Reno
Good morning ε(´?•?•`)?
“That is one mean hickey.” August marveled at Luka’s neck as he smoked outside the motel room. “I think it might be like, three or four combined.”
Luka tapped ash over the railing. “It hurts.”
“You poor thing,” August said, sarcastically.
Luka had gotten up earlier than he expected to, checked his phone and, much to his surprise, saw the good morning text from Reno, then pulled himself out of the motel bed as carefully as possible so he wouldn’t wake August up. After a long run, he found them awake with a coffee, and they held out a bag for him with two Red Bulls inside. He tried not to mind the way they gave him a once-over before he hopped in the shower. August was kind enough to wait until he was outside with a cigarette to start pestering him.
He took a sip of his Red Bull and a drag of his cigarette before defending himself. “You should see the other guy.”
August had the good nature to laugh at his bad joke. “I’d rather not. Then again, I wonder if you can catch any recordings from tonight.”
“Why would I do that?”
“To see how good their makeup artist is.” August drank their coffee. “If he looks as messed up as you do, then they’re going to have a bitch of a time trying to cover it up.”
Luka cringed. “I did mark up his back pretty bad.”
“Oh dear, will he have to wear a long shirt for once?” August leaned away from the railing, chuckling. “How scandalous.”
Luka hummed in response and took another drink, wondering what Reno would wear tonight at the show. He almost didn’t want to find out, trying to nip this train of obsession in the bud before it could really bloom. Reno didn’t help, sending him that good morning text. Luka had assumed he’d be done with Luka after last night, but he had guessed wrong.
“I’m sure he’s had to deal with this before. His makeup artists are probably used to this nonsense.”
“Sure," August said, rolling their eyes, “it’s almost amazing how low your confidence is sometimes.”
“Nah. I just can’t be the only one.” Luka shrugged. “That's both presumptuous and naive. The man fucks like a demon." He could feel his cheeks burning. “No cis man has stamina like that if they aren’t regularly getting laid. It has very little to do with how I view myself.”
“Men." August shook their head. “You’re all horrible creatures.”
“The walls of our house are not that thick, Aug. You have no room to talk.”
August looked a little bashful. “Right, right. Sorry but it’s impossible for Iris to be quiet for even five minutes.”
“Mhm.” Luka tried not to think about how loud he’d been last night. “It’s fine dude. I’m happy for you.”
“Yeah, me too. What’ll you do now?”
Luka considered that with mounting dread and set his drink down by his foot. “Dunno. Try not to pine, I guess?”
August laughed at him.
“No, really." Luka shoved them a little. “The potential consequences of my actions last night are… a lot. Reno couldcatch grief if fans found out. If they find out about me, I’ll get grief too, harassment probably. He’s lucky he’s in a U.K.-based group so he doesn’t have to hide his sexuality as much as he would if he’d stayed in Tokyo, but it's still generally frowned on for someone that big to be in a relationship with anyone, especially a guy. God forbid they find out I’m trans on top of that.”
“So, you think you’ll date Reno?” August asked.
Luka shook his head. “Impossible. I’m just saying even sleeping with him could damage his reputation; it was selfish of me to do it.”
“Jesus Christ. No, it wasn’t. Also, he askedyou,not the other way around. He knows the risks better than you do and he still stuck his dick in there.”
“Gross.” Luka stubbed out his cigarette. “You have a point, though.” He grabbed the railing with both hands and pulled back to stretch his back, feeling sore in places he didn’t think possible. “I suppose I’ll keep following his lead. I like him, and I mean as a person— and not just an artist. And for some reason it seems like he likes me.”
“I’ll say.” August poked his neck and he made an embarrassing noise.
“He texted me good morning, too.”
