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Gabe reached up to brush the back of his knuckles across Oliver’s cheek. “I think that might be arranged.”
“How incredibly excellent. And I have to say, my head is feeling rather clear now, so if you’d like to get back to the car, we can head over to yours.”
“Netflix and chill?” Gabe asked.
“Really? You sureyou’renot the fuckboy here?” Oliver snorted a laugh, but he pried himself away from Gabe’s grasp, taking his hand and they hurried to their shoes. The promise of intimacy that stretched beyond sex, beyond what Oliver had only known before this, was seeping into his bones, making him want things. And Oliver was enjoying these short moments of not denying himself for the sake of others.
It was definitely something he could get used to.
Six
For someone who had never experienced a relationship, the first week of having an official boyfriend felt like a triumph. Unable to ignore classes, Oliver did his best to stay focused, rewarding himself with phone calls, visits to the café for sweet, small kisses, and the promise of a pizza night and the entire weekend to themselves at his with Gabe.
Gabe was enthused, and Oliver found himself oddly surprised that Gabe seemed as eager to spend time together as Oliver was.
But he wasn’t about to question it. Not now.
Not when he was this deliriously happy.
“I cannot wait to meet this boyfriend of yours,” Cocoa said Friday afternoon as she closed her laptop. “Seriously, I have never seen you mooning over anyone ever. It’s…bizarre. Like you’re a pod person or something.”
“Fuck off,” Oliver said, but he was smiling as he dug into a bag of jellybeans, carefully selecting out the pear flavored ones. “You’ll like him, though. He’s funny—like proper funny. And adorable. And…”
“Please stop. You’re starting to sound like a Disney Channel special.”
“They’d never be as gay as I am,” Oliver said with a wink, mashing the sweet between his teeth. “Anyway, he’ll be here after his shift, so I’m sending Leo out for pizza.”
Coco’s eyes widened. “You mean to tell me King Drinks-A-Lot is staying in? On a Friday?”
“I might have used a smidgen of bribery,” Oliver said with a shrug. “But yes. Are you incredibly impressed with me now?”
Coco rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Maybe a little. So, pizza and beer, and movie or something? Or should we be super lame and play scrabble?”
“I would never be that heterosexual,” Oliver complained.
“I’ll have you know plenty of people play scrabble. Including raging asexuals like myself.”
Oliver shook his head. “You’re just conditioned to believe things like scrabble are normal, Co. Trust me, they’re not. At any rate, I really only like Cluedo, and I can’t seem to find it anywhere, so I think we’ll have to go with a movie.”
“Fucking lame,” she said, but by her tone, she was happy for him.
Coco had been his roommate long enough to become invested in his life, and though she never really lectured him on his choices, he could tell she worried. But she was like a sister to him, so he was more than excited to introduce his boyfriend to her, and to have a quiet night in.
Leo was heading down the coast for the weekend with a few friends, leaving just after dinner. It was Oliver’s real test to see if he could make good on his promise to let Leo have some space.
Not just for Leo, but for himself, too.
Gabe hadn’t been wrong about what Oliver and Leo both needed, and he knew it. It was time to start pulling away and proving to his sibling he trusted Leo’s decision making.
“I’m going to pick up the beer,” Coco said, interrupting Oliver’s thoughts. “If I let your sibling do it, he’s going to buy that cheap American shit, and you can’t expect me to put that in my body.”
Oliver waved her off and went back to his reading as she grabbed the keys and headed out. He was attempting to get the last of his chapters revised before Gabe showed up, mainly because he wanted absolutely nothing hanging over his head for the entire weekend.
He was hoping things would go further than the kissing.
He was enjoying getting to know the other man and settling into a proper relationship before getting too physical, but he was craving more. Every time Gabe smiled at him, white-hot desire shot through his belly, coiling down into his fingers and toes. He could tell Gabe wanted him, the heat in their kisses growing in intensity every time they saw each other, but they were trying to be responsible.
To take it slow.
