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Dwight didn’t deserve Jake, but by god he wasn’t going to take his friend for granted. Friend— his only friend— that’s all this was; friendship. Dwight longed for something more but maybe it was the fact that he’s never experienced this before. Pathetic , Dwight thought, keep it as it is, Jake’s just a friend .
He was pulled from his thoughts when he felt a soft nudge on his arm. “Where’d you go?” Jake asked.
“W-nowhere! I’m right here,” Dwight blurted out, scrambling to find a better answer when Jake raised an eyebrow at him. “Sorry, I-I was just uh, thinking.”
“About?” Jake pressed.
You. “Uh-m-you know, t-things.” God, Dwight shut up, you’re making it worse!
Jake hummed as a response, maybe it was mean of him, but he liked to get Dwight all flustered; it was kind of cute. Jake’s mind halted— cute ?. It took him a minute to recollect himself when he finally asked if Dwight wanted to watch a movie.
“Well-wh-what movie?”
Jake shrugged and pointed at his movie collection. “There’s a lot to choose from, besides, we’ve barely made a dent in them.”
“Hm, pull one at random.” Dwight suggested. Jake gave him a nod and ran his fingers over multiple dvd’s, pausing dramatically on some before moving on. To not ruin the surprise of choosing one, he turned to look at Dwight still on the sofa, a smile on his face which caused Jake’s heart to flutter. His mind went back to his previous thought: cute. He muster have been staring long enough for Jake to break the silence. “Find one?”
Jake cleared his throat, a blush creeping up his cheeks and quickly scrambled to grab whatever dvd was on his finger tips, knocking several others off the shelf in doing so. He hastily picked them up and put them back wherever they’d fit. Dwight noticed the change from Jake being nonchalant to nervous but decided not to dwell on it.
Jake inspected the cover, a horror movie, Halloween to be precise. “I guess this is what we got.” He said turning it so Dwight could see it.
“Oh, uh-“ Dwight’s words got lost and he just kind of sat there, mouth open. The other noticed and asked if he wanted to watch it, knowing he didn’t really like horror movies. “We-well, we kind of have to. Rule is to watch whatever movie is picked.”
“Are you sure? We can pick something else.”
Dwight didn’t want to look like a wimp in front of his friend, even though he’s seen some of the weaker side of him. “N-no it’s fine. I promise. Besides, I haven’t seen it yet so maybe it’s not that bad.” He said with a small shrug.
Jake mumbled an okay and placed the movie in the dvd player and grabbed the remote. He noticed Dwight scratching at his arm, and he gently pulled his arm away from the other. “There’s nothing to worry about,” he reassured Dwight and Jake saw him relax a bit. “Now, why don’t you get right to the movie while I make popcorn.” Jake more or less demanded as he handed the remote over and pushed himself off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. Dwight gave a slight nod and watched as the other disappeared into the kitchen and shortly after heard the microwave start going.
Keep it together, Dwight. It’s just a movie, nothing to worry about. It’s not real. Dwight sat there thinking about how if he pretended to be scared— ha, pretend, he scoffed to himself—that maybe he could get closer to Jake. Touch him, something Dwight didn’t get much of that, human contact. No, no. Dwight had to force those thoughts away, his heart was already in too deep and down the path of heartbreak, no need to make it worse. Some time passed and Jake was walking back with popcorn, a few beers, and other snacks. Perfect timing for the movie to begin.
Jake sat down close to Dwight, closer than Dwight thought he was going to, and handed him a beer and kept the bowl of popcorn on his own lap. “Hope that’s okay to drink, don’t really have much else besides water.”
“Yeah, no, it’s fine.” Dwight said with a light smile on his face.
They made it a ways into the movie when Jake decided to throw his arm over Dwight’s shoulder, a big cliché he knew, but the other jumped at almost all of the jump scares. Besides, he wanted to be as close as possible without it being weird. Or...was it weird? Jake didn’t think so, they’ve shard a bed before when Dwight stayed over; Jake didn’t exactly have a gust room and refused to let his friend sleep on the couch. Come to think of it, Jake’s gotten pretty close to Dwight before and it was no big deal. There’d be times when Dwight had a panic attack and Jake was there to help him, hugging him, holding him close—or not, depending on what Dwight allowed— and coaxing him out of it.
Dwight seemed to tense at the sudden contact, but relaxed after a second. Dwight may have relaxed physically, but his mind was reeling. Oh my god. Is he doing what I think he is? Is he seriously? What is he doing? Oh my god does he uh like me? Shit shit shit. D wight didn’t know what to do. Should he lean in and rest on his shoulder? Should he just sit here? Jake looked at him out of the corner of his eye, no real emotion visible on his face. Oh god, did I do something? Can he read my mind. No, that’s ridiculous w-w-calm down Dwight holy shit. Dwight mentally slapped himself and tried to go back to focusing on the movie after taking a couple of rather large drinks from his beer. Fuck it. Dwight laid his head on Jake’s shoulder, feeling rather alright, though his thoughts would say otherwise. It felt nice, comforting. He only hoped that Jake couldn’t hear his heart beating so rapidly. Unbeknownst to him, Jake felt the same.
Woah, I didn’t think he’d actually do that. Jake thought to himself, heart beating quickly. It took a lot of power in him not to run his fingers though Dwight’s hair, it looked so soft. No, that’s pushing it too far, you got lucky with this.
Both of them were lost in their thoughts, eyes on the TV but not really taking in much of what was going on. The movie had eventually ended and Jake suggested watching the next one.
“There’s more than one?”
“Yeah, it’s not as good as the original one but yeah there’s like a bunch.”
“I-I suppose yeah we could.” Dwight was sad when Jake took back his now asleep arm to get up and look for the next one. Jake found it easily and switched the movies and when he sat back down, he offered his arm back and Dwight tried so hard to hide a smile.
It didn’t take much longer for Dwight to feel sleepy. It was pretty late after all, but he wanted to be awake and spend this time with Jake even though he knew he was spending the night at his house. Dwight swore he spent more time here than he did at his own place, but hey, he wasn’t complaining. It was a fair drive since Jake lived in the woods but it was totally worth it every time; the sound of nature was so much better than the sound of civilization.
Dwight couldn’t help it anymore, he closed his eyes, “I love you” he said quietly.
Jake tensed and Dwight began panicking. “W-what?”
Dwight quickly got off the couch, ready to fucking run out of the house. God, he should have said anything but he couldn’t help it anymore. “I-I-I shouldn’t h-have said that. I-I shouldn’t have said a-anything.” He could already feel his feet moving backwards as Jake sat still on the couch, looking up at him, bewildered.
Jake knew Dwight was going to try and bolt so he quickly stood and grabbed him by the wrist, a little too tight as Dwight winced. He loosened his grip, but not enough that Dwight could have gotten away. Jake still couldn’t think of words to say, he sucked at words.
“J-Jake, I-I” Dwight’s voice cracked as tears began to fill his eyes. “I shouldn’t have said it. I-I just...” he stopped and looked at the ground. He felt completely frozen, he couldn’t even bother trying to break out of Jake’s grasp. God, he wished he could tell what the other was thinking; it was killing him. He just wanted to curl into a ball and disappear. You ruined your only friendship. Dumbass. You should have just shut up. Why are you like this? There’s no way you can recover this. Fucking stupid. All this thoughts were too much and now the tears really came flowing.
Dwight felt Jake lift his chin with his hand, he didn’t remember them being so soft. He couldn’t really even see Jake to be honest, the tears were so bad. Dwight wanted to say something more before he felt Jake’s lips on his. Dwight instantly felt all the tension in his body melt. Jake had let go of his wrist at that point to move a hand to the back of his head. It didn’t last long but Dwight felt so much better.
“Dwight, I-I love you too,” Jake fumbled over his words, “like, I love you so fucking much.” He smiled, as he wiped Dwight’s tears and only then did Dwight realize that Jake was also crying.
“God, we’re a mess.” Dwight laughed and Jake chuckled as well.
“Yeah, I guess we are.”
“I’m really tired.” Dwight admitted and Jake nodded in agreement, and dragged them to the bedroom. That night they held each other so much closer than they ever had, planting little kisses on the other until they both succumbed to sleep.