Kiss and Fail at Telling

Luke had been back in England for some time, at least a few months, when it finally happened. He'd have been lying if he'd said he'd never imagined this scenario before, because in truth it had dominated his thoughts gradually more so as he got older than he'd ever like to admit to, but somehow he'd never pictured that it'd be like this.

He'd been staying with Layton since he'd returned because his parents wanted to stay abroad. It wasn't as if Luke stopping over at the professor's house had been an unusual occurrence even when he was younger. His parents trusted Layton to look after him.

But that one night…

Luke had always had bad nightmares, but he'd grown out of being around people who dealt with them. As a child Layton would have comforted him when he woke up from them, but after moving away he'd got used to sleeping on his own and dealing with the nightmares himself. Besides, he didn't want the professor to think that he was still just some kid who got scared easily.

Regardless, the professor had come through to the other room at the sound of Luke's quiet sobs, much to Luke's embarrassment, as he'd tried to hide them. He was told by Layton that it wasn't a big deal, asked to explain what the nightmare was about to the best that he could remember, and then pulled into Layton's lap so that he could comfort him.

The last part was particularly embarrassing for Luke.

"'m not a kid anymore… professah…" he yawned sleepily.

Layton chuckled; "I know that Luke, you've definitely grown up a lot."

That was when it happened.

Layton leaned forward and kissed Luke affectionately on the forehead.

Despite their closeness he'd never done anything of the sort before, so feeling the warmth of his lips sent a shiver of shock down Luke's being. After a moment Luke flushed pink, but in the dark of the room the professor thankfully didn't notice it. He simply returned Luke to bed when he was sure he was calm from his nightmare then went back through to the other room.

Luke did not sleep for the rest of that night.

The professor had kissed him.

His mind was still whirring with that thought by the time the morning came around and he had every intention to ask Layton about it when he saw him. But by the time he'd trudged out of bed, groggy from the lack of sleep, and made it down to the kitchen, Flora was already there chatting across the table to Layton. He really didn't think it was a good idea to bring the subject up around her. Or around anyone for that matter.

As the day progressed, Luke suddenly realised exactly how many people Layton talked to. He'd never paid much attention to that before, but every time he tried to talk to him a student would turn up to seek help with their studies or Inspector Chemley would come to the door to begrudgingly ask for Layton's opinion on a case or, ever the favourite, Layton would feel the compelling urge to help some stranger on the street solve a puzzle they couldn't get their head around.

For once, Luke was very sharp and direct when he was asked to solve the puzzles for these people, muttering 'nothing' when the professor asked him what was wrong afterwards.

The week went on and was filled with a lot of the same, Luke never finding a free moment to talk to him about what had happened that night. And Layton in turn acting as if nothing unusual had happened.

But Luke was a teenager now and even his sharp mind was filled with confusing emotions.

So he made do with talking to the next best person about it.

Pulling up a seat, Luke waited awkwardly for the current convict Clive Dove to be shown to a chair on the opposite side of a glass screen to talk to him. Since returning to London Luke had visited Clive from time to time in the prison, out of some kind of awkward guilt he'd felt in regards to the man who had once posed as an older version of himself. It didn't seem unusual that Luke would ask to see him today. What did seem unusual was the topic of choice that Luke provided him with.

"So the professor kissed you?" Clive said, wanting to make sure he had heard correctly.

"Yes… um, well, I think so…" Luke muttered, fidgeting where he sat.

"Aren't you the lucky one?" teased Clive.

"This is serious!" Luke shot, "'e came into my room an' kissed me right on the fore'ead! Or… I think 'e did. Honestly, I might 'ave just been asleep."

He was starting to feel as if it had all been just a dream.

"It does sound unusual for him," Clive agreed, "And you say that he's never so much as mentioned it since then?"

"No, not a word…" Luke replied.

Through a lot of distantly disjointed babble, Luke eventually managed to tell Clive that he was worried it might not have happened at all or if it had happened that it didn't mean as much to the professor as it had done to him. He didn't question Clive's lack of surprise at what the kiss had meant to Luke and overall, even though it hadn't changed the situation at all, by the end of the conversation Luke felt a bit better for having told someone about it.

He left the prison and returned home, back to not really knowing how to deal with Layton. By this point Luke had stopped trying to get the man on his own to talk to him. If Layton hadn't mentioned it by now then it probably didn't mean all that much to him after all.

By the next day he wasn't surprised to hear that Layton had been called away to deal with other matters. Many people requested that he dealt with their problems and the professor was always too kind to tell them no.

He barely even noticed when Layton not only came back but asked Flora to go deal with some business elsewhere. After all this time of trying to get Layton on his own now that it had happened Luke didn't even see it.

"So, my boy," Layton started, taking a seat and jogging Luke's mind out of the daze it had been in, "It appears we have some matters to talk about."

"We do?" Luke said, confused.

"Indeed we do. You see, I was called away to talk with Clive earlier and he informed me of something you'd said that was most revealing," Layton replied.

Luke made a mental note never to tell Clive anything ever again.

"Oh?" he choked, feeling his throat seize up.

"He, um, said that you had been upset by my actions this week," pressed Layton.

"Yeah, well…" What more could Luke say? It was the truth, wasn't it?

"So I thought I should tell you that it was never my intention to hurt you, Luke. You are the last person in the world that I'd want to do that too," Layton assured him, looking quite serious.

"Just… don't worry 'bout it, professah. You did somethin' and I misread ya, that's all," Luke answered, since in reality that's probably all there was to it after all.

"Perhaps," Layton returned, "Though I'm curious about how Clive implied that you'd read me in the first place."

That guy was definitely lucky there was always a screen of glass separating him from Luke, because Luke was going to murder him if he'd told the professor that…

"He seems to think you're attracted to me," Layton finished.

Well, he might as well steer this thing if it was going to crash and burn anyway.

"That's 'cause I am," Luke confirmed, looking away.

Getting up from the chair and walking over to where Luke sat, Layton kneeled until they were level, which forced Luke to look back at him.

"My boy, you are very young…" he said.

Luke cut in, "I know. And I know ya don't feel that way 'bout me, so it's okay, professah."

Layton fell silent for a moment, but then said, "I've… never quite known how to deal with this, Luke. But if you'd be prepared to wait, if you still feel this way in a few years time…"

"You're not sayin'?" Luke gaped, regarding him through wide eyes.

It was Layton's turn to look awkward.

"The fondness I have for you, most would consider it out of place," Layton said, in what was as close to an answer as he'd come to getting.

"Then I'll wait. I've waited this long," Luke whispered, not knowing whether he was going to laugh or cry.

"How long have you had these feelings for me exactly, my boy?" asked Layton, a little self-consciously.

"Um, well, I 'it pube'ty a few years ago now," Luke murmured.

"Th-that's enough, I can take a hint," laughed Layton, rubbing the back of his head, "So I'll just have to be careful about kissing you until you're ready."

Luke wanted to tell the professor that he'd be ready whenever Layton was, but he knew that he'd never be able to convince him to go against what the unwritten gentleman's law said. Oh well, just a few more years left until he'd be considered old enough by the law of the land anyway. Then there'd be nothing stopping him kissing the professor as often as he wanted.

He made a note to visit Clive later to thank him for this, since in the space of a few minutes that guy had gone from seeming like a master of evil to being the best friend Luke could ever ask for.

But right now, first order on the agenda was to curl up with the professor and be reminded of a few good puzzles before Flora got home.