Guilty Conscience

Chapter 4

The next day, Mikey woke up first. He hadn't drank nearly as much as the other 3 boys so he was fairing better than they were today. It was still almost noon before he took some painkillers and emerged from his room. He used the bathroom and changed out of his pajamas then went downstairs to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

When he had almost finished cooking the scrambled eggs and toast, he heard the basement door creak open and moments later a rather worse for the wear looking Frank had joined him in the kitchen. Rubbing at his eyes, the shorter boy just asked "you make enough for everybody or am I grabbing some cereal?" Mikey held back a laugh "Don't I usually make enough for you guys? Get the plates down, it's almost ready." Frank nodded and went over to the correct cabinet and grabbed dishes and cutlery for everyone before helping Mikey serve up the food for all of them and disappearing back into the basement with a pair of the plates. Mikey shook his head and cleaned up before taking the remaining plates along with a couple more bottles of water up to his room.

Patrick was sitting there in the bed looking rather miserable. Mikey walked over and set the plates on the bedside table then picked up the bottle of ibuprofen and handed it to him. "Here, take this and eat something." Patrick squinted up at him, accepting the bottle and taking a couple pills. He gulped the rest of the half bottle of water he had from the night before. He rubbed his hands over his face, put on his glasses, and grabbed the plate of food, staring at it blankly before starting to eat. "Have you heard anything from Pete?" he mumbled with a mouth full of toast. Mikey shook his head "No, but I doubt he has my number, so that's not really surprising." "oh... yeah" Patrick agrees then continues eating in silence as the other boy has settled himself at his desk to eat his own breakfast. "Whenever you feel up to it I'll borrow Gee's car and take you back to his house.... sorry for kinda just kidnapping you last night." Patrick stopped eating to look at him "No, it's fine. Thank you." "for what?" Mikey stops and looks back at him. "I probably would have done something stupid if you hadn't, so thanks." He sets his plate down in his lap. "We can go back whenever...". "Finish eating first." Mikey commands as he finishes the last of his own food. Patrick does as he's told while listening to the other continue " your clothes are pretty dirty, you can just wear those and return them later...". The smaller boy nods and sets his empty plate on the nightstand. "Sorry for the trouble." Mikey shakes his head "Don't be. Let's get you back to your friend's place huh?" he led Patrick downstairs and grabbed Gerard's keys from the table by the door. He knew he'd be home before they were even missed so no need to ask.

Patrick directed him to Pete's house, where he was dropped off. Pete answered the door in just enough time to see who was driving off. "Was that Mikey?" Patrick nodded as Pete let him in and they walked back to his room. "Where the fuck were you guys? We couldn't find you after the fire!" he stopped once they got in his room and looked his friend up and down. "Wait. Whose clothes are those?" "Mikey's" Patrick mumbled, preparing himself to be yelled at. "What?!" Pete glared at him "What the fuck is going on with you lately, Patrick? You know I like him but you seem to be hanging out with him every time I turn around. Now you're disappearing after a fire, not contacting me at all and just showing up the next day wearing Mikey Way's clothes & saying you just stayed at his house instead? Amazing thing to have my so called best friend do to me." he ranted.

Patrick just sat there listening until that last sentence. That was enough, he couldn't take this. "Do to you?! You're the one that keeps dragging me along when you know good and well you're going to spend the entire time ignoring me to make out with Kai or something. You say she's annoying you but you seem to forget I exist half the time! You two disappeared long before Mikey even found me last night! You say how dare I not contact you, but how hard did you really try to get a hold of me either, huh?" his question was met with silence so he grabbed his bag and started off toward the door. Pete just glared at him as he went through the door, not even trying to stop him. Patrick slammed the door and stomped off to his house muttering to himself.

He didn't dare slam his door as he got home, shutting it gently & calling out "I'm home mom." She walked around the corner moments later "You're home early. I didn't think you would be home until tomorrow." he tried to smile at her "Sorry, I should have called and let you know." "Go get changed so I can get those clothes washed for you to return to Pete on Monday. I'm not even going to ask why you couldn't wear your own." Patrick looked down as himself. "Oh yeah, I just kinda forgot... yeah I'll do that." He went back to his room, tossing his bag in the corner and switching to his own house clothes before taking the borrowed ones out to the laundry room and grabbing a quick meal. He really didn't even feel like watching tv or reading so he just went right to bed. He spent the night having strange nightmares, but for some reason dream Mikey kept saving him.