#PatCap today

[parttimesarah]

Cap better give in to gay abandon in S5!

Pat’s right there. Jus sayin’…

[waydownatthebottomofnovember]

a classic sunday morning: listening to 'I've Been Waiting For You' and crying about patcap

[patcaps]

good afternoon patcap nation today i’m thinking about them settled on their sofa by their open fire with hot chocolate, and pat’s put extra cream and marshmallows in the captain’s because he likes his extra sweet. the captain’s got a blanket over his lap and a book forgotten on the sofa arm. pat’s got fluffy socks on and he’s got his legs stretched out, wiggling his toes. “lovely, this,” he says, and the captain quite agrees.

[elliseleven]

So, I wrote this Patcap fic a while back (I've written *a lot* of Capvers since I started watching Ghosts so I thought it'd be good to change it up).

But I honestly don't think I'll properly finish it as it's been sitting in my Google docs for a while so I thought I could post it here.

It's a few scenes that are kind of stop-start rather than having proper transitions. I also haven't really beta read it so it's not my best but hope you enjoy anyway!

*******

Pat had planned this perfectly. 2001: A Space Odyssey had something for everyone. Despite that, there was one person who didn’t seem to be enjoying himself.

The Captain was watching the TV screen. However, he didn’t seem to be paying attention at all. 

After the film was over, Pat watched the Captain leave. He wondered what was wrong. Did he not like the film?

Pat decided to follow the Captain. He found himself outside the Captain’s room. Suddenly, he felt nervous. The Captain didn’t like his privacy to be invaded, but Pat didn’t want him to feel sad either.

The door was ajar, so Pat peeked his head round.

“Knock knock.”

The Captain jumped. He was sitting on the edge of his bed.

“What is it, Pat?” He tried to keep his voice level, but Pat could tell something was wrong.

“You alright, Cap? Did you not enjoy the film?”

“No, I did. It was wonderful. I’m just… tired. A lot happened today.”

Pat nodded. “Yeah, it was full on. Not anything we’re not used to though, eh?”

The Captain chuckled. “Quite right. I’d just… like to be left alone.”

Pat hesitated. It was clear that something was troubling the Captain, but he had never been one to open up easily. Maybe it was best to leave it alone. 

“Course,” he finally said.

He made to leave but turned back. He smiled to the Captain. “If there’s anything on your mind, you can talk to us, you know. Well…” he hesitated. “Some of us, at least.”

The Captain only nodded. He knew this to be a fact, of course, but he doubted he would take Pat up on that offer.

Pat nodded in return, leaving the Captain in peace.

Once he was sure Pat had left, the Captain let out a sigh. Perhaps it would do some good to talk about… what was troubling him. He had kept his secret for so long, but perhaps it was time for it to come to light.

*******

“Take your time, Cap.”

The Captain felt as if he was on the verge of a panic attack. He had never said this aloud before. However, Pat’s gentle gaze and hand on his shoulder helped him calm down.

“Where to start…” He mused. “Do you remember that day when Alison and Mike were digging up the garden?”

“Yes, definitely,” Pat sighed. “God knows how I managed to take charge of those lot.”

“You did a terrific job.”

Pat was taken aback. It was rare that the Captain gave compliments, especially to him. “Well, thanks, Cap. I try.”

“Yes, well…” He cleared his throat. “That day reminded me of my… past. Someone from my past, to be specific.”

“Right,” Pat nodded. “Was it someone from the army?”

The Captain very slowly began to tell Pat about his lieutenant and how close they had grown. How he had fallen in love…

Pat nodded along, not surprised in the slightest.

“That makes sense. A lot of sense, actually.” Pat said once the Captain had finished.

The Captain almost gave himself whiplash, turning to face Pat. “What do you mean by that?!”

Pat laughed. “Well, I mean, even a blind man would be able to see that you’re… a homosexual.”

When the Captain continued to stare, gobsmacked, Pat explained further. He hadn’t noticed every little thing, but the things he had noticed were blindingly obvious. 

The way he looked at attractive men: Adam the director, Toby Nightingale, Mike, that naked man from the party. 

“I didn’t think I was being so obvious,” the Captain muttered, unable to look Pat in the eye.

“I guess it’s not to everyone, but I noticed…”

If the Captain had been less nervous, he would have noticed Pat blushing.

“Right,” the Captain cleared his throat. “As long as you don’t tell the others.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it!” Pat patted the Captain gently on his shoulder. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

Pat stood up, and the Captain suddenly felt cold.

“I’ll leave you to it then.”

*******

“Hey, Cap?”

The Captain stopped walking and turned to face Pat.

“Yes?”

The way the Captain looked at him made him weak at the knees, but he stood strong. “I just wanted to have a chat, if that’s okay?”

The Captain nodded cautiously. He wondered, and partly worried, about what Pat wanted to tell him.

Pat looked behind him to check they were alone. “I… Um… Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve felt this nervous.”

The Captain frowned. “You don’t need to be nervous around me, Patrick.”

Pat laughed. If only the Captain knew the irony in what he was saying. “How do I say this?”

Pat was stalling because he was nervous, of course, but there was another reason. 

He remembered how the Captain talked about Havers. The Captain had never been good at expressing his feelings, but it was clear how in love he had been. What if he still was? Pat wasn’t sure how he would take that.

Meanwhile, the Captain’s heart was racing. Pat rarely got nervous talking about what was on his mind. This must be important. What if…? No, the Captain berated himself. He had a wife, for goodness sake! He couldn’t be…

“I like you, Cap.”

The Captain narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Well, I would hope so, wouldn’t you?”

“No, Cap,” Pat said, even more serious now. “I like you. Not just as a friend.”

Finally, the penny dropped. The Captain stared.

Pat waited, but the Captain didn’t speak. He didn’t even move.

“Hello? Anyone home?” He clicked his fingers in front of the Captain’s face.

The Captain blinked and slowly found his voice. “S- Sorry, Pat. I just… didn’t expect you to say that. At all.”

“It’s okay,” Pat chuckled. “It came as a bit of a shock to me too. Nothing to do with you!” He added hastily before the Captain could jump to any conclusions. “I just always thought I liked women. Still do, of course, but I like men too? Not quite sure when that happened, if I’m honest.”

Pat continued to ramble, and the Captain smiled. The sense of relief that washed over him was immeasurable. He wouldn’t have guessed that Pat liked him, or was even like him at all.

“-always confused me when I watched films and found both the man and the woman attractive.”

The rambling was getting a little too much now for the Captain. “Pat.”

“I could never tell Carol though-”

“Pat!”

Pat suddenly stopped, looking up at the Captain. “Sorry. Was I talking too much?”

The Captain hesitated before realising he could be honest with him. “Yes. Just a bit.”

“Sorry…” he muttered. “It’s just the first time I’ve talked about this.”

The Captain nodded. “I understand. Do you feel better?”

“Yeah, I actually do, actually. How about you give it a try?”

The Captain hummed. “No, thank you.”

Pat nodded. “That’s fine.”

The two of them fell silent until Pat remembered something. “Hey, Cap? Before I told you this, I didn’t know how you would react.” 

Now that he was speaking out loud, he realised the Captain hadn’t actually said much of anything. 

“Why do you say that?”

*******

So it ends there but Pat's answer was going to be that he knew that Cap was still in love with Havers and he wasn't sure if Cap was ready to love anyone else. Cap ends up telling Pat that he will always love Havers but that doesn't mean he doesn't have the capability to love someone else ❤️

[zaxazoom]

Happy birthday, mr @patcaps !

Here's some fanart, sorry its a bit rushed I wanted to finish it today :)

[ailendolin]

💪🏽 for patcap please! We NEED to see Pat being the chap with the arms and easily lifting Cap up

It took a while, but here's your fic! As I mentioned before, I don't really ship PatCap but I did my best to imply it at least, so I hope you'll enjoy this!

Next up:

🐾 Pet-names - Humphrey’s head and Annie

🎁 Presents - Julian

💀 Near-death experience - Milton, Mike & Death

Ask Game is here. Filled prompts are here, here & here on AO3.

Prompts for this ask game are closed.

————

Twist-It

💪🏽 Bridal carry

When Pat heard the cracking noise, followed by a muffled but emphatic, “Ow,” he knew it couldn’t be good. He opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder at the Twister mat where the Captain and Thomas were engaged in yet another competition over who was better at Twist-It, as they called it. While everyone else tended to avoid bringing up the game around them, Pat actually found it surprisingly useful as a conflict resolution tool so whenever tensions ran a bit too high between Thomas and the Captain, he would suggest a round or two. Granted, it did not always have the desired effect but it was certainly better than having to listen to the Captain list all of Thomas’s faults in alphabetical order and watching Thomas storm off to the lake for the rest of the day with a look on his face that reminded Pat of a kicked puppy.

The sight that greeted Pat now when he turned around was a new one, though: both the Captain and Thomas had collapsed onto the mat with Thomas stuck under the Captain in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position.

“Move!” Thomas urged, his voice muffled by the Captain’s arm. “For heaven’s sake, move, you big oaf! I can’t breathe!”

“You don’t need to breathe,” the Captain snapped back. Then, more quietly, he added, “And in any case, I can’t.”

There was a beat of silence.

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Thomas asked. Then he shook his head. “Never mind, just move your arm, then. Your elbow is digging into my wound.”

The Captain did. Thomas tried his best to wriggle free but the Captain’s weight kept him pinned to the ground. With pained eyes, he looked up at Pat, silently begging for help, and when the Captain gave him a similarly pleading look, Pat finally shook off his surprise and sprang into action. He grabbed the Captain’s arm and, with one great pull, hauled him off Thomas. Thomas breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Patrick.”

Pat smiled and nodded before he turned to the Captain. “What happened there, mate?”

“I … I don’t know,” the Captain said, furrowing his eyebrows. “I was in the process of moving my right foot to green – just like you said – when my legs suddenly refused to cooperate.”

Pat frowned. “Has that ever happened before?”

The way the Captain avoided his eyes told him all he needed to know. “Once or twice, perhaps …”

Trying not to look too worried, Pat offered him a smile. “Well, I think that’s enough Twister for you today.”

He let go of the Captain’s arm, only realising his mistake when the Captain’s eyes widened in alarm. “Wait–“

Before his legs could buckle under him, Pat was back at his side, holding him up. “Easy there, I’ve got you.”

The Captain awkwardly cleared his throat and looked away in embarrassment.

“The old knees aren’t quite what they used to be,” he muttered by way of apology.

Not knowing what to do next, Pat glanced over on Thomas. “A little help here?”

“Oh no,” Thomas said and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Not before he apologises for what he said.”

“Never,” the Captain scowled.

Pat inwardly groaned. Those two were even worse than the kids at Daley’s last birthday party who started throwing cake at each other halfway through the afternoon.

“Fine,” he huffed out and, not in the mood for another argument, picked up the Captain in his arms before he could so much as splutter a protest. “The hard way it is, then.”

The Captain’s face turned bright red.

“Patrick! What the bally hell do you think you’re doing? Put me down this instant!” he demanded.

“No chance, mate,” Pat said and marched out of the room. “We’re going to find Alison and see if she has any idea what’s wrong with your legs.”

Thomas snickered quietly behind them but Pat ignored both him and the bemused looks the others gave him and the Captain as they walked past. Julian’s catcalls proved to be a little harder to brush off, though, and when the Captain buried his head in his shoulder in obvious mortification, Pat felt his heart miss a beat.

Oh, he thought, stunned, before he readjusted his hold and proceeded to ignore his unruly heart too. He needed to find Alison, after all.

[bloominspaceship]

My attention span has been about a 2/10 today. Thank fuck for short patcap fluff fics because that’s about the only thing I’ve been able to focus on.

[its-a-hare-pom-pom]

I feel so bad for Patcap shippers going on the BBC Ghosts tag today

[thatgordongirl]

Patcap for today

[ghosts-of-love]

me every single day: wowie just sooooo patcap on the brain today its unreal

[parttimesarah]

and Pat wants to join in

[waydownatthebottomofnovember]

head empty today only patcap thoughts here

[patcaps]

good evening patcap nation today i’m thinking about the first year pat spent at button house as a ghost, when he found his feet and started making clubs and getting the ghosts to join in with more stuff. i imagine one day he took them all to the lake for a day out, the captain naturally co-leading their little excursion, and the captain never said anything to him out loud but he did quietly watch him from the sidelines. and as the sun set slowly over the water and pat finished up his very first talk on activity badges, the captain allowed himself a small, pleased smile at the progress pat had made.

[spineless-lobster]

It's currently 2:55am and I refuse to go to bed because it randomly started thunder storming?! I knew the rain and the fog today probably upped the humidity but it's spring! Thunderstorms are for summer ONLY!!!

Anyways, I'm blasting my patcap playlist to cope with the crippling anxiety I'm having but I'm gonna have to give in soon

[wheeeezeboi]

i shouldn't be on tumblr today as well, because I know I'll see spoilers for the BBC Ghosts christmas special, and I have to wait until tumblr user patcaps puts it on the communal google drive.

[bloominspaceship]

Busy weekend for me. Went to the tasting for my wedding with my partner, attended a friend's bridal shower, and wrote this patcap fluff fic today. Total hours I spent driving this weekend: 7.5 🫡🙃

Special shoutout to @waydownatthebottomofnovember for inspiring me to write! 💖