Page 31 of Third Wheel

Such a boy.

“Okay. Okay.” He took a couple of deep breaths while she watched in amusement. “It’s okay. We can fix this. We’re starting tonight with Ironman.”

“Wait, are you going to make me watch the whole series?” Because it really was a series of movies, and if he said ‘starting with,’ that implied there was going to be more.

“Yes, except I’m not going to have to make you; you’re going to be begging to once we get started.” He shook his head. “We can maybe get through two, maybe three, movies tonight. We’ll do more tomorrow. Kincaid will back me on this when he gets home.”

“I said I didn’t want to cry, though.”

The look he gave her was pitying. “There’s no way we’re getting to theInfinity Warsfor days. It’s fine. I’ll order some pizza and get out the snacks. We need to get comfortable. Go to your room and get into some pajamas.”

Amy bounced to her feet without thinking, automatically following his direction. She was halfway to her room before she scowled, realizing that she’d jumped straight to his marching orders. Should she have put up more of a fight? Protested that he was making the decisions for her?

That had been something that bothered her about Jeremy. He had a tendency to push his own agenda without thinking about what she might want to do. They never watched what she wanted to watch; they only ever watched what he wanted to. He’d never watched any of her favorite movies with her because they weren’t ‘his thing.’

No, this was different. She’d specifically said superhero movies, and that’s what Zach was going with. Granted, he seemed pretty excited about sharing the movies he loved with her, but she was pretty sure that if she told him she didn’t want to watchIronman, he’d let her choose something else.

Still.

After getting changed into some pajamas and running a brush through her hair, she came back out to find that he’d somehow already changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt and had a popcorn bag slowly rotating in the microwave. He was also on his phone again.

“How does pepperoni pizza, mozzarella sticks, wings, and cheesy bread sound?” he asked, not looking up from his phone as she walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.

“It sounds like a lot of food for two people.”

“Yeah, but then we’ll have leftovers. I’ll add a salad too, so we can pretend we’re being semi-healthy, and some chocolate cake. Sound good?”

“Sure.” She couldn’t help but be amused at how intently he was studying the menu. “Hey, what if I don’t want to watchIronman,though?”

Immediately he looked up, more with concern than anything else. He didn’t seem at all bothered that she was changing her mind about him.

“Then we don’t have to watchIronman. Did you want to watch a Batman movie instead?” Again, concerned and not at all mad or upset that she wanted to watch something she’d seen before, even though a few minutes ago he’d been barking orders at her over watching the movies he wanted to share with her.

Amy shook her head.

“No, we can watchIronman. I was just wondering.”

The way Zach looked at her made her squirm a little where she was standing. He might not quite have Kincaid’s aura or penetrating gaze, but he did just fine on his own, and his scrutiny made her feel like he was seeing right into her. Probably seeing way more than he wanted to.

He nodded slowly.

“Okay, then.”

Okay, then.

Zach

Tonight felt like a test, though Zach wasn’t sure what he was being graded on. Amy had been on edge a little earlier, though as they’d watched the first movie, she’d slowly relaxed. Though, she did give him a hard time when she ended up sobbing on his shoulder over the death of Dr. Yinsen.

In his defense, he’d kind of forgotten about that.

He usually got a little teary-eyed over it. Amy’s reaction had a few of those tears slipping down his cheek as her emotions affected him.

But after that, she’d really enjoyed the movie.

“Time to take a break?” he asked her once the after-credits scene was over—they’d fast-forwarded through the actual credits so they could get to it a little faster.

Amy sat up from where she’d been snuggled up against him. Once she’d taken the position to cry on him, she’d just stayed there. It had been nice.

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