Fic: The Good Life (Bones, Wendell/Hodgins, PG)
Title: The Good Life
Fandom: Bones
Pairing: Wendell/Hodgins
Rating: PG
Summary: Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. ~2200 words.
A/N: For cinderlily, who graduated from college this week. Congratulations, Liz. ♥ I was going to say something sappy here about this universe and the double heartbreak of sucky canon + tiny fandom and how the only reason I write it is because I get to share it with you, but my addled brain stopped working several hours ago, so I won't make any sense anyway and will probably come off sounding like I'm whining. But I was just saying to duckduck yesterday that I think it's important, when someone's one of your favorites, that you tell them. Liz, you are one of my favorites. Not that you didn't already know. ♥
Despite Jack's teasing, half of Boston does not show up for Wendell's graduation. The school only gives him six tickets, for one thing, and anyway the people from his old neighborhood can't afford to fly to D.C. just to watch him walk across a stage. So it's just his mom, along with his youngest sister and both his brothers. That leaves him with two more tickets, and he has to tell his mom to leave his aunt and uncle at home, because one of those tickets is Jack's.
Jack offers to stay home, of course, when he overhears Wendell arguing with his mom about the auditorium's seating capacity and the amount of people already scrambling for the tickets that other grads aren't using. And maybe Jack even hopes a little that Wendell will take him up on it, because it would get him out of sitting in the audience with Wendell's family for an entire afternoon. But if Wendell's going to look out at the crowd and not be able to spot his family in the sea of faces, he wants to know that it's Jack's face he's not seeing, not his Uncle Ernie's.
"Forget it," he mouths at Jack while his mother keeps talking on the other end of the line, grinning when Jack purses his lips like he's about to deny that he doesn't want to go.
It's not that he's never met Wendell's family; they've been up to Boston once, spent a long weekend at his mom's and even swung by his other sister's place in Providence on the way back. But there's a difference between visiting Wendell's mom and hanging out with a whole crowd of Brays while Wendell's not around to run interference, and he knows better than to think Jack's looking forward to it. He never complains, though, and on the day of the ceremony he doesn't even show up wearing a hoodie. Not that Wendell would care if he did, but it's nice that he's willing to make the effort. Could be he's just avoiding a lecture from Wendell's mom, though, and Wendell can't fault him for that either.
His brothers have been referring to Jack as 'the rich boyfriend' since Wendell picked them up at the airport, and Wendell's had to threaten to tell their kids every single thing they ever did -- even the stuff their mom still doesn't know about -- to extract a promise that they won't say it to Jack's face. Because that's the least important thing about Jack, and Wendell doesn't want him thinking even for a second that he ever cared about Jack's money. Not that Jack would think that, but it's going to be a weird enough day without Wendell's brothers being assholes just for fun.
By the time Jack shows up at graduation they've only got time for a quick kiss before Wendell's mom descends upon them, dragging them both over for more pictures than even she would know what to do with. "You look good in a dress," Jack whispers between shots, smiling innocently at the camera as Wendell lets out a surprised laugh. His mother snaps a picture at that exact moment, of course, and years from now, when Jack's still got it framed on his desk, Wendell will remember the hand strategically placed on his ass and laugh all over again.
~
After the ceremony it takes him awhile to find them in the crowd of people milling around, but he finally spots Jack scanning the crowd in search of him. Nobody else would spot the tension in his jaw, but Wendell sees it right away, and when he finally manages to push his way through the crowd he reaches out to run his thumb along Jack's beard. "Thanks for putting up with them," he whispers, leaning in and dropping his voice to a whisper. "I know they can be pretty hard to take all at once."
"What are you talking about?" Jack says, flashing a bemused smile that Wendell's not falling for. He's not a good enough liar to sell that one, but instead of arguing Wendell just grins and leans in for a kiss.
When he pulls back the tension's gone, which is mission accomplished, as far as he's concerned. And they still have dinner to get through, but at least he can run interference for the rest of the day, and when he finally gets Jack alone, he's got plans to make all of this up to him.
~
"Everyone from the neighborhood's been asking about your plans," his mother says as soon as they get to the restaurant. She hasn't even glanced at the menu yet and already she's fishing, and it's all Wendell can do not to roll his eyes. And yeah, he gets it, because most of her kids stayed close to home, and even the one who did leave only went a couple hours over the state line to Rhode Island.
But Wendell chose D.C. because Dr. Brennan's the best in the field, and somehow over the past few years, it's replaced Boston as home in his mind. Not that he never considered going back to Boston after graduation, because there are plenty of places there to teach, and it's not like Boston is short on great museums. But that was before Jack, and now...well, they haven't talked about it that much, but when Jack asked him to move in, that was pretty much all he needed to make up his mind.
"I told you, Ma," he answers, glancing up from his menu long enough to catch the wave of guilt coming off her, "D.C.'s where I live now. My whole life's here."
"I know," she says, voice rising just a little. "But what are you going to do? You can't keep working at the Jeffersonian now that you've graduated."
And he knows she doesn't mean it to, but she makes it sound like an accusation. Like the Jeffersonian is the only reason to stay in D.C. Like he hasn't thought about what happens if he stays here instead of applying for jobs in other cities. It's going to make his job search harder, yeah, but it's worth the trade-off. It's worth whatever he has to give up to stick around, as long as Jack wants him to stay. As soon as he thinks it a hand lands on his thigh, squeezing hard enough to surprise a cough out of him.
He reaches under the table and covers Jack's hand with his own, fingers threading together and making his heart beat a little faster. "Actually, Booth mentioned that the FBI's recruiting research scientists. Might be kind of interesting, working for the Feds."
"You? In the FBI?" one of his brothers pipes up, and Wendell glances over to find him grinning. "They know about your record?"
"They can't hold any of that against me, I was a minor," Wendell says. He doesn't know if it's true, because the Feds are a lot different than the Boston P.D., but it sounds good, anyway. Besides, it's not like he's really planning to join the FBI. At least he hasn't thought that much about it since Booth mentioned it, mostly because he's been too busy trying to get through graduation.
"It's the FBI, of course they can," Jack says, and when Wendell looks over at him he recognizes the warning signs. Considering how long he's worked with Booth now, Wendell figures he should be over his conspiracy theories about the FBI, but every time Wendell suggests it Jack just says Booth's the exception and keeps right on ranting. "Booth really tried to recruit you?"
"Geez, he just mentioned it," Wendell answers, and this time he does roll his eyes. "He didn't fill out an application for me or anything."
"Well, what are you going to do?" his mother says, and now she just sounds annoyed. "Dr. Brennan said you showed the most promise of all her students, didn't she? Surely you must have some plan."
And he's gotten a couple offers already, but he wants to run them by Jack before he makes any decisions. They haven't really talked about the future much, but Jack asked him to move in, and that means he wants Wendell to stay in D.C. So whatever he decides about the future affects Jack's life - their life - and Wendell grins at the thought.
"Look, Ma, can we just have a nice dinner and talk about this later?"
"Okay, okay," she says, and he can feel the disapproval from across the table. But Jack's hand is still gripping his, and that's the only thing that keeps him from screaming when his mother adds, "it's none of my business anyway."
~
His mom argues with him over the dinner bill, of course. The restaurant's not so fancy that he's got more forks than he knows what to do with -- he warned Jack ahead of time what a disaster that would be -- but the place is still nice enough that he's not going to let his mother pay the bill. She's still arguing when Jack excuses himself, and Wendell watches out of the corner of his eye as Jack corners their waiter and takes care of it.
"Forget it, Ma," one of his brothers says, cutting their mother off in mid-argument, and Wendell's gotta admit, it takes guts. "The rich boyfriend beat you to it anyway."
Wendell scowls across the table at him, but all it gets him is a laugh and a smack on the back of his head from his other brother. "Lighten up, kid. You landed yourself a sugar daddy, you should be enjoying it."
"This is the way you talk in a place like this?" their mother says, glaring the grins right off his brothers' faces, and Wendell has to pretend to cough to cover a laugh. "Fully grown men with families and I still can't take you anywhere."
Then his brothers both start talking at once, and Wendell gives up trying to regain control of the situation. Instead he stands up and straightens the suit jacket he's been wearing all day, tugging at his collar and sending up a quick prayer that he's going to be able to take it off soon.
"All set?" Jack asks when he stops next to Wendell, raising an eyebrow at the argument that's growing steadily louder. Now his brothers are trading accusations back and forth about who broke some old piece of their grandmother's china, and his sister's shushing them all and looking like she wishes she was dead. He knows the feeling, so he nods at Jack and rounds the table to pull his mother's chair out.
"At least one of you remembers his manners," she says, but when she looks up at him this time her smile is genuine. He grins back, but a second later she shakes her head and makes that clucking noise with her tongue that always makes him feel about three inches tall. "So much promise, and no clue what he's doing with the rest of his life. Thank God he has you, Jack. At least he got one thing right."
She pushes past them to usher Wendell's brothers toward the door, hissing at them about the scene they're making the entire way. And they're never coming back to this restaurant again, so it's a good thing there are a lot of mediocre restaurants in D.C. He shakes his head and starts to follow his family, but before he makes it more than a few feet Jack catches his hand and squeezes hard. Wendell ventures a glance at him, mouth open to apologize, but when he sees Jack's grin he closes it again.
"She's right, you know."
"What, about me wasting my potential?"
"No, about how lucky you are to have me," Jack says, smile turning smug and Wendell could kill him for enjoying this so much. "Of course, it goes both ways."
There are a million things Wendell wants to say, like 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry' and 'they're not always like this', but that last one isn't even true. And anyway, Jack doesn't need to hear all that, because he already knows everything Wendell's going to say. So instead he pauses just outside the restaurant, pretending he can't hear his brothers still bickering like a couple of old men on the way to the car. "I love you," he says, and the smile it gets him is worth everything else that's happened today.
When they reach the SUV Wendell opens the door for his mom and his sister, waiting while they climb in before he closes it again. He takes a deep breath and slides into the front, mentally calculating the time it's going to take to get back to the hotel that his mother refuses to let Jack pay for, say their goodnights and thank yous for dinner, and get Jack alone. Half an hour, tops, if traffic isn't too bad, and it sounds like an eternity, but finally getting home will be worth every second.
~
Still working on the Deadliest Catch fic. This is just a quick detour, honest. And after that I am getting back to the novel. And hopefully getting some sleep.
Fandom: Bones
Pairing: Wendell/Hodgins
Rating: PG
Summary: Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. ~2200 words.
A/N: For cinderlily, who graduated from college this week. Congratulations, Liz. ♥ I was going to say something sappy here about this universe and the double heartbreak of sucky canon + tiny fandom and how the only reason I write it is because I get to share it with you, but my addled brain stopped working several hours ago, so I won't make any sense anyway and will probably come off sounding like I'm whining. But I was just saying to duckduck yesterday that I think it's important, when someone's one of your favorites, that you tell them. Liz, you are one of my favorites. Not that you didn't already know. ♥
Despite Jack's teasing, half of Boston does not show up for Wendell's graduation. The school only gives him six tickets, for one thing, and anyway the people from his old neighborhood can't afford to fly to D.C. just to watch him walk across a stage. So it's just his mom, along with his youngest sister and both his brothers. That leaves him with two more tickets, and he has to tell his mom to leave his aunt and uncle at home, because one of those tickets is Jack's.
Jack offers to stay home, of course, when he overhears Wendell arguing with his mom about the auditorium's seating capacity and the amount of people already scrambling for the tickets that other grads aren't using. And maybe Jack even hopes a little that Wendell will take him up on it, because it would get him out of sitting in the audience with Wendell's family for an entire afternoon. But if Wendell's going to look out at the crowd and not be able to spot his family in the sea of faces, he wants to know that it's Jack's face he's not seeing, not his Uncle Ernie's.
"Forget it," he mouths at Jack while his mother keeps talking on the other end of the line, grinning when Jack purses his lips like he's about to deny that he doesn't want to go.
It's not that he's never met Wendell's family; they've been up to Boston once, spent a long weekend at his mom's and even swung by his other sister's place in Providence on the way back. But there's a difference between visiting Wendell's mom and hanging out with a whole crowd of Brays while Wendell's not around to run interference, and he knows better than to think Jack's looking forward to it. He never complains, though, and on the day of the ceremony he doesn't even show up wearing a hoodie. Not that Wendell would care if he did, but it's nice that he's willing to make the effort. Could be he's just avoiding a lecture from Wendell's mom, though, and Wendell can't fault him for that either.
His brothers have been referring to Jack as 'the rich boyfriend' since Wendell picked them up at the airport, and Wendell's had to threaten to tell their kids every single thing they ever did -- even the stuff their mom still doesn't know about -- to extract a promise that they won't say it to Jack's face. Because that's the least important thing about Jack, and Wendell doesn't want him thinking even for a second that he ever cared about Jack's money. Not that Jack would think that, but it's going to be a weird enough day without Wendell's brothers being assholes just for fun.
By the time Jack shows up at graduation they've only got time for a quick kiss before Wendell's mom descends upon them, dragging them both over for more pictures than even she would know what to do with. "You look good in a dress," Jack whispers between shots, smiling innocently at the camera as Wendell lets out a surprised laugh. His mother snaps a picture at that exact moment, of course, and years from now, when Jack's still got it framed on his desk, Wendell will remember the hand strategically placed on his ass and laugh all over again.
~
After the ceremony it takes him awhile to find them in the crowd of people milling around, but he finally spots Jack scanning the crowd in search of him. Nobody else would spot the tension in his jaw, but Wendell sees it right away, and when he finally manages to push his way through the crowd he reaches out to run his thumb along Jack's beard. "Thanks for putting up with them," he whispers, leaning in and dropping his voice to a whisper. "I know they can be pretty hard to take all at once."
"What are you talking about?" Jack says, flashing a bemused smile that Wendell's not falling for. He's not a good enough liar to sell that one, but instead of arguing Wendell just grins and leans in for a kiss.
When he pulls back the tension's gone, which is mission accomplished, as far as he's concerned. And they still have dinner to get through, but at least he can run interference for the rest of the day, and when he finally gets Jack alone, he's got plans to make all of this up to him.
~
"Everyone from the neighborhood's been asking about your plans," his mother says as soon as they get to the restaurant. She hasn't even glanced at the menu yet and already she's fishing, and it's all Wendell can do not to roll his eyes. And yeah, he gets it, because most of her kids stayed close to home, and even the one who did leave only went a couple hours over the state line to Rhode Island.
But Wendell chose D.C. because Dr. Brennan's the best in the field, and somehow over the past few years, it's replaced Boston as home in his mind. Not that he never considered going back to Boston after graduation, because there are plenty of places there to teach, and it's not like Boston is short on great museums. But that was before Jack, and now...well, they haven't talked about it that much, but when Jack asked him to move in, that was pretty much all he needed to make up his mind.
"I told you, Ma," he answers, glancing up from his menu long enough to catch the wave of guilt coming off her, "D.C.'s where I live now. My whole life's here."
"I know," she says, voice rising just a little. "But what are you going to do? You can't keep working at the Jeffersonian now that you've graduated."
And he knows she doesn't mean it to, but she makes it sound like an accusation. Like the Jeffersonian is the only reason to stay in D.C. Like he hasn't thought about what happens if he stays here instead of applying for jobs in other cities. It's going to make his job search harder, yeah, but it's worth the trade-off. It's worth whatever he has to give up to stick around, as long as Jack wants him to stay. As soon as he thinks it a hand lands on his thigh, squeezing hard enough to surprise a cough out of him.
He reaches under the table and covers Jack's hand with his own, fingers threading together and making his heart beat a little faster. "Actually, Booth mentioned that the FBI's recruiting research scientists. Might be kind of interesting, working for the Feds."
"You? In the FBI?" one of his brothers pipes up, and Wendell glances over to find him grinning. "They know about your record?"
"They can't hold any of that against me, I was a minor," Wendell says. He doesn't know if it's true, because the Feds are a lot different than the Boston P.D., but it sounds good, anyway. Besides, it's not like he's really planning to join the FBI. At least he hasn't thought that much about it since Booth mentioned it, mostly because he's been too busy trying to get through graduation.
"It's the FBI, of course they can," Jack says, and when Wendell looks over at him he recognizes the warning signs. Considering how long he's worked with Booth now, Wendell figures he should be over his conspiracy theories about the FBI, but every time Wendell suggests it Jack just says Booth's the exception and keeps right on ranting. "Booth really tried to recruit you?"
"Geez, he just mentioned it," Wendell answers, and this time he does roll his eyes. "He didn't fill out an application for me or anything."
"Well, what are you going to do?" his mother says, and now she just sounds annoyed. "Dr. Brennan said you showed the most promise of all her students, didn't she? Surely you must have some plan."
And he's gotten a couple offers already, but he wants to run them by Jack before he makes any decisions. They haven't really talked about the future much, but Jack asked him to move in, and that means he wants Wendell to stay in D.C. So whatever he decides about the future affects Jack's life - their life - and Wendell grins at the thought.
"Look, Ma, can we just have a nice dinner and talk about this later?"
"Okay, okay," she says, and he can feel the disapproval from across the table. But Jack's hand is still gripping his, and that's the only thing that keeps him from screaming when his mother adds, "it's none of my business anyway."
~
His mom argues with him over the dinner bill, of course. The restaurant's not so fancy that he's got more forks than he knows what to do with -- he warned Jack ahead of time what a disaster that would be -- but the place is still nice enough that he's not going to let his mother pay the bill. She's still arguing when Jack excuses himself, and Wendell watches out of the corner of his eye as Jack corners their waiter and takes care of it.
"Forget it, Ma," one of his brothers says, cutting their mother off in mid-argument, and Wendell's gotta admit, it takes guts. "The rich boyfriend beat you to it anyway."
Wendell scowls across the table at him, but all it gets him is a laugh and a smack on the back of his head from his other brother. "Lighten up, kid. You landed yourself a sugar daddy, you should be enjoying it."
"This is the way you talk in a place like this?" their mother says, glaring the grins right off his brothers' faces, and Wendell has to pretend to cough to cover a laugh. "Fully grown men with families and I still can't take you anywhere."
Then his brothers both start talking at once, and Wendell gives up trying to regain control of the situation. Instead he stands up and straightens the suit jacket he's been wearing all day, tugging at his collar and sending up a quick prayer that he's going to be able to take it off soon.
"All set?" Jack asks when he stops next to Wendell, raising an eyebrow at the argument that's growing steadily louder. Now his brothers are trading accusations back and forth about who broke some old piece of their grandmother's china, and his sister's shushing them all and looking like she wishes she was dead. He knows the feeling, so he nods at Jack and rounds the table to pull his mother's chair out.
"At least one of you remembers his manners," she says, but when she looks up at him this time her smile is genuine. He grins back, but a second later she shakes her head and makes that clucking noise with her tongue that always makes him feel about three inches tall. "So much promise, and no clue what he's doing with the rest of his life. Thank God he has you, Jack. At least he got one thing right."
She pushes past them to usher Wendell's brothers toward the door, hissing at them about the scene they're making the entire way. And they're never coming back to this restaurant again, so it's a good thing there are a lot of mediocre restaurants in D.C. He shakes his head and starts to follow his family, but before he makes it more than a few feet Jack catches his hand and squeezes hard. Wendell ventures a glance at him, mouth open to apologize, but when he sees Jack's grin he closes it again.
"She's right, you know."
"What, about me wasting my potential?"
"No, about how lucky you are to have me," Jack says, smile turning smug and Wendell could kill him for enjoying this so much. "Of course, it goes both ways."
There are a million things Wendell wants to say, like 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry' and 'they're not always like this', but that last one isn't even true. And anyway, Jack doesn't need to hear all that, because he already knows everything Wendell's going to say. So instead he pauses just outside the restaurant, pretending he can't hear his brothers still bickering like a couple of old men on the way to the car. "I love you," he says, and the smile it gets him is worth everything else that's happened today.
When they reach the SUV Wendell opens the door for his mom and his sister, waiting while they climb in before he closes it again. He takes a deep breath and slides into the front, mentally calculating the time it's going to take to get back to the hotel that his mother refuses to let Jack pay for, say their goodnights and thank yous for dinner, and get Jack alone. Half an hour, tops, if traffic isn't too bad, and it sounds like an eternity, but finally getting home will be worth every second.
~
Still working on the Deadliest Catch fic. This is just a quick detour, honest. And after that I am getting back to the novel. And hopefully getting some sleep.