WHO: Mark, Billy and Luka WHAT: Sunday, Nov. 18th. Mark gives Billy and Luka his blessing (sort of) by sneaking into Luka’s room with some saltines and Powerade and watching Golden Girls with them.
When Billy hadn’t resurfaced, Mark went looking. He told anyone who asked that Billy was spending the night in his room before sneaking off, loading a backpack full of Billy’s clothes and some food before quietly climbing up the side of the faculty building. If he tapped on the wrong window he’d be in more trouble than he might be able to explain, but in the dark, the glow from Luka’s workspace was just visible through the glass.
He lightly knocked on the window before prying it open. Luka probably would have protested if he hadn’t been nearly delirious with fever, but he was, so .. he didn’t.
Mark was right: Billy was in there. He was curled up on Luka’s bed, one arm wrapped around him and cradling him against his chest to let him rest. He was half asleep himself, but at the sound of noise in the room his ears perked and he jerked his head up in a panic. They couldn’t afford to get caught. For a moment, genuine panic set in----until he saw that the person climbing in through the window was the one person who knew.
“Mark?” he whispered. “What are you doing here?”
“You’ve been here forever. I covered your ass, don’t worry. Everyone who cares thinks you’re in my room. I brought you clothes.” Mark quietly shut the window behind him, keeping his voice low like someone would overhear if they spoke at a normal volume. Just to be safe. “And some saltines and snacks, I figure neither of you have had the chance to go out and get food since you snuck in here.”
Billy kissed Luka’s heated forehead and slowly untangled himself from him. He climbed off the bed to take the bag, peeking into it. “Are you serious...? Mark, this is. Thank you. Luka could probably stand to eat something, he hasn’t had an appetite all day. Or he’s been... resting, like this.” He glanced back at Luka, frowning. He wondered who would be here in his place if he wasn’t here to take care of him. Would he be left to handle this alone?
Luka groaned, resettling when Billy left and pulling the blanket up over his shoulders. He couldn’t seem to hold himself up very well or move without hurting, which could have been from the fever or from the infection area on his chest itself. “What are you doing here? Billy. What the fuck.”
Billy clutched the bag to his chest, turning back to Luka. “I----Luka, Mark...” Shit. Oh, God. “Mark knows. It’s okay. He brought some things for you.”
“Relax, Luka. You let an infection get bad enough to knock you on your ass, which means you probably don’t have stuff laying around to deal with it. There’s some Powerade in there, too, in case you’re sick to your stomach.” Mark shoved his hands in his pockets, suddenly awkward. He’d made jokes about Luka like everyone else, but knowing how Billy felt about him make Mark want very badly to be liked by him. It wasn’t a seamless transition in attitude.
“Thank you, Mark.” Billy smiled faintly and went back to the bed to sit down and go through it. “He’s right, Luka. You should eat something. At this rate you’re probably dehydrated.” He wanted to invite Mark to stay, but it wasn’t his room. It was Luka’s.
Luka was ignoring Billy for the moment, staring at Mark with as much intensity as he could muster. He painstakingly sat up, leaning against his pillows when he felt his head spin. “You haven’t told anybody, have you?”
“Of course not. Billy’s secrets are as good as mine. I really did just come here to help, you know.” Mark leaned against the windowsill, trying not to look put off. “I can go, if you want me to.”
Luka was quiet for a few long moments before he shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m probably boring the shit out of Billy right now. If you want to stick around you can.” It was selfish, of course. He didn’t want to be alone, and he knew that Billy wouldn’t leave him right now.
“You’re not boring me,” said Billy. “I just don’t want to leave you alone right now, because I know if you start feeling worse you’re not going to ask for help.” He gestured to a chair near Luka’s workbench. “Sit down, Mark, if you want to stay. Just keep your voice down. Peter and Sebastian are in the other room.”
“I would be fine. I just need to take my antibiotics and .. sleep, I guess.” Even when it was Billy, Luka naturally dug in his heels and resisted being taken care of. He grudgingly cracked open a Powerade and didn’t even admit that it made him feel better when he drank in.
Mark, meanwhile, sank down into the chair and finally got a look at the heart. He might not have had the same immediate lust that Billy had, but it made his breath stop for a second. It was real. Holy shit it was real. “Uh. ...So. Um. Don’t you want to watch a movie or something? It’s boring just sitting and waiting for it to pass, don’t you think?”
“I’ve kind of been napping,” Billy admitted. “Luka and I were talking and then he crashed, and we just kind of dozed off, but... a movie would be nice.” He smiled faintly, glancing at the heart. “It’s awesome, isn’t it.”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t say it makes want to fuck your boyfriend, but that’s why it’s you and not me.” Mark shot Billy a crooked grin. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Luka said dryly. “You’re too old for me, anyway.”
Mark snorted, spinning in the chair so he was facing the television. Luka’s room really was just some sort of … tricked out lab-slash-bachelor-pad. Of course it was. He could afford anything he wanted and spent most of his time in here. “You’ve got to have something good in here. You can at least afford some decent movies. Billy, you pick.”
Billy shrugged. “I don’t know, I haven’t browsed his collection,” he said, glancing back at Luka. “What have you got?” He crawled off the bed and went to the rack of DVDs to pick through it.
Luka shrugged. “I put them on as background noise. There’s... stuff,” he reluctantly admitted. The stuff turned out to be a few seasons of The Golden Girls, some romantic comedies, artsy, independent films (a few of them in Russian). Nothing loud or fast-moving. Background noise.
Billy immediately reached for The Golden Girls season one box set, tugging it off the shelf. “Are you serious?” he asked, looking back at Luka and grinning, his ears perked. “Really?” Like they were soulmates or something. “This is my favorite show.” He didn’t even have the decency to sound embarrassed about it.
Luka shrugged again with just enough decency. “Loud action films distract me while I’m working. And I like Rue McClanahan.”
“Well, this is what we’re watching.” Billy opened up the case and put the first disc into the player. “This runs in reruns at night, and when my mom was off working I used to watch this all the time. And then I had it on tape, and DVD. I don’t know why I latched onto it, I can’t explain it. Mom thinks it’s hilarious but she thinks they’re a little … cavalier about sex. Which is fine for her to watch but it took her a while before she’d actually let me.”
“Your mom wouldn’t let you watch Golden Girls?” Mark asked, incredulous. “That’s fucked up. Your mom’s weird.” Most people were respectful of Rahne. Mark, however, didn’t have the family history with her and was openly bitchy. He couldn’t help it.
Billy glanced warily at Mark. “She’s conservative,” he said. “And to be fair it’s not really what a seven-year-old should be watching sometimes.” He pressed play on the remote, but he was watching Mark like he was waiting to be challenged. As difficult as his relationship with his mother was, they were still close, and for the past three years Mark had been pretty aggressive about her, her faith, and her treatment of Billy.
“It’s ridiculous.” Mark wasn’t afraid to challenge him---or anyone, really, especially when it came to Billy’s crazy mother.
Luka ended the moment by interrupting with, “If you guys are going to fight, please don’t do it while this theme song is playing.”
For a moment, it looked like Billy was going to growl and bite Mark, but he backed off. Billy had gained a lot of independence since arriving at the school. Being Mark’s friend had changed him considerably. He was more open-minded, he was far more independent. Being away from his mother allowed him to come into his own and find his own identity. When he’d first arrived as a freshman, he’d never been away from home before. He’d cried constantly, he’d sob every time his mother called him and beg to come home. To say he’d grown up was an understatement.
The silence was awkward. Luka picked up the remote and hit “Play All” before reaching over to pat Billy’s side of the bed. “Come on. It’s big enough and I know you guys share a bed all the time anyway. Stop making faces at each other.”
It gave Mark pause. He scrunched his nose, looking between Luka and Billy. “Are you going to fail me if we keep making faces?”
“I don’t teach your class anymore, smartass.”
Billy climbed back up onto the bed and settled in. “Come on. We’ll stay until you fall asleep, Luka.”
“Stay as long as you want.” Stay forever is what he meant. Luka was resistant, but he wasn’t attached to the idea of being lonely or alone. With most of the Powerade gone, he settled down, curling back up under the covers even as Mark was climbing up beside Billy. If he was bothered that they were so close, it didn’t show. If Mark and Billy wanted to be together, they’d be together. There was nothing to feel threatened by.
Billy wrapped himself around Luka and cradled him. He was taller than Luka, his limbs longer, and Luka hardly seemed like the older one when they were like this. “Just rest, okay?” He kissed Luka’s hair. They hadn’t been together all that long, but Billy seemed to be perfectly settled. Physical affection like this was easy for him.
Luka curled up, listening to the show without watching it. He was shaking, burning up and still shivering. Mark just kind of watched at first; he’d never seen Billy so content or so affectionate with anyone but Mark himself, after all. It was easy to forget that Luka was staff and that they really weren’t supposed to be together.
Mark worried. Of course he worried. His best friend had gone and gotten involved with a teacher, but seeing it up close changed things. If they needed someone to watch out for them, then … then that was fine. Mark was fine with that.