23

Winston's foot has been tapping on the floor for over four minutes, his lower lip thoroughly bitten and his eyes wide as they check the time on the phone again. About two seconds have passed since the last check, and he frowns.

Gary says, "Did you see last night's episode of The Last Lighthouse in the Universe?"

"Yeah," Winston says, not having heard a word. He eyes his phone again, fingers tapping on the table in beat with his foot. It's not the same café as where Winston and Jason had their first date---and have since visited another 3 more times---but it's almost as nice. Not nearly as cozy; the vibes are completely different. Rather clinical, in fact.

Gary says, "I watched it with mom and Liam, and Liam grumbled the whole time." Gary sighs, rolling his eyes. He pulls Winston's phone away from him before he can check the time again. Winston slumps in his seat, and Gary grins at him, "When Karl and Ulla spent that whole day together, just playing with the cat, wasn't that the cutest thing ever?"

Winston nods, about to agree, when Gary cuts in with a sullen, "Liam thought it was pedantic and boring; he doesn't understand the magnificence of slice-of-life stories."

Winston can't help rising an eyebrow. "Liam likes everything with cats, he was definitely just lying to you so you'd get annoyed."

"You think?" Gary frowns.

"Definitely," Winston nods. He looks at his phone again, and Gary spins it over so it lies screen down on the table. When Winston glares at him, Gary sticks out his tongue. Winston crosses his arms over his chest and pouts, just barely resisting poking his tongue out in return. He knows, from some rather unfortunate experience, that that would just set off a fierce battle of which there could be no victor.

They managed to secure a corner booth in the café with rather impeccable view of the entrance, and Winston spots Jason approaching through one of the two massive windows on either side of the door. He pats Gary's shoulder, hisses, "He's here!" under his breath and can't seem to decide if he wants slide down the chair and hide or stand up and wave.

Somehow, he ends up doing both.

It does not go well.

An aching shoulder and sore knees later, Winston---sitting---waves to Jason when the man enters. Jason spots him instantly---he's very good at that---and brightens, grinning wide. He heads right over, and Winston pats Gary's shoulder again, hissing with the barest lip-movements, "He's coming!"

"Yes, I have great powers of deduction and figured that out." A pause, then Gary adds, "With my powers of deduction."

Winston snorts. He turns his face up toward Jason when he reaches them, and Winston has no control over hi consequent smile whatsoever. Jason freezes for a second, looking at him, then clears his throat and drops into the seat opposite them on the other side of the booth. "Hey," Jason says, smiling gently.

"Hi," breathes Winston, and he doesn't sound besotted at all.

Definitely.

Clearing his throat, Winston says, "This is Gary, my best friend. Gary, this is Jason. We're dating."

"I am aware," Gary says, but thankfully in a very serious tone. He's even frowning when Winston glances at him, and Winston wonders if that's good or not. He doesn't know how this is supposed to go, has never been in this position before. Was it bad, that he's sitting beside Gary? Should he be sitting on the same side as Jason? Has he now inadvertently made this a me-vs-them situation and put Jason and him on different sides?

And does any of that actually make sense?

Gary straightens up and holds a slim hand over the table, nails sparkly moss green to match his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Jason. I'm Gareth Ryder, Winston's best friend in the whole world and I will gut you like a pig if you break his heart."

Jason blinks. To his credit, he doesn't look to Winston for answers. Instead, his impassive expression smooths over any of his thoughts, and he says, "Nice to meet you, too. I'm Jason Hill." After a second, "Which you knew." Another pause, during which Winston' pinches Gary's thigh so he doesn't interrupt, and then Jason adds, "And it's fine, to be quite honest, my friends are pretty ready to gut people likes pigs too. They're not... unknowing of my feelings, and how I'd feel if things went... badly." Jason grimaces, breaking eye-contact.

Winston bites his lip. He looks at Jason and then Gary, and then Jason again. His lip hurts, and he says, "We should order?" and it ends up sounding like a question.

Gary smiles, and pats his shoulder. "Definitely. You know my order, right?" Before Winston's eyebrows even furrow---because like, obviously he knows Gary's order---Gary adds in a rather teasing manner, "And I bet you know Jason's order as well, right?"

Jason blushes a little and it distracts Winston enough that Gary manages to push him into standing fairly easily. Then Winston is for some reason standing in line to the bar and staring forlornly at Gary and Jason.

They're talking.

From this direction, he can see both their side-profiles but he has no idea what they're talking about. Jason isn't blushing anymore, though, not even a little, and Gary isn't smiling. As he gets closer and closer to the counter, he forces himself to stop looking and speculating. He has no idea what they're saying and staring at them regardless just makes him worry.

(What if they don't like each other?)

Winston places their orders with no issue, "[insert their coffee orders here!!]" and lingers at the counter until the order is done, stepping out of the way twice for two different people. He fingers his phone, scrolling through a fanfiction website and looks up when his name is called.

With the drinks in hand---on a tray, because he's not that adventurous---Winston returns to the table. Both Gary and Jason turns toward him and as he approaches, and his throat goes dry as he skips his eyes between them. "Everything... okay?" he asks, placing the tray down and following onto his seat.

Gary grins. "Yeah, we cleared the air real nice!"

Jason nods, smiling. It's not as confident as his usual smiles, Winston can't help but notice and it pricks at him that he doesn't know what that means. Jason says, "You're really good friends, you know. It's nice."

Winston smiles, fingers flexing on the paper cup (it's possibly he forgot to mention that it wasn't a to-go order). "It is," he agrees, glancing at Gary and watching his smile turn warmer, eyes gentle.

"Yeah," Gary agrees.

Jason nods. He takes a sip from his drink, Winston's eyes following the line of his throat as he swallows. It's a very good throat, neck thick and veins running down his clavicle, bones gentle almost. Winston has spent maybe an ungodly amount of time staring at that throat, and it might have also caused a sexuality crises or two. Or three.

Possibly five, but who's counting?

After swallowing, Jason asks, "So there was a new episode of Empty Tales yesterday, right? Have you guys listened to it yet?"

Gary's eyes widen. "You listen to it?"

"Ah," Jason scratches his cheek. "I'm trying to catch up but I'm still on season one. Winston talks about it a lot though, so I think I've been spoiled for the whole show."

Winston narrows his eyes. "Slander," he declares, turning to Gary and insisting, "I haven't spoiled any major plot points, I would never ruin the experience like that."

"It's fine, Winnie, you know I'm on your side. If you," Gary inhales a huge breath and his eyes turn distinction sad, "If you feel like spoiling the show is what's best for someone, I'll believe you. I'll always back you up," and he smiles very sadly.

It takes about two seconds for Winston to laugh and while Jason tries to hide his smile behind his coffee cup, the cup is tiny and Winston can see it clear as day.