Page 71 of Uncharted

“No,” he said quickly. “It’s just fun to see the differences in how we think about things.”

“I think about things?” I asked with a grin.

“Quit it,” he said, adjusting the strap of the rifle on his back before wrapping his arm around mine. “You’re not stupid. And you don’t have to play the idiot around me, Jake.”

I opened my mouth, but thought better of it. “Yeah, you’re right. Still not the brightest.”

“I don’t need you to be a genius, and I don’t need you to play the fool with me either. I just need you to be you,” he said with a sigh.

Someone who can look at you, who…sees you, and doesn’t want you to be anythin’ more than ya are, my mother whispered in the back of my mind.

“Is that why ya dragged me out into the middle of the woods? To tell me to be myself?” I asked, finally asking, if only to settle the nerves making my guts squirm from the moment he said he wanted to walk and talk a couple of hours before.

I’d gone with him, of course; there was no other choice but to follow him wherever he wanted to go. The fact of the matter was, I had told myself that if I wasn’t careful, I was going to fall in love with my best friend. When in reality, that hadn’t been inevitable; it had already happened, and I just hadn’t realized it.

I’d only been in love a couple of times in my life, and love made me a helpless creature. With Reno though, I was more helpless than with anyone, even my mother. So if he wanted to drag me out into the woods to talk, where I might get my heart broken, then I would follow him to the edge of the earth to feel that pain.

“No,” he said with a snort. “I told you we were going to talk, and soon.”

True, but I didn’t think it would be twenty-four hours later. He’d been so back and forth, and all over the place, I hadn’t expected him to jump to conclusions so quickly. Then again, I guess he had been sitting on it for so long that when he was finally ready to jump; he was going to jump.

“Sure,” I said. “So, uh…what’s up?”

He snorted again. “Seriously?”

“Well, I kinda know what ya wanna talk about, but this is your show, so ya should probably step into the spotlight,” I told him, knowing it was true but feeling like a coward for forcing him to step up instead of starting things myself.

“That’s totally fair,” Reno said, and despite trying to, I couldn’t see what he was thinking. I wanted to believe, and was leaning toward believing that he wasn’t about to end all shenanigans and whatever else went with it, but where there was a chance of things going wrong, it was best not to get too comfortable. “I’ve been dragging my feet long enough; I should start sucking it up and get to it.”

“Ya don’t have to act like that,” I told him, my hip bumping into his side and making him step slightly away. I didn’t blame him; I wasn’t exactly able to wield a rifle, so Xander had let me take the only pistol in the outpost. Originally, rifles were the only firearms we had, but he’d made a good case that while yes, rifles were best for wildlife, considering the other problems we could have in the area, a handgun worked better for more human problems. “Ya know I⁠—”

“I know you’ve been patient and understanding with me. And you’ve been both things far longer than has been fair to you. And don’t argue with me either,” he said, tacking on the last bit when he saw my mouth open. His head pivoted to the side, and he looked deep into the woods with a frown for a moment before looking at me again. “And I’m damned grateful that you’ve been giving me a grace period, although you seemed to get into your stride before I even figured out I wanted to walk.”

Okay, well, I guess I had got comfortable with the change between us before him, long before him, if he was even comfortable. Sure, he had got comfortable enough to bottom for me, and instead of a gap, he had woken me up yesterday with a blowjob. Not that I was arguing, but it was a sign that something had definitely shifted internally for him.

That had to be a good sign, right?

“And look, I’d be lying if I said I’m not still a little,” he reached up to his head and wiggled his hand back and forth rapidly. “Screwy. But after talking to Xander⁠—”

“Holy fuck,” I choked. “Ya talked to Xander about us?”

“Um, sort of?” he said, looking nervous. “I mean, I didn’t go into details…except that one time.”

“What one time?”

“I really don’t want to relive that brain fart on my part. And I’m pretty sure he would prefer that I forget all about it because I’m sure he’s doing his best to.”

“What did you say?”

Reno grimaced. “I was rambling, and I’d been doing so well at avoiding going into the gory details. But then I blurted out how I basically sucked you off in the shower.”

I stared at him before tipping my head back and laughing. “Are you serious?”

“Don’t make it worse!” he hissed, stepping away from me after hitting me on my right arm. “Fucker.”

“Ow, that actually hurt,” I said in wonder. It wasn’t as if Reno was weak, but it wasn’t often he tried to land a blow that actually stung. “Mean.”

“Get rid of the pout,” he said, jabbing a finger at me. “You earned that.”