Page 21 of Brad & Finn (Gomillion High Reunion #3)

brAD

For some reason, Brad thought it would be a good idea to open the door holding the maple candies in his hand, like it was god damn Halloween or something.

Finn blinked his bright green eyes at Brad, and the bag he had slung over his shoulder slipped down to the crook of his arm.

“Uhm, maybe we could have them after…” Finn trailed off as he desperately tried to look anywhere but at Brad and his awkward candies.

Brad wasn’t a big fan of these particular sweets, and his stomach was in such a knot, he didn’t think he’d be able to eat them anyway. He placed the candies on the dresser and gestured for Finn to leave his bag on the dresser as well.

“After…we become lovers?” Brad said, hoping it was okay to try to break the sudden tension between them.

Finn stumbled as he removed one shoe and balanced precariously on one foot to remove the other. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I said that.”

“I thought it was cute,” Brad admitted.

He stepped forward and threaded his fingers under the collar of Finn’s blazer, desperate to touch this adorable, ridiculous, gorgeous man.

“I also thought it was sweet,” he added, as he pushed the blazer back and off Finn’s shoulders, giving him the excuse to run his hands slowly down Finn’s arms.

“And endearing,” he whispered, as he dropped the blazer to the floor.

Finn let out a soft breath, his fingers twitching before grabbing onto both of Brad’s hands.

“And…I think I’m running out of adjectives,” Brad said with a chuckle, “but I would still really like to get you out of the rest of these clothes.”

As soon as Brad had gotten back to the hotel, he’d done the quickest prep job of his life, changed into a T-shirt and sweats, and gone flying around his room in a panic, trying to clean up the mess he’d somehow made in only two days.

He’d been so tired getting dressed that morning, he’d strewn his stuff all over the place trying to find an acceptable outfit.

Now, everything was tucked away in his suitcase, except for his toiletries bag, which was innocuously placed on the nightstand.

“I would also like to get out of these clothes,” Finn said, raising one of their still joined hands to pull at the collar of his polo. “In case it wasn’t obvious, they were not my choice.”

Brad freed his hands to grab the hem of Finn’s shirt and slowly lifted it up and over his head. “I mean, they look great, but…”

His mind went utterly blank as he took in Finn’s lightly muscled chest, the two pale lines running under his nipples, and the soft trail of tawny brown hair starting at his belly button and leading down.

“But…they’d look better on the floor?” Finn offered.

Brad barked out a surprised laugh. “I was totally not going to say that,” he said, allowing Finn to help him out of his shirt.

They both paused, eyes shamelessly roving over each other.

Brad wanted to run his fingers over every exposed inch of Finn’s skin, to catalogue each freckle, mole, and bump.

He wanted to memorize Finn’s body the way he’d memorized exactly where the speckles of grey were in his eyes and how the knobs of his knuckles felt in Brad’s hand.

But it seemed like they had a fair amount of momentum going, and he didn’t want to stop now.

He reached for Finn’s pants, but Finn placed two fingers on top of Brad’s hand to stop him.

“I’m wearing a packing jock strap, so the packer is held on the inside behind some fabric.

It, uh…occasionally can fall out when I pull off tighter pants like this.

I don’t want to accidentally surprise you with my dick falling out or anything. ”

Brad blinked in surprise, but thankfully, he’d come prepared. While running around his room collecting his shit, he’d also listened to several videos, at two times speed, on terminology and tips for having sex with trans men.

“Okay, thanks for telling me,” Brad said. “And sparing both of us having to deal with me being surprised but trying to act like I’m not.”

Finn snorted, but neither of them moved their hands.

Brad closed the distance between them, opting to run his hands around Finn’s waist and then up his back, caressing the wings of his shoulder blades before rising up to cup the back of his head.

He had to crane his neck a little on the way down, but it was worth it to kiss the small smile on Finn’s lips.

“Seriously,” he murmured between kisses, “thank you for telling me. I may need a bit of hand holding at the beginning, but I promise I’ll catch on quick.”

Finn’s hands had settled on Brad’s bare hips, and he absently rubbed his thumbs over the dip in Brad’s obliques.

He traced his fingers across the top of Brad’s sweatpants and then pulled the drawstring loose.

With a gentle tug, Brad’s sweats fell to the floor, and he kicked them off his feet before claiming Finn’s mouth again.

He tasted sweet and a little musky, the remnants of the sugar and yeast from the cider still lingering in his mouth.

Brad wanted to count each of his molars and trace the slight gap in his front teeth.

He knew it sounded cliché, which was why he would never admit this out loud to anyone , but he didn’t think he’d ever felt this way before.

He wanted to consume Finn. He wanted to pull him inside his chest and carry him around with him, back to his lonely apartment in the big city, where nobody would care if he never came back.

Finn whined into the kiss, and his hands traveled up and down Brad’s back, fingers pressing and digging into different muscles and ligaments until he brushed his fingertips over Brad’s ass.

In part to let Finn know it was okay—but also because he’d been dying to do it—Brad brought his hands down to Finn’s ass and squeezed.

Finn broke the kiss with a laugh and danced back a step. His eyes appeared almost evergreen as he carefully undid and removed his pants.

Brad didn’t want to ogle, so he maintained eye contact and held open his arms, expecting Finn to step back into them, but all he did was retake Brad’s hands.

Taking this as permission to at least do a quick perusal, Brad let his eyes trail down, taking in the steady rise and fall of Finn’s chest and the extra few inches of happy trail he could now see.

Finn had said he was wearing a jockstrap, but Brad hadn’t been prepared for how incredibly sexy that would be.

The thick black straps ran around his hips, and Brad could just barely make out the curve of his ass below the two straps in the back.

A moderately sized packer filled out the hammock, and it hung down between Finn’s legs.

His thighs were creamy white with a smattering of light hair, which turned darker towards his knees and finally darkened into dark reddish-brown hair on his calves.

“You’re so gorgeous,” Brad said.

Finn jerked forward, like he’d been holding himself back, and he threw his arms around Brad’s back.

“So are you. God, your muscles,” Finn groaned as he dug his fingers into the meat of Brad’s lower back.

He thrust his hips forward in response, catching Finn on the side of the stomach.

“I want you,” Brad said, scratching his nails gently down Finn’s back.

Finn glanced at the dresser. “I, uh…brought what I have with me. It’s not much, since I didn’t envision myself having sex on this trip, but…”

Brad nodded his head in the other direction, towards the nightstand. “I have condoms and lube?”

Finn gasped, and Brad jerked back in surprise. Finn’s face was a chaotic mix of shock and something else that didn’t look happy.

“Damn, I’ve been out of the game for a while, but still, we probably should have done this first,” Finn said, diving for his discarded pants and rooting around until he unearthed his phone.

He sprang back to his feet, and Brad tried not to get distracted by the way Finn’s ass flexed against the black straps of his underwear.

“I have test results,” Finn said, jerking Brad’s attention back. “They’re…well, a bit old, but still up to date.” He flicked through his phone, his scowl growing more pronounced as he seemed to scroll quite far back.

Brad shook his head, dispelling the initial shock from Finn’s outburst, and fetched his phone from where it was charging on the nightstand.

He opened the folder where he kept all his medical information and scrolled until he found the right one, which was quite a way back.

“There’s no shame in that. Mine are from last year, at least.”

He walked back to Finn’s side and handed him his phone. After letting out a triumphant “ha!” Finn handed Brad his phone as well. Finn’s results were dated only a few months before Brad’s. He scanned through the results, noting everything was negative, before handing it back.

He noticed goosebumps forming on Finn’s arms, and he wished he’d thought to crank up the heat. He hadn’t anticipated having a prolonged conversation in only their underwear, but it seemed they were both a little out of practice.

“I had HPV when I was in my twenties,” Finn said, taking back his phone and tossing it haphazardly on the bed.

Brad paused with his phone still in his hand. “That’s the really common one, right?”

Finn nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, rubbing them absently. “Yeah, I was lucky our health clinic on campus was able to give me the vaccine, so I don’t think I got the more dangerous variant, but… I was also unlucky because I got it on my very first time.”

The a/c unit under the window chugged to life, belting out lukewarm air and that burning smell most units had when they first turned on.

Finn’s shoulders sagged as warm air began churning through the room, and Brad took a chance.

He grabbed one of Finn’s arms and pulled until he unfurled them and allowed Brad to hold his hand. “I’m really sorry that happened, Finn.”