7. Acceptance

Zoe had told Jimmy, in no uncertain terms, to 'sit his ass down and be patient' on the subject of Pete. Except patience and waiting weren't really his strong points. It was actually excruciating, so by the time Pete knocked on his door Sunday evening, he was relieved more than anything else, regardless of what he was about to say. He'd been distracting himself with stupid errands all weekend, so Pete was half-lucky he was even there when he called out for him.

"Hi Jimmy," he announced, hooking his head around the door following his knock. "Are you busy?" Jimmy instructed his gut to calm the hell down and sat up on his bed.

"Nope," he said, inviting Pete through with a jerk of his head. "Guess we'll give this another shot." He had to go and name it, which seemed to make Pete less comfortable.

"Yeah..." he drawled, shuffling in and shutting the door firmly in his wake.

"Sorry about smacking you one," Jimmy put out there before they got any further. He'd probably apologised enough, but you could never be too careful. Pete did still have a discoloured patch on his chin from where Jimmy's fist had connected with it.

"It's okay," Pete said, and it might not have been, but there was no doing about that now. He leaned back on the wall opposite Jimmy and scuffed his shoes. "So..."

"So," Jimmy echoed, wincing. "Awkward, eh?"

"Little bit," Pete murmured.

"My bad," Jimmy excused. "I didn't wanna fuck things up."

"They don't have to be... screwed up," he echoed more politely. "I still mean the thing I said before. Just, if you can not take it the wrong way this time."

"Which was what?" he prompted, trying to wire calm back into his shoulders. It felt like he was swallowing up his own neck.

"That I'm... okay... with, you know, the idea of it," Pete breached awkwardly.

"Idea of what?" Jimmy posed. Some luck they were going to have if Pete couldn't even talk about 'them' as anything more than vague implications.

"Us being something... more than friends, I guess?" he said, tripping over himself to get words behind him. It wasn't easy going on either of them.

"You're not gay," Jimmy said. It didn't need to be a question.

"No," Pete confirmed.

"So, this is pointless," Jimmy suggested.

"No," he repeated. "Just because I'm not gay doesn't... wait, what I mean is, it's not just guys. It's not guys at all... I mean... you're not anyone – I know you, and that's why it's okay," he laboriously explained.

"Are you saying... I'm an exception?" Jimmy phrased for him, trying to translate Pete's vague ramblings into something that made sense in his own head. Potentially in Pete's too.

"Maybe," Pete conceded.

"If you're not sure, that's as good as a no," he delivered. "We should forget-"

"No," Pete interjected. "I am unsure, but that's about everything, Jimmy. I'm not sure about a damn thing. It's normal for me."

"So what?" he invited.

"So, I might get more sure, but it means giving whatever... whatever it is you wanna do, a try." Pete was staggering between thoughts like he'd taken a bullet to the foot, but this was the best it was going to get.

"Are you saying," Jimmy began. "That we can go on a date, and see how you feel?"

"Basically," he concurred, looking down at his feet just as Jimmy stood up.

"All right," he declared, feeling a rush of encouragement, or hope. Something that wasn't frustration and pessimism at least. This was his area, much moreso than all the shit they'd gone through up until now. "So let's go."

"What?!" Pete blurted. "Now?"

"Why not?" he retorted, strolling to the cupboard and pulling out a hoodie. It still wasn't that warm when the sun was down, not with a seafront wind kicking.

"It's a bit short notice," Pete commented, and Jimmy snorted.

"So what?" he goaded. "Am I supposed to send you a letter first? C'mon. It'll be fun."

"We have school tomorrow morning," he protested, and Jimmy was showing him a carefree grin of the kind he hadn't worn in a while.

"That's why it's fun," he said. "Curfew's not for ages. What's stopping you?"

"Uh..." Jimmy had him there. Even if they weren't skipping out on curfew, which they easily could, there was plenty of time. Jimmy slammed the cupboard shut, offering Pete a challenge.

"Now or never, Pete," he baited, and was kind of pleased to see the surprise register.

"What?" he exclaimed. "You're giving ultimatums now?" Pete questioned, and Jimmy simply shrugged. "I thought you spent the better part of a month working up to this."

"Yeah," he confirmed. "So I don't exactly wanna wait around, do I?"

"What if I... well..." Pete was clearly running through his options, and then gave a huff of exasperation and crossed his arms over his chest. "All right," he relented.

"Don't think about it too much," Jimmy advised. That'd been his downfall, or near enough. "I got this." He opened his door and beckoned Pete out after him.

"Where are we going?" Pete inquired half-way across the campus, looking like the direction of the parking lot.

"The abandoned bus," Jimmy answered coolly. "No one'll see us in there."

"See us doing what?!" he erupted, and Jimmy gave him a serious look.

"I always have my first dates there," he insisted, and Pete's face was dropping like a sack of the canteen's 'authentic' actual rocks rock cakes.

"Jimmy... I-" he began, at which point Jimmy burst out laughing and gave him a friendly shove.

"I'm messing with you!" he cackled. "We're going to the garage to get some bikes, christ, Pete. You looked like you were gonna pull a runner."

"I was thinking about it," he confessed, still a bit shell-shocked. "And that's not funny," he added somewhat pathetically late.

"It's quite funny," Jimmy commented with a smirk. "I was planning on the funfair. That all right with you?"

"Uh, sure," he answered, taking the bike that was rolled at him and pedalling alongside Jimmy all the way into Bullworth Vale. He almost managed to keep up.

When they got to the gates, the only thing that seemed remotely date-like about the scenario was that Jimmy pulled out a wad of dollars to pay for both their entrance, but then, Jimmy had treated him before, so even that wasn't out of the way.

The funfair was always crowded at the weekend with students and non- alike, and though Pete looked a little at odd with himself, to look at them no one would think it was a date. Which Jimmy didn't mind, as he was always most comfortable with low-key affairs. Too much hoity-toity crap and romantic obligation put him off. Also he'd prefer if the rumour mill kept its mouth shut awhile. Then if this crashed and burned no one had to know about it.

They played a few games, the damn baseball arcade robbing him as usual, then moved towards the back with the rides. Pete hadn't really said anything so far, though Jimmy didn't have to be a genius to sense his reservations. Jimmy reminded himself to stay relaxed and headed for the next attraction on his list.

"The Haunted House, Jimmy?" Pete pestered. "Really?"

"What, are you scared?" he baited, half-way into the entrance. "Don't worry, I'll hold your hand." At that Pete was quiet once more, which could be good or bad, but Jimmy stuck with his gut and trusted it to tell him if things were going wrong. He'd probably notice if he was hitting Pete in the face again.

The ghost house was on the whole pretty terrible, but that wasn't the appeal of it; mostly it was used by couples to find a dark corner or by younger kids for some semi-realistic scares. Maybe Pete thought Jimmy was expecting the first and that was why he looked so concerned, though Jimmy had other ideas.

They sped through most of it, beeline for a specific corner where Jimmy suddenly grabbed Pete's forearm and pulled him aside.

"This way," he instructed quietly, squeezing behind an oversized gravestone. Pete was tense, like this was the jump down his throat he'd been waiting for, but then Jimmy let go and started two rungs up on the ladder.

"Jimmy!" he hissed. "That's off-limits."

"Y'don't say," he scorned. "I've been here before, it's fun." Pete clearly wasn't sure, but that was nothing new so Jimmy didn't pay it much heed. He bit down on his doubts and started climbing, hoping Pete would follow.

Up on the walkways he could oversee the whole floorplan, light footsteps heralding Pete behind him. It'd worked, then.

"Now what?" Pete questioned dryly, the answer arriving as Jimmy pulled a roll of firecrackers out of his back pocket, raising them up with a grin. "You wouldn't," he declared as if in a state of shock.

"Watch me," he retorted. "This way, there's a good spot along here." Treading carefully, he lead the way and took sentry over a section right in the middle. He sat down on the edge of the walkway and hung his boots off the edge, while Pete copied him, legs crossed instead. For a while no one passed bar a cluster of kids, but then whatever force wanted to get Jimmy laid stuck its hand in the mix and just made their day.

"This is so lame," someone declared in a characteristic football-drawl; Jimmy recognised the tone. He grinned and looked at Pete, whose face echoed the same understanding.

"I'm telling you, it's funny," Casey insisted to Luis and Bo, leading them into position and gesturing behind some of the cutouts. "You hide in there and jump out when someone walks past." Jimmy had already pulled out a lighter and separated a firecracker, which he tried to pass over to Pete.

"Me?" he whispered as the tools were thrust at him. "I'm not gonna do it, Jimmy."

"Sure you are," he countered. "Don't you wanna get even?"

"Well..." Of course he did. He wasn't going to lie to Jimmy's face about it, even if he didn't feel like admitting it for some reason. "You do it," he tried.

"No, you do it," Jimmy insisted. "It'll feel good." Pete was still hesitating, so Jimmy took push to shove and reached over for one of his hands, plying their fingers together in a way he needed to not think about too much or he'd be back to tripping over his tongue every other word.

He put the firecracker in Pete's hand and took the lighter with the other, Pete actually letting him do it – maybe curiosity, hopefully something better – as Jimmy lit the fuse and pulled back, leaving Pete with a sizzling cracker, which for a scary moment he just looked at.

"You wanna keep your fingers!" Jimmy snapped. "Throw it!" Earth connected to Pete spontaneously and he hurled the banger down, landing a little way from the jocks who were arguing about who could fit under one comically oversized tombstone.

It wasn't close, but the banger went off at such a time as to shock Casey enough to jump so high he broke the whole board in half, by which point Jimmy had another one lit and this time the targeting was better. The explosions sent the Jocks running in confused fear, leaving only a smile on Pete's face.

"Told you so," Jimmy lauded.

"What?"

"That it'd feel good," he lured, leaning over just enough to bump Pete's shoulder with his.

"I'm Head Boy," he said lamely. "I shouldn't be doing this sort of thing."

"That's why it feels good," Jimmy insisted, meaning to sound like a bit of a flirt. He didn't want Pete to totally forget what they were on. "Wanna wait for more?"

"I'm all right," he excused. They weren't going to do better than a plate of get-your-own-back, it was true. "I've probably had enough mindless mayhem for a night."

"Aaaw," Jimmy lamented. "I wanted to throw eggs at people on the roller coaster."

"Jimmy!" he scolded, and there was something fundamentally enjoyable about hearing Pete name him, even if it was meant to be in indignation. "No," he insisted more firmly, getting up and laying his hands on the railing, peering down at the burned spots where the firecrackers had gone off.

"Fiiiiine," Jimmy moaned, but actually, he didn't mind. They slipped back out and played a few more games, Jimmy acquiring enough tickets for another dumb poster for his room because Pete said under no circumstances was he going to wear clown shoes. On the plus side, he had enough left over for a bucket of candy the size of his head.

"I won't have to eat at the canteen for like, a week with this," he declared cheerfully, swinging it back and forth as they strolled around aimlessly.

"You can try," Pete remarked, "but it'll probably make you sick."

"And the canteen doesn't?" he posed.

"Oh... fair point," Pete conceded, unwrapping a candy drumstick and chewing on it in one corner of his mouth. Jimmy made special attention not to stare too obviously.

"Say, Jimmy," he started up again a shooting-gallery-game later. "Is this really a date?" Jimmy glanced around but there wasn't anyone paying much attention to them. Pete probably knew that already, which was why he dared to bring it up.

"Why'd you ask?" he said, calmly raising the air rifle again and watching out for that sneaky sheriff badge.

"I mean, it just seems like... normal," he commented. He'd relaxed for one, so no wonder.

"What were you expecting?" he countered. "Red roses and chocolates?" Pete laughed, which was another good sign, and kept on chewing on his drumstick.

"Dunno," he admitted, leaning back on the console and watching the students who milled around aimlessly. Everyone had done everything a hundred times or more in this place, but they didn't have much else to do.

"Here's the thing," Jimmy explained, lowering the gun and ripping his tickets out of the machine. "Only difference I see between hangin' out with friends and a date is whether I'm in with a chance."

"Chance of what?" Pete foolishly inquired, and Jimmy flashed an easily recognisable look, miming a pout that didn't leave much to imagination. "Oh."

"So," he continued, "you tell me what it is."

"Right," Pete murmured, eyes up at the sky for some reason. Like the rest, it could be good or bad, but Jimmy was quietly hopeful at this point. Neither of them were yelling, which was better than some of his predictions at this point. "It's... uh," Pete began quietly, but then Angie and Christy swooped past chattering loudly and he dropped it. "I'll tell you later."

"Keeping me hanging?" Jimmy taunted. "You're lucky I don't mind a tease." He snorted and gave Pete another friendly shove.

"Jimmy," he berated, but as long as he kept on saying his name every few minutes, he was going to stay happy.

However, the night did need to come to an end, and when there really was nothing else to do, they worked at an amble towards the entrance without really talking about it.

"So," Jimmy intruded on the quiet as they pushed through the gates. Had to admit the horse was dead sooner or later.

"So?" Pete echoed, perhaps deliberately missing the point rather than get into the awkward stuff again.

"You said you'd have an answer for me," Jimmy prompted, leaning against the fence where they'd left the bikes and blowing bubbles in his gum.

"I... uh," Pete mumbled. "What was the question again?" Jimmy snorted. Some delay tactics he had.

"Whether we just hung out as friends or the other one," he said, missing the word 'date' on purpose. Partly to be implicit, but also because he was doing pretty well at being smooth and he didn't need his stupid emotions messing things up by getting worked up over words like dating.

"Do I have to answer now?" Pete queried, and Jimmy raised his eyebrows.

"What, you want to just leave it unanswered?" he pointed out. Not knowing wouldn't be that much worse than knowing – if knowing meant knowing that they were only ever going to be friends and he had some crushing disappointment to swallow. If he was in with a shot, he wanted to know about it.

"What if I'm not sure yet?" Pete said uncomfortably, and Jimmy caught himself sighing. He was going to have to help him out here, so he reached out and with his thumb and forefinger pinched the front of Pete's shirt, a button under his finger, then he wound his arm back like reeling in fishing line.

Pete's face was blank, but Jimmy was starting to suspect that was what he did when there was a lot going on inside. He stopped tugging him in before they were too close, because this was only a test. Anyone else and he might've gone the whole way and tried for the kiss, but with Pete it seemed too fast. He really didn't want to freak him out on their first time out. So he stopped and kept on watching, Pete returning the gaze just as intensely.

"So," Jimmy declared, releasing the grasp. "Got a better idea yet?"

"Of..." Pete murmured.

"Of which it is," he snapped. He wasn't going to do this in an endless loop like they were a glitched video game, but he managed to hold his temper, just.

"I guess it's a..." Pete began, swallowed, then continued, "...the other one." Jimmy dared to grin, thumping in his chest informing him that this was a pretty big deal.

"Okay," he replied, forcing his tone flat and keeping his smile semi-normal. "Great."

Pete had his eyes on the ground now, scuffing his shoes into the dirt like he couldn't bear to relax in his own skin. Except Jimmy wasn't quite done. He had one last question.

"So... we could do it again?" he suggested, chewing his heart in the corner of his mouth.

Pete glanced up, shoulders up by his ears, and nodded without words to accompany.

"Awesome," Jimmy breathed, feeling like he'd won the world on a plate. The hard part was over now.

Right?