Finn wasn't sure if Ripley was going to bolt or not. He wasn't even sure which he would have been more surprised by. This was all new territory for him, a confession that he had never thought would ever pass his lips ever again in his lifetime. But there was no reason not to say it, not to be honest, not to give Ripley every opportunity to decide whether or not he could still handle this. If he left now, if he called off everything, it would have been devastating, but it wasn't fair to either of them for him not to just admit what he'd been thinking and feeling out loud.
He watched Ripley carefully for a reaction, but none came immediately, unless dead silence and stillness amounted to one. When he finally moved, it seemed like he was going to say something, but no words were spoken.
And maybe that was just fine, because as Finn started to feel thin tendrils of panic clutching at his insides, what came next was the most ideal solution. Pulled into a desperate kiss, he opted to give as good as he was receiving, freed hand moving to glide along the side of the other man's waist, only to rest there. When the kiss was broken (for whatever brief time that might be), he could only think of one thing to say.
"I hope that means you're still okay with this."
enoh love
