Spontaneity

Pairing: Luke & Lorelai

Genre: Romance

Setting: Nothing in particular. After Max, after Rachel, after Jess leaves (before he gets together with Rory.) Before Nicole, before Alex, no Sherry.

Summary: No one would dub Luke spontaneous. No one would dub Lorelai well planned. So why is it Luke who kisses Lorelai in the middle of an argument, and not the other way 'round?

Note: This story has not yet been edited by anyone other than me. I'm looking for a beta-reader right now. If you can beta read (experience would be good) give me a shout.

Opinion: I'm not sure how good this will be yet. I've got a vague idea of where it will go, but plot suggestions are welcome.

Disclaimer: The usual. I don't own nothin' so don't sue.

Spontaneity

Prologue: Stars Hollow

Stars Hollow is a closely nit town, where its hard to keep secrets. Not because everyone's out to get each other, but simply because no one sees the point in keeping something secret. So gossip spreads like wildfire, truth and rumor mix, and no one is worse off because of it.

And so you would think that in this town, anyone could read anyone else like a book. Personalities would be well known – another point that would make secrets hard to keep. And I suppose, on one level, that it's true. Point out a resident of Stars Hollow, and most town folk could talk for ten minutes and up on what they are like.

Or how the town thinks they are like.

Because we mustn't jump to conclusions, it's rare that the town will see the inner workings of a person. Someone who is light and bouncy on the outside may be dark and subtle on the inside, and very few people would know.

Anyone in Stars Hollow will tell you that Lorelai Gilmore is a spontaneous person. Not just due to the fact that she got pregnant at sixteen, abandoning her parents' rich, glamorous life. But her life in general is simply exciting and different each day. You never know what to expect of Lorelai.

Anyone in Stars Hollow will similarly tell you that Luke Danes is the least spontaneous person you'll ever meet. Not just due to that fact that his life consists of waking up at six every morning to open his diner, every first Tuesday of the month going to the bank. But his life in general is made up of patterns that he sticks to. You always know what to expect of Luke.

However, anyone in Stars Hollow may be wrong.

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Our story begins with a simple ritual. Something that started one night, and never seemed to end. It just continued, week after week, and neither felt the need, or the spontaneity, to finish it.

Friday night dinners at her parents' house held Lorelai in a pattern she resented. Yet it was a pattern all the same, and when you have one pattern, you generally have others directly linked.

A particularly gruesome fight with her mother - perhaps because of the lack of Rory - lead Lorelai back to Stars Hollow early. Craving caffeine, and a good friend to rant on to, she stepped into Luke's Diner with a determined pace.

Luke himself was packaging up the last piece of cherry pie for Kirk, who promptly left. A slight nod of Luke's head towards Lorelai let her burst into speech, about the night and her mother and anything else that concerned her.

Luke cleared Kirk's table, and then proceeded to wipe down all of the tables, acknowledging Lorelai's constant rambling with the occasional grunt and 'uh-huh'. Although Luke said little, he said enough to definitely be part of the conversation, without dampening Lorelai's speed.

The coffee – which Lorelai had found and poured herself – started to dwindle long after Luke had officially closed the diner for the night. And after the last sip, they bid their goodnights, each making their way to their own beds.

A simple action – or night, in their case – can trigger a pattern easily.

The next Friday night, Lorelai found an excuse to visit Luke's Diner alone. Luke found nothing odd about her returning, and so she rambled on, he wiped the tables, and the night passed similarly to the other.

Two anomalies do not make a sequence. Two nights in a row is not yet a pattern. And so neither Luke nor Lorelai could acknowledge the addiction that came with a ritual bound by its existence.

However, three nights mean much more than two, even though that third night may seem accidental. Rory making a late night call to Dean, Lorelai slipping into the diner seconds before the sign turned to 'closed.' All too coincidental to be accidental, yet that was the way these things worked.

By the fourth night, Lorelai was hooked. Rory acknowledged the ritual with ease, as did Luke. And the spontaneity that Stars Hollow sees in Lorelai flourished in its small space within the pattern.

Some nights she would talk and talk and gulp coffee in between. Others she would try to prompt Luke into the conversation, with sly tactics and flirty jokes. And occasionally she would sit quietly, watching Luke between sips of her coffee, prolonging the night second by second.

And every night that Lorelai showed up; every night that Luke unlocked the door for one last customer; made it harder to end it. To stop the pattern that was becoming addictive for both, so addictive that neither cared for Stars Hollow folk to talk about it. And each signed a mental contract that bound them to those late Friday nights, a bond of silence.

If anyone in Stars Hollow knew that one night their little meet-up didn't happen, they would peg it on Lorelai. She was the spontaneous one. Perhaps she started to find it mundane, or boring. She probably took to something different late Friday nights, something new and spontaneous.

And as I said before, anyone in Stars Hollow may be wrong. Because it was Luke that didn't show up one night. And Lorelai who was disappointed that the pattern stopped.