Chapter 16 #4
“Not really.” Reno was still looking at the tiles. “You can stay here on visiting visa for many months, go back home, then come back. Then, when you are ready, you can take my name and file for spousal visa.”
“Presumptuous that I’d take your name,” Luka blurted, then regretted it immediately, “I would though. Fischer is a terrible last name. I only didn’t change it when I changed my first name because I couldn’t think of anything better.”
“Luka is not your name?” Reno’s eyes went big when he looked up at Luka.
“It is.” Luka shook his head, trying to wrangle together all the pieces of this insane conversation that was happening. “I just picked it for myself. It is legally mine, though. I—” He tilted his head forward and rested it on Reno’s shoulder. “Hikaru.”
“Hello, Luka.”
“Hi.” He took in an unsteady breath and squeezed Reno closer to him. “Two more days.”
“I know.” Reno sounded so fragile. “I will be patient for your answers.”
“Thanks.” The path Luka saw, the future with Reno spanning out before him, still felt like it had a breaking point.
He wasn’t sure if it was a sick curiosity that made him want to blurt out right then and there that he’d stay—that he’d run with Reno right on up to that edge willingly—or if somewhere in him, he hoped the moment it all fell apart would never come.
Luka knew something was wrong when he woke up. He rolled over in bed and cringed at the sweat-soaked spot he’d left behind. Everything ached, and he wasn’t sure if he’d just overdone it the night before or if he was sick. Sometimes, it was impossible to tell.
“Reno.” Luka shook Reno’s shoulder, then corrected himself. “Hikaru.”
“Hm?” Reno rolled over, sleep-soft and hazy until he fully opened his eyes. “Whoa.”
“Do you have work today?”
“You’re so pale.” Reno sat up in bed and put the back of his hand to Luka’s forehead. “Like a ghost. Um, you’re very warm. Hold on.”
Reno peeled out of bed and left the room, returning quickly with a glass of water.
“I do work later. Are you going to be okay?”
Luka shrugged and took the water. “Do you have a thermometer? I don’t know if I’m sick or burnt out.”
“Does this happen often?” Reno asked as he left for the bathroom in search of a thermometer. By the time he came back with one in hand, Luka had drained his water cup, and he handed it back to Reno.
“Yes," Luka admitted. “Sort of, it’s usually not too bad. Most of the time I just need a bit of extra sleep then I’m okay.” He stuck the thermometer in his mouth while Reno left to refill his glass. It beeped a minute later and he called out, “Thirty-seven point five. I don’t know what that is.”
“Americans.” Reno came back in the room with the glass refilled and set it on the table. “No fever, you are okay.”
Luka didn’t feel okay. “Sure. That’s good. What in Celsius is a fever?”
“Thirty-eight or higher.” Reno ran a hand through Luka’s hair; at some point through the night, it had come undone from its braid. “If it reaches that, let me know. I’ll come back home.”
Luka’s alarm went off and Reno reached over to silence it.
“Promise me you’ll tell me?”
“Okay,” Luka said, not enjoying the fact Reno would skip work to take care of him. “Only if it gets over thirty-eight. Otherwise, you are not to think of me all day.”
“Impossible.” Reno bent over to kiss his cheek. “I think of you all day. Can I make you breakfast?”
“I don’t think I can eat yet.”
“Can I play music for you?”
Luka asked, “When do you leave for work?”
“Not for a few hours; you wake me up so early. Let me make us breakfast anyway, then I can play some of the songs I have been writing.”
“Fine," Luka relented, letting himself be pampered. “I’m taking a shower though. You might have to change the sheets again. I sweated so much in my sleep.”
“O-kay, it can be laundry tonight. The ladies miss me anyway.”
“Wait, um.” Luka’s brain refused to come online that morning. “Your neighbors, right?”
“Yes, I haven’t seen them since last Tuesday. Maryanne owns the laundromat so I catch up with her when I am there. She likes to gossip.”
“You like to gossip.”
“Now, why does everyone think that?” Reno tilted his head and Luka’s stomach decided to grumble. “Sure you can’t eat?”
Luka took in Reno’s smirk and threw a pillow at him. Reno didn’t bother dodging it, letting it hit him right in the face. He gave Luka an affectionate look, put the pillow back in its place, then left to make breakfast, leaving Luka to pout for a while before trying to get up and shower.
He felt better after pancakes, fruit, and coffee, and spent the rest of the morning lying on the couch with a towel under his head while his hair dried. Reno sat on the ground on the furry rug in front of the sofa, which Luka had learned by now was one of Reno’s favorite spots in the flat.
He had a guitar plugged into a small practice amp and Luka would have thought he was showing off if he didn’t know Reno just played like that.
Occasionally, he’d pause, jot something down into a notepad by his side, then start a section over.
Sometimes he’d play the same riff over and over, until his fingers remembered what they were meant to do correctly and it reminded Luka so much of how he practiced art—drawing the same objects repetitively until he understood their forms—that he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of listening to Reno practice his music.
When Reno finally set his guitar aside and tucked a blanket over Luka, Luka was already dozing off. He barely remembered Reno kissing him goodbye, promising to come back the moment Luka might need him.
When he woke up again, he tossed the blanket off of him and sat up, his skin sweat-slick again and his head reeling.
He felt like he’d been hit by a truck.
“Fuck," he swore to himself and pulled himself up and off the couch to find the thermometer again.
When it clocked his temperature at thirty-eight point nine he dropped it onto the bed with a groan. He was officially sick, and the sudden cough that hit him proved the point, like it was the punchline to a joke.
Hikaru
38.9 :( I promised I'd tell. Please don't leave work – I'll be ok
Oh no ˇ~ˇ
On my way, I will rescue you.
Won't they be mad at you leaving on your first day back?
Maybe…
( ?? ? ) they will survive
Luka sighed and dropped back down onto the couch, throwing the damp towel to the ground to pick up later.
Joy
Hey wyd tonight? Jennifer said she got table service at Oasis, said she knows the DJ wanna come?
I got a fever, making my man take care of me (he's forcing care on me lol)
aww that sucks. I hope you feel better fast.
Wait, don't you leave tomorrow?
excellent question.
biiiiiiitch….stay in london. didn't u say ur bf would like, keep u
he's not my bf yet but yes he would
'not my bf' my ass. this is why i hate men
Stfu
Feel better xoxo
The door popped open and Reno came in, peeling his face mask and his hat off as he took off his shoes. In his arms were several shopping bags that Luka recognized from the pharmacy down the street.
He leaned over the edge of the couch to kiss Luka’s forehead before saying, “I really do only have a bit. I gotta get back, but you need meds.”
“I probably could have gotten them myself.” Luka put his phone on the table and made room for Reno to sit on the edge of the couch.
He let Reno retake his temperature, then fuss over everything to his heart’s content.
He showed Luka the different medicines he had, made him choose between the ginger ale and the Sprite, and tried to cover Luka with the blanket again, but received a lot of resistance in return.
“It’s too hot for that.” Luka kicked it off of him and Reno gave him a look so affectionate it made him squirm. “Why is your flat so hot?”
“It’s really not,” Reno argued. “It’s only twenty-two degrees out.”
“My brain is too fried to know what that means.”
Reno pulled out his phone and typed into it. “About seventy-two. I just don’t have AC.”
“How do you survive in the summer?”
Reno shrugged. “Less clothes. Fans. Not many places here have AC and the windows don’t open all the way. Plus they let the bugs in.”
“Never mind, I don’t want to move here.” Luka watched as Reno tore open a pill case for him. “Absurd that British people haven’t discovered window screens or central cooling.”
Reno handed him a pill. “You get used to it. Excuse to be naked with me.”
“I don’t need an excuse for that.”
“Oh, you got me there.” Reno handed him the ginger ale and helped tilt his head so he could take the medicine. “Can I make you lunch?”
Luka shook his head, “How is it lunch time already? Don’t you have to go?”
Reno frowned. “Trying so hard to get rid of me?”
“I told you before, this is my flat now.” Luka barely made it through his sentence before starting to cough and Reno immediately tore open a bag of cough drops and unwrapped one for him.
It was so sweet that it made Luka feel pathetic.
“Yes, make me lunch. You look like you’ll explode if I don’t give you a task. ”
“Correct,” Reno said, then pecked his temple. “You are learning.” He looked relieved to have something to do to help as he got up to start messing with things in the kitchen. Luka turned on the TV and almost immediately dozed off again.
His body forced him awake for food, and on the table was a note from Reno, Had to get back to the studio. I'm off at 7—There is soup in the fridge for you – 光
Luka ran his hand over the character, trying to memorize it. It looked nice next to Reno’s cramped English writing.
His stomach growled, a round of coughing caught him by surprise, , and he remembered he’d woken up hungry.
Also, there was soup for him, made by Reno.
Luka had to be the luckiest person alive.
He had Reno making him soup when he was sick, and the thought of Reno taking the time off work to bring him medicine, make him food, and then sneak out without waking him up was so nice that it made him feel overwhelmed.
He managed to warm up the soup, which was surprisingly good, but a tad mild, which Luka usually wouldn’t like but appreciated when feeling so badly. He ate steadily, reading the back of the medicine box to see when he needed another dose, and didn’t remember falling back asleep.
He woke up to the sun already high in the sky.
Luka felt disoriented. He blinked awake, his body aching even worse than before. He tilted his head and found Reno there, sleeping with his head on his crossed arms, half on the floor and half on the couch. Distantly, he realized his phone alarm was ringing.
With a groan, he reached over Reno and silenced his phone, and Reno stirred. He lifted his head from his arms, and there was a big crease across his cheek from his sleeve.
“Don’t tell me you were there all night.”
Reno was quiet as he stretched, ran a hand through his hair, then gave Luka a guilty look.
“Christ,” Luka swore, then coughed again and Reno unfolded his legs from under him and shook them, his face pinched in pain. “You’re getting too old to do that.”
“Hey now.” Reno shot him a look. “I’m not even thirty.”
Luka snorted a laugh that set off another round of coughing and Reno stood on unsteady legs to get him water. When he came back, Luka pulled his legs up so Reno could join him on the couch. Luka took the water, thanking him, then had to thank him again when Reno handed him an unwrapped cough drop.
Luka’s phone went off once more and he silenced it, understanding and remembering suddenly why it had gone off.
“Where’s the thermometer?” Luka asked, then took it from Reno, who was looking more concerned by the moment. When it beeped, Reno took it from him and frowned at the digital screen.
“Your flight is today.” Reno pointed out the obvious and Luka closed his eyes.
“How much does it cost to change it?” He asked, rolling the cough drop over his tongue, grateful that Reno knew what flavors he would like. “Please say it costs nothing.”
“It costs nothing.”
“Liar.” Luka smirked at Reno, who had the sense to look bashful. “Just cancel it. I’ll figure it out later.”
“Okay,” Reno said and Luka could tell he was trying not to sound excited. Reno was too thoughtful for his own good. “What else can I do for you?”
Luka let his eyes fall closed again, feeling like his head was full of cotton and the sunlight pouring through the windows was too bright. “Will you text August and let them know I’m sick and will have a new flight home soon?”
“Of course.” Reno handed Luka his phone to unlock then took it back. “Oh, where is your text app? Wait, I think I found it. Okay…ano3…” Reno trailed off and started typing before saying, “I let them know.” He put the phone back on the table and turned to Luka who slowly opened his eyes.
Reno’s expression was searching, and Luka sighed. “I’m okay, really. You can leave me here, and if I start dying, I’ll text you.”
“Okay.” Reno still looked concerned. He reached out and tucked a stray hair behind Luka’s ear. “I’ll come running.”
Reno turned his attention to the medicine, peeling the pills free from their wrapping and handing them to Luka, who took them without complaint.
Once Luka was lying down again and a fresh glass of water was beside him on the end table, Reno hovered awkwardly at the edge of the couch, looking very much like he didn’t want to leave.
“Go." Luka shooed him away. “I’ll be here when you get off work.” He looked up at Reno and reached a hand up to brush against his. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Reno’s expression softened, and he turned his hand to run his fingertips, so rough from years of pressing against strings, against Luka’s palm. He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Luka’s temple, then promised to be back later.
1 I see/I understand,
2 I understand.
3 Um…