FIC - It's still just love... (1/?)

[wheelie47]

Title: It's still just love… (1/?)
Author:wheelie47
Rating: NC17 for whole story but not every chapter.
Pairing: Luke and Noah.
Word count: 1,936
Disclaimer: Don’t own characters, am not associated in any way with ATWT, Van and Jake. No offence intended.
Summary: Noah Mayer is struggling to make ends meet; trying to keep his garden centre open and desperate to hold onto his research grant from the Institute of Agronomic Research. And he never seems to have time… no time for a life and definitely no time for a boyfriend.
Luciano Grimaldi hates everything about his life and he is so far in the closet where his parents are concerned, that he even has a girlfriend, Maddie, to prove it…
AN: This is an AU story based on a French film called “Juste une question d’amour”. If you want to check the film out, the English subtitled vid is under the cut at the end of the chapter!

Many thanks to hollyoaks1021 for the wonderful artwork. Thanks Sally <3




“Mom? Where are you?” Noah called out in his rich baritone as he pushed open the front door. He toed off his boots and wiped his hands on the back of his jeans with a deep sigh. Nearly 7:30 AM and he'd already been up an hour. There was always something to be doing; plants to be watered, greenhouses to be maintained and paperwork to be done. God! He could really do with some proper help, if only he could afford it.

“I'm back here, honey. Here in the kitchen,” Charlene called out to her son. She smiled to herself and shook her head slowly as, even in his stockinged feet, she could hear her son striding purposefully toward the back of the house.

Her smile faltered slightly as she thought about how busy her son was. She really wished she could help him more. She did what she could here at the garden centre but what with running the house and trying to bring in as much money as she could from her cleaning jobs, she hardly had any time to spare.

“Hey, Mom,” Noah smiled and pressed a kiss to his mom's cheek before reaching round to steal a slice of bacon, popping it in his mouth before she could react.

“Hey! You'll spoil your breakfast.” She slapped the back of his hand lightly and smiled up at her son indulgently. Goodness! When did he grow so big? She could remember the days, as if there were only yesterday, when she could swing him up into her arms. Where did the time and all those years go?

“Sorry, Mom,” he said reluctantly. “I'm gonna have to eat later. I've got to meet the new intern down at the front gate. I'll see you later.”

“Try to be nicer to this one,” she chided gently.

Noah stopped halfway through turning toward the door. “I’m always nice, Mom. It's not my fault if the last intern just wanted to waste time.”

“Just promise me you'll try,” she looked up at him with pleading eyes; they really did need some help around here.

“I'll try,” he promised with a sigh.

After another quick kiss on the cheek, he turned to leave. Charlene could only watch her son’s tall departing form and shake her head sadly…

…

“Luciano Eduardo Grimaldi! Quit moaning will ya! You're giving me a headache,” Maddie complained as she pulled up in front of the Oakdale Garden Centre and Nurseries.

“Don't call me that, I hate it! You know I prefer Luke.” Luke’s self pitying moaning turned into a high-pitched whine at the use of his full and correct name. “And I mean… what kind of person wants you to start at 7:30 AM on your first day?! I bet I wouldn't have to get up this early if I was in the military.”

“Don't exaggerate, Luke! You wouldn’t have got up so early if you didn’t have to spend forever getting ready! And besides… if you were in the military, I hear they have some hot guys. Maybe you could meet one… fall in love… and take him home to meet Daddy. Maybe then we could stop this charade and I could meet a guy… fall in love… and we both could be happy.”

Although she was only teasing her best friend and faux boyfriend, she really did wish that Luke could find somebody to love him the way he deserved to be loved and for him to finally have the courage to tell his parents he was gay. But she understood his reluctance and fear; she had seen the way the Grimaldi clan had rejected Luke's own cousin when he’d come out. They had cast Marc out... turned their backs on him, and Luke's parents, his father in particular, had stood by and done nothing.

“Maddie!” Luke's voice was halfway between a plea and a groan. “Be nice. Don't you think my life is complicated enough?” He leaned over and gave Maddie a peck on the cheek. He really was more than grateful to his friend for providing cover for him. But sometimes the need for it just frustrated the hell out of him. He wished he could be braver.

“Why am I even here?!” he exploded, more to himself than to Maddie as he sat back, his eyes closed and head thrust back against the car seat.

“You know why, Luke,” Maddie sighed. “The Dean has given you one last chance before he throws you off the course… and this internship is it. If you mess this up, you’re out. And you know what that means?”

“I know. I know,” Luke muttered darkly to himself, his eyes still closed. “The family business!” He'd only taken this course on plant life and agriculture just so he wouldn't have to join the family shipping business. There was no way in hell that his father would have let him study what he really wanted to… poetry and creative writing…saying that they were a waste of time. But there was no way in hell that Luke wanted to work for Damien Grimaldi.

So here he was, stuck in a world of his own and his father's creation and he hated every single minute of it.

“Well, go on then. Get going. You don’t want to be late on your first day.” She pushed playfully at his shoulder.

“Yes Mom!” he mocked, chuckling lightly as he opened his eyes and reached for the door handle. “I’ll call you for a ride back when I’m done here.”

“When are you going to get that piece of crap car fixed, Luke?”

“When I can save enough from working part-time at the bookstore to afford it! You know my dad would only pay for the course, the rest is up to me and…” He paused in mid-sentence, a small gasp escaping his lips as he looked out through the windshield and spotted one of the most gorgeous… no… the most gorgeous man he’d ever seen where he was stood waiting by the gate.

“Wow! He's hot,” Luke breathed out, his voice barely above a murmur as his eyes traced a path up the tall frame to finally reach the handsome features of his face; the dark dusting of stubble, the elegant and prominent nose, the dark luxuriant hair and last… but not least, the most beautiful and captivating shade of blue eyes he'd ever seen.

“So now you like guys with stubble,” Maddie teased as she followed Luke's gaze and had to admit herself that the guy was hot.

“A guy can change his mind, can't he?” Luke shot back. “I'll call you later.”

He eased out of the car and closed the door quickly before Maddie could embarrass him with a further retort.

“Luciano Grimaldi?” the man asked.

Luke cringed at the name. “You can call me Luke,” he offered.

“I’m Noah… Noah Mayer. You’re a little late,” Noah said, a small frown creasing his forehead as he eyed Maddie pulling away in the car. Boy! Luke thought to himself, this guy doesn’t like to be kept waiting.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault… we were talking,” Luke apologised, gesturing toward the departing car.

“It's OK,” Noah gave a small shrug and nodded. “Shall we get started then? I'll give you the grand tour.”

He turned and paused, waiting for Luke to follow him before leading the way through beds of plants and shrubs.

“Are you going to be working in those?” Noah asked as they walked, gesturing to Luke’s clean jeans and red fitted T-shirt, not to mention his spotless trainers.

Luke looked down at his clothes, then back up at Noah. “Why? Are we going to be milking cows?” he replied, with a slightly mystified chuckle.

“Cows… no. But there will be manure,” Noah smiled enigmatically back at him and Luke had to stop himself from staring at that smile.

They walked toward the back of the nurseries and through the greenhouses until they came to a small, one storey building.

“This is my little hide-away,” Noah explained as he unlocked and opened the door, leading Luke into a small hallway with two rooms leading off it.

On the right was a small lab, complete with fridges, racks upon racks of labelled plant samples in kliner jars, a workspace and microscopes. Off to the left was a small living space with a kitchen area and a bed in the corner. A tingling sensation shot down Luke’s spine and his stomach flipped over at the thought of this handsome hunk lying stretched out in that bed.

“…and this is where I do my research.” The sound of Noah's voice shook the image from his mind and he tried to concentrate on what Noah was telling him.

He turned to Noah and saw the brunette staring back at him, his head tilted to the side as if trying to work out what was going on in Luke's mind.

“Research?” Luke asked uncomprehendingly.

“Yes, research. This is where I do my research for the institute. I'm studying how certain plants can survive pollutants,” he said slowly as if he was explaining it to a child. Was this guy even listening to him? Did he even want to be here? He certainly didn’t look like he did.

“How does that work? Shouldn’t you be doing this at the institute?” Luke asked, wandering aimlessly into the lab and randomly picking up one of the jars.

“Well clearly it does work. I’m a living example,” Noah replied, annoyed by Luke’s attitude.

“Here’s the deal. You help me out here at the nursery and with my research and I’ll write out your college report. Everybody's happy, including the Dean.” Noah laid out the facts simply.

“Sounds like a lot of work to me,” Luke couldn’t keep the whine from his voice. Everybody happy, indeed?! Everybody, except him. Damn it! He was fed up with people treating him like a little kid; his father, the Dean and now this guy.

“Look, Luke. You obviously don’t want to be here and I don’t have time to…” Noah began but was cut off by a gentle tapping on the open door.

“Noah? Are you in here?” Charlene called out before popping her head round the door and looking expectantly between the two men.

“Yes, Mom,” Noah sighed. “Mom, this is Luke. Luke, this is my mom… Charlene.”

“Nice to meet you, Luke,” she said with a wide and genuine smile. “I hope you’ll be happy here.” Cleary she hadn’t heard their last exchange!

“Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Mayer” he smiled and gently shook her out- stretched hand. “But…” he continued as he turned his head to look back at Noah, “… I don’t think this is for me. I won’t be staying. I’ll see myself out.” He turned, and giving Noah’s mom one last smile strode purposefully toward the open door. He didn’t have to put up with this. The threat of joining the family business or not… there was no way he was coming back here! Handsome hunk or not!

After an open-mouthed moment as they both stood and watched him go, Charlene turned to her son. “I thought you were going to be nicer to this one.”

“I was, Mom! I was trying to put him at ease. But I can’t help it if he doesn’t want to be here.” Oh yeah… that guy definitely wasn’t coming back. Good riddance, he didn’t need time wasters!

“Putting him at ease…huh? Somehow, I don’t think it worked,” Charlene chuckled lightly and then sighed. Oh well… back to just the two of them again…

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Chapter 2

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