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It’s all Shitty’s fault, Jack thought. Team bonding the night before a game? Everyone will be exhausted.
Of course, it being Shitty’s idea, the entire Haus couldn’t really say no. Shitty was just too convincing.
"Come ON, Cap. Team bonding! And you’ll love the movie; Bits picked it out and he says it’ll be your new favorite!"
Jack couldn’t really say no. Team bonding ideas were supposed to be his responsibility. He was the captain.
"Fine," Jack hollered as he clomped down the stairs. "But if I fall asleep on the couch it’s all your fault!"
After ducking into the kitchen to grab a drink and the popcorn bowl (NOT to see if there was any pie left, he swore), Jack went into the living room and plopped on the couch. I wonder what the movie is, Jack mused. Bitty picked it out…I hope it’s not a chick flick. But he said I would like it. Does he know my movie taste that well?
Finally, Bitty walked in with the DVD.
"I brought ‘The Monuments Men’ and y’all are gonna love it! And stop frowning, Jack. It’s World War Two, and art history, and funny and sad. You’ll like it almost as much as my apple pie," Bitty finished as he squeezed between Jack and Ransom on the couch. "Now someone start the movie."
Once the movie got going, Jack found Bitty was right. He was enjoying it. Maybe Bitty knew Jack’s movie taste more than he expected. He turned to Bitty to let him know he’d chosen well, but he’d fallen asleep on Jack’s shoulder, legs pushing Ransom towards the other end of the couch. He looks kind of uncomfortable, Jack realized. And my shoulder hurts. Following an impulse - he wasn’t going to think about where it came from - Jack covered Bitty with a blanket from the back of the sofa, wrapped his arm around Bitty’s shoulders, and pulled him close.
It was more comfortable than Jack expected and felt surprisingly right.
The warmth against his side, the blanket on his lap, the comfort of the couch…all the ingredients combined with a long day to lull him to sleep, body turned towards Bitty. The sound of the movie woke neither boy, even when gunfire rang from the sound system.
They slept through the rest of the movie, through the credits, through the noise of Ransom and Holster yelling something unintelligible, through the frogs noisily heading back to the dorms, through Shitty and Lardo “aww”-ing and moving their legs so Jack was stretched along the length of the couch while cradling Bitty in his arms.
In fact, neither Jack nor Bitty woke up until sunrise, light streaming through an east-facing window.
"Morning, Bits. Sleep well?"