“I was thinking more along the lines ofi like my body when it is with your body,” he said. “But I’m impressed.”
“Oh,sexypoetry. Got it.” Finn grinned at him. “You should talk to Ezra. His mom has a PhD in American poetry. Hence the name.”
“Ezra seems nice, but I don’t really want him to quote sexy poetry at me,” Nolan said. “I got enough of that from the cute poet I hope I never see again.”
“That bad, huh?”
“He made me go to an open mic night,” Nolan said.
Finn winced. “Ooh. Not a good date idea.”
“Right? I mean, lots of people seemed to be enjoying it, but…”
“They were totally faking,” Finn said seriously. “No one likes amateur poetry.”
Nolan chuckled. He was pretty sure lots of people did, but he was glad that was something he and Finn had in common.
“Well, whether or not this is a date, it’s a better date than that was,” Nolan said.
“I can live withnot the worst date I’ve ever been onas a benchmark.” Finn grinned at him.
Nolan hummed, snuggling closer to him with a happy sigh.
This was nice. He was glad Finn had stuck around, and he was just starting to realize that it was deliberate. Finn hadn’t wanted him to feel abandoned.
Lack of experience aside, Nolan was pretty sure not a lot of people would have thought of that. This particular man was special.
“You wanna know what I think?” Finn spoke up after a few long moments of silence, grabbing a handful of popcorn.
“Always,” Nolan said.
“I think you should go help the kids. Screw Gavin.”
Nolan snorted. Ofcoursethat was what Finn thought.
He was brave, and Nolan was a coward.
“It’s not that simple,” he responded, because that was what he always told himself. It wasn’t as easy as just packing up and leaving.
Gavin would be mad. His parents would be even more disappointed. Even Rita wouldn’t really understand.
He’d be alone.
Well, maybe he’d have Finn. But it was early days, and this thing between them was too fragile to rely on. Too new.
Besides, even if hedidhave Finn to lean on, he wouldn’t do it. Finn had enough going on, and Nolan had always taken care of himself.
In the sense that he’d avoided confrontation wherever possible, kept his head down, and tried to get on with his life without ever needing to ask anyone for anything.
Which amounted to the same result, more or less.
“Nothing ever is,” Finn murmured, stroking Nolan’s arm with his thumb. “But you’re stronger than you think you are.”
“Thanks,” Nolan said, not sure how else to respond to that. Where had Finn seen this huge reserve of hidden inner strength?
“You’ll see, one day,” Finn said. “Promise me you’ll text me when it happens? Regardless of where we are with each other then.”
“Promise,” Nolan said, not expecting to ever have to fulfil it.
It was nice that Finn thought highly of him, it just made him worry that he was going to be a huge disappointment later.
Sighing, Nolan pushed that thought aside and rested a little more of his weight against Finn, letting the warmth and solidness of his body soothe him. He wasn’t about to let his own brain get in the way of a nice day.
“Pass the popcorn?” he asked, reaching out.
If Finn liked him, he planned on enjoying that as much as possible.
