#21h21

“Okay, come on,” Lucas squeezes his boyfriend’s hand then urges him to keep walking to the theatre as the movie is about to start. Eliott brings their hands to his lips and presses a feather-light kiss to the back of Lucas’ hand as they walk through the doors to their seats. 

There are a few other spectators scattered around the room, but Eliott guides them toward the back row right below the projector. The theatre is small and a little cold for Lucas’ liking, but lucky for him he is wearing Eliott’s black zip up jacket. He prefers to dress comfy casual for sitting in a plush seat for two hours - unlike his boyfriend who is wearing a black leather jacket and looks fresh off the runway, but he loves him for it. Lucas pulls the soft cotton closer to his chest and pulls the sleeve to cover the hand not in Eliott’s grip.

“Are you cold?” Eliott asks, because of course he does. His thumb rubs circles on the back of Lucas’ hand and pulls him closer.

“Hey, guess what I brought,” Lucas teases as he reaches into his pocket. He produces two chocolate bars and holds them in front of his face, one eye peeking out between them. It’s the same brand chocolate bar from the vending machine where they shared their first words with each other.

Eliott’s face lights up and looks at the other boy with disbelief. “You really are surprising,” Eliott shakes his head before grabbing his face and kissing him hard. 

Lucas’ cheeks turn pink at those words, taking him back to the night he played piano for him and showing a side of himself he never thought he would. Lucas reaches over for the boy’s other hand and places the candy in his open palm then curls his fingers to close the chocolate inside. 

Their hands stay intertwined for the entire movie and Lucas lets his head rest on Eliott’s shoulder every now and then, stealing a peck on the cheek here and there. 

*

“I definitely had a crush on Sloane when I first saw this,” Eliott whispers some time in the middle of the movie.

Lucas gives him a look. “Ah ouais?” 

Eliott nudges an elbow to Lucas’ side and Lucas rolls his eyes fondly in response.

*

The two get up from their seats after Ferris tells them the movie is over and make their way back to the lobby. Something catches Lucas’ attention in the corner of his eye as they walk down the narrow corridor, a photo booth situated in the corner. 

“Eli, look! We have to take some photos,” he points to the booth while turning to the taller boy next to him.

“Ouais! Last time it said it was out of order!” He opens the curtain and climbs into the extremely small space in front of the screen in front of the camera. 

Lucas follows and the two of them barely fit in there, so Eliott motions for him to sit on his lap. He happily obliges, sitting with one leg between both of Eliott’s and one extended and on the floor of the lobby. Their positions make Lucas taller than Eliott for a change and they both smile at that. 

They push a few buttons to get the camera ready and all of a sudden the screen flashes with 3, 2, 1 and the shutter closes and opens rapidly, indicating that the first photo was being taken. Eliott was in the middle of saying something and Lucas was just staring at their faces on the screen. Eliott grabs at Lucas’ shoulder and they look at each other and laugh at the fact that they were entirely unprepared for a few seconds before the next photo is taken. 

“Is this my sweatshirt?” Eliott asks with a handful of the fabric.

“Well, it’s mine now,” Lucas snides, tugging the sweatshirt towards the center of his chest. Eliott places his right hand on top of Lucas’ own.

Then as the screen flashes 3, 2, 1 again, Eliott traps the material between his teeth with a scrunched face. Lucas strikes a similar pose in reaction to his boyfriend’s antics. 

They are unsure if the strip includes more than three photos, and move closer to the screen for any hint. Turns out it’s four photos, because the lens captures Eliott’s confused face and Lucas taking up most of the frame and half out of focus. 

Lucas turns his body toward Eliott and their lips meet for a kiss or two. When they finally get out of the photo booth, a few familiar voices greet them in the lobby. 

“Lucas, Eliott! I thought that was you!” says Manon.

“Yeah, we could recognize those shoes anywhere,” Emma points to their feet. “Manon even has photo evidence.”

Eliott and Lucas look at each other. Manon shows them her phone, with a photo of their legs peeking out under the blue curtain of the photo booth filling the screen.

“Ah, merci Manon - our personal photographer.” Eliott jokes but with a sincere smile, draping his arm over his boy’s shoulders. Lucas looks up and smiles before leaning in for a chaste kiss.

Manon clicks around on her phone and Lucas feels his phone vibrate in his back pocket - it’s the ‘photo evidence’.

“We should get going, Daphné will be livid if we don’t catch up soon,” Emma warns. Manon sends a sweet smile over her shoulder at the two boys before leaving with Emma to meet the girls.

Eliott has the printed photos in his hand and Lucas leans over to look. The glossy paper has their poses printed in black and white. Lucas has the biggest, goofiest smile on his face because the pictures are perfect; they capture their relationship so well and seeing the way they look at each other makes his heart swell. 

“Where are you going to put yours?” Eliott asks, insinuating that they would each keep two of the photos.

Lucas thinks for a minute. “Probably in my wallet, or maybe with the hedgehogs and raccoons,” he refers to his collection of sticky note sketches that represent their spirit animals. “What about you?”

“They would look pretty good on our fridge, don’t you think?” The words slip out before Eliott has a chance to stop them.

Lucas feels the world stop turning. He steps back and studies Eliott intensely. “Our… our fridge?”

Eliott is a unique bundle of confidence and nerves, not prepared for how the rest of this conversation might go, but excited by the look on Lucas’ face. The blue in his eyes is the brightest he’s ever seen and makes his heart skip a beat. “Yeah, I mean-- well, it’s just that I was thinking.. You know..” he stops to take a breath. “It doesn’t have to be now, or soon, or even this year, and I don’t want you to feel obligated to say something and-” he is cut off by Lucas’ lips on his. 

“Eliott,” he whispers while stroking his cheek. 

Lucas can’t think of anything that would make him happier. Living with Eliott, falling asleep and waking up next to the love of his life every day, cooking (or rather, Lucas cooking and Eliott staying a safe distance away from the food) with him, doing small chores and boring tasks with him while listening to cheesy pop songs about love, all of it. 

“Yes, they will look perfect. On our fridge.”

A beat. “Are you… are you sure? Because we can wait, I don’t know why I said that, it just… came out,” Eliott says quietly.

“Hey, Minute par minute, non?” is Lucas’ answer, along with a kiss.

Eliott smiles against his lips. “Je t’aime.”

“Moi aussi, je t’aime.”

*

Eliott looks at his phone and looks at the time. It’s 21:21, the minute they decided they would move in together. The next step in their relationship, and a big one at that. One that neither Eliott nor Lucas would believe they would get to, but are so happy about.