On My Skin - Part Six
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 4 | Part 5
Part Six
While Noah cleaned himself up and got dressed, Luke returned to the kitchen. He could see why the other man had been a little freaked out when he’d stormed into the bathroom. The coffee and mug mess was still there, along with streaks of blood on the tile floor from his cuts. His sleep pants, ripped and stained with coffee and blood, were balled in the corner by the fridge. Luke had to admit it looked like something bad had gone down.
By the time Noah came out of the bathroom, dressed and his damp hair in some semblance of order, Luke had the mess cleaned up and was just finishing the drip on the second mug of coffee.
Luke handed it to Noah as he took a sip of his own and led them both to the couch in the living room. They looked out over the view, quiet and contemplative, not wanting to wreck the comfortable vibe they had going, but both of them knowing that they had to.
Luke was the one to break it, which would have come as no surprise to his family, had they been there. “So, I’m thinking your father is not going to like this at all.”
Noah nearly snorted coffee through his nose and coughed while Luke apologized. Noah waved the apology away. “It wasn’t your fault. The mental picture of the Colonel’s reaction to one, me getting the implant, and two, my soulmate being the heir of the company that makes the implant, gay, a Democrat, and pretty much everything he tried crush out of me since I was small… Well it was amusing.” He glanced down into his coffee and then back up at Luke. “We may need to go into hiding if he wins this election.”
Luke didn’t know whether he was kidding or not. Knowing what he knew of Colonel Mayer, Luke thought probably not. He placed his coffee on the table in front of the couch and turned to face Noah. “How do we handle it now? As soon as someone sees so much as a hint that my vine has started, it’s going to be open season on anyone I come into contact with, until some sort of announcement is made about who it is.”
Noah set down his own mug of coffee and scrubbed his hands over his face. “This is getting really complicated, really fast.”
Luke leaned closer to Noah and put his chin on Noah’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Noah said as he turned his head and planted a kiss on Luke’s forehead. “It’s nothing either of us did. I felt the connection between us last night, before either of us looked at our arms. I wanted to see you again and was trying to figure out when was too soon to call when you called me. Implant or not, it was always going to be complicated.”
Luke had to give him that. No matter which way things went, someone was likely to not like how they turned out. Most likely Noah’s father and his cronies. Luke knew his family would be happy he’d finally found someone. With every shortcoming they’d overlooked in Luke, he knew they wouldn’t judge Noah on the merits or demerits of his father. The rest of the world? He didn’t even want to think about it.
“Maybe the best thing to do is to keep our arms covered at all times. Deal with things a friend or family member at a time, and when it’s the right time, we come out, so to speak.”
Noah’s mouth quirked at the phrasing. “Sounds like our best plan right now. It gives us some time to get to know each other better, as well.”
Luke nodded in agreement. “Now that that’s settled, you hungry?”
Chuckling, Noah made an agreeing noise. “Yeah, someone woke me up way too early this morning… afternoon. What do you have?”
Luke got up off the couch and held his and out for Noah to grab. “Let’s find out. I just got groceries when I came back from my last business trip, so nothing should be sentient yet.”
It turned out that Luke had the fixings for omelets, which Noah insisted he was a master at, so Luke left him in charge of prep and cooking and ferried dishes and cutlery to the dining table, after he’d cleared if off of unopened mail and file folders from work.
He was just putting a plate of toast that Noah had handed off to him on the table when the door to his condo banged open.
“Snyder! What happened to calling me when you woke up to let me know you didn’t get eaten by wolves or some shit?”
Luke froze in front of the table. He quickly moved his arm behind his back and looked at Casey sheepishly as his heart nearly pounded out of his chest. “Sorry, Case. I was out late and I forgot. You can yell at me in the office. Tomorrow.”
Casey raised his eyebrows and waved a hand towards the table. “Looks like you were expecting me for breakfast.”
He sat at the table and from there had a full view into the kitchen. “Oh. Hello, strange man in my best friend’s kitchen.”
Luke rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. “Speaking of wolves, Hughes, can you maybe act like you weren’t raised by them?”
“I’ll have you know my wolf mother was a paragon of virtue.” He banged a knife against the empty juice glass that was in front of him. “What’s going on, Luke? You don’t forget to check in, you don’t bring people back to your place, and you sure as hell don’t walk around with short sleeves around anyone you haven’t known more than half your life. Start talking or I’m going to start acting like Margo Hughes’ son.”
Luke felt the headache starting and out of habit, lifted his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose to stave it off. “Casey, can I explain all of thi…”
“Dude.”
Hearing the shocked tone of Casey’s voice, Luke remembered a second too late that there was a really good reason he was hiding that arm behind his back. Well, he thought, there goes the MENSA membership offer.
“Casey…”
Casey was on his feet and walking over to Luke, pulling his arm out and inspecting the twisting vines of color on his skin. “When?”
Luke pulled his arm away and shook his head. “At work. Tomorrow.”
“When?” Casey repeated.
Sighing, Luke knew that there was no way Casey was going to leave until he got information. “Last night, this morning, I don’t know. All I know is that it was there when I woke up.”
Casey nodded and then looked over Luke’s shoulder at a noise that sounded like the stove being turned off. “Freeze, strange guy.” He looked back directly at Luke. “Am I going to find a matching Vine on his arm?”
Luke willed himself to not give anything away, but he could feel the heat on his cheeks betraying him. “Casey, let it go. Please.”
Stepping back and crossing his arms over his chest, Casey raised an eyebrow at Luke. “I always thought when it happened for you, that you’d be telling everyone, hell, that you’d be announcing it on television so that they could finally get off your back about it.”
Luke willed himself not to look back at Noah. If the situation had been any different, he probably would have been. “If it was just me I had to consider, yeah. But it’s not just me. You know it’s going to be a media feeding frenzy, Case, and it’s not just going to be me in the shark tank.”
Casey sat back down and blew out a breath, thinking about what Luke had said. “Okay, that makes some of the butt-hurt go away that you didn’t call me as soon as you saw your arm.”
Luke smiled and shook his head at Casey’s pouting face. “Admit it, Case. You were still secretly thinking that I was your soulmate and something was wrong with my implant.”
Snorting in amusement, Casey shook his head. “There’s something wrong with you alright. I don’t swing that way. I know it’s a disappointment to your kind, but deal with it. I like chick, not dick.”
Luke heard an amused snort behind him and saw Casey’s usually gnat-like attention focus on Noah again. He talked out of the side of his mouth to Luke in a sotto voice. “Yours does like dick, right? This isn’t a kicking down the closet door thing, is it?”
Luke wasn’t sure of how to answer that. He wasn’t sure who, besides Noah himself and his father, knew about Noah being gay. He suspected that the number was not high.
“No, sadly, he didn’t earn his toaster oven converting me from chick to dick.”
Luke couldn’t see Noah behind him, but he could feel warmth at his back where there was none and he knew Casey recognized Noah when his eyes widened. “Duuuude.”
Luke knew Casey’s every tone of dude and this was defcon five, batten down the hatches level of dude. Luke stepped back until he was pressed to Noah’s front and waited for Casey to process.
“Oh hell no. Captain Clusterfuck’s son?!”
“Colonel,” Noah corrected, before he could help himself.
“Not helping,” Luke said, amused that Noah had corrected the rank but not clusterfuck.
“Arms. Now,” Casey said as he held out his own arm in example.
Luke felt Noah’s arm slide beside his and he linked his pinky over Noah’s thumb, feeling Noah squeeze it before they moved their arms forward in unison for Casey’s inspection.
He looked down at the pattern, seeing the points where it flowed from one arm to the other without breaking. He looked up and flopped back down on the kitchen chair, making it squeak in protest. “Fuck. Me.”
“Dicks, not chicks, Case.”
Noah’s free arm came around Luke’s waist as he chuckled softly. “Now who is not helping?”
Luke snorted and looked up at Noah again. “Finish in the kitchen. This is my day off and I’m not spending it justifying this to Casey.”
Noah squeezed his waist a little before letting it go and returning to the kitchen. He heard the click of the gas flame lighting and Luke looked down at his still stunned friend. “Casey.” When he saw he had the other man’s full attention he continued. “We’ll discuss this tomorrow at work. I know it’s a shock, but we need a little time to get used to it too.”
Casey seemed to shake himself out of his shock and nodded a little distractedly. “Yeah. This is a little, no actually a lot, mind-blowing.”
Luke nodded in agreement. It was. “I know. We’ll definitely talk, but you will not be talking to anyone about this. Is that clear, Casey? Don’t make me force you to sign one of the company’s non-disclosure agreements that you make others sign.”
Casey snorted and stood up. “I think I could make a good case of state of shock and signing under duress if you did.” He pulled Luke into his arms and Luke groaned at the rib cracking hug he got. “I’m happy for you. You know that, right? It’s just… woah.”
Luke patted his best friend on the back and nodded into his shoulder. “I know.”
Luke walked him to the door and made sure it was locked. Not that it would stop Casey or Maddie, who both had keys, but as he slipped the chain into place, he figured it would at least slow them down.
Noah was just putting the plates with their omelets on the table when he walked back to the table.
They both sat down and looked at each other. Noah raised an eyebrow. “So, that went well.”
Luke cracked up, with Noah right behind him.
PART SEVEN
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 4 | Part 5
Part Six
While Noah cleaned himself up and got dressed, Luke returned to the kitchen. He could see why the other man had been a little freaked out when he’d stormed into the bathroom. The coffee and mug mess was still there, along with streaks of blood on the tile floor from his cuts. His sleep pants, ripped and stained with coffee and blood, were balled in the corner by the fridge. Luke had to admit it looked like something bad had gone down.
By the time Noah came out of the bathroom, dressed and his damp hair in some semblance of order, Luke had the mess cleaned up and was just finishing the drip on the second mug of coffee.
Luke handed it to Noah as he took a sip of his own and led them both to the couch in the living room. They looked out over the view, quiet and contemplative, not wanting to wreck the comfortable vibe they had going, but both of them knowing that they had to.
Luke was the one to break it, which would have come as no surprise to his family, had they been there. “So, I’m thinking your father is not going to like this at all.”
Noah nearly snorted coffee through his nose and coughed while Luke apologized. Noah waved the apology away. “It wasn’t your fault. The mental picture of the Colonel’s reaction to one, me getting the implant, and two, my soulmate being the heir of the company that makes the implant, gay, a Democrat, and pretty much everything he tried crush out of me since I was small… Well it was amusing.” He glanced down into his coffee and then back up at Luke. “We may need to go into hiding if he wins this election.”
Luke didn’t know whether he was kidding or not. Knowing what he knew of Colonel Mayer, Luke thought probably not. He placed his coffee on the table in front of the couch and turned to face Noah. “How do we handle it now? As soon as someone sees so much as a hint that my vine has started, it’s going to be open season on anyone I come into contact with, until some sort of announcement is made about who it is.”
Noah set down his own mug of coffee and scrubbed his hands over his face. “This is getting really complicated, really fast.”
Luke leaned closer to Noah and put his chin on Noah’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Noah said as he turned his head and planted a kiss on Luke’s forehead. “It’s nothing either of us did. I felt the connection between us last night, before either of us looked at our arms. I wanted to see you again and was trying to figure out when was too soon to call when you called me. Implant or not, it was always going to be complicated.”
Luke had to give him that. No matter which way things went, someone was likely to not like how they turned out. Most likely Noah’s father and his cronies. Luke knew his family would be happy he’d finally found someone. With every shortcoming they’d overlooked in Luke, he knew they wouldn’t judge Noah on the merits or demerits of his father. The rest of the world? He didn’t even want to think about it.
“Maybe the best thing to do is to keep our arms covered at all times. Deal with things a friend or family member at a time, and when it’s the right time, we come out, so to speak.”
Noah’s mouth quirked at the phrasing. “Sounds like our best plan right now. It gives us some time to get to know each other better, as well.”
Luke nodded in agreement. “Now that that’s settled, you hungry?”
Chuckling, Noah made an agreeing noise. “Yeah, someone woke me up way too early this morning… afternoon. What do you have?”
Luke got up off the couch and held his and out for Noah to grab. “Let’s find out. I just got groceries when I came back from my last business trip, so nothing should be sentient yet.”
It turned out that Luke had the fixings for omelets, which Noah insisted he was a master at, so Luke left him in charge of prep and cooking and ferried dishes and cutlery to the dining table, after he’d cleared if off of unopened mail and file folders from work.
He was just putting a plate of toast that Noah had handed off to him on the table when the door to his condo banged open.
“Snyder! What happened to calling me when you woke up to let me know you didn’t get eaten by wolves or some shit?”
Luke froze in front of the table. He quickly moved his arm behind his back and looked at Casey sheepishly as his heart nearly pounded out of his chest. “Sorry, Case. I was out late and I forgot. You can yell at me in the office. Tomorrow.”
Casey raised his eyebrows and waved a hand towards the table. “Looks like you were expecting me for breakfast.”
He sat at the table and from there had a full view into the kitchen. “Oh. Hello, strange man in my best friend’s kitchen.”
Luke rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. “Speaking of wolves, Hughes, can you maybe act like you weren’t raised by them?”
“I’ll have you know my wolf mother was a paragon of virtue.” He banged a knife against the empty juice glass that was in front of him. “What’s going on, Luke? You don’t forget to check in, you don’t bring people back to your place, and you sure as hell don’t walk around with short sleeves around anyone you haven’t known more than half your life. Start talking or I’m going to start acting like Margo Hughes’ son.”
Luke felt the headache starting and out of habit, lifted his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose to stave it off. “Casey, can I explain all of thi…”
“Dude.”
Hearing the shocked tone of Casey’s voice, Luke remembered a second too late that there was a really good reason he was hiding that arm behind his back. Well, he thought, there goes the MENSA membership offer.
“Casey…”
Casey was on his feet and walking over to Luke, pulling his arm out and inspecting the twisting vines of color on his skin. “When?”
Luke pulled his arm away and shook his head. “At work. Tomorrow.”
“When?” Casey repeated.
Sighing, Luke knew that there was no way Casey was going to leave until he got information. “Last night, this morning, I don’t know. All I know is that it was there when I woke up.”
Casey nodded and then looked over Luke’s shoulder at a noise that sounded like the stove being turned off. “Freeze, strange guy.” He looked back directly at Luke. “Am I going to find a matching Vine on his arm?”
Luke willed himself to not give anything away, but he could feel the heat on his cheeks betraying him. “Casey, let it go. Please.”
Stepping back and crossing his arms over his chest, Casey raised an eyebrow at Luke. “I always thought when it happened for you, that you’d be telling everyone, hell, that you’d be announcing it on television so that they could finally get off your back about it.”
Luke willed himself not to look back at Noah. If the situation had been any different, he probably would have been. “If it was just me I had to consider, yeah. But it’s not just me. You know it’s going to be a media feeding frenzy, Case, and it’s not just going to be me in the shark tank.”
Casey sat back down and blew out a breath, thinking about what Luke had said. “Okay, that makes some of the butt-hurt go away that you didn’t call me as soon as you saw your arm.”
Luke smiled and shook his head at Casey’s pouting face. “Admit it, Case. You were still secretly thinking that I was your soulmate and something was wrong with my implant.”
Snorting in amusement, Casey shook his head. “There’s something wrong with you alright. I don’t swing that way. I know it’s a disappointment to your kind, but deal with it. I like chick, not dick.”
Luke heard an amused snort behind him and saw Casey’s usually gnat-like attention focus on Noah again. He talked out of the side of his mouth to Luke in a sotto voice. “Yours does like dick, right? This isn’t a kicking down the closet door thing, is it?”
Luke wasn’t sure of how to answer that. He wasn’t sure who, besides Noah himself and his father, knew about Noah being gay. He suspected that the number was not high.
“No, sadly, he didn’t earn his toaster oven converting me from chick to dick.”
Luke couldn’t see Noah behind him, but he could feel warmth at his back where there was none and he knew Casey recognized Noah when his eyes widened. “Duuuude.”
Luke knew Casey’s every tone of dude and this was defcon five, batten down the hatches level of dude. Luke stepped back until he was pressed to Noah’s front and waited for Casey to process.
“Oh hell no. Captain Clusterfuck’s son?!”
“Colonel,” Noah corrected, before he could help himself.
“Not helping,” Luke said, amused that Noah had corrected the rank but not clusterfuck.
“Arms. Now,” Casey said as he held out his own arm in example.
Luke felt Noah’s arm slide beside his and he linked his pinky over Noah’s thumb, feeling Noah squeeze it before they moved their arms forward in unison for Casey’s inspection.
He looked down at the pattern, seeing the points where it flowed from one arm to the other without breaking. He looked up and flopped back down on the kitchen chair, making it squeak in protest. “Fuck. Me.”
“Dicks, not chicks, Case.”
Noah’s free arm came around Luke’s waist as he chuckled softly. “Now who is not helping?”
Luke snorted and looked up at Noah again. “Finish in the kitchen. This is my day off and I’m not spending it justifying this to Casey.”
Noah squeezed his waist a little before letting it go and returning to the kitchen. He heard the click of the gas flame lighting and Luke looked down at his still stunned friend. “Casey.” When he saw he had the other man’s full attention he continued. “We’ll discuss this tomorrow at work. I know it’s a shock, but we need a little time to get used to it too.”
Casey seemed to shake himself out of his shock and nodded a little distractedly. “Yeah. This is a little, no actually a lot, mind-blowing.”
Luke nodded in agreement. It was. “I know. We’ll definitely talk, but you will not be talking to anyone about this. Is that clear, Casey? Don’t make me force you to sign one of the company’s non-disclosure agreements that you make others sign.”
Casey snorted and stood up. “I think I could make a good case of state of shock and signing under duress if you did.” He pulled Luke into his arms and Luke groaned at the rib cracking hug he got. “I’m happy for you. You know that, right? It’s just… woah.”
Luke patted his best friend on the back and nodded into his shoulder. “I know.”
Luke walked him to the door and made sure it was locked. Not that it would stop Casey or Maddie, who both had keys, but as he slipped the chain into place, he figured it would at least slow them down.
Noah was just putting the plates with their omelets on the table when he walked back to the table.
They both sat down and looked at each other. Noah raised an eyebrow. “So, that went well.”
Luke cracked up, with Noah right behind him.
PART SEVEN