Chapter Text
Despite it being almost 21 years since he'd died, Trevor still didn't know why ghosts needed to sleep. It wasn't as if they needed to be well rested. However, sleep they did, and he liked it. It was one of the only things that he’d been able to do when he was alive that he could still do. It wasn’t as if he could eat, drink, take drugs or fuck. Actually he was fairly sure he could still do that last one. Little T-Money had no problems getting up. However, his options were limited and virtually nonexistent in the house, so that option might as well be off of the table.
He huffed out a sigh as he turned over so that he was looking up at the ceiling. He found that one spot in the far corner where the wallpaper was starting to peel slightly and stared at it while he thought about the events of the day. Sure what he’d told Pete was true, not getting an invite to the dinner party had brought back memories of when he’d got left off the list for that epic Fourth of July party in ‘99, but it was more than that. There had been many times he’d been left out in school. Some of it was just par for the course when it came to school bullying. But other times it had felt like there was a hint of malice to it, and hate that ran deeper than just schoolyard disagreements.
Trevor could still remember his first rejection. He hadn't received an invitation to Melissa Ryan's birthday party in his freshman year of high school. When he'd asked why, she'd commented that the country club where the party was being held was really quite exclusive and that they couldn't let just anyone in. When he'd mentioned it to his parents, he had seen the look that had passed between them. Even without them saying anything to him there was a feeling of otherness that was directed towards him that would mean there would always be somewhere he was classed as an outsider. Since then he’d always tried to fit in, to avoid that feeling of otherness. It was often why he’d gone along with many of the ideas that Ari and David had come up with.
When he’d died, Trevor had felt a little bit of that otherness once again. Not because of anything the other ghosts had said or did, but because he was the most recently deceased and there were already bonds formed. Thor and Sas had the kind of bond that only came from hundreds of years together, Isaac and Hetty had imposed themselves as rulers, while Alberta and Flower were often in each other's company. Pete sort of flitted between them all. Trevor had thought him and Pete would bond as the most recently deceased but the man had been a little too vanilla for his taste. Though Pete was still a solid bro. They’d all eventually settled into a friendship and he had never felt left out. They had all eagerly agreed to his plan to haunt Sam and Jay out, and Hetty had been insistent that he use his ghost power in the process. However, Hetty’s dinner party exclusion had once again made him feel like he hadn’t been invited to the hottest girl in school’s birthday party.
Trevor shook his head and got out of bed, if he wasn’t going to sleep, he might as well wander the house. He passed through his bedroom door and found Flower twirling through the halls.
“Hey Flower.”
“Hey,” she said, pausing mid-twirl. “Can’t sleep? I always have trouble sleeping after a party too. We have that in common.That’s cool. It’s always cool to find things in common. I tried talking to Hetty but she kicked me out of my room. Which is odd because she’s not even sleeping. She’s just laying there like always. Probably thinking about how she lied to Trevor which is so rude, I me-”
“Wait what?”
“Yeah she’d excluded him because he wasn’t wearing pants. Who cares? Ira didn’t wear pants for a whole month in protest of…I…what were we talking about?” Flower shrugged, deciding that it wasn’t important, “see ya later Steve,” she smiled before she carried on twirling down the hallway.
Trevor watched her go on her way, before he walked in the opposite direction, towards Hetty’s room. If he was solid he’d knock the door first, however, as his hand would just go straight through the door, there was no point. He walked straight through the door startling Hetty who sat bolt upright clutching at her chest and attempting to pull up the covers, forgetting that it was futile.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Despite the anger on her face, Trevor had also seen the flash of fear that had flickered briefly and he felt sick that she’d even consider him doing anything like that. Though considering the time period she grew up in, he couldn't say he was surprised she would think that about men entering her room uninvited. He held his hands up and refused to move further into the room. “I just want to talk.”
“And you couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” she asked as she swung her feet around so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed. She fixed him with a steely glare. “Well, speak.”
“I thought we were friends,” he replied, “acquaintances,” he added, when he saw the face she’d pulled, “whatever, look, all I’m saying is…”
“Is this still about the dinner party?” she tilted her head, “I told you I needed a prominent snub.”
“No you didn’t,” he bit back, “Flower told me you lied,” he added. Trevor watched as she looked down and muttered something under her breath that sounded vaguely insulting. Whether it was an insult to him or Flower he couldn’t be sure. “Look, I know you can’t get past the pants thing, but just once I’d like to be included when you do things like this.”
“Trevor…”
“I’m a classy guy, I’ve done that fancy stuff too. I went to an opera once. There was this girl I dated and she promised that if I…whatever, I don't have to explain myself. And I went to plenty of fancy parties.”
“Ah yes those parties hosted by my louse of a great grandson, they were really the height of sophistication.”
“Says the woman who's parties were filled with cocaine. You probably snorted more coke than I did and Lehman practically ran on the stuff,” Hetty inclined her head in agreement, “point is it’s not nice leaving people out,” he finished going back to his original point.
“Poppycock, I left people out all the time,” Hetty huffed, “I myself, was left out many times. Mostly by Mamie Fish…”
“Can you seriously stand there and tell me being excluded didn’t hurt?”
“Of course it didn’t,” she replied, her hand reaching up to fiddle with her lace collar. She noticed the skeptical look on his face, “maybe a little.”
“Okay, so can you understand why I,” he paused, “and Flower and Pete,” he added as an afterthought, “were upset?”
“I guess,” Hetty replied sullenly, “but I did let you attend eventually.”
“After Sam requested we join her,” Trevor pointed out, “it doesn’t really count. It was a pity invite and only offered because she needed our help.”
“If I said sorry would it help?” she asked, not really wanting to apologize, but figured it would get him out of her room quicker, so that she could go back to lying in silence.
“Would you mean it?”
“I could try,” she smiled, but it fell when she saw the ‘seriously’ look he was giving her. “Okay, fine, fine,” she took a breath, “Trevor, I am sincerely sorry for not inviting you to attend the dinner party.”
“Thank you,” he smiled, “that wasn't so hard was it?” he asked, watching as her eyes narrowed in his direction. Trevor got the distinct feeling that he had pushed his luck far enough for one night.
“And Trevor…” she said before he could leave, “if I ever exclude you again, just throw a rival party like I did when Mamie Fish didn’t invite me to her daughter’s debut. I crushed her.”
Trevor couldn’t help but smile at the mischievous grin on her face. He had to admit that the playful side of her, caused a few flutters of something to stir inside. He shook his head and turned to leave, resolving to deal with that line of thinking another day.
“One more thing.”
“What now?”
“Enter my bedroom uninvited again, I will have Thorfinn push you out of the window.”
“Understood.”