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After a stressful week of filming, Brian suggested the group chill with a movie night, the catch was? Brian picks the movie.
Jay barely knew Brian, hell Jay knew none of the Marble Hornets crew besides their names and the roles they needed to play, he usually just stuck around Alex, following him around like a puppy. But he was always an observer, he knew Brian had a thing for Alex, and that Brian was very close to Tim. And Jay had eyes for Tim, to say he was drooling over him constantly would be an understatement; Alex had to remind him to do his job and stop staring at Tim sometimes.
When Jay got to Brian’s house most of the crew was already there. Brian sprawled out on the couch, hands behind his head with a lazy smirk as he chatted with Alex, who seemed to be heavily invested in whatever the central star was saying, Seth, who sat on an ancient-looking armchair, was just on his phone, either texting or playing a game, Jay didn’t look long enough to discern the two because that’s when Tim had stepped into the house, entering from the back sliding glass door.
He looked back at Jay and gave him a tired wave and what Jay interpreted as a polite smile, sure it was a closed mouth one that to any observer would look like a straight line, but Jay took this as a win.
The squeaky closing of the sliding back door must’ve alerted the rest of the house, apparently, they hadn’t heard Jay when he entered, it was kind of his unique talent. Alex gestured his hands to urge Jay over to the couch, he stumbled over to said couch awkwardly eventually sitting stiffly.
Brian politely moved his legs, choosing now to sit up and greet him, his eyes constantly in a state of laxity and easygoingness in a way, Jay envied the man, who never seemed to worry about, well anything.
“I was almost worried you weren’t gonna show, but Alex here-” he lazily gestured to Alex, his sly grin getting somehow slyer, if even possible “-Promised the grand gift of a jaybird!” To the comment and nickname, he flushed heavily, his ears felt 30 degrees warmer. Was there a proper response to that? If there was Jay couldn’t think of, instead just chuckling awkwardly, muttering sheepishly. “Yeah...Sorry.”
Jay watched Tim with hyperawareness, taking every movement the man made into consideration and memory. Pathetic, desperate? Jay didn’t mind, as long as nobody else noticed. This hyperawareness maybe didn’t do Jay any favours as he watched Tim choose to sit on the floor instead of the space next to Jay, choosing to lean against the cold wall. It seemed as though Brian and Tim were having an intense, yet silent battle, Brian quizzical, brow raised with not anger but a snarky confusion, but Tim just shook his head, blinking slowly. Man, was this awkward, nobody else seemed to want to do anything, say anything. Jay wondered if something happened before he arrived, like a silent agreement between the group that Jay was left out of, it worried him, maybe too much.
“So..um what movie did you decide on, Brian?” Jay forced himself to tear his eyes away from Tim, and it looked as if Brian had to do the same too, but before he turned to respond to Jay, he, very dramatically, rolled his eyes at Tim. The blond plastered on a sly smirk once again, letting his eyes hazily droop with a sort of carelessness. “Candyman. I haven’t seen it in years man, it used to be my favourite movie.” Jay was glad Brian looked so excited, his gapped smile so bright, it made Jay smile a bit before he realised he’d never heard of this movie. He wasn’t a film buff by any means, he’d maybe seen 10 movies his whole life, being a film buff was more of Alex’s job. Alex could talk about some obscure foreign film that he’d seen before the cut took out a too-gruesome cannibalism scene, how Alex even got his hands on it, Jay preferred to not think about it. “Oh, um, is it a kid’s movie? I’ve never heard of it, sorry.” Alex’s eyebrows furrowed with amusement but his mouth stayed downturned, uh oh. Brian laughed though. Laughed very hard, as if it was the funniest thing he could’ve said, which left Jay extremely embarrassed. Even more so when he realised Tim was also attempting to hold back a small chuckle, welp it’s final Jay has to kill himself, he could never face Tim or Brian or Alex again, and he has to move towns.
“Jay, buddy it’s a horror movie.” Oh, this was much worse. Why didn’t Alex tell him, Alex knows him better than anyone else, was he trying to embarrass Jay in front of Tim more? Jay didn’t even realise his face was reflecting his fear until Alex said something. “It’s ok Jay. You can handle it.” No the fuck he could not, Alex of all people knew, knew this exceptionally well, he still brings up that one time in 12th grade when Jay pissed himself in a school-made haunted house, he never let Jay live that down for Heaven’s sake.
He was broken out of his head when an extremely warm hand gently laid on his knee, Jay looked at the source, Tim. Who offered him a sympathetic smile, well what Jay assumed was one, his face was very clearly descriptive, always seeming to have one or more emotions swimming behind his brown eyes. “I’m sure Brian can choose another movie if you’re not down.” Oh, he was so sweet, so considerate, Jay fell harder every time he talked to him. But no, he wouldn’t be a coward in front of Tim, he was brave; he could be brave for Tim.
“No!” He maybe said it a bit too loud, Seth looked up, brows raised and eyes wide. But what hurt more was cold swiftly returning to his knee, Tim pulled back so quickly, the heat being stolen from Jay’s skin so fast it was shocking. “-I mean, no. I can handle a scary movie.” He forced out a chuckle, to make everything seem more casual and fun, he didn't want the awkwardness of his outburst to taint the atmosphere as it always does. “I mean I’m not a baby anymore, I love horror!” Brian seemed more relaxed by Jay’s assertion but Alex was deadpan with a non-convinced look, the longer Jay focused on that look the more anxious he became, so he chose to relax at the end of the couch, scooting away from Brian and leaving a large space in between them. Brian pats the couch, making sure it makes a loud noise. “Well get up here, Timothy! We got a movie to watch.” Jay was impressed by the way he said it, so lighthearted but it left no room for argument for the other man, too cheerful to turn down. So Tim squeezed next to Brian, as Jay practically hugged the arm of the couch in order not to touch Tim, no matter how badly he wanted to.
As the sun set lower and lower, Brian decided it was time to grab the remote and start the movie, Jay still gripping the couch’s firm arm.
First, it started with the opening music’s ringing hurting the script supervisor’s ears, he was more scared of the headache he would have if it continued much longer, he cringed but kept the critique to himself. A shiver ran down his spine at the sounds of the swarming bees. Jay thought if the first scream was anything to go off of then he would be just fine for the rest of the movie.
Alex chuckled at the wide shot of the University of Illinois-Chicago, huffing out a “Why is their college an amphitheatre?” Only earring a “Shakespeare, man” from Brian, silence fell again in the room before Alex finally spoke up about Brian’s comment, “Shakespeare didn’t perform at Roman amphitheatres, man!” and a light punch landed on Brian’s arm from the director, Jay and Tim chuckled along.
All the men in the room collectively groan when Helen and Bernie collectively repeat the main villain’s name into the mirror, chuckling shortly after, Jay looks over just in time to see Tim roll his eyes, sparing a glance at Jay before his annoyed face shifted into a small smile, Jay, quickly looks away, his stomach fluttering.
The graphic description of a man being stung to death quickly got rid of that fluttering, he leaned away from the screen in disgust, and his arm suddenly bumped into a very warm and soft object, he looked down at the source of heat when he realised that it was Tim’s arm, he quickly jumped away, mumbling out an apology. Tim moved his arm and wrapped it around Jay’s slender shoulders pulling him to his side. “It’s fine, man.” Jay tries to blink away the smile that tries to fight its way onto his face, distracted by the extremely warm hand that feels so nice on his shoulder. Nice comfort is short-lived as blood now covers the bathrooms that Helen is investigating, shivering once again at the sight of many bees, this time they swarm a toilet.
Jay gasps rather loudly as a faux Candyman appears, he pretends not to hear Tim chuckle.
Helen wakes up confused and covered in blood, Jay is just confused, deeply saddened and disturbed by the wails of Anne-Marie and the decapitated dog’s head, he tried not to think of Seth’s reaction but did hear a soft “no!” from that direction, although he refused to check as he was much more comfortable leaning into the warm softness that was Tim.
Helen walks to her bathroom mirror, the suspense makes Jay bite his lip, shoulders tense as she opens the medicine cabinet, he lets out a relieved breath at the same time she does, although that relief is short-lived as a bloody hook blasts through the wall in the medicine cabinet. Jay feels himself jump, embarrassed he hopes Tim didn’t notice, he looks at the man and the only indication that Tim noticed, is him silently pulling him closer while his eyes stayed glued to the screen. Jay’s fear, while still very much there feels somehow less heavy while practically being hugged to Tim’s side.
The next time he’s reminded of Tim is when Helen is strapped to a table in the hospital, screaming about how she cannot defend herself against the Candyman, Jay notices as Tim shuffles around uncomfortably, he raises his head from where it rested against Tim, leaning up slightly to whisper “Are you okay?”. Tim looks to face Jay, and he realises just how close they are to each other, he tries not to think about how easy it would be just to lean up just an inch or two more to kiss as he feels Tim’s hot breath from his response. “Yeah, yeah. Just hate hospital scenes. Don’t worry about it, Jaybird.” Quickly, Tim turns away to face the screen once again, leaving Jay to slowly lay his head back down onto Tim, face contorted in confusion, as he mouthed the nickname to himself, it was now Brian and Tim who had addressed him as Jaybird, slowly Jay realised that he much preferred it coming from Tim.
When he finally focuses back on the movie Helen is at her apartment yelling at Trevor, who now appears to have a new partner, which just so happens to be the college girl from earlier, he chuckles as Seth exclaims “I knew he was going out with her! Man, I knew it!” The group laughs at Seth, Brian especially loudly, Jay allowed some of the tension to melt from his shoulders as he laughed along with the guys, staring up at Tim briefly and meeting his eyes, his eyes squinted as he smiled down at Jay.
Helen takes a hook off of the wall, eventually finding a sleeping Candyman, she stabs him in his neck as his eyes shoot open, of course, it does nothing to the Candyman, pulling the hook from his neck, squirting blood following the actions as he gets up and grabs Helen. He lays her down, and his hook slides up her skirt, as he lets bees swarm from his body to hers, covering the woman’s face with hundreds of bees. To say Jay was uncomfortable was an understatement, it's now his turn to squirm, the thought of small insects with venom-filled stingers crawling all around your body, making a mask of insects, one wrong move or breath resulting in several painful stings, in all of his uncomfortableness he didn’t even realise he had whined, drawing more attention than he initially wanted. Tim pulls him closer and it miraculously stops Jay’s squirming. He cranes his head downwards, looking at Jay with, what he assumed to be, a reassuring smile “Hey, it’s all okay, see?” Tim nods his head in the direction of the screen, “She’s fine, the bees aren’t gonna hurt you if you didn’t do anything wrong; they’re honeybees.” All Jay can do is dumbly nod in response, he doubts he could fall more in love with him, but God it sure did feel like he would be falling forever. So sweet and considerate, all Jay could do was mumble a small, nearly breathless “thanks”. It's awkward for a minute before they turn to face the move once again.
Helen gets up and turns to face a wall where IT WAS ALWAYS YOU HELEN is written, the camera panning over to a mural of the Candyman’s story, where a woman who bares a striking appearance to that of Helen is painted. “Like Dracula.” Observes Jay, this time Alex is the one who responds. “Jay, how is this anything like Dracula, Candyman doesn’t drink blood.” Jay knows Alex doesn’t mean to be harsh, but his tone somehow always makes Jay feel wrong and small. But now all the attention felt like it was on him, but he guessed Alex was right. “Yeah, no. Sorry, I guess it’s not.” He looks up apologetically at Tim, feeling himself physically shrink down, but Tim isn’t even looking at him he's looking at Alex, from this angle he almost looks angry, or annoyed at least. Jay chalks it up to his hopeful imagination as Tim doesn’t say anything.
It’s finally nearing the end, as Hellen, holding baby Anthony, impales the Candyman with a flaming stick, he screams for her as she shuffles on the floor away from him. Jay is disturbed by the visuals of a burnt Hellen, but she does crawl out with an unharmed Anthony, and his mother soon grabs him. Hellen’s funeral is mostly uneventful until the hook is thrown down to her closed casket, repeating the Candyman’s cycle as she appears and kills her former human. But with that, the movie ends, zooming into a new mural of a flaming Hellen.
Jay knows it’s not the scariest movie and that it ends and that the bees and Candyman aren’t going to get him, but he can’t pull himself from Tim’s side, just now realising that he had wrapped his arms around the other’s far more muscular arm.
Brian stands with a bone-popping stretch, turning on the lights, Jay didn’t move. He stayed silent as they all talked about the movie, Alex of course bringing up the bees. Seth was the first to leave, mentioning how he would need to let his dog out, wishing them all goodnight as he departed. Jay was extremely glad that either Tim still somehow wasn’t aware of or simply didn’t care that Jay was clinging onto the man for dear life. He stopped listening to the conversations around him, sometimes he would feel the vibrations of Tim responding, but they were small, short rumblings. He didn’t even notice Alex and Brian go into the other room until Tim moved.
He looked tired as he looked at Jay. “We doing okay?” Yeah, yeah he was fine. The Candyman is dead and not real. He couldn’t figure out why it was still scaring him so goddamn much, he felt like a huge baby! He sniffed, lip quivering, not out of fear but embarrassment. “I..I don’t know, it’s stupid I shouldn’t be scared, like at all!” Tim pulled his arm out of Jay’s grasp. Jay had to bite his lip in order to keep any tears from falling, Tim might laugh at him or probably agree.
But Tim didn’t do any of that. Gently, he cupped Jay’s face, tenderly making Jay look up at him. “Jaybird, it’s completely fine to be scared of a movie. You’re allowed to have emotions.” Jaybird. There it is again, he felt like melting, everything felt so intimate. Jay’s brows furrowed, and Tim paused for a moment, pulling his hands away from Jay’s face. “Can you explain your Dracula connection, Alex didn’t let you explain it.” So, he was annoyed at Alex, which made Jay feel better, but still, Alex was probably right, like always. “It’s stupid and a stretch, Alex was right.”
“For me? Please.”
Oh, God. For Tim, he would do anything, yeah he could explain his Dracula connection to Tim. “Yeah, sure. Um, well, there's this film adaptation with, God, what was her name?” Jay snapped his fingers, trying to think of the actress, brows furrowed until he remembered. “Winona Ryder! Yeah, Dracula sees a picture of her and thinks she’s, like the uh, reincarnation of his dead wife." Jay’s hands fidget loosely as he explains his idea, Tim hums along, leaning on his arm, a droopy smile plastered on his face. “No, that makes a lot of sense, Jay. You’re real smart.” That small amount of praise did wonders for Jay’s Tim-yearning heart, he looked actually invested in what he had to say and he still looked extremely handsome while doing it. “You’re like really handsome.” He didn’t even realise he had said it until Tim’s ears turned pink, and an amused yet surprised smile appeared on his face.
Jay quickly panicked, prepping an apology before definitely leaving, maybe going home and packing his bags, leaving town, no scratch that, the state. “Can I kiss you?” Jay was sure his mind was playing tricks on him, but looking up and saw a very real and nervous Tim, anxiously pulling at the buttons on the sleeves of his plaid jacket. Jay, cautious as always, had to double-check. “You want to?”
“Very much so.”
Jay was proud of himself for leaning forward first, but maybe a little too fast and clumsily, knocking them both over in the process, knobby knees squeezed together between the man’s thick thighs, hands attempting to grab anything for purchase, he grasped onto Tim’s shirt like a dying man. The kiss was just as clumsy as the man who initiated it, teeth clanking against each other, lips attempting to wrap neatly around the other pair. But Jay was okay with it, stopping to breathe, he panted onto the man below him, loosening his grip on his shirt. “Sorry, I just wanted to do that for, well forever.” He panted out a weak laugh, Tim grabbed onto his hand lightly, “Yeah, me too.” Jay was seconds away from continuing their desperate kissing before he was interrupted, lips just centimeters apart from the other’s.
“Seth owes me so much money!” Brian beamed.