road trip- finnpoe

Poe.

poe always had a thing for new people he met.

he could always figure out their "deal" from the moment he met them, but finn was a damn puzzle that poe had no idea how to do.

poe couldn't even tell if the kid was gay, but he had a pretty good idea. his spray paint art was all over the papers and the television, but no one knew it was finn.

except poe. poe knew it was finn, and poe had a great deal of questions for the kid. he wanted to know if he was a homosexual, but it's not like he was gonna straight up ask the kid, so poe didn't have any other plan.

poe also wanted to ask if he was single, but that was a no go.

for now.

poe sat on the concrete outside his apartment, smoking a cigarette and watching the cars pass by. he flicked the cigarette butt onto the sidewalk and opened his package of viceroys for another one. he put it in between his lips and lit it, taking a slow drag and sighing, watching the white smoke dissolve into the air.

his neighbor's door opened, revealing an extremely disheveled and exhausted finn. he looked like he had either been smoking pot or crying, as his eyes were a bright red. the wetness of his cheeks suggested the latter.

he had a bag of trash in his hand, heaving it off the ground and walking to the large blue trash cans at the end of the complex's parking lot. he walked back, nodded at poe, and started back in his apartment.

"hey." poe said at the last minute. finn turned around, making steady eye contact.

"yea?" he answered, voice coarse. it sounded like he had been screaming.

"you good?"

finn shrugged. "eh."

poe frowned. he held up his viceroys and shook the box. "wanna smoke?" he asked. his neighbor shrugged again before sitting down next to poe and taking a cig from the box. finn held it in between his fingers as poe lit it.

"thanks." he said as he breathed in the toxic fumes and breathing them back out.

they sat in mildly comfortable silence before poe said, "you okay?"

finn snorted, tapping the excess ash off his cigarette. "i don't think i ever am." he said, taking another drag. "i go to college to be an artist. it's hard being a black man in a school that was all-white two years ago." he paused, lifting his shirt to reveal a large bruise on his right side (although poe noticed his toned abdomen first). "i got beaten this morning after my physics class."

poe looked at him, shocked, brows furrowed. "what the fuck?" he said rhetorically. he took a last drag out of his cigarette and flicked it onto the curb. "that's fucked. who beat you?"

finn shrugged. "some white boy that sits two rows in front of me, calls me offensive shit all the time. i ignore it, but it's hard to ignore assault."

poe nodded. "yea, of course." he frowned. "that's shitty."

"yea," finn said, watching the cars wiz past their apartment complex. "if he knew i did that spray paint art on main street, then i'd really be fucked."

"can i ask you something?" poe said, pocketing his viceroys.

"yea."

"are you a homosexual?" he said quietly so only the two of them could hear him.

finn stared at the sidewalk in front of him. he waited a long time, thinking.

"yes."