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“Or, I mean, you could skip a couple steps and just let Jim lead you around on a leash,” Josh sneered a little playfully, knowing this would get under Corey’s skin.“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Corey asked defensively.“Oh come ON,” Josh laughed at Corey’s quickly reddening face, “Why don’t you just ask him to marry you?”“Shut up,” Corey looked at the ground.Outside of the room, a somewhat flustered Jim was silently eavesdropping on the pair.“C’mon man, you totally like him,” Josh said again.“Yeah, so fucking what if I do?” Corey mumbled.Josh put one hand up in surrender as he took another sip of his beer, “Nothing, man… I honestly think you should go for it.”“... Go for what?”“Go for him, you dipshit.” Josh sighed.“... I can’t,” Corey said quietly after a moment.“And why not?”“I don’t think he’s into guys,” Corey sighed.“What makes you so sure?”“I dunno… He just doesn’t seem like it.”“Buuuuut you have no proof,” Josh challenged.“Ok, well probably not into guys, probably wouldn’t be interested in me anyway,” Corey shot back. This conversation was frustrating, god, couldn’t his friends just let him have his hopeless fantasies in peace?Jim couldn’t believe he was hearing this. For the past half a year, he’d gotten to know Corey better, and he would only ever admit to himself that MAYBE he had a teeny-tiny-fucking-massive crush on the bossy redhead.Jim listened for a few more moments outside the room before the subject changed and he walked in, guitar case in hand.“Hey,” He said, trying not to sound too nervous. Corey smiled a little awkwardly at him and looked back down to the lyrics sheets in his hand.Josh gave Corey a knowing smirk and he ground his teeth at that.“I’m gonna get another beer, I’ll be right back,” He stood up from the floor, placing his guitar on its stand and grinning sadistically at Corey as he exited the room, Corey staring at him with murderous intent for leaving him alone with Jim.Jim faked confusion, “What’s up with him?” he breathed out a laugh.“He’s an idiot,” Corey sighed.Jim smiled a little, brushing the hair out of his face.“New song?” He asked, nodding to the papers in Corey’s hand.“Huh? Oh. Yeah…” Corey answered, shuffling them in his hands.They sat in silence for a while before Jim prodded him again.“... You gonna let me read it?” he raised an eyebrow.“Hmm? Oh yeah, of course… I mean, if you want to,” Corey laughed a little nervously and mentally kicked himself in the ass for acting so weird.Jim put a hand out and Corey reluctantly handed the pieces of paper over to him. He seemed to be having bad luck today, as the particular new song he had been holding was about the tall guitarist. He changed the pronouns and made it pretty vague, but Corey was still hesitant to let him read it.Jim studied the lyrics carefully and they made his heart flutter. He didn’t want to think that highly of himself, but as he read, he realized the lyrics could possibly be about him. He smiled as he finished reading the last line and handed it back to the redhead.“I like it,” Jim smiled, which was a lie. He loved it. “She must be a great girl,” he added quickly.That relieved and also disappointed Corey, he was glad he didn’t appear to know who the subject of the lyrics were and glad he liked it, but he also didn’t want Jim to think he was straight. He just couldn’t win with himself.He tried not to blush and uttered a quick “Thank you.”They sat in heavy silence again before Jim spoke up.“Are you alright, man?” Jim asked softly.“Yeah just… dumb stuff, don’t worry about it.” Corey forced a small smile.God, why couldn’t his heart stop hammering, why was he acting like a teenage girl and when the FUCK was Josh gonna be back and stop torturing him like this?The other guitarist reappeared about 30 seconds later and Corey was relieved to finally have more company and just get on with the rehearsal.
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After rehearsal and Jim had left, Josh came back into the basement and Corey glared at him.“You’re such an asshole,” Corey said grumpily.Josh rolled his eyes, “You know you can’t date him without talking to him, right?”“He’s not gonna fucking date me, will you just stop already,” “You know what your problem is?” Josh said, ignoring his last comment.“You’re gonna tell me anyway,” Corey sighed.“You get too caught up in your fantasies,” Josh continued, ignoring that comment as well.“That’s not a bad thing…” Corey said.“If you don’t do anything about it, it is, dude… You can’t just make eyes at him all the time and expect him to read your mind!”“He. Doesn’t. Like. Me.” Corey said, getting more annoyed.“You. Don’t. Know. That.”“He can do a lot better than me.” Corey shrugged.“Oh, will you stop your fucking pity party for 2 seconds?” Josh groaned.Corey hit his head against the wall in frustration.“Just ask him out,” Josh said only for the millionth time.“I don’t even know if he likes guys, I’m not gonna risk that,” Corey explained, “He’s the best guy we’ve auditioned, we can’t scare him off… If you can give me proof that he’s gay… Then I will,” Corey mumbled out that last part, “Until then, leave me alone.”“Deal,” Josh agreed.
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“Ok, time to keep up your end,” Josh sat across from him at the bar.“What?” Corey asked, a little confused.“He’s gay, and the deal was you’d ask him out if you could confirm it. Well, confirmed. Call him.”“Whoa, whoa, whoa, how do you know? And DON’T give me that ‘he likes Queen and is obsessed with his hair’ bullshit again, ” Corey warned.“It’s not that, even though that IS proof enough.”“Then what is it?” Corey asked skeptically.“Well, I had to go bring his tapes back that he lent me-”“He lent you tapes?” Corey interrupted before he could stop himself.“Jealous because I’m hanging out with your boyfriend more than YOU are?” Josh smirked.Corey just snorted at this, “Continue.”“Anyways, he had a tiny rainbow flag sticker on his turntable. Confirmed. Call him.”Corey thought about this. On the one hand, he was happy to learn that he wasn’t straight, on the other, he was nervous about having to hold up his end of the deal now.“... Maybe he just likes… Rainbows?” Corey tried and was immediately shot down.“Oh come ON… And after I told him all about Jake he mentioned he had a batshit crazy ex-boyfriend too…”“.... Maybe he just meant a friend-”“COREY, straight guys don’t call their friends their ‘boyfriends’ that’s a chick thing! Just call him.”“I don’t want to,” Corey groaned and smacked his head down onto the table.“You promised,” Josh reminded, “And I’m sick of you being miserable and third wheeling with me and Jason all the time.”“I know, well, I take it back, just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he likes me.”“Are you fucking kidding me?”Corey gave a confused look at this.Josh rolled his eyes and elaborated, “You two basically eye-fuck each other while the other’s not looking through the whole damn rehearsal. He likes you. You gotta trust me, man.”
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Rehearsal ended and Jim was packing up his guitar and about to head out the door.“Oh yeah, didn’t you have that new Maximus Ascensus tape to lend to Jim?” Josh asked, raising a suggestive eyebrow at Corey.Corey gritted his teeth. Yes, he did, and he WAS going to... but he pussied out on offering it to Jim.“Yeah,” Corey said slowly, “Yeah it’s in my car, I’ll come up with you and get it.”“Awesome,” Jim smiled and followed Corey up the stairs. Corey looked back at Josh as he left, Josh mouthing “DO IT!” as Corey walked away.Josh waited until he heard the door close behind them and then walked up the stairs to try and spy through the window.Jim followed Corey to his car and watched him unlock it, grabbing the tape from his console and shutting the door again.He handed it to Jim and their fingers touched briefly before Jim took it from his hand.“Thanks, I’ve been dying to hear it,” Jim grinned, slipping it in his pocket, “I’ll take good care of it for you,” He added.“Thanks,” Corey said smiling a little at him.“See you later,” Jim said and turned to start his walk home.Just then, Corey remembered the whole reason he had come up here with Jim in the first place, and because he’s a total dork, he doesn’t say ‘Hey, wait up’, he just says, “Uhhhhh.”Jim turns to look back at him, a little confused, “Yeah?” he smiles. God damn it that grin’s going to kill Corey one of these days.“Uhhh…” Corey pauses, trying to think of how to ask.“You said that already,” Jim teases.“Oh. Right,” Corey laughs a little nervously. Jim walks back over to him.“You ok, man?” Jim asks softly.“Uh, yeah… Yeah! I was just, um wondering… Like… If you wanted to…” Corey trailed off again and shut his eyes in frustration and was absolutely not expecting to feel lips against his. His eyes shot open but quickly closed again as Jim pressed his body a little closer to Corey and a long finger hooked into one of Corey’s belt loops. He pulled away after a few seconds, staying close to Corey’s face.Corey breathed a short laugh. He didn’t know what to say. “Um-”“You’re so bad at this,” Jim laughed at his flushed face. “Yeah, I know,” Corey admitted.“Took you long enough,” Jim commented, brushing some fiery hair out of Corey’s face. “Yeah, I just… Y’know…” Corey said awkwardly.Jim just laughed a little at him again and kissed him on the cheek, “See ya later,” Jim said, turning again to start his walk back to his apartment.Corey stood there, dumbstruck, and watched him disappear down the street and around the corner before he finally started to breathe again.“DUDE,” he heard Josh yell from behind him.“W… Were you fucking spying on us?” Corey punched him lightly in the chest when he walked close enough to join him in the driveway.“Yeah, see??? I told you he liked you! You didn’t even have to do anything.”