22

Winston's book-bag is full to the brim, hanging on his shoulder as he quietly explains the newest revelation in the podcast Empty Tales that Gary and he religiously follow. "So it turns out that there's definitely some kind of eldritch force plotting in the background. That, or it's time travel." A pause, and then Winston concedes, "It might be both."

Jason nods thoughtfully, eyebrows softly furrows. "Is there one you want it to be, like, do you guys have theories or...?"

"We have theories," Winston confirms, but then doesn't state any of them.

Jason's eyes narrow suspiciously. "You just want me to listen to the whole podcast, don't you?" he reveals Winston's entire devious plan, akin to something a supervillain might do to mildly inconvenience someone's day and keep them up at night with, mind spinning with theories and ideas.

Dastardly, if he might say so himself.

Winston clears his throat. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Hmm," Jason suspiciously hums, staring at him suspiciously in a very suspicious manner. He's definitely suspicious of Winston, Winston can tell due to his powers of mind-reading he definitely, definitely has.

Unlike Winston, Jason is instead just carrying his books, notebooks and tablet in his (buff) arms, some pencils sticking up out of his jeans' back pocket. Winston eyes tries not to look at those pens, because then he sees a certain other body-part, and he's not really sure what the protocol is on this. Is it okay to look at the ass of the person you're dating?

Jason clears his throat and starts, "So you-" but is interrupted when one of his friends jumps onto his back and---Winston can't help but note that Jason doesn't buckle at all from the new, unanticipated weight.

Winston looks at the floor for a second, getting his expression under control before he looks up again. When he does, Jason's friend has switched to simply standing beside Jason with an arm tossed over his shoulders, hanging onto him like a sloth. Jason unsubtly elbows the other guy in the stomach (who does wince a little) and says, "Get off."

"Nope," the friend brightly declares, instead clinging tighter in a blatant offense to physics (?).

Jason sighs, but his smile is soft and his eyes still glitter. "Come on, man, you're a teddy-bear and we all know it. You would definitely pee on me if I was on fire!" the guy grandly announces, half the hallway probably hearing him. Winston blinks. Then he actually thinks about it and yeah, Jason would definitely pee on people if they were on fire and there was no other options.

"I don't think you should sound so happy about that," Jason points out, trying to elbow the guy again but he smoothly steps out of the way, releasing Jason in the process.

The--Winston feels like he might know his name but might not?---guy laughs and pats Jason's shoulder. "Don't be mad," he drawls, winking. He looks to Winston then, reaching out a hand and saying, "Howdy, dude, I don't think we've met. You're Winston, right? Jason has told us so much about you."

"I am Winston, yes," the Winston in question agrees, smoothly ignoring everything else he said. (Jason speaks about him? What does he say?) Winston glances at Jason, who is now starting to blush a little and looking right over Winston's shoulder. Winston's lips twitch, and he presses his lips tightly together to hide it, turning his attention back toward Jason's friend. "I'm sorry," he says, "But I don't know your name."

The guy gasps. "You haven't told him about me? Jason Hill!" He pats Jason's shoulders until Jason looks at him, and then he pouts. "Am I not your best friend? Don't you love me the most-est in the whole wide universe?"

"Sam is my best friend."

The guy gasps once more. "I am telling your brother you said that," he announces, pointing at Jason with a trembling finger. Winston's eyes keep skipping between them, but he is fairly sure... fairly sure they're play-fighting. Like Gary does. Jason's expressions are over-the-top in a way he recognizes from Gary, and the stranger's expression... well, Winston doesn't have a frame of reference, but... yeah, he thinks they're playing.

Probably.

"Why would that bother me?" Jason says now, referring to his brother.

The dude's expression looks distinctly haughty, "He loves me more than you."

"Not a chance," Jason instantly announces. "My brother [find his name!] loves me most of all. Even if he cares about you a little, he can't love you as much as me."

"Ohoho," the guy smirks. "I'll tell him you said that too."

Jason's eyebrow finally twitches in something other than amusement. "Do you seriously have his number?" he asks, actually sounding curious. Winston, too, finds himself a little curious. He's heard some thing about Jason's brother [write this in prior!!] but nothing that would indicate the man is friendly with Jason's friends.

The guy in question shrugs, "Yeah, I got it the last time he went to our game. He's really protective of you, all I had to do was promise to let him know if something happens to you."

Jason's mouth hangs open for a second. "You talk to him?"

"Yeah."

Jason blinks rapidly for a couple of seconds, then he turns toward Winston and abruptly says, "This is my friend Clyde, he's on the basketball team with me. You've probably seen him at practice."

"Yeah, you're the reason Jason gets so flustered he can't concentrate sometimes, right?" Clyde smirks.

Winston looks to Jason, who has started to blush again. "Maybe," he says after a moment of no help whatsoever.

Clyde laughs. "Awesome," he says, patting Jason's shoulder again. "Anyway, if you want to wear Jason's jersey to the games you need to place an order soon. Jason's jersey's always run out real quick," he even winks.

"I—"

Jason interrupts, blushing, "That's none of your business, Clyde." He takes a step back from Clyde, glancing quickly at Winston and then looking back at Clyde again, the tips of his ears burning red. Winston watches in silence, content to observe while Jason is getting more and more flustered.

Clyde laughs, patting Jason's shoulder and addressing Winston; "Don't listen to him, Jay would die if you wore his jersey, he's ridiculously into—" Jason outright slaps his hand over Clyde's mouth and drags the fellow man close, whispering something into his ear while Clyde's eyes successively widen with each word. Finally, Clyde nods and Jason lets him go with a gentle pat on the back and a meaningful (or so Winston assumes) wiggle of his eyebrows.

Clyde drawls, "You're a menace to society, Jay." Jason in turn merely shoves his shoulder softly, and Clyde exaggerates his fall, flailing his arms as he walks away. On the way out he calls, "Think about it, Winston! Jay will adore it!"

Winston waits until Clyde has turned the corner and Jason's blush has subsided before he asks, "Is he right?"

Jason freezes, a ferocious blush exploding over his cheeks.