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Finally! It’s Thursday. Patrick’s favorite day of the week. Sure, Patrick has his longest, most boring economics lecture during the day, but Thursday night is special. Every Thursday night for the past few months, Patrick, David, and Stevie have had a movie night in Patrick’s dorm room, and tonight, Patrick receives a text from Stevie that might just be the fuel he needs to finally make a move on his irritatingly adorable and gorgeous best friend. The last few weeks, Patrick hasn’t been able to think straight. He’s not thinking straight at all anymore, actually. As he sits in his lectures, staring at graphs and tables and data and statistics, his eyes glaze over; images of a crooked smile, a perfectly sculpted pompadour, and wildly gesticulating hands with a seemingly limitless number of facial expressions to match consume both his waking and sleeping hours. To say David is all he can think about is probably an understatement at this point.
So, when Patrick receives Stevie’s text…
Stevie: Can’t come tonight
He feels guilty (for about half a second) that he is excited that his other best friend bailed on their long standing plans, but this means...this means that David and him have the entire night to themselves. Patrick shakes his head quickly back and forth to clear the hundreds of scenarios that start creeping their way into his mind of how this evening might play out. He looks down at his cell phone to type out a reply, but before his thumb even has a chance to open the gif search, another message comes through.
Stevie: Make the most of it, idiot
Patrick chuckles to himself and scratches at the back of his neck, a nervous habit he’s picked up when he feels exposed and doesn’t know what to do with his limbs. Apparently, I’m not as subtle as I thought. But then again, Stevie catches EVERYTHING, so there is a chance that David doesn’t know that Patrick is stupidly in love with him.
“Wooow.” Patrick whispers to his empty dorm room. He hadn’t let his thoughts venture to that point before now, but...yeah. Patrick Brewer is irrevocably in love with David Rose. There is no denying that. Fuck.
Patrick flits around his room, moving a stack of clean clothes to his dresser, making his bed and fluffing up the decorative pillows that David insisted he purchase to “liven up the space,” and queuing up Interflix on his laptop, before he hears a light knock on his door. He takes a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth to steady the ever-increasing drum of his heartbeat that he can practically hear over the stillness of the room. You can do this, Brewer. Just be yourself. Slowly, he forces his legs to carry him towards the door, he reaches for the doorknob, and turns it to reveal...to reveal…
“Hi.” David says on an exhale as he stands under the grotesque, fluorescent lighting of the dorm’s hallway looking...perfect. He looks perfect. Patrick’s eyes scan up and down David’s body to see what his idea of a movie-watching outfit looks like tonight. His outfits have varied over the past few months, but tonight, David is wearing black joggers and a… Short. Sleeve. T-shirt. Dear, Lord! Of course Patrick knew David had arms, but he didn’t expect to be assaulted by the sight of his lean, yet surprising toned biceps this evening. Great.
The sound of David’s soft chuckle, snaps him out of his thoughts. Oh, God. Say something. His tongue suddenly feels dry, and his lips forget how to form words. He clears his throat, before he finally manages…
“Hey.” Nice, Brewer.
“I brought popcorn.” David holds up the large bowl he is carrying in front of him as if Patrick hadn’t already noticed it. He notices everything about David.
“Mhmm. With peanut butter M&M’s I see.” Patrick looks down at the bowl, before meeting David’s gaze with a teasing smirk.
“Mmm.” David nods his head slowly up and down, willing the muscles in his face to remain relaxed. “Mhmm. Yes. The superior way to eat popcorn, but you already knew that.
“Did I?” Patrick scratches the side of his head and furrows his eyebrows to really sell the act.
“You did. Um. Can I come in? Or are we going to watch the movie in the hallway tonight? Because, you should know, nothing except the bottom of my shoes will ever be touching this fugly, geometric hellscape.” David points an agitated finger to the carpet beneath his designer high-tops.
Patrick tries very hard to hold back the grin that threatens to split his face wide open, but he fails...miserably. “Noted. Come in.” Patrick steps out of the way, opening the door as far as it goes and motioning towards his shoe box of a room.
“Dare I ask what you picked for us to watch tonight. I have one...two...Okay. No. I have several backups if you, um...couldn’t decide on something... watchable.”
Patrick chuckles as he closes the door and steps closer to David who landed in the middle of the room. “I have a movie picked out. Don’t worry.”
“Okay.” A small grin slides to the side of David’s face, and Patrick fights the urge to reach out and poke the resulting dimple that forms in his cheek. Focus. Patrick picks up his laptop from where he had tossed it on his bed upon David’s arrival and crawls onto his raised mattress until he is situated with his right side plastered against the wall and his back pressed firmly into the fluffy pillows that line his headboard. He stretches his legs in front of him along the length of his twin XL mattress, crossing one ankle over the other and situating his computer on his lap, before looking over to David and patting the open space next to him with a flat palm in invitation.
David looks at him for a few moments, eyebrows furrowed in question until the sound of his phone’s text alert gives him an excuse to look somewhere other than the intimate, movie-watching setting that Patrick carefully curated to push him towards his goal for the evening. Tonight, Patrick is going to make his move. He will tell David how he feels even if it doesn’t result in a heartfelt confession from David in return. David chuckles and shakes his head at whatever the message on his phone says, before he locks it and deposits it onto Patrick’s desk. He looks down at the floor, presumably at his designer sneakers, to the popcorn bowl in his left hand and then back over to Patrick.
“Hold this.” David hands the bowl of popcorn to Patrick and bends down to untie his shoes. Patrick can’t help but watch as he gracefully unknots his shoe laces with his careful, elegant fingers. Patrick wonders what it would feel like to thread those long fingers through his own.
Once his shoes are safely off and out of the way, David looks back to the space next to Patrick, his lips pressed together in a tight line, but his eyes flash with something Patrick hasn’t seen before. “New setup?”
“Oh. Um. Yeah… Stevie can’t make it tonight, so I figured we could actually be comfortable for once...you know? Not have to sit on my bed with our backs pressed up against the wall and our feet hanging off the side of the bed…?”
“Okay.” David sits down next to Patrick, very much so in his space, much closer than they have ever been to each other. Maybe this is a mistake . How is Patrick supposed to sit through a movie with David this close, looking so effortlessly (okay...maybe not effortlessly) cute, smelling like a cedar citrus candle, and feeling so warm and solid next to him? David grabs the popcorn bowl from Patrick’s hands and rests it on top of their thighs that are so close to touching that Patrick can barely stand it.
“What are we watching, then? Or are you going to make me guess?”
“Three guesses. Go!” Patrick bumps his shoulder into David’s. This, he can do. Teasing David is second nature to him at this point and, thankfully, a great distraction from how much the “new setup” is affecting him.
“Is it about sports?” David scrunches up his nose in disgust. One of Patrick’s favorites of David Rose's many expressions.”
“Nope. That’s one.”
“Is it scary?”
“Uhh, no. Two.”
“Oh, God. No, Patrick! It’s a superhero movie, isn’t it?”
“Ahh, you got me.” Patrick isn’t entirely sure what his face is doing, but if the pressure he feels in his cheeks is anything to go by, he needs to get his smile in check. Like. Now.
“Patrick! Noooo!" David’s hands flail aimlessly through the space in front of them and narrowly miss knocking the bowl of popcorn all over Patrick’s lap. “No. No. No. I’m still upset you made me sit through Fabulous Five…”
“Fantastic Four.”
“...and Stevie isn’t even here tonight, so there is literally no reason for you to gang up on me. And...”
Patrick grabs both of David’s hands for no other reason than to stop them from slicing through the air, but his movement has another, unintended effect. Oh. Wow. David goes silent and still beside him. He looks down at his hands that are now clasped around Patrick’s for a few seconds before he looks back up at him with an eye roll and a slight shake of his head.
“Fine. We’ll watch your stupid superman movie, or whatever.”
“Thank you, David.” Patrick squeezes his hands before reluctantly letting them go to pull up the movie on his laptop. “So, we are actually watching Spider-Man .”
“Eww. ”
“I think you’re going to like it.”
David huffs. “Mhmm. Sure. Okay. Come on. Let’s just get this over with.”
Patrick presses play. Here goes nothing.
Watching one of his favorite movies with David next to him is...it’s harder than he thought it would be. Patrick is hyper-aware of David beside him, watching his reactions to the film out of the corner of his eye more than he is actually looking at the screen himself. He closes his eyes in an attempt to regain control over his thoughts. Just watch the movie. He opens his eyes and fixes them to the screen, so he doesn’t see that David’s hand is already in the popcorn bowl when he reaches for a fistful of the, admittedly, perfectly balanced sweet and salty treat.
Their pinkies brush against each other, and Patrick honestly is not sure if the sound of a sharp intake of breath comes from himself or from David. He looks over to David, and even in the faint light of his room, he can see that the tint of David’s right cheek is ever-so-slightly darker than the rest of his complexion. Oh my God. It was David! For the next ten minutes, every time David reaches for a handful of popcorn, Patrick reaches his hand in the bowl too, digging through the buttery pieces until he feels David’s smooth skin against his own. Huh. This could work.
It doesn't. Patrick thought he was getting away with it, but after the fifth or sixth time it happens, David places the bowl on Patrick’s lap and crosses his arms protectively over his chest.
“I’m good. I don't, uh... need anymore.” David breaks the silence that’s stretched between them since the movie started.
“Okay.” Strike one.
Maybe ten or fifteen minutes later, Patrick doesn’t know if he is imagining it or not, but David has sort of scrunched down during the movie, and his head is pressed against the headboard tilted towards Patrick’s shoulder, close enough that the top of his hair tickles the collar of his henley. It's absolute torture, there is no other way to describe it. Patrick wants so badly to wrap his arm around David and draw him to his chest, but he knows he can’t do that. Not after the whole popcorn situation. David and him are friends. He doesn’t want to ruin what they have by doing something weird that makes David uncomfortable, but... he is having a very difficult time keeping his hands to himself when the object of his affection in right there. Patrick shifts on the bed, trying to find a comfortable position for his arms and his legs, but he just... he feels so awkward. This was a terrible idea. I'm not smooth. Why did I think this would work?
Patrick knows what is coming next, and he is dreading it. It’s the scene. One of the most iconic kissing scenes in recent cinema. Why did I want to watch this again? He hears David gasp as Spider-man starts to kiss Mary Jane while upside down hanging off the side of a building. Don’t look at him. Don’t look at him. Patrick looks at him. His slight shift draws David’s attention to him, and their eyes meet. Patrick can’t decipher the expression on David’s face which is...rare. After knowing David for almost an entire semester, Patrick thought he knew his expressions pretty well, but this? Nothing in the entire world could tear Patrick away from David's intense gaze.
“Patrick...”
“Yeah?” Patrick inches closer to David. He doesn’t mean to. He is just drawn to him. Ever since they met at orientation, Patrick could feel the magnetic pull between them strengthening. The only thing was that Patrick didn’t know if that connection felt as strong to David as it did to him. David shimmies up against the headboard until they are face to face. Patrick holds his breath. He glances back at his laptop screen to catch the end of the iconic kiss before he looks back to David and stares at his lips that seem to be getting... bigger? No. Closer. He watches the corners of David’s lips curl up in a smirk that should be illegal, it is so offensively attractive. Patrick’s eyes flick back up to David’s, and he has just enough time to make out the onyx of his wide pupils before David’s lips crash into his own. Home-fucking-run.
His body is momentarily pushed back by the force of it, but he quickly gets it under control because David's smooth, soft lips are pressing firmly against his with want, and Patrick has never experienced anything like it before.
His hand reaches out to clutch at David’s t-shirt, his waist, his arm, really any part of him that he can leverage to pull David closer to him. He just needs David to be closer. David moans against his lips and that’s... that is something that Patrick had not considered. All too quickly, David places a hand on Patrick’s chest, pushing him away from the best kiss of his life, and Patrick whines. He audibly whines at the loss, making David chuckle softly in return.
“I know, but...uh...what are we doing? What is this to you? What, uh...what do you want this to be?” David suddenly looks so unsure of himself, and Patrick can’t stand it.
“Um...we are making out?” David rolls his eyes at him to hide the small smile spreading across his plush lips. Patrick, with a newfound sense of hope, reaches for his hand to interlace their fingers together and gives David’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “David. I am finally, finally kissing the boy I’ve been crushing on for months. I just haven’t been brave enough to do it before now, so uh...thank you. For making that happen for us.”
“Mmm.” David hums through his closed-mouth smile. “Well in that case.” He leans forward to capture Patrick’s lips in another sweet kiss. “You’re welcome, Patrick. I’ve, uh...also had a thing for this guy for a while, but I didn’t know if he was interested, or if he just really liked to tease me because he is such a troll…”
“I really do like to tease you, but I, um... I really like you, David.”
“I really like you, too, Patrick.”
Patrick finally lets himself do what he wanted to do earlier now that he knows where he stands with David. He wraps his arm around David’s shoulders and presses the side of David’s body against his chest. David relaxes into him and lets out a content sigh, and boy! Can Patrick relate to that! They stay cuddled up like that until the credits start to scroll across the screen of his laptop. Patrick can’t tell if David’s eyes are closed or if he is just blinking very slowly. It turns out, he is not asleep because, suddenly, David is moving. His arm retreats from where it was thrown across Patrick's hips, and he sits up to drape his long legs over the edge of the bed.
“Hey.” Patrick reaches his hand out to rub David’s back over his soft, thin t-shirt. “Can we talk tomorrow?”
David turns his head over his shoulder to look at Patrick with a pleased smirk. “We can talk whenever you’d like. Just not…”
“Before 10 AM. Yeah, yeah.” Patrick’s laugh is met with the full force of David’s radiant smile, dimples and all. Patrick closes his laptop and sets it down at the foot of the bed as David finishes tying up his laces. They look at each other with stupidly cheesy grins on their faces, neither man knowing what to say or how to end this perfect evening.
Patrick moves to stand up, but before he is able to, David’s hands are on his shoulder, lifting and moving his body with ease until his back is pressed against his mattress and his head hangs off the side of his bed. Oh. They would definitely be talking about that tomorrow. When Patrick opens his eyes, he is staring at David’s beautiful face upside down and watches as it moves closer to his own. “David…”
David’s hands caress the sides of Patrick’s head as he leans in to whisper against his lips. “Do I get to say thank you this time?” His lips tick up (maybe down? Patrick isn’t really sure at this angle.) before his lips open and slot themselves against Patrick’s in the most delicious, intoxicating glide. Their tongues dance against each other, and Patrick is so overwhelmed by the sensations of David that he doesn’t know if he will ever recover. He has never been in a situation where he was grateful to be upside down, but at this moment, if the blood had not been rushing to his head, he’s sure it would all be rushing in the opposite direction and that’s not something he is ready to explore. Yet. After a few minutes, David pulls away and lets out a surprised laugh.
“That was…” Patrick doesn’t have words as he sits up and turns to face David, legs dangling off the side of the bed.
“Mmm. Yeah. Can’t say I’ve done that before.” David looks down at his hands as he stands up from where he had been perched on his knees. Goddamn. Patrick grabs David’s hand and tugs on it until David steps into the space between his parted legs.
“David...that was so fucking hot.”
David’s eyes finally snap up to meet his. “Yeah?”
“God, yes .”
David’s lips curl up in a little bow tucked into the side of his cheek. Patrick wonders not for the first time how this man is real. He wraps his arm around David’s waist to draw him down to his lips for another searching kiss.
“I should...I should go.” David says as he steps out of Patrick’s embrace.
“Stay.”
“What?”
“There are two more movies in the series. Stay. Watch them with me. I just...I don’t want you to leave. Not yet.”
“Okay.”
They make it halfway through the second movie before David falls asleep in his arms. Patrick lets out a content sigh as he snuggles up closer to David, his best friend. Hopefully, tomorrow, when they wake up, they’ll be so much more than that. But, until then, Patrick will continue to replay their iconic kiss on a loop in his head. He knew David Rose was something else, but Patrick didn't realize just how much trouble he was in. He was in... So. Much. Trouble.