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The door creaked open and Bob stood in the doorframe, staring at John. His shadow stretched onto the bed and he seemed frozen as John stared back at him.
“You know you can just come in right? You don’t have to stand there,” he told him. He signaled Bob over to the bed and moved over slightly to make room for him as Bob hesitantly entered.
“Bobby, I’m the one who invited you in here, you’re fine, make yourself comfortable.”
Bob nodded, “what movie did you say you wanted me to watch?” He asked. He slowly moved towards the bed and sat down next to John, making himself comfortable and immediately seeming a little less tense. He was sitting awfully close to John and they were both immediately very aware of this.
Bob shifted away a bit and John attempted to ignore it as he grabbed the remote, scrolling through their options. “But I’m a Cheerleader. You’ll love it, I promise.” Bob nodded again and turned towards the screen as the opening credits played.
“Why’d you pick this movie?”
“Shhh I’m trying to watch.”
“Why’d you pick it?”
“Bob… I’m trying to watch.”
“I wanna know.”
John let out a shallow laugh and Bob grinned, “I don’t know, it’s a pretty movie. I like the colors,” he quietly admitted. “I’ve heard of this movie, an old friend used to like it, but I never saw it. What’s your favorite part?” Bob asked.
“Bob I’m trying to watch the…” John was interrupted by his phone going off. He rolled his eyes and checked his messages.
“What is it?” Bob asked him. He peered over at John’s phone a bit and saw that they were messages from the thunderbolts group chat they had created.
“Ava lost something,” he muttered. They both responded to the text and put their phones down, turning their eyes back to the movie.
John noticed Bob had turned away from the movie and appeared to be more focused on whatever John was doing, which was trying to watching the movie. He tried to ignore it for a bit but after about 10 minutes passed he paused the movie and turned to face him.
“Did you want something?”
“Hm?”
“You were looking at me.”
“Sorry.”
“No, uh, it’s ok.”
John turned a little red and shut up, facing towards the TV again and unpausing the movie. Bob followed and turned his vision to the TV as well, trying to pay attention.
“Hey John?” Bob turned to him again. John turned back and gave him a curious look. “Where are they?” He asked, pointing at the screen, “like in the movie?”
“They’re at True Directions. It’s like conversion therapy, but also a camp and… have you been paying attention?” John questioned. Bob shook his head and whispered, “sorry.”
“Bob I swear, you’ll like it if you actually watch it.” Bob agreed to pay attention and once again they both turned back to the TV.
They watched quietly for a bit, but as Bob scooted closer to him the silence was interrupted by John’s breathing getting ever so slightly louder.
Bob laughed a bit but didn’t say much and leaned into him a little. He was absolutely terrified to do so but he figured John probably wouldn’t mind, and if he did he would say something. What he wasn’t expecting was for John to lean back on him. It was subtle, but there was an obvious movement and they now were both lying against the headboard with their heads resting on each other.
“What cologne do you use?” Bob asked. John paused for a second, a bit surprised, before answering, “I don’t know. Wood? Maybe? I found it at Bath and Bodyworks. Why?” Bob laughed.
“I don’t think wood is its own cologne.” John shrugged.
He brought his arm around Bob, and while he shivered a bit at the touch, when John pulled back a little Bob assured him it was fine.
“I like the smell though,” Bob added, leaning into John’s hand as he slowly moved it up towards Bob’s head and played with his hair. He seemed a lot more at peace than when he had first entered the room, which was nice to see.
John smiled at the compliment and continued to gently run his hand through Bob’s hair, messing with the smaller strands as he intently stared at the screen. “Are you even still watching the movie?” John asked.
“Yeah I am! I’m actually really enjoying it. It’s funny,” he responded as he smiled at him. “And you were right about the colors, they are nice,” he added.
“I told you,” he reminded him.
“You did,” Bob agreed.
It was a short movie and came to an end fairly quickly, but neither of them wanted to leave, or even move, so they sat in silence for a bit.
John continued to slowly comb through Bob’s hair, he would occasionally murmur to himself, and while it was unintelligible to John, Bob seemed content so he didn’t bother too much with it.
At some point Bob had brought his knees to his chest and leaned more into the man sitting next to him, somewhat burrowing into him.
“The movie was cool, thank you for inviting me.”
“Yeah,” was all John had to say back. He didn’t feel like admitting how much he had been looking for an excuse to invite Bob to hang out, so when Bob mentioned a movie night he was quick to accept, and even suggest a movie.
He also didn’t feel like admitting how much he had enjoyed watching it with him.
“Your room has cool decorations,” Bob told him. John laughed a little and shook his head in disbelief. “Bobby, it’s just a bed, TV, a few sports posters and a flag.” John informed him.
“Yeah, but it’s very you. You know? It makes sense for you.” John tried not to blush at this very average observation. It didn’t mean much but something about the way Bob said it made sense for him was comforting to hear. He felt seen, which felt stupid but he supposed it was true.
“Thank you.”