It’s awfully sweet, the cautious concern of it. Neil lets himself feel a little bright and heady from it, let’s himself glow that it matters. He’s been a bit caught up in making sure this is good for Steve, after all. He knows it’s good for him.

Reluctantly, he takes his hand off Steve, and lays back for a moment so it’s easy to open his jeans and slither out of them. He’s taken to boxer briefs in place if the tight white briefs he tended toward back home, more comfortable and long-legged things that he liked as much for the models on the package as for the comfort of them.

For a second he stays sprawled in his shirt and underwear, looking up at Steve, longing.