I've had this random headcanon for a while about Terry being a fan of Mike Oldfield, but never found the right place to do more than mention it, so i decided it could be its own thing. The original idea was that he played Tubular Bells incessantly when he was young and annoyed his parents, who were great enthusiasts of classic music (hence insisting Terry have piano lessons) and would have absolutely hated what to them would have sounded like pop music. However, when i checked, the dates didn't exactly line up with what i had in mind, so i came up with this instead.


One thing that nobody mentioned about being in the army was just how much you missed out on. And not just the big things like weddings and funerals and holiday celebrations, but also pieces of pop culture that everybody seemed to know and reference.

It made Terry feel disconcertingly old before his time. He talked to John about it and John nodded, but didn't seem overly concerned. Since they had come back home, John's focus had been entirely on the dojo, he was withdrawn and probably would have trained all the hours he wasn't teaching classes if left to his own devices. Still, he agreed to go to the drive-in with Terry whenever he asked. Terry felt like he owed it to John to drag him out at least once in a while, plus they were best friends and there was no-one else Terry would rather spend his free time with.

Terry's favourites were the late night double features. He explained to John that this was the most efficient way to catch up on the movies they'd missed. Tonight it was a horror double: The Exorcist followed by The Wicker Man.

On the drive there, he chatted about how excited he was to finally see The Exorcist. John smiled and nodded, and Terry suspected he was just humouring him.

At some point during the showing, Terry had stopped eating popcorn and drinking his soda, and instead gripped onto the wheel of his convertible. He remained frozen in that position until the credits rolled, at which point he pried his hands away and found that they were aching.

He turned to John, speechless.

"That was really something, huh?" John remarked.

"Yeah," Terry breathed. "There goes my good night's sleep tonight."

John laughed. "Are you kidding me? It wasn't even real!"

"I know that! But what if it was? Wouldn't that be terrifying?"

"I don't no need made up terrors to keep me awake at night."

Terry sighed. "Ain't you got no imagination?"

"Think you've got me beat in that department."

"What about that music though?"

"Yeah, what the hell was that? I've never heard nothing like that in my life!"

Terry laughed. "You sound just like my dad," he said, and John scowled at him. "Do you remember me telling you about my friend Joey?"

John shook his head. "Which one was he again?"

"You know, the hippie, huge Deadhead."

"Sheesh, is that guy still even talking to you?"

Terry shrugged. "Apparently so. I didn't tell him I enlisted, but I guess he would've found out through his dad. But anyway, when I got back home there was a package from him, a birthday card, and he'd sent me this record too. Weird triangle thing on the cover, and clouds. I put it on and my mind was blown!"

"Careful. He's gonna tempt you over to the dark side," John said, reaching over and yanking Terry's now shoulder-length hair.

Terry pushed him away. "No, don't be stupid. I didn't write back to him. His address is now some commune down in the Bay Area. Still, it got me thinking. Listening to that record, really got me thinking about those days when I'd go over to his place after school. His parents really did not give half a damn what he got up to, so we'd lay down on his bedroom floor, smoke dope and listen to whatever weird-ass records he'd picked up recently."

"Wow," John said. "You never told me that story before. And there was I, like an idiot, believing all that crap you gave me about being such a good boy who always did what he was told."

"But I was, Johnny!" Terry said, feigning innocence, then grinning. "Mostly. My dad really didn't like Joey, always got real suspicious of him, but he couldn't stop me hanging out with him because his folks were rich and his dad was a business associate of his."

"Convenient."

"It was for me! It was a break from the demands of being at home."

"Oh, I really feel sorry for you," John grumbled under his breath.

Terry huffed in frustration, but held himself back from saying something. He was so used to being able to speak his mind to John that he forgot that there were some things that he shouldn't say. John had never talked much about his own time growing up, but from what Terry knew John had a far far harder time than he had, and not just because his family had less money. Which meant that Terry wasn't allowed to complain about how hard things were for him, and it felt terribly unfair, but for his best friend he would shoulder that sacrifice.

"Anyway, I liked the album so much that I bought the sheet music, and started to learn it on piano. My mom walked in and told me I was playing it wrong. And I told her that no, some of the notes are off key but that's how it's meant to sound. Then five minutes later my dad walked in and said the exact same thing. He swore my mom hadn't sent him."

John cackled. "What a heartwarming family story."

Terry gestured emphatically at the big screen. "And seeing it in the movie, I really understood why it had to be that way! How raw and unsettling it is for some of the notes to be off. That wrongness, that imperfection, that's what actually makes it perfect, despite it breaking the rules."

"Wait, don't tell me, you're about to say this is some big metaphor for life?"

"Well, I wasn't. But, I suppose it could be."

"Make you feel better about smoking dope with Joey?"

Terry smiled. "That wasn't such a bad thing to do. Still, I think my parents would kill me now if they found out."

John shook his head.

"Crazy to think how me and Joey went in such different directions. I guess you never know, huh?"

"I guess."

"Not you and me though, right, Johnny? We're on the same path. Best friends for life!" Terry said, grinning and reaching out a hand to clasp John's.

"Uh-huh," John said, returning Terry's grin. He pointed to the screen. "Next one's starting."

"Hey, I'm calling it now, even you're not gonna sleep after this one!"

"Wanna bet?"

"How much?"

"Just watch the damn movie, alright?"

Terry grinned and scooped up a handful of popcorn. These movie nights were the best. He and John had loads still to catch up on, but they had all the time in the world, they could do this forever.