Together (Frerard, Petekey, Ryden)

16. Coffee and Milk

To say Patrick felt relieved, would be an understatement. There was nothing in his life that could compare to the way he felt as he vented to this stranger about all of his problems. The best part? The stranger actually listened to him.

And the stranger wasn't really a stranger now because he had in fact shared his name, it was Ryan, and he had asked Patrick if he wanted to get some coffee and that's where they sat.

They sat in a café and they talked and they spilt all the problems that had been plaguing them and this was the best kind of thing either of them had experienced in a long time. This was pure kindness with no strings attached and this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Even if Ryan did put a little too much milk in his coffee

Patrick had never had someone who actually listened to him like Ryan did, and even though they had only just met, Ryan had never met someone he felt so inclined to protect. Because to Ryan, Patrick was purely amazing and deserved to be protected at all costs.

But of course, all good things come to an end as Patrick's phone rang with a call from Pete Wentz himself and Patrick was really more inclined to just ignore the call but after three more times, Patrick excused himself from the table and answered his phone.

"What?" Patrick answered the phone in probably the rudest way he knew how, because this talk with Ryan was really shedding light on the fact that Pete was a shitty friend.

"Wow Patrick, are you okay?" Pete asked.

Patrick heard voices in the background

"Yea sure I'm fine. What do you want?" Patrick began to tap his foot impatiently because he was kind of really missing talking with Ryan already.

"Where the hell are you? Mikey and I need a ride, and you were our ride, and then you disappeared and at first I thought something bad had happened but you took the car as well so like, where the fuck are you?"

"Oh shoot. I'm sorry Pete. I went out for coffee. Can you get someone else to drive you, or do you need me to come back?" Patrick began to feel guilty because he was their only way home and he had ditched out and Patrick reckoned that this was the worst thing he had done in the ten years him and Pete had been friends.

"I can probably get a ride. I'll call you if it doesn't work out." Pete paused and just as Patrick was about to say bye Pete spoke again. "Wait, who the hell are you out for coffee with? Are they cute?"

"Yea I guess so." Patrick glanced over to where Ryan was sitting a few meters away. "But it's not at all like that. His name is Ryan and I have to go."

"Ok. See you later."

And with a quick good bye, Patrick hung up the phone and went back over to sit down Ryan.

"Who was that?" Ryan asked, a smile spread onto his face.

"Pete." Patrick mumbled, sitting down and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Oh." Ryan frowned "what did he want?"

Patrick shrugged.

"I was supposed to give him a ride home and he was wondering where I had disappeared to. He's getting someone else to give him a ride." Patrick answered

"Okay." Ryan said and smiled, because that meant more time with his new friend Patrick.

-

"This is good pizza." Gerard said as he shoveled probably his fifth slice of pizza into his mouth.

"I agree." Frank nodded and the two shared an awkward smile because no matter how normal this seemed, there was still the fact that Brendon laid, bleeding and unconscious in just the other room. But they were willing to ignore that fact for as long as possible, even if they both knew that the longer he laid there, the more likely it would be that he never wake up.

And maybe Gerard wanted an explanation for why the fuck Brendon was dying and what the fuck were they going to do about it, but he wasn't about to inquire about it and possibly ruin a good night. That would, of course, make no sense.

So it was a surprise when Frank brought it up about an hour later while they were sitting and watching a movie on the couch.

"He's going to fucking die." And there was no emotion in Frank's voice and that scared the shit out of Gerard.

"Don't say that."

Frank sighed.

"Gerard, he's fucking bleeding and we haven't called the ambulance and he's going to bleed out and die. Gerard, I'm going to a murderer."

Gerard paused the movie and looked at Frank with wide eyes.

"Should we like, call someone?" And wow, Gerard was onto something, but still, Frank looked at him like he was fucking insane.

"Like who?" Frank demanded, rolling his eyes "The cops would arrest me! I can't go to jail!"

And Frank was being selfish, because even if Brendon had played a major part in fucking up Frank's life, he didn't deserve to die. But maybe in Frank's mind, he did. And it seemed like Frank just wanted to put the blame on someone other than himself.

"Mikey knows first aid!" Gerard was overly excited and then as Frank slightly nodded his head, Gerard dialed Mikey's number and was listening to it ring.

"Hello?" Mikey answered, sounding annoyed.

"Hey, Mikey, I need to ask you a favour." And then Gerard was giving Mikey a rundown of the whole situation.

When Gerard finished talking, Mikey didn't say anything and Gerard was afraid he had hung up.

"Mikey?" Gerard asked.

"Yea okay. I guess I'll come over. I don't have a car though right now. You have it."

"I'll pick you up."

Mikey said something of a positive response and they both said good bye and then Gerard was leaving to his car and Frank was following. And now Gerard was second guessing even getting Mikey involved because this was his little brother and what if Brendon did die? Gerard wasn't sure he wanted Mikey caught up into this.

Nonetheless, Gerard drove over to his house to get Mikey, and to his surprise, Pete Wentz, and Gerard drove them to Frank's to face maybe the most fucked up thing any of them had ever been a part of.