"Yes. Yes it does. And . . . I think this one might not." 

"Yes. We put all the bad people on the Isle and now there are only good people."

"And you have a better afterlife, and lots of kinds of people, and some of them have magic . . . " He trails off, looking like he wants to say something else but can't.

"Yeah."

Kaleva should maybe participate in this conversation more but his head is being petted and that makes things hard to process.

Bruce doesn't get any better at saying whatever it was he wasn't saying and starts reading one of the magic books instead.

Some days pass and Kaleva is the happiest he has ever been, probably because he has a friend.

Kaleva can hold Bruce whenever he wants to, and he wants to kind of a lot; he hasn't been touched by much of anyone in the past eight years and this is a problem he wants to fix immediately. Kaleva and Bruce read books together and go on long walks talking. Jesusland is terrible and hearing about it gives Kaleva an ache in his heart; he wants Bruce to be safe and okay. At night, when Bruce has a nightmare, Kaleva holds him and sings until he goes to sleep, and then usually watches his face for a little while before drifting off himself.

There are a few lessons Kaleva does not successfully avoid, but Bruce seems to be okay reading books during them. 

Bruce is the most interesting and important person in the world and Kaleva would do anything to make him happy.

Bruce reads, and holds Kaleva; he hasn't been touched much either and it's so nice to have a friend he can casually hug. At night he goes to the window to look at the stars and think about how big and wonderful the world is. He's the happiest he's ever been, because he has a friend and because the more he reads the more he thinks he might be safe here. He's learning more from the library than he ever did in lessons; the constant dread was making it hard to pay attention and now he has so much more room to think.

He never ever wants to go back; his parents will miss him but if they knew the whole story they would understand. Even better, Kaleva understands. He knows Bruce for who he really is, like nobody ever has before, and wants to spend time with him and wants him to be happy. Kaleva is an amazingly good and kind and clever person and Bruce can't imagine a better first human to have met in this new world.

And then one night Bruce wakes up to an asleep Kaleva clutching him and making whimpering noises. His dick is hard.

That happens when you're a teenage boy and asleep. Bruce does the polite thing and shifts away a bit and wonders why this feels like a much bigger deal than an accidental glimpse of junk in the locker room. Probably because Kaleva is alseep and it's ruder to invade someone's privacy in their sleep. He runs a hand over Kaleva's shoulder and mumurs, "Shh, everything is fine."

Kaleva whimpers and says, "Bruce, Bruce--"

"I'm right here," he says softly. Kavela doesn't seem to be having a nightmare, just talking in his sleep, so Bruce doesn't try to wake him up.

"Bruce," Kaleva says, and his mouth becomes an O and he gasps and then he cuddles up right next to Bruce, still asleep.

Weird. He wonders what Kaleva was dreaming about; it seems plausible that he was a character in it. Bruce rolls over and goes back to sleep.

In the morning Kaleva wakes up to discover that he has had one of the Nice Dreams where he's touching people and then wakes up with soiled pants, and (he recalls vaguely) the person he was touching was Bruce. It probably makes sense. He's cuddling Bruce all the time during the day, of course he'd cuddle him in dreams.

Kaleva gets up to deal with his pants, puts on a clean pair, and then returns for Morning Snuggles.

Bruce is confused why you would change pants when you're just going to get back into . . . Oh.

What on Earth is he supposed to say about this. "I think you might be having sinful dreams but sin may or may not have any consequences?" "I'm sorry for tempting you to unnatural lust?" Nothing, and hope Kaleva doesn't remember anything? He's a lot more tense than he usually is during cuddles.

"...is everything okay?"

"Did you . . . have any odd dreams last night?" If he doesn't remember then Bruce can blame the question on his own dream-addled memory and try to forget all about it.

"Um. Not really? I guess dreams are always kind of odd."

"Okay." 

Argh, he feels dishonest now. 

"You said my name in your sleep a couple times; wondered if I was in your dream. I guess if you don't remember then we'll never know." That's a bit more honest, at least. It's not like he knows anything for sure. Sometimes people talk in their sleep and it has nothing to do with their dreams. It's none of Bruce's business and the fact that he's acting like it is reflects poorly on him. He forces himself to relax and act like nothing is weird.

"Um. I dreamed about touching you? Which makes sense because we cuddle all the time?"

Kaleva does NOT want to have a discussion about mysterious disgusting bodily fluids thank you. 

"Yeah, makes sense." See, it was a totally normal dream. Bruce needs to stop having thoughts about Kaleva having impure thoughts, that's a step on the road to having impure thoughts himself and Kaleva deserves better than that.

"So, what do you want to do today?"

"It's getting colder, we could go in the sauna?"

"Okay," he says before he processes the sentence, since any change of topic is a good one. "Uh, if you have a second bathing suit, I guess." He's been borrowing Kaleva's clothes for lack of money and an identity with which to buy new ones; they don't fit super well but if anyone's noticed the increased laundry throughput they haven't said anything.

"...bathing suit?"

"Uh, clothes you wear for swimming? Or is a sauna not a kind of swimming pool? Honestly it's pretty lucky we speak the same language at all; both of our worlds have lots of 'em."