The Problem with Patrick || Fall Out Boy

we're the beginning of the end

Joe raised his soda can to the middle of the table. "A toast. To the best tour Fall Out Boy is ever gonna do!"

"Here here!" Brendon raised his can as well, and as did everyone else. They all tapped their drinks together, and took a sip.

"We should go out to the club." Joe laughed. "To celebrate!"

"The club? Seriously?" Pete asked. "We're adults now."

"That's why we'll go to an ~adult~ club." He wiggled his eyebrows, before bursting out laughing. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But seriously, let's go find a bar or something and have a beer or two."

"That sounds good..." Patrick mumbled, near silent.

"Look, we might just go home." Pete sighed. "It's been a long day."

"Can we go to my house?" Patrick asked out of nowhere, surprising everyone at the table. "I, I think I have some beers still in the fridge, and it'll be a good place to celebrate, a-and, yeah..."

"Let's do it!" Brendon grinned.

"To Patrick's house!" Joe nodded.

"Guys, I don't know..." Pete tried to interrupt, but was overpowered by Andy shouting everyone's pizza.

"Did I say the wrong thing?" Patrick whispered. "I, I was trying to be a part of the group."

Pete sighed. "You didn't say the wrong thing. I'm just a little worried. You haven't been to your house in... nearly 3 months now."

"Really? That's... a long time." He played with his lip. "I think there's some beer, but I don't know..."

"We'll go first and go to the bottle shop on the way." Pete exhaled slowly, getting to his feet. It wasn't exactly a good idea, but he could tell that Patrick was just trying to prove himself. If it was going to help his best friend feel a little better about who he was, then he was going to do everything he could to help.

"Thank you, Pete." Patrick smiled.

"That's alright. C'mon, we gotta be quick."

They went through the liquor store, and picked up a case of beer, before going over to Patrick's place. It felt weird to be back, for both of them. Especially for Patrick himself however, who didn't remember this place in the slightest.

"So this is it?" He asked, staring at his front door.

"Uh huh." Pete nodded, digging through his keys to find the one that opened Patrick's door. "Here you go."

He jammed the key in the door and slowly pushed it open, letting his fingers find the familiar spot of the lightswitch. It was a bit dusty, but generally tidy, and he took a moment to walk around the space.

Pete just quickly started stocking the fridge with the beer, so that the guys wouldn't notice it was new when they arrived. "Familiar?"

"Just a little bit." Patrick responded, picking up the TV remote and analysing which buttons had the most paint worn off. "I know I used to watch a lot of TV here, and I know that if I go this way..." He headed down the corridor and opened the door to the office. "This is where I like to play instruments and stuff."

Pete smiled. "Yeah, that's right."

"Why do I have so many guitars?"

"You like them."

"Okay..." Patrick flicked the light on, and analysed his wall of guitars, before pulling one down and putting the strap over his shoulder. "This one.... I remember this one."

Pete appeared at the door and smiled. "Yeah, that one was your favourite."

"And the picks... I keep them... in here." He grabbed one from his drawer, and plugged his guitar in to begin playing. "And this is where I write songs sometimes..."

"Uh huh, that's right."

He was about to start playing when the door burst open and the other band members came in. Patrick had to quickly put his instrument away and start playing good host, despite the fact that they'd already gotten to the beer by the time he got out there. Brendon opened another one and handed it straight to him before Pete could intervene.

"T-Thank you." Patrick stammered, obviously surprised.

"Just the one, okay?" Pete told him nervously. "The rest of these guys might get a bit stupid but it's not a good idea."

"Patrick! You've been holding out on us!" Joe laughed, opening the liquor cabinet and pulling out a vodka bottle. "Where do you keep the shot glasses?!"

"T-Top cabinet on the right?" Patrick answered, surprised he knew that.

Before he knew it, a line of shots was being lined up on the kitchen bench. Pete gently took Patrick's hand and held him back while everyone else took part. It was clear that Fall Out Boy was getting very drunk tonight, with the exception of Pete and Patrick.

"Can we leave?" Patrick asked.

"Buddy, this is your place. We gotta wait for them to leave first." Pete answered unsurely. "But we can call them a cab."

"Alright..."

"Hey guys, do you wanna go out to the club? There's not a whole lot here, and besides, you're celebrating!" Pete joined the festivities to convince them. "Call and cab and let's go!"

"But Patrick's got good booze! And it's free!"

"Yeah, but you're not exactly gonna meet any girls here, are you?" Pete asked, a cheeky glint in his eye. "You should head to Valentino's."

And thankfully, that was all it took. Within the hour they were off to the club, and Patrick sat down on his couch, staring at his beer. "I don't k-know why, but I feel bad about having this, Pete."

Pete sighed. "Yeah, you had a little problem with drinking too much for a while. Before you went splat."

"Huh. Okay." Patrick took another sip. "I, I think I remember that. I used to watch a lot of house hunters, right?"

"Yeah." Pete sighed. "It wasn't always pretty."

"What does that mean?"

"That means that sometimes I had to bring you back to my house because you got really, really drunk and I was worried about you getting sick and not having anyone to look after you."

"Huh." Patrick was silent for a few minutes more. "Maybe I was getting drunk because I liked it when you took care of me. I like being at your house. It's home. More home than this place."

That revelation hit Pete like a tonne of bricks, and he didn't have any words to respond at first. Or at second. Or for a few minutes after.

Patrick just shrugged. "Or maybe I was just sad. I don't know. Can we go back to your house now?"

"Yeah, of course buddy." Pete got up and helped him clean before the two headed out to the car. Patrick was just relieved to be out of there, that house represented bad times, and although he didn't remember exact events, he knew that he didn't like being there alone a whole lot. It was too empty, and he always did the wrong thing or felt really lonely.

He slept in Pete's bed that night.