Sophomore Slump: Bandom Ships (Mainly Petekey)

Part Two: The Boy Back Home

[Mikey's POV]

The bell rang, releasing me from my thoroughly boring English class. Why did we have to read Romeo and Juliet? Luckily, I had lunch with Gerard and, more recently, Pete, so they could cheer me up. Even though Pete and I had only spent ninety minutes together, and our conversation had been cut short by the teacher taking notice, he was already one of my friends.

I ran into the tan boy on my way to put my things in my locker, quite literally. Our foreheads bumped and we both dropped our stuff. I looked up, ready to drop some sarcasm, but calmed down when I saw who it was. "Hey Mikey." He said, as we quickly grabbed our stuff. "Hey, Just Pete." I returned, smirking a little. He laughed. "You ever gonna drop that?" I shook my head no, and he rolled his eyes.

We walked away to our respective lockers, and then met again outside the cafeteria. "I'll show you where I usually sit." After getting a nod of agreement, I led Pete to my usual table, at which Gerard was already seated. "Mikes! What's up! Oh, you brought the new kid, huh?" Pete and I both laughed.

"Do you know what they're serving today?" Pete asked. "Nah. Mikey and I both pack." Gerard and I both held up our brown paper bags of food. "They always serve pizza. Like, every day." A familiar voice said, as he sat at our table, plate holding the Italian dish our country destroyed. "I'm Frank, by the way. Frank Iero." Frank stuck his hand out. "Pete Wentz." Pete reached out to shake Frank's hand, as was offered, but he pulled back. "Okay, yep, passes the politeness test." I scoffed. "Since when is there a politeness test at our table?" Gerard and Frank had an identical smirk. "Since you started making friends, Mikes." They said in almost perfect unison.

I faceplanted on the table, groaning. "Well, I'm gonna go get food now." Pete said, walking away from the table. I opened my sack lunch, pulling out a Capri Sun and a peanut butter sandwich. Pete returned a minute later, smiling rather wide. "Wow. People usually look disappointed at school lunches!" Gerard said. "First, I'm an unusual guy. Second, I really really really really like pizza. Even school pizza." He took a bite while making eye contact with Gerard, as if trying to prove a point. However, he dropped the pizza back onto his plate in what I saw as disgust, before pulling out his phone.

"I can't believe I forgot!" He grumbled, putting in earbuds. "Forgot what?" I asked. "I was supposed to text my bo- friend. My friend, from back in Illinois. He's more than a little concerned about my safety, since we've been ride or die almost since we met. Which was in first grade." It had sounded like Pete was about to say something else, but I didn't want to mention it.

Gerard, however, decided he did want to mention it. "You almost called him something else. What was that?" Pete flushed, stuttering slightly. "Best friend. But distance can drive people apart, and I wanted to get used to referring to him as just a regular friend in case we dropped the best friend label."

Pete was lying, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. But it wasn't my business. Some time passed, Frank and Gerard making inappropriate jokes to each other. When I was almost done with my sandwich, Pete practically yelled in shock. "Next weekend?"

Well, it wasn't really yelling, but it was in comparison to his silence before. "What's next weekend?" I asked. "Oh. He's coming to visit me. It's because his parents won't have any weekends off for a while after that, and they want us to see each other." I nodded. "Yeah, totally platonic behavior." Frank said, causing Gerard to laugh. Pete blushed.

"Oh, like you two know what 'platonic behavior' even is." They both looked shocked. "We are just friends, Mikes." Once again, they spoke in unison. "Of course. Because two guys constantly making sex jokes, grabbing each other's butts, and kissing all the time is a very heterosexual thing. And talking in unison." Frank and Gerard shrugged it off.

The four of us finished eating in near silence, Pete texting his 'friend' and laughing a little, cheeks slightly pink. "So, where's your next class?" I asked, after Pete returned from throwing away his trash. He simply showed me his schedule, returning to his phone. I looked over it. Fourth hour, gym class. We had the same teacher.

"Hey, I have that class and teacher too. We're in the soccer unit right now." I said, hoping he would respond. Pete just looked up, smiling. I wondered if I had caused that smile, or if it was his friend. "That's cool. I'm great at soccer. The best in my class in Illinois, actually." He bragged, and I laughed.

"Well, I guess you will beat me if we're put on different teams. Do you even have gym-appropriate clothes?" I asked. "Yes, I do. My mom told me to bring them in case I was put in a gym class, because we didn't know what my schedule would be." Gerard laughed, and I waited for the unwanted insight he was bound to give.

"Wow Mikes, sounds like you really wanna see Pete in shorts." Pete laughed, and my face burned. "Oh shut it, mister 'I'm completely straight and I grab my friend's ass as a joke'!" He groaned. "I am not in love with Frank. Or lust. Our relationship is solely platonic. Right, Frankie?" Frank just nodded, and he looked a little disheartened.

"Whatever you two need to tell yourselves. Let me know when you're ready to come out, okay?" Gerard scoffed. "You're just obsessed with our love lives because you don't have one!" The bell rang, and we all left for our respective classes. "Hey, Pete. Come with me, I don't really need to go to my locker. I don't want you getting lost because the teacher wouldn't care that it's your first day." He nodded, and we walked together.

So part two is here! In case you didn't know, this is gonna be hella slowburn because I'm evil lol. I hope there weren't any continuity errors, and let me know if there is one lol.