“How about we celebrate?” Finn starts, making his way over to a giant wine cabinet tucked into a corner of the kitchen. These are where all of his special, more expensive bottles reside- a special bottle for a special occasion. “Just the two of us.”

“Ah- I’ve never drunk wine before,” Nik admits, scratching the back of his head. Finn watches as Nik’s hands move quickly through his hair, unwinding the strands of hair from their braid and bringing it back up into a bun again. Finn is impressed with how efficiently Nik can change his hairstyle.

“It’s classy!" Finn comments with way too much enthusiasm in his tone. “Classy for all classes. You know, I’ve had box wine before, it’s not bad.”

That gets Nik to laugh and Finn feels a wave of relief wash over him. He makes his way towards the drawer that has his bottle opener before he pops the cork out easily. He tries to tell himself he wasn’t just showing off, but the small smirk on Nik’s face makes Finn think the other man saw right through him.

“I’ve always been curious about wine. It’s just... Alcoholic grape juice, no?” Nik asks, his gaze glued to the bottle. Finn sets down two wine glasses on the counter before he began to pour the dark, red liquid into the glasses. A memory flashes against his eyelids and he immediately clears it away. No use getting all worked up tonight.

“Something like that,” he says, picking up the two glasses. He swings around and walks over to Nik, gently handing him the other glass as he takes a sip of his own.

Finn watches as Nik brings the glass to his lips, looking over the rim and making eye contact with Finn. He shuts his eyes and takes a sip.

“Ewwwwww,” Nik sputters, placing the glass on the counter and sticking his tongue out of his mouth as if that will help him get away from the taste. “That’s disgusting, how can you drink that?”

Finn blanches at the question, an almost incredulous laugh working in his throat. “Wine’s the thing you can’t handle? When I met you, you were downing shots like it was nobody’s business.”

Nik’s cheeks flare at the comment and he’s running his hands through his hair again, pulling it out of it’s bun and letting it fester around his shoulders. He shakes his head, the strands bouncing around him before he stills and sighs, a mess of hair in his face.

“Habits,” he mumbles, seeing Finn staring at him. Finn swallows hard against the lump in his throat, fighting the sudden overwhelming urge to run his hands through the other man’s hair. Funny, seeing as he’d never had the urge to do that to any of his other friends.

“How long have you been growing it out for?” Finn asks instead.

Nik thinks. “6 years, maybe? Could be longer.”

“Wow,” Finn says, genuinely in shock that someone could take care of hair of that length. He brings his own hand up to hair and runs it through, feeling it snap back into place. “I usually get mine cut every month.”

Nik smiles with no teeth and brushes the remaining hair out of his face. He looks as if he’s remembering something, but Finn doesn’t push the idea any harder. Instead, he finishes off his glass of wine (along with Nik’s) and stretches, exhaustion suddenly gripping him.

“I think I’m off; got work in the morning,” he says through a yawn, before it dawns on him that Nik doesn’t have a place to sleep. Shit.

“Do you have a guest bedroom…?” Nik asks, seemingly thinking the same thing as Finn.

“About that… It’s a long story. Look, uh, the couch is comfortable for now. If you are okay with that for a few days, we’ll go shopping and get you an actual bed over the weekend. All on me. Sound fair?” Finn holds his hands out in tentative thumbs up, a question on his face. He feels horrible; how did this manage to slip his mind?

“I can do that,” Nik agrees, his throat working, jaw clenching, surprising Finn. Nik also looks exhausted, too much having gone on that day to warrant any disagreements. Finn sees Nik bite his lip, looking down to the ground. He wants to reach out a hand, but it doesn’t feel right. He doesn’t feel he’s allowed.

“Well… the guest bathroom is down the hall, you can change there,” he says, making his way out of the kitchen. Why does he feel so bad? “My couch is comfy, you’ll sleep like a baby!”

Finn makes his way to his own bedroom, putting his head in his hands and rubbing it hard. He clears his head of any guilty feeling as he steps into his personal bathroom, cranking the heat of the shower to its highest setting.

The water is scolding when he steps into the shower, letting the pain wash over him in waves as he tries to clear his head; the problem will be fixed soon if Nik has a problem at all. Finn was only trying to help, but… why didn’t he do more?

He could do so much more for Nik, and yet he’d already managed to talk himself out of most of it. It was an absolute wonder that Nik was living under the same roof as him now.

But did Finn have any right to do that in the first place? If Nik had gotten the opportunity to say no, would he have?

Finn tries to turn the knob more but it’s already at its highest setting. He sighs and lets the water wash away everything he is. Nik is different, he knows that already. Finn doesn’t know why, or how, just that he is.

Maybe he’s just curious.

Maybe that’s it.

Maybe that’s all.