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Oliver cupped the back of Matt’s head, feeling his soft hair, rougher because of the product in it “I know, babe” It was nothing for Oliver to call him that He used to do it all the ti again

This was Matt letting his guard down Oliver knew he needed to, kneould He also kneouldn’t last Matt was never good at being vulnerable He’d briefly let cracks show in his arain

Just as predicted, a short moment later, Matt pulled back

“Did you guys try to make it work? You and Parker?” Oliver asked “Maybe there’s a chance” If Matt was this broken up about it, he obviously still loved his ex

“No” There was a finality to Matt’s voice It was there, in the bones of his voice, the fact that he and Parker were really over “It was long overdue Toward the end, he ith other men more than he ith me, and I found that I didn’t care I alht place for a while”

Oliver’s blood went cold, ice crystallizing his veins “He cheated on you?” What a piece of shit That was so Oliver would never understand He could never be with soet why people stepped on the feelings of others so easily

“No,” Matt replied softly “I knew about it We had rules in place It worked for us I played too, Ollie, a lot ether with other people”

The twist in Oliver’s gut coiled tighter, crawled into his chest and through his throat Jesus, Matt and Parker had been together for years They lived together, but they fucked and played with other ether and separately? Was that the kind of relationship he wanted?

Oliver didn’t ht then He just stood there looking at thein front of him He’d been fascinated with Matt since the first ti his piano If he were being honest, he’d wanted to know more about Matt even before that

But standing there in that moment was the first time he really understood, truly felt that there was no chance he and Matt would’ve ever been good together They were too different, wanted different things They were an impossibility

Oliver had no proble their lives how they wanted Want an open relationship? Go for it Fuck your way through life? Have at it As long as you were happy, that was all that mattered, so he didn’t look down at Matt because of how he’d lived his life with Parker, but he knew that couldn’t be him It would never be hiht he loved