Lucas was thankful that they'd at least managed to sort that business out, because the next week was hectic. School was getting more serious as slowly but surely the end of the term inched closer, and all too often Lucas found himself drifting off halfway through highlighting a page in his textbook as the glowing digital display of his clock showed the minutes ticking past midnight. Work at the bakery didn't provide much of a respite: even with Damien there, since the charity gala they were catering for was that weekend Lisa had them working harder than ever. Her stern gaze kept Lucas hard at work, serving customers, perfecting recipes, going over meal plans and vegan, gluten-free, nut-free options until he could practically recite the ingredients.
Damien, however, seemed untouched by the stress. The three days they worked that week, he always showed up just a second before "late", offering Lisa a wide smile that even her eye roll couldn't dispel, and charming every customer who walked up to the register. He had an uncanny knack for convincing customers to buy more than they'd intended to, which made up for his apparent lack of baking skill. Lisa had resigned herself to this fact, and kept Lucas working in the kitchen. Which, of course, meant Damien kept finding excuses to come back to the kitchen, getting more ridiculous by the second.
"What're you doing?"
Lucas looked up from his bowl of lemon curd to find Damien at his shoulder, staring into the mixture. He put one arm around Lucas' shoulders, and Lucas noticed he'd tied one of the ribbons they used to wrap cake boxes around his wrist.
"Whisking this lemon curd. And hey, shouldn't you be-"
"Shouldn't you be working?" Lisa finished, bustling towards the smooth marble bench Lucas was mixing on, a metal tray of tart casings tucked under each arm.
Busted. Lucas grimaced, but Damien still looked perfectly at ease. "I am working. I just..." Damien glanced around for a split second, "...needed a new apron. I think this one's too small. Or maybe I've gotten bigger, it is bulking season..."
Lucas tried to look like he knew what 'bulking season' was. Lisa didn't even try, eyes narrowing as she frowned at Damien. "If you've left customers waiting-"
"I haven't!" Damien said, putting his hands up in a show of innocence. "It's been empty for a while, promise. I'll hear if someone comes in, and then I'll be out there so fast they won't even see it."
Lisa tapped her foot on the tiled floor. "I don't pay you to chat to your friends, Damien. Don't make me call your mother. Because there are lots of kids who'd take this job, so if you're not going to do the work..." She left the sentence hanging in the air, raising an eyebrow. The implication was clear.
"I'm definitely going to do the work." Damien said, stepping away from Lucas and giving Lisa a little salute. "In fact, I'm going to go do it right now. See you, Lucas." He walked backwards through the doors that lead to the front of the shop, blowing Lucas a kiss just before they closed.
"You don't think I was too harsh on him, was I?" Lisa asked, placing the trays down beside Lucas with a clatter.
"He'll be fine." Lucas said, smiling to himself as he continued to whisk. "He's got thick skin."
Lisa nodded, glancing to the doors Damien had disappeared through. "I'm happy for you two."
"What for?"
But Lisa just gave him a knowing look, a small smile on her round face, and then set him to work filling each of the pastry casings with the curd.
But no one was more busy than Alex. Lucas and Mona barely saw her over that week. Every lunch time she'd be off with some job or another: testing the lights and sound for what felt like the hundredth time, meeting with the tech department, mending a costume that 'some idiot ensemble member' had torn, running through scenes...a host of different things Lucas and Mona didn't understand.
It meant their lunch times were unusually peaceful, Lucas cramming in a bit of study or texting Damien while Mona read one of her astro-physics books or quizzed him with his flash cards. Considering he'd be busy both nights that weekend, with Alex's musical and the charity gala (They'd kindly been offered tickets), Lucas was trying to make up the lost studying any way he could. Being with Mona helped with the stress, though. It was a comfortable, understanding silence. Sometimes he looked over her shoulder, but the words on the page may as well have been written in another language. Lately, however, he had noticed a thin volume on astrology and the zodiac in between her usual books.
***
The night of their school's production of The Wizard of Oz was cool and cloudless. Alex had called him several times, at first to confirm that he was coming, and then to tell him not to come, because it was a total mess and it'd go horribly wrong and she didn't want him to see it, and then again to politely ask if Damien was coming too. Lucas hadn't actually been able to answer the last one. Damien had said he was coming, had seemed very sure that he'd find a way, but since he was grounded Lucas wasn't entirely clear on how he'd do that. But when he and Mona arrived at the school's small auditorium, Damien was already there.
"Hey, you made it!" Lucas said as Damien leaned down to kiss him quickly. "I'm a little surprised your parents let you come. Unless they don't know you're here?"
"Hey, Mona," Damien said, giving her a wave before turning back to Lucas. "They let me go, but I have to-"
"We can't find the bathroom!" A voice cut in, and Lucas looked down to see Gabriel stomping over, Andrea hot on his heels. Gabriel came to a halt when he saw Mona and Lucas, shying away to duck behind Damien's legs.
"We looked everywhere," Andrea explained as Gabriel busied himself with tugging impatiently at the hem of Damien's shirt, "but we can't find it. He really needs to go, too."
"Ma said I had to bring them too." Damien whispered, as Gabriel abandoned tugging on his shirt and began to instead thump his head against Damien's thigh. Lucas tried, unsuccessfully, not to look amused.
"I need to pee, Damien. Where's the bathroom?" He asked plaintively, looking up at him with wide brown eyes, chubby face scrunched into a frown.
"I don't know, little man. I don't go to this school."
"But I need to pee now."
"Jesus fucking Christ." Damien sighed, reaching up to run a hand through his hair.
"I don't think you're allowed to say that." Gabriel said, which did nothing to help Damien's frustration.
"I know where the bathroom is." Lucas offered. "I can take them."
Eventually it was agreed that Lucas would take Andy and Gabe, and Damien would keep Mona company while they waited. It'd taken some effort to prise Gabriel off Damien's leg and convince him to go with Lucas, but Andy was more than happy to drag him along. Thankfully, they'd arrived fairly early so they could meet Alex, which meant that even as Lucas lead the two children to the block of toilets the school was fairly empty. The windows of the surround buildings were almost all dark, towering like great shadows above them as they walked.
"So," Andy began, skipping a little as she walked beside Lucas, curls bouncing, "you're Damien's boyfriend, right?"
"Right." Lucas said, a little cautiously, unsure where this was heading.
"Well, I've got a boyfriend too." She continued proudly. "He's called Jai, and he sits next to me all the time, and we hold hands at lunch. But you can't tell Damien, obviously."
"Oh, that...that's nice." Lucas was quickly realising he had no idea how to talk to children. Or most people, really. "Do you like him a lot?"
"Well, duh. He's my boyfriend." Andy smiled. "He doesn't know it yet, but we're going to get married someday. Do you think you and Damien are going to get married?"
"Uh..." Lucas didn't want to disappoint her. "Maybe. I don't know. Most people my age don't get married yet, and Damien and I haven't been dating for very long."
Much to his relief, Andy nodded, understanding the wisdom of his words. "That's okay. Some people date for years and years and years and never ever get married. They're just boyfriends and girlfriends forever. I even saw a YouTube video about three people in a relationship. So you can do whatever you want." She reached out to pat his arm, in what Lucas assumed was an effort to reassure him.
Lucas hadn't been expecting this strange little speech. It was oddly sweet. "Thanks?"
"You're welcome!"
They arrived at the toilets with no more talk of boyfriends. On the walk back, Gabriel had even got around to walking beside Lucas, though he looked up warily when Lucas offered his hand. He'd warm to him eventually, Lucas hoped.
Back outside the auditorium, more people were milling about. The lights inside were on, leaving Damien and Mona standing in a puddle of yellow light cast through the open doorway. He was listening attentively to something Mona was saying. As Lucas drew closer, he realised she was talking about the fabric of spacetime, a term he could only recognise because he'd heard her use it countless times before. He still didn't fully understand it, and by the slightly nonplussed look on Damien's face, neither did he.
"Thank God you got back." Damien whispered as the five of them walked into the auditorium to find Alex. "I think she was about to start asking me questions, and I didn't know how to tell her I'm just really dumb."
"No you're not." Lucas muttered, elbowing him in the side. "Don't talk about my boyfriend like that."
When it clicked Damien tipped his head back and laughed. Pleased with himself, Lucas took his arm and pulled him backstage.
They were greeted by a very harried Alex. Strands of her ponytail had escaped, surrounding her face in a wispy cloud as she paced back and forth. She'd been talking to a man with a walrus mustache, who Lucas remembered was the director, but when they arrived she glanced up and her face broke into a wide smile.
"You came!" She wrapped Lucas in a hug that knocked the air out of him. "Thanks." She muttered into his chest, then pulled away to beam at Mona and Damien. "Sorry, I'd love to talk but..." She glanced back to the director.
"You're busy." Mona supplied, and Alex nodded.
"Yeah. April should be free, though."
The backstage space was small and a little crowded. People in black clothes ('theatre blacks', Lucas corrected himself) were moving in every direction, carrying props, getting into their costumes, a few even talking into headsets. At the edge of this hive of activity was April, sitting beside a mirror and applying the finishing touches to a girl's makeup so that when she turned around, Lucas was shocked to find himself looking at the face of an old woman. The old-woman girl left, and April waved them over.
"Damien! I didn't expect to see you here!"
Damien put a hand to his mouth in exaggerated surprise. "What? I haven't told you about my deep, passionate love for high school theatre?"
April rolled her eyes, but she was laughing. "It's actually really fun. You'll see." Her eyes lit up when they settled on Gabriel and Andrea, as the latter was staring curiously at her various palettes and brushes. "Oh my god, are these your siblings? I didn't know you had little siblings! Hi!"
She looked over the moon, waving excitedly at the pair of them. Lucas wondered if she ever ran out of energy.
"I'm April, I'm one of Damien's friends." She was saying, leaning forward so as to be at eye level with Gabe.
"Damien has friends?" Andrea asked, then giggled and ducked out of the way of Damien's glare.
"I know. Surprising, isn't it?" April said conspiratorially, sticking her tongue out at him. "Aw, aren't you two just the cutest? We should so do your makeup." As she set about getting out her brushes, she turned back to Damien. "They look so much like you."
"I think she just said you look like a small child." Lucas whispered, grinning as Damien turned that glare on him.
Even Gabe seemed to have taken a shine to her, which Lucas tried not to be offended by. He sat at her feet as Andy perched herself in the chair opposite April, pointing out the shades she'd like. Mona had picked up a brush and was idly running it across the palm of her hand, staring into the middle distance.
"What about you, Lucas?" April waved a brush coated with blue powder in his direction. "Want some?"
Lucas shook his head. "No thanks."
He'd seen a handful of guys online who wore makeup, and wore it well, but it'd never really been his thing. While he could appreciate the artistry of it, especially when April began to get to work, it wasn't for him. Mona declined as well.
"I, uh, wouldn't mind some." Damien said after a moment. He wasn't actually look at April when he said it, hands thrust deep into his pockets as he stared at a scratch in the wooden floor. In response to Lucas' questioning look, he continued, "Well, y'know, I've always thought it looks sort of cool, sometimes. And," he hurried to add, "I'm so hot I'd make anything look good."
"You'll look so cool!" April said, nodding fervently in agreement as she brushed blue across Andrea's eyelid. "We can't do a full face, not with this amount of time, but if you want a bold lip, or maybe something like your sister..."
"No, no, not any of that." Damien said, still wary. "Just, I don't know, eyeliner. I think that would be pretty good. Maybe."
"Definitely." Lucas leaned to rest his head against Damien's shoulder, trying to provide some sort of comfort.
He couldn't sit still, blinking and wincing even as April threatened physical violence, but somehow she managed to produce a perfect little wing, lining Damien's eyes with black and adding a tiny downturned flick at the end.
"You're staring, Lucas." Damien said, after Lucas had failed to say anything for what felt like a minute.
"Am I?" Lucas cleared his throat. He hoped April would teach Damien how to do it himself, because he couldn't stop staring at his eyes. "It looks good. Really good."
"Yeah?" A grin was starting to spread across his face, and he glanced towards the mirror. "You think so?"
"I know so."
"It's perfect!" April said, ever the enthusiast. "Totally giving me fashion model, indie movie star, that sort of vibe. Stunning."
And seeing how pleased Damien was for the rest of the night was just as good as the actual show. Every so often he'd reach up, brushing a finger lightly over the wing, though he was careful never to smudge it. Especially because even after they'd settled into their seats and the lights had gone down, Damien kept muttering comments into his ear, and Lucas had to keep elbowing him to shut him up. (Most notably 'shoot me' as soon as the first chords of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' filled the auditorium.)