Who: Cameron Mitchell and Lucas Friar What: Getting in Trouble When: Wednesday morning after dropping Riley off Where: Their place Warnings: Lucas is adorable. Status: Closed/Complete
Cameron still wasn’t sure exactly what was going on here, but he was sure of one thing. That Lucas hadn’t come home.
He knew the kid had gone out with his girlfriend, hadn’t been happy to see after he’d left that he’d taken the truck when he’d barely had a lesson. Cameron had been waiting until spring to actually take him out to learn properly, had just given him a crash course on a nice day early in the month, but apparently Lucas wasn’t waiting. He’d get a talking to about that. Not because Cameron didn’t trust him to be safe but because he had a god damned learner’s permit and driving without a supervisor was illegal.
He’d stayed up waiting for the kid to come home, given up a little after one in the morning, mad as hell and not knowing what he was supposed to do about the whole situation.
Waking up, seeing the truck still gone, just made the anger fear instead. He sent a few texts that went unanswered, hoped it was just because Lucas’ phone was dead and not something worse, made a few calls and only relaxed when he heard from Shawn that Riley had been dropped off and Lucas was on his way home.
Sitting on the front step, Cameron waited until the truck pulled up, slowly rising to his feet when it did and Lucas got out.
***
Falling asleep in the back of the truck hadn't been the best decision they'd made. It hadn't helped that his phone had died sometime in the night, so it had been the sun that woke he and Riley up. Not the worst way to wake up in Lucas' mind, but they were definitely going to be in trouble. He was very glad that Riley had just hopped out of the truck without waiting for him to open the door for her, since he was definitely still afraid of Shawn.
He realized as he pulled up to their place that he really should have been more worried about his dad's reaction. Lucas winced as he parked the car and climbed out, already thinking of the best way to approach all of this. Mom'd want to be in on the lecture too though, so she was probably inside and also worried.
"Okay, I know this looks bad, but I swear we just fell asleep in the back of the truck and then my phone was dead and I'm really sorry. I promise it'll never happen again, Dad." He definitely did his best to say that all in one breath.
***
That sounded so innocent, and Cameron had never had any reason to mistrust Lucas, to not take his word for it.
That didn’t make what had happened any better.
Holding his hand out, he said very simply: “Keys.”
Whatever weirdness was going on in town, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if Lucas thought he could drive, if he thought he had his licence rather than just a permit, if it had been an accident and if he would’ve called if he could. He was in a whole heap of trouble right now.
***
He was definitely in trouble. Lucas glanced between Cam's face and his hand and then back to his face before handing over the keys. From the way things were looking, he was pretty sure he was never going to see the truck - or the outside world for that matter - for at least half a year. It really had just been a mistake, and disappointing Cam was one of the things Lucas tried especially hard to never do.
"How much trouble am I in?" he ventured to ask, because he was having trouble reading his dad right now. Something was off way more than usual and it was honestly a little scary. He was 17 now and even though he wasn't going to need a guardian forever, he really hoped that Cam would always be his dad for as long as they were in Madison Valley. "I didn't mean to worry you, or Mom."
***
The whole mom and dad thing was a completely different beast. Cameron hadn’t even come to terms with being called dad once, and now it was all the time and Melinda was acting like…. It was a different story altogether.
“So much trouble. Inside.” If Cameron knew anything about parenting, it was only what he’d learned from being there. From being out long past curfew and being caught doing things he shouldn’t be doing. Which meant that while he had no idea what he was doing most of the time, he actually had an idea here. He’d gotten in a lot of trouble at Lucas’ age.
Holding the door open, he waited without another word.
***
That definitely wasn't good. Lucas rarely inspired his dad to use that kind of tone or to be that short, so he was probably grounded for at least a year. It really wasn't fair, since he was generally a good kid and this was the first time he'd ever broken curfew this badly. The worst he'd ever been before had been like fifteen minutes!
Still, he knew arguing about it or defending himself now wouldn't be a good idea. Lucas hung his head and walked through the open door. He toed his shoes off automatically and hung up his jacket as well before heading into the kitchen where he took his usual seat. His stomach rumbled a bit, betraying the fact that he was hungry, but Lucas didn't make any move to rifle through the fridge or anything. He was too nervous anyway to eat.
"I'm sorry, sir."
***
There wasn’t a lot he could say that wasn’t going to get him into more trouble. Cameron understood it wasn’t intentional, it wasn’t willful defiance or anything like he’d done to his own parents, but that hadn’t made it any easier to swallow, hadn’t made him worry any less.
“Damn right you’re sorry.” He folded his arms remained standing by the table. He’d get breakfast going for everyone once this was all sorted out. “Where the hell were you?”
Not knowing had been the worst part. Cameron wouldn’t have even been so mad if he’d known where Lucas was, and that he was safe.
***
Lucas had more respect for his adopted father than to look away. "I took Riley out to this clearing Dr Foster told me about. We never get to see stars in the city like we do here and Riley loves them so I thought it'd be fun to just go lay out and look at them. I took the sleeping bags, and then a couple of blankets and pillows," he explained, his tone even despite being really tense.
"We kissed a bit, but I swear it wasn't anything more than that. We talked a lot more than anything and we just- we fell asleep. Our phones were in the cab and then they'd died by the time we woke up." He had to physically bite the inside of his lip to stop himself from apologizing again. "When we woke up, I drove her home and then I came here."
***
“What do you even think you’re doing driving on your own? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?” Cameron never would have been able to forgive himself if something had happened because he’d gotten excited over his ward turning sixteen, being able to teach someone to drive. In retrospect, maybe not the best idea; he drove like an idiot sometimes, a lot of the time, and he knew it. He’d been careful, in their few short lessons, not to pass those habits off to Lucas, though.
“And taking Riley with you was a stupid move. You’re going to put her life at risk to make out under the stars?”
He had to admit, that was a pretty smooth move, though. Knowing Riley like he did, which admittedly wasn’t much, she’d probably loved that.
***
That got him a confused look. "What do you mean? I've got my license. I'm allowed to drive, and with Riley, too!" Lucas never would have put Riley in jeopardy. Ever. That got him mad. "I'd never hurt Riley, Dad. Seriously?" It hurt that Cam would even think that little of him that he'd risk anyone's life just for a date, especially Riley's.
"I love her. I'm not going to hurt her. And not just because I know Mr Hunter would kill me, and then you and Mom would have at me, and I'd be deader than dead. You taught me better than that."
***
“Don’t pull attitude with me, kid.” Was that even the right way to go? Cameron had never thought he’d have to discipline Lucas; he was always such a good kid, quiet and easy going and respectful. “I don’t know what’s going on around here yet but last I checked you’re barely sixteen and I can count the number of times you’ve been behind a wheel on one hand.”
And then there was still that dad thing. That Cameron didn’t want to discourage, if Lucas thought about him that way that was fine, he didn’t think he minded, and he just wanted what was best, easiest, for the boy.
“So you know what? No. You’re not allowed to drive.” He held up the keys he’d taken, quickly removed the one for the truck before handing them back. “This is mine. Until...I decide you can have it back. And you’re grounded.”
How the hell was he supposed to ground someone?
***
"There's nothing going on! Jeeze. Why are you acting so weird? I'm seventeen, and you gave me your seal of approval months ago!" Lucas got really worried after it really registered with him what the words he was saying in anger meant. "Wait. Are you missing time?" Was he missing time?
It was fine about the keys and about the grounding. He knew he was in trouble and he was willing to take his punishment for it so long as Riley wasn't in any trouble for a mistake he made. This was the first time he'd ever done anything to make Cam mad enough to ground him, so Lucas wasn't exactly interested in pushing it. He was just really, really confused.
***
“Nuh uh. This time there’s nothing up with me.” Though honestly, if there was Cameron probably wouldn’t realize it. “You guys are the ones acting weird, thinking you’re seventeen, thinking we’re married….”
Different story. Not at all related to the issue at hand.
He sighed deeply, rubbed his hand over his face. “We can talk about that later. Have something to eat and go upstairs.”
***
Lucas definitely thought there was something wrong with his dad. "You guys are married. The night before your wedding, after the rehearsal dinner, you both sat me down and asked if it was something I wanted, and we signed all the paperwork," he explained, very much as if Cam should have known all of this as he stood up from the table.
There was some leftover pie in the fridge that he skipped right over - he knew being grounded meant no pie - and went for the chicken cutlets to make a sandwich for himself. "Do you want one too?" Lucas asked. Even if he was grounded, he was still going to look after his dad.
***
“Nah, man.” Cameron sighed and dropped into a chair. He had absolutely no memory of anything Lucas was talking about, there was no proof of it anywhere that would make Cameron think he was wrong saying that it hadn’t. If there was something going on with him, there’d be something. Some sort of evidence somewhere. There’d be wedding pictures or he’d have been able to find that damned paperwork Lucas was talking about. A copy of it anyway.
He should’ve kept copies of adoption papers. That was the smart thing to do.
He should’ve had wedding pictures.
It definitely wasn’t him. He could just hope this all ended soon.
“I’m good. You eat.”
***
Lucas just nodded and fixed himself a sandwich in the same methodical way he did anything when he was in the kitchen. Once he was finished and he put everything back where he'd found it, he took his seat again next to his dad.
"I'm really sorry. I appreciate all you've done for me, you and Mom both. I don't- I didn't do it intentionally. I'd never do anything intentionally to disobey you guys." It was important to him that Cam knew that, that he wouldn't regret ever adopting him or taking him in.
***
“I know.” Did he know, though? Lucas hadn’t been with him that long. Long enough to have called him Dad at Christmas, and Cameron had tried his best to get to know the kid as well as he could. They’d spent time together and talked about things and they’d bonded. Maybe he could accept the dad thing. But he wasn’t sure if he trusted how well behaved the kid was.
There had to be some kind of big rebellion coming up. Teenagers rebelled.
“In the future, I need you to be more careful. Even if you just let me know where you are.” He didn’t need to actually be Lucas’ dad to have been worried about him. “And hey. I know you said nothing really happened with Riley, but if you need to talk about that stuff, I’m here.”
***
Most teenagers rebelled, but Lucas wasn't most teenagers. He worried a lot about Cam changing his mind about adopting him, since that was one of his biggest fears. His parents hadn't really known what to do with him and his anger issues and it hadn't been until Mr Matthews teaching and the friendships he'd made at school helped. He was very much afraid that something would happen and Cam would push him away, nicely at least.
"I will, promise. I didn't- I know you and Mr Hunter hang out sometimes. I didn't want him to tell Riley no," he admitted. "I'm not- I don't think I'm ready for that just yet. I don't think either of us are." Lucas felt kind of weird talking about it period, but that was just another sign of his not being ready for it as far as he was concerned.
***
“Okay. Good.” The Lucas he knew, still sixteen, definitely shouldn’t be ready for that. He was still a kid. Seventeen like he seemed to think he was was a little bit better. Not a lot better, but Cameron had been about that age. He wouldn’t be surprised if Lucas was thinking about it. “You let me know where you’re at, I’ll run interference with Shawn if I need to.”
Cameron wasn’t against them having sex. At at least seventeen, as long as they were ready, and as long as they were going to be smart. He was willing to let it happen.
***
"Really?" That was a surprising offer, but one that he honestly kind of appreciated. He wasn't ready for it, but one day he would be. Knowing Cam had his back meant the world. "Thanks," Lucas added, and he meant it. He took his sandwich and gave his adoptive father a respectful nod.
"I'm uh. Just going to head to my room." Before he did as he said, he left his phone on the table in front of Cam. After he ate, he'd hand over his laptop too. Grounded meant handing over tech unless given express permission to be interacting with other people. It seemed fair enough.