♫ five times my muse swears it’s not a date, and the one time it maybe is.
THE FIRST TIME HE SWEARS IT’S NOT A DATE, Simon still felt like it was a date. At least from what he knew from books and movies and TV shows, it was a date. But he knew Jesse and he knew himself and everything about the two of them screamed ‘this is not a date’. It was just a movie, they had just gone to see a movie and they were just holding hands and they were just walking through downtown. They were talking about college again, this time the conversation was more lighthearted though. Not as scary or sad. Just happy. They were happy. Because this wasn’t a date and they were going to stay close and they were going to make dumb mistakes and be there for each other. “Even if you end up in Boston and I end up in New York, I’m taking the train up to see you every weekend,” he promised with a grin on his lips. “Or maybe we trade off weekends? And of course we spend holidays together. It’s all going to work out.”
THE SECOND TIME, IT’S DEFINITELY NOT A DATE STILL but Simon still has this nagging feeling inside him screaming that ‘yes this is a date!!!!’. It’s not a date though. They’re just friends. Friends that do very date-y things like go out to brunch or just hang out and watch movies in their dorms, they’d even fucking cuddle while they were studying for their classes. Simon making little notes in the margins in his books and Jesse flipping through his own things on his computer. Tonight on their ‘not-a-date’ they were on the roof and Simon was pressed against Jesse’s side and he was staring up at the stars and he’s happy. “I miss the stars from the camping trip,” he admitted softly. “I’m not much of a nature person but damn, the stars….”
THE THIRD TIME, IT’S GETTING HARDER TO DENY that they might really be dating and they just don’t want to admit it. Or at least Simon doesn’t want to admit it. He doesn’t want to admit he could be in a relationship with Jesse because he’s not in one, the only relationship that was there, was their friendship. That’s all there is to it. They were just really close friends that did things that friends didn’t commonly do together. And they were out on a date-type-thing, but it wasn’t actually a date. It was just them enjoying each others company and having a good time. He had been the one to show up at Jesse’s dorm today and he was leaning up against the wall, his headphones in as he waited patiently. He saw Jesse exit out of his peripherals and his smile just grew wide, “hey, how’re you? Ready? Oh and uh-- I made you a playlist...”
THE FOURTH TIME AND SIMON’S SAYING TO HIMSELF under his breath “this is not a date, we are not dating, he is not my boyfriend, I am not his boyfriend” because he can’t handle a relationship, and he knows that if a relationship comes he can just kiss Jesse good-bye. And Simon can’t lose Jesse. He’s become one of the only constants in his life and one of the best ones at that. There’s a soft knock on his door and he hears his name float through the cracks and he says good-bye to Sid, no sign of life from him, and then he’s out of his room. “We’re just going to the bookstore today right?” He asked with a sweet smile. He was still panicking on the inside though. But he could just keep telling himself it wasn’t a date as long as they stuck with the bookstore. The bookstore was just that. A store full of books, things Simon adored and Jesse tolerated.
THE FIFTH TIME HE ALMOST SAYS IT AND HE THINKS he might die. There they were, in broad daylight, in a coffee shop that had become a favorite of theirs as of late, and Simon almost asked if it was a date. Because it was. It was a coffee date, they were talking fondly about each other, about their lives, everything just felt so soft and so genuine. Jesse was talking about the sports he did and the friends he had at his old school and he even admitted some of the shameful things he had done before and that just made Simon fall for him even more. Simon spoke about himself too, he admitted to Jesse that he used to stay after school a lot to avoid problems at home, he told him that he only kind of knew how to ride a bike but he had never had one of his own and never enough chances to ride so he never actually learned, and he told Jesse that for the first time in his life, he felt like he had a home. He just didn’t admit that his home had become Jesse.
THE SIXTH TIME, SIMON HAS TO ADMIT IT, EVEN IF he’s just admitting it to himself. Jesse’s left him for the night because when they came back, Sid was in his room and Simon felt like it would’ve been rude to walk in and just walk out as soon as he saw his roommate. That wasn’t going to stop Jesse apparently though from kissing him in the threshold and promising to text him some inappropriate pictures. As Simon floated through the room, his mind wandered to his night with the other, knowing full well that Sid’s gaze was probably on him and his roommate’s mind going to the conclusion that yes, Simon had lost it. But he was thinking about the night and smiling to himself as he folded his sweater and tucked it into one of his suitcases. He kicked off his shoes, hearing a tearing sound coming from the one on his left foot but being too dazed to care as he fell back onto his bed. “I’m dating Jesse Elliot…” he said out loud, though he wasn’t sure if Sid could even hear him. It felt like he had said it out loud but maybe he didn’t. Maybe it was one of those moments where he thought he said something out loud and he really didn’t… “I’m dating him…”