Why? - Wednesday Brief

It's Wednesday so, even though it's a special day today, with the release of my new book, I am still posting my Rune and Luke story. How committed am I :)

This week's prompt, then, is "That lucky old sun..."

 And the alternative prompts are:

"The sunlight streamed in through the..."

or

peppermint, vodka, pole dancing

or

"Brother, can you spare a dime?"

or

"kisses sweeter than wine"

or

write a time travel story involving dinosaurs.

WHY?

Rio and Luke exchanged astonished glances, as Rune reached desperately for his husband, ignoring Luke entirely.

“Rio,” Rune moaned and Rio pushed past Luke to take him into his arms. Luke got up and backed away from the bed. He was in total shock. What happened? After all that, was he going to lose Rune after all?

“Rune,” Rio said, when Rune had calmed down. “Don’t you want to see Luke?”

“Luke?” Rune asked with a frown. “Who’s Luke?”

Rio turned his head. “I’m sorry, Luke, I…”

“No. No, it’s alright. I know it’s not you-- of course it isn’t. I… I suppose I should go.”

“No, Luke. Come talk to him. Maybe…”

“I’m sorry, Rio, I can’t. I’m glad you’re feeling better, Rune. I… I hope you… I’ll see you round, okay.”

“Wait.” Luke spun around at the sound of Rune’s voice, wild hope flaring in his chest. Rune was smiling at him. He was smiling. He…

“I don’t know who you are but you must have been here for Rio so, thanks.” Luke stared at him in horror, then nodded curtly and backed out, closing the door behind him.

“Is everything alright?” a nurse asked in alarm as Luke blundered into her, blinded by tears. It was a nurse he’d got to know pretty well. “Luke, what’s wrong? Is it Rune?”

Sniffing hard and trying to pull himself together, he swallowed hard and nodded. “He… he doesn’t know me. He… he wants Rio, not me. He thinks I’ve been there for Rio, not him.”

“Come, sit down.”

The nurse led Luke to the visitor’s room and sat him down. She perched on a nearby chair, with her hand on his knee. “Amnesia’s very common after a head injury. Many patients lose the memories of what happened immediately around the time of the accident. Sometimes they never come back; sometimes they do.”

“But why did he want Rio? He hates Rio—he’s scared of him.”

“It’s a scary thing, Luke, to wake up in an ICU, surrounded by all that equipment, not knowing where you are, how you got there, or if you’re going to be okay. He’s going to be feeling ill and very confused. Rio’s a familiar face and he’ll cling to anything familiar, even if they aren’t usually close. When he starts to get better he’ll get perspective again.”

“But it took so much to stand up to Rio. Was that all for nothing? Will he go back to him and be trapped again? Why? Why is this happening? What if he doesn’t remember me? What if…?” Luke put his head in his hands and wept bitterly.

The nurse let him cry for a while, then put a warm hand on his shoulder. “You’re exhausted, Luke. You haven’t slept for the best part of two days. Why don’t you go home and have a good sleep. Give us a call tomorrow and we’ll see what the situation is by then. Whatever happens, Rune knows you were here. He knows you care. A day can make a lot of difference in cases like this.”

Luke was torn. He didn’t want to go home. He didn’t want to leave Rune, but Rune didn’t want him. He wanted Rio. Why? Feeling utterly defeated, he dragged his body out of the hospital, into the car, and home to bed. The room still smelled of Rune. He collapsed onto the bed and sobbed himself to sleep.

It was late in the afternoon when he woke, feeling like shit. The sunlight streamed through the window and, for a few blissful minutes, he snuggled into his blankets, warm and comfortable, feeling at peace. Then he remembered.

Crawling out of bed, he showered, changed and sat at the kitchen table, eating cereal and staring at his cell phone. Should he ring? Did he want to know?

As he pondered the door bell rang. With a sigh, he dragged himself out of the kitchen and opened the door.

“Rio? What are you doing here? Is Rune okay?”

“He’s fine. Much better. I… told him you’re a friend and he wants to see you, but…” Luke’s heart soared, until Rio’s next words, “… he doesn’t remember you. He has no idea who you are, except that you stayed at the hospital with him when he was sick.”

“Oh.” Rio couldn’t have hurt him more if he’d punched him in the stomach.

“Will you come?”

Luke shook his head. “No. I don’t think I could bear it. I’d have to pretend not to feel what I feel for him and I couldn’t do that. I’m sorry. Maybe in a couple of days. When I get my head around it.”

“I’m going to take him home-- my home. I’m going to look after him. I don’t… I don’t want you to see him anymore.”

Luke laughed bitterly. “So that’s it. You didn’t come because you care - for either of us. You just wanted to warn me off.”

“It isn’t like that, Luke. Not anymore. I don’t want to fight you anymore. I know Rune cared for you and I know you care for him. If he remembers you I won’t stand in his way, if he wants to come back. But I don’t want to prompt the memory. I want him to be mine again. I’m going to take care of him, Luke, I promise. I’m really going to give it a try and I won’t get the chance if you’re on the scene.”

“You mean it? You’ll take care of him and treat him right?”

“Yes. I’ll do my best to be the kind of husband I always should have been.”

“Okay. I want what’s best for him. If that’s you: if you’re what he wants… But I’m warning you. If I find out you’re hurting him again. I’ll hunt you down and tear your head off.”

“Fair enough.”

Rio held out his hand. Luke stared at it for a long time before he took it.

Now check out the rest of the flashers

Sara York    m/m

LM Brown    m/m

MA Church   m/m

Tali      m/m

Julie Lynn Hayes  m/m