A Lover?

Saturday arrived faster than Joshua would have liked it to.

He was that one cousin who loathed attending parties, sponsoring events and anything that involved crowds and forced smiles.

He buttoned up the white long-sleeved shirt that Ezekiel had lent him, staring at his disheveled reflection in the mirror.

He was currently staying with the Lins and Wangs and had promised Lilian that his appearance tonight would be a surprise as she never knew where he was.

He had already earned some rolled eyes, mockery-filled words and a few insults from Lilian—nothing that he wasn't used to.

"Damn, I need to lose some weight. This is getting too tight around the arms," he muttered, trying to stretch some parts of the sleeves, but to no avail.

With a defeated sigh, he removed the whole thing before he could rip it off and get scolded later on.

Sitting at the edge of his bed, he pushed his hair back and sighed before standing up again and trying to look through a series of Ezekiel's long sleeves from the closet, hoping to find any other shirt that would fit him.

"Ezekiel is a lean motherfucker, none of these would fit me at all," he grumbled and roamed around the closet until he decided to give up altogether.

"This is not definitely going as planned," he thought.

Just as he was contemplating whether he should go or not, the door opened revealing a shorter man with brown hair and eyes that were a muddy brown.

Joshua stared at the man who was holding a blue long-sleeved shirt, clearly two sizes too big for him.

"Yes?"

The man extended the shirt towards Joshua, who tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Here, try this. I took it from Rex's closet. It's the largest size he had."

Joshua's eyes widened in surprise. "W-What? Why would you do that?"

The man smiled tightly and entered the room to hang the shirt on the cabinet rack.

"Well, I kinda noticed that you and Rex almost have the same body structure, so I took one of his shirts to see if this might fit you."

Joshua stared at the man in front of him and sighed in defeat before trying the shirt on. 

Lo' and behold, it did fit him, miraculously.

He buttoned it up and tucked it in his pants while the unknown man, who he assumed to be Lucas, stared at him intently.

'Go away will you? Your eyes are burning holes in me.'

Lucas hummed while staring at Joshua, his eyes filled with wonder before he walked out of the room.

Curious, Joshua followed him with his gaze and looked out, only to see the man enter Rex's room.

"What the fuck?"

'How the hell can he do things that we, Rex's cousins, can't even dare to do?'

Moments passed and Lucas once again walked in from the bedroom door, holding what seemed to be one of Rex's prized coats; a coat that Rex had worn only once.

"What is that?" Joshua asked.

Lucas frowned, holding the coat upward. "A coat," his tone obviously implying that the answer was self-evident.

"No," Joshua tried to argue. 'There is no way in hell I would wear that. Rex will kill me if I do.'

"Why not? It's just a coat." 

Joshua blinked uncontrollably and grimaced as he stepped back from the door frame and looked straight into Lucas's eyes.

"No, I will not wear that. It's Rex's!"

Lucas rolled his eyes, slightly glaring at the man as he pointed towards the sleeves. "And so is the shirt and pants you are wearing, might as well add the coat."

Joshua stared at him in confusion. 'Pants? No wonder they fit.'

An intense stare-down happened as the clock ticked away while the silence ensued. Lucas, not backing down, stepped forward while holding the coat tightly in his hands.

"Wear it. It fits the whole get-up."

"You're really stubborn, aren't you?"

Lucas scoffed, not giving up, determined to see Joshua's complete get-up.

"Oh, come on. Stop being a drama queen. Your attitude reminds me of a certain bitchy woman. Just wear it."

Joshua raised an eyebrow, wondering if he was thinking of the same woman as Lucas. After moments of silence and more contemplation, Joshua let out a sigh in defeat and took the coat from Lucas.

Lucas grinned as he watched Joshua wear the coat with a reluctant grimace on his face. "Oh, come on. It's not that bad."

Joshua rolled his eyes, adjusting the coat himself. Lucas stepped in front of him and made further adjustments to the coat himself.

Joshua watched the young man's every move and asked something he wasn't supposed to ask.

"Are you perhaps Rex's lover or something?"

Lucas stopped what he was doing and looked at Joshua through his lashes before going back to his task of fixing the coat.

Once he was satisfied with the result, he patted Joshua's chest and walked out of the room, leaving Joshua's question unanswered, and making him ponder it over and over.

Lucas, who only finished dressing up, fixed his hair in a way people wouldn't recognize him as Lucas Huang.

He hummed a tune he remembered from the office, a song that Ms. Yao was playing back when he was invited by the receptionist during their lunch a week ago.

It was an English song that the ladies barely understood yet they loved listening to it as the singer's voice made them blush.

While reminiscing everything that the ladies had ranted in front of him, Lucas felt a hand on his shoulder, making him turn around.

"Ready?"

Lucas sighed nervously, his hands trembling in anticipation. "Relax, Lucas. Everything will be fine."

Lucas nodded, lips tight to form a small smile, which made Rex chuckle. "Shall we?"

Lucas could only nod, words weren't able to form in his throat. He took a deep breath as he held onto Rex's arm, steadying himself as they walked out of the room.

"Calm down, love. I am here for you."

Lucas smiled, quietly thanking him for all the support that Rex had given him since the beginning.

"Sorry, but it's been a while." It was Rex's turn to smile at him as he patted Lucas's arm. "Everything will be okay."

Lucas believed him. He truly did. After all, what could possibly go wrong?