[Generation Kill/Harry Potter/Dead Poets Society] Brad/Nate, Ray/Walt | Oh Captain, My Captain!
Title: Oh Captain, My Captain!
Summary: Brad Colbert goes to Welton Academy. [Two more ficlets here.]
Fandom: Generation Kill/Harry Potter/Dead Poets Society
Characters/Pairings: Brad/Nate, Ray/Walt, Poke, Lilley, Patterson (characters under 18 but no underage hanky-panky past kissing)
Genre: AU, romance, friendship
Rating: PG; light swearing
Warnings: N/A
Word Count: 1870 (not incl. quotes/lines from the film.)
Author's Notes: For round 5 of waywardmixes. The theme was AU.
Disclaimer: Based on the fictionalized characters as played by Stark Sands and misc. in the HBO miniseries, not the real people.
◆
Generation Kill was a HBO miniseries that aired in 2008. It followed the men of First Recon USMC through the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Harry Potter was a series of seven books written by J.K.Rowling about the adventures of the titular character as he, along with his fellow friends and students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, battles the forces of Lord Voldemort. Dead Poets Society was a 1989 film about the story of an English teacher who inspires his students to seize life by its horns through poetry.
Oh Captain, My Captain! is a story combining elements from the three above universes and set in modern times. It follows the stories of Brad Colbert, Nate Fick, Ray Person, Walt Hasser, and other characters taken from GK as they attend the prestigious Welton Academy. Welton aims to provide its students with the skills and education to enter into both muggle and magical society. Their journey will be helped along by their English teacher, Bryan Patterson, who teaches them to live life instead of just being wafted along by the current of society. Told from Brad's perspective.
It's a story about brotherhood, about life, about poetry. A story about discovering yourself in the midst of a crowd. A story about following your passion.
◆
The story begins when a letter arrives by owl a month after they move back to Oceanside. Brad's stunned when he reads it, and so are his parents. Em just lets out a yelp of amazement mixed with jealousy, and Nora calls to snark at Brad before congratulating him on his scholarship. Brad's less excited than sceptical; Welton Academy, only the best Muggle-magic institution in California?
Brad's never been special, unless you count constantly being out of line, hence military school. He's half-convinced himself not to go, when his mom takes his hands into hers and threatens to take his surfboards away if he doesn't seize the opportunity. "You did complain about the lack of a challenge at Mathilda," she says, smiling.
Waiting On The World To Change; John Mayer
Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it
He expects the other kids to be stuck-up, for them to look down at him, since Brad doesn't know squat about this traditional place. His roommate dispels this assumption immediately when he greets Brad with "Welcome to Helton" and sparkling green eyes. Guys converge on their room; Nate Fick is clearly some sort of leader in Bravo Hall at least, and it's more than his background-Nate doesn't seem to care for his father, a high-flying lawyer, and the family business much. It doesn't take long for Brad to realise that these guys are just guys like him. He gets comfortable enough to insult Ray Person when the idiot mouths off, to grin at Walt Hasser when the shy blond from Virginia smacks Ray's hand before it smacks Walt's ass, to debate politics with Tony 'Poke' Espera.
They're just guys, filled with energy and the belief that they're better than what the previous generation gives them credit for, even if there's no war, no Voldemort to fight.
&
Bryan Patterson scares Brad. He has these ideas about poetry that stir feelings of revolution in Brad. Hell, he'd asked them to call him 'Captain, my Captain', and also to tear out the entire foreword of their textbook on poetry (Ray had let out a whoop and was the first to rip the pages out.) Granted, Pritchard is a prick for trying to quantify poetry with graphs and shit, but still. But he's a good teacher, and he doesn't push Brad too hard because it's evident that Brad knows nothing about Whitman or Yeats.
Patterson whispers to the back of their necks as he tells them to lean forward to look closer at the faces in the alumni photographs lining the main hall. "Caaaarpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary." (DPS)
Everything; Ben Howard
'Cause everything will start again anew
'Cause everything just goes away my friend
And every king knows it to be true
And every kingdom must one day come to an end
"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer: that you are here; that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"
(John Keating, Dead Poets Society)
&
Nate's eyes shine every time Patterson mentions carpe diem. Brad talks to him across the darkness in their room, learns that Nate loves literature, loves plays, and wants to become an actor even though Fick Senior is grooming Nate to take over the family business. So when Nate finds out about Patterson and the Dead Poets Society, Brad isn't too surprised. He's reluctant to join Nate, Ray, Walt, Poke, and some of the others to sneak out at night just to read poetry in some cave, but Nate turns to him with those green eyes and he finds himself saying yes.
Pointless; Orlando Napier
Whatcha been doing lately?
Whatcha gonna do today?
I’m gonna hitchhike across the U.S.A.
I’m gonna get back to West L.A.
I’m gonna slap my boss right across the face
I’m gonna beat the cops in a high speed chase
I’m gonna call my daddy to make amends
I’m gonna pay cash money for a Mercedes-Benz
I’m gonna sit in the White House and smoke some grass
I’m gonna jump back, kiss my own white ass
I’m gonna take the world in a bare-knuckle brawl
Gonna grab this life I’ve got, yeah yeah
They slip back out of the cave in a conga line, Ray chanting a line by Vachel Lindsay that he'd found while flicking through Patterson's old city of 'Five Centuries of Verse': "Then I saw the Congo creeping through the black, cutting through the forest with a golden track." Walt's beating a rhythm on some dusty box they'd found inside, and Brad feels alive, feels like a warrior waiting to fight. Carpe diem.
&
Patterson's talking about synonyms and the beauty of language when he suddenly turns to Brad and asks what the point of language is. Brad's blindsided, and just stares blankly at Patterson, thinking about verbs and nouns and adjectives but not seeing the whole.
Nate's voice is clear but unsure when he says, "To communicate?"
Patterson grins and turns back to the class. Brad hates that he's relieved. "No, gents. To seduce!" His proud announcement elicits several sniggers, and Ray makes kissy faces at Walt.
My Hands Are Shaking; Sondre Lerche
My heart is pounding yes yes yes
My mind just second guesses
My love is so articulate
But I am such a mess
My hands are shaking from carrying this torch
From carrying this torch for you
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
(William Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII)
&
It's nearing the end of another enjoyable English class when Patterson leaps onto his desk and asks the class why he's standing there. Brad almost says it's because Patterson is on the right side of eccentric, but Ray snarks out that it's because Patterson wants to feel taller, and the entire class laughs.
Patterson smiles, and tells them that it's a lesson about perspective, that to study poetry, they have to consider multiple points of view. The persona's perspective, the author's perspective, and their own perspective. "Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it." (DPS)
Houdini; Foster The People
Rise above, gonna start the war!
Oh, what you want, what you need, what'd you come here for?
Well, an eye for an eye and an 'f' for fight
They're taking me down as the prisoners riot
Got shackles on, my words are tied
Fear can make you compromise
With the lights turned up, it's hard to hide
Sometimes I want to disappear
Brad's trying his hardest to come up with an original poem for their assignment when Nate rushes into their room brandishing a leaflet calling for auditions for 'A Midsummer's Night Dream'. When Brad gently reminds Nate of his father's disapproval, Nate falls silent, the paper falling onto his mattress.
"I'm going to try for it," he says, looking at Brad with a determined glare. "I'll worry about my father later."
Brad must be tired, because Nate-with his green eyes burning into Brad's own grey ones, with his body tight with tension-Nate looks beautiful.
&
They do more Shakespeare in class. Ray reads a sonnet to Walt, complete with dramatic conjuring of roses and air-kisses. Walt hits him on the head with the textbook when he saunters back to his seat, but he's blushing. Nate dedicates his sonnet to Poke, who grins and pretends to flutter his eyelashes before letting the whole class know that he's promised to Gina, a girl in the next class. Brad almost has a heart attack when he sees an 'N' on his slip of paper but realises that it reads 'Natalie', grits his teeth when it's his turn, and recites Sonnet 130 in a decidedly unromantic monotone to her. To her credit, all she does is to roll her eyes and charm a paper ball to hit his forehead.
Teenage Dirtbag; Wheatus
And he doesn't give a damn about me
Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby
Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby
Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me
Brad doesn't do crushes.
Which is why he's really unhappy when Nate forces him to read out the sonnet again, to him no less, when they're alone in their room, coaching him to be more gentle and romantic.
He rethinks Shakespeare when Nate kisses him in frustration and pulls away with flushed cheeks. Nate doesn't pull away when Brad pulls him closer for another kiss.
Nate's eyes are nothing like the sun.
&
"Brad, I've got the part! I'm gonna play Puck! I'm gonna play Puck!" (edited from DPS)
"Lilley, are you filming this, my man? White boy's going crazy."
"Poke, let the guy have his moment."
"He's doing a pirouette. A fucking pirouette, Walt!"
"Yes, I have eyes, Ray."
"Really pretty eyes."
"Shut up, Ray."
"Homes, I hate it when y'all gang up on your Ray-Ray."
I Wanna Be Free; Panic! At The Disco
I wanna be free, I wanna be loved
I wanna be more than you're thinking of
Everything seems to be estranged when you're alone
Brad watches as Nate starts dictating an email from Fick Senior to the Headmaster to his laptop. He knows it's what Nate wants, but Brad can't help but worry about the consequences, because from what he knows about Nate's father from Poke and Ray and Walt, Nate's going to get into trouble.
&
Patterson's come up with some exercise about meter in the courtyard of Bravo Hall. Walt and Lilley and Poke are walking in single file, slowly falling into the same cadence. Patterson stops them after a few moments and talks to the class about being themselves.
"But you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go, "That's bad." Robert Frost said, 'Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.'" (DPS)
Jung Und Nicht Mehr Jugendfrei; Tokio Hotel
Wir sind jung und nicht mehr jugendfrei
Tut mir leid ich weiß wir sollen nicht
Doch wir fangen schon mal zu leben an
Wir sind jung und nicht mehr jugendfrei
Eure rechnung ist mit uns nicht aufgegangen
Wir fangen schon mal zu leben an
[english translation]
We are young and no more youth-approved
I am sorry I know we shouldn't
But we'll start to live already
We are young and no more youth-approved
Youll realize that all of us thwart you
We'll start to live already
He tells them to walk their own way through the courtyard. Brad shakes his head and starts making his way to Nate, long legs stretching in his usual style, and soon he and Nate are trying to write each other's name around each other using their footsteps.
"Mr Person? You be joining us?" (edited from DPS)
"Exercising the right not to walk." (DPS)
Brad looks over at Ray, who's leaning against a pillar, watching Walt. Ray catches Brad's gaze and smirks. Smart-ass.
&
When it goes wrong, it goes wrong big time. Nate's father finds out about the letter and strides into their room to talk to Nate, his rage barely controlled. Nate's eyes are too green when his father leaves, his fists clenched so tight Brad's sure the nails are drawing blood. They spend the night in Brad's bed, Brad just holding Nate, even though neither of them sleep.
They go for the play anyway, Nate's eyes burning with determination and pride when he comes onstage as Puck. Brad doesn't think he's ever seen Nate like this, so enervated and relaxed at once. Ray catcalls during intermission, and even Walt lets out a few whoops when the curtain rises to reveal the cast and crew at the end of the play. The Bravo boys stand up and cheer alongside Patterson, and Brad is smiling so hard he thinks his jaw might ache in the morning. Then Nate's father comes forward as the crowd is leaving, and tells Nate to follow him home.
Nate is still holding his prop headdress of twigs and leaves. It's snowing, and Brad feels like his skin is too tight as Nate's father starts the car. "Carpe diem," Nate mouths to Brad fearlessly through the glass as the car drives off.
Adagio For Tron; Daft Punk
instrumental
The next morning, they're called into the main hall. Headmaster Ferrando announces that there will be an inquiry into Patterson's method of teaching, due to a complaint filed by Nate's father. Patterson is suspended.
Deputy Headmaster Sixta, who coaches Quidditch, takes over, barking at each of them to analyse Shakespeare's sonnets using the Pritchard graphs. Ray informs him that the foreword has been ripped out with a dry smirk.
Their Captain returns a few days later.
&
Brad sleeps alone for one week. Nate comes back on a Monday night with a tired smile, brushing off the questions from the Bravo boys. He feels warm curled up next to Brad, his hair soft under Brad's palm.
After The Storm; Mumford & Sons
Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won't rot, I won't rot
Not this mind and not this heart,
I won't rot.
And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we lived for.
"I made a compromise with my father," Nate says, when the alarm wakes them at dawn. "Straight distinctions. A business major when I go off to college. No law degree. I can do acting as long as it doesn't affect my grades. Maybe I can start my own company one day."
He turns to Brad, smiles.
"I told them about us. You don't mind, do you?"
Brad's voice is scratchy when he says no. He hadn't been aware that whatever they shared merits an 'us', but he likes it.
&
They pose for a picture. Lilley has the camera all set up on a tripod, and Sixta walks past it and them with a glare, but it doesn't dampen the smiles on their faces. Patterson's in the middle, and the Bravo boys crowd around him, Brad pressed shoulder-to-shoulder against Nate, Ray pressing his lips to Walt's cheek, Poke winking. "Seize the day!" they yell as the camera flashes.
We Are Young; Fun. feat. Janelle Morae
Tonight, we are young
So let's set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun
So if by the time the bar closes
And you feel like falling down
I'll carry you home tonight
"I'll see you in a couple of months for that barbeque, yeah?"
"Damn straight, homes. Don't miss your Ray-Ray too much. I'll send you letters soaked in cheap perfume."
"Are you making this up?"
"Hell no I'm not making this up. Brad, hey, Brad, you gotta treat the one you love right. So what if I don't believe in flowers and chocolate? Shakespeare didn't go for that shit; the dude wrote poetry and meant every single golden word of it instead of pouring his money into the corporate coffers that advertise love as some heart-shaped hole that you need to stuff with Cadbury roses."
"You know what, I might actually miss you, you scrawny hick."
"Oh bless mine heart and clutch my pearls-"
"Shut up, Ray."
◆
mediafire zip | YOUTUBE
Summary: Brad Colbert goes to Welton Academy. [Two more ficlets here.]
Fandom: Generation Kill/Harry Potter/Dead Poets Society
Characters/Pairings: Brad/Nate, Ray/Walt, Poke, Lilley, Patterson (characters under 18 but no underage hanky-panky past kissing)
Genre: AU, romance, friendship
Rating: PG; light swearing
Warnings: N/A
Word Count: 1870 (not incl. quotes/lines from the film.)
Author's Notes: For round 5 of waywardmixes. The theme was AU.
Disclaimer: Based on the fictionalized characters as played by Stark Sands and misc. in the HBO miniseries, not the real people.
◆
Generation Kill was a HBO miniseries that aired in 2008. It followed the men of First Recon USMC through the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Harry Potter was a series of seven books written by J.K.Rowling about the adventures of the titular character as he, along with his fellow friends and students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, battles the forces of Lord Voldemort. Dead Poets Society was a 1989 film about the story of an English teacher who inspires his students to seize life by its horns through poetry.
Oh Captain, My Captain! is a story combining elements from the three above universes and set in modern times. It follows the stories of Brad Colbert, Nate Fick, Ray Person, Walt Hasser, and other characters taken from GK as they attend the prestigious Welton Academy. Welton aims to provide its students with the skills and education to enter into both muggle and magical society. Their journey will be helped along by their English teacher, Bryan Patterson, who teaches them to live life instead of just being wafted along by the current of society. Told from Brad's perspective.
It's a story about brotherhood, about life, about poetry. A story about discovering yourself in the midst of a crowd. A story about following your passion.
◆
The story begins when a letter arrives by owl a month after they move back to Oceanside. Brad's stunned when he reads it, and so are his parents. Em just lets out a yelp of amazement mixed with jealousy, and Nora calls to snark at Brad before congratulating him on his scholarship. Brad's less excited than sceptical; Welton Academy, only the best Muggle-magic institution in California?
Brad's never been special, unless you count constantly being out of line, hence military school. He's half-convinced himself not to go, when his mom takes his hands into hers and threatens to take his surfboards away if he doesn't seize the opportunity. "You did complain about the lack of a challenge at Mathilda," she says, smiling.
Waiting On The World To Change; John Mayer
Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it
He expects the other kids to be stuck-up, for them to look down at him, since Brad doesn't know squat about this traditional place. His roommate dispels this assumption immediately when he greets Brad with "Welcome to Helton" and sparkling green eyes. Guys converge on their room; Nate Fick is clearly some sort of leader in Bravo Hall at least, and it's more than his background-Nate doesn't seem to care for his father, a high-flying lawyer, and the family business much. It doesn't take long for Brad to realise that these guys are just guys like him. He gets comfortable enough to insult Ray Person when the idiot mouths off, to grin at Walt Hasser when the shy blond from Virginia smacks Ray's hand before it smacks Walt's ass, to debate politics with Tony 'Poke' Espera.
They're just guys, filled with energy and the belief that they're better than what the previous generation gives them credit for, even if there's no war, no Voldemort to fight.
&
Bryan Patterson scares Brad. He has these ideas about poetry that stir feelings of revolution in Brad. Hell, he'd asked them to call him 'Captain, my Captain', and also to tear out the entire foreword of their textbook on poetry (Ray had let out a whoop and was the first to rip the pages out.) Granted, Pritchard is a prick for trying to quantify poetry with graphs and shit, but still. But he's a good teacher, and he doesn't push Brad too hard because it's evident that Brad knows nothing about Whitman or Yeats.
Patterson whispers to the back of their necks as he tells them to lean forward to look closer at the faces in the alumni photographs lining the main hall. "Caaaarpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary." (DPS)
Everything; Ben Howard
'Cause everything will start again anew
'Cause everything just goes away my friend
And every king knows it to be true
And every kingdom must one day come to an end
"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer: that you are here; that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"
(John Keating, Dead Poets Society)
&
Nate's eyes shine every time Patterson mentions carpe diem. Brad talks to him across the darkness in their room, learns that Nate loves literature, loves plays, and wants to become an actor even though Fick Senior is grooming Nate to take over the family business. So when Nate finds out about Patterson and the Dead Poets Society, Brad isn't too surprised. He's reluctant to join Nate, Ray, Walt, Poke, and some of the others to sneak out at night just to read poetry in some cave, but Nate turns to him with those green eyes and he finds himself saying yes.
Pointless; Orlando Napier
Whatcha been doing lately?
Whatcha gonna do today?
I’m gonna hitchhike across the U.S.A.
I’m gonna get back to West L.A.
I’m gonna slap my boss right across the face
I’m gonna beat the cops in a high speed chase
I’m gonna call my daddy to make amends
I’m gonna pay cash money for a Mercedes-Benz
I’m gonna sit in the White House and smoke some grass
I’m gonna jump back, kiss my own white ass
I’m gonna take the world in a bare-knuckle brawl
Gonna grab this life I’ve got, yeah yeah
They slip back out of the cave in a conga line, Ray chanting a line by Vachel Lindsay that he'd found while flicking through Patterson's old city of 'Five Centuries of Verse': "Then I saw the Congo creeping through the black, cutting through the forest with a golden track." Walt's beating a rhythm on some dusty box they'd found inside, and Brad feels alive, feels like a warrior waiting to fight. Carpe diem.
&
Patterson's talking about synonyms and the beauty of language when he suddenly turns to Brad and asks what the point of language is. Brad's blindsided, and just stares blankly at Patterson, thinking about verbs and nouns and adjectives but not seeing the whole.
Nate's voice is clear but unsure when he says, "To communicate?"
Patterson grins and turns back to the class. Brad hates that he's relieved. "No, gents. To seduce!" His proud announcement elicits several sniggers, and Ray makes kissy faces at Walt.
My Hands Are Shaking; Sondre Lerche
My heart is pounding yes yes yes
My mind just second guesses
My love is so articulate
But I am such a mess
My hands are shaking from carrying this torch
From carrying this torch for you
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
(William Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII)
&
It's nearing the end of another enjoyable English class when Patterson leaps onto his desk and asks the class why he's standing there. Brad almost says it's because Patterson is on the right side of eccentric, but Ray snarks out that it's because Patterson wants to feel taller, and the entire class laughs.
Patterson smiles, and tells them that it's a lesson about perspective, that to study poetry, they have to consider multiple points of view. The persona's perspective, the author's perspective, and their own perspective. "Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it." (DPS)
Houdini; Foster The People
Rise above, gonna start the war!
Oh, what you want, what you need, what'd you come here for?
Well, an eye for an eye and an 'f' for fight
They're taking me down as the prisoners riot
Got shackles on, my words are tied
Fear can make you compromise
With the lights turned up, it's hard to hide
Sometimes I want to disappear
Brad's trying his hardest to come up with an original poem for their assignment when Nate rushes into their room brandishing a leaflet calling for auditions for 'A Midsummer's Night Dream'. When Brad gently reminds Nate of his father's disapproval, Nate falls silent, the paper falling onto his mattress.
"I'm going to try for it," he says, looking at Brad with a determined glare. "I'll worry about my father later."
Brad must be tired, because Nate-with his green eyes burning into Brad's own grey ones, with his body tight with tension-Nate looks beautiful.
&
They do more Shakespeare in class. Ray reads a sonnet to Walt, complete with dramatic conjuring of roses and air-kisses. Walt hits him on the head with the textbook when he saunters back to his seat, but he's blushing. Nate dedicates his sonnet to Poke, who grins and pretends to flutter his eyelashes before letting the whole class know that he's promised to Gina, a girl in the next class. Brad almost has a heart attack when he sees an 'N' on his slip of paper but realises that it reads 'Natalie', grits his teeth when it's his turn, and recites Sonnet 130 in a decidedly unromantic monotone to her. To her credit, all she does is to roll her eyes and charm a paper ball to hit his forehead.
Teenage Dirtbag; Wheatus
And he doesn't give a damn about me
Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby
Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby
Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me
Brad doesn't do crushes.
Which is why he's really unhappy when Nate forces him to read out the sonnet again, to him no less, when they're alone in their room, coaching him to be more gentle and romantic.
He rethinks Shakespeare when Nate kisses him in frustration and pulls away with flushed cheeks. Nate doesn't pull away when Brad pulls him closer for another kiss.
Nate's eyes are nothing like the sun.
&
"Brad, I've got the part! I'm gonna play Puck! I'm gonna play Puck!" (edited from DPS)
"Lilley, are you filming this, my man? White boy's going crazy."
"Poke, let the guy have his moment."
"He's doing a pirouette. A fucking pirouette, Walt!"
"Yes, I have eyes, Ray."
"Really pretty eyes."
"Shut up, Ray."
"Homes, I hate it when y'all gang up on your Ray-Ray."
I Wanna Be Free; Panic! At The Disco
I wanna be free, I wanna be loved
I wanna be more than you're thinking of
Everything seems to be estranged when you're alone
Brad watches as Nate starts dictating an email from Fick Senior to the Headmaster to his laptop. He knows it's what Nate wants, but Brad can't help but worry about the consequences, because from what he knows about Nate's father from Poke and Ray and Walt, Nate's going to get into trouble.
&
Patterson's come up with some exercise about meter in the courtyard of Bravo Hall. Walt and Lilley and Poke are walking in single file, slowly falling into the same cadence. Patterson stops them after a few moments and talks to the class about being themselves.
"But you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go, "That's bad." Robert Frost said, 'Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.'" (DPS)
Jung Und Nicht Mehr Jugendfrei; Tokio Hotel
Wir sind jung und nicht mehr jugendfrei
Tut mir leid ich weiß wir sollen nicht
Doch wir fangen schon mal zu leben an
Wir sind jung und nicht mehr jugendfrei
Eure rechnung ist mit uns nicht aufgegangen
Wir fangen schon mal zu leben an
[english translation]
We are young and no more youth-approved
I am sorry I know we shouldn't
But we'll start to live already
We are young and no more youth-approved
Youll realize that all of us thwart you
We'll start to live already
He tells them to walk their own way through the courtyard. Brad shakes his head and starts making his way to Nate, long legs stretching in his usual style, and soon he and Nate are trying to write each other's name around each other using their footsteps.
"Mr Person? You be joining us?" (edited from DPS)
"Exercising the right not to walk." (DPS)
Brad looks over at Ray, who's leaning against a pillar, watching Walt. Ray catches Brad's gaze and smirks. Smart-ass.
&
When it goes wrong, it goes wrong big time. Nate's father finds out about the letter and strides into their room to talk to Nate, his rage barely controlled. Nate's eyes are too green when his father leaves, his fists clenched so tight Brad's sure the nails are drawing blood. They spend the night in Brad's bed, Brad just holding Nate, even though neither of them sleep.
They go for the play anyway, Nate's eyes burning with determination and pride when he comes onstage as Puck. Brad doesn't think he's ever seen Nate like this, so enervated and relaxed at once. Ray catcalls during intermission, and even Walt lets out a few whoops when the curtain rises to reveal the cast and crew at the end of the play. The Bravo boys stand up and cheer alongside Patterson, and Brad is smiling so hard he thinks his jaw might ache in the morning. Then Nate's father comes forward as the crowd is leaving, and tells Nate to follow him home.
Nate is still holding his prop headdress of twigs and leaves. It's snowing, and Brad feels like his skin is too tight as Nate's father starts the car. "Carpe diem," Nate mouths to Brad fearlessly through the glass as the car drives off.
Adagio For Tron; Daft Punk
instrumental
The next morning, they're called into the main hall. Headmaster Ferrando announces that there will be an inquiry into Patterson's method of teaching, due to a complaint filed by Nate's father. Patterson is suspended.
Deputy Headmaster Sixta, who coaches Quidditch, takes over, barking at each of them to analyse Shakespeare's sonnets using the Pritchard graphs. Ray informs him that the foreword has been ripped out with a dry smirk.
Their Captain returns a few days later.
&
Brad sleeps alone for one week. Nate comes back on a Monday night with a tired smile, brushing off the questions from the Bravo boys. He feels warm curled up next to Brad, his hair soft under Brad's palm.
After The Storm; Mumford & Sons
Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won't rot, I won't rot
Not this mind and not this heart,
I won't rot.
And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we lived for.
"I made a compromise with my father," Nate says, when the alarm wakes them at dawn. "Straight distinctions. A business major when I go off to college. No law degree. I can do acting as long as it doesn't affect my grades. Maybe I can start my own company one day."
He turns to Brad, smiles.
"I told them about us. You don't mind, do you?"
Brad's voice is scratchy when he says no. He hadn't been aware that whatever they shared merits an 'us', but he likes it.
&
They pose for a picture. Lilley has the camera all set up on a tripod, and Sixta walks past it and them with a glare, but it doesn't dampen the smiles on their faces. Patterson's in the middle, and the Bravo boys crowd around him, Brad pressed shoulder-to-shoulder against Nate, Ray pressing his lips to Walt's cheek, Poke winking. "Seize the day!" they yell as the camera flashes.
We Are Young; Fun. feat. Janelle Morae
Tonight, we are young
So let's set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun
So if by the time the bar closes
And you feel like falling down
I'll carry you home tonight
"I'll see you in a couple of months for that barbeque, yeah?"
"Damn straight, homes. Don't miss your Ray-Ray too much. I'll send you letters soaked in cheap perfume."
"Are you making this up?"
"Hell no I'm not making this up. Brad, hey, Brad, you gotta treat the one you love right. So what if I don't believe in flowers and chocolate? Shakespeare didn't go for that shit; the dude wrote poetry and meant every single golden word of it instead of pouring his money into the corporate coffers that advertise love as some heart-shaped hole that you need to stuff with Cadbury roses."
"You know what, I might actually miss you, you scrawny hick."
"Oh bless mine heart and clutch my pearls-"
"Shut up, Ray."
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