FIC: The Third Roommate (19/?)
Title: The Third Roommate
Rating: PG-13
Genres: AU, Romance, Angst
Word Count: ~ 2,000
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Characters are property of ATWT, CBS, P&G etc. No profit is made from this fan creation. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Luke decides to go to Oakdale for a while to put some distance between him and Reid. Thanks to my beta ditzybea!
Two days later Jason stood, leaning against the kitchen counter in the morning, with a cup of steaming coffee in his hands, glimpsing at his roommates who kept glancing at each other. It made him sad to see them like this, but except for locking them in a room together and not letting them out until they finally figured out that they were falling for each other, he hadn't come up with a plan that might actually work to get them together. He had even asked his boyfriend Marc for advice when he called the night before but the two of them still hadn't come up with a good plan to help his friends. But besides that, he wasn't prepared for what Luke announced that morning...
Luke cleared his throat to get his roommates attention. "Um, I guess I might as well say it now that you're both here... even though I'm not sure Reid even cares." The blond said with a somewhat shaking voice. Jason glanced at the redhead and saw him swallow deeply at Luke's comment and then turned his attention back to the blond. "I just wanted to let you know that I will be going home to Oakdale for a while. There are a few business meetings coming up I have to attend, but I wanted to stay a few days longer to spend some time with my family and my friends. I'm leaving on Friday." He decided to not mention that it's also because he can't stand being around Reid right now and thinks that putting some distance between them might help him to get over this thing with the older man.
Reid snorted. "You're right. Why would I care about that?" He slid down from the bar stool, shoving the last piece from the toast in his mouth. "I'm off to work, have fun in Oakhell Mr. Snyder."
Jason knew Reid long enough to know that the older man was hiding what he really thought in order to hide his feelings. He pushed himself away from the kitchen counter, putting a hand on Luke's shoulder, who had tears in his eyes, and gave it a squeeze. "I'm sorry."
"It's what I expected." Luke replied with a shrug of his shoulder. "Honestly, I just need to get away from him for a while. I'm afraid if I don't try to get over this, I'll have to find another place to live. I really don't want to do that, so this was the only thing I could think of."
Jason nodded his head. He wanted to tell the blond to stay and fight for Reid but if he had understood one thing in the past few days, it was that Reid was the one who would needed to make the first step and he thought that if they wouldn't sort this out now, they might never be able to do it. The only problem was that he had no idea who to get Reid to admit his feelings for their blond roommate.
***
When Jason walked into the hospital cafeteria a few hours later, he was not surprised when he found it close to empty, but he almost couldn't believe his luck when he saw Reid sitting alone at one of the tables, deciding to use it as a chance to talk to him again. He greeted his friend with a sharp slap on the back of his head, before he slid down on the chair next to the older man.
"Hey! What was that for?" Reid asked, glaring at Jason.
"For acting like an asshole this morning." Jason replied with a grin.
Reid snorted. " already told you that I am an asshole, or a jerk or a prick or whatever you want to call it." He said, before turning his attention back to the food in front of him. He hated eating at the cafeteria but when days were crazy busy like this one, he didn't have another choice.
Jason let out a sigh. "I know that's what you want people to think, but I know you Reid and I have never seen you like this. So you can stop pretending that you don't care that Luke is going to Oakdale. I see the way you look at him. So, why don't you just admit that you care about him?" He knows that he's right when Reid doesn't reply, but was now only picking at his food with a fork. "Look, Luke is probably going to kill me if he finds out that I'm telling you this, but one of the reasons he wants to leave is you."
Reid lifted his head to look at his colleague. "Me? Why?"
"Because you're treating him like shit. You're ignoring him most of the time and if you're not ignoring him you're hurting him with your "being an asshole" thing." Jason explained. "Why are you doing this Reid?"
"I don't know." Reid replied in a low voice.
"I think you do." Jason responded. "I think that you didn't want to end what you and Luke had. Maybe you even thought that you could be more than just friends with benefits. I think he hurt you when he ended things between you and that's why you're acting like you don't care about him because it's easier than admitting that you have feelings for him. Am I right? And don't even think about lying about it to me."
There's a moment of silence between them before Reid replies "It doesn't matter what I think or feel okay? Luke obviously has moved on so why don't you just let it go?"
Jason chuckled. "I'm guessing you're referring to George." Reid rolls his eyes at the mention at Luke's work friend. Jason can't help but smirk at Reid's reaction. "They're only colleagues Reid. Besides George isn't even gay. In fact he has a girlfriend." A look of relief washed over Reid's face and Jason had to smile. "You love him don’t you?"
"What? No... I don't know."
"Don't lie to me Reid." Jason said.
"I'm not lying to you okay? I just... I don't want to talk about this anymore." Reid replied, pushing back from the table.
Jason grabbed his friends wrist when he started to get up to stop him from leaving. "Wait. Please just think about what I just said and what Luke really means to you. I know you're probably scared and so is Luke, but I know it'll be worth it if you gave it a chance. He is a really great guy, but I have a feeling you already know that. The fact that you almost kissed each other again had to happen for a reason you know? Do yourself a favor and talk to him before he leaves."
"I can't." Reid pulled his wrist out of Jason's grip and hurried out of the cafeteria before Jason could stop him back again. He decided to keep the part about Luke thinking about moving out to himself. Jason knew that he would tell Reid if he needed to, but he hoped that he wouldn't have to even mention it.
Reid made his way into his office, letting out a sigh of relief ones he is alone, glad that he still has ten minutes to collect himself until he has to see his next patient. Why did that damn blond have to move into his apartment and turn his world upside down? Everything was fine until Luke moved in. Reid had everything just the way he liked it; easy and uncomplicated. But now...he wasn't sure what to think anymore.
***
Reid immediately knew it was Friday, the day Luke was supposed to leave, when he woke up a few days later. Like so often in the past few days he thought back to the conversation he had with Jason in the cafeteria. While a part of him thought that Luke deserved a guy better than himself, the part of him that wanted to stop him from going to Oakdale was getting bigger and bigger. Jason was right; he was scared of the things he felt whenever Luke was around and he didn't know what he could do to stop him from going, but he knew he needed to try because he couldn't bear the thought of not being able to see the blond for god knows how many days.
He slipped out of bed and into a new pair of boxer briefs before he put on a t-shirt and a comfortable pair of pants and made his way into the master bathroom to brush his teeth. He was working through what he wanted to say and what he didn't want to say. He had to keep telling himself to think before he spoke. He found that when he just started talking he either babbled or said the wrong thing.
When he left the bathroom a few minutes later he found Luke pulling his suitcase to the front door. "Are you leaving already?" Reid asked, starting to panic.
Luke turned around at the sound of Reid's voice and snorted. "Yep, don't worry my cab will be here in fifteen minutes or so and you'll get rid of me."
"That's not what I meant Luke." Reid said while he stepped closer to the blond, taking him by surprise when he gently took hold of the younger man's hand. "Don't go."
"What?" Luke pulled his hand away. "Is this some kind of joke? I mean you've been acting like a jerk since Jason came back and now you tell me that you don't want me to leave? Right Reid."
"Yes. I mean no." Reid let out a breath of air; hoping to clear out his frayed nerves. "Look I'm sorry for acting the way I did. The truth is, that I, miss you Luke."
"You mean you miss having sex with me." Luke said, crossing his arms above his chest.
"No! I mean of course I miss that too but I miss spending time with you Luke. I miss talking to you or playing a game of chess and I even miss watching those damn reality shows you love so much with you." Reid explained. " just want things to go back to the way they were before Jason come back."
Luke snorted. "Of course you do. Always keeping it plain and simple right?" He paused for a moment, trying to keep himself from crying. "I'm not like that Reid, I can't go back to the way things were. I don't want to because honestly for me it was so much more than just sex. I thought I could handle it but the truth is that I developed feelings for you during that time even though I knew you don't feel the same way about me. So much for keeping things uncomplicated."
Reid opened his mouth to say something, but no words were coming out.
Luke let out a sigh. "You can tell me that you don't feel the same way you know? It's okay. I can deal with it somehow." He didn't really want to hear him say that he didn't want him the same way, but maybe he needed to hear it to be able to move on. Luke wasn't sure how much longer he could go on feeling like this.
"Honestly, I don't know what I feel." Reid replied. "All I know is that I miss you. Why don't you stay and we can figure this out together?"
The younger man shook his head with a sad smile. "I can't do that Reid. It's not enough for me. I've done the waiting thing already, I can't do it anymore." There was long buzz from their intercom from downstairs in that moment; startling them both. "I guess that's my cab. See you in two weeks?" Luke stopped for a moment. He hoped that Reid would just grab him, pull him into a kiss and tell him to stay, but when the older main remained silent he forced himself to go; leaving Reid standing in the empty apartment.
Rating: PG-13
Genres: AU, Romance, Angst
Word Count: ~ 2,000
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Characters are property of ATWT, CBS, P&G etc. No profit is made from this fan creation. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Luke decides to go to Oakdale for a while to put some distance between him and Reid. Thanks to my beta ditzybea!
Two days later Jason stood, leaning against the kitchen counter in the morning, with a cup of steaming coffee in his hands, glimpsing at his roommates who kept glancing at each other. It made him sad to see them like this, but except for locking them in a room together and not letting them out until they finally figured out that they were falling for each other, he hadn't come up with a plan that might actually work to get them together. He had even asked his boyfriend Marc for advice when he called the night before but the two of them still hadn't come up with a good plan to help his friends. But besides that, he wasn't prepared for what Luke announced that morning...
Luke cleared his throat to get his roommates attention. "Um, I guess I might as well say it now that you're both here... even though I'm not sure Reid even cares." The blond said with a somewhat shaking voice. Jason glanced at the redhead and saw him swallow deeply at Luke's comment and then turned his attention back to the blond. "I just wanted to let you know that I will be going home to Oakdale for a while. There are a few business meetings coming up I have to attend, but I wanted to stay a few days longer to spend some time with my family and my friends. I'm leaving on Friday." He decided to not mention that it's also because he can't stand being around Reid right now and thinks that putting some distance between them might help him to get over this thing with the older man.
Reid snorted. "You're right. Why would I care about that?" He slid down from the bar stool, shoving the last piece from the toast in his mouth. "I'm off to work, have fun in Oakhell Mr. Snyder."
Jason knew Reid long enough to know that the older man was hiding what he really thought in order to hide his feelings. He pushed himself away from the kitchen counter, putting a hand on Luke's shoulder, who had tears in his eyes, and gave it a squeeze. "I'm sorry."
"It's what I expected." Luke replied with a shrug of his shoulder. "Honestly, I just need to get away from him for a while. I'm afraid if I don't try to get over this, I'll have to find another place to live. I really don't want to do that, so this was the only thing I could think of."
Jason nodded his head. He wanted to tell the blond to stay and fight for Reid but if he had understood one thing in the past few days, it was that Reid was the one who would needed to make the first step and he thought that if they wouldn't sort this out now, they might never be able to do it. The only problem was that he had no idea who to get Reid to admit his feelings for their blond roommate.
***
When Jason walked into the hospital cafeteria a few hours later, he was not surprised when he found it close to empty, but he almost couldn't believe his luck when he saw Reid sitting alone at one of the tables, deciding to use it as a chance to talk to him again. He greeted his friend with a sharp slap on the back of his head, before he slid down on the chair next to the older man.
"Hey! What was that for?" Reid asked, glaring at Jason.
"For acting like an asshole this morning." Jason replied with a grin.
Reid snorted. " already told you that I am an asshole, or a jerk or a prick or whatever you want to call it." He said, before turning his attention back to the food in front of him. He hated eating at the cafeteria but when days were crazy busy like this one, he didn't have another choice.
Jason let out a sigh. "I know that's what you want people to think, but I know you Reid and I have never seen you like this. So you can stop pretending that you don't care that Luke is going to Oakdale. I see the way you look at him. So, why don't you just admit that you care about him?" He knows that he's right when Reid doesn't reply, but was now only picking at his food with a fork. "Look, Luke is probably going to kill me if he finds out that I'm telling you this, but one of the reasons he wants to leave is you."
Reid lifted his head to look at his colleague. "Me? Why?"
"Because you're treating him like shit. You're ignoring him most of the time and if you're not ignoring him you're hurting him with your "being an asshole" thing." Jason explained. "Why are you doing this Reid?"
"I don't know." Reid replied in a low voice.
"I think you do." Jason responded. "I think that you didn't want to end what you and Luke had. Maybe you even thought that you could be more than just friends with benefits. I think he hurt you when he ended things between you and that's why you're acting like you don't care about him because it's easier than admitting that you have feelings for him. Am I right? And don't even think about lying about it to me."
There's a moment of silence between them before Reid replies "It doesn't matter what I think or feel okay? Luke obviously has moved on so why don't you just let it go?"
Jason chuckled. "I'm guessing you're referring to George." Reid rolls his eyes at the mention at Luke's work friend. Jason can't help but smirk at Reid's reaction. "They're only colleagues Reid. Besides George isn't even gay. In fact he has a girlfriend." A look of relief washed over Reid's face and Jason had to smile. "You love him don’t you?"
"What? No... I don't know."
"Don't lie to me Reid." Jason said.
"I'm not lying to you okay? I just... I don't want to talk about this anymore." Reid replied, pushing back from the table.
Jason grabbed his friends wrist when he started to get up to stop him from leaving. "Wait. Please just think about what I just said and what Luke really means to you. I know you're probably scared and so is Luke, but I know it'll be worth it if you gave it a chance. He is a really great guy, but I have a feeling you already know that. The fact that you almost kissed each other again had to happen for a reason you know? Do yourself a favor and talk to him before he leaves."
"I can't." Reid pulled his wrist out of Jason's grip and hurried out of the cafeteria before Jason could stop him back again. He decided to keep the part about Luke thinking about moving out to himself. Jason knew that he would tell Reid if he needed to, but he hoped that he wouldn't have to even mention it.
Reid made his way into his office, letting out a sigh of relief ones he is alone, glad that he still has ten minutes to collect himself until he has to see his next patient. Why did that damn blond have to move into his apartment and turn his world upside down? Everything was fine until Luke moved in. Reid had everything just the way he liked it; easy and uncomplicated. But now...he wasn't sure what to think anymore.
***
Reid immediately knew it was Friday, the day Luke was supposed to leave, when he woke up a few days later. Like so often in the past few days he thought back to the conversation he had with Jason in the cafeteria. While a part of him thought that Luke deserved a guy better than himself, the part of him that wanted to stop him from going to Oakdale was getting bigger and bigger. Jason was right; he was scared of the things he felt whenever Luke was around and he didn't know what he could do to stop him from going, but he knew he needed to try because he couldn't bear the thought of not being able to see the blond for god knows how many days.
He slipped out of bed and into a new pair of boxer briefs before he put on a t-shirt and a comfortable pair of pants and made his way into the master bathroom to brush his teeth. He was working through what he wanted to say and what he didn't want to say. He had to keep telling himself to think before he spoke. He found that when he just started talking he either babbled or said the wrong thing.
When he left the bathroom a few minutes later he found Luke pulling his suitcase to the front door. "Are you leaving already?" Reid asked, starting to panic.
Luke turned around at the sound of Reid's voice and snorted. "Yep, don't worry my cab will be here in fifteen minutes or so and you'll get rid of me."
"That's not what I meant Luke." Reid said while he stepped closer to the blond, taking him by surprise when he gently took hold of the younger man's hand. "Don't go."
"What?" Luke pulled his hand away. "Is this some kind of joke? I mean you've been acting like a jerk since Jason came back and now you tell me that you don't want me to leave? Right Reid."
"Yes. I mean no." Reid let out a breath of air; hoping to clear out his frayed nerves. "Look I'm sorry for acting the way I did. The truth is, that I, miss you Luke."
"You mean you miss having sex with me." Luke said, crossing his arms above his chest.
"No! I mean of course I miss that too but I miss spending time with you Luke. I miss talking to you or playing a game of chess and I even miss watching those damn reality shows you love so much with you." Reid explained. " just want things to go back to the way they were before Jason come back."
Luke snorted. "Of course you do. Always keeping it plain and simple right?" He paused for a moment, trying to keep himself from crying. "I'm not like that Reid, I can't go back to the way things were. I don't want to because honestly for me it was so much more than just sex. I thought I could handle it but the truth is that I developed feelings for you during that time even though I knew you don't feel the same way about me. So much for keeping things uncomplicated."
Reid opened his mouth to say something, but no words were coming out.
Luke let out a sigh. "You can tell me that you don't feel the same way you know? It's okay. I can deal with it somehow." He didn't really want to hear him say that he didn't want him the same way, but maybe he needed to hear it to be able to move on. Luke wasn't sure how much longer he could go on feeling like this.
"Honestly, I don't know what I feel." Reid replied. "All I know is that I miss you. Why don't you stay and we can figure this out together?"
The younger man shook his head with a sad smile. "I can't do that Reid. It's not enough for me. I've done the waiting thing already, I can't do it anymore." There was long buzz from their intercom from downstairs in that moment; startling them both. "I guess that's my cab. See you in two weeks?" Luke stopped for a moment. He hoped that Reid would just grab him, pull him into a kiss and tell him to stay, but when the older main remained silent he forced himself to go; leaving Reid standing in the empty apartment.