Cause of Death {{PETERICK}}

//chapter five//

Pete and Patrick ate their pizza quickly, in Patrick's case, at least. For Pete, they'd eaten it pretty slowly, but that was okay. It wasn't a great pizza, either, but it wasn't a bad one. Kind of like their date, it was great, but it wasn't bad either. Granted, it could have been, and probably should have been, far less awkward than it was, but it was still good. They ate pizza, they talked, they managed to both stay alive despite feeling like they might die. It definitely hadn't gone all that badly.

It was getting kind of late, kind of late meaning if Patrick didn't ask Pete to leave now he'd be tempted to ask him to stay the night. He wanted to do that, but he couldn't, it would be wrong. Not because there was anything wrong with it, it would be wrong because they had only just met, and Pete, while he said this had been a good date, only really wanted this dead person, who Patrick still didn't know the name of, to come back to life. He needed to know who this person was, because the sooner he did the sooner he could help Pete get over him, and that was all he really wanted to do right now.

Helping Pete shouldn't have been Patrick's biggest focus. It was good that he was trying to help his new friend, but it wasn't just out of the goodness of his heart. He was only really so intent on helping Pete because he thought, once he was over this dead guy, he could actually like Patrick. Patrick didn't really know if he'd even be able to help Pete with his loss, but he wanted to, even if it was just for himself. There had to be something good in that, Patrick was sure he could find it if he looked for it.

"Should I get going?" Pete asked, noticing Patrick glancing at the clock, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stay so late, I wasn't focusing on the time."
Patrick shook his head, "It's fine, I was just checking the time."
"Oh, okay."

There was an awkward silence then, that didn't need to happen. Patrick didn't want it, and Pete couldn't have meant to trigger it, either. Patrick couldn't understand how they'd reached this, but it didn't matter, he knew how to get them out of it.

"You wouldn't want to, uh," Patrick stuttered, having to quickly convince himself not to back out, "stay over, would you? I mean, I can sleep on the couch, but... If you wanted to, I mean, you can... The offer is there."

Pete laughed lightly, nothing he knew about Patrick made him seem like the kind of person who would ask him to stay the night after the first date. Especially when he hadn't wanted to consider it a date in the first place. Still, Pete felt like it would help him if he put himself completely out there, so he accepted Patrick's offer.

"You don't need to be nervous," Pete laughed, "it is cute, though, so maybe you should be. I don't know, I'll stay here if you'd like me to."
Patrick tried to contain his glee, and keep it out of his voice, but he failed miserably, "Cool, cool, great, okay, wonderful-- uh, you... you think I'm cute, for real, honestly?"
"Are you kidding me? You're fucking adorable! Your personality is sweet, too. The only thing I think you have to work on is your 'technique', if you know what I mean."

Patrick felt like that was praise in the highest form. He didn't really know what Pete meant by 'technique', but he was willing to work on everything to find out. It should be impossible to like someone this much after only knowing about them for a week, and only just getting to know them. It wasn't, though, and Patrick was just now finding that out. He didn't like it, of course, but he didn't hate it, either. It was a little bit sad that Patrick knew Pete wouldn't like him the same way he liked him, but he felt like he could get over that. He felt like Pete being in his life was actually making him happy.

It was already 10pm, and Patrick had no idea how it had gotten so late so quickly. He knew what time was, of course, but he hated how much quicker it seemed to pass when he was enjoying himself. Still, the time was just the time, and the time was the time Patrick usually went to bed. He knew it wasn't wild like some people his age, but it meant he was always awake in the morning, which was always nice. No one liked mornings, but they were more tolerable for people who got a good amount of sleep, and Patrick was proud to say he was one of those few people.

"I'm going to go to bed," Patrick said, with a little fake yawn to make it more clear, "are you coming?"
"Not like there's much else for me to do," Pete said in a bored tone, but he noticed Patrick's face, and how upset it looked, and laughed, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, of course I'm coming."

Patrick was unimaginably glad that he got to sleep next to a real person that night. It wasn't like he was desperate for sex or anything, because he wasn't, he just needed another person in house, and, but only by extension, in his bed. He just wanted to feel loved by someone. In fact, just having Pete on his couch had made Patrick's night ten times better than it would have been without him. It was sad to admit, but it was the truth, no matter how lame it was. He wasn't cool, but at least Pete thought he was cute, that was a real confidence booster, especially coming from someone like Pete, who actually was good looking.

Patrick lead Pete up to his bedroom, but in the least sexual way he could think of. He didn't want to make Pete feel uncomfortable, or like he only wanted sex because, once again, he didn't. Patrick just wanted someone else in his bed, because he had found out that double beds get very lonely, especially when he was so single. Maybe he wasn't anymore, though, but that was probably up to Pete. Patrick didn't want to rush into anything, but he also didn't want to waste any good opportunities, either. He just wanted a nice boyfriend, and he really didn't think that was too much to ask for.

When Patrick and Pete climbed into bed, Pete took a moment to look around the room. It was nice, but very boring, especially when he compared it to his bedroom. Maybe that meant he was still immature, but he liked it.

"What are you looking at?" Patrick asked, watching Pete as his eyes darted around the room.
"Nothing," Pete lied, "just your room. It's very... vanilla."
"Yeah, but," Patrick laughed, "so am I. It's to be expected."
"I don't think you're that vanilla, Patrick Stump."
"I don't think you're that vanilla, either, Pete Wentz."