"What is real?
It never was your smile, yeah
Close your eyes,
I've never gotten closer to you
Pulling you into my world, hm, hm
Love how you hurt me, hm, hm
Longing for you, if you only knew how much
If you leave me, we'll never see each other again
The last candle goes out, hm, hm
Watch my heart break, hm, hm"

Lucas went to see his doctor right after school.
Monsieur Durant hadn't responded to the email he'd sent last night, but Lucas was determined to get the tube taken out.

It didn't take long to get it taken out.
Lucas was asked to take a deep breath and hold it, then Monsieur Durant pulled the tube out in a swift, steady motion.
His doctor asked him as to why he suddenly didn't want it anymore, but Lucas didn't answer his question.
He couldn't be happier to get back home to his boyfriend.

At home, he found Eliott crying in their bed.
"Baby, what's wrong?", Lucas asked, crawling under the duvet. He pulled Eliott closer, pressing a kiss to his cloth-covered shoulder blades.
"I can't take this anymore, I can't take this anymore", Eliott said between sobs, sniffles filling the silence that hung in the room.
Lucas pulled him even closer. The scariest moments weren't the ones where Eliott was rambling about random topics.
The moments where he said things like that were the scariest of all.
"What do you mean?", Lucas asked quietly, digging his fingers into Eliott's side a bit more.
"The random things I do, the things that scare you. I never wanted you to suffer and here we are anyway", Eliott responded before sobbing even more.
Lucas drew small circles on Eliott's shoulder, letting his hand wander down to Eliott's chest.

"You never hurt me, love", Lucas whispered, "I get scared, yes, but none of the things you did during your episodes ever hurt me."
Eliott sighed. "See, that's enough already", he whispered.
"Non", Lucas let out, "You never hurt me, period. Trust me, I can deal with a lot. What matters most is that you're here with me."
Eliott turned around, cheeks stained with tears.
"But you just admitted that you do get scared! And it's my fault!", he cried, burying his face in his elbow to hide his tears from Lucas.
"It's not your fault, Eliott", Lucas retorted, "You're not at fault here. I'd rather run after you at 3 in the morning because you thought it was right to run off to Rome instead of not having you in my life at all. I'd rather cancel a dozen flights to every place in the world than not falling asleep in our bed at night with you. I'd rather get upset because of you rambling about nonsense conspiracy theories than not having you here at my side at all. Eliott, I love you. And that's something that's going to last forever."

Eliott lifted his head, wiping away the few tears that had started to come out of his eyes.
"I love you more, idiot", he said before kissing Lucas.
"I know life's complicated right now, but it's worth it as long as I can share it with you", Lucas whispered, slowly pulling back.
"Mhm, couldn't have said it better myself", Eliott whispered back, connecting their lips once again.

The weeks flew by and the cold started to not only settle down in between Eliott's bones but also in his mind.
He knew that he should take his meds, he knew.
Yet he didn't do it, and Lucas nagging him about it wasn't enough to make him take them.

"Eliott, I can't fucking believe it!", Lucas sighed, resting his hands on the kitchen countertop, "I've only asked you to take your meds and yet you still don't do it!"
"If you'd stop nagging me about it maybe I would take 'em!", Eliott yelled back, carding a hand through his messy hair.
"Clearly that didn't work! Because you obviously didn't fucking take 'em!", Lucas roared, the veins in his head almost daring to burst.
Eliott took a deep breath, leaning against the kitchen wall.
"Look, I don't take them because they make me feel robotic and not like myself", he explained. "Would you want to take something that made you feel like someone or something else?"

Lucas closed his eyes, exhaling loudly. "No."
Eliott grinned weakly. "That was a rhetorical question but yes, that's exactly what I thought you'd say", he said, massaging his temples with his fingers. Stress always caused him to get a headache, or a really bad migraine if it got really bad.
"So, would you stop asking me about my medication every single day? It's my business after all and I'd really appreciate that", Eliott asked, tilting his head to the side.
Lucas nodded. "Fucking fine. But don't come back fucking crying about how bad it is, the remedy is literally right in front of you."
With that, Lucas turned around on his heels, walking off to the bathroom to take a shower.
Eliott sat down on the couch, burying his head in his hands.
When did the world around him turn so cold?

On Saturday, Lucas was visiting his friends.
Without Eliott.
"Look who it is", Yann said with a smile as he opened the door, letting Lucas, Arthur, and Basile in.
"Damn, your place looks so much nicer than mine", Arthur said and Yann smiled.
"Heh, I had help after all", he said, gesturing to Chloé, who walked out of the living room area.
"The living room was the most difficult to get done, but the rest was a walk in the park", she said, smiling at the boys.

As they all move to sit down on the long couch in the living room, Yann asked the obvious question that was in the room.
"Where's Eliott?"
To that, Lucas responded with something along the lines of 'he isn't feeling well, so he's at home, resting, but we're fine' which wasn't exactly true.
He and Eliott weren't as fine anymore. They were still together, but not together together.
Something had shifted and neither of them knew what to do about it.

Lucas had a great time, joking and catching up with his friends and their lives.
Yann told the boys that he and Chloé were planning on adopting a puppy, a small Pomeranian.
And Arthur wanted to travel to the Netherlands for a few months after school.
Basile and Lucas didn't have anything new to tell, so the group resorted to getting Lucas to open up about his relationship issues.

"Guys, guys, I know that we're destined for each other. It's always been me and Eliott, Eliott and me. But I'm afraid that he doesn't want that anymore", Lucas said, looking at his hands instead of his friends.
"Maybe you guys should try out couple therapy", Basile suggested and Arthur shot a ' what the actual fuck?'-glare at him.
"What?", Basile said, putting up his hands in defense, "I'm at least trying to help."

"What if a break is the last thing that there is?", Lucas asked after a while, a single tear rolling down his cheek.
Arthur immediately pulled him into a hug.
"I don't want to break up with him, I don't want to leave him, I love him, I think I would die without him", Lucas sobbed, trying his best to not get snot all over Arthur's sweater.
"Maybe you tell him exactly what you've told me right now", Arthur suggested. "It could be that Eliott needs a little bit of reassurance, even more than other people I think."

It took Lucas a whole week before he decided to tell Eliott about how he'd been feeling.
On Sundays, Lucas felt most on edge, a new week itching in his fingertips.
"Eliott?", Lucas asked, "Can I talk to you for a second?"
Eliott walked out of the bedroom, moving to sit down on the couch.

"I love you", Lucas began, "And I don't want to do this without you. I couldn't do this without you."
Eliott twisted his body a bit so that he was facing Lucas.
"Mm", he hummed, "I feel the same way, Lucas. I truly believe that I would die without you here. So what's stopping us from getting the happiness and ease of our relationship back?"
To that Lucas didn't know what to respond.
"Well", he said slowly, "Well, I thought that we'd be moving in circles and I wasn't sure if you'd want that."

Eliott got up, shaking his head slowly.
"No, no, no, no", he said, "Lucas, life with you is fun, exciting, new and something that never gets old. We're not moving in circles, fuck that. We're living minute by minute, and right now I feel like demonstrating how much I love you."
Eliott held out his hand, signaling Lucas to take it.
Once Lucas had done that, Eliott pulled him closer.
His free hand pulled his phone out of the pocket of his sweatpants, putting on some music.
"Now, will you fucking do me the honor of dancing with me?", Eliott asked, a smug smile on his lips.
Lucas flashed him a coy smile back, nodding his head. "How could I possibly refuse?"

The two young men danced through their apartment, Lucas' body pressed closely to Eliott's.
"I asked the boys for advice last week, and when nobody came up with something good I thought that the only option I had left was breaking up with you", Lucas admitted, his head resting against Eliott's chest.
"Non, baby, it was good that you talked to me instead", Eliott replied, pressing Lucas' body even closer.
"I know", Lucas said, relieved that Eliott was still there, still holding him, "Basile suggested that couple therapy could be helpful."
Eliott pressed a kiss to Lucas' hairline. "If you want to try it out, sure. I wasn't sure how you'd react if I would've suggested it."

Lucas lifted his head. "You can suggest anything to me, baby. I hope you know that now", he said, his brow furrowed.
"Oui, mon mignon, I know that now. In fact, I've always known, I don't really know what prevented me from discussing it with you", Eliott replied, and Lucas relaxed again.

Things would fall into place one day.
Maybe not today, and certainly not tomorrow but someday, things would work out.

And as long as Eliott and Lucas had each other, they were more than ready to take on the world.
Together.

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[Word count: 1759 words]

There you have it, the end of this story is here!
This story was so much fun, it took me almost a week to the get last chapter done because I didn't want to let it go.
But here we are, at the end.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, the lyrics at the top are from the song "Phantom" by Wavvyboi.
My favorite chapters to write were definitely the ones were Emma and Manon were involved, as well as the ones with the boys' squad.
Anyway, I'm signing off, bye bye and merci! 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕