Winston glances at Jason out of the corner of his eyes, holding up his phone right to his face and doing his best to angle his body away from Jason without losing line of sight. The entire day has passed by in a haze, Winston's eyes continuing to slide in every direction for a mere glimpse of Jason.

Jason shines among his friends.

Gary, also tapping away at his phone—albeit at a very different angle—stands shoulder to shoulder with him. The hallway is crowded, but not the extent that it limits Winston's sight, and he watches as Jason grins at something his friend said. Even from this distance, Winston's heart skips a beat. His hands clench on the phone, and he raises it higher to hide his face.

It's possible he completely missed what the professor said at the single class he shares with Jason.

"If you want, I'll go with you to the stadium and you can peek at practice."

Winston's head snaps around. "Really?" he asks, straightening up and plopping his phone back in his pocket. Gary merely smiles at him, nodding, and Winston bites his lip. "You're not busy with work?" he asks, knowing that Gary has a new kid he's tutoring.

Gary shakes his head and says, "The kid got the flu or something."

"Ah," Winston nods sagely. Then he grins, glancing over his shoulder and spotting Jason getting closer in a meandering path with his friends. An unmentionable noise escapes him and he turns away, standing with his back to the hallway while Gary snickers at him. Winston kicks him—lightly—in the shin but Gary's snickers only grow in volume.

On his back, he feels a gaze. Gary's snickers dissipate, his eyes growing wider staring at something behind Winston's back. "Dude," he hisses in a low whisper, tugging on Winston's long sleeve. Winston freezes, breath stuck in his throat, and he only moves again when Gary's eyes follow that something to the end of the hall and the heavy invisible weight on his back vanishes.

"Dude," Gary emphasizes, tugging on his sleeve once more, gaze now meeting Winston's wide eyes. He tugs again; "Jason was legit staring at you," Gary says, almost speaking too quickly to be understandable.

He tugs on Winston's sleeve once more and Winston finally regains enough of his faculties to say, "Are you sure?" unable to stop his eyebrows from furrowing.

Gary nods so quickly Winston fears his neck will snap. "I'm sure, the dude was completely unable to look away! He totally knows who you are!"

Winston grimaces. "Right. That's... great."

"No I mean it in a good way!" Gary hurries to add as they start walking again. He says, "Jason really didn't seem angry, more like... he just kept glancing at you as he got closer until he didn't look away at all. Kind of like you, only he didn't look like he daydreaming, more like he was thinking."

Winston inhales deeply. "I guess that's better. As long as he doesn't hate me," he mutters.

"Dude, of course he doesn't," Gary says, poking him in his stomach and neatly stepping out of the way of Winston's elbow. "You just ran into him, is all. He's not gonna hate you for that." Gary wiggles his eyebrows then, "If anything, he's gonna be intrigued and fall in love with the mysterious boy who ran away from him."

"Oh my god," laughs Winston, rolling his eyes. "You're incorrigible."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, that word is too complicated for me to understand."

Winston laughs again. "I hate you," he squeezes out between his snickers, the two of them making solid progress to the split-point between their classes. It's a shame they can't share all their classes but they make the most of it between periods, sneaking away into corners to discuss and argue about the new episode of their favorite shows, both TV and podcasts. 

"So you'll go with me to the team's practice later?" Winston verifies before they part ways, lingering outside the door to Gary's class.

Gary raises an eyebrow. "Are you calling me a liar?"

"No," admits Winston, shoulders drooping.

Gary laughs. "So don't worry about it! Wait for me outside the stadium and I'll be there as soon as I can." He adds, "I'll swoop over just like Supertoolman did in last night's new episode!"

"Supertoolman died."

"Details, details," Gary waves his very valid concerns away.

Winston steps out of the way of a student entering the classroom and nods to Gary. "Alright, so I'll wait for you. No matter how long it takes." After a second, he grins. "And if you wanna peek at the cheerleaders practice some time, I'll definitely go with you."

Gary blushes bright red, almost drowning out his wealth of freckles, and he punches Winston's shoulder. Winston, in turn, theatrically stumbles back, making sure to widen his eyes and audibly gasp for special effect.

 "Not so loud," Gary grumbles, but he's smiling a little. He peeks at Winston, tellingly taking a second to make sure that he didn't actually hurt him, and then clears his throat and loudly says. "Goodbye. I'll see you later. Don't look for me during lunch, I have a supplemental class then. Thanks." And then he hurries into the classroom, Winston giggling behind him.

To say that the rest of the day is a slog is a massive understatement, Winston's patience tested to the limits. His leg persistently bounces under the table during lessons, successively annoying each student who sits beside him. He ducks his head when they look at him, taking plenty of notes to hide the tiny tremble in his fingers.

At last, the day's final lesson ends and Winston hurries through the halls, spinning around students and professors both. He reaches the wall to the stadium before he even has time to think through his actions. Maybe peeking in on the team's practice so soon after his inadvertent and ill-fated meetings with Jason Hill is a horrible idea? Maybe it'll send stalker signals to Jason? Maybe it'll creep him out.

He's biting his thumbnail when Gary joins him. "You doing okay?" Gary asks him, stopping before him and tugging on his sleeve to Winston is forced to release his thumb.

"I'm fine," he says, convincing no one.

Gary's eyebrow furrow. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to, you know."

"I know."

Gary waits but when Winston doesn't say anything more, he pats Winston's shoulder and says, "Whatever happens, I'll be with you so don't worry so much." Winston nods, and he follows behind Gary into the stadium, up the bleachers, and onto a seat. Holding his book-bag to his chest, he curls his legs up on the seat with him and watches the team of men running around the court.

Jason is, naturally, among them.

He's leading a pack of equally big guys, sweat shining in the overhead lights even from this distance. After a while the running stops and they settle down into stretches on the floor, Jason walking among them and speaking to nearly everyone. And then, at one point, Jason looks up at the bleachers.

Winston gulps, pulling the book-bag up higher to hide behind, but he's very worried. He's far enough up that he shouldn't be recognizable, and he's not very memorable in the first place. It's instinct, more than anything, that makes him pat Gary on his leg until Gary too crouches down somewhat and hides from Jason's searching gaze, searing even from this distance.

But it's fine, watching them practice. Winston knows nothing about basketball, has no idea how the points are even counted, but it's plain as day that Jason loves it. Watching his bright smile is enough reason to be here, the sheer joy infectious.

So Winston is perfectly happy to spend hours watching in hiding, listening to a horror audio drama all the while together with Gary.