A/N: Hey, guys! I'm taking a break from writing Lost and The Office and focusing on a new obsession 'As the World Turns,' specifically the storyline of Noah and Luke. It's my first time writing them, and I hope you guys like it!
Summary: AU. Luke and Noah have moved to the suburbs of California and await the challenges facing them.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Luke threw the covers off of his body just as a flash of lightning ripped through the sky outside his bedroom window. His boyfriend, Noah, stirred beside him and turned over to pull the sheets Luke had ripped away. Luke swung his feet to the floor and sat on the edge of the bed, his head pounding to the beat of the rain on the window.
"Hey," Noah said. Luke turned as his boyfriend raised his head from his pillow. "What's wrong?"
Luke smiled, admiring the sight of his groggy boyfriend and felt a twinge of guilt that he had woke him. He reached over and ran a hand through Noah's messy hair, stopping to rub his thumb under his chin.
"Nothing," Luke said.
Noah sat up, pushing the sheets off of his bare chest. "Is it the rain?" He leaned in with a coy smile on his face and aimed his lips for Luke's throat. "Need me to read you a bedtime story?"
Luke chuckled and pulled away just as Noah's lips brushed his jaw line. "Thanks, but I'm alright." He smiled again when he saw a concerned look come over Noah's face. "I think I'll just write for a while."
Noah nodded." Alright," he said, "I'll be here if you need me."
Luke leaned in and kissed his cheek, warm and lingering just as he knew Noah liked it. "I know you will."
0000000
Luke turned the desk lamp on in the study and pulled a hoodie over his head. He sat and rolled the chair towards his laptop, flipping it open and shuddering slightly as the thunder grumbled outside like an old man clearing his throat. Luke opened a Word document and began typing nothing in particular, listening to the rain more than the voice inside his head. He drifted into a kind of meditation as his fingers pecked at the keyboard, thinking back to a conversation he and his mother had just weeks ago before he moved with Noah.
"I thought you were happy?" his mother had asked in the doorway of his room.
"I am," Luke had said as he packed boxes on the floor. "I'm very happy. Things couldn't be better. It's just . . ."
"What? Are things moving too fast?"
"No," Luke had exclaimed, "No, it's that they're moving along so well that scares me."
He had explained to his mother the fear he felt of moving out to California with Noah, but not just any place in that Golden State—they were moving to thesuburbs.
"I mean, it's the next step, I know that," Luke had said. "You graduate college, you get your dream job—which, for Noah, is everything he ever wanted—I know all of that stuff."
"So what's the problem?" his mother had asked, kneeling next to him on the floor.
Luke had sighed, exasperated. "It's just that, we're moving to the suburbs, ya know? White picket fences, the whole nine yards. I mean, the people there will be drinking lemonade on the porch, watching their two-point-five kids run around on the front lawn."
Luke remembered how his mother had laughed, how comforting the sound in her throat was when she threw her head back and touched his arm.
"It's true," Luke had said with a smile. "And I'm thrilled that Noah got his dream job, I really am. I'm just worried that that type of environment—you know, traditional, conservative, bake sales and happily married couples . . . I'm just worried they won't accept us."
Luke paused, letting his fingers hover over the keyboard and smiled at the memory of his mother stroking his hair and tenderly kissing his forehead.
"I know you're afraid," she had said, in a voice only a mother could have, "and I know what you're up against. But things are different now. People are much more accepting, and California is a pretty progressive state." She kissed his forehead again and Luke had never felt more comforted in his life. "You're going to be great, sweetie. You'll see."
Luke sat back and scanned his eyes over the words he had written on his Word document. He smiled to himself and shook his head, wondering if maybe he was overreacting by still being so jittery in their new house. He remembered the stares they had gotten from the neighbors when they first moved in just a few weeks before, but that could have been for any number of reasons. Suburbanites were a curious folk, anyway, he had heard—naturally snoopy especially when new neighbors arrived. And yet . . .
And yet, it was almost three weeks since they moved in and no one had come by to properly welcome them to the neighborhood, or even to bid them a simple hello. Luke could feel their stares as he would kiss Noah goodbye before his boyfriend headed off to work, could practically see their neighbors in their own posh houses eyeing them from their windows and whispering questions they dare not ask in public.
"Is it a bestseller?"
Luke jumped at the sudden voice and turned his swivel chair to see Noah standing in the doorway to the study. He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Uh, we'll see."
Noah stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, and sat on the edge of Luke's desk. "Guess we'll never get used to these California storms," he said.
"Yeah," Luke said. He paused and closed his laptop. "You should get back to bed, you have an early start."
Noah placed his hand on Luke's and met his gaze. "Everything alright?"
Luke sat back in his chair and pursed his lips, peering into Noah's gaze to match the intensity. "Are you happy?" he asked.
Noah smiled. "Yeah, of course I am. Aren't you?"
"Yeah, yeah, I totally am. I couldn't be happier. I just . . ." Luke paused. "I'm worried that we'll never adjust, you know? I'm worried the other people here will—"
"Will come after us with torches and pitchforks because we're gay?"
Luke laughed and shook his head. "You know what I mean."
Noah got off the desk and kneeled before Luke, holding his hand. "I know it's different. But we have a new life now, a fresh start. It'll just take some time to adjust, right?"
Luke nodded. "Right."
"And . . . in the meantime, I guess we'll just have to make the best impression possible and see how it goes." He stopped, searching Luke's eyes for any sign of reassurance and kissed his hand. "And if things go to hell, we still have each other."
Luke smiled, a genuine teeth-barer that lit up his boyfriend's eyes. "We still have each other."
Noah kissed his hand again and stood, walking towards the door to the hallway. "Hungry? I'll make some eggs."
Luke watched him as he moved away. "You should go back to bed—"
"Hey, it's early enough. Besides, I'm more hungry than tired right now, and all that writing must have given you an empty stomach."
Luke stood and followed Noah into the kitchen. "It doesn't bother you that I stay at home all day, writing a book that will probably never get published while you go out and bring home the bacon, does it?"
"Just as long as you're not loafing around, eating bon-bons and watching daytime soaps," Noah said, pulling a carton of eggs from the fridge. "And you will be published," he added, placing the eggs on the island counter.
Luke shrugged. "Then I guess I better stop eating bon-bons if I wanna look good on the jacket cover of my bestseller." He winked at his boyfriend and Noah threw a dishtowel at him.
A sudden rip of lightning flashed through the sky, followed by a crack of thunder loud enough to rattle the windows. The lights in the kitchen flickered out, leaving the two men enveloped in darkness and purple flashes from the angry lightning outside.
"I guess eggs are out of the question," Noah said.
"Well," Luke said, clearing his throat and reaching in the cupboard. "I guess this will have to do." He pulled out a box of Lucky Charms and held it next to his face, smiling as widely as the cartoon on the cover.
By the time the two sat down at the breakfast nook, spoons submerged in their bowls and heads bent over their meal, the storm was beginning to die down but the lights remained off.
"Is it me," Luke said, chomping on a spoonful of cereal, "but are these marshmallows brighter in the dark?"
Noah peered over at Luke's bowl and shook his head, taking a bite of his own spoonful. "It's just you."
To be continued.