p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The week that Jason spent grounded was difficult. Roy felt immense guilt about getting Jason into trouble, but the younger boy ensured him that he was responsible for his own choices, and that he didn't regret his decision. Jason had vowed that he'd do it again if he had to, and Roy once again wondered what he'd done right to have Jason be a part of his life./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"They saw each other for an hour after school so that they could study. They spent that time at the library so that Alfred could pick Jason up the second the hour was up, at the front gate. Jason was more than okay with those terms, he wanted to get back into his guardian's good graces. He was completely comfortable with dealing with the consequences of his action, at least on the outside. In reality, Jason was baffled by how he could miss Roy so much even though he saw him everyday. In some ways it felt a lot like they'd regressed back to being simply tutor and student, school work was the only thing that brought them together./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The following week, when Jason's strict curfew was lifted, they decided to celebrate by having a movie marathon at Queen mansion, just the two of them. It was late afternoon, and they were sat out on the garden wall, Jason gazed up at the older boy. The setting sun set the sky ablaze, Roy's silhouette was stark and crisp against the backdrop, his unruly hair was blowing in the slight breeze, and his lips were tilted in a lazy smile as he breathed out a wisp of cigarette smoke. For a second, Jason had the fleeting thought of how he'd love to snapshot the moment. He ducked his head and took a drag quickly, so that Roy wouldn't notice his stare./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What do you mean you've never seen a horror movie?!" Roy let out, drawing Jason's attention back to the conversation at hand. The older boy actually looked affronted./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"There had never been any opportunities to watch many movies at all when Jason was growing up. He didn't want to talk about the implications of that though, so he simply shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal. He figured that horror movies wouldn't phase him, he'd seen enough bad shit happening to last a lifetime, he'd witnessed things first hand that still gave him nightmares, there's no way some guy in a costume was going to get to him at all. But Roy looked eager to show him, so he'd happily oblige him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"What Jason hadn't counted on, was how devastatingly wrong he was. And though he was sure that he wasn't so much span style="font-style: oblique;"frightened/span as he was span style="font-style: oblique;"ill-prepared/span. He hadn't expected anything like what he was witnessing. Ignorance is bliss after all. They were barely an hour into Dead Silence and Jason was embarrassingly jumpy. They were sat side-by-side on the large sofa, a blanket was haphazardly thrown across their laps, Jason's fingers were clenching and unclenching around its fleecy fabric as he watched the next scene play out./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy chuckled when Jason let out an unconscious little squeak, and his body flinched. The younger boy promptly scowled and elbowed Roy sharply in the ribs. "You're making me watch this shit. I'm doing this for you, you don't get to make fun of me," Jason griped./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't worry, it's cute," Roy sent back with another low chuckle./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't call me cute," Jason tossed back dismissively, before he shot his gaze back to the screen and tried to ignore the mess of feelings that Roy's words had stirred./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason felt Roy shift slightly beside him, he tugged the blanket around himself more firmly and Jason felt the older boy's hand come up to play with the hair at his nape. When Jason leaned back into the affection, he turned to see Roy's arched brow. Jason stared at Roy for a long moment, the expanse of the older boy's side looked warm and inviting, and with a tiny shrug he adjusted his position. He sat against Roy's side, his shoulder was tucked under the older boy's arm, and Roy's hand came to rest on his chest. It felt nice./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Throughout the rest of the evening they stayed that way, at some point Roy's opposite hand had curled around Jason's hip, and whenever the younger boy jumped as they continued to watch movies, Roy would give him a reassuring squeeze. They both, of course, recognized that his wasn't standard span style="font-style: oblique;"friend/span behaviour, and they weren't ready to talk about what that meant. It felt important though, like it was supposed to happen somehow./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But the closer Jason got to Roy, the more be began to depend on him. Jason relished the fact that he had someone in his life who he could be himself around, someone that took him as he was and made him feel like his age for a change. But, he also acknowledged that a huge part of that was because Roy didn't know the truth, didn't know where he'd come from or who he'd once been. And the fear that Roy might turn him away once he found out was potent, it made his chest feel hollowed out and aching raw. He pressed closer into the warmth of his friend's body, and his face fell onto Roy's chest. He listened to the steady thump of the older boy's heart, and Roy, who assumed Jason's movement was in response to the movie, just squeezed him tighter./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"They saw each other for an hour after school so that they could study. They spent that time at the library so that Alfred could pick Jason up the second the hour was up, at the front gate. Jason was more than okay with those terms, he wanted to get back into his guardian's good graces. He was completely comfortable with dealing with the consequences of his action, at least on the outside. In reality, Jason was baffled by how he could miss Roy so much even though he saw him everyday. In some ways it felt a lot like they'd regressed back to being simply tutor and student, school work was the only thing that brought them together./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The following week, when Jason's strict curfew was lifted, they decided to celebrate by having a movie marathon at Queen mansion, just the two of them. It was late afternoon, and they were sat out on the garden wall, Jason gazed up at the older boy. The setting sun set the sky ablaze, Roy's silhouette was stark and crisp against the backdrop, his unruly hair was blowing in the slight breeze, and his lips were tilted in a lazy smile as he breathed out a wisp of cigarette smoke. For a second, Jason had the fleeting thought of how he'd love to snapshot the moment. He ducked his head and took a drag quickly, so that Roy wouldn't notice his stare./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What do you mean you've never seen a horror movie?!" Roy let out, drawing Jason's attention back to the conversation at hand. The older boy actually looked affronted./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"There had never been any opportunities to watch many movies at all when Jason was growing up. He didn't want to talk about the implications of that though, so he simply shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal. He figured that horror movies wouldn't phase him, he'd seen enough bad shit happening to last a lifetime, he'd witnessed things first hand that still gave him nightmares, there's no way some guy in a costume was going to get to him at all. But Roy looked eager to show him, so he'd happily oblige him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"What Jason hadn't counted on, was how devastatingly wrong he was. And though he was sure that he wasn't so much span style="font-style: oblique;"frightened/span as he was span style="font-style: oblique;"ill-prepared/span. He hadn't expected anything like what he was witnessing. Ignorance is bliss after all. They were barely an hour into Dead Silence and Jason was embarrassingly jumpy. They were sat side-by-side on the large sofa, a blanket was haphazardly thrown across their laps, Jason's fingers were clenching and unclenching around its fleecy fabric as he watched the next scene play out./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy chuckled when Jason let out an unconscious little squeak, and his body flinched. The younger boy promptly scowled and elbowed Roy sharply in the ribs. "You're making me watch this shit. I'm doing this for you, you don't get to make fun of me," Jason griped./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't worry, it's cute," Roy sent back with another low chuckle./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't call me cute," Jason tossed back dismissively, before he shot his gaze back to the screen and tried to ignore the mess of feelings that Roy's words had stirred./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason felt Roy shift slightly beside him, he tugged the blanket around himself more firmly and Jason felt the older boy's hand come up to play with the hair at his nape. When Jason leaned back into the affection, he turned to see Roy's arched brow. Jason stared at Roy for a long moment, the expanse of the older boy's side looked warm and inviting, and with a tiny shrug he adjusted his position. He sat against Roy's side, his shoulder was tucked under the older boy's arm, and Roy's hand came to rest on his chest. It felt nice./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Throughout the rest of the evening they stayed that way, at some point Roy's opposite hand had curled around Jason's hip, and whenever the younger boy jumped as they continued to watch movies, Roy would give him a reassuring squeeze. They both, of course, recognized that his wasn't standard span style="font-style: oblique;"friend/span behaviour, and they weren't ready to talk about what that meant. It felt important though, like it was supposed to happen somehow./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But the closer Jason got to Roy, the more be began to depend on him. Jason relished the fact that he had someone in his life who he could be himself around, someone that took him as he was and made him feel like his age for a change. But, he also acknowledged that a huge part of that was because Roy didn't know the truth, didn't know where he'd come from or who he'd once been. And the fear that Roy might turn him away once he found out was potent, it made his chest feel hollowed out and aching raw. He pressed closer into the warmth of his friend's body, and his face fell onto Roy's chest. He listened to the steady thump of the older boy's heart, and Roy, who assumed Jason's movement was in response to the movie, just squeezed him tighter./p