Chapter 8 #2
I doubt that. Good luck tonight – I held it together in front of u but I am exhausted after the work week and travel
Sleep well, see you tomorrow <3
Luka pressed the number 8, picking it out from a shockingly large number of flights and felt the elevator whoosh up through the skyscraper of a hotel. He leaned against the stone wall and pressed two fingers to his lips, remembering the way Reno had kissed him only moments before. Tomorrow.
It really seemed like Reno wasn’t lying to him.
He acted like he wanted Luka, wanted to keep him, maybe even take care of him.
He looked at the ceiling of the elevator, seeing himself looking back in a mirror there and figured that Reno wouldn’t go through all this trouble to bring him here, put him up in a clearly expensive hotel, and dedicate his only free day left in the U.S.A. to entertain Luka—unless he meant it.
It made something in his gut flip, half in shocked desire and half in suspicion.
Nothing about this was slow, or sane, or normal.
How could it be when dealing with someone like Reno?
Luka felt the elevator come to a stop and the door slid to the side to show off a sophisticated but cozy-looking hallway beyond.
It was far less intimidating than the lobby and Luka was grateful for it.
He followed the signs to his room— and was also pleased to find it had a standard door—then swiped the card to get inside.
The room was impressive, but not overly flashy. It had a separate suite for the bedroom and bathroom. Luka peeked through the curtains and found the view spectacular. The living room had a couch and a table next to the kitchenette, and on the table was a vase with a rose.
A pink rose.
Luka flipped the card open next to it and it just had his name on it with a small heart.
He wondered if that was normal, if that was something the hotel did for its guests and he knew as soon as he thought of it, that it was stupid to believe so.
He placed the card down next to the vase and took a few moments with his eyes closed before leaving it behind to process later.
Like, in the morning, or maybe after the weekend had passed.
The king-sized bed had white sheets and a white comforter that looked clean and pressed, and on the pillow were chocolates.
Luka moved the chocolates to the bedside table, plugged in his phone, and tried not to be too curious if those were also courtesy of the hotel or of Reno.
He’d never stayed somewhere so nice before; maybe this was just how it was?
Again, he knew he was being foolish so he kicked off his shoes and made use of the shower before collapsing into bed. From there, he texted his friends he had made it to the hotel and wasn’t dead, set an alarm for eight am, and immediately passed out.
They met in Central Park.
Luka wasn’t ashamed that he wanted to see it; he’d never been to New York before and the weather looked like it would hold for the day.
It was just warm enough to only need a hoodie, and the few clouds in the sky didn’t promise any rain.
He still felt in awe that he was here, sitting on a chilly stone bench waiting in another city, in another state, for Reno to show up for their date.
He wanted to laugh himself silly. Reno picked him, of all people in the entire world, to spend his last day off with before flying back to Europe.
It felt like it should be a cruel joke, but the text reassuring him Reno was on the way, just stuck in traffic, made it known that nothing about this was a prank.
All Luka had to do was shyly admit to wanting to see the blossoming trees in the park and Reno arranged everything else.
He wasn’t sure if he could remember someone treating him like this before.
Luka was used to being the one to have to plan things, to set them into motion.
His exes had talked a lot about wanting to do fun things, go places, take him on dates, but then Luka would have to be the one to plan every detail and push them out the door, or nothing ever happened.
But here, Luka hadn’t lifted a finger. He was free to wake up, go on his daily run, charge a hotel breakfast to Reno’s account, then a private driver took him where he asked to go.
It felt completely unreal, but the most surreal of the entire experience was looking up from the sidewalk to spot Reno smiling at him as he walked towards him.
Reno gave a small wave, picked up the pace, and once he was in front of Luka he held out a hand for him.
“Ohayō1.” Reno’s fingers closed around Luka’s, and he pulled him up to stand. Without his boots on, Reno was eye level with Luka and the sight of his deep, brown eyes, framed by nothing but his short lashes, took Luka’s breath away.
“It is noon,” Luka said, taking a small step back to look Reno over.
He was wearing a black pull-over hoodie with a pink logo for a k-pop band on it that looked several sizes too large for him, a decently big bag with a thick black strap crossed over his chest, a tattered ball-cap on his head, and his hair in a thin braid over his shoulder. “I’m not used to you being so short.”
“Hm." Reno cracked a nervous-looking smile and flicked Luka’s cheek. “I hope it’s okay.”
Luka watched as Reno waved a hand down himself, seeming a bit shy as he pointed out his casual look. Luka nodded. “I like it.” He took a chance and held his hand out and Reno took it without hesitating.
“Still, I’m sorry for not dressing up for you.” Reno squeezed his hand and led them towards the park entrance. “My eyes were real scratchy this morning and I try not to wear too much makeup on my days off to give my skin a break.”
Luka stopped him from walking by tugging on his hand. “Stop that.”
Reno turned to him with his head tilted.
“I said I like it,” Luka affirmed and Reno’s expression softened. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. I don’t want your stage persona all the time. Like, yes, it's hot when you wear the boots cause I have to look up to kiss you but I don’t text you all day because you wear contacts.”
Reno let out a small laugh and pulled Luka to him. He wrapped his arms around Luka and said, “You are a ridiculous man.”
“That’s you, actually,” Luka mumbled into Reno’s shoulder. “Apologizing because you look like yourself.”
Luka felt Reno laugh against him without hearing it before Reno pulled back just enough to softly kiss him, only a small brush of their lips.
“Excuse me," a woman interrupted, a giggle in her voice. Reno snapped back, blushing and Luka saw a woman with a triple stroller trying to enter the park. They had stopped right in the entryway, blocking her path. They hurried aside, apologizing, and she put a hand to her mouth, giggling again as she looked them both over. Reno waved to the babies, saying something Luka didn’t know in Japanese as they passed by.
Once the woman had gained some distance, Reno leaned into Luka’s space and said, “Well, that was dumb of me," and when Luka looked at him he had a grin on his face that doubled as a grimace. He tugged on Luka’s hand and got him walking into the park.
“Got caught up in the moment. Hard when I see you to pay attention to anything else.”
Luka nearly tripped over nothing and was grateful Reno didn’t comment on it.
“You just, ah.” Reno had the hand that wasn’t holding Luka’s over his mouth, fingers touching the corner of his smile. “Handsome. I should really think of better words. I write lyrics, hopefully I can come up with something better someday, yeah? Put my work to good use.”
“You do that all the time,” Luka said, trying to accept the compliment with grace instead of denying like he usually would. “I think I would be too embarrassed if you wrote lyrics about me.”
“How do you know I haven’t already?” Reno smirked at him and tapped his temple cutely. “O-kay, no, I haven’t. I have been busy.”
Luka felt like he wasn’t going to survive the day with his face intact; he was smiling too much. “Please, don’t.”
“You cannot stop me," Reno said, and Luka hummed in defeat. Reno’s smile dropped somewhat. “I do need to be more careful, though.”
“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 looked sympathetic. “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.”