Because the podcast is actually good—they wouldn't be obsessed with it otherwise—time quickly runs away from them. Winston and Gary crowd together on their seats, abandoning headphones in favor of just letting the audio wash over them. It's barely audible over the noises from the court, anyway, and so they regularly have to rewind when they miss things.

"Do you think—" Gary hisses to him as a monster crawls through a window, and Winston is nodding before Gary's even finished speaking.

"I heard a—" Winston whispers as the main character runs through a forest, and Gary's already rewinding.

"There was a—" Gary murmurs and Winston nods along, hooking his chin onto Gary's shoulder as they listen.

"I never would have guessed—" Winston mutters at the episodes end reveal, and then they of course have to re-listen to the entire episode. Actually, they decide fairly quickly amongst furious whispering, they might as well replay the entire season. It's a new show, after all, and it hasn't gotten very far yet.

Winston looks up sometimes, of course, peeking at Jason's thorough training. Jason never seems to tire, never seems to find it dull or boring, always moving, always talking to somebody. He's grinning when he runs side by side with somebody Winston recognizes but can't name. He laughs as he talks to a couple of guys, gestures to the other side of the court and the others nodding along. Ducks his head bashfully when he talks with the coach, rubbing the back of his neck in a way that distinctly flexing his muscles, and Winston licks his lips.

Gary pokes his side, and Winston ducks his head again, muttering, "Sorry."

"Dude, I don't mind," says Gary, grinning at him when Winston peeks. He pulls a little on Winston's cheek, the pain negligible and then pats his cheek when he lets go. Winston suffers it all in good faith, staying still so he doesn't accidentally make it hurt for real. "There, now you've got rosy cheeks."

Winston rolls his eyes and sighs. "You're a menace," he announces, something that bears repeating at least every week lest Gary think that he's normal. The horror.

Gary snickers, and rewinds the episode again so they can listen to what they missed while discussing such a serious topic that obviously requires their whole focus. Obviously.

The next time Winston looks up, the team is leaving the court. "Oh," he says, blinking and finally looking at the clock on the phone. Gary makes an inquisitive noise beside him, and Winston says, "We've been here for 3 hours."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Silence, and then Gary snorts and then bursts into loud laughter, the sound ringing out over the stadium. "Oh my god, that's hilarious," he announces between his snickers and giggling, and the few people now working on getting the court back in order go back to their own business. Winston does his best not to bend or hide; Jason has already left and he doesn't know these people, anyway.

"Well, I'm glad you had fun," says Winston as he gathers his things, holding his book-bag securely to his chest. Honestly, he should buy a new one soon, the strap has been broken for over a week already.

But there is a kind of security in being able to use it to hide behind, and he's loathed to let it go.

(Weak.)

"Yeah, come on, this was nice," says Gary. He nudges their shoulders as they head toward the exit. "We should totally do this again sometime. We got to enjoy an awesome podcast and you got to peek at your crush working out, so this was obviously a huge success."

"Gary," Winston whines, turning the corner first. As he does, he catches sight of a bus coming into view at the very end of his sight-line, and his eyes widen as a horrifying realization hits him. "The bus," he breathes.

"What?" asks Gary, stepping up beside him. Then he yelps. "The bus!"

"...Run!" yells Winston and takes off, feet hitting the pavement at a speed that's frankly dangerous. He hears Gary follow him and is soon overtaken, Gary's athletic ability superior as he actually works out sometimes. Unlike Winston, who considers the four sets up stairs up to his apartment to be all the exercise he needs.

"Hurry!" Gary yells as he speeds off, thundering down the steps to the end of campus, and Winston wheezes, unable to even respond. He merely holds his bag to his chest with a death-grip, doing his best to ignore the hissing sensation ins his lungs. It doesn't take long for him to be running hopelessly behind Gary, but hopefully Gary can convince the bus driver to wait a few seconds if he doesn't make it. They should be passed rush hour, right?

In his distress and focus, Winston doesn't notice he's heading right for someone. Running down the path at breakneck speed, Winston once more slams head-first into a thick, buff wall named Jason Hill.

Winston stumbles back several steps, heart tripping over in hi chest. "Fuck," he breathes, glancing around until he spots the bus approaching the station and Gary waving frantically at him. Winston looks up at Jason, then, who's looking down at him with wide eyes and has seemingly frozen.

"Fuck," repeats Winston. "Sorry," he says, checking the ground quickly to ensure he hasn't dropped anything. He tosses a distracted smile at Jason then says, "The bus," and runs off.

Gary hollers him on, and Winston has a cramp in his side when he reaches him, but he makes it in time. "Fucking shit," he murmurs quietly as they board the bus and as they settle in their seats Winston gets the window seat and he looks outside.

Jason is still standing right where he left him.

If Winston was braver, he'd think that Jason hasn't moved as single muscle. If he was more self-confident, he'd assume that Jason was looking right at him. But the distance between them is wider than the Dead Sea, and he leans his forehead against the glass, watching Jason as the buss strolls away.

If he was braver, maybe he'd missed the bus and taken the chance to talk.

"Is that Jason Hill?" hisses Gary into his shoulder, moving into his space to gaze out the window with his nose all the way up to it. It doesn't help; they're already out of range.

"Yeah," says Winston, shoving at Gary until he's sitting properly again.

"Isn't that like the third time you've run literally right into him?"

"Yeah."

A pause, then, "Dude, that's hilarious."

"Yeah."

They stare at each other at for a long moment and bursts into laughter. Leaning against each other, they spend the rest of the bus-ride complaining about their various homework still to be done. By the time they step off the bus, they've thoroughly aired their grievances to each other.