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It was not often that they both had a day off together so when the opportunity arose, Sinbad was not going to let it go to waste. He and Ja’far had not had a lazy day together for a while and he knew exactly how to kick it off. The night before, he got off work earlier than Ja'far so he prepared a light dinner for when he got home and a mindless movie queued up for them to watch later. Afterwards, they could go to bed and take advantage of not needing to be anywhere the next morning.
Things had gone well at first. Ja’far was pleased to come home to a quiet evening and gave Sinbad a kiss that promised more to come when they settled on the couch for the movie. He had cuddled up with Sinbad, who had been giving himself a mental pat on the back for an evening well-planned, and started up the movie.
That was when things went awry.
Sinbad lost track of the movie early on, it not being quite as mindless as previously thought, but not holding his interest, and he itched to attract Ja’far's attention. He leaned down to give his cheek a few kisses and Ja’far smiled at him, but his eyes kept flickering back to the movie. Not to be discouraged, Sinbad bombarded him with a flurry of tiny kisses.
"Sin," Ja’far laughed, "Stop. That's ticklish."
Sinbad raised an eyebrow with a smirk and continued his barrage. Ja’far laughed and squirmed around in Sinbad's arm but then, with an abrupt little shove and a quiet "holy fuck", Ja’far reached forward and rewound the movie a few minutes.
"Um, Ja’far...?" Sinbad trailed off in confusion at the sudden shift in attention.
Ja’far shushed him, "I need to pay attention to what he's saying."
So, Sinbad returned his attention to the movie, thoroughly lost and knowing something was going over his head when beside him he heard Ja’far gasp at the man's words. He glanced over at Ja’far to see him enthralled by the movie, his eyes bright yet calculating.
The movie having gotten far to convoluted and went over his head due to his lack of attention at the beginning, so he contented himself by watching the play of emotions dance across Ja’far’s face, who had kept up and had paused to grab a notebook to make notes in and would occasionally rewind the movie to rehear a few lines. Sinbad's eyelids eventually grew heavy as he watched Ja’far’s intense concentration and he was lulled to sleep by the sound on Ja’far’s pen scratching against the paper and the quiet sound of the movie playing.
He jolted awake at Ja’far’s quiet cry of "No!" and sat up, looking around for the source of Ja’far’s distress. His eyes fell on to the computer where the credits were rolling and then to Ja’far’s notebook, full of scrawls that devolved into various question marks and left open as Ja’far reached for his phone with his eyebrows drawn together.
"Is something wrong?" Sinbad asked, sagging back into couch once seeing Ja’far was not in danger.
"The movie ended on a cliff-hanger and I need to know when the sequel comes out," he said, focus on the small screen in his hands, intent on his search.
The room was filled with only the music from the credits playing, a tense score that rendered the atmosphere less comfortable than Sinbad had hoped their movie night would have ended on. Ja’far clicked around on his phone.
A sharp gasp escaped Ja’far and he whipped around to face Sinbad, "Sin, it's already out. I need to watch it."
"Right now?" he asked, but he already knew the answer, based on the determination burning in Ja’far’s eyes.
"Right now."
Ja’far searched around and found the sequel online. He sat down, tensed and poised with his pen and notebook. Not in a position primed for cuddling, Sinbad lamented as he tried to focus on the film. If anything, this movie was even harder to follow, the time spent sleeping during the previous one not helping either. He was too lost to even try to follow and eventually he stood up to go to bed. Ja’far' eyes flickered towards him as he left and offered a distracted "Sleep well". Once in bed, Sinbad fell asleep fast.
He awoke early in the morning to an empty bed, Ja’far’s side still made and proper. He got up, slipping into his slippers, and went to the living room. There he found Ja’far, barely awake on the couch in the middle of a disarray. Multiple pages were strewn around him, empty mugs on the table, and a bulletin board covered in photos with string connecting photos in a web like manner. Sinbad nudged Ja’far into lucidity.
"What's up?" he asked, as Ja’far blinked up at him.
"The series isn't complete," Ja’far groaned, "The fourth movie ended with a big reveal, but the last movie isn't out until next year."
Sinbad coaxed Ja’far into bed to get a proper rest. Once settled in himself, as he listened to Ja’far’s breathing even out, he swore to himself that he would do more research into a movie before picking one for a movie night.