DISCLAMER: "ER," the characters and situations depicted within are the property of Warner Brothers Television, Amblin Entertainment, Constant c Productions, NBC, etc. They are borrowed without permission, but without the intent of infringement. The story presented here is written solely for entertainment purposes, and the author is making no profit.
warning this is rated for MM slash <g>
(okay, there's nothing graphic in this part so it's probably not NC-17, but you have been warned)
Previously on ER
Dave mistakenly thought that Luka was going to jump in front of a train and wrestled him to the ground to prevent him. On discovering his mistake they both went back to Dave's place for a few drinks. Luka had a few too many and woke up the next morning in Dave's bed. Dave invited him to come over for beer and pizzas the next night.
Luka found it hard to concentrate on his work that day. His mind was occupied with wondering whether or not to take up Dave's invitation. Although Dave had only specified 'beer and pizza', Luka was left in no doubt that Dave himself was on the menu, should Luka so wish it.
Luka was also on edge waiting for someone to pat him on the shoulder and say, "So I hear you spent the night in Malucci's bed."
By the end of his shift, Luka was no closer to reaching a decision. Seeing Dave flirt his way through the shift didn't help his dilemma. Finally he decided to go home and change and then decide.
Luka finally made the decision to go to Dave's apartment. After all, he reasoned, Dave had made it clear that nothing would happen unless Luka wanted it to. And he had enjoyed the previous evening, well, what he could remember of it. And it wasn't as if he had so large a circle of friends that he didn't need one more. At this thought Luka stopped in his tracks. The last person he had thought of as a friend was now the other side of the country. He put all thoughts of Carol out of his mind, and pondered on a greater problem. What gift should he bring to Dave? His mother would be spinning in her grave at the thought of him going visiting without bringing a gift, but what would be appropriate? Flowers would probably not be appropriate, and in any case, his neighbor was starting to look suspiciously at him every time he passed by. Wine? No, not to be rude, but Dave probably wouldn't know a vintage wine if it bit him on the ass. Oh, well, maybe he could pick up something at the local convenience shop.
He was about to leave when he remembered something else. Two minutes later his toothbrush was in his jacket pocket and he was out the door.
Luka stood hesitantly outside Dave's door. It wasn't too late, he told himself. He could still go home. Yeah right, he thought. Home to an empty apartment to heat up a TV dinner and watch an old movie. An evening with Dave had got to be more entertaining than that. Before he could change his mind, he rang the doorbell.
Luka's jaw dropped as a stunning redhead opened the door. Surely Dave hadn't changed his mind about inviting him, he wondered as he tried to say hello.
"Oh hello," said the woman. "You must be Luka. Dave said you might be calling round. Come on in."
Luka hesitantly followed her into the room. "Are you a friend of Dave's?" he asked.
"Hell no," she replied, grinning. "I just pop in now and then to borrow stuff. My name's Clare. I live in the apartment across the hall. Anyway, I've got friends coming over, so I've gotta go. Nice meeting you Luka." Calling towards the kitchen, she said, "bye Dave."
"Bye Clare, talk to you tomorrow," said Dave, coming out of the kitchen, as Clare left the apartment. "Hey Luka, glad you could make it. You're just in time to help me make the pizza."
"You are not going to get 'take-out'?" asked Luka, surprised at the thought of Dave cooking.
"Special occasion," replied Dave, heading back into the kitchen, with Luka following him. "Figured this way we could have exactly what we wanted."
Luka looked at the array of pizza toppings, which were spread out neatly on the worktop.
"Grab a knife and pick what you want," instructed Dave. "I've cheated a bit and used ready-made bases, but everything else is fresh."
"I am impressed," said Luka, putting down the six-pack of beer that he had brought. "I never expected you to go to all this trouble."
"What trouble? The bases are ready made, you're going to help cut up all the toppings, all I had to do was mix up the tomato sauce, to my mother's secret recipe."
"What is in this tomato sauce of yours?" asked Luka as he carefully sliced open a red pepper.
"Family secret," replied Dave. "I could tell you, but I'd have to either kill you or marry you."
"Okay," said Luka, returning his attention to his pepper. His attention was drawn by Dave's rapid dissection of a batch of mushrooms. "You handle a knife so well, maybe you should have been a surgeon," he said.
"Nah, surgery's boring," said Dave. Luka raised an eyebrow in surprise. Dave continued, "I thought about doing it, but after my surgical rotation, I realized that one set of kidneys or lungs is basically the same as the next. Okay, the fact that I threw up when I saw my first surgery might have colored my opinion of it."
"You threw up during your first surgery? That must have impressed your resident."
"He hardly spoke to me for the rest of my rotation. I mean it wasn't my fault.... okay it was. I should never have drunk so many tequila's the night before."
Luka burped contentedly as he finished his beer. The pizza had been very tasty and the evening had flown by. The only thing that bothered Luka was that Dave had made no moves towards him at all. Luka wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed.
Dave sat watching Luka as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. It had been hard for him to sit and watch Luka all evening and still keep his hands off him. But he had bided his time, waiting for the right moment. He didn't want to move to soon and possibly scare Luka away, but neither did he want Luka to drink so much that he would do something that he would later regret. Finally he decided that enough was enough. Moving over to the couch, he sat beside Luka and said, "Luka, you know when I invited you over here, I said that after the beer and pizzas, what happened would be up to you?"
Luka nodded slowly, looking into Dave's eyes. "I know," he said hesitantly.
"So?" asked Dave.
Luka nodded, "But I don't know if I can...I mean I've never done this before..."
"Hey," said Dave reassuringly. "I promise, we won't do anything you don't want to. But I also promise you that you'll enjoy anything we do do." He smiled gently at Luka and raising his hand he gently stroked his ear. Luka closed his eyes as Dave's hand gently caressed him. He had never thought of his ears as being particularly sensitive, but somehow Dave seemed to have a magic touch. Or it could have just been the beer.
Luka's eyes flew open as Dave took his hand away. Standing up, Dave reached out his hand to Luka. "Would you like to go somewhere more comfortable?"
Wordlessly Luka took Dave's hand and let himself be led to Dave's bedroom. Looking inside he said, "It's a lot tidier than it was this morning."
"That's cause yesterday I wasn't expecting to have company."
Dave pulled Luka into the room behind him and switched off the lights. The bed was bathed in the glow from the streetlights. Dave pulled Luka into his arms and kissed him sensuously on the lips. When Dave finally pulled away, Luka was gasping for breath. His knees buckled, and he was glad that Dave was holding him. "Wow," he finally said. "That was....," he shook his head, unable to describe it.
"There's plenty more where that came from," said Dave with a grin.