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Patrick yawned, emptying his pockets into the plastic bin. He turned to Pete next to him, not quite surprised that Pete was struggling.
Their manager had decided to book them an early flight, much to all of their disappointment, and Pete had woken up one foot into his headspace. Patrick had worried about the struggle of getting small Pete through the airport security, but Pete must have noticed how stressed Patrick was and pushed himself out of headspace.
Now, however, it clearly wasn't working. Pete could swear up and down until he was blue in the face that he wasn't slipping, but Patrick could tell anyways.
"Hey, hey, relax..." Patrick mumbled, helping Pete undo his belt and pull it out of his jeans. He dropped it into a bin, then crouched down to untie Pete's shoes, putting them with the belt.
Pete whined, squirming and shuffling from one foot to the other. He clearly didn't like standing on the airport floors in just his socks. It always baffled Patrick how easily grossed out small Pete could be at times compared to the insane shit big Pete does.
"I know, you'll get your shoes back in a minute."
Getting their bags checked went smoothly for the most part, and either the person checking them didn't care or wasn't getting paid enough to, because she said nothing about the sippy cups and pacifiers, or any of Pete's other little stuff.
"Daddy I'm hungry!" Pete whined, kicking his feet against the floor as he squirmed in his seat. Patrick was next to him, keeping an eye out for Joe and Andy. It was rare that he and Pete arrived somewhere before they did, so Patrick was starting to get a little worried.
"Okay," Patrick sighed, glancing at the different food options scattered around. "What do you wanna get?"
"i wan' a kay-pop." Pete said as he pointed at the little Starbucks in the corner, so confident in his pronunciation.
"A what?"
"a kay-pop." Pete repeated, giving Patrick a dirty look as if he was the one in the wrong.
"A cake pop?" Patrick asked, assuming that was what Pete meant.
"I said that."
"No, you said- you know what? Sure, yeah let's go get a cake pop." Patrick said, standing up and offering Pete his hand. Trying to argue with Pete when he was mentally 4 years old was pointless.
"kay-pop." Pete 'corrected' Patrick again as they approached the Starbucks.
When it was their turn to order, Pete pointed at the strawberry one, so Patrick relayed that to the tired looking twenty-something year old girl working the register, as well as ordering a coffee for himself.
"Hey, aren't you those guys? from that band?" The girl said, eyebrow raised. "uhhhh, what's it called... Fall Out Boy or something, right?"
Patrick sighed. He had been hoping that nobody would recognize them today. Thankfully, the girl didn't seem too sure of herself. "uhhh, nope, think you've got me confused with someone else."
The girl shrugged it off, and Patrick was relieved for a moment, until the other person working in the starbucks turned around to hand him his coffee and the cake pop.
"Holy shit, you're Patrick and Pete from Fall Out Boy!" The kid said, his jaw nearly on the floor. Patrick sighed again, praying silently that the guy wouldn't notice anything off about Pete.
Pete, however, was loving being recognized. He always did love his fans. Patrick looked over at him and Pete looked like he was about to jump out of his skin with excitement.
"Okay, let's go." Patrick said, gently guiding Pete away with a hand on his shoulder before Pete had the chance to say something that would completely give away the fact that he was in the mental state of a literal toddler.
"Come on, I have your cake pop!!" Patrick said when Pete whined, trying to pull away from him. It calmed him immediately, and they returned to where they were sitting.
Thankfully, while they were at starbucks, Andy and Joe had arrived, and were both sitting there as well.
"Oh, you're here!" Patrick let out a relieved sigh. "I was starting to worry."
"Everything was a struggle this morning, Joe woke up small." Andy said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "How's Pete?"
"Also small."
"Great..."
Pete and Joe had started babbling to each other about something, but then Joe noticed Pete's cake pop.
"Can I have that?" Joe asked bluntly, pointing at it. Pete shook his head.
"No, it's my kay-pop" he grumbled, holding it protectively. "Get your own..."
"You don't deserve it!" Joe shouted, catching the attention of both caregivers.
"Why?!" Pete whined, trying not to let Joe see that he was tearing up. He really wanted his cake pop, and didn't want it to be taken because he didn't deserve it.
"Because," Joe said, brows furrowed. "You can't even say cake pop right."
Patrick was quick to try and intervene before the bickering turned into something more dramatic. He knew from experience that Pete did not like being corrected.
"Daddy!" Pete cried, turning to Patrick with tears in his eyes. "Joe said I don' deserve my kay-pop because I said it wrong b-but I didn't!!"
"I know, I know, it's okay honey. Nobody is going to take your cake pop! Joe is just in a bad mood because he's tired." Patrick said, cupping Pete's face in his hands and thumbing away the tears as they fell, hoping he could calm Pete before it escalated to a full meltdown in the middle of the airport.
During this, Patrick hadn't noticed Andy taking Joe over to the starbucks. He did notice when Joe returned with not one, but two cake pops, smirking at Pete. This, of course, set Pete off again.
"Why do he get two kay-pops and I don't?" Pete said, voice cracking a little. Patrick could tell he was genuinely upset.
"I-" Patrick started, but Pete cut him off.
"Am I bad?" Pete asked, tears starting to spill over again. He pulled his face out of Patrick's hands, pulling his knees to his chest and curling up in his seat.
"No no no, you're not bad, honey, promise! You're such a good boy, you did nothing wrong." Patrick said, resting his hands on Pete's shoulders. "You want another cake pop? I'll get you another cake pop, there's no need for tears, sweetheart! I'll be right back, okay?"
Patrick was as quick as possible, and returned after a minute or two with another cake pop. He held it out for Pete, who took it as he sniffled and clumsily wiped his face. Patrick sighed, sitting down next to Pete.
"You're spoiling him, you know." Andy said, looking past Patrick at Pete who was quietly eating his cake pops. "If you give him what he wants every time he cries, he's going to think it's a free ticket to get whatever he wants."
Patrick side-eyed him, annoyed. "I'm not spoiling him. Joe is the one who caused this, but you don't hear me telling you how to parent him, do you?" He said. "Don't act like you're some master of childcare, you barely have control over Joe sometimes. Maybe instead of trying to make him eat your weird vegan bread in his grilled cheese, tell him not to cause problems with Pete just because he's jealous that Pete get's treats once in a while."
Patrick hadn't meant to say all of that, but it was early and he was tired, and he was also pretty sure that the kid working at the Starbucks was too distracted by the fact that he was making coffee for someone in Fall Out Boy to actually pay attention and make the coffee properly.
"Once in a while?" Andy sputtered, clearly also annoyed. "You drop anything you're doing to give Pete whatever he wants when he so much as whines, then you wonder why he throws fits so often. You're spoiling the hell out of him and don't get me wrong, I love Pete, but he's a brat because of you."
If Patrick was still the angry 18 year old he was a few years ago, he probably would've decked Andy in the face. He was a changed man though, so instead of resorting to physical violence in the middle of a crowded airport, he would tuck it into his mind and spend about half of the plane ride fantasizing about it.
Deep down Patrick knew he was spoiling Pete a little, but Pete was struggling so much and so often, he just wanted him to be happy. Seeing Pete upset or crying, regardless of what headspace he was in, made Patrick's chest feel weird in a way he couldn't put into words. He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't like it. So, whenever Pete was upset Patrick was always quick to try and fix it.
Speaking of Pete, he was no longer on the seat next to Patrick. Patrick pulled himself out of his thoughts, looking down to see both Pete and Joe on the floor, giggling and playing with a toy car. They were rolling it back and forth between them, as if the cake pop incident hadn't even happened. Patrick wasn't sure how they could do that.
Thankfully, it wasn't too long before they were boarding the plane. Pete and Joe insisted on sitting next to each other. Patrick wasn't sure how he felt about that, but he allowed it anyway, telling himself it would be okay as long as he sat in the row with them.
Pete got the seat closest to the window, and Joe was in the middle seat. Patrick sat in the aisle seat, so he could at least keep an eye on the two. Andy was in the seat directly behind Patrick. By some miracle, the flight wasn't super crowded, and the other two seats in Andy's row remained empty. That would be good, just in case anything happened and the boys needed to be separated.
When it came time for takeoff, and the seatbelt sign flicked on overhead, Pete whined, fumbling with his seatbelt.
"Joe, can you help him please?" Patrick asked, hoping he wouldn't have to reach over Joe to help Pete. Joe nodded, turning to Pete and grabbing the belt.
"Ow!" Joe shouted after a second, pulling back and shoving Pete hard. "He bit me!"
"Pete!" Patrick said sternly, leaning over to look at him. "We don't bite people."
"He touched me an' I didn't like it!" Pete whined, and Patrick's eyebrow raised, not knowing what Pete meant.
"Where did he touch you?"
"Right here, daddy, I didn't like it!" Pete repeated, pointing at his crotch.
"i didn't do it on purpose! I was tryin' to do the seatbelt." Joe piped up defensively. "Don't worry, Pete, nobody would willingly touch you there."
"hey!" Patrick said, genuinely getting pissed off. Pete whimpered, seconds away from bursting into tears. Patrick glanced back at Andy, who had his headphones in, completely oblivious.
"Joe, say something like that again and you're switching seats with me." Patrick sighed, reaching over to help Pete buckle his seatbelt. Once it was properly tightened, he leaned back. "Actually, just don't speak to each other, at least not for the next 10 minutes."
The next few minutes after takeoff were peaceful, until Patrick heard hushed bickering and whining. He looked over, and of course, there was another issue.
"Move!" Pete whined quietly, shoving Joe's arm off the arm rest. "It's my arm seat!"
"it's not a arm seat. And you got the window, so it's mine actually." Joe hissed. "Why do you always call things the wrong name, are you stupid?"
Pete growled, elbowing Joe, hard. In retaliation, Joe clumsily slapped Pete, aiming for his face but kind of missing and hitting his shoulder instead.
Within seconds they were both throwing fists at each other. Patrick pulled them apart, already over it.
By the time Patrick managed to get the two separated, Pete was in tears.
"Daddy!" He cried, shaking Patrick urgently. "Daddy he hit me! It hurt!"
"I know, honey, I know. Are you okay? Does it still hurt?" Patrick asked, gently carding his fingers through Pete's hair. Pete shrugged, wiping the tears off his face.
"Hey!" Patrick said in a harsh whisper, turning around and tugging out one of Andy's earbuds. "Control your damn kid, Andy. If he makes Pete cry again we're gonna have a fuckin' issue."
Patrick turned back around before Joe had a chance to respond. He pulled out his laptop, starting up GarageBand.
About an hour into the flight, Pete tugged on Patrick's sleeve.
"What's up?" Patrick said, pausing the demo he was fiddling with on his laptop and turning to Pete.
"Gotta pee..." Pete mumbled, looking unsure of himself.
"Alright, do you want me to come with you?" Patrick asked, closing his laptop and sliding it into his bag under his seat, and Pete nodded.
Joe was not happy about having to get up from his seat to let the other two out. He was even more annoyed when he had to get up again to let them back in.
Once they were settled back into their seats, Pete tugged on Patrick's sleeve again, this time asking for his colouring book.
"You wanna colour? Okay hun, can you do me a favour and grab the bag under your seat?" Patrick asked, and Pete reached under, carefully pulling out the small bag of Pete's little stuff and handing it to Patrick.
"Thank you, hun." Patrick said, kissing Pete's cheek and then unzipping the bag. He pulled out Pete's colouring book, and the box of crayons, setting them on the little table.
"umm.." Pete hummed, wanting to say something but hesitating. He looked a little nervous.
"What's wrong? Do you need to go to the bathroom again?" Patrick assumed, and Pete shook his head quickly.
"umm... can I maybe- uhm.. can I have that?" Pete mumbled, pointing timidly at the pacifier in the bag.
"Of course, baby." Patrick said, pulling it out and popping the cover off. Pete opened his mouth expectantly, so Patrick slid it in. Pete turned to his colouring book, finding a picture he wanted to colour and picking up a crayon.
Pete was half way through colouring the cartoon dog blue when his activity caught the attention of the other little.
"Hey, I wanna colour too!" Joe said, and Pete froze. Patrick had only brought one colouring book, assuming that Joe would also have some way to keep himself occupied. He wasn't sure if Pete would want to share after the earlier events, but Pete was generally pretty good about sharing with his 'big brother', so Patrick gave it a shot.
"Hey, Pete, is it okay if Joe has a turn with the colouring book?" Patrick asked, and Pete looked hesitant, eyebrows furrowing nervously.
"It's okay if you don't want to share, honey. It's your colouring book, you can say no if you want." He reminded him, knowing that sometimes Pete would say yes to something even if he didn't really want to because he didn't want to cause trouble.
"No! It's okay daddy, he can have turn.." Pete stammered out, already gathering up the colouring stuff, reaching past Patrick and shoving it onto Joe's table. Patrick huffed, but didn't argue. He could tell that Pete didn't actually want to, but trying to reason with him was pointless.
"Just don't colour the one I was colouring b'cause that one's mine, 'kay?" Pete said, tapering off at the end as he started second guessing himself. Joe ignored him, opening up to a random blank page and starting to colour it.
Over the next few minutes, Patrick kept his eye on Pete. Pete kept glancing over at Joe, looking anxious. It was likely a combination of Joe using his colouring book, as well as the general anxiety that Pete had around flying.
"Hey, do you want your ipad, honey?" Patrick asked, hoping it would be good enough to distract Pete from whatever was going on in his head. Pete nodded quickly, so Patrick got it out of the bag that he still had on his lap.
"Lift your leg" Patrick muttered, gently tapping Pete's leg when he bent over to put the bag back under the seat. Pete hummed, lifting his leg out of the way. Patrick pushed the bag back under the seat, and grabbed his own laptop while he was down there.
Patrick finally thought he would get a moment of peace now that both boys had something to occupy themselves with, but of course, he was wrong.
"Hey can I have a turn with that? I don't have one of those." Joe said loudly, pointing at the ipad. Patrick watched as Pete tightened his grip on the ipad, refusing to even look up at Joe. Assuming he was being ignored, Joe repeated himself. "Can I have a turn?"
"Daddy," Pete whispers, turning to Patrick with tears in his eyes. His voice was quiet and watery. He was tired and anxious, and didn't want to have to share everything, especially the one thing making him feel better. "I don' wanna give him a turn on my ipad.."
"You don't have to, sweetheart, don't worry. Your uncle Andy doesn't like fun and doesn't let Joe use ipads anyways." Patrick said, gently pushing Pete's hair off his forehead, then moving down to brush his fingers along Pete's cheekbone.
"Hey!" Joe shouted angrily. "That's mean!" He growled, snatching a red crayon off the table and chucking it right at Pete. it just barely grazed his cheek, but it still set him off.
"You're mean!" Pete whined, then turned to look at Patrick. "Daddy, he throwed a crayon at me!"
"I know-" Patrick got cut off by a crayon bouncing off his back. Pretty soon both of them were being pelted by the little multicoloured wax sticks.
"Joe, enough." Patrick said harshly, grabbing Joe's wrist before he could throw anything else. Why the hell is Andy not doing something?
As Joe grumbled and tried to pull his wrist out of Patrick's grip, Patrick turned around, yanking out both of Andy's earbuds, effectively shaking him out of his half asleep daze. "Some help would be nice! Why did you leave me with both of them?"
After fully taking in what was happening, Andy stood up out of his seat and grabbed Joe, guiding him to the other row. Joe didn't fight it, settling into the seat next to Andy.
"Are you okay Pete?" Patrick asked as he picked up all the crayons. He counted them and made sure all of them were back in the box, then handed them to Pete. "Here you go"
Pete just shrugged quietly, setting the box of crayons onto his table. He lets out a shaky breath and grabs his ipad again, opening up youtube and watching a video of someone opening up a set of action figures.
"Let me know if you need anything, okay?" Patrick said gently, rubbing Pete's back for a moment. Pete started chewing on his sleeve, letting out a huff through his nose.
"Hey, where'd your pacifier go, hun?" Patrick questioned, making sure to keep his voice down.
Pete shrugged again, so Patrick retrieved the spare one from the bag. He gently moved Pete's arm, replacing the sleeve with the pacifier. Of course, the corner of the sleeve was wet now, and Pete didn't like that.
He whined loudly, waving his arm around. The sensory input was disgusting, and he wanted it off. Of course, the first thing that came to Pete's mind was to take off the offending clothing. Unfortunately, he had also refused to put a shirt under his sweater that morning.
"Daddy! Off! Off!!" He whined, unzipping his sweater.
"No! No- Wait wait, Pete, honey, you can't take that off right now." Patrick rushed to stop Pete from stripping. Pete tried to pull away from him, but eventually gave up.
Patrick understood that the feeling of wet clothes on skin is awful, so he rolled Pete's sleeve up a little so that the chewed corner wasn't touching him anymore.
"there, is that better?" Patrick asked, and Pete nodded, leaning over to press a wet, clumsy kiss on Patrick's cheek. If it were anyone else, Patrick would be a little disgusted, but it was his Pete, so he let it slide.
Once Pete was settled, Patrick opened up his computer again and put in one earbud so that the ear on Pete's side was still empty.
Everything was finally calm for a while, and Patrick actually managed to get a fair amount of work done on the demos.
About halfway through the flight, they start hitting some turbulence. It's light enough at first that Pete doesn't notice it, but Patrick does. He sighs, closing his laptop and waiting for Pete to start panicking.
Sure enough, a few moments later, there was a stronger bit. Immediately Pete froze, grabbing Patrick's arm in an iron lock grip. The bumpier it got, the harder Pete dug his nails into Patrick's forearm. It was starting to hurt a little.
"Hey, gentle hands please." Patrick said quietly, carefully prying Pete's fingers off his arm. Pete was still frozen, save for the barely noticeable shaking.
"Pete." Patrick said, grabbing Pete's attention as he looked over at him wide eyed. "You're okay, it's nothing dangerous, honey." He gently brushed his hand over Pete's cheek to try and soothe him.
Patrick knew Pete always got stressed on flights, especially when little. He always tried to make it as easy as possible for Pete in whatever way he could, but sometimes all he could do was be there.
The turbulence calmed down for a few minutes, but Pete didn't. He was now staring straight ahead, swaying a little. He looked almost sick.
"Hey, are you feeling okay?" Patrick asked, a hand on Pete's back. Pete didn't respond at first.
"Dizzy..." He muttered after a moment, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Oh, okay, one sec" Patrick reached into Pete's bag, pulling out a little packet of juice mix and Pete's sippy cup. It was then that he realized he had no water. He reached up and hit the flight attendant call button.
At the last second, he remembered to hide the sippy cup from view.
"Hi, can we get a bottle of water? He's feeling a little dizzy." Patrick said, hoping it would make them get it faster. Thankfully, she returned quickly with a couple bottles, handing them to him and then walking off.
Patrick poured the water into the sippy cup, then dumped in the sugary juice powder. He secured the lid on tightly, plugging the mouthpiece with his thumb and shaking the sippy cup.
"Here you go, Pete, drink it okay?"
Pete took it quickly, gulping it down. Patrick wasn't surprised, knowing Pete would never pass up on juice.
"Can I have more?" Pete asked when he finished the juice.
"What do we say when we want something?" Patrick said, already taking the cup and making more juice.
"Umm, p'ease?"
"Good boy." Patrick smiled and placed a quick kiss on Pete's temple as he passed the new juice back.
Pete ended up asking for 2 more cups after that, but Patrick decided water would be better. Pete must've been genuinely been really thirsty, because he drank them both with zero complaints.
A little while later, when Patrick gave up temporarily on the demo he was working on, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Pete was squirming uncomfortably, bouncing his leg. Patrick thought nothing of it, assuming he was just anxious. He reached over and placed a hand on Pete's knee to settle him.
A few minutes later, Pete was squirming again. That was when it actually clicked.
"Come." Patrick said, moving to get up. Pete looked up at him, confused.
"Come on, we're going to the bathroom." He said, leaning over so he didn't have to speak loud enough for anyone else to hear. "I can tell you have to go, you're squirming like crazy. let's go."
Pete shook his head, denying that he needed to use the bathroom. Patrick wasn't in the mood, his patience running thin.
"Do you want to have an accident?" He said, harsher than he intended.
"No!" Pete whined, tearing up.
"I'm sorry if I sounded mean, hun. I'm just tired. You didn't do anything wrong, Pete. Come, let's go." Patrick said softly, holding his hand out for Pete to take.
"Sorry, only one person in the bathroom at a time." A flight attendant said, blocking the bathroom door. Judging by the fact that she was an elderly lady, she didn't recognize either of them. That was good, because it meant telling her Pete's situation wouldn't end up with the secret being spread.
"Listen," Patrick sighed, watching Pete squirming in place. "He's, ummm... mentally he's four years old, and he's very anxious when it comes to both flying and using the bathroom, so he needs someone with him all the time."
Pete shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably, hands shoved deep into his pockets. He not-so-subtly pressed his thighs together, and Patrick just hoped this lady would let them into the bathroom before Pete ended up wetting himself.
Some higher power must have decided to have mercy on them at that moment, because she just sighed and stepped out of the way. Patrick rushed Pete into the bathroom, shutting the door.
Thankfully, there were no further issues. When Pete was done he struggled to zip his pants back up, whining angrily and tugging on his hair.
"Woah, hey, hey, calm down. Do you want help?" Patrick asked, and Pete nodded. Patrick reached down and zipped up the fly with ease, doing up the button too because he knew Pete wouldn't be able to.
"Nope, nuh uh, wash your hands." He said when Pete tried to reach for the door. Pete sighed dramatically, turning back to the sink and washing his hands. He almost got away with not using the soap, but then Patrick caught him, telling him he couldn't leave the bathroom until his hands were clean, and that if he didn't, the toilet was going to eat him.
Pete washed his hands with soap.
When they returned to their seats, Pete didn't turn on his ipad.
"What's wrong?" Patrick said, immediately knowing something was off.
"M'tired..." Pete mumbled rubbing his eye clumsily. Patrick checked the time on his watch, seeing that Pete's naptime wasn't for another hour and a half. Then he remembered how tired Pete was this morning, and that he went to bed late last night.
Surely an early nap wouldn't hurt.
"You wanna have your nap now? It's a bit early but it's okay." Patrick asked, and Pete nodded.
Patrick stayed put in the aisle seat, then flipped up the arm rest separating the two other seats. Pete moved into the middle seat, resting his feet on the window seat. He leaned back against Patrick, letting his eyes slip closed. Before long, he was out cold, snoring softly.