Role Playing Games
Title: Role Playing Games
Written By: peggin
Category: Noah Who?
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Train, what train? Casey realizes some truths about Noah. (Certain portions of this story were inspired by events in the life of Dan Savage, as described in his book, The Commitment, and the quote specifically attributed to Dan Savage is at least a good paraphrasing of something Dan Savage has actually said.)
Thank you so, so much, rhiannonhero for the beta! Your input and advice made this story so much better than it would have been otherwise!
Casey had to admit, being back in Oakdale, if only for the holidays, didn't exactly suck. Carbondale was nice enough, and it was great living so close to Will and Gwen, but until he and Alison had arrived in town on Christmas Eve, he hadn't realized that Oakdale was still home in a way Carbondale never would be.
He and Alison had been staying with his parents and weren't heading back until New Year's Day, so he still had a few days to try to think of the best way to suggest that maybe they ought to move back. When he saw the expression on Alison's face as she took her first bite of Al's chili in months and heard her moan over it in a way he rarely heard outside of the bedroom, he grinned, thinking that maybe it wouldn't be too difficult to convince her.
They'd only just started eating when Noah walked through the door. Casey hadn't spoken to Noah since they'd all left Oakdale. He'd always heard stories about how, when a couple broke up, usually one or the other got "custody" of the friends, but at the time he hadn't seen any reason he should need to take sides between Luke and Noah and he'd assumed he'd stay friends with both of them. Things hadn't quite worked out like that. Over the last few months, he and Ali had gotten together with Luke a few times and he'd spoken with Luke on the phone pretty regularly while he'd hardly even thought of Noah at all. Seeing Noah now, he felt kind of bad about that and told himself that, in the future, he'd do a better job of keeping in touch.
"Noah!" Casey called out. "Hey, man, I didn't know you were in town. How're you doing?"
Noah came over and joined them at the table, and they started talking as if none of them had ever left. At first, Casey really enjoyed reconnecting with his old friend. But as the conversation continued, Casey began to wonder when Noah was going to ask him or Alison about what was new in their lives. So far, the entire discussion had revolved around Noah and what was going on with him.
As Casey listened, he heard all about how Noah had gotten a job as a research assistant with a documentary film company out in Los Angeles. Noah explained that it had been kind of a letdown, because he'd had fantasies about moving to Hollywood and becoming the next Martin Scorsese. Casey laughed along with Noah at that. Sometimes reality could really bite. But, Noah went on, he'd come to realize how unrealistic his original expectations had been. The job he'd gotten was a foot in the door, and that was better than most people could claim so soon after moving to L.A.
Casey agreed that it was awesome, and started to tell Noah about how surprised he'd been by his experience at Law School so far, but Noah just interrupted and kept talking about himself, explaining how he hadn't really planned to come back to Oakdale for the holidays, but it turned out that his boss was putting together a show about modern medical miracles for the Discovery Channel and when he heard the story about Noah being blind and the genius surgeon who had restored his sight, he decided to include a section about Noah's surgery in his film.
"Hey, wow, that sounds like a great opportunity," Alison said.
"Yeah, man, that is pretty awesome," Casey agreed.
"So, anyway, Mr. Jamison cleared things with Dr. Stewart," Noah continued. "Oh, and hey Ali, it's great that your mom's the new Chief of Staff. You must be proud."
Casey blinked, surprised that Noah had gotten away from the topic of himself for even a moment. He thought the tide might have turned. That moment passed quickly, because Alison didn't even have time to respond before Noah jumped back into his story. "Anyway, after he cleared things with Dr. Stewart, he left about a dozen messages for Reid, but he could never get the great Dr. Oliver to return any of his calls, so he sent me here to talk to him in person. I guess he figured I might have better luck, since the guy was my doctor. I'm not sure it will make any difference, but I couldn't convince Mr. Jamison of that, so here I am, back in Oakdale, long before I ever expected to be.
Noah paused for a moment, and Casey thought maybe this time they'd move on to other subjects, but instead Noah went on to a detailed description of what they wanted to include in the segment on his surgery. Casey was kind of amused that Noah went out of his way to paint the situation as if the Discovery Channel was going to be airing a special about him, when it was obvious to anyone that Reid was the person they were really interested in featuring on their show. But it didn't exactly surprise him. He could remember a number of other times when it had seemed like Noah thought the whole world revolved around him, like the time he'd decided he was going to join the Army and just expected Luke to wait for him. Casey had always told himself those times had been the exception, and that the rule was that Noah and Luke were great together. Thinking about things now, listening to Noah go on and on about his life and make everything about himself, Casey started to think he'd probably been wrong about that and he definitely felt a lot less bad about not keeping in touch.
When Luke came through the door, followed closely by Reid, Katie, and Chris, Casey was so relieved at the idea of having someone other than Noah to talk to that he quickly waved them over to join them. It wasn't until they all pulled up chairs and sat down that it occurred to him that maybe having Noah, Luke, and Reid all at the same table hadn't been his most brilliant plan ever. But things didn't seem to be going too badly. Noah even managed to be civil to Reid long enough to get him to agree to the interview, as long as they could do it in Oakdale
Casey was pleased that, with the new addition to their table, the conversation then drifted away from All About Noah to other subjects, and he was glad for the opportunity to watch Luke and Reid together. He couldn't remember ever seeing Luke look quite so happy. He and Reid sat close, thighs pressed together, and the way they couldn't seem to stop touching each other was hard to miss. Like the way Reid just casually rested his arm around Luke's shoulders, and Luke leaned in to him with a content expression on his face, or the warm looks Reid kept sending in Luke's direction. They were comfortable and intimate in a way that Casey didn't remember seeing between Luke and Noah, and the smiles wreathing Luke's face couldn't be missed. Casey didn't know if he entirely got the whole "Luke and Reid" thing, but as long as Luke was happy, then Casey was happy for him.
Casey had never had the chance to form much of an opinion of Reid. The few times Casey had spoken to him, he'd seemed like a bit of a jackass, and he knew Ali had always hated working for Dr. Oliver. But he also knew his grandfather thought very highly of Reid, and Katie seemed to think he walked on water. Hell, it even seemed like Chris had bonded with Reid. At least that was kind of understandable. After all, Reid had driven all the way out to Bay City to make sure Chris got his new heart, and if that hadn't been enough to make the two men friends, the fact that they'd both lost out on the Chief of Staff position to Susan Stewart had probably done the trick. And it was clear to anyone with eyes that Luke was gaga for the guy, and that his feelings were returned. As far as Casey was concerned, that was a good enough reason to assume he couldn't be all bad.
Reid said something about Luke's "new boyfriend", and Luke turned red and jabbed him with his elbow, telling Reid to shut up. Casey wasn't sure what that was all about, but before he had a chance to ask, Katie did it for him.
"The new barista over at Java," Reid replied. "He hits on Luke constantly."
"He does not" Luke protested.
"Oh, right. I forgot. According to you, he's just doing his job," Reid said, turning in his chair to face Luke. "And it's his job to wink at you and call you 'beautiful.'"
Chris chimed in with, "Well, now, I'm offended. He's never called me beautiful."
"Or me!" Katie agreed.
Reid gave the two of them a dirty look before turning back to Luke. "Not only that, he always gives you more than you ordered."
Luke ducked down his head and said, "That's not true."
"Oh, come on," Reid said. "This morning, you ordered a medium coffee; he gave you a large coffee and a chocolate scone."
"He was just being nice," Luke mumbled.
"He's only like that with you," Reid insisted. "Me? I had to ask twice before he remembered to put whipped cream on my latte. He's not being 'nice', Luke; he wants to get in your pants."
"He's new in town," Luke protested. "He probably just wants to make friends."
"Yeah," Reid scoffed. "In bed."
"Reid, seriously," Luke said, and Casey could tell the conversation was starting to embarrass him. "I really don't think he's interested."
The sad thing was, Casey believed he meant it. Luke had always had a hard time believing anyone could find him attractive. Casey had never been able to understand how one of the nicest, most generous people he'd ever met could have such a low opinion of himself. He had no doubt that Reid's take on the new barista's behavior was completely right, and that Luke just wasn't able to see it.
Reid rolled his eyes but seemed to give up on trying to convince Luke of the barista's intentions. He turned to Katie and said, "I swear, if that little jerk doesn't back off, I'm going to have 'Property of Reid Oliver' tattooed across Luke's forehead."
Everyone at the table seemed pretty amused by the exchange... except for Noah. From the expression on his face, Casey was pretty sure he was trying to kill Reid with his eyes.
"That's sick," Noah said. "Luke is not your property. You don't own him; he's not your slave."
Casey could hardly believe Noah was taking a comment that had clearly been intended as a joke so seriously, when Chris made the whole thing even funnier by asking, "Oh, come on... not even sometimes?"
If possible, Luke's face turned even redder, and Casey couldn't help but snicker. He didn't even mind the image that entered his mind of Luke playing slave-boy to Reid, and joined the rest of the table in laughter as Luke covered his face with both hands.
Well, most of the rest of the table joined in the laughter. Noah stood up, a look of revulsion on his face as he tossed down his napkin and spat out, "That's disgusting," before storming out of the restaurant.
Casey couldn't quite wrap his mind around what had just happened. He turned back from watching Noah's dramatic exit to see that all the color had drained from Luke's face. Alison said, "God, I never knew Noah was such a prude!"
Alison's comment didn't seem to do much to make Luke feel better. It was obvious he was feeling very embarrassed - ashamed, really - and Casey realized he'd seen Luke looking like that more than once in the past, and every time Noah had somehow been involved.
"Come on," Reid said, putting his arm around Luke's shoulder. "Don't let him get to you like that."
"Really, Luke" Alison added, "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Role playing in the bedroom is normal. A lot of people do it."
"Hey, seriously, man," Casey said with a grin. "I love it when Alison goes all 'mistress of pain' on me."
Alison gasped, "Casey" and jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, while both Chris and Katie groaned. Katie said, "That was way more than I ever wanted to know about my baby nephew's sex life," and then grabbed Chris by the hand, barely giving him time to throw a few bills on the table before dragging him out of the restaurant, while laughing and shaking her head.
But the color had started to return to Luke's cheeks, so as far as Casey was concerned it was all good. Especially when Alison turned back to Luke and told him, "Really, Luke, Dan Savage says that role playing games in the bedroom are just cops and robbers for grown-ups. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who has a problem with that isn't worth your time."
Casey was about to agree with her, but any comment he planned to make turned into another snicker when Reid grinned and nudged Luke as he said, "Cops and robbers! I knew we got those handcuffs for something!"
Luke blushed a deep red again, but this time he was smiling brightly before turning his face to Reid for a kiss that Casey was almost embarrassed to watch.
Written By: peggin
Category: Noah Who?
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Train, what train? Casey realizes some truths about Noah. (Certain portions of this story were inspired by events in the life of Dan Savage, as described in his book, The Commitment, and the quote specifically attributed to Dan Savage is at least a good paraphrasing of something Dan Savage has actually said.)
Thank you so, so much, rhiannonhero for the beta! Your input and advice made this story so much better than it would have been otherwise!
Casey had to admit, being back in Oakdale, if only for the holidays, didn't exactly suck. Carbondale was nice enough, and it was great living so close to Will and Gwen, but until he and Alison had arrived in town on Christmas Eve, he hadn't realized that Oakdale was still home in a way Carbondale never would be.
He and Alison had been staying with his parents and weren't heading back until New Year's Day, so he still had a few days to try to think of the best way to suggest that maybe they ought to move back. When he saw the expression on Alison's face as she took her first bite of Al's chili in months and heard her moan over it in a way he rarely heard outside of the bedroom, he grinned, thinking that maybe it wouldn't be too difficult to convince her.
They'd only just started eating when Noah walked through the door. Casey hadn't spoken to Noah since they'd all left Oakdale. He'd always heard stories about how, when a couple broke up, usually one or the other got "custody" of the friends, but at the time he hadn't seen any reason he should need to take sides between Luke and Noah and he'd assumed he'd stay friends with both of them. Things hadn't quite worked out like that. Over the last few months, he and Ali had gotten together with Luke a few times and he'd spoken with Luke on the phone pretty regularly while he'd hardly even thought of Noah at all. Seeing Noah now, he felt kind of bad about that and told himself that, in the future, he'd do a better job of keeping in touch.
"Noah!" Casey called out. "Hey, man, I didn't know you were in town. How're you doing?"
Noah came over and joined them at the table, and they started talking as if none of them had ever left. At first, Casey really enjoyed reconnecting with his old friend. But as the conversation continued, Casey began to wonder when Noah was going to ask him or Alison about what was new in their lives. So far, the entire discussion had revolved around Noah and what was going on with him.
As Casey listened, he heard all about how Noah had gotten a job as a research assistant with a documentary film company out in Los Angeles. Noah explained that it had been kind of a letdown, because he'd had fantasies about moving to Hollywood and becoming the next Martin Scorsese. Casey laughed along with Noah at that. Sometimes reality could really bite. But, Noah went on, he'd come to realize how unrealistic his original expectations had been. The job he'd gotten was a foot in the door, and that was better than most people could claim so soon after moving to L.A.
Casey agreed that it was awesome, and started to tell Noah about how surprised he'd been by his experience at Law School so far, but Noah just interrupted and kept talking about himself, explaining how he hadn't really planned to come back to Oakdale for the holidays, but it turned out that his boss was putting together a show about modern medical miracles for the Discovery Channel and when he heard the story about Noah being blind and the genius surgeon who had restored his sight, he decided to include a section about Noah's surgery in his film.
"Hey, wow, that sounds like a great opportunity," Alison said.
"Yeah, man, that is pretty awesome," Casey agreed.
"So, anyway, Mr. Jamison cleared things with Dr. Stewart," Noah continued. "Oh, and hey Ali, it's great that your mom's the new Chief of Staff. You must be proud."
Casey blinked, surprised that Noah had gotten away from the topic of himself for even a moment. He thought the tide might have turned. That moment passed quickly, because Alison didn't even have time to respond before Noah jumped back into his story. "Anyway, after he cleared things with Dr. Stewart, he left about a dozen messages for Reid, but he could never get the great Dr. Oliver to return any of his calls, so he sent me here to talk to him in person. I guess he figured I might have better luck, since the guy was my doctor. I'm not sure it will make any difference, but I couldn't convince Mr. Jamison of that, so here I am, back in Oakdale, long before I ever expected to be.
Noah paused for a moment, and Casey thought maybe this time they'd move on to other subjects, but instead Noah went on to a detailed description of what they wanted to include in the segment on his surgery. Casey was kind of amused that Noah went out of his way to paint the situation as if the Discovery Channel was going to be airing a special about him, when it was obvious to anyone that Reid was the person they were really interested in featuring on their show. But it didn't exactly surprise him. He could remember a number of other times when it had seemed like Noah thought the whole world revolved around him, like the time he'd decided he was going to join the Army and just expected Luke to wait for him. Casey had always told himself those times had been the exception, and that the rule was that Noah and Luke were great together. Thinking about things now, listening to Noah go on and on about his life and make everything about himself, Casey started to think he'd probably been wrong about that and he definitely felt a lot less bad about not keeping in touch.
When Luke came through the door, followed closely by Reid, Katie, and Chris, Casey was so relieved at the idea of having someone other than Noah to talk to that he quickly waved them over to join them. It wasn't until they all pulled up chairs and sat down that it occurred to him that maybe having Noah, Luke, and Reid all at the same table hadn't been his most brilliant plan ever. But things didn't seem to be going too badly. Noah even managed to be civil to Reid long enough to get him to agree to the interview, as long as they could do it in Oakdale
Casey was pleased that, with the new addition to their table, the conversation then drifted away from All About Noah to other subjects, and he was glad for the opportunity to watch Luke and Reid together. He couldn't remember ever seeing Luke look quite so happy. He and Reid sat close, thighs pressed together, and the way they couldn't seem to stop touching each other was hard to miss. Like the way Reid just casually rested his arm around Luke's shoulders, and Luke leaned in to him with a content expression on his face, or the warm looks Reid kept sending in Luke's direction. They were comfortable and intimate in a way that Casey didn't remember seeing between Luke and Noah, and the smiles wreathing Luke's face couldn't be missed. Casey didn't know if he entirely got the whole "Luke and Reid" thing, but as long as Luke was happy, then Casey was happy for him.
Casey had never had the chance to form much of an opinion of Reid. The few times Casey had spoken to him, he'd seemed like a bit of a jackass, and he knew Ali had always hated working for Dr. Oliver. But he also knew his grandfather thought very highly of Reid, and Katie seemed to think he walked on water. Hell, it even seemed like Chris had bonded with Reid. At least that was kind of understandable. After all, Reid had driven all the way out to Bay City to make sure Chris got his new heart, and if that hadn't been enough to make the two men friends, the fact that they'd both lost out on the Chief of Staff position to Susan Stewart had probably done the trick. And it was clear to anyone with eyes that Luke was gaga for the guy, and that his feelings were returned. As far as Casey was concerned, that was a good enough reason to assume he couldn't be all bad.
Reid said something about Luke's "new boyfriend", and Luke turned red and jabbed him with his elbow, telling Reid to shut up. Casey wasn't sure what that was all about, but before he had a chance to ask, Katie did it for him.
"The new barista over at Java," Reid replied. "He hits on Luke constantly."
"He does not" Luke protested.
"Oh, right. I forgot. According to you, he's just doing his job," Reid said, turning in his chair to face Luke. "And it's his job to wink at you and call you 'beautiful.'"
Chris chimed in with, "Well, now, I'm offended. He's never called me beautiful."
"Or me!" Katie agreed.
Reid gave the two of them a dirty look before turning back to Luke. "Not only that, he always gives you more than you ordered."
Luke ducked down his head and said, "That's not true."
"Oh, come on," Reid said. "This morning, you ordered a medium coffee; he gave you a large coffee and a chocolate scone."
"He was just being nice," Luke mumbled.
"He's only like that with you," Reid insisted. "Me? I had to ask twice before he remembered to put whipped cream on my latte. He's not being 'nice', Luke; he wants to get in your pants."
"He's new in town," Luke protested. "He probably just wants to make friends."
"Yeah," Reid scoffed. "In bed."
"Reid, seriously," Luke said, and Casey could tell the conversation was starting to embarrass him. "I really don't think he's interested."
The sad thing was, Casey believed he meant it. Luke had always had a hard time believing anyone could find him attractive. Casey had never been able to understand how one of the nicest, most generous people he'd ever met could have such a low opinion of himself. He had no doubt that Reid's take on the new barista's behavior was completely right, and that Luke just wasn't able to see it.
Reid rolled his eyes but seemed to give up on trying to convince Luke of the barista's intentions. He turned to Katie and said, "I swear, if that little jerk doesn't back off, I'm going to have 'Property of Reid Oliver' tattooed across Luke's forehead."
Everyone at the table seemed pretty amused by the exchange... except for Noah. From the expression on his face, Casey was pretty sure he was trying to kill Reid with his eyes.
"That's sick," Noah said. "Luke is not your property. You don't own him; he's not your slave."
Casey could hardly believe Noah was taking a comment that had clearly been intended as a joke so seriously, when Chris made the whole thing even funnier by asking, "Oh, come on... not even sometimes?"
If possible, Luke's face turned even redder, and Casey couldn't help but snicker. He didn't even mind the image that entered his mind of Luke playing slave-boy to Reid, and joined the rest of the table in laughter as Luke covered his face with both hands.
Well, most of the rest of the table joined in the laughter. Noah stood up, a look of revulsion on his face as he tossed down his napkin and spat out, "That's disgusting," before storming out of the restaurant.
Casey couldn't quite wrap his mind around what had just happened. He turned back from watching Noah's dramatic exit to see that all the color had drained from Luke's face. Alison said, "God, I never knew Noah was such a prude!"
Alison's comment didn't seem to do much to make Luke feel better. It was obvious he was feeling very embarrassed - ashamed, really - and Casey realized he'd seen Luke looking like that more than once in the past, and every time Noah had somehow been involved.
"Come on," Reid said, putting his arm around Luke's shoulder. "Don't let him get to you like that."
"Really, Luke" Alison added, "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Role playing in the bedroom is normal. A lot of people do it."
"Hey, seriously, man," Casey said with a grin. "I love it when Alison goes all 'mistress of pain' on me."
Alison gasped, "Casey" and jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, while both Chris and Katie groaned. Katie said, "That was way more than I ever wanted to know about my baby nephew's sex life," and then grabbed Chris by the hand, barely giving him time to throw a few bills on the table before dragging him out of the restaurant, while laughing and shaking her head.
But the color had started to return to Luke's cheeks, so as far as Casey was concerned it was all good. Especially when Alison turned back to Luke and told him, "Really, Luke, Dan Savage says that role playing games in the bedroom are just cops and robbers for grown-ups. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who has a problem with that isn't worth your time."
Casey was about to agree with her, but any comment he planned to make turned into another snicker when Reid grinned and nudged Luke as he said, "Cops and robbers! I knew we got those handcuffs for something!"
Luke blushed a deep red again, but this time he was smiling brightly before turning his face to Reid for a kiss that Casey was almost embarrassed to watch.