fic: A Beautiful Mess, 12/22
Fic: A Beautiful Mess, 12/22
Summary: Luke is a pediatrician! He is officially Dr. Luke Snyder.
Spoilers: References to Luke's past from canon and that's about it.
Rating: NC-17.
Disclaimer: Wish they were mine but they're not.
Note: This was inspired by this entry in lure_prompts by the brill _alicesprings. Feedback, concrit, etc. welcome! ♥
Thank you so much to rhiannonhero for the read through! She managed to get my brain moving again. :D TY, BB!
It's been several days since Reid's seen Luke. Between his new pediatric patient and Oakdale's never ending flow of brain injuries (soccer ball to the back of the head, an unfortunate run-in with a shovel to name a few, and someone's sister's cousin who tried to run their ex-lover's girlfriend's car off the road or some kind of nonsense), he's been busy.
They've been texting often, both of them busy with their work schedules. Sometimes they manage to cross paths in the hallways, taking their coffee breaks together, and then they part ways.
It's tiring. When Reid's vision begins to blur from exhaustion, he knows that he needs a break.
It's the end of the day. It's dark out and most of the cars in the parking lot are gone. Nurses and doctors are coming in to work late shifts and filling those empty parking spaces. He doesn't see Luke's car in the lot so he texts him:
Going home to sleep for an eternity. See ya.
Reid's surprised when he receives a text in reply when he reaches his car:
I'll join you. Be out in a sec.
Reid hasn't asked for his company but he finds that he doesn't mind that Luke doesn't really care. He's just going to be there and that's okay with Reid.
Luke jogs out to meet him near his car and leans in for a brief kiss. "Hey, I didn't know that you were here," Reid tells him as he opens the doors.
"Yeah, my grandmother wanted me to do some foundation paperwork for the hospital. She's in Europe somewhere or Asia. I don't really remember." Luke gets into the car and buckles up. "My dad dropped me off and he's supposed to pick me up."
"What happened to your car?" Reid asks as he begins the drive to his place.
"My sister borrowed it."
"You set some teenager on the loose with your car? All kinds of mayhem can ensue from that scenario."
"Oh, my god," he laughs, covering his face with his hands, and shaking his head. Pulling his hands away, he looks over at Reid. "I've been trying to convince myself that that's not gonna happen. She's just going over to a friend's and then she's going right home." Reid nods and concentrates on the road. Luke discreetly slips his hand into Reid's and gives it a squeeze. When Reid glances down at their clasped hands, Luke says, "I've missed you."
Reid can't help but smile and Luke seems content with that even though he doesn't return the sentiment.
When they reach Reid's place, the first thing that Reid does is try to make a sandwich. Except, he hasn't been home long enough to make meals so he's either out of sandwich fixings or everything's expired.
Reid sighs and Luke looks up from leaning against the counter. "What?"
"No food."
"We could order something," he suggests. "From Al's."
That thought appeals to Reid. Al's one of his favorite places to eat around here. Diner food, plenty of options, and he's sure that Luke's either related to someone there or knows someone there that can throw in some free food.
"Sounds good."
"You remember Katie, the woman who came into the ER? My sort of cousin? Her best friend is Henry. He runs the place. They make a killer cornbread."
"It's one of my regulars," Reid pulls a take out menu from a drawer and brings it over to Luke who's walking over to the couch.
"It is?" Luke asks, surprised. "Hmm," he takes the menu from Reid's hands.
"Hmm, what?" Reid wonders, sitting next to him.
"There are still so many things that I don't know about you yet."
"There really isn't much to know."
"Somehow I doubt that," Luke flips open the menu and Reid reaches over to place his hand against Luke's knee, causing him to turn towards Reid.
"There isn't much to know," Reid reiterates. "I wasn't kidnapped when I was a kid, I didn't have a kidney transplant, I didn't have any jerk boyfriends."
"How about any boyfriends?" Luke sneaks that question in, a small smile on his face.
"A couple," Reid answers honestly. "Both college, both ... not that interesting."
"Had my fair share of those," Luke relates, covering Reid's hand with his own. "But, I never let them get close. I couldn't. I didn't even ..." he trails, reflecting for a moment. "I never joined them for drinks after a long day of interning. I went straight home. Sometimes," he sighs. Reid waits patiently, allowing him time to say whatever he needs to say. "Sometimes I wanted a drink so badly. One time, I went to the liquor store and I sat in my car for maybe three hours, talking myself into it, talking myself out of it. I was so angry at myself for wanting it. I was so angry that I still hadn't conquered that craving. That was probably one of the worst times. I did slip a couple of times, early on. I was still with Noah and I was so ..."
"I know, I met him."
Luke laughs, shaking his head. "Things got bad and it was just easier to drink than not to. So, I did. My grandmother helped me through that one and she told me that I had to get the hell out of Oakdale. So, I did. I didn't go very far but I went to Chicago. A lot of people tried to stop me but I got out."
"And you came back."
"I felt like I was ready when I did. I was still sort of messed up before but I started going to more AA meetings. I started focusing more on work and the incredible kids I got to know and treat. I felt well adjusted when I came home. I felt better."
"Hasn't been that long since you've been back. How do you feel now?"
"Now?" he repeats the question. "I'm happy. I'm really happy," he smiles and Reid smiles right back at him. "That has a lot to do with you."
"With me?"
"Yeah, you, Dr. Oliver," he nudges his arm against Reid's affectionately. "I'm ... no one's ever," he stumbles over his words, chuckling nervously. "No one's ever looked at me the way that you do. No one's ever treated me the way that you do. It makes me feel like I can do anything. And I'm crazy about you. When I'm not with you, I'm thinking about you and wondering what you're doing and who you're scaring off or insulting now," he still laughs, running his fingers through his hair quickly. "I guess, this must be ... what being in love really feels like."
Reid feels like he should be surprised or the word should put him into a state of shock or paralysis. Instead, he feels like his heart's going to explode out of his chest, there are annoying butterflies in his stomach, and he can't stop the smile that's forming as much as he's trying to. "Is that what it is?"
"Must be. I'm pretty sure that I'm in love with you, Dr. Oliver." When Luke says it, his tone is soft, gentle but Reid can feel how confident he is. He's sitting upright, looking directly at Reid, so sure of his feelings.
"I love you too, Dr. Snyder." The words come surprisingly easy for Reid. For a man who hasn't felt much love in his life, he's sure that he knows how it feels to love Luke Snyder.
Luke gives him that bright smile that he loves to see and Reid brings his hand up to cup his cheek in his palm. Reid finds himself smiling right back at him as they lean in to kiss.
The food's forgotten for now as they begin to kiss deeply.
Reid wishes that he could say that they said those words to one another and the day passed like any ordinary day but that's not what happens at all. Despite his exhaustion and his hunger, all he can think is Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke.
They never seem to get enough of each other, taking their time as they kiss on the couch. Luke's the one who pulls Reid into his own bedroom. He turns on the light and strips Reid first, caressing and kissing every inch of skin that's revealed to him. Reid thinks that it's the sexiest thing that he's ever seen and ever felt.
Luke really takes his time as he runs his fingertips over Reid's chest, arms, and stomach. He finds that one of his favorite spots is the crook of Reid's neck, just above the place where neck and shoulder meet. Luke spends a significant time there, licking, sucking, and gently biting. Reid lets him, closing his eyes as he feels lips moving over his skin.
They make it to the bed where they spend the next couple of hours exploring one another, kissing and touching, always touching. Reid's legs are spread, feet flat on the bed as Luke moves between them. He spends a significant amount of time near Reid's hole, giving him the best rimming of his life. Luke works him open with his tongue and fingers until Reid's begging him to be fucked.
It's the first time that Luke's done that for him and hopefully it won't be the last.
Reid finds out that Luke is very good at this. He grabs a condom, preparing it and himself as he hovers over Reid, leaning in to kiss him as he presses his cock against Reid's hole. Then he sinks in, pulling back to look at Reid. They stay connected just like that, their gaze on one another as Luke moves deeper inside. It's been a really long time for Reid and it takes him a while to adjust to the size of Luke's thick cock. But, when he's all the way inside, Luke is relentless with him.
He always keeps him on his toes, changing the pace of his thrusts from achingly slow to pounding so hard that it has Reid's eyes rolling back into his head. It's good. It's really good and Reid isn't really sure why they've never done this before. Reid loves feeling the muscles of Luke's broad shoulders underneath his fingertips, enjoys the feel of Luke's hips pumping forward to bring Luke deep inside of him.
Reid hits his orgasm first and Luke follows shortly after, crushing his lips to Reid's, fingers tangling in his hair as pleasure moves through him, making his body tremble. Reid holds him close, the both of them panting quietly, and slowly catching their breath.
They have at least a couple more orgasms each throughout the night, unable to move afterward, and they fall asleep in each other's arms.
---
"Mmm," Luke mumbles and Reid hears it. It feels like they've just fallen asleep and Reid can use another 15 more hours. What wakes Luke up is the sound of his phone ringing somewhere in the room. Luke reluctantly stumbles out of bed and blindly searches for his pants.
Just as he reaches them, the ringing stops but it starts again another few minutes later.
Reid tries not to wake but Luke's hitting things left and right in the dark and he can't ignore the noise. Reaching over, he turns on the light which blinds them both but Luke finally finds his phone.
"Hello?" he answers, groggy, shielding his eyes from the light. "Mmm, dad. Sorry, I didn't call you. I was -- what? When?"
Reid's beeper goes off now and he's about to get out of bed to get it but Luke finds it first and tosses it to him. Glancing down, he sees that the hospital is paging him for an emergency.
"Oh god," Luke looks at Reid and then down at his beeper. "No, I'll ... we'll be right there." Luke hangs up and begins to gather his clothes.
"What happened?"
"My sister," he pauses and looks at the beeper. "I think that's my sister."
"All right, let's go."
They both dress quickly and then they head back to the hospital.
When they arrive, Luke goes straight to the emergency room, and Reid quickly changes into his scrubs. Then, he heads to emergency where he receives the information from the nurse on duty. He has her age, she's conscious but she did experience impact when the car hit the divider on the road. She may be intoxicated but she's responsive.
He gathers the information as he walks into the emergency area. The emergency doctor on staff is already attending to her but he's there to see if there's any kind of cranial trauma. Luke's there with his parents, siblings, and another kid that he doesn't recognize.
Luke and the doctor are giving her an examination, everyone crowded around her. "Hey," Reid says, physically standing between Faith and the rest of her family. "Give the girl a little room to breathe."
"Reid --"
"She needs some tests done," he interrupts. He orders the nurse to get him what he needs and in the meantime, examines Luke's sister. She seems fairly responsive but she's still disoriented from the crash or the alcohol in her system. "She's lucky that it wasn't worse than this," he says to Ma and Pa Snyder.
"Is she all right?" Lily asks him.
"I'm ordering a CT scan just to check but she seems okay other than a case of extreme teenage stupidity. I'm going to keep her overnight. She probably has a concussion from the impact. Now you guys might wanna deal with that," he motions behind them to see a police officer waiting to speak to them.
The Snyders turn away and Luke moves to his sister's bedside. She's starting to cry and he's there to calm her down. "Shh, Faithy. It's okay."
"No, it's not!" she cries harder.
He reaches for her hand and runs his fingers through her hair slowly. She seems to calm down but keeps her eyes on the police officer and her parents. Luke's presence does have a calming affect on her. It makes him wonder how many times that he's had to do that for her. All those Snyder kids and their dysfunctions. It's a miracle that Luke's a functioning member of society.
"Miss Snyder?" the officer comes into the room and Reid thinks that it's time to exit.
"I'll get those tests started," Reid takes her chart and walks away from the scene.
Turning around, he catches Luke's eye, and Luke gives him a small smile that Reid returns before leaving. They're going to have a lot to deal with and unless they need him to give his medical opinion on how high her blood alcohol level is (which is already documented on her chart), he can be useful elsewhere.
There are a couple more emergencies to deal with before he can get the scan of Faith's head. When he does get her scan done, he sees that she has no immediate trauma to deal with other than the trauma from the accident that she caused which totaled Luke's car. He tells a nurse to wake her up every so often but she should get some rest.
He's been interrupted from his sleep and he'd like some rest too.
One of these days, he and Luke are going to have an uninterrupted night but he doesn't know when that'll be. Luke runs into Reid just as he's leaving. "How is she?"
"She's fine. Concussed but she'll be okay."
"I thought so. Just kind of hard to look at her as a patient when I see her there." Reid knows that Luke's probably done an exam on her himself before he walked into the room. "Anyway, she would've been arrested if she weren't at the hospital. She caused a lot of damage on the freeway when she plowed through that divider and almost got herself killed. I just hope that she learns from this."
"If she doesn't, then I'm afraid to ask what would make her learn her lesson."
"Come on, Reid. Can you not make fun of my sister on the night she almost died?" Luke seems to know Reid's answer for that so he just sighs heavily. "Well, I'm gonna go home with my mom. She's pretty shaken up about this."
"All right."
Luke gives him a look and speaks to him in a more gentle tone, "I'm really sorry about tonight."
Reid shrugs, "Things happen."
Luke leans forward to kiss him and Reid returns his kiss, resting his hand against Luke's waist. "I love you," Luke speaks against his lips.
Reid nods and Luke gives his shoulder a squeeze before leaving.
With emergencies handled and Luke's sister asleep, he looks down at his watch. He has work in the morning anyway and it's pointless to leave only to come back in a few hours. He heads to his office, closing the door behind him.
The couch in his office is uncomfortable. He remembers falling asleep on it once during a break and he woke up with several knots in his back.
But, it's better than the alternative. He doesn't want to sleep on the germ infested floors or in his chair. He'll never fall asleep. He tries to make the couch as comfortable as possible and stretches out on it.
Earlier, he remembers falling asleep in his comfortable bed after having intense sex with one of the most attractive ... the most attractive man that he's ever set his eyes on. He remembers feeling Luke draped over his body, arm heavy around his torso, head tucked into the crook of Reid's neck, and Reid feeling content and happy.
Sure, he remembers feeling happiness before when he got the hell out of the apartment he shared with his Uncle, when he got his diploma, when he performed his first surgery, when he performed his first surgery that gained him some acclaim but this type of happiness is different. This is unlike anything that he's ever felt before.
Part of him is absolutely terrified at the thought of feeling this and scared of losing it. It's only been a few months. What happens between now and six months from now? Luke's right that they don't really know that much about each other.
Reid can't remember the last time that he's felt this insecure and unsure. He's been sure about a lot of things in his life, confident that things will work out even though he isn't really sure if they will. If he can make the blind see and the traumatized whole again, how does this freak him out? Does it freak him out?
This isn't about medicine. This isn't about cutting someone open and seeing what's inside. There's more involved than what's right in front of him, than what he can touch. There's thinking about someone else's feelings, enduring his family, dealing with busy work schedules. This is a brand new part of his life to slice open and examine and what's scary is that it doesn't scare him as much as it should.
If someone told him a few short months ago that he would be contemplating pros and cons of a relationship, sleeping on a couch because he wants to wake up in a few hours to check on his boyfriend's (or guy he's dating since he's not really great with labels) little sister, and taking on a peds patient because of this guy, he'd never believe that hypothetical person.
Turning on his side, he tries to fall asleep thinking about the way that he felt earlier this evening, Luke against his body, comfortable, tired, and all sexed out.
Next.