Chapter Text
It started with a one off question: “Hey, have you guys ever been racing?”
It was what Percy had asked OKN while they were crowded together in the small living room watching Fast and Furious.
Now the entire Harvard hockey team was crowded around a renting booth for the nearest race track they could find. It was a dirt track, and dirt cheap too, so long as you had a car.
Currently, Logan was staring at Finn, leaning against the chain link fence around the track and talking to Will and Percy about something or the other, probably what they were going to do for the upcoming summer. The late afternoon sunlight hit Finn, backlighting him and making him glow like a god.
Logan on the other hand, was standing with some of the other guys a little further back and away from the fence. He was also completely checked out of whatever conversation they were having.
That was until a hand was waved repeatedly over his eyes and Cole beside him said, “Yo, Logan! Earth to Logan!”
“Quoi?” Logan questioned, eyes snapping away from Finn and meeting Cole’s, “What’d you need?”
“Just wondering if you wanted to drive first or not,” Cole said, pointing towards the cars lined up on the track. Logan remembered someone noting that they only had about 12 cars between the twenty guys that ended up going.
“Oh,” Logan laughed, hands reaching up to fiddle with his hat, “I-”
“He can’t drive!” A voice chirped from the fence. Logan turned his head up to see Finn walking towards them. A warm, late spring breeze tossed Finn’s hair into his face, and he pushed it away quickly, shooting Logan a deadly smile.
Deadly not because it was sinister, but because it was fucking gorgeous. Because it flipped Logan’s stomach into a million knots.
“Why’d you come then, man?” Nolan Ari, a freshman winger, asked, sidling to the side to make room for Finn in the circle.
“Figured I’d fuck around here instead of being lonely at OKN,” Logan replied, shrugging.
“Hey,” Finn remarked, “don’t worry about Ten here, NOLA. He’s riding with me anyway.” He’d said it so casually, as if it didn’t make Logan’s heart stop.
“Are we going to race or not, boys?” Percy’s voice called from back at the fence.
A cheer arose from the circle and soon twenty college hockey players were sprinting towards the track and piling into various trucks and cars.
Finn grabbed Logan’s hand as they ran, pulling him faster towards Finn’s old stick shift that he took such pride in driving. Finn’s face was alight with elation that Logan couldn’t help but match as dust and dirt kicked up around them in clouds.
They reached the car at top speed and Finn ended up smacking into the side like he did when he was speeding on the ice, slamming into the boards without a care in the world. A brief fear spiked through Logan, remembering Finn’s concussion only a few months ago, but it faded at Finn’s loud laugh and scream to get in.
Logan, instead of going around, hopped and skid over the hood, drawing another whoop from Finn. He pulled the handle of the door much too hard and landed breathing hard, heart racing, in the shotgun seat. When he turned, his eyes met with the brown eyes turned gold in the light of Finn O’Hara, mouth pulled into a bright smile and cheeks flushed beautifully red.
Logan’s heart may have skipped a beat, maybe even a few as they were caught in this racing speed of a moment, just to find each other in the sudden stillness. And, merde, if it wasn’t the most beautiful thing Logan had ever seen.
Logan turned away so he wouldn’t cross the five inches and kiss Finn hard, and noticed Percy’s car already speeding down the track, dust billowing from the tires. “Allez! Allez! Allez!” Logan cried.
“Yup,” Finn answered sheepishly, and in milliseconds shifted the car into drive. He stepped on the gas and they were off, tearing past the other cars that hadn’t managed to get started in time.
A shout ripped its way out of Logan’s throat and Finn screamed back with his own. Logan’s stomach was miles behind them as they sped through Percy’s dust, his heart couldn’t even pound quick enough to match whatever speed Finn had gotten up to in less than five seconds.
“YES, BABY, LETS GO!” Finn screamed as he rounded the first curve, skidding for a throttling second before roaring back onto the straights.
Finn’s hands did some form of magic around the gear stick, and Logan heard a myriad of clicks within the engine. Whatever he had done had worked because they tore down the straight, then Finn’s hands blurred again and they were speeding effortlessly through another curve. A laugh burst through Logan’s chest at the same moment as Finn.
Logan couldn’t look away from Finn, his face, his hands. The pure bliss etched into every line of his face, the tedious yet practiced perfection he used the gear shift the same way he handled a stick and puck on the ice. The complete confidence in every movement he made. It was chaos and complete control melded into something Logan could only describe as so very Finn. It filled Logan’s chest, pouring adrenaline fueled joy into every inch of him.
Logan cried out again in joy and this time Finn joined him. They were both shouting at the top of their lungs when they passed Percy’s truck. Logan rolled down the window quickly to stick out his middle finger as they went from eating Percy’s dust to Percy eating theirs. “EAT SHIT, BITCH!” Finn screamed, eyes not leaving the road for a moment.
Finn slammed on the breaks, taking a sharp turn to the left, hands changing the gears with incredible speed and grace. Logan watched as Finn’s face morphed from elation to concentration, brow furrowing and eyes narrowing. Logan was transfixed on the tip of Finn’s tongue that had popped out quickly, pressing into the corner of his mouth. It was so damn hot.
Logan’s doubt, fear, anger was left behind the minute Finn had grabbed his hand, and now there was only Finn. How everything he did made Logan's heart beat faster, too fast. His mind was a broken record, playing, Finn, Finn, Finn, Finn, Finn, Finn, on never ceasing repeat. Logan couldn’t find a fathomable reason to stop it. He didn’t want to.
Not as Finn shouted, “WE’RE WINNING, LOGAN!” His mind switched to Finn’s voice calling his name.
“YOU’RE WINNING, HARZ!” Logan shouted back. Logan clutched onto the upper handle in the car as they swung around another curve. He glanced back for a moment to see the other cars far in their tracks. Then they were laughing again, and it didn’t matter that they were going 70 mph down a dirt track. It was just them two in the world, laughing and screaming and living. Void of all that held them back, left behind to make room for this happiness, this love.
Logan decided that's what it was. What it always had been. Speeding down a racetrack, going to fast for the world to catch up, Logan decided then and there he loved Finn. Hard and true, unfailingly, terrifyingly in love with one Finn O’Hara. Maybe, Logan considered as he screamed and laughed with him, Finn O’Hara loved him, too.
Logan simply gazed at Finn as they lapped and lapped the track, dust billowing around them and wind whipping around the car. Eventually, his voice cracked from the screaming and shouting, but Logan didn’t care. He shouted through whatever rasp was coming out, it truly didn’t matter. Just Logan and Finn. Finn and Logan. That was all that mattered.
They passed the starting line for the final time and Finn was slamming on the breaks. As they came to a stop on the side of the track, dust blocking off their view of the others, Finn met Logan’s stare.
Finn was glowing, eyes wide and bright, cheeks flushed bright and hair falling, framing his face perfectly. His lips were parted slightly, Logan wanted to taste them.
Logan was already halfway across the armrest before Finn was there, too, meeting him halfway. Eyes closed, their lips crashed together in a blaze of adrenaline. His lips were soft, and Logan crushed them as he pressed his hands into Finn’s hair, pulling him impossibly closer.
God, it was everything Logan could have ever wished for. Spiking heat through his chest, head going dizzy like he was drunk. He felt like he was drunk, drunk on Finn. All of him filled with the crystal clear yet fuzzy buzz of the man he was clutching desperately.
Their mouths slid against each other, Finn’s teeth scraping Logan’s lips and nipping. It melted Logan’s insides, setting them on fire which he put into every push and pull of Finn’s head. His chest burned for air, but he knew the moment he pulled away this would end. Logan never wanted this to end.
He kissed Finn like his life depended on it, fire in every movement.
There was the sound of an incoming engine behind them and Logan snapped back quickly. It was a sickening dread that pushed into Logan’s stomach as the fear he’d left behind for mere minutes ago returned. Logan watched helplessly as Finn’s mouth tried to chase Logan, but came up empty. It broke Logan’s heart.
His chest pounded, heart racing still from adrenaline. Finn pulled back into his seat, arms pulling away from Logan. It took everything in him not to grab Finn again and pull him back in just to rid him of the crestfallen look on his face. Instead, Logan forced a smile, a laugh, and unbuckled while shoving the door open quickly.
He didn’t step onto the ground, but rather jumped onto the top of the car. He rolled, sliding down Finn’s side. He landed weird on his ankle and Logan rolled to break the fall, and he heard Finn laugh from inside the car as Logan popped back up.
“Mon roi de la course!” Logan said as he opened the door. He bowed down to Finn as he stepped out onto the road, arm going around his waist and legs crossing in a formal bow.
Finn laughed again, it sounded painfully forced, but Logan didn’t look up. “Don’t speak French, idiot!” Finn snarked as Logan pulled back up. Logan didn’t meet his eyes, gazing past towards Percy, whose truck had stopped right next to theirs.
Logan rounded back on Finn, “Where the fuck did you learn to drive like that, Rouge?”
Finn’s chuckle was more genuine this time, “Just a talent, I guess,” and he shrugged like nothing had ever happened.
Logan knew it was the only thing either of them could do. So he answered like nothing had happened, like he would normally, “Well it was absolutely incredible!” Logan reached up and tousled Finn’s hair slightly, partly because he couldn’t stop himself from just touching, partly to cover the spiking evidence of Logan’s kiss.
“Hell yeah it was, Harz!” Percy called from where he was hopping out of his car, “But that’s not just a fucking natural talent!”
More cars pulled up, kicking up wave after wave of dust. People spilled out of cars, laughing. They surrounded Finn, sweeping him away and separating him from Logan in a large crowd. Maybe that’s for the better, some dark part of Logan’s mind whispered. His heart was still going a million miles an hour just looking at Finn; furthermore, he could still feel Finn’s lips on his own in some torturous phantom touch.
Logan’s mind went a million different places, but he was anywhere but there when a roar arrose from the group, crying “REMATCH!”
He definitely heard it when Jordan MacEllen, one of the other Juniors, called, “I’m with Finn this time!” He ran over to the car and hopped in right where Logan had been sitting.
Logan felt a clap on his back, and turned to see Percy, “Well, since this one has to be a passenger princess, he’s with me this time!” Percy winked, “Must be some sort of good luck charm for Finn to win on just ‘natural talent.’”
“Probably that fleur de lis he’s got ‘round that pretty neck of his, Perc!” Finn quipped back, moving back towards the front seat of his car, “Also I never said it was natural, you put words into my mouth.” It was Finn’s turn to wink at Logan, and Logan may have died on the spot.
Logan shot him a smile, and winked back. The image of Finn’s smile fading was stuck to the backs of his eyes as he climbed into the passenger seat of Percy’s truck, and they lined up to race again.