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“So, I heard that Noah woke up last night.”
“What? Seriously?”
Luke’s sudden knee jerk caused the coffee mugs to rattle precariously on the small circular table. Reid quickly shot out a hand to settle them. “They paged me around midnight. It was brief, he was in and out for a few hours.”
They had just sat down with their drinks near the window. Luke had ordered for both of them - Reid found it equally annoying and endearing that Luke knew his favorite sugar bomb of a drink order - but Reid had insisted on paying. For as little as he knew about dating and relationships, he did actually know the “rule” that the person who initiates the date, should be the one who pays. He’d mentally patted himself on the back for recalling that in the moment.
Not that it was doing him much good right now. Luke looked displeased.
“I can’t believe you didn’t say anything!” he exclaimed, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Reid rolled his in response.
The thing is, Reid had spent months attempting to compartmentalize, reminding himself over and over that Luke Snyder was his patient’s loved one and therefore Completely Off Limits even if he was also Super Hot. He castigated himself for every fluttery swoop in his chest when Luke smiled at him (often at Reid’s expense). He’d put up barrier after barrier, made excuses to blow off one-on-one meetings, kept the snark level at an all-time high, even when he could tell it was borderline inappropriate to do so. His boyfriend is your patient, he’d recite to himself. He doesn’t like you. He’s in love with your patient.
The other night in the doctors’ lounge had completely obliterated those boundaries, to say the least. Everything Reid had ever learned about Luke indicated that he was unfailingly loyal. A bit impulsive, sure, but steadfastly devoted to the people he loved. Details dropped in conversation with Katie (He hasn’t exactly slept around, I mean he and Noah have been monogamous since just-after high school), unprompted backstory from Bob Hughes (After all, Noah’s been at his side through worse than this), even passing remarks from that sartorially-challenged diner owner (Noah was a little confused at first, but Luke never gave up on him, not once) - Reid collected them all, patching them together into a broader understanding of Luke and Noah’s relationship through the years. They had broken up and made up more times than most disinterested parties in this town could remember, and Reid couldn’t imagine that their commitment would truly falter now. He’d wrapped himself up in that truth, a talisman against his growing feelings.
Needless to say, the last thing Reid had expected was to be confronted by Sexually Liberated Luke, that night after the surgery. His final defenses seemed to crumble as Luke fell to his knees, and in an instant, he wrenched the younger man out of the box he’d been relegated to, the one labeled Not Your Concern. As of this morning, the Luke in his mind had been loitering around the long-vacant Romantic Interest zone instead.
With that cosmic shift, it had been all too easy for Reid to forget: Luke was still, for all intents and purposes, the family member of a patient.
Reid took in Luke's outraged expression and fought to keep his voice steady. “Luke. I’m saying something right now. I’m choosing to bring it up at the beginning of the date instead of the end, on purpose. Or instead of, not saying anything at all! I knew you would want to know about Noah’s progress. So, I’m telling you.”
Luke visibly deflated. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply. “I know how much it sucks waking up alone in a hospital room, and I’m really worried about him. He doesn’t really have any family, you know? Just me, a-and my family.”
“I know.” Reid took Luke’s hand from across the table, running his thumb over and over his palm and the unexpected calluses he found there. He didn’t relish the thought of Luke alone and scared in a hospital room either.
Luke’s spent a lot of time in hospitals, Katie had informed him nonchalantly, as if that wasn’t a completely devastating life fact for someone under the age of 25. Reid had been complaining about Luke’s plans for the neuro wing, wondering aloud why Mr. Snyder should even care about the size of the patient rooms or average proximity to the nurse’s station. Between the kidney transplant, and the gunshot injury, and the temporary paralysis, she'd ticked them off on her fingers, blissfully unaware of the effect each revelation was having on Reid’s blood pressure, I’d say he’s earned an opinion on the inpatient experience.
“Noah’s being very well looked after by the nursing staff. They’re much nicer than I am, you know. And I’m going to go check on him myself, as soon as I get in this morning.”
Luke hummed, a smirk stealing over his face. “You’re heading in… after this?” Reid nodded. “And ‘this’ is… a date, is it?”
Reid scoffed. “What else would you call it? We had sex the other night and then I asked you out for coffee. I know it’s maybe a little backwards, but I thought my intentions were clear.”
“No, no, you’re right.” Luke withdrew his hand and picked up his mug. “I guess I just… have a hard time wrapping my head around it. You, wanting to date me.” He took a drink and set the mug down again, fingers tapping an anxious rhythm on the ceramic.
Reid encircled Luke’s hands with his own, stilling them against the warm cup. Their eyes met. “Luke,” his voice sounded rougher than he’d intended. “You really have no idea, huh? How incredible you are.”
“Oh yeah, sure,” Luke’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “A college dropout whose only opportunities came from sheer nepotism. Failing upward because of my family’s money.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means-!” Luke bit off the interjection and cleared his throat. “After this, you’re going to go, take medical care of people, including someone whose eyesight you recently restored, by the way, like you’re the freaking messiah!”
“Does this mean you worship the ground I walk on?” Reid asked with a grin, but Luke barely paused to shoot the doctor a look.
“Meanwhile, I’m heading to a meeting with the board of my shipping company - which I inherited from my estranged father and have zero qualifications to actually run the place, by the way - so that we can approve some PR statements from the legal team before they’re released...” Luke was gesturing widely now, his coffee forgotten. “…there’s been some important election in Panama? I think? And the lawyers are concerned about the effects it’ll have on our business, and so I’m essentially being called in to rubber stamp something that I barely understand…”
Reid took a sip of his latte, morbidly entertained by how effortlessly the guy was working himself into a frenzy over this.
“…probably just to try to save ourselves some money, it’s so pointless! What? Is my ridiculous job entertaining to you?” Luke finished, having finally caught on to Reid’s amused expression.
Reid shook his head. “Nothing about that makes you sound like a failure, Luke. Just think, you could legitimately have a lasting impact on geopolitics and- and international trade laws today? That’s so cool!”
Luke’s shoulders dropped a fraction as he returned his hands to his mug. “It’s not even me, it’s the rest of the board. I’m always the youngest in the room, with the least experience…” His gaze turned serious, eyes boring into Reid’s. “I don’t have much experience. Not like- you’re a freaking world-class brain surgeon, Reid. Look at you.”
“So what?” Reid felt like he was missing something. “So I’ve been in the workforce for a bit longer-“
“Yes,” Luke said meaningfully, “you have. You’ve been out there for a lot longer than I have.”
“Okay, I’m only, like, 7 years older than you,” Reid shot back, a bit irked.
Now Luke was reaching out for Reid’s hand, clasping one in both of his. “I haven’t really… been out there at all.”
Suddenly, the meaning clicked into place, and the air left Reid’s lungs. Luke seemed to note the moment it happened, and he pressed on, addressing their hands on the table.
“Noah was the first person that I was ever in love with. We got together young… For me, love and- and sex have always been linked. And I’m guessing, for you, that’s not the case, and-“
“You don’t want to invest more emotion than the other person,” Reid finished for him.
A heavy sigh. “Not this time.”
Luke is an incredibly generous person, Katie had said. Noah had put it a bit differently: His need to help didn’t exactly help… he just made it difficult for me. Reid had seen it firsthand, how Luke would offer everything he had, everything he was, like it was nothing; the way Noah would find it overwhelming, and Luke would shrink into himself, trying to give and be less. The sunny smile eclipsed by a storm cloud when his bids for affection were brushed aside.
“One’s not such a low number, you know,” Reid stated. “I think you have some… misguided idea of me as this casanova, or something. Trust me, I'm not Brian Kinney, having casual sex with strangers all over town.”
Luke grinned. “Wow, a Queer As Folk reference on a first date, you really are gay.”
"I'm so glad you understood that reference. And I'll have you know, this is actually our second date."
"What, you're counting..." Luke waved his hand.
"The honky-tonk bar with the mechanical bull, yes." Luke laughed out loud. “The point is,” Reid persisted, “I prefer… knowing the guy. When I like him, at least as a person. And when he, at minimum, tolerates me.”
“Must be pretty rare,” Luke quipped.
“It is,” Reid agreed easily. Understanding dawned in Luke’s eyes. “So, while it’s true that our numbers on that front are maybe a little mismatched… I think... I’ve probably only been in love once, too.”
Luke’s smile was like sunshine. Reid basked in it. “You don’t know for sure?”
Reid took a deep breath. Gosh, honesty was hard sometimes. “No, because… I’m not sure about you yet.”
A graceless snort burst out of the younger man. “What a line!”
“I’m being serious!” Reid’s indignant response only prompted another peal of laughter.
“Reid-“ Luke chortled. “You don’t even know me!“
“I know the important parts. And anyway, that’s why we’re dating, so we can get to know each other,” he finished pointedly.
“Right.” Luke’s breathing was evening out. “Right, that’s why we’re dating.” There was a note of wonder in his voice.
They smiled at each other, lost in the moment. That is, until a barista appeared over Reid’s shoulder. “Another round, gentlemen?”
Luke started, and Reid cleared his throat. “Not for me, no. Do you want another one?”
“Um, yeah actually, can I get one to go, a large…” Reid checked his watch while Luke rattled off his order to the barista, a genial-looking teenager who, if Reid’s memory served, usually worked the early shift on weekdays. His nametag said Leo and he had a crooked smile, which he flashed at Luke as the latter handed over some cash. No doubt there was a sizable tip included.
“Gotta head out?” Reid tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
“Yeah, around quarter til,” Luke replied vaguely. “Figured I’ll need a lot more caffeine to get me through.”
“It’s already 8:40,” Reid informed him.
“Oh wow, really?” Luke looked at his watch. “Crap!”
“It’s ok, I’ll walk you out.”
Luke picked up his to-go order at the counter and they headed out, Reid holding the door open for them both. They ambled along the cobblestones, arms brushing occasionally. Reid felt every point of contact, goosebumps spreading along the limb despite the temperate spring weather.
Luke bumped Reid's shoulder with his own, playful. “So, besides checking on Noah, what are you up to today?”
Reid outlined his plans: rounds, including checking on Noah; a couple of consultations; labs and radiology reports he’d have to review and decide next steps on. “If things stay quiet I’ll start drafting my article for Noah’s case study. I’m hoping I can get it published by the end of this year.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize surgeons wrote those articles themselves. That sounds really interesting.”
“Eh, I guess. Publishing, giving talks at conferences... that's the kind of stuff that gets your name out there, gets you on the map, so I have to do it. But for me, all of that is just a distraction from cutting.”
“Your true love,” Luke intoned knowingly.
Reid smirked. “Exactly."
“I actually love to write. It’s what I always wanted to do… until, you know…”
“Bad Dad bequeathed you an international shipping conglomerate?” They shared a chuckle. “Well, if you wanted to look over my drafts sometime and give me some pointers, let me know.”
“Seriously?”
Reid turned back to face Luke, who had stopped in his tracks. Truthfully, he’d been half-kidding, but Luke looked so unexpectedly pleased. “I- yes, of course, if you wanted to. I would love to have your help.”
Luke shook his head, disbelief etched across his features. Backtracking, Reid quickly stuttered out, “But you know, they pay journal editors to- mmmh!“
Luke was kissing him. Right there, on the outskirts of Old Town, just before the cobblestones ended and the concrete sidewalk began. He was cupping Reid’s jaw and tilting his head just so, and oh, pushing against Reid with his entire body, and Reid was powerless, utterly defenseless. He grabbed at the lapels of Luke’s fancy suit and held on for dear life as his head spun. Several seconds passed before Reid realized he should maybe try to kiss back, to give back as good as he was getting.
And what he was getting, was thoroughly kissed, good lord.
Reid wrapped his arms around Luke’s back and clutched. He felt Luke’s answering sigh against his mouth, and he pushed in immediately with his tongue. Luke’s back was warm, his mouth was slick and eager and slightly bitter from the coffee, and it lit Reid up inside.
After what felt like ages but was probably less than a minute, Luke attempted to pull back, though Reid didn’t let him go far. “Sorry,” he gasped, eyes bright and lips wet and rosy and looking so beautiful, that Reid just had to dive in for another kiss. “Reid!” he breathed, laughing softly.
“Don’t be sorry,” he implored, and kissed him again. “Please, please don’t apologize.”
“Okay,” Luke laughed again, but loosened Reid’s hold to a step back as he continued, “I’m not sorry for that, but I really do have to go now, or I’ll be late. Sorry.”
Reid groaned and rolled his eyes, but relinquished his grip on Luke in favor of smoothing out his jacket front. “Fine, go make international shipping policy happen.”
“Hah, ok, well, you… go save lives. I’ll see you later?”
“You’d better, Mr. Snyder. You’d better.”
