Bulletproof (25/52)
Title: Bulletproof
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them.
Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine.
Comments much appreciated . . . I love them like Reid loves Luke.
Previous parts: prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24
***
Reid could feel Luke’s breath creating droplets of mist on his own lips, the heat in the space between them overcoming the cold around them and refusing to allow their breaths to freeze. He couldn’t move even if he wanted to, torn as he was between reaching out and snatching up that for which he held so much want that he physically ached sometimes and backpedaling out of the situation because he couldn’t quite handle the feeling.
He barely had time to think, barely had time to consider the fact that he was much drunker already than he probably should be for any sort of interaction with Luke Snyder, when Luke’s head darted forward and his lips captured Reid’s for the briefest of moments. Small as the action was, Reid almost had to will himself to suppress a groan at its intensity as he shifted forward.
Luke moved back, as though the contact had gravitationally wheeled him in and, upon recovering from his fall, he had to get back up again. He exhaled softly into Reid’s inhale and, as though he’d realized quite what he had been doing, his eyes widened and he seemed to instantly regress into panic mode.
“Oh . . . shit, I’m sorry!” he babbled, his head tilting down to stare at his hands. “That was just . . . I don’t know why I . . . fuck, sorry, I-”
But Reid found himself almost unable to precisely listen to the words that were coming out of Luke’s mouth because all he could focus on was the fact that Luke never really moved away from him and that the aching feeling, like a tiny animal was burrowing into his gut. And suddenly he found that he didn’t care.
His hands reached out and gently cupped either side of Luke’s face, tilting it up so that their eyes met. As though the action had pressed some sort of mental off button, Luke’s babbling cut out instantly and his mouth simply dropped, his eyes unusually dark, sparkling gold and red only when the occasional firework penetrated into the space between them.
Reid gazed at him carefully and Luke struggled to breath, having never seen anyone looking at him with so much want. “Stop apologizing,” he murmured, his voice so low it was almost a growl, but too gentle to be classified as such.
Luke exhaled sharply, eyes unable to leave Reid’s as the air thickened between them. “I . . .” he started, unknowing of what he was planning on saying, but Reid didn’t even let him contemplate it.
He leaned in, slowly pulling Luke’s face toward his own until their lips met again. Luke’s eyes closed, relishing the flaming warmth of Reid’s hands on his cheeks and the hint of taste as their lips met. He felt Reid’s mouth encompass his, his tongue run along the seam of Luke’s lips, wetting them with his own taste. Luke gasped lightly at the sensation, the action drawing Reid in along with the air from his lungs. His inhalatory gasp turned into a soft moan as Reid’s tongue wrapped purposefully around his, rubbing softly before gently pulling it into his own mouth, his one hand transitioning from Luke’s cheek to cup the back of his neck, his fingers threading through the blonde locks. Luke breathed roughly through his nose as his tongue rubbed softly against Reid’s, tasting alcohol and some other taste that he couldn’t quite identify.
His arms went to touch, but, as though the taste registered in his mind, he pulled back, breaths resonating in harsh pants. He opened his eyes before Reid and watched in awe as Reid’s eyelids flickered open, as though he were awakening from a dream, his blue eyes were dark with arousal rather than blank with sleep.
“Reid, what . . . ?” Luke murmured, trying to figure out if the reason the name electrified his senses as he said it was because this was the first time he’d called the doctor by his first name other than the stuttered attempt just moments before.
“Just so we’re very, very clear . . . Luke,” Reid spoke, sounding as though he were choosing his words with extreme care. His eyes burrowed straight into Luke’s heart. “I tend to prefer my blondes with brown eyes and a touch more testosterone than Katie Peretti can offer.”
Luke’s eyes widened as he tried to take in all the implications of what Reid was saying to him and whether he opened his mouth to say something, anything, or to lean back in and act upon his instincts, he never got the chance to find out.
The door to Metro opened and in the flood of music and people who had fulfilled the obligation of staying until midnight, Luke heard his name being called by a familiar voice and it was as though he suddenly realized what exactly it was that he was doing.
“Noah,” he whispered into the air, as though that would either make it less or more real. Reid’s eyes narrowed and he leaned back slightly, enough so that, when Noah finally caught sight of his boyfriend, Luke and Reid were doing nothing more than sitting on a brick wall, watching each other with incredible intensity.
“There you are!” Noah exclaimed, pushing his way through the crowd. “I was looking for you everywhere during the countdown.” Luke glanced up at him, feeling slightly dazed. Perhaps that was the reason he was barely able to resist as Noah pulled him up out of his seat and kissed him hard on the mouth.
The kiss was brief and relatively chaste, mainly due to the fact that Luke was too in shock to entirely process what was happening. Noah chuckled lightly as he pulled away, cocking an eyebrow at Luke’s expression, mouth open and eyebrows high on his forehead. “You all right, there?” he chuckled, as though it were the power of his kiss that rendered Luke speechless.
Luke’s eyes fluttered shut momentarily and he shook his head, trying to clear it enough to gain some sort of coherent thought. “Yeah. I, errm . . . I . . .” he muttered, glancing instinctively away from Noah to where he’d just been sitting. His stomach did a back flip of disappointment when he saw that Reid was gone. “Yeah . . .”
“What do you say we get out of here and start the new year off right?” Noah murmured, running his hand up and down Luke’s arm gently.
Luke swallowed and he felt his stomach constrict. That had sounded like such a great plan just minutes ago, but now he felt like he could never go through with it. He licked his lips and could still taste Reid and the alcohol on his tongue. The memory felt as forbidden as the drink, but it also worked to remind him just how tempting forbidden fruit tended to be. He shook his head, feeling slightly queasy. “I, errm . . . I think I’m going to go, actually,” he murmured.
Noah’s brow furrowed in concern at Luke’s tone. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah . . . No . . . I don’t know . . . I think I ate or drank something that didn’t agree with me,” Luke lied, wanting nothing more to get out of that moment in time. “I’m just going to grab my coat and go.” He patted Noah on the arm in feigned affection and pushed his way through the crowds.
He winced at the noise within the club and worked his way further into the building, passing the coatroom. His eyes scanned the hundreds of familiar faces in search of the one he was looking for. His eager smile faltered slightly as he spotted Reid over by the bar, leaning over it seductively, swirling his amber alcohol around and obviously flirting with the bartender.
Luke’s jaw tightened in anger and betrayal and he whirled around before the scene threatened his eyes with tears. He shoved his way out of the room and almost knocked Katie over in his blind indignation.
“Whoa, hey, Luke!” she exclaimed cheerfully, Brad catching her quickly before she fell, though her smile dropped almost as quickly as his had when she caught sight of his face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
He shook his head, huffing angrily. “Nothing. I thought it was something, but nope. Nothing,” he spat out before dodging around her and running out of the building without his coat.
Brad’s brow furrowed as he gazed after his cousin. “What was that about?”
Katie shook her head, pulling away and making her way back the way Luke had come, eyes flying instinctively to the bar. “Oh, you little fucker,” she muttered before flashing Brad an apologetic glance and making her way toward Reid.
***
Reid Oliver had felt his fair share of negative emotions, but he didn’t think he had ever hated anyone quite so much as he hated Noah Mayer at that particular moment. He wanted nothing more to punch Noah, but before his hands could move and take the chance that he could ruin his career forever, his guilt poked him indignantly, reminding him that he had no fucking right to punch Noah Mayer. If anything, Noah Mayer had every right to punch him. He was the other man.
He gritted his teeth at this thought and stood up, swinging his legs over the short wall on which he had been sitting and dodging his way inside, avoiding any physical contact with anyone, as though it would heighten mild tightness of his jeans. He knew it would be best if he just went home, but being high off of Luke and on the clear way to being drunk from alcohol, Reid Oliver was not in a state to make wholly rational decisions.
He made his way purposefully toward the bar and collapsed into the seat, eyeing the bartender, who smiled in recognition. “A beer, then?” he offered, flashing an attractive smile and reaching for the tap.
Reid crinkled his nose, watching him closely. “I’m actually in the mood for something staggeringly strong and unbelievably expensive.”
The bartender raised his eyebrow before pouring Reid a glass of his most expensive scotch, sliding it Western-style down the counter to the ginger, who caught it expertly and downed the entire glass in one gulp, his eyes watering slightly. “That’s the stuff,” he coughed slightly, sliding the empty glass back.
“There a reason you’re suddenly planning on getting staggeringly drunk?” was the question as Reid was handed another full glass, the bartender’s fingers lingering over Reid’s during the exchange.
Reid leaned over the bar, giving his alcohol provider a significant once-over and attempting to push Luke Snyder far, far out of his mind. It was helpful that the young bartender looked nothing like the gorgeous blonde. “Just looking for a good time,” he replied, forcing his voice to flirt. The alcohol was helping. He contemplated the bartender momentarily before drinking, swirling the intoxicating beverage around before downing it.
He received a once-over and a raised eyebrow in return. “Ah. Well, while I may be staggeringly strong, I’m afraid I’m not ridiculously expensive.”
Reid pursed his lips, trying to be pleased when the movement drew the bartender’s eyes to them. “I think you should let me be the judge of that.”
The bartender smiled lightly and was about to offer a reply when Reid’s shoulders were grasped in a vice-like grip and Katie pulled him to his feet. “Idiot,” she snarled in a whisper, catching his weight as he lost his balance temporarily. “C’mon, we’re going home.”
Reid almost felt as though he should argue, but he remembered that had been his initial instinct and he didn’t even flash the bartender a look as he allowed himself to be led out of Metro.
***
Katie pressed her palm firmly along Reid’s spine as she shoved him into their apartment. “What the hell did you do?” she demanded as soon as the door slammed shut.
Reid rolled his eyes, collapsing in a melancholy air on the couch. He didn’t answer, choosing instead to rub his eyes before passing his finger carefully before them, as though trying to determine whether he’d drunk enough to actually be drunk, though the very nature of the action itself implied that he was not. “What are you talking about?”
Katie shook her head, exasperated, throwing her purse at him. “I warned you! I warned you! I told you that you would have hell on your hands if you hurt him by looking for a piece of ass!”
“Yeah, I remember. Torches and pitchforks, Beauty and the Beast-style, Dusty Donovan roundhouse kicking me in the face, etcetera, etcetera,” Reid groaned.
“So what the hell did you just have to do for me to run into him and see him utterly devastated?”
Reid gave a humorless laugh, shaking his head right before he leaned over on the couch and buried his head in his hands. “He kissed me.”
“He what?”
“He kissed me. And . . . I kissed him. And then he kissed . . . Noah,” Reid muttered, spitting out the name like it was venom.
Katie’s eyes widened. “Reid . . . Do you-”
“Have feelings for him?” Reid contemplated, shaking his head. “A ‘thing’ does not constitute feelings. And don’t worry about me being chased through town,” he muttered, standing up and walking to his room. “He’s got his legs back, so there’s absolutely no reason for me to stick around here anymore. So we can all go back to our lives and forget all this fuckery ever went down.”
Before Katie could even say anything, he walked into his room and slammed the door, leaving Katie wondering what on earth could be going through her roommate’s head.
Chapter 26-->
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them.
Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine.
Comments much appreciated . . . I love them like Reid loves Luke.
Previous parts: prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24
***
Reid could feel Luke’s breath creating droplets of mist on his own lips, the heat in the space between them overcoming the cold around them and refusing to allow their breaths to freeze. He couldn’t move even if he wanted to, torn as he was between reaching out and snatching up that for which he held so much want that he physically ached sometimes and backpedaling out of the situation because he couldn’t quite handle the feeling.
He barely had time to think, barely had time to consider the fact that he was much drunker already than he probably should be for any sort of interaction with Luke Snyder, when Luke’s head darted forward and his lips captured Reid’s for the briefest of moments. Small as the action was, Reid almost had to will himself to suppress a groan at its intensity as he shifted forward.
Luke moved back, as though the contact had gravitationally wheeled him in and, upon recovering from his fall, he had to get back up again. He exhaled softly into Reid’s inhale and, as though he’d realized quite what he had been doing, his eyes widened and he seemed to instantly regress into panic mode.
“Oh . . . shit, I’m sorry!” he babbled, his head tilting down to stare at his hands. “That was just . . . I don’t know why I . . . fuck, sorry, I-”
But Reid found himself almost unable to precisely listen to the words that were coming out of Luke’s mouth because all he could focus on was the fact that Luke never really moved away from him and that the aching feeling, like a tiny animal was burrowing into his gut. And suddenly he found that he didn’t care.
His hands reached out and gently cupped either side of Luke’s face, tilting it up so that their eyes met. As though the action had pressed some sort of mental off button, Luke’s babbling cut out instantly and his mouth simply dropped, his eyes unusually dark, sparkling gold and red only when the occasional firework penetrated into the space between them.
Reid gazed at him carefully and Luke struggled to breath, having never seen anyone looking at him with so much want. “Stop apologizing,” he murmured, his voice so low it was almost a growl, but too gentle to be classified as such.
Luke exhaled sharply, eyes unable to leave Reid’s as the air thickened between them. “I . . .” he started, unknowing of what he was planning on saying, but Reid didn’t even let him contemplate it.
He leaned in, slowly pulling Luke’s face toward his own until their lips met again. Luke’s eyes closed, relishing the flaming warmth of Reid’s hands on his cheeks and the hint of taste as their lips met. He felt Reid’s mouth encompass his, his tongue run along the seam of Luke’s lips, wetting them with his own taste. Luke gasped lightly at the sensation, the action drawing Reid in along with the air from his lungs. His inhalatory gasp turned into a soft moan as Reid’s tongue wrapped purposefully around his, rubbing softly before gently pulling it into his own mouth, his one hand transitioning from Luke’s cheek to cup the back of his neck, his fingers threading through the blonde locks. Luke breathed roughly through his nose as his tongue rubbed softly against Reid’s, tasting alcohol and some other taste that he couldn’t quite identify.
His arms went to touch, but, as though the taste registered in his mind, he pulled back, breaths resonating in harsh pants. He opened his eyes before Reid and watched in awe as Reid’s eyelids flickered open, as though he were awakening from a dream, his blue eyes were dark with arousal rather than blank with sleep.
“Reid, what . . . ?” Luke murmured, trying to figure out if the reason the name electrified his senses as he said it was because this was the first time he’d called the doctor by his first name other than the stuttered attempt just moments before.
“Just so we’re very, very clear . . . Luke,” Reid spoke, sounding as though he were choosing his words with extreme care. His eyes burrowed straight into Luke’s heart. “I tend to prefer my blondes with brown eyes and a touch more testosterone than Katie Peretti can offer.”
Luke’s eyes widened as he tried to take in all the implications of what Reid was saying to him and whether he opened his mouth to say something, anything, or to lean back in and act upon his instincts, he never got the chance to find out.
The door to Metro opened and in the flood of music and people who had fulfilled the obligation of staying until midnight, Luke heard his name being called by a familiar voice and it was as though he suddenly realized what exactly it was that he was doing.
“Noah,” he whispered into the air, as though that would either make it less or more real. Reid’s eyes narrowed and he leaned back slightly, enough so that, when Noah finally caught sight of his boyfriend, Luke and Reid were doing nothing more than sitting on a brick wall, watching each other with incredible intensity.
“There you are!” Noah exclaimed, pushing his way through the crowd. “I was looking for you everywhere during the countdown.” Luke glanced up at him, feeling slightly dazed. Perhaps that was the reason he was barely able to resist as Noah pulled him up out of his seat and kissed him hard on the mouth.
The kiss was brief and relatively chaste, mainly due to the fact that Luke was too in shock to entirely process what was happening. Noah chuckled lightly as he pulled away, cocking an eyebrow at Luke’s expression, mouth open and eyebrows high on his forehead. “You all right, there?” he chuckled, as though it were the power of his kiss that rendered Luke speechless.
Luke’s eyes fluttered shut momentarily and he shook his head, trying to clear it enough to gain some sort of coherent thought. “Yeah. I, errm . . . I . . .” he muttered, glancing instinctively away from Noah to where he’d just been sitting. His stomach did a back flip of disappointment when he saw that Reid was gone. “Yeah . . .”
“What do you say we get out of here and start the new year off right?” Noah murmured, running his hand up and down Luke’s arm gently.
Luke swallowed and he felt his stomach constrict. That had sounded like such a great plan just minutes ago, but now he felt like he could never go through with it. He licked his lips and could still taste Reid and the alcohol on his tongue. The memory felt as forbidden as the drink, but it also worked to remind him just how tempting forbidden fruit tended to be. He shook his head, feeling slightly queasy. “I, errm . . . I think I’m going to go, actually,” he murmured.
Noah’s brow furrowed in concern at Luke’s tone. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah . . . No . . . I don’t know . . . I think I ate or drank something that didn’t agree with me,” Luke lied, wanting nothing more to get out of that moment in time. “I’m just going to grab my coat and go.” He patted Noah on the arm in feigned affection and pushed his way through the crowds.
He winced at the noise within the club and worked his way further into the building, passing the coatroom. His eyes scanned the hundreds of familiar faces in search of the one he was looking for. His eager smile faltered slightly as he spotted Reid over by the bar, leaning over it seductively, swirling his amber alcohol around and obviously flirting with the bartender.
Luke’s jaw tightened in anger and betrayal and he whirled around before the scene threatened his eyes with tears. He shoved his way out of the room and almost knocked Katie over in his blind indignation.
“Whoa, hey, Luke!” she exclaimed cheerfully, Brad catching her quickly before she fell, though her smile dropped almost as quickly as his had when she caught sight of his face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
He shook his head, huffing angrily. “Nothing. I thought it was something, but nope. Nothing,” he spat out before dodging around her and running out of the building without his coat.
Brad’s brow furrowed as he gazed after his cousin. “What was that about?”
Katie shook her head, pulling away and making her way back the way Luke had come, eyes flying instinctively to the bar. “Oh, you little fucker,” she muttered before flashing Brad an apologetic glance and making her way toward Reid.
***
Reid Oliver had felt his fair share of negative emotions, but he didn’t think he had ever hated anyone quite so much as he hated Noah Mayer at that particular moment. He wanted nothing more to punch Noah, but before his hands could move and take the chance that he could ruin his career forever, his guilt poked him indignantly, reminding him that he had no fucking right to punch Noah Mayer. If anything, Noah Mayer had every right to punch him. He was the other man.
He gritted his teeth at this thought and stood up, swinging his legs over the short wall on which he had been sitting and dodging his way inside, avoiding any physical contact with anyone, as though it would heighten mild tightness of his jeans. He knew it would be best if he just went home, but being high off of Luke and on the clear way to being drunk from alcohol, Reid Oliver was not in a state to make wholly rational decisions.
He made his way purposefully toward the bar and collapsed into the seat, eyeing the bartender, who smiled in recognition. “A beer, then?” he offered, flashing an attractive smile and reaching for the tap.
Reid crinkled his nose, watching him closely. “I’m actually in the mood for something staggeringly strong and unbelievably expensive.”
The bartender raised his eyebrow before pouring Reid a glass of his most expensive scotch, sliding it Western-style down the counter to the ginger, who caught it expertly and downed the entire glass in one gulp, his eyes watering slightly. “That’s the stuff,” he coughed slightly, sliding the empty glass back.
“There a reason you’re suddenly planning on getting staggeringly drunk?” was the question as Reid was handed another full glass, the bartender’s fingers lingering over Reid’s during the exchange.
Reid leaned over the bar, giving his alcohol provider a significant once-over and attempting to push Luke Snyder far, far out of his mind. It was helpful that the young bartender looked nothing like the gorgeous blonde. “Just looking for a good time,” he replied, forcing his voice to flirt. The alcohol was helping. He contemplated the bartender momentarily before drinking, swirling the intoxicating beverage around before downing it.
He received a once-over and a raised eyebrow in return. “Ah. Well, while I may be staggeringly strong, I’m afraid I’m not ridiculously expensive.”
Reid pursed his lips, trying to be pleased when the movement drew the bartender’s eyes to them. “I think you should let me be the judge of that.”
The bartender smiled lightly and was about to offer a reply when Reid’s shoulders were grasped in a vice-like grip and Katie pulled him to his feet. “Idiot,” she snarled in a whisper, catching his weight as he lost his balance temporarily. “C’mon, we’re going home.”
Reid almost felt as though he should argue, but he remembered that had been his initial instinct and he didn’t even flash the bartender a look as he allowed himself to be led out of Metro.
***
Katie pressed her palm firmly along Reid’s spine as she shoved him into their apartment. “What the hell did you do?” she demanded as soon as the door slammed shut.
Reid rolled his eyes, collapsing in a melancholy air on the couch. He didn’t answer, choosing instead to rub his eyes before passing his finger carefully before them, as though trying to determine whether he’d drunk enough to actually be drunk, though the very nature of the action itself implied that he was not. “What are you talking about?”
Katie shook her head, exasperated, throwing her purse at him. “I warned you! I warned you! I told you that you would have hell on your hands if you hurt him by looking for a piece of ass!”
“Yeah, I remember. Torches and pitchforks, Beauty and the Beast-style, Dusty Donovan roundhouse kicking me in the face, etcetera, etcetera,” Reid groaned.
“So what the hell did you just have to do for me to run into him and see him utterly devastated?”
Reid gave a humorless laugh, shaking his head right before he leaned over on the couch and buried his head in his hands. “He kissed me.”
“He what?”
“He kissed me. And . . . I kissed him. And then he kissed . . . Noah,” Reid muttered, spitting out the name like it was venom.
Katie’s eyes widened. “Reid . . . Do you-”
“Have feelings for him?” Reid contemplated, shaking his head. “A ‘thing’ does not constitute feelings. And don’t worry about me being chased through town,” he muttered, standing up and walking to his room. “He’s got his legs back, so there’s absolutely no reason for me to stick around here anymore. So we can all go back to our lives and forget all this fuckery ever went down.”
Before Katie could even say anything, he walked into his room and slammed the door, leaving Katie wondering what on earth could be going through her roommate’s head.
Chapter 26-->