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Tyler met Patrick fairly recently, compared when he'd met everyone else.
He first met him a week or two before the Save Rock and Roll tour officially started. They'd briefly shook hands, introduced themselves, and everyone in the room went back to discussing things for tour. This averted Patrick's attention almost immediately. Tyler, however, didn't mind. His mind was still hung on the fact that he and his band were touring with Fall Out Boy, and the fact that he'd gotten the chance to talk to the man he idolized for so long was mind-blowing. He was freaking out, to say the least. Tyler's mind jumped from scenario to scenario, playing out every single possibility there was. So needless to say, he almost jumped out of his skin when Patrick sat down next to him and asked him if he was okay, since he was pretty silent. Tyler felt himself flush and told Patrick he was just thinking, and the two talked for a while more. By the end of the meeting, Tyler felt like they'd been friends for a long time, and he liked that feeling.
The tour continued on, and Patrick and Tyler bonded even further. The two were somewhat inseparable, the majority of their time apart due to their being in different bands. Tyler thought Pete, Joe, and Andy were pretty great too, but he just felt a stronger connection to Patrick than he did to them. He wasn't sure exactly why. Maybe it was because they'd clicked more. Maybe it was their similar demeanor compared to the other members of their bands. Either way, they were the closest of friends, and it made them both joyful to know that someone they'd met so short of a time ago could get so close.
One night, Tyler stood with Josh backstage to watch Fall Out Boy play their stuff. Tyler felt his eyes drift off to Patrick every time he let his focus down, and he noticed himself tuning out everything but Patrick's soulful voice. Josh nudged him, softly at first, then harder. Tyler snapped back into reality with a jolt, and he shook his head to get rid of the trance-like state he was just in. Josh raised an eyebrow questionably. Something was definitely up. This was Tyler we were talking about, and Josh knows Tyler like the back of his hand.
"Something wrong, Tyler?" he asked him.
"I don't know, Josh," Tyler muttered. “I really don’t.”
So after the crew took the set down and everyone was on their way to the next stop, Josh and Tyler worked their way through everything. Tyler cried a few times out of frustration and confusion, and Josh comforted him every time. They came to the point where they’d pinpointed what was going on: Tyler liked Patrick. Both of them agreed on it, and Tyler broke down in relief. Josh rubbed his back soothingly like he always did, and Tyler choked out ‘thank you’ more times than he could count.
The tour continued on, and Tyler found himself falling for Patrick faster and faster. Every single little detail became a big point for him. His eyes, his smile, even his need for his fedora on stage. Tyler found himself blushing, fidgeting, and stuttering more than ever, which usually earned at least an eyebrow raise from Patrick. He tried to keep a handle on it, he really did. Everyone else was getting a little suspicious, except for Patrick. He just shook it all off like this was how Tyler normally acted. In his observations, however, Tyler sometimes caught an off-guard blush from the singer, and his heart fluttered at the possibility that the crazy love that had taken over his conscience could be requited. He felt foolish, like a love-struck teenager fawning over her newly found crush, but he reminded himself that this wouldn’t end too badly, since Patrick definitely was too polite to purposely crush his feelings.
It didn’t take very long for everyone to catch on to what was going on, and Josh only backed up the fact that Tyler liked Patrick. Pete pulled Josh over one night to privately tell him that Patrick had admitted to him that he liked Tyler, and the two watched on for a while, wishing the two weren’t so damn oblivious. Pete would watch Patrick while Tyler and Josh performed, and vice versa. They had a pretty good system with pretty great rewards. Waiting was still the worst part, however, and waiting was about half the job.
Soon, the Save Rock and Roll Fall Arena Tour was in its final stretch, and Tyler was stressing out. He desperately needed to get this out of his system before the tour ended or it would never happen. So, one night, when the lights were dim, the gates were closed, and everyone had already left for their respective buses, Tyler found Patrick sitting alone on the edge of the stage, his legs dangling over the side. His blue eyes stared up into the ceiling, and his fingers drummed against the stage. Patrick’s head turned to look at Tyler, and he smiled a bit.
“Oh, um, hey, Tyler,” he said shyly.
Tyler walked over to sit beside him. “Hey there, Patrick. What’s up?”
Patrick sighed. “Do you notice how empty a venue feels after you’ve played a concert in it? You start recalling the screams of the fans, and suddenly it feels like a void, y’know?”
Tyler looked out into the empty chairs, taking Patrick’s words into consideration. “I suppose so.”
They sat there for a few minutes, neither of them daring to make eye contact with the other, fearing that a mere second of it would shatter the moment's serenity.
Patrick spoke again after a while. “I think I’ll miss this tour the most,” he confessed, scooting a bit closer to Tyler.
“What do you mean?” Tyler questioned.
“I mean, I always miss a tour after it’s over,” Patrick explained. “It’s kinda like how fans say they get post-concert depression. Tours are always so much fun, and even though the stress can get overwhelming, the feeling of yearning for it to continue on forever at the end trumps that. But I’ve realized that this tour is the one I’ll miss the most because touring with my friends – Pete, Joe, Andy, Panic!, Josh, and you – is so much fun and something I wish I could do every time.”
“I mean, we can do it again, if you’d like.”
“No, that’s not gonna work,” Patrick stated, a hint of disappointment in his voice as he shook his head. “Frankly, I wish it could, but it won’t. I’m sure we’ll get to play together again someday.”
“Oh,” Tyler whispered.
The two got closer and closer until Tyler could feel Patrick’s breath on his face.
“Y’know, I think out of everyone, I’m gonna miss you the most,” Patrick whispered.
Tyler just couldn’t take it anymore after that. He leaned in and urgently kissed Patrick on the lips. The blonde stiffened up at first, but soon kissed back. Their lips moved together, filling the two men with happiness. They parted after a while, and Patrick leaned into Tyler, wrapping him into an embrace.
“I love you Tyler,” Patrick said softly.
“I love you too, Patrick,” Tyler responded at an equal volume.
And the two sat like than for a while, wrapped in each other’s arms like some cliché movie scene and having no trouble keeping themselves warm.