Nightshade

Luka- A fateful meeting

Luka waited, his heart beating quickly. He must be crazy, he thought. To be meeting a stranger? An amateur writer he'd been talking to for months online named Kelli. He'd been toying with the idea for months, but he was terrified it would be a trap. But Luka was careful this time. He had set up the meeting at the bookstore in the city on the release day of his newest work, and was mingling with the crowd, though it killed him to be so close to so many unknown people. He had trouble keeping track of the tall young man he was supposed to meet due to his meager 5 feet and 2 inches of height, but so far Kelli seemed safe, if not a tad overtalkative. He was currently chatting up the cashier as she rung him up for a copy of luka's newest work, and finally, as Kelli went to sit by himself in the Cafe built into the store, he walked over, his footsteps practically silent beneath the low hum of voices from the other patrons. He adjusted his mask, thanking the gods that a mask was still socially acceptable thanks to covid, and he tapped Kelli lightly on the shoulder. The man jumped a bit and turned to face him "Oh! Hello there, did you need something?" Luka blushed a bit at the man's kind tone of voice and his attention directed oh so completely on him. Luka cleared his throat and silently begged that he wouldn't stutter too bad "a-are you enjoying t-the book?" Kelli seemed to have a moment of recognition "I am, as a matter of fact. Are you Lukas?" Luka gestured for him to keep his voice down nervously "y- yeah, I'm Luka. You're k-kelli, right?" Kelli nodded and pulled out a comfy looking chair for the other "s-so... suprised?" Kelli laughed a little "I mean, yeah, I thought for sure you'd be older! You can't be a day over 19" Luka squirmed a little in his chair, trying to get used to the strangers eyes on him "Twenty f-four, actually."
"Ah, I'm sorry! Well it's a pleasure finally meeting you, sorry if I offended you" Luka shook his head, feeling guilty for talking so defensively "d-did you have any q- questions about the b- book?" Kelli thought a moment "well I guess my biggest ones are the usual, will there be a sequel and what's the book based off of for you?" Luka smiled a little underneath his mask "m- maybe, I'm not sure y- yet... and t- the time I was k- kidnapped by Fans." Kelli nodded, Luka had already explained that event to him to help him understand his paranoia. He worried his lip with his teeth, having trouble deciding what to say next. Thankfully, Kelli spoke up "so how are Jeremy and Henry?" Luka couldn't help it, he perked up at the mention of his best friends, a potted fern named Henry and the worm he had rescued on a rainy day named Jeremy "w-well Jeremy is doing good, but h- Henry needs s- some more sunlight, which is h- hard because ya know, I hate o- opening the blinds at all. H- he's trying to convince me it's ok but i-i dunno, I'm not s- sure what to do" Luka blushed as he realized how much he'd said. "Hm... well maybe you try and designate a part of your house that you don't go in and you install electronic blinds so that you can go in to talk to them when you need to but otherwise they can be getting sun" Kelli offered, rather helpfully. Luka smiled at him, his stomach full of butterflies, he couldn't believe someone was so nice in real life! But no, he had to stay at least a little wary... "u-um, what about you k- Kelli? Why did y- you want to meet so bad?" Kelli laughed, reddening slightly "ah, well we all like to meet our heroes right? You and your writing are kinda a big deal to me, especially how you write from experience, it's what inspired me to live how I do! I want to experience everything I can in life, and use it to write the best story I can!" Luka laughed a little, unsure of what to say. "W-well I think you d- definitely could do that, your wr- writing is already amazing! A- and I will say writing from e- experience is certainly a way t- to ensure better quality wr- writing." They talked a while more, Luka slowly opening up and talking more easily, stuttering less as he grew more comfortable. Eventually, Luka gave him his number and Kelli headed out, leaving Luka to watch the book launch a while longer. Luka zoned out for a bit, but was jerked back to consciousness by the clearing of a man's throat. He looked up, and greeting his vision was a beautiful man, with a right eye like chipped ice, the left covered by an embroidered eyepatch. The man was wearing a striking red and white suit, and his intense gaze was focused solely on luka. "Sorry if this is rude, but may I sit here?" Lukas squirmed, it really wasn't but... he asked nicely. Luka nodded noncommittally, and the man pulled out a chair at the table and took a seat "I apologize for the intrusion, I have... some questions that weigh heavily on my mind, and you seem like a young man who may enlighten me. The man looked at him, eyes shining beneath his white silky locks. "W-well.. um... what's th- the question?" "What do you think of people, can they be trusted? Is beauty real?" Luka bit his lip beneath his mask, thinking, wanting to answer honestly, for some reason "...I th- think, you just g- gotta find the right people to put your faith in, and t-there you will find beauty." The man nodded "thank you for your answer." He stood up and brushed himself off as Luka began to scratch his arm nervously. "I'll leave you be now, but I do hope we meet again" Luka watched the man leave, then hurriedly got up and left himself, weaving between people. He got out of the store, but before he could breath in relief, a strong hand grabbed his neck from behind, and slammed his head into the brick wall, knocking him out cold.