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When Patrick enters the backstage lounge, he first sees Andy, sitting on a couch, with his face in his phone. He then sees Joe, in an armchair at the far end of the table, absent-mindedly drumming on a book with Andy's drumsticks. Finally he lays eyes on Pete. Pete crouches on one knee in a corner, rummaging through a suitcase full of black clothes in clear plastic bags. Pete looks up when he hears Patrick approach.
"So. Group meeting?" Patrick asks. He's been summoned by text message to what Pete said was a group meeting.
"Oh, yeah." Pete turns back to the suitcase, files through the pile of black until he fishes one out from the bottom. It is a thin bag, probably a T- shirt or tank top, Patrick observes. "So… these just came in." He stands up and holds out the bag to Patrick.
"These?" Patrick takes the bag and says a little suspiciously.
"Lost Daze. One of our sponsors for the tour." Pete explains.
"M-hmm." Patrick listens.
Pete hesitates for a second. Then he begins. "These are for you." He makes a small gesture towards the pile of similar black pieces in the suitcase.
"For me?" Patrick repeats, vaguely knowing already what the deal is but wanting Pete to explain more.
"For the stage. Tonight." Pete's voice is a little tight. Patrick's thoughts are confirmed.
"Pete," Patrick says softly. "They're your sponsors. I mean, you're the one involved with the designs and all of that. Shouldn't you be the one wearing them?"
"I will- I'll be wearing the hoodie." Pete says this very fast and jerks his head towards the suitcase. He also says it with his usual nonchalant smile, but Patrick senses a trace of nervousness hidden beneath.
Patrick raises his eyebrows. "Okay," he says. He takes a look at the hoodie at the top of the pile, which has an identical design to the T-shirt in his hand.
"So this is gonna be like a group T-shirt thing?" He asks.
"Well, I was thinking-" Pete begins cautiously but is interrupted by Joe.
"It's not." Joe pipes in. "It's just you and Pete." He says flatly.
"... Okay," Patrick is not surprised, nor is he trying to sound like he is.
"It can be a group T-shirt thing." Pete laughs weakly. "I can make Andy and Joe-" He glances at Andy and Andy looks up from his phone with the most innocent look. He then looks back at Patrick. "-I can make Joe do it."
"Pete, I told you I'm not doing it. Plus, that's not the plan." Joe protests.
"- Which is?" Patrick asks, hardly able to hide the smile on his face. Pete's gaze meets Patrick's. Now Pete understands that Patrick gets it, because he looks at Patrick, lips pressed into a thin line and blinking. Patrick raises his eyebrows again, silently urging Pete to say it.
Pete breathes out and in, then starts slowly and carefully. "The idea was that… you and me wearing matching outfits…"
"-would draw maximum attention to the brand." Patrick finishes for him, in a mock-serious tone, as if he's giving a business proposal.
"- Exactly. You get the picture." Pete chuckles lightly. "But I don't want you to feel uncomfortable about it. So if you-"
"-Wentz." Patrick cut him off.
"Hm?" Pete looks half surprised and half scared.
"It is a solid idea. It's smart." Patrick says evenly.
"And you... feel okay doing that?" Pete now sounds more hopeful.
"Wentz," Patrick says in a firm voice. "What's going on? Everything okay?" Patrick takes a step forward to look at Pete's face. Pete backs away into the wall.
"Yeah." He shakes his head, his untied dyed blonde hair swinging. "I just… don't wanna push you into anything you don't want, you know."
Alright. He definitely read or heard something from someone, Patrick thinks. Pete says it like sometime in the past he'd pressured Patrick into giving performances he didn't want to do. But the truth is, Pete never did that. He knew where Patrick's boundaries were and respected them.
Patrick laughs softly and backs up a little, giving Pete space. "Pete." He says calmly. "If I didn't want to do something, I would've said no. I would say no to you. I'm apparently very good at that. Didn't you realize that?"
It was true. Pete never pushed him into anything he didn't want, and he never could have. Sometimes they'd fooled around a little backstage, sharing light kisses and joking touches of each other's bodies, Pete sometimes throwing dirty flirty lines at Patrick. But after a few incidents of Patrick expressing honest discomfort, Pete had come to know what made Patrick really uncomfortable, and stopped doing those, on and off stage alike.
Pete let out a small smile. "But we've never done this before. Like, wear matching outfits and stuff, I mean."
Patrick feels a wave of warmth and gratefulness towards Pete, for respecting his feelings like this, even after being bandmates for, like, twenty years.
"Well, if I get rewarded for the extra T-shirt sales I'll do it." Patrick teases.
Pete laughs, more genuine and relaxed this time. "Hey, Patrick." He says.
"Yeah?"
"All that stuff we did on stage… all that flirting and stuff… " He sounds careful again. "I thought… I thought you didn't really like it."
Patrick shrugs and smiles. "Dude, when did I ever complain about it?"
"Um, not much, just like, every single day?" Pete jokes. Patrick sees his face relax, and he joins the laugh.
"Maybe the fans are barely going to notice. The design is so small." Patrick studies his new T-shirt and says, sounding jokingly hopeful.
"Oh, they'll notice it just fine." Pete grins.