Fabrication (27/27)
After Reid left the room, Luke fell back onto the mattress. He lifted a hand to his face and rubbed at his eye, chuckling softly. Then he smiled, and he stretched his arms and legs out as far as he could, taking up the whole bed. He still was having a hard time believing all this had really happened, that Reid loved him, that he was in love with him and he was staying in Oakdale for good. Luke sighed. He rolled to his side and pulled Reid’s pillow to his face. He breathed in slowly, luxuriating in Reid’s scent.
Then he turned away, rolling onto his back. “Pull yourself together,” he scolded himself.
Luke sat up. He climbed off the bed and found his boxers. He pulled them on and looked around for his shirt. Before he found it, he spotted a t-shirt of Reid’s folded and sitting on top of the dresser. Luke hesitated only for a moment before walking over and putting it on instead.
“I am such a loser,” Luke whispered, rolling his eyes but not really caring all that much.
He walked around Reid’s room. Earlier that day, and the first time he had been in the room, Luke hadn’t paid too much attention to his surroundings. He had been entirely focused on the bed and the man in it with him. He ran out as fast as he could last time, but now that he was in there all alone, waiting for Reid, he was going to…snoop a bit.
He wasn’t expecting too many personal touches, and he wasn’t disappointed in that regard. A pile of coins and a receipt from Al’s and one of Jacob’s toys sat on the dresser. There was a gym bag on the floor. Luke walked back over by the bed. He already knew what was in the nightstand drawer, of course, but there were two issues of the Journal of Neurosurgery on top. Luke flipped through one and saw an article by Reid describing the same procedure he had just done on Noah. Luke tried to read the first paragraph before he gave up. A piece of paper stuck out of the second journal. Luke opened to the page it marked, which was an article by a man named Channing. Reid had written idiot nine or ten times on the slip of paper, along with jotted notes for, probably, a reply to the editor.
Resting on the table next to the journals was Reid’s phone. It was plugged in but had finished charging. Luke picked it up and pressed a button to get the screen to light up. He nearly dropped the phone when he saw the picture on the home screen. It was Luke on the mechanical bull back in Texas. Luke couldn’t stop his grin. He put the phone back down and looked around the room.
That was it. There were no other signs, besides a few more clothes and the suitcase in the corner, that indicated Reid was living there. Luke knew that, up until earlier today, it had been temporary. He hadn’t expected that much stuff. But there was something that still struck him as somewhat…sad about it. He couldn’t wait until Reid officially made this his home. And maybe someday they would…
Luke shut that line of thought down. No point in getting ahead of himself.
Luke sighed. And then his stomach rumbled. He put a hand to it, suddenly realizing he hadn’t eaten anything that entire day.
He walked out of the bedroom and into the living room. When he turned into the kitchen, though, he stopped abruptly. Katie was there, preparing a snack for herself. She hadn’t noticed him yet, and Luke looked down at himself and his state of undress. He hesitated for a moment, and then prepared to hurry back to the room. And that’s when Katie turned around.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, nearly dropping her plate on the floor. She threw a hand to her chest.
Luke held a calming hand out. “I’m sorry! I’m sor - it’s just me!”
Katie laughed as she recovered from the surprise. Then she smirked as she checked Luke out. Luke started to blush.
“Nice hair,” Katie said, walking past him to the couch. Luke immediately reached up, trying to straighten what he imagined was quite the case of bedhead.
Katie sat on the couch, bending one leg up underneath her so she could sit at an angle facing Luke.
“Uh…may I have something to eat? Please,” Luke asked.
“Oh my God, did he send you out here for food? What a lazy - ”
“No!” Luke interrupted, laughing. “He had to go talk to Bob.”
“Oh?” Katie drawled.
Luke looked up at her, meeting her eyes again. Katie was pretty sure he had no idea how moony the smile on his face was. “He wants to run the neuro wing. He’s asking for the job.”
“Huh,” Katie said dryly as she took a bite of her food. “Who would have guessed?”
Luke nodded in enthusiastic agreement, apparently missing her sarcasm entirely. Katie grinned. “Help yourself to whatever,” she said.
“Oh, thank you, thank you,” Luke replied, turning to the fridge.
Once he had a plate full of food, he faced Katie again. Then he walked awkwardly over to the couch and sat next to her. He looked like he was racking his brain trying to come up with small talk or something, and Katie inwardly laughed. Luke always conducted himself so confidently and professionally, it was easy to forget sometimes that he was 22 years old and with his first real boyfriend.
“So you and Reid, huh?” she asked leadingly.
Luke blushed, glancing down at his lap. “Hard to believe, I know.”
Katie laughed. “Not at all. He’s crazy about you, always was.”
Luke looked up again. “So, he really - I mean, he wasn’t just rewriting history or something?”
Katie shook her head, still chuckling. “Oh boy, do I have a lot to tell you!”
Luke barely remembered to eat his food as he listened to her stories from six years ago.
**
Reid hurried back to the apartment as fast as he could. He and Luke had some unfinished business to attend to, and he couldn’t wait to get started. But when he opened the door to the apartment, his anticipation disappeared. His blood ran cold, and a feeling of foreboding overwhelmed him.
Katie. And Luke. Talking.
“This is worrisome,” he observed.
Katie turned around, looking slightly guilty. Luke focused on Reid too, his expression somewhere between a triumphant I’ve hit the jackpot, just so you know. Prepare to be mocked, and a goofy-in-love You’re the best boyfriend ever, schmoopy-bear. Reid groaned as he turned to close the door.
He sighed as he walked closer to the couch, intent on getting the food off someone’s plate. Only then did he notice that Luke was wearing a Harvard Medical shirt that Reid had a feeling he would never get back. He tried to feel annoyed, but mostly, it looked really hot on Luke. Luke wearing Reid’s clothes gave something of a possessive air to their brand-new relationship, but Reid wasn’t entirely sure who came off as the “owner” in all of it.
He leaned over Katie’s shoulder, reaching for the food on her plate. “You better not have told him anything truly embarrassing,” he growled in her ear.
She slapped at his hand. “No! Mine!”
Reid sighed.
“Here! You can have some of mine,” Luke offered readily, his eyes sparkling as he held out his plate. He kind of looked like a puppy dog waiting to be praised.
Katie shook her head. “No, honey. No. You have to establish these rules early. Now you’ll never get to finish your own meal ever again.”
Reid walked around to the front of the couch and sat down, squeezing in between Katie and Luke. He ignored their conversation and he focused on finishing Luke’s food.
“So? How’d it go with Bob?” Katie asked.
Reid shrugged. “I’m going to need a ride to the airport tomorrow morning,” he said ambiguously.
“What?!” It was unclear whether Luke’s or Katie’s yell was louder. They immediately began talking over each other, trying to convince Reid to call Bob right then, or to not give up, or to explain what he had said or done that had messed everything up so they could figure out how to fix it.
Reid laughed, holding up a hand. The protests eventually died down, and Katie and Luke looked at him.
“I have to officially resign and close out my cases, pack up my stuff, and put my house on the market.”
“You jerk!” Katie yelled again, slapping Reid’s arm.
Luke just fell back against the corner of the couch, hand to his heart. “Oh my God,” he said, still breathing heavily. “I thought I was going to have to move to Texas.”
Reid started laughing again, and then stopped suddenly. He turned to Luke, the surprise on his face evident.
“You’d move to Texas for me?” he asked softly.
Luke sat up again, staring at Reid as if he’d just asked the dumbest yet sweetest question. “You’re moving to Oakdale for me,” he reminded Reid.
Reid quickly put the now-empty plate on the coffee table and just as quickly leaned into Luke. He pulled him forward by his neck and kissed him passionately.
“Ack! OK! I’m going to have to ask you to leave the room after you let me watch for a few more seconds,” Katie declared, covering her eyes with her hands even as she peeked through her fingers.
Reid pulled back, laughing at Katie’s statement and Luke’s resulting blush. He turned towards her, a grin on his face.
“What do you think? Can you put up with me as your roommate indefinitely?”
Katie grinned. “Absolutely.”
“Great.” Reid stood and held a hand out to Luke. When Luke grabbed it, Reid tugged him to his feet.
“Come along,” he said. “We were in the middle of something.”
Katie shook her head as Reid and Luke pulled each other into the bedroom. Then she sighed happily, and a little sadly as she thought about Brad and when they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. She leaned forward to pick up Luke’s empty plate and carried both their dirty dishes into the kitchen. Then she grabbed her phone off the counter and typed out a text message.
I wouldn’t expect your roommate home tonight.
A few moments later came the reply. Yes! It worked! And…ew, thanks for putting that image into my head.
Katie laughed and replied.
You know you love it.
**
Bright and early the next morning, Reid and Luke stood in the terminal of the Oakdale airport. Reid has his arms low around Luke’s waist, and Luke had his hands resting on Reid’s chest. Luke’s head was bowed, and he was swallowing thickly, trying not to get emotional. And he was feeling like a fool that this was affecting him so much.
“You’re coming back, right? I mean, you’re not going to get to Texas and be all ‘what the hell was I thinking? I don’t want to leave this place; it’s too amazing of a city to live in.’”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Reid said softly. “Dallas sucks.”
Luke laughed, turning his head to the side briefly. “You were supposed to say ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I can’t stay away from you.’”
“Well, that’s true. But Dallas really does suck.”
“I bet you never even tried to find something fun there. I was there once and I found mechanical bulls. I bet you just had a big pile of delivery menus and nothing else.”
“That’s true too.”
Luke smiled softly again, and then he sighed. “I wish I could see your place there,” he said, a little embarrassed. “I used to imagine what it looked like, imagine being there with you. I can’t even tell you how many times when I was traveling that I wanted to tell the pilot to go to Dallas.”
Reid was silent for a long time. “Come with me,” he finally said.
Luke gave him a quick smile. “We talked about this last night,” he reminded Reid. “I can’t just take off from work at a moment’s notice. And you’re going to be insanely busy, and it will be quicker in the long run if I’m not there distracting you.”
The announcer interrupted him, calling for passengers to board the plane. Luke took a deep breath.
“OK,” he said, trying to sound upbeat. “Go, say goodbye, take care of what you need to. When you’re ready, call me and I’ll send the Grimaldi jet or Grandmother’s, whichever’s available.”
Reid smirked. “I can’t wait until my friends ask me why I’m moving to Bumblefuck, Nowhere, and I can tell them it’s because my 22-year-old lover has virtually unlimited access to two private jets.”
Luke faked a laugh. “You have friends?” he asked sarcastically.
The announcer made a last call for passengers, and this time Reid was the one who took the deep breath.
“OK.”
“Yeah.”
“See you soon.”
“Yeah.”
Reid leaned in, placing his hands on Luke’s cheeks. He kissed him softly, and then pulled back just barely. They stayed that way for a beat, foreheads almost touching.
“I love you,” Reid murmured. Luke closed his eyes, letting Reid’s voice wash over him.
And when he opened his eyes again, Reid was gone. Luke stared out the window at the plane. He waited in the terminal until the plane backed away and rolled out of sight. A few minutes later, he heard the rumble of engines and the whoosh of air as the plane took off, bringing Reid back to Dallas. Luke exhaled slowly, and then he turned away.
He reached into his jacket pocket for his keys, his brow furrowing in confusion as he felt something unfamiliar. He pulled the plastic item out, laughing when he saw the pacifier keychain. Reid had blushed and immediately changed the subject when Luke confirmed the previous night that Katie explained its meaning to him. Luke didn’t know when Reid had slipped it into his pocket, but he certainly appreciated the gesture. He couldn’t stop his smile as he walked out of the airport.
Concluded in the Epilogue
Once again, please no spoilers in the comments. That includes reactions to or feelings about spoilers, which are in fact spoilery themselves. Although not strictly spoilers, common courtesy also indicates that this request means no comments about today's episode until a reasonable time period after it airs, as some people are not in the same time zone or are unable to watch when it's actually on. I'm sorry if I seem anal about this (or hypocritical, as I was once just as spoiler-happy as the rest of you), but I'm constantly amazed and somewhat amused by how loose-lipped this fandom is. In all my years in multiple fandoms, spoilers have never been treated as lightly and carelessly as they are in the ATWT fandom. I almost feel like doing some kind of study on it. ;P Off my soapbox now.