superhuman

EPILOGUE

- FIVE YEARS LATER -

"Pete, babe, you're gonna be fine."

Patrick presses his forehead against his boyfriend's  - no, his fiance's, as it has been for about a year - and kisses him gently, laughing as Pete grins into the kiss, hands smoothing down Patrick's scruff of a morning bed head, sliding down his neck, resting on his exposed upper chest.
(He's shirtless, with it being seven in the morning, and is dressed comfortably in one of Pete's hideously bright hoodies and a pair of Batman pajama pants. The entire affair is disgustingly domestic and ridiculously homosexual, honestly.)

Pete pulls away softly for air, grinning at him as he sleepily yawns and leans into Pete. They'd been together officially to the outside world for five years now, and after 2 years Patrick had been so sure of his love for Pete that he'd insisted he marry him, despite Pete's sister's warning.

As it was customary in the Wentz house, a dinner with the whole family was impertinent before marriage, much to Pete's distaste and Patrick's delight.

(Pete had asked about Patrick's parents and their thoughts, but he'd just winced and moved on to talk more about Pete's enormous and strange extended family).

Unfortunately for Pete, that night had arrived in the form of tonight.
After Pete finished his day teaching youth who'd ended up missing out on on their educations due to being kicked out, having improper family environments or dropping out, and Patrick finished his day as a child therapist at the local hospital, they would both be making the trip together towards Pete's family home for a reasonably awkward family reunion.

Pete's family on his mother's side was the more liberal of the two; although both his parents were fine and comfortable with his bisexuality, his father's family tended to lean towards being slightly more on the conservative side of things, and most of them probably assumed Pete would be showing up with some dumb stupid blond - coug, Jeane, cough - and end up regretting it; however Patrick was certainly one of the things he was a lot more assured about within his life. Patrick was his rock, his anchor, the thing keeping him stable and sheltered. Pete had never been more sure in his life about who he wanted to marry.

"Come on, babe," Patrick complains as Pete leans in for another kiss which will probably just result in another makeout session. "School today. Gotta look proper for the kids, and I'm pretty sure hickeys and sex hair won't do."
Pete lets out a noise of complaint as Patrick pulls him out of the seat at their tiny dining table and tugs him towards the kitchen.

"Grab some coffee and take a shower, or you'll be late. It's already seven."
At the mention of the time, Pete goes wide-eyed, kissing his fiance quickly before rushing to grab that all-important third cup of  coffee, swallowing it all in one go. Patrick smiled fondly as his finance yelped out a quick, "Love you babe, see you at eight!" as he pulled on his shoes by the door
"I'm gonna marry an idiot," He thought to himself with a fond grin. "But he's my idiot, and that's all that matters."

Patrick slowly found himself getting ready, despite the heavy tiredness that hung over him like a storm cloud. He yawned loudly, smothering it with one palm, as he prepared himself for the day.

Patrick's first session was with a six year old named Thomas whose mother was concerned with his social development. According to the picture attached to his file, the kid was reasonably short for his age, with a flop of black hair falling above cocoa brown eyes. Patrick liked the kid instantly, even when he was led by his mother - a pretty woman named Ashlee - and started bawling at the sight of him. To his luck, his mother soothed him instead, before explaining her son's neurotic and sometimes violent tendencies towards children of the same age; he simply couldn't relate to other children emotionally, or take in and explain their emotions, and although she herself experienced bipolar tendencies, doubted him having the same issue as she did.

After some explanation behind how the therapy sessions would work, Patrick explained that a clear defintion and diagnosis would take a few months worth; the woman nodded understandably, and they successfully booked another session for 2 weeks time. With the session over, Patrick put his legs up on his desk, and took out his phone, texting Pete, obviously

patrick - 10:28 am
finished first session. asp.? ugh. got another in at 11. kms plz babe

pete - 10:28 am
sux to be u babe. guess whos making slime in science class with 10 year olds??? this guy

patrick - 10:30 am
u suck

pete - 10:31 am
pretty well 2

pete - 10:31 am
dont u remember last night (((;

patrick - 10:31 am
ur honestly disgusting ew

pete - 10:33 am
yikes gotta zayn

pete - 10:33 am
ill pick u up @ 7???

patrick - 10:34 am
i h8u

pete - 10:34 am
no u dont );

Patrick rolled his eyes; he was seriously marrying an idiot. He placed his phone back on the table, flicking it back to silent as he waited for his next patient.

Meanwhile, Pete was having far too much fun with a bright green slime fight that'd erupted after Amelia put a handful of the stuff into Jorge's hair and he'd stuffed some down her shirt in return. After that, a full-on slime war started.

He was cleaning himself off when he got the text from his mother -

mom - 1:25 pm
Sorry for such short notice, but your father's come down with something and is unwell right now. Due to this, our plans seem to have fallen through. Perhaps another time however? Love you, Mom x

Pete groaned, before texting Patrick the details, followed by a plethora of emojiis, much to his boyfriend's distaste.

He was just readjusting his tie when -

"Hey, Mr. Wentz!"

A splat of green slime slammed into his chest, hitting him in the sternum - hard. Pete groaned, rubbing his chest painfully.
Naturally, he grabbed a hand full himself and threw it back.. starting the fight all over once again.

Pete stayed true to his word, and picked Patrick up from his work at eight sharp. Naturally, the shorter boy was dejected at his plans being ruined, but lit up at the prospect of cuddles and pizza and crappy Netflix movies with Pete.

They drove in silence, Pete's fingers entwined with Patrick's, breathing even and soft. For once, Pete felt truly at peace and at home.

They ended up giving up on food as soon as they arrived back home; Patrick snuggled into Pete's side protectively, pressing his nose into the side of Pete's throat, breathing him in as his hands glided over his soft hair, fingers straying on the regrowth of his natural strawberry blond through the bleach blond.

Patrick kissed him gently, one hand resting on his cheek, the other resting on his neck; eyes half closed, lips quirked into a smile as their lips lazily slid in a relaxed dance of affection.
Pete pulled away, breathless, and rested his forehead against Patrick's.

"I'm so in love with you."

"I know."