Nothing But Thieves {Fransykes}

6: Josh

As he floors it and speeds away from the house and the police sirens, Josh realizes that the person he is truly angry with is himself.

He hates that he is helping Oliver, hates that he cares about his safety. Josh is gripping the steering wheel as tightly as he can, forcing himself to watch the road and not look at the man beside him. Oliver treated him like he was worthless, and that is not something that Josh will be forgetting any time soon. He's hurting, and that's Oliver's fault. He vows not to let those pretty eyes convince him of anything different, not to let them make him forget how it felt to be ushered out of the man's apartment in the morning.

"Josh." Oliver's voice is soft, concerned. "You're not alright, it's worrying me."

"Now you care?" Josh spits, still refusing to look at Oli. He's worried that if he looks Oliver in the eye, he will start to cry or yell, and he would prefer to not have to do either of those things. Everything got so complicated so quickly, and he is beginning to wonder what he has done to deserve any of this.

Oliver sighs, "You're driving too fast." Is all he says, which only serves to enrage Josh more. Who is this man to tell him how to drive? He's angry, but his anger is coming from a place of pain and sadness.

"I don't fucking care!" Josh sounds a lot louder than he intended to, and he presses the pedal down further to speed up the car. "You used me for sex, you don't get to tell me how to live my life. You can't toss me out of your apartment after fucking me and then ask me what's wrong, and just pretend that you care about me!" Josh has had enough with men who pretend to be interested, fuck him, and take off. Usually leaving him unsatisfied, although the satisfaction part was far from the case with Oliver. Either way, Oliver had sex with him and then cast him aside.

"You think-" Oliver sounds like he might cry, and Josh is really trying not to care. He can't help himself, he cares, but he does all that he can not to show it. "You think all I wanted was sex?" Oli sounds shocked beyond reason, like the idea is ridiculous.

"What the hell am I supposed to think? You made it clear you didn't want me there in the morning." Josh replies coldly, or at least as coldly as he possibly can. He knows his voice sounds shaky, heavy with unshed tears, but he is doing his best to sound detached. "It was obvious that I'm just something to fuck in your eyes."

"That's not true, that's not why I- look, I panicked when you asked where I'd been. Most people take off running when they find out I'm a thief. Had a guy report me to the pigs once, lucky they didn't believe him."

Josh can't stop himself from laughing at that. "Oh trust me, I know what it's like." He knows how hard it is to find a normal relationship in their line of work. Josh looks over at Oli briefly, admiring his smile.

"You have a nice laugh." Oliver says, causing a blush to warm Josh's face.

"Thank you." Josh whispers back, a little surprised by the compliment. It tells him that maybe Oliver doesn't just see him as someone to fuck and discard. Maybe. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, I'm just hurting over all of this. You hurt me."

"And I'm sorry for hurting you. I shouldn't have made you leave like that, especially because I genuinely want to get to know you and would love to take you out on a date. Can you come over for food or something? I want to do everything I can to make it up to you after the way I treated you."

Josh thinks about that one for a minute, trying to decide whether or not that is a good idea. He doesn't fully trust Oliver, at least not yet, but he does want to get to know him better.

"We could go to a drive through, then park and eat in the car." Josh suggests. He doesn't want to end up a situation that will enable him to make a rash decision, and dinner at Oliver's apartment seems like the kind of thing that would end with Josh in Oli's bed. True, fucking can be done in cars as well, but that takes long enough to get going that Josh will have time to remind himself that he wants to take it slow with Oliver from now on.