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Luca doesn’t make looking at his phone while he is out with his friends a habit. This is a time for socialization, for talking to them about everything and nothing – from what he’s eaten for breakfast to the last TikTok video he watched before going to sleep the night before.
Tonight, however, he so desperately wants to look at his phone. But Petra is in the middle of talking about Disney movies and wouldn’t it be rude if he–
Another notification pops out on his lock screen. Luca’s eyes automatically drift towards it and sees “Shu Yamino sent an image”. His hand itches to unlock his phone but no! He cannot! He must not!
“Luca, I know you’re trying to be gracious by not looking at your phone,” Enna says while she’s pointedly looking at his phone. “But we also know you’ve been dying to know what your boyfriend has been saying.”
“Tell him he should get his ass over here next time,” Sonny says with a mouthful of gyoza.
Meanwhile, Petra scoots closer to Luca. “We should take a selfie and send that to him so he would feel the FOMO.”
“And anyway your Discord went off for like four times in the span of like two hours,” Uki chimes in. “You’re really just that antsy to talk to your boyfriend.”
Well, if they insist.
It’s not as if it’s difficult to convince Luca if his friends are all egging him on anyway, right?
Luca opens his camera as per Petra’s suggestion. Sonny walks over behind him and Uki leans in closer to Enna as Enna throws in a peace sign so they all fit in the frame. He takes a couple of pictures until Sonny tells him to stop.
When he opens his DMs with Shu, Luca is greeted with two pictures – one is a grill plate filled with meat and vegetables. Another is a karaoke TV screen, when Shu's group probably moved from their yakiniku dinner to a karaoke booth. The last message is a video of Shu and Claude on the stage, their backs facing the camera as they go all out belting the song. Uki hollers and Enna claps her hand, as if they're inside the karaoke booth with them.
“Hey, Shu!” The man taking the video says, prompting Shu and Claude to face him. “Do you have anything to say to Zad?”
It seems as if Shu’s face lights up at the mention of Luca, waving at the camera as Claude sings “Stay with meeeee~!”. The man laughs before the video cuts off.
Zad, you should join us next time ;) ♡ Leo
Luca replays the video, admiring Shu from the moment he’s singing with Claude to when he turned around with a tiny flush on his face, either from the exertion in hitting the high notes or he’s a little bit tipsy from alcohol.
“You really are so down bad for him.” Petra notes.
“I mean just look at his face.” Uki chuckles. “He hasn’t stopped smiling ever since.”
Luca feels his face heat up from the teasing, further exacerbated by Enna and Sonny saying their little brother is all grown up and being so in love.
Well, he can’t deny that.
But it doesn’t stop him from covering his face and whining for them to stop. However, it only does the opposite because Petra shakes his shoulder as she squeals while he hears Uki say “I’m sending this to Shu.”
Eventually, Luca calms down and pointedly ignores his phone for the rest of the night. He doesn’t get any notifications after.
It’s probably a bad idea to eat this copious amount of gyoza in one sitting. Luca leans back on the floor with his arms behind him and his feet outstretched, listening to the conversation about…something. He can’t really follow anymore, just letting their voices drone on. Petra brings out the cake she made prior to the meetup, and even in his catatonic state Luca still manages to grab a bite or two. Or three.
He likes this. He likes being in the company of his friends, doing stupid shit and having a laugh while they talk about the most random topic one can ever think of.
It’s not as if Luca doesn’t have moments like this with Shu. It’s not even as if he is required to be in every gathering Luca is in nor is Luca supposed to be wherever Shu is.
And yet Luca can’t stop himself from imagining a night where Shu might be in the room with them, leaning his body on Luca whilr he is in a similar overstuffed-from-dumplings-and-cake state. Luca would feel Shu’s warm body shake from laughter.
Or he would lean away as he tries to drive his point to whatever debate he would find himself in with Petra. But he would find himself back on Luca after, almost as if there is an invisible tether connecting him back.
Luca smiles. He would love that. Maybe next time, indeed.
–
The cold night breeze greets Luca the moment he exits the station. The usually loud and bustling streets become a lot more peaceful by this time of the night. There are still a few groups of people here and there, huddled together as they share a joke or two. A busker is about to end his set when a request comes in his way to play the harmonica.
On one of the park benches a few feet away from Luca sits a familiar figure with his head down. Luca finds himself frozen, admiring the side profile of his beloved, his face illuminated by his phone.
Finds himself reaching for his own phone, opening the camera app to take a picture.
And because he's feeling a bit cheeky, Luca sends the picture to Shu.
It takes a few moments before Shu lifts his head to look around, his neutral expression changing into an exasperated smile when he spots Luca.
“You caught my unflattering angle!” Shu complains when Luca walks over and sits beside him, and reaches for Luca's hand almost immediately.
“Hey, I have a keen eye on photography if I do say so myself,” Luca replies with an exaggerated posh accent. “And I take offense that you find the subject matter of my photograph unflattering when I find him a work of beauty no matter the angle.”
Shu rolls his eyes. “What kind of gyoza did Sonny feed you?”
“I had my gyoza with cheese. Maybe that's why I'm feeling extra cheesy tonight.”
“That doesn't make any sense at all!”
When their laughter dies down, they fall into a comfortable silence. Shu then recounts his own night out with his friends, traces of his tipsiness long gone judging by how animated he now is. He was supposed to share a taxi with Claude and Leo on his way home, but decided he'd wait for Luca instead.
Luca leans his head on Shu's shoulder while Shu plays with his fingers, humming along to the harmonica the busker is still playing.
It's weird, isn't it? They see each other mostly every day, what with them living next door from each other. Sometimes, Shu would stay the night over at Luca's place to the point that a portion of Luca's wardrobe is reserved for Shu's clothes.
Or that over at Shu's apartment, a pair of mugs with a printed Minecraft chicken and a smug Roblox face can be seen inside his cupboard.
They spend most of their time together, be it alone or with friends. Yet still, Luca finds himself missing Shu when they've been apart for mere hours.
Luca admits that he sometimes finds himself wondering if he may be a bit too overbearing, a bit too… suffocating for wanting to be with Shu and spending most of their time together. It hasn’t been that long – two years since they first kissed underneath the canopy of red autumn leaves and four months since Luca helped lift boxes to Shu’s new apartment because finally they live in the same country.
Heck, the same apartment building even!
“My friends from the States are coming over in like two weeks and they’re asking if you’ll be available,” Shu says. “They wanna meet the guy who takes up most of my time and the reason why I can’t play Valorant all the time.”
“Oh.” Luca bites his lip, feeling guilty. “Have I…really taken up much of your time lately?”
Shu raises a brow. “If anything, I’m the one always dragging you to go out.” He lifts their joined hands up and places a kiss on the back of Luca’s hand, suddenly feeling sheepish. “I can’t help it, okay? It kinda feels like I want to make up for the time when we were still apart.”
Shu looks at Luca and smiles. “If anything, I think I’m the one taking up your time that you’re probably sick of my face at this point.”
“Okay, you’re just plain wrong, Shu!” Luca refutes, shooting up from his seat. “How can I be sick of you when I want to be with you all the time?”
Shu’s eyes widen before dissolving into fits of laughter. “Are we really gonna be that type of annoying couple who can't spend a few minutes apart?”
“I don't see you complaining.”
“No.” Shu shakes his head. “No, I'm not.”
It's already way past midnight. The train station is already closed and the buses have stopped operating for the day. They can call a cab or walk for half an hour.
Luca already knows the answer anyway even without asking.
“Should we go?”
Shu smiles, standing up almost immediately and tugging Luca up by the hand. “Let's go home.”