Chapter: 3 Rating: PG Summary: The Surprise Characters: Luke, Noah, Greg Genre: Romance Warnings: References to other fanfics.A Special Time and The Connection Disclaimer: This site is no way associated with "As the World Turns", CBS, P&G, or Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann. This is not for profit. No copyright infringement is intended. Authors submit and write their own work.

Luke was cleaning the apartment. Noah was at basketball practice. He had two more games before the playoffs started. Luke had trouble with Noah still playing on the team with Eddie at first, but Noah and Roth had both assured him that Eddie was not a problem and Eddie even seemed apologetic after the kiss incident.

Luke could tell how much Noah liked playing and even after his experience with Jill, once his sprained ankle was better he complained that he missed it. Luke just made sure that he was near by after practice was over and made it to every game. He used several excuses, all of which Noah could see through, but he knew that secretly Noah thought that his jealously was cute. Luke had gotten past that now and trusted Noah completely.

Luke thought back to his and Noah's conversation about fate and how those things had instead of tearing them apart, provided a better understanding of each other, a real closeness. Valentine's Day was in a few days and he and Noah had decided to not buy each other presents, but he still wanted to do something special so that Noah knew how much he meant to him.

He went into the kitchen. "Noah does like my cooking. Maybe I can make him a special dinner." Luke pulled out a couple of cook books and started thumbing through them.
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Noah was waiting for Greg in Olde Town. Looking in windows. "Luke would look so hot in that.", Noah said to himself, looking at a leather jacket on one of the mannequins. Noah shook his head. "We said no presents."

Greg walked up to Noah and patted him on the back. "Hey Noah. What's up?"

Noah turned and greeted Greg. Bumping fists and leaning in for a hug. "Greg, I'm so glad that you could meet me."

Greg stuck his hands in his pockets. Greg and Noah had become friends after sharing a couple of classes. Greg thought that Noah was cool. Finding out Noah was gay at first caught him off guard, but he realized that it didn't change who he was. Besides it turned out to work to Greg's advantage. Greg never had trouble getting girls, but having a gay friend turned out to be quite the chick magnet. "Well, you made it sound pretty urgent."

Noah nodded. "Well, it kind of is. You know that Valentine's Day is coming up."

Greg nodded. "Yeah and so what does that have to do with me. You know that your not my type."

Noah smiled. "Very funny. Luke and I decided to not give presents, but I wanted to do something special for him. I'm doing a media project and you were telling me about some software that you picked up."

Greg nodded. "Oh yeah. The one with all the special effects."

Noah pointed at Greg. "Yeah, that's the one. Do you think that I can borrow it."

Greg hit Noah in the arm. "Anything for love. Just glad it wasn't anything serious. I'll bring it by later today, if that's okay."

Noah thought. "Well, Luke will be home, so ..."

Greg nodded. "I get it. Why don't I call you when I get there and you can meet me downstairs."

Noah held up his fist. "Perfect."

Greg hit Noah's fist. "You can depend on me, Bro."

Noah waved at Greg as he started to leave. "I knew that I could. See you later."
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Luke was writing down the menu when Noah came walking through the door. "Hi Luke."

Luke jumped up and slammed the book he was looking at shut. "Oh, hi."

Noah walked over to Luke. "What are you doing?"

Luke grabbed the pad that he was writing on and put it behind his back. "Nothing."

Noah tried to peek behind Luke's back. "I can tell your lying. What's up?"

Luke put his hand out to keep Noah away. "Noah if you love me you will not take another step. As a matter of fact you will turn around and walk out the door and come back in like 10 minutes."

Noah frowned at Luke. "Luke."

Luke kept his hand up. As he pleaded. "Please."

Noah stepped back. "Okay." He turned and went out the door.

Luke quickly put everything away. "I don't know why I'm doing this. It's obvious what I'm doing. Who do I think I'm fooling."

Luke walked over to the door and waited for Noah to come back in. Noah peeked in the door. "Is it safe to come in."

Luke nodded and walked over to give Noah a kiss. "Thank you."

Noah frowned at Luke, still wondering what he was up to. "No problem."
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Luke and Noah had decided to order dinner in. The delivery guy had just left, when Noah's cell phone rang. He looked at it. "Oh no, it's Greg."

Noah looked at the door. Luke saw Noah acting strangely. "Aren't you going to answer that?"

Noah looked at Luke. "What?"

Luke pointed at Noah's pocket. "Your phone?"

Noah looked down. "Oh I didn't recognize the number."

Luke looked at Noah. "Your acting awfully strange. What's wrong?"

Noah looked at the door. "You know, I think that I forgot to tip the delivery guy. I'm going to see if I can catch him."

Luke watched as Noah ran out the door. "What the fu.."

He got up and walked to the window. He saw the delivery guy drive off. Then he saw Noah with Greg. They were smiling at each other. Then they hugged. Luke stepped from the window. He turned and leaned his back on the wall. "Wait a minute."

He turned and looked out the window again. They were both gone. "Greg's not gay. Is he?"

Luke shook the thought from his mind and went back to sit down. Noah came walking back in. "Did you catch him."

Noah sat down at the table, a smile was on his face. "Huh. Oh the delivery guy? Yeah, I got him."

Luke looked at Noah.
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Chapter 4