Loveless (Peterick)

♡9♡

The announcement had been sent to every employee's email slapped across the screen once opened like an extra extravagant party banner:  Valentine's Day Yacht Party. It was about a week away, but it felt like it could be tomorrow. He didn't have much time left to ask Mikey out on a date beforehand, so Pete decided that he would do just that today. He had asked Patrick how he could approach the situation, but he had only replied that he trusted Pete could make it happen on his own now that the deadline was so near.
"You've been hanging out with him a lot, haven't you?" Brendon asked.

"I mean not really. Once in a while we'll go for a coke and burger during lunch or have a few beers after work, but nothing this serious."

"When I want a dude to know I like him I throw hints his way, flirt a little, then ask him if he wants to go out sometime. Once you do he's basically yours the night of the party."

So Pete approached Mikey who was sat at his desk chewing on some gum while marking his calendar. He looked up when he saw him with a blank expression.

"'Sup, Wentz. What can I do for you?"
"There's- erm- there's something wrong with my computer. Do you think you could help me fix it?"
"Yeah. Sure."

Mikey bent over slightly to move the mouse and bring Pete's computer back to life, but Pete had unplugged his monitor to give him more time.

"What are you- um- what are you doing later, man?"
"Huh?"
"You've got any plans tonight?" Pete asked, letting his hand drop in the space next to Mikey's.

His fingers traveled slowly until his pinky was brushing against the other's hand. The taller of two's sunglasses fell down the bridge of his nose as he made eye contact with him, and his chewing came to a stop. Mikey's stare fell upon their hands like he was processing what was going on.

"Why?" he asked, looking back up at Pete's face again.
"I was thinking...well, if you weren't busy if you'd like to..."

Pete had his hand on Mikey's now, looping his digits into the gaps in between. He could hear his heartbeat pump faster in the silence. A smirk came to his lips. It was subtle, something Pete might've not noticed if he hadn't been paying attention.

"Your monitor's unplugged," he told him, reaching over to put it back into one of the extension cord's outlets.
"Oh. I must've accidentally kicked it out with my foot."

"Right."

They both stood there with their hands still together until Ray's voice interrupted them both.

"Mikey, I need you to send these faxes!" he called out from his office.

"Would you like to go out with me?" Pete asked.
"Like on a date or something?"

"Yeah. I guess you could call it that."

The tall man still held a straight face as he stood upright and slid his hand out from under. He popped a bubble and fixed his glasses properly on his nose.

"What are we going to do?"

"I was thinking we could go to tour this botanical garden first. Maybe visit a cool art gallery I heard's tonight. Then we can have some dinner at a Thai restaurant. I know how that's your favorite kind of food. Maybe afterwards we can come back to my place and just hang out with some beer like we always do."

"Cool. We're going after work?"

"Yeah. That's the idea."

"Then I'll see you later."

Once both their shifts had ended they met at Pete's car and drove quite a while away to the garden.

Pete tried to make conversation between them, but Mikey was too absorbed in his phone to even answer, so he left it at that after Mikey lazily grunted as a reply to one of Pete's questions. He figured the garden would make everything flow much easier. There were fountains at the entrance. Streams of water jumped up from valves in the fountains, differentiating in pattern every minute or so.