’t resist you. We have the combined power to take them down. Another junction.”
“Left again.” Jens immediately returns his gaze to Lucas after checking his phone, interest piqued at the confident smile on his boyfriend’s face. “I know I’ve already mentioned that you’re kinda hot when you’re driving, but this whole feisty thing you’ve got going also definitely works for you.”
Lucas hums, and he gets the opportunity for a longer look as he stops for a moment at the junction, smile widening into a smirk as he raises his brows at Jens. “Better tone something down then. Wouldn’t want you getting too excited.”
Jens gives another snort of laughter. “You better fucking not.”
~^~
They hear their friends as soon as Lucas shuts off the engine. Aaron’s cackles and Jayden’s shouts make it over the rest of the noise, and Jens and Lucas share a look before Lucas opens his door and climbs out. Jens heaves a sigh before following him.
The last twenty minutes of their drive had felt a little easier. Some of the tension had slowly but surely slid from Lucas’s shoulders as Jens continued to tease him, forgetting to check his phone amongst their flirting and almost making them miss the turn off. It’s still fairly early in the afternoon, despite Lucas’s morning complaints that they would be late as Jens tried to hold onto him a little longer.
Now Lucas simply looks tired as he moves around and takes their bags from the back seat, arms tensing as he does so under the light sleeves of his t-shirt. Jens quickly takes both bags from him, slinging one over his shoulder and gripping the other tightly in his hand and still having an arm free to wrap around Lucas and pull him into his side. Lucas huffs with a roll of his eyes. “I can carry my own bag.”
“Yeah, but you don’t have to, so why would you want to?” Jens squeezes his shoulder. Lucas shakes his head and doesn’t protest any further, a small smile returning to his face as Jens presses a kiss to his temple.
The last time they’d come here, they’d had to bring sweaters and coats and extra blankets. This time, Jens is still warm in just his t-shirt, and the breeze is barely strong enough to ruffle Lucas’s curls. They give a half-hearted shiver along his forehead as he squints his eyes against the sun and Jens decides maybe this trip won’t be so bad. They make it to the front of the house, where the boys are spread out in the deck chairs. Well, half of them are. Moyo and Aaron and Sander each have a chair, and though there are plenty of vacant spots, Robbe has taken a seat in Sander’s lap.
He’s the first to notice them, eyes lighting up with a grin as he gives them a little wave. It turns the rest of the boys’ attention to them, and Moyo and Aaron give a little cheer. The little laugh Lucas gives in response is what makes Jens smile, however.
“Ah, look who actually showed up,” Sander teases, as Jens parts from Lucas enough to toss their bags at the door.
“What, are you doubting my driving skills?” Lucas asks.
“Doubting Jens wasn’t going to try to keep you away from us for the week.”
Lucas shakes his head, smiling, and moves towards their chair. He nudges Robbe out of the way, so he’s sitting on one of Sander’s legs while Lucas takes up residence on the other, pressing a kiss to the blonde’s cheek. Sander laughs as Robbe reaches out to shove Lucas’s face away, almost toppling the three of them off the chair as Jens pulls up one of his own.
“Hey,” Jens pouts, latching onto Lucas’s wrist and giving a little tug as he sits down.
Sander snorts as Robbe giggles, now, obviously not at all as bothered by Lucas’s position as he should be. “See what I mean,” Sander pokes Lucas’s back. Though his smile is just as soft when he turns back to Jens, stretching his leg across the short distance to kick Jens’s shin. Jens will resist scowling at him, just this once. He also doesn’t kick back, just in case that chair really does topple.
Lucas is smiling, too, as he carefully lifts himself out of their little bundle and settles on Jens’s lap. Jens releases his wrist and Lucas instantly locks his arms around his neck, leaning down to give him a kiss. He attempts to make it short and sweet, but Jens moves a hand to the back of his head and deepens it, pulling him in closer. Lucas huffs, smiling too wide for Jens to really kiss him properly. Jens tries anyway, completely ignoring the groans and whistles from their friends, until Lucas pulls away, placing a little kiss on Jens’s nose as he does to appease him. Jens tucks his head into his shoulder and sneaks a kiss to his neck.
“It’s weird, having you be taller than me,” Jens says.
Lucas tugs the hairs at the nape of his neck and rolls his eyes. “You’re only like three inches taller than me.”
“Three inches can mean a lot,” Aaron points out, abandoning his conversation with Moyo to raise his brows suggestively at them. Sander cackles as Moyo smacks Aaron over the head.
Moyo shakes his head and reaches out to nudge Jens. “Can’t believe I was looking forward to you getting here so I’d be free of that love fest.” He gestures at Robbe and Sander. “Completely forgot you two are worse.”
“Hey,” Robbe says, tucking his arm tighter around Sander. “That’s just not true.”
“Nah, you’re right. You’re both awful, and Jens is a mess, but at least Lucas has a little chill,” Moyo shrugs. Lucas grins and reaches out to give him a fist bump.
Sander snorts again, sharing a look with Jens, before turning to Lucas and teasingly saying, “That’s just not true.”
Lucas shoots him a glare as Moyo perks up, looking between them. “No?”
“He just knows how to keep it behind closed doors,” Robbe says.
“Robbe,” Lucas whines. “These two—“ he gestures between Jens and Sander, “—I expect. But not you.”
Robbe laughs at him. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same to me.”
At that, Lucas is forced to let it go, slumping back against Jens with a sigh. Jens grins and sneaks another kiss, just a quick peck to his cheek that still makes Lucas smile wide. He knows that Lucas is just as bad as him, when it comes down to it, but it’s nice to have his friends say the same thing. It’s nice to think they’ve noticed things like Jens has about them, like maybe how Lucas looks at him when Jens isn’t looking. Maybe the fact that he looks is enough to make it clear. Jens knows, either way, that Lucas is only so chill because Jens doesn’t bother to be. Jens is happy to feed him attention without him having to ask for it.
Lucas reciprocates more than enough, behind closed doors.
Moyo heaves a sigh. “I guess that doesn’t surprise me. That means you’re all equally disappointing.”
“But Aaron’s still the worst,” Lucas tries, and Moyo points at him with a nod.
“Hey,” Aaron cries. “I wasn’t involved in this.”
“Bro, if we’re talking about disgusting couples you’re always involved and you’re always the worst,” Moyo says.
Jens nods his agreement. “At least none of us have names in our bios, man.”
The others laugh as Aaron flips him off. Jens supposes it really isn’t that bad. He feels pleasantly warm, at having his friends so close. Plus, Lucas is still closest, a sturdy weight on his lap and a source of heat pressed up against his chest.
That is, until he lifts his arm from Jens’s shoulders and stands, deftly wriggling his way out even as Jens protests. Lucas simply tugs his hair and asks, “Drink?”
Jens hums approvingly and Lucas heads for the freezer. “Am I even going to find anything non-alcoholic in here?”
“You can steal from my special stash,” Robbe calls to him, and Lucas smiles back like he knows it isn’t Robbe’s at all. Jens knows, as well, that while Robbe is likely the one to have brought it, the stash is meant for Sander. It’s likely Moyo has linked onto the same thing, but Aaron and the others are less likely to notice. While the boys know they wouldn’t care either way, it seems to keep Sander more at ease, so Lucas doesn’t say a word.
“Hey,” Lucas asks as he wanders back over, “you guys didn’t murder my friends before we got here, did you? Did they drown themselves, or something?”
None of the other boys answer, because they can see what Lucas can’t: Kes running up the beach towards him, feet silent in the sand and skin soaked from the sea. Lucas doesn’t notice until much too late, when Kes is colliding with his back and almost making him drop the bottles in his grip.
“Kes,” Lucas yelps, steadying himself as Kes plasters his wet body to his back with a loud, “Luc! I’m so happy you’re here.”
Lucas groans and tries to shrug him off and Kes clings on as the others laugh. Kes knows exactly what he’s doing, of course, and Lucas is less than happy about it. Jens decides to take pity and rises from his seat, planning just to take the bottles from him, when a body collides with his own back and almost pushes him into the sand.
“Jens!” Jayden squeals happily in his ear. He’s clinging fully to Jens’s back, with arms around his neck and legs around his waist, and Jens sighs as water slowly soaks through his shirt. Lucas now appears slightly smug. “They thought you were gonna abandon us but I knew you wouldn’t. Like, why would you when you’re getting your own little room?”
Jens swivels around to Sander and Robbe with Jayden still hanging onto his back and raises a brow. “We are?”
Robbe nods as Sander rolls his eyes, looking at Jens with a mockingly pleasant smile. “Changed the sheets for you and everything.”
Jens wrinkles his nose, but grins as he turns to face Lucas, giving his boyfriend a high five after taking one of the bottles from his grip. This trip definitely shouldn’t be too bad.
~^~
It’s good, the whole evening, but it’s even better at night.
They stay out with their friends as long as they can, mostly because Jens notices the ease that now fills Lucas’s movements, the increased frequency of his smiles, and refuses to end it any sooner than necessary. They do switch to the alcoholic beverages eventually, but only have a single beer bottle each. The reason why becomes clear as their gazes grow in intensity across the fire, their touches lingering as their kisses turn longing and deeply more aggravating to their friends. One or the other takes on the duty of flipping them off without breaking from their kiss for even a second, used to the fake complaints and teasing by now.
It all simply means that Lucas is pleasantly lax and smiley when Jens finally tows him away, crowding them into their small room and shutting the door. Jens shuffles around in the dim light of the moon to flick on the bedside lamp, and he turns to find Lucas crawling across the bed towards him. He laughs as Lucas kneels at the edge and drags him into a kiss, pulling at the front of his t-shirt. Instead of letting himself be dragged onto the bed as his boyfriend surely intends, Jens lifts his arms and waits for Lucas to take the hint. With a grin, he shifts back and pulls the shirt over Jens’s head, dropping it carelessly on the floor as he dives back in for another kiss.
Jens climbs onto the bed next to him, kicking off his shoes as he goes. Lucas’s hands drift into his hair, caressing and pulling in mismatched movements as they slowly sink down onto the mattress, reclining against the pillows. Side by side, they allow their kiss to slow, even as Jens’s hand creeps under the side of Lucas’s shirt and up along his skin.
“I don’t get how you make these floral things look good,” Jens mumbles, and Lucas laughs against his lips, quiet but bubbly.
“Works for you, does it?”
“Everything about you works for me,” Jens admits, sliding his hand to the small of Lucas’s back as he brushes their noses together. Lucas’s pupils are blown wide in the lamplight, the usually bright blue only a slim ring. His lips are parted and shiny, swollen due to Jens’s light bites, entirely too enticing as Jens tries to get his thoughts together. The only thing he’s able to come up with is, “Fuck, I missed you. I know you didn’t go anywhere, but you have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”
Lucas’s eyes light up at the words, smile creeping across his face. He slides his hands down over Jens’s shoulders, nails dragging just barely against the skin and pulling him closer. “Prove it,” he murmurs.
Despite his challenge, he’s the one to roll Jens onto his back and straddle his waist, swiftly pulling his own shirt off as he moves. Jens can only stare at him and let his hands drift to his hips, and then Lucas is leaning back down and pressing their chests and lips together and clearing Jens’s mind of any further thought.
Even with the teasing they’re likely to endure in the morning (and for the rest of the week) due to the forgotten presence of their friends, Jens decides the holiday is well worth it if they get to unwind like this.