After their conversation in the car, they were so into each other, they almost forgot their surroundings. Almost. After taking Reid’s hand, Luke turned to the house and froze in his tracks. Reid also stopped every movement and after some seconds, they looked at each other. Their thoughts met in the air. This is the one.
Surrounded by trees, a beautiful farmhouse welcomed them in and Luke shook his head.
“I don’t want to jinx anything, but even standing outside, this feels like coming home.”
Reid exhaled loudly, as if he needed to catch his breath. He restricted his response to one word: “Exactly”.
Excited to see more, they stepped in and found themselves in the kitchen. Not a small kitchen, but not a big one either. Not big enough to invite the Snyder clan to dinner, even if they limited the invitation to Luke’s immediate family.
Disappointment fell hard, but Mr. Samuelson knew his job and confronted the issue head on. “Is there something wrong?”
“This kitchen,” Luke sounded sad, “It’s way too small. This won’t fit a proper dining table and I’d like to…” he looked at Reid. Was this a bonus to him? A great excuse not to entertain?
As if he’d read his mind – and Luke was starting to believe he actually could – Reid put his arm around him, pulling him closer. His voice was calm and without doubt:
“This will not do.”
To their utter amazement, Mr. Samuelson smiled.
“This kitchen will not fit a proper dining table, you’re both right about that…” he walked to a door on the left and opened it, continuing his sentence with a victorious grin: “But I think this dining room will fix that problem…”
Holding hands they stepped into a bright and huge room, that left them breathless.
“Look at that table,” it was a soft sigh, but Reid’s ears picked it up and he forced himself to smile. That enormous table would seat a lot of Snyders at the same time…he wasn’t sure that was a good thing, though. But he pressed Luke’s hand and plunged himself in Luke’s enthusiasm. And truth must be told…the table was a beautiful piece of furniture.
“The table was left here, because it didn’t fit the sellers new home,” the real estate agent explained, “so it’s part of the deal.”
According to Luke’s dreamily gaze, his boyfriend was already hosting his first party in his mind, so Reid snapped his fingers before Luke’s eyes and smiled when the young man looked startled.
“Ready to see the rest of this house?”
Luke nodded, his face one big smile.
“Gladly.”
And the farm didn’t hold any more disappointments. The living room was cozy, the master bedroom with it’s own en suite was big and the house even offered space for two reasonable sized offices. A spiral staircase took them to an area with two smaller bedrooms and a bathroom.
Reid didn’t have to look at Luke, to know his facial expression. He was just very happy he had no surgeries planned tomorrow, because Luke had been squeezing his fingers so frequently, they felt a little bruised.
“So I’m guessing you like this place, huh?”
Luke ignored the teasing undertone and nodded in agreement. Mr. Samuelson had excused himself and had given them the privacy to wander around the house on their own, and they ended at the round table which King Arthur would have killed for.
“Is this big enough for you?”
Luke returned Reid’s smile, but became serious the next moment.
“I love it, Reid. But this is not my house. This is our house. And I know you. You don’t do dinner parties. You don’t do social gatherings. It’s not your thing and I respect that. I don’t want you to feel…obligated to set aside your aversion.”
For a minute, all Reid could do was look at Luke. What on earth did he ever do to deserve this kind of love? He felt overwhelmed and he shook his head to clear his mind, then put his hand over Luke’s.
“We are two very different guys,” his voice shivered, as if he could cry and Reid didn’t do crying, so he swallowed and continued: “and we can turn that into our biggest obstacle or we can turn it into our biggest strength.”
Luke was hanging on every word, so Reid gave him a quick smile and continued.
“I’m in awe of your natural charm, your loyalty and how you always find something good in the most horrific situations or persons. I haven’t been around people like you that much and it fascinates me. And those qualities result in family events and other stuff I’m not familiar with. So wanting you with the qualities I mentioned, but without all that gathering stuff, would not be realistic. They are inextricably entwined, it’s who you are. So I will learn to deal with it, as long it’s not on a very regular basis…”
“I promise,” Luke stood up from his chair, leaned on Reid’s back, put his arms around his neck and kissed the side of his head.
“You are a remarkable human being, Dr. Reid Oliver.”
Before Reid could reply, the door opened and a discreet Mr. Samuelson took a peep. Luke and Reid exchanged one look, one smile and an almost invisible nod and that was it. Reid stood up and shook the agent’s hand.
“Let’s get to the paper work. We want to move in here today.”
Slowly they visited every room again, but it felt very different. This time this was their home. The keys in their pockets proved that.
“I still can’t believe you handled this all so fast,” Luke said, bumping his shoulder into Reid.
“I don’t like to waste my time or energy, it’s as simple as that,” Reid bumped back and put a kiss on the blond hair.
“But I let you waste a lot of your time and energy, by holding off and asking for more time…” Luke sounded contrite and Reid stopped.
“It was difficult,” Reid agreed, “but it was not a waste in whatever shape of form. Let’s call it character building.”
His suggestion was met with mischievous chortle. “As if your character isn’t big enough as it is!”
“Hold the phone, young tormentor. I was being nice and you…”
Luke posted himself in front of Reid and caressed his cheek.
“Me what?”
“You….” Distracted by the promise in Luke’s eyes, Reid couldn’t remember what he was trying to say. Hell, he couldn’t remember what day it was. All his energy was focused on the lips, coming closer to his, and when they locked, the world around him disappeared.
“Our first kiss in our bedroom,” Luke looked around with a soft glance in his eyes and Reid smiled.
“And may there be many many more,” he added and suddenly gazed.
“What?”
“We need a bed.”
Luke laughed out loud.
“We need everything,” he helped Reid remember, but the genius shook his head.
“First things first. We need a bed. Come, let’s buy ourselves a bed.”
Luke obediently took Reid’s extended hand and let himself dragged out of the room. Life with Dr. Reid Oliver was not boring.
