In the Closet (1/1)
Title: In the Closet (or Roundhouse Kick)
Summary: Luke and Reid get stuck. Twice.
Disclaimer: Clearly not mine.
Spoilers: None
Rating: NC-17
A/N: This one's for lemondrop34. It's probably not exactly what you had in mind, but it's where the story went!
A/N2: Credit for both (hee!) titles goes to newssodark. And, of course, ninja!Dusty Donovan.
A/N3: I changed up history a bit, for symmetry. Go with it.
Reid grumbled quietly to himself as he watched the Xerox machine spit out copies of the protocol he just printed. He couldn’t believe Bob actually considered sending the epileptic patient to Channing, even if it were only (obviously) a ploy to get him to stay in Oakdale longer. The fact remained that Bob even joked about referring someone to Channing. If Reid didn’t know any better, he would have thought Bob had received a concussion or something at the non-wedding the other day. He’d have to put his return home off for a week or so until this was taken care of, that was for sure. Otherwise, he’d have to live with that poor woman on his conscience.
Reid sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and rubbed at his eyes. Finally, the machine finished and Reid was just about to walk out of the small copy room and find Bob again. He barely had time to react, though, as Luke Snyder burst into the room, stared at Reid in surprise, put a finger to his lips to indicate Reid should be quiet, and then forced him into the supply closet in the corner.
Reid physically couldn’t move. The lights of the supply closet were still turned off, and Reid couldn’t see anything at all. His back was pressed flat against the door, with Luke Snyder’s body leaning into his from chest to groin. Luke was holding tightly to Reid’s arms, and Reid could feel Luke’s quick breaths striking his neck. To say the least, he was very surprised. And trying his damnedest not to get hard.
“Mr. Snyder,” Reid said simply. Thankfully, his annoyance and confusion were very real and managed to mask his arousal.
“Shh!” was Luke’s only reply.
“I beg your par - ”
The rest of Reid’s response was muffled by Luke’s palm covering his mouth. He glared at Luke, but considering the only light in the room were the strips peeking through the cracks along the door and Luke didn’t seem to be focused on him anyway, the glare did little good. It was then that Reid heard voices from two people who had just entered the copy room. Luke inhaled sharply and then held his breath. Reid was surprised to discover he did the same.
He couldn’t really hear what they were saying, and honestly he didn’t care either. He eventually realized it was the Hughes kid and that girl he was supposed to marry. The truth was, he was a little more focused on the person in front of him. He hadn’t realized before how good Luke smelled. Reid wondered if it was his shampoo, his aftershave, or just him. His head dropped lower and closer to Luke’s and he closed his eyes as he breathed him in. That getting hard thing was becoming an increasingly likely possibility.
And then the voices disappeared and Luke was suddenly moving again.
“OK,” he murmured. “Ah…sorry about that.”
He reached around Reid and grabbed the doorknob. He twisted it, and he pulled, and nothing happened. He quickly twisted the knob the other way and pulled again. The door simply rattled on his hinges.
“Oh my God,” he whispered.
“What?” Reid asked, refusing to admit the truth of the situation.
“I…I think we’re stuck,” Luke said quietly.
Reid nearly pushed Luke to the ground as he forced him out of the way. He pointlessly tried to open the door himself and obviously had no luck. He could already feel his heart rate accelerating. At that point, Luke found the light switch. The single bulb wasn’t very bright, but it was something. And it revealed just how very small the closet was. Reid swallowed, his throat suddenly very dry.
“What is wrong with you?” he finally demanded angrily. “Is there a reason you’re playing hide-and-seek?”
“No, I just - I saw Casey and Ali coming this way, and I figured they needed to talk and they wouldn’t if they saw me, so I…I…”
“You got me stuck in a broom closet!”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed softly.
Reid made a sharp whining noise, lifting his fingers to his brow. Then he quickly patted his pockets before remembering his cell was on his desk.
“Call someone!” he ordered.
Luke looked apologetic.
“You don’t have your cell either,” Reid guessed.
“No?”
“Is that a question?”
“No.”
Reid turned to the door again and began slamming his palm against it. “Hello! Hey! We’re stuck in here! Is anybody out there? Hello! Can you hear me?! ”
Luke surged forward, grabbing Reid’s forearm. “Are you crazy? You’re not going to do anything besides hurt yourself.”
“I’m trying to get us out of here.”
Luke sighed. “Business hours are over,” he pointed out. “Most of the admin staff is rushing out of here. We’re nowhere near patient rooms, which means medical staff and visitors are probably not walking down the hall either.”
“Since when are you such an expert when it comes to this hospital?” Reid spat, angrily aware that Luke was right.
Luke shrugged, not bothering to answer. “Our best hope is janitorial staff. Casey or someone should come back here. Eventually. Unless, of course, he and Ali made up, in which case he might have skipped out on the rest of his shift.”
Reid closed his eyes and exhaled. When he opened them, he could’ve sworn the room was smaller. As cheesy as it sounded, the walls were closing in on him. He started sweating, and he removed his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe at his face.
“I - I - I - ” he babbled, unable to continue with an actual sentence.
“You’re really freaking out.” Luke observed.
“A little help would be nice, you know.”
“Do you have a phobia of cleaning supplies?” Luke joked.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Reid responded, annoyed. He leaned back against the door, exhaling roughly.
“Wow,” Luke said, the grin slowly falling off his face. “You are seriously claustrophobic.”
“I don’t - uh - like tight spaces.”
“Here I thought you were invincible!”
Reid just glared at Luke.
It went on like that for several minutes, Luke teasing Reid and Reid snapping back more and more defensively. The last joke Luke made wasn’t even that good, something about losing oxygen, but Reid broke. He grabbed Luke, pushing him against the door, holding him tight and shaking him.
“It’s not funny!” he yelled. “Do you really want to die in here?”
“Wow,” Luke breathed out, finding himself strangely aroused. “For someone with nerves of steel, that was pretty extreme.”
“Do you want me to admit I’m human? Would that make your day, Mr. Snyder?”
“It’d be a start,” Luke murmured.
They stared into each other’s eyes, chests heaving wildly. Reid’s gaze dropped to Luke’s mouth, and then he stepped back, releasing his grip on Luke’s arms. He walked across the room, rested one hand on a shelf full of supplies, and ran his other hand along the back of his neck.
“I bet this is going to make great water cooler material back at the foundation.”
“Why would I tell anyone?” Luke asked softly, feeling a slight tinge of guilt and regret for mocking Reid so mercilessly.
Reid simply made a rather cruel sound in response. He ignored Luke then, turning in a circle as he looked frantically around the room. Luke got the impression he was desperately looking for some other way to escape - an air conditioning vent, perhaps, or something that would break the door down.
“Dr. Oliver, you need to focus,” he said firmly. “Um, think about someplace that you like, that makes you feel safe.”
“Where’d you pick up this load of crap? God, I hate bogus pop psychology.”
“Do you have anything better? Like putting your fist through the wall and ruining your career forever?”
“Good point,” Reid sighed. He leaned against the wall near the door again and pinched the bridge of his nose. “OK, I have a place.”
“What is it?”
Reid glared at Luke again, and Luke sighed in exasperation.
“What is the place?” he said succinctly.
“It’s the brain,” Reid admitted.
Luke laughed. “Figures.”
But after a few more snarky comments, Reid began to talk about the brain, began to explain to Luke why he loved it, why it was so amazing. Luke watched him, something like understanding and respect and a hint of admiration crossing his face even as Reid started to calm down. Reid relaxed, swallowing once before continuing quietly, the eye contact with Luke helping to ground him.
“It’s working,” Luke murmured.
“Yeah,” Reid agreed softly. “Yeah, OK, I feel better.”
And just at that moment, the door to the closet opened. Both men faced it abruptly, talking loudly over each other in relief. Casey Hughes merely stood there, staring at them in surprise. Reid didn’t wait any longer than he had to. Instead, he barged past Casey and into the main room.
“What’s going on in here?” Casey asked, the tone of his voice far too amused for Reid’s liking.
“Nothing, just…” Luke started awkwardly.
Reid didn’t bother to wait for the response.
**
Reid frowned at the fax machine as it beeped through its sending process. The machine, like almost everything else at Memorial, was ridiculously antiquated. The fact that he was sending a fax rather than emailing electronic records merely drove home that observation. Reid still couldn’t believe he had willingly stayed here, even with the promise of a state-of-the-art neurology wing.
The door opened, and Reid turned to see who it was. Then he smiled, remembering exactly why he had no intention of leaving Oakdale anytime soon.
“How’d you find me?” he asked.
Luke leaned against the doorframe and smirked at Reid. “Process of elimination.”
“Mmm,” Reid replied.
The fax finally went through, and he grabbed the papers from the tray. He dropped them against the table twice to straighten them, and then he walked closer to Luke. Stopping just in front of him, Reid looked him in the eyes and inhaled slowly. The urge to kiss him was almost overwhelming, but Reid held off.
“What’s up?”
The corners of Luke’s mouth quirked up in a little smile. “Thought you’d want to get lunch, but now…”
Reid raised an eyebrow when Luke didn’t complete his sentence. That one small movement was enough to kick Luke into gear. He stepped forward, grabbed Reid’s arm and quickly pulled him into the storage closet. Luke closed the door and pushed Reid against it before running his palms down Reid’s sides.
“Déjà vu,” Reid observed, and Luke snorted in amusement.
Then Luke’s hands dropped to the waistband of Reid’s scrubs. As he pulled the knot loose, Reid reached out to find the light switch. He wanted to watch.
Before he could flip the switch, however, the sound of the outer door opening and closing interrupted them. Luke froze and held his breath, the fingers of his hand down Reid’s pants just barely brushing against his growing erection. Reid made a small, frustrated noise.
In the darkness, Reid could sense Luke’s head turn towards him sharply. He could feel the displaced air as Luke flailed with his free hand before quickly covering Reid’s mouth.
“Shhh,” he whispered.
Reid rolled his eyes. And then he smirked. If Luke could have seen his expression, he would have been very afraid. And probably a little aroused. Reid reached his own hands down, and he cupped Luke’s cock, squeezing softly. Anticipating Luke’s reaction, Reid snaked his other arm around Luke’s waist. He pressed firmly against the small of Luke’s back, holding him in place. He dragged his hand up Luke’s cock slowly, then slid back down.
Luke exhaled shakily, bowing his head close next to Reid’s. Reid heard him swallow, then lick his lips.
“Stop it,” Luke murmured as loudly as he dared.
“The appeal of public sex,” Reid pointed out, talking softly in Luke’s ear, “is the risk of getting caught.”
“Risk of,” Luke reminded him, equally low. “Not actually.”
Reid squeezed again, then scratched his fingernails up the front of Luke’s pants. Luke bent his head, biting Reid’s shoulder to silence his moan. And then the door opened and closed again. Reid tilted his head hopefully.
“Hey, Gretchen. Have you seen Dr. Oliver?”
Dammit! Reid thought.
“No, I haven’t. Thank God.”
Reid scowled, and Luke’s body shook with silent laughter. There were footsteps then, and the sound of the door again, and muffled voices fading away.
“Are they gone, do you think?” Luke whispered.
“Sounds like it,” Reid replied, placing his hands on Luke’s cheeks and tilting his face up in an attempt to get the ball rolling again.
“I’m gonna check,” Luke declared. He tugged Reid’s arm, pulling him away from the door.
“Oh my God, you are totally missing the point of this,” Reid complained.
Luke ignored him. He merely reached out to the doorknob, twisted it and carefully pulled, clearly aiming to open the door just a fraction. At least that was the plan. When nothing happened, Luke gave up trying to be discreet and pulled hard. The door rattled but didn’t open.
“That’s not funny, Luke.”
“I’m not - the door’s - crap!”
“Move!”
Reid made it to the door just as Luke found the light switch and flipped it. He turned away from Reid, running his hand through his hair in exasperation. Reid futilely tried to open the door, failing to satisfy the crazy notion that Luke was messing with him.
“They were supposed to fix this!” he said angrily.
He turned around, collapsing against the door. He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to remind himself how very small this room was. His breath came quick and fast and shallow, and he could feel a trickle of sweat roll down his back.
“Reid. Reid! You know what to do,” Luke said softly, urgently. “The brain. Think of the brain.”
Reid swallowed, his mouth and throat unbelievably dry. He nodded quickly, trying to picture the tangled mass of gray spaghetti he loved so much. But the image kept disappearing, replaced with the sight of his and Luke’s bodies rotting in this closet.
“It’s not working,” he muttered.
And then Luke grabbed his arms, squeezing softly. “Look at me,” he ordered. “Look at me.”
Reid forced his eyes open and stared directly into Luke’s. He inhaled shakily. Then he reached up quickly, holding Luke still so he couldn’t look away.
“Sistine Chapel,” Luke whispered. “The theory of relativity.”
Luke’s eyes flashing dangerously as he screamed at Reid, accused him of deliberately botching Noah’s operation, the pain and fear and guilt overwhelming him. The tears floating in his eyes as he finally calmed and admitted the truth, that he needed Noah to be OK because otherwise he couldn’t -
“Walk and talk and think, remember, smell,” Luke continued.
The flirtatious challenge in his eyes when he suggested they play chess. The amused anger when he realized how good Reid was at it. The softness as he stopped Reid’s babbling. The desire as he leaned in for the first kiss that was really, simply between them, about them.
“The Godfather, parts one and two.”
The hurt and the betrayal as he stormed out of the hospital after learning of Bob’s ultimatum. The confident anger as he finally stood up for himself in a way he never really had before, as far as Reid could tell, refusing to be pushed aside until a relationship was more convenient. The hope battling the apprehension when Reid came over after quitting, and they both realized they had no idea what the future held.
“It’s working,” Luke said quickly. Reid’s eyes dropped down to Luke’s wide smile and then lifted back up to meet Luke’s gaze again. “Chocolate…love.”
Luke shaking his head quickly to get the hair out of his eyes. The rapid blinking against the sting of salty sweat. Staring down at Reid as he rocked slowly, lifting himself up and sliding down Reid’s cock the first time they were finally together, after waiting so long.
“Love,” Reid whispered, pulling Luke’s face closer and crushing Luke’s lips to his own. Luke mmphed at the unexpected kiss but quickly succumbed to it, opening his mouth and allowing Reid’s tongue inside.
Reid slid his hands upwards until he was cupping Luke’s ears. He traced his fingertips lightly along the thin shells of cartilage and then back down Luke’s neck. The entire time, he never stopped slowly, deeply kissing Luke. The panic was gone, but that didn’t mean his pulse or breathing slowed. In fact, they were speeding up again.
Luke’s hand dropped to Reid’s waist again, finally finishing what he started. He slipped his hand, palm flat against Reid’s stomach, below the waistband until he could wrap his fingers around Reid’s cock. Reid grunted into Luke’s mouth before covering it with his own again, opening wide and sticking his tongue in as far as he could. Luke responded enthusiastically, his own tongue dueling briefly before tracing the tops of Reid’s molars and the roof of his mouth.
They moved in a somewhat awkward rhythm, with Luke trying to jack Reid off and Reid trying to get Luke’s ridiculously uncooperative belt unbuckled. Finally, finally, there was a whip-like crack from the belt as Reid tore it out of the loops of Luke’s pants. Soon thereafter, Luke’s pants were pooled at his feet, and his underwear was hooked around his knees. Reid pulled him closer, aligning their cocks, merely cupping his hand underneath and holding them as they rubbed together.
Luke let go of Reid’s cock, lifting both his hands to the sides of Reid’s head. He stepped impossibly closer, grinding Reid against the door frantically. Luke panted into Reid’s mouth, then moved to nibble on his jaw, one thumb rubbing small circles against the bump of bone behind Reid’s ear. Reid was so lost in pleasure, he could barely even remember what it was called. He inhaled roughly. Mastoid process! he thought with crazy relief that Luke hadn’t turned him into a complete quivering mess just yet. He still had some control.
“Love,” Luke groaned, and Reid opened his eyes, that last bit of control suddenly gone. He stared, dazed, at the opposite wall only a few feet from him (Reid found he didn’t care so much about the size of the room anymore). He realized that they hadn’t said it yet, that this was as close as they had ever come, this breathless repetition without the I in front or the you after. Reid wondered if they were still talking about the brain at this point, about the things nerves and neurotransmitters were capable of. He wondered when he stopped believing that’s all it was, when he began to feel, like some heartsick teenage poet, that love was more than chemicals in the brain or something you said to get laid, that he loved Luke with his brain and his heart and his soul and his hands and his babbling mouth and his knees that went all wobbly around Luke and his stomach that went all butterfly-y and, God, maybe everything he had.
“Love,” he moaned in response, the only word he could get out besides a long, low “Luke” as he spilled out his release.
Luke replied with a series of staccato grunts, moving his hips in sharp jerks against Reid, seeking his own pleasure. Reid let him, just relaxed and opened his stance and moved with Luke easily, one hand resting on Luke’s hip and the other tracing the fading scar on his back. Luke’s breath caught as he came, and his head dropped back. Reid stared at his throat and his closed eyes and his wide open mouth and his wet lips. It was unbearably sexy, the hottest thing he'd ever seen since the last time he'd made Luke come. He lifted one hand, rested his warm palm on Luke’s neck and then let it fall to his chest. He stood quietly for a moment, feeling Luke’s pulse race with one hand even as he continued to rub softly along Luke’s scar with the other.
Luke looked straight again, opening his eyes to meet Reid’s. This would be another memory Reid would file away: Luke’s blown pupils as he floated back down to earth the time they got stuck in a closet and Reid realized the brain was no longer his happy place. Luke smiled.
“Why do you do that?” he asked Reid softly.
“Do what?” Reid murmured back.
“More often than not, when we - ”
“Say it,” Reid interrupted, grinning.
“When we fuck,” Luke said, rolling his eyes, “you always - you…you touch my scars.”
Reid swallowed. “Scars are sexy,” he dissembled.
“Reid.”
Reid sighed loudly. When did he become this guy? And why did Luke always have to make him admit it out loud?
“They’re proof, OK? They’re proof you survived - you survived way too much, but you’re here with me, now.”
Luke smiled, touched and embarrassed. “I am the Boy who Lived,” he agreed, trying to downplay the sincerity of the conversation.
Reid smiled and let him. “Complete with your own little cupboard here.”
Luke snorted. “I can’t believe you know enough about Harry Potter to make joking references. I have younger siblings, what’s your excuse?”
“I’m old, not dead,” Reid pointed out.
“Mmm, you are kinda old,” Luke agreed. Reid pinched his side, and Luke laughed. “I kinda like that,” he mumbled into Reid’s mouth before kissing him again.
Reid responded eagerly, but soon enough he pulled back. “And we’re both going to die if we don’t get rescued from this little prison.”
Luke laughed and shook his head. He bent down and pulled up his pants, and then took his phone out of the pocket. He waved it in Reid’s face.
“You have your phone? Why didn’t you - ”
“Well, first, I was worried about you, and then I was…distracted.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
Luke crossed his eyes at Reid before he focused on the phone and began to dial. Reid set about tucking himself back into his boxers and retying the knot on his scrubs.
“You OK?” Luke asked sincerely as he lifted the phone to his ear and waited for an answer. Reid nodded. “It kind of amuses me how crazy you are about the brain,” Luke added softly, a little leadingly.
Reid looked up at him and they stared at each other for a beat. “Well, like I said before, you wouldn’t believe me if I gave you some ridiculously corny answer, like - ”
“Casey?” Luke said, turning his attention to the phone call. “Uh…you’re not going to believe this.”
Reid smiled softly, dropping his head as he breathed out a frustrated laugh. “Being with you,” he concluded quietly.
Luke didn’t hear him.
The End
Summary: Luke and Reid get stuck. Twice.
Disclaimer: Clearly not mine.
Spoilers: None
Rating: NC-17
A/N: This one's for lemondrop34. It's probably not exactly what you had in mind, but it's where the story went!
A/N2: Credit for both (hee!) titles goes to newssodark. And, of course, ninja!Dusty Donovan.
A/N3: I changed up history a bit, for symmetry. Go with it.
Reid grumbled quietly to himself as he watched the Xerox machine spit out copies of the protocol he just printed. He couldn’t believe Bob actually considered sending the epileptic patient to Channing, even if it were only (obviously) a ploy to get him to stay in Oakdale longer. The fact remained that Bob even joked about referring someone to Channing. If Reid didn’t know any better, he would have thought Bob had received a concussion or something at the non-wedding the other day. He’d have to put his return home off for a week or so until this was taken care of, that was for sure. Otherwise, he’d have to live with that poor woman on his conscience.
Reid sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and rubbed at his eyes. Finally, the machine finished and Reid was just about to walk out of the small copy room and find Bob again. He barely had time to react, though, as Luke Snyder burst into the room, stared at Reid in surprise, put a finger to his lips to indicate Reid should be quiet, and then forced him into the supply closet in the corner.
Reid physically couldn’t move. The lights of the supply closet were still turned off, and Reid couldn’t see anything at all. His back was pressed flat against the door, with Luke Snyder’s body leaning into his from chest to groin. Luke was holding tightly to Reid’s arms, and Reid could feel Luke’s quick breaths striking his neck. To say the least, he was very surprised. And trying his damnedest not to get hard.
“Mr. Snyder,” Reid said simply. Thankfully, his annoyance and confusion were very real and managed to mask his arousal.
“Shh!” was Luke’s only reply.
“I beg your par - ”
The rest of Reid’s response was muffled by Luke’s palm covering his mouth. He glared at Luke, but considering the only light in the room were the strips peeking through the cracks along the door and Luke didn’t seem to be focused on him anyway, the glare did little good. It was then that Reid heard voices from two people who had just entered the copy room. Luke inhaled sharply and then held his breath. Reid was surprised to discover he did the same.
He couldn’t really hear what they were saying, and honestly he didn’t care either. He eventually realized it was the Hughes kid and that girl he was supposed to marry. The truth was, he was a little more focused on the person in front of him. He hadn’t realized before how good Luke smelled. Reid wondered if it was his shampoo, his aftershave, or just him. His head dropped lower and closer to Luke’s and he closed his eyes as he breathed him in. That getting hard thing was becoming an increasingly likely possibility.
And then the voices disappeared and Luke was suddenly moving again.
“OK,” he murmured. “Ah…sorry about that.”
He reached around Reid and grabbed the doorknob. He twisted it, and he pulled, and nothing happened. He quickly twisted the knob the other way and pulled again. The door simply rattled on his hinges.
“Oh my God,” he whispered.
“What?” Reid asked, refusing to admit the truth of the situation.
“I…I think we’re stuck,” Luke said quietly.
Reid nearly pushed Luke to the ground as he forced him out of the way. He pointlessly tried to open the door himself and obviously had no luck. He could already feel his heart rate accelerating. At that point, Luke found the light switch. The single bulb wasn’t very bright, but it was something. And it revealed just how very small the closet was. Reid swallowed, his throat suddenly very dry.
“What is wrong with you?” he finally demanded angrily. “Is there a reason you’re playing hide-and-seek?”
“No, I just - I saw Casey and Ali coming this way, and I figured they needed to talk and they wouldn’t if they saw me, so I…I…”
“You got me stuck in a broom closet!”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed softly.
Reid made a sharp whining noise, lifting his fingers to his brow. Then he quickly patted his pockets before remembering his cell was on his desk.
“Call someone!” he ordered.
Luke looked apologetic.
“You don’t have your cell either,” Reid guessed.
“No?”
“Is that a question?”
“No.”
Reid turned to the door again and began slamming his palm against it. “Hello! Hey! We’re stuck in here! Is anybody out there? Hello! Can you hear me?! ”
Luke surged forward, grabbing Reid’s forearm. “Are you crazy? You’re not going to do anything besides hurt yourself.”
“I’m trying to get us out of here.”
Luke sighed. “Business hours are over,” he pointed out. “Most of the admin staff is rushing out of here. We’re nowhere near patient rooms, which means medical staff and visitors are probably not walking down the hall either.”
“Since when are you such an expert when it comes to this hospital?” Reid spat, angrily aware that Luke was right.
Luke shrugged, not bothering to answer. “Our best hope is janitorial staff. Casey or someone should come back here. Eventually. Unless, of course, he and Ali made up, in which case he might have skipped out on the rest of his shift.”
Reid closed his eyes and exhaled. When he opened them, he could’ve sworn the room was smaller. As cheesy as it sounded, the walls were closing in on him. He started sweating, and he removed his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe at his face.
“I - I - I - ” he babbled, unable to continue with an actual sentence.
“You’re really freaking out.” Luke observed.
“A little help would be nice, you know.”
“Do you have a phobia of cleaning supplies?” Luke joked.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Reid responded, annoyed. He leaned back against the door, exhaling roughly.
“Wow,” Luke said, the grin slowly falling off his face. “You are seriously claustrophobic.”
“I don’t - uh - like tight spaces.”
“Here I thought you were invincible!”
Reid just glared at Luke.
It went on like that for several minutes, Luke teasing Reid and Reid snapping back more and more defensively. The last joke Luke made wasn’t even that good, something about losing oxygen, but Reid broke. He grabbed Luke, pushing him against the door, holding him tight and shaking him.
“It’s not funny!” he yelled. “Do you really want to die in here?”
“Wow,” Luke breathed out, finding himself strangely aroused. “For someone with nerves of steel, that was pretty extreme.”
“Do you want me to admit I’m human? Would that make your day, Mr. Snyder?”
“It’d be a start,” Luke murmured.
They stared into each other’s eyes, chests heaving wildly. Reid’s gaze dropped to Luke’s mouth, and then he stepped back, releasing his grip on Luke’s arms. He walked across the room, rested one hand on a shelf full of supplies, and ran his other hand along the back of his neck.
“I bet this is going to make great water cooler material back at the foundation.”
“Why would I tell anyone?” Luke asked softly, feeling a slight tinge of guilt and regret for mocking Reid so mercilessly.
Reid simply made a rather cruel sound in response. He ignored Luke then, turning in a circle as he looked frantically around the room. Luke got the impression he was desperately looking for some other way to escape - an air conditioning vent, perhaps, or something that would break the door down.
“Dr. Oliver, you need to focus,” he said firmly. “Um, think about someplace that you like, that makes you feel safe.”
“Where’d you pick up this load of crap? God, I hate bogus pop psychology.”
“Do you have anything better? Like putting your fist through the wall and ruining your career forever?”
“Good point,” Reid sighed. He leaned against the wall near the door again and pinched the bridge of his nose. “OK, I have a place.”
“What is it?”
Reid glared at Luke again, and Luke sighed in exasperation.
“What is the place?” he said succinctly.
“It’s the brain,” Reid admitted.
Luke laughed. “Figures.”
But after a few more snarky comments, Reid began to talk about the brain, began to explain to Luke why he loved it, why it was so amazing. Luke watched him, something like understanding and respect and a hint of admiration crossing his face even as Reid started to calm down. Reid relaxed, swallowing once before continuing quietly, the eye contact with Luke helping to ground him.
“It’s working,” Luke murmured.
“Yeah,” Reid agreed softly. “Yeah, OK, I feel better.”
And just at that moment, the door to the closet opened. Both men faced it abruptly, talking loudly over each other in relief. Casey Hughes merely stood there, staring at them in surprise. Reid didn’t wait any longer than he had to. Instead, he barged past Casey and into the main room.
“What’s going on in here?” Casey asked, the tone of his voice far too amused for Reid’s liking.
“Nothing, just…” Luke started awkwardly.
Reid didn’t bother to wait for the response.
**
Reid frowned at the fax machine as it beeped through its sending process. The machine, like almost everything else at Memorial, was ridiculously antiquated. The fact that he was sending a fax rather than emailing electronic records merely drove home that observation. Reid still couldn’t believe he had willingly stayed here, even with the promise of a state-of-the-art neurology wing.
The door opened, and Reid turned to see who it was. Then he smiled, remembering exactly why he had no intention of leaving Oakdale anytime soon.
“How’d you find me?” he asked.
Luke leaned against the doorframe and smirked at Reid. “Process of elimination.”
“Mmm,” Reid replied.
The fax finally went through, and he grabbed the papers from the tray. He dropped them against the table twice to straighten them, and then he walked closer to Luke. Stopping just in front of him, Reid looked him in the eyes and inhaled slowly. The urge to kiss him was almost overwhelming, but Reid held off.
“What’s up?”
The corners of Luke’s mouth quirked up in a little smile. “Thought you’d want to get lunch, but now…”
Reid raised an eyebrow when Luke didn’t complete his sentence. That one small movement was enough to kick Luke into gear. He stepped forward, grabbed Reid’s arm and quickly pulled him into the storage closet. Luke closed the door and pushed Reid against it before running his palms down Reid’s sides.
“Déjà vu,” Reid observed, and Luke snorted in amusement.
Then Luke’s hands dropped to the waistband of Reid’s scrubs. As he pulled the knot loose, Reid reached out to find the light switch. He wanted to watch.
Before he could flip the switch, however, the sound of the outer door opening and closing interrupted them. Luke froze and held his breath, the fingers of his hand down Reid’s pants just barely brushing against his growing erection. Reid made a small, frustrated noise.
In the darkness, Reid could sense Luke’s head turn towards him sharply. He could feel the displaced air as Luke flailed with his free hand before quickly covering Reid’s mouth.
“Shhh,” he whispered.
Reid rolled his eyes. And then he smirked. If Luke could have seen his expression, he would have been very afraid. And probably a little aroused. Reid reached his own hands down, and he cupped Luke’s cock, squeezing softly. Anticipating Luke’s reaction, Reid snaked his other arm around Luke’s waist. He pressed firmly against the small of Luke’s back, holding him in place. He dragged his hand up Luke’s cock slowly, then slid back down.
Luke exhaled shakily, bowing his head close next to Reid’s. Reid heard him swallow, then lick his lips.
“Stop it,” Luke murmured as loudly as he dared.
“The appeal of public sex,” Reid pointed out, talking softly in Luke’s ear, “is the risk of getting caught.”
“Risk of,” Luke reminded him, equally low. “Not actually.”
Reid squeezed again, then scratched his fingernails up the front of Luke’s pants. Luke bent his head, biting Reid’s shoulder to silence his moan. And then the door opened and closed again. Reid tilted his head hopefully.
“Hey, Gretchen. Have you seen Dr. Oliver?”
Dammit! Reid thought.
“No, I haven’t. Thank God.”
Reid scowled, and Luke’s body shook with silent laughter. There were footsteps then, and the sound of the door again, and muffled voices fading away.
“Are they gone, do you think?” Luke whispered.
“Sounds like it,” Reid replied, placing his hands on Luke’s cheeks and tilting his face up in an attempt to get the ball rolling again.
“I’m gonna check,” Luke declared. He tugged Reid’s arm, pulling him away from the door.
“Oh my God, you are totally missing the point of this,” Reid complained.
Luke ignored him. He merely reached out to the doorknob, twisted it and carefully pulled, clearly aiming to open the door just a fraction. At least that was the plan. When nothing happened, Luke gave up trying to be discreet and pulled hard. The door rattled but didn’t open.
“That’s not funny, Luke.”
“I’m not - the door’s - crap!”
“Move!”
Reid made it to the door just as Luke found the light switch and flipped it. He turned away from Reid, running his hand through his hair in exasperation. Reid futilely tried to open the door, failing to satisfy the crazy notion that Luke was messing with him.
“They were supposed to fix this!” he said angrily.
He turned around, collapsing against the door. He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to remind himself how very small this room was. His breath came quick and fast and shallow, and he could feel a trickle of sweat roll down his back.
“Reid. Reid! You know what to do,” Luke said softly, urgently. “The brain. Think of the brain.”
Reid swallowed, his mouth and throat unbelievably dry. He nodded quickly, trying to picture the tangled mass of gray spaghetti he loved so much. But the image kept disappearing, replaced with the sight of his and Luke’s bodies rotting in this closet.
“It’s not working,” he muttered.
And then Luke grabbed his arms, squeezing softly. “Look at me,” he ordered. “Look at me.”
Reid forced his eyes open and stared directly into Luke’s. He inhaled shakily. Then he reached up quickly, holding Luke still so he couldn’t look away.
“Sistine Chapel,” Luke whispered. “The theory of relativity.”
Luke’s eyes flashing dangerously as he screamed at Reid, accused him of deliberately botching Noah’s operation, the pain and fear and guilt overwhelming him. The tears floating in his eyes as he finally calmed and admitted the truth, that he needed Noah to be OK because otherwise he couldn’t -
“Walk and talk and think, remember, smell,” Luke continued.
The flirtatious challenge in his eyes when he suggested they play chess. The amused anger when he realized how good Reid was at it. The softness as he stopped Reid’s babbling. The desire as he leaned in for the first kiss that was really, simply between them, about them.
“The Godfather, parts one and two.”
The hurt and the betrayal as he stormed out of the hospital after learning of Bob’s ultimatum. The confident anger as he finally stood up for himself in a way he never really had before, as far as Reid could tell, refusing to be pushed aside until a relationship was more convenient. The hope battling the apprehension when Reid came over after quitting, and they both realized they had no idea what the future held.
“It’s working,” Luke said quickly. Reid’s eyes dropped down to Luke’s wide smile and then lifted back up to meet Luke’s gaze again. “Chocolate…love.”
Luke shaking his head quickly to get the hair out of his eyes. The rapid blinking against the sting of salty sweat. Staring down at Reid as he rocked slowly, lifting himself up and sliding down Reid’s cock the first time they were finally together, after waiting so long.
“Love,” Reid whispered, pulling Luke’s face closer and crushing Luke’s lips to his own. Luke mmphed at the unexpected kiss but quickly succumbed to it, opening his mouth and allowing Reid’s tongue inside.
Reid slid his hands upwards until he was cupping Luke’s ears. He traced his fingertips lightly along the thin shells of cartilage and then back down Luke’s neck. The entire time, he never stopped slowly, deeply kissing Luke. The panic was gone, but that didn’t mean his pulse or breathing slowed. In fact, they were speeding up again.
Luke’s hand dropped to Reid’s waist again, finally finishing what he started. He slipped his hand, palm flat against Reid’s stomach, below the waistband until he could wrap his fingers around Reid’s cock. Reid grunted into Luke’s mouth before covering it with his own again, opening wide and sticking his tongue in as far as he could. Luke responded enthusiastically, his own tongue dueling briefly before tracing the tops of Reid’s molars and the roof of his mouth.
They moved in a somewhat awkward rhythm, with Luke trying to jack Reid off and Reid trying to get Luke’s ridiculously uncooperative belt unbuckled. Finally, finally, there was a whip-like crack from the belt as Reid tore it out of the loops of Luke’s pants. Soon thereafter, Luke’s pants were pooled at his feet, and his underwear was hooked around his knees. Reid pulled him closer, aligning their cocks, merely cupping his hand underneath and holding them as they rubbed together.
Luke let go of Reid’s cock, lifting both his hands to the sides of Reid’s head. He stepped impossibly closer, grinding Reid against the door frantically. Luke panted into Reid’s mouth, then moved to nibble on his jaw, one thumb rubbing small circles against the bump of bone behind Reid’s ear. Reid was so lost in pleasure, he could barely even remember what it was called. He inhaled roughly. Mastoid process! he thought with crazy relief that Luke hadn’t turned him into a complete quivering mess just yet. He still had some control.
“Love,” Luke groaned, and Reid opened his eyes, that last bit of control suddenly gone. He stared, dazed, at the opposite wall only a few feet from him (Reid found he didn’t care so much about the size of the room anymore). He realized that they hadn’t said it yet, that this was as close as they had ever come, this breathless repetition without the I in front or the you after. Reid wondered if they were still talking about the brain at this point, about the things nerves and neurotransmitters were capable of. He wondered when he stopped believing that’s all it was, when he began to feel, like some heartsick teenage poet, that love was more than chemicals in the brain or something you said to get laid, that he loved Luke with his brain and his heart and his soul and his hands and his babbling mouth and his knees that went all wobbly around Luke and his stomach that went all butterfly-y and, God, maybe everything he had.
“Love,” he moaned in response, the only word he could get out besides a long, low “Luke” as he spilled out his release.
Luke replied with a series of staccato grunts, moving his hips in sharp jerks against Reid, seeking his own pleasure. Reid let him, just relaxed and opened his stance and moved with Luke easily, one hand resting on Luke’s hip and the other tracing the fading scar on his back. Luke’s breath caught as he came, and his head dropped back. Reid stared at his throat and his closed eyes and his wide open mouth and his wet lips. It was unbearably sexy, the hottest thing he'd ever seen since the last time he'd made Luke come. He lifted one hand, rested his warm palm on Luke’s neck and then let it fall to his chest. He stood quietly for a moment, feeling Luke’s pulse race with one hand even as he continued to rub softly along Luke’s scar with the other.
Luke looked straight again, opening his eyes to meet Reid’s. This would be another memory Reid would file away: Luke’s blown pupils as he floated back down to earth the time they got stuck in a closet and Reid realized the brain was no longer his happy place. Luke smiled.
“Why do you do that?” he asked Reid softly.
“Do what?” Reid murmured back.
“More often than not, when we - ”
“Say it,” Reid interrupted, grinning.
“When we fuck,” Luke said, rolling his eyes, “you always - you…you touch my scars.”
Reid swallowed. “Scars are sexy,” he dissembled.
“Reid.”
Reid sighed loudly. When did he become this guy? And why did Luke always have to make him admit it out loud?
“They’re proof, OK? They’re proof you survived - you survived way too much, but you’re here with me, now.”
Luke smiled, touched and embarrassed. “I am the Boy who Lived,” he agreed, trying to downplay the sincerity of the conversation.
Reid smiled and let him. “Complete with your own little cupboard here.”
Luke snorted. “I can’t believe you know enough about Harry Potter to make joking references. I have younger siblings, what’s your excuse?”
“I’m old, not dead,” Reid pointed out.
“Mmm, you are kinda old,” Luke agreed. Reid pinched his side, and Luke laughed. “I kinda like that,” he mumbled into Reid’s mouth before kissing him again.
Reid responded eagerly, but soon enough he pulled back. “And we’re both going to die if we don’t get rescued from this little prison.”
Luke laughed and shook his head. He bent down and pulled up his pants, and then took his phone out of the pocket. He waved it in Reid’s face.
“You have your phone? Why didn’t you - ”
“Well, first, I was worried about you, and then I was…distracted.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
Luke crossed his eyes at Reid before he focused on the phone and began to dial. Reid set about tucking himself back into his boxers and retying the knot on his scrubs.
“You OK?” Luke asked sincerely as he lifted the phone to his ear and waited for an answer. Reid nodded. “It kind of amuses me how crazy you are about the brain,” Luke added softly, a little leadingly.
Reid looked up at him and they stared at each other for a beat. “Well, like I said before, you wouldn’t believe me if I gave you some ridiculously corny answer, like - ”
“Casey?” Luke said, turning his attention to the phone call. “Uh…you’re not going to believe this.”
Reid smiled softly, dropping his head as he breathed out a frustrated laugh. “Being with you,” he concluded quietly.
Luke didn’t hear him.
The End