Chapter Text
The next morning arrived far too quickly.
Patrick woke with the vague feeling that he'd forgotten something important. Then he remembered Pete. Not Pete himself, exactly.
Pete and Mikey.
The thought settled over him like a weight as he wandered backstage with a cup of coffee gone cold in his hands. Joe was saying something.. probably about the setlist, or a guitar that needed restringing but Patrick only caught every third word.
"...you listening?"
"Hm?"
Joe gave him an amused look.
"I asked if you wanted to run through that bridge again."
"Oh. Yeah. Sure."
But his mind wasn't there.
It was somewhere else entirely.
What if Pete actually liked Mikey?
Patrick knew Pete.
He knew Pete could be reckless with feelings his own and other people's. Pete wasn't a bad friend, but he wasn't always a careful person.. mentally and physically.
Patrick frowned at the floor.
What could he even do?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
...
A light nudge landed between his shoulder blades.
Patrick turned so quickly he nearly spilled his coffee.
Mikey.
"Oh."
That came out louder than intended.
"Morning."
Patrick blinked.
"M.. Morning."
There it was again. that tiny smile.
"You guys excited for tonight?"
Patrick stared for half a second too long before remembering he was supposed to answer.
"Oh yeah! Yeah, definitely. Crowd should be good."
"I think so too."
For some reason... The conversation kept going. They talked about yesterday's show.
About how exhausting buses became after weeks on the road.
Mikey mentioned accidentally sleeping through soundcheck once.
Patrick laughed so hard he had to cover his mouth.
"You actually did?"
"I did."
"How?"
"I don't know... It just happened.. i woke up and everybody was just starin at me."
Patrick wholeheartedly laughed again.
"You've gotta be kidding."
Mikey shrugged, smiling faintly this time.
"I wish I kinda was."
Patrick couldn't stop smiling.
His chest felt so warm.. Almost unbearably.
But another thought kept creeping in.
Maybe Mikey was just being nice.
Maybe he probably talked like this with everyone.
Maybe Patrick was reading far too much into a perfectly ordinary PLATONIC conversation.
Still... He found himself hoping it wouldn't end.
That maybe they'd have something more than just a ordinary conversation.
Across from him, Mikey had his own problem... Patrick smiled with his whole face.
He laughed quietly, like he wasn't trying to draw attention to himself.
Every time Patrick looked at him directly with those eyes, Mikey felt oddly... lighter.
Maybe...
Maybe this wasn't impossible after all.
Then a movement caught his eye.
Pete.
Standing around the corner and coming closer... Patrick saw him too, his smile fading little by little.
The warmth he'd been carrying seemed to disappear in an instant.
"Oh."
He rubbed the back of his neck again.
"I should probably... uh..."
Mikey waited.
"...Go."
Patrick smiled awkwardly.
"See you around."
"Yeah."
Mikey watched him leave before he could think of anything to say that would've made him stay.
"...See you."
His shoulders sank just a little.
"Hey!"
Pete appeared beside him with his usual energy.
"You ready?"
Mikey looked over.
"Yeah."
Pete launched straight into a story about something ridiculous nonsense that had happened earlier that morning.
Mikey listened.
He barely even listened.
But every few seconds...
His eyes drifted toward Patrick.
Across the venue.
Laughing with Joe now.
Adjusting his hat.
Looking down at the floor whenever someone caught him staring too much.
Cute.
That was the word.
Patrick was...
Really cute.
—
The show came and went in a blur of lights and amplifiers... Patrick found himself stealing glances toward the opposite side of the stage whenever he could.
Only to catch Pete looking at Mikey.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Patrick's stomach tightened.
Of course.
Pete was always looking at him.
It was Pete.
Pete.
Pete.
Pete.
Patrick looked away before anyone noticed.
He focused on singing instead with a churning in his stomach.
—
That night, Patrick collapsed face-first into his pillow with an exhausted groan.
"This is stupid..."
He squeezed his eyes shut.
His imagination betrayed him immediately.. He pictured himself talking to Mikey again.
.. Maybe they'd grab coffee.. Maybe Patrick would finally stop sounding nervous and make a move.
Maybe..
He imagined Mikey's smile.
Patrick's train of thought derailed instantly.
Instead of imagining the conversation...
He was just thinking about Mikey's face.
His smile.
His quiet voice.
The way he'd laughed this morning with Patrick.
Patrick groaned into the pillow.
"Oh my God..."
He buried his face deeper.
"Patrick, You're so embarrassing."
—
A few buses away, Mikey lay awake staring at the ceiling next to his pillow with a unicorn print on it.
He replayed the morning over and over.
Patrick had laughed at his joke.
Patrick had smiled.
Patrick had actually seemed happy to talk to him.
He wanted that again.
But...
How?
He wasn't exactly good at approaching people.
Asking for someone's number outright felt terrifying.
Fortunately...
Andy Hurley happened to be walking past later that evening.
"Hey, Andy?"
Andy looked up.
"Yeah?"
"You, uh..."
Mikey hesitated.
"...You have Patrick's number?"
Andy didn't think twice.
"Yeah."
"...Could I have it?"
"Ok Sure."
Andy recited it from memory before continuing on with whatever he'd been doing.
No suspicion... No raised eyebrow.
No teasing.
.. Just... Gave it?
Mikey stared down at his phone for nearly ten minutes.
He typed.
Deleted.
Typed again.
Deleted again.
Finally, at exactly 11:45pm, he pressed send before he could lose his nerve.
“Hi. It's Mikey.”
—
Patrick's phone buzzed against the mattress.
He frowned.
Who was texting him this late? he was sleeping snug as a bug... He reached over, unlocking the screen.
Unknown Number???
His thumb tapped the notification.
“Hi. It's Mikey.”
Patrick froze.
"..."
His heart skipped.
"...What?"
He sat upright so quickly his blanket slipped onto the floor.
How...
He never gave Mikey his phone number.
He felt so giddy.. as in he felt as if he was going to melt right there.
Mikey wasn't even sure Patrick would see the message tonight.. Maybe he'd already gone to sleep. Maybe he was busy.
Maybe he'd changed his number months ago and Andy had accidentally given him the wrong one.
So, after sending the first message, Mikey simply kept typing.. Stopping..
Typing again.
“Hi. i kinda wanted to know you better, because”
“We don't really talk much.”
“You seem nice.“
He sighed quietly at himself.
Across the parking lot, in a different tour bus...
Patrick was staring at his phone like it contained the meaning of life.
The little typing... bubble appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Patrick's ears burned.. His heart was beating so loudly he was convinced someone else could hear it.
"Oh my God..."
He whispered it to absolutely no one.
He couldn't stop smiling.
his stomach fluttered all over again.
He felt ridiculous.. Like some teenager with his first crush.
Finally, another message appeared.
“I kinda wanted to know more about you.. we don't talk much and u seem preytty cool"
Patrick didn't even think.
His fingers were already moving before his brain caught up.
“Really? I'd like to know you more too.
:) You seem cool too mikey”
Sent.
Almost instantly.
Mikey blinked.
"...Oh."
He actually answered.
Immediately.
A tiny smile found its way onto Mikey's face.
Maybe...
Maybe Patrick wanted this too.
He started typing another reply.
"So."
Suddenly a thump.
A pillow smacked directly into the side of his head.
"What the fuck?"
Frank Groaned from the bunk across from him.
"Dude."
Another pillow.
"Go to sleep."
"I'm texting."
"It's midnight."
"I'm aware."
"So stop."
Mikey rolled his eyes.
"I'm busy."
Frank threw the pillow again.
"You're literally smiling at your phone."
"I am not."
"You are."
"I'm not."
"You are."
Mikey sighed dramatically.
Frank wasn't going to quit.
Another pillow landed in his lap.
"Seriously," Frank mumbled, already half-asleep. "Lights out."
Mikey glanced back at his phone.
Patrick's message was still sitting there.
He quickly typed with one hand.
“gnodnight”
He hit send before he even realized he'd misspelled it.
Then, with one last annoyed glance toward Frank, he locked his phone and shoved it beneath his pillow.
"Happy now?"
Frank gave a lazy thumbs-up without opening his eyes.
“Yaa.”
—
Patrick's smile faded almost immediately.
His screen now read:
“gnodnight”
...
That was...
Short.
Really short.
Patrick stared at it for several seconds.
"...Did I..."
His chest tightened.
"...Say something wrong?"
Maybe he'd replied too quickly.
Maybe saying he wanted to know Mikey better had been too much.
Maybe Mikey regretted texting him in the first place.
Patrick chewed nervously on the inside of his cheek.
After a long moment, he typed back anyway.
“Goodnight, Mikey. Sleep well :)”
He watched the message deliver.
No reply came.
Of course not.
Mikey had already gone offline.
Patrick set his phone down carefully beside his pillow.
"...Idiot."
He wasn't sure if he meant himself or the situation.
Either way, sleep felt much farther away than it had an hour ago.
—
Meanwhile, in another bus entirely...
Mikey had already drifted onto his side beneath the blankets.
Frank's snoring had started.
The lights were off.
The only thing left awake was Mikey's thoughts.
Patrick had answered immediately.
Immediately.
The thought alone made warmth spread through his chest.
He smiled faintly into the darkness, hugging the faded unicorn-print pillow he'd had.
Maybe...
Maybe asking for Patrick's number hadn't been such a bad idea after all.
He closed his eyes.
And somewhere between waking and sleep, Patrick's freakin cute smile followed him into his dreams.