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“Oh crap, are you actually out?”
    “Yeah,” Jonah said, and repossessed Callum’s hand. “You?”
    Callum laughed. “Dude, you know me. I don’t think I could stay in the closet if I tried. Well, I did try, obviously, but I still managed to out myself in front of the whole rugby team in Year Ten.”
    Jonah winced.
    “Nah, it was fine in the end. I only got into a few fights, and most people were kind of cool with it. And, y’know, the dude’s girlfriend was a mate of mine, and she forgave me because she thought it was funny, and then I had all the girls on my side.”
    “And your family?”
    “Oh, Mum didn’t care. I think she was just glad that I wasn’t going to get any girl pregnant. Yours?”
    “We don’t really talk much,” Jonah said with a shrug. He didn’t think about them very often.
    “Hey, I’ve been trying to get Mum to adopt you since we were nine. She still wonders what you’re doing, you know.”
    “Callum,” Jonah said firmly, squeezing his hand. “I don’t want to be your brother.”
    Callum stopped dead and spun round to face him, taking a step closer. They were heading across the cathedral green, along one of the treelined avenues, and the orange light of the streetlights fell through the bare branches to illuminate the curve of his cheek, his mouth as he wet his lips, his dark eyes. “This is weird, isn’t it? I mean, it’s good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s weird too. I can’t work out how to do this.”
    Jonah wanted to kiss him. He would have done, if they’d been anywhere less public. Instead, he just reached up and touched Callum’s jaw, feeling the rasp of stubble against his fingertips. It made him shiver, and Callum drew a sharp breath. Jonah breathed in too, and said, “I think we just have to see how it goes. There’s no rush, is there?”
    Callum turned his head a little so his lips brushed Jonah’s palm. “I don’t want you to disappear again.”
    “I won’t.”
    “What if this doesn’t go anywhere?”
    It will , Jonah thought, but he didn’t want to scare Callum off. He tried to think, which was hard with Callum pressing tiny, fragile kisses between his fingers and making his head swim. “Then we just try it. Tonight. Like, a trial run, and if it doesn’t work out, that’s that. Callum, that’s really distracting.”
    “Yeah?” Callum murmured, and his voice had gone rough and husky.
    Jonah swallowed hard and said, a little weakly, “Don’t start something you can’t finish in public.”
    “I want to kiss you.”
    Self-control had never been so hard. “Kissing comes after the date.”
    Even in the dim light, he saw Callum’s incredulous grin. “Depends who you’re dating, doesn’t it?” And he tugged on Jonah’s arm, pulling him off the path and into the shadows. A moment later, they were pressed against a lime tree, and Callum’s mouth was warm against Jonah’s.
    The air was crisp around them, the frost already settling, and the warmth of that kiss spread slowly through Jonah, making him cling to Callum to get more. It settled in his gut as a flare of longing, and made his fingers shake where they were knotted in Callum’s jacket. He poured himself back into the kiss, never wanting it to end.
    It was Callum who broke it in the end, dropping his forehead down against Jonah’s shoulder. “Damn. That was meant to take the edge off.”
    He was shaking slightly against Jonah, his body a sturdy line of heat. Jonah let his hands drift, tucking a loose curl back behind Callum’s ear and rubbing at the tension in his shoulders.
    “Okay, so I know we’re not going to shag on the cathedral green in December, because even for me that’s a bad idea, but I really, really don’t think I can kiss you again without wanting to get you naked.”
    “Mmm.”
    “Jonah?”
    “Callum,” Jonah sighed.
    Callum took a slightly worried breath. “Jonah, did I break you?”
    “You didn’t break me,” Jonah said, and wrapped his arms around