Jay, by now, has gotten used to the blushing.

"Hey, lil' bro." Moses leans down, peering over Jay's shoulder. "What 'cha doin'?"

(He's not quite sure when it started, but he thinks it might have been around the same time he started violently hating the phrase "little brother.")

Jay shifts automatically to the other side, leaning away from Moses. "Go away, bandit."

Moses doesn't move. "You still haven't answered my question, lil' bro."

Jay turns around abruptly, opening his mouth to speak...and suddenly realizes that Moses' face is just inches from his.

There is a long silence, during which Jay somehow manages to tip over in his chair, sending himself crashing to the floor in a heap.

Moses blinks stupidly. "You, uh, need help with that?"

Jay stares up at Moses' outstretched hand, and suddenly feels very tired. "...no. No, just go away, bandit."

"...right. I'll just see ya later then. Lil' bro." Moses rushes out the door perhaps a bit more quickly than is necessary.

It takes Jay a bit to realize that this is what he wanted in the first place, because he certainly doesn't feel particularly victorious.

---

Norma lasts about two seconds before she bursts out laughing.

Jay props himself up on an elbow and glares. "It isn't funny."

Norma, still clutching her sides, just shakes her head. "Oh my god. You two are hilarious, you know that? It's cute, really."

Jay just gapes.

"You're in love, JJ," Norma explains patiently.

There is a pause. "...I am not!"

Norma lasts a little longer this time, but not by much. "Sure you are, JJ. I'll just leave you to deal with your existential angst, now, shall I? Little bro." And with that, she saunters out the door.

Jay stares after her. "Oh my god," he says finally. "She's right."

---

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

Norma sighs. "Red, you are. You've got it so bad it's not even funny."

"He's family," Moses declares. "An' y'don't think about family that way." The expression on his face, he is sure, is one of utter conviction.

Norma is unfazed. "...Red?"

"Yeah?"

"Say 'flawed logic' for me. Say it five times fast."

"...hey!"

"And then," Norma continues, ignoring him, "you march yourself on over to Senny and Shirl and see what they have to say about it. It should be," here she smiles, "...enlightening for you."

"Bubbles, what--"

"Tell me if Shirl hits you," she adds.

Moses grits his teeth. He will go talk to Senel, he decides.

---

Senel, after gaping confusedly at him for a bit, pushes him out of the door, telling him to "be true to his feelings."

His decidedly nonexistent feelings, Moses reminds himself as he trudges up the path to the hospital. Time for Plan B.

Half an hour later, he's knocking on the door to Jay's house, heavier two slaps to the face, one admonishment to "just go talk to him, Sandor," and, of all things, a bouquet of flowers. (On an unrelated note, Chloe hits hard.)

The door creaks open. "...what are you doing here, bandit?"

Moses gets as far as, "Well, can't a big brother check up on his--" before he realizes that he's here to proposition Jay, and therefore this line of conversation is not only kind of pathetic, but also futile.

Jay shoots him a look.

Moses laughs nervously, runs his hands through his hair once, twice, three times, before finally just shoving the bouquet into Jay's hands. "Uh. Here."

For a period of three seconds, there is absolute stillness. Jay looks down at the bouquet as if he thinks it might eat him.

"B-by the way," Moses says, "did I ever tell you I think you're pretty?"

Jay drops the bouquet. "--what?"

Moses laughs again, a bit more hysterically this time, and then--

Years from now, the details of what happen next--whether it was Jay who stepped in closer towards Moses, or Moses who leaned down towards Jay--will be hotly contested. Jay will, loudly and insistently, blame temporary insanity. But the crux of the matter is that right then, Moses kisses Jay, and Jay kisses him back.

It's an odd kiss, to put it lightly. In the first place, Moses is a foot taller than Jay, and in the second place, they are both really quite terrible kissers. So it isn't nice, or pretty, or romantic in the least.

What it is is--it is Jay and it is Moses, and it is quite possibly the start of something terrifying and crazy and wonderful.