you can bow and pretend.
Guess who didn't finish the fic they said they were going to finish the other day? You only get one guess, so make it count.
age is just a number, don't you stop having fun:
A few days after Pete's birthday, they have an actual night off, and everybody gets in a bunch of rented vans and they head for a club the local promoter recommended.
"This is going to be amazing," Joe says excitedly. "They have karaoke. They have new country karaoke, and super hits of the nineties."
"If you talk about karaoke all the way there, you're sitting in the van for the rest of the night," Pete tells him.
Josh and Patrick and Nate are sitting next to each other on the first bench seat. Pete and Ashlee and Joe are right behind them; Ashlee's hand is thin and warm in Pete's. Ashlee is texting with one friend or another and Pete is reading over her shoulder and also making sure Josh doesn't do anything creepy. Josh is looking out the window at the passing city, lit half by streetlights and half by an iridescent pink and violet sunset. Patrick is arguing with Joe and Nate about the broader implications of a new Indiana Jones movie and a new Rocky movie and the Terminator TV series.
"The commodification of my childhood, like I'm gonna fucking fall for that, like I'm a fucking baby boomer or some shit," Patrick is saying, and Joe is waving his hand and shaking his head.
"The special effects are going to be so much cooler," he says. "Indiana Jones with real motion CGI, fuck."
The van takes a corner a little too fast and Ashlee leans into Pete's side just as Patrick is bumped over into Josh. Pete automatically puts his arm around Ashlee's shoulder and Josh does the same to Patrick. Patrick elbows Josh off of him, laughing, saying something about where was Josh when the van crashed and Josh rolls his eyes and smiles and he has fucking dimples, how did Pete never notice that before?
"Oh my god," Ashlee says quietly, in Pete's ear. "He's totally Maggie Gyllenhaal."
"Shut up, he is not," Pete says. "It's my fucking birthday, could I have a little support here?"
"I wonder if they have the New Kids on the Block happy birthday song," Joe muses on Ashlee's other side.
"I'll sing it with you if they do," Ashlee says.
"Patrick, Patrick, hey," Pete says kicking the back of the seat, right where Patrick's tailbone should be. Patrick looks over his shoulder with an irritated expression, and Josh frowns a little at Pete.
"Fucking--what?" Patrick asks.
"Will you sing 'Happy Birthday' at the karaoke bar?" Joe asks.
"I already sang him 'Happy Birthday,'" Patrick says. "In front of like ten thousand teenage girls, so--"
"That was a shitty present; you totally got it at the last minute and it wasn't even wrapped," Pete says. Ashlee laughs and agrees and so do Nate and Joe.
"He has a point," Josh says, and Patrick punches him in the arm, not hard.
"What about if they have the New Kids one?" Joe says.
"We'll help," Ashlee says, leaning her head on Joe's shoulder for a moment.
Patrick rolls his eyes. Pete kicks the back of his seat a few more times, everybody else laughing and Josh smiling down at Patrick's increasingly furrowed brow.
"Okay, okay, I'll do it," Patrick says finally. "But I'm only doing the New Kids one, and I'm only doing it once. Stop fucking kicking my seat, this a fucking rental."
Pete, Joe, Ashlee, and Nate throw their arms in the air, Vs for victory, Nate's left arm knocking Patrick's hat slightly askew, and Patrick adds, "No Tom Jones this time, either."
"Aw, come on," Joe whines. "That's not a fair trade--"
Pete watches as Josh tugs Patrick's hat down in the back and Patrick briefly, probably not even realizing he's doing it, leans his head back into Josh's hand, trusting.
*
Anyway. I realized that I kind of screwed up in the disclaimer for "Can't Get Out," saying that Pete's probably never had gender dysphoria. I mean, I think that's true, but it has led to the assumption that the story is about gender dysphoria, when it's really more largely about body dysphoria, which I didn't mention in the disclaimer because Pete has totally admitted to having had body dysphoria. So.
That was totally unimportant. I was just jonesing for some pedancy, and lo, I had Post an Entry open in a tab. Whatever.
This (click the text link to "part one" first; also, his little backpack!) and these are making my day, incidentally. The Pete & Patrick Shew exists!
(Patrick apparently sounds fresh on "Tiffany Blues." I'm pretty excited for this album, not gonna lie.)
age is just a number, don't you stop having fun:
A few days after Pete's birthday, they have an actual night off, and everybody gets in a bunch of rented vans and they head for a club the local promoter recommended.
"This is going to be amazing," Joe says excitedly. "They have karaoke. They have new country karaoke, and super hits of the nineties."
"If you talk about karaoke all the way there, you're sitting in the van for the rest of the night," Pete tells him.
Josh and Patrick and Nate are sitting next to each other on the first bench seat. Pete and Ashlee and Joe are right behind them; Ashlee's hand is thin and warm in Pete's. Ashlee is texting with one friend or another and Pete is reading over her shoulder and also making sure Josh doesn't do anything creepy. Josh is looking out the window at the passing city, lit half by streetlights and half by an iridescent pink and violet sunset. Patrick is arguing with Joe and Nate about the broader implications of a new Indiana Jones movie and a new Rocky movie and the Terminator TV series.
"The commodification of my childhood, like I'm gonna fucking fall for that, like I'm a fucking baby boomer or some shit," Patrick is saying, and Joe is waving his hand and shaking his head.
"The special effects are going to be so much cooler," he says. "Indiana Jones with real motion CGI, fuck."
The van takes a corner a little too fast and Ashlee leans into Pete's side just as Patrick is bumped over into Josh. Pete automatically puts his arm around Ashlee's shoulder and Josh does the same to Patrick. Patrick elbows Josh off of him, laughing, saying something about where was Josh when the van crashed and Josh rolls his eyes and smiles and he has fucking dimples, how did Pete never notice that before?
"Oh my god," Ashlee says quietly, in Pete's ear. "He's totally Maggie Gyllenhaal."
"Shut up, he is not," Pete says. "It's my fucking birthday, could I have a little support here?"
"I wonder if they have the New Kids on the Block happy birthday song," Joe muses on Ashlee's other side.
"I'll sing it with you if they do," Ashlee says.
"Patrick, Patrick, hey," Pete says kicking the back of the seat, right where Patrick's tailbone should be. Patrick looks over his shoulder with an irritated expression, and Josh frowns a little at Pete.
"Fucking--what?" Patrick asks.
"Will you sing 'Happy Birthday' at the karaoke bar?" Joe asks.
"I already sang him 'Happy Birthday,'" Patrick says. "In front of like ten thousand teenage girls, so--"
"That was a shitty present; you totally got it at the last minute and it wasn't even wrapped," Pete says. Ashlee laughs and agrees and so do Nate and Joe.
"He has a point," Josh says, and Patrick punches him in the arm, not hard.
"What about if they have the New Kids one?" Joe says.
"We'll help," Ashlee says, leaning her head on Joe's shoulder for a moment.
Patrick rolls his eyes. Pete kicks the back of his seat a few more times, everybody else laughing and Josh smiling down at Patrick's increasingly furrowed brow.
"Okay, okay, I'll do it," Patrick says finally. "But I'm only doing the New Kids one, and I'm only doing it once. Stop fucking kicking my seat, this a fucking rental."
Pete, Joe, Ashlee, and Nate throw their arms in the air, Vs for victory, Nate's left arm knocking Patrick's hat slightly askew, and Patrick adds, "No Tom Jones this time, either."
"Aw, come on," Joe whines. "That's not a fair trade--"
Pete watches as Josh tugs Patrick's hat down in the back and Patrick briefly, probably not even realizing he's doing it, leans his head back into Josh's hand, trusting.
*
Anyway. I realized that I kind of screwed up in the disclaimer for "Can't Get Out," saying that Pete's probably never had gender dysphoria. I mean, I think that's true, but it has led to the assumption that the story is about gender dysphoria, when it's really more largely about body dysphoria, which I didn't mention in the disclaimer because Pete has totally admitted to having had body dysphoria. So.
That was totally unimportant. I was just jonesing for some pedancy, and lo, I had Post an Entry open in a tab. Whatever.
This (click the text link to "part one" first; also, his little backpack!) and these are making my day, incidentally. The Pete & Patrick Shew exists!
(Patrick apparently sounds fresh on "Tiffany Blues." I'm pretty excited for this album, not gonna lie.)