Love Like This

Luke stormed into the apartment with a melodramatic sigh, and an expression so exasperated and familiar that it didn't even startle Noah. Noah got up from the couch, put down the DVD he'd been looking so interestedly at, and wrapped his arms around Luke's waist, coming up from behind him. Luke leaned his head back onto Noah's shoulder, closing his eyes, releasing a sigh that was a mixture of relief and vexation.

"What are you so worked up about?" Noah asked concernedly.

"It's just the foundation… we're dealing with a couple of bigots who run this really big charity, and it would be really good for morale and for the foundation's reputation to have this company as our partner. If it weren't for the fact that the manager is a homophobe, we'd have this completely under control, but the fact remains," Luke said, suddenly opening his eyes and tossing himself onto the couch, rolling his eyes dramatically, "that the manager is prejudiced, and I don't know what to do. Getting this company as our partner is really important- I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Luke looked at Noah pleadingly. Noah suppressed a smile. He knew that if Luke didn't have him to keep him on the ground, he would be up to his ears in his own craziness. He walked over to Luke, sat next to him, and started massaging his shoulders. Luke leaned back a little, resting his head on Noah's shoulder, eyes closed again.

"Luke, you know that there's going to be the occasional bigot; this is just like the Stargo Foundation incident, remember? It's okay, and you have more than fifty foundations on your side already. Oh, and there's that tiny little fact that you own a multi-million dollar foundation, and don't need some bigoted company to support your cause, no matter how big it is. Your mission is all about equality and rights, and siding with a company who doesn't believe in that isn't worth all this stress. Relax."

Luke sighed. "Yeah, but it would be really good for company morale…"

"It would be good for company morale to side with a company that doesn't even believe in your foundation's very mission? It would be good for you to keep meeting with a narrow-minded, bigoted, prejudiced manager who probably won't listen to a word you say anyway because you're gay? Pardon me for disagreeing with you, Luke, but I have a point, and you know it."

"But what if I can change his mind?"

Noah grinned, and gave a little laugh. "This is so like you!"

Luke sat bolt upright, and looked at Noah, concerned. "What is?"

"Putting everything else before yourself! You haven't even really considered anything that you could be going through, trying to change someone's mind about something that you shouldn't even have to change their mind about. Bigots are stubborn and stupid- they're a pain, but there are always going to be people like that. You shouldn't have to listen to people say hurtful things about you or your mission that aren't remotely true, but you put your own possible feelings aside and try to do what's best for the foundation," Noah finished, raising his eyebrows, daring Luke to prove him wrong.

"Yeah, well… I'm the big cheese behind this entire operation. Sometimes I need to put the foundation before my own personal feelings."

Noah laughed. "The big cheese behind the entire operation… you make yourself sound so sinister!"

Luke grinned. "Well, I guess I am a little bit of a… bad boy sometimes."

Noah raised his eyebrows, not missing the connotation. Then he decided to play along. "Well, bad boys need to be punished sometimes, don't they?"

Luke laughed incredulously, widening his eyes adorably and raising his eyebrows. "No way. Noah, are you trying to be sexy?"

Noah's expression turned teasingly playful. "Do I really have to try?"

Luke grinned, and lowered his eyelids. "Good point," he breathed, and leaned closer to Noah to kiss him. Noah responded with a sweet kiss that quickly turned passionate. Within a couple minutes, both boys' shirts and pants were on the floor, and they were making out on the couch, wearing only boxers. He looked down at Luke, who was smiling. "What are you thinking?"

Luke's grin widened. "I'm thinking that the couch is a bit small for what I have in mind." Noah happened to agree with him. He kissed Luke, not pulling away, and picked him up and carried him to the bedroom, still holding the kiss. He laid Luke on the bed, and started kissing down Luke's jaw line, making Luke emit a soft moan. He started nipping at Luke's neck, and then kissing the small mark he made. Luke groaned, unable to make any other sound. Noah moved his hands, which were previously holding up his body as he dedicated his full attention to Luke's neck, down to Luke's stomach, and grazed lightly. Luke giggled. Noah stopped kissing Luke, and looked quizzically at Luke. Experimentally, he ran his fingers down from Luke's collarbone to his abdomen. Luke giggled again, a little harder this time. A wicked glint appeared in Noah's eyes.

"Luke, are you… ticklish?"

Luke blushed, and lowered his eyes. "Am I going to regret saying yes, extremely?"

The wicked glint in Noah's eyes got more prominent and teasing. "Yes, you are," he said, as he pinned Luke by his wrists with his left hand to the top of the mattress. With his other hand, he stroked Luke's ribcage, making a squiggly line as he worked his way down. Luke laughed, and squirmed a little. "Ah… ah, Noah, that really tickles…!"

Noah very deliberately ran his fingers faster and faster down the same ribcage, moving all the way from the top of his ribcage to the edge of his waist. Luke was laughing uncontrollably, unable to say a word. Noah had an idea. Kissing Luke so that he couldn't say anything, he reached underneath the bed, where some handcuffs that Luke was going to give Ethan for Christmas but had forgotten, rested. With one hand, he tore the packaging, and removed the plastic handcuffs from the plastic. He handcuffed Luke's hands to the bedpost, and grinned wickedly. Luke's eyes widened, partly in mock-terror, and partly in anticipation.

Noah now had use of both of his hands. He tickled underneath Luke's arms, in both ribcages, and moved them up and down Luke's body. While doing so, he showered Luke's torso with kisses, blowing ever-so-slightly after every three kisses or so, so that warm breath tickled Luke's stomach. Luke lost it. He was laughing so hard that he could barely keep from crying, and Noah hadn't even gotten to Luke's feet yet. Noah didn't stop. He grazed his fingertips across Luke's abdomen, very slightly, first slowly, then quickly, then slowly. While he did so, he kissed Luke's sides, which were shaking with uncontrollable laughter. Noah then moved his fingers, still tickling, down Luke's thigh, behind his knees, and up and down his calves and shins. His fingers stayed tickling around his ankle, almost at the sole's of Luke's feet, but not quite. This was only one leg. Luke was unable to utter a single word, besides "No…No… Noah!" Noah finally shifted to Luke's heel. All ten of Noah's fingers traced light circles, and stayed tickling at Luke's right heel. They traveled to the middle of Luke's foot, and then to the toes. Noah tickled at the top of Luke's toes, and then started traveling up the foot, and then back down, and then back up again. After about a full minute of this, Noah traced and tickled back up Luke's leg all the way to the top of his thigh, keeping maddeningly close to the most sensitive part of Luke's body, but not touching. Noah moved to Luke's other leg, and repeated what he did with the first leg, tickling down the thigh, back of the knees, up and down the calves, and spending a full minute on the foot. When he'd worked his way back up to the top of Luke's other thigh, he decided he'd better give Luke a break. Grinning, he took his fingers off of Luke's leg.

"So… describe your experience," said Noah.

Luke had finally opened his eyes, previously slammed shut from laughing so uncontrollably hard, and was panting. "I know I'm usually …the one… with the way with words… but for now… I'm kinda speechless…" he said between gasps of air.

"More like breathless," Noah commented.

"Huh." Luke turned to look at him. Then, his face changed into an expression that Noah instantly recognized- crafty. "Hmm… describe my experience…" a smile was slowly creeping up Luke's face. Noah was immediately suspicious. "Describe my experience… how about I show you?"

Noah looked a little taken aback. "Wait… you want to tickle… me?"

Luke was looking at Noah, his expression searching. "Mm-hmm."

Noah had to tell him. "Uh, Luke, I honestly have no idea what that would feel like. I've never been tickled. My father… well, you know what he was like… he wasn't exactly the kind of dad who tickled his son all the time. He was strict, orderly, gruff. And I didn't have many friends, and definitely not permanent ones, and they were all pretty much in the same situation I was in. My mom died when I was too young to remember, so if she ever tickled me, I don't remember. I would be nervous if you tickled me… I trust you immensely, but it would be a completely new experience."

Luke's expression melted into complete care and love. "Noah, if you don't want me to, I won't. Although, I think you'd enjoy the sensation, even if it is almost unbearable sometimes. Besides… it's kind of…erotic… when your sexy, shirtless boyfriend is touching you in a million places at the same time. And-"

"Wait." Noah raised an eyebrow. "I was turning you on?"

Luke searched Noah's face to see how he would react. "Yeah…"

Noah looked down, turning a little red in the face. Luke tried to sit up, but then remembered he was still cuffed. "What's wrong, Noah? And um… could you please de-handcuff me?"

Noah grinned. "It's nothing, it's just… you were seriously turning me on also. And as for de-cuffing you… I'll have to think about that one."

Luke smiled deviously. "Really… so we're both turned on. And about the de-cuffing… do I have to convince you?"

"Yeah, I think you might have to."

Luke's expression turned into mock-thought. "How should I go about doing that?"

"On second thought… I changed my mind." Noah de-cuffed Luke. Luke seized the opportunity, pinned Noah down, and kissed him. He kissed him again. And again. And again….

Now it was Luke's turn to experiment. He stroked down Noah's well-defined stomach, analyzing Noah's reaction. Noah laughed a little. Luke relaxed, and smiled at him. "So you are ticklish."

Noah looked at Luke. "I guess so." He cracked a small smile. "You can continue."

Luke pouted a little. "Awww, it's no fun if you're giving me permission..." However, he began running his fingers up and down Noah's torso. Noah laughed again. Luke grinned. He kissed down Noah's stomach, and stopped at his abdomen. He teased his fingers down Noah's sides, the sides of his legs, and let his fingers linger on the end of his ankle. Noah was laughing pretty hard. Luke took that as a good sign, as he was breathing mostly normally, and wasn't even red in the face yet. He decided that Noah was ready. He let him have it. Luke's fingers were experienced from years of tickling Ethan, Natalie, and Faith when they were very little, so he actually knew what he was doing. He spent two full minutes on tickling Noah's feet, first maddeningly, meticulously slow, hitting all nerve endings in the foot, and then very quickly, giving Noah a sort of torturous but wonderful sensation. Luke let out a little moan, because Noah's laugh and the fact that Noah was completely under his control was really erotic. He moved up Noah's legs, and stopped at his pelvis. Noah needed a break. Luke thought it was a little much for him, and was thankful that they had their own apartment and no one else was home, or they'd have been woken up by the uncontrollable laughter. Noah was right, Luke thought. It was a very sensuous experience tickling Noah. Noah opened his eyes.

"Well?"

"I really enjoyed it, actually. But Luke the thing is…" Noah sat up, and started kissing, showering Luke's face with kisses. Luke stopped him after a minute.

"The thing is what?"

"The thing is… now both of us are doubly turned on."

Luke's expression relaxed and changed to comprehension. "Oh." He gave Noah a suggestive smile. "What do you suppose we do about it?"

Noah grinned. "Well, I could continue where I left off…"

Luke smiled back. "We could continue where we left off."

"Mmm, that's right."

"One more thing. Noah?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Noah's eyes showed nothing but love and kindness back. "Same here," he breathed.

Noah kissed Luke, and Luke kissed him back intensely, and they continued where they left off.

Hope you enjoyed it! It's my first Nuke fanfiction, so please review!! Thank you!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of this story except for the plotline. I don't own As The World Turns, or any characters mentioned.