band one-shots

you are my favorite 'what if' || petekey

hi i'm updating again for the second time in 3 days 😅

ship: pete wentz x mikey way

~

Backstage Warped Tour is where it always happens.

"It" is Pete Wentz sprawled on a chair, watching Mikey, one of his absolute best friends in the world. Mikey's performing with the rest of My Chemical Romance, fingers elegantly plucking at bass strings. He's oblivious to Pete's eyes on him.

The band finishes "Helena" and Gerard Way steps back from the microphone, sweat soaked and panting. He yells something into the crowd that Pete can't hear because it's too loud and too warm for him to concentrate in this sun.

He's always hard a hard time concentrating on things, and it's only gotten worse now, as Mikey tends to consume most of Pete's attention. It's reached a point where smaller things barely even register in Pete's brain anymore, because if it's not the pretty boy who plays bass guitar and wears stupid rectangular glasses, then it doesn't fucking deserve Pete's attention.

Soon enough, Mikey is ducking offstage, his guitar strap still around his neck. His mouth curves up when he sees Pete, because that's what best friends do, right? They smile at each other. So both of them suppress the butterflies deep in their stomach, because yeah, it's definitely normal to be nervous around a boy you've known awhile.

The only reason it might not be normal, could be if one of them had a secret they were keeping, but of course that's not it. Pete has nothing to hide and neither does Mikey, so Mikey sits down next to him easily, gently dropping his bass on the floor.

"You were fuckin' great." Pete should know, because unlike the girls in the crowd focusing on Gerard, his eyes were locked solidly on Mikey. "Better than me."

"Nah, dude." Mikey says, shaking his head. His glasses are slightly askew, and it captivates Pete. The raven-haired boy leans forward a bit, longing to reach up and touch Mikey's face. Just to fix his glasses. Not for any other reason.

It's ruined though, when Mikey pushes them up himself. Pete's hand was on the verge of reaching up, and he now pushes it back down on the arm of the chair. The tiny movement flickers in the lenses and Mikey looks at Pete's hand.

The fingernails on it are bitten and raw. A classic symptom of playing guitar too harshly, but there's a little more to it than that. It's from staying awake until 4 A.M. because the consistent echo in your mind causes you to need to bite something, anything to still feel alive.

"When's your band's set?" Mikey murmurs, tearing his gaze away.

"About an hour. I should go find Patrick." But neither of them moves at all.

Mikey's eyes travel back to Pete's calloused hand and his own hand inches towards it. He's half expecting Pete to jokingly shove it away or give him a fist bump maybe, anything a friend would do.

What neither of them is expecting is for Pete's to grasp his. Both their hands are sweaty and rough with shaky fingers, and the thoughts start shooting across Pete's mind.

Oh my God this is Mikey Way that is his hand what am I doing why hasn't he moved this feels nice what the fuck am I doing why won't he move his fucking hand God I can't breathe.

Pete ends up wrenching his arm away and getting to his feet because he can't fucking take it. It feels so nice but it feels so wrong, and honestly he would rather be right than feel good.

 Mikey is startled and he starts to get up too. "Pete- Wait- I'm sorry-"

"It's fine, it's fine." He repeats, steadying his breath. It's perfectly fine but it's also extremely fucked, and he doesn't know what to feel. "I'm gonna go start setting up."

He starts walking away, and that's the last time he speaks to Mikey Way face to face the entire tour.

Maybe Mikey liked holding his hand, and maybe it was fine, maybe he didn't need to walk away like that. But it's a little late now, and he finishes the rest of the tour trembling with anxious thoughts and lyrics dripping from his fingertips.

~

hi y'all i'm really proud of this and i wrote it in like 3 hours 😊✌