New LuRe Fic: The Best Fake Boyfriend Ever, 4/4
The Best Fake Boyfriend Ever, Part 4
by Suz
Also posted on AO3 here.
*
Nearly a month into their relationship and Reid honestly felt like he'd known Luke for years - in a good way. He was starting to get used to the cuddling thing - even initiating it himself, sometimes, on the days when a patient hadn't made it. Luke had only asked him what'd happened the first time and on the few occasions since then, just knew to hold Reid quietly.
Their lives fit so well together and they fit together so comfortably there was rarely any awkwardness between them - even when it came to sex. Reid still hadn't gotten hard, not completely, though as they grew closer and their sex life advanced he'd definitely started feeling the occasional touch of arousal and had felt some signs of life in the damn thing.
Luke fucking himself on Reid's fingers had been particularly memorable, and the closest he'd come yet to actually getting hard. Luke had been overjoyed at first - but had had to temper his reaction pretty quickly when it'd become clear that Reid's erection had decided not to fully realise itself.
Still...
“Progress, right?” Luke told him after, who not once had judged him or made him feel like any less of a man.
Reid knew all that 'you're only a real man if you can fuck someone' stuff was bullshit anyway, but Luke's reaction helped nonetheless. “Progress,” he agreed, and leaned in to kiss him.
As their sex life progressed, so did the rest of their lives. Luke was still frequently in contact with his dad - had even had a couple of brief, strange phone calls with his mom. She was seeing a therapist, who thought it was best - for the time being at least - that she not have a lot of contact with Luke. Not yet, anyway.
Reid was honestly kind of grateful. He'd been there each time Luke had spoken to his mom and he always got upset and guilty afterwards, asking himself why he hadn't noticed and placing all the blame firmly on himself. Reid hated it, told him to stop feeling sorry for himself, and cuddled him aggressively for an hour.
Smiling against Reid's neck afterwards, Luke had said a quiet thank you.
As the weeks passed, Reid had come to see just how much Luke's job meant to him - and just how hard he worked. Though he didn't spend all evening on it, he brought something from work home almost every single night - sometimes a project that he wanted to keep hashing out, sometimes just his frustration that he couldn't get something done fast enough to help.
One day he came home with take out and a pad of paper, and they sat on the sofa spit balling everything they'd do need to do to make the foundation working with the hospital a reality. Reid already knew all the board members, even if they weren't his biggest fans, but at least he knew their weaknesses.
They ended up getting into a healthy debate about the importance of healthcare versus emotional support, which of course resulted in kissing and shirts coming off.
“Never gonna get any work done at this point,” Luke gasped out between kisses.
“Shame,” Reid muttered, not meaning it, because as Luke rocked down against him, he was actually enjoying the delicious, delicious friction and was even maybe starting to-
Luke's phone went off.
They both froze, more than aware that Reid had been starting to get hard.
Luke blinked down at him as the phone kept ringing. “We could ignore it,” he suggested.
Unfortunately, Little Reid had already gone back into hiding. “Better answer it,” he sighed. “I don't think he's coming back out to play anytime soon.”
Regretful, Luke rolled off of him and reached for his phone. He was still shirtless, though, so Reid just remained sprawled where he was and enjoyed the view.
“Hey, Dad,” Luke greeted as Reid stared at his shoulders. Said shoulders tensed almost immediately, as Luke said, “Shit.” Followed by a wince and, “Sorry, Dad.”
Intrigued, Reid sat up and watched attentively as Luke listened for a few more seconds, before thanking his dad and hanging up. Throwing himself back down onto the sofa he leant against Reid, looking grumpy.
“What's up?”
“Grandma's back,” he explained, “and she's not happy. She's just been at the farm, so she'll probably be here in a couple of hours.”
She was coming straight to Luke? “At least your dad gave you a heads up. Better than her turning up out of nowhere, right?”
“True,” he conceded. “I knew this would come,” he sighed, “that I'd have to face the consequences of my actions. I just...hoped I wouldn't,” he grinned wryly.
“You did what you did because you thought it would help your mom,” Reid argued. “If Lucinda's anything like the woman you've told me about, she'll see that. Didn't you say they used to have a difficult relationship themselves?”
“When Mom was younger, yeah,” Luke nodded. “They can both be so strong willed.”
“Gee, I wonder where you get that from,” Reid asked, making Luke roll his eyes. “Come on,” he continued, pulling Luke up to his feet, taking in the papers and empty food containers spread around. “Let's get this cleared up and then I should probably get a shirt on. Make myself presentable to meet your grandma,” he quipped.
“You've got nothing to worry about,” Luke promised. “She'll love you - trust me. If anything it's me she's going to be angry at.”
Reid wouldn't bet on it - or that if she was really angry, she wouldn't stay that way for long. Luke had already told him how close they were.
After clearing up the mess, Reid took a quick shower. Giving his dick a perfunctory wash, he decided against trying to jerk off right then and just set about cleaning the rest of his body.
He found Luke distracting himself by re-ordering the contents of the dishwasher for the third time. Making a face, Reid dragged him back to the sofa, turned the TV on, and held him there until he started to relax.
Neither one of them said anything, but when the tension finally went out of Luke's body and he relaxed back against him, Reid quietly pressed the sides of their heads together.
When Lucinda inevitably arrived, they looked at each other for a few moments. “You got this,” he told Luke, who nodded firmly and went to buzz her in.
When the door finally swung open, they were greeted by a severe-looking woman who immediately regarded Luke with an arched eyebrow. “I've spoken to your father,” she announced. “He explained to me why you all did what you did.”
“Okay,” Luke said carefully, still holding on to the door.
“But she's my daughter, Luke,” Lucinda said bluntly. “I had a right to know.”
“She's an adult,” he said back, just as firmly. “And she asked us not to tell you.”
She just kept staring at him. “Her...issues were affecting you directly, and you're still putting her needs first? You are something else, young man.” Sighing, she held out her arms, “Come here.”
Relieved, all the tension that had returned to Luke's body fled as he threw himself into her arms. “I was so worried.”
“Oh, don't be ridiculous,” she told him, holding tight. “There's nothing you could ever do that'd make me really angry at you. Now,” stepping back, she nodded at Reid, “let's sit down and you can tell me about everything - including your new man.” Looking away from him, she followed Luke into the apartment. “Don't think I'm letting you off the hook for not telling me about him sooner.”
Closing the door, Luke offered to take her jacket and then gestured towards the sofa. “You've been overseas for months.”
“I have a phone,” she argued, as Reid moved into the kitchen to get her a glass of water.
“To be honest,” Luke admitted, tucking her jacket over his arm, “it's still kind of new. We hadn't been dating long at all when we visited the farm and everything...happened.” Hanging up the jacket, he joined her on the sofa.
Studying her grandson for a while, she then happily accepted the glass of water Reid offered her. “Thank you,” she said politely, then quickly lowered it to the coffee table and held his gaze. “Were you here when Holden called earlier?”
“You know about that?” Luke asked.
“It hardly takes a genius to work out what his first move would've been,” she told him, then faced Reid again. “Go on. Answer the question.”
Was this a trick question? He definitely felt like he was being judged. “Yes.”
“And you stayed?” she asked rhetorically. “I like you.” Lucinda held out a hand. “Reid, isn't it?”
“Reid Oliver,” he confirmed, shaking her hand.
“And you are a doctor?”
“A neurologist.”
“Excellent,” she announced, clearly pleased. “Luke, hold on to this one. He's already a vast improvement over those other young men you've been dallying around with lately.”
“You make it sound like I've been sleeping with half of Chicago,” Luke muttered, face flushing.
“I don't judge,” she said easily, “I just know a good thing when I see it.”
“Flattered as I am,” Reid remarked, “how is it that we've only just met and you think I'm a 'good thing'? Is it just because I'm a doctor?”
“Hardly,” she shot back. “Lily's...behaviour didn't scare you off. You've stuck around for Luke now. I know everything I need to know. Plus,” she admitted, “I'm a practical woman, and you being a doctor also doesn't hurt.”
Luke shook his head.
They talked about their relationship a little bit more, then about the work she'd been doing overseas. Inevitably, of course, the conversation had to come back around to Lily.
“Did you see her?” Luke asked.
“I arrived back in Oakdale early this afternoon,” she nodded. “I stopped by to see Lily at work - she told me herself what'd happened and that she was...getting help.”
Reid could only imagine how that conversation had gone.
Luke looked at her hopefully. “Do you think it's working?”
“I hope so,” she shrugged, “but I really don't know. She seemed...normal,” she winced, like she knew that was the wrong word. “But then she seemed normal before all this - a little too focused on Noah, perhaps, but I didn't think...” Lucinda took a moment. “How did I miss this, Luke? She's my daughter. I know I've never been the most nurturing of mothers, but...”
“You're a great mom,” Luke insisted.
Lucinda regarded him fondly, touching his face briefly. “You only say that because of how close we are, because of who I am now. But, in my younger days...” she shook her head. “I wasn't always there for Lily the way I should've been. And she certainly didn't get this ridiculous notion in her head from me - but it had to come from somewhere. How did I miss that?”
As far as Reid knew, Lily had had no official diagnosis of anything and had no idea if she ever would - but as a doctor he knew that diagnoses didn't always solve everything anyway. “As a doctor who specialises in the brain - and the nervous system,” he felt compelled to add, “in my expert opinion I can honestly say that sometimes the brain just doesn't make any sense. Sometimes it's obvious how people are influenced - through other people they know, something they saw on television or online, an experience they went through. Sometimes there is some...defect in the brain that makes people act the way they shouldn't. And sometimes,” he continued, “it's not that simple. Sometimes it's not any one thing. Sometimes there's not any real explanation.”
Lucinda did not look amused. “Well that's not very useful.”
“It's not meant to be,” he said honestly, “but one of the first things you have to learn as a doctor is that not everything can be explained - or fixed.” Reid hadn't liked that himself at all, of course, but it was one of the aspects of being a doctor that even he had had to come to terms with. “Obviously, I'm hoping that's not the case with Luke's mom,” he nodded at Luke, who nodded back at him grimly, “but it's sadly the reality of many situations, and we need to be aware of it.”
Seeming annoyed, Lucinda reached for her glass of water, taking a healthy gulp.
She visited for a few hours in the end, the conversation thankfully taking a less stressful turn. Mostly she and Luke got caught up on each other's lives, though she did grill Reid from time to time.
Ultimately, he decided he liked her - though that probably had something to do with how much she liked Luke.
It was late, when she left and though Luke offered her his bed, she insisted on staying in a hotel, intending to go back to Oakdale the next day. Giving Luke another hug - and Reid another hearty handshake - she bid them both goodnight and left the apartment.
The two of them just stared at the apartment door for a while.
Luke spoke. “You staying over tonight?”
“Yeah,” he said, around a yawn.
Nodding, Luke nudged him. “You should start leaving more of your stuff here.”
Turning to face him, Reid managed a tired smile. “Yeah,” he said - one because it made sense, but also because he liked the idea. Giving Luke a languid, sloppy kiss, he started guiding him towards the bedroom. “C'mon,” he encouraged, “I've got plans for your bed and they're not sexy ones.”
“You know how to show a guy a good time,” Luke teased gently.
They both got ready for bed - brushing their teeth, taking a leak - and then snuggled up together in bed, completely naked.
“I like your grandma,” he said into Luke's shoulder.
“She likes you too,” he murmured. “I like you too.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said softly, burrowing in close. He was so warm, but not too warm and he found it comforting and relaxing. “It'd really suck if we didn't feel the same way about each other.”
“Mmm,” Luke hummed in agreement. “That'll never happen. We're gonna be together forever.”
That was optimistic. “You think?”
“Definitely. Abso-” he yawned, “-lutely. I'm not letting you go anywhere.”
“That works out well, then,” he agreed, “because I don't want to go anywhere.”
“See?” Luke asked. “It all works out. Together forever,” he promised and it said a lot about how Reid felt that he didn't find it creepy or feel trapped.
He just felt exactly the same way and looked forward to the long, warm night of cuddling ahead. “Night.”
“Night,” he murmured, snuggling against him, “don't let the bed bugs...”
He never finished the sentence, so Reid just smiled and closed his eyes.
*
On a Thursday they had dinner at the diner where they first met.
“Ah,” Luke announced dramatically as they stepped inside, “memories.” Then he turned and gave Reid a dorky grin. He tried to look unimpressed but couldn't quite manage it.
It was a seat-yourself kind of place and they even managed to grab Reid's favourite booth, the same booth he'd been sitting at the first time Luke had ever walked up to him.
“It's fate,” Luke declared, as he slid in across from him.
“More like you hip-checked that pensioner out of the way.”
“She was totally going for that other booth and you know it.”
It wasn't a surprise to discover that Carol was their waitress. “Well, looky-here,” she said as she strolled up to them, “it's been a few weeks, Reid. Something been keeping you,” Carol glanced over at Luke, “busy?”
“Extremely busy,” Reid confirmed, which just made Carol shoot a fist up in the air in joy.
“I knew it!” she crowed, before confiding in Luke that, “Darlene owes me twenty. She didn't think you had it in you, Reid,” she told him. “I, however,” she added smugly, “knew better. So, what do you boys want to drink?”
Once drinks were ordered, they both looked over the menu when Luke remembered something.
“Are you still doing that thing where you order the next thing on the menu?”
“Figured I'd keep doing it,” he confirmed. “I mean, it's worked out so far.”
“How's that?”
“Well, it's only because I'd decided to expand my boundaries that I didn't tell you to get lost the first time we met. Seems like I'm on to a good thing - I should probably stick with it.”
Looking at him fondly for a moment, Luke then nodded. “Trying something different is probably a good thing,” he agreed. “I know we both like our evenings at home a lot, but how about when we do go out, we go some place we've never been before?”
“Like a different restaurant?”
“Or a museum, or art gallery.” Reid made a face. “I know, I know, that's not your thing. I'm just giving ideas.”
“If you want to go to an art gallery, we'll go,” Reid insisted.
“That's not what I'm saying, though I love you for offering.” Luke continued on as if he hadn't just said what Reid had definitely heard him say. “Just that I think we should stick with this new experiences thing - it'll be good for both of us.”
Reid just grinned at him. Reid kept grinning at him, probably to a creepy degree given the worried look Luke was giving him.
“Is everything...okay?” he asked, turning to look behind himself in case there was something else Reid was grinning at.
“More than okay,” he agreed. It may not have been an over-emotional, over-dramatic I love you like he'd unfortunately had to witness in the occasional movie, but this worked far better for him anyway.
It was his first time hearing it from someone who wasn't a parent, either.
“And I couldn't agree more,” he added. “Though, one request?” When Luke frowned at him, he said, “Every now and then, we come back here.”
That seemed to please Luke, who grinned. “Because this is where we first met? I knew you were a secret sap,” he said, like he'd caught Reid in the middle of some huge revelation.
“Nah,” he shrugged, “I wanna get in on that betting action - see how much more we can take Darlene for.”
He was joking, of course - which Luke knew. He pretended to be outraged anyway, insisting Reid was a terrible boyfriend and that to make up for it he had to pay for dinner.
Luke was smiling the entire time.
When Carol came over to take their food order, Luke placed the menu down open on the table, covered his eyes with one hand, and pointedly randomly at the menu with the index finger of his other hand. “I will haaaave,” Luke uncovered his eyes so he could see what he was about to eat, “chilli and cornbread, apparently.”
“Okay,” Carol said, looking like Luke was more than a little strange, but didn't want to say anything for fear of her tip. “Reid?”
“I'll have the same,” he said, handing his menu over to her.
“What?” Luke asked, confused, as she took his menu too. “We just got through talking about new experiences and you're not-”
“Never ordered the same meal as a boyfriend before,” he said, “that's a new experience. Plus,” had admitted, “I'm willing to bet you've never had their chilli before.”
“...no,” Luke admitted.
As he'd thought. “It's got a kick. So tonight when I have to put up with how gassy it's made you, you'll have to put up with the same.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “You are an evil genius.”
“I've often been told I could've been one, yes.”
“Luckily for me,” Luke smiled, “you decided to use your powers for good. Most of the time,” he conceded, probably thinking about the chilli thing.
“Most of the time,” he agreed. “Now, on to the important question - what do we get for dessert?”
*
Later that evening, Reid was ostensibly reading in bed when really he was taking stock of his life. He was sitting in Luke's huge bed in Luke's decently-sized apartment. He had two drawers over to the right that were full of his clothes. His shirts and pants were hanging in Luke's wardrobe. His toothbrush and electric razor were in the bathroom and his watch was resting on the bedside table. He spent almost every single night at Luke's place now and honestly, at this point, keeping his own apartment was little more than a waste of money.
He'd considered officially moving in but had held back on the discussion with Luke, worried it was too soon but as he watched Luke bop around the bedroom to some tune in his head, he knew he was an idiot. Luke was currently delving through the contents of a drawer with one hand and brushing his teeth with the other.
As he watched the dork shuffle from foot to foot, ass shaking a little as he danced to some unheard piece of music, Reid finally knew he was happier than he'd ever been - since he'd been a kid, anyway. And it wasn't just because of Luke - it was because Reid had finally allowed himself to be happy. Something inside him had been stopping him all this time, sabotaging any attempt at being anything other than satisfied.
Reid had been satisfied, even pleased, plenty of times as an adult. But he didn't think he'd ever, really, truly been happy until this very moment.
Why would he deny himself any chance to improve upon that?
Besides, Luke had told him he loved him today and even though it hadn't been clarified upon or explained, that was more than enough reason to embrace every opportunity life had to give him.
On that note, Reid decided to just enjoy the view, put his book on the bedside table and watched Luke quietly dancing next to the chest of drawers. His remarkable ass was still quite something even in his pajama bottoms. He bent over further, completely innocently, to check the bottom drawer and-
Holy. Shit.
“Houston, we have take-off!” Reid announced.
Stumbling around in confusion, Luke's eyes widened further than Reid had ever seen when he took in the tent currently being created in the bed clothes by Reid's very hard cock.
“Ohmygod,” he got out around the toothpaste, before rushing off. Back a few moments later, toothpaste rinsed from his mouth, Luke carefully approached the bed.
Reid did not appreciate all this carefully-carefully business right now. “Will you get over here?”
“I don't want to spook it,” Luke admitted.
To be fair, that comment wasn't without precedent. “Look, we need to do something with it. Who knows when this might happen again?”
Acknowledging that was a fair point, Luke tipped his head to one side and pulled back the covers. Reid always slept naked and he was naked now and finally, after all these months, there was his gloriously hard cock.
“I missed you,” he told his cock.
Chuckling, Luke got the lube out of the bedside table and sat on the edge of the bed. “What do you want me to do?”
“Anything,” Reid said seriously, because it was Luke and he knew it'd be good no matter what.
In the end Luke decided on blowing him. He didn't waste any time, settling down by Reid's groin and getting straight to business. He held Reid's erection in his hand for a few moments - and honestly, it'd been so long than even just that felt so damn good - but then brought his mouth into the action.
Reid didn't even really feel embarrassed that he didn't last very long - had kind of expected it, to be honest - but with Luke blowing him with gusto at the same time as he was playing with Reid's ball, it was barely any time at all, really, until he was coming with a great amount of enthusiasm. Reid held absolutely nothing back and it felt so damn good he was almost laughing when he came.
That'd felt amazing.
“Wow,” Luke said afterwards, wiping at his mouth, “you've been saving that up.”
“And then some,” he smirked, and would've moved but right then his legs weren't working.
Smiling, Luke did the moving instead and slid up to lay next to him. “I'm so happy for you,” he said intently, leaning over to kiss him.
Luke really was ridiculous, and Reid was about to tell him so - only he could feel Luke's own erection pressing up against him so instead stuck his hand down the front of Luke's pants.
“Oh,” Luke gasped, a little startled, but nonetheless already rocking into Reid's fist. “You really don't need to, I must owe you like a dozen hand jobs by now...”
“You don't owe me squat,” Reid insisted and just focused on making sure Luke enjoyed it as much as possible.
Afterwards, they stripped the rest of Luke's clothes off and just enjoyed the old post-coital glow, touching and kissing each other. Eventually, amazingly, Reid started getting hard again.
“It's a Christmas miracle,” Luke exclaimed as he straddled Reid, tugging at the slowly hardening cock in his hand. “Think you're up for fucking me?”
And just like that, Reid was fully erect.
Luke grinned down at his hand. “I'll take that as a yes.”
“Can't promise I'll last very long,” he warned, but Luke had already slid off of him to find the condoms.
Returning, Luke straddled him again and jacked Reid's cock a few times, making him hiss. “I don't care,” he said seriously, gaze turning heated as he tugged at Reid's cock one more time. “Mostly I just want you inside me.”
Reid stared back at him. “Okay, then you need to stop saying shit like that or this'll be over before it begins.”
Laughing, Luke reached for the lube.
In the end they fucked face-to-face - Luke had insisted - and while it wasn't the longest sex Reid had ever had, it was among the most satisfying. Reid came extremely loudly. Luke came - twice, Reid was a man on a mission - and there was a surprising amount of laughter.
Afterwards they just lay there looking at each other, sharing small smiles.
“I'm glad we finally got to do that,” Luke confessed, looking a little guilty. “I meant what I said before - I didn't feel like I was missing out, exactly, but...” He dragged a finger along Reid's shoulder. “I couldn't help but wonder what you'd feel like inside me.”
“Well now you know,” Reid told him quietly. “And maybe, next time, I can find out what it feels like to have you inside of me.” They'd discussed it, before, but Luke hadn't felt comfortable with the idea of fucking Reid when he couldn't get hard.
“You seem pretty confident there'll be a next time,” Luke said warmly, plainly liking the idea of getting his cock inside Reid.
“Yeah,” he agreed, because by now he felt completely back in action, “I am.”
*
Reid was right, of course, as the next few weeks turned into an endless array of almost non-stop sex. They were more than making up for lost time. They'd wake up early in the morning for a quickie. They'd get home from work, and they'd fuck. On one memorable lunch break, Luke visited him at work and they shared frantic hand jobs in the janitor's closet.
With all this awesome sex to enjoy, Reid was soon back to his old self completely, taking great pleasure in fucking Luke so hard, so long and so enthusiastically that Luke came with his hands over his face and without either one of them ever touching his cock.
“Ah,” Reid declared as he rolled to one side afterwards, “it's good to be back.”
“Holy shit,” Luke panted, “I created a monster. I came so hard I think I pulled something.”
“You're welcome,” he replied smugly, folding his arms beneath his head.
It was all an act of course - well, kind of. While he thoroughly enjoyed having sex with Luke anytime, he'd had an ulterior motive - distracting Luke from constantly thinking about the upcoming meeting he had with his mom. Her therapist thought it was time Luke was finally brought back into the situation and tomorrow he'd be going to meet both of them.
Reid had wanted to go with him but had been asked not to, for the time being.
He still wasn't happy about that.
After disposing of the condom and getting a damp wash cloth to clean Luke up, he returned back to bed. As he wiped him clean, he took in Luke's satisfied flush, and remembering how easily Luke had said it himself a few weeks ago, he knew he could at least give him this much.
Tossing the wash cloth into the laundry basket in the corner of the room, he climbed back into bed. “You know I love you, right?”
Not seeming at all surprised, Luke even kept his eyes closed as he smiled. “Yeah, I know.” Finally opening them, he shifted onto his side, grinning. “I love you, too.”
“I got that much,” Reid told him, reaching out a hand to touch him, just because it seemed like the thing to do. “Thank you,” he added seriously, placing his hand against Luke's neck.
He didn't explain what for, and Luke didn't ask. He figured neither one of them needed to.
Instead, Luke reached out and tugged him closer, adjusting the covers around them. As much as they had an extremely active sex life now, the cuddling still hadn't gone anywhere. Frankly, Reid was glad about that.
“I know how much it bothers you that you can't be there tomorrow,” Luke murmured, holding his gaze. “But I'll call you as soon as I can, okay?” Reid nodded silently. “I'm sure it'll be...emotional,” he confessed, “but I'm also sure she'll be on her best behaviour. Grandmother says this guy she's been seeing is meant to be really good.” Once Lucinda had learned what'd happened, she'd had her daughter's therapist thoroughly vetted. “Maybe, one day,” he offered, “she'll be ready to face the fact that you're not going anywhere.”
“It's the truth,” Reid shrugged, “and I hope that happens.” For his part, Reid couldn't care less if they ever saw Lily again. For Luke's sake, however, he knew it mattered.
Smiling drowsily, Luke closed his eyes and burrowed close. “I don't know how I got so lucky.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” he told him firmly. “Hard work and determination saw to it that you thoroughly deserved having me as your boyfriend.”
Laughing out loud, Luke's eyes flew back open. Shaking his head, he looked at Reid with amusement etched onto his face. “You make me so happy, you know that?”
Crazily, he did. He, Reid Oliver, actually made another human being happy. He made Luke in particular happy - and he wanted to keep making him happy for as long as he possibly could. “Yeah,” he agreed with a soft smile, “I know.”
*
Reid regretted going into work less than five minutes after getting there. How was he supposed to concentrate on anything when all he could think about was how Luke's meeting with his mom was going to go?
He needn't have worried, of course. As always, work had been the one thing he could rely on in life - well, until Luke. It wasn't long before it had him thoroughly distracted - saving people's lives was good for more than just saving people's lives.
Not that that wasn't inherently important.
Luke's meeting wasn't until after lunch anyway so once Reid realised work was sufficiently distracting him, he just focused on getting through the rest of the day.
Not long before 3pm, he got a text from Luke.
Just got out. Not in a place to talk at the moment, just need to concentrate on driving home.
Reid immediately texted back. Want me to come get you?
No. I'll talk to you when you get home. A few seconds later he sent a separate message that just read, Love you.
You too, Reid replied, then set about re-organising his schedule to see just how early he could get out of work. Being Head of Department came with a lot of responsibility, but also with its own advantages.
In the end he managed to slip away a little earlier than usual - thankfully there'd been no emergencies they'd asked him to come in on - and he drove straight home. He texted Luke to let him know he was coming, so it wasn't a surprise - Luke still might not want to talk about it by the time he got there, but at least he could be there for him.
Luke seemed to be baking when Reid let himself into the apartment. The kitchen was a mess, Luke's hair was all over the place and he had flour in the strangest of places.
“I'm stress-baking,” Luke announced like this was normal, shoving a pan of something that didn't really look like food into the oven. “Grandma Emma does it all the time so I thought I'd give it a try.”
Coming over to stand near him, Reid nodded thoughtfully and took in the state of the kitchen. “Have you ever baked anything before?”
“Not really,” he shrugged, which explained so much. Setting a timer on his phone, he shoved it into the pockets of his jeans and faced Reid. “Okay,” he began, “I'm going to tell you about it, and then you're going to fuck me, and then we're going to cuddle.”
Reid was down with that plan. “I can do that.”
“Good,” Luke said decisively, then apparently pushed straight on with his plan. “It went okay,” he said matter-of-factly. “She wasn't being weird about Noah. She seemed genuinely interested in how our relationship was doing - in how you were doing.”
All of this sounded...actually good. “Okay.”
“Her therapist seems to think her...behaviour, before, all stemmed from...” he let out a breath and just blurted it out. “I was kidnapped. When I was a kid.”
What the fuck? “What?”
“Dad and I were both taken,” Luke told him, “for...quite some time. Understandably, Mom was terrified - particularly about me.”
“Makes sense.” As far as Reid had been made aware, once you had kids they tended to become the most important people in your life.
“Right,” he said. “In fact, her therapist thinks it really messed her up - though he didn't use those words, of course. Her little boy had been taken away from her and there was nothing she could do about it.” Reid thought he was starting to at least see where this theory came from. “And she never talked to anyone about it, never worked through those issues. And then...life kept happening, with one crazy thing on top of another crazy thing and she never got any help.” Reaching the crux of the matter, Luke clutched at him a little desperately. “I never got any help, Reid.”
Reid honestly wished he knew what Luke was talking about. “What are you-?”
“I've been through so much, Reid,” he finally admitted, “so much more than I've told you. I told myself it was because it was all in the past, that that stuff doesn't matter anymore...but that's not true.” He shook his head - mostly at himself, it seemed. “All of it made me the person I am today.” Looking back up, he held Reid's gaze. “And though I feel stronger, now, than I ever have - it's still a part of me. A part you should know about.”
Reid wasn't about to lie - he was shocked as hell. Luke had always seemed so put together, Reid had just assumed he'd already heard most of the difficult things Luke had already gone through - that if either of them were going to have any serious issues from there on in, it'd likely be Reid. Apparently that wasn't the case after all - but for him, it changed nothing. “I'll listen to anything you want to tell me.”
That only seemed to make things worse, as Luke's eyes teared up. “I don't want to fuck this up,” he said emotionally. “I don't want to end up like Mom and nearly ruin everything because I never talked about it. Our family has never...” he shrugged, sniffing. “We've been through a lot of crazy stuff. But we never really dealt with it.”
“Well then you start now,” Reid said firmly, “by telling me anything you want to tell me. Or if you're not up to telling me now, you can do it whenever you want - night or day, if you realise you need to tell me something you go straight ahead. And if you want a therapist,” he added, “we'll get you the best damn therapist in Chicago. And if you need to stress-bake,” he gestured around at the kitchen, “then do it whenever the hell you want, because it's not like I don't love food.” Grabbing Luke's shoulders, he looked him in the eye. “We'll do this together, right? That's the whole point.”
Pressing his lips together, Luke stared at him emotionally. “Even though I kept stuff from you?”
“It's nothing worse than what I've done,” Reid admitted, because he sure as hell hadn't gone into detail about his parents or what Angus had put him through. “I know things have moved...fast, for us. Maybe we would've discussed all this crap eventually anyway, but either way...we're dealing with it now. Or at least trying to.” Smiling a little sadly, he moved a hand from Luke's shoulder to touch the side of his face. “I already knew you weren't perfect, okay? And God knows I'm not.”
Staring at him hopefully, Luke then produced a wet chuckle. “You admitting you're not perfect? Now I know you're worried about me.”
“Much as I hate to admit it,” he announced dramatically, “you've come to mean more to me than my own ego.”
Smiling faintly, almost privately, Luke then flung his arms around Reid. “Thank you,” he said intensely, “so much.”
“Not necessary,” he said quietly, holding Luke back just as tightly. “Now,” he continued, “do you want to talk? Or is this the part where I fuck you?”
“Mmm, the second option please,” Luke replied, looking a little happier as he pulled back. “I really need to get out of my head right now.”
“I am happy to oblige,” Reid promised, leading him over to the bedroom. Once Luke had fallen asleep, he'd come back and organise the kitchen.
In the bedroom, Reid held true to his word. He used everything he could think of to drive Luke crazy - everything he'd ever learned from previous lovers and everything he'd learned about Luke specifically. He fucked Luke's very brains out, if the length of Luke's orgasm and the way he became almost entirely non-verbal afterwards had anything to say about it.
“Don't let me,” Luke murmured, exhausted, against Reid's head. “Don't let me ruin this.”
Cancer, Luke's mom, their own issues - life in general. Reid wasn't ever letting anything ruin this. He'd only just found it, after all - and this was one thing he was still more than happy to be selfish about. “I won't,” he promised, taking Luke's hand. “We won't.”
Threading their fingers together, Luke tightened his own grip and simply whispered, “Best fake boyfriend ever.”
~FINIS
Original post on Dreamwidth - there are
comments there.
by Suz
Also posted on AO3 here.
*
Nearly a month into their relationship and Reid honestly felt like he'd known Luke for years - in a good way. He was starting to get used to the cuddling thing - even initiating it himself, sometimes, on the days when a patient hadn't made it. Luke had only asked him what'd happened the first time and on the few occasions since then, just knew to hold Reid quietly.
Their lives fit so well together and they fit together so comfortably there was rarely any awkwardness between them - even when it came to sex. Reid still hadn't gotten hard, not completely, though as they grew closer and their sex life advanced he'd definitely started feeling the occasional touch of arousal and had felt some signs of life in the damn thing.
Luke fucking himself on Reid's fingers had been particularly memorable, and the closest he'd come yet to actually getting hard. Luke had been overjoyed at first - but had had to temper his reaction pretty quickly when it'd become clear that Reid's erection had decided not to fully realise itself.
Still...
“Progress, right?” Luke told him after, who not once had judged him or made him feel like any less of a man.
Reid knew all that 'you're only a real man if you can fuck someone' stuff was bullshit anyway, but Luke's reaction helped nonetheless. “Progress,” he agreed, and leaned in to kiss him.
As their sex life progressed, so did the rest of their lives. Luke was still frequently in contact with his dad - had even had a couple of brief, strange phone calls with his mom. She was seeing a therapist, who thought it was best - for the time being at least - that she not have a lot of contact with Luke. Not yet, anyway.
Reid was honestly kind of grateful. He'd been there each time Luke had spoken to his mom and he always got upset and guilty afterwards, asking himself why he hadn't noticed and placing all the blame firmly on himself. Reid hated it, told him to stop feeling sorry for himself, and cuddled him aggressively for an hour.
Smiling against Reid's neck afterwards, Luke had said a quiet thank you.
As the weeks passed, Reid had come to see just how much Luke's job meant to him - and just how hard he worked. Though he didn't spend all evening on it, he brought something from work home almost every single night - sometimes a project that he wanted to keep hashing out, sometimes just his frustration that he couldn't get something done fast enough to help.
One day he came home with take out and a pad of paper, and they sat on the sofa spit balling everything they'd do need to do to make the foundation working with the hospital a reality. Reid already knew all the board members, even if they weren't his biggest fans, but at least he knew their weaknesses.
They ended up getting into a healthy debate about the importance of healthcare versus emotional support, which of course resulted in kissing and shirts coming off.
“Never gonna get any work done at this point,” Luke gasped out between kisses.
“Shame,” Reid muttered, not meaning it, because as Luke rocked down against him, he was actually enjoying the delicious, delicious friction and was even maybe starting to-
Luke's phone went off.
They both froze, more than aware that Reid had been starting to get hard.
Luke blinked down at him as the phone kept ringing. “We could ignore it,” he suggested.
Unfortunately, Little Reid had already gone back into hiding. “Better answer it,” he sighed. “I don't think he's coming back out to play anytime soon.”
Regretful, Luke rolled off of him and reached for his phone. He was still shirtless, though, so Reid just remained sprawled where he was and enjoyed the view.
“Hey, Dad,” Luke greeted as Reid stared at his shoulders. Said shoulders tensed almost immediately, as Luke said, “Shit.” Followed by a wince and, “Sorry, Dad.”
Intrigued, Reid sat up and watched attentively as Luke listened for a few more seconds, before thanking his dad and hanging up. Throwing himself back down onto the sofa he leant against Reid, looking grumpy.
“What's up?”
“Grandma's back,” he explained, “and she's not happy. She's just been at the farm, so she'll probably be here in a couple of hours.”
She was coming straight to Luke? “At least your dad gave you a heads up. Better than her turning up out of nowhere, right?”
“True,” he conceded. “I knew this would come,” he sighed, “that I'd have to face the consequences of my actions. I just...hoped I wouldn't,” he grinned wryly.
“You did what you did because you thought it would help your mom,” Reid argued. “If Lucinda's anything like the woman you've told me about, she'll see that. Didn't you say they used to have a difficult relationship themselves?”
“When Mom was younger, yeah,” Luke nodded. “They can both be so strong willed.”
“Gee, I wonder where you get that from,” Reid asked, making Luke roll his eyes. “Come on,” he continued, pulling Luke up to his feet, taking in the papers and empty food containers spread around. “Let's get this cleared up and then I should probably get a shirt on. Make myself presentable to meet your grandma,” he quipped.
“You've got nothing to worry about,” Luke promised. “She'll love you - trust me. If anything it's me she's going to be angry at.”
Reid wouldn't bet on it - or that if she was really angry, she wouldn't stay that way for long. Luke had already told him how close they were.
After clearing up the mess, Reid took a quick shower. Giving his dick a perfunctory wash, he decided against trying to jerk off right then and just set about cleaning the rest of his body.
He found Luke distracting himself by re-ordering the contents of the dishwasher for the third time. Making a face, Reid dragged him back to the sofa, turned the TV on, and held him there until he started to relax.
Neither one of them said anything, but when the tension finally went out of Luke's body and he relaxed back against him, Reid quietly pressed the sides of their heads together.
When Lucinda inevitably arrived, they looked at each other for a few moments. “You got this,” he told Luke, who nodded firmly and went to buzz her in.
When the door finally swung open, they were greeted by a severe-looking woman who immediately regarded Luke with an arched eyebrow. “I've spoken to your father,” she announced. “He explained to me why you all did what you did.”
“Okay,” Luke said carefully, still holding on to the door.
“But she's my daughter, Luke,” Lucinda said bluntly. “I had a right to know.”
“She's an adult,” he said back, just as firmly. “And she asked us not to tell you.”
She just kept staring at him. “Her...issues were affecting you directly, and you're still putting her needs first? You are something else, young man.” Sighing, she held out her arms, “Come here.”
Relieved, all the tension that had returned to Luke's body fled as he threw himself into her arms. “I was so worried.”
“Oh, don't be ridiculous,” she told him, holding tight. “There's nothing you could ever do that'd make me really angry at you. Now,” stepping back, she nodded at Reid, “let's sit down and you can tell me about everything - including your new man.” Looking away from him, she followed Luke into the apartment. “Don't think I'm letting you off the hook for not telling me about him sooner.”
Closing the door, Luke offered to take her jacket and then gestured towards the sofa. “You've been overseas for months.”
“I have a phone,” she argued, as Reid moved into the kitchen to get her a glass of water.
“To be honest,” Luke admitted, tucking her jacket over his arm, “it's still kind of new. We hadn't been dating long at all when we visited the farm and everything...happened.” Hanging up the jacket, he joined her on the sofa.
Studying her grandson for a while, she then happily accepted the glass of water Reid offered her. “Thank you,” she said politely, then quickly lowered it to the coffee table and held his gaze. “Were you here when Holden called earlier?”
“You know about that?” Luke asked.
“It hardly takes a genius to work out what his first move would've been,” she told him, then faced Reid again. “Go on. Answer the question.”
Was this a trick question? He definitely felt like he was being judged. “Yes.”
“And you stayed?” she asked rhetorically. “I like you.” Lucinda held out a hand. “Reid, isn't it?”
“Reid Oliver,” he confirmed, shaking her hand.
“And you are a doctor?”
“A neurologist.”
“Excellent,” she announced, clearly pleased. “Luke, hold on to this one. He's already a vast improvement over those other young men you've been dallying around with lately.”
“You make it sound like I've been sleeping with half of Chicago,” Luke muttered, face flushing.
“I don't judge,” she said easily, “I just know a good thing when I see it.”
“Flattered as I am,” Reid remarked, “how is it that we've only just met and you think I'm a 'good thing'? Is it just because I'm a doctor?”
“Hardly,” she shot back. “Lily's...behaviour didn't scare you off. You've stuck around for Luke now. I know everything I need to know. Plus,” she admitted, “I'm a practical woman, and you being a doctor also doesn't hurt.”
Luke shook his head.
They talked about their relationship a little bit more, then about the work she'd been doing overseas. Inevitably, of course, the conversation had to come back around to Lily.
“Did you see her?” Luke asked.
“I arrived back in Oakdale early this afternoon,” she nodded. “I stopped by to see Lily at work - she told me herself what'd happened and that she was...getting help.”
Reid could only imagine how that conversation had gone.
Luke looked at her hopefully. “Do you think it's working?”
“I hope so,” she shrugged, “but I really don't know. She seemed...normal,” she winced, like she knew that was the wrong word. “But then she seemed normal before all this - a little too focused on Noah, perhaps, but I didn't think...” Lucinda took a moment. “How did I miss this, Luke? She's my daughter. I know I've never been the most nurturing of mothers, but...”
“You're a great mom,” Luke insisted.
Lucinda regarded him fondly, touching his face briefly. “You only say that because of how close we are, because of who I am now. But, in my younger days...” she shook her head. “I wasn't always there for Lily the way I should've been. And she certainly didn't get this ridiculous notion in her head from me - but it had to come from somewhere. How did I miss that?”
As far as Reid knew, Lily had had no official diagnosis of anything and had no idea if she ever would - but as a doctor he knew that diagnoses didn't always solve everything anyway. “As a doctor who specialises in the brain - and the nervous system,” he felt compelled to add, “in my expert opinion I can honestly say that sometimes the brain just doesn't make any sense. Sometimes it's obvious how people are influenced - through other people they know, something they saw on television or online, an experience they went through. Sometimes there is some...defect in the brain that makes people act the way they shouldn't. And sometimes,” he continued, “it's not that simple. Sometimes it's not any one thing. Sometimes there's not any real explanation.”
Lucinda did not look amused. “Well that's not very useful.”
“It's not meant to be,” he said honestly, “but one of the first things you have to learn as a doctor is that not everything can be explained - or fixed.” Reid hadn't liked that himself at all, of course, but it was one of the aspects of being a doctor that even he had had to come to terms with. “Obviously, I'm hoping that's not the case with Luke's mom,” he nodded at Luke, who nodded back at him grimly, “but it's sadly the reality of many situations, and we need to be aware of it.”
Seeming annoyed, Lucinda reached for her glass of water, taking a healthy gulp.
She visited for a few hours in the end, the conversation thankfully taking a less stressful turn. Mostly she and Luke got caught up on each other's lives, though she did grill Reid from time to time.
Ultimately, he decided he liked her - though that probably had something to do with how much she liked Luke.
It was late, when she left and though Luke offered her his bed, she insisted on staying in a hotel, intending to go back to Oakdale the next day. Giving Luke another hug - and Reid another hearty handshake - she bid them both goodnight and left the apartment.
The two of them just stared at the apartment door for a while.
Luke spoke. “You staying over tonight?”
“Yeah,” he said, around a yawn.
Nodding, Luke nudged him. “You should start leaving more of your stuff here.”
Turning to face him, Reid managed a tired smile. “Yeah,” he said - one because it made sense, but also because he liked the idea. Giving Luke a languid, sloppy kiss, he started guiding him towards the bedroom. “C'mon,” he encouraged, “I've got plans for your bed and they're not sexy ones.”
“You know how to show a guy a good time,” Luke teased gently.
They both got ready for bed - brushing their teeth, taking a leak - and then snuggled up together in bed, completely naked.
“I like your grandma,” he said into Luke's shoulder.
“She likes you too,” he murmured. “I like you too.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said softly, burrowing in close. He was so warm, but not too warm and he found it comforting and relaxing. “It'd really suck if we didn't feel the same way about each other.”
“Mmm,” Luke hummed in agreement. “That'll never happen. We're gonna be together forever.”
That was optimistic. “You think?”
“Definitely. Abso-” he yawned, “-lutely. I'm not letting you go anywhere.”
“That works out well, then,” he agreed, “because I don't want to go anywhere.”
“See?” Luke asked. “It all works out. Together forever,” he promised and it said a lot about how Reid felt that he didn't find it creepy or feel trapped.
He just felt exactly the same way and looked forward to the long, warm night of cuddling ahead. “Night.”
“Night,” he murmured, snuggling against him, “don't let the bed bugs...”
He never finished the sentence, so Reid just smiled and closed his eyes.
*
On a Thursday they had dinner at the diner where they first met.
“Ah,” Luke announced dramatically as they stepped inside, “memories.” Then he turned and gave Reid a dorky grin. He tried to look unimpressed but couldn't quite manage it.
It was a seat-yourself kind of place and they even managed to grab Reid's favourite booth, the same booth he'd been sitting at the first time Luke had ever walked up to him.
“It's fate,” Luke declared, as he slid in across from him.
“More like you hip-checked that pensioner out of the way.”
“She was totally going for that other booth and you know it.”
It wasn't a surprise to discover that Carol was their waitress. “Well, looky-here,” she said as she strolled up to them, “it's been a few weeks, Reid. Something been keeping you,” Carol glanced over at Luke, “busy?”
“Extremely busy,” Reid confirmed, which just made Carol shoot a fist up in the air in joy.
“I knew it!” she crowed, before confiding in Luke that, “Darlene owes me twenty. She didn't think you had it in you, Reid,” she told him. “I, however,” she added smugly, “knew better. So, what do you boys want to drink?”
Once drinks were ordered, they both looked over the menu when Luke remembered something.
“Are you still doing that thing where you order the next thing on the menu?”
“Figured I'd keep doing it,” he confirmed. “I mean, it's worked out so far.”
“How's that?”
“Well, it's only because I'd decided to expand my boundaries that I didn't tell you to get lost the first time we met. Seems like I'm on to a good thing - I should probably stick with it.”
Looking at him fondly for a moment, Luke then nodded. “Trying something different is probably a good thing,” he agreed. “I know we both like our evenings at home a lot, but how about when we do go out, we go some place we've never been before?”
“Like a different restaurant?”
“Or a museum, or art gallery.” Reid made a face. “I know, I know, that's not your thing. I'm just giving ideas.”
“If you want to go to an art gallery, we'll go,” Reid insisted.
“That's not what I'm saying, though I love you for offering.” Luke continued on as if he hadn't just said what Reid had definitely heard him say. “Just that I think we should stick with this new experiences thing - it'll be good for both of us.”
Reid just grinned at him. Reid kept grinning at him, probably to a creepy degree given the worried look Luke was giving him.
“Is everything...okay?” he asked, turning to look behind himself in case there was something else Reid was grinning at.
“More than okay,” he agreed. It may not have been an over-emotional, over-dramatic I love you like he'd unfortunately had to witness in the occasional movie, but this worked far better for him anyway.
It was his first time hearing it from someone who wasn't a parent, either.
“And I couldn't agree more,” he added. “Though, one request?” When Luke frowned at him, he said, “Every now and then, we come back here.”
That seemed to please Luke, who grinned. “Because this is where we first met? I knew you were a secret sap,” he said, like he'd caught Reid in the middle of some huge revelation.
“Nah,” he shrugged, “I wanna get in on that betting action - see how much more we can take Darlene for.”
He was joking, of course - which Luke knew. He pretended to be outraged anyway, insisting Reid was a terrible boyfriend and that to make up for it he had to pay for dinner.
Luke was smiling the entire time.
When Carol came over to take their food order, Luke placed the menu down open on the table, covered his eyes with one hand, and pointedly randomly at the menu with the index finger of his other hand. “I will haaaave,” Luke uncovered his eyes so he could see what he was about to eat, “chilli and cornbread, apparently.”
“Okay,” Carol said, looking like Luke was more than a little strange, but didn't want to say anything for fear of her tip. “Reid?”
“I'll have the same,” he said, handing his menu over to her.
“What?” Luke asked, confused, as she took his menu too. “We just got through talking about new experiences and you're not-”
“Never ordered the same meal as a boyfriend before,” he said, “that's a new experience. Plus,” had admitted, “I'm willing to bet you've never had their chilli before.”
“...no,” Luke admitted.
As he'd thought. “It's got a kick. So tonight when I have to put up with how gassy it's made you, you'll have to put up with the same.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “You are an evil genius.”
“I've often been told I could've been one, yes.”
“Luckily for me,” Luke smiled, “you decided to use your powers for good. Most of the time,” he conceded, probably thinking about the chilli thing.
“Most of the time,” he agreed. “Now, on to the important question - what do we get for dessert?”
*
Later that evening, Reid was ostensibly reading in bed when really he was taking stock of his life. He was sitting in Luke's huge bed in Luke's decently-sized apartment. He had two drawers over to the right that were full of his clothes. His shirts and pants were hanging in Luke's wardrobe. His toothbrush and electric razor were in the bathroom and his watch was resting on the bedside table. He spent almost every single night at Luke's place now and honestly, at this point, keeping his own apartment was little more than a waste of money.
He'd considered officially moving in but had held back on the discussion with Luke, worried it was too soon but as he watched Luke bop around the bedroom to some tune in his head, he knew he was an idiot. Luke was currently delving through the contents of a drawer with one hand and brushing his teeth with the other.
As he watched the dork shuffle from foot to foot, ass shaking a little as he danced to some unheard piece of music, Reid finally knew he was happier than he'd ever been - since he'd been a kid, anyway. And it wasn't just because of Luke - it was because Reid had finally allowed himself to be happy. Something inside him had been stopping him all this time, sabotaging any attempt at being anything other than satisfied.
Reid had been satisfied, even pleased, plenty of times as an adult. But he didn't think he'd ever, really, truly been happy until this very moment.
Why would he deny himself any chance to improve upon that?
Besides, Luke had told him he loved him today and even though it hadn't been clarified upon or explained, that was more than enough reason to embrace every opportunity life had to give him.
On that note, Reid decided to just enjoy the view, put his book on the bedside table and watched Luke quietly dancing next to the chest of drawers. His remarkable ass was still quite something even in his pajama bottoms. He bent over further, completely innocently, to check the bottom drawer and-
Holy. Shit.
“Houston, we have take-off!” Reid announced.
Stumbling around in confusion, Luke's eyes widened further than Reid had ever seen when he took in the tent currently being created in the bed clothes by Reid's very hard cock.
“Ohmygod,” he got out around the toothpaste, before rushing off. Back a few moments later, toothpaste rinsed from his mouth, Luke carefully approached the bed.
Reid did not appreciate all this carefully-carefully business right now. “Will you get over here?”
“I don't want to spook it,” Luke admitted.
To be fair, that comment wasn't without precedent. “Look, we need to do something with it. Who knows when this might happen again?”
Acknowledging that was a fair point, Luke tipped his head to one side and pulled back the covers. Reid always slept naked and he was naked now and finally, after all these months, there was his gloriously hard cock.
“I missed you,” he told his cock.
Chuckling, Luke got the lube out of the bedside table and sat on the edge of the bed. “What do you want me to do?”
“Anything,” Reid said seriously, because it was Luke and he knew it'd be good no matter what.
In the end Luke decided on blowing him. He didn't waste any time, settling down by Reid's groin and getting straight to business. He held Reid's erection in his hand for a few moments - and honestly, it'd been so long than even just that felt so damn good - but then brought his mouth into the action.
Reid didn't even really feel embarrassed that he didn't last very long - had kind of expected it, to be honest - but with Luke blowing him with gusto at the same time as he was playing with Reid's ball, it was barely any time at all, really, until he was coming with a great amount of enthusiasm. Reid held absolutely nothing back and it felt so damn good he was almost laughing when he came.
That'd felt amazing.
“Wow,” Luke said afterwards, wiping at his mouth, “you've been saving that up.”
“And then some,” he smirked, and would've moved but right then his legs weren't working.
Smiling, Luke did the moving instead and slid up to lay next to him. “I'm so happy for you,” he said intently, leaning over to kiss him.
Luke really was ridiculous, and Reid was about to tell him so - only he could feel Luke's own erection pressing up against him so instead stuck his hand down the front of Luke's pants.
“Oh,” Luke gasped, a little startled, but nonetheless already rocking into Reid's fist. “You really don't need to, I must owe you like a dozen hand jobs by now...”
“You don't owe me squat,” Reid insisted and just focused on making sure Luke enjoyed it as much as possible.
Afterwards, they stripped the rest of Luke's clothes off and just enjoyed the old post-coital glow, touching and kissing each other. Eventually, amazingly, Reid started getting hard again.
“It's a Christmas miracle,” Luke exclaimed as he straddled Reid, tugging at the slowly hardening cock in his hand. “Think you're up for fucking me?”
And just like that, Reid was fully erect.
Luke grinned down at his hand. “I'll take that as a yes.”
“Can't promise I'll last very long,” he warned, but Luke had already slid off of him to find the condoms.
Returning, Luke straddled him again and jacked Reid's cock a few times, making him hiss. “I don't care,” he said seriously, gaze turning heated as he tugged at Reid's cock one more time. “Mostly I just want you inside me.”
Reid stared back at him. “Okay, then you need to stop saying shit like that or this'll be over before it begins.”
Laughing, Luke reached for the lube.
In the end they fucked face-to-face - Luke had insisted - and while it wasn't the longest sex Reid had ever had, it was among the most satisfying. Reid came extremely loudly. Luke came - twice, Reid was a man on a mission - and there was a surprising amount of laughter.
Afterwards they just lay there looking at each other, sharing small smiles.
“I'm glad we finally got to do that,” Luke confessed, looking a little guilty. “I meant what I said before - I didn't feel like I was missing out, exactly, but...” He dragged a finger along Reid's shoulder. “I couldn't help but wonder what you'd feel like inside me.”
“Well now you know,” Reid told him quietly. “And maybe, next time, I can find out what it feels like to have you inside of me.” They'd discussed it, before, but Luke hadn't felt comfortable with the idea of fucking Reid when he couldn't get hard.
“You seem pretty confident there'll be a next time,” Luke said warmly, plainly liking the idea of getting his cock inside Reid.
“Yeah,” he agreed, because by now he felt completely back in action, “I am.”
*
Reid was right, of course, as the next few weeks turned into an endless array of almost non-stop sex. They were more than making up for lost time. They'd wake up early in the morning for a quickie. They'd get home from work, and they'd fuck. On one memorable lunch break, Luke visited him at work and they shared frantic hand jobs in the janitor's closet.
With all this awesome sex to enjoy, Reid was soon back to his old self completely, taking great pleasure in fucking Luke so hard, so long and so enthusiastically that Luke came with his hands over his face and without either one of them ever touching his cock.
“Ah,” Reid declared as he rolled to one side afterwards, “it's good to be back.”
“Holy shit,” Luke panted, “I created a monster. I came so hard I think I pulled something.”
“You're welcome,” he replied smugly, folding his arms beneath his head.
It was all an act of course - well, kind of. While he thoroughly enjoyed having sex with Luke anytime, he'd had an ulterior motive - distracting Luke from constantly thinking about the upcoming meeting he had with his mom. Her therapist thought it was time Luke was finally brought back into the situation and tomorrow he'd be going to meet both of them.
Reid had wanted to go with him but had been asked not to, for the time being.
He still wasn't happy about that.
After disposing of the condom and getting a damp wash cloth to clean Luke up, he returned back to bed. As he wiped him clean, he took in Luke's satisfied flush, and remembering how easily Luke had said it himself a few weeks ago, he knew he could at least give him this much.
Tossing the wash cloth into the laundry basket in the corner of the room, he climbed back into bed. “You know I love you, right?”
Not seeming at all surprised, Luke even kept his eyes closed as he smiled. “Yeah, I know.” Finally opening them, he shifted onto his side, grinning. “I love you, too.”
“I got that much,” Reid told him, reaching out a hand to touch him, just because it seemed like the thing to do. “Thank you,” he added seriously, placing his hand against Luke's neck.
He didn't explain what for, and Luke didn't ask. He figured neither one of them needed to.
Instead, Luke reached out and tugged him closer, adjusting the covers around them. As much as they had an extremely active sex life now, the cuddling still hadn't gone anywhere. Frankly, Reid was glad about that.
“I know how much it bothers you that you can't be there tomorrow,” Luke murmured, holding his gaze. “But I'll call you as soon as I can, okay?” Reid nodded silently. “I'm sure it'll be...emotional,” he confessed, “but I'm also sure she'll be on her best behaviour. Grandmother says this guy she's been seeing is meant to be really good.” Once Lucinda had learned what'd happened, she'd had her daughter's therapist thoroughly vetted. “Maybe, one day,” he offered, “she'll be ready to face the fact that you're not going anywhere.”
“It's the truth,” Reid shrugged, “and I hope that happens.” For his part, Reid couldn't care less if they ever saw Lily again. For Luke's sake, however, he knew it mattered.
Smiling drowsily, Luke closed his eyes and burrowed close. “I don't know how I got so lucky.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” he told him firmly. “Hard work and determination saw to it that you thoroughly deserved having me as your boyfriend.”
Laughing out loud, Luke's eyes flew back open. Shaking his head, he looked at Reid with amusement etched onto his face. “You make me so happy, you know that?”
Crazily, he did. He, Reid Oliver, actually made another human being happy. He made Luke in particular happy - and he wanted to keep making him happy for as long as he possibly could. “Yeah,” he agreed with a soft smile, “I know.”
*
Reid regretted going into work less than five minutes after getting there. How was he supposed to concentrate on anything when all he could think about was how Luke's meeting with his mom was going to go?
He needn't have worried, of course. As always, work had been the one thing he could rely on in life - well, until Luke. It wasn't long before it had him thoroughly distracted - saving people's lives was good for more than just saving people's lives.
Not that that wasn't inherently important.
Luke's meeting wasn't until after lunch anyway so once Reid realised work was sufficiently distracting him, he just focused on getting through the rest of the day.
Not long before 3pm, he got a text from Luke.
Just got out. Not in a place to talk at the moment, just need to concentrate on driving home.
Reid immediately texted back. Want me to come get you?
No. I'll talk to you when you get home. A few seconds later he sent a separate message that just read, Love you.
You too, Reid replied, then set about re-organising his schedule to see just how early he could get out of work. Being Head of Department came with a lot of responsibility, but also with its own advantages.
In the end he managed to slip away a little earlier than usual - thankfully there'd been no emergencies they'd asked him to come in on - and he drove straight home. He texted Luke to let him know he was coming, so it wasn't a surprise - Luke still might not want to talk about it by the time he got there, but at least he could be there for him.
Luke seemed to be baking when Reid let himself into the apartment. The kitchen was a mess, Luke's hair was all over the place and he had flour in the strangest of places.
“I'm stress-baking,” Luke announced like this was normal, shoving a pan of something that didn't really look like food into the oven. “Grandma Emma does it all the time so I thought I'd give it a try.”
Coming over to stand near him, Reid nodded thoughtfully and took in the state of the kitchen. “Have you ever baked anything before?”
“Not really,” he shrugged, which explained so much. Setting a timer on his phone, he shoved it into the pockets of his jeans and faced Reid. “Okay,” he began, “I'm going to tell you about it, and then you're going to fuck me, and then we're going to cuddle.”
Reid was down with that plan. “I can do that.”
“Good,” Luke said decisively, then apparently pushed straight on with his plan. “It went okay,” he said matter-of-factly. “She wasn't being weird about Noah. She seemed genuinely interested in how our relationship was doing - in how you were doing.”
All of this sounded...actually good. “Okay.”
“Her therapist seems to think her...behaviour, before, all stemmed from...” he let out a breath and just blurted it out. “I was kidnapped. When I was a kid.”
What the fuck? “What?”
“Dad and I were both taken,” Luke told him, “for...quite some time. Understandably, Mom was terrified - particularly about me.”
“Makes sense.” As far as Reid had been made aware, once you had kids they tended to become the most important people in your life.
“Right,” he said. “In fact, her therapist thinks it really messed her up - though he didn't use those words, of course. Her little boy had been taken away from her and there was nothing she could do about it.” Reid thought he was starting to at least see where this theory came from. “And she never talked to anyone about it, never worked through those issues. And then...life kept happening, with one crazy thing on top of another crazy thing and she never got any help.” Reaching the crux of the matter, Luke clutched at him a little desperately. “I never got any help, Reid.”
Reid honestly wished he knew what Luke was talking about. “What are you-?”
“I've been through so much, Reid,” he finally admitted, “so much more than I've told you. I told myself it was because it was all in the past, that that stuff doesn't matter anymore...but that's not true.” He shook his head - mostly at himself, it seemed. “All of it made me the person I am today.” Looking back up, he held Reid's gaze. “And though I feel stronger, now, than I ever have - it's still a part of me. A part you should know about.”
Reid wasn't about to lie - he was shocked as hell. Luke had always seemed so put together, Reid had just assumed he'd already heard most of the difficult things Luke had already gone through - that if either of them were going to have any serious issues from there on in, it'd likely be Reid. Apparently that wasn't the case after all - but for him, it changed nothing. “I'll listen to anything you want to tell me.”
That only seemed to make things worse, as Luke's eyes teared up. “I don't want to fuck this up,” he said emotionally. “I don't want to end up like Mom and nearly ruin everything because I never talked about it. Our family has never...” he shrugged, sniffing. “We've been through a lot of crazy stuff. But we never really dealt with it.”
“Well then you start now,” Reid said firmly, “by telling me anything you want to tell me. Or if you're not up to telling me now, you can do it whenever you want - night or day, if you realise you need to tell me something you go straight ahead. And if you want a therapist,” he added, “we'll get you the best damn therapist in Chicago. And if you need to stress-bake,” he gestured around at the kitchen, “then do it whenever the hell you want, because it's not like I don't love food.” Grabbing Luke's shoulders, he looked him in the eye. “We'll do this together, right? That's the whole point.”
Pressing his lips together, Luke stared at him emotionally. “Even though I kept stuff from you?”
“It's nothing worse than what I've done,” Reid admitted, because he sure as hell hadn't gone into detail about his parents or what Angus had put him through. “I know things have moved...fast, for us. Maybe we would've discussed all this crap eventually anyway, but either way...we're dealing with it now. Or at least trying to.” Smiling a little sadly, he moved a hand from Luke's shoulder to touch the side of his face. “I already knew you weren't perfect, okay? And God knows I'm not.”
Staring at him hopefully, Luke then produced a wet chuckle. “You admitting you're not perfect? Now I know you're worried about me.”
“Much as I hate to admit it,” he announced dramatically, “you've come to mean more to me than my own ego.”
Smiling faintly, almost privately, Luke then flung his arms around Reid. “Thank you,” he said intensely, “so much.”
“Not necessary,” he said quietly, holding Luke back just as tightly. “Now,” he continued, “do you want to talk? Or is this the part where I fuck you?”
“Mmm, the second option please,” Luke replied, looking a little happier as he pulled back. “I really need to get out of my head right now.”
“I am happy to oblige,” Reid promised, leading him over to the bedroom. Once Luke had fallen asleep, he'd come back and organise the kitchen.
In the bedroom, Reid held true to his word. He used everything he could think of to drive Luke crazy - everything he'd ever learned from previous lovers and everything he'd learned about Luke specifically. He fucked Luke's very brains out, if the length of Luke's orgasm and the way he became almost entirely non-verbal afterwards had anything to say about it.
“Don't let me,” Luke murmured, exhausted, against Reid's head. “Don't let me ruin this.”
Cancer, Luke's mom, their own issues - life in general. Reid wasn't ever letting anything ruin this. He'd only just found it, after all - and this was one thing he was still more than happy to be selfish about. “I won't,” he promised, taking Luke's hand. “We won't.”
Threading their fingers together, Luke tightened his own grip and simply whispered, “Best fake boyfriend ever.”
~FINIS
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