On My Skin - Part Four
Title: On My Skin
Author: escapes
Artist: mizumichan
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Not mine, sadly. If I owned them things would have ended a lot differently.
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Noah, Casey, Maddie, The Colonel
Word Count: 25,000 so far. WIP but will be completed shortly.
Warnings: Some violence, some smut, drama, a minimum of political goings-on
Spoilers: Show's over. So if you're being spoiled, Im sorry for your luck, son
Summary: AU set in the near future. Luke is the public face of the Amorial Vine implant, a nano-skin technology that reacts to the chemicals your body produces when you meet your soulmate. Billions have found the love of their life, but Luke's arm has remained stubbornly blank. Noah Mayer is the son of Colonel Winston Mayer and quietly fund the campaign in his the Colonel's shadow. When he starts to learn things about the way the campaign is being run behind his back, Noah leaves and takes a position about Northwestern teaching Film Studies. He's taking his life back and the first thing he does to celebrate his freedom is get the implant, something the Colonel had forbidden. With the move and the implant, Noah sets off chain of events that change change five lives and the fate of a nation.
Go see the amazing art here: http://mizumichan.livejournal.com/251114.html
Author’s Notes: I'm sorry for the delay in posting and the fact that it's still a WIP. There ware times during this that my life seemed like it was actively conspiring against me to get it done, up to the death of a family member in the days before my original posting date. I apologize that it's being posted as a WIP, but I will keep going until it's done and post it asap. Very big thank you's to crownroyal_51 noelleleithe and freakykat for the cheerleading and betas.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Part Four
Noah felt his eyes widening as he looked at Luke, then at his hand holding the other man’s wrist. He knew giving a fake name had been stupid, but he hadn’t counted on Luke being bold enough to point it out.
Before he could figure out something that didn’t make him either sound crazy or like an asshole, Luke started talking again.
“I understand why you did, your father being who he is and all. What I don’t know is if all the things you just told me after your name were even true, Noah Mayer. Call me old-fashioned, but I like knowing who I’m… talking to.”
Noah felt the flush creep up his cheeks, something only Kai seemed to bring out in him so easily. “I-I’m… How did you know who I am?”
Luke snorted and raised his eyebrows. “Did you miss the announcement of the rally I’m helping to organize? I know more about politics than I ever wanted to running my foundation and working where I do.” He paused and stepped closer to Noah. “You know that saying ‘Know thine enemy’? I keep track of your father and his campaign. He hates everything I am and stand for. I’m sure if he could remove all of us, the immigrants and the faggots, from the country, he’d do it with a smile on his face.”
Noah couldn’t argue with Luke’s reasoning at all. He knew firsthand what the Colonel was capable of.
“So is this you experimenting on a weekend away from your father’s campaign?” Luke asked.
Shaking his head, Noah pulled on Luke’s wrist, bringing him closer so they didn’t have to talk so loud to be heard over the music. “No. I’m gay. He knows it and hates it. I’m also done working for him. I start teaching at the Northwestern Film School on Monday. Everything I told you after my name is true.”
Luke nodded and looked to the back corner of the club. “Okay. We going to continue talking after?”
Noah nodded back. “Count on it. But first, there’s just something I gotta do.”
He waited a fraction of a second for Luke to turn his head back towards him and caught their lips together in a kiss. After a hitch of surprised hesitation, Luke responded. His tongue met Noah’s stroke for stroke as they stood still in the middle of the dance floor, dancing bodies around them pulsing to the music just a little harder, feeding off the waves of attraction that were coming from Luke and Noah.
Noah felt a rumble in his chest as he threaded his fingers through the hair at the nape of Luke’s neck and realized the sound was coming from him. He’d never noticed that noise he’d just made when he’d kissed anyone else.
Filing it away in his mind for later, Noah pulled away when the need to breathe went from a gentle tug of reminder to a burn in his chest, and other parts, that couldn’t be ignored. Seeing Luke’s chest rising and falling as he breathed heavily, his tongue running across his lower lip to lick the taste of their kiss, reminded Noah that they had better things to be doing with their mouths.
He leaned in again to plant a peck on Luke’s mouth and nodded toward the backroom.
Luke nodded emphatically. “Hell yes.”
Grinning, Noah laced his fingers with Luke’s and started them across the dance floor, ignoring the wash of goosebumps that travelled up his arm and across his skin when their hands touched.
Once they found a dark corner of the backroom, Luke wasn’t content to follow Noah any longer. Splaying his hand across Noah’s chest, Luke pushed the other man backwards until his shoulders hit the painted cinderblock wall, the rest of his back following.
Luke stepped close to Noah and licked the lobe of his ear before sucking it into his mouth. Noah felt the goosebumps rise again as his breath caught in his throat. The front of his jeans was bordering on painful, and this was not making it any better. Before he could shift to make himself more comfortable, Luke’s lips started working downwards as his hands skated down Noah’s sides, stopping at the button of his jeans, popping the button lose and tugging to lower the zipper.
Noah canted his head back against the wall as Luke made appreciative noises before his tongue slid a trail down his abs and finally, finally reached his destination and tugged down jeans and boxers, bringing lips to skin.
Within seconds, the music pounding, the people around them gasping and moaning, the hard cinderblock pressing into his shoulders all faded away, and all that existed was the feel of Luke’s mouth on him and the musk of sex and sweat in the darkened room.
Moving one hand from the wall, Noah threaded his fingers into Luke’s hair and rubbed his thumb over Luke’s cheek, feeling his jaw working. Noah’s hand went along for the ride as Luke’s head bobbed.
Long before he wanted it, Noah felt a dull throb at the base of his spine. It was quickly growing more intense and demanding release. He tightened his hand in Luke’s hair in warning, but it only seemed to make the other man go faster. With a fluttering of tongue and the tight muscles of swallowing, Noah came apart, the ache of release thundering through him so completely that the edges of his vision grayed out.
He was still catching his breath when Luke stood and stepped close to Noah.“Been a while, huh?”
Noah wasn’t sure if he should be insulted or not, and the thought must have shown on his face because Luke pressed closer, his hands resting on Noah’s forearms. “Oh no, I don’t mean… It couldn’t have been easy to find… an escape on the campaign trail with your father.”
Noah blew out an amused breath. “No, it really wasn’t.”
Luke moved to pull away to get Noah’s clothing back in order when he realized that the arm under his hand felt odd. Looking up at Noah, Luke raised an eyebrow.
Noah felt his cheeks blushing again and shrugged a shoulder. “I was a little late getting the implant. I just got it this morning.”
Considering what the world knew of the Colonel, Noah knew what he’d said was a colossal understatement.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding about leaving your father’s campaign,” Luke said as he helped Noah straighten his clothes. “Your father has made speeches about the evil of the implant.”
Once he was put back together, Noah held his hand out to lead Luke out of the backroom. “My father. Not me. I’ve wanted it since I was old enough to get one.”
Noah was grateful that Luke seemed willing to let the topic of the Colonel go. Pulling himself away from the wall, Noah raised his hand and paused, not sure if he could go further. Luke noticed and raised his eyebrows. “What?”
Noah swallowed and took it as permission to move. Reaching Luke’s hair, Noah carefully smoothed Luke’s hair down from its mussed state and cleared a speck of glitter from Luke’s eyebrow by running his thumb over the other man’s brow. “There. That’s better.”
Luke looked up at Noah and gave a smile. A real one, not the ones Noah had seen him plaster on in public or on TV. “Thanks.” He looked around them and then back at Noah. “Do you feel like getting a coffee or something?”
“Yeah. I’d like that.” He held his hand out for Luke and the corner of his mouth quirked up. “I feel like we’re doing this backwards.”
Chuckling, Luke grabbed Noah’s hand and followed him out of the backroom, their linked hands stopping them from being swallowed up and separated by the crowd.
Luke stopped Noah before they left the building, and Noah saw him pull out his phone and type on the screen for a minute.
“Sorry, had to let my friend know I hadn’t been abducted by aliens.”
Noah felt his eyebrows go up and Luke waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “That would only make sense if you knew Casey. You have an alien abduction movie marathon one time and he’s scarred for life.”
Snorting in amusement, Noah motioned for Luke to go out of the club before him. “I don’t know, those aliens in Cocoon were pretty horrifying,” he says with a smirk, wondering if Luke will get the joke about aliens disguised as senior citizens.
Luke turns around in the middle of the sidewalk and laughs, ignoring the comments of the passersby that have to divert around them. “Cocoon? Good lord, are you 70? How old is that movie? We stayed away from the old movies.”
Now it was Noah’s turn to stop, clutching his chest like he’d been stabbed. “Oh man, that’s just… I don’t think I can be seen with you now. You think Cocoon is an old movie?”
Luke nodded. “It’s what… 30 years old or something?”
Noah shook his head. “Or something. Did I happen to mention I specialize in classic movies? Actual classic movies. Not ones made in 1985.”
They’d made it out of the press of people going in and out of the clubs. Luke motioned in the direction he was thinking of going.
“You know your way around here?” he asked.
Noah shook his head. Things had changed since his student days. “Your city, Snyder. Bring me to coffee.”
Luke smiled and fell into step beside Noah. “Not really my city. I’m a transplant just like you.”
“Where are you from?” Noah remembered hearing only Chicago mentioned.
“A town about an hour or two away. Oakdale. Not much there, a hospital, an airport, farms, a shopping district called Old Town that bus tours come to around the holidays…”
“WOAK, which is a pretty good TV studio for the size of its market.”
Luke turned his head to stare at Noah as they waited for the walk signal to flash at the intersection they were waiting to cross at. “You know WOAK?”
Noah nudged Luke into moving as the crowd surged around them. “Yeah, I almost applied there for my work-study placement. Something else ended up coming through, but I talked to one of the owners--Cam maybe--a few times.”
“Kim. Kim Hughes. I’ve known her all my life. Unreal. If things had worked differently, I might have worked with you. I interned there during my summers in college, writing the news copy and scripts for features they’d run in other programs.”
Once they’d crossed the street, Noah turned and looked at Luke. “Small world, huh?” At Luke’s nod, Noah waved an arm in the direction of the two streets they could walk down. “I’m not sure where you’re leading us to.”
Luke started and laughed a little. “Sorry! We’re headed to Pick Me Up.”
“Didn’t I do that already?”
Noah managed to dodge the slap that was coming for his arm and apologized quickly to the hipster he nearly toppled over. Luke snorted and pulled Noah back over closer to him and they headed up the street that would take them to caffeine.
“It’s a pretty cool cafe that’s open 24 hours on the weekends. They have a really good Chai if you’re in to that.”
Noah nodded and kept pace with Luke. “I’ve been where they make the real deal. We’ll have to see how good it is compared to the original.”
“You’ve probably seen a lot of places growing up with your father in the army.”
Noah stopped himself from giving the stock answer that his father had drilled into him about honor and sacrifice for the good of the country and gave Luke the honest answer. “I saw a lot of Army bases in a lot of countries, but with the Colonel working all the time and me being shuffled to whatever neighbor would watch me, sometimes the only thing I saw in a country was the road to the base, the inside of the base, and the road back to the airport.”
“Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink, huh?”
Noah nodded. “Pretty much.”
“I usually have the opposite problem. I visit them and do so many things in each one that they’ve started blurring together. Opening of Amorial clinics and meetings about opening clinics and so on. We should compare passports. Travel bingo.”
Noah laughed. “Do we get extra points for knowing how to ask for coffee and say thank you in each language?”
Luke grinned and nodded. “I have a feeling we’ll be pretty evenly matched. We may have to have a bizarre foods showdown.”
Once they made it to the cafe, Luke loaded them up with a coffee and a Chai tea, so comparisons could be made. They talked about the countries they’d visited or lived in and the weirdest phrases they could remember in each language.
Night rolled into the pre-dawn hours, and over a shared breakfast they made plans go out for dinner to celebrate Noah’s first day teaching at Northwestern on Monday.
As Noah fell into bed, tiredly stripping off his clothes, he thought over the whole night and smiled, thinking that even though he hadn’t been planned as anything special, it had turned out in his favor in the best of ways.
PART FIVE
Author: escapes
Artist: mizumichan
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Not mine, sadly. If I owned them things would have ended a lot differently.
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Noah, Casey, Maddie, The Colonel
Word Count: 25,000 so far. WIP but will be completed shortly.
Warnings: Some violence, some smut, drama, a minimum of political goings-on
Spoilers: Show's over. So if you're being spoiled, Im sorry for your luck, son
Summary: AU set in the near future. Luke is the public face of the Amorial Vine implant, a nano-skin technology that reacts to the chemicals your body produces when you meet your soulmate. Billions have found the love of their life, but Luke's arm has remained stubbornly blank. Noah Mayer is the son of Colonel Winston Mayer and quietly fund the campaign in his the Colonel's shadow. When he starts to learn things about the way the campaign is being run behind his back, Noah leaves and takes a position about Northwestern teaching Film Studies. He's taking his life back and the first thing he does to celebrate his freedom is get the implant, something the Colonel had forbidden. With the move and the implant, Noah sets off chain of events that change change five lives and the fate of a nation.
Go see the amazing art here: http://mizumichan.livejournal.com/251114.html
Author’s Notes: I'm sorry for the delay in posting and the fact that it's still a WIP. There ware times during this that my life seemed like it was actively conspiring against me to get it done, up to the death of a family member in the days before my original posting date. I apologize that it's being posted as a WIP, but I will keep going until it's done and post it asap. Very big thank you's to crownroyal_51 noelleleithe and freakykat for the cheerleading and betas.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Part Four
Noah felt his eyes widening as he looked at Luke, then at his hand holding the other man’s wrist. He knew giving a fake name had been stupid, but he hadn’t counted on Luke being bold enough to point it out.
Before he could figure out something that didn’t make him either sound crazy or like an asshole, Luke started talking again.
“I understand why you did, your father being who he is and all. What I don’t know is if all the things you just told me after your name were even true, Noah Mayer. Call me old-fashioned, but I like knowing who I’m… talking to.”
Noah felt the flush creep up his cheeks, something only Kai seemed to bring out in him so easily. “I-I’m… How did you know who I am?”
Luke snorted and raised his eyebrows. “Did you miss the announcement of the rally I’m helping to organize? I know more about politics than I ever wanted to running my foundation and working where I do.” He paused and stepped closer to Noah. “You know that saying ‘Know thine enemy’? I keep track of your father and his campaign. He hates everything I am and stand for. I’m sure if he could remove all of us, the immigrants and the faggots, from the country, he’d do it with a smile on his face.”
Noah couldn’t argue with Luke’s reasoning at all. He knew firsthand what the Colonel was capable of.
“So is this you experimenting on a weekend away from your father’s campaign?” Luke asked.
Shaking his head, Noah pulled on Luke’s wrist, bringing him closer so they didn’t have to talk so loud to be heard over the music. “No. I’m gay. He knows it and hates it. I’m also done working for him. I start teaching at the Northwestern Film School on Monday. Everything I told you after my name is true.”
Luke nodded and looked to the back corner of the club. “Okay. We going to continue talking after?”
Noah nodded back. “Count on it. But first, there’s just something I gotta do.”
He waited a fraction of a second for Luke to turn his head back towards him and caught their lips together in a kiss. After a hitch of surprised hesitation, Luke responded. His tongue met Noah’s stroke for stroke as they stood still in the middle of the dance floor, dancing bodies around them pulsing to the music just a little harder, feeding off the waves of attraction that were coming from Luke and Noah.
Noah felt a rumble in his chest as he threaded his fingers through the hair at the nape of Luke’s neck and realized the sound was coming from him. He’d never noticed that noise he’d just made when he’d kissed anyone else.
Filing it away in his mind for later, Noah pulled away when the need to breathe went from a gentle tug of reminder to a burn in his chest, and other parts, that couldn’t be ignored. Seeing Luke’s chest rising and falling as he breathed heavily, his tongue running across his lower lip to lick the taste of their kiss, reminded Noah that they had better things to be doing with their mouths.
He leaned in again to plant a peck on Luke’s mouth and nodded toward the backroom.
Luke nodded emphatically. “Hell yes.”
Grinning, Noah laced his fingers with Luke’s and started them across the dance floor, ignoring the wash of goosebumps that travelled up his arm and across his skin when their hands touched.
Once they found a dark corner of the backroom, Luke wasn’t content to follow Noah any longer. Splaying his hand across Noah’s chest, Luke pushed the other man backwards until his shoulders hit the painted cinderblock wall, the rest of his back following.
Luke stepped close to Noah and licked the lobe of his ear before sucking it into his mouth. Noah felt the goosebumps rise again as his breath caught in his throat. The front of his jeans was bordering on painful, and this was not making it any better. Before he could shift to make himself more comfortable, Luke’s lips started working downwards as his hands skated down Noah’s sides, stopping at the button of his jeans, popping the button lose and tugging to lower the zipper.
Noah canted his head back against the wall as Luke made appreciative noises before his tongue slid a trail down his abs and finally, finally reached his destination and tugged down jeans and boxers, bringing lips to skin.
Within seconds, the music pounding, the people around them gasping and moaning, the hard cinderblock pressing into his shoulders all faded away, and all that existed was the feel of Luke’s mouth on him and the musk of sex and sweat in the darkened room.
Moving one hand from the wall, Noah threaded his fingers into Luke’s hair and rubbed his thumb over Luke’s cheek, feeling his jaw working. Noah’s hand went along for the ride as Luke’s head bobbed.
Long before he wanted it, Noah felt a dull throb at the base of his spine. It was quickly growing more intense and demanding release. He tightened his hand in Luke’s hair in warning, but it only seemed to make the other man go faster. With a fluttering of tongue and the tight muscles of swallowing, Noah came apart, the ache of release thundering through him so completely that the edges of his vision grayed out.
He was still catching his breath when Luke stood and stepped close to Noah.“Been a while, huh?”
Noah wasn’t sure if he should be insulted or not, and the thought must have shown on his face because Luke pressed closer, his hands resting on Noah’s forearms. “Oh no, I don’t mean… It couldn’t have been easy to find… an escape on the campaign trail with your father.”
Noah blew out an amused breath. “No, it really wasn’t.”
Luke moved to pull away to get Noah’s clothing back in order when he realized that the arm under his hand felt odd. Looking up at Noah, Luke raised an eyebrow.
Noah felt his cheeks blushing again and shrugged a shoulder. “I was a little late getting the implant. I just got it this morning.”
Considering what the world knew of the Colonel, Noah knew what he’d said was a colossal understatement.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding about leaving your father’s campaign,” Luke said as he helped Noah straighten his clothes. “Your father has made speeches about the evil of the implant.”
Once he was put back together, Noah held his hand out to lead Luke out of the backroom. “My father. Not me. I’ve wanted it since I was old enough to get one.”
Noah was grateful that Luke seemed willing to let the topic of the Colonel go. Pulling himself away from the wall, Noah raised his hand and paused, not sure if he could go further. Luke noticed and raised his eyebrows. “What?”
Noah swallowed and took it as permission to move. Reaching Luke’s hair, Noah carefully smoothed Luke’s hair down from its mussed state and cleared a speck of glitter from Luke’s eyebrow by running his thumb over the other man’s brow. “There. That’s better.”
Luke looked up at Noah and gave a smile. A real one, not the ones Noah had seen him plaster on in public or on TV. “Thanks.” He looked around them and then back at Noah. “Do you feel like getting a coffee or something?”
“Yeah. I’d like that.” He held his hand out for Luke and the corner of his mouth quirked up. “I feel like we’re doing this backwards.”
Chuckling, Luke grabbed Noah’s hand and followed him out of the backroom, their linked hands stopping them from being swallowed up and separated by the crowd.
Luke stopped Noah before they left the building, and Noah saw him pull out his phone and type on the screen for a minute.
“Sorry, had to let my friend know I hadn’t been abducted by aliens.”
Noah felt his eyebrows go up and Luke waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “That would only make sense if you knew Casey. You have an alien abduction movie marathon one time and he’s scarred for life.”
Snorting in amusement, Noah motioned for Luke to go out of the club before him. “I don’t know, those aliens in Cocoon were pretty horrifying,” he says with a smirk, wondering if Luke will get the joke about aliens disguised as senior citizens.
Luke turns around in the middle of the sidewalk and laughs, ignoring the comments of the passersby that have to divert around them. “Cocoon? Good lord, are you 70? How old is that movie? We stayed away from the old movies.”
Now it was Noah’s turn to stop, clutching his chest like he’d been stabbed. “Oh man, that’s just… I don’t think I can be seen with you now. You think Cocoon is an old movie?”
Luke nodded. “It’s what… 30 years old or something?”
Noah shook his head. “Or something. Did I happen to mention I specialize in classic movies? Actual classic movies. Not ones made in 1985.”
They’d made it out of the press of people going in and out of the clubs. Luke motioned in the direction he was thinking of going.
“You know your way around here?” he asked.
Noah shook his head. Things had changed since his student days. “Your city, Snyder. Bring me to coffee.”
Luke smiled and fell into step beside Noah. “Not really my city. I’m a transplant just like you.”
“Where are you from?” Noah remembered hearing only Chicago mentioned.
“A town about an hour or two away. Oakdale. Not much there, a hospital, an airport, farms, a shopping district called Old Town that bus tours come to around the holidays…”
“WOAK, which is a pretty good TV studio for the size of its market.”
Luke turned his head to stare at Noah as they waited for the walk signal to flash at the intersection they were waiting to cross at. “You know WOAK?”
Noah nudged Luke into moving as the crowd surged around them. “Yeah, I almost applied there for my work-study placement. Something else ended up coming through, but I talked to one of the owners--Cam maybe--a few times.”
“Kim. Kim Hughes. I’ve known her all my life. Unreal. If things had worked differently, I might have worked with you. I interned there during my summers in college, writing the news copy and scripts for features they’d run in other programs.”
Once they’d crossed the street, Noah turned and looked at Luke. “Small world, huh?” At Luke’s nod, Noah waved an arm in the direction of the two streets they could walk down. “I’m not sure where you’re leading us to.”
Luke started and laughed a little. “Sorry! We’re headed to Pick Me Up.”
“Didn’t I do that already?”
Noah managed to dodge the slap that was coming for his arm and apologized quickly to the hipster he nearly toppled over. Luke snorted and pulled Noah back over closer to him and they headed up the street that would take them to caffeine.
“It’s a pretty cool cafe that’s open 24 hours on the weekends. They have a really good Chai if you’re in to that.”
Noah nodded and kept pace with Luke. “I’ve been where they make the real deal. We’ll have to see how good it is compared to the original.”
“You’ve probably seen a lot of places growing up with your father in the army.”
Noah stopped himself from giving the stock answer that his father had drilled into him about honor and sacrifice for the good of the country and gave Luke the honest answer. “I saw a lot of Army bases in a lot of countries, but with the Colonel working all the time and me being shuffled to whatever neighbor would watch me, sometimes the only thing I saw in a country was the road to the base, the inside of the base, and the road back to the airport.”
“Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink, huh?”
Noah nodded. “Pretty much.”
“I usually have the opposite problem. I visit them and do so many things in each one that they’ve started blurring together. Opening of Amorial clinics and meetings about opening clinics and so on. We should compare passports. Travel bingo.”
Noah laughed. “Do we get extra points for knowing how to ask for coffee and say thank you in each language?”
Luke grinned and nodded. “I have a feeling we’ll be pretty evenly matched. We may have to have a bizarre foods showdown.”
Once they made it to the cafe, Luke loaded them up with a coffee and a Chai tea, so comparisons could be made. They talked about the countries they’d visited or lived in and the weirdest phrases they could remember in each language.
Night rolled into the pre-dawn hours, and over a shared breakfast they made plans go out for dinner to celebrate Noah’s first day teaching at Northwestern on Monday.
As Noah fell into bed, tiredly stripping off his clothes, he thought over the whole night and smiled, thinking that even though he hadn’t been planned as anything special, it had turned out in his favor in the best of ways.
PART FIVE