Chapter Text
Luke didn’t notice he was doing it at first.
It was the third interview of the morning, the lights warm against his face, the room filled with the soft hum of cameras and polite attention. He was mid-answer—something about character growth, about the way Season 4 asked for more restraint, more quiet emotion—when the interviewer nodded and said, “And how did you find navigating that emotionally?”
Luke leaned back slightly, thinking.
“Well,” he said, slowly, “Nicola and I talked a lot about—”
He stopped.
Not because anyone interrupted him. Not because the interviewer reacted strangely. Just because something in his chest gave a small, familiar tug.
He smiled, corrected himself smoothly. “Sorry. My character and I talked a lot about—”
The interviewer laughed, kind and indulgent. “It’s hard to separate sometimes.”
Luke laughed too, but it felt thin.
Because it wasn’t hard to separate.
He just hadn’t wanted to.
—
By midday, it had become a pattern.
Luke would answer a question about pacing and mention how Nicola’s timing always grounded him. He’d talk about chemistry and say it helped that he trusted her instincts completely. He’d be asked about press fatigue and joke that it was easier when she was there to translate his rambling into something coherent.
No one stopped him.
No one needed to.
Except Claudia.
They were seated together for a group interview, Luke in the middle, Claudia Jessie on one side, Hannah Dodd on the other. The interviewer was lively, clearly delighted to have all three of them in one room.
“So,” the interviewer said brightly, “what’s been your favorite part of promoting Season 4 so far?”
Luke answered first, without thinking. “Honestly? The conversations. When they feel—shared.”
Claudia turned her head slowly.
“Shared,” she repeated.
Luke nodded. “Yeah. Like when you bounce off someone who knows how you think.”
Claudia’s eyes narrowed with theatrical suspicion. “Interesting.”
The interviewer laughed. “Anyone in particular?”
Luke opened his mouth.
Claudia beat him to it.
“You mean Nicola,” she said.
Luke froze.
The room went very quiet.
Then Luke laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean—yeah. Probably.”
Claudia leaned back in her chair, satisfied. “He’s been doing that all day.”
“Doing what?” Hannah asked, curious.
“Saying her name like it’s punctuation,” Claudia replied. “Full stop, comma, parentheses. Nicola.”
Luke groaned. “You didn’t have to say that.”
“I absolutely did.” Claudia grinned. “It was getting embarrassing.”
The interviewer’s eyes lit up. “You miss doing press with her.”
Luke hesitated.
Hannah tilted her head, soft smile playing on her lips. “You miss doing interviews with Nicola, don’t you?”
Luke looked at her.
Then he sighed, shoulders dropping just slightly.
“Yeah,” he said. “I do.”
The honesty settled into the room like something warm.
—
It followed him through the rest of the day.
Another interviewer asked about memorable on-set moments, and Luke smiled without thinking. “Most of mine involve Nicola laughing at me.” The answer came easily, like it had been sitting at the front of his mind all along.
When someone else asked how he managed to maintain his energy during long promo days, he shrugged slightly and said, “She’s usually better at that than I am.” There was a fondness in his voice that he didn’t bother hiding.
Another interviewer brought up chemistry tests, asking if they’d done anything special to build it. Luke shook his head and smiled. “We didn’t really test it. It was just there.”
Between interviews, Claudia passed him in the hallway and leaned in, her voice deliberately loud enough to be heard. “Say her name again. I dare you.”
Luke shot her a look. “You’re enjoying this too much.”
“Immensely,” she said, grinning.
By evening, Luke’s voice was hoarse and his smile felt worn thin. Back in his hotel room, he dropped into the chair by the window, city lights blinking back at him. He picked up his phone and typed before he could talk himself out of it.
“Apparently I can’t stop talking about you today.”
Across town, during a quick change between rehearsals, Nicola read the message and laughed softly, shaking her head as she replied, “I’m flattered.”
Luke smiled at the screen and typed back, “Claudia noticed.”
Her reply came instantly. “Claudia always notices.”
Luke’s smile lingered as he typed again. “She says I miss doing interviews with you.”
There was a pause that felt longer than it probably was.
“Do you?” Nicola asked.
Luke stared at the screen for a moment before answering honestly. “Yeah. I really do.”
The response came almost immediately. “I’ll be there for the second half of promo. You know that.”
Luke leaned back in the chair and exhaled, the tension easing from his shoulders as he replied, “I know. I’m counting the days.”
—
Later, in the hallway, Hannah walked beside Luke.
“You okay?” she asked gently.
“Yeah,” he said. Then, after a beat, “I didn’t realize how much she anchored me until she wasn’t there.”
Hannah nodded. “That makes sense.”
“She makes it lighter,” Luke added. “Press can feel… performative. With her, it just feels like talking.”
Hannah smiled. “Then it’s good she’ll be back.”
“Very good,” Luke said.
—
When Nicola finally joined the promo weeks later, it was Claudia who announced it first.
“There he is,” Claudia said loudly as Nicola entered the room. “Your favorite conversation partner has returned.”
Luke looked up.
And there she was.
He smiled, the tiredness falling away instantly.
“About time,” he said.
Nicola grinned. “Miss me?”
Luke didn’t deflect. “Yeah.”
Claudia clapped once. “Character development.”
Hannah laughed. “Told you.”
They sat down for the interview, Luke and Nicola side by side.
The interviewer barely got through the introduction before the rhythm returned—overlapping sentences, shared laughter, easy understanding.
Claudia leaned back, arms crossed, satisfied.
“See?” she said to Hannah. “He’s stopped saying her name every sentence.”
Luke glanced at Nicola.
Then smiled.
“Only because she’s here.”
And this time, no one missed it.