America's Suitehearts

Part 5

They walk into the venue, surrounded by security, and look out at the floor, the balcony, the empty seats soon to be filled with a sea of screaming boys and girls. God, they loved these kids, there wasn't anything in the world they wouldn't do for them. They hit up the green room, conversing about Star Wars with Joe, and watching Andy straighten his hair, or at least trying to. "Ow fuckin ow!" Andy exclaims as he continuously burns himself with Pete's flat iron that he stole. "Ey! That's mine dude!" Pete demands, his hair strengthener is very dear to him. "You weren't here man, and the wardrobe girl isn't quick enough to find another one." Andy explains with a tiny hint of fear of Pete Wentz in his voice. Joe laughs and tries his best to imitate an annoying mom, "Where have you boys been?? We've been worried sick, dammit!" Pete laughs at Joe's impression and says, "Don't fucking swear, Trohamn! It's not fucking polite!" Patrick joins in on the teasing session, "Yeah, you impulsive asshole!" All the boys started to laugh, their friendship is their cure to growing older.  Everything was imperfectly perfect. This was how things were supposed to be.   

While Joe is fiddling with tuning his guitar, he spots the opening act band walk into their dressing rooms. "Hey, hey, wait up!!" Joe calls and jogs to where they are. A thin, lanky boy with thick eye liner is the only one who notices Joe before he walks into his room. "Hello." He says, holding his hand out to shake his. Joe is surprised at this gesture and fist bumps him instead, never being good at proper greetings. "What's up? You guys are opening for us right? The kids here are great, they'll love ya." Joe says to comfort this fellow musician. "Yeah okay, I'm Ryan. Thanks for the tip." "No problem dude, the name's Joe. You're the guitarist right? I am too... Hey could you help me tune my guitar?" "Sure thing," Ryan responds and Joe leads him out to the stage to his baby. Pete sees the familiar face and goes up to greet Ryan and introduce Patrick. "Hi, I'm Patrick." Patrick's voice was tiny, Ryan's make-up intimidated him. "Hey, I'm Ryan, it's a pleasure." Him and Patrick exchange a hand shake and Ryan goes back to help Joe.

Pete drags Patrick through the maze of sound rooms and finds the sign Panic! At The Disco dressing room and a handsome young boy walks out in a tuxedo. Patrick's face begins to blush. "Pete!!" He says and goes in for a hug and Pete returns the favor. Pete forgot the boy's name so all he can say is "Heyyyyy man!"  The boy looks at Patrick and sticks out his hand, Patrick shakes it and smiles big, "I'm Patrick." "Oh my god you're Patrick Stump!! It's such a pleasure to meet you man, I'm Brendon!!" Brendon pumps his hand up and down out of excitement, the hand shake lasting longer than needed. Pete senses Patrick's emotion and changes the subject. "Your voices would sound amazing together, I was trying to tell Patrick that earlier." Brendon's eyes light up, "Oh fuck yeah dude!! Sounds awesome, can't wait to record together man." He smiles big at Patrick and Patrick laughs, relieved that someone would want to record with him. "Ok great! We have openings for our next album, I'll give you call," he says all giddy, "Say, where you guys from?" Brendon's ears perk up at this question, "Las Vegas dude!! Fucking love it there man. Those Vegas lights man, they're so... God they're so addicting, all the adrenaline and gambling. So alive... It's like nicotine." Patrick nods, understanding he feels the same way about the lights on in Chicago.  "Well, knock 'em out tonight, dude." Brendon steps back, "Oh no, we'll warm 'em up for you guys, I just - we just hope we'll be as professional as you guys one day." Patrick laughs a little too hard. Fall Out Boy is far from professional, but it's sweet that this fella believes they are. "Thanks Bden." Pete says back and grabs Patrick's hand to take him to their shared dressing room.

Pete clings to Patrick's hand like a lifeline, he can't believe how lucky he is to have him. He stops at the vending machine on the way back to the dressing room. Even though the venue supplies all the food they could ever need, something doesn't beat the taste of half stale cupcakes. Once Pete gets his snack, he reattaches himself to Patrick and they find their way to their dressing room. Pete fiddles with his hair straightener as Patrick starts warming up, involuntarily hitting notes in falsetto and swaying his hips. 

"Patrick, you would look really hot without those bell bottoms on..." Pete approaches Patrick seductively and starts to unbuckle Patrick's belt looking deep in his eyes. Patrick doesn't stop him and starts to kiss Pete. Just then, Ryan walks into their room by mistake. "Oh!!" He exclaims, and Pete and Patrick stop dead in their tracks. "Uhhh... We uhhhh" Pete stutters. This time it's Patricks turn to take the lead. "We're making out. Got a problem?" Pete is stunned by Patrick's sass. Ryan is too, "No actually, I don't. Brendon and I... We've been togther for a while too. I'm... I'm glad to see there's others like us." Pete and Patrick smile at each other. Pete winks at Ryan and he gets the hint, closing the door, "Have fun you two." And leaves. 

Patrick goes to lift his pants back up, he doesn't want to be caught by someone else. Pete walks back to his straightener, "I guess band members are the gayest straightest people ever." He jokes making Patrick laugh. "Guess we'll just have to continue that later huh?" Pete asks nonchalantly, hoping. "If you're lucky, Wentz..." Patrick says, as he turns back to singing and hip swaying.

Pete is dragged into a trance, his eyes trailing Patrick's hips and ass and... Pete begins to feel aroused again. "Patrick, you can fuckin' dance. Jesus Christ, you're so beautiful." Pete says with honesty making Patrick blush and feel self conscious. "Well don't stop." Pete says motioning Patrick to continue his movements. "I'm not doing anything, the music just gets me okay?" He starts to sing along to 'Almost Like Being In Love' and goes off into his own world. Pete shakes his head, adoring this beautiful man. 

"Eyyyyyyyyyy!" Joe barges in, his mouth full of a quesadilla, and Andy follows close behind. "Hey Mrs. Robinson!" Patrick sings to greet the two, and they sing back, "Heaven holds a place for those that prey!" Patrick finishes with a loud "Hey, hey, hey!!" He loves it when the guys join in on his vocal warm ups, he wishes they'd sing along with him more often.  Pete remembers something and changes the subject, "Hey! So, Patrick and I want to finish with Saturday tonight and end every show with it. That cool?" Joe and Andy agree, Patrick feeling satisfied by this result.

It's that moment right before the lights come up, that moment that gives everyone chills. The set list is engraved into Patrick's mind by now, he's just waiting to dive into the music. Pete wears a huge smile, and flashes a thumbs up Patrick's way. Andy takes his shirt off and throws it away, "Fuck this." And Joe takes a last sip of Redbull. "You guys ready?" A manager asks. The boys do their usual high fives for good luck and exchange bro hugs and head out the door to backstage, the opening band is flooring the crowd. 

Pete turns to look at Patrick, "You ready sugar?" and winks. Patrick laughs, "As ready as I've ever been suitheart."