Vincent woke groggily to warm sunlight streaming in through the window. He'd had a strange dream, or memory more accurately, the night before, and he wasn't sure what prompted him to think of it. Vincent tried to sit up and was suddenly reminded as to what, or more accurately who had spawned the dream.

      He and Lucas were lying in the same bed together, and Lucas had wrapped his arm around him at some point in the night, making it impossible for him to move more than an inch. It was eerily similar to what had happened when he was a child, and Vincent tried to put it from his mind.

Crap. He thought, and tried to sit up but Lucas pulled him closer back his chest. Crap crap crap. Vinny thought. Lucas was going to be embarrassed if he woke up and realized what he was doing, but Lucas was much stronger than Vincent, and there really wasn't anything he could do about that. He grimaced, he'd meant to leave the bed, but instead had wound up snuggling with Lucas for the entire night like a freak.

      Vincent waited in bed for what felt like another hour, trying to put the awkwardness from his mind. If it hadn't been such a strange thing to do, it might have even been comfortable, being so close to Lucas like that. The bed was warm and the sun streamed in casting a faint glow around the room. Vincent was shaken from his thoughts by the ringing of his phone. It was in the pocket of the jeans he'd slept in and he couldn't quite reach it.

       The phone stopped, then started again. Whoever was calling had called back and it seemed to be urgent. Vincent reached his arm down, getting it caught under Lucas, then reached up around Lucas' muscular arm to press the phone to his ear

       Vincent contemplated waking the boy up, but knew he'd have a massive hangover, and be basically useless for the time being. Or he could try to slip out from under Lucas, but that would prove difficult to do while Lucas was holding on to him so tightly. Finally Vincent decided that he would just have to answer the phone from where he was and be as quiet as possible.

"Where the hell are you? You have to answer the phone when I call you. Immediately!" Vincent's mom yelled after he picked up, next to him Lucas groaned at the noise. "What was that? Is someone with you."

"Uh.. I'm sorry mom, I slept over at Lucas' last night and I forgot to text you." Vinny whispered. He knew his mother would be excited if it seemed as though he and Lucas were recifying their friendship, and he also knew his mother wouldn't think he'd been drinking or out doing bad things if she thought he was with Lucas. His mother was sweet on Lucas like that, she always thought the boy was a good influence, forget the fact that he was drunk out of his mind just inches from Vincent who was perfectly sober.

"I need to know where you are at all times young man! Do you understand me. Do you know how late it is?" She scolded, and Vinny looked at the time with a wince.

"Oh crap mom I'm sorry. We were up late." Vinny stated truthfully; they had been up late.

"It's already 11! Go back to your dorm this instant! And call me when you get there" She yelled and hung up the phone.

Lucas groaned again and tugged Vincent impossibly closer to his bare chest. Vinny knew he wouldn't have done this if he were awake. Lucas used to do things like that when they were kids, but all of the sudden it made Vinny shivery and uncomfortable.

       "Lucas!" Vincent shook and attempted to turn himself around and instantly realized his mistake. Facing Lucas they were mere inches from each other, so close Vinny could smell the day old alcohol on the boy's breath, and their stomachs and legs were touching together so they were nearly scissoring. "Lucas! Wake up!"

       Lucas groaned and opened his eyes. At first confusion colored his face, then his eyes landed on Vincent and his lips broke into a smile.

      "Hey." Lucas's groggy raspy voice whispered. Then his headache kicked back in and he contorted in pain. "Oh shit." Lucas bounced back, realization of what happened the night before taking hold of him. He let go of Vincent but bumped his head on the headboard and winced in pain.

        "Good morning," Vinny greeted sarcastically.

       "Shit... shit! Good morning...... I.. was a total idiot last night? Wasn't I?" Lucas rubbed his eyes furiously.

       "Nah." Vinny shrugged. His mind ran back to Lucas attempting to kiss his cheek and professing their marriage. Perhaps the boy would be less embarrassed if he didn't know what had happened. "Just a little drunk."

       "And we slept together? Wait... no I didn't mean it like that.. we slept in the same bed?" Lucas face contorted in shame at what he'd said. "I'm sorry."

        "I brought you home, but I didn't have a car... so I decided to stay the night, and you refused to sleep alone in the bed..  I guess you must have been scared or something."

       "I'm such a doofus," Lucas smiled sheepishly. "How did you ever put up with me? I'm really sorry."

       "You don't have to be sorry. If I was uncomfortable I would have said no." Vinny explained.

      "Wait, so you drove my car back here?" Lucas' face twisted in pain as he attempted to understand.

       "No.. Marty drove you and I here and then left. I was a little drunk too and he didn't want me driving you."

        "Ah.. okay, so I'll have to call him a little later and get him to drive me back to get my car."  Lucas attempted to sit up, but let his head fell back onto the pillow in pain. "I didn't... when I was drunk, aside from asking you to stay in the bed with me, I didn't say anything else too stupid, did I?"

       "Nope. Nothing too stupid." Vinny shrugged and relief flooded Lucas' face.

       "Alright... well I.. at least let me make you a breakfast, huh? In exchange for putting up with me alright?"

        "Are you sure you're up to cooking?" Vinny chuckled. "You don't have to worry about me."

      "Right. I'm probably not up to cooking." Lucas smiled, "But I can order it up?"

        "Um sure. That would be nice." Vincent nodded.

        "Okay.. so if you want to shower or use the bathroom, it's the second door on the left in the hallway... I'm just gonna lay here for a minute." Lucas gestured out the door, letting his head sit again the pillow. Vincent smiled and nodded making his way out of the room.

        Vincent found the bathroom where Lucas had described it and took a nice hot shower. The shampoo smelled like Lucas did and Vincent enjoyed it. It was some type of rustic wooden scent, warm but masculine.

Once out of the shower, he wrapped himself in an extremely fluffy towel and dried off. Vincent didn't have any other clothes, so he begrudgingly redressed in his clothing from the night before. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best he could do.

      As he walked out of the bathroom back into the living room he took in the apartment. He hadn't gotten a good look before, but in the morning light he could see that it was very modern, with all black and white furnishings. It was almost sterile with no pictures or family photos, but Lucas wasn't close with his family.

Vincent sat down on the black leather couch, and patted his knees nervously. Being at someone else's house always made him anxious and Lucas was no exception. The living room sported a large TV across from him, and Vincent imagined Lucas often had people over to watch the various sports teams they liked. Vincent would be very out of place there.

Vincent turned to his left to grab his phone and call his mother like he'd promised when he caught sight of a frame on the side table next to the couch. Vincent picked it up to see a picture he hadn't ever seen before; but a picture of him and Lucas. Vincent was smiling and Lucas had his arm wrapped around him and was eyeing him with what looked like adoration. Vincent felt very prideful, it was the only photo Lucas kept in the apartment.

"Hey, so I just got eggs and bacon, I figured I'm not too inhibited to make toast if you wanted some and..." Lucas walked from the bedroom in a white undershirt and a pair of grey joggers, hair still messy from sleep.

"You kept this?" Vincent asked, holding the frame close to his chest.

"Yeah..." Lucas cleared his throat. "I.. uh... don't really have many pictures and I wanted to make the place feel a little bit more homey... it's really nothing. I just-"

"I don't think I ever saw this picture of us... do you... do you have another copy?"

"I'm not sure... I'll have it copied for you if I don't."

"Thank you." Vincent smiled and Lucas matched it warmly. "Oh... I should call my mom, do you...?"

"You can use the bedroom." Lucas gestured, and Vincent made his way back into the room. Vincent had fully intended to go back to his dorm per his mother's wish but there was nobody to drive him back. His mother would assume Lucas had driven him home in the time it took to shower, and Vincent figured it would do no harm to let her believe that.

"Hi mom. I'm really sorry about earlier." Vincent sighed, hoping his mother wouldn't be suspicious about the time it took to call back."

"It's fine. I'm just stressed." Her tired voice echoed through the phone.

"How come?" Vinny asked.

"I got promoted." She said sadly.

"That's great! But you don't sound happy?Why do you sound upset?" Vincent prodded.

"Its great. Really. I mean the money is great and everything, it just means you won't be able to come home as often, which was never part of the plan."

"Well.. you've gotta do it. Even if it's tough on us. I mean, I'm doing fine here, I'm making friends and everything."

"Friends like Lucas?" She asked.

"Yes friends like Lucas. I'm just.. I'll be alright, you don't need to worry, really."

"You won't be able to come home for thanksgiving! You'll have to eat I alone, and..." She began.

"Well, I can come visit you, we've got the weekend!" Vinny reminded his mother.

"Who's going to drive you? Lucas plays soccer.. that's peak season. You don't have a car." His mother reminded him.

"Well then we can... we can eat dinner together over FaceTime, alright? We can both eat a meal and it'll be as good a tradition as any." Vinny suggested.

"I'm sorry Vincent. I really am, I didn't mean for this to happen." She said.

"I told you mom I'm alright." Vinny could hear the door open and knew the food had arrived. Lucas poked his head in the room and pointed to the food. Vinny waved wordlessly and Lucas exited the room. "Look mom. I've got to go. Don't worry about it, everything will work out just fine." Vincent hung up the phone and followed out the door after Lucas.