AN: Disclaimers, notes, explanations, and recriminations are found in Chapter 1

When: A brief flashback to 2009; then we pick up exactly where the last chapter left off. Which would be, when Noah comes home to his apartment in L.A. to find a naked Luke on his sofa. So, yeah.

Thank you GypsyGrl77 for your awesome encouragement!

November 2009

Trying to finish up his student film project, Noah had managed to get enough accomplished by Saturday evening to put him ahead of his goal for the day. He'd been tempted to press on, wanting to make further progress still. But his thoughts had predictably gone to Luke.

Noah's boyfriend had experienced a tough few months, not the least of which involved his dad supposedly dying, only to walk in on his mom's remarriage to his birth father. Add to that most of Noah's time being sucked up by his student film project, spent under the guidance of the amorous Mason, who had finally admitted his very personal interest in Noah. While Noah would never return Mason's feelings, he knew it wasn't easy for Luke to see Noah spend every day with the guy, even for school purposes.

So he made the decision to surprise Luke. Noah called his boyfriend, who was at Lily's house, trying to help the family cope with its never-ending drama. Noah pretended he'd forgotten script notes at home that he needed for the shoot, and asked Luke if he would go by his place to pick them up. Luke readily agreed, glad for the excuse to visit Noah on set.

But when Luke arrived at Noah's, it wasn't script notes he found. It was Noah. Sitting in his living room. In his boxers, and nothing else. Luke briefly wondered if he'd fallen ill, but it didn't make sense that an ailing Noah would've gotten home and… undressed in such a short time.

When Luke stopped gaping at Noah's bare chest long enough to look him in the eye, he understood. Noah was an adorable shade of red, but also sported a determined look. He slowly rose to a standing position, and even more slowly, stalked over to Luke. The anticipation of Noah's arrival made Luke's heart nearly beat out of his chest.

What followed when the two bodies finally met was breathtaking, soul-connecting, and almost painfully beautiful. It was a visceral reaffirmation of their love despite the difficult times they faced. And part of the reason why Noah would be so utterly crushed when he found out about Luke going behind his back to Damien with the incriminating DVD.

Later, he'd realize that Luke was trying to protect him, and future students like him, too. But at the time it only felt like regardless of everything they'd been through together, Luke didn't trust Noah. He'd never given Luke reason to think he would cheat on him. They were supposed to be a team, and Luke's behavior felt like a betrayal of their partnership. The devastation Noah felt manifested itself into anger, as usual, and led to the argument and accident that had broken them.

September 2011, continued immediately from previous chapter

Drinking in the sight of Luke sprawled across his couch, Noah at least assumed he was nude. Luke was fastidiously holding a pillow in his lap, but why would he need to do that unless…

"Close the door, Noah."

Door? What the hell is a door? It slowly dawned on Noah that Luke was instructing him to shut the front door, which Noah had failed to do upon taking in the vision that greeted his arrival. He reached behind himself to push at the door, never taking his eyes off Luke's form languidly draped across his sofa.

Being a military brat, somehow the term "shock and awe" popped into Noah's brain. An apt description for the effect Luke's display was having on Noah's equilibrium. Which was pretty much shot.

The instant tightening of his pants indicated the effect Luke was having on something else, too. Which only intensified when the door closed, and Luke blithely tossed the pillow over his shoulder, revealing all. Noah stood rooted to the spot, momentarily too shocked to move, or even breathe.

"Baby, I think keeping your gorgeous mouth open just like that's a great idea, but it'll go to better use if you come over here."

A quip that corny shouldn't have been sexy, but in the breathy tone Luke only used when he was very, very turned on, Noah sure as hell wasn't laughing. He actually heard the clink of his apartment keys hitting the floor before he even realized he'd dropped them. It was like Noah couldn't feel his fingers anymore. In fact, all of his extremities seemed suddenly non-functional, save one. One that was quite insistent upon functioning soon.

Annoyingly, Noah's brain seemed to kickstart itself at that moment. While he would rather have just ignored it, their resumed relationship meant too much to him to risk sabotaging it, in what would doubtlessly be a very enjoyable fashion. Though Noah's tongue felt heavy and foreign in his own mouth, and speech didn't come as easily as it should, he managed to force out, "But, I thought we were taking things slowly?"

Luke feigned careful consideration of the point, before replying coyly, "That's true. Maybe you can help me with something I've been wondering about. When was the last time we made lo-"

"Saturday November seventh two-thousand nine." Noah's tongue had miraculously recovered, and he shot the answer out before Luke even finished the question, adding "at 7:30. And 8:30. And quarter to ten" for good measure.

At Noah's precise "quarter to ten", Luke's seductive persona broke slightly, pushing him into a spontaneous chuckle. "So, it's not like you're counting, or anything."

Noah paused. "I remember because it was special. Even before we knew it would be the last…," Noah trailed off, a note of sadness tingeing his voice.

"I remember, too," Luke whispered softly.

It finally dawned on Noah. Luke was recreating their last day of intimacy, except that…

"I was wearing boxers, if you recall."

"Oh, I recall perfectly. In vivid detail. But you know me. I'm competitive."

Noah smirked at that. It was true. If Noah had been waiting stark naked on that day so long ago, God knows what Luke would have pulled to outdo him now. Perhaps he'd be wearing strategically-placed tassels. Or nipple rings. Or tassels on nipple rings. Noah's mind raced at the possibilities. What were they talking about again?

"Luke, about taking it slow-"

"Noah, what month is it?" Luke interrupted.

"September. Well almost October. But, September." Noah's still poorly-functioning brain wasn't following Luke's train of thought.

"And what year is it?"

"2011?" It was posed as a question not because Noah didn't know the year (though frankly, Noah wasn't sure of his own name at the moment), but because he didn't know where this was going.

"And like you just said, the last time we made love was November 7th, 2009. So… are you shooting for a 2-year anniversary here?"

"No!" Noah's response was immediate. "I just… I don't wanna rush you into anything."

Luke gave his sexiest smile, before deliberately uncrossing his outstretched legs and replying unrepentantly, "Baby, exactly how slow do you want it?"