The Problem with Patrick || Fall Out Boy

we are the jack-o-lanterns in july

To say Pete was worried about his best friend was an understatement.

Patrick had mostly been coping pretty well with the whole 'not being able to play shows' thing. He'd taken to sitting in the bunk while the rest of the band was gone, quietly working on his music whenever nobody was around. He'd written quite a few songs over the past few weeks, and they were incredible songs, but Pete was easily able to see through the façade.

The rest of the band might not have been able to see the hurt in Patrick's eyes as they left for the shows, but Pete did. The rest of the band might not have noticed his desperation to constantly be with them, but Pete did. The rest of the band might have not seen that extra bit of excitement when they came back at night, but Pete did.

And it broke his heart.

They were reaching the end of the tour, Patrick approached him with a nervous smile and a cup of coffee. "H-Hey, Pete."

"Hey 'Trick, everything alright?" Pete asked as his best friend sat down next to him.

"Yeah, yeah. I, just... there's only two shows left."

"I know." Pete smiled warmly and took his hand. "Then we'll go home. I'm so sorry about this stupid tour, 'Tricky. This wasn't good for you, you shouldn't have ever had to come, and I'm gonna make it up to you, I promise."

"I wanna play." Patrick blurted out.

"What?"

"I, um, I wanna play..." Patrick looked down at his lap. "I've been thinking a lot, and I've been remembering a lot of the shows we used to play, before I went splat, and it's just... yeah. I miss it."

"The lights, buddy." Pete frowned. "I can't, I can't risk anything. It's terrifying."

"How do we even know that lights are the trigger, anyway?" Patrick responded. "When I had the first seizure, there were no lights in that bathroom."

That was a point, and Pete was silent for a moment as he considered.

"I've been w-writing, this song..." Patrick gently slid his computer onto Pete's knees, and handed him some headphones. "I wanna finish it, we've got a c-couple of weeks, and I dunno... I wanna sing it on stage and get back at Brendon at the final show."

At the mention of that, Pete clenched his fist. "What did he do to you?!"

"Nothing big, it's just like, the old stuff." Patrick quickly defended. "That and he got mad at me the other day because I was sleeping in on the couch when he wanted to play the PlayStation and he took my crutches. But that doesn't matter..."

Pete sprung up. "I'm gonna fucking kill him, Patrick."

"Don't kill anyone!" Patrick sprung up next and grabbed Pete's hands. "It's okay, it's okay, just, listen to my plan, okay? I think it's better than anyone hurting anyone, and I think it'll make him feel worse too."

Pete frowned, and slowly sat down. "Explain it to me, and then I'll decide whether he dies tonight or not."

Patrick sighed and shook his head, but opened the demo. "I dunno... it's rough. But I think if we can find a practice spot with Andy and Joe, then I reckon we can probably pull it off. So, um... the show set would be mostly normal, and I'd be up the back, and then about 3 quarters of the way in, you guys play the intro, and Brendon will be super confused, but I'll pop up and take the microphone and start belting out the lyrics. And Brendon won't know them, so he'll be super confused and stuff, and it'll be the ultimate revenge plan. And then I'll finish the set."

"Patrick, buddy..." Pete took a deep breath. "Even if, even if the stage lights aren't a problem and you don't have a seizure.... Do you think you can do it without passing out?"

"I... don't know yet."

"Plus you still have the cast, that's a big thing that you're not exactly going to be able to work around."

"It comes off before the final show." Patrick smiled.

"You think you can pull it off?"

"I wanna play, Pete." Patrick told him. "I haven't had a chance to really play all tour, and it sucks. I've been pretending it doesn't because I don't want to make other people feel bad, but it does. I helped make the songs, I wanna sing them, or even just play to them, you know?"

"I know." Pete assured him.

"Good. So, can I play?"

"Look, let me just listen to this, and then we'll have to see what Joe and Andy say, and then, yeah. We've got two weeks, so we're gonna have to put in a lot of effort if we want it to work."

"We can try." Patrick beamed.

"You really, really, really wanna do this? Even though it might end up hurting you a whole lot?"

"I really do."

Pete smiled at him. "Then let's do it."

Patrick grinned and hugged him tightly. "I'm so happy I could kiss you right now?"

"I mean, do you want to?" Pete offered with a cocky grin.

He expected a response, but all he got was the sensation of Patrick's soft lips against his own, and he could hear the fireworks going off in the distance.