Foster sighs wistfully and, nursing a cup of tea in his hands, looks out the window. Just outside, Lucas throws a punch with a loud grunt. He's been on the beach all day getting some training in. Foster tried to urge him against pushing himself since he's still injured after the recent battle, but Lucas refused to listen. Then again, Foster ought not to complain about not being listened to after all of the times he himself tried to leap back into action while nursing injuries of his own.
Still, he hopes Lucas is careful not to overwork himself. He'd rather not have to worry about him all over again. Not that knowing this would slow Lucas down in the slightest. He's already made it his goal to surpass Umbra, and Foster has learned the hard way that once Lucas has made up his mind about something, there is no talking him out of it. That drive of his is what's got him ankle-deep in the water, practicing his kicks and punches as the waves crash into him. Foster sips his tea and finds himself smiling at the sight.
It's strange, this domesticity they've all seamlessly settled back into. It's like none of the Umbra stuff even happened. They're just going about their day as they did before. In a way, it's comforting. It feels like everything's gone back to normal. Well, almost.
"You know, you've hardly taken your eyes off Lucas since we got back," Karina says, and Foster nearly chokes on his tea at the sound of her voice. He looks over, tearing his gaze from Lucas, to see that she's sat down beside him.
"R-really?" he stammers, lowering his cup from his lips. "I guess I'm just, y'know, glad he's okay. We were all pretty worried for a while there."
"That's true." She's smiling, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "You did it before, too. Watched him, I mean. Come to think of it, he's all you've talked about ever since the two of you first met."
"Oh," Foster says, dumbly, because he isn't sure what he's supposed to say to that.
"Whenever he walks into a room, it's like he's all you can see. You really idolize him a lot, don't you?"
Is that true? He closes his eyes and thinks back to the day Lucas saved his life. His mysterious demeanor. The adrenaline pumping through both of them as they hunted down souls together. Then after that, when they officially decided to become a team. The gleam in Lucas' eyes as he shook his hand....
Karina's right. In the blink of an eye, without him realizing at the time, Lucas had become all he could think about. Why is that? It's because he respects him, right? Right? When was the moment it happened? When exactly did everything change? It must have been during that first encounter with Umbra. Was it seeing him in action? Was this just Foster looking up to him as a fighter?
That's it. He remembers. He can still see it now, Almost like he's still there. Lucas, crying out his name as Umbra aimed an attack at him. Lucas, rushing over with determination etched into every crease of his handsome face. Lucas, a force of darkness shrouded in an angelic glow as he stands between Foster and certain death.
Foster recalls saying Lucas' name, sees himself take the other man into his arms as he collapses from the impact of the blow. But as he brushes Lucas' hair aside, as their eyes meet, Lucas smiles. Not just any smile. A genuine one, relieved and wavering and pure.
Foster's eyes open. So that's it. All that worrying, all that desperation, all that anger and resentment and fear so paralyzing he would forget how to breathe. All of it, always tied to Lucas. And that other feeling, the one that frightens him more than anything else, the one he's only ever felt for Lucas....
"Yeah," he says, his voice sounding distant. "I idolize him, that's all."
It's love.