Catfish (Peterick)

one

the above is the picture that was sent to pete by 'patrick'

"We knew this guy was loaded, but I didn't know he was this loaded," Max whispers to Nev as they walk up the long driveway to Pete's place. Nev elbows Max hard. "What'd you do that for?" Nev points at Pete, who's standing in his doorway, smiling at them.

"Thank you guys so much!" Pete says, going straight in for a hug. He hugs Nev and then Max. "Come in," Nev and Max share a look before walking in before Pete closes his door. They look around a bit, noticing the huge three story house with two balconies and marble tile. "I'm Pete,"

"I'm-" Max starts, but Pete cuts him off eagerly, grinning hugely with pretty white teeth.

"Max. You're my celebrity crush," Pete blushes. Nev nudges Max, whose eyebrows are raised at Pete, and then laughs. "And you're Nev. Everyone thinks you're in love with Max," It's Max's turn to laugh as Nev turns bright red.

"Enough about us. Tell us about you and.. Patrick, is it?" Nev says, quick to change the subject.

"Yeah, Patrick. He really accepts and understands me for me. When I told him I was Pete Wentz from Arma Angelus, The Black Cards, and Fall Out Boy; his reaction was just, like, 'Wow, cool,' and then we were off of the subject. He's also a musician, and he plays the drums and guitar and trumpet and a bunch of other things I've forgotten. He's perfect, basically," Pete gushes.

"Let me ask you something, Pete," Max says, looking at Nev. "What's your opinion on coming out? I mean, you can't just show up with a boyfriend and expect everything to be okay, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand. I've just never thought about it. You have a good point, but I, honestly, couldn't care less about what people think about me," Pete tells them. Nev and Max smile at each other.

"Alright, show us a few pictures of this Patrick," Nev says. Max is holding the small camera in his hand, and he zooms in on the pictures Pete shows them. "Patrick is an attractive guy," Nev says to no one in particular, earning a mock glare from Pete.

"You have Max, though," Pete crosses his arms, winking at the camera. Max chokes on air.

"We," Max motions between Nev and he, "are not a thing. We will never be a thing," He says. Pete's eyebrows wiggle as Nev's smile falters.

"Anyways," Nev says, breaking the tension up, "have you ever spoken to Patrick on the phone?" Pete nods.

"Three times, actually," He says, sighing happily at the memories.

"Were they the same voices every time?" Max asks. Pete nods.

"Yes, they were," Pete says confidently. Nev and Max share a look before they stand.

"We need to go do what we do. We'll call you when we have more information, okay?" Max asks. Pete nods in response, a grin playing on his lips.

"Nice to meet you guys. Nice ass, Max," Pete winks before Max blushes, and Nev laughs.

--

"That Pete guy's really into you," Nev says later, while they're working on finding out who this 'Patrick' really is.

"He's really into us, you mean. He ships us, Nev," Max says. Nev laughs. His gaze focuses on Max's lips. Max coughs awkwardly when he notices his best friend staring at his lips. "So, uh, Patrick," He turns his gaze onto the computer in front of them.

"Yeah, Patrick," Nev says, disappointment obvious in his voice. "Here, I'll put the pictures he gave us into Google and see if anything comes up," Nev suggests. Max nods.

Nev clicks on the picture and moves it into the Google images search. A Facebook profile comes up from a guy named Patrick Stump.

"That's him!" Nev exclaims into the camera, that adorable smile of his finally reappearing.

"So the next question is.. is Patrick actually who Pete is talking to?" Nev and Max share a look. This is where it gets hard. Mex looks back at the computer. "This says that Patrick Stump has released a solo album called 'Soul Punk' after previously breaking away from his band, My Chemical Romance," Max reads out.

"The guy.. the guy is famous," Nev concludes after skimming through the next paragraph. Max cuts the camera off for a second. "I wonder if Pete knows this,"

"Probably not. He would've mentioned it, right?" Max asks. Nev nods.

"Maybe he didn't want Pete to think of him differently?" Nev thinks out loud. Max contemplates it.

"You mean, maybe he didn't know if Pete would talk to him like he was a normal person after finding out that he was the Patrick Stump. And when Pete revealed who he was, Patrick was too deep in the lie?" Max continues. Nev snaps his fingers.

"That has to be it if he's telling the truth!" He and Max hug it out before pulling away and looking at each other awkwardly. This Pete guy is making everything awkward between the two of them.

Max coughs before turning the camera back on. He continues to read like they'd never cut the camera off. "This says that Patrick Stump was previously married to an Elisa Yao. He had one child, Declan, before they divorced not two months after their baby was born,"

Max cuts the camera off again. "I bet Pete didn't know about this either," Nev says. Max nods.

"That's what I'm thinking," He scratches the back of his head. "Maybe we should call it a night and tell Pete to meet us in the café by his place in the morning?" Max suggests. Nev nods.

"That's probably best. We need to figure out exactly what Pete knows before we dig anymore dirt up on 'Patrick,'" Nev says, air quoting the name. At this point, they have no clue if he is actually Patrick Stump or if he's someone pretending to be Patrick Stump.

"Uh, goodnight, I guess?" Max says, but it comes out as more of a question. Nev just nods and bumps his fist before they go to their seperate beds.

Thanks, Pete.

Nev thinks as he pulls off his shirt and turns his lamp off. He had to go and make everything awkward before Nev could make his move.