The Do Over (Peterick)

three.

Patrick meets up with Joe and Ray at break, which is after second period. They walk into the cafeteria together, and they get a few looks. Joe is, arguably, the best looking of the three at this point in time because he has the least amount of acne, no braces yet somehow perfect teeth, and the best hair.

So it's no surprise when an older cheerleader approaches the three of them as they choose an empty table and sits down in Joe's lap. "Well, aren't you cute?"

Joe blinks, staring at Patrick for help. Patrick can tell his friend is very uncomfortable, probably more because she's a girl rather than her just coming up and sitting in his lap.

The girl wraps her arms around Joe's neck, one of her hands finding its way into his freshly cut hair. "Uh, I. Uh." Joe stumbles around his words, eyes wide as he tries to motion for help from someone.

"Hil, get off the poor boy's lap." A boy says as he appears almost out of nowhere, and Patrick could recognise that voice from anywhere.

Patrick also realises that the older cheerleader is Hilary Wentz, Pete's sister. Patrick's head snaps up so fast, his neck hurts. His eyes meet Pete's, and the boy smiles. Even with braces, Pete is still the most beautiful person Patrick has ever seen.

"I'm Pete, this is Hilary. We'll be going now." Pete grabs his sister's hand and pulls her off of Joe's lap. "I'm sorry, man. Won't happen again. Cool hair, by the way." The siblings walk off, Hilary clearly pissed at her brother.

"Holy fuck." Patrick and Joe say in unison. Ray and Joe look at Patrick, whose eyes are trained on Pete as he walks away.

"What's with you?" Ray asks, tapping Patrick on the shoulder to get his attention. Patrick looks back at his friends.

"He was gorgeous." Patrick says quickly, obviously knowing that his friends will accept him because he's already been through all of this.

"He?" Joe asks, and Patrick shrugs.

"Yeah. Pete. He's going to have my children some day." Patrick says, matter-of-factly. The stepbrothers just nod.

"Rock on, man." Ray says, and that's that. Neither of them question him or act disgusted, which Patrick figured.

"So, what are you waiting for?" Joe says, smiling at Patrick. "Go talk to him. Get his number."

"Oh no. I can't do that." Patrick says, suddenly nervous. Pete is sitting back down at his table, surrounded by his older friends. Most of them are sophomores, since Pete was held back his eighth grade year due to failing his math class.

"Why the fuck not? You're Patrick fucking Stump, man." Ray says, as if that's some reason to be bold. Patrick shakes his head.

"All of his friends are older than us. Plus, I need a haircut." Patrick keeps coming up with excuses because, honestly, he's scared. What if Pete decides he doesn't want him? What if he's not impressed by all of Patrick's shitty pickup lines?

"We can take care of that quickly. So tomorrow, you're going to march up to him and ask him on a date. Deal?" Joe asks, and Patrick takes a deep breath, nodding.

"I'll do it." Patrick shakes Joe's hand to seal the deal.

"We're going back to the barber shop after school. I've got the perfect idea for what we're going to do to your hair." Joe says, and honestly, he's not sure how everyone didn't know Joe was gay. He's got too good of a sense of style and fashion to be straight, which is kind of a stereotype. But Joe fits it.

"Oh god." Patrick says, running a hand through his long-ish brown hair. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

"Probably." Ray says, a smile on his face. The bell rings to end break, and they head their separate ways for third period but will all be together fourth for freshman bio.

-

As school ends, the boys meet back up. They walk together to the barber shop, this time all three of them going inside. The man, a friend of Joe's uncle, that cut Joe's hair this morning smiles at they enter.

"Back so soon, Joey?" He asks, nodding to the other two boys.

"Sure am. So, Mr. Warren, I was wondering if you'd give my friend here a makeover. We will have the money for you first thing in the morning." Joe says, putting an arm around Patrick, and the man immediately nods his head.

"Of course, son. I trust you. What did you have in mind, fella?" Mr. Warren turns to Patrick, whose eyes widen. He looks at Joe for help.

"I've got just the thing." Joe says. He takes Mr. Warren to the side and explains something to him, and the man nods his head sharply before coming back over to Patrick.

"Have a seat, boy. I'll get you all nice and cleaned up." Warren says, a smile on his face as he puts the apron over Patrick's clothes, careful to not get them dirty. He grabs the comb and scissors and turns Patrick away from the mirror so he can't see, chopping at his hair almost immediately.

After a good few minutes of cutting, the man grabs a bottle of something Patrick can't see the name of and begins dousing his hair in it. He rubs it all over Patrick's hair, careful to not get it on the boy's ears or face.

When he finishes that, he comes around to the front, a smile on his face. "Come with me." He lowers the chair back down to its normal height and takes the apron off of Patrick, leading him to the sink.

As Patrick leans back to let the man wash out what is no doubt hair dye, he thinks he should've seen this coming. Joe was the first one to suggest him going blonde their senior year, so that's probably exactly what colour his hair is now.

"Let's get your hair dried and combed out, and you'll be all good." The man says when he finishes washing the stuff out.

Sure enough, the man does what he said he would do and turns Patrick back around to see himself. His hair is now a white-blonde colour, which is a lot lighter than he expected. But he kind of likes it, too. It's a much better colour than the shitty mustard colour he dyed it during his senior year.

"Wow, thank you so much." Patrick says, running a hand through his fluffy hair. It easily looks a hundred times better than before, and he knows Pete prefers him blonde anyways, so it'll work out for everyone. "How much do I owe you?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll help a boy like you out any day. All I ask is that you don't wait too long before your next cut. Don't let your hair get that bad again." Mr. Warren says, laughing as he pats Patrick on the back.

They round the corner to see Joe and Ray, both of whom's eyes widen at the way their friend looks with his new hair. "You look sick, bro." Ray says, nodding his head.

Joe just stares, biting his lip. "I knew you would look great as a blonde. Thank you, Mr. Warren, you did great as usual."

As they say their goodbyes and thank him once more, Patrick thinks about school tomorrow. Will Pete notice his hair change? Or will he just walk by and not care?

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ch 3 yoooo