Stay - Chapter Thirty Five
Author's Notes:
Calm and fluffiness before the storm, I guess! Also, please suspend your disbelief at my entire lack of knowledge regarding Neurological Institutions in America. I did research but I wanted Reid's job offer to be in a particular place so I had to make one up.... you get the jist! ;)
I really hope you enjoy! Thank you all for being cheerleaders to this story <3
Reid nudged open the door with his elbow.
"You dirty dirty stop out!" was his welcome. As Katie appeared, her eyebrows raised in accusation, Reid sighed and rolled his eyes to the heavens.
"You waited just to say that to me didn't you?" he asked, throwing his jacket over the couch. Katie immediately picked it up and hung it on the hook on the wall.
"Course I did," she grinned, heading for the kitchen, "so, come on, how was it?"
Reid sat at the kitchen table. "Interesting, very interesting. I spent the night drinking hot chocolate and making plastic skeletons with Ethan Snyder. Luke then told me he'd stuck lips on his grandma's husband and I shared my tale of the married man and his inability to keep it in his pants. We made out in his Grandma's kitchen as Luke cut cucumbers then I slept on the couch. Luke woke me up feeling rough at 3am, lay with me in the lounge until morning when I was rudely awoken by his kid brother who spat toast crumbs in my face. Then the morning was aptly rounded off by pancakes, Luke all curled up on my lap and a phonecall from my arch enemy offering me the job I've wanted all my life. Oh yes and by the way, Natalie Snyder intends to marry us off when she can get her little sticky hands on my paycheck."
Katie was silent. It took a good minute to take it all in before she started to laugh loudly and gulp in big breaths. "Are you serious?"
Reid's face was unmoving, eyes straight ahead and no sign of a smile. "Katie, remember who you're talking to."
Her forehead wrinkled suddenly and a look of panic crossed her face. "When you said you had a job offer, you're not taking it are you?" Reid didn't answer immediately. Katie noticed. "Reid..."
"I don't know."
She sat back, distancing herself. "Where is the job?"
"New York."
"Reid you can't move to New York."
"Katie, let's not get weepy, I haven't said yes and I don't think I will but I have to consider it."
"What about the new wing? Luke? Me? Reid you can't leave."
"Look Katie, if someone came along, granted you despise their very existence but they offer you a job, a job that you've trained for and spent your whole life wanting. If they offered you it, can you honestly say you wouldn't even consider it?"
"I would if I had no ties, no reason to stay." Reid didn't have a clever remark or even a reply of any kind. "I can give you a list of reasons to stay."
"Hit me with them," he said, needing to hear it, requiring someone else to say what he wasn't able to admit still. It was a constant battle, an internal struggle of heart and head. Reid lived for the brain, the mind, and he wasn't sure he was ready to let his heart do the decision making...
"You have a home. You have a brand new neurological wing which you've designed and you're running yourself. You have a Chief of Staff who treats you like his own. You have a spectacular room mate who, despite your disgraceful habits, would miss you terribly and so would her baby son. You have a boyfriend who I know you're crazy about and who has a generous and open heart ready to love... to love you. You have changed for the better. You're different. You're softer. You're still an arrogant, miserable jerk but your edges are smoother and it's because you're here."
Reid knew she was right. He looked down, his eyes on his hands knotted together, his knuckles white with stress. This wasn't normal. Reid Oliver doesn't stress, he scolded himself, you don't get scared and you certainly don't do emotional drama. Man up.
"My job is my life," he said, his voice waning, obviously considering Katie's words.
"Not all of it, not anymore." Katie reached out and stroked his hand lovingly. He was going to pull away, to retreat back into a shell to make things easier but he didn't. He let his heart rule out and looked at her. Her eyes were packed with concern and he felt sick when he saw a thin border of tears along her eyelashes.
"If I leave you'll marry Doogie and we can't have you marrying a loser can we?" he said with a sigh, a shakey smirk appearing.
She let out a little squeal of joy and lunged at him. He spluttered and swatted, her hair curtaining his face and attacking his mouth. She squeezed him tight then leaned back with an enormous shining smile. Her eyes were honest and bright. "I am so proud of you."
He hadn't cried for approximately five years and even then it was at a broken finger. He was sure if he did that kind of thing then this would be the time to do it.
"Yea well, don't think I'm staying cos of you," he drawled, sarcastic and emotionless. She simply ignored it, hugged him close again and clouded him in perfume. Reid fought it but he smiled into her mass of soft blonde hair.
...
THREE DAYS LATER.
Reid sat alone in Katie's lounge, a medical textbook propped on one leg of his baggy lounge pants, and a plate with a alf eaten sandwiched against the other. It was silent, painfully so, and he could almost hear his own thoughts. It was hell. Pre-Oakdale it was a normal for a night to be so damned flat and lonely but now, well now something was missing. He reached down, grasping hold of his sandwich, and took a bite. It tasted boring. He threw it back on the plate and sighed, his head falling onto the cushions. There wasn't even a crying baby to break up the silence as Katie had been whisked off by Chris to some cabin somewhere and Reid had preferred to hear no more about it. There wasn't even a Luke and Reid felt it. He had a family dinner, some hideous Snyder pow wow that Reid wasn't invited to for the sole reason that some Aunty was returning from some unit for a few days and Reid was an outsider- not a great idea for someone with mental health issues.
He tossed his book onto the floor and let out a growl. This sucks. That was his conclusion. It just wasn't practical. He wasn't a guy used to company, someone to talk to and be with, someone to come home to and discuss things with- anything and everything. He wasn't even sure all of that was necessary for a normal human being but it is now, he thought. He didn't know when it had happened but he craved it a little and then when those days arrived when he felt tetchy and inclined to bite someone's head clean off, he's snap and ask for peace and quiet. Even then he'd lie.
He could hear the clock ticking in Katie's bedroom and wondered how she ever slept. He felt he was listening in on the neighbouring house as he could hear voices and laughter- bastards, he thought. The plugged in baby monitor would whir every now and then and Reid just considered it a little pathetic without an infant on the other end. Even the light was annoying, the bulb obviously on the blink. The fridge groaned after Katie's third attempt at fixing it and Reid was sure it wasn't keeping food as fresh as it should- as a salad coniseur, Reid could taste even the slightest drop in quality.
He stepped over his file and began making a coffee, the coffee machine buzzing and clinking loudly as the only reassuring sound he'd heard all night.
The bell buzzed. Reid almost tripped over himself to reach the door.
Luke.
"Hey you," Luke chimed happily, his smile wonky but sparkling.
Reid had to smile. It was as if every one of Katie's appliances, the food on his very plate and the words in his books were screaming for something good to come of such a crappy night. Luke standing in a dark, chest hugging t-shirt and jeans, his hair all twisty and crying out for touching, was the very definition of 'something good' ... ok, way better than that, Reid admitted internally.
"Snyder shindig over already?" Reid asked with a clever grin.
"No, idiot, I came to see you," Luke replied as he stepped in the door, the words shooting Reid down in an instant. Reid liked it.
"Me? Why? It was a family dinner."
"Yea, I know. So?"
"So... family is your thing. Why do you want to be here instead of there?" Reid asked, genuinely confused.
"If I have to answer that I'm going to want to see your grad certificates as you're clearly dumb."
Reid chuckled. Luke was learning the way of the snark...
"I want you to answer it. Even so."
Luke sat on the couch and pulled his legs up too. Reid sat beside him, sliding a little closer.
"Molly and my mom-"
"Molly's that skinny chick, right?"
"Yes Reid, Molly is very slim and is also my father's fiance so play nice," Luke rolled his eyes, "Anyway, Molly and my mom glared at eachother all night, Faith went into some childish strop about not being able to go to some all-nighter, Ethan wasn't feeling too good so I spent most of the night with him reading his 'Science is fun' set. I'm blaming you for that. Aunt Meg was so quiet all night that nobody knew what to say to her. My grandma was on edge and she even forgot to make enough food so Molly stepped in, causing more arguments-"
"Do you guys ever just eat and shut up?"
Luke's shoulders relaxed and he laughed hard. "I guess not."
"If it's quiet you're after, you've come to the right place. Welcome to the morgue."
Luke frowned. "You're spending the night alone? Where's Katie?"
"Doogie yanked her and the kid off for some hideous bonding weekend."
"So you're sitting in half darkness," Luke said, his eyes wandering over the remnants of Reid's evening, "reading about 'inhibition and neurodegeneration' and eating, oh surprise surprise, a sandwich. How's tonight working out for you?"
"Perfectly thank you, now you can return back to Snydersville and leave me to my lovely evening."
Reid didn't even try to pretend he was being serious. Luke knew he was lying, he'd have known even if Reid was his ever convincing self.
"I'm staying here. I promised you a sleepover remember?" Luke blushed a little despite himself. It was astounding at how quickly Reid perked up, his heart beating a bit faster.
"Where's the popcorn. I was promised popcorn."
Luke smiled and let out a soft chuckle. He felt the rush of fulfillment that came from simple conversation with Reid- it was so freaking fun.
"Too bad it's not enough that you're getting me."
Reid smirked again and frowned playfully through narrow eyes. "You fishing for compliments Snyder?"
Luke leaned in, breath on Reid's cheek as his words fell straight into his ear. Reid felt his skin prickle. "You giving any?" He could barely control his limbs as they moulded to Luke's body, desperate for contact.
"Might be persuaded if you keep doing t...th...tha" Reid's voice trailed off as Luke slid his lips to drown out the words. It was one of those intoxicating kisses, the kind that make your head swim and eyes roll. He kind that goes beyond butterflies and transports you into the world of indescribable... and Luke was damn good at it.
Reid surrendered. He could feel Luke's persistence, his urgent hands and deep kisses. Reid had no intention of reigning him in or slowing things down as Luke Snyder seemed to play to the same tune. He felt hands on his skin, lips in places they don't usually go and a shuddering pleasure so intense he had to close his eyes- tightly. Luke, now on top of Reid, tugged Reid's t-shirt up, exposing chest and toying with every inch of skin with warm lips. Reid was sure he'd fallen through the cushions, drowned himself in feelings so raw he could barely stand it. He grabbed for Luke's hair as he felt hands moving downwards, further and further until he couldn't think straight. He was sure he'd made a noise but didn't give a damn as his fingers dug deeper into Luke's messy blonde strands.
Luke glanced up under his eyes, Reid's favourite way, and just looked. His eyes glittered and burned. A ghost of a smile touched Reid's face as he stared down. Luke kissed a slow line Reid's stomach, eyes never faultering, stopping only to tug at obstructing material...
Fuck me, Reid thought, in every sense of the words.
....
"Does your mom know you can do things like that?" Reid asked, completely inappropriately.
Luke, sleepy and buried in Reid's neck, mumbled back. "I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that."
"Still... where you learned to do that is a mystery. We all know it wasn't that other guy that I cannot mention in the bedroom-"
"Oh but we can mention my mom... nice."
Reid thought better than to go on. Propriety settling on him for a brief moment that would never last.
He played mindlessly with Luke's fingers, twisting them around his own as they lay tangled in Reid's sheets. It felt nice in an odd way, a way Reid didn't understand. Ordinarily he'd have laughed his ass off at anyone being so lame but this was Luke, this was anything but lame.
"You want anything?" Reid asked. He was anything but a good host generally but this was Luke- RichyRich from the land of the private jet.
"No thanks. I've got all I need right here," he said, enveloping Reid's chest with his free arm. Reid was about to laugh at the utter sap dripping from those words but as he glanced down at Luke, there was absolutely nothing to laugh about. He was serious.
"How do you do that?"
"What?"
"Make all of this look so easy."
Luke shuffled up the bed to lever himself into Reid's eyeline. "That's because it is. I say what I feel."
Reid didn't need words. He cupped Luke's cheek with his right hand and leaned forward perfectly to plant a precise and lingering kiss on Luke's lips. It said enough, for now. Luke smiled prettily and lay his head back down, nudging it into Reid's neck again.
TWO HOURS LATER
Reid had work to do. Luke understood so easily, much to Reid's amazement, and had busied himself reading one of Katie's novels- Reid was surprised there was actually something in her bookcase that didn't have pink sparkly cover.
"This is nice," Luke said, breaking the comfortable silence. Reid frowned, a shadow of amusement present.
"For a married couple." He took in the image. Reid lay with his back propped up with a pillow as Luke leaned in under his arm, nestled into his side and curled into the sheet. Reid had papers scattered on his nightstand and lap, a pen tucked behind one ear. The small lamp emitted a yellow glow, bathing the room in a cosy light. Luke couldn't remember the last time he'd felt more rested and complete. Reid could barely concentrate on his papers, his brain entirely on other things. It was domestic and all so quaint but it felt good, so unbelievably good that he felt the conflict twist inside of him.
"Whatever. I'm going to make coffee. Want some?"
Reid was half tempted to quip, asking Luke to marry him as a joke but it felt all too weirdly real, as if he'd be unable to make it sound anything but achingly true.
"Of course." He smiled up as Luke, in only boxers, crept out of the room.
Luke navigated the lounge light switch in the dark and found the coffee maker, Reid's old friend. He flicked the switch and filled the insert before leaning back against the counter top to steady himself. It still shook him how much of an effect Reid had on his general ability to function. The sex was beyond words and anything surmountable and regardless of how cute they were with eachother and how normal it all felt, neither could ever shake the intensity of it all.
Luke paid recognition to his thoughts and smiled, biting his lip. It was all just far too good to be true. As he waited for the coffee to brew, he let his eyes flicker to the pile of letters on the counter top. He felt his skin wash cold and stomach churn. He was sure he was going to be sick, and or cry.
"Thank you for your interest in the post of Director and Chief of the New York Institute of Neurology's Surgical Wing..."
"Dr Mark Channing's transfer leaves a vacancy that we are happy to offer you..."
"We're grateful for your contacting us and we hope to hear from you soon..."
Calm and fluffiness before the storm, I guess! Also, please suspend your disbelief at my entire lack of knowledge regarding Neurological Institutions in America. I did research but I wanted Reid's job offer to be in a particular place so I had to make one up.... you get the jist! ;)
I really hope you enjoy! Thank you all for being cheerleaders to this story <3
Reid nudged open the door with his elbow.
"You dirty dirty stop out!" was his welcome. As Katie appeared, her eyebrows raised in accusation, Reid sighed and rolled his eyes to the heavens.
"You waited just to say that to me didn't you?" he asked, throwing his jacket over the couch. Katie immediately picked it up and hung it on the hook on the wall.
"Course I did," she grinned, heading for the kitchen, "so, come on, how was it?"
Reid sat at the kitchen table. "Interesting, very interesting. I spent the night drinking hot chocolate and making plastic skeletons with Ethan Snyder. Luke then told me he'd stuck lips on his grandma's husband and I shared my tale of the married man and his inability to keep it in his pants. We made out in his Grandma's kitchen as Luke cut cucumbers then I slept on the couch. Luke woke me up feeling rough at 3am, lay with me in the lounge until morning when I was rudely awoken by his kid brother who spat toast crumbs in my face. Then the morning was aptly rounded off by pancakes, Luke all curled up on my lap and a phonecall from my arch enemy offering me the job I've wanted all my life. Oh yes and by the way, Natalie Snyder intends to marry us off when she can get her little sticky hands on my paycheck."
Katie was silent. It took a good minute to take it all in before she started to laugh loudly and gulp in big breaths. "Are you serious?"
Reid's face was unmoving, eyes straight ahead and no sign of a smile. "Katie, remember who you're talking to."
Her forehead wrinkled suddenly and a look of panic crossed her face. "When you said you had a job offer, you're not taking it are you?" Reid didn't answer immediately. Katie noticed. "Reid..."
"I don't know."
She sat back, distancing herself. "Where is the job?"
"New York."
"Reid you can't move to New York."
"Katie, let's not get weepy, I haven't said yes and I don't think I will but I have to consider it."
"What about the new wing? Luke? Me? Reid you can't leave."
"Look Katie, if someone came along, granted you despise their very existence but they offer you a job, a job that you've trained for and spent your whole life wanting. If they offered you it, can you honestly say you wouldn't even consider it?"
"I would if I had no ties, no reason to stay." Reid didn't have a clever remark or even a reply of any kind. "I can give you a list of reasons to stay."
"Hit me with them," he said, needing to hear it, requiring someone else to say what he wasn't able to admit still. It was a constant battle, an internal struggle of heart and head. Reid lived for the brain, the mind, and he wasn't sure he was ready to let his heart do the decision making...
"You have a home. You have a brand new neurological wing which you've designed and you're running yourself. You have a Chief of Staff who treats you like his own. You have a spectacular room mate who, despite your disgraceful habits, would miss you terribly and so would her baby son. You have a boyfriend who I know you're crazy about and who has a generous and open heart ready to love... to love you. You have changed for the better. You're different. You're softer. You're still an arrogant, miserable jerk but your edges are smoother and it's because you're here."
Reid knew she was right. He looked down, his eyes on his hands knotted together, his knuckles white with stress. This wasn't normal. Reid Oliver doesn't stress, he scolded himself, you don't get scared and you certainly don't do emotional drama. Man up.
"My job is my life," he said, his voice waning, obviously considering Katie's words.
"Not all of it, not anymore." Katie reached out and stroked his hand lovingly. He was going to pull away, to retreat back into a shell to make things easier but he didn't. He let his heart rule out and looked at her. Her eyes were packed with concern and he felt sick when he saw a thin border of tears along her eyelashes.
"If I leave you'll marry Doogie and we can't have you marrying a loser can we?" he said with a sigh, a shakey smirk appearing.
She let out a little squeal of joy and lunged at him. He spluttered and swatted, her hair curtaining his face and attacking his mouth. She squeezed him tight then leaned back with an enormous shining smile. Her eyes were honest and bright. "I am so proud of you."
He hadn't cried for approximately five years and even then it was at a broken finger. He was sure if he did that kind of thing then this would be the time to do it.
"Yea well, don't think I'm staying cos of you," he drawled, sarcastic and emotionless. She simply ignored it, hugged him close again and clouded him in perfume. Reid fought it but he smiled into her mass of soft blonde hair.
...
THREE DAYS LATER.
Reid sat alone in Katie's lounge, a medical textbook propped on one leg of his baggy lounge pants, and a plate with a alf eaten sandwiched against the other. It was silent, painfully so, and he could almost hear his own thoughts. It was hell. Pre-Oakdale it was a normal for a night to be so damned flat and lonely but now, well now something was missing. He reached down, grasping hold of his sandwich, and took a bite. It tasted boring. He threw it back on the plate and sighed, his head falling onto the cushions. There wasn't even a crying baby to break up the silence as Katie had been whisked off by Chris to some cabin somewhere and Reid had preferred to hear no more about it. There wasn't even a Luke and Reid felt it. He had a family dinner, some hideous Snyder pow wow that Reid wasn't invited to for the sole reason that some Aunty was returning from some unit for a few days and Reid was an outsider- not a great idea for someone with mental health issues.
He tossed his book onto the floor and let out a growl. This sucks. That was his conclusion. It just wasn't practical. He wasn't a guy used to company, someone to talk to and be with, someone to come home to and discuss things with- anything and everything. He wasn't even sure all of that was necessary for a normal human being but it is now, he thought. He didn't know when it had happened but he craved it a little and then when those days arrived when he felt tetchy and inclined to bite someone's head clean off, he's snap and ask for peace and quiet. Even then he'd lie.
He could hear the clock ticking in Katie's bedroom and wondered how she ever slept. He felt he was listening in on the neighbouring house as he could hear voices and laughter- bastards, he thought. The plugged in baby monitor would whir every now and then and Reid just considered it a little pathetic without an infant on the other end. Even the light was annoying, the bulb obviously on the blink. The fridge groaned after Katie's third attempt at fixing it and Reid was sure it wasn't keeping food as fresh as it should- as a salad coniseur, Reid could taste even the slightest drop in quality.
He stepped over his file and began making a coffee, the coffee machine buzzing and clinking loudly as the only reassuring sound he'd heard all night.
The bell buzzed. Reid almost tripped over himself to reach the door.
Luke.
"Hey you," Luke chimed happily, his smile wonky but sparkling.
Reid had to smile. It was as if every one of Katie's appliances, the food on his very plate and the words in his books were screaming for something good to come of such a crappy night. Luke standing in a dark, chest hugging t-shirt and jeans, his hair all twisty and crying out for touching, was the very definition of 'something good' ... ok, way better than that, Reid admitted internally.
"Snyder shindig over already?" Reid asked with a clever grin.
"No, idiot, I came to see you," Luke replied as he stepped in the door, the words shooting Reid down in an instant. Reid liked it.
"Me? Why? It was a family dinner."
"Yea, I know. So?"
"So... family is your thing. Why do you want to be here instead of there?" Reid asked, genuinely confused.
"If I have to answer that I'm going to want to see your grad certificates as you're clearly dumb."
Reid chuckled. Luke was learning the way of the snark...
"I want you to answer it. Even so."
Luke sat on the couch and pulled his legs up too. Reid sat beside him, sliding a little closer.
"Molly and my mom-"
"Molly's that skinny chick, right?"
"Yes Reid, Molly is very slim and is also my father's fiance so play nice," Luke rolled his eyes, "Anyway, Molly and my mom glared at eachother all night, Faith went into some childish strop about not being able to go to some all-nighter, Ethan wasn't feeling too good so I spent most of the night with him reading his 'Science is fun' set. I'm blaming you for that. Aunt Meg was so quiet all night that nobody knew what to say to her. My grandma was on edge and she even forgot to make enough food so Molly stepped in, causing more arguments-"
"Do you guys ever just eat and shut up?"
Luke's shoulders relaxed and he laughed hard. "I guess not."
"If it's quiet you're after, you've come to the right place. Welcome to the morgue."
Luke frowned. "You're spending the night alone? Where's Katie?"
"Doogie yanked her and the kid off for some hideous bonding weekend."
"So you're sitting in half darkness," Luke said, his eyes wandering over the remnants of Reid's evening, "reading about 'inhibition and neurodegeneration' and eating, oh surprise surprise, a sandwich. How's tonight working out for you?"
"Perfectly thank you, now you can return back to Snydersville and leave me to my lovely evening."
Reid didn't even try to pretend he was being serious. Luke knew he was lying, he'd have known even if Reid was his ever convincing self.
"I'm staying here. I promised you a sleepover remember?" Luke blushed a little despite himself. It was astounding at how quickly Reid perked up, his heart beating a bit faster.
"Where's the popcorn. I was promised popcorn."
Luke smiled and let out a soft chuckle. He felt the rush of fulfillment that came from simple conversation with Reid- it was so freaking fun.
"Too bad it's not enough that you're getting me."
Reid smirked again and frowned playfully through narrow eyes. "You fishing for compliments Snyder?"
Luke leaned in, breath on Reid's cheek as his words fell straight into his ear. Reid felt his skin prickle. "You giving any?" He could barely control his limbs as they moulded to Luke's body, desperate for contact.
"Might be persuaded if you keep doing t...th...tha" Reid's voice trailed off as Luke slid his lips to drown out the words. It was one of those intoxicating kisses, the kind that make your head swim and eyes roll. He kind that goes beyond butterflies and transports you into the world of indescribable... and Luke was damn good at it.
Reid surrendered. He could feel Luke's persistence, his urgent hands and deep kisses. Reid had no intention of reigning him in or slowing things down as Luke Snyder seemed to play to the same tune. He felt hands on his skin, lips in places they don't usually go and a shuddering pleasure so intense he had to close his eyes- tightly. Luke, now on top of Reid, tugged Reid's t-shirt up, exposing chest and toying with every inch of skin with warm lips. Reid was sure he'd fallen through the cushions, drowned himself in feelings so raw he could barely stand it. He grabbed for Luke's hair as he felt hands moving downwards, further and further until he couldn't think straight. He was sure he'd made a noise but didn't give a damn as his fingers dug deeper into Luke's messy blonde strands.
Luke glanced up under his eyes, Reid's favourite way, and just looked. His eyes glittered and burned. A ghost of a smile touched Reid's face as he stared down. Luke kissed a slow line Reid's stomach, eyes never faultering, stopping only to tug at obstructing material...
Fuck me, Reid thought, in every sense of the words.
....
"Does your mom know you can do things like that?" Reid asked, completely inappropriately.
Luke, sleepy and buried in Reid's neck, mumbled back. "I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that."
"Still... where you learned to do that is a mystery. We all know it wasn't that other guy that I cannot mention in the bedroom-"
"Oh but we can mention my mom... nice."
Reid thought better than to go on. Propriety settling on him for a brief moment that would never last.
He played mindlessly with Luke's fingers, twisting them around his own as they lay tangled in Reid's sheets. It felt nice in an odd way, a way Reid didn't understand. Ordinarily he'd have laughed his ass off at anyone being so lame but this was Luke, this was anything but lame.
"You want anything?" Reid asked. He was anything but a good host generally but this was Luke- RichyRich from the land of the private jet.
"No thanks. I've got all I need right here," he said, enveloping Reid's chest with his free arm. Reid was about to laugh at the utter sap dripping from those words but as he glanced down at Luke, there was absolutely nothing to laugh about. He was serious.
"How do you do that?"
"What?"
"Make all of this look so easy."
Luke shuffled up the bed to lever himself into Reid's eyeline. "That's because it is. I say what I feel."
Reid didn't need words. He cupped Luke's cheek with his right hand and leaned forward perfectly to plant a precise and lingering kiss on Luke's lips. It said enough, for now. Luke smiled prettily and lay his head back down, nudging it into Reid's neck again.
TWO HOURS LATER
Reid had work to do. Luke understood so easily, much to Reid's amazement, and had busied himself reading one of Katie's novels- Reid was surprised there was actually something in her bookcase that didn't have pink sparkly cover.
"This is nice," Luke said, breaking the comfortable silence. Reid frowned, a shadow of amusement present.
"For a married couple." He took in the image. Reid lay with his back propped up with a pillow as Luke leaned in under his arm, nestled into his side and curled into the sheet. Reid had papers scattered on his nightstand and lap, a pen tucked behind one ear. The small lamp emitted a yellow glow, bathing the room in a cosy light. Luke couldn't remember the last time he'd felt more rested and complete. Reid could barely concentrate on his papers, his brain entirely on other things. It was domestic and all so quaint but it felt good, so unbelievably good that he felt the conflict twist inside of him.
"Whatever. I'm going to make coffee. Want some?"
Reid was half tempted to quip, asking Luke to marry him as a joke but it felt all too weirdly real, as if he'd be unable to make it sound anything but achingly true.
"Of course." He smiled up as Luke, in only boxers, crept out of the room.
Luke navigated the lounge light switch in the dark and found the coffee maker, Reid's old friend. He flicked the switch and filled the insert before leaning back against the counter top to steady himself. It still shook him how much of an effect Reid had on his general ability to function. The sex was beyond words and anything surmountable and regardless of how cute they were with eachother and how normal it all felt, neither could ever shake the intensity of it all.
Luke paid recognition to his thoughts and smiled, biting his lip. It was all just far too good to be true. As he waited for the coffee to brew, he let his eyes flicker to the pile of letters on the counter top. He felt his skin wash cold and stomach churn. He was sure he was going to be sick, and or cry.
"Thank you for your interest in the post of Director and Chief of the New York Institute of Neurology's Surgical Wing..."
"Dr Mark Channing's transfer leaves a vacancy that we are happy to offer you..."
"We're grateful for your contacting us and we hope to hear from you soon..."