“It’s too hot for that.” Luka kicked it off of him and Reno gave him a look so affectionate it made him squirm. “Why is your flat so hot?”
“It’s really not,” Reno argued. “It’s only twenty-two degrees out.”
“My brain is too fried to know what that means.”
Reno pulled out his phone and typed into it. “About seventy-two. I just don’t have AC.”
“How do you survive in the summer?”
Reno shrugged. “Less clothes. Fans. Not many places here have AC and the windows don’t open all the way. Plus they let the bugs in.”
“Never mind, I don’t want to move here.” Luka watched as Reno tore open a pill case for him. “Absurd that British people haven’t discovered window screens or central cooling.”
Reno handed him a pill. “You get used to it. Excuse to be naked with me.”
“I don’t need an excuse for that.”
“Oh, you got me there.” Reno handed him the ginger ale and helped tilt his head so he could take the medicine. “Can I make you lunch?”
Luka shook his head, “How is it lunch time already? Don’t you have to go?”
Reno frowned. “Trying so hard to get rid of me?”
“I told you before, this is my flat now.” Luka barely made it through his sentence before starting to cough and Reno immediately tore open a bag of cough drops and unwrapped one for him. It was so sweet that it made Luka feel pathetic. “Yes, make me lunch. You look like you’ll explode if I don’t give you a task.”
“Correct,” Reno said, then pecked his temple. “You are learning.” He looked relieved to have something to do to help as he got up to start messing with things in the kitchen. Luka turned on the TV and almost immediately dozed off again.
His body forced him awake for food, and on the table was a note from Reno,Had to get back to the studio. I'm off at 7—There is soup in the fridge for you – ?
Luka ran his hand over the character, trying to memorize it. It looked nice next to Reno’s cramped English writing.
His stomach growled, a round of coughing caught him by surprise, , and he remembered he’d woken up hungry. Also, there was soup for him, made by Reno. Luka had to be the luckiest person alive. He had Reno making him soup when he was sick, and the thought of Reno taking the time off work tobring him medicine, make him food, and then sneak out without waking him up was so nice that it made him feel overwhelmed.
He managed to warm up the soup, which was surprisingly good, but a tad mild, which Luka usually wouldn’t like but appreciated when feeling so badly. He ate steadily, reading the back of the medicine box to see when he needed another dose, and didn’t remember falling back asleep.
He woke up to the sun already high in the sky.
Luka felt disoriented. He blinked awake, his body aching even worse than before. He tilted his head and found Reno there, sleeping with his head on his crossed arms, half on the floor and half on the couch. Distantly, he realized his phone alarm was ringing.
With a groan, he reached over Reno and silenced his phone, and Reno stirred. He lifted his head from his arms, and there was a big crease across his cheek from his sleeve.
“Don’t tell me you were there all night.”
Reno was quiet as he stretched, ran a hand through his hair, then gave Luka a guilty look.
“Christ,” Luka swore, then coughed again and Reno unfolded his legs from under him and shook them, his face pinched in pain. “You’re getting too old to do that.”
“Hey now.” Reno shot him a look. “I’m not even thirty.”
Luka snorted a laugh that set off another round of coughing and Reno stood on unsteady legs to get him water. When he came back, Luka pulled his legs up so Reno could join him on the couch. Luka took the water, thanking him, then had to thank him again when Reno handed him an unwrapped cough drop.
Luka’s phone went off once more and he silenced it, understanding and remembering suddenly why it had gone off.
“Where’s the thermometer?” Luka asked, then took it from Reno, who was looking more concerned by the moment. When it beeped, Reno took it from him and frowned at the digital screen.
“Your flight is today.” Reno pointed out the obvious and Luka closed his eyes.
“How much does it cost to change it?” He asked, rolling the cough drop over his tongue, grateful that Reno knew what flavors he would like. “Please say it costs nothing.”
