Fic: The Cellmate, Chapter 4 Original poster: indigo_5
Title: The Cellmate Author: indigo_5 Chapter: 4 Rating: NC-17 Disclaimers: I own neither Luke, Noah, nor anything else related to ATWT. The show would look a lot different if I did. Spoilers: None. This is total AU. Previous chapters:Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3. Summary: Luke learns something surprising about Noah. Notes: The angst in this story was starting to weigh me down a little, so this chapter is a little more light-hearted than the others have been. And a little smuttier. Hope you enjoy. More notes: Feedback feedback feedback! Love love love!
Noah’s lips were moving, but no sound was coming out. Luke gazed up at him, his mouth still full, wishing for the thousandth time that they didn’t have to be so quiet. He would give anything to know what Noah would say in the heat of passion if he could really let himself go.
Closing his eyes, Luke returned his attention to the task at hand, sucking a little harder, squeezing the base a little tighter, pushing his fingers a little deeper. Noah was making little sounds now, little “ah” sounds, short exhalations from deep in his throat, and Luke shifted his hips, wishing he had a third hand so he could give himself some relief. He loved, loved, loved doing this for Noah, and he was so hard it was almost painful.
“More,” Noah whispered, pushing his ass strongly against Luke’s hand, and Luke looked up again, confused. He already had three fingers buried inside, pushing in and out rhythmically as he sucked. Did Noah want a fourth? But Noah lifted his head off the pillow, grabbing both sides of Luke’s face, trembling. “Fuck me,” he croaked, his voice hoarse, his eyes desperate.
Oh my God. Luke pulled back, easing out his fingers, letting Noah’s cock slide wetly out of his mouth. He crawled hastily up Noah’s body, covering his mouth in a deep, wet kiss, but Noah broke it quickly. He was already grabbing a condom, slapping it into Luke’s hand, whimpering against Luke’s skin as Luke tore it open and slid it on. Luke covered it quickly in saliva and then lifted Noah’s legs onto his shoulders, positioning himself at his hole. He was going to ask if Noah was sure, but God, so hard so hard so hard need this need this need this so bad and he was pressing inside.
“Oh, God,” Luke groaned as the tightness enveloped the head of his cock. “So good, baby, wanted this for so long…”
But Noah was tensing, pushing against him, and everything suddenly changed. “Wait,” Noah panted. “Stop. Stop stop stop stop stop, oh God Luke, I can’t, I can’t…”
Luke pulled out, rolling onto his back, so hard he thought he actually might die from it. He closed his eyes, wanting to comfort Noah, trying to remember how to breathe first.
“Sorry,” Noah was saying, kissing his chest. “Sorry, God, so sorry, Luke.” Luke opened his mouth to protest, to say there was no need to apologize, but suddenly Noah was leaning over him, tearing off the condom and plunging his mouth over Luke’s cock, sucking hard, and all Luke could do was cling to his hair and try not to scream. He came in seconds, shooting into Noah’s mouth while Noah jacked himself frantically, following Luke over the edge a few moments later.
Eventually, they recovered enough to rearrange their bodies, and Luke wrapped his arms around Noah, holding him tight. “I’m sorry,” Noah whispered again, and Luke furrowed his brow.
“Stop that,” he said, kissing Noah’s hair. “You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. Especially after giving me a mind-blowing orgasm like that one.”
“Yeah, but I couldn’t --”
“Shh.” Luke hugged him closer, stroking his back gently. “You never have to apologize for that. We never have to do that. We never have to do anything that you don’t want to do. I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t want to do.”
Noah was quiet, and Luke knew why. He did want it. He just couldn’t handle it yet. It was too scary.
“I’m in no rush,” Luke said, kissing Noah’s hair again. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere.” He felt Noah’s smile against his skin and cuddled closer. I love you, he thought, as he always did now when they were dropping off to sleep. He hadn’t said it out loud yet.
They both had things they were scared of.
***
As Luke walked towards the laundry room the next morning, he found he was actually looking forward to his day. He hated that the warden kept changing everybody’s workshifts -- some politician’s idea of a brilliant way to minimize gang activity, by not allowing the same groups of people to work together for too long -- but even though it did separate him from Noah, it also meant working with Alonso again, and that was enough to make him smile. Alonso was a skinny queen from Atlanta, loudmouthed and hilarious, and one of the first friends Luke had made when he arrived in this place. They hadn’t seen each other much since Luke had started working in the kitchen, and he was happy to get the chance to hang out with him on a regular basis again.
Luke arrived in the laundry room just at the shift change, and found the room was empty. He was heading for his usual station when he heard it. A wolf whistle, low and grotesque, coming from the hallway. Turning around, he saw one of the guys from the Aryan Brotherhood leaning against the doorframe. He was a new guy, and Luke didn’t know his name -- Wiggans, maybe? Wegman? -- but he was hard to miss: big, burly, hairy, and gross, with a thick black swastika tattooed proudly on his forearm. Wegman stayed where he was, looking Luke slowly up and down, leering at him. Luke suddenly got nervous. This guy was much bigger than he was, and he didn’t think he could fight him off. But just as Wegman made a move to start walking into the laundry room, one of his brothers appeared beside him, nodding towards Luke, whispering in Wegman’s ear. Wegman snorted in annoyance, giving Luke one last long look, but then turned and walked away with his friend.
Luke let go of the table he’d been clutching, exhaling in relief. What the hell just happened?
When Alonso arrived, Luke told him the story, expecting that he’d be just as confused by it as Luke was. But Alonso just laughed, looking at Luke like he’d lost his mind. “Well, of course, honey,” he said. “Ain’t nobody gonna mess with you. You know that.”
“What?” Luke was more confused than ever. “Why not? I’m not in any of the gangs. I’m not under anybody’s protection.”
Alonso stared at him, letting the clothing in his hands fall back to the folding table. “You kidding? Do you really not know?” Luke just stared back, and finally Alonso continued. “It’s your man, babycakes. Nobody wants to mess with Mayer.”
“My --” Luke began, but stopped himself, looking around. “How did you know?” he said in a hushed voice.
This time, Alonso laughed big and hard. “Child, please!” he said when he could manage it. “Everybody within earshot of your cell knows what you two get up to every night. Did you think it was some big secret? Y’all ain’t exactly in a soundproof room up there.” He wiped tears from his eyes, still chuckling. “‘How did you know.’ Shit. Just wish that cell was big enough for three, that’s all I can say.”
Luke focused his attention on his work, blushing furiously. “’Lonso,” he scolded.
Alonso laughed again, shaking his head, and swatted Luke’s butt lovingly. “Shut your mouth,” he said. “Only teasing.” Luke grinned.
They folded in silence for a few moments before Luke spoke again. “But I still don’t understand. How does being with Noah mean that nobody bothers me? He’s not a gang member either.”
“Doesn’t need to be,” Alonso said. “That child’s a one-man protection force.”
Luke looked at his friend again, puzzled. “What does that mean?”
Alonso exhaled, chewing on his bottom lip a little. “Well, okay,” he said at last. “I guess since everybody else knows, you damn sure oughta know too.”
“Know what?”
Alonso set his folding down, turning to look Luke squarely in the face. “It happened before my time,” he said. “So I don’t know the details. I only know what I’ve heard. But apparently somebody came at Mayer in the shower.”
“Came at, like…”
“Like wanted to tap that ass and wasn’t gonna take no for an answer. Okay?” Luke swallowed, looking down. “Anyway, Mayer freaked the fuck out. Freaked with a capital F, know what I’m saying? Practically beat the man to death. Put him in the hospital for a month.” Alonso whistled, returning to his work. “After that, nobody messed with psycho boy. Your boyfriend’s got some issues, hon.”
Luke was quiet, thinking this over, trying to piece apart how much of this story was true and how much was prison bullshit. He’d been here long enough by now to know that the more a story was repeated around here, the more embellished it got. But Noah must have done something to the guy, or he wouldn’t have managed to get a reputation as a force to be reckoned with. “Okay,” he said slowly. “And people don’t bother me because they know about me and Noah, and they figure he’ll get mad?”
“They don’t figure. They know. He spread the word that you were under his protection the first day you got here.”
Luke blinked, looking up. “The first day? Really? We didn’t even do anything until --”
“Until when?”
“Um… the first night.”
Alonso rolled his eyes. Luke pretended not to notice.
***
Luke kept a lid on his curiosity the best he could, knowing he couldn’t ask Noah about it in the cafeteria or anywhere else there were people around. But once they got back to their cell for the night, before the doors even closed or the lights went out, he couldn’t help himself.
“Noah, can I ask you something?” he said, aiming for a casual tone.
“Hmm?” Noah was pulling off his prison uniform, grabbing a clean t-shirt to sleep in. Luke tried not to be distracted by the yards of pale skin in front of him, begging to be nibbled on.
“Um, I was talking to Alonso today. And he told me a story about you. And I figure most of it is probably bullshit, but some of it might not be.”
Now Noah turned around, intrigued. “What was the story?” he asked, sliding the t-shirt over his head. Damn.
Luke shook his head and refocused. “He said a long time ago, some guy tried to… tried to have his way with you, you know. In the shower. And you stopped him, and beat him up pretty bad.”
Noah’s face was grim now, his jaw set. “Oh.”
“Is it true?”
Noah glanced over his shoulder into the hall, checking to see if anyone was listening. “Yeah,” he said absently, still looking away.
Luke was stunned. “It is?”
Turning his head back around, Noah placed a finger over his lips. “Yeah,” he said again, but his eyes told a different story. Slowly, he moved the finger away. “Later,” he whispered, just mouthing the word, and Luke understood. He nodded. The conversation would have to wait.
***
Later, in Luke’s bed, in the familiar dark, Noah explained. “It happened on my fourth day here,” he whispered, curled in Luke’s arms, his fingers tracing a lazy pattern on Luke’s chest. “I was scared of everything, everyone. I hadn’t spoken a word to anybody yet. And I was in the shower, and this guy came up to me. He pushed me so I fell against the wall, and he made some comment about my ass, I don’t even remember what, but it was clear what he was going to do. And I just wheeled around and punched him as hard as I could. It surprised him, and knocked him off balance, and his head hit the wall, and then he lost his footing and fell, and he tried to grab me to catch himself but I moved out of the way just in time and he hit the floor face first, and it knocked him out. Then the guards came running in, and they put me in solitary for two weeks. When I got out, I found out that he’d ended up in the hospital and had all kinds of really serious injuries, like he’d had the crap beaten out of him. All I can figure is that one of those guards had a beef to settle with him, and decided to seize the opportunity and let me take the fall for it. Which was fine with me, because I got this reputation as a total badass, and it’s stuck ever since. And all I did was throw one punch.”
Luke laughed, burying his face in Noah’s shoulder, trying to muffle the sound. It was too perfect. It made perfect sense. Noah was shy, but with that story going around, the shyness could easily come off as brooding toughness. Noah had found the perfect way to keep the bad guys away, and his only punishment had been two weeks in solitary, which he probably preferred to having a cellmate anyway, as terrified of the other inmates as he had been then. Luke relaxed back into the pillow, smiling. Perfect.
“I love it,” Luke whispered. “You know they call you psycho boy?”
Now Noah laughed, slapping a hand over his mouth to cover it. Luke grinned, squeezing him closer. And Noah placed his palm back onto Luke’s chest, and Luke sighed happily.
“Did you really tell people not to bother me starting on my first day here?” Luke asked, his fingers playing with Noah’s dark hair.
Noah was quiet for a moment before he answered. “Yeah,” he said softly.
“Why? You didn’t even know me.”
This time, the moment was even longer. “I don’t know,” Noah finally said. “You just… you seemed so… I don’t know. You’re so beautiful.” Luke’s breathing stopped. Noah had never called him beautiful before, never said anything like it. Not even close. “And you seemed so sad. I knew they would go after you, and I didn’t want that to happen to you. I didn’t want --”
“You didn’t want me to go through what you went through.”
“Yeah.”
They lay together for a moment in silence, but finally Luke spoke. “Thank you,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.
Noah didn’t answer him. Instead, he rose up on an elbow and pressed his lips gently to Luke’s, his hand stroking Luke’s face, letting the kiss linger. Finally, it broke, but Noah stayed where he was, gazing into Luke’s eyes. “Also,” he finally said, “there was something else, although I didn’t know it at the time.”
“What?”
Noah’s eyes were so dark they were almost black. “I wanted you for myself,” he whispered.
Luke kissed Noah this time, opening his mouth, sliding his tongue forward, and Noah eagerly responded. Luke pulled Noah on top of him, yanking both their shirts up and off, running his hands all over Noah's naked back as their lips met again. As the kiss grew more passionate, he slid his hands lower, down inside Noah’s boxers. Noah let out a satisfied grunt when Luke grabbed his ass and squeezed, pulling him closer, rubbing their hard-ons together. Breaking the kiss for a moment, he gazed at Luke, breathing hard. “Will you put your fingers in me?” he whispered.
Trying his hardest not to come on the spot, Luke pulled one hand out of Noah’s boxers and brought it to his face, quickly covering the fingers in saliva as he used the other hand to tug Noah’s boxers down and off. Noah relieved Luke of his own boxers and then settled back on top of him, kissing him deeply again, as Luke reached around behind him and eased his first finger in. Noah moaned into his mouth and moved with him, pushing against his hand, rubbing his cock against Luke’s with every move of his hips. Luke slid a second finger in and Noah moaned again, pushing a little harder, and Luke squeezed his ass with his free hand and moved with him. “Do you want three?” Luke whispered, but Noah shook his head. Luke froze. “No?”
“I want you,” Noah said. “I want you inside me.”
God. Basketball. Point guard, shooting guard, power forward. Don’t come yet. “Are you sure?” His voice was trembling. He would give anything, anything to be inside that tightness, but he didn’t think he would survive it if he got halfway in and had to pull out again.
“Yes. God, yes.” Noah was panting now, still moving his hips, fucking himself on Luke’s fingers. “Please, Luke.”
Luke rolled them over, sliding his fingers out and grabbing a pillow to stuff under Noah’s ass. Noah already had the condom out, had already torn it open, was already unrolling it on Luke’s aching cock. He leaned forward, sliding his mouth over the latex to wet it, and Luke groaned and pushed him back as gently as he could manage. “Don’t,” he said. “Can’t.”
Noah understood and lay back, smiling, and Luke leaned over him, kissing him tenderly as he lifted his legs up high on Luke’s waist. One hand on his cock to guide it, Luke began to push in, not breaking the kiss, swallowing Noah’s low moan, pushing as slowly as he could. Bulls. Pistons. Pacers. Cavaliers. When he was finally, finally all the way inside, he stopped, looking at Noah, searching his face for panic, for fear. There was none.
“Feels so good,” Noah gasped, clutching Luke tight. He began moving his hips, trying to draw Luke in deeper. “Please, Luke. Please.”
With that, Luke’s last tenuous grasp on control broke, and he thrust forward, pushing deep, over and over and over again. Noah’s sounds grew louder and he covered Noah’s mouth with his own, kissing him passionately, his hips continuing to pound out the rhythm that both men craved. Reaching between them, he grabbed hold of Noah’s cock and began to pump it, and Noah threw his head back, gasping, squeezing him so tight. Lakers. Clippers. Kings. Suns. Don’t come yet. Not until he comes. Not yet, damn it, not yet. But the struggle was getting tougher, and Luke was on the verge of losing the battle, and then Noah gasped once more on a “yessssss” and shot hard, covering Luke’s fist, and Luke exploded inside his lover, riding wave after wave of pleasure, then falling forward in an utterly satisfied heap.
They were still lying like that, panting, recovering, when Alonso’s voice floated up from the tier below. “Get it, girls!” he called, and Luke laughed, covering his face with his hands. Noah shook with silent laughter beneath him, and Luke felt it everywhere. He gingerly pulled out, kissing Noah tenderly as he winced with the pain of separation, and wrapped him in his arms.
“That was amazing,” Noah whispered, snuggling in close.
“For me too,” Luke whispered back, burying his nose in Noah’s hair. After a moment, he spoke again. “Hey, Noah? What changed? I mean, why now?”
Noah lay still for a long moment before he finally spoke. “I’ve wanted that since the first day I saw you,” he said at last. “I was just… I was just too afraid to let it happen.”
“And now?”
“You reminded me what a big, scary badass I am,” Noah said, smiling. “What’s to be afraid of?”
Luke looked at him, tweaking his nose playfully. Noah’s smile turned to a grin, and they kissed. But when it broke, Noah turned more serious.
“No, really. I guess I just… I just wanted you so much, I couldn’t let anything stand in the way anymore.” He swallowed. “Not even me.”
“I love you,” Luke said suddenly, and Noah’s eyes widened. Shit. SHIT. Who said that? What the fuck, Snyder? You’re going to scare him off, going to ruin it. Take it back, find a way to --
“I love you too,” Noah whispered, and Luke drew in a sharp breath.
“You do?”
Noah nodded, his eyes still so wide. “I’ve been wanting to say it for… for a long time now. I just… I didn’t want to… when Reg said it to you, you felt pressured to say it back, even though you didn’t feel it, and I didn’t want to --”
“I love you,” Luke said, kissing him to cut off his words. “I’ve never felt this way, not about Reg, not about anybody, and it’s scary, it’s fucking terrifying, and it’s so, so good.” He paused, gazing at him. “I’m in love with you, Mayer. Have been for months.”
Noah opened and closed his mouth a few times, searching for words. “Same here,” he finally said. Luke smiled, and kissed him again, and this time their mouths opened and their tongues found each other and Luke found himself half-hard again already. “Now fuck me again, would you?” Noah said when the kiss broke, quietly, breathlessly, and half-hard was suddenly a distant memory as Luke reached for as many arcane basketball statistics as he could think of.