That was what he thought of himself? I frowned, not liking that at all. “Ok, I’ll admit you sort of have the ‘twink’ aesthetic going,” I said, “and you’re fairly energetic, but I haven’t found you annoying at all. Well, except when you tickled me,” I added. “That, I could do without. But otherwise, I’ve been enjoying talking to you. And you’re far from a gay stereotype.”
“Aw.” He reached over and patted my hand. “You’re sweet. But I mean, I wanted to play with your hair. I wear eyeliner. Hi, walking stereotype.”
“That’s bullshit,” I protested. “Just like stereotypes usually are. You’re…you’re…” I struggled to find the right word. “You’reyou,” I finally finished lamely.
“I mean, I didn’t say there was anythingwrongwith being super-twink,” he pointed out. “There’s always gotta be some of us.” His gaze dropped, and I noticed that he was wringing his hands in his lap around his soda can. “And, you know, a lot of guys are into people like me anyway, so it pays off.”
I felt my lips tighten at the notion of other guys wanting him. That wasn’t cool; Jamison was my…my what?Your nothing, I reminded myself.Just a friend. Friends didn’t get jealous about other friends being desirable. I had no right to him, especially after blowing it so badly the night we met.
“Whatever just went through your head, avoid it in the future,” Jamison spoke up, startling me out of my thoughts.
“What?”
He smiled slightly. “Your face got all scary. Whatever was going through your head was clearly bad news bears.” He lifted a hand and traced one finger from the edge of my lips to my cheekbone. “Your smile went all…hard.” His hand returned to his lap.
Poker face: I clearly had none. I suppressed a wince. “Sorry. Was just…thinking. I, uh…” What was a plausible excuse? I fumbled around for one. “I really don’t like that you think of yourself that simplistically,” was what I came up with. It was weak, but it would do. It was at least on-topic.
“Aww.” He lifted his hand again, this time to boop me in the nose. “You’re adorable and this underlines my determination that you’re too sweet to be hateful. Except toward your fuckface ex,” he added before I could protest. “But he deserves it.”
I couldn’t help but smile then. “We’re like a two-person support group right now,” I said with a small laugh. “‘You’re great.’,” I mimicked theatrically. “‘No,you’regreat.’ ‘Don’t listen to the mean people.’ ‘No,youdon’t listen to the mean people.’”
He grinned at me and took another swig of soda, emptying his can, which he leaned forward to set on the coffee table. “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” He sat back against the couch and sighed. “Would it be crazy to say I actually feel surprisingly comforted by this conversation? I mean, I honestly don’t mind being a twink or having people notice me as one. But it feels nice to hear you say you don’t just see me that way, too.”
I shook my head. “No, that makes sense to me. It’s always nice to know when someone sees you foryou. People look at me and see a bear and expect me to be all growly and dominant and…yeah, no. I’d much rather hang out with someone like you who takes the time to talk to me and, yes,” I admitted, “thinks I’m ‘too nice to hate anyone’.”
“Look at us, having a lovefest.” He smirked. “We totally forgot about the movie. You need to see if the rival gets a second chance at love, remember?”
I blinked, looking from him to the television, which was frozen where we’d left it a good half-hour ago when we’d paused for drinks. “Oops, guess we got sidetracked.”
“Sidetracked by trading compliments.” He picked up the remote and pressedplay. “I’ve had worse afternoons.Wayworse.”
I took the last sip of my soda and set the can alongside his on the coffee table, then settled back to watch the rest of the movie. It wasn’t like we both didn’t know exactly how it was going to end - these movie plots were hardly nail-biters - but still, it was always nice to watch them get there.
Half an hour later, I was absorbed in the denouement of the movie, watching Main Character 1 dramatically agonize about whether to go after Main Character 2, who had left to go back to the city, convinced MC1 didn’t love him, when I felt a pressure on my shoulder. Figuring it was the cat climbing off the back of the couch, I looked over and down and was surprised to find that rather than a furry body, the weight on my shoulder was Jamison’s head. Was he snuggling with me? No, he’d probably fallen asleep. I craned my head slightly forward so I could see his face and check whether he was awake.
He wasn’t. Or at least, his eyes were definitely closed. Poor guy was clearly either bored stupid or just exhausted. Either way, I wasn’t going to wake him up. I smiled to myself and turned back to watch the end of the movie.
Shocking approximately no one, Main Character 1 chased after Main Character 2 and confessed his love. MC 2 tearfully shared that he had been without hope, MC1 assured him that hope sprung eternal, and they kissed.
On my shoulder, Jamison was drooling slightly. I could feel it soaking into my shirt. Curie had climbed into my lap at some point during the climax of the movie and was purring comfortingly. So basically I couldn’t move, even to pick up the remote, or I’d dislodge either human or feline and lose the pleasant warmth they were both giving me. Lacking any other options - because moving reallywasn’tone, thank you verymuch - I rested my head against the back of the couch and closed my eyes.
11
Henry
Week 6 - Saturday
Iwoke to the sound of a snort in my ear. The sound was out of place enough that it had me jumping from my doze into full wakefulness from one second to the next, stiffening in my seat.
“Wha?” muttered a rough voice near my ear.
“Wha?” was all I could manage in reply, still trying to figure out where and when I was.
“Oh, shit,” said the voice. A hand patted my chest. “Sorry, big guy. I must have dozed off.”
Jamison. Right. We’d been watching a movie and he’d fallen asleep, and I’d decided to just rest my eyes for a second and must have dropped off too. How long had we been asleep sitting up on the couch? Long enough to get stiff, my neck informed me. I stretched it to the side and heard it crack.
The hand patted my chest again. “You with me, Hen? I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. I missed the end of the movie!”
