Author's Note: Hiya readers! Thanks for reading! I normally don't really do shipfics, but I just really love this pair way too much and if I don't something with them I might explode. Plus I think it'll be a good warm-up before I start writing a longer adventure story. So I hope you enjoy this silly little Lukesse short-fic (It's only really gonna be about 3 chapters long) and leave some feedback if you get the chance. Thanks again for reading!

In retrospect, Lukas probably should've moved into town with the rest of the New Order of the Stone. It would save himself and his friends the walk back and forth between the two places. About two months ago, when they had finally returned home from being lost in the Portal Network, Lukas had completely forgotten how far his small cabin was from the Order Hall and let's just say that the walk home didn't do his already sore back any favors. He recalled wondering why he'd built his house out there in the first place after the fall of the Wither Storm. But the sight of three other empty cabins nearby struck a sharp reminder.

There were days when Lukas thought about dismantling the other three cabins. After all, it wasn't like his former team would be back anytime soon. He didn't know how long Isa and Milo would be keeping the Blaze Rods behind bars, but odds were that the former Sky City residents wouldn't be so forgiving to the people who destroyed their homes right away. Yet anytime he was close to removing a single block from Aiden's old cabin, a small voice in his head would stop him. It was a nagging voice, always suggesting that the trio could come back someday. Lukas couldn't name what it was. Guilt, maybe? The same feeling that would ask him questions on nights when he couldn't sleep like; what if he'd seen the signs that Aiden was going nuts? What if he had tried to confront them about their fights with the New Order earlier? What if he had been able to stop them from walking away that day? Would that have prevented the whole situation? Could he maybe have asked Isa to let them come back with them-

No, he would hush that voice, Aiden, Maya, and Gill brought that all on themselves. He wasn't going to cover for them anymore. Lukas had stood to the side while they treated decent people like dirt far too many times in the past. The Blaze Rods made their mess, they could clean it up.

Despite expressing this to Jesse many times, she still seemed to worry about him living out alone. Often when Lukas would head home from a visit to town, which became a mostly daily ritual, during sunset Jesse would offer to walk home with him, for "extra muscle against zombies" she called it. Not that he minded walking with her, but it would result in him being more concerned for her when she had to walk back alone.

Due to this, Lukas started planning his visits more in the daytime, allowing for an extra hour of sunlight to get home. On the days where he didn't go to town, and the New Order wasn't busy with missions, often the other Order members would come to his cabin. Jesse came the most often, telling him recounts of short adventures they'd been on that day (as Lukas was starting to get more building jobs again and couldn't always tag along) or situations that had to be resolved in town. Once in a while she would help him out on a build, whether it be gathering materials or helping him put together the blueprints. She wasn't the best architect, but she had fun ideas to make the builds look more exciting, such as adding statues on top or decorating them with wool patterns. Olivia would sometimes stop by to exchange books with him, as they had created something of a very tiny book club. Axel normally tagged along with Jesse or Petra, but that hadn't stopped him from coming alone to pull a harmless prank or two here and there. Ivor came the least often; the elder alchemist was too busy running in between their world and the Portal Network ever since the gang had built an exit portal in the Order Hall's basement. Petra came almost as often as Jesse. Which wasn't too out of the ordinary, it was reminiscent of the times the two would hang out for a bit after doing some trading. Recently Petra had been helping him improve his sword-fighting skills with sparring practices out in the front yard.

Speaking of which…

"Not bad, Lukas," Petra said as the wooden training swords clashed, "but there's one thing you missed."

"Oh?" Lukas replied with a confident grin, "Please enlighten me Petra, because I'm starting to think you're going easy on me today."

Petra wasn't fazed by his taunt in the slightest, which gave him an uneasy feeling, "Big words Lukas, but…"

With a swift underfoot movement, Petra knocked Lukas down to the grass. He let out a grunt as he stumbled down, the wooden sword falling out of his hand.

"Your footing was off."

The blonde sighed in defeat, "Right. Knew I forgot something."

Petra chuckled and held out a hand to help him up to his feet, "Aw don't feel bad. You're getting better. You're just not used to using a sword so much. Bows and arrows are kinda more your thing."

He picked up the wooden sword as he said, "I guess. But swords are quicker to craft, so knowing how to use them comes in handy for future sticky situations."

"Well you can still hold your own," she encouraged as she gave her friend a pat on the back, "you just can't beat me. And that's a challenge on its own."

Lukas returned the grin, "Now who's saying big words?"

"That's the spirit," Petra laughed, "keep up that attitude and you might get close to beating me someday."

After a few more spars, the two had decided to end their training for the day and retreated into Lukas' cabin to rest. They continued a conversation as he crafted a batch of cookies for them to snack on while they chatted.

"…And he wanted the roof to be made out of prismarine. Prismarine." Lukas continued retelling one of his most building assignments. Most clients were pretty reasonable, but then you had the select few who made crazy demands for a build. On the bright side, these assignments made for entertaining stories.

"Yikes," Petra responded, resting her arms on the oak wood table, "that stuff's a pain to get. How'd it turn out?"

"I managed to persuade him to just make a small floor pattern out of prismarine and make the roof out of lapis blocks. The house actually looked pretty good when it was done."

"Man," The girl shook her head, pausing to finish up eating a cookie, "this should be your next book, 'Life and Times of Picky Customers'."

"Ha, I wish," He stood up to take the now empty plate over to the kitchen area of the cabin. His latest journal that hadn't been filled up yet lied on a counter nearby. Now that she'd mentioned it, Lukas realized that he hadn't been keeping up with this one as much as he'd like.

"Guess I just don't have much to write about this week," He thought to himself as he reached for it. He flipped through the pages for a moment. Most of the entries in this one ranged from building notes to a sparse treasure hunt. Not as exciting as what he called his "first volume", the one he'd written back during their portal adventure. Now that one had some exciting tales. Of course, an adventure like that definitely gives more inspiration for writing than everyday life. Wasn't there a festival coming up soon? That could at least be something to write about…

"You should seriously get some of these published," Petra told him from the table, "they're good reads."

Lukas looked over his shoulder at her, "Thanks, but most of them aren't all that exciting. I was thinking of getting my first one published, but there's some stuff in there I don't think I'd want too many people reading."

"Like that stuff about Jesse?"

"No, there was this one part I wrote when I was half asleep, it's pretty sloppy-," He stopped and whirled around, a light pink blush spreading on his cheeks, eyes wide as he exclaimed, "What stuff? How did you-?!"

Petra could only repress a laugh at his sudden change in demeanor. She folded her arms and leaned back in the chair, "Uh Lukas, you left that thing in the treasure room, remember? I got bored one day and decided to do a little reading, and I may have stumbled upon a certain page where you wrote some very nice things about her."

Lukas groaned, "Petra..."

"You even sketched a little doodle of her. You're such a dork."

He placed his palm on his forehead, his face turning scarlet, "Stop."

"Okay, okay," She chuckled, "relax, I'm just messing with you. But when did this start?"

"Nothing 'started'! Look," The builder grit his teeth, "it was in the middle of the portal mess, we were all on edge, and I needed to distract myself. So maybe I just kept writing whatever popped into my head. That doesn't mean-,"

He stopped when he saw Petra raising in an eyebrow at his attempt to explain himself. Yeah, this wasn't working. If anyone could see through Lukas, it was Petra. She wasn't buying it for a second.

Lukas sighed, "Just please tell me you didn't mention any of it to Jesse."

"Of course I didn't," Petra assured him in a much more comforting tone. She stood up and made her way over to the blushing blonde. Placing a hand on his shoulder she continued, "Look, as hilarious as it is to watch this, I wouldn't tell Jesse something that personal. It's not my place. Your secret's safe with me."

He took a deep breath, the redness subsiding as he sighed out, "Thanks Petra."

She nodded with a smile, giving him another pat on the back as she went back over to the table to grab her stuff, "Anyway, I should get going. Jesse went out to solve some dumb dispute in town. Those two neighbors that always fight over their garden spaces are going at it again, so I better head back to the Order Hall in case there's an actual emergency."

"Okay," Lukas replied with a nod, "same time next week?"

"You know it," Petra replied, "practice your footing until then. Later Lukas." With that, she waved and headed out the door.

Once he was sure she was far enough, Lukas flopped into the other chair at the table, covering his face with both hands and groaning loudly. Damn it, he totally forgot about that page. Page 56 it was, if he remembered correctly. Lukas breathed in. Get it together man, he told himself, it's one page out of at least a hundred in that book. Nobody would even remember it. They'd be way too focused on the adventures and the portals anyway. No issues. Lukas began relaxing, letting out a long sigh.

He awkwardly laughed, it was silly how worked up he'd gotten. Petra was just kidding around with him, it was just a part of their friendship. Besides, it's not like Jesse would ever read it-

He suddenly sat up straight. It hit him like a block of bricks. She could read it. Lukas left that book right in the place where she lived. It was right there, where she could easily grab it at any time. For crying out loud, he'd even ask her if he could leave it there in the first place! The calm that he'd just gotten shattered in that instance.

"Oh my gosh, I'm such an idiot!" He screamed internally. No way could he let her find out this way. Oh gosh, things would be so awkward. Would Jesse even look at him the same way?

Alright. Don't panic. Think for a sec, the builder told himself. If Jesse had read it already, wouldn't she have asked about it by now? Right! Maybe there was still time to grab it. Petra mentioned Jesse being busy today. That could give him the perfect opening. Lukas got up from the chair, pausing for a moment. If he left right now, Petra would see him and figure out what he was doing on the spot. He'd have to take the shortcut to town, through the woods instead of the path. Lukas grabbed one of many stone swords he had stored in a chest nearby, in case of any spiders lurking in the trees on the way there.

As he stepped out of his home, locking the front door behind him, he laid out the plan step-by-step in his head. It would be quick. Just pop in, grab the journal from the pedestal, and then go home. Easy. If anybody asked, he'd just say he wanted to do some revision. All good.

Lukas took off running, best to get there as quick as possible. Hopefully before Petra got there first.

The redhead warrior whistled a small tune as she walked along the path, still cracking a grin when she remembered her friend's expression. Although Lukas had freaked out a bit more than she thought he would. Maybe she'd gone a little too far with teasing him. Petra shook off the worry. Nah, he'd be fine. Lukas was a rational guy, there's no way a little joking around would make him do something stupid.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the familiar sound of a zombie growling broke the tranquil silence of the forest surrounding the dirt road. She looked around, confused, as it wasn't anywhere near nighttime yet, and it hadn't rained today. Finally, she spotted it mindlessly wandering around under the shade of a tree. Ah, must've been one of those lucky few zombies who managed to escape the sunlight burning by sticking around the more thick parts of the forest.

"Not so lucky anymore," She thought to herself as she cracked her knuckles and pulled her golden sword from her inventory. Petra ran to the side, releasing a brief battle cry as she gave the zombie a quick kick to the knees. It fell to the ground. Before it even had time to process what happened, Petra gave it a fast stab to the chest with her sword. The zombie let out a hiss until it poofed into clouds, leaving behind a circling item of rotten flesh.

Petra let out a sigh as she lowered her sword to her side. Better to get rid of any stray monsters now before it got dark and could potentially attack someone on the trail. She turned to get back on the path, when the sounds of rapidly approaching footsteps caught her attention. Petra frowned, another one? She looked back to the forest, raising her sword once more. That is, until she saw a flash of bright yellow, orange, blue, and black. It was deeper in the woods, but still close enough to be seen from where the warrior was standing. The figure definitely looked more human, but it went fast past the trees.

Was that...?

No way. It couldn't be.

"Lukas?" Petra muttered, "He's not..."

And the figure was heading straight towards town. Oh for the love of-

Petra groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as she shook her head, "He is."