Mister Wentz

August 22nd, 2015

When Patrick realized he had a crush on Pete, he practically went through the seven stages of grief.

At first he was shocked. How could he like Pete fucking Wentz? His bully? The thorn in his side? The pain in the ass that seems to follow him around?

Then he was in denial. There's no way he likes Pete, he's not even gay. He likes Lisa from math class, not Pete Wentz. He's as straight as they come. The erection he got back in May wasn't caused by Pete, it was just a normal bodily function happening at a bad time.

After that, he became angry. He scrawled out poems in a heated trance, pen scraping into the paper, fingers wrapped tight around the pencil. I don't care what you think as long as it's about me. He stopped looking at himself in the mirror, angered by his tainted mind.

Once that was done, he started bargaining. He'd pray every night to God, to Zeus, to Allah, to anyone who would listen, begging for his sanity back, promising he wouldn't look at Pete again, swearing he would be the straight, good boy his family expected him to be.

But soon, he entered the depression stage. He felt weighed down by his racing mind, agonizing hours spent hating every cell in his body. He slowly distanced himself from friends and family, would distract himself by studying during the weekdays and sleeping away the weekends. The world kept spinning and he just couldn't bare to keep up.

At some point, he reached acceptance. He was gay, and not only that, gay for Pete Wentz of all people. It still bothered him, but the acceptance came with a sense of freedom. He finally felt like he could breathe again. When he looked himself in the mirror, he didn't hate what he saw staring back at him.

He spent his free time looking up coming out videos and realizing that there was more acceptance for it than he once believed. Illinois had already legalized gay marriage for two years, it was accepted on a state level.

Finally, he was left to process his grief. To recognize he went through what almost every LGBTQIA+ teen goes through in their life. For the first time in a while, he didn't feel alone.

"Hey, mom! Hey, dad!" Patrick smiles, approaching the table, where his parents sit with a mug of coffee. It was their typical Saturday morning, coffee before work.

"Hey, Patrick!" They chirp back.

Patrick spots his sister, making herself a bowl of cereal, and his brother, usually two bowls deep, is nowhere to be found.

"Where's Kevin?"

"Went to the Wentz's to grab Pete, should be back any time now," His mom says before taking a long sip from her mug.

Patrick immediately, and mindlessly, starts finger combing his hair, biting his lip and checking his reflection in the glass of a nearby picture.

His parents were happy to see that he was bouncing back from his depression, but they were still left in the dark from what was going on, as Patrick kept the new changes in his life a secret from everyone.

Well, almost everyone.

"Why do you do that?" Megan frowns.

Patrick freezes. "Do what?"

"Every time Pete comes around, you suddenly care what you look like," She narrows her eyes.

Right. He does do that, started somewhere between the acceptance and processing stage. It never occured to him that anyone would pick up on it. Patrick drops his arms and crosses them, trying to look menacing.

"Do not," Patrick scoffs. "I just woke up, my hair is probably a mess. Can't I just fix it in peace?"

"Yeah, right," She snorts. "Do you like Pete or something?"