On My Skin - Part Seven
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 6
Part Seven
Noah emptied his second coffee of the day, needing the fortification against the nervous energy of college students on their first day of classes. He’d spent the night at Luke’s, glad he’d thought to bring his laptop, grabbing it on the way out of the door the previous morning, meaning he could do some pre-work for his class without leaving Luke’s.
Noah wasn’t sure if it was the Vine playing tricks on his mind or if his mind was confirming that the reason for the Vine being there, but either way he liked spending time with Luke. They had the same sense of humor, could talk or sit in silence and be just as comfortable and, as Noah thought of rounds 2 through 4 throughout the day, they definitely were in sync in the bedroom. He shifted in his seat, feeling the reminding ache of just how good they were together.
He smiled into his take-out coffee cup and took one last second to himself as the last of his students straggled into the lecture hall. He glanced up at the clock and saw it was five after the hour. Time to get the show on the road.
“Good Afternoon. Welcome to History of Film 101. If you have somehow wandered into the wrong lecture hall, this is your last chance to escape.” He waited for a moment, checking to see if anyone made a break for it. “Okay, so it looks like you’re all stuck with me for the rest of the semester. If you’ll turn to the syllabus on your desk, you’ll see the course will provide an overview of film history along with an in-depth study of four seminal films in cinematic history. Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, The Best Years of our Lives, Citizen Kane, and we’ll finish off the semester with the Wizard of Oz and the advent of color in cinema. We’ll start with clips of the first known films next class and move into mainstream silent films.”
He picked up his coffee off of his desk and took a sip to wet his throat a little. He wasn’t used to talking this much any more. “If you’re asking yourself this question, no, we will not be screening The Artist. We’ll be going over the silent films that kick The Artist in the pants and take its lunch money.”
The class laughed and Noah smiled, glad he’d captured their attention. “Yes, this course is mostly black and white films. You’ll learn a lot about storytelling and framing shots in this course, if you’re open to it and keep up with the viewing schedule in the syllabus.
"To answer another question, this one I’ve heard around the campus, yes I am Colonel Winston Mayer’s son and left his campaign to teach here at Northwestern. If you are willing to helping me make this class a fun and challenging environment, I could be persuaded to give you some inside insights on the behind the scenes business of politics when we reach Citizen Kane.”
Noah watched the buzz go through the class at his offer. “Your assignment for today is to make sure you have your text bought and your Netflix subscription fired up. By Thursday I’d like you to have chapter 1 of A Short History of the Movies read, which at 700 pages is not short or exceptionally light to carry, sorry about that, and a viewing of Lang’s Metropolis under your belts. Be prepared to discuss both the chapter and the film in class.”
Noah placed the syllabus down and looked down at his watch. “I’m going to go easy on you today, first day of classes and all, so go forth and Netflix. I’ll see you on Thursday.”
Noah watched the room clear out as he sat back down at the desk and entered his notes about the class onto his computer, wondering how Luke’s day was going.
Putting on his glasses, Noah was about to speak the command to send a text when he heard a slow clap in his ear. “Very nice, Roomie. Caught your lecture. You actually sound like you know what you’re doing. No Die Hard in the syllabus though.”
“Shut up, you heathen. Die Hard never was, nor will it ever be a classic movie. Get over it, Kai.”
Noah shook his head at the Kai’s cackling laugh that came through his earpiece. “Finish your coffee, Mr. Crankypants. Just checking in to see how things are going. You settled? You eating? I worry, you know.," and despite the joking tone, the last part had Kai sounding scarily like his own mother.
“I’m fine, Makuahine,” Noah teased Kai with the Hawaiian word for mother. “Don’t you have something better to do than hack into my stream?”
‘You love me and you know it, Mayer. You miss me. Admit it.”
Noah swallowed down the last of his coffee. “I admit nothing. Now seriously, what’s up?”
Noah bit his lip at the put upon sigh that blasted in his ear. Ka was such a drama queen sometimes. “What? My scintillating conversation not enough for you?”
“Kai.”
“Geez Mayer, fine. Just use me and abuse me why don’t you?” There was the click of keys in his ear for a second before the display on his glasses fired up into the familiar black screen of Kai’s preferred operating system. “Your old man is still cooking up something. I’ve seen a lot more activity coming through on his correspondence and files in the last few days. Whitehall is showing up an awful lot as well. I’ve also been watching the traffic from Whitehall. They’re being careful, and there’s something we’re missing, besides the differences in contributions on the public record and the hidden one you found. Something is cooking, I just can’t quite find what it is.”
Noah could hear the frustration in Kai’s voice. It wasn’t often that his friend couldn’t root out the secrets on someone’s system. He knew it was a probably a matter of his father being so low-tech, not trusting technology at all. Something was definitely off, that much Noah knew for sure. Having a bad feeling didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Keep looking. Send me the last scan that you did and I’ll look at it. As scary as it is, I know how his mind works, and maybe I can find something.”
“Will do, Roomie. Besides Colonel Clusterfuck, how are things?”
Noah smirked, remembering Luke’s friend Casey referring to the Colonel in the same way. “It’s been an interesting weekend.”
Once he was done telling Kai all about it, he could hear his friend chuckle. “Only you could go off the nice little plans you love making and end up stumbling into a bucket of rainbows and lube or some other shit that means good things in the gay world. Do you have a horseshoe shoved up your ass or something?”
Noah raised his eyebrows as he gathered up his papers. “Kai, I want you to think about who I was raised by.”
Kai’s fingers stopped clicking on the keys for a second as he blew out a breath. “True. Looks like Karma, that bitch, is finally paying up for the shitty years.”
Chuckling, Noah started up the stairs of the lecture hall. “That’s one way of looking at it. The other is that I’m just that good, my friend. Okay, I’m heading to my office and then home, so send the stuff and I’ll have a look at it. I should have enough time before my date.”
“Look at you, Mr. Mayer. Quite the man’s man… that doesn’t quite work as well as ladies man, does it?”
Noah chuckled as he went into the hallway. “As comebacks go, that was pretty much an epic fail, buddy.”
“Just for that,” Kai’s voice deepened, “Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!”
Noah rolled his eyes. That had to be the absolute worst impression of Bruce Willis ever. “Great. Now I have Die Hard stuck in my head. You. Suck.”
The last thing he heard before his stream clicked back to its normal state was Kai’s distinctive cackle.
Now he needed to get home before the truck showed up with all his boxes from storage.
Luke handed Noah the last of the container of garlic chicken from Pinto Kitchen, which he insisted had the best in Chicago. It was. It was also a two-minute walk from his apartment, which was going to be dangerous for his workouts. He picked the last few pieces out of the box with his chopsticks and looked at the walls of boxes that were around them. “Sorry about the mess. I could have met you at your place.”
Luke shook his head. “Nah, this is fine. It’s very… collegiate. Fits right in around here.”
Noah leaned over and bumped his shoulder against Luke’s as they both sat on the floor, using the coffee table as their tabletop. It was one of the few pieces of furniture that had been unearthed from the pile the movers had left behind. “So you’re saying it’s a dump.”
“I’m saying it’s in transition from cardboard jungle to looking like an actual grown up lives here.”
Noah smiled and held up the last piece of garlic chicken in his chopsticks and held it out for Luke, who opened his mouth and let Noah drop it on his tongue. “I was only offered the job two weeks ago, accepted it last week, and started teaching today. I don’t have to have everything unpacked and put away for inspection by the end of moving day, so I’m going to take my time for once.”
“Your father would have you moved and unpacked all in one day?”
Noah nodded, feeling a little tense at the thought. The man was already at the forefront of his mind from going over the files that Kai sent. The last thing he wanted was to have him cast a pall over the whole night. “The Colonel was never one for an unorganized space or stopping before all the work was done.”
Luke pushed his plate away and set his chopsticks down. “You always refer to him as the Colonel. Did you know that?”
Noah swallowed down some water, not ready for this conversation. “It’s all I’ve ever been allowed to call him.” He gathered the plates up and stood, heading for the kitchen. “Did you want to watch a movie?”
He could feel Luke staring at his back as he retreated, and wasn’t that word ironic, Noah thought, considering the topic of conversation.
There was a pause and Noah willed Luke not to push the conversation about the Colonel. It seemed to work when he heard Luke moving around in the living room. “Depends. Do you know which box they’re in?”
Noah placed the dishes in the sink and started running water. “Like I would trust them to a moving van. They came with me from D.C. They’re already in the media cabinet."
“Do you have anything made this century? In color?”
Noah looked up to see Luke in the doorway of the kitchen. “Yes, smartass, I do. I’ll finish these. You can pick whatever you’d like.”
Luke walked away and Noah heard a cabinet door open and there was silence for a few minutes until he heard Luke make a pleased sound. “Sweet! Die Hard.”
Noah silently groaned and contemplated drowning himself in the dishwater. It was like the universe was laughing at him. “I thought you said this century, Luke. 1988. Almost as old as Cocoon.”
“That would be valid if there wasn’t the Willis-Rickman Continuum.”
Noah frowned and set down the wet dish in his hand, popping his head around the kitchen doorway so he could see Luke. “The what-now?”
Luke tapped the case in his hand. “The ceasing of the time space continuum in movies that in include both Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman. Too much awesome makes time stop. It’s a proven fact.”
Noah stared at Luke for a moment, then shook his head and chuckled. “Okay, we can watch it. Anyone that can bend science and physics to his movie-watching will is clearly no match for logic and better taste in movies.”
Luke snorted as Noah turned back around and pulled the drain out of the sink now that the dishes were done. “May I remind you that you own this movie? If it’s so bad, why do you have it?”
Noah dried his hands and hung the towel on the door to dry. “Kai, my roommate in college. It’s one of his favorite comfort movies.”
Luke nodded and handed the case to Noah. “Makes sense. Explosions always make you feel like your life is not so bad.”
There were so many things wrong with that logic that Noah didn’t even know where to start. He looked down at his arm and flexed it. “If Kai wasn’t straight, I’d seriously think that our implants got mixed up.”
Noah felt a pillow hit the side of his head as Luke laughed. “You’re just jealous of the good taste that Kai and I have.”
“I live in fear of the day you two meet.”
Luke prodded Noah in the hip with his socked foot. “Put in the movie, scaredy cat. The sooner we watch it, the sooner we can go to your bedroom and break in that new bed of yours.”
Noah turned and walked to the player and loaded in the disc. “Yippie-ki-yay,” he growled.
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More coming soon...
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 6
Part Seven
Noah emptied his second coffee of the day, needing the fortification against the nervous energy of college students on their first day of classes. He’d spent the night at Luke’s, glad he’d thought to bring his laptop, grabbing it on the way out of the door the previous morning, meaning he could do some pre-work for his class without leaving Luke’s.
Noah wasn’t sure if it was the Vine playing tricks on his mind or if his mind was confirming that the reason for the Vine being there, but either way he liked spending time with Luke. They had the same sense of humor, could talk or sit in silence and be just as comfortable and, as Noah thought of rounds 2 through 4 throughout the day, they definitely were in sync in the bedroom. He shifted in his seat, feeling the reminding ache of just how good they were together.
He smiled into his take-out coffee cup and took one last second to himself as the last of his students straggled into the lecture hall. He glanced up at the clock and saw it was five after the hour. Time to get the show on the road.
“Good Afternoon. Welcome to History of Film 101. If you have somehow wandered into the wrong lecture hall, this is your last chance to escape.” He waited for a moment, checking to see if anyone made a break for it. “Okay, so it looks like you’re all stuck with me for the rest of the semester. If you’ll turn to the syllabus on your desk, you’ll see the course will provide an overview of film history along with an in-depth study of four seminal films in cinematic history. Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, The Best Years of our Lives, Citizen Kane, and we’ll finish off the semester with the Wizard of Oz and the advent of color in cinema. We’ll start with clips of the first known films next class and move into mainstream silent films.”
He picked up his coffee off of his desk and took a sip to wet his throat a little. He wasn’t used to talking this much any more. “If you’re asking yourself this question, no, we will not be screening The Artist. We’ll be going over the silent films that kick The Artist in the pants and take its lunch money.”
The class laughed and Noah smiled, glad he’d captured their attention. “Yes, this course is mostly black and white films. You’ll learn a lot about storytelling and framing shots in this course, if you’re open to it and keep up with the viewing schedule in the syllabus.
"To answer another question, this one I’ve heard around the campus, yes I am Colonel Winston Mayer’s son and left his campaign to teach here at Northwestern. If you are willing to helping me make this class a fun and challenging environment, I could be persuaded to give you some inside insights on the behind the scenes business of politics when we reach Citizen Kane.”
Noah watched the buzz go through the class at his offer. “Your assignment for today is to make sure you have your text bought and your Netflix subscription fired up. By Thursday I’d like you to have chapter 1 of A Short History of the Movies read, which at 700 pages is not short or exceptionally light to carry, sorry about that, and a viewing of Lang’s Metropolis under your belts. Be prepared to discuss both the chapter and the film in class.”
Noah placed the syllabus down and looked down at his watch. “I’m going to go easy on you today, first day of classes and all, so go forth and Netflix. I’ll see you on Thursday.”
Noah watched the room clear out as he sat back down at the desk and entered his notes about the class onto his computer, wondering how Luke’s day was going.
Putting on his glasses, Noah was about to speak the command to send a text when he heard a slow clap in his ear. “Very nice, Roomie. Caught your lecture. You actually sound like you know what you’re doing. No Die Hard in the syllabus though.”
“Shut up, you heathen. Die Hard never was, nor will it ever be a classic movie. Get over it, Kai.”
Noah shook his head at the Kai’s cackling laugh that came through his earpiece. “Finish your coffee, Mr. Crankypants. Just checking in to see how things are going. You settled? You eating? I worry, you know.," and despite the joking tone, the last part had Kai sounding scarily like his own mother.
“I’m fine, Makuahine,” Noah teased Kai with the Hawaiian word for mother. “Don’t you have something better to do than hack into my stream?”
‘You love me and you know it, Mayer. You miss me. Admit it.”
Noah swallowed down the last of his coffee. “I admit nothing. Now seriously, what’s up?”
Noah bit his lip at the put upon sigh that blasted in his ear. Ka was such a drama queen sometimes. “What? My scintillating conversation not enough for you?”
“Kai.”
“Geez Mayer, fine. Just use me and abuse me why don’t you?” There was the click of keys in his ear for a second before the display on his glasses fired up into the familiar black screen of Kai’s preferred operating system. “Your old man is still cooking up something. I’ve seen a lot more activity coming through on his correspondence and files in the last few days. Whitehall is showing up an awful lot as well. I’ve also been watching the traffic from Whitehall. They’re being careful, and there’s something we’re missing, besides the differences in contributions on the public record and the hidden one you found. Something is cooking, I just can’t quite find what it is.”
Noah could hear the frustration in Kai’s voice. It wasn’t often that his friend couldn’t root out the secrets on someone’s system. He knew it was a probably a matter of his father being so low-tech, not trusting technology at all. Something was definitely off, that much Noah knew for sure. Having a bad feeling didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Keep looking. Send me the last scan that you did and I’ll look at it. As scary as it is, I know how his mind works, and maybe I can find something.”
“Will do, Roomie. Besides Colonel Clusterfuck, how are things?”
Noah smirked, remembering Luke’s friend Casey referring to the Colonel in the same way. “It’s been an interesting weekend.”
Once he was done telling Kai all about it, he could hear his friend chuckle. “Only you could go off the nice little plans you love making and end up stumbling into a bucket of rainbows and lube or some other shit that means good things in the gay world. Do you have a horseshoe shoved up your ass or something?”
Noah raised his eyebrows as he gathered up his papers. “Kai, I want you to think about who I was raised by.”
Kai’s fingers stopped clicking on the keys for a second as he blew out a breath. “True. Looks like Karma, that bitch, is finally paying up for the shitty years.”
Chuckling, Noah started up the stairs of the lecture hall. “That’s one way of looking at it. The other is that I’m just that good, my friend. Okay, I’m heading to my office and then home, so send the stuff and I’ll have a look at it. I should have enough time before my date.”
“Look at you, Mr. Mayer. Quite the man’s man… that doesn’t quite work as well as ladies man, does it?”
Noah chuckled as he went into the hallway. “As comebacks go, that was pretty much an epic fail, buddy.”
“Just for that,” Kai’s voice deepened, “Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!”
Noah rolled his eyes. That had to be the absolute worst impression of Bruce Willis ever. “Great. Now I have Die Hard stuck in my head. You. Suck.”
The last thing he heard before his stream clicked back to its normal state was Kai’s distinctive cackle.
Now he needed to get home before the truck showed up with all his boxes from storage.
Luke handed Noah the last of the container of garlic chicken from Pinto Kitchen, which he insisted had the best in Chicago. It was. It was also a two-minute walk from his apartment, which was going to be dangerous for his workouts. He picked the last few pieces out of the box with his chopsticks and looked at the walls of boxes that were around them. “Sorry about the mess. I could have met you at your place.”
Luke shook his head. “Nah, this is fine. It’s very… collegiate. Fits right in around here.”
Noah leaned over and bumped his shoulder against Luke’s as they both sat on the floor, using the coffee table as their tabletop. It was one of the few pieces of furniture that had been unearthed from the pile the movers had left behind. “So you’re saying it’s a dump.”
“I’m saying it’s in transition from cardboard jungle to looking like an actual grown up lives here.”
Noah smiled and held up the last piece of garlic chicken in his chopsticks and held it out for Luke, who opened his mouth and let Noah drop it on his tongue. “I was only offered the job two weeks ago, accepted it last week, and started teaching today. I don’t have to have everything unpacked and put away for inspection by the end of moving day, so I’m going to take my time for once.”
“Your father would have you moved and unpacked all in one day?”
Noah nodded, feeling a little tense at the thought. The man was already at the forefront of his mind from going over the files that Kai sent. The last thing he wanted was to have him cast a pall over the whole night. “The Colonel was never one for an unorganized space or stopping before all the work was done.”
Luke pushed his plate away and set his chopsticks down. “You always refer to him as the Colonel. Did you know that?”
Noah swallowed down some water, not ready for this conversation. “It’s all I’ve ever been allowed to call him.” He gathered the plates up and stood, heading for the kitchen. “Did you want to watch a movie?”
He could feel Luke staring at his back as he retreated, and wasn’t that word ironic, Noah thought, considering the topic of conversation.
There was a pause and Noah willed Luke not to push the conversation about the Colonel. It seemed to work when he heard Luke moving around in the living room. “Depends. Do you know which box they’re in?”
Noah placed the dishes in the sink and started running water. “Like I would trust them to a moving van. They came with me from D.C. They’re already in the media cabinet."
“Do you have anything made this century? In color?”
Noah looked up to see Luke in the doorway of the kitchen. “Yes, smartass, I do. I’ll finish these. You can pick whatever you’d like.”
Luke walked away and Noah heard a cabinet door open and there was silence for a few minutes until he heard Luke make a pleased sound. “Sweet! Die Hard.”
Noah silently groaned and contemplated drowning himself in the dishwater. It was like the universe was laughing at him. “I thought you said this century, Luke. 1988. Almost as old as Cocoon.”
“That would be valid if there wasn’t the Willis-Rickman Continuum.”
Noah frowned and set down the wet dish in his hand, popping his head around the kitchen doorway so he could see Luke. “The what-now?”
Luke tapped the case in his hand. “The ceasing of the time space continuum in movies that in include both Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman. Too much awesome makes time stop. It’s a proven fact.”
Noah stared at Luke for a moment, then shook his head and chuckled. “Okay, we can watch it. Anyone that can bend science and physics to his movie-watching will is clearly no match for logic and better taste in movies.”
Luke snorted as Noah turned back around and pulled the drain out of the sink now that the dishes were done. “May I remind you that you own this movie? If it’s so bad, why do you have it?”
Noah dried his hands and hung the towel on the door to dry. “Kai, my roommate in college. It’s one of his favorite comfort movies.”
Luke nodded and handed the case to Noah. “Makes sense. Explosions always make you feel like your life is not so bad.”
There were so many things wrong with that logic that Noah didn’t even know where to start. He looked down at his arm and flexed it. “If Kai wasn’t straight, I’d seriously think that our implants got mixed up.”
Noah felt a pillow hit the side of his head as Luke laughed. “You’re just jealous of the good taste that Kai and I have.”
“I live in fear of the day you two meet.”
Luke prodded Noah in the hip with his socked foot. “Put in the movie, scaredy cat. The sooner we watch it, the sooner we can go to your bedroom and break in that new bed of yours.”
Noah turned and walked to the player and loaded in the disc. “Yippie-ki-yay,” he growled.
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More coming soon...