"I... win..." Scott huffed, his breathing uneven and heavy as he stopped on the porch of the Shadowlady-Solidarity house.
Jimmy caught up to him not longer after, breathing heavily as well. "Dammit," he huffed. "That's... not fair..."
Scott scoffed. "Oh? How come?"
"You play football," Jimmy said as he reached into his pocket to fish out his house keys. "You're like a running machine."
Scott let out a tired, breathy laugh as Jimmy unlocked the door. "That's only a small advantage," he joked. He gasped when Jimmy pushed the door open, basking in the warmth that escaped from inside the house despite his sweating from running the whole way there.
Jimmy snickered when he heard Scott whisper a soft, "Wow," as they walked inside. "What?"
Scott didn't look up at Jimmy. "Jeez, I almost forgot what houses looked like," he mumbled, and Jimmy was positive he wasn't supposed to hear that. "This place is nice," he said, a bit louder this time.
Jimmy chuckled. "It's not much," he admitted, "but Lizzie's good at making anything look nice, so..."
Scott nodded.
"Jim, is that you?" Daniel said from presumably the kitchen.
"Yeah," Jimmy called back. "I have a friend over, is that okay?"
Daniel poked his head down the hall. "Oh, hello," he greeted Scott before going back into the kitchen. "One second, please!"
As rustling sounds came from the other room, Grian opened the door to his room off the front hallway, yawning and stretching as he walked out. He looked over to Jimmy and waved, turning away for just a moment before whipping his head back around. "Uh-"
Jimmy put a finger to his lips as a warning for Grian to not say anything, though Grian ignored it.
"What is he doing here?" Grian asked incredulously. He looked Scott up and down, and Scott shifted awkwardly.
"Hi," Scott said quietly, smiling slightly and waving.
Grian scoffed and rolled his eyes, shutting the door to his room and walking away into the kitchen.
Jimmy groaned. "I swear to God, I'm going to-" He cut himself off to sigh, and he heard Scott giggle next to him.
"It's fine," Scott said. "I don't mind."
Jimmy opened his mouth to speak but Daniel came around the corner, pulling his apron over his head and hanging it on the wall.
"Hello," Daniel said, holding his hand out for Scott to shake. "Daniel Solidarity, Jimmy's father."
Scott smiled. "Scott Smajor," he introduced himself. "I'm Jimmy's friend from drama club."
Daniel nodded. "Scott, huh? I've been hearing a thing or two about you lately. Jimmy has a little bit of an infatuation with you," he said with a wink, making Jimmy's face flush with embarrassment. His voice had been hushed, but he kept loud enough for Jimmy to hear him.
"Dad," Jimmy grumbled, covering his face with his hands.
Scott covered his mouth with his hand to hide the fact that he was laughing. "He's not wrong."
Jimmy gasped. "Scott!" He huffed when his father and Scott both started laughing. "You're not one to talk much, though, are you?"
Scott's cheeks turned a dark red as he threw a light punch at Jimmy's shoulder.
"Hey! You did it to me first!"
Scott stuck his tongue out at Jimmy, who reciprocated the gesture. However, he leaned a little too far in when he did so...
"Ew!" Grian shouted from the hallway, looking almost shocked from his own lack of a filter. "Are you kiddng me? You guys are dis-gusting." He fake gagged before storming back into his room.
Scott snickered at both Grian's reaction and Jimmy's embarrassment, though he looked equally as flustered as Jimmy felt.
"Naughty, naughty boys," Daniel teased.
"Dad!" Jimmy groaned before grabbing Scott's hand. "We're going upstairs!"
Daniel snorted as he watched them go up the steps. "Use protection!" he called after them, cackling when it earned him a gasp from the two boys.
"DAD!!"
* * *
Jimmy sat on his bed, his hair damp from a shower and a towel around his shoulders to catch the dripping water, as he waited for Scott to come out of the bathroom. They kind of agreed that they both (between having fallen in a puddle at the school, worked with tools in a hot workshop, and run one and a half kilometers or so) needed showers, so Jimmy had used the hall bathroom to shower while Scott used the bathroom off his room.
The blonde flipped through shows and movies on Netflix, though he was bored by all of it. What would Scott want to watch?
"How To Train Your Dragon sounds good," Scott said from the doorway of the bathroom, making Jimmy jump off the bed. Scott snickered. "Did I scare you?" He was half-drying his hair with a towel before he left it sitting on his shoulders as he walked a bit closer. "Have you asked about dying your hair yet?"
Jimmy shrugged. "Dad's baking with Lizzie right now," he said. "If I interrupt them, Lizzie's going to have my head on a silver platter."
Scott grimaced. "Well... It's your hair, right?" he pointed out. "Your hair, your choice."
"I-" Jimmy thought for a moment before sighing in defeat. "You know, what? Yeah. Let's just do it."
Scott ended up giving Jimmy a complete makeover. He trimmed the ends of Jimmy's hair, giving him an almost brand new hairstyle, as well as dying it.
Jimmy now stood, almost in shock, in front of the mirror as the end credits of the second How To Train Your Dragon movie played in the background. "I have green hair," he breathed as he turned his head both ways to examine Scott's work.
The green in Jimmy's hair wasn't nearly as dark as the streak of green in Joel's, nor was it just streaks at all. Scott had done the undersides of Jimmy's hair in the darker green, then mixed the lighter and darker colors together (along with a bit of bleach) to make a sort of "gradient" up to the top of Jimmy's hair, where it was still blonde.
Scott snorted from where he stood by the tub, drying his hair with a dark towel. "That you do," he said, taking the towel away to reveal his newly dyed, dark purple hair. He shook his head around a bit before running his hands through his wet hair.
"I have... green hair," Jimmy said again. "I actually have green hair."
Scott laughed again, hanging the towel on the wall. "Jimmy, you're adorable."
Jimmy's cheeks flushed, but his chest seemed to ache when Scott said that. Turning to face the other, Jimmy sighed. "Why do you keep saying that?"
"Saying what?"
"Saying- saying things like that," Jimmy explained uncomfortably. "Like- like calling me cute." He paused, staring at Scott's confused expression. It made it hard for Jimmy to be upset with how attractive Scott was with wet hair. "You..." He let out a groan of frustration before walking out of the bathroom. "Just forget it."
Scott walked out after him. "Wait, Jimmy, I'm sorry," he said. "I- I want to know what I did."
Jimmy turned back to Scott, a frustrated and near hurt look on the blonde's face. "Are you kidding?" he said, not missing the way Scott stepped back. "You- you can't keep flirting with me like that when you have a boyfriend, Scott! And you kissed me earlier at drama, too! I-" He sighed, the tension in his shoulders and fight in his muscles leaving him. "Can you... not? It's- it's not right. Not just to Zach, but to me, too."
Scott nodded. "Right," he said quietly. "I'll stop. I- I'm sorry. I didn't realize that-"
"It's fine," Jimmy cut him off. They stood in an uncomfortably awkward silence before Jimmy sighed. "Why did you kiss me?" he asked so quietly, he was surprised when Scott heard him. Though, Scott didn't say anything. "Scott-"
"I don't know!" Scott snapped, immediately clamping his hands over his mouth. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I-" He shook his head. "I should- I should leave, shouldn't I?"
Jimmy shook his head. "What? No, you don't need to-"
"I'm overstaying my welcome-"
"No, you're not."
Scott looked up at Jimmy, a nervous look in his eyes. "I-"
"You can stay as long as you want," Jimmy clarified. "I... I'm not upset at you, if that's what you're thinking." He watched as Scott's shoulders relaxed.
Scott nodded, seeming a little more grounded than before. "Okay..."
They stood in silence for a moment again, the TV now counting down the seconds before the third movie starts.
"Wanna ask if you can sleep over tonight?" Jimmy offered, basking in the way Scott's eyes lit up.
"Hell yeah!"