learning to fly ➵ petekey

vi ; just do it

not proofread. quite short. sorry for any errors. picture in the sidebar has nothing to do with the chapter. happy reading.

Pete had never been particularly good at revision (alternatively known as 'studying'), nor did he care about homework. So when the two were combined, it was his own personal hell. Except, it wasn't actual homework, it was just that Mikey told him that revision was the key to better grades, and had given Pete the task to do so, so he sucked it up, because he didn't want to disappoint Mikey.

That is, for the most part.

You see, Pete was the type of person to get distracted easily, making even basic tasks last an unnecessarily large amount of time, which was greatly inconvenient, and despite hating that quality about him, he never seemed bothered enough to want to make any effort to change it.

This was one of these cases, and he had only managed to get through three quarters of a page in a textbook when he began to get sidetracked.

It wasn't by anything in particular, as well. His thoughts ran through his brain quickly, overlapping, like an echo in his mind. He moved from topic to topic, nothing really specific, just anything relevant to him. Mikey did manage to come up quite a few times, though, and that didn't surprise Pete, if he was being honest.

It was ironic, because Mikey was trying to help Pete not get so distracted, and yet he was distracting Pete in the process. God damn Mikey Way and his fucking good looks.

It just wasn't fair that Mikey somehow ended up being attractive and talented, like, surely that was some kind of witchcraft? It was also apparent that he was a nice person in general, and dear Lord, this was just inequitable. Pete didn't believe in the concept of anyone being pure perfection, but he was pretty sure Mikey was damn close to it.

Little was he aware that Mikey felt the exact same way about him.

-

"Seriously, Mikey, who the fuck decided it would be a good idea to put letters in maths, and can I please punch them for ruining my life?" Pete complained, and Mikey rolled his eyes.

"No clue. But if you find out then go for it," he advised.

"How do you have no clue? You're, like, a nerd. Or an ex-nerd, I don't know," said Pete.

Mikey laughed. "Not all nerds are required to be aware of who invented algebra," he pointed out. "But adding onto your other point, I guess I'm still a nerd, kinda."

"You may be a nerd, but you're my nerd, Mikes," Pete teased, slinging an arm around his shoulders and laughing. As much as Pete would like to deny it, he would very much enjoy Mikey being his. Metaphorically speaking, of course, because Mikey was his own person.

"How sweet," Mikey played along, however blushing while he said it. "But really, oh my God, how many times have I told you to stop with the nickname?"

"Too many. It's, like, our thing, though, Mikes. Embrace it," he said, and a friendly glare (could glares even be friendly? who knows, but somehow, it was) was shot from Mikey's direction. "But seriously, help me with this question, please?" Pete said, removing his arm from around Mikey so he could grip onto his pen.

"Yeah, alright."

-

Mikey had found himself in a bit of a predicament.

He liked Pete. In that way.

And he didn't exactly know what to do about that, because for obvious reasons, he couldn't talk to Pete, and although he had Ray and Frank, too, they were often busy, and they would most definitely tease him about it, so that left Gerard as his only other option. It was convenient in a sense that he was close and easy to contact, although it was embarrassing and possibly awkward, because they were brothers, and asking your brother for relationship advice was like asking to go to hell.

But he supposed that it would be better than simply keeping it to himself, so he decided to suck it up. "Gerard?" he meekly called out.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure."

"So, uh, there's this boy, and I kinda like him, and I don't know what to do," he explained.

An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment while Gerard tried to search for a decent response.

"Right... so you need help on how to ask him out, huh?"

"Yeah, that'd be appreciated."

"I'd say just go for it. Find your inner confidence and just do it. Don't let your dreams be dreams. Yesterday, you said tomor-"

"Jesus Christ, don't start with that again," Mikey cut his Shia LaBeouf tangent off.

"But it's a great meme, Mikey!" Gerard argued, and although he did make a good point, Mikey was a little bored of him saying it constantly.

"No, it's not."

"Liar."

"I hate you."

"Ditto."

-

Mikey Way wasn't a very confident human being. This was evident in the way that every time he attempted to ask Pete out, the words just seemed to get locked up inside him, as if a cage was in the back of his throat, and his self esteem was the holder of the key.

His self esteem was never nice to him, though, and he doubted that it would be kind for once and let him form a coherent sentence to Pete.

The morning after he spoke to Gerard he told himself "I'll do it today", but three days later, he had still not spoken to him about it.

He deemed this as quite pathetic. It was harsh, yes, but he was used to it, and it didn't matter. To him, at least.

He would do it, though. He promised himself. And no matter how nervous he was, he was determined not to break it.