Collision chapter 1/?
Author: fremi08
Title: Collision
Genre/Type: Totally AU, angst/romantic
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Rating: PG up to ?
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid, Bob, Lily/Holden
Warnings: Bit of angst, no
Summary: Luke is a professional soccer player, one of the best in the world, playing in Europe (where soccer is a major sport). He's in the US for the World Championships. He knows he's gay, but is firmly in the closet.
An accident on the training field leads Luke to Reid, who, of course, is a world renowned neurosurgeon (I can't think of him in any other job). They meet and sparks fly. But Reid's out, Luke's not. How will they cope, not only with each other, but also with the outside world?
No Noah, no drinking problem, no kidney problems.
A/N: Not sure about how many chapters this will be, but, if you like it, I intend to post one chapter a week.
Major thanks to teddybear9298 and angelic_nl for correcting my mistakes and giving me the encouragement I need. I'm dragging my feet posting because I am such a chicken. But I promised the awesome teddybear9298 that I would start posting this week. So...here goes nothing...
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Luke raised his hands over his head, stretching out the kinks in his body. He didn’t get much sleep last night, having no choice but to listen to his team mate enjoying some night-time activities with his girlfriend. They weren’t allowed to have their loved-ones with them in the room during training trips, but Shelley had been here for 4 nights in a row now. As sleep deprived and annoyed as he was with Mike for not letting him get enough sleep, he wouldn’t tell on him. They were friends and had been friends for a couple of years now.
Luke looked around the field, yawning and shivering in the cool morning air. He usually liked morning training, but today he really didn’t feel like it. He was tired and in a general bad mood. However, he also knew that most eyes were on him, being the star player and captain of the team. So he put on a friendly face and joined the other players for a slow jog around the field, the usual start of training. Mike jogged up next to him and looked at Luke’s pale face and the bags under his eyes.
“Have Shelley and I been keeping you up?” He smirked.
Luke wasn’t in the mood for a joke. ‘It’s not funny, Mike. You know I need my sleep. I’m happy for you and Shelley, but you’ve got to give me some peace and quiet during the night. Besides, doing what you do every night isn’t good for your body either, you should know that. With the tournament coming up, you need to be at your very best. You should not tire yourself out like that.” Luke warned.
Mike wasn’t impressed and shrugged. “Just because you don’t have anyone to keep you warm at night, doesn’t mean that I have to be alone too. And that crap about sex being not good for my body is bullshit Luke and you know it. Sex is very relaxing for your body, you should try it some time.” he laughed. He then nudged Luke. “You know, Lauren is easy. You can just do her a few times. She’ll take whatever she can get from you.”
Mike had tried to set him up with Shelley’s best friend Lauren, but Luke wasn’t interested. Sure, he could go out with her a couple of times and then let her down easy. That’s what he always did. He had never been in a real relationship with anyone and he didn’t want to be. Because Luke knew, and had known since he was 12 years old, that a girl’s’ body did nothing for him. And although he had never experienced it, he knew he wanted to feel stubble against his skin when he kissed someone. That he craved strong masculine arms around him. That he wanted to let his hands wander over a hard, muscled body, to feel well-defined abs and a firm ass. That, in short, he wanted a man.
Luke, now 25 years old, knew that he was definitely, and absolutely gay. And even though he longed for someone to spend his life with, he stayed firmly in the closet. He was not and probably never would be ready to be the only openly gay soccer player in the world. His life would be unbearable. Soccer fans were known to be ruthless and less than intolerant towards gay people. And as for his team mates, well... There were already enough homophobic jokes in the locker room as it was, so Luke didn’t feel the need to add fuel to that fire.
That didn’t mean that Luke had never had sex, because he had slept with a few girls. He, however, always felt guilty about it; because he knew it would never lead to anything. But he needed to avoid questions about his personal life from the press. To prevent anyone from even suspecting that he might possibly be gay. And now that he was rich, famous and good looking, he had no trouble at all getting a girl in his bed. However, since the last girl he was with had some issues with letting him go, Luke decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble anymore.
He tried to keep his personal life out of the tabloids as much as possible in order to protect himself and his family, but it wasn’t easy. So Luke stayed where he had been all of his life; in the closet, hiding his true nature and feelings from everybody, even his own family. He just couldn’t take the risk.
Luke sighed at Mike’s last remark. “So, what you’re saying is, that she just wants me because I’m famous? Because I’m the captain of the soccer team? Because I’m rich? Don’t you think that’s just a little sad?”
“Come on, Luke. No one is asking you to marry her. There is nothing wrong with some meaningless sex, you know. I think you should let loose a bit, unwind and blow off some steam. And Lauren is definitely a good looking girl. Man, if I wasn’t dating Shelley…. ” Mike’s mind drifted off.
They continued to jog around the field side by side, slowly warming up in the cool air.
After a few laps, Luke broke the silence. “Okay, suppose I go out with her a couple of times and we have sex, then what happens, Mike? Don’t you think she’ll be running to the tabloids to sell them her story the minute she steps out of my bed, being the groupie that she is? Or that she won’t accept it’s a one-time thing? Remember what happened last time. You said it yourself; she only wants me because I’m famous.” Luke said, wishing Mike would just shut up.
There were times Luke wanted to tell Mike how he really felt, and this was one definitely of them. Just to get him off of Luke’s back, to get him to stop trying to set Luke up with girls. But he never dared to. He didn’t even dare to tell his family out of fear that the tabloids would somehow find out and pick up the story. So, no, he couldn’t tell Mike he was gay. He didn’t even know any other gay soccer players. For all he knew, he was the only one. So he wasn’t going to admit anything to anybody. Besides, he wanted to be known for his skills on the field, not for being gay.
“You don’t know that, Luke. But would it be so bad if she did tell the tabloids? Who cares? You’re young and famous; you should enjoy it while you can.“ Mike replied.
“Are you serious?” Luke asked incredulously. “Do you know me at all? I don’t want my private life spread out in the papers, it’s private. That’s why they call it a private life. It’s hard enough as it is to keep me and my family out of the spotlight.”
“Okay, sorry!” Mike apologised, throwing up his hands in surrender. “I just want you to go out, have some fun, and live a little. It’s not healthy staying in the hotel, being alone all the time.”
“Maybe you’re right, but I hardly think now is the time, Mike. We’re here to focus on the World Championship. So just drop it, okay?” Luke cut off the conversation, obviously not willing to talk about it anymore. He picked up his pace and jogged to the front of the group.
Shortly after that, Coach Callahan blew his whistle and called all the players over to him to talk about strategies and positions on the field. Luke’s the engine of the group. His position, -being the midfield -- is the busiest position in soccer, because he has to play both offense en defense. In general, his job is to support the attack when their team is going forward, and helping to fight of an attack by their opponents. And he was good, he was very good.
He was also captain of the national team. He played for one of the biggest soccer clubs in Europe. He was incredibly famous there and could barely walk the streets without being recognised and hunted for autographs and photographs. He was happy to be back in the US for a while, where soccer wasn’t as popular as in Europe. Here he didn’t really get recognised a lot and he was thankful for that, but there were always some, mostly foreign, paparazzi lurking around the hotel the team was staying in. The World Championships took place in the US and they played in several cities. Luke was planning on visiting his family during his stay, but hadn’t contacted his mother Lily about it yet. He is a little bit hesitant about it; he knows his mother wants him to move back to the States and settle down with someone and give her lots of grandchildren. She has already picked out a girl for him. Luke really loves his mother, but he can’t help but wonder if she really knows him at all. But he does miss his family and ….
“Snyder!” Coach Callahan called him back to reality. “Are you paying attention here? I don’t want to explain everything twice.”
“Sorry coach.” Luke mumbled and tried to keep his attention on his coach and the training. Pissing off the coach on the first day of training wasn’t a good idea.
*********
After training, Mike walked over to Luke, handing him a bottle of water as a peace offering. “Sorry man, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Luke sighed. “It’s okay. I’m not mad or anything. Just let me do things my way, just like you are doing things your way,” he said, after downing the bottle of water and wiping the sweat from his forehead.
“Sure. Whatever.” Mike was already distracted. “Hey listen, Shelley has to work tonight, so she won’t be here. Do you want to catch a movie? Maybe go out for drinks afterwards? Unless you want to catch up on your beauty sleep,” he teased.
“Haha, very funny.” Luke said dryly, but couldn’t stop the smile forming on his face. “A movie is fine, but I’m not sure about the drinks. I really do want to get a good night’s sleep. I’m tired and because of these shitty, uncomfortable beds, my back is killing me.”
“Why don’t you go and get a massage from one of the physiotherapists? I’m sure they can help you with your back,” Mike suggested, while they walked off the field and through the corridors of the training complex to the locker room to take a much needed shower.
“Maybe I’ll do that,” Luke replied. He undressed himself down to his boxer briefs, picked up a towel and clean underwear and walked towards the showers.
At the beginning of his career, he found it difficult to shower with his team mates, they all were athletes so their bodies were trained and toned. And if that wasn’t bad enough, his nerves would make him get hard. So he used to wait until most of them were finished showering, staying behind on the field practicing his free kicks. And although his kicks were outstanding because of it, he didn’t feel the need to do that anymore. He was now comfortable enough around his friends to take a shower without feeling weird.
He quickly showered, washed off the sweat, washed his hair and dried off. He pulled a pair of low slung, faded jeans and a dark blue long-sleeved t-shirt from his bag and pulled them on.
While looking the mirror, he styled his short hair, dumped his dirty, sweaty clothes in the huge hamper in the locker room, grabbed his bag and walked out with Mike on his heels.
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Back in the hotel Luke and Mike took the stairs up to their room. All the rooms on the top floor were booked for the team, far away from prying eyes. All the players shared rooms. It was custom for the players to share a room. Like always, Mike and Luke were room mates. Mike used his key to open the door to their hotel room. They went inside and both plopped down on their bed.
Luke grabbed the remote control and turned on the television. Flipping through the channels, he found nothing of interest to him, so he turned it off again.
“I’m going to take a nap before dinner” Luke yawned. He turned over onto his side to look at Mike. Luke then smiled, because Mike was laying face-down on his bed, already snoring.
Luke curled up on his own bed, pushed his cheek into the soft pillow and drifted off to sleep.
Luke woke up to the sound of the TV in the room. Mike was already up, flipping through the channels.
Luke stretched and muttered “Thanks for waking me, man.” Mike turned to look at Luke and laughed. “Nice hair, dude!” Luke ran his hands through his hair to try and flatten it a bit.
Mike threw a pillow at him. “Leave it, it’s no use. But it’s about time you woke up. Dinner should be about ready, so I’m going down now. See you in a few?”
Luke groaned and turned his face into the pillow again. He desperately wanted to get some more sleep, but he was also hungry. And being a professional athlete meant he had to eat well. He forced himself to stand up, headed towards the bathroom to fix his hair and brush his teeth. He gave himself a once over in the mirror and decided he looked okay. He then grabbed his wallet, put it in his back pocket and left the room. He took the elevator down and headed toward the secluded dining room.
Most of his team mates were already there. After dinner a few of his team mates were going to play poker and asked Luke to join them. “No, not tonight guys. I’m going to see a movie”, he said.
Kevin Jackson- the dark-haired, blue-eyed and oh so gorgeous goalkeeper of the team, looked at him and tried to persuade him. “Oh, come on Luke. It’s not like we’re going to play strip poker. Or would you like to see this naked?” he teased, while running his hand over his chest and looking intently at Luke.
Luke turned on his heels. “W-what?” He stuttered. Then he quickly composed himself and replied in an icy voice “Why would you think I want to play strip poker with you? You’re a sore loser and I really don’t want to see your bony naked ass.”
Kevin wasn’t offended and laughed, “Yeah right, whatever… ”
“Yeah, whatever. ” Luke muttered. He walked out of the dining room, through the hotel lobby and went outside. He took a deep breath, trying to shake the uneasy feeling he had. He was having a hard time dealing with these jokes lately, although mostly they were innocent enough. But Kevin had a way of getting to him. First, the guy was gorgeous and Luke felt attracted to him. But Kevin made a lot of jokes and usually they were directed at Luke. They often were about something gay or hinted at gay sex. Luke wasn’t sure if Kevin suspected that Luke was gay, or that maybe Kevin might be gay himself. Either way, he didn’t like it.
He tried to shrug off the feeling and started to walk around the big garden in front of the hotel. He found a bench, sat down and enjoyed the quiet. He laid his head back on top of the bench, stretched his arms out to the side and looked at the sky. It wasn’t dark yet but the first stars were already coming out. He just sat there, letting the quiet evening envelope him. He thought about home. His parents had just remarried again. He missed them a lot. He always felt bad about leaving his family. Because although Luke was rich and famous, and loved what he did for a living, he also missed out on a lot of things because of soccer.
At the moment, the most important thing he missed was a significant other. Someone who was there for him, who he could trust with everything and with whom he could share his deepest, darkest secrets, someone to laugh with, someone who could fill that big hole he felt in his heart. Someone who could take away his loneliness.
Maybe… just maybe, when his soccer career was over, in about 5 years time, maybe then. He could come back to the States and live a quiet life. Start looking for that someone.
Luke was pulled out of his thoughts by a voice calling his name.
“Luke? Where are you, man? Are you out here?” He recognised Mike’s voice, coming nearer. He quickly stood up and answered “Yeah, I’m here. I’m coming. ”
He saw Mike coming down the path towards the bench he just sat on.
“What were you doing out here on your own?” Mike asked when he reached him, looking at him inquisitively. Mike looked behind Luke as if he was searching for something. “Were you with someone, you sneaky bastard?” Mike slapped him on the shoulder laughing.
“Yes. Yes, I was. And I magically made her disappear, alright?” Luke said sarcastically, brushing past Mike and walking toward the entrance of the hotel.
Mike grabbed Luke’s arm and stopped him from walking away. “Just kidding man. You are really touchy, what’s up with you? If you weren’t with a girl, then what were you doing out here on your own?”
“I just wanted some time alone, but apparently that’s a lot to ask for around here.” Luke snapped. Then looking at Mike’s frowning face, he quickly apologised. “Look, I’m sorry Mike. I’m just tired I guess. It’s been a long season and I haven’t been getting much rest,” Luke gave Mike a little smile, “as you very well know.”
Mike released Luke’s arm and they started to walk back to the hotel together.
Mike said, “I’ve been trying to tell you that you need to relax, but whatever. You never listen to me anyway. So, did you forget we were going to see a movie? I think they’re showing a comedy at the hotel. Are you still coming?” Mike obviously didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He was starting to get a bit concerned about Luke, as well as a bit annoyed. There was something different about Luke - he seemed depressed somehow, while he should be on top of the world right now with the way his career was going. Mike decided he was going to keep an eye on Luke. He wanted his friend to be happy, but he also wanted Luke to be able to play to the best of his ability at the World Championships without any distractions.
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The next morning Luke woke a lot more rested than the nights before. 8 Hours of uninterrupted sleep did him a lot of good. Luke wasn’t a morning person, but if he wanted to be on time for breakfast, he had to take a shower before Mike woke up. He dragged himself out of the warm cocoon that was his bed and went into the bathroom. Mike could easily shower for 45 minutes, not caring if anybody else might need to use the bathroom. He even admitted to Luke that once he had fallen asleep during a shower, standing up. Luke was amazed; he knew he would never be able to that. He didn’t have enough patience to just stand in the shower and do nothing. He did what he had to do in the shower and got out.
While putting on his track suit for training later that morning, Luke called out to Mike to wake him up. Mike groaned and protested, but Luke made sure he was awake before he headed out and went down to the breakfast room.
Luke joined his team mates, quickly loaded his plate at the breakfast buffet and started eating. He was happy he was feeling a lot better today. His body was rested and he was ready for training and to show everybody why he was one the highest paid athletes in the world.
After breakfast the team got in the touring bus, that took them to their training accommodations. They made their way onto the field and started their warming-up. Kevin came up to him during his jog around the field and said “Hey.”
Luke looked at him out of the corner of his eyes and simply said “Hey.”. They jogged in silence for a few minutes.
Kevin kept throwing looks in his direction, but said nothing. Luke was beginning to feel uneasy, so he decided to break the silence. “Is there something on your mind, Kevin? You want to tell me something?”
“Ehm… n-no… ehhm.. maybe.. yes” Kevin stuttered, caught off guard by Luke’s question. Then, in a more steady voice “yes, actually, there is. Do you have time tonight? I want to talk to you about something.”
“What’s it about?” An uncomfortable feeling crept up on Luke.
“I can’t say now, can we meet tonight after dinner? We’ll go for a walk, okay?”
“What’s with the secrecy, Kevin? You’re kind of freaking me out here. Is it about me or about you or about soccer?”
“I really can’t talk about it now, Luke. I’ll tell you tonight if you want to. Please?” Kevin pleaded.
Luke sighed. Kevin didn’t really give him a choice. “Okay, okay. I’ll see you after dinner.”
“Thanks Luke. I appreciate it,” Kevin replied, sounding relieved.
Luke said nothing, but he was very curious about what Kevin wanted to tell him and to be honest, he was a little bit scared too.
After the warm-up, Coach Callahan decided they would play a little friendly match, dividing the team into two groups. These little matches were always great fun for the team, they could goof around a little bit and show off their skills.
Luke loved it too and was determined to win. He did not take to losing very well, he was very competitive and that had helped him persevere in his ambitions of becoming the world’s greatest player. He totally went for it in the match and soon he found himself in the penalty area, waiting for a chance to score.
Kevin was the goalie on the other team and Luke had to pass him to score. His team mates were passing the ball around on the midfield when suddenly Mike saw him standing, alone in the box, waiting for the ball. Mike passed the ball with great precision in Luke’s direction and Luke saw his opportunity and got his body ready to jump at exactly the right moment, determined to score a header. With his back to Kevin, walking back and watching the ball approach him through the air, he jumped up high, moving his head with great force towards the goal to guide the ball into the goal.
And that’s when it happened.
Because Kevin had seen the ball coming too and he was dead set on catching it before Luke could score, he also jumped up and their heads met in a terrible collision that was heard throughout the field, knocking Kevin’s head back into the goal post . They fell down to the field in a tangled heap of limbs, both knocked unconscious.
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