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“Guys we have to be onstage in 5! Let’s go, let’s go! LUCA, GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE YOU HAVE NO TIME TO BE NERVOUS RIGHT NOW!”
“OKAY, GIVE ME ONE MOMENT!” Luca shouted back, hands sweating as he powered off his phone.
“I’ll never get why you still have that old ass phone. It’s so outdated.” One of his band members said, who Luca had never bothered to get the name of. He grumbled in response, ignoring him.
“Let’s just get on stage, we have an audience waiting for us.”
“Jeez, alright, alright. You’re always so pissy before our shows.”
Luca just ignored him again and grabbed the mic from one of the staff members. Today was his last day of his world tour ever since he had made a name for himself 4 years ago.
It also marked the day when he cut off all connections of his past.
But that didn’t matter right now, he had a show to put on and he was going to go out with a bang if he could help it. Breathing in and out, Luca calmed his nerves before nodding to his band mates, stepping on stage and in the spotlight. The crowd’s cheer was deafening, nothing that Luca wasn’t used to; but it was definitely the biggest one yet. Figured, since this was supposed to mark the end of his journey as a musician.
“HELLO EVERYONE!” Luca said into his microphone, his voice booming through the speakers. “I hope you’re all having fun so far, sorry to keep you guys waiting, but now that we’re here, let’s get this party started!”
Luca smiled and winked at the audience, making everyone scream and some even fainted on the spot. Luca chuckled, too used to these things happening in his shows that there were even special medics on standby if anything happened. He projected himself as a mean and evil mafia boss, on a mission to take over the world’s grandest stage, but everyone knew he had a heart of gold. Ever since the first time this had happened in one of his first performances, he had gone out of his way to set up free refreshment stations around the venue and had designated spots for those who couldn’t get to their seats properly whether it be a physical or mental issue. He had even gone as far as turning the live tickets into virtual ones for those who had fainted during the in-person performances so that his fans wouldn’t miss out even if mishaps happened.
For these reasons and more, he was quick to rise to popularity. The music he and his team produced and covered were also heavenly to listen to, making everyone swoon at his voice.
It's getting late
I know you probably wanna stay, uh
It's complicated (Complicated) but
I'm in the mood to spill my brains to you (Aw yeah)
It had been 7 years since he started following his passion. 5 years since he graduated University. And a little over 3 years since he cut off all contact with his friends.
It wasn’t Luca’s fault, really. (In hindsight, it was totally his fault. He was an asshole). Once his covers started to go viral, he had become extremely busy. In the first few months, he still had time to reply to the few messages his friends had sent his way, but after he got scouted out by a tour company, he lost track of himself in the fame and forgot all about his friends. It wasn’t until his new band mates wished him a happy birthday on May 2nd that he got the feeling that he was missing something.
His birthday had already passed at that point. So who the hell did he have a scheduled birthday date for on May 2nd in his Calendar app?
Then it hit him. The moment his brain connected the dots, he had moved his trembling fingers over the Messages app that he hadn’t opened in ages.
There, in bright text, a recent message dated a mere 3 hours ago from Shubert 💜 stared menacingly back at him.
Luca closed the app that day, too scared to open the message from his former best friend.
If you ain't busy, take a walk with me (Walk with me)
We could get high and you could talk to me (Talk to me)
I ain't been doing way too good lately (Oh, yeah)
I'm losing signal in the hills, I'm having difficulties
That had been years ago. After that incident, Luca had to consciously avoid going into the Messages app, always curious, but always chickening out at the last second. It was only after finding out that Uki, one of his friends back from his Uni days, had been assigned to designing his costumes for the tour, that he got it beaten into him to check up with them more often. Apparently Uki was still in contact with everyone else (including Shu), so Luca had to practically beg the other to not rat him out. He wasn’t thinking straight at the time, still scared and afraid that his self-deprecating self would only make them hate him even more. Even though Uki had assured Luca that no, he was just being a pussy and an asshole by doing this, the designer had reluctantly agreed to not say anything until Luca himself was ready.
After his meeting with Uki, Luca had worked up enough courage to finally open up his direct messages with Shu, a huge step if you had asked him.
Thurs, May 2, 4:00 PM
Shubert 💜
hey luca! I’m guessing you overslept lol
But! Today’s my bday if you didn’t forget
You wanna come over and hang for a bit? c:
Mon, July 8, 8:00 PM
Shubert 💜
Luca? You there?
You haven’t been answering any of our messages..
Ike’s been worried, you know
Guilt gnawed at Luca’s heart instantly, feeling a sense of sadness wash over him. He didn’t mean to ghost them, he really didn’t, but that was a mistake that he could never take back. He had closed his eyes and scrolled up, only opening them again once he had buried those newer messages with older ones, a simpler time. He smiled, reading his old chats with Shu, remembering the feeling of giddyness and comfort he would get whenever they texted.
Calling on my angels (Ooh, yeah)
It's getting darker and I'm starting to get anxious (Ooh, yeah)
After that day, every time that Luca felt as if he had lost himself in the fame, he would open his messages with Shu and scroll through every last one of them until he was stable, no longer crying through the mental breakdowns. In those days, he also went through his messages with his other friends, but none of the messages made him quite as happy as the ones Shu’s did.
Nobody told me I'd be lonely when I'm famous (Ooh, yeah)
The only number on my phone I haven't changed yet
Luca swayed to the melody of the song, eyes wandering through the crowd. He paced in the limited space on stage and looked out into the people, posing for the camera shots and pointing randomly out into the crowd as fan service. He smiled, truly enjoying this. As the song came to an end, Luca let himself rest his tired brain and as he raised his head back up from his practiced end song routine, his eyes suddenly focused in on one spot in the crowd.
At that moment, Luca swore his whole world froze. There was a slight buzzing in the back of his mind, and it seemed like even the wind stopped blowing.
There, in the audience, was the familiar face of his former best friend, Shu Yamino. His hair was shorter, and if it weren’t for the darkness, Luca could’ve sworn Shu was wearing fan merch of him. Luca’s breath hitched, the noise reverberating through the stands. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he was sure that if he had moved his microphone just an inch closer to left, his feelings would’ve been publicly displayed in front of thousands of people.
What was he doing here? ‘He came here to support you.’ He shouldn’t be here, Luca needed to go - he needed to get out. ‘But then you would be disappointing your fans. Including him.’ Luca hated how well he knew Shu. Hated how he had kept his promise from years ago. Hated his smell, his eyes, the way Shu’s nose would crinkle when he laughed, the sound of an angel.
So with no escape in sight, Luca took a deep breath and continued his concert. It was the last one, so he might as well go out with a bang.
—
When the concert ended, Luca practically bolted the moment he was out of sight of his fans. He ran past all of the staff and co-workers that were trying to congratulate him, too numb to say anything back. Once he got out of ear-shot of everyone, he discreetly slipped into his personal trailer and slid down the door, hands clasping his sweaty face as he tried to make sense of it all.
Shu was there. His mind immediately latched on to that piece of information, smiling wryly as he tried to imprint the blurry image of Shu in the crowd in his mind. He didn’t want to admit it, but throughout the years, even though he had come out of multiple slumps in his career, he hadn’t actually gotten better. He wanted to get better, to fix his mindset so that it wouldn’t hinder his reunion plans (daydreams) of meeting up with his old friends in the future.
I need to work on myself, I need to work on myself, I need to work on myself, I need to work on myself– Luca repeated this line in his head like a spell, like if he kept saying it to himself, it'll just magically happen.
“But have you?” A voice that sounded eerily like Shu’s broke Luca’s concentration. He jerked his head up, scanning the dark room that he was in as if the voices weren't just all in his head.
No. I haven’t. Luca picked up his phone, the wallpaper of him and Shu in High School mockingly blinding him. He smiled. But maybe this time I will.
—
Shubert 💜
where did you put the toothpaste?
Luca
in the second drawer
it should be the right one?
Shubert 💜
found it!
it was in the left one
Luca
Ah mbmb
Wed, April 10, 12:00 AM
Shubert 💜
gm luca c: happy birthday!!
You wanna come over so we can hang out with the rest of the gang?
Luca
Yeah sure! Thank you Shubert!!
Thurs, May 2, 4:00 PM
Shubert 💜
hey luca! I’m guessing you overslept lol
But! Today’s my bday if you didn’t forget
You wanna come over and hang for a bit? c:
Mon, July 8, 8:00 PM
Shubert 💜
Luca? You there?
You haven’t been answering any of our messages..
Ike’s been worried, you know
Mon, July 8, 11:00 PM
Shubert 💜
Luca this isn’t funny anymore
Where are you?
Why aren’t you picking up?
Thurs, July 11, 3:00 PM
Shubert 💜
Luca.. Please.. I miss you
Today 11:36 PM
Luca
hey shu.. i don't know if you still use this number but
i just wanted to say that I'm sorry for suddenly ghosting you
I… I let the fame get to me and by the time I noticed I had already become a different person
So
Im writing this now to make a promise to you (and to myself)
I’m going to get better, work on my mental state
And then.. If you’ll still have me, I want to meet you again.
Not as the famed Luca Kaneshiro, but your Luca
..I miss you too
delivered
Letting out a sigh of relief as he sent the last message, Luca pressed the power button to turn off his phone as he did not expect a reply back. His messages to Shu were moreso a motivation to himself, because he knew that in the future, if he were to ever fold in on himself again, he would go back to their chat and read the same old messages again. The messages he sent to Shu served as a gentle reminder, a false hope. That if he got better, he would be given the sweet reward of having Shu in his arms again, laughing alongside each other like they did in the past.
Luca slumped against the door, closing his eyes as his vision turned dark, taking time to properly collect himself and hype himself up for his rehabilitation plan. He wasn’t expecting it, really, but there was suddenly a dim light that pierced through his eyelids, which was weird because he hadn’t turned on the trailer’s lights yet. Luca opened his eyes again and low and behold, his phone screen had lit up. Luca held his breath as he lifted his phone to eye level, the home screen showing that he had two unread messages. His fingers felt cold as he swiped up and typed in his password, tears threatening to fall out of his eyes when he saw the perpetrator behind the notifications.
Today 11:57PM
Shubert 💜
hey luca
where are you?
Luca stared at the messages for what seemed to be an eternity. The beating of his heart was now dangerously close to sending him into cardiac arrest, his eyes were watering, and his mind was buzzing. Shu had messaged him? With the same old number? Wait… That would mean that Shu had read his messages - oh this was not good for Luca’s heart, but maybe it was too late to get embarrassed.
Luca must’ve taken too long because the next thing he knew, the chat he was having a staring contest with suddenly turned into an incoming phone call. Jumping in surprise, Luca quickly accepted, not even checking the caller.
But in his heart, he knew that there was only one person who would call him at this time.
“Hey.” Luca breathed out. “Uhm. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” He groaned when the words came out, mentally punching himself for being so awkward right off the bat. But it was all worth it when he heard an airy chuckle come from the other side.
“Mm. I guess it has been a long time,” Shu replied, tone light and carefree. “It’s been a while, Luca.”
“You kept your promise.”
“Promise?” Shu said, voice despondent, but Luca could tell he was only teasing him. A smile began to form on his face. Ah. He had forgotten how easy it was to talk to Shu. “Hmmm, the only promise I remember was that a certain someone said that they would reserve me seats at their grand concert one day.”
“Shu…” Luca let out helplessly, truly, he could never win against him. “You know that’s not what I said… But it was part of the deal, so, I’m sorry…”
“Nah, it's all good.” Shu laughed, which was music to Luca’s ears. If Shu had a laugh track, Luca would play that on repeat. “Besides, you could make it up to me by telling me where you are right now. It’s rather rude to leave someone on read, you know?” Somehow, Luca could tell that Shu was talking about something else that wasn’t his recent messages.
“What do you mean?”
“You dummy.” Shu huffed. “I came to your finale today. I haven’t left yet.”
So he hadn’t imagined Shu standing there in the audience.
“O-oh. Uhm! Then I could come and meet you?” Luca said as he got up on shaky legs. “You’re still in the venue, right?”
“I think so, yeah. You picked a good spot for the final show, this place is huge!” Shu’s voice seemed a bit muffled now, Luca assumed it was because of the weather outside. It has been getting rather cold at night lately. Before exiting his trailer, Luca made sure to grab an extra jacket just in case.
“Yeah, actually, Uki suggested this place, said that this would make commuting easier for those who had yet to see one of my shows yet.” Luca mumbled as he exited his trailer, shivering as he stepped on the ground. He must’ve been running on adrenaline earlier because he could’ve sworn it was boiling hot when he was still on stage.
“Oh. Uki did? He did mention having a new client a while back… That was you, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah… But don’t be mad at him, I was the one who wasn’t ready to face you guys yet.” Luca admitted as he scanned the venue. Shu only let out a soft sigh and said that it was fine. Most of the fans had already left, now it was mostly the staff and cleaners on site and a few generous fans who were cleaning it up. “Where are you, by the way? What do you see right now?”
“Hmm. Well, there is the stage,” Shu said, stifling his laugh.
“Reallll helpful Shubert.” Luca rolled his eyes, but he could feel himself smiling as well. “Anything else? Maybe something like, oh I don’t know, a big strong man running your way?”
“What big strong ma– Luca!” Shu yelped as Luca crashed into him, engulfing him in a big bear hug. Shu started laughing, returning the hug. “If you already saw me, then what was the point of me telling you what I can see?” he huffed, puffing his cheeks out.
“Aww don’t be mad Shu.. I just wanted to surprise you, that’s all.” Luca grinned, stepping back from the hug. “Though… If you’re here then that means you must’ve read my messages…”
“Yeah…”
“T-to be honest, Shu, I don’t think I was ready to meet you yet.” Luca blurted out, instantly regretting it as Shu’s face fell. “But! That’s only because, well, I had promised myself that the instant I get better, I would reach out to you first, so that I would have a reward at the end of my goal to change my mindset of chasing fame. But now that you’re here, it’s so hard to just - stop talking to you again.” Luca breathed out, his face felt like it was on fire right now. “A-and honestly! I’m glad I got to meet you again tonight.” Luca grabbed Shu’s hands then, caressing them gently. “I don’t know why you felt the need to reply, but I’m glad you did. Though I understand if you don’t want to stay in contact until I get better–”
Luca was cut off with a kiss. His eyes widened, his eyes darting down and Shu–
Shu was kissing him.
He quickly mentally forced his brain to start turning again and melted into the kiss, feeling Shu smile against his lips. Their kiss was short-lived, but it was definitely one that Luca would never forget.
“You big dummy,” Shu laughed as he pulled away from the kiss. “Since our last promises happened already, why don’t I make you a new promise right now?”
Luca was bewildered and a little winded at the moment. So many good things keep happening to him tonight.
“And that would be?” Luca raised a brow, motioning for Shu to go on.
“I, Shu Yamino, promise to stay with you, Luca Kaneshiro, throughout the entirety of your healing journey. No matter how long it will take, no matter how hard it will be, I will be by your side each step of the way.” Shu declared confidently, a defiant look in his eyes. Luca felt like he was going to start crying, not wanting to believe that he deserved this, deserved Shu, but the fiery look Shu held in his eyes convinced him otherwise.
“That sounds awfully like a wedding vow, doesn’t it?” Luca teased the other, chuckling through the tears. He was pleasantly rewarded when Shu’s cheeks grew redder as he hid his face in Luca’s chest.
The night suddenly didn’t feel as cold anymore.