Temporary Bliss [boyxboy]

32: Christmas Crisis

Caleb

"Right, so I have my mom's gift, my dad's gift..." I thought out loud as we stood outside of the big electronics store once more. There were considerably less people here now, much to Finn's relief. He didn't do well with crowds, and I definitely didn't want him to freak out again.

"Do you think I should get Matt and Danny anything?" I asked my best friend.

"I'm getting them something," he shrugged, "But I think you should definitely get Matt a gift."

I snorted, "After all the shit he's pulled? I mean, he's already living in my house with his boyfriend for free. Isn't that enough of a Christmas gift?"

I was only half serious, though. I knew Matt would be pissed at me if I didn't get him anything. Besides if he got me something, it would be extremely awkward to not have anything for him.

"Right," Finn said unsurely, and I tugged at his wrist to hurry him along.

"I'm just kidding," I said, "I've got an idea, though. Come on."

I made a beeline for the headphones and finally decided on some Beats for Matt. His hundred year old headphones were honestly hard to look at at this point.

As for Danny - I had no idea. But I reckoned that I could worry about that later.
What was I going to get Finn? That was the bigger question currently. Obviously I couldn't get anything for him now when he was with me, but I really needed ideas.
I did have one idea, and knew he really wanted that thing but... it was a rather big decision.

I pushed all those thoughts to the back of my mind and looked down at my best friend, "You ready to go?"

He nodded and followed behind me as we made our way to the car.
We drove everything I'd bought home quickly because there was something else we wanted to do.

Finn and I had taken to making it a regular thing that we went on walks together for the past two weeks or so.

It was a pleasant little 'tradition' we'd started. Working full time in an office meant very little exercise, though that was pretty important to me.
I liked being fit, I liked being in shape and I didn't want that to change.

So this Tuesday afternoon was no different.
After dropping off everything  at the house, we strolled through the park nearby, only talking occasionally and otherwise both lost in thought as dogs and children whirled around us.

"Do you want to go to the movies tonight?" I asked, looking over at my best friend.

He smiled, "Sure. What movie?"

"I was thinking... Actually, I don't know. How about we just go there and see what there is?"

"Yeah, I'd love to," Finn said quietly, and I smirked at the pink tint on his cheeks. He really was unbelievably cute sometimes.

A few more minutes passed and then I felt a warmth on my left hand and my first thought was 'what the fuck?', but it turned out that it was just Finn's own hand.

He wasn't even looking at me, just continued walking.
I took a few moments to figure out if the contact was okay or not and it transpired that, no, it was not.

With a cringe, I pulled my hand away quickly and ducked my head to ensure that I wouldn't have to see Finn's facial expression. Without a doubt he was now looking at me like I was the most annoying thing he had ever encountered, and honestly, I didn't really blame him.

I had a reason to not hold Finn's hand though, because it seemed like enough boundaries were broken and bent as it was. I took him to get food, bought him movies, cuddled him and let him sleep in. That in itself wasn't the 'friends with benefits' relationship that we'd agreed on, that I'd wanted. I didn't know what it was with Finn, didn't know why he was making me feel all these weird things and somehow break my own rules for him.