Chapter 6 #2
“I ordered for you,” Arnaud said, and Reno shrugged, fine with whatever Arnaud got him. The waitress looked everywhere but at them as she set down their waters and coffee, looking flustered, her cheeks pink.
“Did you watch the new episode yet?” Jaewon was talking to Arnaud, holding his phone up and showing him a photo of an actor Reno didn’t recognize.
“No." Arnaud shook his head. “I don’t know how you got me into this het drama, man.”
“The show is good and you like girls.” Jaewon rolled his eyes. “You have to admit she’s hot.”
“I like Amelia,” Arnaud said and the waitress came back with trays of food. She set them down one by one, saying what they were shyly. “I’m a one-girl kind of man,” he said proudly then thanked the waitress for the food. She turned red and left quickly.
“And how many men?”
“Time will tell.” Arnaud smiled and Reno flicked a straw wrapper at him. “You—”
“Don’t,” Reno said, then pulled his plate to him. There was some kind of sandwich on it and a bowl of fruit.
Sebastian said, “Yeah, don’t.” He dug into his own sandwich and gave a pointed look at Reno.
“O-kay,” Reno said, not wanting to get into it so he picked paying attention to his phone over his friends. He clicked it on and found nothing new from Luka so he flipped over to check his social media accounts.
He was making his way through the bowl of berries and melon when he dropped his spoon. The clank drew the attention of the rest of the people at the table and whatever argument they were having stopped.
“What now?” Sebastian asked and peeked over Reno’s shoulder at his phone. Reno felt him stiffen when he saw what Reno had open. “Oh, I was just hoping it was another shirtless pic of your new twink.”
Reno shook his head, not really in the mood to chew Sebastian out for talking about Luka like that when he was looking at a video of him taken from the venue’s balcony last night. His profile was in clear view and Cane’s large hand was on his back, leading him to the stage door.
“What is it?” Jaewon asked around a bite of food.
“Luka, but not hot this time,” Sebastian filled him in. “Well, I mean not intentionally hot.”
“Oh god,” Arnaud said and set his coffee mug down with a long face. “Already?”
“It’s not that bad,” Reno said, sounding unconvincing.
“The post is from a fan account from the VIP section last night.” He set his phone on the table and slid it over for Jaewon and Arnaud to see.
“Apparently, they overheard he was going backstage to see me, then caught a video of him going backstage.”
“You’re right, that's not too bad,” Jaewon said with a shrug. “He came from the VIP section; it could be reasoned out he got a meet and greet ticket or something.”
“Flimsy," Arnaud said. “We didn’t sell any for this tour.”
“Well, still,” Jaewon said and finished his food before pushing his plate away.
Arnaud took the phone and clicked on the post, reading the comments. “Ugh, your fans are so nasty.”
“I know,” Reno said and lost whatever appetite he had left. “They traced it back to his account but it’s at least still on private.”
“A sensible man,” Arnaud said and pushed the phone back to Reno and Sebastian’s side of the table. Sebastian took it next and started looking around at the comments then at Luka’s account. “What are you gonna do?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? Reno slumped against the back of the booth and pushed his hair away from his face, feeling himself pout. “I wanna keep him.”
Arnaud let out a low chuckle. “That’s obvious.
” He stacked his near empty plate on top of Jaewon’s.
“You need to coach him on how to deal with this shit. Or, have him just remove himself from social media completely. If you’re serious about him, you gotta try to protect him.
Maybe you can give him Amelia’s number.”
“She’d really help me?”
“Course. She loves you.” Arnaud gave him a sympathetic smile. “But, she’d only help if you’re serious about him.”
“I—” Reno bit his tongue. “You know what this means to me.”
Arnaud’s sympathetic smile turned soft.
“One check or separate?” The waitress had come back for their plates and Sebastian stuffed the last bite he had into his mouth before turning his over too.
“Put it on mine!” Kandi turned in her seat and smiled at the waitress, who left to talk to her.
Reno ignored the intense looks everyone gave him and clicked his phone back on.
Reno wondered if people knew he could see their conversations online. Maybe, if they knew, they would behave better. To call Luka ugly was a horrible offense and it took all of his willpower not to do anything about it. Even blocking these mean-spirited fans would send alarm bells ringing.
Luka
[image attachment] Michael won't stop trying to eat my pasta
he deserves to eat it
bad for cats…or else I would
Ive never had a cat, I always wanted one but I travel too much
( ;′ - `;)
no one to help watch over it when you're gone?
Sage would, but I feel bad enough asking her to water my plants
meant to ask, who is that?
Shes my best friend. We met when i moved to londond through my ex. Safe to say I won her in the divorce
You were married???
omg no. but it was intense like we were. She was the first person I rly knew in london other than my bandmates. she introduce me to her friends and to clubbing and gay scene in london. it ended badly tho. i was only 18
im sorry to hear that
its ok, a life time ago it feels… over ten years actually
so before you met me?
we had just split before that tour.
she didn't want me to go on tour, i didnt want to be a lesbian
wait, what?
she really tried to make me her girlfriend.
hld on thats…
what even is your relationship with gender exactly
whats the term… genderqueer? I think? I like any pronoun other than she/her.
Arnaud uses they for me sometime and I like it but pronouns are not very important to me.
I just liked dresses, pretty things. my mom was more supportive than most and let me dress up with my sisters as long as I wore boy uniform to school.
I never felt like a woman, though. Just like wearing woman things.
so… her trying to make you actually be a woman was deeply fucked up
same as if i tried to make you one
fuck i think i'd never speak to you again
sad to say, it took me a long time to reach to that point with my ex. I thought i loved her.
sry I didn't mean to bring the convo down so hard :|
its ok. you would have found out eventually. make it fair?
What do you wanna know?
something difficult, your choice
The ‘…’ for Luka came up then went away a few times and Reno spotted Kandi getting up from the booth with Cane and Jonathan following her. They all followed them back onto the bus, and Reno was sprawling out onto the couch when his phone finally buzzed.
Luka
I came out to my mom and dad 8 years ago, right when I started HRT.
I figured out i was trans when i was 14 but I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide my voice changing and eventual physical changes so I wanted to tell them before those things started happening cause of the hormones. I hid who i was before then at home…
They flipped out on me, my mom cried a lot and asked me how I would ever give her children even though I always told her I didn’t want any, and if I did, I would adopt.
My dad was mostly quiet, but he took my mom’s side and idk.
Mom didn’t get it, I’ve always had pink hair, painted my nails, dated boys.
She thought that if I was going to be a man then I needed to date a woman and I guess it broke her to not just have a son instead of a daughter, but have a gay son too.
We havent talked since then.
I cant imagine my mom doing that, what kind of parent abandons their child just because they dont fit into the
how do i say it?
like… the idea of who a person is instead of who they really are? idk I guess I just dont expect people to stay the same irl as they are in my head.
A selfish, bad parent. thats who. I was always a good kid, didn't get into trouble, got good grades, went to college right out of highschool but they didnt even see my graduate because I chose to live my truth instead of be something fake to make them comfortable.
At least August was there when I graduated, and my ex bf, so I wasn't totally alone.
My ex is fine, btw. Nothing to worry about.
then why aren't you together?
Just cause hes fine doesnt mean we were fine together.
We're decent enough friends now, just… he wanted to fool around with other people and didnt take me serious when I said I'm monogamous. He thought I'd change for him, I wouldnt. So, he did some stuff behind my back and we broke up.
“Thirty minutes out, boys,” Jonathan called from the front of the bus and Reno forced himself to sit up straight. He yawned, stretched and checked the time. They still had a few hours before the show started.
Luka
That makes sense, still really sad though. You deserve to be happy, have someone you can trust to make you happy. I'm glad August was there for you when you graduated.
I think someday you should meet my mom. She would like you
haha, if you say so. but, thanks <3
I need to take a nap before we get to the venue. I'll text u a pic of my outfit for the night later. Wait, …do you like that?
You are so sweet to ask lol of course I like that. I save every pic u send me
Embarrassing to admit but youve seen me naked, whats left to hide?
oh dont remind me rn, im tring to sleep in a bus full of my friends – I do not need to be thinking about you, yeah. Being… yea.
my bad :)
Evil. ψ(n`w′n)ψ
Only twenty minutes passed before Jaewon shook his foot to wake him then pushed his legs off the couch to steal the spot. Reno put his legs over Jaewon’s lap in protest of being woken up and closed his eyes again.
“What did you mean earlier?”