Closed Melting Ice Cream, Hopes, and Dreams

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas felt oddly nervous about hanging out with Kas today. Last time he had seen him they hadn't had the time to properly talk, and now it felt like it would be their first true reunion since Kas had been expelled. Lucas had agreed to meet him after work, so he was hanging out outside the menagerie. He had thought to buy them both a cone of ice cream, it had felt like a smart move, giving them something to do while they talked. Lucas hadn't accounted on it melting, and he was trying not to let Kas' butterbeer ice cream drip on his shirt as he waited for him to come out of the store.

 

[Kasim Safir]

Despite Kas having been perfectly content to simply disappear into retail hell and never return, it seemed like his friends had had other ideas and he somehow found himself agreeing to hanging out with Lucas. Not that there was anything wrong with hanging out with Lucas, historically it had gone perfectly fine, but they hadn't spoken properly outside of letters since before Kas was expelled. And it was a lot easier to dodge a question you didn't want to answer via owl than it was in person.

Kas may have drug his feet a little more than necessary when finishing up his shift but he did have to eventually emerge from the Menagerie, allowing a quirked smile spotting Lucas nearby holding some decidedly worse for wear ice cream. "Ah, maybe I should go back inside so you can wait a little longer and we could just eat these with a straw," he offered mildly, pointedly avoiding offering to take one of the cones from Lucas so he didn't have to get melted ice cream every where.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas’ heart did a little jump at the sight of Kas. He couldn’t help the wide grin that spread over his face as he approached, though it fell a bit at Kas’ joke. “If you do that I’ll eat both of them myself.” He said pointedly, though he also extended the one meant for Kas out to him. “I hope you like butterbeer flavor. I already licked this one.” He said, nodding to his own cone with a strawberry scoop. “How was work?” He asked, though the question felt weird and a bit forced. Was that really the first thing he was going to ask after not seeing Kas for months?

 

[Kasim Safir]

[whoops pretend this isn't almost 2 months old after I forgot about it for 4 months already I'm a good friend]

“You are a cruel and heartless friend,” Kas said with a put upon sigh, finally taking the ice cream from Lucas cautiously so he didn’t get anything dripped on him. “Heaven forbid you and I swap a little more spit,” he said wryly, already starting in on eating his ice cream. “Butterbeer is fine, thanks,” he added a little quieter, more sincere.

He’d been so intent on sulking and hiding around the Summers’ place and at the shop he’d almost forgotten that sometimes it was nice to just.. Hang out and eat ice cream with a friend. It was a moment of overt sentimentality and Kas was almost grateful Lucas moved on to small talk so he could ignore the feeling. “Oh you know, selling hordes of rats and owls to children, the usual,” he said, moving them over to a bench so they could sit. “Been getting all the good gossip about what the animals do at night from the boomslangs though, they’re very chatty. How’s being a famous Quidditch star? I didn’t think you’d have time for ice cream breaks these days, even if you do have to play for Australia,” he said, making a show of wrinkling his nose in exaggerated disgust on the word “Australia”.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas felt his face flush at Kas’ joke and hoped it wasn’t as apparent to Kas as he feared it was. He looked away, clearing his throat. “Yeah,” he said, not sure if that was the right answer to that. He glanced his way again, glad the butterbeer seemed to be fine with him. With a sinking feeling, Lucas took in Kas’ face and felt his heart speed up a bit more. This wasn’t good.

He decided not to dwell on it and to focus on enjoying Kas’ company. Lucas smiled at the description Kas gave of his work, the idea of him chatting with the snakes oddly endearing. He shrugged a bit at his question, ducking his head. “It’s… a lot?” He said hesitantly. “I know I sought it out, and I do love it and I know I’m very lucky to even get the chance… but it also feels sort of like a whirlwind that took me along, the schedule is so busy, I feel like I haven't been free of bludger bruises since I was at Hogwarts. And I got recognized last time I went shopping here. I felt so awkward.” He said, giving Kas a wide-eyed look. “I had no idea what to do.”

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas hide a smug look into his ice cream as he watched Lucas' reaction to his last comment. He'd missed being able to casually flirt with his friends without feeling like he was twisting a knife in his own gut while doing it. It really took the fun out of it. But despite how a lot of things had changed for both him and Lucas, that part was still the same which was a relief.

"Look, if one of us is going to be working in a shop for the rest of their life and the other gets to be a professional sports player you could at least be a little more smug about it. You know, for both of us. I need to live vicariously through someone and you're the best choice right now," he said, nudging Lucas with his shoulder. "Please tell me they asked for an autograph," he said, enjoying Lucas' discomfort greatly.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas was glad the conversation moved on, but he knew he was still blushing. He hated how easy it was for Kas to get to him. He hoped he wouldn't comment on it anymore. He smiled a bit at Kas' joke. "You're like, twenty, who knows what you'll do." He said with a small shrug. He knew it was a bit more complex for Kas, but he wanted his friend to be optimistic. At least a little. "Besides, I could fall off my broom tomorrow and that'd be the end. You wouldn't be jealous then." He said, though he did rather hope that wouldn't happen. Lucas groaned as Kas spoke more about the awkward encounter. Why did he keep giving him fuel? "Yes." He admitted. "I didn't even know how- like it wasn't something I prepared so I just made up a scribble on the spot." He admitted. "I hope that won't come back to bite me."