14

Standing in line together, Winston peeks up at Jason approximately every three seconds. He can't help paying attention to Jason's eyes, the long line of his throat, the way his lips bend when he smiles. His throat feels almost parched, Winston realizes.

They already have their tickets, his own nearly a crinkled mess in his hands. He glances at Jason again, and this time Jason is looking back at him.

Winston squeaks; can't help it. Jason's undivided attention is intoxicating---and terrifying.

Jason smiles at him. "You good?" he asks, tilting his head a little and looking Winston over. Winston, in turn, slides his eyes down over Jason's chest (it's thick and wide and his muscles are bulging through his shirt ever since he removed his thin jacket when they got inside). Jason's smile grow, and Winston lets out a startled peep.

"Good," Winston force out through stiff lips and a stiffer tongue. He tries to smile, "I'm good."

"I'm glad," says Jason, and then he winks. Winks. For realsies.

It's a wink.

Oh my fucking god.

Jason flexes his upper arm muscles (whatever they're called) and Winston's eyes shoots right to them. Jason laughs, then coughs in a poor attempt to hide it and Winston pouts up at Jason. "You did that on purpose," he ruthlessly accuses him with not a single shred of evidence.

"Yep," Jason readily admits. He shrugs, and they move forward in the line a few steps, the murky lights overhead unfortunately making it difficult to see Jason's true eye-color. Winston mourns that fact at the same time as Jason's smile grows into a proper grin, increasing his charm by about 400%. "You like the way I look," Jason drawl, wiggling his eyebrows in rather the same manner that Gary likes.

"I-" Winston bites his lip and glares up at Jason. "That's mean," he says, and pouts once more.

He's probably pouted more in the last ten minutes that he has in his entire life. What's up with that?

Jason laughs, and he doesn't even bother hiding it this time. "I'm told I can be, yeah," he says, and that-makes no sense. Jason is so ridiculously kind that it kind of makes Winston feel smaller around hmi; he once saw Jason spend over an hour showing an exchange student around [is this really that kind].

But still, he doesn't know how to disagree. So he says, "You like the way I look, too." And then actually realizes what he's said.

Shit.

But---Jason blushes. Brightly. His skin flushes all the way to the tip of his ears, and Winston's eyes widen. They move another few steps forward and Winston nearly trips over his own feet, his mind stunningly blank. Jason... likes the way he looks?

Oh.

Winston doesn't know why that's a surprise; it shouldn't be, they're on a date. Presumably, Jason must like something about him to say yes. And yet... Winston's breath is stuck in his throat for a worryingly long time. Long enough for Jason's blush to fade and for him to subtly frown, leaning down a little. "You sure you're okay?" he asks, and he sounds worried, actually worrying his lip for a second.

"Fine," Winston strangles out. They've reached the entrance to the theater, properly, and he steps in first, glancing at the crumbled ticket in his hand again. Jason leads the way up the steps to their seats, and Winston's eyes only goes to Jason's ass for the briefest possible seconds before he refocuses.

When they sit down, Winston places his drink into the cup-holder and keeps the massive (they're sharing, because that's a date thing) box of popcorn in his lap. He peeks at Jason at the same exact second that the lights in the theater goes out, and he flinches despite himself. Jason glances at him in return, then, and Winston does his best to smile like nothing happened.

The movie doesn't start right away; there's a whole deluge of adds first. Jason looks at Winston and asks, "So how have you been?"

Winston swallows the single popcorn in his mind, and answers (perhaps a bit more quietly than is necessary), "It's been good. Normal." A rather awkward pause, the darkness around them increasing the tension in Winston's shoulders. He adds, "How about you?" and hides a wince in his movements, scooting around on the chair slightly.

But Jason laughs (not loudly, of course, the movie might not have started yet but they're still in a theater) and says, "Good, too. My freiends kept bringing up the date just to see my blush, but I worked hard and managed to destroy all the evidence." Then he tosses a proud grin to Winston, "I'm very good at winning bets." After a second, he seems to rethink everything he just said and clears his throat, scratching just under his nose. "I mean, I've been good, too."

Winston bites his lip to stop his smile, and Jason sinks a little more into the seat. In the light from the gigantic screen at the front of the theater, Jason's eyes glitter. Like gemstones, almost, but then he's never seen real gems and can't properly compare them.

Winston says, "I'm glad," and he's not even certain what he's talking about. Just--he's glad that Jason has had a good time, and that he doesn't seem to dislike his friends teasing him about their date. (Though, his friends teased hm about this? Is that...a good thing or bad thing?)

Jason smiles at him, and they fall into silence. Winston grabs a handful of popcorn and tosses them in his mind, crunching down on them with a voracity only matched by a starving tiger. Jason, too, holds out his hand toward him and after a second of empty staring at it, Winston drops a few popcorn into it.

Jason grins. "Thanks," he mouths (presumably) and gets right into eating them as well, his eyes widening after a bite and then the speed massively increases. He's done in only a few bites, and Winston's latest popcorn is now just a soggy mess in his mouth.

There's no more time to talk; the movie has properly started now. There's a lot music from it, and Winston swallows his popcorn and properly turns his head toward the screen. Is still undeniably aware of Jason's presence, glancing at him every few minutes.

Once or twice, Jason is even looking back at him.

Where they sit, their arms brush against each other with every movement. The popcorn box stays in Winston's lap, and every time Jason holds out his hand for more, Winston's heart skips a beat in his chest. He sips at his soda every once in a while, telling himself to calm down, and by the end of the movie, he barely has a sinlge idea what happened in it.