Luca awoke to movement, as he was being shoved around and poked mercilessly.
"Take me back to my house." Andrew said, wrapped up in the blanket from Luca's bed to shield himself from the sun. Luca had barely even had the chance to fully open his eyes and remember where he was.
Luca stared at Andrew for a moment, trying to remember what he was doing here in the first place. All of the memories soon flooded back to Luca.
"Do you need a hoodie, or something?" Luca mumbled, attempting to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He sat up and propped himself up with his hands.
Andrew blinked, thinking if he really wanted to take Luca's hoodie. He nodded, thinking it would be foolish and rude if he were to just steal Luca's (probably) only blanket.
Luca moved his legs so he was sitting up fully on the couch. Standing up, he put his hand out to try and balance himself. Andrew involuntarily grabbed it, as he was used to Norton wanting to hold hands almost twenty four seven.
Luca noticed immediately, and tilted his head at Andrew. The taller of the two had never been a touchy person, they rarely even hugged. This was the most physical affection Luca had gotten from Andrew in years. He savored it for a second, finding himself to be a generally touch starved person.
Once Andrew realized what he was doing, he jerked his hand back and looked away in embarrassment.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to." He said, clearing his throat. He turned to walk himself back to Luca's bedroom, thinking it would just be better if he went by himself and found the hoodie on his own, too.
"It's okay! I just didn't know that would happen. Caught me by surprise, that's all!" Luca was trying to revive the situation, possibly make it less awkward. Andrew still walked on, grabbing the first hoodie he saw in Luca's closet. It wasn't like there was much to choose from. Luca was typically frugal with what he spent his money on, causing him to have a very sparse selection of hoodies. A limited amount of clothes, just in general.
Luca brushed it off, deciding to not let it make his day anymore awkward. On the other hand, that interaction would be plaguing the rest of Andrew's day. He had resorted to majorly overthinking it, thinking about what Luca now thought of him. Would that second long hand hold be enough to ruin their relationship? Andrew could not handle another loss.
The rest of the morning consisted of Luca attempting to make small talk, and Andrew completely ignoring him, too caught up in his own mind. Even as Luca dropped Andrew off, he only heard a small 'thanks' before watching him scurry into his home to avoid the dreadful sunlight.
Andrew wanted to sleep for all of the next few days, or at least until he had himself together enough to bury Norton.
He would've adored burying Norton at the Lutz Cemetery, but they lived much too far away, and Andrew could not exactly travel with a dead body nonchalantly. Especially not Norton's corpse.
Instead, he had made arrangements right as he got home from Luca's house. Andrew spent the rest of that day slumped over the home phone. The first person he called was Tracy Reznik, Luca's friend who was similar to Luca in the way that she was very handy with building things.
"Is this Tracy?" He mumbled the second that the phone picked up.
"It is! Hi! May I ask who this is?" Tracy's voice was unusually high pitched and cheery, it almost hurt Andrews already fragile ears.
"Andrew Kreiss. Could you make me something?" Andrew wasted no time making small talk, as he wanted to get back to sleeping in his kitchen floor as soon as possible.
"Oh, Hi Andrew! Sure, what'd you need?"
"Coffin. For a guy about 6'0. Thanks."
Tracy was stunned for a moment, as she had expected anything but that. She knew how to make a coffin; she was just unsure as to why he would need one. She decided not to pry about it— if someone close to him had died, she didn't want to be the recipient of Andrew's grieving. Tracy just could not really deal with that.
"Sure! I'll get started immediately. I'll call again when I'm done. Stay safe, Andrew!" She didn't change her tone, due to her overthinking what reaction that would get out of Andrew.
The white haired man hung up, glad to be done hearing the squeaky and annoying voice.
The next person he called was Emma Woods, one of his closest friends. One of the only people who had managed to get as close to him as Norton had.
"Andrew! Are you okay?" Emma blurted out upon picking up the phone. She hadn't heard from him, but had heard of Norton's death. She was not close to Norton whatsoever, they had only met a handful of times. However, Emma was painfully aware of how dear Norton was to Andrew. She couldn't predict how he would handle Norton's death at all.
"Hi, Emma. I'm alright. Do you have any flowers that you could help me plant, sometime soon? Purple ones. Like the kind I used to wear." Andrew felt comfortable enough with Emma to not explain himself.
"I do. When are you going to need me?"
"I'll call you. Thank you, Emma. I look forward to seeing you." He hung up the phone before letting her respond, the want to sleep filling his mind. He'd have to groom himself sometime, take a shower and make sure he didn't look just as dead as his boyfriend. Today was not that day.
He decided to try and sleep in their bed, which was the same as when he left it last. Just entering the room caused anxiety to bubble up in him, but with a deep breath, he managed it. Andrew ran his fingers on the soft linen sheets, taking off his shoes and other uncomfortable garments. He sat in his bed, back facing Norton's side. He inhaled deeply, letting the air fully absorb into his lungs before laying down completely.
The soft comfort of the bed submerged him, as he sank down into the memory foam mattress. He closed his eyes before he could catch sight of the other part of the bed, feeling around for the blanket. He pulled it over him, causing the sleepiness to only take him over more. Andrew fell asleep in a matter of minutes, being more comfortable than he had been in what felt like forever.
