犬なで

And in the original… Patrick watches Luis way more than I expected. And Luis? He's being so obvious about wanting to close the distance with Patrick.

Luis is actually a Spanish-origin spelling. didn't know that.

i bet it's on purpose. like, to show that among all these carnivore yuppies, he's the one guy with slightly different roots?

look at the range of what he lets luis into:

something he puts into his body (the aramis)

the person who handles his body (a personal trainer)

the aramis one is for thinning hair. and patrick admits, himself, that his hair is something he worries about. it's a soft spot for him, a delicate one. luis reaches exactly that spot — hands him the one product that works. and in his own narration, patrick credits it by name. "carruthers recommended" it. the full name.

he's supposed to look down on luis. he makes fun of him. and still, he hands luis the judgment over his scalp, and his muscles too.

yes. the muscles.

patrick has that perfect body, and he still went and got a personal trainer at the gym because luis told him to. i don't really know what to call that power balance. (he did fire the trainer later, for his own reasons. but still.)

this is patrick. the patrick bateman. him.

Patrick (narration): A Valentino silk tie. A flawless dimple. The Armani three-piece. Cool Water to finish.

Which means today, I'm flawless. There's no one in this office who could threaten me——

Luis: Hi, Patrick!

Patrick: …Why do you keep appearing in my office? I've told you to stop showing up without an appointment.

Luis: Did I surprise you? You look lovely even when you're flustered.

Luis: By the way, Patrick — I wanted your advice on what to wear to the Pierce & Pierce summer party out in the Hamptons. You're going too, so let's go pick something out together at Barneys ♡

Patrick: No. I have to return some videotapes.

Patrick: I've rented about a hundred of them. I have to return them right now.

Luis: Oh, that sounds like such a hassle. So — what kind of movies do you like, Patrick?

patrick bateman losing to a tangled earphone cable

also I have a small headcannon that Luis watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre because Patrick would mention it a lot and he wanted to relate to him more or have it be a conversation starter >_<

AAAAA AN ASK?? for me?? thank you so much oh my god 🥹🙏 — Luis and Patrick's first meeting is honestly one of my favorite things to spiral about.

my read: that red paisley tie is, by pure accident, what got them their first real conversation. because — Luis is being strangled, years later, and he's still reciting the pattern. just watching him from across the room gets you "red tie," sure, but "paisley"? that detail doesn't survive unless they actually talked about it. so I imagine Luis sidling up with "that's a beautiful pattern," or "that color really pops under the lights in here," and Patrick, half-drunk so not in full icy-brush-off mode, going "huh. nice that someone clocks the detail." a tiny, real little exchange. that's why the pattern is burned in.

but from Patrick's side it's not a memory, it's a transaction: "nice tie" → "thanks, someone's calling me, gonna grab a drink" — gone. for Luis it was the beginning of everything. mismatched from the very first second, which is the part that wrecks me — and the cruelest little rhyme is that the love that started at Arizona 206 ends with him getting transferred to Arizona. (the "they never spoke, Luis just watched him from across the room" version is delicious too though — I love both Luises 🫠)

like picture Luis after the party, dazed in the snow, cheeks pink, smiling at his own reflection in the cab window — "what a wonderful night… god, thank you for the gift of falling in love ✨". the image is unbearably cute 🎄🎁 (100% my own delulu, ignore me)