Redemption

Written for a class in 2020 under my real name, Bianca L. Cancel. Inspired by a fanfiction I wrote.

Elijah Garcia and Lucas Brown’s love story started like many others. The pair met, they became friends, and they fell in love. In their case, though, the two met when they were just an awkward pair of high school teenagers. Lucas—considered a star basketball player and top of the class—was certain that he fell in love with the smaller of the two at first sight, and he did everything in his power to talk to him since the moment he laid eyes on him. Most people wouldn’t be able to say they met the love of their lives in high school, but Lucas and Elijah could say so.

Throughout their high school years, what started out as a friendship quickly blossomed into something more—something passionate, something that would end up consuming them. What started out as friendship soon became love, despite living in a country that still wasn’t the most open to same-sex relationships, and despite facing a bit of backlash from some of their peers. If anything, those type of hardships proved that their love was real, and just getting stronger. Eventually, the people that mattered most—their parents—came around and began to accept that their sons were madly in love with each other.

High school graduation approached and the couple decided to apply to the same college, hoping to be near each other even though they planned to attend different departments. Elijah, who was always very lively and passionate, opted for a major in Business Management, while taking some side culinary classes as he dreamed of opening up his own café in the future. Lucas, who was passionate in an often more serious sense, opted for Pre-Law and Political Sciences. Together, they were essentially a “power couple” in their university—both incredibly high-achieving, dedicated to their studies, and yet incredibly in love and dedicated to each other.

They were even envied by many, but thankfully they had a few close friends that wanted nothing more than pure happiness for the couple. They along with their group of friends were slightly comical, really. They were reminiscent of the cast of “Friends” to some… Elijah’s best friend, Summer Davis, was dating Lucas’ best friend, Jacob Smith, since, like, kindergarten. Elijah’s other best friend, Jane Martinez, eventually began going on dates with another of Lucas’ friends, Sabrina Lopez.

Elijah, Summer and Jane met up frequently for drinks at their college’s Starbucks, usually in-between afternoon courses, when Jane announced her blossoming relationship with Sabrina.

“Took you long enough,” Elijah teased.

Jane rolled her eyes. “Hush, Garcia. Not everyone is as lucky as you two.”

“What do you mean?” Summer intercepted.

This caused the former to sigh. She didn’t want to sound bitter, but she slightly envied Summer and Elijah for their luck in love. “Not everyone meets their true love when they’re just kids.”

Elijah quirked a brow. “True love?”

“Oh shut it, Elijah, you know you and Lucas will get married as soon as you graduate.” Summer spoke this time, causing the mentioned male to blush deeply. Elijah knew it was true, but he hated being so predictable. He took the straw wrapper laying on the table, scrunched it up, and threw it at his two closest friends as they laughed at his reddened cheeks.

Later that day, Elijah found himself sitting on the bleachers of the school’s basketball court with Jane and Summer, the love of his life playing a game with his friends and other students. Elijah could feel his heart swell with pride as he watched Lucas play, and he knew his friends’ jokes were not far from the truth. If Lucas didn’t propose to him first, he would do the honors for him. But he was not letting go of this man, ever.

Just like everyone had predicted, after they finished their bachelor’s degrees, Lucas decided to propose to Elijah on the day of their graduation. It would be one of the best decisions of his life, he was sure. He would’ve lied if he said he wasn’t nervous at all—quite the contrary, he trembled like a terrified Chihuahua while he opened the little black box holding the simple ring, and he was sure he could’ve collapsed while waiting patiently for Elijah’s answer.

“My life has been a mess with twists and turns,” Lucas began as he was down on one knee. “But it’s the greatest when I’m with you. Every single day and night of my life, no matter what comes our way, I want to face everything together with you. Forever, with you. I want us to share our love for the rest of our lives. So, will you marry me, Elijah Garcia?”

Elijah could barely even speak at first. While he had expected this question to come eventually, he was taken aback by the proposal being the day of graduation. He was crying by the time Lucas uttered “marry me”, overwhelmed with emotions. Thankfully, he said yes. And so that’s how they officially began their life together. A life full of love, as they’d hoped.

Lucas began his studies in law school, and, due to being one of the best and most hardworking students since his pre-law bachelor degree days, he was quickly offered an internship. In the meantime, Elijah paired his love for cooking and his degree in Business Management so he could begin his own food-related business. Therefore, while Lucas studied and worked in his internship, Elijah found himself starting his own little café near a university—their alma mater, to be exact. Thankfully, Elijah’s friends—such as Summer and Jacob—helped him along.

The two got married legally at a very small ceremony, with their parents and closest friends in attendance. They wanted to get married before they really became too busy with work—in Elijah’s case—and law school—in Lucas’ case.

Things were going great. Even though like every couple they had their struggles and their arguments, no one could ever deny how madly in love they were. And at the end of the day, their love for each other and how close they were, was what truly mattered.

During one particularly chilly autumn night, they were keeping each other warm as their naked bodies were grounded against each other, chasing pleasure, their melodious moans and the slapping noise of skin against skin being the only sounds that filled the bedroom. After both reached their orgasm and cuddled while their breathing returned to normal, Lucas spoke up.

“Eli…baby…” he began, trying to find the correct words. “I- I’ll start getting busier nowadays.”

Elijah turned to him, simultaneously frowning and pouting.

“Why?”

He sighed. “I got a difficult case assigned. It’s actually really good news, baby.”

Elijah huffed. “How is you being away more considered ‘good news’?”

“Eli, I got chosen out of all the interns. I’m the only intern in this case,” he explained. “Everyone else, in this case, have already been lawyers for a while.”

“That is quite impressive…” Elijah mumbled. He was always proud for his husband, but he still felt like if his husband was too good at what he did, he would be too busy, and wouldn’t have time for Elijah or their future family. The two had hopes to adopt a child after Lucas was done with law school.

Eventually, Elijah had to get used to his husband being much busier than before. As a way to help himself get used to spending even more time by himself, he began to pour more of himself into his café. He would work long hours, making sure that his business was top notch and thriving. Lucas was so busy with his internship that when he did have free time, he spent most of it studying and sleeping. Elijah couldn’t even remember the last time they really even made love. They were still in love, of course, but they could barely even find the time to have a proper meal together. It was starting to get worrisome.

He finally decided to do something about it when, one Friday night, Lucas arrived home at 2:45 in the morning, drunk, and crying to Elijah.

“Lu, what’s wrong?” Elijah asked, voice tainted by sleepiness, as his husband sobbed next to him, a strong smell of alcohol coming from him, work clothes wrinkled and askew.

“I-I’m s-so sor-ry, E-Eli.” Lucas spoke between sobs.

Elijah sighed and rubbed his husband’s back soothingly. “It’s okay, Lu. I still love you.”

If only Elijah knew what Lucas was apologizing for. In that instant, he wasn’t certain the exact reason why he was comforting his husband, but he just felt like—no, he knew that— he had to. After a few more minutes of his husband’s crying, exhaustion—or maybe the alcohol—caught up to him, and he fell asleep. While Lucas rested peacefully next to him, Elijah decided that he would try to revive the previous romance and dedication he and his husband had for each other—no matter what.

And so, for the next month, Elijah worked really hard to make extra time for Lucas, cook him meals, make sure they had at least one meal together, and made sure that they would make love again at least once to a few times per week. His best friend Summer, while she worked in Elijah’s café, would tease him about how whipped he was becoming.

“If I find myself doing the same for Jacob, please smack me.” Summer said one day in the midst of her teasing.

Elijah rolled his eyes. “Why even-?”

“Because Jacob is the only one that should be whipped in our relationship.”

Elijah pretended to be offended at being called whipped, but he knew it was the truth. They chuckled at the comment, then, before Elijah left in a hurry to get to Lucas in time for his lunch break. It had been a month of doing so and Elijah was happily falling into a routine. He was entering Lucas’ work building with a goofy grin on his face when it started. When everything started to very quickly go downhill. When he thought—this is it. His marriage is ruined.

Many of the people in the lobby of the building were gossiping in hushed voices about Lucas, but he could still hear them.

“Shut up! Isn’t that his husband?” Someone whispered harshly.

“Yes, I feel so bad for him.”

“Imagine if your husband cheated on you. I would die.”

“Do you think he knows?”

What were they talking about? None of it could be true. Could it? Elijah frantically looked around for Lucas, and upon realizing he wasn’t around, he rushed to the only place in the building that Elijah knew: Lucas’ (well, the intern’s) office. The door was slightly ajar, but Elijah still pushed it open with a strength he didn’t know he had, causing it to bang against the wall. Lucas was sitting by a desk along with some other guys that Elijah recognized as fellow interns.

Lucas looked at him with wide eyes, clearly surprised at the loud bang of the door. “Elijah?”

Elijah took a deep breath to stop the tears already threatening to fall from his eyes. “Can we talk, now, please?”

Lucas looked at his fellow interns for a second before nodding, standing up with a muttered excuse us at them, and following Elijah outside, lightly closing the door in the process.

“Eli—,”

“Could you explain what the fuck everyone is talking about saying you cheated on me?”

Lucas looked down at his feet before he started to cry. Elijah was the one dying of hurt and embarrassment upon finding out by others that his husband apparently cheated on him and Lucas was the one crying right now?!

Elijah huffed. “Lucas you better start fucking explaining right now—,”

“I’m s-sorry,” Lucas choked out, a sob escaping his lips. “Y-yes I…I kind of cheated on you. Remember when I-when I came home drunk that time, over a month ago?”

Elijah chewed on his lower lip, finally letting the tears drop as he nodded, heart beating erratically due to the mess of emotions and the realization that his husband, the love of his life, was about to break him and his heart into pieces.

“I went out for drinks with my coworkers after…after a particularly stressful day due to the case we were working on.” He explained, trying to stabilize his voice. “I-I don’t know why I got so drunk. One of the older female associates kept trying to flirt with me and I kept saying no, I have a husband. B-but I got so drunk, I can’t remember what happened at the end of the night. I-I remember she kissed me and g-groped me b-but…” he started sobbing again now. “I was so sure that I had pushed her away, that I hadn’t cheated on you. I still felt like shit about everything. I remember getting home and crying to you but I can’t remember much of what happened before that. I was sure, though, that I hadn’t cheated on you. I-I knew I would never cheat on you. B-but,” Lucas had to stop speaking as he kept choking on his sobs. He took a moment to collect himself as much as he could, before he had to say the words that would surely break his husband. “She came to work today and said that I got her pregnant.”

Elijah couldn’t move. He had never felt such a piercing pain in his chest before. He couldn’t stop the tears that kept flowing freely from his face. His husband impregnated another woman. What were they going to do now? As hurt and disgusted as he was, he loved his husband too much. There was no way he could get a divorce. But maybe that would be for the best? What could he do? He needed to leave this building, that was for sure. He looked at Lucas one last time, his heart breaking even more by witnessing him looking like such a mess. “Don’t—don’t come after me,” he choked out to the taller. He turned around and walked away as quickly as possible. As he went down, he wiped his cheeks and eyes from the wetness multiple times. Even if he had a red nose and eyes, and looked messy, he still didn’t want anyone to see his actual tears.

He made it to the lobby, where some of the gossipers still remained, giving him pitiful looks, and he could feel bile rising up his throat. He ran outside, gasping in as the fresh air outside filled his lungs. Suddenly, he bent over and actually puked. He vomited his entire breakfast right there in the grey pavement, gagging and gasping. He coughed and spit out the horrible taste left in his mouth, then wiped it with his jacket’s sleeve. He definitely needed to talk to Summer, and fast.

--

Lucas walked back to the office where him and his fellow interns had been speaking before all this happened; not forgetting to wipe his tear stained face and blow his nose beforehand. He sat back on a chair and attempted hard to focus on what they were working on, ignoring the glances that some of the fellow interns kept stealing his way. What was he going to do? He always wanted to have a child, but with his husband, not with some random woman he barely even knows properly, especially when he’s already married.

Barely ten minutes had passed when someone walked inside, but he didn’t even bother to look up, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Lucas,” it was his mentor, one of his few trustworthy friends on the firm, and lawyer Eric Lee. “A word, please?” The tall intern nodded and stood up, following Eric out of the office and into the lone hallway.

“What’s wro—?” Lucas was quickly unable to finish, as Eric held up a hand to silence him.

“I heard about your little situation. Actually, I’m pretty sure everyone in the firm knows by now.”

Lucas just took a long, deep sigh. “I’m trying to work on some damage control, but worst-case scenario? You lose your internship.” Eric continued. “I don’t want that to happen to you, because you’re one of the best interns we’ve had in years, and you’re also my friend and I know you need to have enough money for Elijah—and, your future baby, maybe?” Lucas couldn’t help but cringe at this. “Don’t get me wrong, Lu, I’m not sure that the kid is yours, either. But we don’t have any proof right now, and my superiors aren’t happy at all.”

Lucas nodded, face solemn. “I imagined something like this could happen. But, Lee, I’m certain that this is all a mistake, a ploy. I know myself. No matter how drunk I was, I would never ever cheat on my Elijah.”

“I know, Lu, I know. But we need to get proof.”

--

Elijah pushed his café’s front door open forcefully, walking inside while panting, and looked around desperately for his best friend. “Eli! There you are!” the one person he was looking for spoke up. “I have to tell you something!” Summer seemed to be in a very happy mood, so the raven-haired male decided to hide his worries for now.

“What’s up, Summer?”

Summer, oblivious to her best friend’s current suffering, squealed excitedly, and before Elijah could react, he was flashed her new diamond ring sitting perfectly on her ring finger.

Elijah’s eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. “Jacob proposed?!”

Summer nodded happily. “Yes, it was so romantic! Of course, nothing could top you and Lucas, but—”

Before Summer could finish, Elijah was rushing away from her and to the nearest bathroom. “E-Eli?!” Summer called out, jade eyes wide, then followed after her best friend. “Elijah, what’s wrong?” She found herself flinching as she saw her friend kneeling by the toilet, gagging and puking.

“Oh my God, Eli!” Summer squeaked, freaking out. She grabbed a hand towel and poured some water on it, before helping Elijah stand up and dabbed the moist hand towel around his lips and sweaty forehead. Elijah flushed the toilet and rinsed his mouth before speaking up.

“Lucas cheated on me,” he blurted out, and Summer could just freeze in place.

When Elijah began to sob, Summer quickly walked the distance separating them and wrapped her arms tightly around him. “Oh, Eli,” was all she could say as she soothingly rubbed her quivering best friend’s back, trying to comfort him.

Elijah refused to speak much for the rest of the day, and he didn’t want to explain exactly why, when, where or how Lucas had apparently cheated—nor any of the details, and Summer didn’t want to force him to. She also didn’t want to upset him anymore, so despite her excitement about Jacob having finally proposed to her, she figured it would be best not to bring up the topic around Elijah for the time being.

That night, Elijah didn’t cook for himself or Lucas. He didn’t clean and he didn’t even want to shower. All he did was stuff his face with ice cream and cry, cry his eyes out. By the time Lucas got home, his husband was a whimpering mess, clutching to an empty ice cream carton and cowering onto himself on the couch, wearing sweatpants, a dirty white t-shirt, with swollen eyes and messy hair.

Sighing, Lucas walked to him and gently tried to pry the ice cream carton from Elijah’s thin fingers as he trembled. Once he finally pried the fingers off, Elijah looked up to him, eyes twinkling from the tears. “Lucas?” he said hoarsely. “What are you doing here?”

Lucas shushed his husband. “Get some rest, baby.” He said in his signature deep voice before he gently cleaned his husband’s face and threw away any trash. By the time Lucas was done cleaning, eating a small dinner he himself made, changing his clothes and heading to bed, Elijah had long fallen asleep again. Despite falling asleep much later than him, the next morning Lucas was wide awake by five in the morning, much earlier than Elijah.

He slowly rose from the bed and decided to get ready for class and work early. This morning he had an 8:30am lecture followed by work at his internship until late in the afternoon. He decided to have a talk again with Eric as soon as he made it to work. With this in mind, he showered and dressed quickly, grabbed his bag and took his light breakfast to go. By the time his husband was awake, Lucas was long gone, and took the warmth off the bed with him, unknowingly leaving Elijah feeling emptier than ever before.

The rest of the week, Elijah avoided Lucas like the plague. He wasn’t even sure why he was doing so. He even stayed over at Jane’s or his parents’ place to sleep a few times. He had considered staying with Summer, but he didn’t want to bother the newly engaged couple by intruding in the privacy of their home or souring their mood. But he also didn’t want to go back home, he didn’t want to feel awkward around Lucas, he didn’t want to even think of Lucas with that…woman. It made him disgusted. Worst of all, he didn’t want to go home and be alone every night before he fell asleep, and wake up alone.

When he woke up early Saturday morning to rush to the bathroom and, once again, puke his stomach’s content into the toilet, Jane walked up to the opened bathroom door and spoke up, slightly scaring her friend. “You need to talk to him.” Jane’s voice was firm as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re hurting yourself, Eli.”

Elijah sighed as he flushed the toilet. “I know, Jane. I know.” He carefully stood up, flushing the toilet and walking to the sink to wash his mouth. “You can’t be selfish. Not anymore.” Jane reminded, sharing a look with him through the bathroom mirror, to which Elijah nodded before looking down.

Later that day, Elijah found himself nervously twirling his hand as he stood in front of the door of the apartment he shared with his husband. He stood there for a whole fifteen minutes before he finally built up the courage to knock on the door. Barely forty seconds later, an unkempt-looking Lucas opened the door.

“Elijah?”

Elijah gulped, taking in Lucas’s very messy hair and deep eye bags. “Lu, are you okay?” he wondered. Lucas opened the door wider, letting Elijah walk inside.

“N-not exactly,” Lucas began, sighing. “It’s a long story.”

Elijah gave him a small, slightly forced smile. “I have time.”

Elijah followed his husband to their shared living room, which happened to have some old cookie wrappers, pizza cartons, blankets, and an overall mess. Lucas tried to clear the couch and coffee table quickly, flushing in embarrassment. Elijah sat on a corner of the couch, eyeing him warily.

They sat there next to each other in silence for a few minutes, until the smaller of the two turned towards his husband. “Are you going to tell me what’s been going on?”

Lucas sighed before nodding. “I…I got fired from my internship. I didn’t even think it was possible, but well—”

“What you did wasn’t very moral.” Elijah interrupted, face expressionless.

Lucas sighed once again. “See, that’s the thing Elijah. I’m almost one hundred percent sure that I didn’t impregnate that woman. I’m also one hundred percent sure that I would never cheat on you.”

Elijah huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, trying to be hard even though he knew in his heart he had already almost completely forgiven his husband. Lucas gave him a look of such despair, and that accompanied with the tears welling up in his eyes, the deep eye bags, the messy hair and the overall exhausted look he was sporting, made Elijah’s heart wrench painfully.

“I promise you, Elijah. I love you so much. I’ve been trying so hard this week to focus on finding a new job for us, and also figure out if that woman is lying thanks to Eric, one of my mentors and friends at the firm.”

Elijah searched Lucas’s eyes for a hint of a lie but all he found was honesty, sadness and a bit of hope. He chewed on his lower lip thoughtfully before answering. “Alright… I believe you. I-I also will stand by you... even if the baby ends up being yours.”

Lucas stared at his smaller husband in absolute shock. “Eli, are you serious?” he asked incredulously. Elijah merely nodded. “Y-you don’t have to do this. It’s not your problem, it’s mine.”

Elijah took his husband’s hands in his, which was a bit difficult to do considering Lucas’s were slightly larger, and looked into his eyes as he said his next few words. “Lu, when I married you, I knew it was going to be for life. I knew we would face a lot of difficulties but that we would still love each other regardless. I know that what happened wasn’t done with malice, and that you love me. I still love you. I love you so much, it hurts to be apart from you. I know we can work through anything, together. I’m not going to leave you to face hardships on your own. We can overcome anything, us two together, because of our love towards each other.”

By the time Elijah finished speaking, he had tears rolling down his cheeks and a bit of snot coming out of his nose, and so did his husband. Lucas placed his hands on Baekhyun’s cheeks and tried to wipe away his cute little husband’s tears. “I love you so much, Elijah.” Lucas said before leaning in, giving a chaste kiss to Elijah.

-

A few months passed since Lucas and Elijah made up. Lucas found a job as a waiter at a nearby restaurant, and also gave tutoring sessions to other law students in his free time. Elijah dedicated himself fully to work in his café, especially with a slightly lower income on his husband’s part. But they made it work, and they were stronger, happier than ever.

As a new season approached, the group of six friends—which now also included Eric—had their weekly dinner on a Friday evening. They were all at Lucas and Elijah’s place for that night, with Sabrina and Jane standing up ready to announce the news of their engagement, when Eric knocked on and burst through the door—the couple leaving it unlocked in case any of their friends were late to the dinner. “I’m sorry for being late,” he began. “But I was getting my gift for the lovely couple.” His words caused the two to raise their eyebrows in confusion.

He walked closer to Lucas and flashed him a bright smile as he unfolded a piece of paper. “You didn’t actually impregnate Patty. We have the evidence right here, and the superiors at the firm were informed. They gave the...necessary punishments. We also saw that you’ll be graduating in less than a year and they want you to come back to work at the law firm once you do.”

Looking down at the document in his hand, Lucas choked out a “How?”

Eric sighed. “You two never had sex. She did have sex with someone else that night, which led to the pregnancy, but it wasn’t you. You really never cheated.”

Lucas stared at him in shock. He turned to his husband. “Pinch me.” He stated.

“W-what, you dork?” Elijah asked, confused.

“I want to make sure I’m not dreaming!”

Elijah literally face-palmed at his husband’s words, but smiled regardless. He was ecstatic to know that his husband had never cheated on him, and that his husband would be getting a better job soon. Life with Lucas will always just get better, and he knew that they would be deeply in love with each other for life.