PSS Fic: You’re Not Sixteen Anymore. Honey, It’s Time to Grow Up
Author: ryans-adventures-in-space
Words: 681
A/N: For @antivamp who has the same name as me and doesn’t care what they get, so here’s part of the currently unpublished Expectations’verse (which is going to be huge. Refer to this post to see spoilers). This is only a snippet of a massive fic about Mikey’s last year at Lifetime Private School (the name is a small reference to TAI...) but there was no way I was going to finish it all in a month, so here’s one scene and the banner. Hope you enjoy!
PS. I’ll dedicate the rest of the fic to you when I finish it.
“Mikey, Mikey, Mikey,” Pete’s whispering isn’t very quiet, but it’s nothing compared to the fucking rocks being hurled at his window. He groans and climbs out of bed, opens his window and throws a shirt down at Pete. It lands on Pete’s head and he’s shocked enough that he actually stops talking. For once. But then he pulls it off, revealing this grin of hate and says, “Come to the pool with me, Mikeyway.”
Mikey’s the sort of person that can’t get back to sleep once he’s awake and it’s literally the bane of his existence, because on nights Pete can’t sleep, he comes around to Mikey’s and throws fucking rocks at his window.
Mikey’s dressed faster than he thought he could be and at the last moment wraps a scarf around his neck, because the dose of cold air he’d gotten from the open window had been too much of a shock to his system that he’d want to brave it without a scarf.
Pete’s brought his bike, so Mikey pulls his own out of the shed, dusts off the seat and then they’re riding down the street together, to the pool by the school.
The pool is further from Pete’s place than Mikey’s, because Pete lives in the same suburbian area that Frank does, over in Somerville, with all the same-same houses and tidy, striped lawns. Mikey, however, lives close to the gated community that houses the school, and it only takes fifteen minutes for them to get there.
The shove their bikes into the bushes across the road and scale the fence with ease. It’s a stone fence, but the builders put the mortar far enough back that it leaves massive gaps for feet with clunky boots like Mikey’s or canvas shoes like Pete’s.
The pool’s across the back field, behind the sports shed and the matching changing rooms. It’s too cold to go swimming anymore, but the pool’s still half full of water and thick stripes of drowned bugs line the edges that don’t have the pool cover shielding them.
Pete climbs the chain-link gate first and he’s over in less than a minute. Mikey climbs next and without even trying he swings his leg over the gate and jumps down in the same place Pete landed. Mikey ends up with ground shock and he nearly falls over with how unbalanced he feels afterwards.
Pete’s already on the ground in front of the changing rooms, feet not reaching the edge of the pool like Mikey’s can. “Hey,” Pete says, “Maybe I’ll try out for the swim team next year; do what your brother didn’t and actually get in the pool.” Mikey laughs shortly and rests his head on Pete’s shoulder, huffs out a content sigh.
“Maybe,” Mikey replies and closes his eyes. It’s around four; the light isn't bright enough to make any difference in how black it is with his eyelids closed. The concrete is warming up under his ass and legs and behind his back.
“Wanna come home with me later?” Mikey can hear the vibrations of Pete’s voice through his shoulder, and he’s so fixated on it that he almost doesn’t realise what Pete said. Mikey shrugs in the ‘yeah, sure’ way that he knows Pete’s accustomed to.
Mikey dozes for a while, long enough that the sun rises and Pete’s shaking him, saying, “C’mon, Mikes, we’ll end up late for school. Mikey, Mikey.” Mikey groans but refrains from slapping Pete’s face just because he woke Mikey up.
Mikey’s unsteady with sleep when he stands up and he’s got an awful cramp in his right knee, but he manages to hobble awkwardly to the gate, where they climb over. Once again, Pete goes first.
Mikey’s bike is underneath Pete’s, so Pete has to pull his out first. They bike home in silence, and Mikey pulls up to his own driveway first. Pete continues down the road, not stopping like he would’ve early last year. Mikey watches him down the street and then shoves his bike clumsily in the shed. He only gets it out for Pete anyway.
