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The master post for this blog story is here.


The next two days after the argument passed in an alcoholic blur for Finn. He knew he’d hurt Nathan, but for the life of him he couldn’t understand what was now stopping him from actually talking to the guy.

Why he couldn’t just come out and say. Nathan, the thing is, the last time I had penetrative sex it was with a guy, I was way past drunk. He wanted it rough, and I couldn’t stop him, and it was my fault because I was so drunk. He hurt me; he tore me. I needed to heal, and I still don’t feel right now. But I only have myself to blame, I should have stayed sober, it wasn’t Andrew’s fault entirely.

Screwed, totally screwed. Andrew didn’t have to hurt him, and he was slowly coming to terms with it himself. The thing is, how was he dealing with not having Nathan in his life now? By losing himself in the same drink that had led to the pain before.


None of this drinking was going to solve the fact that despite loving Nathan, he wasn’t ready to take their relationship to the next step. Because if he tried, then he would break down, and in doing so he would reveal what a pathetic excuse for an adult he was. What had happened with Andrew, was shaping Finn, challenging him as a man, but he wasn’t ready to let Nathan know. Once he’d worked his way through, then he would talk to Nathan and beg his understanding, beg his forgiveness, tell him he loved him, go that final step. He just hoped Nathan would wait.

In avoiding Nathan, Finn found himself spending more time at his own place, and with that, Andrew. Andrew who stepped up to be the guy who cleaned him up after the drink. This was so far outside Andrew's normal character that it should have rung alarm bells, but Finn was so caught up in his dramas that he pushed the fact Andrew had been using him, had hurt him, to the back of his head. Andrew only wanted one thing, to be the person going out with the next tech wonder-kid. He probably wanted Nathan, but Finn had Nathan.

He corrected himself. Used to have Nathan. All Finn wanted to do was write games and get over himself so he could be back with Nathan.

"Beer?" Andrew asked, passing him a bottle.

Finn took it without questioning him. The uneasy truce they had worked well as soon as Finn consigned the other man to being the shallow dick that he was. And hell, Andrew had apologised for what had happened before, blamed his own drinking.

Finn’s head felt heavy. He'd seen Nathan across the courtyard this morning, and Nathan had looked right at him. He'd shrugged at Finn and Finn took that as a sign that he wasn't completely pushed out of Nathan's life. When Nathan smiled at him after that, Finn felt like all his Christmases had come at once.

The text he'd received a little while after was the icing on the cake.

<Can we talk? I miss you. I'm sorry.>

Nathan texted back immediately. <You've nothing to be sorry for, it's all me. You want Chinese?>

<As long as there's spicy chicken>

<Deal.>

<Late lecture, 8 okay?>

Finn smiled at the text. Eight was fine, actually way past fine and on to amazing.

<8 at mine x> he added the small x instinctively and smiled when he received an x back from Nathan. Tonight he'd explain, and they'd talk about the future and what they both wanted. Like grownups.

"What are you smiling for?" Andrew had asked at the time, with a nudge of his elbow.

"Nathan, he's coming over at eight."

And that had been two hours ago, and now at seven he was drinking the beer Andrew gave him, and opening the door to Andrew's friends; twins on the same course as them, guys that Finn usually avoided. They were both permanently high and mostly hung in on their course by the skin of their teeth and the judicious use of daddy's money.

Half an hour to go and the beer buzz was hitting him. He felt lightheaded but didn't think anything of it.

Ten minutes to go and he was slurring his words. "Don't feel so good," he said, but it came out as nonsense.

"You okay buddy?" Andrew asked him. Or was it one of the twins?

No. I feel... weird.

He felt Andrew take his phone, felt the earth move as he was picked up, but he couldn't say a word. He was numb. He heard words over and around him.

Take his clothes off. On the bed. You as well. Here... take a photo... send it to the Professor... no, wait... put it on his facebook... shit... share some of these emails... Oh, fuck this is too good. Is that the code? Send it to me… I’ll present it… put him sideways… He's at the door... let him in... okay... positions...
He couldn't move, couldn't speak, but the horrified wide-eyed expression on Nathan's face was something he would never forget.

Nathan, help me.

The master post for this blog story is here.



Physically, Nathan had never experienced anything like Finn. Although they hadn’t gone entirely the whole way, they were so damn close it hurt, and they couldn’t get enough of each other.

The biology girls took it in turns to comment on just how cute they were as a couple and inevitably turned the fairly shy Finn bright red. Nathan loved watching his boyfriend go red; loved having a relationship that wasn’t hidden like those fleeting clandestine meetings he’d had back in his home town. Despite his family and close friends being aware, that place was so not the place to push loud and proud.

Mentally they were so alike; both good with computers and what drove them. Whilst it was Finn who recognised the beauty and poetry of the code they wrote, it was Nathan who had the analytical eye. Together they were a flawless team. Word of their project preceded them and a buzz began to spread around the campus, spreading out from the IT geeks and passing into Biology, Chemistry, Physics.


The two of them had something special, something about making graphics better in games, some programme or something. Most of it was way above campus gamer’s heads but apparently this thing had the potential to revolutionise gaming.

MIT was used to the best and the brightest, but something shone when people saw them together, possibility. And they told Nathan that every chance they got. From Professors, to friends, everyone was rooting for them.

And in two months time, Nathan would be presenting the work as his first year final exam and people had started to get excited about it already.

Everyone that is except Nathan himself, who was starting to get anxious, and despite any reassurances that Finn gave him, he was quite frankly scared.

“What if we run out of time for testing?” He said several times. ”We shouldn’t spend so much kissing and shit, we should be testing,” was kissed away in an instant by a completely supportive Finn. Finn who felt that pushing his boyfriend back on the bed and covering his body in kisses was the answer to every problem.

And when kissing and biting and sucking turned into the most incredible blow job Nathan had ever experienced? Well testing just went straight out of his head.

Andrew was another thorn in Nathan’s side, it was a given that he was good at what he did, which was taking other people’s projects and making them shine. He showed nothing but happiness at the Nathan / Finn relationship, despite Nathan thinking privately that he’d so lost out on Finn’s frankly quite amazing blowjobs.

The thing was, Andrew had quite literally been where Nathan hadn’t and he was unsure why Finn was reluctant to take their own relationship that one step further.

That was the reason for their first argument. Nathan used Andrew in the argument and Finn just closed down. It was like a trigger word or something.

“What Andrew and I had was just fucking, just quick and dirty and a release. What we have is nothing like that.”

“Still Finn, I can’t understand why. I mean if we both want it, let’s just go for it.”

“I don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Nathan was so not following this conversation.

“Don’t want it,” Finn said finally.

Nathan stood, his mouth open, totally stunned by what Finn had just said.

“You … you don’t want it? What? Ever?” Nathan sounded comically horrified.

Finn slumped visibly and turned to his desk dismissing the discussion. ”I don’t wanna talk about it,” he said, almost coldly.

“Finn, I love you, it wouldn’t be just fuckin'” Nathan begged, this cold Finn scared him.

Visibly pulling himself together, Finn turned to face Nathan, his features carved from stone. ”Just go, Nathan, I’m serious, take your romantic notions of fucking and just go.”

“Finn.”

“I’m serious, just leave me alone.”

And borne on disappointment and anger, Nathan did just that.

He left.

The master post for this blog story is here.



They sat, Finn still across Nathan’s legs, losing each other in kisses and moans and every so often whispered words.

“How long?” Finn prompted.

“How long what?”

“How long have you wanted to make me scream?” Finn smirked as he asked and Nathan sighed knowing Finn wouldn’t leave it until he got an answer.

“Since I watched you and Andrew,” He tailed off using his hand to indicate, etc.

“Hmmm,” Finn replied knowingly. Leaning down and capturing Nathan lips in a soft kiss, his tongue darting in to taste him, soft sighs of completion mingling between them.

“And you?” Nathan prompted smiling

“Since the day I fixed it so I would be your mentor,” Nathan’s eyes widened, and then he relaxed, with a laugh.

“You did that?”

“Well, Andrew wanted you, said he’d looked your file over and saw your potential. Remember him? Andrew Barclay.”

“Ex-boyfriend Andrew?”

“Casual fucks Andrew.”

“Mmmm, well I for one am glad you managed to fix it, despite now knowing you were just after my brains.”

“What else is there?” Finn smirked, dropping a kiss against Nathan’s neck, biting and sucking at the heated skin causing Nathan to squirm. Suddenly the urge to mark Nathan became an overwhelming need and he bit and sucked harder, knowing the blood would rise to the surface and bloom into a sign of possession, Finn groaned as Nathan arched into the pain, the Chinese food long forgotten, the coding a distant memory.

“Fuck Finn,” Nathan forced out, dragging Finn’s face to his. ”I need to touch, can I touch you?” Finn rose a little in Nathan’s lap in answer and Nathan fought to open snug jeans, desperate to get his hands on Finn.

He was wet from earlier, wet and hard, and hot, so hot, and Nathan grasped the heat and the length and twisted and pulled and grew impossibly hard against the seam of his jeans. They sat that way for seconds, minutes, Finn riding the incredible need that was consuming his every thought until it became imperative that he’d his hands on Nathan, that he touched Nathan, tasted him.

Tearing his lips from Nathan’s he forced out words of need and desire. ”Nathan, please, I need to see you, let me see you.”

“Fuck Finn, stand up,” and then laughing and struggling they managed to stand and helped each to removed clothes until they stood naked opposite each other. Nathan could feel his mouth watering with a need to taste Finn, a desire so sharp it was like a fist to the stomach and in seconds he was there.

Pushing Finn back to the bed, sitting him down and then dropping to his knees between Finn’s spread legs finally where he wanted to be. For a while, he touched and discovered and each noise of appreciation he made echoed in Finn’s moans. ”Your mouth on me,” Finn managed to force out and almost whined when Nathan closed his lips around him, lips and teeth and tongue as he swallowed the length, hollowing his cheeks, sucking him down. On the bed, Finn curved over Nathan pushing hands into his long soft hair, tangling the hair into sharp points of pain that went straight to Nathan’s dick.

So close, I’m so close, no, want you, up here, need you, with me

“Nate,” was all he managed to say, all he managed to squeeze out, using his hands in Nathan’s hair to pull him off and up, forcing him to climb Finn’s body and lay them both back on the bed. Still not removing his hands, knowing it must hurt he pulled Nathan’s face to his, catching his mouth in a bruising kiss, lips and tongues fighting for feeling, for dominance.

Their groins aligned, dicks sliding hard against each other, a sudden dark heat as they found a rhythm. Nathan’s hands dug into Finn’s hips where he knew he would leave bruises, making his own mark.

Moving one hand, Nathan closed it around both of them, jacking them slowly, swallowing gasps and moans and want-more-now into shared breaths.

Finn lost it first, his fingers a punishing, tightening grasp in Nathan’s hair, coming hard and hot between them, with Nathan not far behind, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood and falling over the edge with a muffled cry.

They lay still, wrapped in each other, as Finn carefully extricated his loose hands from Nathan’s floppy mop of chestnut hair, both breathing heavily, unwilling to move.

“Fuck,” was all Finn could say; Nathan had lost the power of rational speech entirely and just pushed into Finn’s neck kissing softly at the bruises he’d made and willing his breathing to slow down.

Life was good.

The master post for this blog story is here.



Friday came around so damn quick. Nathan wasn’t sure if it was the excitement of a full on coding testing session, in which case he was a geek, or whether it was the excitement of spending alone time with Finn, in which case he was a fool.

Difficult as it was to admit, for some weeks now Nathan had been crushing on his mentor. It was a scary place to be. So many innocent touches.

Nathan was one of the most tactile people, but nothing compared to the gentle touches from Finn. A hug here, a poke there, a tickle somewhere else. Nathan seemed to walk round with a semi-permanent hard on all day.

Again and again he thanked the makers of loose shirts.

He blamed Finn’s eyes, and the short dark hair, and the body. But most of all the eyes. The beautiful, deep, sharp, knowing, emotional silver eyes. He dreamed that those eyes would one day see what was in Nathan’s heart, saving him from angsting so hard over how to broach the subject with Finn, to no avail.

Finn was his friend, his best friend, apart from liking rival basketball teams they had so much to share. Important stuff. Like a passion for code and gaming, and laughing at stupid things that would make others cringe. They had silences in conversations that were not awkward; they were a team. Nathan had to be honest with himself; he was totally blown away by Finn, he only wished that Finn could see it.

* * * * *

Finn was apprehensive about tonight. He was caught between excitement for code and excitement for Nathan being here with him.

Tonight he decided he was going to come clean with the feelings he was having for Nathan, it had taken some time to come to this conclusion, but if he had one more evening in his vicinity without kissing him senseless, then he was going to go mad.

Telling him could go one of two ways. Nathan could freak and run. Or Nathan could return the feelings and they could get some horizontal action in, easing the ache that Finn had in his trousers on a daily basis.

Finn knew which he was hoping for.

Nathan, holding Chinese, arrived at seven pm. Finn let him in and pulled him up the stairs to his room, ignoring one of his housemate’s smirks as they crossed in the hallway.

Shutting and locking his door he breathed a deep sigh of relief watching Nathan rooting about in the Chinese food cartons making pornographic noises in his throat at each new dish he discovered, every sound sending shock waves to Finn’s dick.

“I bought loads,” Nathan said, sitting cross-legged on Finn’s floor and looking expectantly at Finn. ”Sit, eat.”

“Uh huh, food,” Finn replied and slumped to the floor grabbing the nearest carton and shovelling its contents in his mouth. Food. Get the food out of the way, and then they could talk.

“You okay Finn?” Nathan looked concerned, “I didn’t think you liked the Beef?”

“Wanted to try it all,” he offered as an excuse. He wasn’t even really aware of what he was eating even though he was eating it like there was no tomorrow.

“Cool,” Nathan said swallowing rice and drinking beer and making a huge mess of sauce on his fingers and his face.

Finn snorted a laugh. “What are you, Nathan? A kid? My nephew makes less mess eating than you do.”

Nathan looked down at his chilli sauce splattered top and smiled wryly.

“You have a bit…” Finn paused pointing to his mouth and Nathan mimicked the action with his thumb collecting chilli sauce and sucking on his thumb to collect every drop, half closing his eyes at the bliss of taste on his tongue.

Jesusfuckholyshit. Not a word. Finn said not one word.

He just dropped his beef back to the floor and knelt up inches from Nathan, who stared frowning into Finn’s eyes. Finn reached into Nathan’s carton and lifted a piece of chilli chicken between fingers, lifting it to Nathan’s lips, watching as full lips parted to take the chicken from Finn’s fingers. Finn paused, running it over Nathan's lips before placing it on Nathan’s tongue, watching as Nathan chewed and swallowed, still with his eyes on Finn, eyes and desire screaming for release.

That just left the chilli sauce on his sinful begging-to-be-kissed lips, Finn could so help with that. Rising he cupped Nathan’s face in his hands. He lowered his head and softly kitten licked the chilli sauce, starting at the heat, the texture the flavour, that was both chilli and Nathan. His tongue touched Nathan’s lips tentatively, softly, and Nathan relaxed into the touch, his eyes closing, his breath gasped and shallowed.

Finn parted his lips and closed his eyes, no tongues, just lips, mouths open, exchanging breaths. Nathan’s hands hot and tight on his face after dropping the carton.

Nathan’s tongue touched inside and Finn moaned, tentative, searching, gentle. Sucking Nathan into him. They sat for ages exchanging kisses, warm-wet-hot.
Finn pulled back and then moved, straightening Nathan’s legs and straddling them, his lips back on Nathan’s in an instant, against Nathan, pushing hard, grinding, still kissing, still tasting, tilting his head for better access, burying hands in Nathan soft hair.

Nathan pushed back, rotating his hips up, sucking at Finn’s tongue, pulling at his hips forcing him close, grabbing at elusive contact. They explored, ran hands over muscles and curves, Finn pushing under Nathan’s t-shirt, and feeling the warm heat under his fingers, he moved them higher, finding hard nipples and caressed them, tugged and twisted them, swallowing Finn’s groans into his mouth.

Motivated by the groans, Finn continued the targeted touch, feeling Nathan grinding up into him, losing himself in the heat.

Finn ran his hands up and down Nathan’s hard defined chest and abs. Harder he licked into Nathan’s mouth, his cock hard and insistent against Nathan’s, matching a rhythm in their heads, a rhythm in their bodies, as they pressed against each other. Finn could feel orgasm climbing, rutting hard against Nathan, losing it against his best friend, desperately he pulled back from Nathan’s mouth grabbing at air

“Nathan, I’m gonna … Nate, fuck, I’m sorry.” And then he flew, his orgasm hard and blinding and white hot. Then Nathan was losing it too and before they could catch breath they were slumped against each other holding tight.

“Fuck,” Finn breathed against Nathan’s neck, tasting sweat and heat and licking and biting open kisses on the sun-browned skin. ”Do you know how long I have wanted to taste you, how long I have sat and forced myself not to ask you to fuck me, to lick me, bite me, push me, have me begging.”

“Shit Finn,” Nathan groaned, arching his neck against the bites and sucks. ”Not as long as I have wanted you.”

Where had those words come from, Nathan was driving him to an insane madness just with words.

The master post for this blog story is here.



Halloween came and went and there was a subtle shift in the Finn / Nathan friendship.

Finn revealed that Andrew, his on-again-off-again boyfriend was a complete bastard who had got off with three different men at a Halloween party. Nathan agreed that Andrew Barclay was quite clearly the biggest slut on the planet and that Finn was better off without him.

Nathan proceeded to drag an unwilling Finn to the nearest bar. They ordered a bottle of tequila and two glasses and then sat back in a corner so they could quietly get shitfaced out of the way of prying eyes.

“I told him,” Finn waggled his finger dramatically, “I told him that he was a barshtad and that he was using me for myschbody.”

“Wadeesay,” Nathan slurred back, slumping comfortably into the corner

Finn snorted. ”My brains,” that so made sense, not.

“Brains?” Nathan was really trying to concentrate, but it just wasn’t working, Finn was so damn beautiful.

“Yeah, brains, apparently brains ish whast Igot,” Finn nodded proudly

“Yeah, know tha, me too,” Nathan added at the end loudly and equally as proudly

“Said rich,” Finn mumbled almost incoherently

“Huh?”

“I gonna be rich.”

“Huh?”

“He wants my money, not my body.”

“Okaaaaaaaay?” Nathan was so not following this, and damn why did the table keep moving, it was making him dizzy.

“Says notworthwaitingfor,” Finn ruined the drama of the moment by belching loudly, the two of them sniggered, belching was clearly the funniest thing ever, next to farting.

“Notworthwaitingfor,” Nathan repeated, still not totally getting the point

“Yes, don’t want my body, just my money, could be years, he said, years.”

“M’okay,” Nathan sorta, kinda, was getting it now, a bit.

Dramatically Finn leant forward, grabbing hold of Nathans t-shirt and twisting his hands into it.

“Wassa mattawimy body,” he demanded almost incoherently.

“Nothin,” Jeez fuck, Finn’s lips, so close, ”nothing.” Nathan may well be drunk, but this near after weeks of thinking about kissing Finn was doing a number with his head.

“Its hot, m’body’s hot.”

“It is.”

“It’s hard and fit and strong,” Finn managed almost an entire coherent sentence.

“Pretty,” Nathan blurted out, ”pretty eyes, pretty lips, hips.”

“Nah you’re the pretty one with your hair all sorta spiky.” Finn tried to reach for Nathan’s hair but evidently decided better when he instead gripped the table. “Don’tfeelgood.”

Somehow the two of them managed to get back to Finn’s house and managed to reach Finn’s room.

Nathan could obviously hold his tequila better than Finn because he didn’t spend an hour with his head down the toilet. No, he just spent an hour asking Finn if he was okay and wondering if it was dirtybadwrong to perve on a man’s ass when he was bent over said toilet.

Finn wandered back into the room, sliding bonelessly down onto the bed and shuffling over against the wall.

“Staysleep,” he muttered almost incoherently. Nathan complied, not sure he could remember how to walk anyway, and they spent their first night together in a bed.

“You need to call 911,” Finn demanded hoarsely when he first woke.

“Why?” Nathan answered from his position on the floor, which is where he must have fallen at some point in the night.

“Brain explosion. I’m dying. Hurts, really hurts. I’m never ever drinking ever again.”

“Me neither,” Nathan replied wincing at the sun in his eyes through the open drapes.

“Shower,” Finn stumbled into the small attached bathroom hoping to hell none of the other guys in the house were in there.

“Me next,” Nathan mumbled into the pillow.

It took two days for either of them to feel one hundred percent. But it was less than that for Finn to consign Andrew Barclay to the trash.

The project was going really well. Nathan thought so and Finn seemed to agree. They had structured and hard coded as much as they could. They needed to move to testing, and it was for that reason they had decided to meet on Friday at Finn’s for Chinese and beer. It was to be a special evening - hours of planning and sweating over lines of moveable code.

What was really sad, Nathan had commented to Finn when planning the evening, was that two young guys in their prime thought that testing code constituted a good night. Finn just laughed and raised his eyebrow enigmatically, it’ll be fun, he promised, hugging the younger man to his side and ignoring the whistles from Nathan’s biology girls.

The self-same girls that had taken Nathan under their wings, and now included a somewhat bemused Finn in their gossip circle.

I’m gay, not a gossip girl, Finn had pointed out to Nathan. Nathan just smirked and reminded Finn that girls were better than sweaty jocks, Finn reluctantly agreed and for that Nathan just laughed. Finn was so shallow.

The master post for this blog story is here.



Working in Finn’s room became a regular occurrence and evening by evening, day by day they learned about each other. They knew the obvious, they were both from small towns in the middle of nowhere, albeit on separate coasts. After that, it all tumbled out, sisters, brother, homes, holidays, friends.

Nathan learned that Finn’s parents were not at all happy with their son’s choice of sexual partners but were intensely proud of their son, the MIT student.

Finn learned that Nathan’s parents were cool with the whole gayer than a gay thing. Which Nathan put down to the fact that his brother was the whole picket fence, two point four children, and dog, success story. Added to which he was an architect, so huge kudos to big brother for channelling the heat off of Nathan.

Finn had taken to calling Nathan ‘Nate’ and Nathan called Finn his full name of Finlay Ryder Anderson if he really wanted to tease Finn. They didn’t meet outside of the project they were working on apart from crossing paths on the odd occasion on campus. They had their own little bands of equally geeky friends and enjoyed their time together that much more for the absences.

Nathan knew from day one of meeting the older Finn that he was possibly the hottest thing on campus. Strike that, there was no ‘possibility’ about it. Finn, with his firm, muscled, non-geek, albeit short, body and his styled flicked hair, and his deep mesmerising gray eyes, was definitely the hottest thing on campus by miles.

A testament to that was how many first year girls signed up for Finn’s student study groups on gaming code and spent the entire time passing notes and sighing. Finn didn’t make any secret about his preference for men, but it made Nathan laugh to see how many of his female classmates were convinced Finn was gay only because he hadn’t met them yet.

“I could so show that man some moves,” Nathan overheard in the second period. This punctuated with a sly shimmer of hips and ass, with added long blonde hair flick. Nathan smirked, nothing was gonna turn Finn, they had absolutely no idea.

Of course, inevitably, they would draw Nathan into their little conversations; everyone knew that he was working one on one with the delectable hotty, Finn Anderson. He had a patented way of getting out of the chats, though. He would just start talking code, explaining what Finn and he were working on.

Luckily none of the giggling girls were computer geeks; all of them seemed to be biology students; Nathan wondered at the connection and smirked. A lot. Very soon they gave up on pumping Nathan for information. After it had become evident that Nathan, too, was gay, (a crying shame apparently), he became included in their little ‘biology’esque chat group giving the gay guy’s perspective. What seemed the weirdest to Nathan was that he was so much happier with his girl friends than he had ever been with some of the guys he’d attempted to befriend. Well, all apart from Finn that was.

The girls asked questions that seemingly only gay men could answer. Most questions revolving around Finn and his hotness and shouldn’t you be tapping that Nathan.

Nathan enjoyed the chats, commenting to Finn that his circle of friends consisted mostly of girls. Finn just smiled secretively

“I’d much rather share a house with three girls than the jocks I’m sharing with at the moment. Even though they shower frequently, personal hygiene was limited to deodorant after a game.”

“That is possibly the gayest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Nathan replied with an answering laugh.

“I’ve been practicing.”

The two of them then proceeded to fall to the floor, laughing so hard that breath was difficult to find. It was easy times like this that cemented a friendship long before they ever moved into a relationship.



TBC 

The master post for this blog story is here.


Finn could feel the enthusiasm in Nathan’s voice start to infect his own emotions. The student in him watched an impassioned Nathan, an apparently brilliant, perceptive Nathan, as he spoke clearly and calmly and created this beautiful hierarchy of code in the air that Finn could taste.

The man in him watched the black MIT t-shirt pull and stretch tight, strong muscles as Nathan gestured and pointed. He saw a fire burning in the most gorgeous hazel eyes and watched as Nathan's mobile mouth formed letters and numbers and words. He saw a rising blush whenever Nathan commented on something a bit controversial and saw Nathan smile whenever Finn praised a suggestion.

Finally, Nathan ran out of steam, but Finn could still see the high of coding in his eyes. He could almost taste the structure of that code, the program, the lines of poetry that Nathan would create and it filled him with a sudden rush of enthusiasm for this beautiful boy and his amazing brain.

Finn opened another beer each to realize they were the last two, which kind of went some way to explaining the smooth beer buzz he was feeling. He opened a new notebook and clicked the end of the pen once, twice, three times before looking at Nathan thoughtfully.

“Okay newbie, let’s code.” He smiled at Nathan then looked down at the sheet starting to draw together Nathan’s ideas into a formal hierarchy, he then handed the notebook to Nathan, who frowned down at the markings. Every programmer wrote differently and by the end of the four years at MIT, however, you came out the end was how you would be for the rest of your programming career. Finn was steady and neat and he had a sense that Nathan was the exact opposite.

“What now?” Nathan asked.

“You finish it,” Finn encouraged gently. ”Let’s see what you’ve got.”

They didn’t stop until way past midnight and they were both buzzed, not from the beer but from the pure beauty and poetry of the code they were creating between them. They came to the realization, as they exchanged another Star Wars quote, that they were geeks. And, Nathan couldn’t stop laughing when Finn pointed to his face and stated in all seriousness that he made geek look good.

They finally stopped when Nathan let out the biggest yawn Finn had ever seen which made him look at his watch in horror.

“Jeez, I have tests tomorrow,” he said with regret. ”Come on newbie, I’ll walk you back to your dorm.”

“You, five ten and kind of weedy, are walking me, six one and built, home?” Nathan smirked

“Weedy?” Finn frowned and poked at Nathan. ”We get attacked by vampires I have moves I’ll have you know.”

“What like? Shouting at them?”

“I keep a stake in the bushes,” experimentally Finn waved his hand in front of him, and I have reach.”

“Yeah Shorty, whatever.”

And that is how the bantering continued all the way back to Nathan’s dorm. Easy and comfortable, the two of them knocking shoulders every so often, firm friends as soon as the common interest kicked in.

Nathan stopped at the main door. ”Coffee? he asked.

“Nah, I never put out on the first date.” Finn shook his head in all seriousness, then smirked to spoil it.

“Well hell, I’m gutted,” Nathan said with a grin.

For a while, they simply stood there and smiled inanely at each other on highs that only computer geeks with beer could experience.

Finally, it was Finn that broke the impasse. “I’ll see you in a few days, work that code, Nathan.”

“I will, I doubt I’ll sleep tonight.”

“What are you? Seven?” Finn laughed and started to walk away. ”Later,” he called back.

“Finn,” Nathan called in a loud whisper. Finn stopped and turned to look back an expectant expression on his face. “Finn, I lied.”

Finn tilted his head to one side and frowned.

Nathan laughed pointing at his own chest. ”Me? Gayer than a gay thing,” he said brightly and disappeared into his dorm closing the door behind him leaving a grinning Finn standing in the light of the street lamp.



TBC 

The master post for this blog story is here.


Just before seven Nathan left his dorm, freshly showered and dressed in his best jeans and brand new MIT t-shirt.

He had a six-pack of beer and a backpack full of scribbled notes and questions. Word on his course was that out of the seniors Finn Anderson was the best, apparently he possessed a natural instinct for code and Nathan should consider himself really lucky to be partnered with him. He was going to get as much out of Finn as he could, learn everything he could before their joint project ended, starting tonight.

Arriving at the house that Finn shared with others he knocked on the door. It wasn’t Finn answered the door, but instead a tall guy with blue eyes and a grin so blinding it hurt.

“Newbie,” came a voice behind him, and Nathan peered round door-guy to see Finn arms full of books at the bottom of the stairs. ”Come in, hey snacks, bring yourself up,” and with that Finn began to climb the stairs. Door-guy looked carefully at Nathan before moving to one side and ushering him in. Nathan immediately climbed the stairs three at a time and caught up with Finn at the top. They turned left and using an elbow Finn opened the door a the end of the dark corridor and entered the most tidy bedroom Nathan had ever seen. He looked at the bedroom and then looked at Finn, then back at the bedroom. Finn just smirked at Nathan’s confused expression.

“Ignore the OCD,” he said matter of factly. Nathan nodded and scanned the room. Fairly standard student fare; bed, desk, two chairs, television, Apple dock and speakers, shelves holding books on various levels and types of coding and gaming. No posters, though, just empty magnolia painted walls and dark blue blinds at the window. The bed was neat, like immaculate, covers tucked in and pillows arranged just so.

Nathan hesitated as to where to dump his bag until Finn gestured to the desk.

“Let's spread out there,” he said. Nathan sat into one of the chairs, folding his tall frame over the table and emptying out his bag. Finn used a silver ring on his right hand to open two beers and handed one to Nathan.

Nathan couldn't point out that he didn't really like beer. He was in a senior's room and he refused to make a fool of himself. He took the beer.

“Okay,” Finn said, sitting in the chair next to Nathan. ”So where do we start?”

“I do have some ideas,” Nathan offered in a small voice, unsure if he was supposed to be driving this project or as senior partner Finn was hypothetically the boss.

“Well shoot, go for it then, it’s your project, I’m just facilitating.”

Nathan cleared his throat. Finn would think this was a dumb idea. “I’m interested in the coding behind gaming,” Nathan started, kind of nervous, knowing Finn was the game code king on campus.

Finn sat forward with an eager expression on his face. “I’m all ears.”

“Well I have this idea but I’m not sure if A, it is possible, or B, whether or not it is something I should focus on.” Finn listened as Nathan rambled for a good half hour, throwing an idea or a suggestion in here and there, and he didn’t say much.

Finally Nathan stopped talking, and waited.

“Wow,” Finn said. He took a full swig of beer. “Brains as well as beauty.”

“Really?” Nathan asked with a full-on blush.

Finn leaned in. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Very pretty.”

I plan, weekly (Mondays, all being well!), to add to a new blog story here on Love Lane books...

The story is called Then And Now.

Then and Now

The release of Chicago Streets, the follow-up to the hugely successful car racing game Streets, is sabotaged and details leaked to a rival software company.

Nathan Russell, a computer security expert is called in to track down what happened.

When his ex-lover Finn Anderson becomes his prime suspect in this baffling case, just how far will he go to protect the man he'd grown to hate?


HUGS, Rj x

Post #1 | Post #2 | Post #3 | Post #4 | Post #5 | Post #6 | Post #7 | Post #8 | Post #9 (7 December) | Post #10 | Post #11 | Post #12 | Post #13 | Post #14 | Post #15 | Post #16 | Post #17 | Post #18 | Post #19 | Post #20

The master post for this blog story is here.

Then: MIT Fall 2002

When Nathan spotted Finn Anderson for the second time on campus, he was rendered immobile in a combination of shock and lust. Finn was there, right in front of him, with his arms wrapped around another guy, lips hot and locked; going at it like they were filming porn.

Nathan was mesmerised. Watching. Afraid that if one of them didn’t come up for air soon then they would surely suffocate.

The shorter of the two men was, he thought, a guy named Andrew, although it was difficult to tell without getting a clearer look at the face. It was possibly the hottest thing ever. To watch as Finn (he was sure it was Finn Anderson) pushed the other guy against the courtyard wall and rutted against him every inch of his body plastered close. They did come up for air. Only to exchange cuss words before their mouths duelled for dominance and the shorter man arched into Finn. Both apparently close to coming in their jeans if the needy groans were anything to go by.

Nathan had been on campus only two weeks when he first met the senior, Finn Anderson. Partnered with Finn for his mentored project, they’d been formally introduced, exchanged pleasantries, which Nathan managed without making himself look stupid, and Finn had handed over a thick book on coding. And Nathan had questions. Lots of them. That’s the only reason he’d followed Finn to this secluded corner to ask a question. And the impetus to ask that question had vanished from the shock of watching live porn in broad daylight.

Slinking back into the shadows Nathan rounded the corner and jogged to sit behind the nearest tree. He was very glad of the long baggy T-shirt that hid the fact he was sporting wood hard enough to cut through metal. What he’d witnessed was so hot it was definitely going in his wank-bank. Finn was everything that Nathan wanted, all sex and out and promise. Not that Finn would ever look at Nathan, who was entirely the opposite. Nathan was all nerd and gangly and lacking social skills. Probably because he spent more time in cyberspace than he did in the real world.

Nathan pulled out the book from his backpack and tried to make sense of some of the coding rhythms he needed to learn. He slowly forgot Finn as he became engrossed in the strange but secure unchanging world of brackets, numbers and letters. The tempo of them across the page was easier to read than regular English to him.

So engrossed was he in the code that the shadow that fell across him was an irritation rather than a reason to look up and he didn’t even register until a voice made itself known.

“Nathan?” A loud voice cut through his concentration and, blinking into the sunlight, he looked up. Finn.

“Hey,” Nathan said trying not to focus on Finn’s crotch, which to be fair on Nathan wasn’t far above Nathan’s head. Finn smiled and squatted down in front of the MIT newbie that he’d been partnered with. Nathan stared, lost in fathomless silver-gray eyes, waiting for Finn to say something. The silence was uncomfortable, but Nathan could not think of one thing to say.

“So newbie, did you enjoy the show?” Finn indicated with a slow move of his head back to the hidden corner.

Nathan blushed scarlet-red. Fuck. Finn had been aware he’d an audience? Ground, open up and bury me now. He hadn’t felt this embarrassed since Lottie Hyland crept into his room at his twelfth party and flashed her boobs at him. He hadn’t known what to do then and he didn’t know what to do now.

“I…” I’m lost for words. No words. None at all.

“Never mind Nate, these things happen. Was it good for you?” At this Finn cast a casual eye to Nathan’s crotch area, a smirk on his face.

“It wasn’t … I’m not … I’m…”

Finn sighed audibly.

”I’m not gay,” Nathan lied.

“Hmm,” Finn said, deliberately looking from the top of Nathan’s head to his toes and back up again. “Shame,” he said finally.

“Sorry.”  

Sorry? Why am I apologising? And why the fuck did I lie? Probably because he'll think you're getting off on him. Idiot fucking brain.

Finn shrugged. “Whatever dude. You cool?”

Cool with Finn being gay? Of course he was. Love was love, sex was sex, and he was definitely cool. Of course all that came out was a muffled ‘yeah’, Finn looked momentarily disappointed but didn’t say anything, choosing instead to change the subject.

Finn tapped the book. “You getting on okay with that?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Nathan didn’t mention he’d read this book a year back and disagreed with most of the fundamental propositions inside it.

“So we need to meet to plan the mentored project.”

“Yeah,” Nathan confirmed, closing the book and leaning back against the tree. “You’re a man of few words,” Finn observed with an accompanying wry grin. “Thursday, my place, seven,” Taking a pen from his pocket he scribbled an address on Nathan’s hand. ”Bring snacks,” he added.