Reid watched as Tyler pulled on a tee-shirt, only to take it right back off and toss it onto his bed. The cycle repeated for another five minutes before Reid finally spoke up.
"Tyler, it's a movie, not a five-star restaurant. He's not even going to see your shirt for most of the night, and then it's just going to end up on the floor anyway," he told him, but still, he watched another shirt get thrown into the growing pile on Tyler's bed.
"It's just... I don't know, at camp, everyone wore shorts and tee-shirts, and in school, we all wear uniforms, and at practice, we all wear the same swim shorts, so he's never really seen who I am, and now he is, and what if he doesn't like who I am?" Tyler ranted, all the while still changing shirts. At least he had chosen which jeans to wear already.
Reid rolled his eyes and sat Tyler down on his bed. "He already wants you, Tyler, and he's not the only one," Reid told him with a smug look and continued before Tyler's questioning look turned into an actual question, "I'm going to give you a shirt, you're going to put it on, and everything will be fine."
Tyler nodded and let out a sigh. He could do this, he told himself.
"Here," Reid said as he shoved a navy blue tee-shirt and a long-sleeved white thermal to go underneath it. "Brings out your eyes."
The younger teen took the shirts and smirked at Reid's reasoning. "Are you sure you're not the gay one?"
Reid rolled his eyes and fell onto his bed, making Tyler bounce with the force of his landing. "Just get dressed already."
Tyler chuckled and pulled the shirts on, then kneeled down on the floor to grab a pair of shoes from under his bed. He froze, though, when he realized there were four pairs of sneakers under there. His eyes widened, and he turned to look at Reid sheepishly. "Reid..."
The blond looked down to where Tyler was and sighed. "Converse, casual yet trendy."
"Thanks," Tyler grinned and bit back another hit towards Reid's sexuality.
"Just keep it between you and me. By the way, I'm hitting a party later on tonight, so I won't be back til late..." Reid said suggestively, and Tyler blushed, understanding what Reid meant. "You're gunna wanna move that pile of shirts off your bed, too."
"Right," Tyler murmured and picked the shirts up, only to drop them on Reid's bed. "Thanks, again," he said with a bright grin when Reid glared at him.
"You're lucky I love you, Simms."
On the next floor, Pogue was in his dorm with a couple of guys from the swim team who had decided to stop by.
"Alright, make yourselves useful, and help me with this problem I'm having," Pogue said and pushed his computer chair so he was sitting in the middle of the room in front of the two guys sitting on the bed.
"More girl problems? Pogue, man, you have more chick problems than any guy I know."
"And I thought they were over when you finally dumped that Kate girl."
"Yeah, well, I've got my eyes on someone new, but there's a slight issue with me getting with them," Pogue sighed and leaned back in the chair.
The shaggy haired teen, Adam, laughed and leaned back on his arms. "You could always be the other man."
Clark, the raven-haired male, pushed Adam off the bed at the suggestion. "Pogue's a gentleman, unlike you. He'd never wanna be the other man."
Pogue snorted and rolled his eyes. "Do you guys wanna hear my problem or not?"
"Shoot, go," Adam said as he pulled himself back on the bed.
"Alright, so there's this guy and they had a fling before, and now they seem to be getting serious, but I don't wanna just step in there and be like 'Hey, I want you. Forget him.' Because, who am I to say that? And tonight, they're going on a date I think, but I really don't want them to," Pogue explained, all the while playing with a rubber ball he had in his hand. "What would you do?"
"Follow them on the date and ruin it, but don't let them know it was you." Typical Adam answer.
"Why can't you just talk to the girl? Who is she anyway?"
"She's... someone. I don't wanna say just yet, in case it doesn't work out," Pogue shrugged slightly.
"Seems important," Clark grinned, "I say talk to her."
"I say ambush the date!"
Pogue rolled his eyes and threw the ball at him. "You guys are no help."
The three of them hung out some more before Adam and Clark left to go to Nicky's, but Pogue claimed he had other plans when they asked if he wanted to tag along. As soon as they closed the door behind him, Pogue pulled his phone out and called Caleb. He needed a wingman tonight.
"You, me, movies, how about it?"
He could hear Caleb's eye-roll through the phone. "No, Pogue, you're not ruining this for Tyler."
"If you don't go, imagine what I'll do by myself," he said with a grin because he knew that would get Caleb before he even heard the telltale sigh through the speaker.
"Meet at my house?"
"I'll be there in ten."
At the movie theater, Justin and Tyler were standing in line, staring up at the movies playing and their show times.
"So what do you wanna see?" Justin asked, his gaze turning to Tyler.
"Surprise me," Tyler smiled and shrugged slightly. "All of them sound okay."
"Alright, then," Justin murmured and reached down into his pocket to get his wallet. Tyler followed, but his hand was stopped by Justin's free one, "I've got it."
"You sure?" Tyler asked, a light pink spreading over his cheeks, "I mean, I've got money, it's fine."
"I've got it," Justin reassured and slipped his hand into Tyler's to stop him from reaching for his wallet, grinning as the pink on his cheeks darkened to a bright red.
"They're holding hands," Pogue announced to Caleb and snorted. "How fucking cliché can he get?"
"Keep talking and they'll know we're here, Pogue," Caleb warned and pulled Pogue back in line from where he had wandered to get a better view.
Pogue sighed and stuck his head out in line to see if they were getting tickets yet, and tugged Caleb's sleeve when he saw Justin walk up to box office. "He's buying them now," he told him and focused his Power to hear what movie Justin had picked. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered and turned to stare at Caleb.
"What?" Caleb asked in an exasperated tone.
"He just picked Twilight."
Caleb couldn't help it; he started laughing, but he covered his mouth with his hand as to not offend Pogue too much. "Um… interesting choice," he mumbled and bit his lip to stop from laughing even more.
"This kid's more of a fairy than Edward Cullen."
Pogue's comment had Caleb bursting out in laughter again, and he gained the attention of the people around him by the means of odd looks and quiet whispers. "Why do you know his name?"
"Kate was in love with him."
Caleb could only laugh some more.
"I can't let Reid know I went to see this," Tyler murmured and shook his head as he and Justin found seats in the theater. The hysteria of the movie must have died down because it was little more than half-full, and Tyler was grateful for that. "He'll never let me live it down."
Justin chuckled as he led Tyler down an aisle. "You can tell him we saw Toy Story, instead," he suggested and took a seat in the middle of the aisle.
"Sounds good," Tyler smiled and grabbed the bucket of popcorn out of Justin's hand, "We should have gotten two," he mumbled out as he stuffed a handful of popcorn in his mouth. Constantly going to the movies with Reid seemed to have infected his manners.
"That's real cute," Justin teased and took some popcorn for himself, eating it much more calmly than Tyler had.
"Sorry," Tyler grinned and pulled a napkin out of his pocket to wipe his mouth, thankful that he thought to grab some from the concessions stand. "Me and Reid always compete to see who can eat more popcorn before the movie starts... It's a habit to just dig in."
Justin just waved it off and grabbed the jumbo cup of Coke they had gotten, drinking some of it before speaking. "I'm not much better when it comes to pizza."
"That, I'll have to see," Tyler teased and settled down in his seat, now calmly eating the popcorn from the bucket in his lap. "So... how about pizza, Friday night, on me?"
"Why, Tyler, are you asking me out on a date?" Justin asked, feigning to be overcome by surprise.
"Only if this is one," the other teen shrugged, a blush appearing on his face.
Justin grinned and leaned in to kiss Tyler's pink cheek, "You've got it."
Tyler's lips curled in a smile and he got comfortable as the lights in the theater dimmed. Justin's arm found its way to around his shoulders, and his smile widened with the warmth it brought.
A couple of rows behind him sat a glaring Pogue and an annoyed Caleb. The older teen swore that if Pogue tried to throw one kernel of popcorn, he was going to drag the younger Son out of the theater by his ear, kicking and screaming if need be.
Halfway through the movie, when Justin and Tyler had shared a kiss, he had to do just as he swore, but instead of grabbing Pogue's ear, he grabbed his arm and pulled him out towards the aisle.
"I'm not doing this, Pogue. We're leaving now before Tyler notices we're here," Caleb whispered harshly as he dragged Pogue out of the theater.
"But—"
"Pogue, you're acting like a child. Can you stop and think about what we were just doing? We were spying. On Tyler. While he's on a date. You know damn well you'd be pissed off as all hell if you found out any of us did that to you."
Pogue had been glaring at Caleb as he spoke, but his words seemed to had broken through the barrier of jealousy in his mind, and he sighed, the glare leaving his eyes. "It's just..."
"I know," Caleb muttered and clapped his friend on the shoulder as he led him towards the exit, "But you just need to calm down and think things through. Take a day off tomorrow and figure this all out, alright?"
"Okay," Pogue sighed and spared one last glance back at the theater.
After the movie, Justin drove back to the dorms and parked. Tyler was about to open the door to get out, but he was tugged back and met by lips on his own. He grinned and kissed back while running a hand over Justin's peach fuzz hair, enjoying the soft feeling against his fingers.
"Thought you were gunna get away without a goodnight kiss?" Justin murmured when he pulled away, a smile playing on his lips.
"We live on the same floor, Justin," Tyler laughed and brushed his lips against Justin's again.
"Well, yeah, but it's not the same in the hallway," he shrugged a bit and bumped his nose against Tyler's.
"And what about in my dorm?" Tyler said innocently, his blue eyes seeming bright even in the darkness. A slow grin appeared on Justin's face before he leaned in for one more kiss.
"What are we waiting for then?"
"Well, I was ready to go before, I don't know now..."
Justin growled playfully and pulled Tyler in for another kiss, this one composed of raw passion. He let Tyler go and the younger teen swallowed and licked his lips before nodding and saying, "Okay, maybe I'm ready again."
When Reid walked into the dorm at three in the morning, he found Tyler and Justin tangled in themselves and the comforter, sleeping peacefully. He snorted and left to go to Pogue's room because he did not want to be the reason of awkwardness in the morning.