Grumbling, Keith gave in and joined Caspian in the backseat.
"Is it really that bad sitting with me?" Caspian teased, taking his drink from Lake, who handed it over from the front seat.
Keith relaxed against the seat at Caspian’s casual approach to the situation. "No, you wouldn’t steal my seat," He said loudly enough for Lake to hear.
His tone was light, already over the initial surprise and now playing along.
Lake pretended not to hear him from the passenger seat, giving Peter directions to his apartment.
He tentatively tried the drink he got, closing his eyes briefly.
He didn’t at all like how it felt like a mouthful of Mafia King Davian, and Caspian had gotten him a large cup, too.
"Want to swap drinks?" He turned around to ask Keith.
The Beta gave him a suspicious look, and Lake couldn’t say why. Maybe witnessing how familiar they were with Caspian made it easier to close the distance.
"I’ll even swap seats with you, too," He tagged on an incentive.
"I’m not stopping for you both to swap seats," Peter muttered.
"I’ll swap with you," Caspian joined the conversation, already offering his drink.
Now, Lake wasn’t a tea drinker, but he would take anything, even another cup of coffee.
Anything, as long as it didn’t feel like he was kissing Davian the entire time he drank it.
"Thank you," He said gratefully, taking the offered cup and giving Caspian his. "I hope you don’t mind hot chocolate."
Caspian was already slurping down his new drink, "I don’t, I’m more surprised you do."
Lake winced, sipping on the lemon tea that was surprisingly pleasant. It was mild and had a tangy sweetness.
"It’s just been a... while since I’ve had hot chocolate," He said carefully. "I just didn’t expect the taste."
"My milkshake is chocolate flavored," Keith chimed in, and he almost sounded disappointed.
Lake shot him a narrow-eyed look over his shoulder, Keith purposefully avoiding his eyes.
When they got to his apartment, Keith insisted on helping him take his bags in, although he could handle it.
"Could I get your phone number?" He took the leap and asked while Keith got his things out of the trunk.
Caspian’s eyes were wide with wonder as he did, and Lake was really happy that he did.
A few minutes later, he was standing at the entrance to his apartment, surrounded by several bags of clothes worth thousands of dollars.
Caspian had excitedly suggested that they have lunch together the next day after he asked for the Omega phone number.
And he could honestly see no downsides to befriending the Mafia King’s mate.
Caspian was so sweet. The first time they met, he took the risk of helping him out even though he owed him nothing.
But he didn’t want their budding friendship to revolve around that dynamic.
It was the only reason he had been reluctant to accept the invite to lunch.
Caspian was clearly not doing it on purpose; it was just the norm for him, but he was certain that the Omega would pick him up the next day, take them to an expensive restaurant, and then pay.
Lake wouldn’t turn down free stuff but he respected Caspian, and he hope for a somewhat equal footing to their friendship.
As he moved the bags to his bedroom, he thought about ways to remedy their current dynamic.
He couldn’t constantly afford expensive outings, and he didn’t want Caspian to keep footing all of the bills.
By the time he put all of his new clothes away, he had found the perfect solution.
Lake wanted to bake but couldn’t find the right motivation, but for Caspian, he would bake an entire cake if the Omega wanted one.
So, instead of going out for lunch, they could just have a home-cooked meal, his home-cooked meal.
Good thing he got the other’s phone number. He went after his phone to send Caspian a quick text.
Lake put down his phone afterward, and then tried to decide what to eat for lunch.
Barely a minute had passed since he sent Caspian a text and his phone was already ringing with a call from the Omega.
"Hey, you didn’t have to call," Lake said gently.
"You’re going to be cooking?" Caspian’s excited voice came through the phone, he doubled the Omega heard his words.
"Unless you want us to order in, I can do that-"
"No, no. I want to cook! I’ll come earlier so we can cook together."
Lake blinked in surprise at the unexpected turn of events, "Uh, sure, why not."
"Yes!" Caspian cheered, "See you tomorrow, Lake."
Lake stared at his phone for a few seconds after the call ended, starting to wonder if he had agreed to something he shouldn’t have.
Was Caspian not allowed to cook?
Actually, he could completely see Mafia King Asher not letting his mate cook. In addition to the fact that there was an entire army of kitchen staff, that seemed very plausible.
It had him wondering if there was someone he needed to inform that Caspian would be cooking.
His bodyguards would definitely be tagging along, so there was no reason to be too worried.
But he might need to get more foodstuffs if he was going to be having multiple visitors, and maybe something to do.
They could watch shows, though, but card games couldn’t hurt.
Lake caught himself at that moment; here he was planning a get-together with ’friends.’
Well, friends was a generous term, but he would be having a pleasant group of individuals over for lunch tomorrow; that was already more than he ever had.
He couldn’t help but pat himself on the back for taking the step to get closer to Caspian.
Lake still didn’t know what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, but at least the time he would spend deciding wouldn’t be lonely.
He decided to order in for lunch, something inexpensive and quick, like a burger and fries.
It would be a late lunch, too, because he wasn’t hungry at the moment.