learning to fly ➵ petekey

xvi ; pete doesn't get the d

For the first time in a long time, Pete was nervous, and it wasn't actually because of Mikey.

Well, it could be related to him, because it was to do with his grades, of which he would receive that day.

Pete was kind of confident about the situation, but also majorly anticipating a failure, which didn't really make any sense because they contradicted each other, but whatever, feelings were weird, uncontrollable and annoying.

But because of that stupid fucking proposition he had made with Mikey he knew he couldn't get any less than a C, because Mikey had made him study to death, and sweet Jesus, he really did not want to disappoint Mikey.

Most importantly, though, he didn't want to disappoint himself. Because throughout the time he had spent with Mikey, he had came to discover that maybe he should start caring more about himself instead of just... brushing things off.

He was all too used to that sinking feeling - you know, the one you get in your chest when you work hard on something but then you end up getting bad results from it - and he really, really didn't want to have to feel it again.

Because all those weeks ago he really, genuinely didn't give even half a shit about schoolwork; now, however, was a completely different story. In fact, maybe he cared too much.

So he just couldn't bear to have that sinking-empty-shitty-sad feeling again - not now, at least. Not in this situation.

Because this was the real shit - his actual future depended on his marks, and holy fuck, he really hoped Mikey Way had worked some kind of miracle on him, because that would be rather handy.

Hell, if Mikey could work miracles, he would wish for more than just good grades, but maybe (definitely, rather) that was off the topic.

Regardless, he was crossing his fingers into oblivion in class, anticipating his name and mark being read out. Pete didn't even believe in the whole 'crossing your fingers gives you good luck' thing, so why he did this was a mystery even to himself.

The wait was agonising, Pete had learnt. Nerve wracking took on a whole new meaning with his circumstances.

Maybe he was making too much of a big deal out of this, but whatever, being melodramatic was Pete's hidden talent.

Except for the fact that it wasn't even remotely hidden, but whatever, details.

Pete's thoughts were racing so fast he almost didn't actually hear his teacher call out his name.

"Peter Wentz?" he heard, zoning back in and cringing at his teacher's use of 'Peter' instead of 'Pete'.

"Yeah?" he responded after clearing his throat.

"B." Did Pete hear that wrong? Did his teacher actually say 'D'? Or was he smarter than he thought? "Well done - this is way better than usual."

Pete mumbled a "thank you" and remained seated for the rest of the lesson thinking about how, for the first time in what felt like forever, he was genuinely proud of himself.

It was weird - he was so used to being disheartened that anything other than that felt almost alien to him. A good kind of alien, though. Definitely good.

He couldn't wait to tell Mikey.

-

It wasn't until later that day, at lunchtime, when Mikey next saw Pete.

As the shorter boy walked up to him, Mikey pinpointed a happy expression on his face, and damn, that smile was contagious, so he smiled too, greeting him in the process. "Hey, Pete!"

"I have good news!" Pete said, jumping straight into it instead of greeting Mikey back, startling him a little.

"Would you care to elaborate a little, please?" Mikey prompted, curious to find out just what had created Pete's giddy behaviour. Taking a wild guess, he reckoned it was something either to do with grades or drugs. Yeah. That sounded about right.

"So you know that test I did last week?" Pete said, and at that point, Mikey had already narrowed the cause of the smile to grades and not drugs, but still continued asking Pete about it, regardless of his knowledge/assumptions.

"Yeah?" he said, stringing out the 'ea' sound.

"I got a B, Mikey! A fucking B!" Pete exclaimed.

"Holy fuck, I knew you could do it!" Mikey beaned.

"Well, I learnt from the best, after all," he said, causing Mikey to blush a little.

"Why thank you, I'm flattered," he said, a sarcastic tone in his voice. After a few seconds contemplation, he decided to add a second comment onto the end of that: "do you maybe wanna go out to celebrate?"

"What, like on a date?" Pete questioned.

"Yeah. A date," Mikey confirmed, and holy fuck, this was happening, this was finally happening. It kind of felt too good to be real, y'know? Like a really good dream, and any moment now he would wake up and enter a reality where he was still going nowhere with Pete.

That was quite a harsh thought, actually. Mikey needed a moment to recover from it.

And although they had never actually directly said to each other "ah, yes, wanna be my boyfriend?" it was kind of an unspoken agreement that they were officially dating, and Mikey loved that.

But anyway, Mikey kind of felt like he could combust with the amount of happiness and homosexuality running through his body in that moment. It was an oddly nice feeling - one Mikey knew he'd never forget. Just like he'd never forget Pete, but that was obvious, because Pete was a rather memorable person that people tended to remember for a long time.

"I'd love to," Pete grinned, and the smile sent a wave of reassurance through Mikey, as if all his worries about school, family and Pete himself had just disappeared, and the only thing that remained was a pleasant feeling of adoration - one so strong and just so good that Mikey reckoned he could probably live off of it forever, cherishing every moment.

i know this was kinda short but listEN the epilogue is coming in like.....an hour or smth and thatll be longer anyway sorry for my week long hiatus im garbage aight
anyway i lov u all loads and i hope u have a good day/night/whatever
xoriley