Work Text:
Friday September 28, 1984, 3:11 PM
Usually when the last bell of the day rang, the Hill Valley High School student body would rush out the doors and vacate the campus in the quickest ways possible. Of course there were some exceptions with after school clubs and detention, but there was also the plethora of small student gangs that tended to hang out in the parking lot, behind the dumpsters, or under the bleachers. Today, one Douglas Needles and company had just so happened to be hanging around right in one Marty McFly’s way.
“Hey, McFly! What happened? News was you got your license the other day.”
Marty rolled his eyes and moved his headphones down around his neck. “Hi, Needles. Yeah, I did get my license. That doesn’t automatically mean I get a car. My parents aren’t rich like yours in case you haven’t noticed.”
Needles leaned back against the hood of his truck. “Fair enough. Well, hey, since you’re here, why don’t you show me and the guys how you handle wheels like these?”
“No thanks, I don’t wanna be late for work.”
“Aww all work and no play? You’re no fun, McFly,” Needles sneered.
“Hey, I’m plenty of fun, alright? Just not with you, ‘kay? I gotta go.” Marty moved his headphones back over his ears and began to walk away.
“What’s wrong, McFly? Chicken?”
Marty nearly tripped over his skateboard. That word. It was so stupid--Needles was so stupid. He knew it was just a word. A stupid little word.
He turned around and glared up at Needles. “Nobody calls me chicken, Needles, alright? Nobody!”
A smirk crawled across Needles’ face as his gang leaned in closer. “Oh yeah? Prove it. Let’s see how good you are in a race. Hop in, we’ll give you a ride.”
Marty let out a disgruntled sigh and clambored in the red truck with the rest of the gang. ‘Jeez, do these neanderthals ever take a shower?’ Luckily for Marty, they had soon arrived at Needles’ house where another truck was waiting in the driveway.
“I see your parents still buy you shit to try and win you over,” Marty quipped.
“Well, duh. They were practically killing each other just to see who could get me a car first. Here, you drive this one, McFly.” Needles tossed the keys to Marty and he and his friends left the truck without saying another word.
---
Stupid Needles and his stupid parties. If only Marty had won that stupid race, he wouldn’t have to be here tonight. When he rolled up to the house, Marty kicked up his skateboard and stuffed it in his backpack. He didn’t even have to knock on the door for Needles to answer.
“Good to see you decided to show up, McFly.”
“I’m a man of my word, aren’t I?”
Needles looked over Marty. “Well, I dunno about the ‘man’ part yet.”
“Oh bite me,” Marty snapped as he shoved his way inside the house.
The music was thudding against the walls and the air reeked of booze and cigarette smoke. The noise level only increased as the plethora of attendants were shouting their conversations in attempts to be heard. Before he completely lost himself in the crowd, Marty felt a tap on his shoulder. It wasn’t Needles this time, but Jennifer Parker.
“Hey, you’re Marty right? We have history together, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, I think we do. Jennifer right?” Of course, Marty already knew the answer to that. “Say, what’s a nice girl like you doing at a sleazy Needles party like this?”
Jennifer giggled and pointed behind her to her friends. “Tiff invited me, and it wasn’t like I was doing anything else tonight. Hey, why don’t you come play spin the bottle with us? We need more guys.”
The offer had certainly excited Marty. After all, how many chances would he have to kiss the girl he had a crush on since the eighth grade? In the circle, he spotted his friend and bandmate, Paul, and sat next to him.
But just as the girl sitting next to Marty was about to take her turn, Needles had wandered over and butted his way in like he always did. Marty simply rolled his eyes and tried to ignore him.
The key word being “tried.”
Once it was finally Marty’s turn, Needles leaned in towards the center and said, “Hey, how ‘bout this round, whoever the bottle lands on, you have to do seven minutes in heaven with them.”
“Jeez, I dunno, it’s my first time playing--”
Paul elbowed Marty in the side. “Oh c’mon, Marty. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Well--”
Needles pulled that same smug look on his face that Marty’s seen so many times before. “Or you could back out like a wuss.”
“No, I’ll go, I’ll go already! Jeez!” Marty cried as he gave the empty bottle a forceful spin. When it landed, Marty’s stomach turned to lead.
“You can spin again if you want to,” Jennifer said.
Needles swatted Marty’s hand away from the bottle. “No, we made a deal, didn’t we. C’mon McFly, let’s go.”
Marty anxiously got to his feet and followed Needles to the inside of the broom closet. The only light was coming from the gap under the door; barely enough to see inside. Marty looked up at Needles towering over him. His rival’s stature combined with the small space inside the closet seemed to make Marty feel even smaller than he normally did.
“Of all the people in that circle, it just had to land on you .”
“Well, jeez, you don’t have to sound so excited about it,” Needles huffed.
“Just what did I do to you to make you wanna torment me and push my buttons? Why are you so obsessed with me?” Marty asked with frustration.
“Hey, I tried being your friend, alright, but that didn’t work out. I dunno, something about you, I just can’t get your stupid face out of my head.”
“But that still doesn’t answer my question.”
Needles sighed. “It’s the only way I could get you to pay attention to me.”
Marty opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again as he had forgotten what exactly his retort was. In that moment, the silence between them was louder than the music raging through the house.
Needles leaned forward and placed his hands on the wall either side of Marty’s head. “Well, we still have six minutes, McFly. So how ‘bout it? You gonna kiss me, or are you too chi--”
Marty pulled Needles closer by his shirt collar and pressed his lips against those of his rival’s. The shock had caused Needles to stumble backwards and hit the wall. He clutched onto the back of Marty’s shirt… for support of course.
When Marty briefly pulled away to catch his breath, he said, “How’s that? Good enough for you?”
“Was that your first time kissing someone, Marty?”
“Well,” his hand went for the back of his own neck, “yeah kinda.”
“Hmm. Not bad for a first-timer, I guess.”
“Really?”
“No,” Needles chuckled. “Here,” he tilted Marty’s chin up, “let me show you how it’s done.”
---
The weeks rolled on as Marty tried to forget what had happened the night of the party. Every time he passed Needles in the hall, he was only met with uncomfortable silence (and he could swear he saw him blush a few times too). He tried to get closer to Jennifer to get his mind off Needles, but there was always this biting thought at the back of his mind that he just couldn’t shake.
It was in the locker room when Needles finally confronted Marty about the proverbial elephant in the room. Marty had just finished changing back into his regular clothes when he saw Needles leaning against his locker. “We can’t keep ignoring this, McFly.”
“Needles, I need to get in there.”
“Alright, but we still need to talk.”
Marty gently pushed Needles aside to get to the locker. “What’s there to talk about?”
“Oh, don’t act like that night didn’t happen. Look, would you rather go around embarrassing ourselves by acting like we don’t know each other, or actually deal with what happened and move on?”
Marty sighed and swung his backpack over his shoulder. “What, you still want my attention? Well you have it. Sure, let’s talk about it. Where do you wanna start?”
Needles shifted his gaze down at the floor. “I can’t stop thinking about you--about that night. It’s so stupid, though! I don’t even like you like that but…”
“No, I, I get it. I feel the same way.” Marty rubbed his shoulder and prayed that this conversation would be over soon.
“What should we do then?”
“What do you think we should do? You seem to be more of an expert than me.”
Needles’ shoulders rose as he met Marty’s gaze. “Should we, I mean, do you want to maybe come with me to Tiff’s party this Saturday?”
“Is her dad gonna be there?”
“What? No, Tiff’s not an idiot. Are you coming or what?”
“Yeah, sure. You can pick me up at nine or whatever.”
Marty was laying in the guest bed (or at least, he hoped it was the guest bed) of the Tannen house. His shirt and pants were scattered on the floor and were mixed with clothes that weren’t his. Needles sat up next to him and lit a cigarette. “Want a hit?” he asked.
“No thanks,” Marty replied.
Needles shrugged and carried on. “Guess your girlfriend isn’t gonna like this.”
“She’s not my girlfriend. Well, not yet at least, so this is none of her business anyway.”
Needles stood up and found his pants and put them on. “Well, let’s hope she doesn’t ask about us then.”
“Hey I won’t ask her about her past partners if she doesn’t ask about mine. It’s only fair.” Marty sat up and saw Needles trying to find his shirt. “Hey, Doug, wait.” Doug? That was new.
Needles stood up and looked down at Marty. “What is it?”
Marty rubbed the edge of the blanket in between his fingers. “What are we?”
Needles paused. “Do you know, Marty?”
“No.”
He nodded and continued the search for his shirt.
“Can you stay?”
“Do you want me to?”
Marty bit his lip and nodded.
“Okay.” He sat down on the bed in front of Marty. “I’ll stay.”