When it was actually a joke, and when the other person knew when to stop. When it wasn’t meant to hurt him.
Finn had never once tried to hurt him. Finn was kind, and warm, and safe.
“I can stop anytime,” Finn said seriously, which confirmed everything Nolan had been thinking about him.
“Honestly, I kinda like it. I like that you just treat me like a friend.”
“Youaremy friend,” Finn said. “I meant that the first time. I wanna be your friend regardless of whatever else… does or doesn’t happen.”
“You’ll still be my friend if I don’t fuck you?” Nolan asked, raising his head to meet Finn’s gaze.
He knew the answer already. Finn wouldn’t push him, and that was what made Finn perfect. He’d made it clear from the first day they’d spent together that Nolan moving at his own pace was fine.Good, even.
Most other people laughed. Finn was special.
“Obviously,” Finn said. “I don’t believe in the friend zone or anything. I take more of a Spice Girls philosophy.”
Nolan laughed, remembering the song about friends and lovers from elementary school dances.
“I was joking, but it’s adorable that you’re a Spice Girls fan.”
Finn shrugged. “Fan might be overstating my attachment to them, but I think they had some good ideas.”
“Nope, you’re forever a Spice Girls fan to me now,” Nolan said, beaming up at him.
“I’ll live with it,” Finn responded. “Especially if it keeps making you smile like that.”
Nolan’s breath hitched at the thought that Finn liked the way he smiled. No one had ever treated him like this before.
Like he was special. Like they reallywantedhim around, instead of just putting up with him.
“You make me smile like this,” Nolan said, and maybe it was too sentimental, toomuchfor this thing between them that was still new and fragile, but he meant it. There was no point in pretending otherwise.
“Then we should keep hanging out,” Finn murmured, his broad, warm hand stroking up and down Nolan’s back.
Was this what being seduced was like?
If itwas, Nolan was glad now that he’d waited to experience it with Finn first. He’d never met anyone like him before.
“I’d like that,” Nolan said.
“Me too,” Finn murmured. “This is the car I drove away from home in,” he added.
Nolan nodded cautiously, wanting Finn to continue. If he was ready to share, Nolan would listen.
Not only was it the least he owed Finn, but he wasinterested. He cared. He wanted to know as much about Finn as Finn was willing to tell him.
“My parents never stopped fighting,” Finn said. “I bought this car when I was seventeen after working summer, Halloween and Christmas jobs to save up for it all year. I spent a lot of time in it until I left for college, just to get away from the shouting.”
Nolan made a soft, sympathetic noise, snuggling closer to Finn to support him. He didn’t want to interrupt, but he did want Finn to know that he was listening and he cared.
“Anyway, I went off to college for three years and still… spent most of the summer in this car the first year. But then in second year I met this guy. He was smart and funny and charming and I fell in love with him five minutes after we met.”
Finn paused to swallow, which told Nolan that the story was about to get worse before it got better.
“I finished college and moved in with him, down here, because it was so much better than going back to my parents. I started volunteering at the sanctuary. Life was… good. I was happy. And then the fighting started.”
The catch in Finn’s voice told Nolan everything he needed to know about what happened next. He still kept quiet, listening to the rain outside and the beat of Finn’s heart, just a little faster than it had been a few moments ago.
