Of Kittens, Pirates, and Pianos

Written for the Luke/Lorelai ficathon.

Written for Elinor / elliebloom:

Celebration you want to see: Movie Madness Fest at the Black, White, & Red
Two secondary items you want to see: lots of movie references, heavy on the banter
One other character you'd like to see, if any: Gypsy

This story takes place somewhere nearing the end of season 5 (early May-ish). So Luke and Lorelai are together, and it's after their reconciliation, but before the crap with Rory, and the proposal.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

--------

Lorelai Gilmore strode down a Stars Hollow sidewalk enjoying the morning Spring sunlight on her face, wearing a giddy smile in anticipation of breakfast and of seeing Luke.

She approached the Black, White, & Read Bookstore, heels clicking against the pavement as she noticed the sign out front:

Movie Madness Fest

Saturday, May 8th, 5 PM

Come enjoy three different movies from three different decades.

Unlimited free popcorn!

Lorelai flipped her phone open with a flourish and hit speed dial #1.

"Luke's," came the greeting on the other end.

"Luuuucaaaasss!" Lorelai greeted him in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh, hey."

"That's all I get? An 'Oh hey.'? No 'No calling me Lucas.'?"

"I'm kind of busy right now, you know, breakfast rush. But I can yell at you later if you want."

"Ah well, I suppose that's fair enough. Hey! I wanted to ask you something!" she said, quickly switching gears. She waved to Patty as she passed the dance studio and the diner came into view.

"Okay, be quick. I'm kind of in a hurry here."

Lorelai sighed loudly. "Fine. There's a movie night at the Black, White & Read this Saturday."

"And?"

"We should go."

"No."

"Come on, Luke! Why not?"

"The whole town is going to be there, and I'll have to deal with everyone that I already have to deal with on a daily basis, including Taylor and Kirk. I don't need an even bigger dose of crazy."

"Come on, it'll be fun! Just ignore them!"

"No."

"Please? For me?" he could practically hear her pouting through the phone. He could never resist that pout, even when it was only audible.

Luke sighed deeply. "I'll think about it."

Lorelai squealed with delight into the phone. She knew she could wear him down from this point and get him to go with her.

"Hey, are you coming in for breakfast this morning?" he asked.

"Of course I am," she said, just as she was opening the door to the diner, jingling the bells overhead.

"Oh, hey," Luke greeted her in person this time, and moved to hang up the phone.

"No, don't hang up yet!"

Luke furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why not?"

Lorelai shrugged and smiled. "Because it's fun."

Luke rolled his eyes and hung up the phone.

"Spoilsport," Lorelai said as she leaned into him for a pouty kiss.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why couldn't you get Rory to come with you to this thing?" Luke whined in his manly sort of way as he and Lorelai headed to the bookstore on Saturday evening.

"I told you- she already had plans with Logan," she said, rolling her eyes, clearly annoyed and bothered by the fact that her daughter was still seeing this guy.

"Ah," he answered, knowing the situation, and not really knowing what else to say.

They entered the bookstore, and saw almost the whole town milling around inside.

"What's Andrew doing here? He's usually so loyal to his own bookstore, I didn't think he'd support the other one in town," Luke whispered to Lorelai.

"Oh, I bet Gypsy got him to come."

"Gypsy? What does she have to do with it?" Luke asked.

"They've been secretly seeing each other for oh, about a year now. Come on Luke, get with it!" she said, playfully.

"Really? Wow. I would have never suspected that one."

"I know, and if you ask her, she'll deny it until her face turns blue. Watch this."

Lorelai walked up to Gypsy. "Hey there, Gypsy."

"Oh hey, Lorelai." She greeted her with a smile.

Lorelai lowered her voice, "Hey, so I see you got Andrew to come."

"What? Me? You think I got him to come to this thing?" Her face was turning slightly red as her eyes shifted back and forth nervously, hoping that no one else knew about hers and Andrew's secret love affair.

"Oh come on, admit it! Everyone else knows about…" she paused for effect, and then lowered her voice even lower to a whisper, "the two of you." A mischievous smile donned Lorelai's face.

Luke looked on in amusement at the horrified Gypsy.

"The two of who? There's nothing going on between me and Andrew!" she spoke a bit too loudly, and the whole room became silent. Miss Patty snickered to herself, and after a few short moments, everyone knowingly supplied a sarcastic, "uh-huh." And went back to their own conversations.

"You mean they all know?" Gypsy asked Lorelai in disbelief.

"Oh yeah, we've all known forever… except Luke over there because he's clueless." Lorelai motioned to Luke.

Gypsy looked as if she were going to be sick.

"I'm sorry," Lorelai said, placing a hand on Gypsy's shoulder. She hadn't meant to upset her. Just joke around with her a little.

"Oh, I'm fine," Gypsy replied quickly, eyes darting around the room. "I'm just gonna… go over there."

Lorelai returned to Luke, she stood in front of him. "I didn't mean for that to happen!" she let her forehead fall against Luke's shoulder.

"She'll be fine. Everyone knew about it anyway… so at least they don't have to hide it anymore."

"No Luke, what if they wanted to keep it a secret forever to keep it exciting, even though it wasn't really a secret because everyone knew, but they thought it was a secret, and now that they know everyone else knows, the excitement is gone and they break up, and…"

Luke made her stop talking the best way he knew how-- he kissed her softly until he felt her relax and melt into him. "Gypsy and Andrew can deal with their own problems. Let's go sit down, it looks like the first movie is about to start."

"Oooh! Big Red!" Lorelai squealed, "We have to get it before anyone else sits there!"

Luke was always amazed at the things that excited her and changed her mood for the better. Lorelai clutched Luke's hand and towed him behind her as they found the fluffy, red couch empty. She promptly sat down on it, pulling Luke down with her, the both of them squishing around on the cushions in order to get comfortable for the first movie. Luke sat angled in the corner of the couch with Lorelai settled with her back against him, her head on his shoulder, his arm around her, hand resting on her thigh. Their huge tub of free popcorn sat on Luke's lap.

The rest of the attendees began to take their seats as Kirk stood in front of the audience to introduce the first movie.

"Kirk still works here?" Lorelai asked. "This is the longest I think he's ever had any job."

"I think he quit once before to pursue other career opportunities in the movie industry, but when that didn't work out, he asked for his job back here," Luke replied.

"Wow, you sure know a lot about Kirk."

"Yeah, well… he's in my diner every day, and talks incessantly to no one and everyone. I know way more about the guy than I should."

Lorelai laughed and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming tonight," Kirk began. "Tonight we will feature three movies, one from the sixties, one from the eighties, and one from the nineties…"

"What? They couldn't find anything good from the seventies? Has anyone heard of Saturday Night Fever?" Lorelai whispered.

Luke shushed her.

"Our first movie will be the classic Breakfast at Tiffany's." Kirk continued. "Enjoy the show."

"Oh Luke, I've been wanting you to see this movie!"

The movie projector started up.

"Is it sappy? I heard it's sappy," he asked, unenthused.

"Luke, who cares if it's sappy? Just watch the movie. It's one of my favorites, and I want you to see it."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it," he said, patting her leg.

-----

An hour and a half later, the movie was almost over, and the popcorn was half gone. Luke heard a sniffle and craned his neck to see Lorelai's tear-stained face.

He knew she was crying about the movie. Hell, it almost made him cry, even though he'd never admit it. Ever. He ran his hand up and down her arm to comfort her.

She sniffled again. "I can't believe she just lets her poor cat out of a taxi into the middle of the city in the pouring rain! It's so sad! She just lets it go. Like, 'Bye bye kitty, I don't love you anymore.' That would be like me driving around in a car with you and Rory, and you and I suddenly get into some stupid argument, and because I get so frustrated, I open the door and shove Rory out of the car in the middle of nowhere. Really nice, huh?"

"Rory's not a cat," he whispered.

Lorelai ignored this and kept going on about the movie, "Oh, and there she goes, running around the city trying to find her cat. Like suddenly she loves it again. This woman is crazy. She needs to be medicated."

"Like that wasn't evident before this point in the movie," Luke said dryly.

"I know, but this part always makes me crazy." She snuggled up closer to Luke.

As the credits rolled, Lorelai sat up and stretched before turning to Luke. "What did you think?"

"I actually liked it," he said quietly, leaning closer to her and speaking out of the side of his mouth so that no one else would ever hear his admission that he liked "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

Lorelai smiled. "I'm glad."

"There will be a 15 minute intermission before the start of the next movie, the eighties cult classic The Goonies," Kirk announced.

"Oh my god, Luke you have to see this movie. It's so great!"

People stated mulling around, using the restrooms, getting more free popcorn.

"What's it about?" he asked.

"Let's see… where to start… it's got pirate treasure; and a bunch of noisy kids; and a pirate named 'One-Eyed Willy'-- dirty; and the bad guys are two dorky brothers and their butch mom; and there's a giant, deformed guy who's scary at first, but of course becomes the hero; and there's a fourteen-year-old Sean Astin before his Hobbitt days; and a fat kid—you can't forget the fat kid; and dead guys in ice cream freezers; and—"

"Okay, I think I get the picture!" Luke cut her off, laughing.

After getting up to stretch their legs for a few minutes, they were settled in comfortably on "Big Red" again, and the movie was starting.

For Luke, the best part of watching these movies was listening to Lorelai's running commentary throughout.

"Oh my god, this movie is so eighties, I love it." Lorelai said a few minutes into the movie.

"Is that guy seriously wearing shorts over his sweatpants?" Luke asked, squinting at the screen.

"Oh yes he is, my friend, and it was not the high point of fashion, let me tell you."

-------

"Okay, these kids couldn't glue a penis back onto a statue the right way? I mean, hello, they have their own, you'd think they knew that it looks wrong when they glue it in upside down."

"Ah, jeez…"

-------

Luke even felt compelled to add his own comments on the movie at one point, shocking the heck out of Lorelai.

"A-sharp is the same as B-flat…" Luke muttered.

Lorelai looked up at him in surprise.

"I used to play guitar," he answered. "Jeez, you'd think this girl would know that if she supposedly takes piano lessons. And how did pirates make a skeleton piano in an underground cave anyway? It sounds like a freakin' foghorn."

Lorelai smiled, loving the fact that there was now a Goonies Luke Rant, and that he admitted to knowing how to play guitar. She made a mental note to give him crap about that later.

Soon, the movie ended, and as Kirk was announcing the next intermission, Luke stretched. "Oh man, I have to walk around and stretch my legs a little," he said, standing up.

"Okay, go take a walk, I'm going to go chat with Babette." She approached Babette and Morey and smiled.

"Hey, sugar, I see you dragged Luke here tonight," Babette greeted her.

Lorelai laughed a little, "Oh, I didn't drag him here. I merely asked him to come, and he eventually agreed."

"Are you kiddin'? You're the only one who could have gotten him to go to any sort of town function."

"Okay, I'll give you that, but it's not like he's here against his will or anything."

"Sure, doll. If you say so. Me and Morey were about to get ourselves some popcorn. See ya later."

"Bye guys, enjoy the last movie."

At that moment, Lorelai felt a hand slip around from her waist to her lower back, and looked up into Luke's face. "Hey," he said, "The movie is about to start."

That was all the confirmation she needed that if he really didn't want to be here, he wouldn't be letting her know when the next movie was going to start. He would have tried to escape as he took a walk to stretch his legs.

"We still have a few minutes. That was a short walk," she said, turning her face towards his.

"Yeah, well Taylor was heading right towards me, so I decided to make my retreat. Let's go sit." He guided Lorelai back towards the couch with his hand at the small of her back.

They returned to the couch up front just as Kirk stood up to announce the next movie. Once all attendees were in their seats, Kirk began. "This movie from 1990 won Julia Roberts a Best Actress Oscar. Enjoy Pretty Woman.

"Isn't this movie about a prostitute?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, it is, but it's really sweet. Just watch."

Almost immediately, Lorelai restarted her running commentary through the movie. At one point, she turned to Luke and said, "Oh, this is my favorite part coming up," and then whispered into his ear, "We need to do it on a piano sometime."

"What?" Luke asked, blushing, wondering if he had heard her correctly.

Lorelai laughed, "Just watch this scene." After the famous 'Love on a Piano' scene, she turned to look at Luke with a playful grin on her face. "See? Wasn't that hot? I need to invest in a grand piano."

Luke blushed profusely and rolled his eyes. Lorelai smiled, and settled herself more comfortably against him.

----------

At the conclusion of the movie, Lorelai turned her face up to look at Luke, and saw that he was sleeping. She gently nudged him awake. "Hey, movie's over. Time to go."

"What?"

"The movie is over, wake up, sleepyhead."

"Oh, I fell asleep," he said sitting up and looking around sleepily, taking off his hat for a moment and rubbing his hand over his face before placing his cap back on his head.

Lorelai smiled. "Yes you did, Captain Obvious."

"I missed most of the last movie." He said, trying to shake the sleepiness from himself.

"That's okay; we can watch it at my house sometime. I have it."

"Sounds like a plan." He yawned.

------

After saying goodnight to the rest of Stars Hollow that was in attendance, and after Lorelai apologized to Gypsy again for outing her and Andrew to the rest of the town (even though everyone already knew), Luke and Lorelai headed home.

"Your place or mine?" Lorelai asked, nudging Luke's arm.

"Hmm?"

"Are we staying at your place or mine tonight?"

"Well, we're closer to my place right now." Captain Obvious was back.

"Okay, yours it is."

"But we can stay at yours if you'd rather that."

"Yours is where the pie is." She smiled. "And you've probably gotta get up early to open the diner in the morning..."

"That I do," he said, nodding his head once.

"So your place it is," she said again, definitively.

"Hey, I actually had fun tonight," he said after a short pause.

Lorelai's smile grew wide. "Yeah? I'm glad. I knew I could turn you into a movie guy."

"I'm not a movie guy. I just happened to enjoy myself tonight, and didn't hate the movies they chose."

"You didn't hate them because you looooved them!" she paused, holding onto his hand with both of hers, and stretching her body up on her tip-toes towards him so that her eyes were level with his as she spoke.

"Keep it up, and you don't get any pie," he said, squeezing her fingers lightly.

Lorelai glowered. "Mean!" She lowered her heels back onto the ground in a huff.

He leaned over, kissed her pouting lips, and drew her closer to his side as they continued on their way.

"Oh, and by the way, you owe me a song on your guitar," she said, turning her face up at him and smiling.

Luke sighed heavily. "I knew I never should have mentioned that."