Reno moved Luka’s phone out of the way and sat down on the mat, his hands folded in his lap. He looked a little ragged, but not disheveled. “I’ve been with Kandi and Jaewon most of today.”
“Okay.”
“We are trying to figure out what to do.”
Luka pulled his lower lip between his teeth, worrying it. He was distantly glad that Reno at least seemed to be behaving somewhat normally, if at least put together. He asked, “Can I know?”
“Yes.” Reno dipped his head and Luka narrowed his eyes at him. He didn’t care for how formal Reno was acting, like he was trying to put distance between them, even though Luka lay naked in the bath in front of him. “The team at the label is currently tracking down the IP addresses of the users online. I don’t… I don’t understand this stuff, sorry. But they are tracing it to?—”
“Joy.”
Reno flinched. “Yes.”
“Rosé apologized to me today.”
“That's good.” Reno sounded like he meant it, but his posture was still stiff.
“Said she didn’t know about Joy’s past, and she didn’t fuck with it. I think we’ll be able to be friends still.”
“Have you spoken to any of your other friends?”
“Yeah, Maria said she’d get me a flight home.”
Reno’s eyes widened. “Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know yet. It depends.” Luka propped his forearms on the tub’s side and rested his chin on them. “I don’t think so, but I’ll admit I am anxious and fretting. I do want to try to fix this.”
“Me too,” Reno said. “It is why I have been working with Kandi. We’re working on damage control, well, she is, as well as the PR team. I’m in a lot of trouble, and they’re not letting me help much.”
“Not surprising.” Luka’s gut squirmed. “What does the team want from you?”
“To make a public statement soon.” Reno looked down at his hands while wringing them together. “I don’t know what to say yet.”
Luka scoffed, and Reno looked back at him, confused. “You know what you need to say.”
“Do I?”
“Yes, you have to choose. I’ve been thinking.”
Reno tilted his head and the action was so familiar it made Luka ache.
“I want to announce our relationship. Publicly.”
Reno’s lips parted, but nothing came out.
“If we do, the focus across all platforms will just be aboutus. People might even be excited, and if people get upset, it’ll at least remove the pressure on you and your family. Tabloids like a new juicy relationship story way more than they like a ten-year-old court case. They’ll just start writing about us, being together, being gay.Us,being together, not letting all the shit get under our skin. What do you think?”
“I—” Reno sighed, then leaned forward, his forehead pressing against Luka’s. “You amaze me. You scare me.”
Luka brushed the side of his nose against Reno’s, smelling his sweet scent, feeling the warmth of his skin. “You’ve scared me from the beginning.”
“You’re brave, remember?” Reno’s breath was hot against Luka’s lips as he spoke.
Luka felt his mind going fuzzy the way it always did when Reno pressed too close. He managed to mumble, “Are you not?”
“Hm?”
“Are you not brave, too?” Luka asked.
