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Patrick was annoyed, to say the least – so was Joe, he could tell. Dances were never any of his friends' things, but the second two of them had met a girl they ditched him. Patrick knew not to get upset, that there will be another time they can all hang out as a group. But one thing scared him, and that was change.
Patrick looked back at Joe, who was in the back of the room hunched over, rummaging through his mini fridge which made a very faint buzzing sound.
“Isn’t it kinda crazy?” Joe chuckled, two bottles in his hands, “Pete and Andy, actually talking to girls. I'm more surprised about Andy if anything.”
“..Yeah, crazy.” Patrick nodded along, looking back at the tv which was the only form of light in a rather dark room that he sat infront of with his legs crossed together. Joe quickly sat next to Patrick, opening both of their bottles for them.
“They totally ditched us though. But it’s whatever,” Joe shrugged, smiling as he glanced over to Patrick, leaning into him. “‘Cause we’re just sooo much fun, Isn’t that right? All we need is eachother.” He jested, Patrick just glared at him.
“Shut up, Joe,” Patrick snickered, pushing Joe away and taking a quick sip of his drink.
“You suck.” Joe sneered, grabbing his controller off of the table which held the TV up, and so did Patrick.
There were two extra controllers, they’d all planned on playing MarioKart and having a sleepover together, but now, Pete and Andy were elsewhere, and it was just Joe and Patrick. Patrick wasn’t upset he was only with Joe, if anything he was glad. Pete could be a lot, and Andy could be too little. Joe was the perfect balance - a breath of fresh air.
Joe clicked the start button and narrowed his eyes, biting his lower lip and leaning in towards the TV, his face merely inches from it. Patrick didn’t care as much for MarioKart as Joe did, and that showed.
Soon enough the game was over. Joe had won, and Patrick landed a close 8th place.
“Another round?” Joe urged without turning to Patrick. Patrick just shrugged, starting the game. It was nice seeing Joe like this, having fun, stuck in some trance. Though it was worrisome how close he was to the tv.
Patrick placed his controller down, there was no point, he knew he’d lose and that Joe would win. And besides, he liked to watch him play. He stood up, moving to sit on the couch behind him.
Joe turned around, still clicking buttons as he looked at Patrick, “Dude?”
“‘M not in the mood to play anymore.” Patrick waved his hand, getting comfortable on the couch and taking a sip out of the bottle, “I’ll just watch.”
“‘Kay. Whatever you say.” Joe shrugged, turning around to face the tv as his character threw a turtle shell at an npc.
Patrick propped his head against his hand, watching Joe’s character move back and forth and throw various things at the others. Joe truly was different. He’d gotten along with Pete and Andy, of course. But Joe? Joe was somebody who just got Patrick. Joe reminded Patrick of the beginning of Spring, though he’d experienced it numerous times, every time it came around it always felt fresh and new in so many different ways. He could look at Joe for hours on end, and still, he’d manage to find new things.
After the game, Joe lazily dropped the controller and unplugged the gaming console. He sat right next to Patrick, occasionally glancing over at him.
“The dance was… interesting.” Patrick blurted, unsure as of what to say — just anything to get them out of that silence.
“Mmmhhh, interesting isn't the word.” Joe mused, “Stupid. Stupid’s the word. It’s stupid we got ditched, and it’s stupid we didn’t find anyone.” Joe joked, but Patrick could sense the sentence was laced with venom.
“Us, getting girlfriends? Seriously?” Patrick snickered, his grip on the bottle tightening, “It kind of makes sense for Andy and Pete- Y’know? Pete’s well.. Pete. He’s had a bunch for all that we know, he's experienced. And Andy? Andy’s super calm and respectful. Girls love that or so I heard.”
“Oookay, ‘Trick. Cause you know what girls like.”
“Dude! It’s not like I have first hand experience or anything- I just see it in all of those crappy movies on tv and they’re all like… Girls moving to these small towns during Christmas after a messy breakup with her horrible boyfriend, and she meets this guy who’s really sweet and-”
“Patrick, do you watch chick-flicks?” Joe bursted out into fits of laughter, slapping Patrick's back almost spilling his drink all over the two of them.
“What?! No!” Patrick defended himself, “My Mom does. And we only have one tv.”
“Pshh, Okay.” Joe rolled his eyes and inched closer. “You seem like the type to watch that stuff.”
“You’re the worst.”
“Who said I was making fun of you ? We could totally have a chick-flick hallmark marathon.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Whatever you say, bud.” Joe gave him another pat on the back and Patrick just rolled his eyes in somewhat annoyance. “See, like a normal person, I’m not into movies like that. I’m more of a Donnie Darko and Final Destination type of guy.”
“Lucky for me I’m not into movies like that either,” Patrick huffed, swatting at Joe.
Joe gave Patrick one of his typical douchey smiles, and Patrick couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
“Sure you are.”
“I hate you.”
“Sure you do.” Joe sneered, putting a hand over Patrick's shoulder and slightly shaking him. Patrick just glared at Joe, taking a sip from his bottle.
“Speaking of movies- do you have any good ones?”
“Mmmm,, Sorry. I don’t think I own any romcoms.”
Patrick furrowed his eyebrows, staring daggers into Joe.
“Okay, Okay. Sorry. I thinkk… we have star wars? ‘That sound good?” Joe stood up, making his way to the box of DVDs in the corner of the room, coming back with 3 in hand. “Okayy, we got Dirty Dancing, Star Wars, or Saw.” He said, giving Patrick both the choice and the DVDs.
“…Hmmm.” Patrick hummed, tracing his fingers over the plastic film on top of the cases on the DVDs. “Star Wars, and I thought you said you had no crappy romcoms.” Patrick motioned to Dirty Dancing and Joe shot up to defend it.
“Dirty Dancing isn’t a romcom, and romance in a story doesn’t make it shitty. It’s mostly a drama if anything.” Joe huffed, grabbing the DVD Patrick had chosen and shoving it into the DVD player.
“I didn’t know you were so passionate about movies.”
“I’m not.”
As the beginning scenes started to play, Joe got up, using Patrick's shoulder as something to stabilize himself for help.
“I’m gonna make popcorn, want?” Joe offered, ringing his fingers through the deep brown curls in the back of his head.
“Yeah, sure. Thanks dude.”
“‘Course.” Joe headed to the kitchen, leaving Patrick by himself.
Patrick slumped back on the couch, now more confused than ever. He knew he felt differently about Joe than he’d ever had anyone, nobody was as easy to talk to, nobody was as easy to joke with, being with Joe was like breathing, his first nature.
A few minutes had passed, and Patrick was shoved out of his trance by Joe falling back on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn in hand, shoveling a handful into his mouth.
“Take,” Joe offered, a few pieces of popcorn spewing out of his mouth, handing the bowl to Patrick.
Patrick grabbed a handful of popcorn, popping a few into his mouth, unlike Joe - who when he got a handful would just force it all into his mouth.
Patrick jumped up, noticing something on the TV he’d like to spew a fact about, “Did’ya know that Chewbacca's voice was a mix of a bunch of animals ? Like, badgers, seals, lions and whatnot. Y'know?"
“Uhhh, Doi.” Joe replied, Patrick smiled in response, most of what Joe said to Patrick would come off as rude to others — but to Patrick it was different. “Did you know that if you were to like, totally get rid of all of Chewbacca’s hair he’d be gray?”
“Uhhh,, ‘course I knew that..” Patrick retorted, folding his arms.
“Oookay,” Joe chuckled, lazily throwing an arm over Patrick’s shoulder. “I’m not having a nerd off with you. We both know who’ll win. And it isn’t me.”
“Man, shut up,” Patrick scoffed, shaking Joe’s arm off of him.
As the movie went on, both stayed intensely focused - truth be told, they were both nerds. Both were obsessed with the instruments they played, both were obsessed with movies, both were obsessed with collecting action figures which were far too expensive. They were so similar in so many ways, yet so different. So different.
There was one specific scene Joe had raved over anytime Star Wars would be brought up, and it was on the tv. Joe rested his shoulders on his knees, his chin rested upon his palms. When that scene was over, Joe leaned back to face Patrick, shaking him.
“Man, wasn’t that fucking awesome?!” Joe practically squealed. “Best movie of all time. I swear.”
“Well.. it’s still going on.. And I’d like to focus, so..” Patrick joked, smiling slightly.
Joe let go of Patrick, playfully punching him in the shoulder.
There was about 10 minutes left of the movie, and they were going by relatively fast. As for the popcorn, there was none left, and as a matter of fact there hadn’t been since the two were halfway through the movie due to Joe eating a majority of it.
Finally, the credits began to roll, and Joe jumped up, shaking Patrick once again, “That was so amazing.”
“Only gets better after the what, fifteenth time?” Patrick remarked, and Joe didn’t fight back, he just smiled and rolled his eyes.
“I had a lot of fun today,” Joe yawned, stretching.
“I wouldn’t call getting slapped by some girl then ditched by your friends fun, necessarily. But hey, I won’t yuck your yum.” Patrick teased, laughing at his own joke.
“Well- not the dance, now, now is what's fun. The dance fucking sucked, dude. I think we both know that.”
“..Yeah, well, sucked for us.” Patrick leaned back, his head rested upon the soft cushion of the couch, Joe just nodded.
“Pete and Andy are missing out though.” Joe tucked his knees into his arms, the bottle still firm in his hands.
“On what? Star Wars and crappy microwaved popcorn accompanied by flat soda ? Pshhh, yeah, okay.”
“Nah, on us. We’re great. Not some girls. Do you think they even knew them before the dance?”
“...Well, yeah, Pete’s spoken to that girl in the hallways before. I’ve seen it, as for Andy… ‘M not sure.”
Joe scoffed, his grip on the bottle tightening – he’d always been the more emotional out of the two, sure, Patrick would get angry- have his moments, but they’d blow over, he’d come to his senses. Joe would hold grudges, yet keep them to himself until it’d bubble over and everything would pour out.
“It’ll be fine, Joe, I swear. Things’ll go back to normal, they’ll probably never talk to these girls again.” Patrick tried to reassure Joe, though he really was just saying what he himself had wanted to hear.
“...Mhhh, you’re right. Whatever. I don’t wanna let this ruin tonight,” Joe waved his hands around, spilling the tiny bit of the soda he had left – though it went unnoticed by the two of them, “Let’s forget it ever happened, kay?” Joe patted Patrick on the shoulder, acting as if he was the one that needed the consolation and Patrick just nodded, humming in response. “Let me put this back.” He motioned to the DVD, still in the player lifting himself off of the couch using Patrick’s knee as a form of stability, grabbing the DVD, placing it back on its case, then throwing it on the coffee table next to the metal bowl that once contained popcorn.
He made his way back to the couch, sitting next to Patrick.
“Okay- Okay, I know I said I’d drop it. But just one more thing,” Joe faced Patrick, and Patrick looked back at Joe, cocking an eyebrow. “We always have more fun, y’know, together. Not that they’re boring!” Joe put his hands up in defense of himself, “I dunno, it’s just that..” He shrugged, “We’re different. Like, remember when I tried to teach you how to do a kickflip-”
“This better be going somewhere good.” Patrick crossed his arms, he hated whenever Joe brought that incident up.
“It is, just listen. Remember when I tried to teach you how to do a kickflip, and you busted your ass, then got super pissed because I had my camcorder on, filming us the whole time?”
“…Yeah.”
“We went back to your place and rewatched it after, over and over again. That was fun. What I’m trying to say is, I think you’re really fun to hang out with dude.”
Patrick smiled, looking down, Joe was weird like this - he’d make continuous douchey comments throughout each and every time they’d hang out, then randomly drop bombs like that to truly let you know he cares.
“You’re fun too, Joe.” Patrick scratched the back of his head, still looking down.
“So, Star Wars, I have the second. Wanna watch that?”
“‘Course.”