fic: Prince Luciano (3/10)
Title: Prince Luciano (LuRe Big Bang 2011)
Author: alissablue & slayerkitty
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid, Noah, Damian, Casey, Bob,
Category: AU, fluff/schmoop, angst,
Chapters: 10, including the epilogue.
Word count: 27,368
Summary: Luciano Eduardo Grimaldi is the future king of Malta. In defiance of Damian's wishes, he remains close to his family and Oakdale, going as far as to create the Neurology wing for the hospital, and even blackmailing one Dr. Reid Oliver into running it. Reid is prepared to hate everything about Oakdale in his anger about being blackmailed, including Luciano...except as it turns out, they already know each other..
Warnings: Angst
Disclaimer: We don’t own the characters, we just enjoy playing with them.
Authors’ note: Special thanks to Carol for being our beta and csigeekfan for the very pretty artwork! Assume everything that happens to Reid in early 2011 is still canon, minus the blind!Noah part and the Judd lawsuit. And, being the talented young heir that he is, Luke speaks both Italian and Maltese and is a master at code switching between the two.
Previous chapters: I / II /
III
Luke had expected something else.
A different question, perhaps. Or maybe less hurt in Reid’s voice as the question escaped from his lips. It almost rang false, because he’d expected the more obvious question. ‘Why did you blackmail me?’ or ‘What are you doing here?’. It made more sense to him, to stick with the current matters at hand. Reid wasn’t one to dwell on past issues, after all. He’d told Luke once how much he loathed small talk, how he couldn’t change the past and therefore didn’t try to relive it.
But Luke hadn’t agreed with him then and he didn’t agree with it now.
“I wanted to tell you, I really did.” Luke softly said. He was still standing between Reid and the door, preventing Reid from leaving Bob’s office. He needed Reid to understand. He wanted Reid to listen and forgive him and tell him they could work things out. A small part of him wanted to believe that that would be enough, that Damian was right and that the Grimaldi’s always got what they wanted. But the rest of him, the part that was starting to see through the privileged lifestyle and the illusion of wealth and fame, had stopped believing in those simple “truths” the moment he’d met Reid. Reid had challenged everything Damian had taught him.
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I couldn’t. I had responsibilities and-”
“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?” Reid snapped. His tone bit through Luke’s words like acid, so sour and painful.
“Both.” Luke answered. “Damian, my father- He made an exception on the night we met. He let me and my friend go out without a bodyguard and for one night I could be whoever I wanted to be. Not Luciano, not first in line to be King. Just Luke. You don’t get it, Reid. You were like a breath of fresh air…” Luke paused, hesitant to continue. Reid was staring at him blankly, as if Luke’s words didn’t even register. Luke decided to use a different approach.
“Do you remember the night we met?” Luke asked suddenly, and he could see how the question caught Reid off guard, as much as he tried to hide it.
Reid wanted to say he remembered absolutely everything. Because he did. He remembered everything about Luke, every inch of his body, every facial expression and every little thing Luke did that even Luke himself wasn’t aware of. Like the smile that had made him weak, and the endearing shade of pink on Luke’s cheeks whenever Reid said something he hadn’t expected.
“Vaguely.” Reid said instead, turning around and walking away from Luke. He stopped right before Bob’s desk, keeping his back to Luke.
“You were so... Rude.” Luke continued a moment later. “You didn’t even care who I was, and you got under my skin right away.”
“You made it far too easy.” Reid muttered, still facing away from Luke.
“Maybe, but I liked it a lot.” Luke fought back a smile, knowing Reid wouldn’t return it anyway. “Everyone on Malta treated me as if I was made of glass, like refusing to bow for me would get their heads cut off. Everyone but you, Reid.”
Reid turned around and took in Luke’s words, telling himself the way Luke was looking at him and saying his name didn’t mean anything to him. Luke was a blip. A tiny, faded and exhausting blip on his radar that had long lost any significance it had once had. The decent piece of ass he’d had no trouble forgetting about. Some trouble. But none of that trouble was important or meaningful and certainly not worth acknowledging or mentioning.
“This-The little uplifting speech, it’s all great, Luciano, but I don’t care. None of it matters.” Now, if only his thoughts would back up this reasoning. If only the words leaving his mouth were as convincing to himself as they sounded.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I don’t?” Reid let out a small laugh and stared at Luke in disbelief. “Well, then tell me, enlighten me. What does it matter, if everything I remember was a lie?”
Luke shook his head. “Not everything.” He said, stepping closer to Reid, only to have him increase the distance between them. Bob’s office suddenly felt much larger than it in fact was, as if the walls were endless and he’d never get to Reid. “I never lied about my feelings for you. What we had was real.”
Reid rolled his eyes. “As real as fairytales and Santa Claus. You used me to feel better about yourself, to- what was it again?- breathe? There’s a solution for that. It’s called an oxygen tank.”
“Reid...”
“You lied to me and let me become the collateral damage. I don’t associate with liars.” Reid stepped closer to Luke, who never once took his eyes off Reid. “Try not to let the door hit you on your way out.” Reid then said, pointedly glancing at the door behind Luke.
“Please, don’t do this... Don’t-”
“Which part of ‘I don’t care’ didn’t you get?”
“I’m not leaving until you hear me out and believe me.” Luke said, ignoring Reid’s words and defiantly crossing his arms over his chest. There was a pout on Luke’s lips Reid had found charming last summer, and maybe even still did.
“Ok, fine, you stay.” Reid said after some time. Luke was about to speak up, when Reid continued. “I’ll leave.”
He was out the door before Luke could stop him, angrily slamming it shut. Luke released a shaky breath as soon as Reid was gone. He couldn’t let Reid go like this. Not after everything that had happened between them and not after all he had gone through to see Reid again.
Luke clenched his fists. Never mind couldn’t. He wasn’t going to let Reid go like this. Reid had gotten to know him as Luke. Just Luke, that guy he met at a pub. Not telling Reid the truth was still one of his biggest regrets. But he knew he couldn’t change what had happened last summer and he knew it would be pointless to try.
Instead, Luke decided it was about time Reid really got introduced to Luciano.
*
Reid wasn’t sure what he expected the guy to do, but laugh wasn’t one of them. He laughed loudly, his cheeks only tinged with the slightest pink, and he actually sat down on the stool next to Reid.
“Oh, my God,” he stared at Reid in disbelief. “Does that line actually work?”
“More than you’d think,” Reid replied, fighting back a grin. Oh, he liked this guy all right. “So, blondie, you got a name?”
“Luke.” The guy was blushing for sure now, which Reid found kind of endearing. “Luke Snyder.”
“American?”
“Sort of,” Luke replied, and a cloud crossed his face for a second. It was gone so fast Reid thought he might have imagined it though. “You?”
“Tried and true,” Reid answered. “Dr. Reid Oliver. Can I buy you a drink?”
“Does that one work better?” Luke asked, giving him a cheeky grin. “Do they swoon when they hear you’re a doctor?”
“Usually,” Reid found himself smiling back. He signaled the bartender, and then gestured to Luke.
“Club soda with lemon,” Luke ordered, and Reid raised his eyebrows in surprise. Luke was well above the drinking age on Malta, and his friend was already three sheets to the wind, and they were in a pub.
“Not a drinker?”
“You could say that,” Luke murmured. Reid didn’t press that, as it was clear that Luke didn’t want to elaborate.
“Just so we’re clear, you’re letting me buy you a drink because you think I’m hot, and not because you want a free drink, right?” Reid took a sip of his beer, enjoying the expression that crossed Luke’s face. He got the feeling that Luke had always been the pursuer in his relationships, and never the one pursued - which was a damn shame, because he was incredibly attractive.
“Now if I were to admit something like that, I’d lose the upper hand in this conversation,” Luke told him.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve had the upper hand the entire time,” Reid let his voice drop a little lower, get a little huskier. Oh, he really liked Luke. The beer was definitely going to his head now, the buzz just making him want to take Luke by the hand and find somewhere private to ravage him. He settled for putting his hand on Luke’s thigh instead.
To his credit, Luke only glanced down at his leg, where Reid’s hand rested before raising his gaze and cocking his head to one side.
“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?” Luke breathed out. The sound of his voice went right down Reid’s spine, and desire pooled low in his abdomen. He didn’t usually do this - the whole one night stand thing. He had casual flings with people back home…people he knew relatively well, but who never expected anything more from him than that.
Suddenly, a tinny tune filled the air, and Luke muttered something in what sounded like Italian. He pulled his leg from Reid’s grasp and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He made a face.
“I have to take this.” Reid nodded, and then watched as Luke got up and stepped away from the bar a few feet.
*
“Hello, Papà,” Luke said into the phone.
“Luciano,” Luke closed his eyes against his father’s voice. “Are you aware of the time?”
“Of course,” Luke answered. “Just as you are. We’re not late yet.”
“Are you and your friend having a good time?”
“Yes, yes we are.”
“Good,” Damian replied. “I trust you’ll be home soon.”
“Just as we promised, Papà,” Luke agreed. He glanced at Reid out of the corner of his eye, where the doctor was checking his own phone, his heart sinking. Luke had wanted more time with him. “We’ll leave now.”
“Be safe, my son.”
Luke hung up, shoving his phone back into his pocket as he walked over to Reid. “I’m sorry, but we have to go.”
“Cinderella’s carriage gonna turn into a pumpkin?”
“Something like that,” Luke almost looked embarrassed, and Reid couldn’t help but wonder why. “I’ll just collect my wayward babe and be on my way.”
He pointed toward Casey, who was dancing - that was the best word Luke could think of to describe what Casey was doing - with the waitress.
“You have fun with that,” Reid told him.
“It was nice to meet you,” Luke said quietly. Before Reid could reply, the bartender came to ask Reid a question about his tab. Luke sighed, half turned to walk away and get Casey when he paused for a split second. Tonight had been like a dream. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't Luciano Grimaldi, heir to the throne. He was just Luke, and he was just some random guy flirting with a gorgeous man in a pub.
A crazy urge took hold of him. He didn't want to lose that feeling. He couldn't lose that feeling. It had taken one night of freedom, but Luke was hooked - to the feeling and to Reid, who'd done nothing but flirt with him like he was a normal person.
All he could hear was years of Damian's voice in his head, reciting the unwritten Grimaldi family motto.
If you want something, take it.
It was the only reason Luke could justify picking up Reid’s cell phone from the bar and slipping it in his pocket without Reid or the bartender noticing. Long after he’d wrangled Casey back to the palace and into bed, Luke lay awake. One thought repeated in his head.
Please call. Please, please, let him call.
NEXT
Author: alissablue & slayerkitty
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid, Noah, Damian, Casey, Bob,
Category: AU, fluff/schmoop, angst,
Chapters: 10, including the epilogue.
Word count: 27,368
Summary: Luciano Eduardo Grimaldi is the future king of Malta. In defiance of Damian's wishes, he remains close to his family and Oakdale, going as far as to create the Neurology wing for the hospital, and even blackmailing one Dr. Reid Oliver into running it. Reid is prepared to hate everything about Oakdale in his anger about being blackmailed, including Luciano...except as it turns out, they already know each other..
Warnings: Angst
Disclaimer: We don’t own the characters, we just enjoy playing with them.
Authors’ note: Special thanks to Carol for being our beta and csigeekfan for the very pretty artwork! Assume everything that happens to Reid in early 2011 is still canon, minus the blind!Noah part and the Judd lawsuit. And, being the talented young heir that he is, Luke speaks both Italian and Maltese and is a master at code switching between the two.
Previous chapters: I / II /
III
Luke had expected something else.
A different question, perhaps. Or maybe less hurt in Reid’s voice as the question escaped from his lips. It almost rang false, because he’d expected the more obvious question. ‘Why did you blackmail me?’ or ‘What are you doing here?’. It made more sense to him, to stick with the current matters at hand. Reid wasn’t one to dwell on past issues, after all. He’d told Luke once how much he loathed small talk, how he couldn’t change the past and therefore didn’t try to relive it.
But Luke hadn’t agreed with him then and he didn’t agree with it now.
“I wanted to tell you, I really did.” Luke softly said. He was still standing between Reid and the door, preventing Reid from leaving Bob’s office. He needed Reid to understand. He wanted Reid to listen and forgive him and tell him they could work things out. A small part of him wanted to believe that that would be enough, that Damian was right and that the Grimaldi’s always got what they wanted. But the rest of him, the part that was starting to see through the privileged lifestyle and the illusion of wealth and fame, had stopped believing in those simple “truths” the moment he’d met Reid. Reid had challenged everything Damian had taught him.
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I couldn’t. I had responsibilities and-”
“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?” Reid snapped. His tone bit through Luke’s words like acid, so sour and painful.
“Both.” Luke answered. “Damian, my father- He made an exception on the night we met. He let me and my friend go out without a bodyguard and for one night I could be whoever I wanted to be. Not Luciano, not first in line to be King. Just Luke. You don’t get it, Reid. You were like a breath of fresh air…” Luke paused, hesitant to continue. Reid was staring at him blankly, as if Luke’s words didn’t even register. Luke decided to use a different approach.
“Do you remember the night we met?” Luke asked suddenly, and he could see how the question caught Reid off guard, as much as he tried to hide it.
Reid wanted to say he remembered absolutely everything. Because he did. He remembered everything about Luke, every inch of his body, every facial expression and every little thing Luke did that even Luke himself wasn’t aware of. Like the smile that had made him weak, and the endearing shade of pink on Luke’s cheeks whenever Reid said something he hadn’t expected.
“Vaguely.” Reid said instead, turning around and walking away from Luke. He stopped right before Bob’s desk, keeping his back to Luke.
“You were so... Rude.” Luke continued a moment later. “You didn’t even care who I was, and you got under my skin right away.”
“You made it far too easy.” Reid muttered, still facing away from Luke.
“Maybe, but I liked it a lot.” Luke fought back a smile, knowing Reid wouldn’t return it anyway. “Everyone on Malta treated me as if I was made of glass, like refusing to bow for me would get their heads cut off. Everyone but you, Reid.”
Reid turned around and took in Luke’s words, telling himself the way Luke was looking at him and saying his name didn’t mean anything to him. Luke was a blip. A tiny, faded and exhausting blip on his radar that had long lost any significance it had once had. The decent piece of ass he’d had no trouble forgetting about. Some trouble. But none of that trouble was important or meaningful and certainly not worth acknowledging or mentioning.
“This-The little uplifting speech, it’s all great, Luciano, but I don’t care. None of it matters.” Now, if only his thoughts would back up this reasoning. If only the words leaving his mouth were as convincing to himself as they sounded.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I don’t?” Reid let out a small laugh and stared at Luke in disbelief. “Well, then tell me, enlighten me. What does it matter, if everything I remember was a lie?”
Luke shook his head. “Not everything.” He said, stepping closer to Reid, only to have him increase the distance between them. Bob’s office suddenly felt much larger than it in fact was, as if the walls were endless and he’d never get to Reid. “I never lied about my feelings for you. What we had was real.”
Reid rolled his eyes. “As real as fairytales and Santa Claus. You used me to feel better about yourself, to- what was it again?- breathe? There’s a solution for that. It’s called an oxygen tank.”
“Reid...”
“You lied to me and let me become the collateral damage. I don’t associate with liars.” Reid stepped closer to Luke, who never once took his eyes off Reid. “Try not to let the door hit you on your way out.” Reid then said, pointedly glancing at the door behind Luke.
“Please, don’t do this... Don’t-”
“Which part of ‘I don’t care’ didn’t you get?”
“I’m not leaving until you hear me out and believe me.” Luke said, ignoring Reid’s words and defiantly crossing his arms over his chest. There was a pout on Luke’s lips Reid had found charming last summer, and maybe even still did.
“Ok, fine, you stay.” Reid said after some time. Luke was about to speak up, when Reid continued. “I’ll leave.”
He was out the door before Luke could stop him, angrily slamming it shut. Luke released a shaky breath as soon as Reid was gone. He couldn’t let Reid go like this. Not after everything that had happened between them and not after all he had gone through to see Reid again.
Luke clenched his fists. Never mind couldn’t. He wasn’t going to let Reid go like this. Reid had gotten to know him as Luke. Just Luke, that guy he met at a pub. Not telling Reid the truth was still one of his biggest regrets. But he knew he couldn’t change what had happened last summer and he knew it would be pointless to try.
Instead, Luke decided it was about time Reid really got introduced to Luciano.
*
Reid wasn’t sure what he expected the guy to do, but laugh wasn’t one of them. He laughed loudly, his cheeks only tinged with the slightest pink, and he actually sat down on the stool next to Reid.
“Oh, my God,” he stared at Reid in disbelief. “Does that line actually work?”
“More than you’d think,” Reid replied, fighting back a grin. Oh, he liked this guy all right. “So, blondie, you got a name?”
“Luke.” The guy was blushing for sure now, which Reid found kind of endearing. “Luke Snyder.”
“American?”
“Sort of,” Luke replied, and a cloud crossed his face for a second. It was gone so fast Reid thought he might have imagined it though. “You?”
“Tried and true,” Reid answered. “Dr. Reid Oliver. Can I buy you a drink?”
“Does that one work better?” Luke asked, giving him a cheeky grin. “Do they swoon when they hear you’re a doctor?”
“Usually,” Reid found himself smiling back. He signaled the bartender, and then gestured to Luke.
“Club soda with lemon,” Luke ordered, and Reid raised his eyebrows in surprise. Luke was well above the drinking age on Malta, and his friend was already three sheets to the wind, and they were in a pub.
“Not a drinker?”
“You could say that,” Luke murmured. Reid didn’t press that, as it was clear that Luke didn’t want to elaborate.
“Just so we’re clear, you’re letting me buy you a drink because you think I’m hot, and not because you want a free drink, right?” Reid took a sip of his beer, enjoying the expression that crossed Luke’s face. He got the feeling that Luke had always been the pursuer in his relationships, and never the one pursued - which was a damn shame, because he was incredibly attractive.
“Now if I were to admit something like that, I’d lose the upper hand in this conversation,” Luke told him.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve had the upper hand the entire time,” Reid let his voice drop a little lower, get a little huskier. Oh, he really liked Luke. The beer was definitely going to his head now, the buzz just making him want to take Luke by the hand and find somewhere private to ravage him. He settled for putting his hand on Luke’s thigh instead.
To his credit, Luke only glanced down at his leg, where Reid’s hand rested before raising his gaze and cocking his head to one side.
“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?” Luke breathed out. The sound of his voice went right down Reid’s spine, and desire pooled low in his abdomen. He didn’t usually do this - the whole one night stand thing. He had casual flings with people back home…people he knew relatively well, but who never expected anything more from him than that.
Suddenly, a tinny tune filled the air, and Luke muttered something in what sounded like Italian. He pulled his leg from Reid’s grasp and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He made a face.
“I have to take this.” Reid nodded, and then watched as Luke got up and stepped away from the bar a few feet.
*
“Hello, Papà,” Luke said into the phone.
“Luciano,” Luke closed his eyes against his father’s voice. “Are you aware of the time?”
“Of course,” Luke answered. “Just as you are. We’re not late yet.”
“Are you and your friend having a good time?”
“Yes, yes we are.”
“Good,” Damian replied. “I trust you’ll be home soon.”
“Just as we promised, Papà,” Luke agreed. He glanced at Reid out of the corner of his eye, where the doctor was checking his own phone, his heart sinking. Luke had wanted more time with him. “We’ll leave now.”
“Be safe, my son.”
Luke hung up, shoving his phone back into his pocket as he walked over to Reid. “I’m sorry, but we have to go.”
“Cinderella’s carriage gonna turn into a pumpkin?”
“Something like that,” Luke almost looked embarrassed, and Reid couldn’t help but wonder why. “I’ll just collect my wayward babe and be on my way.”
He pointed toward Casey, who was dancing - that was the best word Luke could think of to describe what Casey was doing - with the waitress.
“You have fun with that,” Reid told him.
“It was nice to meet you,” Luke said quietly. Before Reid could reply, the bartender came to ask Reid a question about his tab. Luke sighed, half turned to walk away and get Casey when he paused for a split second. Tonight had been like a dream. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't Luciano Grimaldi, heir to the throne. He was just Luke, and he was just some random guy flirting with a gorgeous man in a pub.
A crazy urge took hold of him. He didn't want to lose that feeling. He couldn't lose that feeling. It had taken one night of freedom, but Luke was hooked - to the feeling and to Reid, who'd done nothing but flirt with him like he was a normal person.
All he could hear was years of Damian's voice in his head, reciting the unwritten Grimaldi family motto.
If you want something, take it.
It was the only reason Luke could justify picking up Reid’s cell phone from the bar and slipping it in his pocket without Reid or the bartender noticing. Long after he’d wrangled Casey back to the palace and into bed, Luke lay awake. One thought repeated in his head.
Please call. Please, please, let him call.
NEXT