Chapter Text
Orientation is weird. Not to be that guy but Eliott considers himself a sort of pro when it comes to his job having worked at the posh Hôtel de Mialaret for the past three summers. Apparently the new management thought differently.
At least free coffee and breakfast provided. Lola rests her head on Eliott's shoulder, eyes half shut, and Lucille stifles yawns every 10 seconds, as the presentation continues. And continues.
And Eliott? Eliott’s looking all around the ballroom that’s been transformed into a meeting hall. He’s never had much of a chance to scope out the ballrooms at the hotel but apparently they are famous for their beauty. Eliott thinks that’s an understatement and thinks of a way he can come back when no one is watching and snap some photos.
A letter from Hôtel de Mialaret arrived a month earlier. Eliott didn’t realise his summertime employment place had been sold off to an unknown business woman from Paris. He read the letter to make sure he still had a job come June, and then didn’t think much of the news. Yeah he'll be toiling away for the filthy rich guests for three months but he'll be in the midst of the beautiful French Riviera.
What did he care about how the hotel managed itself?
Marie Lallemant is blond, tall, and slim and dressed in a dark blue business suit. She doesn’t look like your typical cut-throat business woman but she's still ruffled a lot of feathers of the older staff for buying the hotel from the beloved Mialaret family. Eliott Googled her name out of curiosity. Apparently she owns several hotels around Europe - all in the posies locations possible. The hotel tycoon screams money from the top of her perfectly coiffed head to her black and red Louboutin heels. But she seems like a nice enough woman as she stands in front of them.
He doesn’t know what made him turn around. A cough, a quiet murmur in the back? Whatever it was grabs his fleeting attention. He looks around, sees someone new, and just stares. For the most part working at the hotel feels like Eliott’s part of a huge extended family. He knows everyone. And everyone knows him. This guy...Eliott’s never seen before and well … he’s drop dead gorgeous with big expressive eyes and a mop full of luxurious brown hair held back by the pair of sunglasses. He looks sharp in a white button down and jeans amidst the sea of the required business casual attire. Lola pinches his arm and suddenly Eliott's reverie comes to an end.
“What are you looking at?”
“None of your business.” God, she’s just like an annoying little sister he never had. He wishes for the millionth time he had orientation with Sofiane and Idriss. At least they would have the decency to be entertaining and not a pain in his ass.
Lola turns around and so does Lucille, their indiscretion irritating him. If they get caught he won’t talk to them for the next three months.
“What am I looking for?”
"Nothing," he says through his teeth.
"Liar," Lola grumbles under her breath. "Tell me. I'm so bored."
“You see what guy standing in the back? The one in the white shirt?”
“No...oh wait…oh wow,” Lola sighes.
“What about him?” Lucille asks critically.
Eliott’s mind goes blank. The history he has with Lucille is long and complicated but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to check out someone in front of her. He comes up with the lamest question ever. "Does he look familiar to you?"
"No. Not really."
Lola flops back in her seat. “You’ll have time to meet him when this is all over, lover boy. Turn back around or you’ll get in trouble, Eliott."
Eliott's heart skips a beat. He didn't think that far ahead. “You think he works here?”
"Why does it matter?" Lucille says under her breath.
"It doesn't."
“Why don't you chill, Lucille? It's not like you two are dating, right?" Lucille purses her lips but says nothing. "Why else would he be here, dumb dumb?" Lola continues. "He’s not a guest if he’s stuck in orientation like the rest of us scrubs.”
Eliott sees her point. He really really hopes that the guy is a new employee. He sneaks a couple more glances over his shoulder just to catch a glimpse of that remarkably beautiful face. When their eyes finally meet for a brief second Eliott’s world shrinks down to the two of them. It gets quiet and the only thing he can see are the lovely blue eyes. Unfortunately the guy looks away a moment later, breaking the spell.
It’s not long before they break for lunch. Orientation is taken in rotations so the hotel is not understaffed. Once they’ve eaten it’s time to get to work but Eliott hangs around trying to catch a glimpse of the handsome newcomer. Madam Marceau, the matronly head housekeeper, chews him out for dawdling so with a sigh he heads down to his basement room to change into his suit. He's got three months with the guy. They’re bound to run into each other again.
Lucas stands in the back of the ballroom, proudly watching his mom give her speech to the sulky crowd. He expected this - the bored, glassy stares and the thick silence - but their outright rudeness made him want to march to the front and tell them all off. But his mom was doing an excellent job and eventually warmed the crowd up to her with her gentle voice and frequent smiles. Marie Lallemant is not your typical business woman. Sure she can get serious when she needs to be but right she's a mother hen.
He knows speech by heart when with its little tweaks here and there for personalization so he lets his mind and eyes wander until his eyes land on someone so handsome there's absolutely no way that he works here. Surely he'd make more money as a model that a fucking bell boy. Lucas watches him chat with a couple of girls. Of course with looks like that girls would be fawning over him. Still Lucas is instantly infatuated. When he smiles it's game over and Lucas steps out quickly or else risk making a fool of himself.
He meets up with his mom after orientation. Lunch is being served out on her private residence's balcony at the very top of the hotel. Lucas can see the beautiful sprawl of the French riviera below. The ocean is a particularly pretty shade of blue beneath the warm golden sun and he's aching for a better view.
"I think it went quite well," his mom says with a smile as they eat together. "They were a gloomy lot at the beginning but I think they'll grow to like us."
Lucas gives his mom a rueful smile. "Do they have a choice? You're their employer after all."
"Don't think like your father, dear. The Mialarets treated their staff like family and I will continue to do so."
The mention of staff has Lucas thinking back to that memorable face in the sea of others. He wonders about the name attached to that face.
"Just don't let them take advantage of you," he says, pulling himself out of his daydream.
She gives him a steady stare down that makes his cheeks turn red. Nevertheless he can't stop worrying. When it comes down to it Lucas is a simple mama's boy and he's fiercely protective of her. "Seriously, Lucas. Have a little faith like your sister. I've run hotels before."
"Not one like this," he points out. "The other ones were new with all new staff. This one has history."
"A history I fully intend to honor,” she cuts in sharply. “Now stop worrying or all that lovely hair will fall out. You’re too young to look like your father.” Lucas pats his unruly mane self-consciously. “Have you done any research about this hotel?"
"No. I just got off the plane." He had taken a red eye flight from Boston to Nice and then drove to the hotel just in time to see his mom's first orientation and his head is still reeling. He pours himself another cup of coffee.
"I have the last orientation after we eat and then I'll be meeting with Madam Marceau for the rest of the afternoon. So if you're done holding my hand I suggest taking a walk around the ground when we've finished."
"I don’t know,” Lucas says with a deliberate sigh. “Is the head housekeeper nice?"
"Perfectly pleasant, love. I believe we'll get along fine. Besides there's something I want you to see in the west atrium."
"Oh yeah?" They share a smile but she doesn't explain.
He takes his mom's suggestion and wanders through the lower levels of the hotel. If this is going to be his home for the rest of the summer now is good a time as any to get the lay of the land.
It's fine he tells himself as he walks.. This is just what he needs. Like his sister said he needs to get away from Boston and all the ugly memories festering there. A few months basking in the Mediterrianen sun will do him good and clear his mind and then he'll head back - hopefully a brand new person because he's worried about the one who he's become.
Not this again. Get out of your head.
Lucas stops and asks a group of young housemaids for directions to the west atrium. This is after all the first time he’s ever set foot inside the massive hotel. They blush and stammer as they give him directions and he smiles at him - the polite, well trained one - and thanks them for their help. He’s seen this type of luxury before - white walls with intricate millwork and molding, glossy marble floors, large windows to allow the mediterrianen sunlight to pierce the remotest of corners. He bypasses the busy foyer and heads down the corridor that opens up at the cavernous atrium. It’s stunning if not a little repetitive - more white marble and more natural light coming in from the skylight overhead. But he’s mom was right, there is something that interests him in the middle of the sprawling area.
A smile spreads and Lucas walks over to the massive saltwater aquarium, three times his height and nearly half the width of the atrium. Its colors are all the more brilliant and neon in the sterile whiteness of the marble cavern. Honesty he never expected to see such a display here of all places. It’s almost too modern for the setting.
Lucas loves it.
Fish of all shapes and sizes swim above coral that color the bottom of the massive tank. He comes to a stop inches from the glass feeling small and insignificant in the presence of sleek grey sharks and tiny jellyfish. He loves that feeling. Loves the feeling of being in awe of what nature made and what humans are capable of harnessing. That’s exactly why he’s becoming a marine biologist.
The longer he looks the more apparent the tank and it’s scaly citizens need help. The care for such a large scale aquarium is staggering and his heart gives a little jolt at how much help it needs. Ordinary people might not have such a critical eye when it comes to this but Lucas is ticking the boxes of things that need fixed pronto. And there are a lot of boxes.
"The meeting was weird, right?" a voice says. It’s soft and sweet but definitely masculine.
He’s too wrapped up in his own head to realize he has company until he’s spoken to. Lucas jumps a little, face turning toward the unique voice, and swallows hard. It’s the dude from the meeting, tall and lean in his grey suit and looking all the more devastatingly handsome now that he’s looking at Lucas square in the face. Lucas isn’t short on confidence but Mr Tall and Handsome has him second guessing himself. Like, Christ, how is this dude real and working in a fucking hotel? He ought to be on the front of Vogue.
"Yeah, it was a little weird." Lucas wants to congratulate himself for stringing a coherent sentence together.
"But I understand it's an important opportunity for the new management to meet everyone and all that."
Most people looked like they were bored out of their minds to be honest. Lucas doubts anyone remembers anything his mom said. “You’re probably the only one who thinks that.”
“Does that make me the weird one?”
Lucas grins. “A little."
"I like weird." The guy nods towards the aquarium, eyebrows wiggling. Lucas’s eyes follow. "You know the tank is over 24.000 litres."
“That’s pretty impressive,” Lucas mumbles like a nitwit. Real smooth.
“See that one?” The guy points to a school of fish. His voice is hushed but still excited like someone in a museum. “The yellow one with the black and white face? He’s my favorite. I named him Gus.”
“He looks like a Gus,” Lucas jokes in turn. “What about that one?” He points to a school of Pinatte Batfish.
“Isabella.”
“That’s a very pretty name for a very pretty fish.”
“She’s glad you noticed.”
Lucas is full on grinning now. “So you speak fish?”
“A little.”
“What about that one?” An orange and white Butterfly fish.
“Helene.”
“And that one?”
“Nemo.”
“Oh come on. The most popular clown fish is Nemo. Be a little more creative.”
The guy giggles and it’s the most adorable sound Lucas has ever heard. Now he understands why people say they want to pinch babies. This guy is way too cute but Lucas acts quickly to get a hold of himself. “Sorry, sorry. I usually don’t have a lot of time to name all these guys.”
“Isabella and Helene will take offense to that.”
He turns to the tank, murmuring, “My apologies, ladies. I’m Eliott by the way. It’s good to meet you.”
Lucas shakes his hand, happy to find out he can keep his grip firm. “Lucas.”
If they look at each other a little longer than necessary it’s nobody's business. “Do you know who manages the aquarium?” he asks after a moment when their hands finally fall away.
“That would be M Lecomte.”
“Could you take me to him? I need to speak with him about repairs.”
Eliott's eyes go round. "So you're here to work with the aquarium?"
“Work?" It takes a hot second for Lucas’s brain to catch up. "Oh, I don't work here. I’m Lucas Lallemant.”
“Oh shit!” A deep blush takes root in Eliott’s cheeks and Lucas knows he didn't mean to blurt out the curse. “I mean...shit. Well I feel stupid now.”
Lucas chuckles. “Don’t worry about it. Now about M Lecomte."
Eliott’s a dumbass. A huge, fucking dumbass. Why did he even think Lucas was just an employee and not the son of a multi-millionaire? Did he somehow miss the fact his sunglasses were Gucci or the shiny gold rolex strapped to his wrist? Jesus fucking christ.
He takes him behind the scenes to M Lecomte's hidden work area the level below the atrium like he was asked. He’s fond of the old man and suddenly a little protective because he doesn’t like the grim look that comes over Lucas’s face. There's not a hint of the breathtaking, toothy smile left on his face. Luckily the old man is there, tinkering away at something as on old TV plays a football game that he’s only half paying attention too. Around them the tank’s filtration system whirls deafeningly.
“M Lecomte?” No rely. Eliott clears his throat and repeats himself, louder this time. “ M Lecomte ?”
The old man visibly jumps before turning around, spooked. Behind his thick glasses his eyes are pale, skin pale and sagging. He once had been a big bear of a man but time has whittled his frame and stooped his shoulders.
“M Lecomte, this is…”
Lucas steps forward sharply and holds out his hand. “Lucas Lallemant, sir.”
“Lallemant.” He says his name slowly, looking as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. “Lallemant, eh? Any relation to our new mistress?”
“I’m her son. Eliott tells me you manage the aquarium.”
M Lecomte stares him down. “I do. So what?”
Eliott wants to shrink away from the harshness in M Lecomte’s voice but Lucas holds his own. He squares his shoulders and straightens his spine. He’s a good head shorter than the old man but clearly he's not bothered by it. “How long has it been since it was cleaned? Where is your team?” Lucas fires after question after question and all the while M Lecomte’s face gets redder and redder. “Why do you have hawkfish in the same tank as shrimp? Or lionfish for that matter? And there’s a shark that's nearly blind. Are there more tanks like this one?”
“No, sir. Just the one.”
“Good. Do you have any help or is it just you?”
“Just me. I might get a couple of extra hands for the season but they don’t know their heads from their asses.”
Lucas swears under his breath. “Well you’ll have me for the next 3 months at least.”
“I don’t need no help from you.”
“You will accept my help or Marie Lallemant will accept your letter of resignation before the day is up.”
M Lecomte’s jowls shake. Eliott desperately wants to step in and help the old man. If he had known Lucas was going to be such a prick he would have told him to fuck off at the tank. But now he had to take him to M Lecomte and get him all riled up and threatened to have him sacked. He doesn’t expect M Lecomte to start laughing. He laughs so hard his head rolls back and he clutches his sides.
“My god, finally someone who knows what they’re doing,” M Lecomte exclaims practically radiating relief. “You wouldn’t know how long I asked Henri Mialaret to hire someone who actually knows what the fuck they are doing with a tank that size. He thought clean water and a good filtration system was all that you needed and the fish would just sort everything out. He was getting a little soft in the head in the end, lemme tell you, and that wife of his left him to install it without any proper research. I’ve seen more dead fish than a goddamn fisherman.”
“M Lecomte!”
“Eliott, my boy, you know I’m right.”
Eliott flounders for the right words. He loved the Mialarets like they were his own grandparents and to hear them spoken about so badly in front of an outsider riles him up.
“Besides don’t you have someplace to be? Don’t want to dirty up your suit down here.”
Eliott knows he’s right. Lucille is going to eviscerate him for being late. “Fine,” he says petulantly. “See you later.” He marches off without so much of a backwards glance at the old man or Lucas Lallemant.
He’s right about Lucille when he gets to the front desk. Her brown eyes are sharp, lips a thin pink line, as she watches him slide up behind the front desk. From an outsider's perspective she just looks irritated but make no mistake she's livid.
“Where have you been?” she hisses through her teeth because causing a scene in the open is out of the question.
“I ran into Marie Lallemant’s son. He wanted to speak to M Lecomte.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. He’s pissed about the aquarium.”
Lucille's face suddenly changes with a soft smile as she nods at the passing guests. She’s always so good at that. Meanwhile Eliott’s mind is still reeling from his flagrant dumbassery and the confrontation in the workroom.
“What’s he got to be pissed about? The aquarium is beautiful.”
“Apparently it needs a lot of work.”
Lucille rolls her eyes. “That's just what we need. New management poking their noses where it doesn’t need to be. What does some rich fuck-boy know about fish anyway?”
“It sounds like he knows what he’s talking about.”
“Whatever. Now that you’re here and do you think you could help carry Mme Mercier’s luggage to her suite?”
Lucille keeps him on his toes for the next eight hours but that’s nothing new. It’s the start of the busiest season of the year and the place is swimming with guests who expect to be pampered around the clock. After nine months away from the grind of concierge life, Eliott’s slowly slipping back into his role. Still he can’t keep from thinking about Lucas. Unfortunately none of his jobs take him anywhere near the west atrium or M Lecomte’s work area so he doesn’t see him for the rest of the day.
Eliott’s feet are throbbing by the time he lays down for the night. Tomorrow there will be time for boozing and catching up with the rest of the staff. Now he wants nothing more than to slip into a coma. Which might very well happen since he doesn't have a roommate this year. Another Lallemant improvement. He sinks down onto his bed, head cradled in what feels like a fucking goosedown pillow, and relaxes for the first time in hours.
Except his brain isn't ready to call it a night so he unlocks his phone and scrolls through Instagram in a brain dead sort of daze. Already his feed is full of friends who are already partying in their rooms or down in town. Sofiane and Idriss are out on the town. Lola and Maya are on a date. And Lucille wants to know if they are having dinner.
Eliott
Another day
My boss was on my ass all day 😔
Lucille
Take me to dinner and I'll be nicer 😌
He exits out of their chat. Every summer they hook up but inevitably they go their separate ways once Eliott heads back to Paris and correspondence between them is practically nonexistent during those months. It's not in stone they are a couple yet everyone basically assumes they are which makes him anxious. He cares about her and the sex is good but he can't see them getting serious.
Eliott takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as if letting all the thoughts blow out of his mind. He's not in the mood to think about Lucille right now and he's too spun up to go to sleep just yet. On a whim Eliott searches for Lucas’s IG account. There has to be one. Every rich socialite has one, right? It’s the first hit he gets. Eliott taps lucallemant and is taken to an account with 859K followers and posts in the triple digits.
Oh, wow. He didn't expect that.
Lucas Lallemant
Biology student
Environmentalist
Agent: Elisa Alexandre
Eliott stalks the account. Because he's curious. Definitely not because Lucas has a pretty face. A pretty face with sharp cheekbones, full pink lips, and big blue eyes.
He sees photos of Paris. New York. Los Angeles. Tokyo. Bali. Beaches. Mountains. Deserts. And now the French Riviera. There are recurring faces in photos - no doubt his socialite friends - and peppered in the obvious displays of his wealth are photos of marine life. Sea turtles. Dolphins. Jellyfish. There’s even a photo of Lucas decked out in scuba gear. There's more press photos of him, tanned golden and fucking cut, on beaches wearing shirts that say Save the Sea Turtles and World Ocean Network alongside gorgeous photos of him in well cut suits and then even more as he models for Calvin Klein.
Jetsetter. Environmentalist. Model. Eliott wants to roll his eyes. Is there something Lucas Lallemant doesn’t do?
Eliott pulls up an older photo of Lucas swathed in a dark suit that no doubt costs more than what Eliott’ll make this summer, tips included. The guy's gorgeous no doubt about it but he's an all different kind of gorgeous in a suit. Eliott's thumb slips and he accidentally ends up liking the photo.
Shit ! Of all time to fuck up it had to be now.
He fumbles with his phone, nearly dropping it on his face, in his hurry to correct his mistake. Then he shoves his phone under his pillow, body still buzzing with the remnants of his unexpected adrenaline rush. He closes his eyes, telling himself firmly to go to sleep, when his phone finally chimes.
Lucas Lallement turns in early that night. His laptop and phone are discarded next to him and he scribbles in a notebook. He does some of his best work with his pen against paper. He jots down everything old man Lecomte told him that afternoon, what equipment needed to be repaired or outright replaced, and the cost. It wouldn’t be cheap. Or easy. But at least he’s starting to feel less worried now that he was devising a plan. He can afford a good night's sleep now because first thing in the morning he’s going to jump into a wet suit and clean the shit out of the aquarium. Literally.
Still a certain someone keeps distracting him.
Eliott.
He had thought about appeasing his curiosity and looking him up on instagram but realized he didn’t know his last name. Lucas hadn’t even asked and feels like a huge asshole now. It just saves him from stalking his profile and ogling that handsome face like a dumbass.
After a few morning minutes of writing Lucas puts the notebook aside and checks his phone. Leave it to his friends to blow up his messages. Even his notifications are out of control. He posted a photo on his public instagram about flying to the French Riviera and suddenly everyone wants to wish him a safe flight. He stopped reviewing those notifications a long time ago but he peeks out of curiosity. The name srodulv pops up on his screen. The person apparently liked one photo and that’s all. He taps the name and it takes him to a tiny account. It’s not the typical account he’s used to seeing - a young twenty something girl enamored with his carefully curated kind of lifestyle - but it’s Eliott.
Hotel Eliott .
Lucas stares, stunned by his luck, and scrolls through the photos of Eliott and his friends. Eliott with his insanely gorgeous selfies and artistic shots of urban Parisian life that makes him miss the city more than usual. Lucas realises he’s smiling into his phone and bites his lower lip to make himself stop.
What’s Eliott doing looking at his insta?
Get a hold of yourself, Lucas. It doesn’t mean anything. He’s just curious.
Curious guys don’t like photos of other guys in suits, right? Unless it’s those kinds of curious guys…
Oh damn.
Lucas nibbles on his thumbnail as he helplessly returns to Eliott’s bio.
Demaury.
His name is Eliott Demaury.
Pretty name for a pretty face. That's all. There’s also a link to a short video on youtube called Polaris. Lucas settles back and presses play.
Eliott’s face lights up his screen and with the soft, sweet voice of his explains that he’s the writer and photographer of a series called Polaris, a photoshoot that he created as the end of year project for his first year at his university.
Lucas is captivated.
A man afraid of the light. A creature afraid of the dark. They come to love one another but are too afraid of the other's until they can no longer bear to be away from each other. In the end they embrace. Lucas watches it twice to appreciate the story and definitely not because he likes the sound of Eliott’s timid voice.
Lucas goes back to Eliott’s insta and hits the follow button. Back to nibbling on his thumbnail, he measures how much courage he has left in his body. Just enough to type out a message apparently.
lucallemant
Hey it's Lucas
I saw your Polaris project
It's beautiful
That’s it. That’s all he has in him. He shoves his phone underneath his pillow like it's going to detonate. He’s overreacting. He knows it but it doesn’t make his heart stop pounding and dry his clammy hands.
Who says Eliott’s going to see the message let alone to respond to it? No one because Lucas is most definitely overreacting. Still he flings himself out of bed, throws on some workout clothes, and hits the gym all because he messaged a boy.
Fucking hell.
Why is he like this?