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"Patrick!" Joe greets Patrick with enthusiasm when he arrives at the guests' lounge.
"Hey," Patrick smiles. It's been a while since the tour ended and it feels nice to see his bandmate again. "I'm the second one?" He looks around.
"No, you're the last." Joe says amusedly. "Pete and Andy went out just a minute ago."
"Uh-huh." Patrick lowers his bag on a couch.
"Have you eaten?" Joe asks abruptly. Patrick turns his head to look at him.
"Huh?" He hums in confusion. It's sometime past four in the afternoon. "Which meal are you talking about?" He chuckles.
Joe cracks up, too. "Nevermind. It's just something we ask out of habit. Family thing, I guess."
"I'll eat after filming. Wanna go together?" Patrick shrugs, now thinking more seriously about his next meal.
"Yeah. Sure." Joe smiles. "Dude. Have you lost weight?" He asks, again a bit too sudden. Sometimes Patrick can't keep up with Joe's hairpin turn of thoughts.
"I," He stutters a little. "You noticed."
"It's pretty obvious." Joe points out. Patrick feels like he should feel uncomfortable about Joe commenting on his weight, but he quickly, thankfully realizes he's long past the stage of caring about that. And also he never quite cared when Joe did it. Joe never made it judgemental, even back when he was a little self-conscious about it. He's grateful for it.
"I guess." He shrugs again.
"You know what?" Joe says with a pseudo-thoughtful face that makes Patrick smile even before hearing him speak.
"What?"
"I think you lose weight whenever you're away from Pete." Joe half-jokes.
"Hah?" Again Patrick can barely keep up with Joe's flying thoughts. How did the conversation suddenly jump to Pete?
"Whenever we take a few months break or do our own stuff you get smaller, and when you're touring or in studio with Pete it's the other way around. Seriously. Think about it." Joe looks like he's trying hard to convince Patrick, even to the extent of fishing out his phone, presumably to look for pictures to prove his point.
"Hey," Patrick protests, laughing wryly. "It's not just Pete. It might've been you." He reasons back. "We all tour together, you know. You're snacking a lot, too."
Joe looks ready to argue when just then the door opens and a large paper box emerges first, followed by Pete- who is carrying the box, apparently,- and Andy, with drinks in his hands.
"Patrick!" Pete exclaims. "You're here, man."
"Yeah." Patrick smiles back, his heart instantly warm at the sight of them. "That's an impressively large box you've got there." He eyes it suspiciously.
"Yep. Vegan Sunday Donuts." Pete announces proudly.
"Except it's not Sunday." Andy cuts in.
"Doesn't matter." Pete says ernestly.
As Pete and Andy settle down the food at the table, Joe and Patrick share a look.
"Definitely Pete." Joe says under his breath.
Patrick just pulls a face and can't disagree.