A Foster Boyfriend

These characters were last seen here.

“Something on your mind?”
Monty blinked and glanced up, then his gaze returned to his gently steaming coffee. “Oh. Yeah, I guess. I…”
He sighed and gave up on finding the perfect words. “I’ve realised I’m not in love with you. Which, normally that’s not something I’d just say, but… you already knew, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah.” Dan leant over and kissed Monty’s forehead. The gesture felt strangely fatherly, given how many times Monty’s dick had been between those lips.
Monty gratefully scooted close and rested his cheek on Dan’s shoulder. Relieved to have that voiced. Deeply relieved that Dan hadn’t been angry, or offended. But… “Why do I feel bad about it?”
“What?”
“Not being in love with you.”
“Uh… I guess you feel like you should be?”
“Hm.” Monty rolled the concept around. “Oh. Yeah, given we had, like, the perfect rescue romance meet and everything-”
“I wouldn’t say I rescued you!” Dan protested. “That sounds so…”
“Rescued as in, found a shivering stray cat under your friend’s porch during a party.”
“That…” Dan pulled a face, clearly not a fan of this framing but unable to deny it.
Monty grinned into his coffee.
Did finding someone’s wrinkled nose deliciously adorable mean you were in love with them? Or did it just mean they looked adorable with their face scrunched up? Monty was slowly getting comfortable with the fact he might never know.
Dan rubbed his face and muttered “Well, if you really wanna use that framing… I did always think of this as more, I dunno, a foster than… Like, you clearly weren’t in a good place, and you totally deserved a lovely forever home, I just didn’t feel like that was gonna be with me. Y’know? But… I thought I could help you get there. At least a bit.”
“And you did.” Monty slipped a hand into Dan’s and squeezed. “You so did. That’s… kinda what made me realise. Is that stupid?”
“Uh, probably not?” Dan tilted his head. “What did…?”
Monty stared up at the ceiling. Scraping the train of thought together. “When I got that promotion, walking home, I was feeling top of the world. And I knew you’d be happy for me. And I just… I was tallying up my new money, and what I had, and thought ‘I should move out soon’. That stopped me dead tryna figure out why I’d think that. Why I’d want to move out.”
“Ah.” Dan squeezed Monty’s hand with a soft smile.
“And I realised that while I’m happy with you - I am! - I’m not… it’s…” Monty trailed off, the lack of right words escaping in a frustrated huff.
“Yeah. I know.”
Was there any sweeter moment than someone grasping a concept you couldn’t package up? It was a gentle, sublime kind of heady. Being understood.
“So, you looking at one of those new solo flats? Closer to work?”
“Yeah. In the affordable build. They look basic but nice. It’ll let me figure out where I want to be going, at least.”
“Well, no rush from me, but once you’re ready the gang will help you move. I mean… we’re still gonna be friends, right?”
“Hell yeah!” Monty threw an arm around Dan’s shoulders. “I’m never gonna forget this, man. I mean it. Consider me your, like, permanent reference for random guys you adopt.”
“Pfft.” Dan shoved him, though not hard enough to break the embrace. “I’m not planning on making a habit out of it!”
“Maybe you should. Seems you’re a natural.” Monty planted a loud smooch on Dan’s cheek. Not sure he’d managed to make it ‘just-friend-y’ enough. This was new territory. It was going to take getting used to. “And hey, I can put in a good word for you for standard boyfriending.”
“Then we’re gonna need to work on your wingmanning.” Dan ruffled Monty’s hair and laughed. It really was almost fatherly. “Tell you what. Lets start by checking out some of the bars near where you’re looking at. Make sure they’re ready for the likes of you rocking up.”
“Hell yeah!”
“And… I just wanna say…” Dan hesitated, slotting the words together. “I’m really glad I met you. I’ve had fun dating you. Sure, it was never gonna be forever, but… it was beautiful. And I’m so happy that you’re doing better now.”
Monty smiled and hugged Dan tight. “Back at you. A million times.”
He downed his coffee and got up to put a fresh round of drinks on. It was his turn, after all. And, whatever they were now, for now, he lived here.