“What for?” Luka asked.
“Ah, P.R. stuff," Reno replied. “Socials have been kind of nasty lately. I don’t know if you’ve been online much. I haven’t seen you post.”
“No, I’ve been staying off things lately.” Luka didn’t like where the conversation was turning. “It can’t be that bad, right?”
“Ah…" Reno played with the end of his braid for a moment before giving Luka an easy smile. “It’s always bad. But people have short attention. Kandi has been bothering me lately, specifically. My account is over four point two mil now and it’s kind of… real scary. She’s taken over it for me, for now. I’d rather not get too into it though. Just, stay off the fan accounts if you can. They are mean.”
Luka felt his gut sink. A gloomy feeling crept into his chest as he questioned if he would ever be able to openly talk about knowing Reno. He wanted to ask, but right as the question was on his tongue, Reno spoke up.
“Oh, a map. Hold on.” He dropped Luka’s hand and went to bend over the map off to the side of the path. Luka followed Reno’s finger as it trailed over the lines and he tried to think about anything else so he wouldn’t spend the only time he had with Reno fretting about an impossible future.
“The trees are this way!” Reno stood tall and pointed ahead, down the path to their right. His smile was infectious when he hurried back to Luka to pull him down the other path.
“How do you do it?” Luka asked, even if Reno said he didn’t want to get into it.
Reno shrugged. “Same as you.” When he tilted his head to look at Luka as they walked, hand in hand again, he lookedsympathetic. “Stay off the internet. Focus on the things in front of me. Keep my, ah, what is the expression, keep my nose clean?”
Luka huffed a laugh. “I see. I’ll follow in your footsteps then. You’re the expert.”
Reno looked a little concerned before saying, “I hope it is not trouble for you.”
Luka had to admit, “It is, sort of. If I want my art to take off I have to use social media. I may need to start new accounts under a fake name.”
“That is a shame," Reno said. “You deserve the credit for your work.”
Luka let their footfalls and the chatter of nearby people rest between them as he thought of what to say.
“Is it any different than you?” Luka asked.
“In what way?”
“You don’t use your legal name.”
“Ah, but it is still my name," Reno said. “It is still me.”
“A pseudonym would be me too,” Luka argued. “It wouldn’t lose its meaning; it would still be my work.”
Reno squeezed his hand. “I like the way you think.”
“Ah?” Luka scoffed. “Okay. Thanks. It’s just… I think it’s a compromise I would be fine making.”
Reno rubbed his thumb over the back of Luka’s hand and suddenly, Luka was all too aware of the fact that he was withReno, and not someone he’d known his whole life. Talking with him felt so easy, in a way that he usually struggled with.
“I don’t like you making compromises for me.”
Luka blinked, surprised. “Um. Not to be like, presumptuous but seeing as you have me here hundreds of miles from my home on what you said was a date with you—isn’t any kind of relationship full of compromises?”
“Relationship,” Reno hummed, sounding pleased. “Yeah. But!” He held a finger up, smiling. “Any relationship I have should be full of fulfillment and not half-joys!”
“That’s not realistic,” Luka chuckled, watching as Reno waved his finger around. “People will always have to surrender their happiness to make someone else feel better.”
“Whoa.” Reno put his finger down. “We havegotto change your mind.”
“We?”
“Yeah. Us.” Reno bumped his shoulder with his own. “Me. I’ll change your mind.”
“That’s bold.” Luka felt himself smiling around his words. “What kind of life do you live that you feel you can change my mind?”
