The Problem with Patrick || Fall Out Boy

the torture of small talk

When Pete woke in the morning, the bed was empty and the glass of water he'd placed on the nightstand was dried of all its fluid. Patrick's shoes were still at the side of the bed however, and Pete correctly assumed that Patrick was still somewhere in the house.

He found his friend in the bathroom, slumped beside a toilet bowl full of sick, with his head buried in his hands. He was still in last night's clothes, his hair sticking up all over his head, and only one sock on.

"Morning buddy." Pete tried to smile. "D'ya want me to grab you some water?"

Patrick groaned into his hands before glancing up at his friend. "You shouldn't have brought me here."

"Hmm? Patrick, if you had seen yourself last night, you'd know that leaving you there wasn't an option." He walked over and offered a hand out. "C'mon, let me make you some coffee."

"This is just embarrassing, Pete." Patrick mumbled glumly, getting to his feet.

"Not really. How many times have you helped me through a hangover?" Pete rebutted.

"More than I can count, but in those times you've been at a party or having a good time, not getting yourself wasted in front of House Hunters."

"It was a good show!" Pete laughed, before returning to a serious disposition. "Look, from what I saw, you were in a rough place, and I'm not just gonna leave you there. You couldn't even stand up, and from what I saw in your room, I mean-"

"You went into my room?!"

"I just, I had to grab you some clothes, obviously. And then there were all the dishes and the bottles, and well, yeah." Pete turned the coffee machine on and grabbed 2 cups from the cupboard. "You don't have to suffer in silence, Patrick. If you're going through a rough time, let me know so I can help."

Patrick just groaned and buried his face back in his hands. "I'm just embarrassed."

"There's no need to be embarrassed. Do you want sugar?"

"I'm right." Patrick mumbled, not making eye contact. "Do you have any aspirin?"

"Yeah, just in the fruit bowl there."

"You keep aspirin in the fruit bowl?"

"I have a lot of hangovers; it needs to be on hand." Pete laughed.

They sat down beside each other at the kitchen bench, sipping on the coffee and downing some aspirin (Patrick) and an apple (Pete). They didn't talk a whole lot, Patrick was just sitting in shame and Pete wasn't really sure how to start a conversation about what had happened without making him feel worse.

"J-Just, don't tell the other guys about this, okay?" Patrick spoke eventually. "I don't want this to become a big thing, because it's not. It was one time, and it's not a thing, and everything's still normal."

"I won't tell the others, this can just be between us." Pete assured him. "But from what I saw, that wasn't just one time."

Patrick sighed and took another sip of his coffee before trying to divert the conversation. "Is there any chance you might have grabbed my glasses?"

"Fuck!" Pete exclaimed loudly in realisation. The one thing he hadn't grabbed! "Sorry, 'Trick, slipped my mind."

"It's no big deal, I thought I'd just ask..."

"That's my fault, I'm sorry."

"No, it's not. It's not your fault I got so fucking wasted you had to take me out of my own house." Patrick said this quietly, more so if he was scolding himself rather than explaining the situation to Pete.

Pete sighed, pulled the cup away from his friend and looked him straight in the eye. "I don't know what's going on, and I'll respect if you don't want to talk about it, but I'm not gonna sit here and let you dig yourself deeper into this hole. Look, you've seen me dig myself into a pit, and it wasn't pretty. So I'm not letting you do the same thing."

"Well, you already want to kick me out of the band, so it doesn't matter!" Patrick snapped, getting up from his seat.

"I don't want to kick you out of anything! You're the fucking singer, Patrick! Irreplaceable! The band would not sound right without you! It's the rest of us that are replicable!"

"What kind of singer, Pete, can't sing in front of crowds?! A fucking useless one, that's for sure!" Patrick yelled, before feeling a sudden slump as the anger left and he hung his head. "God, I'm sorry, I just, I need to go."

Pete reached out to touch his shoulder, but Patrick pulled away coldly. "Um... did you grab my wallet or my phone?"

He shook his head. "Look, go get changed, have a shower, I've got some clothes and shoes for you, and then I'll drop you home, alright? I won't tell any of the other guys what's been going on, and god, I don't know, I guess I'll see you tomorrow for practice?"

Patrick ran a hand through his messy hair in frustration, but nodded and grabbed his bag of clothes from the sofa, before heading to the bathroom. Pete grabbed his phone and considered who to call. He wanted to help, he wanted to be able to do everything he possibly could, but all that seemed to be doing was making his friends just feel even more inadequate.

He couldn't call Joe and Andy, he'd promised Patrick he wouldn't. He couldn't call the label, that would only make them more uncertain about him. He couldn't call his mother, Patrick would never forgive him. Pete just sighed and tucked the phone back into his pocket.

When Patrick emerged clean and fresh, he mumbled an apology for his earlier behaviour, and Pete acknowledged it was probably his fault for invading his friend's privacy, then Patrick admitted that he was really grateful for the help last night, and the two had a brief hug before heading out to the car.

"Do you have groceries at home, Patrick?" Pete asked mindlessly as they turned a corner.

"Groceries?"

"Yeah, I mean, when was the last time you did the shopping?"

"I don't know... not too long ago I don't think, there should be stuff there."

"Okay, all good. Just let me know if there's not, I'll grab us a pizza or something."

Patrick smiled slightly. He knew that this was 90% an excuse for Pete to get another pizza, but there was also a nice bit of general concern and kindness underlying the message. "Okay, will do."

Pete smiled and pulled the car over next to Patrick's place. "Want me to walk you in, or are you right?"

"I'll be fine... um... thank again for last night, you really didn't have to do that..."

Pete just smiled as his friend got out of the car. "I'll see you round. Stay safe, yeah?"

"Yeah. See you later."