Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:01:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: Callen Hobbs <callenhobbs@yahoo.com>
Subject: Luke and Noah: Ready to Fight

  Author's Note: As the World Turns and all of its characters belong to CBS
and Proctor & Gamble Productions. This story is set in the time period
between Luke & Noah's break up and Cyndi Lauper's visit to Oakdale Pride.

    "Can I get you something to drink?" Reg asked, gesturing to the mini
fridge on top of the dresser. Luke was standing near the closed door,
looking incredibly nervous as his eyes traveled over every detail of the
room, looking everywhere but at Reg himself.

    "No, I'm good. Thanks," Luke even sounded nervous, which Reg thought
somehow made him even hotter. After his relationship with Tony, it was very
appealing to be with someone who seemed shy about sex, who probably hadn't
done everything in the book at least ten times. Reg was starting to think
that Luke had probably only ever been with Noah before now.

    "You can come in and sit down, you know. Unless you're more comfortable
over there?" Reg sat down on his bed as he spoke.

    "Oh. Yeah, of course. Sure," Luke blushed and sat down in the chair at
Reg's desk, directly across from the bed.

    Reg leaned forward and put a hand on Luke's knee. "That was a really
hot kiss back at Al's."

    Luke drew in a sharp, involuntary breath at the touch. "Yeah." His
voice was barely more than a whisper.

    Grabbing a hold of both sides of the chair, Reg rolled it forward
towards him and brought his mouth to Luke's again.

    Reminding himself once again to act on instinct and not over think
everything, Luke kissed Reg back with a ferocity that surprised both of
them. He was so caught up in the kiss that it didn't even fully register
with him that Reg was unbuttoning his shirt until he suddenly felt Reg's
fingers lightly pinching his nipples and moving up and down his bare chest.

    Luke pulled away and gasped in pleasure and Reg took the opportunity to
move his mouth down to Luke's nipples. He started lightly biting and
sucking on them, causing Luke to throw his head back and groan loudly.

    "I love the chest hair. So hot! I hate it when guys wax," Reg took his
mouth off of Luke's nipples long enough to say, thinking of Tony's demands
while they were dating that they both be completely smooth.

    "Thanks," Luke said, blushing again. He couldn't help it. This was all
really exciting and hot, but it was also really awkward. He didn't feel the
sense of trust with Reg that he'd always felt with Noah. He'd never though
his first time would be with someone he wasn't completely at ease with. If
he were with Noah, he could have said or done anything without hesitation,
but with Reg he felt awkward and embarrassed by this sudden intimacy.

    Stop it! he mentally chided himself. You're thinking too much
again. What Reg was doing to him felt incredible, and he couldn't be with
Noah, so why should he stay a virgin for the rest of his life?

    Reg sat back on the bed and took his own shirt off, revealing a nice
chest with a small amount of dark hair between his pecs and a trail of it
leading from his belly button down into his pants. He didn't have the
seemingly endless torso with incredible abs that Noah did, but he had a
very nice body.

    "Why don't you join me over here?" Reg asked.

    Luke swallowed hard and stood up, realizing as he did so that his
arousal was very obvious. Reg didn't fail to notice, either, his eyes
immediately drawn to the bulge tenting Luke's jeans. Reaching out, Reg
placed a hand on Luke's cock and gave it a quick squeeze.

    "Someone's a big boy," Reg grinned. He reached up and started to
unbutton Luke's pants.

    Luke quickly moved backwards, sending Reg's desk chair flying back into
the wall.

    Reg jumped at the noise of the impact and looked confused. "What?"

    "I'm sorry. I can't!" Luke began hastily buttoning up his shirt.

    "Why? What's the matter?" Reg tried and failed to keep the frustration
out of his voice.

    "I'm sorry, Reg, this just isn't right. I'm still in love with Noah,
and this is just all wrong."

    "Shit!" Reg fell backwards onto his bed and put his hands over his
face.

    "I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't mean to be such a..."

    "Cocktease?" Reg suggested from behind his hands.

    "Yeah. That. I thought I could make myself move on, but I can't. I love
him." Luke felt tears stinging at his eyes but fought them back.

    Reg sat back up and gave Luke a sour looking smile. "Okay. My fault. I
had the sense that you weren't ready for anything to happen yet. You're
just so hot and fun to be with. I probably pushed too hard."

    "No! Reg, look, you have no idea how great it is to have a guy actually
wanting to have sex with me. And believe me, I'd love to not be in love
with someone else right now, because you're hot and fun to be with,
too. The timing is just not right." Luke's earnest look and tone was
somehow so sexy that Reg wanted to just throw him down on the bed right
there and make him forget all about Noah Mayer, but he knew now that it
wasn't going to happen.

    "Okay. Let me drive you back to your car," Reg sighed, standing up and
reaching for his shirt.

    "No. I can't ask you to do that after.. after all this. I'll call a
cab." The last thing Luke wanted was an awkward car ride back to Al's.

    "Are you sure?"

    "Totally sure. I'll be fine."

    "Okay. Well, listen, call me if you're ever over Noah for real, okay?
Maybe we can finish what we started."

    "Sure. I'll see you later, Reg. Sorry again." Luke closed the door
behind him and moved quickly down the hall, wanting to put as much space
between himself and this whole experience as possible.

                                                                                        ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    After being carded and denied service at Yo's before he'd even managed
to have one drink, Noah had started driving around, looking for a liquor
store or another bar. Almost immediately, though, he stopped thinking about
where he was going and just started driving around, his mind on Luke and
Reg.

    What were they doing right now? Were they already in bed together? The
thought made Noah feel sick with jealousy. Were Reg's hands all over Luke,
was Luke sucking Reg's dick? Were they fucking? Noah couldn't stand the
thought.

    How could Luke do this to him? How could he move on so quickly? If he'd
loved Noah half as much as Noah loved him, there was no way that he'd be
with someone else right now.

    "It's my fault," Noah said the words out loud. "I pushed him away. He
just wanted to be there for me and I wouldn't let him."

    Noah remember Luke's words the day he'd shown up to help Noah move out
of the cottage, the day they'd broken up.

    "Do you even want me at all? Because you don't want me here. And you
didn't want me in New York. And it feels like every time I try to stand
with you, I have to fight to get there. So when are you going to fight for
me, Noah? "

    "I want you Luke," Noah muttered now in the silence of his truck. Noah
saw a road sign pointing the way to Oakdale University and took a quick
right. "I'm going to fight for you now." Noah had no idea where exactly
Reg's room was, but he'd knock on every door on campus if that's what it
took to find Luke.

                                                                                    ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    Luke stood outside of Reg's dorm, waiting for his Grandmother Lucinda's
limo. He didn't know the number to any local cab companies and he certainly
wasn't going to go back to Reg's room and ask him if he had a phone
book. Calling his Grandmother and asking her to send her driver had seemed
to be the easiest solution.

    Luke sat down on steps in front of the building and put his head in his
hands. He couldn't believe the mess he'd made of things tonight. It had
just felt so good to have someone want him that he'd forced himself to
ignore what he knew was wrong. Sex without love wasn't something that Luke
was interested in. If his first time wasn't going to be with Noah, than it
would be with someone else that he was in love with, as hard as it was to
imagine loving anyone but Noah at the moment. He wasn't going to have sex
with someone who was a virtual stranger, no matter how turned on or lonely
he felt. As much as he might have wished otherwise tonight, that just
wasn't the person he was.

    Headlights flashed across the front of the building as someone pulled
into the parking lot. Luke looked up, hoping it was his Grandmother's
car. He looked back down when he saw that it was just a truck, one that
looked like Noah's. Luke knew that it wasn't, of course, since Noah was
living in a dorm on the other side of campus. His mind went back to the
first time he'd seen Noah getting out of his truck at WOAK last summer. At
the time, Luke had been fighting his own feelings for the seemingly
straight Noah, and somehow the sight of him in that truck had made it that
much harder. It had just seemed so macho, somehow. Luke had found himself
fantasizing about Noah making love to him in the back of his truck, under
the stars, many times since that day.

    Hearing footsteps, Luke glanced up and felt his mouth drop open in
surprise. "Noah?"

    "Luke!" Noah stopped, equally surprised, and stared down at Luke. Noah
felt instantly relieved to see Luke sitting here after he'd spent the past
hour imaginging him in bed with Reg, but he also felt his anger and hurt
start to flood back.

    "What are you doing here?" Luke asked.

    "Well, I'm not here sleeping with Reg, that's for sure!" Noah blurted
out.

    Luke gasped. "What? How-"

    "I saw you, Luke! I saw you and Reg kissing in the parking lot at Al's
and then leaving together. It was obvious. So, did you fuck? How was it,
everything you dreamed?" Noah couldn't seem to halt the flow of bitter
words, even though he wanted to. He wanted to grab Luke, tell him how sorry
he was, and beg for another chance, but instead he was being a total dick
and he couldn't help it.

    "Noah! I did not have sex with Reg! But even if I had, what business
would it be of yours? You've made it clear that you don't want me, that
we're over," Luke stood up and snapped back, his face flushing with his
anger.

    "Damn it, Luke, I just wanted to take a break! You're the one who
couldn't let me without turning it into a break up! I LOVE you, okay?"

    "I love you, too, Noah, but what good does that do me when you keep
pushing me away?!" Luke yelled.

    "I needed time, Luke! I had to work past what happened to my Dad."

    "I know that, Noah. I just wanted to be there to help you work through
it." Luke wanted to reach out and touch Noah, but he held himself
back. They'd been down this road too many times already. "But if it's not
your Dad, it's Ameera, or something else. I don't feel like you really even
want to be with me."

    "I'm sorry, Luke. I do want you. I want you so much. I... seeing you
with Reg tonight, I realized that losing you would be the worst thing by
far that could ever happen to me. You asked me when I was going to fight
for you, do you remember?"

    Luke nodded, his heart pounding in his chest.

    "Well, the answer is now, tonight. Do you know why I came here? I was
going to knock on every door in this building until I found you."

    "You were?"

    "Yes. I want to be with you, Luke. I've been so stupid."

    "I want to be with you, too, Noah. That's why I couldn't sleep with
Reg. I still love you."

    "I love you, too." Noah pulled Luke into a kiss. "Can you ever forgive
me?"

     "Yeah. Noah, of course I can. But... we really need to talk about
where this relationship is going. I'm ready for more, Noah, and if you're
not-"

    "I am, Luke. I'm so ready. And you know what? My roommate is gone for
the weekend."

    Before Luke could respond, headlights flashed across the two men and a
car horn sounded nearby.

    "It's my Grandmother's car," Luke said, sounding breathless. Noah still
had Luke pulled up against him and their erections were pressed tightly
together, just a few thin layers of clothing seperating them.

    "So, are you going to get in? Or do you want to come back to my room?"

    "Do you even have to ask?" Luke grinned.


To Be Continued. Next chapter will have The Sex. :)

 Feedback appreciated! callenhobbs@yahoo.com