#hat tip to altri_uccelli who has an excellent 1988 fic with a title from this song | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

linskywords · 1 year

Text

And the ficciest Taylor Swift song of all time is...

youtube

(Had to use the original version because the music video is just too good, sorry Taylor)

Song: You Belong With Me Album: Fearless Year: 2008/2021 Lyrics: https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-you-belong-with-me-taylors-version-lyrics Ficciness Rank: #1

This song is, in my objective opinion, perfect. It’s the gold standard of songs sung by women that are arguably even better if you imagine them sung by a gay guy. All the stuff about not performing femininity well enough–short skirts vs. t-shirts, high heels vs. sneakers–are just begging to be about a guy who thinks he’ll never get his best friend’s love because, well, he isn’t a girl.

And he should be with this guy! They get along so well together! Way better than the girls this guy is always dating–they never treat him like they even like him, and honestly, he doesn’t seem to like them all that much, either. Main character is the one who really knows him, who likes the same music as him and laughs at the same jokes. Main character is the one this guy turns to when he’s having a hard time, who hears about his dreams, who shares the important things in life with him. They’re so connected. It’s almost everything main character wants–just close enough to be absolutely torturous.

It’s the culmination of the themes we’ve been chasing through these top 25 songs: the unbearable closeness to someone who feels like they should be more than a friend; the longing, the adoration, the feeling that this person was made for you; the sense of inadequacy compared to the people that this person is and should be dating; the angst at the impossibility of them ever wanting you back. This song is friends to lovers in a nutshell.

Pairing I’d assign to this song: We’re returning to the hockey RPF champions: Jonny and Patrick. My first hockey RPF pairing, and still my favorite dynamic to write. And we’re gonna honor the music video and go with a high school AU here.

Jonny and Patrick have been friends since elementary school. It’s only in the past year or so that Patrick’s realized their friendship really isn’t enough for him. They have this whole bit where they write notes to each other and pass them in class, folded into fun shapes and sometimes tucked into pockets when the other person isn’t paying attention so they’ll find them later. Patrick can’t count the number of times he’s found a note from Jonny well after the school day ends and has sat there grinning helplessly at it, warmth blooming all through his chest. He finds himself doodling extra notes in the margins of his notebook paper, writing “I love you” in spots that he could tear out and fold up and tuck into Jonny’s pockets somewhere. But he never does.

Because Jonny’s dating someone. Jonny’s always dating someone. They’re both on the hockey team, and Jonny’s tall and good-looking and scrupulously polite to girls and it means there’s always someone going out with him. Some of the girls he dates are nice, and some even seem genuinely into him–but none of them really connect with him, not like Patrick does. Jonny doesn’t even seem like himself with them. He’s all stiff and formal and closed-off, and for some reason girls like that because they think it means he’s mysterious and deep, but it’s not who he really is. They never get to see the silly version of Jonny, or the one who gets stressed and anxious from the pressures of school, or the one who stays up late with Patrick whispering into the dark about their secret dreams of playing professional hockey someday.

I love you, Patrick writes on a little slip of paper, but he puts it in his own pocket instead.

Junior prom is coming up, and Jonny’s going with the girl he’s been dating lately. Patrick could definitely go alone or with friends. Hell, he could find a girl of his own to go with. But he doesn’t want to–it’s too painful to see Jonny with his current girlfriend. She doesn’t even treat him well, and anyway, Patrick wants to be the one pressed against Jonny on the dance floor and taking couple’s photos for their parents. He can’t get over this feeling of rightness deep in his chest at the idea of it, and it feels like he’s ripping something out of himself when he remembers that it will never happen.

So Patrick’s not going to the dance. Jonny’s really bummed about it–he even rents them both tuxes in an effort to get Patrick to change his mind, but Patrick doesn’t budge. He’s not going to torture himself like that.

But the night of prom, Patrick’s alone in his room, and he looks at the tux Jonny got for him and he thinks…why not? He’s bored and sad sitting here alone, and he doesn’t want his thing for Jonny to ruin everything for him. So he puts the tux on (it fits perfectly, Jonny knows his size by heart), and before he goes out the door he hesitates over the note on his desk, one of the “I love you” notes he never gave to Jonny. He grabs it and puts it in his pocket. He knows he’s not going to do anything with it, but a guy can dream, right?

He goes to the dance, and Jonny finds him right away, even in the crush of tipsy high school students. He looks so excited that Patrick made it, and his girlfriend isn’t anywhere in sight. “Where’s Julia?” Patrick shouts over the noise, and Jonny just says, “Look in your pocket!” “What?” Patrick says, panicked, and gropes for his right pocket, where he put the note. How does Jonny…did he find out, or…

“No, the other one,” Jonny says, and he’s kind of bouncing on his toes, his cheeks flushed. Patrick sticks his hand in his left pocket, and there’s a note there, too: a note in the flower fold that Jonny taught him years ago. He opens it and stares at it in confusion. “But–I didn’t write this,” he says.

“No, I wrote it,” Jonny says, this look of hope in his eyes, and all of a sudden Patrick feels like laughing. He digs into his other pocket. “This is the one I wrote,” he says, and hands Jonny his note. Jonny’s face lights up like the sun rising. For a moment they’re both standing there with their I love you notes, beaming at each other, and then–well, this is prom, isn’t it? What’s prom without a little making out on the dance floor?

Lyrics to title this story: Here the Whole Time

Masterpost Playlist

<Prev

#hat tip to altri_uccelli who has an excellent 1988 fic with a title from this song #that seems to be a theme here honestly #advent 2022 #ficciest taylor #hockey rpf #taylor swift #1988 #patrick kane #jonathan toews #Youtube

28 notes · View notes