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— 𝐜 𝐨 𝐧 𝐭 𝐚 𝐜 𝐭
NOTE: I am forever backtag friendly and absolutely open to doing things from past events that won't really have an effect on things at any given time. For example, if you'd like to do something with Peter aged down or when he was his spider dream guide, etc.
no subject
Oh. What about college? You could choose any major you wanted since this is all technically a dream or whatever
Like "Citrus"
[ That is in fact a major, according to Information He's Googled Whilst High. It's... weird to think about, though, going to college. But as much as he's glad Henry's sticking around, he hopes it isn't just for his sake? Which is understandable, given his whole...deal, but. ]
It's okay if you want to, you know
Stop coming to school, I mean
I'd be okay
no subject
But I take that back if you're planning on majoring in juice.
[You want to fight her for the gold medal in most ways to fall short of parental expectations? She can bring some stiff competition as a genuine high school dropout.
College, even dream college with no expectations at all... It still feels close to the lie she'd told Grady to impress him, as if any of it had mattered.]
So you don't want anymore free rides in my car?
no subject
Honestly I probably wouldn't have even gone to college back home
[ And when you have a psychiatrist for a father, that notion isn't.... well met at all. ]
If I go here, I'll major in like Neuroscience
Nobody really cares right? You can do whatever
I'm sure I won't fuck anybody up
Hey now, you can still drive me around
To the grocery store
no subject
[It's not a retort that holds much weight--everyone probably thinks about it, being the mainstream and respectable choice to get from Point A to Point B to Point C, checking milestones off the bucket list as one goes.]
Yeah but do you care enough about science to sit through science classes?
No, thanks. I only drove you to school because we were both going there.
no subject
Then used the brochures to light the fireplace
[ He absolutely didn't, but. #TeenSarcasm. ]
Definitely not
Math is the only thing worse than Science
[ ...Oh. That's... oh. Goddamnit, Henry. There's a weird little ache up under his sternum. Peter's more sensitive than he lets on. ]
What about you, did you have any big college dreams back home?
You could do them now
One of my friends goes there and she seemed to like it
Or, went
She's gone now
[ Dana's... disappeared, like many others have. ]
no subject
Well, there you go. Eventually they might expect you to stop auditing classes and learn something. Or pick 1 major and stick with it. At least if we were in the same grade we'd be in some of the same classes.
[Maybe that's part of the appeal. Maybe she'd rather heckle him than admit a future out from the umbrella of The Usual Teen Stuff she's so far lived under, any future, scares her a bit.
And not just because a future here is so uncertain, as proven by his missing friend--and others she'll be finding out about before too long.]
Sorry about your friend. She bailed at a good time, silver lining wise.
And no. No big college dreams. None that were actually going to happen, and that was before I bailed on junior year.
no subject
What do you mean?
[ He-who-grew-up-in-a-seemingly-average-upper-middle-class-household doesn't quite understand at first. ]
True
I do like taking classes with you
Who else am I supposed to snooze with
[ Henry is a safety net for him at school. The natural tendency is to want to cling onto that, but he's painfully aware that the burden that is his existence on others (not to sound Emo on Main) is only getting worse. If Henry wants to pursue Other Things, he doesn't want to be the demon possessed boy holding her back. ]
I'm pretty worried about her, to be honest. Her world sounded... kind of even worse than this one. [ Another thing he hasn't Talked About to anyone yet. ]
School sucked. If my dad wouldn't have had a cow about it, I probably would have dropped out too
1/2
[And she hadn't burned it; in fact, she'd kept it, safe in a drawer.]
The real reason you keep me around, huh? It's not like we have anywhere better to be.
I don't really care, I'll go back and be the first repeat offender in fake school history.
2/2
Why?
To the shitty world or the drop out, take your pick.
1/2
Not exactly ivy league level, but we had a grand piano
That probably puts me in a certain category, doesn't it
[ While hardly wealthy, yeah, his family did live pretty comfortably. And he's.... aware that he's really being given some pieces of information here, regarding Henry's own home life. It's a subject that both of them know how to skirt around very well. ]
If you're sure I'm not keeping you from grand college adventures
Then we can tackle college together next year
[ He... does like the sound of that. There's still a little flicker of guilt in him that whispers holding her back, but his guilt monster also looks for any reason alive to flare up. It's maybe weird to think about the future at all, but it's... a lot less daunting thinking about facing it with others. A concept that still manages to boggle his mind. ]
2/2
In the end, he chooses the latter. Talking about how Dana came from a world where she was chosen as some kind of sacrifice and died is a little too much to throw out right now. ]
Not to get all depressing
But my sister died in the middle of the school year
So whatever lingering shred of motivation I might have had pretty much fizzled out
What made you quit?
no subject
Going on the theory our karma is so bad we're still here next year and still sane enough to care about self-improvement, fine. Let's join a frat.
[But the next bit effectively sucks the black humor out of things.]
It's okay to get depressing. I don't think there's any that's not going to be depressing.
Kinda the same. Things got fucked up and it just wasn't important anymore.
no subject
Okay that's exactly how it was
Though to be fair
I do play it, I just had my own keyboard to use instead
Nobody else in my family cared about music, though
And deal
We can play out the college AU that nobody asked for
[ But... Yeah, she has a point there. Peter's breathing out an odd little sigh of shuddery relief, the way he always does when he talks (or texts) about Charlie. Releasing the breath that was pent up while he was typing it out. ]
Yeah
School doesn't seem so necessary when
other shit happens
[ Only he'd had two parents to give him pushes and shoves and make sure he still went — and even when one had flaked out, he'd still had the other. He knows Henry's dad died, and he hasn't asked much more beyond that, about whether her mom had ever remarried anyone or... or if Henry had even stayed with her. ]
Was it just you and your mom?