Page 54 of Brad & Finn
Finn had no idea what he was trying to say.
I like it. I need it. I want to do this forever. But was forever even real? Both of their parents were proof that it wasn’t, for one reason or another.
Brad pressed his chest into Finn’s back and squeezed his butt once before retracting his hand. He collected the photos and laid them out on the table, and before Finn could miss Brad’s hand in his pocket, he wrapped his arm around Finn’s shoulder and wheeled him around the table so their backs were to the rest of the alumni.
He remembered Brad being tactile back in high school. He’d gently slap Finn on the back when they shared a laugh or lean his head on Finn’s shoulder on the bus. This near-constant desire to have an arm or a hand on Finn was new, though, and he couldn’t say he minded.
Hell, if he tried to say anything other than that he was eating it up like a starving man finding food in the desert, he’d be downright lying.
“So, here’s my idea,” Brad said. “Since you hate your yearbook photo, there’s no reason why you, me, Chloe, and her mom should keep it as is. I thought we could tape these photos over top of it, so we have a real picture of you instead.”
Every single train of thought in Finn’s head stopped running. The conductors deboarded, and there was no hope of them moving anytime in the foreseeable future.
Brad’s fingers tightened on his shoulder. “If…that’s okay with you, of course. If you hate the photos, we can take more, or if you’re tired of taking pictures in general, we don’t have to do this at all.”
Finn swallowed thickly and counted to ten as he slowly fought to say something. Anything. “Wh…why are there seven?” was what he finally managed.
Brad picked up the first photo. “Well, this one was to get you warmed up and to make sure the camera worked. We can put it in your yearbook over another photo if you want.”
Finn shrugged, barely able to lift Brad’s heavy arm an inch. He looked at the other six photos and picked up the second one, where he was biting his lip, his eyes glancing askance at the camera. “We definitely can’t put this in anyone’s yearbook.”
Brad took the photo from his hand, almost reverently. “No. I was actually planning on keeping this one for myself.”
Finn didn’t think anyone had ever done such a good job of capturing him in a photo. Everything he felt was clearly written across his face. Finn had never liked photos of himself, for a multitude of reasons, but this one felt different.
Not only had Brad been the one to capture the photo, but he also wanted to keep it for himself. He wanted to take those parts of Finn home, and maybe—just maybe—he would want to take Finn home as well.
They both turned to look at each other, and this time there was no almost collision. They leaned in, completely in sync, and their lips met in a tender kiss. Finn lifted his hand to cup his beloved cameraman's face. He’d always seen Finn for who he was, and these pictures were the final proof of that.
“Thank you,” he whispered for the second time in less than an hour. “I had no idea you saw me this way—or any way other than as your former high school bestie.”
Brad absently rubbed his bristled cheek against Finn’s palm. “I think I’ve always been looking, but you’ve never truly let me see you until this weekend. I should be thanking you for inviting me into your hotel room and back into your life.”
Finn couldn’t help but smile as he thought of the faded logo that hung behind the hotel check-in desk. “I hope you’ll stay a while.”
Brad’s eyes widened, and he swooped down and stole all of Finn’s thoughts, his worries, and his next breath with a toe-curling kiss.
They spent the next fifteen minutes taping the photos into Finn and Brad’s yearbooks. When they waved Chloe over, she shrieked with laughter at the two sassy photos of Finn for her and her mom. They signed each other's yearbooks, and Finn signed one for Mrs. Abernathy but not Ms. Willson. Maybe one day he’d get to meet her officially, but today was not the time.
They needed to get ready for prom, which started in a little over three hours. As they walked back to Chloe’s car, Brad asked if he could get a ride with Chloe to her house because he’d forgotten his wallet there that morning. Chloe tried to protest, saying she could bring it with her, but he said he needed to run an errand, and all his credit cards were in there.
Finn offered to walk to the hotel, so they didn’t have to drop him off. Brad and Chloe exchanged a loaded look before Chloe nodded and waved goodbye to Finn as she headed down the hill to her car. Finn raised his hand to wave to Brad, holding his now precious yearbook to his chest, but Brad stalked over to him and wrapped him up in a bear hug.
Finn was pretty sure his yearbook was stabbing Brad in the solar plexus, and Brad’s yearbooks were jabbing Finn in the ribs, but he didn’t try to adjust or pull away. He buried his face in Brad’s neck, planting a soft kiss on that scar from football.
“I’ll see you soon?” Brad asked.
Finn nodded and clung twice as hard to his yearbook as he turned to head back to the hotel. Maybe he would get to keep more than memories after all.
9
BRAD
“Seriously,Chlo, I thought I was going to have to deploy Morse code,” Brad said, yanking his seatbelt across his chest.
“It’s not my fault you’re horrible at eyeball communication,” she said as she threw the car into drive, and they lurched out of the parking lot. “Next time, blink twice or something.”
“Okay, well, just to make sure we’re on the same page, I’m planning to prompose to Finn.”
